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On holy heartburn

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In one of his first post resurrection appearances, Jesus walked with two disciples as they made their way to Emmaus. The story is recorded for us in Luke 24.

While he walked with them Jesus gave them a lecture on the Old Testament. As Luke records, “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” I almost called it an impromptu lecture, but there was nothing unplanned or unrehearsed about it. Jesus, as the author of Scripture, showed them how the Old Testament pointed to him all throughout.

What jumps out at me this morning as I reflect on this passage is how the disciples responded to Jesus’ teaching. Luke quotes them as saying, “did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Their hearts burned; they had a noticeable response to the Scriptures as they were opened to them. This prompts the thought that I should have higher expectations when I sit down to read my Bible.

I would think that most believers have had the experience of reading a passage of Scripture when it really seems to jump off the page and minister to the need at hand. We sometimes get glimpses of the holy heartburn that is mentioned in Luke 24.

But why is this not the typical case? Perhaps it is because we lose perspective of what we are reading and why we read it.

In the movie Shadowlands, starring Anthony Hopkins as C. S. Lewis, there is a line that I like. As I recall the scene, Lewis catches a student who is stealing books from the bookstore. When Lewis confronts the student, he offers the excuse of “at least I read them.” In further discussion, the student answers the question of why he reads the books, he responds, “I read to know I am not alone.”

Perhaps that is the best reason to read the Bible. We read it to know that we are not alone. We have a God who has written, is writing and will continue to write the story of how he will redeem a people from the mess around us. The exciting thing is that he chooses to involve us in the story.

We should be reading with expectation of learning how our involvement in the story will change us. We should be reading with expectation of learning the extent of God’s love for us. We should be reading with the expectation of getting a glimpse of what we will become when God finishes his work in us.

We should be reading with expectation of holy heartburn.

 

The authority that God has given

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Question 2Question 2 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What authority from God directs us how to glorify and enjoy Him?”

The answer given is, “The only authority for glorifying and enjoying Him is the Bible, which is the word of God and is made up of the Old and New Testaments.”

I do spend time reading Scripture, but often it is not with the level of anticipation that is warranted by the nature of the Bible. If I really believe that Scripture is the only reliable guide as to how I can glorify God and enjoy him, I should be more anxious to read it than I am.

In Luke 24, we have the story of the two men on the road to Emmaus who unknowingly meet Jesus along the way. Luke tells us that Jesus “explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). Later the men said this about that encounter, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining he Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

We the the same Scripture which we call the Old Testament and in addition with have the New Testament. If our hearts are not burning as a result of reading it, the failure does not lie within the Scriptures.

One of the dangers in reading Scripture is that we can read into it what we want to be there. I hesitate to point out examples of this because I am subject to the same tendency. Like the man with the beam in his eye, it would be ridiculous for me to point out the speck in my neighbors eye. A general warning must suffice.

Because of our tendency to read into Scripture, Biblical interpretation must be a team sport. We need the fellowship of other believers around us to challenge us in our blind spots and to assist us in drawing from Scripture the principles we need to make sound choices in life.

We need believers around us to sharpen our understanding of Scripture and sharpen our application to life in this culture at this time.

The softening of the Gospel

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Softening the waxListening to a Podcast on the way to work this week, I heard Tim Keller use an illustration that I found helpful. He used a wax seal to illustrate the impact of Biblical law upon the heart of a man (or woman).

To seal a letter, some wax is melted onto the letter and then a seal is pressed into the wax to show the identity of the one who sealed the letter. To do this properly, the wax had to be softened to take the impression of the seal.

Without softening, the seal would have difficulty in making an imprint upon the wax. Either the seal would leave a superficial impression on the hard wax, or the seal would crush the wax into pieces.

Without the Gospel, the Biblical law will have a superficial impression on a man or it will crush him. If a man does not operate under the good news of the Gospel, if he does not acknowledge his moral failure and helplessness to change, the law will either crush him or make him proud.

The result of a superficial application of the law is spiritual pride and intolerance. I saw an example of this recently when a well known comedian applied the ten commandments to his life in such a way as to prove that he keeps the Ten Commandments even though he doesn’t believe in God. To make his proof he had to offer a very superficial understanding and application of the commands. The result was that this comedian comes off as a bit condescending to those who have a different understanding of those commandments.

But non-believers are not the only ones who experience a superficial application of the law. Some who claim to believe the Gospel have also demonstrated this. They may even make every effort to live up to their understanding of the law and may genuinely believe that they are pleasing God by what they do and that they are in the right for the way that they live. The most extreme example of this can be found by following the misguided activities of the folks at Westboro Baptist Church. Their antics display the shallowest impression of the law upon their hearts and a law devoid of any Gospel.

On the other hand, if the law is applied without the softening of the Gospel, a man may be crushed by it. A proper understanding of the law will lead to the correct conclusion that no man can or will completely live up to the standard presented in the law. Any attempt to do so will end in disappointment or despair. If you doubt this, just think about how far into January the average person makes it with his New Year’s resolutions.

Prior to his understanding of righteousness coming as a result of faith, Martin Luther was a man that was crushed by the law. The best example of this is a line from the movie Luther, where Martin says to his superior, “I am too full of sin to be a priest.” Martin understood how far short of the Biblical standard he fell and was overwhelmed by that understanding until he discovered the Gospel.

When Christianity is presented as simply a moral code or philosophy of living, it is not good news, there is no Gospel in such a presentation. The only result will be pride or despair.

But, with a proper understanding of the Gospel, and how much we are loved by God, then the law becomes a tutor (NASB) or guide (ESV) to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). When we understand that Jesus has satisfied the law on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21) we are no longer bound by the standard of perfect law keeping. Jesus kept the law for us.

Because Jesus has done this for us, we have no basis for pride or condemnation of others. An ever deepening understanding of Scripture leads to an ever deepening understanding of how much we have been forgiven.

Also, when we understand how much we are loved, we will not be crushed by the law. Jesus loved you and I so much that he was willing to endure the cross (Heb. 12:2) so that we might be in relationship with him. An ever deepening understanding of Scripture leads to an ever deepening understanding of how much God loves us and how far he has gone to bring us into relationship with himself.

Under the Gospel, our hearts experience the softening that allows for a proper understanding of the role of the law (Tweet this).

My guess is that each of us, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, will gravitate toward one or the other of these superficial applications of the law. Either we will be drawn toward pride over our law-keeping or we will be overwhelmed by our inability to live up to the standards in Scripture.  Personally, I am easily sucked into the vortex of the latter.

The antidote to both reactions is a proper understanding of the Gospel, which I like to summarize in two lines (this is a quote/paraphrase from Tim Keller). The Gospel tells me:

I am more deeply flawed than I ever dared to believe
I am more deeply loved than I ever thought possible

That is indeed good news.

A great reminder about Bible reading

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Bible ReadingI recently read Question 157 in the Westminster Larger Catechism which asks,”How is the word of God to be read?”

I found the answer to be both challenging and helpful. Here it is:

The holy scriptures are to be read with an high and reverent esteem of them; with a firm persuasion that they are the very word of God, and that he only can enable us to understand them; with desire to know, believe, and obey the will of God revealed in them; with diligence, and attention to the matter and scope of them; with meditation, application, self-denial, and prayer.

When I open my Bible to read it, is it with high and reverent esteem for the text? Or am I merely doing it out of a sense of obligation?

Am I conscious that it is the very word of God as I read it (even those boring bits that I have a tendency to skip over)?

Am I seeking the Holy Spirit to enlighten me as I read?

Am I reading with a desire to know, believe and obey the will of God that is revealed in the text?

Am I reading with diligence and attention to the matter or am I merely getting a check in the box?

Do I meditate on what I read so that it can be applied to my life?

Do I have an attitude of self-denial and prayer as I read?

Some of the time the answer to these questions is yes. There are times when I am engaged in the way the catechism prescribes. But too often, I am going through the motions and not very engaged.

I suppose the good news is that even if I am not fully present in my Bible reading, some good comes from the exercise. But how much better would it be to be fully present every time I take up the Bible to read it.

One of the most surprising statements in the answer to this question is the encouragement to self-denial. I had never thought of self-denial in the context of Bible reading. But a brief meditation on this reveals the wisdom in it.

One of the struggles of the 21st Century church is the tendency for the reader to stand in judgment on the text. When this happens, we find ways of explaining away the bits of Scripture that we don’t like. The antidote to this is self-denial.

If I approach the text with humility and self-denial the result will be much different than if I approach it with a sense of superiority and judgment.

I hope that you are encouraged and convicted by this reminder to take Bible reading seriously and to approach it with the right frame of mind.

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