“Unsearchable Riches”

"Unsearchable Riches"

       

     When first called to preach more than 40 years ago, I recall wondering how I would find enough sermon material to develop 3 messages a week (the number traditionally needed for the schedule of the church and denomination in which I was a member).  I now realize the problem is just the opposite, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures are so vast in their content and meaning that one wonders how to select a topic from so infinitely rich a resource.

  

    "Unto me is this grace given, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8).

     We never more than begin in this lifetime to know God and understand His truth.   We will know more in the next lifetime as we see our Lord "face to face" (I Corinthians 13:12).   By definition, however, we can never know all of an infinite and eternal Being whose being, nature, and way spans "from everlasting to everlasting" (Psalm 90:2).  We can know a little.  We can know more.  But we cannot know all.  Thus, the preacher, the writer, and the witness all have more to learn and communicate than we can ever fully comprehend.  "Unsearchable riches" of "this grace given" declared the Apostle Paul of such Divine glory.  We go forth with "things new and old" from the treasure chest of God and His truth, a prospect that should thrill our hearts as it prepares us to effectively communicate the spirit and truth of Christ to our world (Matthew 13:52).

    What prayers will we pray in this day that originate in the light of God's Word, and motivated by His Spirit?  What words will we utter to others of our Lord and His truth? What new or old insights of the Scriptures will grace our thoughts and considerations as our Heavenly Father illuminates our hearts amid the darkness of the fallen world in which we live?  A strong belief and conviction regarding the infinite nature of God and His Truth prepares us to expect the Light that "shineth in darkness" (John 1:5).  I misunderstood the "problem" long ago.  There's far too much to learn and communicate rather than not enough.  It will always be this way as our Lord ever beckons us to come further, dive deeper, and climb higher…

"The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

                                                 

Weekly Memory Verse

   In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

(I John 4:9)