Jello Molds

 

Treating the Bible Like Jello

 

Do we treat the Bible like Jello?

 

When we read and teach the Bible do we pour the text into our distinctive molds? Do we add fruit to it? How about toppings?

 

Do we make our own core identity the core of the Bible?

 

A friend of mine once did a sermon series on “the Presbyterian view of spiritual formation as seen in the Gospel of John.”

 

I thought, “Really?”

 

Why not teach the Gospel of John as it is written?

 

Or, if you have a pastoral sense to focus on spiritual formation in the Gospel of John, then why not simply approach it as, “Spiritual formation as seen in the Gospel of John?”

 

Do we want our people to be Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, or Christians? Well, the pragmatic answer is that we want them to be in the mold of our tradition, whatever that might be. Should we want this? I can’t see that we should want it.

 

Would we not be better Baptists or Pentecostals if we were Christians first – disciples of Jesus Christ first? Men and women and young people being formed into His image first and foremost?

 

How many treasures of the Word and of Christ Jesus do we miss when we treat His Word as Jello? On the other hand, if we would learn to receive the Word as it is written and made alive by the Holy Spirit, then the possibilities are infinite because of our Lord Jesus is infinite.

 

My friend was just doing what he was taught, and he was just doing what most of us do…and what most congregations want their pastors to do.

 

I wonder how many Jello molds I am still using?

 

 

Sweet Than Honey

 

“They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:10.

 

Psalm 19:7 – 11 was among the Scripture songs we used to sing and it often comes back to me when I ponder this psalm. I love the dual witness of Creation and the Word – they bear witness to one another, they complement one another, they are a duet singing the revelation of God in Christ.

 

Can we truly say that God’s Word is “more desirable than gold,” and that it is “sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb”?

 

Honeycomb used to be sold in grocery stores; while I still see honey, I haven’t seen honeycomb on the shelf for many years. As a lad I used to love putting honeycomb in my mouth and extracting the honey by chewing.

 

Is this not the way we are to ingest the Word of God? We chew it slowly, allowing it to work its way into our hearts and minds and souls. We ruminate on God’s Word, it is outside, it comes inside, it works its way within us as we receive it, ponder It, meditate on it, ruminate on it (see Psalm 1:2, to meditate is to ruminate). We are to “receive the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

 

This is personal, is it not? This is an experience, yes? We receive the Word, we taste the Word, we ingest the Word. We become what we eat.

 

We live in a resort area that has over 20 million visitors each year. There are many ice cream shops in the area, for after a day at the beach or on the golf links, people, young and old, hanker for ice cream. The other evening, as we were driving home, every ice cream shop we passed was packed with people. Their parking lots were full and there were lines to get in the door – in the summer here one must be patient if one desires ice cream.

 

Do we have a sweet tooth for the Word of God? Is God’s Word more desirable than gold to us? Is it sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to us?

 

I often pray that God will give me a desire for His Word, that I will desire Him and His Word more than ever, that His Word will fill me through and through and flow outward to others.

 

How does God’s Word taste to you today?

Our Anniversary - Heirs Together

 

“You are joint heirs of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7).

 

Peter writes that husbands ought to honor their wives, with whom they are joint heirs of the grace of life, “so that your prayers may not be hindered.” There is an alternate reading in the TR for “hindered” which can mean, “cut off” or “cut down” (such as “if your hand offends you, cut it off”) and I find this interesting, for even if our current best manuscripts heavily support the idea of prayers being “hindered,” at some point there were copyists who conveyed the violent image of a husband and wife’s prayers being cutoff or cutdown. Both senses ought to get our attention (the two words are closely related in Greek).

 

1 Peter 3:7 is a picture of Christ and the Church, just as is Ephesians 5:22 – 33 (and just as is Proverbs 31:10 – 31). We are joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 32; Gal. 4:7; Rev. 21:7) and this is particularly true of us as His Bride – for there is a “unity of person” in marriage…the two become one. This idea of “unity of person” was embedded in English common law and was recognized, at least until recently, in many state laws in the United States. As a real estate broker in Maryland and Virginia this was a critical legal concept when transferring title to real estate, husbands and wives took title as “tenants by the entirety," they took title as “one person.”

 

The Bride becomes one with the Groom in Scripture, this is our calling in Jesus Christ, our destiny is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and a glorious unfolding of His love for us in eternity.

 

Our marriages in Christ are to participate in this glory, in this sacramental union. So much so that husbands and wives receive the grace of God as joint heirs – as one person in Christ. So much so that should there be a breach in the marriage, in communion, in mutually caring for one another, in mutual deference and submission (Eph. 5:21), in forgiveness and forbearance and patience; that the prayers of the spouses will be hindered and possibly cutoff, chopped down, castoff.

 

While all marriages have their particular DNA, if you will, in Christ they have His DNA…whatever else they may bring into the marriage. One of the questions married couples can always ask is, “Where is the Lordship of Jesus in this?”

 

I once asked this question, and only this question, of a couple in a crisis marital situation; they were on the precipice of separating. Our Father gave me a sense that I should do this since they were professing Christians. When they left our home after about two hours, they still had work to do in Jesus, but the threat was over and the direction was sure. No matter what one said about the other, no matter what issue they wanted to bring before me, I kept asking, “Where is the Lordship of Jesus Christ in this?”

 

Many years ago my friend Steve Allsbrook shared the following poem with me, saying, “When I read this I thought of you and Vickie.”

 

The poem has become more precious over the years, as has my wife, as has our marriage, as has our dear Lord Jesus.

 

 

 

The Word

 By John Masefield

 

My friend, my bonny friend, when we are old,

And hand in hand go tottering down the hill,

May we be rich in love's refined gold,

May love's gold coin be current with us still.

 

May love be sweeter for the vanished days,

And your most perfect beauty still as dear

As when your troubled finger stood at gaze

In the dear March of a most sacred year.

 

May what we are be all we might have been,

And that potential, perfect, oh my friend,

And may there still be many sheafs to glean

In our love's acre, comrade, till the end.

 

And may we find, when ended is the page

Death but a tavern on our pilgrimage.

 

I Will Speak

 

I Will Speak

 

R.L. Withers July 2026

 

I will speak to God,

God will speak to me.

If you will join the conversation

Then there will be three.

 

God will speak to you,

You will speak to God.

If I will join the conversation

Then there will be three.

 

God will speak to us,

We will speak to Him.

Shall others not join the conversation?

How many shall there be?

 

A Voice of many waters,

Flowing from the Son.

Reverberating in the hearts of men,

Calling them home as One.

Great Is Diana

 Good morning, there is much I could say, but perhaps not much I should say. 

Much love,

Bob

Great Is Diana of the Americans

Robert L. Withers

Written in January 2020

 

During the past few years, as I’ve become increasingly concerned about the engagement of professing-Christians in the political melee in the United States, John Newton has become an historical mentor to me in thinking, teaching, and behavior. This mentorship is particularly pronounced in the area of politics and nationalism.

 

In August 1775, four months after Colonists and British regulars fought at Lexington and Concord, Newton, Anglican priest and author of Amazing Grace, writes to a young friend concerning Britain and the Colonies:

 

“As a minister and a Christian I think it is better to lay all the blame upon sin. Instead of telling the people Lord North [the Prime Minister] blunders, I tell them the Lord of hosts is angry. If God has a controversy with us, I can expect no other than that wisdom should be hidden from the wise…I believe the sins of America and Britain have too much prevailed, and that a wrong spirit and wrong measures have taken place on both sides because the Lord has left us to ourselves.

 

“It seems to me one of the darkest signs of the times, that so many of the Lord’s professing people act as if they thought he was withdrawn from the earth…instead of unavailing clamors against men and measures they would all unite in earnest prayer, we might hope for better times, otherwise I fear bad will be worse.”

 

As the letter continues, Newton turns his attention to the idea of liberty; turning to Jeremiah the prophet Newton writes:

 

“He [Jeremiah] preached against sin and foretold judgment, but I do not find that he made a parade about liberty…He does not seem to have troubled his head, who was scribe or recorder, or who was over the host [that is, who was in charge of government and the military], for he knew that whoever had the management, the public affairs would miscarry because the Lord fought against them. When I hear the cry about liberty I think of the old cry, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians’ [italics mine]. Civil liberty is a valuable blessing, but if people sin it away, it is the Lord [who] deprives them of it…

 

“However a believer has a liberty with which Jesus has made him free which depends upon no outward circumstances. It grieves me to hear those who are slaves to sin and Satan, make such a stir about that phantom which they worship under the name of liberty, and especially to see not a few of the Lord’s people so much conformed to the world in this respect [italics mine].”

 

When I first read the above letter, a year or two ago, I was taken with Newton’s image (no pun intended) of Diana of the Ephesians from Acts Chapter 19. A few days ago I realized that Newton’s use of Diana preceded his 1775 letter, for in a 1773 letter he writes to a fellow minister:

 

“On the other hand, you and I, dear sir, know how much they are to be pitied who are frantic for what they call liberty, and consider not that they are in the most deplorable bondage, the slaves of sin and Satan, and subject to the curse of the law, and the wrath of God. Oh for a voice to reach their hearts, that they may know themselves, and seek deliverance from their dreadful thralldom! Satan has many contrivances to amuse them, and to turn their thoughts from their real danger; and none more ensnaring, in the present day, than to engage them in the cry, ‘Great is the Diana Liberty!’ [italics mine].

 

“…And already in some pulpits, (proh dolor!) [Latin: oh the grief!] a description of the rights of man occupies much of the time which used to be employed in proclaiming the glory and grace of the Savior, and the rights of God to the love and obedience of his creatures.”

 

It seems to me that Christian nationalism, and Christian political engagement, whether it be from the “right” or the “left”, or even the “center” – is a snare to the professing-church in that it obscures our witness to Jesus Christ and His Gospel as it exalts our “rights” and “liberties” and “personal freedoms”.

 

There is a sense in which, for the disciple of Jesus Christ, there is no “personal freedom”, for we are called to be servants of Jesus Christ; indeed, since we have been purchased and redeemed by Jesus Christ, we are no longer our own possession – to echo Paul, we are not our own, we are bought with a price.

 

The People of God are called to be distinct from the world, the flesh, and the devil. We are called to be distinct from the “right”, the “left”, the “center”; our Gospel is to be for all mankind without regard to ethnicity or national flag or economic system.

 

We are to discern the difference between the Bible and the constitutions of nations, the political systems of nations, the economic systems of nations, and the foreign policies of nations. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ is transcendent then the Church of Jesus Christ ought to express itself, in Christ, transcendently. How can this be otherwise, unless professing - churches within national boundaries prostitute themselves in the service of the world? Babylon the Harlot rides the beast until the beast destroys her (Revelation Chapter 17). Can we not be a foolish people?

 

We have been taught to make idols of liberty, prosperity, pleasure, our founding national documents, our foreign policy, our economic policies – and we seek our identity in these things rather than in Jesus Christ. As we fail to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven (Philippians 3:20) we fail to be good neighbors to our fellow earthly citizens and neighbors.

 

When we adopt a faulty sense of our national identity in place of a true sense of “a better country, a heavenly country” (Hebrews 11:16) and we cease to live as pilgrims and strangers we, as Esau, sell our birthright for a mess of pottage; we trade our high calling for short-term pleasure and gratification. We forego identification with the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ for temporal agendas that will turn to dust. The beast will eat us and we are so drunk with the world that we won’t even know it – it devours us even as I write this.

 

Newton chose Christ above everything. When other ministers of the Gospel attempted to pull him into political and nationalistic orbits Newton resisted, when others appealed to “liberty” Newton recognized the danger of liberty outside of Jesus Christ. Newton saw the that great need of mankind was not political liberty, but rather liberty from sin and death. Newton saw that Christ held him accountable for preaching the Gospel, and that not a day was to be spared in the service of temporal movements outside of the Gospel.

 

Newton saw that the turmoil of his nation and world could only be the result of sin, and that there is no political remedy for sin.

 

Lest we forget, Newton was engaged is serving the fatherless, the widow, the hungry, and the slave; the Gospel of Jesus Christ for John Newton included serving the “whole person” – John Newton knew, as we should know, that the only hope for this world was, and is, Amazing Grace.

 

 

 

HRH Princess Kate and Knowing Jesus

 

 

HRH Princess Kate recently completed the UK’s Three Peaks Challenge, which involves hiking up Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England, and Mount Snowdon in Wales - a total of 23 miles and 10,052 feet of ascent - in 24 hours. Hiking all three also requires 462 miles of driving to get between the peaks. She accomplished this feat to highlight and support holistic cancer treatment.

 

Vickie and I watched an interview with a climber she met during the Challenge. At first he didn’t recognize her for she had a hat pulled down over her forehead and was, of course, dressed as any other climber. She wanted to know how he was doing and engaged him in pleasant conversation. When he recognized who she was he was overwhelmed with her graciousness, and as he shared the experience his face and eyes radiated joy.

 

As I watched the interview I thought about the difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus; the difference between speaking with Jesus ourselves and having others tell us about Him and what He is like.

 

Now, of course even though the climber met Princess Kate, he really doesn’t know her, but for sure he has encountered her and having encountered her he has an experience that those who follow her life in media would love to have. The climber has heard her voice directed to him, he has seen her eyes, he has been in her presence – and he has absorbed a portion of her radiance…at least for a while (though I imagine whenever he shares his experience his eyes will light up, well into old age).

 

We read that God “Made His ways known to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel” (Psalm 103:7). But there is more, Moses not only knew the ways of God, Moses and God spoke face to Face as friends speak to one another (Exodus 33:11; Deut. 34:10).

 

We can know the acts of God, we can read about them, talk about them, believe them; but that does not mean that we have a relationship with God. Even knowing the Bible does not mean that we have a relationship with God in Christ. We can even know the ways of God, we can know a measure of His character, His holiness, His righteousness, His love; but even then we may not actually be in a relationship with Him. Jesus calls us to know Him and His Father and live in the Holy Spirit. He calls us to intimacy with the Holy Trinity.

 

People who know HRH the Princess of Wales talk about her. Even those who have a brief encounter with her talk about her. Those in relationship with her speak of her and faithfully (I hope) represent her as a result of time spent with her and because of their trust in her and her trust in them.

 

And here is the conundrum, where are Christians who speak of Jesus as a friend speaks of a friend? Where are Christians who are so in love with Jesus that the foolishness of the promiscuous world and society and nations and economics and national identity mean nothing to them because Jesus means everything?

 

Why are Christians offended when fools for Jesus insist that we are to be wedded to Jesus, and to Jesus alone? (2 Cor. 11:11 – 3).

 

I assume Christians would not be offended when I insist that I be married to Vickie and Vickie alone, that I have eyes for her and her alone, that I devote myself and my heart to her and to her alone.

 

Then why do so many pastors and churches and Christians take offense when others suggest that our hearts be devoted to Jesus and to Jesus alone? Why do they not speak of Jesus their Friend? Of what He has spoken to them during the past few days? Of His heart of love and care for others? Of what they are learning of Him and His ways, His heart, His character, His Cross, His self-sacrifice, His sufferings – in which He invites us to participate?

 

Those who met Princess Kate on her Three Peaks Challenge speak of her with joy, those who have an actual ongoing relationship with her know the difference between knowing her and knowing about her.

 

When is the last time you spoke to someone in your congregation about your own relationship with Jesus Christ? When is the last time you spoke to a neighbor or a stranger about your dear Lord Jesus?

 

I think it can be more dangerous to speak of Jesus within the “church” than outside it – and I mean that portion of the church that professes a high view of Scripture. We act as if the owner of the vineyard is dead…yes, I think we do.

 

Well, I know different…and I hope you do too.

 

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13 – 14).

 

It has taken me 76 years to realize, in some measure, the truth of this statement.