Romans 7:6 – “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

In verses 4 and 5 of Romans 7, Paul tells us we are dead to the Law which aroused our sinful passions. Telling a child, “No,” “Don’t,” “Stop,” often causes him to want to do it all the more. And so it is with us adults as well; we have disciplined ourselves to say no to our passions for various reasons: custom of family, social acceptance, to get in someone’s good graces. The point is that we still have to say no to our outward actions when in our minds the desire is still there. We may even fantasize about it. And if not fantasize, we may at least grumble within about having to go against our desires. This is the letter of the Law: Obeying it for all the wrong reasons, actually forcing ourselves to against our natural bent. That oftentimes leads to “overkill” – going beyond what the Law states and acting as if that were Law as well.

In Christ, we are dead to the Law, we are dead to the burden of guilt it once put upon us. We are dead to the constant demands of condemnation and judgment. It no longer governs and taunts us. Now we are alive in Christ and we serve Him in love and hopeful expectation whereas we used to serve the law in anger, fear and dread. The Spirit of Christ within causes us to love the Law, which is the expression and portrait of the character of our dear Savior and Lord. The Law informs us of the holy character of our Lord and surely – because He has loved us so much and rescued us from death and judgment – surely we would love Him back by modeling ourselves after His character. Now the Law has become our guideline, not our angry condemner.

Paul goes on in the chapter to explain the constant tension under which all true Christians live: the presence of sin in the flesh. Those sinful desires plague us. Oh, we are usually able to conquer the biggies. But sin is insidious. Those desires to be “one up,” lording it over, thinking more highly of oneself, ungodly motivations – they are all still there and we must continue to fight them, sometimes mourning over them, sometimes angry or frustrated, sometimes wimping out and giving in.

I am so thankful that God does not condemn me in my weakness: my disability to conquer myself and my love for my sin. Instead He uses it all for my sanctification. He doesn’t desert me nor leave me here in my muddles and messes. His Spirit lifts me up by reminding me of His promises. God will never fail me.

Most of us are familiar with the story of “Jacob’s Ladder.” A misnomer, for surely it was not his ladder – the vision came from God. However, the point of reference I want to pursue comes after the vision is over and Jacob awakes. The sun is rising and it’s time for him to get on the move. Jacob, the simple man who enjoyed living in the tents of his mother and tending to his father’s flocks and herds, is on the run from his murderous brother, Esau. Esau, a man of the plains and hills of the vast wilderness of Canaan, was not a man to be trifled with. He was a bold and cunning hunter, used to roving about and living off the land. Yet Jacob had more than trifled with Esau – he had stolen the birthright of his twin brother right out from under him. Yep, Jacob needed to get moving and get out of Canaan.

But the awe of his night vision held his feet in that place. This was something he could not forget: God had spoken to him; made him a promise, no less. A promise that He would be with Jacob, prosper him, and actually bring him back to this place. Jacob couldn’t shake the awe and fear that seemed to hold his feet down. “How awesome is this place!” he exclaimed. “This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.”

Then he took the stone on which he had pillowed his head during the night, stood it upright and poured oil over it. Why did he do that? The stone, set up as a pillar, was meant to be a marker, a signpost, a memorial to both him and God. He set it up as a reminder of God’s promise to Jacob.

This signpost is the focus of my thoughts. This is not the only time in the Bible that a stone or a pile of stones was used as a memorial. Fast forward about 20 years. Jacob is coming back into Canaan. He is now a husband with two wives, a father with 12 children and a wealthy man with many flocks and herds and servants. Laban, his father-in-law, is pursuing him and we are not told his actual intent, but we may surmise that it is not good because of the warning God gives Laban that he is not to harm Jacob. When Laban catches up to Jacob, they make a covenant that neither would pass beyond this point to harm the other. Jacob stood up a stone as a pillar and the witnesses piled up stones around it as a witness to that covenant. These standing stones were to serve as a reminder to both parties that they were not to pass this “line in the sand” with the intent to harm the other.

Now, skip forward a few hundred years. When the children of Israel had crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Last at Jericho, Joshua, at the Lord’s command, chose 12 representatives from the tribes to dig a stone from the river bed and place them in the camp.

So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, “Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:4-7

Again, another memorial to God’s grace and power and faithfulness.

Another 500 years go by and David, King of Israel, wants to build a temple to the glory of God. Out of a heart of worship and reverence and thankfulness, come the plans for the great temple of God at Jerusalem. It is to be built of stones, cut and shaped at the quarry so no sound of hammering and chiseling may be heard at the temple site. David’s plans are carried out by his son, Solomon.

Solomon built a temple without equal. The stones were laid quietly upon the cornerstone. Then, when the building was finished, he beautified it with cedar and gold. It was a marvelous tribute to the glory of God, who had remained faithful to His covenant. As time went by, however, the people forgot the original purpose of the temple. As a matter of fact, it became a center for the worship of hideous, demonic idols. It seemed the people even worshiped the building itself. They seemed to think that the temple held God to His promise, kind of twisted His all-powerful arm and prevented Him from scattering them.

God destroyed that building. And He razed the second one to the ground as well. For the people rebuilt it hoping to recapture the splendor of days gone by. Why would He knock down a tribute to His great glory?

Does anything mankind builds or makes or designs – does it last forever? It cannot. God had plans to build a lasting, permanent temple, not of stones quarried from the earth, but of living stones. He laid His cornerstone, the foundation of His eternal temple, a foundation which would never fail – Christ, the Beloved Son. And we, generations later are part of this great building. Quarried and shaped out of the world by unseen hands, we are being fitted together, growing, building up into a temple in the Lord. We, the church, are His dwelling place. Here is the true existence of Immanuel on earth. Here is why Christ prayed for unity among His people, for stones who have a falling out with each other could shake the walls! We are called out, quarried out, of this world by one Spirit with one Hope, into one body. We are being built up together as a marker, a signpost, a memorial to God’s grace and faithfulness. He will build His church – He is building his church. Stone by stone. We are each living stones, trophies of His grace, being built up together into a masterpiece of construction, held together by the mortar of Truth activated by the Holy Spirit. Our foundation is Christ the Solid Rock and God dwells within our walls. For this reason we should pray and work along with Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Little bits and pieces. This is how knowledge is gained; or rather, understanding. As we pick up these bits and chunks of knowledge and information, they are not always understandable. We may parrot them to others without any true understanding. But a true seeker of understanding will not stop at adding these bits and chunks to his collection. Those who do this gain nothing but shiny baubles, worthless trinkets. A true seeker of understanding will examine and try these bits, measuring them and comparing them against others. Sometimes when the light shines just right on these pieces, the seeker will see it . . . a bridge is made in his knowledge, a sort of synapse is forged between two or more of these pieces. Not like a puzzle. No, that is two-dimensional and has little meaning. One can only see one side, one perspective of that picture. True understanding is “3-D”; one piece may have connections to many others, making a model that exhibits height and depth and breath.

This light we have here is feeble, shadowed by many things: physical and mental condition, perspective, events and words that shade our present with the past. Occasionally, the shadows move and we have a bright glimpse. That is a wonderful moment, when a strong bridge or synapse is created. “Aha!” we breathe in exquisite pleasure.

Information, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, prudence . . . unfortunately, we are in the information age where we have constructed these superhighways on which little tidbits to great big chunks whiz by us so fast, all we can do is scan. We train our minds to be satisfied with this, for to focus on one means millions of others passing by in a blur. We sacrifice understanding for information, worthless because there are no connections made, no bridges built, only a flat and lifeless picture with lots of missing pieces.

Searching for knowledge and yet never satisfied, never satiated, always hungering and thirsting for more. Piling up bits and pieces and grabbing the next, like a toddler, a baby always wanting the next toy.

Some liken gaining knowledge and understanding to peeling off the layers of an onion. That’s a good analogy. But if we continue to peel and seek and grab for knowledge and yet never come to the knowledge of the truth, what good does it do us in the end?

A man who lived long ago set himself to getting much knowledge. He was known in ancient times for his vast knowledge and ability to make wise judgments. Rulers came to him to seek counsel, to pay tribute and to marvel at his great accomplishments. At the end of his life, he all but despaired, because in all his life-long gathering of knowledge, it still did not satisfy. He would go the way of all the earth: He would go to the grave, and what good would all the understanding he had gained do him then? It was all in vain. He pondered this dilemma and came to a very important conclusion. There is a source of knowledge: it is Truth. Not a popular word in our culture, which likes to believe that there is diversity in knowledge and even in reality, an indication that there is no source, no fountain of truth. So we move ever faster, grabbing this and that piece or bit, but never settling, gaining important knowledge, experience, understanding, but missing the underlying truth. How can we see it when our eyes are mesmerized by the blurred flashing of the information superhighway we have built?

Step away from the superhighway. Check out that quiet dirt road. Stop under that shade tree and think. Take time to look at both sides of the road, around the tree, the other side of the fence. Observe the critters; converse, no, dialog (that means two people talking and listening) with others who are walking here.

Especially important is to stop in the Light of the source of all knowledge. For there is a source. Unless we acknowledge that source, we are losers, no matter how much wisdom we have accumulated. Without the foundation, the accumulated wisdom is faulty. The source, the fountainhead of all wisdom, understanding and truth is the One who IS Truth. The fear of the Lord (old language for honoring Him as King – which He is) is the beginning (source) of knowledge. It is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of Him is understanding. He is the base of the “3-D” model we are building. Without it, our model is useless. It will topple!