So What?

8-1-10
Ezra 9-10
Lesson 5a
"So What?"

One summer, I took a few college courses to try to get a some of the general type of classes out of the way. One of those was a general history course with an older professor. I was dreading it because I had never enjoyed history, and I found it to be boring and useless to my everyday or future life. On the first day of class, the professor walked into the room and said, "So what?" He told us a story about one of his history course final exams where his professor walked into the room and up to the board and wrote those two words, "So what?" As he gave us his introduction to the course, he interjected great moments of history and then would say, "So what?" He then would explain what we as a nation had learned from our past and quoted this phrase:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." by George Santayana

How true this statement is as I have matured and learned the importance of not only studying history out of the textbook, but God's story out of His book - the Holy Scriptures. So, with that said, I propose that to you, as well, "So what?"

So what - there were 3 sieges on Jerusalem from 605 to 586 BC
So what - there were 3 returns to Jerusalem between 536 to 445 BC
So what - it took them 20 years to rebuild the temple, though they only worked on it for six of those years
So what - they stopped for 14 years because of opposition, fear, lack of focus, self-absorbed with life
So what - Ezra set his heart to study the law and to practice and teach it
So what - Ezra respected the pagan authority over him, but was also able to do the will of God
So what - Ezra fasted and prayed before he set out on the 2nd return home
So what - God is sovereign over the hearts of pagan kings and also believers
So what - God was grieved when Israel had taken foreign pagan wives

I could go on and on, but if you cannot take these "so what" statements off the pages of both history and scripture into your life, I can assure you, you are doomed to repeat the past. And here lies the difference between the believer and the non-believer's heart, "I sin. I sin all I want to. I don't want to." by Adrian Rogers

As we hunger for spiritual food from the pages of His Word, we must take it from the page to the pavement of our lives. People do not care that you know all of those "so what" statements I wrote above. But... they do care when you can sit down with them, giving them hope of how they can re-build their temples. They do care when you can counsel them on the dangers of marrying a non-believer. They do listen when you can give them hope that God is in control of even their un-believing boss. Again, I could go on and on, but do you get the point? Can you say "so what" and answer that "so what" into your daily life and the lives of those around you? THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF BIBLE STUDY - TRANSFORMED LIVES! TRANSFORMATION NOT INFORMATION!

I was laughing when I got home yesterday about my "senior" moment about the Rahab and Ruth connection as in-laws. Does it matter that you now know they were mother and daughter in-law OR is it more important that you know that the Bible is filled with dysfunctional families, and that the lineage of Christ had not only contains gentile blood, but also a reformed harlot and a banned Moabite? God's grace is greater than all our sin; we need to understand that our knowledge of God's big story, His-story, is truly what will guide us to NOT repeat the sins of our past.

So, as we sturdy this wonderful historical narrative, we must always step back and ask ourselves - "So what?" What does this mean to me? How do I apply these truths about God and His ways to my life? Am I holy? Do I need to put way some foreign things from my life? Do I Respond or React when I am first confronted with disappointments in others? Have I "turned any sinners? toward or away from God? I have been changed by the knowledge and truth of His Word?" "So what?"

In the Name of our Lord of Hosts – the Sovereign Lord over all,