I'm going to continue talking about stories today to make sure that I don't get misunderstood when talking about "our stories". Yesterday I made my case for why I believe we need to prioritise the Bible's stories over our own when preaching. But don't think that I value "our stories" too little.
Like I said yesterday, what makes our stories powerful is what God has done in the stories. Why they are important and powerful to share with others is that they can take what God can do in theory, and spark a little bit of hope or faith in the people who are listening to believe that God can do it for them. While we can read what God has done in the Bible and believe it can happen for us too, the reality is that for a lot of people - in different times and situations, different experiences - the time and personal separation from those stories can make it too abstract to believe for today.
It's like the difference between someone sharing "my second cousin's wife's aunt saw this" as opposed to "I saw this myself". If I hear the first phrase then internally I'm listening with an air of scepticism...not because I don't believe it could have happened, or that they believe it did happen like that, but because I plainly don't trust stories passed along between that many people in our age - they always get exaggerated and key points get left out or changed. And that's where faith comes in. It takes faith to believe what we read in the bible. And I want people's faith to be in God's word and what He says. But the personal, relational level is where faith is often sparked. Through that direct witness story. Through that person who you know directly sharing what happened in and to them. That story that so personal that you can't discredit it, because it's their story. But because God did it for them, faith is sparked that He can do it for you too.
And so for me, that encourages me to share my story, to share other people's stories that I've seen first-hand, because it will spark faith in people for them to believe what God says in the Bible. But with it I carry a responsibility. To not be enslaved to making up the perfect stories to try and engineer faith, but to share real stories and trust that Holy Spirit can speak through them as they are. Because for me, what would be worse than people not coming to faith, is people's faith being shattered because I put too much emphasis in the power of my own story. That I tried to make it bigger than it was and cause people's faith to be built on my word and story instead of God's word, and the story He has written and chosen to be handed down to us. So share God's story from the Bible, and share your story, but don't get the priority of the two mixed up. Let them work together, to spark faith, to build faith, and to reveal God - who He is and what He can do - to others.
Like I said yesterday, what makes our stories powerful is what God has done in the stories. Why they are important and powerful to share with others is that they can take what God can do in theory, and spark a little bit of hope or faith in the people who are listening to believe that God can do it for them. While we can read what God has done in the Bible and believe it can happen for us too, the reality is that for a lot of people - in different times and situations, different experiences - the time and personal separation from those stories can make it too abstract to believe for today.
It's like the difference between someone sharing "my second cousin's wife's aunt saw this" as opposed to "I saw this myself". If I hear the first phrase then internally I'm listening with an air of scepticism...not because I don't believe it could have happened, or that they believe it did happen like that, but because I plainly don't trust stories passed along between that many people in our age - they always get exaggerated and key points get left out or changed. And that's where faith comes in. It takes faith to believe what we read in the bible. And I want people's faith to be in God's word and what He says. But the personal, relational level is where faith is often sparked. Through that direct witness story. Through that person who you know directly sharing what happened in and to them. That story that so personal that you can't discredit it, because it's their story. But because God did it for them, faith is sparked that He can do it for you too.
And so for me, that encourages me to share my story, to share other people's stories that I've seen first-hand, because it will spark faith in people for them to believe what God says in the Bible. But with it I carry a responsibility. To not be enslaved to making up the perfect stories to try and engineer faith, but to share real stories and trust that Holy Spirit can speak through them as they are. Because for me, what would be worse than people not coming to faith, is people's faith being shattered because I put too much emphasis in the power of my own story. That I tried to make it bigger than it was and cause people's faith to be built on my word and story instead of God's word, and the story He has written and chosen to be handed down to us. So share God's story from the Bible, and share your story, but don't get the priority of the two mixed up. Let them work together, to spark faith, to build faith, and to reveal God - who He is and what He can do - to others.