Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

Give Them Christ

At approximately 11:15 am on Sunday, I will do something that I do 49 weeks out of every year. I will open my Bible and I will preach to a group of people who have gathered. Do you participate in a similar “ritual?” I have a pretty firm grasp on the question: What are preachers trying to accomplish? What interests me presently, however, is: What are the hearers expecting? What do you anticipate receiving during the “preaching” portion of a given worship gathering? Just in case you think I am formulating a philosophy of preaching that begins with the listener’s “felt need,” let me show you my cards. I want us to consider the content of the Apostles’ preaching as a way to inform how we listen to preachers. In other words, the goal of the preachers in the Bible should be the goal of all preachers. Furthermore, that biblical goal for preachers should shape how we listen to sermons.

Preachers in the Bible did NOT preach to give their hearers their “best life now.” ~ Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5.11-12).

Preachers in the Bible did NOT preach to gather a crowd. ~ Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14.25-27).

Preachers in the Bible proclaimed themselves as weak and Christ alone as trustworthy ~ And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, . . . that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2.1-2, 5).

Preachers in the Bible proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord and themselves as servants of the people ~ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake  (2 Corinthians 4.5).  

Having heard the historical preaching of Jesus and because they witnessed it’s world-transforming effect, the apostles realized they had nothing better than Jesus Christ to offer their people. Brothers and sisters, there is nothing more beautiful and valuable than Jesus Christ. If you are blessed with the opportunity to preach there is nothing better you can offer your hearers than Christ. Give them Christ. 

William Willimon challenges us as preachers and listeners: “Whenever our preaching ceases to be about the truth of God in Jesus Christ is degenerates into another program of human betterment” and what this world needs is not another program of human betterment. This world needs the only eternal human betterment Person and his name is Jesus Christ.

Preachers, Give them Christ.

Hearers, Listen for Christ.

Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

Who tells you who you are? Where do you find your identity?

Sometimes we are tempted to look to the things of earth to tell us who we are. The Gospel, on the other hand, exhorts us to gaze upon the things of heaven to gain our sense of self. When we are tempted to let our earthly families define us – When we are tempted to let this nation define us – When we are tempted to let the good and evil events of our past define us, the Lord Jesus comes to us and exemplifies a better way. Jesus shows us how to defer to his Father in heaven when we want to know who we are. God knows us better than anyone. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He told Jeremiah:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1.5, ESV).

Before Yahweh sends him on mission as a prophet to the nations, Jeremiah is reminded that he is known exhaustively by the One who sends him. When Jeremiah doubts his ability (1.6), he is reminded that he rests within the intimate web of God’s comprehensive knowledge. God knows us and wants us to know ourselves as we are known by him.

John Frye, in his book, Jesus the Pastor, encourages us with these words.

[Christian], on the brink of or neck-deep in your [daily tasks], do you live in the confidence that God knows you, calls you by name, and is with you? Do you find strength in the truth that he knows the deep you with whom you are perhaps out of touch or of whom you are unaware? Do you depend on and find courage in the truth that Jesus is also called “Immanuel”? God is with you!

Sisters and brothers, God knows us. He has known us for eternity (Rom 8.29; 1 Peter 2.1). He not only knows us, he loves us and is on our side. May each of us live out the confidence of an identity that is offered to us by the One who truly knows each of us.  

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things (Rom 8.31-32, ESV)?       

Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

Each Monday morning I try to spend a couple of hours reading the Bible and a book about the Bible that is not connected to anything I am teaching or preaching. This discipline (and I am not as disciplined at this as I need to be) is driven by a desire to have my life sustained, not by bread, but by words that come from the mouth of the Lord.

At the moment, I am reading John Frye’s excellent book, Jesus the Pastor. Basically the book imaginatively explores how Jesus shepherded people with a view toward how we as Pastors can lead people like Jesus led people.

In the first chapter, “Watching Him Work,” the author describes in detail how Jesus interacts with Nicodemus in John 3 and the Samaritan Woman at the Well in John 4. Aside from the many aspects that we have noticed our entire lives in these two common stories, John Frye notices something that is quite simple and extraordinarily profound. “Jesus went with the flow.” Notice how Jesus allows both Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman to establish the direction of the conversation. In John 3, everything Jesus teaches is a direct response to a question from Nicodemus. Jesus didn’t have “a planned presentation for religious leaders who come to me at night.” Jesus respected Nicodemus as a person. He is made in the image of God, and Jesus values him as such. Jesus has a similar respect for the woman at the well. Don’t blow over that fact too quickly. Although both situations presented him with unique challenges, Jesus has the same respect for a religious leader that he has for Samaritan woman living an adulterous lifestyle.

Jesus treated her the way our loving God and Father treats everyone: he accepted and respected her as a person. He did not treat her as women were then treated; he treated her as a person. He did not treat her as Jews treated Samaritans; he treated her as a person. He did not treat her as a heretic; he treated her as person…Jesus gave the Samaritan woman her rightful place in his life. Her rightful place was as a human being, a person made in the image of God. She had the right to be treated as a person. That is always the way God in his love treats us. 

May the peaceful example of Jesus shape they way we deal with all the people in our lives today. Treat everyone you encounter today with love because each one of them is a person.