Give Me Life (Part 2)
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In his book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr calls the Internet "a technology of forgetfulness" and describes how, thanks to the plasticity of our neural pathways, our brains are literally, being rewired by digital distraction: The more we use the Web, the more we train our brain to be distracted—to process information very quickly and very efficiently but without sustained attention. That helps explain why many of us find it hard to concentrate even when we're away from our computers. Our brains become adept at forgetting, inept at remembering. We are reading a ton on our devices and screens—we actually read a novel's worth of words every day. (But) it is not the sort of continuous, sustained, concentrated reading conducive to reflective thinking. Maryanne Wolf argues: “There is neither the time nor the impetus for the nurturing of a quiet eye, much less the memory of its harvests.” Our rapid-fire toggling between spectacles—an episode of a Hulu show here, a Spotify album there, and scanning a friend's blog post—works against wisdom in the moment, by eliminating any time for reflection or synthesis before the next thing beckons. But it also works against wisdom in the long term, as brain research is showing. Our overstimulated brains are becoming weaker, less critical, and more gullible at a time in history when we need them to be sharper than ever.
And our brains continue to be rewired, but at what point in our lives will we say enough is enough. When will we say stop? Will we say stop when we cannot say stop anymore? Then we will never say stop and we will be in need of intervention. Many of us know the power that media has on us and the distraction it causes, and yet we continue to indulge. Do we not think that there will be consequences? Attention spans are getting less and less. Its not just younger people… lots of boomers and Gen X on their phones and cant get them to break away. Many struggle being away from their devices… some express that they feel like they are gonna die without their phone. But many of us wont admit it. And we conveniently fall into the the achilles heel of our culture today… we constantly lie to ourselves.
But Shane I read the bible on my phone… I listen to sermons. I don’t just watch tik tok and instagram reels or play games. But did you know that its more than just reading the Bible. Its more than just studying the Bible. Its more than just memorizing the scriptures. But Shane you should be happy that I’m even reading the Bible… um sure. But thats not what God commanded. From the beginning...
Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
So its more than just reading the Bible. Its more than just studying the Bible. Its more than just memorizing the scriptures. We should meditate on the scriptures. Let’s take a look at our passage today.
Help me understand the meaning of your commandments,
and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds.
I weep with sorrow;
encourage me by your word.
Keep me from lying to myself;
give me the privilege of knowing your instructions.
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.
What is Meditation?
2. We Can’t Trust Ourselves
3. The Good News
The first thing we will look at today is a deeper and more intentioanl explaination of what it is to meditate. Second, we will see why the modern understanding of meditation cannot be fruitful for us because we cannot trust our hearts. And finally we will see the reason for the need to meditate on the scriptures… to be consumed with the greatest news of them all. The Gospel.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to lose sight of scripture and put our trust in our distracted selves, it is the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to see the beauty of the word of God and spark the desire to consume ourselves in the truth.
I. What is Meditation?
- Brewing in the scriptures.
A. A very very confusing word in our world today. Its kinda bizarre to hear it and connect it to Christianity. Eastern religions often encourage their practitioners to “empty” themselves through meditation in order to achieve enlightenment or lasting peace and harmony. I remember when I was young one of my mothers friends was really into Hindu religions… the house always smelt like incense there were pictures of swamis and congo chanting music. We were always encouraged to meditate, we were disciplined by having to meditate. We were told to look inside and you will find god. So when we became Christians and we were told to meditate… they got the Astro from the Jetsons look from me. And unfortunately it was never explained.
B. This is one of the most neglected teachings in the scriptures. Do we really know what it means for us to meditate on the word of God?
JI Packer - Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, thinking over, dwelling on, and applying to oneself the various things one knows about the works and ways and purpose and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communication with God.
C. To explain how Scripture meditation goes beyond hearing, reading, studying, and even memorizing as a means of taking in God's Word, author Donald Whitney provides the analogy of a cup of tea: (JACK PUT TEA BAG IN GLASS CUP)
In this analogy your mind is the cup of hot water and the tea bag represents your intake of Scripture. Hearing God's Word is like one dip of the tea bag into the cup. Some of the tea's flavor is absorbed by the water, but not as much as would occur with a more thorough soaking of the bag. Reading, studying, and memorizing God's Word are like additional plunges of the tea bag into the cup. The more frequently the tea enters the water, the more permeating its effect. Meditation, however, is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until all the rich tea flavor has been extracted and the hot water is thoroughly tinctured reddish brown. Meditation on Scripture is letting the Bible brew in the brain. Thus we might say that as the tea colors the water, meditation likewise "colors" our thinking. When we meditate on Scripture it colors our thinking about God, about God's ways and his world, and about ourselves.
RC Sproul helps us here, “Studying the depths of God’s Word is important, but at times we can walk away from such study and not remember much of what we have read. Meditating on the text helps get it in our souls so that we might never forget what it teaches.”
D. Its not just forgetting what it says, but forgetting what it teaches. Sure we can memorize scripture, but have we forgotten what it teaches? Have we forgotten how it fits into the narrative of Scripture? Biblical meditation invites Christians into the world of God in his Word, where real refreshment and joy begins. Every Christian who wants to grow in grace meditates on the Word and thinks deeply on the Word of God. The fruit of biblical meditation is action.
E. As we hear, read, study, and memorize the Word, the power of Scripture, fueled by biblical meditation, inflames and enlarges our soul. The more we engage in biblical meditation, the more we see the Word giving off its heat onto us, illuminating its truth to us through the Holy Spirit, whose Word provides insight and understanding, resulting in a passion for obedience to God by his grace.
Thomas Watson pointedly notes, “The reason we come away so cold from reading the Word is because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.”
F. Memorizing the Scriptures allows us to store up God’s truths in our hearts and minds and meditation is deep thinking on biblical truth, which defines biblical reality.
II. We Can’t Trust Ourselves
- Because we lie to ourselves.
A. Many religions and even self-help stress control methods practice meditation as well. Such worldviews often emphasize that any attempt to focus on a particular mental object (someone or something) outside ourselves will likely interfere with the desired goal of meditation—an emptiness of mind or an altered state of consciousness. We are to turn within, they tell us, to achieve a sense of inner peace that the world around us constantly denies to us. We are to find enlightenment through the paradox of self-emptying.
B. On the contrary, a Christian approach to meditation cautions us about turning within ourselves precisely because we know what we will find when we do so—all sorts of sins and self-righteous judgments pronounced upon others… Our hearts are dark; our minds are filled with all kinds of lusts, greed, and mental futility.
The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
and desperately wicked.
Who really knows how bad it is?
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
Try as we will, we will not be completely emptied of such things until we are glorified. Thankfully, we can confess these things to God and receive forgiveness. Yet a Christian must ultimately strive to think about and meditate upon a reality outside ourselves, namely a Creator-Redeemer who is both personal and distinct from the world He has made and who is revealed to us in the so-called “two books”—the natural order and the Word of God.
C. Simply turning within ourselves offers no enduring hope for the relief from those stresses, pains, and frustrations that decidedly Eastern-religion practitioners of meditation are seeking. We need a Savior greater than ourselves, who, crucified for our sins and raised from the dead, has ascended to the Father’s right hand where He lives to make intercession for His people. Such a Savior can and does hear our pleas, and He answers when we cry out to Him.
III. The Good News
- Jesus died for our sins.
A. And we are confident of this because… Salvation is here. Yes we are dead in our trespasses and sins. There is no one righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. We are all by nature children of wrath. By nature we are all destined for the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, eternal darkness, eternal fire.
B. But there is salvation for us today. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy… He became sin who knew no sin that we might become… Therefore there is now no condemnation for those… he came to seek and to save that which was lost. We are saved by grace through faith and this is not of works so that no man can boast. Jesus came to bring us life and life more abundant. God sooo loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish…
C. And the promises continue. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. All of this is written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God …If you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive us ouir sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
D. These words are not just worthy and lovely to hear… they are worthy of soaking in brewing in, resting in, dwelling in. Meditate on the word of God today.