TO
TREASURE AND PONDER THE WORD OF GOD
When you think about Christmas, what
images come to mind? What memories and
traditions dominate your ideas and thoughts about what to expect at this
special time of year? For most of us,
the way we were brought up has shaped the way we think about what is
appropriate for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
Some of you will
follow the same traditional ways your parents did from the wake up time to the
moment it is permissible to open presents.
Everything follows a way of thinking that has been passed on from one
generation to the next. Others have
gradually, some abruptly, changed everything.
I have talked with some friends who will be skiing in Colorado on
Christmas while others who would consider it a major breech to be anywhere but
by their own hearth on Christmas morning.
With most
people, our way of thinking originated with our earliest experiences as we were
influenced by those we respected and loved.
At some point, we either continue along those lines or we choose to make
a break and pursue another way of thinking.
For Mary, to
“treasure and ponder these things in her heart” was more than likely a pattern
that had been formed early in her life.
Being brought up in a traditional Jewish family, much of life was shaped
by either traditions or Scripture.
Therefore, she
received the news of the miraculous birth with a troubled heart (Luke 1:29) but
then “pondered what kind of salutation” this could be, coming as it did from
the angel, Gabriel. As the announcement
concluded, her response indicated that she received what was said and processed
it as she had learned to process all of life—by placing this amazing
development in a biblical context so that she could think about it properly and
reach scriptural conclusions.
THESIS: By learning to think
biblically, we not only gain a right perspective on life—we gain an accurate
understanding of the glorious nature and eternal worthiness of the Lord God.
Last week we
explored what God had done to fill our minds with the wonders of God--His glory
revealed in creation. As we treasure
those wondrous things, we ponder the greatness of the God who made them. Today we move more specifically to treasure
and ponder the Word of God which leads us to think rightly and truthfully about
all of life.
I.
REFLECTING ON THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD’S PROMISES
--What the angel Gabriel told Mary lined up with
what had already been promised by God and recorded in the Scriptures.
--When she “treasured these things and pondered them in her
heart,” she could assess the value of each prophecy fulfilled and reflect on
the perfect faithfulness of the Lord in keeping His promises.
With her background as a young Jewish woman, Mary
had grown up with the Scriptures. She
had learned to think from a scriptural frame of reference.
Therefore, as new developments
arose in her life, she processed them through the grid of a biblical
worldview. She had learned to think
biblically!
A. GRACIOUS
TO DAVID’S THRONE
Luke 1:32-33 “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and
the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His
kingdom will have no end.”
--God’s promise had been made to David:
1 Chr. 17:13-14
“I will be his father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My
lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. 14 “But I will settle him in My
house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established
forever.”’”
--The prophecy was consistently repeated to prompt the
people of God to anticipate the coming of the Messiah who would be a descendant
of David and reign forever on his throne.
Jer. 23:5-6 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the
LORD, “When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as
king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 “In His days Judah will be
saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be
called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.’
B. MERCIFUL
TO ABRAHAM’S DESCENDANTS
Luke 1:55 As He
spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his offspring forever.”
--Centuries before David came to the throne, God had already
promised Abraham that his descendents would enjoy special favor as His own
people…a people through whom all nations would be blessed.
Gen. 22:16-18
and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done
this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless
you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as
the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of
their enemies. 18 “And in
your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have
obeyed My voice.”
--After centuries of rebellion against the Lord, His
promises remained true and by His great mercy He was now fulfilling them with
the birth of the Messiah whose kingdom would have no end, whose salvation would
have no limit.
--As Mary tried to take in all the Gabriel had told
her, the Lord opened her eyes to see that everything was just as He had
promised long ago.
--So she reflected and pondered all these things, getting
some perspective on it all by reflecting on what she knew of God’s promises.
II.
MEDITATING ON THE WISDOM OF GOD’S WORD
--Long before Mary put her mind to work within a
strong biblical framework, David had done much to pioneer reflective and
meditative thinking in that manner.
--The psalms are full of his meditations and reflections.
Psa. 119:97-99 O
how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day. 98 Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For
they are ever mine. 99 I
have more insight than all my teachers, For Thy testimonies are my meditation.
--There is such wisdom in God’s Word because through it He
speaks with clarity so that we might order our days according to what He says
and believe and act according to His instructions.
A. IN ORDER
TO DISCERN GOD’S WILL
--We are not left without access to what God wants, nor are
we left to speculate on what brings Him the greatest glory and the deepest
pleasure.
1. Specific
Instructions and Commands
--On some matters, there is no room for misunderstanding
regarding what we should and should not do…what we should believe and not
believe…how we should think as well as how we should never think.
--Many of the areas with which we struggle to know what God
would have us do have already been answered and only those who reject or
question the authority of the Word of God on all matters continue to deliberate
on those things.
We must love God
We must love one another
We must speak the truth in love
We must forgive others
We must not murder
We must not take what is not ours (steal)
We must not be sexually active outside marriage
We must go and make disciples of all nations
We must pray
…and so forth, no debate, no deliberations—just obey!
Psa. 119:9-11
How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. 10 With all my heart I have
sought Thee; Do not let me wander from Thy commandments. 11 Thy word I have treasured in
my heart, That I may not sin against Thee.
2. Directive
Principles and Considerations
--But other areas require a thoughtful consideration of
biblical principles regarding beliefs and practices.
--Further still, we are given ample information about the
character of the Lord to be able to discern what would be pleasing to Him and
what His desires would be so that we are not left to make wild, uninformed
guesses.
Prov. 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy
One is understanding.
--Because we have been taught to think without reference to
absolute truth, our generation and many before have severed any connection
between the way we think about problems and issues and what the Word of God has
to say.
--When we operate within a biblical way of thinking, we will
always go first to the question: “What
does the Bible say about this?”
--To discern God’s will, we must be able to handle with
integrity and with accuracy.
2 Tim. 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need
to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.
B. IN ORDER
TO KEEP GOD’S WORD
--We also meditate on His Word so that we can keep His Word.
--If we do not ponder and reflect and meditate on what He
has said, we will not be prepared to do what we did not properly hear and
comprehend.
Have
you ever tried to give your children instructions and you knew they weren’t
listening? They then either ignored
what you told them to do, or set out to do what they thought they should do
without considering what you really wanted.
Josh. 1:8 “This book of the
law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and
night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it;
for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
--David again expresses the need to understand
and consider the Word of the Lord in order to keep it:
Psa. 119:32-34 I shall run the way of Thy commandments, For Thou wilt enlarge my
heart. 33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of Thy statutes, And I shall
observe it to the end. 34
Give me understanding, that I may observe Thy law, And keep it with all my
heart.
III.
CONSIDERING THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S WORTH
--Without the Word of God, our ideas about who God
is would prove to be irrelevant, and our speculations about Him meaningless.
--That is why the Lord did not rely on creation alone to
suffice for the full revelation of His infinite worth.
--He revealed more particularly in His Word the
information about Himself that allows us to understand who He is in spirit and
truth and not have to rely on a composite picture made up of each person’s
imagination.
--Ultimately, all that we need to know about God has been
perfectly revealed through the Word become flesh, through the incarnation of
Jesus Christ.
Heb. 1:1-2 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets
in many portions and in many ways, 2
in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all
things, through whom also He made the world.
A. STRUCK BY
THE DESCRIPTIONS OF HIS GREATNESS
--How else would we know how great the Lord is in power and
knowledge and wisdom and majesty and glory…if the Bible had not told us, our
imaginations would be inadequate to dream up the God who really is.
--His works declare His glory but there is much room for
error in understanding the full extent of His greatness without some further
clarification of what we see there.
In the
expanse of the universe and on the face of the earth, we can learn of God’s
power to create, but only in His Word do we discover that the same power to
create also sustains. The same
creativity that spoke all things into being even now speaks with the same
authority in words we can understand…but with no less power behind every
syllable! We know many such things only
because the Bible tells us so!
--If the heavens and the earth declare His glory, His word
expands our understanding and gives
definition and specificity to the big picture.
B. MOVED BY
THE REVELATIONS OF HIS CHARACTER
--As the attributes of God’s greatness find greater
definition in His Word, so also do we find there the revelation of His
character.
--There in His Word we learn of mercy and grace, concepts we
cannot discern naturally.
--How else could we learn of His love and forgiveness had He
not spoken of them and illustrated them in practice through the pages of the
Word?
--What we know of His character, we find revealed in His
inspired Word, the Bible, and in the
incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
--His infinite worth can only be considered properly and
thoroughly when we apply our hearts to the truth about Him revealed perfectly
in His Word.
--Then when we take the time to consider these amazing
truths about our God, we find that we delight in Him all the more and treasure
Him at the deepest levels of our affections.
Some people will say that you and I are
Christians only because we were brought up that way. In other words, our faith is just another part of the traditions
we grew up with…just like the ways we prefer to celebrate Christmas. We think the way we do and believe the way
we do because of our exposure to certain ways of thinking that reflect a
Christian tradition.
If that is all
there is to what we believe, then any religious faith is as good as any other
since we are in no position to say any more about the veracity of one over another
without dishonoring one’s heritage.
But if what we
believe has been shown to be true in all creation and then confirmed in divine
revelation in the Scriptures, then the way we think and believe are rooted in
the only true, wise and loving God. God
wants us to think legitimate thoughts and believe trustworthy truths. He wants us to develop a biblical worldview
that transcends our family and national and cultural and educational
traditions.
By learning to think
biblically, we not only gain a right perspective on life—we gain an accurate
understanding of the glorious nature and eternal worthiness of the Lord God.
Mary had that benefit when the radical revelation of the
birth of Christ was made known to her…and it gave her a context for believing
and a perspective for trusting.
May the Lord
build in us such a confidence in His Word that we understand and live according
to all that He had revealed about Himself and His will so that we might live
for the glory of His name and trust Him in all things.
December 12, 2004
© David Horner 2004
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