March 30, 2010

• my ministry & your attitude toward the Word of God

  I'm heading off on an overnight retreat tomorrow (I would appreciate your prayers for that), but I wanted to leave you with some thoughts that have been heavy on my heart...

  I'd like to present some thoughts on my blogging and your attitude toward the Word of God. Two points I would like to make today.
  
  1. I pray God might use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take in the Word of God by yourself, so you are no longer spoon-fed but are self-fed.
  
  2. I pray God might use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take out the Word of God to others, so you might become teachers.
  
  

  

  1. I pray God might use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take in the Word of God by yourself, so you are no longer spoon-fed but are self-fed.

  A healthy baby has a hunger, a great hunger for his mother's milk. If you've been around a hungry baby, he'll let you know it. You'll need earplugs sometimes!

  Then as the baby grows older, he'll able to eat and digest solid food: at first some pretty dribbly cereal, pureéd fruit and veggies, but then soon a little soft finger food, cheerios (yeah, all over the place), and then the whole nine yards. Next thing you know you blink, and that child is a teenager. Then it seems he has taken up residence in the kitchen and food disappears into thin air!

  Do you have that same quality and intensity of hunger for the Word of God?

  

  I love teaching God's Word...

  BUT...

  ...if you're reading or listening to my words and you're not coming away with a greater hunger for the Word of God, then I'm failing miserably and you're failing miserably.

  ...if you're reading or listening to my words and you're happy with them and never crack open your own Bible, then I'm failing miserably and you're failing miserably.

  ...if you're reading or listening to my words and you're not coming away with a desire to check what I'm saying against the Word of God, then I'm failing miserably and you're failing miserably.

  You cannot be a spiritually healthy Christian and continue to get your food second-hand. Period. I don't care what kind of devotionals you read. I don't care what books you read or how many books you read. I don't care how many songs you listen to or concerts you attend. I don't care what sermons you listen to or what commentaries you read. Piper. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Whitefield. Some of you who've been reading here a while know how those men of God have impacted me; they have helped me in countless ways, but there's no substitute for time alone with God in His Word. Yes, you can use all these things as tools to help you, and you can use my blog as well, but you must go to the Word of God for yourself.

  I was sharing with my husband that John Calvin spoke of wrestling with a text until he got something from it; Luther also said the same thing. (I heard about them saying that from Piper who also has said the same thing himself...please see my post here.) I would have to believe that probably all those we consider spiritual giants would have said something similar. After all, let's consider how they became spiritual giants...Didn't each one of those men and women have had to come to see the value of wrestling with the Word of God and tarrying there until they were fed with the bread of heaven? My husband likened that wrestling to Jacob wrestling with the angel. Yes, exactly. "Wrestling" is actually one of the meanings of Naphtali, the tribe of Jacob for which my screen name was chosen (see here), though I didn't originally choose it for that reason. I do like wrestling with the Word of God; if you are a child of God, you should also. We have a chance for a blessing, to receive manna for our hunger and living water for our thirst. Why shouldn't we remain in the Word with an expectation that God will bless us?

  If you don't know what it's like to sit with the word of God and wrestle, then you've missed some very wonderful blessings. I'm not talking about forcing the text to make it say what you want, I'm not talking about it being a chore. I'm talking about sitting at His feet and asking God to reveal Himself to you in it in a way you'd not seen before. No, nothing in addition to Scripture. I don't mean that. But I do mean this: To listen for His still small voice. To wait on Him so you might see His glory. For God to take those seemingly meaningless portions of Scripture (none of it is meaningless for it is all from Him, all of Him and all to His glory and all for our profit!) and surprise you: to have the Scripture shine with His glory in ways you've never imagined. Has He surprised you like that? Have you ever seen Him do that? He wants to, you know. From beginning to end God's Word is full of treasures. Yes, even in Numbers and Leviticus. Even in the historical books. All throughout the Word of God. Don't just stay in the Gospels and the Psalms. Read it all. It's all God's gift to us. It's all God-breathed! All of it! If you've never read through the whole Bible, begin today to feast on those portions you've never tasted. You won't be sorry!

  How much are you missing out on by not doing that purposeful wrestling with the Word of God? Yes, it takes time, but how often do you find time to do things of little or no eternal consequence day in and day out. I would challenge you to sit with the Word of God and ask His Spirit to make it alive to you in a way that's never happened to you. The Word of God is living and active. The Holy Spirit is a living spirit. We're not talking about any book. We're talking about the God-breathed words of the living God. He wants to speak to us. God wants to reveal Himself and His will to us. Will you go there? Open your mouth and watch how He fills it!

  Think of two cut flower stems. One has been sitting in water in a vase and is standing strong, blooming beautifully. But the second one is drooping and wilting; it's beginning to lose its petals. Why? It is lying outside the vase and is sorely in need of fresh water to revive it. What good does it do the second flower that the first is in the water? If the flower had feet, wouldn't it walk, no, wouldn't it run straight away to that vase of water and jump into it?

  I know the analogy is not perfect, but even when I might give you some fresh water here, it may encourage you and sustain you for a time, but soon you'll droop once again. You need to get into the water for yourself! You can't live the Christian life without continuing to abide in the Vine and drinking of Christ Himself. No more than my drinking a glass of water can quench your thirst.

  Or, what if I'm eating a steak dinner with baked potato (with all the possible toppings, there can't be too many!) and then top it off with a nice dessert. And then I write about it. You sit at home in front of your computer screen reading my description of my dinner. (Or if I did Xanga TV I could even sit and eat in front of you. Lol.) Or, what if I take those same ingredients (ok, this is gross) and put them in a blender and process them and then hand you a glass and the blended ingredients and say, "Drink up!" Is that really the same? Isn't part of eating the smelling, the tasting and the chewing as well as the stomach digesting. You've missed all of that when you read of my experience or watch me eat. You may get many of the same nutrients but it's not going to be the same. You won't have that direct experience and enjoyment with the food itself.

  The Psalmist tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good.

  Jesus told us to eat of Him and drink of Him.

  Jesus invited His disciples to handle him, to touch him.

  The veil is open to the most holy place through Christ's flesh and blood. We can each go directly to go to the presence of God through the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Why would we keep looking for intermediaries when none are needed? Why would we set up a system of priests when we have a great high priest who sits at the right hand of the Father? Why would we settle for less than digging directly into the Word of God ourselves? Why would we go back to pre-Reformation days? Yet, I am sad to say, that's what much of evangelical Christianity has become today. So sad...

  I want to make it clear that God has ordained pastors, teachers and so forth to equip the Body of Christ, so those are necessary members of the Body, and we can't ever say we don't need to sit under good preaching and teaching. I will also say that we are all supposed to teach and encourage one another (more below). That said, I hope and pray you will not become reliant on pastors or teachers or others to the point that you do not think you can go to the Word of God yourself or you short-change your own time in the Word of God because of ministry of some good pastors and teachers. What happens when those people are no longer part of your life? Good pastors and teachers will tell you what I am telling you: Get into the Word of God yourself and then stay there! If you're sitting under a pastor who isn't telling you that, then you're in trouble. We must always be feeding ourselves and always be checking all we hear against the Word of God.

  We each only have 24 hours a day. We must use our time wisely and that includes our time for reading and listening. If you're spending all your time getting God's Word through other people, you'll be lacking. You'll wither and fade. Know this: it's hard enough to withstand the storms of life and the dry times when you are firmly rooted in the Word of God.

  I've said this before and it bears repeating. Though I love for people to come and read my blog for I do strive by the grace of God which works in me to write to His glory and to build up the Body and I believe what I'm doing here is worthwhile and meaty for your souls...however if you are neglecting your own personal time with God in His Word, then do not read my blog. Go to His Word first and foremost! You must do that!

  In fact, I certainly hope and pray I will lead you to a point in your Christian life where you will begin to say, "I liked what Karen wrote, but you know, I can see I can do that same thing for myself. I can dig in. I have the Spirit of God to teach me. It takes a little more work, but it's worth it. I want to jump into the vase of water for myself. I want to eat that steak dinner myself. I want to taste and see that He is good. I want to touch Him. I want to eat of Him. I want to drink of Him."

  Amen to that!

  So as much as I sometimes wrongly desire more readers (I've shared my struggles in that), I don't want any readers ever coming here at the expense of their neglecting time in the Word of God. Ever. Don't come here unless you've gone to the Word of God first to feed your soul. Christ alone has the words of life. As He works in me, He allows me to share some of His Word here, but it's still not the same as you're going yourself and sitting at His feet. Do not neglect the best thing.

  It distresses me to see people whom I've known and have studied with in the past who are no longer in the Word of God regularly. That grieves me. That's probably just about the most devastating thing that can happen to anyone who teaches the word of God in any capacity. I want you to become a self-feeder and not a spoon-feeder. Part of the charge of a teacher is to teach their students to learn on their own. My prayer is you would do that.

  May God use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take in the Word of God by yourself, so you are no longer spoon-fed but are self-fed.

  Now to my second desire for you...

  2. I pray God might use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take out the Word of God to others, so you might become teachers.
  
  ...if you're reading or listening to my words and you're never teaching the Word of God to anyone else, then you're failing miserably and I am failing miserably.

  Paul tells Timothy in II Timothy 2:

  1  You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2  and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

  Timothy was one of Paul's children in the faith, so to speak, and then we see how Timothy was entrusted to take what he had learned to others, in other words, to become a father to many more.

  How is the faith passed along to others if no one teaches? How will the faith be passed on to future generations if no one teaches?

  I hear some of you saying, "Well, Timothy was a pastor after all," and others getting ready to quote James 3: "Not many of you should become teachers..."

  Yeah, well, I'll throw something back at you from Hebrews 6:

  12  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13  for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

  That's not written to a pastor, that letter is written to the entire church. You're not getting off the hook here. None of you are getting off the hook...

  You ought to be teachers...
  
  Isn't it about time you are a teacher? What are you doing with what you've been learning? Are you being a good steward?

  Of course, since not all are teachers in terms of spiritual gifts, that can't mean we are all called to be teachers in that sense, yet we are all called to teach one another in another sense.

  For example, see Colossians 3:

  16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

  Of course, we know you can't rightly teach anyone unless you're dwelling in the word of God and the word is dwelling in you...so back to my first point above...

  And we all know that if you're a parent you are responsible to teach your children:

  Deuteronomy 6:4  “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

  
  The early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship. Are you devoted to the apostles' teaching? What do you spend your time thinking about? What do you spend your time reading? What do you spend your time listening to?

  Many of you are devoted to fellowshipping with fellow believers, yet such fellowship is but a hollow shell of what God intends if the Word of God is not made central in those meetings. I'm not saying you'll necessarily have to sit down and have a formal Bible study all the time, but you should be sharing how God has been teaching you, the Scriptures He has been impressing on you, how He has fed you, how He has encouraged you. That's what we read of in Hebrews 10:

  24 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

  Of course, if you're not regularly eating of Him and His Word, you won't have anything to pass along to others, will you?

  Finally, we are all called to be witnesses, which is a type of teaching. Are you able to explain the work that Christ has accomplished on the cross to an unbeliever? Are you able to explain why Christ had to die? Are you able to explain the work Christ has accomplished on the cross to strengthen a believer struggling with sin or assure a believer burdened with false guilt? Paul spoke of letting nothing known but Christ and Him crucified. If you look through the New Testament, that's the central point of much of the witnessing, teaching and preaching that was happening. I would challenge you this Holy Week to begin to dig in and see what Christ our Passover has done for you. In conjunction with the accounts of the Passion, consider reading Romans 1-8 and/or the book of Hebrews. Are you able to teach the wonderful truths of the atonement, justification, sanctification, glorification and so forth? You should be able to do so. Perhaps not in such a polished way as Piper or ML-J, but you should be able to teach them. The Holy Spirit has come to lead us into all truth and to help us in these matters, but once more, we must crack open our Bibles and, as Piper has said, to get our noses into the Word (again, back to point one...).

  May God use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take out the Word of God to others, so you might become teachers.

  * * *

  It is a blessing and privilege to write here and to teach the Word of God whenever I have opportunity. I pray God might give all of you the grace to examine yourselves and that He might accomplish these things through my ministry here for your good, for the furtherance of His Gospel and for His glory. Amen.

  May God use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take in the Word of God by yourself, so you are no longer spoon-fed but are self-fed.
  
  May God use my ministry to develop in you a strong, insatiable hunger to take out the Word of God to others, so you might become teachers.

  ---

  Related posts on...

  My vision for blogging:

  • Why I blog and the only kind of recommendation I should seek
  • Why I write and minister - My credo for being a godly encourager

  Quiet time and the importance of the Word of God

  • Considering Jesus: (1) Making time to consider Jesus
  • Considering Jesus: (2) Why do we do quiet time anyhow?
  • take to heart ALL the words (more on quiet time)
  • Get gnawing, put your nose down in the Book to feed the white-hot flame of God's gift
  • Thanksgiving Eve: How hungry are you for Him
  • Things To Look for in a Church, 6: A People Hungry for the Word of God
  • Things To Look for in a Church: What We Might Learn from Solomon's Temple, # 8

  Every member ministry

  • God uses men with "no outstanding abilities"
  • They went everywhere gossiping the word; shouldn't we also? (Acts 8:4)

   
  Philip Ryken's "The Pattern of Sound Words"
  
  Scripture quotations 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.

  • 6:13 PM
  • 1 Comment