Considering Culture: The Water Faucet

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. -- Psalm 63:1-3

We live on a little blue dot hanging out in space called Earth. Astronomers tell us that, in all the known universe, our planet is unique in very important ways -- ways that sustain life as we know it. Sure, that notion has come under fire in recent years but, as of this moment in history, we have yet to discover a planet like ours. One of the most unique features about Earth is that it contains a vast supply of a life sustaining liquid known as water. That is also the reason our planet is a lovely blue. Over seventy-percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and our bodies are roughly sixty-percent water. Because water is essential for life as we know it, the equation is very simple: no water = no life.

So we are fortunate (to put it mildly) to live on this rare planet that can sustain life. Those of us who live in a developed country are doubly fortunate in that we have easy access to potable water. For much of human history the acquisition of safe drinking water was a formidable challenge, and it continues to be a challenge in underdeveloped regions of the world. According to the World Health Organization, eleven percent of the world’s population still lack reliable sources of safe drinking water. In terms of numbers, that represents almost 800 million people, a population more than double that of the United States. It also must be remembered that water is vital for our food supply and sanitation as well. When there is a crisis in the water supply, malnutrition and disease are sure to follow. 

If you're reading this, chances are you have never experienced life-threatening thirst and dehydration due to a lack of potable water. Those of us in the developed world have a constant, abundant, and convenient supply of water at our fingertips. (Even my parents didn't enjoy this level of luxury during their childhood.) Furthermore, if the bottled water industry is any indication, we've also become water connoisseurs. If tap water is not to our liking, we will buy our favorite "brand" of water in fancy plastic bottles and carry it around with us. People who are desperate for water are not concerned with such things.

As modern people, we have no idea what it is like to live under conditions in which water is hard to come by. Due to our effortless access to water, we hardly give it a thought. Consequently, the evocative power of a phrase from the Bible like living water is, to some degree, lost on us. But to an ancient people group that lived in the desert (people like the woman at the well), the phrase living water would have had an entirely different impact. They had a very keen sense of their dependence on water. That is something we lack because of the water faucet. 

Ancient cities were usually built around natural water sources. Although the ancient world had impressive aqueduct systems and a network of wells, it was still a lot of work for the average family to retrieve enough water for their daily needs. The acquisition of water occupied a great deal of their time, and it meant carrying heavy water jars to and from a well, or some other source of water. It was also common to mix water with wine as a disinfectant because, more often than not, water was unsafe to drink by itself.

How many hours of your day are occupied with retrieving and disinfecting water? I'm guessing none. To live in a modern culture, is to live in a state of comfort and luxury that would have been completely foreign to the ancient commoner.

When Jesus offered living water, He was making a powerful statement to people who were desperate for water. He was drawing an analogy between our physical need for water, and our spiritual need for Him. In the same way our bodies are dependent on water for physical life, we are dependent on Christ for spiritual life. Jesus is claiming that we are spiritually dead without Him. He is also claiming that, in the same way we are physically cleansed, refreshed and sustained by water, we are spiritually cleansed, refreshed and sustained by Him. Water is both a necessity and a deeply satisfying joy; there is no substitute. The same is true of Christ. Furthermore, Jesus didn’t only promise to give us living water, He promised to give us the very source of living water, the Holy Spirit.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. -- John 7:37-39

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Once again, I must borrow from C.S. Lewis with an excerpt from The Silver Chair (book #4 in the Narnia series). A little girl named Jill Pole had gotten herself into a bit of trouble, and she decided to run from Aslan, who is a Christ figure in the land of Narnia. Eventually Jill finds herself lost and thirsty, and despite her best efforts to avoid Aslan, she finds him waiting for her by a stream of water, his stream of water.

"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.

"I’m dying of thirst," said Jill.

"Then drink," said the Lion.  

"May I -- could I -- would you mind going away while I drink?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. As Jill gazed at this momentous bulk, she realized she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

"Will you promise not to do anything to me if I do come?" said Jill. 

“I make no promise," said the Lion.  

Jill was so thirsty that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer. "Do you eat girls?" she asked.  

“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings, emperors, cities, and realms," said the Lion. He didn’t say it as if he were boasting or as if he were sorry or as if he were angry. He just said it. 

"I dare not come and drink," said Jill. 

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion. 

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer." I suppose I must go look for another stream then." 

“There is no other stream," said the Lion. 

It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion -- no one who had ever seen his stern face could ever do that -- and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up the water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she ever tasted. You didn't need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once. 

So in this brief excerpt, we find Lewis depicting Christ as the great lion Aslan who offers Jill the only stream of water that will quench her thirst, and save her life. Christ extends that same offer to you and me.

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Water as Metaphor

There is another profound truth waiting to be discovered and it is this: The very reason water exists is to point us to Christ. Why do I believe that? Because Christ was slain from before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). When Christ used water as analogy for Himself, it was not an afterthought; it was according to the foreordained will of God. Nothing God does is an afterthought -- and all of creation, including water, sings to His glory. So the next time you enjoy your water faucet, a swim in a lake, or refreshing glass of ice water on a hot day, remember -- what water is to the body, Christ is to the soul. The equation is very simple: know Jesus = know Life.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. -- 1 John 5:12

What is the Bible Basically About?

Biblical Motifs: Living Water

(Note: This is part of an ongoing series that is best read in order. If you haven't already done so, you can read the previous posts here.)

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Last time during our Biblical Motifs series, we talked about how the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years after they left Egypt. During that time God supernaturally sustained them with manna, or bread, from heaven. And we saw that the manna was a type and shadow of Christ. This time, we are going to look at how God supernaturally provided Israel with water in the desert. And this provision is a recurring theme in Scripture that, once again, points us to Christ.

As you will recall, God delivered the Jews from their bondage in Egypt with a mighty display of power. Despite God's faithfulness, Israel had a stubborn tendency of rebellion, complaining and distrust toward God. Instead of trusting in the faithfulness of God, somehow they would come to resent the mercies of God and long for their days of slavery in Egypt. It came to the point that Moses would actually fear for his life.

Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”

So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?”

And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” -- Exodus 17:1-7 

God instructed Moses to strike the rock once, and water came gushing out of it -- water that would provide life for the people of Israel. We see a familiar foreshadow here -- once again, in the same way that the people grumbled and complained before Moses, they grumbled and complained against Christ, even as provision was being made for them.

Now let's take a look at what the Apostle Paul said about this same passage.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. -- 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

Here we learn that the rock Moses struck was another picture of Christ. When Moses struck the rock and water came gushing out, it was a picture of Christ's sacrificial death that gives life. Christ was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities -- in His death we have life. This theme of living water that Christ provides by His death is a frequent refrain in Scripture, both Old and New Testament. Here is a sample:

He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers. -- Psalms 78:15-16

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. -- Jeremiah 2:12-13

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. -- Isaiah 12:3

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. -- Isaiah 55:1

And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. -- Isaiah 58:11

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." -- John 4:10

And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. -- Revelation 21:6 

That brings us to our text this week in John 7.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" -- John 7:37-38

Even as officers stood ready to arrest Him, Jesus made a public spectacle of Himself with a loud and earnest cry for the thirsty to come and drink. No doubt, some stopped and listened, and some became angry, while others glibly passed by with complete indifference. The same is true today. The words of Christ have continued to ring in our ears for over two-thousand years, and they still elicit the same reaction.

Jesus made this proclamation during the Feast of Tabernacles in which water played a central role. This is how John MacArthur describes this event:

A tradition grew up in the few centuries before Jesus that on the 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles, a golden container filled with water from the pool of Siloam was carried in procession by the High-Priest back to the temple. As the procession came to the Watergate on the S side of the inner temple court, 3 trumpet blasts were made to mark the joy of the occasion and the people recited Is. 12:3, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." At the temple, while onlookers watched, the priests would march around the altar with the water container while the temple choir sang the Hallel (Pss. 113–118). The water was offered in sacrifice to God at the time of the morning sacrifice. The use of the water symbolized the blessing of adequate rainfall for crops. Jesus used this event as an object lesson and opportunity to make a very public invitation on the last day of the feast for His people to accept Him as the living water...

The significance of Jesus’ invitation centers in the fact that He was the fulfillment of all the Feast of Tabernacles anticipated, i.e., He was the One who provided the living water that gives eternal life to man.* 

What an amazing picture of how Christ beautifully fulfills the types and shadows in Scripture. I will close with one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It is a beautiful picture of a new heaven and a new earth, and the water of life that flows from God's throne. -- Selah

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. -- Revelation 22:1-2

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*The MacArthur Study Bible

Biblical Motifs: Bread from Heaven

(Note: We will be taking a look at several Biblical Motifs. If you haven't already done so, please read the introductory information on this subject before continuing.)

Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. -- Psalm 78:25

Do you remember The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston? I probably watched it just about every Easter Sunday as a child. As the story goes, the Jewish people labored under the oppression of the Egyptians until God sent them a deliverer. There were plagues and miracles that culminated with the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian Army. At the end of the movie, Moses was an old man and the Jewish people were set to enter the Promised Land -- and so the movie ended on a high note.

The Ten Commandments was loosely based on the second book of the Bible called Exodus, which means departure. Exodus is about the departure of the Jews from Egypt that took place roughly 1400 years before Christ. Obviously, you can't squeeze everything into a single movie, so they missed some key events from Scripture. What we didn't see depicted in the movie were the years that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. Because of sin and unbelief, God did not allow the older generation to enter the Promised Land. Consequently, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years until that generation died off.

So how did Israel survive as a nation in the harsh environment of a Middle Eastern desert for that length of time? Because God sustained and nourished them supernaturally with manna every morning. Manna was also known as bread from heaven (Exodus 16:4). Eventually, Israel would grow tired of manna and they would start to grumble and complain against God because of it (Numbers 11:4-6).

In addition to manna, bread is a recurring theme in Scripture, and it also played a central role in the Passover and Temple ceremonies. During the time of Christ, every good Jew would have been very familiar with these things.

It is into that setting Jesus came and claimed to be the true Bread from Heaven that gives eternal life (John 6:32-35). In fact, the very reason God gave the children of Israel manna in the first place was to foreshadow the coming of Jesus their Messiah, who would deliver them from their sins (John 6:47-51).

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." -- John 6:27 ESV

Manna serves as a type and shadow. Simply put, a type and shadow is anything from the Old Testament that points us to Christ. It might come in the form of a person, a thing, a ceremony or even an event. And God has given us many types and shadows (or "pictures") that point us to Christ.

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Even though they are separated by roughly 1400 years, notice how closely the events surrounding the manna in the Old Testament, and the events from John 6 in the New testament parallel each other. For example, in the Old Testament, when God miraculously provided manna for Israel, they grumbled and complained. Likewise, in John 6, Jesus miraculously fed thousands of people with the loaves and fishes, declared Himself to be the true bread from heaven, and they grumbled and complained once again (John 6:60-66). They grumbled against God's provision in the Old Testament, and they grumbled against Christ, the true bread from heaven, in the New Testament -- thus fulfilling the type and shadow.

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Jesus told us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread". Even today, bread is a type and shadow for a far greater spiritual reality that is intended to point us to Christ. Just as bread will sustain and nourish our physical bodies, Jesus is the true and only bread from heaven that can give us spiritual life and nourish our souls. If bread for the body is important, bread for the soul is of ultimate importance. Without bread or sustenance, the body will die; and apart from Christ, there is no life for the soul. In Christ we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:27-28). Not only are we dependent upon God for our daily physical sustenance, but for our daily spiritual sustenance as well. Christ pictured as the bread of life, is a recurring theme throughout Scripture.

 

Recovering the Awe

The Loss of Wonder

"He who is a stranger to wonder is a stranger to God, for God is wonderful everyway, and everywhere, and everyhow." -- C.H. Spurgeon 

Many years ago, my favorite television show was The Wonder Years. It was about the life and times of a young boy named Kevin Arnold and his journey to manhood. It told the bitter-sweet tale about coming of age and leaving childhood behind. Implicit in the show's title is the notion that childhood is a time full of wonder, but the day will inevitably come when that sense of wonder is lost forever. Although the story was fiction, it did what all good fiction does, it resonated with real life.

Bertrand Russell, near the end of his life, lamented his loss of wonder when he said, "There is darkness without and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendour, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."

Bertrand Russell was a brilliant and accomplished man. As an intellectual of the highest caliber, he wore many hats: a highly regarded historian, philosopher, logician, and mathematician. It should also be noted that Bertrand Russell was an atheist as well.

There was another brilliant man by the name of Charles Darwin who wrote about a similar loss of wonder in his autobiography. He wrote:

"Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds... gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare, especially in the historical plays… formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music… I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did… The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature."*

It should be noted that Charles Darwin, who popularized the theory of evolution, was also an atheist.

But would it surprise you to learn that we find similar sentiments expressed in Scripture? They were written by King Solomon who was one of the wisest men who ever lived. In the book of Ecclesiastes, it is evident that Solomon had experienced a loss of wonder as well:

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity [meaningless].-- Ecclesiastes 1:2

All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. -- Ecclesiastes 1:8-9

For what does a person receive for all his toil and in the longing of his heart with which he toils under the sun? All his days are painful, his labor brings grief, and his heart cannot rest at night. This also is vanity! -- Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

I share here only a brief portion of Ecclesiastes. But there is much cynicism and angst expressed throughout its twelve chapters. It should also be noted that, for a long period of time, Solomon lived in open rebellion against God.

Certainly, these noteworthy men are not alone in their loss of wonder. We all feel that same loss, to one degree or another. People have disappointed us, we have disappointed ourselves and others, and life has disappointed us. We tend to become more cynical and jaded with each passing year. In fact, this is often considered a mark of sophistication. We buy the t-shirt that says, "Been there, done that" and grow old. There is nothing left to impress, nothing left to move the heart, we've seen it all, and we are left with despair in the quiet hours of the night. But the truth of the matter is this; even though the world is fallen, and even though we are fallen, creation is still full of wonder. God, in His common grace, has seen to it.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. --Psalms 19:1b-4a

Jesus taught that we can learn something about God by considering His creation. He told us to consider the lilies (Luke 12:27), to consider the sparrows (Matthew 6:26, 10:29), to consider the grass of the field (Luke 12:28), and even to consider each other (Matthew 7:9-11). Creation is crying out to us about the glory of God, if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. But if we lose our sense of wonder, we will be blind to God's glory.

So how do we lose our sense of wonder? It is because we are fallen creatures. Our hearts grow increasingly hard and dull because of sin, and like an atrophied muscle, it loses the ability for wonder. A hard heart loses its sensitivity to God and man. Sin causes us to lose a sense of awe and wonder of the God who gave us life and holds our breath in His hand at this very moment.

Isaiah 42:5 (NKJV)Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it:

The common joys of life should draw our hearts to God. But more often than not, we take them for granted and lose the ability to even notice them. If we were stripped of the things we take for granted, we would do anything to get them back. How often do we take our loved ones for granted? What price could you put on the beauty of a sunset or the glory of a sunrise? What would you pay to feel a cool breeze on your skin? When was the last time you stared up at the nighttime sky with wide-eyed wonder? The list is literally endless. All of these things are wonderful gifts from God, but how often do we delight in them? How often do we thank God for them? So much has been given to us, but we act like spoiled children. We ignore what we have been given because we are always looking for something else. We treat the priceless gifts of God as though they are worthless.

The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. - C. S. Lewis

When we lose our delight in God, eventually our capacity to delight in anything is diminished. As we saw in the lives of Bertrand Russell, Charles Darwin, and King Solomon, their lives were devoid of meaning, joy and wonder. Whether we deny God's existence altogether like Russell and Darwin, or claim to believe in God but take no delight in him like Solomon, the end result is the same -- despair. If we do not delight in God, only two options remain; despair or distraction from despair. Because ultimately, life without God is a vanity of vanities.

There is an interesting paradox in our cynicism and loss of wonder. Because even as we lose our sense of true wonder, we still crave it to the core of our souls, and we will look for it to the point of exhaustion. That is one reason entertainment is such big business. When we lose our God-given wonder, we will seek it in the artificial. We will look for it in amusement, sex, drugs, drink, food, etc. We will gorge ourselves on things with diminishing returns in a futile attempt to fill our longing for wonder and delight. On some level, our pursuit of these things is a pursuit of joy. But if we refuse to find our ultimate joy and delight in God, we will look for it in trifles and fill up on junk food for the soul.

"… it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

-- C.S. Lewis

In our text this week (John 6), once again, we see that the people in Scripture are very much like us. Notice how quickly the crowd turned on Jesus. They had just witnessed the miracle of the multiplying of loaves and fishes, they heard the words of Christ, and God incarnate walked among them. Glory and wonder was right before their eyes, but they turned away unimpressed. They left the Bread of Life to go fill up on trifles. How often have we done the same? How often have we turned away from the Bread of Life for mud pies in the slums? No one is immune, even believers can lose their sense of wonder and turn to lesser things.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with this question: What is the chief end of man? The Answer: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That is why we were created. To glorify God and find our deepest joy in Him. All lesser joys are not an end in themselves, they are just signposts that point us to the fountainhead of all Joy, God Himself.

So what can we do about a stony heart? We can cry out to God, repent, and turn to His tender mercies. The Great Physician is willing and able to give us a tender heart of flesh if we acknowledge that we are sick and in desperate need.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. -- Psalms 51:7-12

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. -- Ezekiel 11:19-20

(*h/t John Piper)

The Biggest Question

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. -- Matthew 16:13-17

What if I told you that I am one with God and said, "If you've seen me, you've seen God". By the way, what if I also claimed that I can raise the dead and I will judge all mankind, both the living and the dead, at the end of the age. Furthermore, what if I claimed to forgive sins?

Now keep in mind, forgiveness is a really tricky business. Strangely enough, it can rub people the wrong way. Imagine if someone has hurt you in some way, and I forgive THEM for hurting YOU. What kind of person goes around doing that? Well, that is exactly what Jesus did. As C.S. Lewis observed:

One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men's toes and stealing other men's money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did.

He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.*

So one thing should be clear; if I said those things about myself, I would be claiming to be God. Those who assert that Jesus never claimed to be God couldn't be more wrong. In John 5, Jesus is clearly asserting His deity, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. We will see much more in the weeks to come. It is also clear that the religious leaders understood that Jesus was claiming to be God (John 5:18, John 10:33). The Bible testifies through and through to the divinity of Christ. Both with explicit statements, as well as implicit (and beautifully pictured) allusions to the deity of Christ. Once again, Lewis is helpful in delineating our options when facing the claims of Christ:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.*

Now think about what that means for just a moment. If God really did come to us wrapped in human flesh, that should startle and shake us to our core. But does that knowledge truly arrest our attention? Do we really feel the weight of it? Once again, I fear that because we have heard it so often, we no longer really hear it, we no longer really see it, and we've long stopped considering what it means.

For thousands of years, God sent His prophets to speak to man on His behalf, but they were rejected and persecuted. So finally, God Himself came in human flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Our God and Creator came to us, not to condemn us, but to seek and to save the lost -- and we crucified Him. We crucified the Lord of Glory because we did not want our rightful King to reign over us.

Although it was God's sovereign plan from eternity past for Christ to die, man is still responsible and guilty for the murder of Jesus (Acts 2:23-24). At the cross we see man's hatred of God and love of sin on full display. But thankfully, at the cross, we also see God's love for man and His hatred of sin on full display as well. It all intersects and collides at the cross of Christ. What man meant for evil, God used for good.

Which brings us back to the question asked by Jesus Himself: Who do you say that I am? Is He Lord, lunatic or liar? That is the biggest question and it demands an answer -- it is impossible to sit on the fence. If Jesus was and is Who He claimed to be, then it really does change everything. And if we really believe it, if we really feel the weight of it, then it will change us as well.


* Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Considering Culture: Jesus is My Homeboy?

One thing I hope to do on a recurring basis is step outside of our cultural context and consider how our culture might influence how we understand Scripture. That old question, "Does a fish know that it's wet?" is an apt illustration. In the same way that a fish doesn't realize he's wet, we often don't realize how much we are influenced by our culture, because we are swimming in it.

For example, I live in America which is a representative republic. Because of this, the citizens of America have some say in who runs the country. We have the ability to elect our leaders and remove them from office. (Of course this is true in any democracy.) Even our president, who is considered the world's most powerful man, is elected every four years, and he is limited to eight years in office. In other words, despite the tremendous power of the presidency, it still comes with great limitations placed on Him by the people and our constitution. 

In fact, in a republic such as America, the voter is referred to as the sovereign, or absolute ruler. Benjamin Franklin said, "In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns."

sov•er•eign [sov-rin, sov-er-in, suhv-] noun
1. a monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler.
2. a person who has supreme power or authority.
3. a group or body of persons or a state having sovereign authority.

Because I have lived in America my entire life, I have no concept of what it means to live under an absolute monarchy in which the king's word is final -- a world where the king has absolute power over life and death. In the ancient world, the word of the king was law, and this was the most common form of government. That being the case, we need to remember that this modern form of government was a foreign concept in the ancient world.

Why is this important for us to understand? Because the claim that Christ makes on us is that of a King with absolute power and authority, not that of a president hoping to be reelected. He is our Sovereign. We didn't elect Him, He will never be termed out of office, and His word is law. And there will come a day when every knee will bow to His authority on earth as in heaven.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -- Philippians 2:9-11

Because of these same cultural influences, we have a stubborn habit of giving Jesus a makeover to better suit our time and sensibilities. In the 70's we made Jesus a hippy in movies like Jesus Christ Superstar. In the 80's we made him a conservative republican, in the 90's we made Him a New Age guru, and today we're trying to make Him a green socialist. We are forever trying to mold Jesus into our own image to enlist Him to our pet cause. Even worse, we have lost all sense of reverence for Christ in the process.

The phrase Jesus is Lord is so ubiquitous, we no longer stop to think about what it means. Instead of Lord and Savior, we think of Him as Life coach and Savior. We live any way we choose and think of Jesus as a personal assistant or a consultant who gives advice on how to live your best life now. But, once again, that is not the Christ of Scripture. If we don't learn about Jesus from Scripture, without realizing it, we will simply believe whatever the culture is selling about Jesus at any given moment.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. -- Galatians 1:8

It is vital that we understand who Jesus is on His terms, and according to Scripture, not according to the shifting sands of culture. Jesus is the Sovereign Lord, He is high and lifted up, and He is due proper honor, respect and reverence to the glory of God.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. -- Colossians 1:16-18

To further illustrate, let's consider an Old Testament appearance of Christ (known as a Christophany) from the book of Joshua. Jesus appeared to Joshua as the Commander of the Lord's Army on the eve of battle with Jericho.

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.  -- Joshua 5:13-15

After an encounter like that, can you imagine Joshua saying anything like, "Jesus is my homeboy"? Jesus refused to be pulled into any man's cause, and that is the pattern throughout Scripture. Christ is Sovereign. When Christ is seen in His glory, men are overwhelmed and fall at His feet as if dead.

We must never forget that Jesus is King of kings, and Lord of lords. But this King is like no other. He is perfect in humility (Phil 2:5-8), He came as a servant to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28), He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5), and yet He calls us friend.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. -- John 15:13-15

This is the same Jesus who wrapped Himself in a towel to wash the feet of His proud disciples, and this same Jesus will serve His servants in the kingdom to come. What kind of king does that?

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. -- Luke 12:37

So yes, while we can bask in the warm glow of the love of Christ and enjoy His friendship, we must never forget Who He is.

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. -- Revelation 19:11-16

Jesus is not a lump of clay that we can mold into any image. He is the Almighty Lord and King who wore a crown of thorns and vouchsafed to us the privilege of friendship. The only proper response to such a King is reverence, wonder, joy, awe, and worship. Once again, I will close with the words to another wonderful hymn that says it all so well:

Amazing love, how can it be?
That You, my King would die for me?
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my joy to honor You
In all I do, I honor You

The Lion and the Lamb

 

Martin Luther once said, "Music is the handmaiden of theology." So just take a little time to enjoy this wonderful, Christ exalting song, and contemplate the person and work of Christ, the Lion of Judah, and the Lamb of God.

Who is He...Who's the mightiest of all

Who is He...Creation trembles at His call

Who is He...The lowly sacrifice, who paid a victims price

His name is Jesus

(chorus)

Jesus...From the Father's own right hand

Jesus...Son of God and son of man

Jesus...Who died and rose again

Jesus...He's the Lion and the Lamb

Who is He...With the power none can tame

Who is He...That every foe would fear His name

Who is He...Who was humbly led away, to suffer that dark day

His name is Jesus

(chorus)

He's the Lion and the Lamb

(Hook)

He's the Lamb that was slain

He's the Lion that reigns

My Savior and King both the same

Who is He...With the eyes that burn like fire

Who is He...Oh the wonder He inspires

Who is He...Who bore the guilt and shame

For those who've gone astray

His name is Jesus

(chorus)

He's the Lion and He is... healer from the Father's own right hand

Jesus...Son of God and son of man

Jesus...Who died and rose again

Jesus...He's the Lion and the Lamb

He's the Lion and the Lamb (repeat 2x)

Idol Worship - Then and Now

Broken Cisterns

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns* for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. -- Jeremiah 2:12-13

As we make our way through Scripture, we will continue to meet various people. Last week we met Nicodemus, and this week we meet a Samaritan woman at Jacobs Well. She is never named, we only know her as the Woman at the Well, but we learn a lot about her back-story.  She had been married and (presumably) divorced five times, and now she was living with a man that she was not married to.

As we meet people in Scripture, one thing should start becoming abundantly clear, they suffer from common human maladies. In other words, they are very much like us. In Nicodemus, we saw the best of the best, a  highly respected religious leader with great influence. And in the Woman at the Well, we see what society counted as the lowest of the low, a social outcast with a checkered past. Nicodemus was a somebody, and the Woman at the Well was a nobody. This is a study in contrasts and it tells us something; whether we are counted as the best of the best, the worst of the worst, or somewhere in between, we are all laid bare before Christ. When Jesus confronts Nicodemus or the woman at the well, He is confronting the full range of humanity, and that includes you and me.

It is fitting that Jesus first encountered this woman at Jacob's Well as she was working to quench her physical thirst. Because for many years, she had been working hard trying to quench her spiritual thirst with men. She had gone to the well of relationships, time and time again, only to pull up empty buckets. She was trying to find in men that which can only be found in God. Her meeting with Jesus was not just a chance encounter, she had an appointment with Divine Providence.

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." -- John 4:13-14

Biblically speaking, this woman was guilty of adultery and fornication, but there was yet another sin underneath her sexual sin -- the sin of idolatry. What is Idolatry you might ask? To put it simply, idolatry is anything we put in God's rightful place; and we humans have a long history of committing the sin of idolatry.

As modern people, we tend to ridicule our ancient counterparts for their primitive forms of idolatry. How could they fashion idols from things like gold, wood and stone and bow to them as gods? Not only did they have personal idols for their households, they also built elaborate temples for their idols. So we look around our land today and think, no temples, no household idols, we're good --better than our ancestors. Well, not so fast. We are no less guilty of idolatry, the only difference is that our modern idols are often idols of the heart. But rest assured, idolatry is alive and well.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. -- 1 John 5:21 

Tim Keller has done a yeoman's work in exploring modern idolatry in his book Counterfeit Gods, as well as preaching many sermons on the subject. What follows is my summary of Keller's observations:
An idol will hold a supreme place in our affections, passions, and thoughts. At base, we believe that our idols will save us. We believe that they will save us from meaninglessness, hopelessness, a lack of respect… the list could go on and on. An idol is also our attempt at self-salvation and self-justification. For example, we might say, if I can only do this, or accomplish that, then my life will have meaning. My place in this world is justified because of what I have accomplished. We look to our idols for ultimate meaning and purpose. To one person it might be a successful career, to another it might be the pursuit of a dream, to another person it might be sex and romance, or even marriage and family. These things are not inherently bad in themselves; but even a good thing can become an idol if we make it our god and our reason for living. And know this, idols are harsh taskmasters and they will always fail us.

For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? 

-- Mark 8:36

Furthermore, an idol will also shrivel the soul, because we will ultimately become what we worship:

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. -- Psalms 115:4-8

In short, idols will leave us spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind. Ancient Israel abandoned God, the fountain of living waters, and replaced Him with idols that were merely broken cisterns. When we commit idolatry, we do the same. Essentially, we fail to give God the rightful place in the heart.

To use another analogy, idolatry is like drinking salt water to quench your thirst. In the end, it creates a vicious cycle of thirst and dehydration that will ultimately end in death. It is like a cycle of addiction, in that you crave more and more of the very thing that is killing you. To paraphrase Pascal, only an infinite God can fill the human soul.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" -- John 7:37-38

We foolishly believe that our idols will give us life, meaning, and joy. But in reality, our idols are heavy burdens and harsh task masters that will destroy us in the end. In contrast, Christ offers us a light burden and rest for our souls:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." -- Matthew 11:28-30 

Jesus confronts our idols. He said that you cannot serve two masters, you will hate one and love the other (Luke 16:13). A Christian is someone who, by God's grace, has turned away from his sin and idolatry and has come to treasure Christ above all other pursuits, pleasures and ambitions. In short, we renounce all other masters, including self, to follow Christ.

"Having made Jesus his all, he shall find all in Jesus." - Charles Spurgeon 

As God takes His rightful place on the throne of the heart, something wonderful begins to happen, we begin to be transformed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Although we will never be perfect on this side of heaven, the Christian is already being transformed into the image of Christ as we gaze upon his face in the written Word. (Remember, we become what we worship.)

The grace of Christ frees us. We no longer need to be slaves to our idols, and we will no longer try to get from others that which only comes from God. We begin to understand that not even the best of circumstances, the best spouse, the best children, the best job, none of these things can carry the burden of being our God. And that frees us to love people and have joy and contentment through the trials and tribulations of life, because we have already found our greatest treasure in Christ.

By God's grace, the Christian grows to understand that, in light of all that Christ has done, we no longer need our idols because He is our salvation, our justification, and our joy. We rest in Him. God is the fount of living water that quenches our dry and thirsty souls. For the Christian, God is the fountainhead of all true and lasting joy. He is not a means to an end, He is the end.

In closing, I leave you with the words of this wonderful old hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

__________

* Cisterns: ...Jerusalem depends mainly for water upon its cisterns, of which almost every private house possesses one or more, excavated in the rock on which the city is built. The cisterns have usually a round opening at the top, sometimes built up with stonework above and furnished with a curb and a wheel for a bucket. ( Ecclesiastes 12:6 ) Empty cisterns were sometimes used as prisons and places of confinement. Joseph was cast into a "pit," ( Genesis 37:22 ) as was Jeremiah. ( Jeremiah 38:6 ) - Smith's Bible Dictionary

Setting Your Affections Above

The true cure for a dull memory in religion, is to get deeper love toward Christ, and affections more thoroughly set on things above. We do not readily forget the things we love, and the objects which we keep continually under our eyes. The names of our parents and children are always remembered. The face of the husband or wife we love is engraved on the tablets of our hearts. The more our affections are engaged in Christ’s service, the more easy shall we find it to remember Christ’s words. The words of the apostle ought to be carefully pondered: “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” (Heb. 2:1)

~ J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 494.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

"We never hear the Gospel until we've been made uneasy by it"

-- Ravi Zacharias

This week we are going to look at one of the most familiar passages in all of Scripture, John chapter 3. I say that because so many people, Christian and unbeliever alike, can probably quote John 3:16 from heart:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

Because this passage is so familiar, I'm guessing that there is a good chance you didn't read the entire verse above, or give it serious thought. Which brings us to the old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt". Although contempt might be too strong a word, at the very least, familiarity does breed a level of apathy. I believe John 3:16 is too often dismissed by unbelievers as well as Christians. It is dismissed by unbelievers as foolishness, and it is often dismissed by Christians as mere milk, or a starting point from which we should quickly move beyond. But in reality, there is so much theological richness in this verse, we will be mining its treasure into eternity. In this verse we see the nature of the Triune God and His many attributes such as wrath, righteousness, mercy, grace, love, and holiness, working in perfect harmony to redeem fallen humanity.

In fact, because we live in a culture that has a church on every corner, and because a lot of silliness is done in the name of Christ, we tend to view the entire Bible with a kind of "been there, done that" complacency. That being the case, sometimes it can be a challenge to come to the Bible (especially familiar passages like John 3) with a fresh set of eyes, and a heart of anticipation that is ready to receive from God's Word. It is my hope and prayer that, as we read this familiar passage of Scripture, we will be able to see it with new eyes and grow in our understanding of the person and work of Christ.

In John 3, we are introduced to a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee and leader of the Jews, and we are more like him than we realize. When Jesus began teaching Him about salvation and the Kingdom of God, Nicodemus did not understand. The teachings of Christ were shocking and unsettling to Nicodemus. Jesus replied, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?" (John 3:10).

There is a gentle rebuke from Jesus in those words to Nicodemus, and by extension, there is a rebuke to you and me as well. How is it that Nicodemus could be a highly esteemed teacher in Israel who spent his life studying the Scriptures, and yet, he did not understand what Christ was saying to him? It was because his heart was dull and glazed over with sin, self-righteousness, and a poor understanding of Scripture. But I won't be too hard on Nicodemus, because we will soon discover that the disciples of Christ had similar problems. And guess what, we do as well. It is the human condition.

Part of the problem with modern "churchianity" is that we have tried to file down the hard edges from Scripture and fashion a god in our own image. We've tried to explain away difficult passages that pierce the heart and shock our sensibilities. We are guilty of wrapping the Gospel in a user-friendly media package that is sure to offend no one. But when that happens, the Bible is no longer being taught.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. -- Proverbs 27:6

Here's the reality, the claims of Christ are shocking and unsettling, regardless of the era and place in which you live. They were shocking in Jesus' day, and they are shocking to our generation as well. Great kingdoms have come and gone, but the Word of Christ remains. His words echo through time, and they continue to confront us to this very minute.

If the words of Christ do not, at times, unsettle us and rattle our shaky foundations, we are not reading them correctly. Christ does something that makes us all uncomfortable; He is the faithful friend that tells the truth about our condition, and wounds our foolish and self-righteous pride. As a result, fallen cultures will tend to deal with the Bible in a few different ways; it will change the message to fit the culture, ridicule the Bible, or ban it all together. But it has proven to be a hard book to ignore.

C.S. Lewis wanted to breakthrough that cultural blindness when he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia. He wanted to awaken our hearts to awe and wonder so we could better understand the true nature of Christ. In Chronicles, Lewis wrote about a Christ-like figure named Aslan, a mighty lion who sang the world of Narnia into existence. When a little girl named Lucy first heard about Aslan, she was frightened and wanted to know if Aslan was safe. To which Mr. Beaver replied, "Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you."

What we've tried to do is make God "safe" and easy to manage. Or, to put it in the vernacular of Lewis, we've tried to "tame" God. We want a God that we can control. We've tried to change Christ, whom the Bible calls the Lion of Judah, into something as benign and innocuous as Barney the purple dinosaur. But that is not the Christ of Scripture. To truly read Scripture is to encounter Christ, and that is like walking side by side with a lion. We can only do that by the good graces of the Lion, we are not in control.

 

Like Nicodemus, we become unsettled, and begin to discover that everything we thought we knew about God, and even what we thought we knew about ourselves, begins to change when confronted with the person of Christ. (That is not only true before we are Christians, that continues to happen after we are Christians.) 

John 3 is both comforting and unsettling. It is shocking to our sensibilities, because we learn that we are alienated from God by our sin and abide under His wrath (John 3:36). We learn that it is our nature to run from the light of Christ because our deeds are evil (John 3:19-20). We also learn in Romans that we are perishing under a sentence of death, both physical and spiritual (Romans 6:23). It is against this backdrop of despair that we learn about an amazing hope, and the Gospel shines like a brilliant sunrise after a long dark night of the soul. We read, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

In John 3, we see the eternal vistas, ranging from deep chasms of despair and alienation from God, to the mountain peaks of hope we find in the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel means good news, but we can only understand the good news in light of the bad news about our true condition. And with that truth, Jesus brings grace upon grace (John 1:16-17) and love that is beyond comprehension (Romans 5:6-8, Romans 8:38-39).

Setting the Table

"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

-- Psalms 119:103

A good meal takes time.

When I was growing up, my Grandmother would spend days preparing a holiday meal, and she would start by shopping for the best ingredients she could find. As a kid, that drove me nuts. Because she would drive to the farmers market and every roadside produce stand she knew about. I didn't understand why she didn't just shop at the nearest grocery store and call it a day. But now, looking back, I realize that she knew what she was doing. She knew where to find the best quality produce and meats, and it took time.

Once the ingredients were purchased, she would start cooking everything from scratch, and she would spend up to three days, cooking around the clock to prepare a big meal. I'm confident that I speak for the entire family when I say that our Grandmother set the standard by which all later meals would be judged. Why was her cooking so good? Because she cooked with love, and it took time. That's why you can't find food like Grandma's at McDonalds or Taco Bell. It just takes time to set the table for a good meal.

I hate to admit this, growing up, I took it all for granted. If I had those years to live over again, I wouldn't complain about how long the shopping took, and I wouldn't complain when she occasionally asked for help in the kitchen. I would just enjoy my time with Grandma, and be thankful.

What we know about a good meal is also true about God's Word. It takes time to savor the deep truths of Scripture. God has demonstrated His love through Christ and He has given us His Word; and to discover its riches takes time. But let's face it, we live in one of the most impatient societies in the history of mankind. Even the microwave oven seems to take too long these days. An even bigger problem is what modern entertainment and media has done to our attention spans. For example, how can the nightly news claim to cover a story "in depth" in less than three minutes? To truly understand anything takes time. Our modern way of life has taken a toll on us all, and we are more effected by it than we realize.

If we approach God's Word like a microwave oven, we will not discover its riches. It takes time to till the soil, and it takes time for a rose to bloom. If we give God's word prayerful time and thought, it will yield a bountiful crop, and bloom like a fragrant rose. God is the beauty by which all other beauty is measured and He is the ultimate joy that all lesser joys point to; and He has revealed Himself in Scripture. Let us not take that for granted.