Fountains, Faith, and Fullness

This morning I was given the grace and responsibility to preach at Center Presbyterian Church in New Castle, PA.  My text was Jeremiah 2:11-13 and my sermon was entitled "Fountains, Faith, and Fullness: Pursuing the Glory that Profits."  Below is a (very) brief outline/summary, as well as the link to the audio file on the DVO website.

1) Historical context: The book of Jeremiah describes God coming in judgment against His people because they have "exchanged the glory of God for that which does not profit;" they have forsaken Him and turned to idols.

2) "Be appalled, O heavens... be shocked."  God says we should be shocked and appalled by this idolatry.  I have three reasons why we should be appalled:

A) The glory of God is at stake: God's glory is the most ultimate, most valuable reality in the universe, because the glory of God is most valuable to God.

B) We were created to exhibit and enjoy the glory of God: We exist to display the worth of Jesus Christ to a watching world, and we do this by enjoying "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus."

C) God's glory profits: The obvious implication of Jeremiah's accusation, "They have changed their glory for that which does not profit," is that we should be pursuing the glory that does profit.  We are commanded to consider knowing and enjoying God that we view all else as worthless by comparison.  Therefore, the proper response to the glory of God is to pursue it joyfully and drink of it deeply, and come to Jesus who says "I am the bread of life."

3) What does it mean when Jesus says, "Come to me"?  Jesus' statement in John 6 ("Whoever comes to me shall not hunger; whoever believes in me shall never thirst") is a parallel statement, in which the first phrase means the same thing as the second phrase.  Therefore, what Jesus is saying is that coming means believing.  Believing in Jesus means coming to Him as thirst-quencher and satisfier-- this is the essence of true faith.

You can listen to and download the entire message at http://www.dailyverseonline.org/sermons

Preaching, Update

For the last week or so, I've been working on my sermon for this Sunday.  I've decided to go with the text of Jeremiah 2:11-13.

Has a nation changed its gods,

even though they are no gods?

But my people have changed their glory

for that which does not profit.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the LORD,

for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.

What really jumped out at me from this passage is verse 11- "My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit."  Isaiah 60 tells us that their glory is God Himself.  So just like in Romans 1, when humanity "exchanges the glory of the immortal God for images," here the people of Israel exchange the glory of God for that which does not profit-- the fountain of living water in exchange for broken cisterns.  Do you see what the implications of verse 11 are?  If the charge is that they exchanged their glory for what does not profit, the obvious implication is: "Pursue the glory that profits!"  It's Christian hedonism, and its everywhere you look.  So my sermon on Sunday is going to be all about this glory that profits.  The title of the sermon is, "Fountains, Faith, and Fullness: Pursuing the Glory that Profits."

As The Deer For Streams Of Water

One thing I do occasionally is write poetry.  More often than not, the "poetry" turns into a song, but sometimes it stays the way it is, without musical accompaniment.  For the music, you can visit http://brendanbeale.dailyverseonline.org (songs eventually find their way over there).  For the poems, I figure that I'll post them here every once in a while.  The point is not to show off a skill at crafting words; my hope is that you will be encouraged and pointed toward the glory of the Savior in new ways.

Here's a poem I wrote tonight, based on Psalm 42:1-3, Jeremiah 2:13, and John 4:14, called "As The Deer For Streams of Water."

As the deer for streams of water

Pants my heart, O Lord, for Thee

For the ever-flowing river

Living water come to me

Thirsty for a satisfaction

Which evades these cisterns poor

Worldly comforts dry and broken

Drive me to Thy fountain, Lord

Tears have been my only portion

Salty streams from barren heart

Grief and bondage, dust and ashes

Will such idols e'er impart

Yet in Thy river grace abundant

For this chief of sinners gives

Pardon for my earthly lusting;

All my cisterns You forgive

So bring my longing to the Source,

The fountainhead of life divine:

The cross, where multitudinous mercy

Makes Thy glory ever mine

Your words were found, and I ate them

Today's Through-The-Bible reading brought me to Jeremiah 15:16-

Your words were found, and I ate them

     and your words became to me a joy

     and the delight of my heart,

for I am called by your name,

     O LORD, God of hosts.

What an amazing verse, especially when you look at it in context.  After delivering all his prophecies of disaster and destruction, Jeremiah is deeply discouraged and pleads to God for help.  But in the midst of his discouragement, Jeremiah remembers how precious God's Word still is to him.  It's sort of like David, praying out of his discouragement in Psalm 42, "Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."  Though the God's Word to Jeremiah is alienating him from his family and his people, yet they are still a joy to his heart.

May this verse be true of me every day.  I want God's Word to be my joy and delight; I want to hunger and thirst after God and His righteous Word.  But my heart doesn't naturally love what is most lovely, and my fallen tongue doesn't naturally "taste and see the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8, 1 Peter 2:3).  I need the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, to do this work in me every day.  I must pray with the Psalmist, "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!"  "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."  I need God to sovereignly, omnipotently bend my stubborn heart to His testimonies, and I need His Spirit to say "Let there be light" to my darkened eyes every morning so that I can see the wondrous things in the Bible.  And I have His promise that He will do this: Jeremiah delighted in the Word of God because he was called by God's name.  So am I!  And so I have the same Spirit and calling that Jeremiah did that enabled him to enjoy God.

This Morning's Scripture

For my Through-the-Bible-in-a-Year plan, I was reading this morning from Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, John, and James.  Something in each one hit me really hard as I was reading (praise God for the Holy Spirit who delights to do that sort of thing).  Here are my thoughts:

Behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;

they take no pleasure in it.

Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD

~Jeremiah 6:10-11

Wow.  I pray that this will never, ever be said of me.  "The word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it."  If that's what the people of Israel were doing wrong, here's what is right: TAKE PLEASURE in the word of the Lord.  To not take pleasure in it, to not delight in it, is scorn.  It is treating it as less precious than it is.  And look at the consequences: the wrath of the LORD-- God takes our affections for the Bible very seriously.  Lord, forgive me for all the times I have not taken pleasure in Your word, and by Your Spirit implant Your holy joy in me.

Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness... Apart from [God] who can have any enjoyment?  For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy.  ~Ecclesiastes 2:13,26

Praise God for this one!  There is more gain in wisdom than in folly, and there is more gain in light than in dark!  Not to quote John Piper or anything, but this is classic "Christian hedonism."  You want gain, right?  Then seek wisdom, and walk in the light!  And to those who please God, He gives this great gain in abundance.  Oh the goodness of God, that He works in us what is pleasing to Him (Heb. 13:21-22) and then fills His people with immeasurable good things!

For this purpose I cam baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. ~John 1:31

When you stop to look at it, you quickly realize that the whole Bible is intensely, radically Christ-centered, and the testimony of John the Baptist is no exception.  The whole point of his baptism, the whole point of his entire ministry, the whole point of his life and his message of repentance and all the years of locusts and honey, was this: that Jesus would be revealed.  May that be the purpose of my life and ministry as well.

Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ~James 1:21

This sort of reminded me of the passage from Jeremiah, in how seriously it takes the Bible.  Specifically, I thought of this in terms of my youth group's Bible study that I help to lead, and I was burdened anew for their hearts to be opened to the Word of God.  I want them to see that this study we are doing is so much more than a self-help lesson, or something to do Sunday afternoons-- it is life and death.  Eternal life and eternal death hang in the balance of how they will respond to God's Word.  Will they take pleasure in it, delight in it, receive it with meekness... or will they not?  Oh Lord, open their hearts and mine to Your Word, that we may receive it with meekness and joy!