February 2024 – The Everyday Prayer

Logic

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 1:1-7 (day four)

One of the most challenging aspects of Christianity is that at times, it goes against logic – our earthly logic, at least. Christianity asks us to believe in a miraculous God who behaves in miraculous ways that will always be somewhat mysterious to us. There will always be aspects of God that we can’t wrap our heads around.

But that’s also what makes Christianity beautiful – the more we walk with God the more we see that his mysterious, logic-defying ways are better than our ways. His wisdom is better than our most sound arguments. As we learn to live well in God’s world, we have to walk with humility knowing that God’s ways are higher. Proverbs helps us do that. Proverbs helps us take the inward change we experience after finding Christ and express that change on the outside. Proverbs helps us unlearn the “wisdom” of the world (which is no wisdom at all) and replace it with God’s amazing, illogical wisdom.

It even tells us where to begin – if we want to have godly wisdom, we have to fear the Lord. We have to recognize that he is limitless and we are finite. We have to surrender to his Lordship. Only then can we start the journey towards wisdom.

Riddle

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 1:1-7 (day three)

“A man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
To understand a proverb and a figure,
The words of the wise and their riddles.”

Why don’t they just say it plainly? Why all these allusions and riddles? This was also the question of Jesus’s disciples. Time and again, they asked him to explain what he meant. Jesus could have said, “Your neighbor is anyone with whom you are in effective contact regardless of station in life.” Instead, he told the parable of the Samaritan. Proverbs could have said, “Some things are beyond the control of even those with absolute political power.” Instead, it says, “A lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.” Plain talk will eventually get lost in the noise of life. Riddles, parables, and puzzles will intrigue hearers and invite curiosity for generations.

Instruction Manual

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 1:1-7 (day two)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Vs. 7a

Do you read instruction manuals, or do you simply go as far as you can before doubling back after unsuccessfully going it on your own? I think there is a real case study in humanity here, but I will leave that to others. I confess, I am in the latter category, and time and time again I get to a place where I realize I am out of my depth. This requires a bit of humiliation, more time than I allotted, and ultimately, a reference back to the instruction manual that was sitting there the whole time. Solomon is giving us a perfect framework for the study of Proverbs. What are you wanting to get out of this study, or any study of scripture? It may be wise to put these verses close by and ask the Lord what he is revealing as you study.

Know wisdom

Discern sayings

Receive instruction

Give prudence

Acquire wise counsel

Understand Proverbs

Re:Verse Blog – 2/26/24

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 1:1-7 (day one)

Join us as Senior Pastor Chris Johnson, Associate Pastor Aaron Hufty, and Associate Pastor Bryan Richardson walk us through Proverbs 1:1-7 in our Spring Re:Verse Series: Proverbs – “The Way of Wisdom.”

Authority

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:24-29 (day seven)

When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. Vs 28-29

In July 2019 we took the Youth Choir Tour to Washington D.C. It is customary to treat the Seniors to a nice dinner for their last hoorah in the youth group. That year we took them to the Capital Grille on Pennsylvania Avenue. The moment we walked in the door, it was clear there was power in the room. As we sat down we quickly realized that in every corner of the room was a different U.S. Senator, including Texas’ own Ted Cruz. All eyes followed them as they would get up from their table and work the room. Their authority was captivating.

If these politicians could command this type of attention, can you imagine what listening to Jesus must have been like? Jesus made the politicians of His time seem powerless with the authority in which He spoke and carried himself, but that’s not even the coolest part. Check out what Jesus says in Matthew 28:

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples.

Jesus had real authority and He still does. Yet, He chooses to share that authority with you to equip you to do His work here on earth. That is the point of the Sermon on the Mount. You have been given authority and direction. Now, will you help Him bring the Kingdom of God to your world today? Will you get up from the table and work the room?

Kingdom Living

It is possible to live a religious life that has little to do with the Kingdom. That kind of life is all pomp and circumstance but no substance; confession but no obedience. The prophet Isaiah addressed this kind of religiosity:

And so the Lord says,
    “These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
    is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.” Isaiah 29:13

As Jesus concludes his sermon, that is precisely the kind of religious life he implores his listeners to avoid. Keep seeking, keep asking,…keep obeying.

Response

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:24-29(day five) “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them…”

It’s the end of the sermon and Jesus is calling for a response. There are acts of obedience that must ensue. He has just contrasted the difference between saying and doing. In these last four verses, He is contrasting the difference between hearing and doing. When we hear the Lord, we must respond- repair, renovation, demolition, construction. We must find eternal truth and start there (foundation). If the Lord continues to speak to us, then there is a call to obedience.

“We need to consider that the Bible is a dangerous book to read, and the church is a dangerous society to join. For in reading the Bible we hear the words of Christ, and in joining the church we say we believe in Christ. As a result, we belong to the company described by Jesus as both hearing his teaching and calling him, Lord. Our membership, therefore lays upon us the serious responsibility of ensuring that what we know, and what we say is translated into what we do.“ – John Stott

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Demolish

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:24-29 (day four)

Jesus ends this sermon with a metaphor that delivers a word of warning. He says that the teaching he gave us should become the new foundation for our lives, just like the foundation on which an entire home is built. Too often, we want to take Jesus’ words and graft them into our already-constructed worldview. We find ways to fit them into our life like filling in cracks in the walls, or building an addition on our house. We try to fit Jesus into what we’ve already built.

But Jesus does not mince words. Any other foundation for life will wash away as soon as a storm comes. If we encounter Jesus’ words and realize that we have built a house for ourselves on the sand, then we don’t just add another room founded on the gospel, we have to tear the whole house down and start anew, building on the firm foundation of truth.

This takes a great amount of faith and patience. Demolishing what we have built on the shaky foundation, on the ways of the world, is challenging, even heartbreaking. But it’s in our newly built home that we’ll find an appreciation for the storms – they remind us what a firm foundation we have in Christ.

Open

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:24-29 (day three)

“The crowds were amazed at his teaching; for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

Whatever teaching justifies people in positions in which they hold power over you; whatever teaching conveys that you possess little worth; whatever teaching encourages you not to advocate for your well-being; whatever teaching claims God’s will as a trump card to quell dissent; whatever teaching tends to favor the powerful; whatever teaching places some people above God’s judgment – such teaching magnifies man, not God. It wasn’t the downtrodden, the spiritual outsiders, the sinners whom Jesus disturbed. Rather, it was the celebrated, the spiritual elite, the most biblically literate who became alarmed. The prostitutes and tax collectors? They knew hope when they saw it. This is what happened when the real authority taught the scriptures. Jesus opens doors the system has slammed shut.

Authority

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:24-29 (day two) When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. vs. 28-29

A good teacher will understand his students and know what they need to hear. Whether by his actions or by his words, Jesus was an excellent teacher. Perhaps you have sat in a lecture where you have been captivated by the teacher so much it seemed like a privilege to hear them speak. The last verse of our reading sums it up fairly well. Jesus had authority. He wasn’t regurgitating facts. He was the author and perfecter of our faith.

We may not be able to sit on a hillside and listen to Jesus teach, but we can trust the accounts of those who recorded these stories. Jesus’ words still have authority. He still speaks through the scriptures, through the Holy Spirit, and through the testimony of others. Our foundation should be founded upon Christ alone.