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All That Is Written

While singing with kids, I’d sometimes ask why we used an open hands motion for “Bible” rather than a closed hands one?  Their honest answer was that we should be reading and living it.  Far too often there’s dust on our Bibles.  This was certainly true in Josiah’s time.

I. 2 Chronicles 34:1-13.  Was God’s Word missing or hidden?  After all, for the previous six decades, God’s people had endured Manasseh’s 55-year and then Amon’s 2-year idolatrous reigns.  Would the 8-year old Josiah be any different.  Then, we’re told that at 16 he began to seek God.  At 20 he enacted reforms and at 26 repairs to the temple.  That’s when God’s Word was brought out.

II. 2 Chronicles 34:14-21.  The priest Hilkiah “found” it who gave it to the secretary Shaphan to read to the king who seemed to have a different spirit than what the nation had known.  Josiah’s reaction was to tear his clothes and to take action.  From his repentance, he asked that God be sought and laid their struggles upon their not doing “all that is written in this book.”

III. Psalm 1:1-3.  The same restoration spirit is needed today.  Rather than one copy collecting dust, we live in a time where we are surrounded by physical and digital copies of God’s Word, yet ours have just as much dust upon them.  We need to recognize its usefulness in equipping us (2 Timothy 3:16-17), tear our clothes figuratively and take similar literal actions like Josiah did.

The decision starts with yourself to blow the dust off your Bible and devote yourself to its instruction and rebuke.  Then we will see changes happen in our families and in the Lord’s church.

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Back to the Bible

I remember reading the assembly instructions as a kid for something my dad was putting together and was told that we didn’t need them.  My protests over a handful of screws when the contraption was built were dismissed with the explanation that companies always put in extras.  The product worked, yes, but not like it should.

The Manufacturer of mankind has left us a manual, God’s Word, the Bible.  So, it would make sense, for maximum effectiveness, to follow the guidelines set forth by the One who designed you, created every cell, breathed life into you, and then “beforehand” planned works for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).  This is why Jesus, the Word made flesh, came—to give us life abundantly (John 10:10).  Underscoring its importance, every time Jesus said a version of “Have you not read …?” He was bringing His listeners back to the Bible.

Now I know that each of us can point to neighbors, coworkers, and friends who have never followed the Bible or perhaps live its precepts in a randomized way, picking and choosing tasty tidbits like dishes on a buffet, and they all seem to have pretty good and functional lives.  This can be particularly hard on preacher’s kids (PKs) in small churches in the Northeast as they see their friends in public school seemingly having life more together than the handful of kids in their Bible classes and VBS.

But, do they really?  Even though I ministered to others from the Bible, I realized pretty quickly that I had a compromised version of my Christianity early in my wife’s ongoing eight-year battle with cancer—but especially in the past six months.  My foundation of faith was not as solid as it needed to be to endure the trials that forced us to live separately since January and unable to help each other with the other’s battle front.

Just as Moses was told to build everything according to the pattern shown to him on the mountain (Hebrews 8:5), I dug deep to return back-to-the-Bible to build up my prayer life and trust in Him.  Reasoning that God, who loved us unconditionally and was working for our good (Romans 8), knew what was best for my life and was entirely in control of the circumstances, I have flourished in my faith where many believed I should have floundered.

‘Back to the Bible’ is more than just an academic exercise or pithy saying.  It is a deep and determined commitment to delve into doctrine that saves and enriches your life.  It fortifies the foundation of your faith so that you may function well in the best of times and are prepared to fight during the worst.

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The Lord Will Prosper Me

Little Jack Horner

Sat in a corner

Eating a Christmas pie;

He stuck in his thumb

And pulled out a plumb, 

And said, “What a good boy am I.”

Why did Jack isolate himself to the corner?  Was it to eat a pie he had stolen?  Or so he didn’t need to share it with anyone?  The lack of utensils would point to this.  And, is just declaring himself ‘good’ mean that he is now indeed good despite his behavior?

That’s how sinners and others who stray from God’s Word would like to have it, especially in this politically correct culture in which each person develops his own standard of conduct and declares it ‘good.’  But, God has a standard recorded in the pages of Scripture that He tells us to follow.

I.  Judges 17:1-13.  Five wrongs don’t make a right.  Micah steals from his mother, but to his credit returns the silver.  His mother then has it made into an idol, which Micah puts into his home, makes a shine, other gods, and articles of worship for it, and installs his sons as priests to it.  The writer interjects an explanation here that everyone at this time did what was right in his own eyes (Matthew 7:6-13).  Then, Micah gets a Levite to be a priest to the idol and declares that God will now prosper him because he has made a sad attempt at restoring his actions to God’s Word.

II.  2 Chronicles 34:15-21.  But, is ‘good enough’ good enough for God?  We can fool ourselves, but God knows our true motives (Proverbs 16:1-3).  James 1:5-8 tells us that He’ll help us with wisdom, and James 4:3-4 reminds us that we can’t compromise with the world.  While the world tells us that truth is whatever we make it, God says that’s not so (Proverbs 30:20).  Instead, we need to repent and return to God’s Word like Josiah or like the church at Ephesus was encouraged to do (Revelation 2:4-6).

III.  2 Corinthians 5:6-10.  Cain was told that if he did what was right, he would be accepted (Genesis 4:6-7).  The prodigal son needed to come to his senses and get up and return to his father (Luke 15:17-20) to be pleasing.  So, we must repent and submit to God’s will (James 4:7-10) if we are to please God.  We can’t just declare ourselves pleasing to God with the plumb from the stolen pie on our thumb and expect Him to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Perhaps we should rewrite the nursery tale:

Little Jack Horner

Got up from the corner

Returning his Christmas pie;

He repented of sin

Was restored from within, 

And said, “What a good boy am I.”

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Renew, restore, revive, rekindle

Heavenly Father,

Renew in me the zeal of early days;

Restore to me the joy of your salvation;

Revive me by the Spirit’s power;

Rekindle desire to share the gospel with others.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

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To the Top I Thought

To the top I thought I’d claw
My way back to resume my place,
Only to find that you, O Lord, had lifted me
On wings of eagles, quickly, lightly,
And set me upon a wide space,
Giving me a 360-degree view,
The sun shining warm upon my face,
The spring-time breeze after winter’s thaw.

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Like Pigs

Save us, Lord, from foolishness,
We need your wise and perfect will;
Restore our minds which—we confess—
Like pigs would seek a carnal swill.

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Come back

by Jerry Elder

In 1979 (yes, I know that was a while back) my freshman year in college, I had a Hispanic friend, Enrique, who went to a store to purchase a few things. When leaving the store, he heard the words “COME BACK”! So he turned around went back to the counter and stood there.

The lady was checking out another customer and did not acknowledge him. So he turned around and was walking toward the door when he heard those words again, “COME BACK”!

Again, he turned around, walked back to the counter, and stood there while she checked out another customer. The lady notices him there and then asks him, “Can I help you”? Continue reading “Come back”

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Peel away the layers of years of man’s departures, Lord

Peel away the layers of years of man’s departures, Lord, to let me see your original intent for faith and service in your kingdom. In marriage Jesus spoke of the beginning, at creation. Paul went back to the beginning, when our Savior broke bread, to restore the proper way to eat the Lord’s supper. Thank you for revealing your pattern for the church. May we follow Jesus’ model faithfully.