On Sunday I was privileged again to preach in Wilsonville at Canyon Creek Church . This time the text was Philippians 3:1-11 , and my title: "Worthless Doing and Priceless Knowing ."
Asked to give a little synopsis for the church bulletin, this is what I wrote:
We have natural bent towards religion. That is, we tend to find our identity by what we do, rather than in Who God is. It is easy to think we have done so much on our own, for our "gains" are clearly seen by looking at our own religious resumes and feeble good works — especially by comparison with others. Yet, in the Gospel, the ground has become level for everyone, from the talented and motivated to the least gifted. The common thread is God’s grace in Christ, and our response in humility (looking out to Him, not into ourselves).
The Gospel of God’s glorious grace is the only means God has designed to set us free from empty religion. We no longer come to our Creator as ones holding our great accomplishments in our hands. Instead, we along with the Apostle Paul, can rightly say, "whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ" (Phil. 3:7 ). Our empty doing is traded for priceless knowing. We now can know, love and enjoy Jesus our Savior as the supreme object of our affections and the true desire of our hearts. Does that describe your trajectory?
Knowing I would be speaking to (almost?) all Christians, I was quick to remind us that the Gospel is for Christians to. We never outgrow our need for Christ, and the good news of His glorious grace. Aimed at helping us all discover grace-renewal in the God of all grace, and be people who "worship in the Spirit" ( Phil. 3:3 ), I wanted us to see that knowing, loving and enjoying our Savior above all else is the goal of God in the Gospel.
We can truly say to Jesus, "Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing You."
This weekend Kari and I are privileged to be able to preach God’s Word. She is heading down south to teach the womens retreat for Calvary Chapel of Corvallis . She has (as usual!) poured over God’s Word and prayed and studied diligently. The four session titles — centered around the theme of "Expectancy without Expectations" came out as:
The God of Disappointment, Identifying Expectations (Friday night)
Processing Pain, Identifying Fear (Saturday morning)
Enjoying Fulfillment, Worshiping God (Saturday night)
Her notes are close to 40 pages single-spaced, and I look forward to going through them at the same time she teaches many miles away. They will provide specifics to pray for and about. She will probably have some reflections to blog about when she gets home and rested again.
On this end, I’ll be flying solo with the Dutcher (with family help), and having good discussions with our boy about how wonderful his Mommy is. Privileged again for the opportunity to preach in Wilsonville another time at Canyon Creek Church . This time the text is Philippians 3:1-11 , and the title will be "Worthless Doing and Priceless Knowing ."
It is amazing how difficult it is to distill a whole message on a couple paragraphs down to that length, just a paragraph or two. I was asked to give a little synopsis for the church bulletin; this is what I wrote:
We have natural bent towards religion. That is, we tend to find our identity by what we do, rather than in Who God is. It is easy to think we have done so much on our own, for our "gains" are clearly seen by looking at our own religious resumes and feeble good works — especially by comparison with others. Yet, in the Gospel, the ground has become level for everyone, from the talented and motivated to the least gifted. The common thread is God’s grace in Christ, and our response in humility (looking out to Him, not into ourselves).
The Gospel of God’s glorious grace is the only means God has designed to set us free from empty religion. We no longer come to our Creator as ones holding our great accomplishments in our hands. Instead, we along with the Apostle Paul, can rightly say, "whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ" (Phil. 3:7 ). Our empty doing is traded for priceless knowing. We now can know, love and enjoy Jesus our Savior as the supreme object of our affections and the true desire of our hearts. Does that describe your trajectory?
Hoping to help us all discover grace-renewal in the God of all grace, and be people who "worship in the Spirit" (Phil. 3:3 ), knowing, loving and enjoying our Savior above all else.
Aliterate people lack the desire to read. They can read (and thus are not illiterate ), but they just don’t.
Not sure what the statistics are on reading habits after high school but I doubt they are very encouraging in our society. People do many things enthusiastically, but not many people are readers as they get older. The exact opposite happened to me. I read a handful of books to get through high school, and then Christ arrested my heart and I quickly developed a voracious appetite for reading. (Still slowly though.)
At least 4/5 homes in America have a Bible, yet a small fraction of people actually dust off one of their many copies and read it. Why? We prioritize what we value. True knowledge of God is not valued. We tend to enamored with the latest and greatest fad, looking for a quick fix, while God’s timeless truth would bring the satisfaction and depth our souls crave (and were created to enjoy). We must fight, swim upstream, and with Him develop a love of Christ and His Word.
Last night our class kicked off — Enjoying the Bible for All Its Worth . I was deeply encouraged by the appetite of the 50 or so adults who came. They ate it up; we covered everything I hoped, and had more interaction than expected. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time for me as their teacher.
In fact, joy was the first thing we discussed: Enjoyment is not optional . Enjoying God. Enjoying the Bible. These are commands sustained by God’s good pleasure in fulfilling them in us. All of the Scripture points us to see Jesus the Christ as the most compelling and worthy Person in all the Universe — to value Him through delight. And it makes sense, since He created us to do just that.
At the start of the second hour I opened the floor, asking "What challenges do we face in reading and understanding the Bible?" Some candid answers from the class:
not knowing where to start
no pictures! (actually, most words in the original languages are in fact word pictures!)
how does it all fit together — why is it not organized chronologically (specifically the OT)?
pronouncing names (genealogies) and dealing with strange geography
I fall asleep face down in my Bible at night
psyche up myself to commit to reading, only to fail in consistency
it’s boring
I added a few of my own:
we don’t understand it
the Bible says things we don’t like
it takes time + work — we’re lazy!
Then I kindly pronounced all of these bogus . That is, each can be overcome, and God wills that we work with Him in valuing Him and His Word above all else. Have you specifically asked Him to conquer these tiny obstacles in you?
Speaking of joy, their assignment for next Tuesday night is to read Philippians (a letter all about joy) and first seek to grasp the "big idea" of Paul’s inspired epistle. We talked about how this course will help us develop in us the science and art of understanding Scripture and bringing it into our daily lives. It is hard work. We must sit and think and pray. But doesn’t anything worth doing take hard work? We are not alone in the process. God’s Spirit meets with us, shining the light of truth and significance on the passage.
So, fear not, we can make some early mistakes in our hermeneutics, seeking to correct one another gently. We can learn by diligence and humility how to rightly find out what the texts says and means, and how it applies to us today. That way we will all enjoy the Bible together, for all its worth.
For God’s glory and our joy, we get to work at erasing biblical aliteracy one God-loving believer at a time. Fifty of us are catching on.
Starting tonight I have the privilege and joy of teaching our 3-week crash course in practical hermeneutics, starting tonight, at Foothills Community Church: Enjoying the Bible for All Its Worth
(6:30pm at our building ; let me know if you want to come join us!)
I designed the course to be helpful for any and all Bible readers (even for those who don’t yet read it!) It should be beneficial for those who have plunged the depths of its truth for years as well as those still looking for that dusty Book on their bookshelf. All will benefit, and as Kari and my pastor remind me, I will attempt to "put the cookies on the bottom shelf."
My hope is that the five dozen people attending think and feel with God. And that I talk less and less as the first, second and third weeks come. At the start I will be talking more, and then we will move to all of us doing Bible interpretation and application to our lives.
My prayer is that it will be God speaking, and not me.
Here’s the (albeit a bit aggressive) general table of contents we’ll be tracking with starting tonight. Not all will be covered (e.g., the appendices), and more to follow in the next couple of weeks.
Enjoyment is Not Optional
Enjoying God
Enjoying the Bible
How Much is the Bible Worth?
What is the Bible About?
The Story—Understanding the Story Line of the Bible
OT: Promises Made
NT: Promises Kept
What Challenges do we face when Reading Our Bibles?
Bible Reading as a Lifestyle
I-O-U-S
Hermeneutics 101
The Importance Of Hermeneutics
Context
The Time Challenge of Interpreting the Bible
Allowing the Author + Text to Speak
Meaning Flows from the Top Down
Levels for understanding
6 Steps for Understanding the Bible
A Method Of Hermeneutics
1. Identify the genre of the biblical passage
2. Read the Bible book for the big picture
3. Determine the structure (or outline) of the Bible book
4. Make observations about the book or passage
5. Meditate on the book or passage and upon your observations, and interpret the meaning of the passage
6. Apply the passage to your own life (seeing how it relates to other people especially)
Bible Genres
Appendix (definitions, notes on a Bible reading plan, and some short articles for further reading)
Lots of illustrations/diagrams in the notebooks, and plenty of room to take notes. We’ll be getting into some texts ourselves to see how to both understand (think) and enjoy (feel) God’s thoughts after Him.
We’ll also be diving into a few texts, one of them being James 1:2-4 .
Open Bibles, open minds and hearts. God, help us to read Your Word well and see the worth, work and ways of Jesus through every page.
The Bible specifically tells us the What & Why of God’s revelation, and in many ways reveals to us the How (as well as they where, when, etc.). It is a collection of God’s specifically written 66 books packed with narrative, the great themes of God’s revelation, propositional truths, and a whole lot more, for all Scripture is "breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ). Why? So the people of God will be thoroughly equipped for all of life (every good work, v. 17).
Related to this, let us consider a different perspective or facet related to What, Why & How, especially related to communicating God’s true Word (preaching, teaching, etc.). For right now let’s think of "What" as the truths of Scripture, the essential doctrines . "Why" would be the theological perspectives and reasons behind these truths . "How" represents principles for godly living derived from Scripture (based on the What & Why), for life application.
But there is still something missing - rather, "Who" is missing? Jesus is the "Who" of the Bible, for He is the sum and substance of God’s revelation (Hebrews 1:1-3 ), the Image of God, the purpose for which and One for whom the Scriptures exist. That special revelation was given to show us The special revelation, the Christ — to testify of the worth, work and ways of the Son of God who came to reveal the Almighty Father.
"You search the Scriptures … it is they that bear witness about Me" (John 5:39 )
"And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." (Luke 24:28 )
With these working definitions it seems to be that any communication of God’s Word should have a relative proportion of Why, Why & How, which probably changes for each setting, context, need etc. All of these must point to the Who — Jesus. I’m not just for filling people with Bible knowledge (the What), especially not divided from their Subject, Jesus. Yet on the other side it seems that majoring on "How to …" messages will stunt the spiritual growth of our people (most of whom sadly get almost all of their "feeding" on a Sunday morning). That part may be their fault, but is it not ours as well? If we make them dependent upon our endless ways to make the Bible fresh and fun and principled, does that not also sort of set them up for failure long-term? Our people do not know what is in their Bible because it is spoon fed for them, in lists, principles and acronyms.
For our people to have substantial lives, they must be taught substantial things.
Back to considering the "How to …" method. One problem with this method of communicating God’s word is that it treats the Bible like a divine recipe book . A cup of this, a pinch of that, a bit of another thing, and mix it all together. Viola, a godly life comes out as long as we mix it all together and do what we hear. Or, one could saw it reveals a scatter plot of God’s truth . A dot here, a dot here, a few scattered over here, etc. So, a pastor may say within himself, "I’d like to teach my people on ________. What in Scripture backs up my points?" So he looks for "dots" in the Scriptures, perhaps being diligent to give chapter and verse so that his message remains "biblical." Do you see the inherent flaw in this method? Not only is one prone to find specific verses (not in their context) to "prove" one’s point, and to avoid hard and uncomfortable passages, but it also insufficiently models for the people how to properly live under the authority of God’s Word. They think, "I could never come up with that on my own, so let me close this Book and listen to it fresh and new!" The urge to be clever and new and exciting drives us to think we must re-package God’s Word for His people to be able to interact with it and apply to their lives. I’m all about creative communication, but I cannot think of a more creative and effective way to transform people’s minds ( Romans 12:2 ) than to bring light to the truth of the Gospel and unleash Scripture itself in its context for all to see and taste. The Bible in its context shall not just be the foundation of our preaching, but rather the content of it.
Another reason I find this method lacking is that it is built upon the premise of pragmatism . Pragmatism is couched in the premise, "it works," and argues that it must be right as a result. "How" is the main question and "Why" is hardly ever asked except as a reason to validate the How. And the pragmatic core of it all says that if we do A then B will happen to us. People are then prone see God as a genie and if we live rightly before Him then He rewards us (which denies grace and love and humility) and essentially fuels a light version of self-righteousness based on biblical principles. (Again, where’s the "Who"? Or, perhaps He has been cast as the One who helps us do the How.) Reducing the Bible to a How-To-Manual takes away from its infinite worth and does not adequately reveal Who and Why (or even What) is in it.
Do I not like principles for godly living? Of course I do, and the Bible is full of them. Saving, investing, forgiving, parenting, all of it is in there to be known and applied. Furthermore, we want to be relevant to people and our culture. I want to be relevant too, but who said the Bible itself is not relevant? And who said our job is primarily to be relevant? Seems like being faithful as stewards of the mysteries of Christ is a top priority, which would then make us relevant. We are relevant when we love people authentically, unconditionally, and sacrificially. I do not know if it is because the Bible does not move some pastors and leaders that they feel compelled to chase after some new book because it gets their juices flowing and not the Word. If we think that the Bible is boring perhaps it is because we don’t believe it … or at least do not feel it. Let us reconsider the crazy and dangerous and compelling ways God in His Word enthralls His people; it is the most exciting book in all the Word. . Take any sign and message of Jesus, any parable and command ( Luke 9:23-27 for example) and tell me that is not exciting and crazy. Do we resort to only principles because we think Scripture is not enjoyable nor sufficient to change our lives? Let’s get on our knees and plead with God to grip us with His Word to such a degree that His worth, work and ways fill our minds and hearts and lead us to passionately preach of Him.
Perhaps the major reason this method is flawed is because it sets forth a system of redemption instead of giving the people a Redeemer (elevating the How above the Who). It assumes people understand the Gospel and live within it, but just incompletely. But a side effect is that people come to trust the principles more than see the beauty and worth of the One who gave Himself for them. Jesus came as the Incarnate God in human flesh and suffered on the cross and rose again triumphant over all His enemies. Did He do all of that (and continue today as our High Priest and Mediator) to merely give us a list of 7 things to do for a happy marriage, or 4 truths for parenting teenagers, or two rhyming words to keep in mind when trying to decide if we need a 42-inch flat panel TV? No, Jesus came to set us from from sin and Satan and deliver us up to bring us to God. He came as our Great God and Savior who gave Himself up for us all, so that we would see God as our portion and treasure and joy forever. He is the Redeemer who when trusted transcends every circumstance and makes us glorious with Him. Again, this cannot be assumed, for it is the "Why" behind our Gospel-centered preaching. And when we see Jesus as our treasure above all else (knowing, loving and enjoying Him more than anything), we will do life differently. Our finances will be transformed, our marriages deepened, parenting in humble desperation and dependence upon Christ, and suffering endured, for His sake and our good. The Redeemer shows us His What, Why & How, because they are rooted in the Who — Him!
The Gospel applies to all of life, at work, in relationships, in parenting, in finances, in all things. It is not just the way we get saved. It is the whole sphere of the Christan life, for we never outgrow our need for the grace of God in the Gospel. The "How to …" approach to communicating the Bible merely assumes the Gospel is our foundation. But let us not assume our people understand or live in the Gospel; their lives do not just need tweaking or new and innovative ways of thinking. They need to be enthralled with the truth and beauty of Jesus Christ who is the Image of God and be transformed to live not for self but for God and others.
As we stare at Christ and consider His worth, His work, and His ways, we are changed into His likeness, for
"we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3:18 ).
Let us endeavor to speak the Gospel so that people are changed — What, Why, How and especially the Who!
1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
In the last chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews we see the power of the Messiah’s love at work in the life of His church. These Jewish Christians were enduring much hardship for their faith, and were called to persevere through seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Yet they will be asked to endure hardship that Jesus Himself endured as well (see Hebrews 12:1-6 ). God suffers with them (and us) in love.
Perseverance through discipline and hardship requires certain measures of sacrifice . Not all will be easy and well in this life. The author turns his attention to a list of specific sacrifices that please God. The whole letter is a "word of exhortation (13:22), and here are a few important ones in this section:
Brotherly love shall always abound (v. 1)
Hospitality to strangers (v. 2)
Praying and caring for the persecuted and imprisoned (v. 3)
Faithfulness in the marriage covenant (v. 4)
Being content, free from the love of money (v. 5)
Knowing that God Himself is our portion, Who will never leave us nor forsake us (vv. 5-6)
I’m headed out to pick up Kari from a women’s retreat she taught/preached at this weekend (read her notes ). Dutch and I stayed home to play and pray, and are so excited to get our wife and mommy back. It was a joy to sit and read her notes while she preached and be praying for her through the various points.
1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
I encourage anyone to read them, and not only women — there are insights in there for everyone, and definitely for men. Her words are challenging, rebuking and teaching me so much. Praise God I married "up," in so many ways!
The beauty of the Bible is its relevance to all of life and its power to give insight into the deep issues of our lives. God continues to speak through His Word. And Kari is a humble mouthpiece for Him.
It is my contention that all true Christian preaching is expository preaching. Of course, if by an “expository” sermon is meant a verse-by-verse explanation of a lengthy passage of Scripture, then indeed it is only on possible way of preaching, but this would be a misuse of the word.
Properly speaking, “exposition” has a much broader meaning. It refers to the content of the sermon (biblical truth) rather than its style (a running commentary). To expound Scripture is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it to view. The expositor pries open what appears to be closed, makes plain what is obscure, unravels what is knotted and unfolds what is tightly packed. The opposite of exposition is “imposition”, which is to impose on the text what is not there. But the “text” in question could be a verse, or a sentence, or even a single word. It could equally be a paragraph, or a chapter, or a whole book. The size of the text is immaterial, so long as it is biblical. What matters is what we do with it. Whether it is long or short, our responsibility as expositors is to open it up in such a way that it speaks its message clearly, plainly, accurately, relevantly. . . .
(John Stott, Between Two Worlds, pp. 125-26)
Quoted by John Piper in “How My Pastoral Ministry Shapes My Pulpit Ministry,” under the heading “16 Foundational Convictions that Shape How I Preach,” point 13: Therefore preaching is always more but never less than the exposition of Scripture. (Feb. 26, 2008 at the National Resurgence Conference.) [See notes | audio | video ]
“The character of our praying will determine the character of our preaching. Light praying will make light preaching. Prayer makes preaching strong, gives it unction, and makes it stick.”
–E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer, p. 27
“Prayer, much prayer, is the price of preaching unction; prayer, much prayer is the one, sole condition of keeping this unction. Without unceasing prayer the unction never comes to the preacher. Without perseverance in prayer, the unction, like the manna overkept, breeds worms.” (p. 70)
The two Greek words de ("but") and Theos ("God") are the first two words of Ephesians 2:4: "But God, who is rich in mercy..."
Because of God's great love and grace extending to us in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, redeemed and able to know, love + enjoy God more fully, ever-increasing and forever.
This site contains the thoughts and conclusions and journeys of the Patterson family -- Jeff, Kari and Dutch -- who have experienced the front-end of God's amazing grace, and continue to delight in His unfailing love.
Read more about us, and what we hold most precious.
Last night our class kicked off — 
Related to this, let us consider a different perspective or facet related to What, Why & How, especially related to communicating God’s true Word (preaching, teaching, etc.). For right now let’s think of "What" as the truths of Scripture, the essential doctrines . "Why" would be the theological perspectives and reasons behind these truths . "How" represents principles for godly living derived from Scripture (based on the What & Why), for life application.
