Week 8 Sunday
Week 8 Sunday
One Greater Than the Temple Is Here
Revelation 1:17-18; 3:7
We have been studying the naturalness of the Christian way. If we get hold of that, it will transform our attitudes toward the Christian way. We will no longer tend to be afraid of it. It will be easier to surrender to it, for in doing so we find ourselves and our own way. A woman arose in a meeting and said, “The Christian way is the natural way. But we haven’t been taught that. That’s news; let’s go out and give it.” We must. But one word of reminder before we do. While the Christian way is the natural way, the Christian way is not a mere naturalism; it is supernaturally natural. It is within the natural, but it is above it.
A passage that shows the relationship of Jesus to everything is this, “in this place is one greater than the temple” (Matt. 12:6 KJV). The temple was the center of religious life, the very life of the Jewish nation. People came to it from all over that ancient world because it was the center of their faith and hope. Jesus stood in the midst of that ancient grandeur and quietly said, “one greater than the temple.” It seemed preposterous. And yet the ages have corroborated him. The temple is gone; all that is left is a Wailing Wall. Christ lives on, the most potent power in human affairs.
A man looked at some pictures in a famous gallery and said, “I don’t think much of these pictures.” The reply of the attendant, “Excuse me, sir, the pictures are not on trial.” The people who viewed them were! Jesus is not on trial now. We judge ourselves by our judgment of him.
Said a German, “At the end of the last war stood one personality—Jesus.” At the end of this one stands one personality—Jesus.
One greater than the temple was in that place, is here. Jesus is bigger than all our systems. They are related to him, not he to them. He is the absolute; they are the relative. They must all stand before the judgment bar of his person. If they fit into him, reflect his mind and spirit, they are valid. If not, they are not valid. The acid test of anything Christian is: Is it Christian? Is it centered in him, and does it work out from him?
O Christ, you are my center, and you are my circumference. I begin with you, and I end with you. For if I don’t begin with you, I end in disillusionment and disgust. Help me this day to begin every thought, every secret longing, and every act and project with you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: “Our little systems have their day.” Christ has towered and will tower over the wrecks of time.
Week 8 Monday
God Become Intimate
John 1:18; 14:6-9
We are thinking upon the words, “in the place is one greater than the temple.” Had we kept that emphasis, the history of Christianity would have been different. Very often Christianity has become eccentric, off center, away from Christ. For Christianity is Christ.
The editor of a farm journal with millions of readers wrote me, “The South is suffering from the lack of a Christ-centered religion. It is wasting its time and energy on irrelevancies. Write me an article on ‘A Christ-centered Religion.’ ” Not only the South, but the whole of Christendom is suffering from the same lack.
We must get our values straight, and the central value of the Christian faith is Christ. If the reply is made that God is our central value and starting point, the answer must be that apart from Christ we know little about God. If we try to start from God, we do not start from God, but from our ideas about God. But our ideas about God are not God. We must start from God’s idea about himself, and God’s idea about himself is Christ. Jesus is God breaking through to us. He is the great simplification, God speaking to us in the worldly language we can understand, a human language; showing us his life in the only way we could grasp it, a human life; uncovering his character in the place where your character and mine are wrought out, a human character. Jesus is the human life of God. He is the God become intimate. Jesus is God the vague become God the vital. He is manifest God.
Someone has said, “The important things are two: What is your center? And what is your circumference?” They depend on each other, for you soon get to the end of your circumference if you have the wrong center. Your faith exhausts itself against the problems of life. Christ must be the center. From him we work out to God and life and human problems. He is the Master Light of all our seeing. He is our Starting Point. And where is our ending point? Our circumference? There is no ending point, and there is no circumference; it is all infinite, boundless. But if you begin at any other place it is not infinite, it is not boundless; it is earthbound.
O Christ, when I get hold of you, I know that I get hold of infinity. You are the language of eternity speaking to me in the speech of time. I hear, I heed, and I am at rest, for in you the final word speaks, speaks to my need, speaks to my inmost being, speaks to me. I thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If I begin with a problem. I’ll probably end with a problem, and in the process I’ll become a problem.
Week 8 Tuesday
One Greater Than the Bible
John 1:14, 45, 51; 6:66-69
One greater than the Bible is here. We love the Bible, honor it, assimilate it, for it leads us to his feet. But the Bible is not the revelation of God. It is the inspired record of the revelation. The revelation was seen in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “You search the scriptures, imagining you possess eternal life in their pages—and they do testify to me—but you refuse to come to me for life” (John 5:39 Moffatt). “Imagining you possess eternal life in their pages.” Eternal life is not in the pages; it is in Christ, who is uncovered through the pages. The Word was not made printer’s ink. The Word was made flesh, not a page but a Person.
One greater than the Bible is here. A prominent theologian said, “The Bible is the supreme method of intercourse between man and God.” Is it? I thought Christ is the supreme method of intercourse between God and man. “There is . . . one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). It is true that we know little about Christ except through the New Testament. But it is also true that “Jesus was above his reporters.” We believe that those reporters through the heightening of their insights—in other words, through inspiration—have caught the essential meaning of Christ. To all intents and purposes we have the essential Christ through them. Nevertheless, we always have the feeling they were trying to tell the untellable and express the inexpressible. Paul calls Christ the “unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15 KJV); he couldn’t quite speak him. A minister asked me if we shouldn’t preach Paul’s epistles? I replied, “I do not preach Paul’s epistles. I preach Christ, who was revealed through Paul’s epistles and through other channels. But he is bigger than all the channels.” The Word is greater than Paul’s words.
Moreover, Christ was here before the New Testament. He created it; it did not create him. It was his impact upon life that produced this literature. The Person is greater than the product. We love and honor the product, but only as it leads us to his feet and to an allegiance to him. One greater than the Bible is here.
O Christ, I know that you are greater than all our descriptions of you. When we have said all, then we stand in dumb adoration before the wonder of you, the Inexpressible. But I see enough of you to love you and to give my heart to you fully. I do so, and I do so now. I thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If I begin with Christ, I’ll probably come to a crisis and go on to a conclusion.
Week 8 Wednesday
Our Code Is a Character
Hebrews 12:1-3
Yesterday we stated that “One greater than the Bible is here.” He made himself supreme even in Scripture. The Old Testament is the period of preparation for Christ. It is not Christianity; it is both pre-Christian and sub-Christian. Revelation was progressive, moving on until it found its completion and perfection in Christ. All Scripture must be brought before the bar of his person to be judged. He made himself final even in Scripture. He said, “You have heard that it was said . . . but I say to you” (see Matthew 5). He changed the standards and made his own word final. I accept everything in the Old Testament that fits into his mind and spirit, and what does not I gently lay aside as belonging to the imperfect stage of revelation and accept him, the perfect stage.
Moreover, One greater than the Ten Commandments is here. We honor and love those commandments, but Christ transcended them, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Many quote it and stop at “That you love one another,” but that would not have been “new”; the Old Testament and other Scriptures enjoined that. The new thing was “as I have loved you.” His conduct produced a new code. This is fully stated in these words, “Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5 Moffatt). Here morality reached its high-water mark. Our code is a Character. It is not a set of commandments; that is legalism. It is a Character; that is life. I believe in the Ten Commandments, and very, very much besides—I believe in him. The Ten Commandments are an injunction. Jesus is an injunction plus an inspiration.
Besides, to obey commandments is to obey an imposed morality, “Thou shalt,” and “Thou shalt not.” But to follow a Person and to do the things he does is an inspired morality. It comes from within, and its source is love. One is a legal morality; the other is a love morality. One is artificial; the other is artesian. One binds you; the other frees you. One makes you tense and gloomy; the other makes you relaxed and spontaneous and joyous. One greater than the commandments is here. Our code is not a commandment but a Character.
O Christ, I know that you are my code and my commandment. I love you. I shall be free, free to live and do the highest. For you are the highest. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Love Christ supremely; hold all else in relationship to that supreme love; then all else is yours.
Week 8 Thursday
One Greater Than the Creeds
Hebrews 13:8-13
We saw yesterday that Christ is greater than the commandments. To love him is to fulfill the commandments plus. To fulfill the commandments produces the Pharisee. To love and obey Christ is to produce the Christian. Christians feel that they have never attained; the more they obey in Christ, the more they see there is to obey. It is not a fixed but an unfolding morality. We follow a living Mind, and hence we are under the law of eternal growth.
That leads us to say, One greater than the creeds is here. The creeds attempt to fix in statement what we see in Christ. We are grateful for those attempts—grateful, but not satisfied. For we cannot fully catch and confine the Word in the web of our words. The Word is greater than our words. Hence our creeds must be eternally open on the side of revision, revision toward larger, fuller meanings. A fixed creed becomes a false creed. For Christ is forever beyond us, calling us to new meanings and new surrenders and new adventures.
This does not mean that there is nothing fixed. There is. In the Incarnation, the life and teaching, the death and resurrection of Jesus something has been fixed. We have a Norm. We do not hold to a meaningless theosophy that takes in everything, and in the process becomes nothing. We are not adrift. Something is fixed in the historical Jesus. Yet the fixed is also the unfolding. “I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. . . . He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you” (John 16:12-14 CEB). Here Jesus provides for an unfolding revelation of himself. That saves the Christian faith from being a road with a dead end; we were released by the Life. We are dynamic if we follow the Christ. Christ finds a desert and makes it blossom like the rose. This puts life under an eternal growth. We shall approach the Divine forever, and in that approach find our eternal happiness.
O Living Christ, how, oh how, can I ever be grateful enough that I see in you something fresh every morning and something new every night. You are a constant surprise to me. I hold my breath as new meanings unfold and my soul is atingle with expectancy. I thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: A Christian never is; a Christian is always becoming.
Week 8 Friday
One Greater Than Rites or Ceremonies
Colossians 2:16-19
One greater than rites and ceremonies is here. We do not disparage rites and ceremonies. They can and often do express our loyalty and love for Christ. They are the outer expression of an inner love. But to make any rite, any ceremony, essential to salvation is to make an idol of it. No rite, no ceremony, of any kind is essential to salvation. If it were, then we would be saved by a rite or ceremony. We are saved by Christ, not by rites or ceremonies. In front of Christ, a rite or ceremony may be an idol and a stumbling block. Behind Christ, as an expression of our love to him, it may be a beautiful sacrament.
A radiant Baptist friend of mine was asked about baptism, and he replied, “It’s all right, but you mustn’t hang around the river too long.” Some do. And soon the river becomes dry of meaning, becomes an end in itself, and we stand beside dry riverbeds while Christ has passed on. But baptism in its place, as an expression of faith in Christ, is beautiful and helpful. As such I love it and love to administer it.
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Gal. 6:15). Neither baptism counts for anything, nor unbaptism, but a new creation. The new creature is the criterion.
The Holy Communion is a beautiful sacrament, behind Christ. But if it gets around in front of Christ, becomes the exclusive possession of exclusive groups, then it is the good turned bad. “If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be!” (Matt. 6:13 CEB). If communion leads to communion with Christ and with all others who belong to Christ, then it is the Holy Communion. But if it leads to exclusiveness and special claims about validities, then it is an unholy communion. One greater than the communion is here.
Then One greater than faith is here. We sometimes say we are saved by faith. That would make faith the means of our salvation. We are not saved by faith, but by faith in Christ. The end is Christ and not the faith. I do not have faith in my faith; I have faith in Christ. If you try to have faith in faith, you are tense and trying; if you have faith in Christ, you are relaxed and receptive.
O Christ, I thank you that I can have faith in you when my faith in everything else fails. For you and you alone are worthy of faith. I rest in you and receive from you everything I need for this day. I am so grateful I cannot express my gratitude in words. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Rites and ceremonies come between me and Christ and become an idol unless they point beyond themselves to Christ.
Week 8 Saturday
One Greater Than the Church
Ephesians 4:11-16
One greater than the cross is here. We sometimes say we are saved by the cross. Rather, we are saved by the Christ who died for us upon the cross. The cross can become a matter of contention instead of conversion if detached from Christ. On the cross he took into his own heart all we have done and been and made it his own. If therefore I identify myself by surrender to and faith in Christ; identify myself, not with my past life and its sins, but with Christ, who thus died for me on the cross, I am saved. But I am saved by him, not by the cross. One greater than the cross is here.
One greater than the resurrection is here. We do not have faith in his resurrection; we have faith in the resurrected Christ. He says, “I am myself resurrection and life” (John 11:25 Moffatt). He is himself the resurrection. We do not have faith in an event, a resurrection, but in one who went through the event, and is bigger than the event. One greater than the resurrection is here.
One greater than the Church is here. The Church is a fellowship of believers, a fellowship around Christ, not around themselves. He, and not they, is the center. When they become the center, the light has turned to darkness. And how great is that darkness!
John said to Jesus, “‘Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, but we stopped him because he is not a follower of ours.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him; he who is not against you is for you’ ” (Luke 9:49-50 Moffatt). John tried to make “in your name” and “a follower of ours” synonymous. We still do that. We make our group the issue. Jesus showed the difference, saying, in essence, “He who is not against you is for you. For you are not the issue, but as for me, I am the issue. He who is not with me is against me. Here you must take sides; if you are not for me, you are against me.” One greater than the church is here. The church behind Christ is the greatest serving institution on earth; in front of Christ it is an idol. If it becomes an end in itself, it loses itself. If it loses itself in Christ and his kingdom, it finds itself again.
O living Christ, you are greater than all the things that serve you. And yet you serve all things. You are greater than all, for you are the servant of all. You have given yourself, and I can do naught else but give myself, first of all to you, and then to all. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Belonging to a group does not save me. Belonging to Christ does.