Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- Opening Prayer
- The Blessed Man
- The Meaning of Meditation
- Remember
- Realize
- Request
- Reflect
- Respond or Resolve
- Retain
- The Blessings of Meditation
- Closing Prayer
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank You today just so we can come here and open the Word. What a precious, precious gift we have in Your Bible. I pray that as we look into Your Word, Lord, You would just increase our knowledge as well as our hunger and our passion for Your Word. We invite Your Holy Spirit to teach us and instruct us. And we acknowledge, Lord, that apart from His ministry we can’t understand. We don’t know. We need Him to teach us. And so, Lord, we just want to open our hearts to what You want to say to each one of us today through Your Word. I ask that most of all, that in addition to Your people being built up, Lord, that You’d be pleased by the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.
The Blessed Man
Open your Bibles to Psalm 1, if you will. We’ve been talking about the Christian wheel, and particularly the Word spoke of the wheel, and I wanted to talk today about meditation in the Word. In Psalm 1, we’re told who the blessed man is. So if we want to be blessed, the Bible tells us how to be blessed. And here’s what the Bible says. Psalm 1, verse 1:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
(Psalm 1:1–6)
So we’re told here that the blessed man is the man who is a man of the Word. “Man,” of course, is a generic term for man, woman, person, right? So to be blessed, we need to be in God’s Word, and as we say “be in the Word,” which is kind of a cliché for reading, studying, but mainly meditating in God’s Word. So today I want to talk about the meaning of meditation. I want to give you some guidance on the method of meditation, and then if we have time we’ll talk about some of the blessings of meditation.
The Meaning of Meditation
But first let’s talk about what do we mean when we say that we need to meditate in God’s Word. There are two Hebrew words that are used. One means to think at length. To think at length. You know, a study was done recently about television, and it said that in television now, the typical length of a scene—now a scene is when you’re looking at the same thing from the same angle. You know what I mean by a scene? Now, if you’re watching a movie, they’ll show Joe’s face, and Joe’s just talking to Dennis, he shoots to Sarah’s face, and Sarah’s talking to Dennis, the scene’s changing. Not the overall scene, but the angle. The average length of a scene in a television program now is seven seconds long. Now go back and watch a movie from the 40s, right? Sean’s favorite, the oldies. [audio unclear] because you’re wanting the scene to change. Because we’ve been programmed that way. The angle shifts. Every seven seconds. So we are, because of these cultural influences, we don’t do well at thinking about something at length. That’s one of the fundamental concepts of meditation, is that we not just think about something, but that we’re able to think about it over time, at length. The other word is a word which means to reflect or to contemplate. And we’ll talk about both of these as we go on. J. I. Packer, the well-known Bible scholar, says about meditation. He says, meditation is the activity of calling to mind and thinking over and dwelling on and applying to oneself the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes of God. Let me read that line again because there’s a whole lot there. It’s the activity of calling to mind and thinking over and dwelling on and applying the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes 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 communion with God. Now that’s a whole lot there, isn’t it? That’s a whole lot. So, when we talk about meditation, we’re talking about the thinking, the reflecting, the contemplating over something at length. And I want to mention six things—you’re thinking, wow, it’s going to be a long sermon. Six brief things as we talk about a method of meditation. Now before I get into the method, I assume, I’m assuming certain things like you have a Bible. I’m assuming things like you have a place where you can meditate, because that’s important. I actually think you should have not only a place, but a regular place, a familiar place, because new places are distracting. So you have your Bible, you have a place, what do we need to do, how do we actually meditate? Now as I share these six things, they’re all going to start with R, and that’s to help you remember them, okay? Help you remember them. I don’t know if there’s an order, there’s kind of an order, but as you’ll see these things are not like scientific, you know what I mean? Especially meditation. And I want to mention six R’s.
Remember
The first one is to remember. Remember. When we meditate, we must place ourselves in God’s presence. Now the reason I use the word remember is because whether we remember or not, we are in God’s presence. God sees everything that we do. God is present here today. God is present, will be present in your car as you go home and criticize the sermon. God will be present with you at lunch. God will be present with you this evening as you’re watching the hockey game. God is present all the time. [audio unclear] Remember these things. So often we live as if God is at a distance because we feel that He’s at a distance, but part of the problem is we are not remembering that we have access to the Father through the Holy Spirit by the work of Jesus. Read Ephesians sometime. That’s what it says in Ephesians. We have access to the Father by the Spirit because Jesus has broken down the wall, He has torn the veil in two, and so we can come into the presence of God. So when we go to meditate, we’re not just reading the Bible. And you can read the Bible like this. You know what I mean by reading it like that. But meditation means that we enter into the presence of God, that He is there, and remember that He has made a way for us.
Realize
Secondly, the second R is we need to realize. What do I mean by realize? Realize. We need to, as we meditate on God’s Word, we must attempt to understand what it is saying. Now, you can read the Bible in such a way that you just read the words, and they kind of comfort you because they’re familiar. But you’re not really thinking about what it’s saying. You’re not understanding what it is saying. And I learned this the hard way when years ago I would read Proverbs to my children at dinnertime. And they would say, what does that mean? It’s like, well, and I just kind of make it up as I went along. And they figured I knew what I was talking about because I was Dad. How often had I read certain Proverbs many, many times and never really understood what they were saying. And so as we meditate on God’s Word, one of the things we are attempting is to understand what it is saying. So this is not a lazy kind of reading, this is an attentive reading where we really do focus our mind on the Word, to realize what it is saying. The Bible is not a book of magical spells. It doesn’t do its work just because we mutter it, though a genie appears when we just say the words and the syllables. Rather, we must know and understand the Word of God if we’re going to profit from it. So this requires that we read it attentively and attempt to realize what it is really saying. Ignorance is not bliss, amen? Ignorance does not bring blessings, amen? In fact, one of the blessings and the goals of meditation is specifically that we would dispel ignorance from our minds and that we would then know the wisdom of God. Look at Psalm 119, and we’ll be going back and forth. Psalm 119. This is, if you’re not spending time with the Word and if you don’t have a desire for the Word, I want to challenge you to begin to meditate on Psalm 119. And to read it over and over and over until you have a desire for God’s Word. Because this psalm is the Word of God talking about the Word of God. And in Psalm 119:97, David says:
Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.
(Psalm 119:97–100)
So here we see that one of the main goals, or should we say results of meditation, is understanding, knowledge, wisdom, etc. So we need to attempt to realize the meaning of what we are meditating on and reading.
Request
Thirdly, the third R is we need to request. Request. What I mean here is that one of the things that makes meditation different than simply reading or even studying is that it’s done in a spirit of prayer. This is very, very, very, very important. Meditation is done in a spirit of prayer. That is to say, we are requesting things of God. We’re not just reading, but we are engaging ourselves in a conversation with God. And as He talks with us through His Word, we are talking back to Him in prayer. And so we won’t take the time to look at all the verses in Psalm 119, but when you read Psalm 119, which I encourage you to do this week, you will see this dialogue between David and God, where he’s talking to God about His Word. And you will see David, he will say, he will confess, he’ll laud God’s Word and then he’ll say, oh, cause me to keep Your statutes. He’s confessing that he’s not doing it. So when we are engaging in meditation, we should be acknowledging where we’re not conforming to God’s Word. Because as we meditate in His Word and He gives us understanding of His Word, we’re like, oh wow, I’m not doing that. I’m not being that. So we need to confess our sins during meditation. We need to pray also for illumination and understanding. The thing that makes the Bible different than any other book is that it requires spiritual illumination in order to understand it. So whereas the second R was to realize, we also must understand that in order to realize, that is to understand the Word, we need more than just meditation. We need God’s aid. We need the Holy Spirit to be instructing and illuminating the Word to us. So we need to pray for illumination. David says in Psalm 119 verse 18, he says, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” So we need to pray for illumination as we meditate. We also need to be praising God and thanking God for His Word as we meditate. Again, we see this in Psalm 119. David is lauding God’s Word. He’s praising God for His Word. So meditation involves this attitude of thankfulness. We also need to request fellowship with God. Again, read Psalm 119, over and over and over David is requesting for God to come and be with him, for God to revive him, for God to show him His lovingkindness. This is really in a nutshell David saying, God I want to fellowship with You, I want to know You. Not just know Your Word, but I want to know You through Your Word. And so, as we meditate, we think, we realize, we ponder, but we do it in a devotional spirit, understanding we’re in the presence of God and we’re asking God to reveal Himself to us because we want to know Him. Amen.
Reflect
The fourth R is we need to reflect. That is, we need to think about and ponder both the meaning of the text and its application either to ourselves or to others. So we need to understand what it means. That’s the realize part. But then we need to think about, okay, here’s what it means, but how does that apply to me? What does that mean then for me? And sometimes God will show you Scriptures and speak to you about things in your life through His Word and sometimes just speak to you about other people. I’ve had that experience. I remember one day—I’ve told this story before, but it’s a wonderful story—reading Luke 22 where Jesus says to Peter, He says, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you that your faith would not fail. And as I was reading it, God put Diana on my heart. And this is way back before we were an item. And I read that verse and God put her on my heart and said, pray for her. Do what Jesus did for Peter. Satan is trying to get her. He’s sifting her. Pray for her. And so I stopped reading the Word, but I dwelt on it and I began a time of intercession and prayer for her. And the wonderful thing was, while I’m praying for her, somebody knocks on my door and guess who it was? Exactly. So if you’re sensitive to His Spirit and listen to His guidance, you’ll see sometimes not only will God speak the Word to you for you, He’ll speak it for others. So we must ponder the application of the Word. That’s what I mean by reflect.
Respond or Resolve
Fifthly, the fifth R is we need to respond or resolve. Respond or resolve. Meditation is both for knowing and for doing. We learn of God and His ways, but when He teaches us His Word we’re called to respond to it. Look at Philippians 4. Philippians chapter 4. Paul says in verse 8, he says:
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
(Philippians 4:8–9)
Quit thinking about all the negative things. Think about the positive things, right? But then he says this: the things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. So it’s not just thinking to think, it’s not just reflecting to reflect, it’s not just reading and pondering the Word to have an experience, although if you meet the Lord and meditate, you know, it’s that—but it’s that through knowing this leads to doing. So for example, if you are meditating in the Word and you are meditating on a promise, the proper response to a promise is what? Faith. You believe the promise. You read the Scripture and there is a command. What’s the proper response to a command? Obedience. Or, you may be reading the Word and the Word shows you something you have not seen before about His character. And so the proper response would be to worship. So as you meditate upon the Word, we need to respond to the Word, not just read it and think about it, but as we ponder its application, as we reflect on its application, then we resolve to do what it says.
Retain
The last R is to retain. To retain. David said, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” And when we read Scripture we see over and over phrases like we’re told to keep the Word, we’re told to not forget the Word, we’re told to bind the Word, to write the words on the tablet of the heart, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. I want to look at a few of these because these are, as I was meditating in the Word yesterday, I was just struck at how often the Lord tells us regarding His Word to hold onto it. Hold it. Look at Deuteronomy 6:
And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6:6–9)
Then he goes on to look at chapter 11 of Deuteronomy. He says in verse 18 of chapter 11, he says, “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Now go to the book of Proverbs because there is something very striking that I saw as I was pondering this. Go to the book of Proverbs chapter 1. It says, in Proverbs verse 8 it says, “My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; for they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck.” Let’s go to chapter 2, Proverbs, verse 1: “My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Isn’t that good? Look at chapter 3 of Proverbs. I want you to notice these phrases that are repeated over and over. 3 verse 1, “My son, do not forget, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Now remember Deuteronomy, the Lord said, write them on the doorposts of your house. But here he says, write them on the tablet of your heart. The writing on the house was just symbolic. What God really wants us to do is to take His Word and write it literally on our hearts. The way you write it on your heart is by memorizing it. It’s written on your heart. In other words, you can read it without having this, right? Because you have a copy right here. So it’s written in your heart. So we’re supposed to write the Word in our hearts. Verse 21 of chapter 3, “My son, let them not depart from your eyes”—them meaning His commandments and His wisdom and knowledge—“keep sound wisdom and discretion.” Keep it. So they will be life. Look at chapter 4. I love this. [audio unclear]
Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
(Proverbs 4:5–8)
Isn’t that good? Embrace. Embrace the Word of God. She will. [audio unclear] “Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.” I love that. Don’t just keep them in your heart, but in the midst of your heart, right in the center of your heart. Let God’s Word be burnt into your heart. “For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” The heart determines the life in every regard. The heart determines what we say. The heart determines what we think. The heart determines how we live. That’s why you have to take the Word and put it in the center of the heart. And one of the ways we do that is meditation, but then meditation, which leads to retaining God’s Word, memorizing God’s Word. I can’t encourage you enough, and I know a lot of people are like, I can’t do that. I can’t memorize God’s Word. I can promise you that if you ask God to help you, you will be able to memorize His Word. He will give you the ability to do that. And the other thing I found is that the more you meditate on God’s Word, take a verse and read it for 30 minutes. A verse. “Look, I can’t do that.” Oh, you can do that. Because I can guarantee you that one verse is full of profound wisdom. And as you learn to meditate and reflect and think and realize, you can literally spend 30 minutes on a verse. You will find that you’re actually memorizing God’s Word without even knowing it. Last night I went to bed and I thought, I wonder if I can quote Psalm 1. And I quoted it to myself as I went to sleep. And I had never tried to memorize it. But I’ve read it so many times. So many times. And so, as you meditate, this will lead into retaining His Word because you’ll be reading the Word and pondering the Word, reflecting on the Word, over and over and over and over. And you put it in the center of your heart.
The Blessings of Meditation
Why do we do this? Because the Word of God says, and this is my third point now to close, that those who meditate are blessed. The blessed man or woman is the man or woman that meditates in God’s Word. Back to Psalm 1, if you will. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.” Doesn’t take his advice from the world. “Nor stands in the path of sinners,” nor sits in the seat of the scornful, doesn’t make judgments like the world. Why? Because he delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night, and whatever he does will prosper. Again, I challenge you to begin to read and meditate upon Psalm 119. And as you do, here’s what you will find. You will find that in Psalm 119, we’re told that the Word of God, knowing it, meditating on it, reflecting, responding, retaining, gives us things like liberty, hope, strength, revival, delight, life, peace, joy, and over and over and over David lauds the blessings of God’s Word. A good summary of all of these blessings is in Proverbs 3. I’m sorry, we’ve got to read one more verse. Or one more passage. Proverbs 3. It says in verse 13:
Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.
(Proverbs 3:13–18)
There are numerous and numerous and numerous blessings to meditating in God’s Word. But the key word is prosper. And that’s used in Psalm 1, it’s also used in Joshua, where God says to Joshua to meditate in His Word, and that he would prosper in his way. Whatever he does shall prosper. So the man that is in the Word will prosper in his work. He’ll prosper in his church. He’ll prosper intellectually. He’ll prosper emotionally. He will prosper spiritually. Whatever he does, the Word of God says, he will prosper. Now that is a promise and it’s a challenge. Amen? So there is no conclusion to this sermon. There’s only application. And the application is you and I need to be men and women who love the Word of God. We read it, we meditate upon it, right? We reflect, we realize, we request, we do all the R’s, and the result will be seen in our lives. And as [audio unclear] hinted earlier in his testimony, the lack of power in the church is partly due to the fact that we’ve drifted from the Word of God. So my encouragement is God wants you to prosper and He’s given you a way to do it and that is through His Word. Meditate in His Word faithfully and regularly and you will see the fruit, the good fruit in your life.
Closing Prayer
Let’s stand and pray. Lord, I thank You that You are such a generous, kind Father. We thank You, Lord, for Your Word. We praise You for Your Word. We are so grateful for Your Word, that You’ve not left us in darkness. That through Your Word You strengthen us. Through Your Word You encourage us. And I pray for everyone here, Lord, that they would determine, that they would resolve today to be faithful in meditating in Your Word, because through Your Word You want to bless them, You want to prosper them. So Father, cause Your Word to bear fruit, this word today, this word on meditation, to bear fruit in every one of our lives, and do it for Your glory, Your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.