Bible Reading

Whenever we study the Bible we have to do our best to let the text speak for itself. The goal is to excavate God’s message, ascertain God’s values, and comprehend God’s perspective. We may have many ideas and expectations about what we hope to uncover and what we wish to find, but the Bible has to be approached with an intentional objectivity. Many will tell you that reading the Bible objectively is impossible. That’s a popular refrain from those who want to give themselves license to dismiss what’s really there. But reading the Bible with requisite objectivity is not impossible. It may be unsettling and even scary, but it can and must be done. There are a good many things that I wish the newspaper would report each morning, but every day I have to let the reporters report, adjusting my hopeful expectations as I read. And God is no cub reporter. He knows how to communicate. God has revealed his ascertainable message clearly in the pages of his word. He is not seeking to obscure the truth we need to know. Sure, there is work involved in mining God’s truth, but we must do it, leaving behind our preconceptions and allowing the Bible to speak as we make adjustments.

Defending Truth

1 Peter 3:15 commands all Christians to stand up for the truth and defend the hope of the gospel. It also commands that this be done with “gentleness and respect.” Unfortunately, there is something about defending the truth that can quickly deteriorate into heated arguments, belittling statements, and insulting remarks. It shouldn’t. God expects his ambassadors to stay in control of their emotions and maintain a godly decorum that is worthy of our stately King. Christ’s victory is already settled. His triumphant return is not dependent on our frenzied quarrels. The truth is settled. Christ has already won. Our objective is to provide dignified and respectful corrections to those who call his truth into question. While our emotional disturbance is understandable when people malign our God, the Spirit’s goal in our speech is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). It may seem paradoxical, but we are called to fight for the truth gently and respectfully. So don’t get out there and attempt to defend Christ’s honor in a dishonorable way. Keep your cool, and let your defense be seasoned with the courtesy and dignity that befits God’s royal family.

Fickle Feelings

Our feelings are fickle but God’s word is unchanging. There may be several factors, righteous and otherwise, which will influence our emotions, yet the Bible stands as our unalterable source of divine information providing eternal clarity regarding God’s values and priorities. This is why the Bible must serve as our perpetual guide for decision-making. God repeatedly warns us to “not lean on our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5) but instead to affirm with David that God’s word is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). It is tragic that much of modern Christianity has advocated a shift from objectively thinking our way through the Christian life in the light of God’s written word, to subjectively feeling our way through the Christian life being pushed and prodded by our fluctuating emotional impulses. How many clear passages of Scripture are ignored because Christians don’t “feel it”? How many express commands in the Bible are disobeyed because God’s people don’t “feel led”? This should never be. We must act on God’s inscribed directives, not our shifting sentiments. So may we all reaffirm the historic Christian resolve to subject the entirety of our lives to the authority of God’s word, even when our feelings are left to catch up.

Making A Difference

We cannot afford, nor should we ever be content to live unmotivated and unproductive Christian lives. God has endowed every one of his children with gifts, opportunities and resources to make a difference each day for the advancement of his kingdom and the good of his people. Many of our fruitless days have to do with a deficiency in our attitude, not a lack of opportunities. This is why the Bible has so much to say about our perspective and our mindset. Jesus certainly encouraged us to have an optimistic outlook for our daily productivity when he said that through the means of his people “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Paul sets the pace in not getting bogged down in yesterday’s failures or accomplishments when he wrote, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal” (Philippians 3:12-14). We, along with the Colossians are exhorted to “work heartily” at the Monday-through-Friday tasks to which we are called, always keeping God, his transcendent agenda and his eternal rewards in view (Colossians 3:22-24). So then, let’s approach each day with an energetic passion to make a difference for Christ, tirelessly “abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain” (1Corinthians 15:58).

The Sting of God's Word

Some naively presume that good preaching should leave the congregation feeling good. But most seasoned Christians have come to realize that the best, most meaningful and effectual sermons usually sting, if not wound. God warned that the Scriptures are “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of spirit… discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Because good preaching accurately and skillfully relays the meaning, purpose and implications of a given text, it is bound to “pierce” parts of our lives that have previously laid comfortably untouched by the conviction of God’s word. During a good sermon a biblical text will utilize the preacher to unapologetically call God’s people to “break up their fallow ground, because it is the time to seek the Lord” (Hosea 10:12). Such disruption rarely comes without a certain degree of pain. Nevertheless, a good preacher knows he is commanded to hold up the mirror of God’s word and facilitate those poignant moments of honest introspection and self-assessment (James 1:23-25). While some prefer their naivety and will continue to seek out preachers and sermons that always aim at good feelings, they will do so at their own peril. A regular diet of feel-good sermons will swindle their hearers from the blessings and benefits of obedience. God laments the bad preaching which fails “to expose your iniquity” and thus is powerless to “restore the fortunes” of righteousness (Lamentations 2:14). So the next time the discomfort of a good, biblical sermon makes you squirm, remember that God is involved and is doing the necessary work of discerning and transforming the thoughts and intentions of your heart.

What Is Required?

Many have sought to discover the minimal Christianity required of them to “still be Christian”. “How much of the world can I love, or how much of my agenda can I pursue and still be okay with God?” they ask. Or, “Just how sinful, casual, or lukewarm are we allowed to be and still be saved?” Of course the Bible isn’t much help in answering these questions. The whole tenor of Scripture disallows such thinking. On the contrary, Christ assertively commands his people to love the Triune God “with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength, and all of your mind” (Luke 10:27). The Apostles plead with the people of God to “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22) and to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). There is no assistance in describing minimalism because Christianity is all about maximal, whole-life, wholehearted devotion and commitment to Christ. We must come to realize that radical Christianity is normative Christianity. Sure, we are still subject to and plagued with periodic bouts of sin and failure, but the new life Christ gives sets in every regenerate heart a passion to live fully for our Creator and King. The Holy Spirit doesn’t add to sinners a new set of ancillary interests; he radically transforms hearts to voraciously and eternally seek the glory of their Maker. So may we never be heard asking, “What can I get away with?” but instead may we perpetually ask, “How might I love God and more perfectly serve him today?”

Worship

A.W. Tozer was right when he observed that “a low view of God is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us.” It makes sense that our specific view of God will determine the quality of our Christian life. If we view him as casual about sin, then we probably won’t care much about it either. If we perceive him to be inexact about truth, then we’ll probably be indifferent about the whole topic as well. If, on the other hand, we are working to think of God in the terms and ways he has chosen to reveal himself in Scripture, then our lives will likely begin to correspond. It is hard to regularly ponder God as transcendently glorious, perfectly holy, absolute in power, and impeccably wise without our daily attitudes and actions being shaped and molded by those truths. This is one reason personal worship is so important. When we worship our exalted God, wholeheartedly expressing and ascribing to God all the perfection that he is, our minds are shaped and our tendency to lazily think of God is countered. Of course, this should be our concern in corporate worship as well. We dare not simply mouth the words of our worship songs and hymns; our minds must be focused and engaged so that our lives will follow.