Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV) - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
In
his first inaugural address President Franklin Delano Roosevelt admitted
that the United States of America had lost its way. "We don't know
where we are going," he said, "but we are on our way." Roosevelt was
right. We didn't know where we were going. Oscar Handlin reached the
same conclusion in an article he wrote called The Unmarked Way. “At
some point, midway into the twentieth century, Europeans and Americans
discovered that they had lost all sense of direction. Formerly, familiar
markers along the way had guided their personal and social lives from
birth to maturity to death. Now, disoriented, they no longer trusted the
guideposts and groped in bewilderment toward an unimagined destination.
Wandering in the dark, men and women in all Western societies,
stumbling blindly along, strained unavailingly for glimpses of
recognizable landmarks.”
Jeremiah could have said the same
thing about his times. People had lost all sense of direction. They were
disoriented. They groped in bewilderment and wandered in the dark. They
needed a landmark. So Jeremiah gave them one: "Stand at the crossroads
and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk
in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16
Have you endured restless nights and pressing days while standing at the
crossroads wondering which way to turn? The first thing to do is
recognize the crossroads for what it is. Look around; get your bearings.
You have come to a fork in the road. The people of God often find
themselves at the crossroads. The children of Israel were at a
crossroads when they gathered at Shechem. Joshua, their general, was
about to die, so he said: "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all
faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the
River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will
serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and
my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:14-15
The
people of God were at a crossroads when Elijah confronted the prophets
of Baal on Mount Carmel. It was the same crossroads, offering the same
two choices—God's way or the highway. Elijah said, "How long will you
waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal
is God, follow him" 1 Kings 18:21.
Western civilization now
stands at the crossroads. We have started down the road to destruction,
perhaps, but the way of life still stretches out before us. The ethical
dilemmas we face show that we are at the crossroads. Will we cherish the
lives of the innocent, or will we permit abortion on demand? Will we
protect the lives of the defenseless, or will we allow involuntary
euthanasia? Will we preserve the sanctity of marriage, or will we
tolerate no-fault divorce and homosexual unions? Will we love the true
and the beautiful, or will we gaze upon images of sex and violence?
These are the questions a culture faces at the crossroads.
The
church today is also standing at the crossroads. Will we glorify God in
our worship, or will we entertain ourselves? Will we bear witness to the
Law of God and the grace of the gospel, or will we tone down our
message so as not to offend anyone? Will we expound the eternal Word of
God, or will we seek some new revelation? Will we defend the doctrine of
justification by faith alone, or will we add works to grace? These are
the questions a church faces when it stands at the crossroads.
Perhaps you are at a personal crossroads. Some Christians wonder what
God wants them to do with their lives. Others contemplate a change of
career, the pursuit of a new educational opportunity, the possibility of
marriage, or a change of ministry within the church. Still others
wrestle with deep spiritual questions, wondering who Jesus Christ is or
if the Bible is really true.
The thing to do at such times is
to recognize that you are standing at the crossroads. Two roads stretch
before you. You can go in only one of two directions. Either you can
keep going the way you have been going, or you can go down a different
road altogether. YOUR DESTINY DEPENDS UPON WHICH ROAD YOU TAKE.
When a nation, a church, or an individual comes to a crossroads, it
helps to have good road signs, good directions, or a good map. Jeremiah
knew what kind of directions to get: "Ask for the ancient paths," he
said. "Ask where the good way is" Jeremiah 6:16 In a paved society it
is hard to understand what Jeremiah means. For automobiles, newly paved
roads are best, not old roads full of potholes. But in Jeremiah's day
people liked to travel on ancient pathways. Pedestrians wanted to follow
a well-established route. The worn way is the safe way. In the
wilderness it is best to walk on a well-beaten path that has been
trampled by many feet.
When Jeremiah asked for the ancient
paths, he did not mean to suggest living in the past. He was not
nostalgic. He did not propose "that old-time religion." There is too
much talk these days about the alleged Christian faith of the Founding
Fathers of America. Some Christians pine away for some golden age of the
historical church. But the Bible counsels against longing for the good
old days. The philosopher warns, "Do not say, 'Why were the old days
better than these?” Eccles. 7:10. Jeremiah would have agreed with the
philosopher. He did not tell God's people to live in the past. Instead,
he tells us to walk, here and now, according to the Word of God. The
ancient path is the biblical path. The good way is the way marked out in
the Scriptures. According to God himself, the problem with the people
of Jerusalem was that "they have not listened to my words and have
rejected my law" Jeremiah 6:19. In other words, they had made a bad
choice back at the crossroads. And the reason they made a bad choice was
that they rejected God's Word.
The people of God did exactly
the opposite of what Psalm 119 recommends. It is all about walking in
the ancient way of God's Word. It starts out like this: "Blessed are
they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the
LORD". Staying on track in life means going down the biblical path. The
psalmist loved, read, meditated on, and prayed through God's Word. As
he did all those things, he discovered that the Bible is like a smooth
pathway for a difficult journey. The psalmist often compares the Word
of God to a pathway: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have
set my heart free" Psalm 119:32 "Direct me in the path of your
commands, for there I find delight" Psalm 119:35. "I have considered my
ways and have turned my steps to your statutes"Psalm 119:59. "I gain
understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path"
Psalm 119:104. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path"
Psalm 119:105. "Direct my footsteps according to your word" Psalm
119:133. Even in the very last verse of the psalm, when the psalmist
confesses that he has strayed like a lost sheep, the only reason he
knows he has gone down the wrong road is that he has not forgotten God's
commands.
The ancient path, the good way, is the Bible.
Jeremiah's advice for people at the crossroads was to walk in the
ancient path of biblical faith. There is another way to interpret the
ancient path and the good way. Jeremiah may have been speaking, not only
about the Bible, but also about sound theology in the history of the
church. Other Christians have walked down the ancient path of the Bible
before us, and they can show us the way. In today’s world of tweets and
posts from Christian celebrities that feed us in 160 characters or less
we are living on milk instead of meat.
Christians can learn
from the past without living in the past. It is possible to trace a
straight pathway from the prophets and apostles to Augustine of Hippo,
to Martin Luther, to Calvin and Wesley , to the Puritans, to the
defenders of evangelical faith in modern times. These are the
theologians of the church who brought themselves under the authority of
God's Word and testified to the sovereignty of God's grace in salvation.
They maintained the glory of God as their chief end, the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments as their only authority, and the
righteousness of Christ received by faith as their only hope. Anyone who
follows them as they follow Scripture has found the good way.
Jesus said, "No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says,
'The old is better'" Luke 5:39. For novelty, go to the church that
follows the latest fad. But novelty is the enemy of orthodoxy. It is
much better to go where the eternal Word of God is faithfully preached
and freshly applied to contemporary culture and the living church. The
ancient path, the good way, is the teaching of Scripture. It is orthodox
theology but it is also Jesus Christ. Those who seek the ancient path
and the good way are seeking for Jesus Christ.
In John 14:1
Jesus told his disciples he was going to his Father's house to prepare a
place for them . He promised he would come back to take them there. He
also told them they knew the pathway to the place where he was going.
But the disciples were confused. They were not quite sure what Jesus was
talking about. They didn't know the way. They could sense they were
standing at a crossroads, however, and they knew they needed better
directions. "Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we don't know where you are
going, so how can we know the way?' Jesus answered, 'I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'"
John 14:5
Jesus Christ is the way. He is the ancient way and
the good way. And he is the only way. Jesus is the only way to God, the
only way to salvation, and the only way to eternal life. Jesus Christ
is also the peaceful way. In our Scripture today Jesus said: "Come to
me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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" . Those who walk in the ancient
path and the good way find rest for their souls, which is exactly what
people find when they come to Jesus Christ. He is the ancient, good,
restful, and peaceful way. In Christ there is rest for the soul.
If you are standing at a crossroads—culturally, ecclesiastically, or
personally—what you need is biblical teaching, sound theology, and a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
