"The Bible Contains the Mind of God"
Our Dad was not a man who talked too much. He preached for a living, but he seemed to always choose his words carefully. He specifically was not real big on trivial talk. When he did say something it always seemed appropriate, beneficial, and worthwhile. Our good friend Daniel Courington, who worked with Dad during the last years of Dad’s life tweeted this note to us today: “Last words ever written by Brother Jerry in the Roebuck Reminder: ‘...for the Bible contains the mind of God.’”
Reading those words was a wonderful blessing to my life today. It reminded me of how meaningful Dad’s words always were. It reminded me that I need to be more serious about my preaching/teaching. It reminded me of the awesomeness of what those of us who preach are privileged to do. It reminded me of the wonderful gift that has been given to us to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Brothers, as we stand before the people that God has entrusted to us this Sunday we need to remember why it is so important for us to preach the Bible. It does contain the mind of God.
Preaching is God’s chosen method of letting people everywhere in the world know His mind. (1 Corinthians 1:18-21) Please consider this as you preach. When we preach we are being used by God to help reveal His mind.
Not because God pours it miraculously into our brains, but because we are equipped through our study of the Bible to help people have an understanding of the mind of God to the degree that He has revealed it. (Nehemiah 8:8)
Because of this it is infinitely more important that we preach the Word of God, the Bible (2 Timothy 4:1-4) than it is for us to give a commentary on the news, to spend too much time in other literary sources, or to perform a stand-up routine.
We need to reveal the Mind of God as it pertains to our daily lives. Thank God He has not left us alone in this world. He has given us help for every aspect of our life and a roadmap that will not lead us down a wrong path.
We need to reveal the Mind of God concerning our families. The world, our government, and the entertainment society has definite ideas about the family. They have made their ideas clear. The only way our families can be truly happy and fulfilled is when we follow the mind of God.
Only in the Bible can we learn the best tools for how we should treat our mates, how we should raise our children, and how we should love one another in our families.
We need to reveal the Mind of God about the church. There have been thousands of books written and seminars conducted to tell us how we need to “do” church. These are all fine if they are inline with God’s Word.
In the Bible we learn from the mind of God how He wants us to worship, how He wants the church to evangelize, how He wants the church to be organized, and how He wants us to treat one another. How badly we need to learn the mind of God as we relate to one another in the life of the church.
We need to reveal the MInd of God about our fellow man. The Word of God tells us how God feels about the people around us. (John 3:16; Romans 5:8) One of our great responsibilities as preachers is to teach and show those who listen to us how we are to be kind, loving, caring, & forgiving to those around us.
As we stand before the church Sunday we should not be proud, we should not be arrogant, we should get out of the way as much as possible. Some might say it is arrogant to claim to speak the mind of God.
My thought would be that it is much more arrogant to stand for God and speak our own mind. Wouldn’t we much rather speak the Word of God than our own words? We really do have a treasure and we should feel humbled that God has chosen to reveal His mind through jars of clay. (2 Corinthians 4:7)
May God bless you brother, and be with you as you preach His Word. May we have hearts like the prophet Micaiah who said long ago, ““As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I shall speak.” (1 Kings 22:14)
Dear Father in Heaven, please be with those of us who endeavor to preach Your Word to always remember that the Bible contains Your MInd. Help us therefore, to proclaim Your Word, the Bible to those who come to hear. Dear God, we thank You that You have revealed Your mind to us through the Bible. May we always be committed to preaching and teaching the Bible so that those who hear us will know Your mind. In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.