If you don’t like the weather, just…

We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles — Mark 10:33

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When we visited Arkansas one April, we woke up at 2 a.m. to the sound of pouring rain, then drifted back to sleep. At 6 a.m., we woke to the hiss of heavy sleet brushing against the windows like cymbals. When it was time for breakfast, we walked through a quiet snow shower. And for the walk back from breakfast, it was sunny and 65 degrees.

Today, on Palm Sunday, I’m reflecting on how people’s attitudes can shift just as quickly. In the span of just a few days, from “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” to “Crucify him!” Religious and political leaders collaborated to rid themselves of a shared problem and the crowds were carried on those cultural winds.

God’s dwelling place

“Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? Now this is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. You sow much seed but you harvest little. You eat but you are never satisfied. You drink but you never become drunk. You get dressed, but no one is warm. The one who makes money puts that money into a bag with a hole in it. This is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. Go up to the mountains, bring lumber down, and build the House. I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord. You expected much, but look, there was little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? This is a declaration of the Lord of Armies. It is because my house lies in ruins while each of you is busy with your own house. So it is because of you that the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the olive oil, on everything which the soil produces, on people, on livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

— Haggai 1

For decades Christians have been told to get outside of the bubble—that our ministry lies beyond the church walls. It’s an important message, but something’s been lost: the health of the Church—Christ’s Body and God’s Dwelling Place. In our preoccupation with our own lives and our zeal to solve the world’s problems, we’ve left God’s House to deteriorate. Is it surprising that our efforts seem so fruitless? And we’re tired. Now is the time to work on God’s House—the Church—even as we continue to engage the world.

“So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

— Ephesians 2:19-22

The Word of God

The word of God is God’s logos¹. We can say it this way: God’s word is ‘what God has to say’. We can find his word in Nature (Psalm 19:1-6, Romans 1:19,20). We find his word in the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16,17). And Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1-18).

“God’s word is ‘what God has to say’.”

Creation reveals what God has to say. The Scriptures reveal what God has to say. Jesus is our clearest revelation of what God has to say.

To encounter Nature, Scripture, and Jesus, is to have the opportunity to encounter ‘what God has to say’.

But this requires humble hearts.

Worshiping Nature misses what God has to say. Twisting Scripture to fit a human agenda defies what God has to say. And studying Jesus without being conformed to his image is a rejection of what God has to say.

When ‘God’s word’ fails to communicate ‘what God has to say’—his intent—it ceases to be God’s word (logos) altogether.

¹ Koine Greek for persuasive 'reason' or 'reasoning'. The same root as the English word 'logic'. The Greek word rhema refers to God's speech. God's rhema conveys his logos.