{"id":43297,"date":"2012-10-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/we-cant-understand-story-apart-from-context\/"},"modified":"2012-10-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T00:00:00","slug":"we-cant-understand-story-apart-from-context","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/we-cant-understand-story-apart-from-context\/","title":{"rendered":"We Can’t Understand a Story apart from the Context"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor's Note: The following illustration from the book Fill These Hearts<\/em><\/a> shows the need to put the Bible or theological statements into their proper context or framework. (There are also some other preaching angles below.) Once you understand the context, everything else falls into place and makes sense. For this illustration, read the following paragraph and ask people if it makes sense.<\/p>\n\n

\n

A seashore is a better place than the street because you need lots of room. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill, but it is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Birds seldom get too close. If there are no snags it can be very peaceful. But if it breaks loose, you won't get another chance.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Without any context to frame the sentences, this paragraph doesn't make any sense. Now let me read it again, but this time let me provide some context—a one-word frame or interpretive key. The one word is kite<\/em>. Now see if it makes sense:<\/p>\n\n

\n

A seashore is a better place than the street because you need lots of room. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill, but it is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Birds seldom get too close. If there are no snags it can be very peaceful. But if it breaks loose, you won't get another chance.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

The context helps the paragraph make sense. In the same way, when it comes to the Bible (or theology, or Christianity, or the gospel), once you have the context or the framework, all of the details start to fall into place.<\/p>\n\n

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Theology, Doctrine, Scripture<\/strong>—In order to understand Scripture or key doctrines of the Christian faith, we need to understand the context first. (2) Jesus Christ<\/strong>—For Christians, Jesus is the "kite" of our story. He is the "interpretive key" to our faith, the one who shows us the true nature of God. (3) Love for God and others<\/strong>—In Christian ethics, love holds every other commandment together. Once we grasp that love is the framework, the interpretive key, for how we should relate to God and others, everything else about God and others falls into place.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3485,3487,3582,3825,4273,4293,4395,4403,4672,4893,5154,5212,5291],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-43297","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-bible","tax_ctp_tags-bible-reading","tax_ctp_tags-christ-one-with-the-father","tax_ctp_tags-doctrine","tax_ctp_tags-interpretation","tax_ctp_tags-jesus-christ","tax_ctp_tags-love","tax_ctp_tags-loving-others","tax_ctp_tags-power-of-love","tax_ctp_tags-scripture","tax_ctp_tags-theology","tax_ctp_tags-uniqueness-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-word-of-god"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nWe Can't Understand a Story apart from the Context - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/we-cant-understand-story-apart-from-context\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We Can't Understand a Story apart from the Context - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editor's Note: The following illustration from the book Fill These Hearts shows the need to put the Bible or theological statements into their proper context or framework. 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