EQUIPPING CLASS

Dealing BiblicallyWith The Past

FALL 2014

INTRODUCTION

Experience is influential, but not determinative

How has the church tended to deal with the issues of the past?

1. The past is everything (see Ezek 18)

Ezekiel 18:1-3 The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the

children's teeth are set on edge'? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.”

INTRODUCTION

Experience is influential, but not determinative

How has the church tended to deal with the issues of the past?

1. The past is everything (see Ezek 18)

2. The past is nothing (see Phil 3:13)

Phil 3:13b …forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead…

EXAMPLES OF DEALING WITH THE PAST

1. Paul (2 Cor 12:7-10)

2. Naomi (Ruth 1:1-5, 15-21; 4:14-17)

3. Zaccheus (Luke 19:8-10)

4. Onesimus (Phile 10-11)

RESOURCE FOR CHANGE

FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE PAST

A. The Past is Unavoidable

1. Everyone has a past

2. Everyone carries their past with them

3. The problem is not our past, but what we do with it

FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE PAST

A. The Past is Unavoidable

B. Memories of the Past are Selective

1. People are interpreters (cf. Num 11:4-6)

2. Our present shapes the past

FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE PAST

C. The Past is a Theological Challenge

1. The past is God's story...not just yours alone

2. He is not just Lord of the present...He is also Lord of your past

3. God has been at work in your past for your good and for his glory!

4. So biblically, a person's history is the story of a sovereign God who is perfectly good

FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE PAST

C. The Past is a Theological Challenge

“To say that God allows or permits evil does not mean that he sanctions it in the sense that he grants approval to it. . . . God is never totally passive. When he seems to be passive, he is actively choosing not to intercede directly.”

– R.C. Sproul

“The fact that God can bring good out of evil only underscores the power and excellence of his sovereign decretive will.” - R.C. Sproul

FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE PAST

C. The Past is a Theological Challenge

Ask yourself three questions in the face of difficult trials:

1. Could God have prevented it?

2. Did he?

3. So what is he doing in the trial for my good and for his glory (Rom 8:28-30)?

FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE PAST

C. The Past is a Theological Challenge

D. The Past is Correctly Handled by Biblical Resolution & Remembering

1. Start with God and understand the past from what Scripture says of him

2. Learn to ask helpful questions of the past with the RIGHT HEART attitude

3. See the past as a teacher

THE PAST AS A TEACHER

1. Teaches about the deceitfulness and danger of sin

2. Teaches about God’s grace

3. Teaches that this is a fallen world in which people sin and suffer

4. Teaches that any change always takes place in the present

SUMMARY

1. The past is influential, but not determinative

2. Human beings are un-objective interpreters

3. The past is from God and exists for his glory

4. Due to sin, we are not always aware of habits, assumptions, and values which shape behavior and lifestyle

5. The past may explain lifestyle, but it doesn’t excuse it

6. Change always takes place in the present

SUMMARY

7. God is our hope

8. Every believer has all he needs to live a godly life in the situation God has placed him

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

SUMMARY

7. God is our hope

8. Every believer has all he needs to life a godly life in the situation God has placed him

Romans 12:18-21 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

1. Do you tend to be a person who believes the past is nothing, or one who believes the past is everything? How does this tendency manifest itself?

2. Think about some events in your past which have greatly influenced who you are today.