Tremble at God's Word - Part III

TREMBLE AT GOD’S WORD – PART III

"This is the one I esteem : he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." Isaiah 66:2b

In the first session, we carefully looked at the fact that Jesus wants us to be disciples, or students, and He wants us to make disciples, or students, of people.

Last week, we looked at what God says about those who do not tremble at His Word.

And we started to look on how to conduct a true Yeshiva and we finished with the suggestion that Yeshivas should be conducted at home first, within the family unit.

Now what we need to know is that conducting a Yeshiva at home is not the same as conducting a Western church service. Unfortunately, many heads of households feel inadequate to lead their family in a Bible study because they feel unprepared. They assume they must reproduce what they have seen at their local church building. Conducting a family Bible time, a Yeshiva, is what God requires of each head of the household – the father or in a single parent family, the single mother or the single father. God wants that head of the household to be the priest of their own home.

Here are 4 pointers on how to lead such a Yeshiva :

1. Parents should lead their own children into faith in the Lord like David led his son, Solomon, into faith in the Lord.
Turn to Psalm 91.

- David tells Solomon the Gospel in verse 1 : "He who dwells in the shelter (womb) of the Most

High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."
This is a parent telling his own child the good news. The good news is that if anyone will enter the womb (mercy) of God, He will protect him.

- Solomon confesses with his mouth and believes in his heart the gospel in verse 2 : "I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

- David tells Solomon all that the Lord will do for him now that he believes in verses 3 – 13.

- The Lord affirms to David that He will do all David said and show Solomon His salvation in verses 14-16.

2. It is the parent’s responsibility to teach their children the Bible at home.
Turn to Proverbs 4:1-4.

Solomon tells his sons to learn from him in their own house just as he had learned from his father, David, in David’s house – note key verses 3 & 4.

3. Parents should continually impress God’s Word upon their children.
Turn to Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

Parents can only teach their own children God’s Word if (verse 5) they completely love the Lord and the Lord’s commandments are already in their own heart (verse 6).
Parents are to teach their children while sitting with them at home, while travelling together, when they go to bed and when they awaken each morning (read verse 7)

4. Children are never too young (or too old) to learn the Bible.
Turn to II Timothy 3:14-15.

Paul told Timothy to continue in God’s Word that his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice had taught him. Paul confirms that learning from one’s parents has the quality of believing since parents would not lie. He says that Timothy was taught the holy Scriptures form infancy.

So, that what we need to do as parents. And initially you start with the Bible, and then the children grow up and you add to the table a number of Bible helps so that the Yeshiva changes to the ages around the table. You add concordances, lexicons, dictionaries, Greek/Hebrew explanations, commentaries, geographically descriptions (maps, atlas, etc...), history books, etc....

One needs to know that one of the goals of Yeshiva is that all destructive habits need to be replaced with life-giving habits. One needs to know that another goal of Yeshiva is that all destructive thought patterns need to be replaced with life-giving thought patterns

Romans 12:2
"Do not change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect."

Phil 4:8
"Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected."

The Biblical discipline of studying God’s Word systematically, is an inward discipline – a discipline which allows us to think about the things, as God tells us to do in Phil 4:8. God has provided the means for us to take His Word (spoken and unspoken), that to understand it, which we call the renewing of the mind in Romans 12.

God’s grace which is sufficient is given to us in various ways – one of these ways is the discipline of study.

Many Christians are :
- faithful in church attendance
- earnest in fulfilling church duties
- praying in the spirit
- worship/praise and sing with gusto
- live as obedient at they can
and yet, their lives, particularly their inner lives, remain totally unchanged.

Why is this happening ? Why ?

I believe it is because they have never taken up one of the central ways God uses to change us : study.

John 8:32
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free"

Jesus made it clear "that you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." The word "will" in some translations means "shall". The understanding of "shall" (THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD HAVE CONCORDANCES, LEXICONS, HEBREW/GREEK DICTIONARIES, ETC... ON THE TABLE IN FRONT OF US DURING A YESHIVA) – the understanding of "shall" means "guarantees". Jesus will guarantee that you will know the truth and that this truth will set you free.

The truth, in this context, is also translated in some versions as "the knowledge of the truth". You have to know, have the knowledge, of the truth. If you do not know, or have the knowledge of, the truth, it can not set you free.

So, how can Jesus guarantee this. He gives you this guarantee by providing a discipline, which we can learn, and this is the discipline of "study".

Good feelings will not free us.
Ecstatic experiences will not free us.
Getting high on Jesus will not free us.
With a partial knowledge of the truth, we will not be free.

Actually, this is a principle, a God principle, in every area of human endeavor. It is true in biology and mathematics. It is true in marriage and other human relationships. But is it especially true in reference to your spiritual life.

Many, many Christians are hampered and confused in the spiritual walk by simple ignorance of the truth.

Worse yet, many have been brought into the most crucial bondage by false teaching. Matthew 23:15 : "How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You travel across the land and sea to find one person who change to your ways. When you find that person, you make him more fit for hell than you are."

Let us apply ourselves to learning what constitutes the spiritual discipline of study, to identify its pitfalls, to practice it with joy, and to experience the liberation it brings.

So, how does the discipline of study works ?

Perhaps we study a tree or a book. We can see it, we can feel it. Once we do this, seeing it and feeling it, our thoughts are molded conforming to what we study.

The Old Testament instructs that the various laws be written on gates and doorposts, and bound to the wrists and the forehead so that "they shall be as frontlets between our eyes".

Deut 6:8
"Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign. Tie them on your forehead to remind you, and write them on your doors and gates."

The purpose of that Old Testament instruction was to direct your mind repeatedly and regularly in certain modes of thought about God and human relations.

Of course, the New Testament replaces the laws written on doorposts with laws written on the heart and leads us to Jesus, our ever-present and inward teacher.

But when we have the Lord in front and centre all the time by studying his word in a variety of ways, our thoughts will conform to the order of the thing being studied.

How does this differ from meditation ? Meditation is devotional while study is analytical.
Meditation will relish a word while study will explicate it. In study, there are two books to be studied : verbal and non-verbal.

Books and lectures constitute only about half of the field of study.

The world or nature, and, most important, the careful observation of events and actions are the primary non-verbal fields of study.

One can indeed learn from a book, but if a person would carefully observe and reflect upon what was occurring, he or she would learn a great deal.

Next time, we will look on how to study.

(DELIVERED AT UNDER THE JUNIPER TREE CHAPEL BY PASTOR JOHN FRYTERS ON JUNE 7, 2009)