meditation

Our First Priority: Seeing God (Deut. 6:4–9, Part 2)

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How does love grow up in our hearts? We “see” the object of love as desirable and loveable. Now, note very carefully that this does not mean that we literally see these things with our eyes. We can have these objects in our mind. For example, we may love the place where we grew up, but we may not be there or even see it in pictures. We simply have it in our memory and those memories awaken love in us. We may love our children, but we do not always have them with us. Our hearts can yearn for them even when they are not with us. The point is that it is how we see with our minds that will determine what and whom we will love.

It’s not surprising, then, that when Moses tells the people that they are to love God, he begins by teaching them to “see” God. Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Why did Moses begin by saying “Hear”?
They needed to stop what they were doing and listen. An image in our mind begins with hearing properly. They would hear God’s Word and that would enable them to think about and meditate on God. They may have had many things in their mind. They needed to give attention to God in order to know Him.

We cannot do this on our own. We can know things about God. He has not left Himself without witness. However, to really see God in the way we should, God needs to show Himself to us. When we get ready to listen to God, we should pray. We should pray for God to open up our eyes to see Him in His glory like Moses did. This is what will move our hearts to seek Him.

Second, we have to get some margin for thoughtful meditation. Our society is a go, go, go society. We are always on the move, always doing something. We need to take time and think and pray. We have to find margin to do so. We think that it will be a waste of time. Our fear of lack of activity is out of all proportion to reality. We’ve got to sit in the quiet. This is what will actually fill us with joy and happiness. Simply glossing over our anxiety by keeping ourselves busy will never enable us to develop the happiness we truly desire.

So, how does listening to this phrase help us to know God? We want to consider the three things this phrase tells us. What did Moses mean by “the LORD”? What did he mean by “our God”? And what did he mean by saying that “the LORD is one” (Dt. 6:4–9).

Tools for Transformation: The Lord’s Supper

[Listen to an audio version here]

On September 13, 1814, British navy ships began the bombardment of Fort McHenry. Fort McHenry guarded the entrance to Baltimore, Maryland. The British were trying to force the fort’s surrender and open the way to occupying Baltimore. From that evening until the morning of September 14, 1814, the British launched about 1,500 bombs on the fort.

The commander of the Fort, Major George Armistead, refused to surrender. After all the bombs, he made it clear that he would not surrender by taking down the small flag and hoisting a 17′ by 25′ flag over the fort. The British realized that they would not be able to take the fort and gave up.

Nearby, on a British boat, an American who was there due to a prisoner exchange, witnessed the battle. Francis Scott Key saw the bombs and the first use of rockets on the continent, noticing the “rocket’s red glare.” Then, he saw the flag raised. It led him to write a poem with the following words: “Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” And the answer came back in the next stanza: “Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: ‘Tis the star-spangled banner!”

So, why do I bring all this up? Think about the star-spangled banner. It’s just a piece of cloth, right? In one way, yes, but in other ways, that is completely false. It is so much more. It is a symbol, and symbols have power! They really represent and convey the thing they represent. They have deep meaning. So, when we see that flag as Americans, it moves us deeply. It has a real power.

The Lord’s Supper is a sort of flag that Jesus has planted to powerfully represent and convey to us all that He is. It is a tool that He has given us to bring about transformation in our lives. That’s what we want to consider here in this text. I want you to see three things in this text: what God says about this supper, how God can say that about the supper, and how the supper transforms us. My goal is that you would see that the Lord’s Supper is a powerful tool to transform us and reshape us into the image of God, reflecting His glory.

What God Says About the Supper
In this letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is dealing with a variety of issues which had arisen in the church at Corinth. One problem these early Christians faced was the presence of idolatry. The worship of the gods was not something simply practiced in people’s private lives or in the temples. It was part of everyday life. So, the question was, how do you engage in society and retain your faith?

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