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T H E B I B L E

the word that changes you

T H E B I B L E : the word that changes you 93

R E A D I N G

Imagine for a moment you are on a business trip or vacation. You’ve arrived in

a new city and are breathing in the excitement as you take in the new sights,

sounds, and smells around you. It has been a great day, and now it’s time to

head back to your hotel and crash for the night. Walking briskly in the cool

night air, you unknowingly take a wrong turn and find yourself in a poorly lit,

musty alley. The brisk walk has ticked up your heartbeat, but now your heart is

beating even faster in your chest, because silhouetted in the dark alley in front

of you are some shadowy figures, heading in your direction.

What would you feel? What would you think? What would you do? My hunch is

that you’d feel fearful. You’d think, “I am in danger.” And you might even try to

run in the opposite direction as fast as you could.

But would you feel, think, and act differently if you knew these strangers in

shadows were walking home after they’d been at a Bible study? Of course,

T O M N E L S O NSenior Pastor

94 t h e B I B L e : the word that changes you

you would! But why is that? Because no matter what we believe about the

Bible, we tend to assume that the Bible changes people.

People of the Book

Throughout the ages, the Bible has not only been the best-selling book of all

time, it’s also been a book that changes people. History tells us the “book of

books” makes a big difference in the lives of those who read it and apply its

teachings to their lives.

Both nonreligious and religious people have referred to Christians as “people

of the book.” This is because the Bible and the Christian faith are inextricably

linked. We might say as the Bible goes, Christianity goes—or even, when the

Bible goes, Christianity goes. For while there is truth in Pascal’s observation that

people never do evil so cheerfully or completely as when they do it in the name

of God,1 it is also true that the Bible has and continues to be a powerful impetus

for good in the world, transforming individuals, cultures, and nations.

The Psalmist’s Bold Truth Claims

The Psalmist wants us to grasp the goodness of the Bible, as well as the good

influence the Bible brings. In Psalm 19, we see the central role of the Bible,

as it comes alongside creation to reveal Creator God to humankind. Both in

creation and in the Bible, we hear God speak—in the first case, without words,

and in the second case, with words. As divine speech communicated through

human language, the Bible claims for itself a particular, integral nature that has

the unique power to bring integral character transformation to human life.

In Psalm 19, verse 7, we read, “The law of the Lord is perfect…” The Hebrew

word translated into English as “perfect” is tamim (or tome). This very important

Hebrew word brings with it the ideas of soundness, wholesomeness,

blamelessness, perfection, and integrity. The Hebrew tome speaks to the non-

corrupted, integral nature of something that is consistent with its provenance

or design. The Psalmist is asserting a bold truth claim, namely that there is

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95t h e B I B L e : the word that changes you

an integral wholeness that Holy Scripture indwells and exhibits. There is a

tome quality evident—a seamless coherence, void of any corruption or any

deception. This makes sense because the Holy Scriptures have a divine

source. Paul will later say they are “God-breathed.” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV) As

divine revelation, Holy Scripture is the embodiment of the true, the good, and

the beautiful. The Bible is integral; it has true integrity.

A Tome Bible and a Tome People

The Psalmist also makes the bold truth claim that people of the book are

transformed by the book. The Bible is not only tome itself, it has remarkable

power to form tome people. As Psalm 19 builds to a literary crescendo in

verse 13, we read,

…then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

The structure and logic of Psalm 19 tell us that because the Bible is tome,

we can be tome people. Our integral Bible is a powerful change-agent that

transforms broken people like you and me into integral people who are like

Jesus, the most integral being in the universe. But how does the Bible change

us? Let’s explore three primary ways—first, how we think; then, how we love;

and finally, how we live.

The Bible Changes How We Think

The Bible conveys to us within the finite limitations of human language the

truest truths of the universe. Through its inspired words, our minds are informed

and transformed by what is true, good, and beautiful. The Bible shows us who

the one true God really is and points us to Christ “in whom are hidden all the

treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3) The Bible presents to us

the most important knowledge we can learn. A.W. Tozer speaks with wisdom

when he says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the


most important thing about us.”2 If we are to increasingly think rightly about

God, we must learn about God from His divine revelation in Holy Scripture.

Some New Lenses

The tome life that the Bible speaks of and makes possible not only rearranges

our thoughts to think rightly but also enables us to see the world rightly. In

many ways, the Bible is like a set of helpful glasses through which we can

see things with increased clarity. After an annual eye exam, my optometrist

said to me, “Tom, you need progressive lenses.” I was a bit bummed at

this new development. The words “progressive lenses” seemed to me like

a euphemistic way of saying my eyes were going bad on me. At that point,

I hadn’t even noticed any diminished ability to see things close up or far

away. Thankfully, and a bit begrudgingly, I took my optometrist’s advice and

ordered progressive lenses. When my new glasses arrived, I was stunned by

how much better I could see things both near and far. Seeing well helps me

navigate all of life well.

Like a pair of glasses, the Bible has a powerful ability to bring all of life into a

coherent focus. The Bible brings coherence because it helps us make sense

of our lives as it informs all of life. C.S. Lewis, the brilliant Oxford professor who

converted from atheism to Christianity, described the clarity and coherence

of the Christian faith, which comes through biblical revelation to the follower

of Christ, saying, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen;

not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”3 Like a

pair of progressive lenses, the Bible helps us to see both near and far. While

embedded in time, the Bible is truly timeless. Though it emerges from a

particular historical cultural context, the Bible transcends history and culture. It

helps us to see the past in proper perspective, to live wisely in the present, and

to have buoyant hope for the future.

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The Four Chapters

Though the Bible can be hard to understand for all of us, its compelling

storyline can be grasped if we keep in mind its four-chapter development,

which was addressed in the first reading in this book. The Bible’s first “chapter”

begins with a perfect, integral creation. Its second chapter describes the

disintegration of this perfect creation, which we often refer to as “the Fall.” The

Bible’s third chapter describes God’s plan to redeem this fallen, disintegrated

creation in the person of Jesus. And its fourth and final chapter speaks of that

future day when God will fully and perfectly restore His once fallen creation.

These four chapters–Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation–present

a simple yet profound progression that helps us make sense of the Bible’s

overarching message and our own lives.

How we think about work, relationships, money, sex, beauty, suffering, and

a host of other realities in the human experience comes into focus when we

see all of life through the four-chapter story the Bible presents. This Story

helps us see what life ought to be (Creation), what life is (Fall), what life can be

(Redemption), and what life will be (New Creation).4

We must also keep in mind that the entire story of the Bible, from Genesis to

Revelation, points to Jesus as creator, redeemer, and restorer of all things.

Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformer of the 16th century, has been

cited as insightfully saying that the Bible is the manger in which our Lord Jesus

was laid.5 If we do not grasp the Christocentric nature of the Bible, we will not

be able to fully interpret the Bible nor will we be fully changed by the Bible.

More than anything else, the Bible points us to a person. It speaks of Jesus

and His saving work on our behalf. Jesus is the creator of the Story, and Jesus

steps into the Story. He is the hero of the Story and the focus of the Story. The

Story is all about Jesus, but it also includes us.


The Biggest Questions of Life

The Bible doesn’t answer or address every question we may ask or satisfy

every curiosity or doubt we may have. And the Bible may at times seem

difficult to understand or apply. But when we grasp its coherent storyline, we

begin to discover that it speaks compellingly to the biggest questions of life.

The Bible speaks with flawless consistency and seamless coherence regarding

questions of origin, destiny, suffering, evil, meaning, and purpose. Where did

we come from? What does it mean to be human? What is our purpose for

existence? Where are we going? How are we to understand beauty? What are

we to make of evil? How should we live? The revealed Word of God changes

how we think. It renews our minds. And it also changes how we love.

The Bible Changes How We Love

The Bible tells us that God is love and that those who love Him, love differently.

The Apostle John puts it this way, “Anyone who does not love does not know

God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8) God’s love is evident throughout

the entire four-chapter story of the Bible, yet it is supremely demonstrated

in Jesus coming to earth and dying on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for

our sin. John continues with this thought, “In this the love of God was made

manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might

live through him.” (1 John 4:9) The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “But God

demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ

died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NASB)

The Bible declares this good news gospel message that, when embraced

in repentance and faith, saves us from our sin and the holy wrath of God,

reconciling us to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:18) The power of the gospel transforms

us, and we become new creations in Christ. Paul says, “...if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

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When we embrace the gospel, we are given a new heart. (Ezekiel 36:26)

This new heart has the capacity to love rightly, and it responds rightly to the

transforming and gracious love of Christ extended to us. The Apostle John

puts it this way, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John. 4:19) Because of

the transforming power of the gospel at heart level, the Great Commandment

(Matthew 22:37-39) that Jesus gives us to love God and our neighbor is

not “the Great Set-Up.” In Christ, we are called and have the capacity to

increasingly love God and our neighbors as we ought to. The Bible not only

informs our minds as to what to believe, but also transforms our hearts in what

we should love. The truly tome life is one of properly ordered loves.

Rightly Ordered Loves

It was St. Augustine who reminded us of the vital importance of rightly ordered

loves. Augustine contended that the authenticity of our Christian faith is not

merely seen in what we believe, but in what we truly love. He described the

right ordering of loves this way:

But living a just and holy life requires one to be capable of an objective

and impartial evaluation of things: to love things, that is to say, in the

right order, so that you do not love what is not to be loved, or fail

to love what is to be loved, or have a greater love for what should

be loved less, or an equal love for things that should be loved less

or more, or a lesser or greater love for things that should be loved

equally.”6

One of St. Augustine’s reoccurring prayers, which resonates deeply with me,

was his heartfelt cry to God, “Set love in order in me.”7 The Bible not only

changes the very contours of our minds, it also changes the deepest affections

of our hearts—not only in what we love, but how we love.

As we immerse our hearts and minds in God’s Word, we grow in our love for

the Bible itself. The writer of Psalm 119 describes God’s written revelation as


something that is the joy of his heart, a treasure of treasures in which he finds

delight.8 In Psalm 19:10, the Psalmist describes God’s Word as being more

valuable than gold, more desirable than honey.

The Bible also nourishes our love for Christ. Jesus speaks of this synergy of

loving intimacy between love and obeying the Word. In John 14:21 we read,

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And

he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest

myself to him.” The more we learn from the Bible about who Jesus is and obey

what Jesus says, the more we grow in loving intimacy with God. After all, Holy

Scripture is God’s love letter to us. Larry Crabb rightly frames the Bible as a

love letter, saying, “The Bible is a love story that begins with divorce. Everything

from the third chapter of Genesis through the end of Revelation is the story

of a betrayed lover wooing us back into His arms so we can enjoy the love of

family forever.”9

In the age of emails, texts, and tweets, we don’t send as many handwritten

notes as we once did, but we do still treasure words of love expressed to us by

another. When my wife Liz and I were dating, our jobs kept us separated from

each other for an entire summer. Being away from Liz, whom I loved, made the

days pass slowly. One of the ways we kept in touch was by handwritten letters.

When I received a letter or card from Liz, I immediately and enthusiastically

opened it. I read it and reread it several times, letting each word sink deeper

and deeper into my heart. Liz’s letters to me enabled us to know each other

better and to grow closer to one another, even as we were apart. The letters

also fueled our anticipation for seeing one another face to face at summer’s

end. Each and every letter Liz wrote to me, I cherished.

When we realize the Bible is God’s love letter to us, we’ll want to know what it

says. A love letter is not meant to be put on the shelf and read sometime later.

It is to be opened and read and reread. At first, the Bible may seem unfamiliar

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and difficult to comprehend. This is normal. However, the more time we spend

reading and studying the Bible, the more we will find it transforming our minds

and hearts, and we will increasingly cherish each and every word.

As we study God’s Word, we will be empowered to love others at school, at

work, and in our homes. We will also grow in our love for Jesus. The more we

love Jesus, the more we will love what He loves. So, we will increasingly love,

cherish, and support our local church family, for the church is, after all, Christ’s

bride. The Bible not only changes how we think and how we love, it also

changes how we live.

The Bible Changes How We Live

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible shows us God’s design for human

flourishing. When it comes to mechanical things, I am greatly challenged. I

admire auto mechanics and computer technicians who understand how things

work and how to fix them when they don’t work. Yet even the most competent

of technicians, with years of experience, often needs to refer to the design

manual to know how a particular item has been designed to work. What is true

in regard to the things we make is also true of what God has made. As human

beings, we have been created and crafted by a brilliant God, who designed us

in His image. Being image-bearers of God, we have been made to reflect God

in all we do and to connect in relationships with God and with others. We have

been designed integrally to work, to love, and to live in harmony with nature

and within human community.

The Bible is the design manual God has given us to know how we ought to

live, both as individuals and as a society. The Bible not only helps us make

sense of things, it helps us to live well in all of life. When we learn God’s design

boundaries and apply the Bible’s guidance, we are given the wisdom needed

to flourish. The Psalmist describes God’s Word as “a lamp to my feet and a

light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) The Bible illuminates the way forward to


flourishing. On the other hand, when we ignore or violate God’s design, we

bear the impoverishing consequences, both as individuals and society.10

The Bible gives us essential moral knowledge. It has been said that the Ten

Commandments are not the “Ten Suggestions.” Holy Scripture emphasizes

the central thread of intimacy and relationships within the created order, and

provides the guidance and empowerment that make relationships thrive. The

Bible helps us to connect our Sunday worship with our Monday work, guiding

us to a comprehensive life of God-honoring worship in all we say and do.

(Colossians 3:23)

Apprenticeship with Jesus

In Matthew’s Gospel, we encounter the written word, showcasing Jesus the

living Word and Jesus’ Great Invitation to us to become His apprentices. We

are invited to learn from Jesus in all realms of human existence, increasingly

understanding how to live our lives if He were us. The Word, both written and

living, changes us in our apprenticeship to Jesus.

Jesus says to each of us: “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden,

and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for

I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

(Matthew 11:28-30 NASB)11

In the Gospels, we learn not only who Jesus is, what He did, and what He has

done for us, but we also learn from Him what the truly good life is and how to

live it. Dallas Willard rightly reminds us that Jesus is the most brilliant person

in any vocational field of endeavor, whether that is working on an assembly

line, running a company, teaching a class, raising children, or practicing law or

medicine.12 No matter what our vocational calling, no matter where we spend

the majority of our time each week, Jesus is the most brilliant and important life

coach. To not embrace the good news of the gospel, and to not learn from and

heed Jesus’ teaching on how to love, work, and rest, is the ultimate foolishness

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in life. And, of course, our learning from Jesus is not merely an individual

quest; it is a faith-community pursuit. This is why we study the Bible together

in Community Groups and together on Sundays. When Paul writes to the local

church at Colossae, “let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,” (Colossians

3:16 NASB) he is not primarily speaking about individual application, although

that is an important personal spiritual discipline. Rather, he is referring to local

church life, where fellow apprentices of Jesus learn to follow Jesus together.

A Trifecta of Transformation

While the Bible profoundly changes how we think, love, and live, we have

been given additional resources for life transformation. I call this a trifecta of

transformation. This trifecta is made up of Jesus, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, the incarnate, crucified, and risen Lord, is the living Word. The inspired

Bible is the written word, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training

in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The Holy Spirit is our Helper, the One who

is always with us, indwells us, transforms us, empowers us, and guides us.13

This trifecta of transformation finds its dynamic synergy in the context of the

local church community, which is the very household of God, and the body and

bride of Christ. We are not only called to Christ, we are called to His church.

Let us live out a gospel faith by taking the necessary steps of faith and

obedience to live a lifestyle where the word of Christ richly dwells within

us. Psalm 19 highlights the importance of the tome nature of God’s Word,

emphasizing how it changes us into tome people. In a poetic literary

crescendo, the Psalmist declares his complete trust in God. The Godward

tome life that he has embraced gives him security and confidence, because it

has changed the audience he now lives before—that is, the Audience of One.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)


Will you soak your life in the Word? Will you love the Word? Will you trust the

Word? Will you live the Word? Will you live before an Audience of One?

R E F L E C T I O N

Reflect on the following questions.

� What in Tom’s chapter surprised you? What puzzled you?

� Why do you think Augustine regularly prayed, “Set love in order in me.”

Why is it so important that we love the right things in the right order?

s e s s i o n 6


� Tom said that God speaking to us will change how we love, think, and live.

In what area do you feel you most need change—in what you love? In your

thought life? Or how you live? Why? How might reading or encountering the

Bible change you in that area?

N E X T S T E P S

� Pray. Read Psalm 19 slowly. Or recite it now that you have memorized it!

Once you have finished saying Psalm 19 out loud, spend time writing down

all the concerns of your heart, what give you anxiety or fear. When you

finish, pray Psalm 19 again in a spirit of thanks that God has spoken, and

therefore we can know Him and walk with Him through all our fears.

� Memorize Psalm 19:13-14.

Will you soak your life in the Word? Will you love the Word? Will you trust the

Word? Will you live the Word? Will you live before an Audience of One?

R E F L E C T I O N

Reflect on the following questions.

� What in Tom’s chapter surprised you? What puzzled you?

� Why do you think Augustine regularly prayed, “Set love in order in me.”

Why is it so important that we love the right things in the right order?


G R O U P G A T H E R I N G

Watch the video for Session 6.

s e s s i o n 6



As a group, discuss the following.

Love the Word. What particular portion of Scripture (book, passage, verse,

etc.) has had a significant impact on your life? Please share with the group and

elaborate on your experience.

Trust the Word. Do you think that people can really change? Explain your answer.

Live the Word. Where have you seen God’s Word lead to change in your own life?

Prayer. As you approach God in prayer, believe that God has spoken so that

you can change...and ask for it! Read aloud Psalm 19:14 from The Message

paraphrase:

These are the words in my mouth;

these are what I chew on and pray.

Accept them when I place them

on the morning altar,

O God, my Altar-Rock,

God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Notes

Session 1 - The Necessary Word (Psalm 19:1-6)

1 MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007. Third edition.

Session 2 - The Sure Word (Psalm 19:7)

1 Have you ever wondered why this collection of poems in Scripture is called Psalms? The word psalm comes

from the Greek word psalmoi, which is derived from a verb meaning, “to sing to the accompaniment of a harp.”

2 Koehler, Ludwig, Walter Baumgartner, and M. E. J. Richardson, eds. The Hebrew and Aramaic

Lexicon of the Old Testament. Accordance electronic edition, version 3.0. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

3 Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1-72, 117.

4 EFCA Statement of Faith, Article 2.

5 Rita Felski defines the “hermeneutics of suspicion,” a phrase coined by philosopher Paul Ricour,

as “...a distinctively modern style of interpretation that circumvents obvious or self-evident

meanings in order to draw out less visible and less flattering truths.” http://journal.media-

culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/431 ACCESSED Aug 9, 2016.

6 Some scholars in the 1970s and 1980s—most notably Jack Rogers and Donald McKim—attempted to argue

that the understandings of the inerrancy and authority of Scriptures articulated in evangelical statements

of faith (like that of the EFCA) were relatively late developments in church history. They argued that this

understanding was developed by B. B. Warfield and other scholars known as the “Princetonians” around

the turn of the 20th century at Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to Warfield, they argued, Christians

believed that the Scriptures were infallible only when speaking of matters of faith and salvation. However,

John D. Woodbridge, in Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal, showed that the

Rogers/McKim proposal was demonstrably false. While Warfield and the Princetonians did develop—in

response to challenges to the nature of the Scriptures—fresh, more precise vocabulary to articulate the

doctrines of inspiration, inerrancy, and authority, they were not innovating. Warfield and the Princetonians

were simply expressing, defending, and clarifying what Christians had always meant when they used

the language of infallibility. For some of the best and most recent scholarship on this and other topics

related to biblical authority, see The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, edited by D. A.

Carson, and also Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God by Timothy Ward.

7 Ward, Timothy. Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God,

48 (original emphasis). Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009.

8 DeYoung, Kevin. Taking God at His Word, 37. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

9 Ward, Timothy. Words of Life, 128.

10 Ward, Timothy. Words of Life, 135.

11 For specific responses to Ehrman’s work, see Peter J. Williams “Ehrman’s Equivocation and Inerrancy of

the Original Text” in The Enduring Authority of the Christians Scriptures; Peter J. Williams, “Review of

Bart Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus” found at http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2005/12/

review-of-bart-ehrman-misquoting-jesus_31.html; Nicholas Perrin, Lost in Transmission.

12 Ehrman, Bart. Misquoting Jesus, 7. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.

13 Keller, Tim. The Reason for God, 113-114. New York: Penguin Group, 2008.

Session 3 - Obey the Word (Psalm 19:8-9)

1 Lloyd-Jones, Sally. The Jesus Storybook Bible, 14. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.

2 Ferguson, Sinclair. The Whole Christ, 75. Wheaton: Crossway, 2016.

3 Ferguson, 13.

4 Ferguson, 140.

5 Ferguson, 82-83.

6 Hopper, Edward. “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me.” 1871.

Session 4 - The Sufficient Word (Psalm 19:10-11)

1 Jensen, Peter. The Revelation of God, 278-279. Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002.

2 Rippon, John. “How Firm a Foundation.” 1787.

Session 5 - The Book that Reads You (Psalm 19:12-13a)

1 Peterson, Eugene. Eat This Book, 6-7. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006.

Session 6 - The Word that Changes You (Psalm 19:13b-14)

1 Pascal, Blaise. Pensees. New York: Penguin, 1993.

2 Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of the Holy, 1. New York: HarperCollins, 1978.

3 Lewis, C.S. “Is Theology Poetry?” in They Asked for a Paper, 164-165. London: Geoffrey Bless, 1962.

4 Theologians sometimes refer to the fourth chapter of the four-chapter story as “Consummation.”

5 Luther, Martin. “Preface to the Old Testament,” in Luther’s Works, vol. 35, ed. E. Theodore Bachmann, 235-36. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1960.

6 Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, I.27-28.

7 Augustine, City of God, XV.22.

8 See this repeated refrain in Psalm 119. For example, verse 14, “In the way of your testimonies I delight as

much as in all riches.” Or verse 24, “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.”

Or verse 111, “Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.”

9 Crabb, Larry. 66 Love Letters, xviii. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.

Larry also makes this insightful point: “God had already revealed himself to me in His son, and had

written a whole book to introduce his son to me. And he was now actively speaking to me in the Bible.

That’s why Christians everywhere for a long time have referred to the Bible as the Word of

God—the speech of God, the revelation of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.” (p. xv)

10 The book of Judges captures the grim realities that come when individuals, as well as

societies, ignore God’s design for human flourishing. A repeated phrase in the book of Judges

is, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The result is disastrous disorder.

11 Matthew 11:28-30 is called the “Great Invitation.”

12 See, Willard, Dallas. The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship.

Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

In The Great Omission, Willard laments that “the idea that Jesus is master of fields such as algebra,

economics, business administration, or French literature” is not obvious to many Christians. For Willard,

it is profoundly unsettling that Jesus has been “automatically disassociated from brilliance of intellectual

capacity.” Instead, Willard contends, we must recognize that Jesus is “the smartest person

who ever lived, bringing us the best information on the most important subjects.” (p. 19)

13 John 14:26. See also John 16:13.

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