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Three Trees: The Bible Story

Three Trees: The Bible Story

Apr 2024 - Jun 2024

THREE TREES: the story of the whole Bible

Reading the Bible can be a rather daunting exercise. It is a big book! It is also an old, religious, holy book. It is the world’s best-selling book and the most widely distributed book in the world. The Bible has been translated into almost as many languages as there are languages, and, according to The Bible Society’s estimation, over five billion copies of the Bible have been printed. The Bible itself comprises sixty-six different books written by multiple authors, to various audiences, spanning thousands of years. These books were originally penned in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Koine Greek and then translated into our native tongues.

Despite the complexity of these facts about the Bible, is it too simplistic to suggest that the Bible has one overall message? That the Bible has one dominant narrative? That it is really one book made up of many stories - that all tell just one story?

Questions about how to interpret the Bible abound. As modern readers of the Bible and, therefore, as interpreters of the Bible, many of the historical events the Bible records within its pages are not familiar to us, neither are the places where these events occurred, the people, or even their cultures and customs. There is so much to the Bible that appears strange. But even bigger interpretation problems arise for modern readers of the Bible when we actually start reading it!

  • How did God make the World?
  • Why does God allow people in the Old Testament to be slaughtered?
  • What is the significance of the Old Testament law for Christians?
  • Is the God of the Old Testament the same as the God of the New Testament?
  • How does Jesus fulfill the Old Testament?
  • What’s all of this got to do with me?

For the next 10 weeks, we are going to cover the whole of the Bible, in our series called 3 Trees: the story of the whole bible. In just ten weeks, which is even less than some weight loss programs, we are not going to cover the entire story of the Bible. But we are going to cover the story of the entire Bible. A story that begins with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Creation), which takes us to the Tree of Calvary outside the city of Jerusalem (Jesus Christ) and ends with the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem (New Creation).

Of course, in only ten weeks we might not get to your favourite story in the Bible and you might be surprised by the stories that we’ve left out. That’s not to say these stories aren’t important, but what we will see in these next ten weeks is that the Bible is one story.

For this series, in church, you’ll need your Bible. And to make the most of Growth Groups - as always - you’ll need your Bible. If you don't yet have a Bible, please let us gift you one. If you do have a Bible, please bring it. This series is all about the Bible, because the Bible tells God’s Big Story. But it also gives shape to your story. And ours. And the story of our churches. So in this series we’ll be doing our best to see how our shared life stories are included in God’s Big Story in the Bible.

In 2022, we did a series called ‘Big Words for the Church God Loves’ to prepare us for a long stretch in Romans. Those big words we learnt then, prepared us for Paul’s biggest letter straight afterwards. We’re doing similar prep work with this series: our ‘Story of the Whole Bible’ will prepare us for a big few years in the story of the whole Bible!

We’re doing this series now due to the place we find ourselves, as church families. We’re all at a hinge point in our preaching and teaching - in our learning from Jesus. In each of our churches (Stanthorpe, Mackay and Warwick) we are about to embark on a 7-part series in Matthew’s gospel. This will take years. However, because Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, the longest gospel, and so richly draws on the Old Testament, we won’t be going through it over those 7 parts consecutively. We’ll be breaking it up, by also journeying through the first 5 books of the Old Testament. We’re hoping these two teaching threads will work together, in tandem, or like hand in glove.

Because we’ve already learnt from Genesis in our ‘God’s Dysfunctional Family’ series, we’ll be pushing on through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy - all 5 books of what the Jews called ‘The books of Moses’, and what Jesus called ‘The Law’.

So we’ll work through it like this: after this series, we’ll start term 3 in Matthew, followed by a series in Exodus in term 4. Then next year we’ll do a big stretch in Matthew, followed by Numbers, and so on for the next few years. Of course, we will have some other terms interspersed in there, ensuring we include some doctrine and topical series in our healthy diet of learning from Jesus, in the Bible.

So - that’s why we’re so keen to step back now, and get the big picture, by seeing the whole Bible as one big story: So that when we’re deep in some strange forest of the Bible, we can still see the forest for the trees!

Sermons in this Series
The New Creation: Revelation 21,22
23-06-2024
The New Creation: Study 10 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.

With the enemies of God now destroyed, God is making all things new, He will dwell with His people forever. What do you think heaven will be like?

We started the story of the whole Bible in a garden, but this story ends in a City. We started with two people, but end with a multitude. We started with God dwelling with his people, but we finish with people dwelling with their God. We started with two trees in Eden, but we ate of the tree that brought us death.

That wrong choice meant we needed another tree at Calvary. So now there is only one tree left remaining - the Tree of Life.

God has dealt with the problem of our sin and the curse of death. We’ve now come full circle. We are back to the start again, only this time it’s different. The end of the story is like the beginning, only it has a different outcome: God makes all things new! God’s faithfulness to all his promises to Abraham and David are now fulfilled in Jesus. Death is conquered, rest from our enemies is secured, and now nothing in all creation can separate God’s people from his love in the new Creation.

Jesus, Raised as King: Acts 2, Study 09
16-06-2024
Jesus: Raised as King: Study 09 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.

When it comes to Jesus, the Bible teaches the miraculous! A virgin birth, walking on water, water into wine, feeding 5000 men with 5 loaves and two fish, raising the dead, healing the sick, casting out demons and believing in the resurrection.

Is it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Why?

Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen that Jesus is the son of Abraham but also the son of David, the promised King we’ve been expecting. Where all others have failed, only Jesus has obeyed God’s Word, an obedience demonstrated in his death. By his death for us, Jesus reverses all the curses of Eden: sin, death and separation from God are now all removed - there’s no condemnation left for us! Despite the unfaithfulness of his people, God is keeping his promises.

There’s just one small problem with these promises… how can a dead Jesus be the son of David who will reign forever over God’s people?

Jesus, The Death of The King: Galatians 3, Study 08
09-06-2024
Jesus, The Death of The King: Study 07 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.

What role does the Old Testament Law have, in the life of a Christian?

So far, the story of the whole Bible has been a story of great promise in search of fulfillment. A God who makes promises to a people who break them. Right from the beginning, our human problem is sin. Sin brings death and separation (exile) from God. But so far no one has obeyed God! No-one has dealt with our sin problem.
Up until now everyone has shown themselves to be a sinner, not a Saviour.
God’s promise of a King and Saviour who deals with sin is fulfilled in the birth of a baby boy at Bethlehem (the town of David). But in another act of repeated history, God’s people reject Jesus as their King - and crucify him.
Was the death of Jesus the Messiah all in vain?

References:

  • Galatians 3:1-18
  • Genesis 17:1-8
  • Romans 8:1-4
  • Romans 8:31-39
Jesus, The Coming King: Matthew 1, Study 07
02-06-2024
Jesus, The Coming King: Study 07 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.
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After the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple, they carried the people away into exile (597-586 BC).
Now expelled from God's presence and his blessing because of their sin; God now says nothing to them for 400 years.
We know that it was the unfaithfulness of God’s people that put them in this position. Israel stopped listening to God, so God stopped speaking. But what about God’s faithfulness to his promises? What about God’s promises to Abraham? And to David? Will he be unfaithful, in return?
Into that deafening silence, Matthew now speaks.

References:

  • Matthew 1:1-28
  • Matthew 28:19-20
  • Hebrews 2:14-15
  • Deuteronomy 22:23-24
  • Isaiah 9:1-7
Exile, Separated From God: 2 Kings 24, Study 06
26-05-2024
Exile, Separated From God: Study 06 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.
God seems to have abandoned Israel. He’s had a gutful of their disobedience. In the story so far, we have seen that God is nothing but faithful to an unfaithful people. The descendants of Abraham and David who were promised that they would forever be ‘God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule’ now find themselves feeling abandoned, alone and in exile.
King after king ‘did evil in the eyes of the Lord’. God has simply had enough of Israel. But even though Israel seems abandoned, in a foreign land under a foreign king, they are not without hope.

References

  • 2 Kings 24:1 - 25:30
  • Lamentations 1:1 - 3:33
  • Romans 5:1-11
Solomon, A Royal Failure: 1 Kings 10, Study 05
19-05-2024
King Solomon, A Royal Failure: Study 05 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.
With God’s promises to David in 2 Samuel 7, that a son of David would reign over God’s people as King forever and that David’s son would be the Son of God who built the temple, all eyes and expectations are now focused firmly on David’s son - King Solomon. If Solomon gets it right, all of God’s promises will be fulfilled!
References:
  • 1 Kings 4:29-34
  • 1 Kings 3:1-4
  • 1 Kings 10:14-29
  • 1 Kings 11:1-8, 12-13
  • Compare Genesis 3:7 and 1 Kings 11:9-11
  • Deuteronomy 17:14-17
  • Matthew 6:19-34
  • 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
David, King of God’s People: 2 Samuel 7, Study 04
12-05-2024
Abraham and the Promise: Study 4 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.

Have you ever made plans, only to have God change them completely?
King David had a plan to build a temple for the Lord God, but God had other plans.

In the movement towards fulfilment, God’s promises to David now repeat God’s promises to Abraham - but they also advance them in more detail. God promises King David that his Son would be the Son of God. The Son of David will build the Temple and will reign as God’s King forever over God’s people.

Abraham and the Promise: Genesis 12, 15, Study 03
05-05-2024
Abraham and the Promise: Study 3 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.
When do you find it hardest to trust God? Are there certain times or seasons or events in your life where it has been hard to trust God?

We often read one story in the Bible that reminds us of elements in another story in the Bible. That’s what we are starting to see here in God’s promises to Abraham. The promises of blessing in Eden are now being repeated - and progressed. The Bible is a book that often repeats itself by establishing a pattern, and then repeating it, to advance the story towards fulfilment (Promise & Fulfilment).

For now the Scriptures tell us that Abram ‘believed God’s promises and it was credited to him as righteousness’, and that Abraham’s faith is how we need to respond to God’s promises to us in Jesus.

The Fall: Genesis 3, Study 02
28-04-2024
The Fall: Study 2 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.

The story of the fall unravels all that is good and very good in God’s World. God’s Word has not only been distorted but now disobeyed. Order has been thrown into chaos. One tree in Eden has been selected over the other. Life was on offer in Eden but humankind chose death. In eating of the forbidden tree, intimate relationships are exchanged for exploding ones. ‘Unashamed and naked’ now turns to exposure, shame and blame. And this new pattern of sin and self-justification and blame is not only repeated down through the story of the whole Bible but repeated daily the whole world over.

Sin is the unlawful exchange of our rightful place in God’s World. Sin takes what is not ours, believing it will elevate us, but only leaves us deflated. Sin promises so much but only delivers guilt and shame.

God the Maker & King: Genesis 1-2, Study 01
21-04-2024
God the Maker & King: Study 1 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.>

In wanting to understand the story of the whole Bible, the best place to start is… In the Beginning.

In the creation record, we notice the following pattern in Genesis 1:1-2:3.
• And God said: Let there be…
• God called…
• And it was so…
• And God saw that it was good…
• And there was evening and there was morning, the …. day.

In Genesis 1-2 we’ve already discovered our first two trees; the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 1:31 says God looks at his world and says it’s very good… but how would you describe the world you look at and live in?