(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
What is “redemptive remembering?” Part two.
Intro:
Hey, welcome to another day of the ‘keepin’ it real’ show where we just grab some coffee and read the Bible together…it’s not perfect, but then you can get “perfect” somewhere else.
Yesterday we didn’t have a long time for our focus question — What is “redemptive remembering?”, because I had the wrong word count on a section and, well, I’m committed to trying to stick to about 22 minutes. That said, it’s SUCH a powerful idea that it bears repeating — we saw it in both NT and OT segments yesterday, and we see it again today in Revelation 3.
Redemptive remembering is a description of the fact, that in the OT, looking backward always includes an element of looking forward. The four-dollar theology word is “eschatology” — study of the end times, or it’s “eschatological.” Why recount what God has done? To be reminded that we can be confident in him delivering on what he has promised to do.
Now…as we often do (because it’s a cliffhanger that hopefully keeps you rolling ‘til the end), in our Bottom Line segment I’m going to give you two separate things where redemptive remembering is part of your life today…whether your realize it or not.
New Testament segment:
Yesterday in heard some John’s letters to churches, each of which was dictating what Jesus told him to say. Today, chapter 3, finishes those up. Remember to listen for the reminders of what has been as part of a promise of what will be.
Passage: Revelation 3
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 22
Words: ~501
Did you notice…
Old Testament segment:
Remember that yesterday’s ‘redemptive remembering’ in Ezekiel was a recount of their history of idolatry. One passing thought: remember how in the NT sin can be a hindrance of prayer? We saw that being God’s response to the leaders when they came to Ezekiel asking him to inquire of God, and he’s like, ‘What? You come to me? Look at the junk in your trunk!”
Today…more of those prophetic words of consequence…and a favorite line of my son’s when he was little… “the sword of the Lord!”
Passage: Ezekiel 20:45-21:32
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 37
Words: ~1080
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Proverbs 20:1-5
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 5
Words: ~79
The bottom line:
Why recount what God has done? To be reminded that we can be confident in him delivering on what he has promised to do.
There are two ways this touches down in your life even today. One, it’s exactly what we do every time we take communion. Notice the “received/delivered” language right at the beginning (something we talked about recently), and catch the very last line.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Co 11:23–26, CSB
Now, I saved the best for last — there’s another important way this touches down in your life…being on the lookout for perversions of the Gospel.
The gospel is a message about how we have been rescued from peril. The very word gospel has as its background a news report about some life-altering event that has already happened.
1. The gospel is good news, not good advice. The gospel is not primarily a way of life. It is not something we do, but something that has been done for us and something that we must respond to…
2. The gospel is good news announcing that we have been rescued or saved. And what are we rescued from? What peril are we saved from? A look at the gospel words in the New Testament shows that we are rescued from the “coming wrath” at the end of history (1 Thess 1:10). But this wrath is not an impersonal force—it is God’s wrath. We are out of fellowship with God; our relationship with him is broken…
3. The gospel is news about what has been done by Jesus Christ to put right our relationship with God. Becoming a Christian is about a change of status….
We must not, then, give the impression that the gospel is simply a divine rehabilitation program for the world, but rather that it is an accomplished substitutionary work. We must not depict the gospel as primarily joining something (Christ’s kingdom program) but rather as receiving something (Christ’s finished work). If we make this error, the gospel becomes another kind of a salvation by works instead of a salvation by faith
The gospel, then, is preeminently a report about the work of Christ on our behalf—that is why and how the gospel is salvation by grace. The gospel is news because it is about a salvation accomplished for us. It is news that creates a life of love, but the life of love is not itself the gospel.(1)
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 29-31.