An Everlasting Feast

After preparing messages for the weekend, I was absolutely overcome by the goodness and grace of God.  The more I study the Word of God, the more I realise how living and powerful it is.  Like the widow's supply of oil and meal in 1 Kings 17, it is an inexhaustible source of life-saving goodness.  God's Word is so vivid and exciting.  Unlike novels which are quickly consumed and forgotten, the words of scripture have a mind-transforming, life-rejuvenating effect.  One would think that after 670 posts to this blog I would have little new to write about, but I feel like there is more fresh material available than ever.  That's a wonderful thing about God:  He makes all things new.  The Word itself is unalterable, but He gives us fresh manna and perspective through it.  Even the most well-traveled passages never lose their rich lustre.

The great irony is that when I consider what to post or how to preach from a text I feel I have nothing to offer.  I cannot tell you how many times I have read a passage and had absolutely no clue what it meant or how it could apply to my life or others.  Yet God is faithful.  I rejoice to have a first-hand view of coming to the scripture with empty hands and an open heart and walking away full and satisfied, almost with a dazed euphoria from the spiritual meal graciously provided by God.  When I approach scripture content with my current understanding I do not learn much.  It is when I confess my lack then God richly supplies my needs and allows me to share with others.

The role of a pastor is not to stand before the people and simply share information he has gathered over years of study, or to share his own opinions concerning the meaning.  Preaching is more far reaching than that:  it is a child of God in faith holding forth what God declares for His people today.  By His grace God uses the foolishness of preaching (and sometimes even the particular vessel He chooses to use!) to reveal His truth with power.  When I printed out my message notes for this weekend, I must attribute all the good to the grace of God.  I simply shake my head when I consider how empty I was and how richly God supplied me with His fullness.  People who only read posts or listen to sermons don't see the whole picture.  God uses even the process to accomplish His ends in and through His people.

Do not lean on your own understanding, nor rush to your notes or commentaries when it is the Holy Spirit who has been sent to teach you and lead you into all wisdom and understanding.  Helps have their place, but they are no substitute for the Helper.  Day by day gather up the fresh Manna as you commune with the Living Bread who has come down from heaven, died, and has been raised victorious and glorified.  Let us not be content with the scraps that fall from the plates of others when God has a seat for you at His table!