I'm not saying that a true picture of God is not important. What I am saying is this: that being well-versed in Christian doctrine is valueless; only love for the true God (and for others) is. To the extent that doctrine assists you in loving God and others, it is valuable. But it is not valuable for its own sake.
The question is: which is highest? The system of beliefs which forms Christianity, or the God who placed them in the world to point us to Him? Understanding "justification by faith" is far less important than being justified. Understanding the nature of sanctification is far less important than being sanctified. Understanding predestination is far less important than "assuring yourself of His calling and choosing you."
Here's how I would put it: doctrine is the rules of Baseball. Not knowing the rules would make it impossible to play. Knowing the minutiae of the rules might help you to gain an edge; but God isn't looking for referees. He's looking for players. And if you are a player, studying the history and technicalities of Baseball would only be of value to you as far as it improved your game. Run as if to win.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Get in the Game
Something Resembling a (short) Argument
You cannot disconnect true theology and true love, and, in fact, proper theology must inform proper love and not vice versa.
Look at Deuteronomy 6:4-5: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
Love is certainly more than simply correct theology; but it is certainly not less. Correct theology must inform adequate love.
See also 1 John 3:23: "And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us."
John, like Moses in the Shema above, places belief in the true Son of God, Jesus Christ, prior to love of the brothers.
Only love with truth is true love.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
My Problem with Machen
This is important, I think. I read a little bit about Machen, and I think he's saying this: "Doctrine is the message of the New Testament". As the founder of the Orthodox Presbyterian Denomenation, when he says "preaching doctrine", he probably means "Promoting strict adherence to reformed theology".
Now, the principal issues he fought for (for instance, attacking the idea that Paul basically invented a different Christianity than Jesus, based on Greek thought) are not ones I would disagree with him on. But when he says, "Doctrine is the message of the New Testament", I think he's missing the point. Yes, 1 Corinthians 13 is in the middle of a polemic. But what is the polemic saying? "We are all members of one body, and each is important." "Don't say to the foot, 'I don't need you.' " The message of 1 Corinthians 13, while itself perhaps part of a polemic, is clear: doctrine, discipline, and many other areas that feet or hands or eyes will focus on, are a means and not an end. Can speaking in tongues of men and angels aid us in loving others? Certainly. But mistaking it for more than what it is would be a grave error.
Paul answers the question, "What's most important?" right there in the passage: love. You can have all the doctrine you want, and without love you are a clanging gong or a crashing cymbal, it is utterly worthless. Jesus polemicized a great deal as well, but what was his main thrust against the Pharisees? "Come back when you have learned the meaning of this: I desire mercy and not sacrifice".
What I'm Reading
This is from The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez. He quotes John Chrysostom, who says:
"Many who have gone from monastic retreat to the active life of the priest or the bishop are completely unable to face the difficulties of their new situation."
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Quote for thought - J. Gresham Machen
"Men tell us that our preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we shall have to close our Bible and desert its teachings. The New Testament is a polemic book almost from beginning to end. Some years ago I was in a company of teachers of the Bible in the colleges and other educational institutions of America. One of the most eminent theological professors in the country made an address. In it he admitted that there are unfortunate controversies about doctrine in the Epistles of Paul; but, said he in effect, the real essence of Paul's teaching is found in the hymn to Christian love in the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians; and we can avoid controversy today, if we will only devote the chief attention to that inspiring hymn. In reply, I am bound to say that the example was singularly ill-chosen. That hymn to Christian love is in the midst of a great polemic passage; it would never have been written if Paul had been opposed to controversy with error in the Church. It was because his soul was stirred within him by a wrong use of the spiritual gifts that he was able to write that glorious hymn. So it is always in the Church. Every really great Christian utterance, it may almost be said, is born in controversy. It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of truth."
- J. Gresham Machen, "Christian Scholarship and the Defense of the Faith"
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Better Khmer Bibles Blog
Just FYI - I started up a blog for Khmer Bible translation issues.
You kinda need to know Khmer, but you can check it out ;)
Better Khmer Bibles Blog: The Purpose
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Church vs. Para-church
Not exactly what I've been reading, but I've been taking a missions class and this week was all about why we should have a 'para-church'. I'm always a little skeptical of anything so self-serving (the organization that puts on the class is itself a para-church organization, etc.) but I figured I might as well outline what they said.
The premise is that throughout the history of the church, and even prior to that in the context of Judaism, there have been nurturing structures and mobilizing structures. Some examples: synagogue/"khevra" (apparently the Pharisees were a "khevra", an organization that went about promoting their brand of purity to Jews in the diaspora), church of Antioch/Paul and company, Parish/Monastic orders, etc.
One big thing I hadn't really thought about that they brought up had to do with the history of mission in the Protestant church. Now, Luther thought the whole idea of an elective "second tier" of the church was a bad idea. He hated the monastic orders and was probably the origin of the modern idea that "the church ought to do all the work". He believed in reaching peoples outside of Christianity but felt that it was a job for the church. Calvin apparently felt similarly.
The result was that between 1521 and 1792 there were no Protestant missions. The only exception to this was the work of the Moravian group, which was essentially a para-church organization. During this time the Catholic church expanded around the globe, and we can still see the result of their work.
I'm not sure why they don't count the missionary endeavors of John Eliot and David Brainerd, because they talked about them in other sections. Maybe they are speaking primarily of European efforts.
In any case, the official beginning of Protestant Missions was in 1792 ... in which year William Carey started a para-church organization to help him go to India.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
What have you been reading?
I thought it would be nice for each of us to post a quote from a book we are currently reading. And as we change books or come across something that impacted us, we can post it for everyone to read.
I posted one below from John Owen.
-Nathan
Quote for Thought - John Owen
"The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin...Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world." - John Owen from "Temptation and Sin"
Read More......Friday, February 24, 2006
Too Much Information
You know that verse, Jeremaiah 29:11? "I know the plans, etc." Have you ever read that verse in context? I did, today. The context is a lot of prophecy and condemnation related to the recently-exiled Jewish nation. My question is: who stumbled along this passage and decided that it was more important than the entire rest of the book? The Bible contains a lot of information. Way too much to digest in a single reading. Way too much to really understand in a lifetime. Many people will take a scientific approach to the Bible: with the right tools, the right processes, it is impossible to fail, you will discern the truth.
The problem is, somebody somewhere has to come along and say, "this is important and this is not." This pins our formerly scientific process on a person. A fallible person. Every shattered piece of the Church Universal has a few verses or concepts that it latches onto and a few which (if they were honest) undermine the conclusion they've come to.
Here's what I want to know! What's important to God.
STOP. I don't want to know what you think is important to God. Look at Jesus! Jesus is the revelation of God's character. He is the way we understand God. What was important to Him? Do we even pay attention?
Thursday, February 09, 2006
sbbic.org
I just opened a new web site
http://www.sbbic.org
There is nothing really there right now, and really isn't all that useful unless you know Khmer, but I thought I would put it up here anyway. I put up a Khmer Unicode dictionary, which so far as I know doesn't exist anywhere else. It is a pretty small dictionary, only about 500 words and phrases though - and most of the terms are Christian terms, being as they were taken from some of my translation work on various Christian books (mostly just for my own learning, since I am not at the level of producing something that is really useable). But it is a start.
But yeah, hopefully it will take off, and be used by those wanting to provide better books in Cambodia and in the process create a large, and usable two-way dictionary.
:)
- Special thanks to Todd Kastle for hosting yet another site -
"Take heed to yourselves"
Regurgitating some of Richard Baxtor:
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
Some think that when someone exhorts another, they become their ruler. Some think that because Paul said these things to the elders at the city of
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
I want to focus on one thing in this verse and that is this: what is it to pay careful attention to ourselves?
It means to make sure that the work of saving grace is really in your souls. Pay careful attention to yourselves, lest you find that you are lacking that saving grace of God which you offer to others; lest while you proclaim to the world the necessity of a Savior, in your own heart you ignore Him and neglect the Salvation that He brings. Pay careful attention to yourselves, lest you die in your sin, at the same time you are calling others to be saved from their sin; lest you starve, while you prepare food for others. Many have warned others of hell while they were on their way to that terrible place of suffering. Many preachers are in hell, who have called on their people to follow Jesus and escape it. Can anyone truly think that God will save someone just because they share the Gospel with other people, while they themselves refuse that Gospel? Or that God will save someone for telling truths that they themselves ignore and abuse?
Many people who make clothes wear rags while they are making really expensive clothes for other people. Many cooks do not take a taste of the delicious and expensive food that they have made for other people. Believe this: God never saved any man for being a church leader – God never saved any man even for being an talented leader – but God saves men who are justified, sanctified and therefore faithful to their Master’s work. Pay careful attention to yourselves first, that what you are what you are telling your people to be, and that you believe what you are telling your people to believe. That you believe with all your heart in the Savior that you offer to your people.
When Christ commanded you to love your neighbor as yourself He implied that you should love yourselves, and not hate and destroy yourself and them.
It is a fearful thing to be an unsaved person – but even more, an unsaved Christian leader. Does it make you tremble when you open your Bible, lest you should read a sentence of your own condemnation? When you speak against sin, you are aggravating your own! When you tell your people of the greatness of Christ and His riches and His grace, you are telling of your own sin in rejecting Him and your own unhappiness because you lack Him. What can you do in calling men to follow Christ, in taking them from the world and into a life of faith and holiness. If you speak of hell, you are speaking of your own inheritance – if you describe the joys of heaven you are speaking of your own sadness, for you will never see heaven. What can you really say that is not against your own soul? What a miserable life – that you should study and preach against yourself and spend your time in condemning yourself! A graceless church leader is one of the most unhappy people on earth! And yet it seems such a person does not know of his unhappiness. For he thinks he has the gold of saving grace, Christian jewels and thinks he is rich, when in fact he is poor. He thinks he needs nothing, when actually he is poor, miserable, blind and naked. He knows the Bible, he knows how to lead in the church, he doesn’t commit openly evil sins, he tells other people when they are wrong, he worships God and sings with a loud voice, and teaches others of God and how wonderful God is – oh how miserable thing this is – to die of starvation when the Bread of Life is in our hands, while we offer the bread to others and call them to eat! If such a person would listen to me, and look to his heart, if He think God will hear his prayer if he “is comfortable with evil in his heart” – or if there is any benefit on the last day to say, “Lord, Lord, we have prophesied in your name,” for that man will then here these terrible words, “Depart from me, I do not know you!” What benefit will it be to Judas on the judgment day, to remember that he preached with the other apostles, or that he sat with Christ, and was called “Friend” by Christ? Do not wait, if you are not yet saved – make a full and free confession of your sin and cry out to God that He would have mercy on your soul and believe in Him, the only one who can truly save.
It is the normal danger and disaster of the Church that so many become leaders before they are Christians – who are given a mark of approval by men before they are given the mark of approval by God. We must therefore pay careful attention to ourselves – are you truly saved? “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:12b-13 ESV)
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
Again, what does it mean to pay careful attention to yourselves? Do not be content with only being a Christian, only barely escaping the wrath of God, but make sure and keep your spiritual body healthy. When you teach others, first teach yourself. Even if you did this for your own sake, it would be valuable, but actually this is for the sake of those under you, for the sake of the Church, for when your minds are cleaned and focused on heavenly things, those who are listening to you will listen and desire the things that they hear you talk about. And I admit I must speak from my own experience, that when I let my heart grow cold, my preaching is cold. When my heart is confused, my preaching is confused. And I also observe in those listening when I am cold in my spirit, they start becoming cold also. We are the nurses of Christ’s little children. If we feed on spiritually unwholesome food, either with errors or useless controversies, our hearers will become spiritually weak and sickly. But, when our hearts are overflowing with love, with joy – when we are full of faith and enthusiasm – how much good it does those who are under our care! Therefore pay careful attention to yourselves, pay careful attention to your hearts and keep them warm with much secret prayer, and with meditation on the Word of God. Watch yourselves, for your sake, and also for the sake of others.
Pay very careful attention to yourselves, lest your example contradict your teaching, lest you destroy what you say by the way you live. What value is there if you build up your people for an hour one day a week with your words, but then the rest of the time, spend in tearing whatever you said down, because your life does not follow your words. This is how men come to believe that the Word of God is a useless thing, and that Christians are only full of Words that they themselves do not believe. When you call your people to be humble, do you think that they will humble themselves more than you? If you call your people to spend their time well, do you think they will spend it more wisely than you? When you tell them to flee from sin, do you think that they will flee it more than you? You must first learn what you are going to teach, if you value the success of your position. If you value the souls that God has placed in your charge, you will pay very careful attention to yourselves and live according to the things you teach.
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Not Only Kind
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
(1 John 4:16 ESV)
I think many times when suffering comes our way, we scream out to God, “WHY?! What did I do?” But we forget – I forget that God is not just kind. For it is through suffering that we learn that God is not only kind to us. Yes, God is not only kind, rather He is love. For a god that is only kind would give drugs to a drug addict because it would make the addict happy in the moment, not willing to bring the suffering and pain required to remove the addiction from the addict in order to give him a life free from drugs. Kindness is unwilling to go all the way, unwilling to do that which is required to bring ultimate good to the recipient. But God is a God that loves us and so sometimes He wills us to go through difficulties and suffering not for the sake of suffering but for our own sake, as one withholding drugs from an addict, causing momentary suffering in order that the addict might be free from the addiction and live a full and free life. And so it is with us, we are addicted to this world, a world that in the end leads to death, and so God, our Father works to wean us off this world, causing us momentary affliction, that we might, in the end, have a life that is full, wholly satisfied and pure, not bound in slavery to sin, but filled with love for the One who loved us enough to cause our suffering for our ultimate good – everlasting life in the presence of the source of all good, God Himself. He is truly love.
Read More......Wednesday, January 04, 2006
What is wrong?
John ch.3 describes two kinds of people. Those who live in darkness because they don't want their deeds exposed, and those who come into the light to show that they are God's people. Hence we use the phrase "in the light". Often this phrase denotes a kind of openness that can be very freeing but requires great risk and often results in humiliation.
Here's what happens:
We make a contract with the state of affairs. This is: narrowing the path excludes almost everyone. Some of whom aren't really that bad. A lot of people will feel uncomfortable, at least at first. Uncomfortable = smaller churches. Smaller churches = appearance of failure. So, we know that the narrow path is where we ought to be headed, but we make a pact with reality. "I'll just do what works". Everyone retreats a little bit. Church is a little less threatening; and if it is threatening, it's the kind of "intellectual threat" that doesn't require you to talk about yourself, just your beliefs. Slowly you give up on drawing people into the light, and accept the darkness.
Why? Because it's not your job. Your job is to provide a service. People join your church, and donate to it, and pay your salary because they want a service. In most cases you have no other reason to be in the community you're in, except to provide that service. Maybe you move your family to a new city and church, because it's a better job. They don't bring you in to shepherd God's people. They bring you in to do a job. Your responsibility is not to draw people into the light, closer to God; it's to grow the church. Or ... to teach. Or ... to be "successful". The darkness closes in.
Because indoctrination is easier than transformation. Because small talk is safer than friendship. Because systematic theology is more interesting than "Love God with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."
You betray the ones you claim to be helping. Because it's your job. So, the question is, who do you work for?
Monday, January 02, 2006
Pastoral Migration
I recently had the opportunity to write a paper about Paul's theology of Pastoral Leadership from 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. I will not bore everyone with the paper itself, but rather a thought that came to me during its writing.
My paper was centered on the necessity of the pastor to defend the protect and promote truth, to develop strong leadership, etc. However my question was not really centered on any of those things.
Why is it that Pastors move from church to church so often in our modern era?
The reason usually given has something to due with being called, etc. I do not want to discredit that because I do not know the heart or what God has done in their lives. However, there are usually a lot of coincidences that go along with the calling. I.E. more responsibility or a bigger salary, flexibility, etc. In reality for this discussion those things don't matter. The main question for me is when you are called to a church can you be called somewhere else?
As far as I am concerned there really is no precedent in the Bible for someone to leave a church as a pastor to go to another church somewhere else. When you think of Titus you think of him ministering in Crete, Timothy is usually associated with the church in Ephesus, some think Epaphroditus was the pastor of Philippians (see 2:25-30). There is no mention of their moving from church to church to accept a new "pastorate". So why do pastors move from congregation to congregation so frequently? Why is the average stay of a pastor less than 4 years?
I think some church denominations like this. The PC(usa) will not let someone be a Sr. Pastor of a church that they grew up in or attended (although they can be an associate). This denomination likes moving people around when there is openings or needs in other areas. It seems as if a person is familiar with a congregation that is a bad thing... When someone applies for ordination they must accept an internship at a church other than their own. Usually the denomination will also make sure that if you came from a liberal church you go to a conservative or a big church to a small one and vice versa.
Are we really called to be this "iternarant"?
The shape of the church has changed in the modern era. People move around, they bounce from church to church, they need to think of taking care of their family. A lot of this probably has to do with worldlyness creeping into our thinking and our church life. Look at how churches are structured, more often than not they resemble a corporation. With that, there is head hunting and different "packages" that are presented to pastors... greener pastures.
I was approached at one point by a pastor in San Jose who told me to keep my options open. This was after a discussion where he alluded to possibilites in the future. I told him that I felt called to the students that I was currently ministering too. It is true that more money, a 401k, better benefits, etc. are inticing.
You see churches in the early NT time taking care of their Pastor's needs. So are our needs being met. The reality is that more money is inticing, but I right now in my life I am doing ok... in reality I could probably get by making less. In the future this may change. When I start having kids I will probably need to make more. But that will be the responsibility of my church to step up.
This led me to two conclusions...
1. If you were called to a specific church at one point and they are taking care of the needs of your family then you shouldn't leave. The world and the idea of making more and climbing the coporate ladder has already creeped too far into the modern church. If someone feels called to a different church then that is between them and God. But, they should first examine if there aren't any ulterior motives.
2. If a church is not meeting the needs of you and your family... then you should first let that be known then if it is unresolved then you should move on. The church should be responsible to take care of their pastor. However, one should exaine if they are living above their means. Often those in church ministry live pretty good lives. I admire people who sell everything they have to fund their ministries or mission. I admire those who live that "war-time" lifestyle. It definitley is not easy to do in a land of flat panel lcd monitors, ipods and faster cars.
I guess I just do not think pastors should move around as much as they do in the modern age.
Jumbled thoughts from a year ago
We are far away from where we should be - we continue to follow the ones who are in front of us, knowing good and well in our minds that the path they follow leads to death. But our hearts, but my heart rebells against the truth. We know, and yet we continue, we still walk in the path of our old man. What is keeping us from doing the things we know we should? Why are some outside the faith even more disciplined than we, who are in the faith are? Whouls we not be known for our discipline? Our lives should follow after our beliefs, yet our beliefs never seem to be strong enough to perfect our lives - for we are but flesh, weak, and unable to cleanse ourselves from the wickedness inside our souls. Nothing is easier to know than this: men are wicked. Yet nothing is harder to accept, for why would a wicked heart admit to such a thing? The point of belief never comes until a man realises he is wicked. We say we are good but there is no one good but God. We say we are not murderers - we say Hitler was wicked, but we fail to see in ourselves the very same things that made that man so wicked - we decieve ourselves. God is a the God who saves and man is a race that needs a Savior.
Read More......Sunday, December 25, 2005
Christmas, where have you gone?
Where has it gone
The feeling inside I used to have
Every Christmas so fond
Seems just like a normal day
Nothing's changed, nothings new
Presents await but there's nothing to anticipate
Not like before, when it felt new
Now it's like nothing, feelings are weak
Have I lost you?
Why doesn't it feel like Christmas
Open my eyes, my thoughts
Finding clarity in a haze
Christmas is not a feeling, a soft warm phrase
For this day, the Christ has come
How could I forget and replace?
You are the One that brings all things
Good and holy, righteous and true
So remind me this season
Not to look for a feeling inside
But to look to You my one and only
Savior, God, and King
Monday, December 12, 2005
"High-tech US embassy set to open"
We so easily fool ourselves into thinking we have accomplished something great, when in reality, we have done little or nothing at all.
This from an article in the Phnom Penh Post:
"The new US embassy on Street 96 near Wat Phnom. Former US Ambassador Charles A Ray claims credit for the survival of [a] tree, which architects wanted removed."Read More......
Sunday, December 04, 2005
The Mysterious Food and the Harvest
We move now from the Samaritan woman – who has gone back into town telling people about Jesus – to a private conversation between Jesus and His disciples. The disciples had gone into town in order to buy food and now are asking Jesus to eat – they had seen that Jesus was tired, and they are concerned for His well-being. But
(v32) He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
So Jesus introduces this Mysterious Food – and let’s look at two aspects of this food
I. The Source of this Foood
II. The Superiority of this Food
I. The Source of this Food
We see in verse 33 the disciples are a bit confused about this statement that Jesus makes – for as you remember, Samaritans and Jews didn’t get along well, and they were thinking – no one here would have given Him anything to eat, would they? They saw that Jesus no longer needed their food, but they couldn’t figure out why.
The disciples, as is normal for all of us, were thinking first about the physical, temporal things – but Jesus was speaking of this mysterious food that they have yet to learn about.
Where does this food come from? Where does it not come from?
(v32) He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
This food does not come from the world – the world doesn’t even know about it– nor can the world provide it.
(v34) Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work."
Jesus’ food has its source, not in the things of this earth, but rather in doing the will and accomplishing the work of the One who sent Him – it is a food that comes from God – the source of all good things.
Jesus has been sent, though the Son of God, He has been sent, humbling Himself, becoming a servant, doing the will and accomplishing the work of God the Father, the One who sent Him.
So what was the will of God? What was this work of God that Jesus was accomplishing?
John 6:38-39
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
The will of God was that Jesus save those whom God had given to Jesus – and the work of God, the work that God had already done was appoint those who were given to Jesus – appointing them unto salvation (1 Thess. 5:9) – and Jesus was accomplishing that work – finishing that work by saving those given to Him by God through His life and death and resurrection.
This is the food of Jesus – The life-blood, the thing that kept Jesus going, the reason Jesus woke up every morning – The food of Jesus: to do the will and accomplish the work of God – for in doing this, He is revitalized by God.
Men live to eat and drink – read and study, to work or play – some even live to pray and minister – but not Jesus.
And this moves us into our next thought.
II. The Superiority of this Food
If someone really smart or someone skilled in something says, “I do it this way” normally we try to do as they do, because it’s a better way – they know more than we do, so we follow.
And so I present to you this morning – Jesus Christ, the Man-God, all-knowing, all-powerful saying, “MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE”
We work and grow tired – we labor and want a vacation – but Jesus, who at the beginning of this story was wearied by His journey, stopping by a well to rest – He works, ministering to the Samaritan woman and now refuses the nourishment that His disciples offer Him, because He is refreshed and renewed.
This food that Jesus has is better than ours – for we eat and then grow hungry, and if we don’t eat we become weary, we live limited, and wanting – but this food overcomes all this – this food is better than any other food –
"Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary."
(Isaiah 40:30-31)
This food is superior simply in the fact that it is from God – it is food for those who God has sent, and in doing the will and work of God – in expending their lives for God, this work becomes true food, true strength and true renewal of body and spirit. You will know if you are doing the work of God if you are fed by it – “when toiling in the fields of heaven one needs no other refreshment.”
TRANSITION:
"Do you not say, `There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.
(John 4:35)
As I was studying this past week and I came to this point in the text – Jesus flips right from talking about food to talking about the harvest – and I kept asking myself, “Why does Jesus talk about these things together, without really any transition? He talking, and He goes food food food, harvest!”
But I think there is a very good reason, and sheds even more light onto this lesson that Jesus was teaching to His disciples. So let’s look into this:
Jesus had just finished speaking with the Samaritan woman when the disciples came up – then she goes into town and starts telling people about Jesus – and while the woman is doing this, Jesus is speaking to His disciples – but what of the people that the woman has been talking to – what are they doing? They are on their way to see Jesus – and they come up to Him later on in this chapter, in verse 40 – so picture this in your mind: as Jesus is explaining to His disciples that, rather than their food being the most important thing, there is something superior to the food they are offering, then Jesus says – “You say there is about four months until harvest, but I say – Take a look right now! The fields are ready for harvest right now!” The disciples might have wondered what Jesus meant, because there truly were still four months until harvest, although the farmer’s fields had been planted, they were still green and not ready to be harvested. But in a few moments, if the disciples had not understood what Jesus said they would have – for right when Jesus finishes speaking the group of Samaritans that had been told of Jesus by the woman arrive to speak with Jesus, they were the field that was ready for harvesting – this was the work that Jesus came to do, to save men, this is the food that He was talking about – Jesus was here to do the will and accomplish the work of God and here were some of those appointed unto salvation by God, ready to be harvested, ready to be saved.
Now let’s look at three things in regard to this heavenly harvest
I. The Reward of the harvest
II. The Rejoicing in the harvest
III. The Reminder during the harvest
I. The Reward of the Harvest
Jesus was gladly willing to forfeit earthly food in order to work in this harvest – because in working this harvest there was greater reward!
Jesus was already received wages, benefits from working in the field of Samaria – He was receiving joy, that would last forever, and was gathering fruit for life eternal, meaning that people were being saved.
This is the lesson – it is better to give than to receive – because God is a rewarder of those who serve Him, of those who earnestly seek Him
And Jesus was receiving this reward but He is not the only one rejoicing over the harvest.
II. The Rejoicing in the Harvest
There are two parties involved - the ones who sowed the seed and the ones who reaped the fruit.
Jesus didn’t have to explain who the messiah was to the Samaritan woman, she knew about Him already.
And so Jesus says: "in this case the saying is true, `One sows and another reaps.'
(John 4:37)
The harvest that was taking place in
III. The Reminder During the Harvest
Then Jesus directs His attention to His disciples and in this I believe Jesus is referring to ministry that He had sent the disciples to do, either baptizing, or possibly when He had sent them to go into different cities and preach the good news:
(v38) Jesus says that He sent His disciples to reap that for which they had not labored – others have labored and you [the disciples] have entered their labor – “Their labor”, the word labor here tells of a toil to the point of exhaustion, long pains, troubles.
The disciples were probably elated that their going out had resulted in so much fruit, as are everyone when they lead a soul to the Lord, but Jesus here is reminding them, that they are reaping from a field in which they have not toiled long in, that they have not troubled and pained long years in that field. It is a call to humility, lest we boast and think our ways are higher than others, as Paul re-states:
"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."
(1 Corinthians 3:6-7)
And then The Living Example of the Harvest
(v39-42) From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done." So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."
(John 4:39-42)
What a joyful thing to see such a harvest – and in such an unlikely field, beginning with such an unlikely sinner.
I want to close with this last thought.
As I was reading this passage, I was thinking about my own ministry. I am living in
Jesus tells His disciples: "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor."
(John 4:38)
But what of here in
But as we think of this whole passage:
The food of Jesus, coming from God, that is better than the food of this world
And then of the harvest – the great reward from it and the rejoicing of both the sower and reaper together, the reminder of humility – the encouragement for me, the message I want to give you is this:
"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”
(John 4:34)
The food is not in the result – for we are not sent out for results. In looking to result we will fall from exhaustion. Rather the food is in doing the will and accomplishing the work of the One who sent us.
Do not make your food the results of your labor – rather let it be in obeying your Lord and Master – it is in this that we are fed, that we find our encouragement, that we are serving God – and that He has sent us out to do His will and accomplish His work.
So go, and let us be refreshed in the labors our Master has called us to do.
"For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God--his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. "For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip; "The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation, the God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me, who brought me out from my enemies; "For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever."
(2 Samuel 22:30-51)
Monday, November 28, 2005
Advent
This time of year,
Songs play in enemy's places,
Of a night divine, of Immanuel,
Of God with us.
Of the Father's love, and the Son's submission
In taking a dust-jacket of skin
And thus to subtract by addition.
Born of a woman, conceived by the Spirit,
Fourteen generations times three
Then He came,
All bloody and weak, and wholly divine.
I pray that
This ineffable love will amaze
Me this season.