I sense something deceptively sneaky is going on. I can smell a rat, a thief, and a plunderer is in the midst of us as the Western Christian Church. It’s hardly done by anyone on purpose, almost never maliciously, but leaves a dastardly effect, and a terrible thievery.

The Power of Discovery
All of us love the joy of discovery, the process of searching something out for ourselves and enjoying the richness of the revelation it brings to our inner man. To be ignited with passion to search out a question, mystery, definition, or insight for ourselves - whether or not its a deep revelation of Jesus or an everyday curiosity. We want to be fascinated!

Case in point, millions of people all around the world (including me!) have lined up at their local theatre to see one of about 6 tri-quels that have come out this summer. Hollywood is banking off of the God-given desire within each of us to discover. What is going to happen to Jason Bourne? Will Spiderman keep Mary Jane? Danny Ocean, and Jack Sparrow! The list goes on.

God-Given Desires
Our first hurdle to tackle as Western Christians is to realize God Himself is the author of this desire-for-quest within us. It’s a God-given longing, one that can’t be repented away or killed off. Sure, we must purify our hunger for discovery, especially as there is no greater, more satisfying treasure hunt than that for the knowledge of God and His eternal ways. But, it isn’t going to go away on its’ own - unless some one comes along and steals it right under our noses!

Since God created every man and woman with a longing to discover, it is therefore true that He desires each man and woman to discover things for themselves. Proverbs clearly says that “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out.” (Prov. 25:2) Jesus teaching that we should “Ask, seek, and knock” on the Sermon on the Mount shows us the progressive degrees He desires us to take to keep pressing in to “diligently seek Him”, something He greatly rewards (Heb. 11:6).

Hidden Treasures
Colossians 2:3 says something incredible for the “great discoverer” within all of us. It says “In Him (Jesus Christ) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” All of the richest treasures, that which we are to “store up for ourselves in heaven”, are found in searching out the depths of the God-man Jesus Christ. Seeking Him, knowing Him, and asking Him questions about who He is and His ways - these things ARE our very inheritance! That is, the inheritance of those who diligently seek Him as David did in Psalm 24.

David, the king of Israel, and the “man after God’s own heart” - didn’t hesitate to ask God seemingly obvious questions. He asks “Who is this King of Glory”? several times in Psalm 24. He didn’t allow his fear of man to keep Him from letting this heart cry come out, nor did he think that God only honored those who “knew the answers backwards and forwards”. In fact, he believed the very opposite, that God was looking for those whose deep cried out to God’s deep saying “Who are you? I know you, but I don’t know you! I want to know you.”

This deep desire for true spiritual knowledge, not a heady-academic understanding, but an intimate friendship with the God who is love - this is what Jesus called “eternal life” in John 17:3. And it is this knowledge, the personal discovery of the things of God that is being stolen away!

Grand Theft

In Luke 11, Jesus is asked to join a dinner-party of Pharisees and teachers of the law. Little did they know what they were getting themselves into! From what the passage speaks, Jesus spent much of the time rebuking them for their pride, hypocritical nature, and inner wickedness. But there was one final rebuke that Jesus laid against them that grabs at the crux of what I’m saying here - “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves and you hindered those who were entering.” Luke 11:52

Jesus claimed that a terrible theivery was occuring in His day, one that kept people from entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. What a terrible theivery! Even worse, it was done by those teaching “the law of God”! How was it happening? They took away what Jesus calls the “Key of Knowledge”. Keys are used to unlock doors, or to provide personal access for someone into someplace special. Jesus said the key was knowledge, a living knowledge of Him and His ways. This key was meant to be given by the people teaching the law of God, as Jesus rebuked them for withholding this key from the people.

Therefore, we can see that the Key of knowledge, that permits one to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, is provided in the teaching of the Word, or law, of God. However, it is also clear that the Word can be taught in a way that removes or steals this key of knowledge. John Wesley commentates on this verse: “Ye have obscured and destroyed the knowledge of the Messiah, which is the key of both the present and the future kingdom of heaven; the kingdom of grace and glory”. This points to the very crux of the issue.

The Law of God —> Always Pointing to Christ

When the Bible is taught, is it centered on knowing and understanding the person and work of Christ? The Bible is clear that Jesus Himself is the Living Word of God (John 1:1) and that the written word of the Law, Prophets, and Writings are summed up in Christ. He is the point! He is the reason! He is the revelation, and He is the teaching!

If we teach the Word of God without teaching the Living Word of God, we are stealing the key of knowledge away from the people.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and teachers again in John 5:37-39 - “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have life, and it is they who bear witness of me! Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” There are many reflections from this verse, but it is clear that the teachers of the law didn’t go “far enough” in their teaching to come to that which gives life, namely the teaching of Christ, nor did they themselves approach the person of Jesus in their searching of the Word of God.

Again, I’m sensing a problem in our Western Christianity, one that heaps up books and teachings and seminars and conferences, doctrines and missiologies, church structures and growth-patterns, cycles and programs, approaches and mindsets! Where is the person of Christ!? Who is leading people into the knowledge of God by revealing Christ through the Scriptures!?

Our studies, theology, and church life are bankrupt and vanity without the Living Word of Christ. If we have not Him, what do we have? And if we teach the Word of God without the Living Word shining through, what do we teach? We teach a form of the law, but deny the very power thereof. Another way to look at it - are people entering the Kingdom of Heaven? Do people even know that heaven is opening and coming down to earth (Rev. 21, Luke 11:3)? Do we teach “the gospel of the kingdom” which must be preached to all nations (Matt. 24:14) and scatter “the word of the Kingdom” as a farmer scatters seed (John 4). If they are entering in by revelation and understanding, then they are because the “key of knowledge” has opened the “door of eternity” into the Living Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glory!

Blessed be His name! Because in these last days, He has seen fit to raise up shepherds after His own heart, who will lead His people on the living knowledge of God (Jer. 3:15) Those who will feed His sheep on His heart and His ways, and the understanding of His love, kingdom, and authority. He is raising up a company of David’s and John the Baptists’ to rejoice at the sound of the Bridegroom and prepare the way for His return!

No more stealing of the key of knowledge! “Let not the wise man boast in His wisdom, nor the mighty man in His strength, nor the rich man in His riches, but let Him who boasts boast in this, that He knows and understands Me says the Lord, who practices steadfast love, righteousness, and justice in the earth. For in these I delight!” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)