Subject: [HFF Loop] Something to chew on...
Here is another thought to dwell on for a bit from an old sermon: The God of Comfort – Henry Ward Beecher 1869
“We are not to take our conceptions of God from human systems, for these systems have been built up out of mere selections from the Word of God. But God’s Word is a vast forest. And just as a man can build either a hut or a common mansion or a palatial residence out of the timber that is growing in the forest, so out of the Word of God man can build a poor theology, a rich theology, or a glorious one, according as he is skillful in this selections.”
We need to be skilled in the Word of God. We become so by spending time there. If we only graze on the Word once and awhile and only eat at the same spot over and over, we will not have the whole counsel of God. While we all have our favorite passages, we need the entire Word to have a healthy diet. We must grapple with the whole Scripture, not just certain passages. As stated above, we can build a hut or a palace based on how well we partake of the vast forest of God ’s Word. Many have anemic theology because they limit their study to 1 Corinthians 13 or Psalm 23. The God of love is also the God of judgment. We are God’s children, but it is still a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We have the light of God, but it can and will be removed if we hide it or refuse to repent. In order to have a “glorious theology” we must feast often (more than Sunday AM) in the entire counsel of God. We must become Bereans who search the Scripture to make sure these things are true. It is easy, and a trick of our foe, to focus on our pet doctrines and to miss the glorious banquet set before us in God’s Word. We can live on a bland diet, but why would you want to?
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Subject: [HFF Loop] More From Another Old Sermon...
From…The God of Comfort – Henry Ward Beecher 1869
“Ah! Old hoary student, do you think because you can read Hebrew and Syriac and Arabic and Greek and Latin that you can teach me about God? Ah! Old grammarian, who comes fighting me on doctrines, who marshals sentences with exegesis, sharp both at the point and at the edge, cutting both ways, do you think that because you are so wise in construction, you can teach me of God? He is not found by either. “That ye, being rooted and grounded in love” which is the only interpreter of the divine nature…”
I love this thought…of course we don’t talk this way anymore, but what truth is contained within. One of the traditions of Hope Family Fellowship is that we love each other even when we disagree over non-foundational issues. Many fight and divide over doctrine, worship styles, government preferences, baptism, communion, and a host of other issues. But unity is to be desired and love is to be displayed if we are to present a clear picture of God to a lost and dying world.
The partial text quoted above is taken from Ephesians 3:14-19 - For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ( ESV )
Before we ever begin to teach others about God we must be rooted and grounded in who He is. Unless love is our motive, goal and tool, we are not presenting God in the proper fashion. Many of the issues are important that people divide over, but the fruit of division is often bitter and displays a picture of Christ and His Church that is very ugly. How we walk with