Be Still for What? [A]

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Transcript:

It’s a huge, huge ordeal. The entire state shuts down for the weekend. They call it the Texas holiday. And the population of Oklahoma drops by about half as everybody goes down to Dallas to watch the football game.

And they play against the Texas Longhorns. And at home, whether you’re a Sooner or a Cowboy, you’re bred to hate the Texas Longhorns. They do their little hook’em horns like this, and we’re raised from a very young age to do this back at them.

As people were talking about the game, I couldn’t help myself. I went on Facebook and had to post for everyone to see a verse. I believe it’s in Psalm 75.

10 where God says, and I will cut off the horns of the wicked. I got some amens. And I did it as a joke, and as soon as I hit post, I kind of felt guilty because I thought that’s not what that verse is talking about.

My only excuse is that I meant it as a joke, and I’m fairly certain that any rational thinking person who saw it would recognize it as a joke. If I thought there were any chance somebody at home was going to look at that and say, would you look at that? It’s right there in prophecy.

They were going to beat down on the longhorns. I would go and correct myself and say, no, that’s not true. So I kind of felt guilty about that, but I think it’s probably no different from the jokes I used to hear as a child from preachers who would say things like, how do you know God loves Hondas because all the apostles were in one accord?

And I remember even. . .

Y’all thought that was funny? I remember being five years old and thinking, oh my goodness, if that’s any excuse. What drives me crazy though, what makes me angry, is when people do it deliberately about things that matter.

when they twist and misuse Scripture about things that matter. If you’ve looked in the bulletin this morning, you’ll see that I’m starting a new series of messages. And honestly, as I look at the material I have for it, I don’t know how many weeks it’s going to be.

But a series on some of the most misused, misinterpreted, misapplied Scriptures in the whole Bible. Some of the things that the world and other religions and folks, sometimes even Baptists, are most prone to take out of context to support the things we want to support. Like I took Psalm 7510 out of context to kind of stick it to Texas fans.

But there are things that are infinitely more important that are twisted and taken out of context. And we’re going to talk about some of those over the next several weeks. And hopefully as we go through each of these, we’ll see what is said about these passages of Scripture and what’s wrong with these faulty interpretations.

And then look at what did God really have in mind when He wrote that. In context, what does this passage say to us? And as I started studying this series, the passage that immediately came to mind, and I think I mentioned this to you several months ago that I was thinking about this subject.

The passage that immediately comes to mind is Matthew 7. 1. And that’s not what we’re going to be in this morning, but that says, Judge not that you be not judged.

If there is any scripture in our world today that is taken out of context and misapplied, misinterpreted, and twisted any harder than Matthew 7. 1, I don’t know what it would be. And some of the scriptures that are so willingly, by people so willingly taken out of context, they range from mild annoyance, as when I hear the Catholic Church proclaim, or I don’t know if it still does, but proclaim that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, when I’m not sure there’s scriptural evidence to back that up, to very dangerous teachings.

They range from mild annoyance to very dangerous teachings. And this morning, I’d like us to start off by talking about something maybe you’ve heard, maybe you’ve not, but it’s in a lot of churches today, and it’s, I believe, a very dangerous teaching. And as I said earlier, we’re not going to have time, probably, to get into the whole message this morning.

This morning, I intend to talk about the wrong interpretation and what’s wrong with it, and tonight, I’d like to get into what does God really say. Now, we’ll be looking at what the Bible has to say in both of them, but looking at this passage in context tonight. You may have heard the verse, or a portion of the verse, Psalm 4610, Quoted out of context.

Be still and know that I am God. You’ve heard that, haven’t you? And it’s a good verse.

And folks, we should be still and know that He is God because that’s what it says in the Bible. But all too often what the Bible says about be still and know that I am God is not what people mean when they say be still and know that I am God. This verse or the portion of it, that’s not even the whole verse, that portion of a verse has been taken out of context and is taken out of context and very likely this morning is being taken out of context to support all kinds of doctrines that are not just wrong, they are dangerous.

And some of the practices that are based on a partial reading of Psalm 4610 used as a pretext, some of these doctrines are not just being used in cult churches, in the Catholic church, in New Age movement groups, but they are actually finding their way into evangelical and fundamental churches. And we need to be on guard against them. And so you may be thinking, well, this doesn’t apply to me.

I’ve not heard about it. Well, good. Then we’re ahead of the ballgame.

There may be some of you who’ve read books or watched teaching materials or sorts of things that maybe you’ve heard about some of these practices and you’ve thought about putting them into practice yourself. Folks, we need to be careful. Psalm 46.

10 again says, Be still and know that I am God. And it has been used to support what is called contemplative mysticism. Mysticism being having not a knowledge of God, but an experience with God.

And folks, there’s nothing wrong with having an experience with God if it’s rooted in the truth. But to have a subjective experience with God or gods or the divine or the spirit of the universe or whatever it is, is a religious philosophy called mysticism that’s older than Christianity. All of the pagan religions go back in some way or another to this idea of mysticism.

And the word contemplative comes from doing it in our minds. And contemplative mysticism has all kinds of practices attached to it, but they all center around the idea of being still. You see how this verse taken out of context can be used as a pretext, as an excuse for this kind of doctrine.

We’re told to be still. Anything that we can do to still our mind, to still our soul, to meditate on things in order to have some kind of connection with God that’s outside of how Scripture tells us to connect with God. I need to refer to my notes this morning, but it says, what I’ve written is contemplative mysticism has at its core the practice of quieting and emptying one’s mind of conscious thoughts in order to open oneself to an experience or to experience a felt connection with the divine.

And folks, believe it or not, this is entering into churches. You may say, what’s wrong with that? Doesn’t the Bible tell us to meditate on God’s Word?

It does. But when that verse, excuse me, when that Word is used in the Old Testament, and then not just in the Jewish context, but in the Christian context. In the Western mindset, meditation means to fill our minds with God’s Word.

It means to fill our hearts with God’s Word. It means to memorize God’s Word and then think about it and think about what it means and study on it and dig into it instead of just reading it. But getting into God’s Word with our whole mind and trying to understand what it is God is saying through what He’s written.

That’s what it means when the men of the Old Testament said that they’d meditated on God’s Word day and night. It meant a study of God’s Word. It meant thinking of God’s Word.

It meant like the times when you and I will memorize Scripture and then God will bring it back to mind just when it’s needed. And we’ll think about what we’ve learned and what we know from that. The Western idea of meditation used in the Bible is the idea of filling our minds with God’s truth.

That’s in contrast with the Eastern view of meditation that says we’re to clear our minds of everything. We’re to empty our minds of everything. A lady asked me a couple weeks ago, and I won’t name names because I don’t want to embarrass her, but asked me about some prayer beads she’d been given.

She said, you know, I just felt weird about getting these. Should I use them? And I said, run away.

You may think they’re just beads. They’re just, what’s the problem with the beads? This idea of contemplative mysticism based on a partial reading of Psalm 4610, again, is to empty your mind of conscious thoughts, to quiet your mind so that you can just feel God’s presence.

And anything that can be used to make sure we don’t have to think consciously plays into that. Whether it’s taking beads, and no, these are not prayer beads or a rosary. I grabbed these Christian’s jewelry box this morning just as a visual aid.

But anything we can, instead of having to think about what we’re saying to God, finger a bead and repeat words and finger a bead and repeat words and finger a bead and repeat words. Folks, it’s designed for us to be able to clear our minds of conscious thoughts instead of dealing with the truth of God’s Word. It’s made to open us up to all kinds of subjective experiences.

There’s a growing practice of these prayer mazes and prayer walks. And folks, I’m not against walking and praying. I have some of my best prayer times when I’m driving.

That doesn’t mean it’s a mystical experience. I’ve also had some good prayer times just out alone walking. That’s not what I’m talking about.

These ideas of prayer mazes and prayer walks where there’s one path. It’s a medieval practice that was resurrected. It used to be a Catholic practice in the Middle Ages, and it was revived by New Age teachers.

And now Christians, evangelical and fundamental Christians, are being encouraged to take walks through these little mazes. And since there’s only one way you can go, so you don’t have to think about anything. You just clear your mind and go.

And you may think, how does this have to do with clearing our mind, and why is this dangerous? I put articles out on the back table. I saw one of them disappeared already and that’s all right.

I intended for them to be read. But I put some articles out on the table in the back that talk about people who started out in Baptist churches or in other conservative churches and ended up in the Catholic church, in Buddhism, or even in goddess worship as a result of prayer beads and these prayer mazes. And I want to tell you, anybody that comes to you with the promise that if you’ll just be still and know that He is God, and that means clear your mind of any conscious thoughts, Don’t even think about God’s Word.

Don’t think of anything, but just be, and you’ll feel His presence in a new way. Folks, it’s not necessarily the presence of God that you’re going to be feeling. And this passage, be still and know that I’m God, has been taken all kinds of ways out of context.

There are even prayer mantras being used. And they say, well, instead of praying, we’ll just sit and recite the name of Jesus. We’ll just sit and focus on the name of Jesus.

Well, that’s all right, but the word mantra, you know what religion that comes from? Hinduism. It’s a Hindu practice.

And we’re told in God’s Word, all of these things come from pagan religions. They come from Hinduism. They come from Buddhism.

Or they come from the ancient mystery religions. And we are explicitly told in God’s Word to stay away from these pagan practices of trying to clear our minds and meditate in the way that they do. God said in Ephesians chapter 4, This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as the Gentiles walk.

Some translations have that word Gentiles instead pagans. Kind of gets more to the point there. That you walk not as other Gentiles or pagans walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God.

And before anybody says that sounds harsh, saying their understanding is darkened, if you’ll look at some of those, if you’ll read some of those testimonials that I’ve put out in the foyer, they talk about, people that have been involved in these contemplative mystical practices, talk about experiencing the darkness. There was a book written, I believe, in the 12th century that’s come back into popularity with young people called The Cloud of Unknowing, talking about experiencing God by unknowing everything else. And they talk about wanting to experience the darkness and how it’s scary and exhilarating all at the same time.

And I can’t help but read that as a born-again Christian who believes the Bible and thinks you’re wanting to embrace darkness and you think this comes from God. Folks, the understanding is darkened and that’s the way they like it. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over into lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus. We can learn a few important things from that there, that there is objective truth. It’s not all about subjective feeling and my experiences.

It’s about the truth that’s in Jesus. It’s about the things that we hear from Him in His Word. It’s about the things that we learn from Him through His Word and by His Spirit.

And that these other things that sort of tickle the flesh, these other things that are subjective experiences that feel good to the flesh, are not of God because they are the way of the pagans that Paul instructed the people at Ephesus not to participate in. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. And again, that’s Ephesians chapter 4.

He lays out a difference here between the pagan practices, which work toward the senses and the flesh. They make us feel like we’re good. They make us feel like we’re holy.

They make us feel like we’ve had an experience with God. And he says, on the other hand, you have the truth, which is in Jesus Christ. And I’ll be honest, sometimes true biblical worship, we don’t always feel special. We don’t always feel something, and yet it’s still worship. We don’t always feel saved, but that doesn’t mean we always are saved.

And if our entire relationship with God is based on feelings, there’s a problem. But that’s why I think so many people have bought into these ideas, this unknowing, these centering prayers, these mantras, these beads, liturgical practices of rituals and things, because they feel a closeness with God. So if I feel it, it must be real. No, no, we turn our brains off, we open ourselves to deception.

God tells us far too many times to be sober-minded in His Word. And so this idea of quieting our mind and emptying it of conscious thoughts so that we can have an experience with God, that’s not what it means when it says, Be still and know that I am God, because that would contradict God’s Word to say we’re no longer to be sober-minded. Before we get too much further, let’s look at this passage.

We’re going to go in depth tonight with what this passage really means, but this morning I want you to see that given the context of the whole passage, it cannot possibly be talking about some kind of mystical prayer-centering ritual. Psalm 46, verse 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, selah.

There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved.

God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge, Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth.

He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot with fire. Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. I don’t know if you’ve ever read chapter 46 in its entirety, even if you’ve heard the verse, Be still and know that I am God.

But does it sound to you like he’s talking about having a mystical experience of quieting his mind before God? Anybody? Sounds like God is about to do battle for him and telling him to stand back and let me handle this, doesn’t it?

And tonight we’re going to talk about that. That’s exactly what it’s about. And so even if none of the rest of what I had told you was true, and incidentally, I believe it is, or I wouldn’t have told you.

But even if nothing else that I had told you was true, the idea that we need to center in prayer, that we need to chant Jesus’ name as a mantra, that we need to empty our mind of conscious thoughts so we can feel God’s presence is wrong because it’s predicated on something that’s not there in the text. They’ve misused where He says, Be still and know that I am God. But there’s even more danger to this because it opens up to all sorts of things and it goes against the clear teaching of Scripture.

And again, if you’re still sitting there thinking, why is he talking about this? We don’t use prayer beads. Folks, you may not have been experienced to it.

But you go to a lot of churches today, a lot of churches that profess to be evangelical, and these things are going on. Even at my church in Oklahoma, we watched a study video one time during a Bible study group. Before we got to the passage, we watched a video where the guy was teaching on it, and he was talking about being silent before God.

And I thought, okay, I believe what it says about be still and know that I am God, but what this guy’s saying just doesn’t feel right. And I said so at the time. I quit going to that study if they were going to keep using his materials.

Because when I delved into what he actually teaches, it bears no resemblance to the Christianity of the New Testament. It turns out he’s one of the most influential supposedly Christian speakers and teachers among people of my generation. And yet he recently came out with a book on universalism, basically that everyone will be saved and there is no literal hell.

Folks, this is being sold in Christian bookstores. If you’ve not run across these contemplative practices, telling us we need to empty our minds of all thoughts and just feel God, if you have not run across it, you will, and your kids and grandkids may have already. And so I want to issue this this morning as a clear warning about the dangers of these things.

It goes against Scripture, where Scripture tells us to be self-controlled and sober-minded. In this practice of contemplation, of just trying to switch our brains off and feel God, and to be still in that sense. Self-control and sober-mindedness are abandoned in favor of unconsciousness and uncertainty.

Self-control and sober-mindedness are abandoned in favor of unconsciousness and uncertainty. Again, some of the people involved in this talk about the darkness and feeling the darkness, and they don’t know what it is or where it comes from, but surely it must be a good thing because I feel on a spiritual high. Folks, that goes against so many of the admonitions of the Bible.

We’re told in the book of Titus, chapter 2, verses 11 through 13, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation. . .

I hear some of you turning. That’s all right. Turn there and make sure I’m telling you the truth.

To save time, I’ve copied and pasted them into my notes so I don’t have to turn while I’m trying to talk to you. But do that. Turn to where I am and make sure I’m.

. . That’s all right.

Turn to where I am and make sure I’m telling you the truth. Titus chapter 2, verses 11 through 13. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, the things that appeal to the flesh, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s just one of the many places where we are told that we need to be sober-minded.

It’s just one of the many places where God gives us the benefits of being self-controlled. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. If we say we’re going to shut down our minds, we’re going to empty our minds, we’re just going to feel our way through everything, and whatever spiritual essence that wants to wash over us is okay, goes against the grain for a true believer, who’s told that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, who’s told that we need to be sober-minded, who’s told that we need to be sober and vigilant because our adversary the devil as a roaring lion stalks about seeking whom he may devour.

It goes against everything we’re taught. We’re also told to test the spirits whether they be of God. And the idea to shut our minds to any thoughts including the objective truth of God’s Word and just accept whatever spiritual presence wants to wander into our lives like a stray dog goes against everything the Bible teaches about how we’re to relate with God.

And doctrine and objective truth are abandoned in favor of unreliable subjective experiences. Doctrine and objective truth are abandoned in favor of unreliable subjective experiences. If I have an experience and you have an experience and they’re not the same experience, who’s to say who’s right?

Because if I feel like God is a certain way and you feel like God is another way, then who’s to say you’re wrong and I’m right? I heard on the radio they were talking about the book Heaven is for Real and I’ve not read it. But they talk on the radio about how the little boy says Jesus came riding in on a rainbow-colored horse.

That was his experience. Okay, if his experience says that Jesus rides a rainbow-colored horse and Brother Ted had a vision that says, no, Jesus rides a camel. I’m not saying he did, but if Brother Ted did have that experience.

If Brother Ted had a vision tonight, I’ve got to tell you, Jesus came to me in a dream last night and he came riding a camel. Well, who’s to say who’s right and who’s wrong? It’s just your experience, right?

And our experiences are unreliable. They’re subjective. If we had to rely on our experiences to know who God is, there would be so much confusion.

God has given us His objective truth. Ladies and gentlemen, I still believe in the objective truth of this book. And if I believe that Jesus spoke to me as a 900-foot tall man, and the Bible says that He was not, that there was nothing in particular special about His appearance that would draw men to Him, Folks, then it’s not the Bible that’s wrong.

It’s my subjective experience. Right? If the Bible says we serve a God of justice who will punish sin, and I say, no, no, I don’t feel like that.

I feel like the God I worship just loves everybody, and He’s just going to let everything slide in the end. Who’s wrong, me or the Bible? You can say it louder.

It’s okay. I’m wrong. We have an objective standard of truth here.

And I know doctrine in a lot of churches is a four-letter word today, but folks, doctrine just boils down to the word truth. Truth matters. It matters what we believe.

And we’re given this book as God’s direct revelation to us about Himself and about what He wants from us. So the idea that it’s acceptable just to put aside everything that we learn in God’s Word, don’t think about anything, not even God’s Word, and just feel and experience it. Well, folks, our experiences are notoriously wrong.

The Bible says in several places how wicked the heart is, how easily deceived we are. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather turn to what the Word of God says. We’re warned in the book of Proverbs, Buy the truth and sell it not.

Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Now, he’s not telling us we can go out for $5 and buy a bucket of truth. What he’s telling us here is that the truth is precious.

The truth of God’s Word is precious. It’s something we hold on to. It’s not something we switch on and off whenever we want to have a felt experience that may or may not conform to what God’s Word says.

It’s something that when we get it, we hold on to with all of our might. I know I’ve talked a lot in the last few weeks or mentioned several times the martyrs for the Baptist and Anabaptist and Waldensian causes, the people that taught in the Middle Ages the New Testament faith as we understand it and how they were harassed, how they were tortured, how they were killed for the faith. And there have been numerous, numerous people, too numerous to count, I’m sure, that have held to the truth of God’s Word.

When the truth of God’s Word says it’s salvation by grace through faith, and somebody else says, I have a vision that such and such saint told me that if you’ll ask him, he’ll pray on your behalf and he’ll intermediate, and the Word of God says there’s one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. And untold millions of people, and that’s not my estimation, that comes from historians, Untold millions of people throughout the last 2,000 years could have very easily been seduced by somebody else’s experience who said, well, I had a vision of this and that, but realized the truth of God’s Word said there’s one mediator, Jesus Christ. Said salvation is by grace through faith without works. And held to that truth with tenacity like a bulldog. Held to that and said, I am not letting go.

And folks gave their lives for it. The truth is precious. We should buy the truth and not sell it.

And also instruction and understanding and wisdom comes from Proverbs 23. 23. But in this idea of being still before God, meaning to quiet our mind and just feel, we’re told to let go of objective truth and go wherever the subjective experiences lead us.

And finally this morning, meaningful prayer. In this idea of contemplative prayer, contemplative mysticism. Meaningful prayer is abandoned in favor of vain repetition.

Does anybody know what the Bible says about vain repetition in prayer? Can anybody tell me? Not to use it.

Don’t do it. And who said that, Ms. Edna?

Jesus. Very good. Matthew chapter 6 tells them, But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Folks, it may seem enticing to just be able to pick up the beads or whatever else and just repeat words after words and think God’s going to hear it, God’s going to be pleased with me, and I’m going to feel His presence. But Jesus says, don’t do it. Don’t use vain repetition the way the heathen does.

He says, because they think they will be heard. for their much speaking. In other words, Jesus says they’re wrong.

They think they’re getting closer to God by these rituals and practices, and they’re wrong. And when we speak to God, it’s not to be a matter of vain repetition. It’s to be a matter of having a conversation with God.

Why in the world, ladies and gentlemen, would I want to shut everything down and have some just experience of some unknown presence when I have the right and privilege given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ, to go boldly before the throne of grace and have a conversation with the God of the universe who allows me to call Him Father. Why would I want to give that up for vain repetitions and empty practices? And furthermore, Jesus says, don’t do it.

Meaningful prayer. Meaningful prayer is worth so much more than a momentary experience. We may say, well, I don’t feel God’s presence.

Well, folks, that doesn’t mean He’s not there. I think we’ve all had times in our prayer life when we pray and we don’t feel like it goes any further than the ceiling. That doesn’t mean God is not there because the objective truth of it, the promise of God’s Word is that He’ll never leave us or forsake us.

And I know I may sound radical even bringing this up when many of you have probably not ever heard of it. But as I said, these ideas, these teachings are getting their tentacles into churches all over the place. You may not want to read all of those articles.

One of them out there I printed this morning was 19 pages. I had no idea. You may not want to read the whole thing, But peruse some of them.

Glance over some of them. You’ll see some of the testimonies of people who’ve gone from Baptist to Catholic to New Age to Buddhist and now to goddess worship because of these very practices I’m talking about this morning that don’t fit with the context of the passage that they purport to come from and don’t fit with the clear teaching of God’s Word elsewhere. Folks, be warned about this.

There’s nothing new under the sun. And the way we’ve been taught by God’s Word to pray has been sufficient for God’s people for 6,000 years and it’s sufficient today. We don’t need new practices.

We need new fervency in our prayer life. We need renewed passion for God’s truth and for our walk with Him. Folks, be warned about these things before they come your way.

Warn your children and grandchildren. A subjective experience with God or something claiming to be God gets us nowhere. The Bible talks about our connection with God in terms of a relationship.

Do you realize that? That the Bible calls God our Father. The Bible calls the church the bride of Christ. Our relationship with God is spoken of, doesn’t quite tell the whole story, but it’s spoken of in terms of a human relationship.

Can you imagine any human relationship? For example, Christ and the church. Men, you and your wives.

Can you imagine, men, if you were to tell your wife, we’re not going to talk anymore. When you’re around, I’m just 

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