Volume 5, Number 1 -- September 1997
IT’S THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING!
MORE THAN ENOUGH
This is another in our series of articles on principles found in Scripture. This study has to do with the abundance of our God as portrayed in both the Old and New Testaments. This was the author’s intent when he said,
And his attendant said, "What, shall I set this before a hundred men?" But he said," Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left over.' " 2 Kings 4:43
This was also part of the message in the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus not only fed the thousands of people, there were 12 baskets full left over. It takes only one seed to grow a tomato plant, but there are dozens of seeds in every tomato. It takes only one seed to grow a pine tree, but there are dozens of seeds in each of the dozens of cones that fall from the tree. God always works from the principle of abundance.
Studying this issue, you become aware that the Scriptures deal with abundance in at least two ways – spiritual and physical. We will begin with spiritual abundance. In Ephesians, Paul wrote,
Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, Ephesians 3:20
You sense Paul’s frustration at his inability to properly describe the abundance with which God answers our petition. Unable to properly describe it, he simply said God will do much more than we could possibly imagine.
In Exodus, the author described God’s dealings with His people.
Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD GOD, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; Exodus 34:6
Speaking to Moses, God identified Himself as "the Lord God," the merciful judge, and described His dealings with Israel as "compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and "abounding in lovingkindness and truth." He said that God’s lovingkindness has no boundaries, His truth beyond the ability to measure. When Moses received the tablets of the Law, this was an important picture of God for him to keep in mind.
Paul gave us an interesting picture of the abundance of God.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 2 Corinthians 9:8
The message is that God provides more than we can use in everything so that we can also abound in every good deed. The abundance of God is our example to follow in our desire to do more than necessary to show the love of God in our good deeds.
Peter also gives us a picture of this abundance.
For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. 2 Peter 1:11
Peter wanted his Christian friends to know that God not only wants the believer to be received into His eternal kingdom, but that He wants that entry to be abundantly supplied, that there would be no doubt, no reason to wonder if we indeed will be received.
Paul understood something of this abundance when he wrote:
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, Ephesians 1:18
Paul realized that the focus of God’s riches was in the inheritance of the saints. God would not skimp on our eternity. God, who gave abundantly during our time on earth, would continue this abundant provision throughout eternity.
Isaiah grasped the vision well when he said,
Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7
Isaiah spoke to a group of people who had great difficulty obeying the God who had called them to be His unique possession. Still, he could talk of God’s pardon of their blatant sin in terms of a forgiveness that was so abundant so all-encompassing that they could hardly comprehend its possibility. That is just like our abundant God.
There are dozens more pictures of this abundance in the Old and New Testaments. It was with difficulty that these have been chosen.
Now, turn your attention to the promise of physical abundance described in both the Old and New Testaments. The author of Leviticus saw this great truth:
'Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. Leviticus 26:5
God promised there would be abundant food for them all year. This area experienced scarcity just before harvest of every kind of food. God promised to give them so much that there would be no scarcity.
In Deuteronomy you see the same story:
"Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; Deuteronomy 30:9
God promised that there would be abundance in the growth of their children, animals and crops because He rejoiced over them.
David saw this quality of God in clear terms:
"I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy with bread. Psalm 132:15
In this Song of Ascents, David sang about Zion. He remembered God’s promise to bless the city with peace and abundance. They had known many wars. Each time, a siege would strain their food supply to the breaking point. He sang of God’s promise to provide more than they could possibly need.
Solomon also saw this great truth,
So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:10
Speaking of those who honor the Lord, Solomon said that they would have more than they could possibly store. What abundance!
Paul also spoke of this great truth,
And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Paul used this sweeping statement to indicate that God would meet every need, without exception, because of the greatness of His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
As you can see, most of the promises of abundance of physical things appear in the Old Testament, but not exclusively. It is for us as well. Nevertheless, the spiritual abundance is the New Testament focus.
In an age when businesses looks for ways to give less and receive more; when downsizing is the corporate agenda; when scarcity is the norm in the land of plenty: God is still promising to give of His great abundance to all who seek His face.
We need to think about this message of abundance. If that is what God is like, we must ask ourselves if we really expect Him to be that way’; to do that for us. Do our expectations and planning in the local church find motivation in His abundance or our own fear of insufficiency? In our own lives, are we motivated by God’s promise of abundance or by our unusual caution lest we run out? Do we trust God’s abundance or our ability to manage what little we have? The tomato and the pine cone should give us pause to remember what God is like – abundance is the way He operates on our behalf. What an awesome God we have!!
I'M BACK!!
A few days ago, I returned from Evanston where I taught in the Course of Study School at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. As you may know, I teach a course in Bible for the first year class. I have been teaching this class for sixteen years. At this point, we expect to return to teach there again in 1998. The Bible course is an overview of the books of Genesis (chapters 12-50), Judges, Mark and Philemon. In the afternoons of the first two weeks I taught a course in inductive Bible study. This is not a required class, but each year many students take the time they could spend on other things so that they can learn to do Inductive Bible Study. (The lectures from this class are included in the book Discovering The Message of Scripture.) It was a great month of teaching. It was very hot, but we managed to run from one air conditioner to another.
GOING TO MOSCOW IN JANUARY
It may seem like a strange time to go to Moscow, but we ARE going to Moscow in January, to teach in a seminary sponsored by O. M. S. The Dean of this seminary has requested that we go to the Moscow seminary to teach in March, 1999, this will be a course in Ephesians and Colossians using the Inductive Method. I am also expected to return in February, 2000 to teach a course in the Pentateuch using Inductive Method. This is very exciting because teaching Inductive Bible Study is the ministry God has provided and the thing I enjoy doing most. It will be very cold during each of these trips, but I have already started collecting very warm clothing to take with me.
BACK WE GO
When I finish teaching in Moscow, I will take an overnight train to Donetsk, Ukraine, where I will be teaching in the Donetsk Christian University. This will be the seventh time that I have taught there and it is exciting to contemplate returning to the campus again. I will teach a course in the Gospel of Mark to the first year class in the seminary.
PRAY FOR INDIANA
You may remember that for over a year, we invited you to join us in praying for the pastors and congregations of the North Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. In October, 1996, it was our privilege to go to Tipton, Indiana, to conduct their Spiritual life retreat. They have requested that we return in May of 1998 to conduct a second spiritual life retreat. By their request, the subject will be the same as it was in 1996. We focused our attention on the ingredients of spiritual growth. We dealt with 12 different ingredients of spiritual growth, but there are many more. We will continue this study with them.
We would invite you to join us again in praying for the ministers and congregations of the North Indiana Conference each day between now and May 1, when the conference begins. We want to ask God to bless these ministers and give them wisdom for the great task of ministry in which they participate. These are not easy days to be in ministry. We also want to intercede for the congregations of the conference, asking God to encourage them to support their pastors and work with them in evangelizing the area of their conference. We also believe God wants to see these people grow and mature in their faith. Please join us as we pray for the conference and prepare to serve in their midst.
THE SEQUEL IS COMING
In preparation for the spiritual life retreat in 1996, we wrote the book Imitators of God. In preparation for the spiritual life retreat in May, 1998, we will now prepare a sequel to the book that was the foundation of that retreat. Because of the teaching schedule in Moscow and Donetsk, it will be necessary for us to have this book finished by the end of December in order to be printed and ready for use when the retreat is held in May. We would appreciate your prayers to that end.
FINALLY
The research was finished in September, 1996, but with the move and two trips to the hospital, it was not possible to get the Inductive Study of the book of Judges ready for printing. The rewriting of the book is now complete. It is being edited and formatted for printing and should be ready for printing in the very near future. You will find this book listed on the order blank at the conclusion of this newsletter.
TEST RUN
In September, we will do a test run of a study of the book of Philippians that was prepared since the beginning of this year. As each book study is completed, we try to test it out by teaching it in either a large Sunday School class or a small Bible study group or both. The test run will last for three months. During this time, we have opportunities to discover parts of the study that work very well and also some parts which could stand some additional work.
IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME!
In the afternoons of the second two weeks at Garrett, I taught a course in how to use the Greek New Testament when you do not know the language. Again, this is not required, but several students wanted to learn how to use the Greek text even though they have not had a formal course in New Testament Greek. The course costs them nothing, and they get no official credit for their efforts. Still it is important to them to come and learn.
Several students have asked that these lectures be made available so that they can continue to work with this process after returning home. The lectures have been recorded. They only need to be formatted for printing and the actual printing process completed. We hope that these lectures will be completed this month.
HERE’S PROOF
This
is a picture of the dental equipment being used at Donetsk. It is open two days a week
both for students and for others as a missionary outreach. We are very excited that this
is working. Thank God for your faithfulness in making this possible.