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History
and the Gospel
"The student of the New
Testament should be primarily an historian. The centre
and core of all the Bible is history. Everything else
that the Bible contains is fitted into an historical framework
and leads up to an historical climax. The Bible is primarily
a record of events... ..Give up history, and you can retain
some things...But be perfectly clear about one point--you
can never retain a gospel. For gospel means 'good news',
tidings, information about something that has happened.
In other words, it means history. A gospel independent
of history is simply a contradiction in terms."
J. Gresham Machen
History and Faith
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A
True Pastor's Heart
The
following letter was located recently among some of the unprocessed
papers of Dr. Robert G. Rayburn. In the face of his
own battle with cancer, he wrote in 1976 to minister to a
young man in his congregation whose faith was under attack:
Dear Tom:
I have learned from your mother that you feel that God has
done something wrong in allowing me to have the serious physical
problem which is facing me at the present time, but I want
to assure you, Tom, that you are mistaken in feeling
this way.
The Bible tells us that it is the mercy of God that we are
not consumed, and certainly when we understand the sinfulness
of our own hearts and realize how gracious God has been to
us in spite of our sin we have no grounds for complaining
against Him.
Since this cancer has been discovered in my body, I have felt
instead of resentment a real desire to glorify the Lord in
my illness.
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This
isn't easy to do, I know, and the natural inclinations to
be somewhat bitter rise in my heart; but God has given me
a wonderful peace about it through such verses as the one
in Romans 12 which tells us "Whom the Lord loves, He chastens."
I am taking this chastening as an evidence of God's love for
me. I hope you will accept it in the same way.
The Lord Jesus Christ is a great Saviour and He never fails
those who put their trust in Him. This is not a bluff!
It is reality.
Most sincerely,
Robert G.
Rayburn
[It completes the
story to know that Tom is now the Rev. Tom Ricks, pastor of
Greentree Community Church (EPC) in Kirkwood, MO.
He says Dr. Rayburn's letter greatly ministered to him at
the time and that the letter remains a cherished part of his
own files. The depth and reality of God's work
in Dr. Rayburn's life still speaks powerfully through this
letter.]
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Letter
#2: Why Your History is Important
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Our second
letter uncovered was written by Jane Mills Burk who has faithfully
served for many years as Historian at the Plains Presbyterian
Church, Zachary, LA..
Writing in 1986, she eloquently sums up the reasons for and
the usefulness of church history:
"As
I began to think
I realized that God Himself is the greatest historian and
that the local church history is part of His plan. It
in fact proves that God is working in the
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world
today through the church people, both past and present.
We simply can not escape from History nor do I want to.
As David said in Psalm 16:6, "Indeed my heritage is beautiful
to me." David's delight was not only in God, but in
God's people and so I write about what God's people are doing.
Each time I go back into the past of some of those who so
faithfully served their Lord here at the Plains Church, my
faith
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