A life well-lived - Midweek Message 29th July 2020
Dear Friends,
While I was on holiday, I heard the news that J I Packer had
died. I realise that name may not mean a great deal to some who read this but
for me it meant a lot. When I was a student in my first year at University in
Aberdeen, I was introduced to the book that Jim Packer is probably best known
for, namely, Knowing God. It was among the first Christian books I ever
read. I still have it. I still refer to it. It’s a wonderful book – ‘a spiritual classic’
as John Stott described it. Or as Rico Tice said: Dr Packer says we're cruel to ourselves if we
try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and
who runs it. I'm convinced we're cruel if we deny ourselves the wisdom
contained in this Christian classic.'
The story behind the book is interesting. In the early
1960’s Jim Packer had been asked to write a series of articles for a relatively
small UK Christian magazine on the attributes, the characteristics, of God –
the God of the Bible, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The magazine was
published every second month which meant he ended up writing about 5 such
articles in a year. After two or three years he realised he probably had a book,
so he went to Inter-Varsity Press (IVP) to ask if they would be willing to
publish it. IVP had published at least two of his previous books. However, they
believed that the pressing issue of that time, and the book that they were
looking for from him, was one which would give a response to the increasingly
influential charismatic movement. They, therefore, turned Packer down. So, he went to Hodder & Stoughton and they
published it. It has been reprinted many times since. It has sold over 1m copies
in North America alone and I’m pretty sure that 100 years from now it will
still be being read!
In the introduction to the book, he makes this statement: The
conviction behind the book is that ignorance of God – ignorance of both his
ways and of the practice of communion with him – lies at the root of much of
the church’s weakness today. Almost 50 years later that statement surely speaks
to our own day as well. The book is a reminder that our greatest need, and
indeed our greatest joy lies, and will always lie, in knowing God – in a personal
and deepening relationship with the God who made and still runs the world – the
God who makes himself known and calls us into relationship with himself through
his Son Jesus Christ. This is life as it
was intended to be. Jesus himself said so in his prayer to his Father in John
17: This is eternal
life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent. (17:3)
Isn’t that just
the most remarkable statement and glorious invitation? Not just that God is
there but that people like you and me, can know him in the same kind of
personal relationship that someone knows their husband, their wife or their
best friend and that this is the very reason Jesus came into the world, was
sent into the world to accomplish all he did in his life, his death his resurrection: No one has
ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, (i.e. Jesus the
Son of God) he has made him known (John 1:18) .
Think of what you love. Some of us love the outdoors, the
hills, the rivers, the seas. For us, there is nothing better than driving,
walking, climbing or camping in wide open beautiful spaces and places. But it
surely it must be better to know the One who put those hills and rivers and
seas there in the first place!
Some of us love sport –playing it watching it. It’s our
primary passion, our pleasure. In our mind nothing beats it – but knowing
the One who gave to men and women the ability, the athleticism, the energy, the
skill they (we) exercise in any sport must beat it.
Others love beautiful things in nature, in our houses, our
clothes, in people themselves. We give our time, our attention and our money to
appreciating and accumulating things of beauty but again to know the One who is
the source and fountain of all such beauty must surely outweigh these.
There is no-one, and nothing, like God and there is, and
there can be, nothing better in life than knowing God in and through Jesus
Christ. That’s what the Bible proclaims and reveals. That is what Jim Packer recognised.
That’s why he lived as he did and wrote and taught as he did. It’s also why he
lamented on one occasion in relation to what he saw in contemporary Christian
circles:
When Christians meet, they talk to each other about their
Christian work and Christian interests, their Christian acquaintances, the
state of the churches, and the problems of theology—but rarely of their daily
experience of God.
Modern Christian books and magazines contain much about
Christian doctrine, Christian standards, problems of Christian conduct,
techniques of Christian service—but little about the inner realities of
fellowship with God.
Our sermons contain much sound doctrine—but little
relating to the converse between the soul and the Saviour.
We do not spend much time, alone or together, in dwelling
on the wonder of the fact that God and sinners have communion at all; no, we
just take that for granted, and give our minds to other matters.
Thus, we make it plain that communion with God is a small
thing to us.
But, clearly, it wasn’t a small thing to Jim Packer. It was
the most important thing. Someone described him in these terms: he ‘lived
slowly enough to think deeply about God’ That’s why I find news of his death and memories and testimonies to his life and ministry encouraging me to say
to myself and to you: whatever may be
going on in our lives, whatever may compete for our love, in the words of Hosea
6.3: Let us press on to know the
LORD.
Yours in Him
David
<< Home