Sunday Messages

Shift: We cannot hear God until we reduce competing noise in our modern culture. We spend solitary time listening to our Shepherd’s words when he calls.

[Bob]

The little things do matter…

Shifts not only have a big impact in the crust of the earth, but also in every area of our lives. By making these small adjustments in the right places, we can set off a chain reaction – much like the earth’s seismic forces that result in an earthquake – but in this case small changes can make a BIG difference in the most important areas of our lives. 16:Shifts can take place almost anywhere: in the workplace, the school, the family, the church, the community, and in our spiritual and personal lives. In our last message, God disclosed to us the importance of Shift #7: The Shift from Sacrifice to Celebration.

SHIFT #8: From Monologue to Dialogue

This message will be presented in the form of a dialogue to highlight the importance of communication that embodies a verbal exchange of thought and feeling between two or more persons. We might take a moment and define the contrast between a monologue and a dialogue.

Monologue =

“a stirring sketch presented by one performer”

Dialogue =

“a captivating conversation between two or more persons”

In essence, dialogue is a channel of communication. Two or more persons are able to be open with one another, whether that exchange is pleasant or the cause of conflict. It is a two-way process in which people discuss issues that concern them. Dialogue calls a person to be vulnerable, to engage in the process of self-disclosure and feedback.

People in dialogue:

-- try to receive feelings and thoughts of others without attempting to change them;

-- can let others be themselves even when they are different;

-- listen without trying to refute or argue down the other person;

-- listen to understand;

-- ask questions to check out or ensure understanding;

-- don’t sit in judgment;

-- are open to being changed should the evidence point in this direction.

Now when it comes to our relationship with God, a dialogue with God involves a natural two-way conversation similar to our conversation with others. We seek to share our dreams, desires, needs, fears, and praises. God in return encourages, redirects, challenges, teaches, and blesses us. Dialogue moves our relationship with God from dependence to interdependence, to a sense of belonging and bonding to the life-giving relationships for which we are created by God.

Our culture today finds it difficult to accept the fact that we as Jesus-followers can actually experience a conversation with God who still speaks. Years ago comedian Lily Tomlin asked, “Why is it that when we talk to God it is called prayer, but when God talks to us it is called schizophrenia.” The bottom line truth is, talking to God and listening to God are both acts of faith. Talking and listening are two sides of the same coin. It is imperative for those of us who call Jesus our Good Shepherd to learn how to recognize his voice and to follow where he leads.

The gospel writer Mark records an example of Jesus’ relationship with his Heavenly Father in Mark 1:35…

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

So Jesus models for us how he consistently observed a communal relationship with his Heavenly Father. Jesus kept in check a discipline of quiet in his own life and ministry. Like Jesus, we can prepare for our Shepherd’s call by first learning the discipline of quiet.

[David]

Hearing God’s Voice

The gospel writer John records an example of how crucial it is for us to hear God’s voice through the illustration of the Good Shepherd in John 10

John 10:1-6

"Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep….”

Most people during the time of Jesus would understand this illustration, though we in the west may not. When shepherds gathered their sheep, they would put them into a sheepfold. A sheepfold was a designated area, usually made with mud walls and only had one entrance, the gate, used for protection against thieves and wolves. And since the area would hold the sheep of many shepherds, a doorkeeper was hired to guard the sheep and open the door for those who were allowed.

v.3 “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Ok, that part sounds weird…right, sheep with names? What doe she do? “hey Jim!” C’mere, Steve.” But this corresponds exactly with what we know of Eastern shepherds. They gave names to sheep as we do horses, cows, and dogs. Even today, witnesses have claimed to watch shepherds walk up to a flock of sheep which would be several hundred, call a particular one, and that sheep will actually break from the flock and come to the gate.

v.4 “When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

This is also true; when a stranger has changed clothes with the shepherd for an experiment, the sheep still follow the disguised shepherd's voice and refused to listen to the voice of a stranger whose wearing the clothes of their shepherd.

This passage also says that the sheep “follow” the shepherd. Again, in the West shepherds drive their sheep from the back with dogs, but in the East, shepherds lead their sheep – and all of the sheep simply follow them.

So how will we know we are listening to the voice of the True Shepherd or a thief who has come to destroy us? Following the wrong voice can be extremely painful, and possibly deadly!

Jesus says in, Matthew 7:15

“Watch out… for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

The biblical warning for our day is clear. We are all a part of the sheepfold; and if we listen, a time will come when a voice calls us to follow.

v.6 “…Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.”

The Pharisees, as the religious leaders, should have known and been known by their followers. But they had ceased to be shepherds who cared for their sheep and they had become thieves who only wanted to "acquire" more sheep to increase their own status.

The prophet writes, Ezekiel 34:3

“You eat the curds [the food], clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock"

See the relationship between sheep and shepherd was quite different in Palestine. In America sheep are largely kept for killing, for food; but in the East they are kept mainly for wool. Jesus doesn’t use us …or deplete us. Our True Shepherd wants a shared relationship with us.

So how do we get to that point? How can we be like sheep? For a sheep to recognize its master’s voice, or to learn to come when it’s master calls, sounds like it would take months or years for a relationship like that to develop.

Possibly, but then what else is there to do out in the fields all day? How complex is the life of a sheep? For that matter, how difficult is the life of a shepherd? As we saw last week, in our need to do more, be more…we pack our lives with so much business, that we inevitably drown out the master’s voice.

Jesus says in, Matthew 6:5-6

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.

Jesus says, we cannot hear until we become still and block out all competing noise. And you might remember that in older translations, this used to say, “Go into your closet” and it’s actually a more accurate translation. This is a Hebrew prayer shawl, the same that would have been worn by a Middle Eastern Rabbi, and Jesus. And one tradition of wearing it is like this…. And this was called your “prayer closet.”

But, it seems this discipline becomes more and more difficult in our "modern" age. We must spend the necessary time getting to know the voice of our Shepherd when he calls. Fortunately, his words are recorded and preserved so we need never be deceived. Make the shift in your life to observe moments of solitude. Know His words; recognize his voice. There is no greater pursuit in life.

Do we speak to God in monologue or dialogue? Do we expect him to reply? Do we wait on God and listen for him to speak? And do we then respond to his promptings?

Some people may hear God speak with their ears; others with their heart. Still others simply feel divine nudges. God chooses to speak in various ways to different people. The key is for us to encourage the conversation and to follow his leading.

God speaks to Jesus-followers today through…

The Bible

Other People

Circumstances

A Still, Small Voice

Dreams and Visions

[Bob]

Learning to Listen to God

Let’s practically discover now how we as Jesus-followers can determine if something is really a word from God. It is a four-step process:

Step 1: We Identify the Source

First, we determine the origin of what we are hearing when we sense God is speaking. There are usually three possible sources. The voice speaking can be of God, Satan, or self. We need ask ourselves, “Is what I am hearing the kind of thing that I would say, that God would say, or that the Enemy would say?

Step 2: We Use the Scripture Test

Next, we need to take the source of what we are hearing and test it against the teaching of the Bible. God’s Holy Spirit will never lead us to do anything contrary to his will revealed in the Scriptures. Never! So we constantly evaluate what we hear and filter it through the standard of God’s Word.

Step 3: We Take Action

Then, once we have determined that God is the most likely source of what we are hearing and we have tested it against Scripture, we are now ready to move into action. Taking action could be seen through performing an act of service, changing a behavior, giving a generous gift, seeking reconciliation in a broken relationship, or many other things.

Step 4: We Evaluate, Reinforce, and Remember

Finally, we make sure we evaluate what happened. The key is that we learn to look back and remember how God communicated to us. Just like a sheep, we record this in our memory banks so the next time God speaks, we recognize his voice with greater clarity. We give God praise when we look back and are confident God was leading.

Shift Suggestion: Growing in our ability to hear from and follow God is a skill we must acquire. We will never sharpen this ability unless we use it. So the next time you feel God is prompting you, use the four-step process outlined above. You might want to invite a wise Jesus-follower friend to pray for God’s leading in this area of your life. And seek his or her input as you press forward.

Moving from monologue to dialogue is one of the great disciplines that allow God through prayer and solitude to speak to our heart. Our series on 16:Shifts highlights the verse from John 3:16…

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

…God loves…God gave…We believe…We live.

Prayer: Father, I believe you love this world. You gave your one and only Son so I can live forever with you. Apart from you, I die. With you, I live. I choose life. I admit I need a Savior. I believe Jesus is my Savior. I choose to walk with Jesus and become a worldchanger.

[David]

[Bob]

In the Arms of Jesus. We want to close this message with a picture that captures praying in our heart of hearts. It comes from a confession that many Jesus-followers make over the years: “I feel guilty because there are many evenings I try to pray but end up falling asleep right in the middle of my prayer time.” These people feel they let God down each time they doze off before uttering their official amen for the day.

This is what we can tell them. Hopefully, this response will speak to our hearts.

Imagine a mother cradling her five-year-old girl in her arms. It is the end of the day, and the two are talking. The mom is telling her about the plans for tomorrow. The little girl is talking about the fun she had that day. As the daughter talks, she yawns and rubs her eyes. They keep chatting, but the little girl is fading quickly. The mother looks down at the one she loves so tenderly. As they are talking, in midsentence, her little girl falls asleep, right in her arms. How does the mother feel? Is she angry? Disappointed? As the mother looks on her precious child, she smiles and rejoices. There is no other place she would rather have her little girl fall asleep.

When we end our day talking with God and we happen to doze off, God is not angry or disappointed. God holds us in his arms, embraces us, and gives us a kiss on the forehead. God loves to be with us, to speak to us and hear what is on our hearts. And if we happen to fall asleep in God’s arms, it brings joy to his heart. It’s the shift from monologue to dialogue—there is no other place for us to end a busy day! Amen.

Shift: Easter’s celebration is at hand. Those standing by Jesus when everything seems to be falling apart will see Jesus in all his power and glory.

The little things do matter…

Shifts not only have a big impact in the crust of the earth, but also in every area of our lives. By making these small adjustments in the right places, we can set off a chain reaction – much like the earth’s seismic forces that result in an earthquake – but in this case small changes can make a BIG difference in the most important areas of our lives. 16:Shifts can take place almost anywhere: in the workplace, the school, the family, the church, the community, and in our spiritual and personal lives. In our last message, which focused on Good Friday, God disclosed to us the importance of Shift #6: The Shift from Top to Bottom.

SHIFT #7: From Sacrifice to Celebration

I guess it was inevitable. Growing up in northern California, I guess it was predestined that I would become a San Francisco Forty-Niner football fan—a faithful Forty-Niner fan. Even in the season when they won only three games, and even when they had a string of bad seasons. Even when the airplane flew over the stadium with the banner that said, "Thirty years of lousy football." What used to really annoy me was when friends who claimed to be Forty-Niner fans kept "crossing lines of allegiance" when they kept losing. Oh, then came the playoff Forty-Niners, and then the Forty-Niners that won the Super Bowl. The Forty-Niners then called the “dynasty of the eighties” with a string of five Super Bowls. Suddenly, there were gazillions of Forty-Niner fans everywhere, jumping up and down, celebrating the champions. But they could never know the joy of fans like me—fans who never lost hope, and who never stopped rooting for their team. Yes, the losing seasons are back once more, but I’ve never stopped rooting for my team!

It's true in sports; it's true in life. Celebration is sweetest for those who were loyal through all the sacrifice. Let’s note the shift from sacrifice to celebration on this Easter Sunday.

Let’s look at the perspective of sacrifice. On Good Friday night it appeared as if evil was the master of life. The holiest and most lovable One who had ever lived was dead and in his tomb, crucified by the order of a tyrant without either doubts or regrets. He who had raised the highest hopes among people had died by the most shameful means. A cross, two nails, a jeering mob of corrupted souls, and a quick thrust of a spear had ended it all. Those hours when his voice was stilled and his hands were quiet were the blackest through which the human race has ever lived. If Caesar could put an end to Jesus, then no one could ever dare aspire or hope again. Hope, in such a world, could be nothing better than a mockery. Christ was crucified and buried. Yes, it is called sacrifice.

Now, let’s see at the viewpoint of celebration. Then came Easter morning and the glorious word: 'He is Risen!' And evil's triumph was at an end. Since that hour when Mary in the garden first discovered the staggering fact of victory, those whose hearts were pure and whose labors were honest have never had reason to fear or despair if they believed in the Resurrection. Christ was crucified and buried, but he wouldn't stay dead. The tomb could not hold him—and because of him—the tomb cannot hold us either. Yes, it is called celebration.

Where the gospel according to Matthew ends, the Christian faith begins—in the resurrection of our Lord. The resurrection exhausts our capacity to imagine and it pushes our reasoning ability to the breaking point. But we don't have to explain the resurrection. Rather it explains us; it establishes who we are and why we are here today. Because Easter happened, because the resurrection happened, the church happened. The simplest meaning of Easter is that we are living in a world in which God still has the last word.

From Anguish to Alleluia

Like Mary Magdalene, taken directly from the glorious Easter story. Mary made the shift from sacrifice to celebration. Mary had been there at the cross, when all but one of Jesus' disciples had disappeared like scared rabbits. She had gone to the tomb for Jesus’ burial. And now, after having been, along with some friends, the first one at Jesus' tomb that early Sunday morning, she just can't leave. She has found the tomb empty and now sunk to even greater despair, believing that someone has now stolen her Master's body.

The story of Easter is so familiar that we sometimes fail to perceive some of the details of the account. These details provide for us a shift from sacrifice to celebration. It’s a detailed portrait from anguish to alleluia.

Let’s look at three of those details of the first Easter morning as found in the gospel account from Matthew 28:1-10…

1. Easter is Power

The Stone was rolled away—not to let Jesus out—but to let us in

1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

We can say this because the idea that God rolled the stone away from the door to let Jesus escape is inconsistent with the resurrection appearances of Jesus recorded elsewhere in the scriptures. Appearances in which he suddenly appeared in the midst of the disciples, even when they were behind closed doors. Closed doors never kept Jesus in or out.

Matthew makes this clear in his account of the resurrection it was after Mary Magdalene and the other Mary had come to the tomb that "there was a great earthquake and an angel

of the Lord rolled away the stone and sat upon it." For centuries the curious have always wanted to look into the dark depths of death, but the tomb has been sealed with secrecy. The tomb has always mocked us. It has always stood as the "dead end" of all our efforts to peer beyond this life into the life to come.

A three-old girl was as anxious for Easter to come as she had been for Christmas to come. She announced to her Daddy, 'I can't wait for Easter!’ ‘Her Daddy asked her, 'Do you know what Easter means, honey?' She replied, 'Yes.' 'Well, what does Easter mean?' In her own sweet three-year-old way, with arms raised, a smile on her face, and at the top of her voice she said, 'Surprise!' What better word could sum up the meaning of Easter! Surprise, death! Surprise, sin! Surprise, grieving disciples! Surprise, modern culture! He's alive!’

It’s a surprise—for God in his power at Easter rolls the stone door of the tomb away for us so that we might penetrate the mystery of death. It makes of the tomb a tunnel—a tunnel into the heart of the eternal and shows us that the holy heart of God is love and life. God rolls the door of the tomb away not to let Jesus out—but to let us in—to allow us to see that Christ's promises are true.

2. Easter is Promise

The tomb is not completely empty—for the place is filled with the words of the angel

5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

Matthew records that Christ's body is not there, but the place is filled with the words of the angel. The angel tells the two women on the first Easter morning to look inside the tomb saying to them “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” If the women on that first Easter morning had looked into an empty and silent tomb, then our resurrection faith would be a belief based on human speculation, an assumption of the moment, an argument based on negative evidence. But no! Our faith is based on a word spoken to us by God. It is based on God's holy promise, spoken by Christ before he died, and upon God's holy assurance—spoken by the angel on the first Easter Sunday.

If Easter means anything to us in our modern culture, it means that timeless truth is eternal. We may nail it to the tree, wrap it up in grave clothes, and seal it in a tomb. But truth crushed to earth will rise again. Truth does not perish. It cannot be destroyed. It may be distorted. It has been silenced temporarily. It has been compelled to carry its cross to Calvary's brow, but with an inevitable certainty after every Black Friday of sacrifice dawns truth's Easter morn of celebration.

So it is always the third day! Wasn’t that the essence of the angel’s message at the empty tomb? The angel wanted the women to know that the anguish of Friday and the gloom of Saturday had passed. If God has defeated death, the third day is forever! This same promised word that echoed and re-echoed in that Easter tomb still fills the emptiness of our world today. "He is risen". The tomb has become a trumpet of truth promising the victory of life over death, and the continuation of Christ's presence and mission in this world—first in Galilee, and ultimately to the ends of the earth.

3. Easter is Purpose

Because of Easter we can turn our backs on the grave

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, having heard the angelic assurance, "He is risen", turned their backs on the grave and ran "with great joy" to tell the disciples. Joy is the key word here. Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the good news. We can bet she had seen the living Christ—as no one had ever seen him before. Who did Jesus choose as the first one to ever see him alive again? The one who had been loyal to him in many losing “seasons” when every reason to be loyal seemed gone—those are the people who see Jesus in ways his fair-weather fans will never see him. Those are the people who make the shift from sacrifice to celebration.

Christ was buried, but he wouldn't stay dead. The tomb could not hold him, and because of him, the tomb cannot hold us either. This indeed is what Jesus promised to us before he died, a promise that seemed at the time totally incredible, a matter, at best, of metaphor, and hyperbole, but which because of the first Easter morning, we now know to be a matter of fact and substance.

The stone was rolled away from the tomb, not to let Jesus out, but to let us in, to show us that death is not the end, but rather a new beginning. This new beginning gives us a purpose for living. It’s a beginning that proclaims the victory of life over death, and which allows us to turn our backs on the grave. We face our future with faith and hope, confident that all of God's promises will indeed bear fruit.

One trouble we face in our culture today is that too many people want to have Easter without Calvary—Celebration without Sacrifice. Philip Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never Knew, writes about Easter being incomplete without the scars.

One detail in the Easter stories has always intrigued me: Why did Jesus keep the scars from his crucifixion? Presumably he could have had any resurrected body he wanted, and yet he chose one identifiable mainly by scars that could be seen and touched. Why? I believe the story of Easter would be incomplete without those scars on the hands, the feet, and the side of Jesus.

When human beings fantasize, we dream of pearly straight teeth and wrinkle-free skin and sexy ideal shapes. We dream of an unnatural state: the perfect body. But for Jesus, being confined in a skeleton and human skin was the unnatural state. The scars are, to him, an emblem of life on our planet, a permanent reminder of those days of confinement and suffering. I take hope in Jesus' scars. From the perspective of heaven, they represent the most horrible event that has ever happened in the history of the universe. Even that event, though, Easter turned into a memory. Because of Easter, I can hope that the tears we shed, the blows we receive, the emotional pain, the heartache over lost friends and loved ones, all these will become memories, like Jesus' scars. Scars never completely go away, but neither do they hurt any longer. We will have re-created bodies, a re-created heaven and earth. We will have a new start, an Easter start.

Maybe we're going through some losing seasons—times that could be a major test of our loyalty to Jesus. It's dark, plans have been shattered, it's tempting to desert because of a tragedy, a loss, or an awful hurt. Perhaps we don't understand why we have experienced a number of losing seasons. Many others maybe have deserted Jesus. God seems silent and things seem to being getting worse instead of better. Our hopes have just been sealed in a tomb.

This Easter is the moment of truth in our relationship with the Christ who gave his life for each of us. Jesus did not abandon us when it meant a cross. Now, will we abandon him? It's Mary Magdalene time—time to stand by Jesus, to stand firm in our commitment to the risen Christ—even when it feels like there's no reason to sacrifice. The wisdom of many a veteran of many a spiritual battle still rings true today—“Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light."

Shift Suggestion: Take some time this week to reflect upon the celebration of Easter. In the view of some, the bodily resurrection of Christ is not an essential Christian belief. Do you agree or disagree? If the orthodox teaching about the Resurrection is denied, what implications does this have for how Jesus-followers are to think about the body in this life and beyond? What propositions does this belief have for how you live out the shift from sacrifice to celebration? Refer to 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 in responding.

Moving from sacrifice to celebration is one of the great disciplines that allow God to give us the power, promise, and purpose of a new beginning in our lives. Our series on 16:Shifts highlights the verse from John 3:16…

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

…God loves…God gave…We believe…We live.

Prayer: Father, I believe you love this world. You gave your one and only Son so I can live forever with you. Apart from you, I die. With you, I live. I choose life. I admit I need a Savior. I believe Jesus is my Savior. I choose to walk with Jesus and become a Worldchange.

Yes, perhaps it's a Good Friday sacrifice for us right now. But Easter has come and the celebration is at hand. Those who stand by Jesus in the losing seasons when everything seems to be falling apart are the ones who are going to see Jesus in all his power and all his glory. Celebration is sweetest for those who have tasted sacrifice—those who never leave him!

Listen to the words of Annie Johnson Flint…

Some of us stay at the cross,
some of us wait at the tomb,
Quickened and raised with Christ
yet lingering still in the gloom.
Some of us 'bide at the Passover feast
with Pentecost all unknown,
The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place
that our Lord has made His own.
If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross,
His work had been incomplete.
If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat,
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross
and the way of the tomb leads on
To victorious grace in the heavenly place
where the risen Lord has gone.

So we make the shift from sacrifice to celebration, and we proclaim with certainty…

Thine is the kingdom and the power, O Lord, and the glory forever. O, Thine is the kingdom and the power, O Lord, and we’ll give You all the praise! Hallelujah, Christ is Risen! Amen.

[listen to the podcast]

Shift: It is time to slow down as Jesus-followers, take a deep breath, rediscover God’s presence, reconnect with people and learn the secret of Sabbath.

The little things do matter…

Shifts not only have a big impact in the crust of the earth, but also in every area of our lives. By making these small adjustments in the right places, we can set off a chain reaction – much like the earth’s seismic forces that result in an earthquake – but in this case small changes can make a BIG difference in the most important areas of our lives. 16:Shifts can take place almost anywhere: in the workplace, the school, the family, the church, the community, and in our spiritual and personal lives. In our last message, God disclosed to us the importance of Shift #4: The Shift from Snacking to Feasting.

SHIFT #5: From Rushing to Slowing

Lots of activities, long hours, and never-ending to-do lists. In today’s world, that life has become the norm—for everyone from beggars to kings and all those in between. And many of us aren’t complaining too loudly; we thrive on the pressure that life at warp speed brings. We learn early in life to set our lives upon multitasking.

Multitasking = the ability to execute more than one task at the same time; a task being an agenda, program or plan in everyday life.

Multitasking may be one of the hot bywords of the New Millennium, but several studies show it can be hazardous to our health.

Let’s consider the case of the Illinois man who left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel, he decided to check his email, make a quick call on his cell phone, and quickly respond to all correspondence while also checking out the latest news on CNN. We can say that this man was multitasking.

It's wise to remember how easily email can be misused, sometimes unintentionally, with serious consequences when handling more that one task at a time. Unfortunately, when typing his wife’s email address, he missed one letter, and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint. At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen: “Dearest Wife, Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow. P.S. Sure is hot down here!”

When considering multitasking in plain terms, studies show people can only do so many things at one time before everything starts to slide downhill. People who love to talk on their cell phones while driving should be aware, for instance, that the Federal Aviation Administration and University of Michigan researchers discovered that the time involved in switching back and forth between tasks while driving or flying may be critical to avoiding an accident. Virginia Tech researchers using “black box” data confirmed these findings, proving that distractions, including the use of hand-held portables, contributed to 80 percent of all crashes in their study.

UCLA research shows we don’t learn as well when dividing attention between learning new information and watching TV or listening to the radio, or talking on our cell phone, for that matter. Such diversions, they found, don’t allow us to be as flexible in the use of the new information as we would have been with full attention giving to the learning, whether that information is for passing a Bar exam or Real Estate exam, or learning to safely operate a new power saw or electric carving knife.

There is in addition hidden health harm caused by multitasking, even if we escape car and plane crashes, manage to operate our new saw or knife without losing fingers, and don’t burn the house down: the stress involved in multitasking takes a toll on our body by producing the stress hormone cortisol. Over a period of time — and if the level of stress is great enough — cortisol can set us up for obesity and inflammation, which in turn lead to numerous physical problems including neurological changes and heart conditions. Perhaps the new hot byword should be “minimize multitasking.”

So it is not uncommon for us to be multitasking on a daily basis. If we walk into the rooms of our average teenagers, it is possible that we will see multi-tasking taking place as they talk on the cell phone, email responses on the computer, have their homework nearby and the TV set or CD player turned on. It is more than likely for me as a pastor to be answering my correspondence and email, taking that important phone call, setting up that appointment, working on a Bible study or message for Sunday’s worship, and rushing to the next meeting all within a matter of 30 minutes.

A God of Rest

But in the midst of all this multitasking, we still desire a deeper spiritual life. How can we find it? Into this frantic time famine, God speaks with startling hope. We must confess that we need a summons to rest; a shift from rushing to slowing. God gives us that call to rest in the understanding of the Sabbath.

In 1981 the motion picture, Chariots of Fire, won the Academy Awards’ best picture. It is based on a story about two very different runners — one a devout Christian, the other a proud Jew — who are teammates and competitors on the Great Britain squad in the 1924 Olympics. Due to his convictions of Sabbath, this devout Jesus-follower, Eric Liddell, refuses to run on the Sabbath [Chariots of Fire clip].

Sabbath =

a weekly day of rest and/or worship that is observed in the Judeo-Christian faiths.

The term derives from the Hebrew shabbat, "(to) cease". The term was first used in the biblical account of the last day of creation. It was repeated, as a commandment, as the fourth of the Ten Commandments. A number of other religions have a similar practice, and the term has also been imported into secular usage. Sabbath is a rest-filled activity that is different from what we do on the other days of the week. The Sabbath embodies three basic elements: (1) it is a time to connect with God; (2) it is a time to experience the blessings of community, connecting with those we love; and (3) it is a day that is dramatically different from the rest of the week.

So do we feel weary? Is our burden too heavy? Are we tired of carrying our load alone? Do we need rest for our soul? It may be surprising to us, but Jesus doesn’t ask us to leave the world. He simply asks us to live in it with a new sense of priorities. He doesn’t always ask for a change of lifestyle; what Jesus wants is a change of heart. We’re in the middle of a time famine. And we need an invitation to rest in order to get us through. Our bodies, minds, and souls long for rest.

Well, Jesus extends to us an invitation to rest as recorded in Matthew 11:28-30…

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus gave us three commands in this invitation to rest. We are told to…

Come to Jesus

–we must be willing to move from rushing to slowing and center down before Jesus. It takes a change in mindset. It warrants a change in our schedule and activity. Being willing to come into close touch is prerequisite to growing and learning with Jesus.

Do plow work with Jesus

--we must be willing to take on Jesus’ yoke in service. A yoke harnessed two oxen together to plow as a team. In the day when Jesus shared this truth, the yoke was a tailor-made for the neck and shoulders of the particular oxen that would use it.

Learn from Jesus

--we must be willing to make ourselves available to Jesus for this learning process. We come to Jesus with hearts that are willing to change. We take on the characteristics of Jesus: gentleness and humility.

We must not have hearts that are hardened toward God. God said to Moses concerning the children of Israel in Exodus 32:9…

“I have seen these people…and they are a stiff-necked people.”

To the contrary, we commit to a renewing relationship with God. Therefore, a promise complements hearts willing to shift from rushing to slowing:

We will find rest for our souls. We will experience a Sabbath in our lives—a weekly day of rest or worship to replenish our bodies, minds, and souls.

Those of us who refuse this shift from rushing to slowing become “minimalists.” We take on so many tasks at once (multitasking) that we seek only to accomplish the minimum expected in order to complete as many demands upon our time and energy as possible. During Passion Week Jesus took on only one task. He devoted his time, energy, schedule and relationships in preparing to become the Savior of the world. Jesus moved from rushing to slowing as he obediently went to a cross to take on the sins of the world, including each of our sins.

Jesus said to his Heavenly Father in John 17:4…

“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work [task] you gave me to do.”

Let’s note from John’s perspective how Jesus intentionally moved from rushing to slowing before Good Friday in order to be willing to complete this one task assigned to him by his Heavenly Father. During Jesus’ final days called Passion Week, he experienced a Sabbath rest. He took time to connect with God. He took the time to experience the blessings of community, connecting with the disciples he loved. He experienced a week that was dramatically different from any other week in his life.

Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (John 12)

Jesus explains his death and summarizes his message (John 12)

Jesus washes his disciples’ feet (John 13)

Jesus and the disciples share the Last Supper (John 13)

Jesus instructs his disciples about dwelling and the Holy Spirit (John 14-16)

Jesus offer his priestly prayer to his Heavenly Father (John 17)

As we review Jesus’ Passion Week from rushing to slowing we see the spiritual priorities that were in our Savior’s heart: the glory of God; the sanctity of God’s people; the unity of the church; and the ministry of sharing the Gospel with a lost world. We today would be wise to focus on these same priorities.

Three Secrets of Sabbath…

God has given us a wonderful gift of Sabbath to show us a way to freedom and rest. We have turned this freedom into bondage with a culture that runs counter to God’s intentions. God wants us to rediscover the secrets of Sabbath. If we let God’s truth about Sabbath rest change our hearts, we will begin as Jesus-followers to make the shift needed from rushing to slowing—the enduring refreshment our hearts really long to experience.

Observing Sabbath is an affirmation that we trust God is capable of running the universe without us. Each time we experience a Sabbath rest, we confirm the fact that our confidence is in God not in ourselves. We don’t take on the Messiah complex. We remember, “it’s not about me; it’s about God.”

Observing Sabbath shows that we are convinced that God can provide all we need in six days. When we order our lives around a Sabbath day of rest, God promises to take care of us. Each time we stop our usual activity, turn eyes to heaven, and experience God’s rest, we declare to a watching world that we know God can provide all that is required in just six days of labor.

Observing Sabbath shows our understanding that slowing down and meeting with God and his people is a priority in our lives. A weekly Sabbath day allows us to make time in our schedules to connect with God and with God’s people.

When we take a Sabbath rest, we are able to make private and corporate worship a priority and connecting with people in unrushed moments a possibility. Again, Sabbath rest is a gift from God. It enhances the two most important priorities in life, loving God and loving people (Matthew 22:37-39).

Shift Suggestion: If we work out, we occasionally stop and check our pulse. If our heart is beating too fast, we know we need to slow down. So we also stop and check our life-pulse. When have we allowed time to stop and meet with God this Lenten season before we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection? If our schedule is too fast paced – slow down.

God took a day off as an act of love. God rested so that he could model a rhythm of life essential for the health and well being of his children. The very first Sabbath was not for God; it was for us. So we model a rhythm of life by taking a day off as an act of love.

Moving from rushing to slowing is one of the great disciplines that allow God to speak to our heart through his Word. Our series on 16:Shifts highlights the verse from John 3:16…

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

…God loves…God gave…We believe…We live.

Prayer: Father, I believe you love this world. You gave your one and only Son so I can live forever with you. Apart from you, I die. With you, I live. I choose life. I admit I need a Savior. I believe Jesus is my Savior. I choose to walk with Jesus and become a worldchanger.

Sharpen Your Axe. A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. "That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you cut down this tree." The young man stepped forward, and skillfully cut down a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "You can start Monday." Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by -- and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your pay check on the way out today."

Startled, the young man replied, "I thought you paid on Friday." "Normally we do," said the foreman. "But we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last place today in chopping down trees." "But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!" The foreman, sensing the young man's integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, "Have you been sharpening your axe?" The young man replied, "No sir, I've been working too hard to take time for that!"

Our lives are like this young man without a Sabbath. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to "sharpen the axe." In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp? We fail to shift from rushing to slowing.

Jesus entered Passion Week with a parade and faced Good Friday with a prayer. Jesus chose to slow down to connect with God and his people. The following poem helps us to reflect on the importance of a Sabbath rest—from rushing to slowing.

Slow me down, Lord

Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind. Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time. Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory. Teach me the art of taking minute vacations -- of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to smile at a child, to read a few lines from a good book.

Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values that I may grow toward my greater destiny. Remind me each day that the race is not always to the swift; that there is more to life than increasing its speed. Let me look upward to the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.

--Orin L. Crain

One day, each of us will have to give an account of our life and ministry. It is a sober thought that we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give our “final report.” May we be able to confirm the shift from rushing to slowing. May we be able to say, “Father, I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the task you gave me to do!” Amen.

[listen to this week's message on iTunes]

Shift: God’s Word has the power to change us for it is the ultimate source of shifts. When we are willing to respond, transformation is inevitable.

The little things do matter…

Shifts not only have a big impact in the crust of the earth, but also in every area of our lives. By making these small adjustments in the right places, we can set off a chain reaction – much like the earth’s seismic forces that result in an earthquake – but in this case small changes can make a BIG difference in the most important areas of our lives. 16:Shifts can take place almost anywhere: in the workplace, the school, the family, the church, the community, and in our spiritual and personal lives. In our last message, God disclosed to us the importance of Shift #3: The Shift from Me to God.

SHIFT #4: From Snacking to Feasting

In the movie Hook, a modern telling of the Peter Pan story, there is a scene in which the lost boys and Peter sit down at a banquet table. The boys are licking their chops and drooling, ready to dig in. Peter, who has grown up and forgotten what it is like to be a boy, is looking at the table that appears to be set with empty bowls, dry goblets, and huge platters with nothing on them. Peter can’t see the feast. Peter has a feast before him, but he can’t enjoy it because he does not partake of the bounty of Neverland—he does not believe the feast is there.

This picture is frightfully familiar. There has never been a time in our culture when the Bible has been more accessible than it is today. But there have also been few times in history when people were more biblically illiterate. Here we sit, with a feast of God’s Word spread in front of us, and we are starving spiritually on a smorgasbord of junk food. Christian publishers have given the church a gift. We can read Bibles that have daily reflections for men, women, youth, seniors, and even for those who are in time of recovery. There are giant Bibles that can adorn a living-room table, and little Bibles that we can carry in our pocket or purse.

So why is our generation facing a famine of God’s Word? This malady is not because the Bible is inaccessible, but because we fail to see the feast God has placed right in front of us. It is easier to feed ourselves upon the junk food of life rather than on the bread of life. We seek to satisfy our hunger with junk food instead of feasting on God’s truth revealed in the Scriptures.

(Picture of Hostess Twinkies). Kind of makes those Twinkies stick in the throat after reading the following.... Ever wonder why junk food is so cheap, despite having so many ingredients? It would seem that they require costly refining processes and complex preparation procedures. So why are Twinkie snacks a mere dollar a box sometimes, and why are value meals called "value" meals? And yet all the health food that contains one tenth the number of ingredients tends to cost two or three times as much.

Some say it's because the added preservatives in junk food improve shelf life, so it's cheaper to keep the products on sale for longer periods of time. The low price attracts thrifty consumers, particularly lower class families. Twinkies are also marketed to catch the attention of our younger generation. "Eating Twinkies is cool,” said a 16-year-old boy who has been a Twinkie user since age 11. "I didn't like them at first, but all my friends were eating them, so I started doing it too because I wanted to fit in. Now, I love them–I'm practically addicted." "Twinkies are the best," said a 14-year-old. "My mom won't let me have them, but I sneak out and eat them behind the 7-11 whenever I get the chance."

The elite have never been fond of these, whom they call "useless eaters"; feeding them dangerous chemicals apparently makes them useful as waste receptacles, though. So the next time we pay for junk food, we need to remember that it will be paid in two installments: first in cash, then in health. A little might not hurt, but a consistent diet will take its toll. The simplest solution is to eat simple: spend more time in the fruits, vegetable, and cut-meat section of the grocery store than the refined foods areas. Overall it is cheaper and healthier. Complaining that one doesn't have time to cook fresh foods is a poor excuse, especially if the time saved by eating junk food is spent watching TV.

(Picture of Bible Bar) In contrast, The Bible Bar from Logia Foods is a complete, all natural, wholesome food which is jam packed with nutritional and spiritual goodness. The Bible Bar is unbaked and contains no additives or artificial ingredients. It has a delicious and wholesome fruit and grain flavor with just the right amount of sweetness from raw honey and natural grain syrup. The Bible Bar is so nutritious and healthy that it actually represents a complete, well-balanced meal. God obviously had some very important reasons for linking these foods to the Promised Land. Therefore, when you eat a Bible Bar, you are consuming seven foods that God called good and in a form that is easy and convenient to use. The Bible Bar contains the seven foods of Deuteronomy 8:8…Wheat • Barley • Raisins • Honey • Figs • Pomegranates • Olive Oil

Back to our illustration of Hook. Peter finally sees the feast covering the table. His eyes are opened. It is time as well for Jesus-followers to see God’s Word as the sustenance our hearts long for. We must let the famine come to an end and the banquet begin. It’s a shift from snacking to feasting.

There is no reason, then, for surprise that Paul told the Colossian Christians to feast on the Word of God in Colossians 3:16-17… Let the message [word] of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The message or word of Christ could refer to Christ as the living Word. For as the prologue to John’s gospel points out, Christ is the eternally living Word. But Paul could also have been referring to the written Word of God. The words of Christ were being collected and circulated by that time. Paul’s own words were gathered into the Bible, where they became standardized as the Word of God. The word for dwell means “at home.” The message of Christ is to be “at home” in our hearts.

What happens when the Word of God dwells in us?

1. God’s Word enriches us

16Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly…

The Bible becomes a part of life. It gives richness to life; abundantly, without limits. The centrality of the word is crucial. As much as pastor/teachers who are rooted in the word, the entire body needs to be immersed in the word, to the point that it dwells in us richly. The Bible is not junk food that will sustain us for a short time. It is a feast that will satisfy us for the long haul.

2. God’s Word educates us

…16as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

The Bible brings all wisdom. It is to be taught. The fundamentals of the word are to be taught as a means of instruction in living. This instruction is modeled formally and informally in teaching. God’s Word can also be taught through music. Some of our favorite theology is taught through the music we sing. The book of Psalms is a treasure of music and poetry that tells of God’s dealings with persons and their experience with God. The Bible is not junk food that will neglect proper belief and action. It is a feast that will bring grace and truth into life.

3. God’s Word encourages us

17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Bible affirms the authority of Christ. All work is to be done in Christ’s name. This includes the things we say and the things we do—our conversation and conduct. Everything about our work in Christ is to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-controlled. Our worship is to reflect thanksgiving to God. The Bible is not junk food that puffs up people. It is a feast that provides continual confidence and courage for the work at hand.

The Action-Packed, Life-Changing, Soul-Moving Word of God…

So every time we open the Bible, God is at work.

There are all types of word pictures the Bible uses to identify the work of God. Let’s look at five dramatic pictures to give us a foretaste of how God works when we feast at the table of his Word.

1. A Lamp: the Bible illuminates

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. –Psalm 119:105.

We live in a dark world so it is easy for us to trip, stumble, and fall into all kinds of difficulty. We need a light to shine on our path. The Bible is God’s tool to shed that light.

I’ve used the following illustration often of a lamp from the context in which the Psalmist wrote. In those days, a lamp was usually a small wick in a little bowl of oil, and similar to a lantern. It provided no more light than a candle. It was not likened to our flashlights today. So if we get the idea that God wants to give us a high beam of light so we can see far down the path, we are missing the point. The light of a single lantern provides the light we need for one or two steps down the road. Therefore, when we read the Bible, it becomes a tool the Holy Spirit uses to give us direction for the next step in our journey. It can provide daily exactly the wisdom, insight, and illumination we need.

2. A Taste of Honey: the Bible is sweet

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! –Psalm 119:103.

At times we need to enjoy the sweetness of God’s mercy, grace, and peace. God wants to encourage us through the word. There are times we won’t exactly remember what we read. All we know is it was good to be in God’s presence and the truth he spoke to our heart was sweet and satisfying.

We offer so many excuses of why we settle for the snack and walk away from the feast. Simply, we miss the invitation to the feast. The most common excuse can be expressed in the following way: “I can make some sense of the New Testament, but I don’t get the Old Testament.” It’s true that I can’t remember or understand certain areas of the Bible. However, this reality must not inhibit me from feasting on it daily and experiencing its sweetness. I can’t remember every meal I ate last week, but I know I didn’t miss a meal!

So we affirm the fact that God is in the midst of every detail of life and wants to satisfy us through his Word. Even when we can’t understand what God is doing, we can trust him in every situation no matter how small. Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah [40:13] in his doxology from Romans 11:33…Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

3. A Training Manual: the Bible equips

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God's people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. –2 Timothy 3:16-17.

God discloses his Word to us as a living, lasting, and life-giving book. The Bible is God’s training manual to prepare us for the life he wants us to experience. To teach, rebuke, correct, and train—these words are all active words. The result is that we as Jesus-followers become equipped, ready to do the work of God.

Most organizations use a training manual to develop their people. Whether it’s in the sports, business, or education fields, following the training manual is a necessity, not a choice. If we want to be fully equipped and ready to do what God assigns us to accomplish in his kingdom, then we must feast on the training manual—God’s Word—to advance the work. Following our own plans and desires is futile.

4. A Surgeon’s Scalpel: the Bible cuts to heal

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. –Hebrews 4:12-13.

There are times when the truth of God’s revelation comes to us like a surgeon’s scalpel. The Word cuts down deep into our hearts. We must remember that God cuts, not to wound but to heal. God sees everything that keeps us from becoming more and more like Jesus. So God uses his word like a scalpel.

Like a skillful surgeon, God penetrates deep and removes attitudes, uncovers actions, and cuts out the cancer that reveals evil motives. God will take the razor-sharp edge of the scalpel and operate for our own good. I remember when I was diagnosed with cancer. I chose to go under the knife to remove that cancer from my body. I know when the doctors said they feel they “got it all,” how thankful I was after the surgery. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to cut, but after we are healed, we thank God for removing those areas of our lives that were killing us from the inside out.

5. A Sword: A weapon for spiritual warfare

Take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. –Ephesians 6:17.

When we read the Bible regularly and feast on the truth of God’s Word, we are going through training for the battles that lie ahead. Owning a sword does not make us warriors. Owning a number of swords does not make us more powerful. Only practicing will prepare us to stand strong against spiritual attack. Many people today have a stack of Bibles on the shelf but no idea of how to use them in spiritual warfare.

When Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness after his baptism and the launching of his ministry, he pulled out his sword and fought back. In defense to each of the Devil’s three temptations, Jesus quoted specific passages from the Book of Deuteronomy to counter the attack. We must learn from Jesus’ example because each of us will face close combat with the evil one—the Devil. Our primary weapon is the Word of God.

God will use his Word in each of these action-packed, life-changing ways at different times throughout our week. We don’t ever know what God has planned, but when the Bible is open, shifts from snacking to feasting are in our future.

How much time does it take to read from Genesis to Revelation? If we would read the Bible at standard pulpit speed (slow enough to be heard and understood) the reading time would be seventy-one hours. If we would break that down into minutes and divide it into 365 days we could read the entire Bible, cover to cover, in only twelve minutes a day. Is this really too much time to spend feasting on the Word of God?

Shift Suggestion: In the next seven days, we can make a plan for a daily feast on God’s Word. When will we dine? Where will we eat? What will be on the menu? Once we have decided the when, where, and what of our Bible study, we need to tell someone else about our goal and ask them to pray for us. At the end of the week, we can share with this person what we learned. If we are feeling spiritually nourished from our daily feast, we make a dining plan for the next week. There are many Bible reading plans available.

Lock it in our heart and brain

One of the great disciplines is memorizing verses, passages, or sections of the Bible that really speak to our heart. Our series on 16:Shifts highlights the verse from John 3:16…

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

…God loves

…God gave

…We believe

…We live.

Prayer: Father, I believe you love this world. You gave your one and only Son so I can live forever with you. Apart from you, I die. With you, I live. I choose life. I admit I need a Savior. I believe Jesus is my Savior. I choose to walk with Jesus and become a worldchanger.

John Stott, one of Time Magazine’s one-hundred people who shape our lives, writes…

We have an almost superstitious attitude to Bible reading as if it had some magical worth. But there is no magic in the Bible or in the mechanical reading of the Bible. No, the written Word points to the Living Word and says to us, 'Go to Jesus.' If we do not go to the Jesus to whom it points, we miss the whole purpose of Bible reading.

Therefore, we as Jesus-followers do not worship the Bible; we worship the Christ of the Bible. For example, a young man who is in love has a girlfriend who has captured his heart. As a result he carries a photograph of his beloved in his wallet because it reminds him of her when she is far away. Sometimes, when nobody is looking, he might even take the photograph out and give it a sneaky kiss. But kissing the photograph is a poor substitute for the real thing. He isn’t in love with the picture, but with the person the picture represents. And so it is with the Bible. We dwell on it only because we make Christ “at home” in our hearts. We feast on it only because we love the Christ who is the author and the finisher of our faith.

Let’s not miss out on the amazing banquet God has set before us. If we settle for a weekly snack at church and never dig into God’s Word between Sundays, it costs us more than we realize. We need to get past all of our excuses and fears, sit up straight at the table, and partake of the good things God has set before us. It’s a shift from snacking to feasting! Amen.