April 28, 2009

• Get gnawing, put your nose down in the Book to feed the white-hot flame of God's gift

  This is a bit of an extension of yesterday's post (needing to keep feeding the white-hot flame of God's gift), so you may wish to peek back at that before reading this post...
  
  First, some thoughts on how we ought to be interacting with the Word of God, i.e.-our time with God Himself in His Word. Remember, whenever we open His Word, we are meeting Him there! Some of these things I've written before, but feel I need to bring them to you again.

  When we read Scripture we're sometimes in a hurry to get done our reading; we just want to say we've done it and move on with the rest of our day. Or else we read some words so quickly and don't really see the need to dig in since we're already familiar with it or it seems so obvious.

  Do we ever take the Scripture like a bone and chew on it and gnaw at it? During The Gospel Coalition 2009 Conference that's how Don Carson described John Piper's dealings with Scripture.

  
  

  Here's Willow the German Shepherd engaged in a little gnawing.

  
  

  When was the last time you engaged in a little gnawing of God's Word?

  During an evening panel discussion Piper himself later exhorted us:

  Put your nose down in the Book!... every precious word...We need to linger over words, like lozenges...wait on God...it's not quick...linger, stay there...stay close until the meaning is on fire...

  (Yes, it's true that the audience was mostly pastors, and the message he wanted to get across is that pastors themselves are not the authority; their stories and experiences are not the authority, but the authority is the Word of God. He earnestly urged them to go into the Bible text and not to "hover over it." Piper warned us that "gadgets take away from the glory of God and the Book." He told them, "You can become a communicator and not a preacher." You can become audience-centered...

  Yes, all right, though Piper's words were directed to pastors, don't they really apply to all of God's people, whether we are pastors or not, do we not need to be a people of the Book? When we speak to others, our own words hold no authority. Only the Word of God does. I would urge all of you to put your noses down in the Book. I've know I've told you this before, but I feel I can't do so enough.)

  As Dr. Piper urged us to put our noses down into the Book, he became quite animated and literally put his nose, including a lot of his face, into his open Bible! He did it a couple times...and he wasn't doing that for show or effect. He has a white-hot flame and fire and passion for God and the Word of God and his has an intense desire for the next generation of church leaders to have a similar passion.

  

  Are we putting our noses into the Book? Do we forget that these are the very words of God, God's means of grace to mediate His power to us? (That was the theme of Piper's message at the conference.) Do we understand that the Bible's words are not mere words but they are God-breathed, God-inspired, they are living and active and God speaks to us through them today? Have we forgotten the great treasure we have in the Bible?

  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. II Timothy 3:16-17.

  Are we taking the Word of God like a bone and chewing on it to get all the flavor and goodness out of it? Are we soaking in the Word like a tree planted by streams of water? We need to linger with the Scripture. I've heard meditating upon Scripture (see Psalm 1:2) likened to chewing the cud. So, open the Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to open Your heart, ears and mind. Ask Him to speak. "Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening." Should we not expect the living God to speak to us? And then as you read and listen, begin to chew and chew and chew. And then in case you think you've got something, don't rush away but go ahead and chew a little more. Stay there. Like sipping your favorite beverage rather than chugging it down. Enjoy it. Savor it. Let the flavors mingle. Sit a spell with the Word...

  All right, now why I really wrote all that about the Word of God was because this morning as I doing a bit of gnawing and chewing myself, reflecting more on II Timothy 2:1:

  You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

  You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)

  ...this statement came into my mind:

  We can't be strong apart from God's grace.

  Of course, it's obvious, isn't?

  We can't be strong apart from God's grace.

  Yes, it's obvious, but don't we often forget that very simple, cardinal truth of the Christian life? That's why we need to be in the Word and chewing on it, gnawing on it, putting our noses into it.

  I know I've often quoted many of these verses I'm about to give you, but I want to bring them before you once again (and to myself!). Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, let us reflect on the power that is available to us through the grace that is in Christ Jesus. As we remember that we can't be strong apart from His grace, we will more and more avail ourselves of His precious Word given to us for through His Word He mediates His grace to us and empowers and strengthens us to walk in the works He has ordained for us.

  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. I Corinthians 15:10.

  I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.

  And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Acts 20:32.

  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Ephesians 6:10.

  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13

  Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Colossians 1:28-29.

  I continue to pray that all of you would open up His precious Word and put your noses down in it and chew on it and gnaw on it and linger there, so by His grace you might receive His power and strength to walk in His ways.

  Let us always remember

  We can't be strong apart from God's grace.

  
  Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21.

  May God give you ever increasing desire to feed the white-hot flame of God's gift in you through regular reading of His Word: gnawing on, meditating on, soaking in the Word of God! Doing so is part of our birthright as children of God! Amen.

  Tolle lege!

  ---

  More on "quiet time":
  

  • Considering Jesus: (1) Making time to consider Jesus
  • Considering Jesus: (2) Why do we do quiet time anyhow?

  More from the conference:
  

  • The Gospel Coalition: humbling, empowering reminders of who we are in ministry (includes some of my notes on Bryan's Chapell's talk on II Timothy 3:10-4:5, "Preach the Word!")
  • Church, let's remember what we're all about!
  • Juxtapositions at The Gospel Coalition Conference
  • Napthali News - TGC: the books I got and THE Book

  Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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