The Field's Musings

By Edmund Clowney Three divisions made in the OT: counsel, law, prophecy- Ezek 7:26, Jer 18:18 Wisdom: man through YHWH must use knowledge to solve lifes problems The wise man is the knowledgeable man Proverbs is the documentation of instruction against folly 1 Kings 4 helps us to understand the view of wisdom in Israel. Meditation on the law brings: 1) Praise Rejoicing in God’s revelation 2) Wisdom Reflection on how the teaching of scripture applies to life Wisdom is concerned firstly with knowing the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the knowledge of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. Paul’s prayer is for a Spirit and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph 1:17). Wisdom is the key to understanding the wisdom of the Lord in Paul’s theology. The gift of wisdom enables us to analyse scripture and apply it properly to a situation. Most parallels in the Psalms and wisdom literature are not to be equated. Older men need to disciple younger men in wisdom. The theology...

By Edmund Clowney The Psalms are the praises of the redeemed centred on Christ. A song is a covenant witness. In Deut 31:19 God gives to His people the songs they are to sing. Songs are not simply a response to God but a God-given ordination. The people were to memorise them. Jesus is presented as the living Christ singing in the midst of the congregation (Hebrews 2 quoting Psalm 22:22). We sing with Jesus our singing saviour. Structure of Psalm 22 1-2 the cry of lamentation 3-5 the confession of trust 6-8 another lamentation 9-11 another confession of trust 12-18 another lamentation 19-21 cry for deliverance 22-24 confession of deliverance 25-31 praise for deliverance The suffering servant signs from the depths to the heights In Psalms 2 and 24 the royal King sings. The song of Christ is seen as the song among the Gentiles (Rom 15:9). Jesus signs a missionary song among the nations (Psalm 96). The NT authors gained their theology from the OT. They were people absorbed in OT doctrine. ...

By Tim Keller How do you argue for the authority of the Bible? Traditional way: Look at fulfilled prophecy of the OT. Better contemporary way: 1) Do you want a personal relationship with God? 2) You can’t have a personal with God unless you accept the authority of the Bible 3) Why? Because having a personal relationship with being outraged sometimes. You must expect the Bible to offend. Unless you accept the complete authority of the Bible God can’t contradict you or differ with you. The strategy used is presupposition apologetics. Affirm what they affirm and then show them that How do you argue for the reality Hell? Post-modernist: I don’t believe God would send anyone to Hell. Christian: What did it cost your God to love us and embrace us? It cost my God pain, agony and torment to bring me near to Him. In your effort to make God more loving you’ve actually made God less loving by removing Hell from your worldview. If punishment doesn’t exist as a result of God’s justic...

By Tim Keller Methods for writing application 1) Discipline who you spend time with The application of a sermon should change in style depending on the people who are hearing the sermon. You tend to preach to the people who are most on your heart. Some evangelical leaders preach sermons for other evangelical preachers because they are immersed in the thinking of the culture of evangelical leaders. Deliberately diversify your people context. Speak to non-Christians. Understand how they think, in what categories? Address the needs of the culture in sermons. Entice Christians to bring non-Christians by preaching to non-Christians using their language and culture. Preach to people who aren’t in the room. Preach like this ‘God is wrathful God who is angry at sin. I know some of you find that hard to understand but consider this….’ The easiest way to think about the concerns of non-Christians is to read content written by people who disagree with you. The best way to do this is by reading ma...

By Edmund Clowney We want to preach the law in a gospel context. Galatians and Romans do this. We need to recognise: 1) The condemnation of the law-Gal 3:13-14 The promise has been fulfilled, it goes out to the Gentiles, and is achieved by faith. Why the law (v19)? It was added because of transgressions until the seed comes. The law bars the way of life because it condemns us because of our sin. The law is not the final revelation of God. 2) We can’t keep the law The law shoes us that we can’t do it and even increases our trespasses (Rom 5:20). The law stirs the rebellion of sin (Rom 7:7-8). Sin works through the commandment to produce sin. The law brings damnation and the knowledge of sin. 3) The law drives us to Christ- Gal 3:24 The law acts as a tutor to Christ so that we can be justified by faith. 4) The law is renewed in Christ Christ provides for us the righteousness of God, the complete fulfilment of the law. Christ fulfils the law and renews it by expanding it. Luke 20:20-26 Hi...