Walking in the Truth: Notes from Sunday School

These notes and reflective thoughts are first intended for members of our Friends and Family Sunday School class to stay connected with God through studying His Word in the event of absence from actual Sunday School worship time, and second, for everyone, for the scripture and words below are beneficial for a broader readership. The ideas and flow of the lesson comes out of Life Way's Master Work Series. Please provide comments below.

Today, in Sunday School, we explored the power and life-giving qualities of God's Word, the kindling of the Christian Hedonist. Before I present the outline and flow of notes from today's lesson, I want to provide a review of what Christian Hedonism means, lest we get confused or misinterpret the focus and intent of these lessons. Christian Hedonism as defined by John Piper in his book Desiring God is clearly revealed in the following two verses:

Psalm 43:4:

Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

Psalm 16:11:

You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

CS Lewis said that God is the “all-satisfying Object:” He is the source of complete and unending pleasure.

So far, we have explored "Conversion as the Creation of a Christian Hedonist," "Worship as the Feast of Christian Hedonism," "Love as the Labor of Christian Hedonism." Today, we studied "Scripture, the kindling of Christian Hedonism.

Why is life at times joyless? Circumstances get in the way; by doing life, we encounter disappointment, sadness, discouragement. All of these are true; however, the Bible clearly points to the catalyst of joylessness. 1 Peter 5:8 reads, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Satan is on the prowl, seeking to devour us. Jesus says in John 10:10 that the "thief has come to steal, kill and destroy." What has Satan come to destroy, to devour? The joy of our faith. Piper likens Satan to the big, bad wolf who tries to blow out the flames of our faith. Because we are not on guard, we often allow a foothold for Satan and then that foothold turns into a strong hold; then easily, Satan has accomplished his purpose in distracting us, to where we focus more on our circumstances, on our guilt, our shame, our troubles, our broken relationships, than we do on what God has called us to be. But, we have an endless supply of kindling that can keep our joy in God burning bright. So, let's start there: in God's Word.

Read Psalm 19:7-11 below:

The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.

By them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

Notice how the psalmist describes God's holy scripture: perfect and trustworthy, right and radiant, pure and sure, precious and sweet. What did the psalmist say were the effects of His truth? God's Word revives, makes wise, gives joy, gives light, and is long lasting. What might we do to get the kindling burning? Paul charges young Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6 to "fan into flames the gift of God." The act of fanning implies work; being on guard from the prowling of the enemy suggests a fight. We must work and fight to keep our joy in God burning. We must work and fight with the only offensive weapon in God's armor: the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Someone once asked Martin Luther, "'Do you feel that you have been forgiven?' He answered, 'No! but I’m as sure as there’s a God in Heaven. For feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving; my warrant is the Word of God, nought else is worth believing.'" Can I get an Amen? Nothing else is worth believing. Not a philosophy, not the platform of a political party, not the ideologies of a politician, not the lyrics of our favorite song, or our favorite celebrity's charity or cause, not what we learned in school. Nothing but the Word of God. Psalm 63:3 reads, "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." Did you catch that? "Because your love is better than life."

Through our study we talked about the benefits and power of God's Word

The Bible is Your Life (Benefit and Power #1)

Let's examine Deuteronomy 32:46-47: "he said to them, 'Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.'" Other translations render "idle" as "no small matter" (The Message), "vain" (KJV), "futile" (NKJV), "empty and worthless trifle" (Amplified), and "meaningless words" (Holman Christian Standard). How do we treat the Word of God as a trifle? When tt becomes an obligation, one more thing to add to our grocery list of things to do, we don't do what it says, we twist it to mean what we want it to mean, we attach feelings and emotionalism to it, we speak it out of context, we don't truly believe what it says. After Moses says that the Word is not idle words, he says instead, "they are life." 1 Peter 1:23-25 reads,

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever."

And this is the word that was preached to you.

What are the life-giving properties of the Word of God? It restores, saves, heals, builds, encourages, creates. John 1:1 reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So, how does the Word give life? It gives life because Christ is THE Word. Remember what Christ said in John 10:10 about the enemy? Immediately, in juxtaposed the intent of the thief with the intent of savior: "I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly" (emphasis added). In Matthew 4:4, Christ quotes scripture (Deut. 8:3) and with authority defends Satan's temptation. He says, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Pause for a moment to reflect on how God's Word gives you life, how God's Word sustains you.

Dr. Piper offers a great illustration of the life-giving and sustaining power of His Word. Thomas "Little" Bilney was an English Reform born in 1495. Dr. Piper records that Bilney "studied law and was outwardly rigorous in his efforts at religion. He rigorously sought man's creation, religion; it was outward, and he strived in vain, until he received a Greek Translation of the New Testament. God's Word never returns void, does it? Bilney writes,

I chanced upon this sentence of St. Paul (O most sweet and comfortable sentence to my soul!) in 1 Timothy 1: 'It is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be embraced that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am the chief and principal.' This one sentence, through God's instruction and inward working, which I did not then perceive, did so exhilarate my heart, being before wounded with guilt of my sins, and being almost in despair, that . . . immediately I
. . . felt a marvelous comfort and quietness, in so much that 'my bruised bones leaped for joy.' After this, the scriptures began to be more pleasant to me than honey or the honeycomb. (146)

Indeed, God's Word is not meaningless, idle, or empty. They are the breath of God, giving restoration to a weary soul.

Faith Comes by Hearing (Benefit and power #2)

Why did John write the gospel that bears his name? He writes in John 20:31, "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (emphasis added). How did our faith in God about? By believing. By believing what, or should I say in whom? Christ Jesus, that He is the son of God. Listen to the words of Paul in Romans 10:17: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (emphasis added). Remember, only God's Word as the power to save, in the name of Christ Jesus. Dr. Piper tells the powerful story of a murderer who was converted because He heard the Word of God. Tokichi Ichii was executed in Tokyo in 1918. He was known for his cruelty. Just before his execution he received a copy of the New Testament from two missionaries and began to read the story of Jesus's trial and execution. His attention was drawn to the words of Christ on the cross: "'Father forgive them, for they know what they do'" Dr. Piper writes, "This sentence transformed his life." Listen to Tokichi's words,

"I stopped. I was stabbed to the heart, as if by a five-inch nail. What did the verse reveal to me? Shall I call it the love of the heart of Christ? Shall I call it His compassion? I do know what to call it. I only know that with an unspeakably grateful heart I believed." (147)

Dr. Piper continues by saying, "The faith that starts our life in Christ and by which we go on living comes from hearing the Word of God" (146).

God Supplies the Spirit Through the Hearing of Faith (Benefit and Power #3)

What is the relationship between the Word of God, being filled with the Spirit, and experiencing joy? How do we receive the Holy Spirit? Is it by works? Absolutely not. The Spirit comes by hearing with faith. Hearing what? Hearing the Word of God. I love what Dr. Piper says about this relationship: "The Spirit inspired the Word and therefore goes where the Word goes. The more of God's Word you know and love the more of God's Spirit you will experience. Instead of drinking wine, we should drink the Spirit" (148). Doesn't Ephesians 5:18 command us to "be filled with the Spirit"? In the original, "be filled" is actually "be being filled" a continual filling and refilling. But how do we "be being filled?" By the Word of God. Listen to Romans 8:5: "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." What does the Spirit desire? What are the things of the Spirit? The teachings of the Spirit, namely the Word of God. We drink the Spirit by drinking the Word of God, and the fruit of the Spirit is joy (Galatians 5:22)

The Truth Shall Make You Free (Benefit and Power #4)

I want to offer two scriptural references here: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32) and "sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17). So, what is the truth that can set us free? The Word of God. The Word of God can set us free from the bondage to sin; but it can also set us free toward something. Dr. Piper says it is "freedom for holiness." I just have to say that that rocks. Wow, a freedom to be holy, deliverance from self toward humility, from smallness of mind to wisdom, from threatening confinements to spacious victory. A.W. Tozar, contemplating the fact that more than 10,000 thoughts a day pass between our ears, said, "Our thoughts not only reveal what we are, they predict what we will become. We will soon be the sum total of our thoughts. The Holy Spirit uses the nourishment of the Word of God to rewrite our computer and renew our minds". And D. L. Moody declared, “The scriptures were not given for our information but our transformation.” Listen to the words of the apostle Peter: "Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (2 Peter 1:4). According to this passage, God's Word sets us free from worldliness, lust, and the flesh; God's Word sets us free toward God's promises, understanding, knowing and experiencing His divine nature.

Written that You Might Have Assurance (Benefit and Power #5)

Notice in 1 John 5:13, the reasons he wrote the words God gave him: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." So why did he write? So that we may KNOW that we have eternal life. The Word of God gives us assurance. When we struggle with attitude of doubt, the Word of God can replace that attitude with one of faith. God's Word instills in believers confidence, hope, security. Psalm 119:50, 52 read, "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. . . .I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them."

The Evil One is Overcome by the Word of God (Benefit and Power #6)

1 John 2:14 reads, "I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one." What made the young men strong? What did they have the strength to do? They were made strong because the Word of God lived within them. The Word of God here is described more like a weapon, than kindling. Ephesians 6:17 commands us to use the Sword of the Spirit. Dr. Piper states, "What many Christians fail to realize is that we can't draw the sword from someone else's scabbard. If we don't wear it, we cant' wield it" (151). The Word of God must abide in us, so that when the enemy attacks, we can wield the power and might of His word. When Christ was tempted by Satan, all He needed to say is, "It is written." So, how do we keep the Sword sharp and ready for use? We must saturate our minds with His Word, we must pour over it, we must meditate on it, we must pray through it, we must hunger for it, we must get in it, we must stay in it. Dr Piper recounts Hudson Taylor's disciplined meditation on God's Word:

It was not easy for Mr. Taylor in his changeful life, to make time for prayer and Bible study, but he knew that it was vital. Well do [we] remember traveling with him month after month in northern China, by cart and wheelbarrow, with the poorest of inns at night. Often with only one large room for coolies and travelers alike, they would screen off a corner for their father and another for themselves, with curtains of some sort; and then after sleep at last had brought a measure of quiet they would hear a match struck and seek the flicker of candlelight which told that Mr. Taylor, however weary, was pouring over the little Bible in two volumes always at hand. From two to four a.m. was the time he usually gave to prayer; the time when he could be most sure of being undisturbed to wait upon God. (151-152)

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete," Jesus says in John 15:11. And Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:15: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." Dr. Piper closes his remarks with "Not to pursue our joy every day in the Word of God is to abandon the revealed will of God" (152).

John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, testified, "Read the Bible, and read it again, and do not despair of help to understand something of the will and mind of God, though you think they are fast locked up from you. Neither trouble yourself, though you may not have commentaries and expositions; pray and read, and read and pray; for a little from God is better than a great deal from man."

Let's commit to saturate our minds with the Word of God, daily!

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