Finishing God's Sentences

During a church service recently, I was disappointed with the pastor's handling of scripture.  He began his sermon reading carefully through his notes, and it was 20 minutes into the message before he made the first (yet veiled!) scriptural reference.  When he finally did reference a scripture, a power-point presentation displayed the scripture behind him on the wall.  Some of the verses from the Bible he read through all the way, but on two of the longer passages the reading was prefaced with, "You all know this..." and then he proceeded to skim the portion, not reading verbatim or entirely.  But do we know these verses, pastor?  We might have heard it before, but do we understand it?  Do we live in complete submission to the Word, or do we skip a little, and finish the scripture with "blah blah blah?"  There was a hint of apology in his voice which said,  "I'm sorry this isn't as interesting as what I have to say."  He didn't summarize his sermon--just the scriptures scavenged to prop it up.

I am certainly not perfect, for I have been guilty of skimming through verses to read the commentary following.  The pastor's mashing of familiarity with understanding and equating it to personal practice is common for believers.  We think because we've heard it, we know it.  If we know it, we must understand it, right?  Of course not!  I can hear people speak in a foreign language and perhaps mimic what I heard back to them, but it is not with understanding.  I have successfully answered countless math problems in high school and college that I didn't understand.  I had no comprehension of the fundamental concepts of how or why the process worked.  I couldn't explain it!  But like a monkey wearing clothes and riding a pushbike as he had been trained, I copied the process.  It should be no wonder a sermon lacks power when we skim over the Word of God which is the employed by the Holy Spirit to be fruitful in our lives.

A habit I find repulsive (because I used to do it, of course!) is when people finish sentences for others.  If I sense someone is going to finish a sentences for me I will pause, and then say something different from what was said by my assuming friend.  It's how I work on my vocabulary!  If we can predict the words of our fellow believers, it follows Christians can get into the habit of doing the unthinkable:  finishing God's sentences.  Go to any church service on a Sunday (and I have been guilty, absolutely) and observe as the pastor reads a familiar passage.  Hushed throughout the sanctuary people can be heard finishing the passage under their breath before the preacher  Perhaps out of habit, perhaps to show their Bible mastery, people parrot the Word of God as if they are repeating lines from a movie.  When we finish God's sentences, we rob ourselves of the ability to hear God speak because we have stopped listening.

The same problem can be seen among familiar stories in scripture.  Because we've heard the story, we think we know all there is to know about it.  Last night in Bible study we talked about when the paralytic was lowered through the roof and was healed by Jesus.  You may not have considered it, but how do you think the falling debris and rubble affected the meeting inside?  As Jesus preached, there was loud scuffling and hammering sounds on the roof.  As dust began to rain down, a bang revealed a patch of sunlight through swirling dust as the hole grew wider and wider.  Bit by bit roofing material was pulled away and more dirt dropped down on the occupants.  Once the hole became large, a body was lowered down through the hole.  The meeting was officially disrupted by a paralyzed man suspended in air.  Then Jesus spoke.  What did He say?  I wonder if you can remember what He says.  What He says is not what I would expect to hear!  If the suspense is killing you, read the whole story in Mark chapter 2.

My prayer is this post would radically change the way you read the Word of God.  It should not to be handled casually, like fiction novels, movies, or a video game.  Every word is loaded with significance.  We cannot afford to take anything God has preserved for us in His Word for granted.  We must read critically:  not to criticize, but to carefully mull over every detail and apply the lessons personally.  How many times have we been guilty of reading, not understanding, but continuing on?  We are the loser!  Remember how many times the disciples came to Jesus to ask Him to explain what He was talking about?  I wonder if we are willing to humble ourselves and do the same.  Listen to the words of Christ to His disciples in Luke 8:10: "And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'"  To us it has been given!  But many have not received.

To comprehend God's Word, we need God to teach us.  Luke 24:45 tells us that Jesus explained the Word "And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures".  He has granted us the Holy Spirit, who will guide us into all truth.  But as long as we are convinced we know we will remain ignorant.  Oh that God would unveil His truth before my eyes!  May all pride and arrogance due to familiarity be crucified with Christ, that I might humbly receive the crumbs from His table!  We need not beg when our God has a seat for us reserved at His table spread with a banquet.  I tell you the truth:  those who are in the habit of finishing God's sentences remain spiritually starved and wonder why they even bother to open the Bible.

I praise God that we can familiarize ourselves with something so precious as God's Word.  We can hold it in our hands and learn truths that we do not deserve to utter, much less realize!  We can think about it all the day, and read it upon our beds at night.  But may it never, ever, become familiar to us.  May we never lose the wonder, excitement, and power of God in His Word.  One would never expect to see nuggets of gold lying in the street.  We must dig for them, and God will show us how to mine His truth.  It is more precious than the universe itself, for God's Word shall never pass away.

Insurance or Assurance?

More and more these days, insurance is a prime topic of discussion.  Medical insurance reform has been a hot topic in the States for years.  Emotions run high as people raise concerns about how reform might work against their personal and family needs.  No one minds "reform" as long it conforms to our benefit.  It struck me today that man can only provide insurance, not assurance.  People are willing to sell you an insurance policy for a premium cost, but that does not change the uncertainty of the future.  A man might have millions in his retirement accounts, but that doesn't mean he will be able to use it!  There is no insurance that can cover a man's soul.  All the insurance in the world cannot assure you of your stake in the future.  In fact, when we purchase insurance we bank on things going wrong!

By this introduction I am not saying that insurance is without value, or that it reveals a lack of faith and inherent weakness.  What I am saying is insurance has no ability to control your future.  It simply gives you help during your uncertain future.  You might be dumped the first time you make a claim on your homeowners insurance, or you might have a rate increase in your car insurance premium if you have an accident.  Medical costs may be denied if your insurer can prove you had a pre-existing condition, or if you do not report an injury according to their policy.  Insurance doesn't stop your water heater from flooding your home, stop car accidents from happening, or keep you from cancer.

One of the aspects I love most about God is that He gives assurance to all who trust in Him:  assurance of love, forgiveness, peace, strength, and provision.  God does not offer insurance, because that is based on merit.  God offers assurance by His grace.  Isaiah 32:17 says, "The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."  The original Hebrew word for "assurance" in this passage defined in the Bible Knowledge Commentary is "a place of refuge; abstract safety, both the fact (security) and the feeling (trust)."  We receive the righteousness of God through confession of sin, repentance, and through faith in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit regenerates us to live for the glory and praise of God.  A bi-product of this relationship with God is peace and an eternal refuge in our Savior.  Assurance speaks of unshakable security, an eternally binding covenant signed with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Listen to these quotes of Christ:  in John 3:3 "Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Also in John 5:24:  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."  John 6:47 states, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."  The assurance of God is better than the insurance of men.  But which do you rely upon more?  Most times man will only receive the assurance of God when he is left without other options.  We are quick to look to our own abilities, and breathe easier when insured.  But insurance is no substitute for assurance from God.  It is God who has granted us breath, and only He has the power to save!

God has not only given assurance to the believer, however.  It is written in Acts 17:30-31:  "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, [31] because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."  The word translated "assurance" from the Greek in this passage means, "persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstract constancy in such profession."  What more does God need to do to persuade men to live for His glory?  Is He not trustworthy?  Should the commands of God be ignored by any, seeing as He has provided credibility of His Word through the resurrection of Christ?

The world may look upon followers of Christ with pity, seeing them as small-minded fools who are not capable of rational thought.  To the contrary:  it is better to trust God than men.  It would be better to be a fool for Christ and go to hell than to reject Christ and live forever on earth, for Christ is true, worthy, and right.  Has He not given assurance according to the power of His resurrection?  Has He not said, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20)?  Speaking for myself, I would rather be in the presence of God in hell than without God upon the earth.  Psalm 37:16 says, "A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked."  Jesus says that it is the Father's good pleasure to give us (His faithful children) the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

Let us no longer be afraid of the uncertainly of this word, for we have the certain promises of God.  In my devotions this morning I read in 2 Tim. 1:6-7:  "Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. [7] For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  May we walk in assurance of all that God has said, our confidence founded in the good Word of God and His exceedingly precious promises.  We know that what He has promised He is able to perform.  Man does not need insurance for life, but God offers assurance for eternal life!  Our future is secure in Christ, and we have ample assurance of that!

Don't relax on the downhills!

When I ran cross country in high school, my strength was running uphill.  If we ran a course with hills, I would lean forward, push hard, and easily churn past struggling runners.  But the problem was, the weakest aspect of my running was the downhills!  I remember running the Mt. Sac Invitational, a course feared for some of the most hilly terrain in Southern California.  What I recall most is miserable dustiness of the first mile!.  There were parts of the course that even had nicknames ascribed to them, like the "Switchbacks" and "Poop Out Hill."  My final time running the race, I passed about 20 runners heading up "Reservoir Hill," the last hill before the finish.  Problem was, at least 10 of them ran past me on the downhill!

As I've been running up and down the roads and trails in Drewvale, I've had to maneuver plenty of hills.  Today during my run I thought about the downhills, how the temptation can be to take it easy.  It's tempting to relax on the downhills using gravity and not press forward with power from the legs.  When I push on the downhills I find I can run faster easier, and I arrive at my destination much faster.  I am able to cover more ground with less effort.  There's a spiritual application here, I thought to myself.  Maybe not the most profound spiritual truth, but a truth just the same.

Our daily schedules are often dictated by work and necessity.  If I need to be on the jobsite at 6:30am, I must get up early enough to pray, read the Word, brush my teeth, put on some clothes, and maybe eat breakfast.  Therefore I set my alarm for 5am.  But on Saturday when I'm not working, I forget the alarm and sleep until much later.  I have found that I must guard my evenings to have good mornings.  If I stay up until 1am, my morning devotional life with God suffers the next day.  When I don't wake up on a schedule, the day is well underway with the busyness of the home and family and spiritual matters are neglected.  We've all experienced this.  For me, times of vacation can be the worst for consistent times of devotion with God.  Because my schedule is not dictated, I stay up later, rise later, and miss time of fellowship with my heavenly Father.

I have now been in AUS for one month.  I have been one month without a schedule of when I need to rise and go to bed.  But I've been setting my alarm and trying to stay busy with prayer, personal devotion, this blog, and writing messages and studies.  Don't think that I'm a spiritual stud or anything, because I have certainly frittered time away with aimless conduct here and there.  But I am growing more sensitive to that wasted time.  It leaves me dissatisfied and more focused on doing better.

Right now I'm experiencing a downhill and my flesh wants to relax and take it easy.  "You won't be preaching for another two weeks...take a couple days off."  I could do that, and no one would know or likely care.  But I want to be further along in my spiritual progress when I reach the bottom of the next mountain that stands in my path.  I have found that it is easier to press a bit on the downhills than relying on gravity alone.  At least the same amount of physical effort and strain on my body is utilized in holding myself back than if I pressed the pace.

There was a brother a couple of years ago who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say to me, "You're holding back."  And you know, I was.  The Spirit impressed upon my heart the exact area that I was holding back in.  I ask you:  are you holding back?  Are you taking it easy on the downhills, relaxing your spiritual guard, and taking it easy when the going is smooth?  That is when we need to press the pace!  We treasure weekends and vacations:  how about giving them to God as well as your weekdays?  Will not be this sacrifice rewarded with communion and blessing from the Father?  Cannot God gird up the loins of your mind and strengthen you in your times of devotion?

There is a story in the Old Testament when the prophet Elijah outruns King Ahab in his chariot.  Elijah and King Ahab were both on Mount Carmel.  There had been no rain in Israel for over three years.  Elijah knew that rain was coming and told Ahab to prepare his chariot and ride.  1 Kings 18:46 reads, "Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel."  This reminds me of the question in Jeremiah 12:5:  "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?  And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?"  We cannot contend with horses or footmen without the power of God.  We can't make it through a workday or weekend without His spiritual sustenance.  Our God is able to empower us to push it on the downhills.

Maybe you "need" a certain amount of sleep now.  Is not our God able to strengthen you to function on less?  Ask God to wake you up!  Elijah was a man who knew God intimately.  He prayed and God answered.  He prayed that it would not rain and it did not.  He prayed for fire from heaven and it fell, consuming the sacrifice on Carmel.  God strengthened him to outrun Ahab's chariot, and God ushered him into the heavens in a whirlwind with chariots and horses of fire!  We seem to realize we need God's strength on the uphills, but forget to rely upon Him during the downhill stretch.  We need Him just the same!  Let Him strengthen you to explore new territory!  No matter the rise or fall in elevation of your course, ask God to elevate your walk.

Obeying God

One source of irritation in my life (besides house dust since I have an allergy) is when Christians look incredulously at the men and women of scripture and say, "How could they do that?  Where is their faith?"  I have witnessed people basically mock the failures of people in the Bible.  God did not give us their examples for us to mock them or boost our pride but to learn from them.  In every failure we can see our own foolishness.  Should Peter be made a laughing stock because he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink into stormy Sea of Galilee?  Should Gideon be chastised for not having the "faith" to meet the Midianites in battle without putting a fleece before the LORD not once but twice?  It is wise for us to shake our heads over Moses striking the rock and robbing God of glory, or scorn David for not only committing adultery with Bathsheba, and later ordering the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite?  We are not to condone these acts, but have not we all done things we do not condone ourselves?  Have we sinned any less than these men of God?

As children of Abraham through faith in Christ, we ought lead lives of obedience and faith in God alone.  Abraham had his faults to be sure, but there has not been an Abraham since.  Now there is a man that God called and he obeyed God.  That does not mean he was perfect.  God told Abraham to leave Haran and his father's house and go "unto a land that I will show you" (Gen. 12:1).  Abraham left his home, but he allowed his nephew Lot to travel with him (Gen. 12:4).  God knew that Abraham wasn't perfect.  God was seeking obedience and trust, not perfection.  God has the perfection bit covered, and we can receive of His righteousness through faith in Christ.

Abraham later instructed his wife Sarah to lie about being his wife to the Egyptians "that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee" (Gen. 12:11-13).  We are gracious to Abraham for this first lie, but bristle at the thought that he later fibbed again with Abimelech, telling him that Sarah was his sister but not his wife! (Gen. 20:2)  God does not apologize for Abraham's behavior when He came to Abimelech in a dream and said this in Genesis 20:6-7: "...I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. [7] Now therefore, restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."

Did you catch that?  Who would Abimelech have sinned against if he had touched Sarah?  Against God.  And who was the prophet that God had called out of Haran?  Abraham, the father of faith, one who was at times afraid (like us!), and sometimes unsure of what to do or say (like us!), and had the guts to do whatever God told him to do (usually unlike us!), even if it meant leaving home or slaughtering his only son as an offering to God.  God told Abraham to take his son Isaac, whom he loved dearly, climb a mountain God would reveal, and offer his son as a burnt offering to God (Gen. 22:2).  Put yourself in Abraham's shoes, an unenviable spot.  The Father assumed this same role in the sacrifice of His only begotten Son Jesus, but that's another sermon!  Can you believe that God had to stop Abraham from actually doing it?  Genesis 22:9-10 reads, "Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. [10] And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son."  Abraham had made up his mind to obey God:  in his mind, the deed was already done.  There was no "if" when he picked up the knife.  He picked it up to kill his son and planned on burning him to ash.  And it took the command of God to keep Abraham from following through.

Oh, to have such faith, to have such utter abandon of self and complete trust in God!  Before we judge the men and women of faith in the Bible harshly, know we only invite God to judge us with the same harshness!  Abraham would not be deterred from obeying God even if it meant separation, difficulty, pain, loss, or sorrow.  Romans 4:3 says, "For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."  Jesus says in Luke 18:7-8:  "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? [8] I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"  Don't be too quick to answer in the affirmative.  Never ASSUME you have faith.  If there is faith on the earth, Christ will find it.  The point of Christ's rhetorical question is so people would ask themselves, "Do I have faith?"

I am constantly battling the great advice of well-meaning people concerning my move and ministry in Australia:  who I should call, what I should do, where I should go.  The trouble is, a lot of what is being suggested by men has never been commanded by God.  It's very easy for us to point fingers and shake our heads and shrug shoulders over the Israelites unbelief in the wilderness, or the foibles of David and Peter.  But I ask you:  how much of what you do every day is strictly because God told you to do it?  A good portion of Abraham's life was Abraham doing what God told Him, like Moses, the prophets, and Jesus Himself.  Abraham was not called the father of faith because of his multitude of counselors, but because He obeyed the commands of the One True God.

Malachi 3:16 teaches us, "Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name."  We have our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life when we trust in Christ as Savior, and God also has a book of remembrance. Your name must be in the first book to grace the pages of the second.  If your life was to end today, what would be written in the second book?  Would it be written that you had faith in God, or you lived according to how others thought you should?  Instead of following the dictates of our flesh or the advice of those who seem to live other's lives so easily, let us follow Jesus Christ.  We may not be perfect, but we must be obedient to our LORD.