And that has made all the difference. –Robert Frost
Frost talked about two roads. The Psalmist talked about two realities: a tree and chaff. Personalize this as a prayer. Put your name in the blanks:
Blessed is _____________ who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his (or her) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he (or she) meditates day and night. ___________ is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that __________ does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)
If you do not know Christ, or if you’re living your life by your plan, not God’s, fill your name in these blanks:
The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore _________________ will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of ___________ will perish. (Psalm 1:4-6 ESV)
Wonder with me what would happen this Sunday in churches across our troubled, needy world if…
The people gathered as one man And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. (Nehemiah 8:1a) What if the rich and poor, black and white, educated and uneducated, healthy and unhealthy, grieving and rejoicing, Republican and Democrat, simple and wise, came together laying aside all differences. What if no one noticed clothes or cars, skin color or diplomas earned, political affiliation or personal taste. What if God’s people Sunday gathered with no distinction except for being the people of God.
The people had one desire And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. (Nehemiah 8:1b) 45,000+ people gathered with one request of Ezra, their priest and scribe. Bring out the book! They wanted to hear from God. This marked a significant departure from Israel’s normal form of worship. Prior to this, their focus was on the temple with its grandeur and glory. Though the temple had been rebuilt, it wasn’t near as grand nor glorious as it once was. Their attention now turned to the Book, God’s law he had given them through Moses.
So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. (Nehemiah 8:1-3 ESV)
The people had one responseAnd Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. (Nehemiah 8:5-6 ESV) They worshiped God. When they heard the words of God, they worshiped God. They didn’t look at their watches, play games on their smart phones, wonder where their neighbor bought the outfit they were wearing. They fell on their faces in awe of reverence of their great God. They worshiped the God of the book.
I wonder what would happen this Sunday if people showed up as one man with one desire and one response.
And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. (Nehemiah 8:4 ESV)
The returned exiles built a platform so that their pastor/scribe could climb it, open the scroll of God’s law, and read it. They made it for that purpose.
It’s Monday. The week is young, the weekend is over. You’re back in the swing of things. Before the week begins, grab a hammer and some nails and build God a platform to reveal Himself to you through His Word. You won’t need a real hammer–nails won’t help either. Here are the materials and tools you need:
An open heart. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things from your law. Psalm 119:18
An open schedule. My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9 ESV)
God’s Word. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. (Psalm 119:9 ESV)
From The Valley of Vision (page 350-351)…a prayer thanking God for His word…
O God of Love
I approach you with encouragements derived from your character, for I am not left to feel after you in the darkness of my nature, nor to worship you as the unknown God. I cannot find out your perfections, but I know you are good, ready to forgive, plenteous in mercy.
You have displayed your wisdom, power and goodness in all your works, and have revealed your will in the Scripture of truth. You have caused it to be preserved, translated, published, multiplied, so that all men may possess it and find you in it.
Here I see your greatness and your grace, your pity and your rectitude, your mercy and your truth, your being and men’s hearts; through it you have magnified your name, and favored mankind with the gospel.
Have mercy on me, for I have ungratefully received your benefits, little improved my privileges, made light of spiritual things, disregarded your messages, contended with examples of the good, rebukes of conscience, admonitions of friends, leadings of providence.
I deserve that your kingdom be taken away from me.
Lord, I confess my sin with feeling, lamentation, a broken heart, a contrite spirit, self-abhorrence, self-condemnation, self-despair.
Give me relief by Jesus my hope, faith in his name of Savior, forgiveness by his blood, strength by his presence, holiness by his Spirit: and let me love you with all my heart.
My first semester of undergrad I was taking the introduction class for a degree in communication studies. The professor of this class was a highly educated man who spoke convincingly. He had the ability to teach and communicate ideas unlike any I had ever heard.
Unknown to me at the time of my class he was also a secular humanist with no belief or regard for God and His Word. Throughout the semester he would teach and toss out these highly educated reasons for why humans have the innate ability to achieve anything we would like to and how we have lost the need for God in our society. He concluded that the Bible is unnecessary especially because he presented it as a fabricated book of myths that have evolved over the centuries.
Needless to say, at first I disagreed. I had been raised to believe the Bible was God’s Word and entirely true, but no one had ever told me why. On the other hand my professor had many reasons as to why he believed Scripture was not truly the words of Almighty God. Over the course of the semester and many personal conversations, my trust in the validity and accuracy of the Bible began to disintegrate one class period at a time.
For a several months I battled with the notion of the inaccuracy of scripture. If Scripture is inaccurate I thought, then how could the story of Jesus be true? And if I can’t trust the story of Jesus to be true, my faith is gone. As a college student battling with whether or not to believe the words of Scripture, God opened my eyes in a gloriously transformative way. Around the end of the semester I was reading in 1 Corinthians 15 (also known as the resurrection chapter), and I remember reading the first 11 verses when I came across something. Paul wrote,
Christ died for our sins in accordance to the scriptures, he was buried and raised in accordance with the scriptures, and he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12, then to over 500 brothers, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Later in the passage Paul says Jesus appeared to him also. I remember thinking, “If Paul is writing to the Corinthians regarding the resurrection of Christ, and some doubt that it happened, he gives the doubters unbelievable confirmation of his word.” You see, when Paul said that Jesus appeared to him, anyone could say, “Oh it was just your imagination, you made that up.” But when Paul said that Jesus appeared to over 500 brothers, “most of whom are still alive” Paul was saying that if you do not believe what I’m saying, go ask other people who have experienced the same thing and they will tell you likewise. Therefore this confirmed Paul’s word that Jesus is alive “according to the Scriptures.”
Paul couldn’t be making up the story of the resurrection because if he was doing so, there were over 500 people to dispute him. He therefore puts himself on the line by saying, ‘If my testimony is untrue I’ll be called a liar; but what I’m saying is so true that I give you permission to go check me on it!’ It was in that moment where God restored my faith in His Word. Not only did Jesus come to earth, live, die, and raise from the dead according to the Old Testament; Paul could not have been lying because people would have called him out on it. God used the simple but intentional phrase, ‘most of whom are still alive’ to confirm in me the validity and truth of His Word.
I want to encourage you in two ways:
If you struggle to believe the validity of God’s Word, ask Him to show you how true it really is.
The Bible is so intentional that God wants His people to know the truth of His Word; He went to great lengths to ensure that you and I can trust Holy Scripture.
Dead Sea Scrolls, Oldest Copy of Scriptures Available, Discovered in 1947
Questions abound as to how we arrived with the 66 books of the Bible we have today. These are legitimate questions that deserve an answer. Because of human involvement often skeptics stumble over the accuracy and trustworthiness of Scripture. Wayne Grudem, in his condensed theology, Christian Beliefs (edited by his son Elliott) gives five steps in how God gave, and we receive, His Word.
In revelation, God reveals Himself. If God were to choose not to reveal Himself we would know little of him. There are two kinds of revelation: general and special revelation. In general revelation, God reveals himself through creation. In Romans 1:20, Paul writes, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (ESV);
Through inspiration, God the Holy Spirit moves through men to write God’s revelation of Himself down. This is special revelation–words that describe and reveal God. Peter writes: For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21 ESV) Paul adds: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)
Preservation is the process by which God protects His written message and enables it to be passed down from Moses (author of the first five books of the Bible) to John (author of Revelation). God worked faithfully to preserve a written record of his dealings with man. Preservation involves the process of canonization which we will deal with tomorrow in great detail. Peter explains: And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. (2 Peter 1:19-20 ESV) Peter’s point is that Scripture wasn’t contrived–it was engineered by God Himself. Jesus came as the fulfillment (day dawns and the morning star) of the Old Testament prophecy.
Interpretation gets the Bible into our own language. There are three kinds of copies of Scripture available today: literal, dynamic equivalent and paraphrases. Literal translations are word-for-word (KJV, NKJV, NAS, ESV). Dynamic equivalent translations are thought for thought translations, making them easier to read (NIV, NLT). Paraphrases are not considered to be translations and heavily depend on someone’s interpretation (The Living Bible, The Message).
When you read and study Scripture, the Holy Spirit illuminates it, enabling you to understand. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible which includes a reference to Scripture in every verse, has this prayer: Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. (Psalm 119:18 ESV) Unless the Holy Spirit illuminates God’s Word we will be blind and void of understanding.
What should you do with all of this information? Simply put, read God’s Word! Take time today to jump into this precious gift called the Word of God.
Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:12-13 ESV)
Psalm 19 explains the essence and the effect of God’s Word. God’s word is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean and true. Verses 12-13 show how God’s word has a laser like effect on our hearts. We are prone to deceive ourselves, to convince ourselves that what we’re doing is okay.
David asks the question: Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults? The writer of Hebrews answers that question in 4:12-13:
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 ESV)
God’s word unveils and reveals two kinds of sin: hidden faults and presumptuous sins. Hidden faults are those things we easily miss, sins of attitude that work beneath the surface. God’s Word pierces to the division of soul and spirit and judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God’s word also addresses presumptuous sins–the sins we commit and we know we’re doing them. David writes: keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.
How do you practically confront hidden and obvious sins? David answers that in Psalm 119:11:
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11 ESV)
This week we’ll look at different ways to get God’s Word into you…and none of them will work if you don’t get yourself into God’s Word. I can’t wait to see how God is going to rock your world!
And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. (Luke 24:17-20 ESV)
Jesus approached these two forlorn disciples on a long road back from what they thought was a failed mission. Their fearless leader had succumbed to the Jewish religious hierarchy and the cruel Roman torture called crucifixion. When Jesus found them, they stood still, looking sad. You can hear the biting sarcasm in Cleopas’ statement: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
He played ignorant. Jesus played ignorant! “What things?” he asked. Their answer to his question revealed the source of their disillusionment. Dictionary.com defines disillusionment as: disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be. They answered, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people…”
They were disillusioned because they expected too little, not too much! They thought of Jesus as a prophet, not the Prophet; as one who prophesied before God not as God. They were deceived by their low, incomplete view of Jesus.
What are your expectations of Jesus? Is it possible that His greatest accomplishment has fallen to the bottom of your list of expectations of him? Are you disappointed because the healing didn’t come you prayed for, someone else got the job you prayed for, the relationship you prayed for ended in an ugly breakup? I am not trying to diminish your suffering. I only encourage you to see Jesus for who He is, not who He isn’t. Paul had this in mind when he wrote:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32 ESV)
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. (Luke 24:13-16 ESV)
“That very day” was the day of the resurrection. These disciples of Jesus had entered Jerusalem a few days earlier excited about following him. Now they left disillusioned and feeling abandoned. This Jesus they had followed was dead and they did not know what to make of it. They had not heard that Jesus was alive.
They were engrossed in a conversation when Jesus approached them. But something interesting happened. Their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Have you ever wondered why? Here’s why I think this happened. (This is my opinion…and we’ll explore it throughout the rest of the week). Jesus had some things to teach them. If they had recognized him, they never would have listened to him. They would have been so excited to see him that his physical presence would have overcome their ability to listen.
And this makes me wonder. When it seems that God is silent, that Jesus is distant, could it be that he’s closer than we think? Is it possible that he’s teaching us in his very own words and our “eyes are kept from recognizing him?” Don’t be thrown off by Jesus’s apparent silence. After all he promised “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5b)
The people gathered as one man And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. (Nehemiah 8:1a) What if the rich and poor, black and white, educated and uneducated, healthy and unhealthy, grieving and rejoicing, Republican and Democrat, simple and wise, came together laying aside all differences. What if no one noticed clothes or cars, skin color or diplomas earned, political affiliation or personal taste. What if God’s people Sunday gathered with no distinction except for being the people of God.
Enough for Today 