Bible - Why Bother? #1 Series

As I reflect on my journey of becoming a Christian, my story would not be complete if I did not share a funny story which came during the initial phase of coming back into community. It was about 15 years ago. We had just come back to church and my wife decided to write on one of the connect cards, would like to meet with the pastor. I was so mad at her for this. But she set up the time after Sunday worship the next week for Pastor Scott to come over to the house. I think I was particularly angry because it would interrupt my schedule of watching stuff on TV for having to clean the house and find that Bible. I’ll never forget digging through a bunch of old boxes trying to find my catholic bible and placing it on the coffee table after dusting it off. We had to make the right impression after all? I had no idea what was in that book but I wanted him to think I did. I believe I was the typical person who called themselves a Christian. I knew the bible was important but I never picked it up. It was always to confusing.

As a result , we begin a new series for the month of June called the “The Bible, why bother?” Over the course of the next four weeks, we will be discussing what is the benefit God’s word in our lives, what we mean when we say the “word of God”, what is revealed about God in his story and finally, who wrote the Bible?

The larger question which stems from that experience for me is, Was I Christian, even if I never read the bible? The answer of course is, Yes. We only need believe in Jesus Christ and repent of our sins. However, why would you want to stop there? After all, if you learned enough to commit your life to Jesus, wouldn’t you want to know Him more? The bible helps us to do that. In fact, its use does even more than just learn about His character. It actually blesses us in some very distinct ways.

To illustrate a point about the power of scripture, we read Psalm one together. If you are not familiar with the Psalm or the Psalms, let me give you a brief background. The psalms were written in five different sections over the course of some 20 years almost 1400 years before Christ coming. Many were written by King David, sons of Korah (musicians in the temple), Asaph, King Solomon, Ethan and Moses. All of the psalms are written for use in worship. While the Hebrew title for the book is “the book of praise,” They come in varying forms, such as laments (protests against God), Messianic (prophesy pointing towards the coming of Christ), praise psalms, royal psalms, psalms of affirmation, Penitential psalms, and evens psalms which call down God’s wrath on one’s enemy. Psalm one is a wisdom psalm. It is meant to focus the reader on God’s word, God’s blessing and ultimately God’s judgment. Most wisdom psalms force the reader to wrestle with the problem of evil in the world and why God permits prosperity of the wicked that reject him.

As we dive into psalm one, we are immediately struck at the contrasts being represented between those who are following God and those who are not. We should also see the importance of God’s word (law) in verse 2 and its ability to provide blessings for the believer. God wants to bless His believers. Throughout the scriptures, we are told of God’s love. Revelation 1:3 echoes the same sentiment: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. God wants to bless us and the primary way to do that is through His Word. As we read it, the scriptures in the Old and New Testaments bless us in seven distinct ways.

The first is in the way it amplifies the voice of God by revealing God’s call to us to something bigger, more beautiful and much more satisfying than we normally experience. NT Wright in his book Simply Christian observes that there are four areas which God’s voice amplifies what is truly important in our hearts: our longing for justice, the quest for spirituality, the hunger for relationships and the delight in beauty.

The second is blessing of the Bible comes in the way it clarifies the voice of God. As Christians, we often have what I call “charism.” This is the unique moment in which God’s grace becomes apparent and we often find hard to describe. The bible provides us a clarifying perspective on what has happened, what God might be up to and how best to move ahead. A true charism, a God experience, is always in line with what God has already done in the past and recorded in the scriptures