Have you not read? by Lewis Kiger

“Have you not read?” was one of the frequent sayings of our Lord. When confronted with error, He would often reply by asking this question. It was an upright assumption that those who claim to know the will of God would also know the Word of God. Yet the Lord recognized that many who thought themselves to be right with God not only did not know God’s will, but they did not rightly understand God’s Word.

It should be the desire of every born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to know God’s will which is revealed through His Word. We live in an age when we have more access to the Bible than any other group of disciples of Christ. Walk the aisles of the average Christian bookstore and you will find hundreds and hundreds of Bibles to choose from. Dozens and dozens of different versions litter the shelves. I would dare say that the majority of the readers of this paper have multiple copies of the Bible sitting in your home right now.

More than that, we have the Bible in electronic form at our fingertips. Most of us have some kind of Bible App on our phones. We have Bible software on our laptops. And anytime you want to know what the Bible has to say about any subject, all you have to do is “Google it.”

And yet for all that, there is more Biblical illiteracy in America today than ever before. The average church-goer today is not familiar with the Bible. Few of them know the difference between the book of Judges and Jeremiah.

I am going to make what should be a very obvious statement: if you are a Christian, you should love the Bible. At least seven times in Psalm 119 the Psalmist said he loved the law and precepts of God. This is how every believer should feel. Rather than finding reading the Bible a drudgery, we should consider it a delight. 

This book brings us to God. It is the Revelation of God to us. It is His Divine Love, letter drafted in the pages of eternity past, for every one of His children. It will keep us from that which will harm us and bring us into closer fellowship with Him.

Yet I am afraid, that the Very Word of Life, the Bible, is perhaps the most neglected book we own.

Did you know that the average reader, not the exceptional, but just the average reader, can read through the entire Bible in one year; by simply reading 10 minutes a day, every day? Yet every survey done of Evangelicals tells us again and again, that God’s people simply do not read God’s Word. The percentage of confessed believers who have actually read the entire Bible is embarrassingly low. How can we know the mind of God, if we are not familiar with the Word of God?

 

Consider this staggering statistic: if young people would spend just 10 percent of the time reading their Bible that they now spend on electronic media everyday, they could read the entire Bible in just 4 months. But do you realize that those numbers are almost the same for adults?! The average adult today spends hours every day on social media, surfing the internet or some form of electronic media. Yet, we seemingly cannot find 10-15 minutes on a day-by-day basis to familiarize ourselves with what our Creator has said to us.

I do not intend this article to be a sharp rebuke, but an eye-opening encouragement. While it may seem a daunting task, you can read your Bible. Let 2017 be the year that you finally commit yourself in word and deed to reading the blessed entirety of God’s Holy Word.

There is a sanctifying influence to the Word of God that we deny ourselves when we do not have a daily intake of the renewing power of the Word. The Bible will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from the Bible.

The words of eternal life are found in this Sacred Book. A careful and continued study of the pages of the Bible will lead you to the Person and Work of Christ. Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they, which testify of me. “

Etched in black and white on the pages of the Bible are the words that are able to make you wise unto salvation. If you do not know Jesus Christ, read the Bible. It will teach you of your Creator and of the dearest friend you could ever have.

Pastor Lewis Kiger

Memorial Heights Baptist Church

svdbygrace2@roadrunner.com

Job, Humbled (Job 42: 1– 6)

"When Job says he repents, he does not mean the friends have been right all along, that Job has secret sins and finally has to admit them and repent. He maintains his integrity at the end as he has all along. But he realizes he has been presumptuous: he has spoken of things he does not understand and has overreached himself (42: 3). Now in the presence of the living God he bows down in silent worship. And that is a good thing! For Job to be brought low so that he despises himself and exalts God is not a bad thing.

We understand that for us to go around thinking we are worms in relation to our fellow human beings is a destructive thing. That kind of inferiority complex, pathological low self-esteem, is not to be encouraged....But in the presence of the living God, to bow down low and to grasp how great he is and how small I am is a healthy thing— because it is true. It is a mark of the love of God that he brings Job low, for this is where a creature ought to be.

That is true for us as well. We often pray for success, both for us and for others; we pray for good exam results, for good job offers, etc. And yet so often success leads to pride, and pride to self-confidence, and self-confidence to independence from God, and independence from God leads to Hell. The most deeply compassionate and merciful thing God can do is to humble us and bring us low so that we bow before him and lean on him and trust him. That is the first mark of the compassion of God: he loves enough to humble us, as he humbled Job, under his mighty hand. Perhaps for some of us there has been, or there will be, a time in life when everything goes wrong. A time perhaps of pain and failure, even of disaster and misery. And it may be that God in his compassion is bringing us low so that we will lean on him alone. This was for Job a hard truth, but it was nonetheless a mark of the mercy of God that he would bring Job very low."

Ash, Christopher. Job: The Wisdom of the Cross

Full Fathom Five

By William Shakespeare

(from The Tempest)

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that does fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong,
Hark! Now I hear them -- Ding-dong, bell.

HT: Joffre the Giant

Arachaic Language

In the introduction to the New City Catechism, Tim Keller writes about why they used the language of the old 400+year catechisms instead of modernising them.

"Although it may make the content seem less accessible at first glance, the language of the original texts has been retained as much as possible throughout the commentaries and prayers.

When people complained to J.R.R. Tolkien about the archaic language he sometimes used, he answered that language carries cultural values and therefore his use of older forms was not nostalgia—it was principled. He believed that older ways of speaking conveyed older ways of understanding life that modern forms cannot convey, because modern language is enmeshed with modern views of life.

As an example, Tolkien points to a passage in The Lord of the Rings where members of the Fellowship are choosing weapons and the (archaic) wording runs as follows: "Helms too they chose." Some (wrongly) class the wording as an "inversion", since normal order is "They also chose helmets" or "They chose helmets too." But, Tolkien comments that modern English has lost the trick of putting the word that one desires to be emphasized (for pictorial, emotional, or logical reasons) into prominent first place, without the addition of a lot of little "empty" words. The much terser and more vivid ancient styles often convey gravity and meaning in a way they would not were they modernized. (See Tolkien's letter to Professor Hugh Brogan in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter, published by Houghton Mifflin, 1981.)"

Reading - Tuesday with Timothy #57

1 Timothy 4:13-16  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.


Until the apostle Paul came back, Timothy had a charge to stay steadfast in the faith and apply himself to certain duties and spiritual disciplines. The first duty mentioned, is that he was to give attendance to, or apply himself and give heed to reading. Reading and preaching go hand in hand. The pastor has to apply himself to the study of God's Word. You cannot expound and explain that which you don't know. You cannot tell others what God has said if you don't know yourself what God has said. Some say that this refers to the public reading of Scripture, but there is not really any reason that it is limited to public reading. Certainly it isn't excluded, but the focus, I believe, is on Timothy's soul and his ministry at this time. Read the Bible over and over. Read in studying to preach. Read for the good of your own soul. Read from the pulpit. Read in the study, read at home. what Not just speed reading, but to read and the pause and mediate on the Scripture. Consider what has been read and compare with other passages of Scripture. Read the passage in context to the immediate verses, and then in context to the whole book, then in context to the whole Bible. To do this, you need to be familiar with the Bible. True Christianity does not keep people from learning and from knowledge. True Christianity promotes learning, promotes knowledge.

Timothy needs to apply himself to exhortation and to doctrine. Don't separate the two. You are not a seminary professor. Good doctrinal preaching will lead to worship. Good doctrinal preaching will have application. Doctrine. Devotion. Doxology. Too many preachers will tell you what you have to do without telling you why. Too many sermons are all exhortation without any doctrinal foundation to rest it upon. Follow Paul's example in most of the epistles. There is a foundation of doctrine, and then a "therefore". Because this doctrine is true, this is how you apply it. The popular model of preaching today is that you tell the truth and let the Holy Spirit apply it. I think this is a result of mega-churches and online ministries where the pastor doesn't want to apply to an assembly because the hope is the sermon will get downloaded a million times. Don't apply a sermon to what is going on today because when someone listens to the radio or MP3 in six moths, that will be out of date. That wasn't how Jesus preached (Luke 13:4). Or the church is so big, the pastor doesn't know how to apply it because he doesn't know the people. Yes, the Holy Spirit knows the issues of the church and He can and does apply the truth to the heart. But the Holy Spirit has called the pastor to exhort. That is the pastors job.

In reading and the personal study of God's Word, preach to yourself first. Apply the truth to your own heart. Repent of your sins. Then present what you have first received. Listen to your own preaching in the study and apply the truths you are going to proclaim to your own heart first, and then proclaim those blessed truths to others.

Barnacles - Monday Morning Verse

By
Sidney Lanier

                        I
My soul is sailing through the sea,
But the Past is heavy and hindereth me.
The Past hath crusted cumbrous shells
That hold the flesh of cold sea-mells
    About my soul.
The huge waves wash, the high waves roll,
Each barnacle clingeth and worketh dole
    And hindereth me from sailing!

                       II

Old Past let go, and drop i' the sea
Till fathomless waters cover thee !
 For I am living but thou art dead ;
Thou drawest back, I strive ahead
    The day to find.
Thy shells unbind! Night comes behind,
I needs must hurry with the wind
    And trim me best for sailing.

Barnacles are small little crustaceans, in the crab/shrimp family that will stick to pretty much anything they come in contact with. They commonly attach themselves to the undersides of sailing vessels. They produce a fast-curing cement and, according to the National Ocean Service, it is one of the most powerful natural glues – with a tensile strength of 5,000 pounds per square inch.

Ships are built to sail through the water and cut through the waves the least resistance. When barnacles attach to the bottom of the ship it creates drag and resistance. The U.S. Navy spends over "$50 million a year just in fuel costs due to drag. It’s estimated that a newly painted destroyer would lose 2 knots of speed every six months if not scraped and cleaned — and this doubles in tropical waters."

If fact, it is estimated that barnacles cost around $7.5 billion in additional fuel costs due to the added drag. It adds more weight, much more resistance, and it makes it harder and more costly for the captain to get to his final destination. The poem compares barnacles on a ship to memories of the past that can drag us down and keep us from moving on in our life. It reminded me of what Paul wrote to the church at Philippi.

Philippians 3:13-14  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Whether those things Paul thought about were good memories or bad doesn't really matter. You cannot change the past and you cannot live off the past. You cannot press forward if you are living in the world of yesterday. What we have before us as God's people, is greater than anything that could be behind us.

Are you crippled by the "barnacles" of shameful memories? Stuck in the past because of some sin or failure? Don't you understand that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sins? You are clean and pure in Christ. While you won't escape all the consequences of sin in this life, you stand white as snow before God. You are hidden in Christ. Have faith in the saving blood of Jesus and press on. Paul was a hated man. He was hated by the Jews, hated by false teachers, hated by other churches, even hated by some of the churches he pastored. The memories of past hurt, past sins, past failures didn't cripple Paul in the service for the Lord today. The Lord's mercies are new every morning and in the light of God's love, God's sovereign plan, and God's providential care, Paul pressed on. If you have dealt with your sin - if you have come to Christ, confessing your sins and asking forgiveness and done what you can to make it right with others (if you sinned again others as well); know that you are forgiven and rest in the grace of Christ Jesus.

Are you slowed by the good memories of the past? You cannot live off the past and expect the past devotions and past service to bless your soul. You may not be able to do as much as you could, or your life may be drastically different than it was. Paul's counsel (from prison, no less) was to press on. Paul could have thought about the good ole' days when he was free to roam the roads, preaching the gospel as the Lord had led. 

No, Paul had to press on. He did what he was able to do, where God had placed him. There was no "going backwards" with Paul. If anyone could have lived off past service, it would have been Paul. But if nothing else, he would preach to the guards, write epistles, pray for saints. He pressed on. Maybe you cannot do what you used to do. In God's providence he has changed the scope of your life or time has just taken a toll. Do what you can do now, and press on at the pace you are able. Don't live in the past. Scrape the barnacles from the ship and sail on.

Old Past let go, and drop i' the sea
Till fathomless waters cover thee !
 For I am living but thou art dead ;
Thou drawest back, I strive ahead

A Song in A Cave: Psalm 34

 Samuel had anointed David king of Israel and he would someday take the throne. He was now the famed hero and warrior of God's people after killing Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, the giant of Gath. He had left tending sheep in the field and now was living in the service of the current monarch, king Saul.  Saul hated and persecuted  David because of his jealousy and suspicion. David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the great giant killer, was now on the run for his life, hunted by his own. In a lack of wisdom and faith, David ran to Achish, the king of Gath for protection from Saul. But when he got there, the Philistines said “isn’t this the guy that they sing the song about 'Saul slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?' and didn't he kill Goliath?" Oops.

David, running from his own king who wanted to kill him, ran to the king of Gath, who was no fan. The giant killer ran to the land of the giants and the bane of the Philistines ran to the Philistines. When David heard Achish ask why they allowed David into the city, David lost all strength and courage. He started acting like a crazy man, making marks on the door and drooling in his beard. The King said he had all the crazy men he needed in his political cabinet as it was, so why did the bring him another? So they kicked him out and David, now humbled and humiliated, escaped to the cave Adullam. David wasn't alone in the cave. Robin Hood had his band of merry-men, but David has his band of melancholy-men. Misery loves company, as the saying goes and David attracted quite a band of un-merry men. 1 Samuel 22:2  "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men."

            According to the introduction of Psalm 34 , this was when David wrote the psalm. None of us can relate to the specifics of this account, but we can relate to how David and his band feel. He had the promises from God of a future inheritance. He believed God, but his faith wavered because everything was going against him. The anointed king was living in a cave. He was a man after God’s own heart, but faltered and acted the fool in the presence of his enemies. He was without strength and all that he had done seemed to have backfired.  David cried out in prayer and God answered and strengthen him. As he wrote Psalm 34, I imagine he looked at the downtrodden, the distressed, the debtors, and the discontented. He provided for us words of comfort and grace because we belong in that group too. Christian, Psalm 34 is for us. In our weakness, Christ is strong.

Epic #EDC

"Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pockets. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past."

 

G.K. Chesterton - Tremendous Trifles

Excellent Pillars of the Church

Spurgeon on lukewarm church leadership: 

“They have deacons and elders who are excellent pillars of the church, if the chief quality of pillars be to stand still, and exhibit no motion or emotion…They are not so cold as to abandon their work, or to give up their meetings for prayer, or to reject the gospel; if they did so, then they could be convinced of their error and brought to repentance; but on the other hand they are neither hot for the truth, nor hot for conversions, nor hot for holiness, they are not fiery enough to burn the stubble of sin, nor zealous enough to make Satan angry, nor fervent enough to make a living sacrifice of themselves upon the altar of their God. They are "neither cold not hot.”

Mary, Did You Know?

I'm dreaming of good theology.

Tis the season for bad theology. The popular song "Mary, Did You Know?" is a good example of why theology is important. This song wonders if, when Mary looked upon Jesus laying in a manger, did she know He would be the Saviour of both herself and the world? Let's use this song and its question to see how a doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is needful, even when you are just listening to the radio and hear someone trying to out Bing the most melodious Crosby in a syrupy Christmas song.

If you have a question about Jesus or Mary, is there a place to find the answer? The Bible is our only sufficient guide to knowing about God and His will (I Corinthians 2:7-16). For any question about spiritual matters, the Bible is your first and last stop. Mary, did you know? What says the Bible? If you read the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, you find out that Mary knew Jesus was the Saviour. And so did Joseph, Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth, and even John the Baptist (still in the womb, but leaping for joy and the presence of Jesus). Mary knew explicitly because the angel came and told her, in no uncertain terms, and in very clear language, who Jesus would be. Not only did Mary know, she went on to write her own worshipful thoughts on the subject (Luke 1:46-55) all prior to His birth.  If you read the second chapter, you'll find that the shepherds knew, and then eight days later, so did Simeon and Anna. Mystery solved in the first two chapters of Luke. Mary, did you know? Yes; yes she did. 

When you hear Mary Did you Know for the 53rd time at work.

You may dismiss this as me being a curmudgeon telling the carolers to get off my lawn, but what we know about God, what we believe about Christ is important. My fear is this song is a good representation of professing Christendom. As long as the tune is catchy and it has a little dash of spirituality, it is a good song. A song that is supposedly written to make us think about and worship Christ is separated from and contrary to the Scriptures by which we know Christ (John 5:39).

The Bible tells us a lot about Mary. Mary knew about Jesus the same way we know; she received the Word of God and believed it by faith. Mary was a sinner, saved by grace (Luke 1:47  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour). She rejoiced at the coming birth of Jesus because she was a sinner and Jesus is the Saviour. Mary's faith stood firm on the truth of Scripture. Her praise in Luke 1:46-55 is jam packed with Old Testament illusions and references. She was a Spirit-filled, Scripture-filled worshiper of God in truth. Instead of listening to sentimental songs about Mary, it would be better to model her example by reading the Bible and receiving the truth about Jesus.