Michael Scott and the Reading of Scripture

Mike Leake

This is one of my favorite quotes from The Office (sorry for the quality):

Do you ever feel this way after reading Scripture? 

Sometimes the word feels like somebody “took my heart, and dropped it into a bucket of boiling tears”.  Then I turn to another Scripture and it feels like it “is hitting my soul in the crotch with a frozen sledgehammer”.   Then my third reading in Scripture “starts punching me in the grief bone”. 

Conviction hurts.  And the Holy Spirit is fond of using the Word to bring conviction.  Indeed “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account”. 

Though that is on occasion my experience I am convinced that it may NOT be the right way for a believer to read the Scriptures.  Yes, Scripture brings conviction; but it is never meant to stop there.  If my reading of Scripture feels like a frozen sledgehammer to the crotch then chances are I am not applying Jesus. 

Consider what Paul says in Romans 15,

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope”. 

God’s Word is not meant to merely punch us in the grief bone.  The Scriptures are meant to give us hope because they are meant to point us to Jesus—who is Himself our Hope. 

No, He IS Calling You to a Church

Mike Leake

Okay there are a good number of things off about this particular demonstration (I’m not going to call it a sermon).  Watch it until the end because I want to key in on something that he says:

(HT: Scotteriology)

Notice that he said “I’m not talking about joining the church, I’m talking about becoming a Christian”.  This is a pretty popular saying with many television preachers, and it is picked up by many other well-meaning preachers.  It sounds so pious doesn’t it. 

“Don’t worry we aren’t trying to get you to join our church, we aren’t trying to increase our numbers, we just want you to have a relationship with Jesus”.

“Oh, whew!  I thought that maybe you were calling me to dedicate my life to unity with a local expression of the body of Christ.  That was close.  Yeah, I’ll take me some DNA-changing-Jesus but please don’t call me to be united to other believers that will hold me accountable, rub me the wrong way, and continually—often painfully—sharpen my relationship with Jesus”. 

Brothers and sisters, Jesus IS calling you to more than just a relationship with Him.  Yeah, the gospel isn’t about joining a church like you would join a Blockbuster or Sam’s Club.  But it is about uniting yourself to Christ and in turn uniting yourself to other blood-bought believers in Christ. 

I leave you with these words from Mark Dever:

If you have no interest in actually committing yourself to an actual group of gospel-believing, Bible-teaching Christians, you might question whether you belong to the body of Christ at all!  (Dever, What is a Healthy Church, 27)

Dever continues:

We demonstrate to the world that we have been changed, not primarily because we memorize Bible verses, pray before meals, tithe a portion of our income, and listen to Christian radio stations, but because we increasingly show a willingness to put up with, to forgive, and even to love a bunch of fellow sinners.  (28)

A Question the Holy Spirit Asks of Preachers On Sunday Morning

Mike Leake

On Wednesday I reviewed Albert N. Martin’s excellent little booklet Preaching in the Spirit.  I thought today I would share with you my favorite quote from this book:

“Will I be able to do My most delightful work today through that man’s preaching?  Will the preacher give Me sufficient material with which to do My work?  I have the lights all ready to turn on and focus on Jesus.  Will the preacher put Christ and front and center so that I can turn the floodlights of My influence on the Savior?”  (Martin, 50-51)