Seeking but not Finding

If Christians claim to read the same Scriptures and follow the same God, why does it seem that so many are lacking the truth?


The book Christ's Object Lessons, which is a relatively small book on the parables of Jesus, contains a chapter on "The Parable of the Hidden Treasure" (you can find the parable in Matthew 13:44).  The chapter, aptly titled "Hidden Treasure" contains subtitles covering various aspects of the parable.  As I read the section subtitled "Search for the Treasure" I came upon the answer to the aforementioned question.

The treasure in the parable represents God's word, and more importantly, a correct understanding of His word.  Why then do so many Christians lack an understanding of the Bible truth?  One could say, "That's simple, not everyone actually reads and understands the Bible even though they say that they do."   However, such an answer only contains part of the truth.  Why don't people truly read and understand God's word?  The answer to that question may be difficult for many people to accept.  The author of the book answers it in this way.

"[The word of God] is an inexhaustible treasure; but men fail to find this treasure because they do not search until it is within their possession. Very many are content with a supposition in regard to the truth. They are content with a surface work, taking for granted that they have all that is essential. They take the sayings of others for truth, being too indolent to put themselves to diligent, earnest labor, represented in the word as digging for hidden treasure. But man's inventions are not only unreliable, they are dangerous; for they place man where God should be. They place the sayings of men where a 'Thus saith the Lord' should be." pgs. 109, 110

 Very few people want to have such words as superficial, gullible, and indolent, associated with their character, yet such associations will exist if they do no put forth the diligent effort necessary to truly understand God's word.  So many professed teachers and spiritual leaders attempt to explain the Scriptures using their faulty human reasoning.  The author likens that to trying to give light to the sun with a torch.  God's holy word needs no such addition to make it truths known, and we need not to follow such leaders.  As Jesus once said, "Can the blind lead the blind?  Will they not both fall into a pit?" Luke 6:39

Thankfully, the effort to understand God's word does not go without assistance.

"The Holy Spirit, sent from heaven by the benevolence of infinite love, takes the things of God and reveals them to every soul that has an implicit faith in Christ. By His power the vital truths upon which the salvation of the soul depends are impressed upon the mind, and the way of life is made so plain that none need err therein. As we study the Scriptures, we should pray for the light of God's Holy Spirit to shine upon the word, that we may see and appreciate its treasures" pg. 113

 Help us, Lord, to trust in You, and You alone to lead us into all truth.

Featured Post: Outreach is the Fuel for Revival

This Featured Post comes from Mike Jones of Portland, OR.  Mike is a seminar leader on how to reconnect with missing church members (reconnectnow.org). He is also author of the re-released book "Help, Lord, I Blew It Again" (2010, Pacific Press).
You can find the original post here.

Commentary: Outreach is the fuel for revival

Without ongoing community impact, revival is short-lived and self-absorbed

Calls for revival coming from our denomination's leadership are gratifying, but we must never forget the importance of outreach.

I'll never forget a revival that swept my home church back in 1969 in Worthington, Ohio. I had just left the ranks of cultural Adventism, having made an adult decision for Christ at the age of 30. Adventist businessman-turned-revivalist Emilio Knechtle had become my mentor, and at my suggestion, the church invited him to hold a weekend series of meetings. The result? A revival broke out.

That revival resulted in our launching approximately a dozen small prayer-study groups. Some groups studied various books of the Bible, while others used Christ-centered books such as church co-founder Ellen G. White's Steps to Christ. A new spirit permeated the church and lives were changed for the better. It was wonderful. For a while.

But a year later, our revival had mostly ended.

Why? Because our focus was mostly on us. We wanted to strengthen our walk with Jesus -- a good thing. But, regrettably, we weren't doing the works of Jesus -- not a good thing. You see, outreach is the fuel that keeps revival fires burning, and outreach wasn't happening with us.

There's nothing new about this. White once reported on a revival that happened in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1893, which faded when the students didn't engage in outreach. I will never forget the revival that swept the campus at Andrews University in 1971, my first year as an instructor there. It was powerful, impacting both students and faculty. But it didn't last, either.

Jesus underscores the importance of outreach: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons," he says in Matthew 10:8. But those ideas simply weren't on our plate back in 1969. We weren't impacting our community. We were so happy enjoying our sweet little revival and the new closeness many of us had with each other that we didn't do much else except maintain our groups.

Regrettably, it wasn't long before we were back in our Laodicean twilight zone. We liked what had happened and didn't want to lose it.

Jesus warned in Mark 4:18 that "the cares of this world and...the desire for other things" would, if permitted, choke the Word, causing it to be unfruitful. That's what happened to us. Over time, some of us even left the church, including me.

Today I'm back and believe I have revival in my life. But outreach is what's keeping it alive. As I encounter people in my church and community with fractured relationships, some homeless and others mentally ill, among other issues, I come face to face with a huge problem. I'm not up to the task. I'm inadequate.

But that inadequacy is proving to be quite a blessing. Because my sense of inadequacy these days drives me to my knees and to God's Word. Every morning I tell Jesus, "It's your son Mike down here in the war zone of Planet Earth, and I am desperate for your presence in my life." As I pray, I plead for God's power and wisdom and grace (His adequacy) to be manifest in my encounters.

Without a doubt, the one-two punch of prayer and Bible study, when combined with outreach, is what fuels the fires of revival.

"But I'm not good at outreach," you may say. "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

Let me help you.

You can begin by asking people questions, even ones you don't know. Perhaps it will be the bank teller. Or the cashier at the super market. Or the guy at the car wash. Or someone in the pew in front of you.

"How are you doing? How's everything going in your life?" you ask. Then you simply listen. More than a few will tell you about some pain in their life. You'll hear, "My mother died last week," "I'm recovering from a stroke," or "Our house is in foreclosure."

You'll think, Yikes, what can I say? And all you may be able to say is, "I'm so sorry. I'll be praying for you." And so you will, keeping in mind you'll try to connect with them again.

Even if you're not preaching an evangelism series in a far-away country, I assure you these kinds of seemingly small encounters -- listening to someone's pain -- will drive you to your knees, where revival takes place. It's also evangelism of the highest kind.

The great theologian Francis Schaeffer said it well in replying to his teenage son, Frankie, who had asked him his secret for turning so many people's lives around. "It isn't what you say to someone that matters so much. Knowing how to listen to people is what helps them."

If listening to people in pain is a key to keeping revival alive, then let's start today.

What do you say?

Of Temples and Churches

Picture courtesy thejewishmuseum.org

Does the temple of ancient Judaism provide a pattern to be followed by modern Christianity?

My recent reading of my daily Bible reading plan has brought me to the part of the Bible that depicts the provisions for, and the building of, Solomon's temple (which can be found in 1 Kings 5-8).  Reading this account got me thinking again about the concept of how to build places of worship.  For a long while I have often thought about awe-inspiring places of worship only in the context of medieval cathedrals, but as I am writing this, thoughts of other buildings come to mind:  places such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Parthenon in Greece, or the Dome of the Rock in Israel.  Regardless of who built them, and for what deity (or deities) they were built, they all have something in common, they all sought to give humanity a taste of the divine.

Solomon's temple certainly sought to inspire those who entered with the greatness of God.  The elements that struck me was the pair of golden angel statues in the Most Holy Place of the temple.  These statues were about 15 ft (4.5 m) tall, and each had a wingspan which was also 15 ft.  To give it some perspective, that is the same width of the average two-car garage in the U.S.  Now picture these statues standing side-by-side as you enter the room with a ceiling approximately 30 ft. (9 m) tall, and be sure to note that these angels were overlaid with gold.  Gold and bronze were used extensively throughout the temple complex, as well as polished stone and various types of wood.

Now how does one translate such impressive display to modern Christianity?  Now I am not advocating that Christians should model their churches after such a pattern.  By doing so, we could set up an obstacle between  people and God.  Those who are not Christians could see us as trying to show off in a world that so many people are struggling simply to survive, or as in the case of ancient Israel, the believers could become so focused on the structure as to lose sight for Whom it was built to honor.  In the same way, we should not go so far the other way so that our churches would be shabbily constructed that people would wonder if it would be safer to worship outside.  Hence the tension that is Christianity.

In a more figurative sense, the Bible states that believers are "temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19).  We then have to stop and think, "What kind of temple am I?  Am I one that seeks to draw attention to myself rather than God?  Am I so 'shabbily constructed' in the way I act and talk that people wonder if it would be better to leave me alone?"  The only true solution to these questions is the Lord Himself.  As Solomon himself wrote in Psalm 127, "Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain."

Bucket List Book Number Two

If you have a "bucket list" for books, this book should be number two.

Now you may have two or three questions regarding the previous statement.  If you don't know what a bucket list is, I borrowed the phrase from the title of a movie by the same name in which two terminally ill men compile a list of things to do before they "kick the bucket."  I am basically saying that there are certain books people should read at least once in there lifetime.  I don't have a complete list, but the book I am reviewing today should be no lower than number two.

Number one on the list, is by no surprise to those who read this blog, the Bible.  The Bible is one book that people should read through in its entirety at least once in their life.  They should have a plan other than simply starting at Genesis, and there are many Bible reading plans out there that should make such an undertaking more palatable.  Find a version you like, and a plan that you like and then stick to it.  You won't regret it.

To avoid any further suspense, the book I am reviewing is none other than the book The Desire of Ages by E.G. White, which is a biography of Jesus Christ.  Now reading through this book is in itself a project.  It is definitely not a book I would recommend reading in a short amount of time.  This book is long by most standards (835 pages), and is not one for casual reading.  I started reading the book around Christmas time last year (2010), and I finished a few days ago.  My original plan was to read a chapter a day and be finished in a couple of months, but I found out that this was not to be the case.  The thoughts presented in this book challenged me quite a bit, and I often found myself having to stop part way through a chapter to let myself absorb what I had read.

Some of you may still be wondering why is this book number two on my list.  The simple answer is that if you let it, this book will change your life.  One cannot spend that much time pondering the life of Jesus and not have it affect their life in one way or the other.  So if you want a life-changing experience, pick up this book (there are many places you can find it) and start reading.  Don't rush through it, but take your time and let yourself absorb what you have read.  The only regret you may have is not having done it sooner.