For You Are the Fountain of Life

April 23, 2015

For You Are the Fountain of Life

“I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Philippians 3:8a (NRSV)

As we seek the life in Christ as our way of life, we are seeking to grasp the power of Jesus as “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25a). On our journey, we join with the Apostle Paul to “regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8 NRSV). How are we, like Paul, to regard everything as loss? I believe Psalm 36 can help us.

The parallels between David’s Psalm 36 and modern times are many. In the centuries since the Industrial Revolution, people have grown in their confidence to master their environment. There has developed a growing belief that through the power of human intellect, better government and education, the ills of human society can be cured.

The psalmist declares there are but two alternatives: humanity or divine grace. In the more recent evolution of society, a third alternative has been established. Instead of the “either / or” of the psalmist, there is a “both / and” movement that tries to hold to both a belief in God and confidence in human ability. On the surface, this movement seems to be an appropriate position; after all, John Wesley did teach his followers to sort out life by Scripture, Reason, Tradition and Experience. This quadrilateral certainly seems to combine human ability with theology. But there is a huge problem with the “both / and” approach.

The “both / and” approach creates a temptation to dismiss or ignore the parts of Scripture we do not like, or do not understand; and instead, trust our own judgment and intellect. When we do so, we leave the “both / and” camp and move into the Humanist camp.

Karl Barth is considered by many as the most important theologian of the Twentieth Century. He was in the “both / and” camp, leaning more to the Humanist approach of solving the world’s problems. Then came WWI and the evidence of human depravity was overwhelming. After a fresh reading of the Book of Romans, Barth aligned himself with the psalmist’s expression of the sovereignty of God.

In Wesley’s quadrilateral, he begins with Scripture. For Wesley, none of the following three elements (Reason, Tradition and Experience) are valid unless they align with Scripture. This way of living in our environment does not ignore human intellect and potential; it affirms that human intellect and potential are fully realized within God’s divine grace and will. Thus we can sing with the psalmist:

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;

    your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

    your justice like the ocean depths.

You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.

     How precious is your unfailing love, O God!

All humanity finds shelter

    in the shadow of your wings.

 You feed them from the abundance of your own house,

    letting them drink from your river of delights.

 For you are the fountain of life,

    the light by which we see.

Psalm 36: 5-9

      

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.