Hard Truth

We all work to make our lives as comfortable and pain-free as possible. We buy all sorts of appliances and gadgets to make hard jobs easy, and seek out any available remedy to alleviate our bodily aches and pains. And this makes perfect sense. Only a masochist would willingly accept pain that could easily be eradicated. But we dare not take this natural inclination into our study of God’s word. Our theology must never be shaped by a desire to eliminate hard truths and downplay painful passages. Remembering that we are fallen people awaiting our future glorification, we must gladly hold on to uncomfortable doctrines and prickly principles that grate against our human sensibilities. We can expect that the assortment of God-breathed truths speaking clearly about our perfectly just and infinitely holy Creator will not all sit well in our minds this side of heaven. So instead of reaching for a commonly heard rationalization designed to quickly take the edge off of a text that hurts, remember that God’s word is perfect and we are not. Remember that we must not allow its truth to be shaped by our thinking, but that instead we are called to conform our thinking to the truth of God’s word.

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org  

Reading for Enjoyment?

I recently read an article based on the stated premise that “the Bible should be read for one’s enjoyment.” With that objective, it was no surprise that the rest of the piece consisted of the author aggressively working to convince his readers to purposefully disregard and ignore any parts of the Bible that would make them feel uncomfortable or might impinge on their modern sensibilities. Of course, the author wanted his readers to affirm his premise and dutifully conform to his directives, regardless of “how difficult it might be to alter their traditional views” of the Bible. This was a classic example of how seriously we expect other people to take our words, even while we sit in judgment of God’s words. Sometimes we have difficulty seeing the irony in how vehemently we seek for our own ideas and thoughts be clearly heard and accurately understood, while seeking to devalue and emasculate God’s thoughts and ideas. No, the Bible was not given for our enjoyment. God has spoken through the apostles and prophets so that we might carefully understand him and dutifully obey his voice. He does not want us to sit in judgment on his inscribed truth, picking and choosing what we prefer. Instead God has promised, “to this one I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).

For more sermons and devotionals on the Bible and Bible reading, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org. 

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.