What is the Point?

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us ... The gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most (important) fact about any man is not what he at any given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God."

AW Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy

It seems like the most basic of questions. And yet, it's so easily missed.

Here it is: who (or what) is the Bible really about? Other ways to ask it ...

• What (or who) is the main subject of the Bible?
• What (or who) should be the center of attention?
• When we spend time in God's Word (either personal, group Bible study, sitting under preaching), with what should our minds & hearts be occupied?
• What is the point of the Bible?

I admit it - over the years I have found it so easy to make the Bible all about ... me! As I look back, I often labored under the misguided thinking that the point of the Bible was to help me understand me. My motivations, my fears, my dreams, my efforts to please and honor and serve God. I mean, after all, doesn't God exist to help me?!

This pattern was exposed when I would focus on these questions:

1. What does this passage mean to you?
2. How does this verse help you understand yourself more?
3. What do you need to, how do you need to change, how do you need to grow?

Note the repeated word(s)?!

Now, in one sense there's nothing "wrong" with these questions. In fact, rightly understood, they are helpful! But ... it's easy to put the cart before the horse.

You see, over time the Bible became less the self-revelation of God, and more the personal revelation of me. No wonder the lion of God's Word remained leashed!

"There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God."

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

Isn't that amazing, and refreshing? The point of God's Word is ... God! The focus of God's Word is God! Its His book. He's the point!

So, let me ask you: when you spend time in God's Word, who are you more conscious of - you or God? When those under your care spend time in God's Word, who are they focused on - themselves or God? Who are they more inclined to rest on & trust in - themselves or God?

The most vital question that needs to be answered is, "Who is God?" Without a correct answer to that question, everything else is off balance.

All that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God's works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God... The beams of glory come from God, and are something of God and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole is of God, and in God, and to God, and God is the beginning, middle and end in this affair.

Jonathan Edwards

The Dissertation Concerning the End For Which God Created the World

But ... how do we do this? How do we expose God as we read, teach, and preach the Bible? How do we shepherd in such a way that others rest on God more firmly, trust in God more fully, and fall in love with Him more completely?

In other words, how can we make sure that our ministry in the Bible is really all about Him?

Let's consider that in next week's post.

Until then, consider this: what's more pressing on your mind - your self-knowledge, or your God-knowledge?

Simply Powerful

"I opposed (many things), but never by force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friend Philip ... (the Word worked) ... never a prince or emperor did such damage. I did nothing. The Word did it all."

Martin Luther

I remember being taught, at a young age, that the pen was mightier than the sword. Honestly, it was hard for me to believe. How could an implement of scholars & students surpass the weapon of a warrior?

And then I grew up.

I discovered that, throughout history, words have toppled nations, inspired armies, and propelled movements. Like many of you, I have experienced the devastation of harsh condemnation, the soothing comfort of gentle encouragement, and the arresting honesty of a timely rebuke. The "innocent" childhood chant, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me", was unmasked as a dangerous deception. 

Yes, words are powerful.

But ... it gets even better!

The Bible says that though words are unbelievably powerful ('The tongue has the power of life & death', Proverbs 18.21), there is one "word" whose power surpasses all other words. 

• This "word" can not only topple nations, it can invade & conquer hearts (2 Timothy 3. 14-17; Psalm 19. 7-9). 
• This "word" can not only change thoughts, it can transform motivations, passions, and desires (1 Peter 1.22-25). 
• This "word" can not only enable us to understand the world, but it actually understands us! Like a mirror, it reflects back to us an accurate self-portrait (see James 1. 22-25).

This "word" is the Word of God.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4. 12-13

This is why the goal of any preacher or teacher of God's Word, any Bible study leader, any discipler or mentor or counselor, any parent or spouse or friend is ... to unleash the Word of God.  To draw people's gaze back to God's Word. To focus their attention on the living Word of God. 

This goes beyond merely inspiring people with Christian slogans. This is more than dishing out pop psychology with some Christian phrases added for flavor. This is light years away from sharing our thoughts & experiences and hoping they "work."

After people spend time with you, or your ministry, what do they remember - your words and thoughts, or God's Word and His thoughts?

God's Word. Simply powerful.

Short, Sweet, and to the Point

I made this letter very long, because I did not have the time to make it short.

Blaise Pascal

I was always told, "Say what you mean, and mean what you say." In other words, figure out what you want to say, and say it.

Sounds simple, right? With preaching and teaching God's Word, though, I have found it an enormous struggle.

When a passage is unclear to me, I often respond by piling on words. I figure if I talk more, the meaning will eventually become clear. Right? Wrong! I have found over the years that the more I say, the less people actually remember. You see, it is true - a mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew!

The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?

Ecclesiastes 6. 11 (NIV)

I have found two helpful practices for me as I strive for clarity: 

1. Summarize the point of my study/passage/sermon in one sentence. If I can't, no one else will be able to either!  
2. Once I have all my notes completed, go back and remove 25% of what I've written. Honestly, I usually find that I didn't actually need them.

James Ussher, archbishop of the Church of Ireland in the mid-1600's, wrote,

"To make easy things seem hard is easy, 

but to make hard things easy is the office of a great preacher."

Clarity. Being clear. Explaining a passage in a way that is true to the text, winsome to the ear, and memorable to the mind. 

Let's put in the hard work of understanding a text to enable others to understand what is being said. Let's strive for clarity.

You know what I mean?!

 

A Straight Drive

"... preaching the gospel is much more difficult than it looks. It's like hitting a straight drive on the golf course. We try to hit it straight, but the ball is always hooking into the rough of legalism, or disappearing into the pond of powerless, feel-good license."

Saving Eutychus: How to Preach God's Word and Keep People Awake 

(Millar & Campbell, p. 78)

It has been widely claimed that Martin Luther once described Christians as drunks trying to get on their horses - they were always falling off one side or the other! What may be true with respect to mounting a horse is undoubtedly true in preaching and teaching God's Word.

The two sides of ministering God's Word are clear - first, we are called to preach the completed, redemptive work of what Jesus has done; and, second, we are called to issue a winsome, passionate appeal to what must be done in response to Jesus' work. Paul summarized it well ...

"... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, 

both to will and to work for His good pleasure." 

Philippians 2.12-13

Consider Oswald Chamber's insightful comment on this passage, recorded in My Utmost for His Highest ...

"With focused attention and great care, you have to 'work out' what God 'works in' you— not work to accomplish or earn 'your own salvation,' but work it out so you will exhibit the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith on the complete and perfect redemption of the Lord." 

Makes sense. I agree! But ... it's so easy to veer off course, isn't it? It's startlingly easy to have people leave their time in the Word either despairing of hope, or brimming with self-confidence. 

So, what does a straight drive look like?

A true ministry of the gospel will leave people encouraged, not crushed. They will be energized by joy, and not burdened with guilt. They will love Jesus more, and their own righteousness less.

Does our preaching and teaching incline others toward a greater affection for Jesus, or a greater focus on their own performance? Are they resolved to "try harder"? Or do they sense a deeper need to grab hold of the grace of God in the person and work of Jesus as their only hope?

A straight drive? Hard to hit on a golf course! But, by the grace of God, this is our aim in preaching & teaching God's Word.

Only One Sermon

"It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story (the story of Jesus). Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle - a piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture." 

Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible

I was once "accused" of only ever preaching one sermon. Guilty as charged! In fact, as I look back upon all the sermons I have ever preached, all the Bible studies I have ever led, all the talks I have ever give, I can say this with absolute certainty - the "best" ones were the ones that focused on Jesus (His person, His work of redemption, His perfect life, His atoning death, His transforming power, etc.) 

You see, no matter where you go in the Bible, Jesus is there! He hovers behind David as the newly anointed king of Israel defeats Goliath, pointing forward to His own death on the field of battle to save His enemies from sin and death. Jesus looms large in the story of Esther, as the queen petitions the king to spare her people, reminding us of His own work interceding before God as our advocate and substitute. Jesus is foreshadowed as Nehemiah builds a wall around Jerusalem to protect her from her enemies, recalling to mind Jesus' own promise to build His kingdom, such that the gates of Hell would never prevail against it (Matthew 16.18).

The examples go on, and on, and on ... Jesus gave us the framework for all of our preaching & teaching in Luke 24:

²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Only one sermon. Yes. And proud of it. In fact, God only has one sermon, and He takes the whole Bible to tell it. Its the story of Jesus, who has come to rescue and redeem a rebellious people to bring them back to God.

Let's commit to teaching and preaching the one sermon of Jesus!