I Will Be…A Diligent Student of the Word
Introduction:
We in all aspects of our Christian walk need to strive to do more at all times for the Lord and for the up building of His Kingdom. If you are like me, then there are some areas in life where we can improve and do better, there are some things you may need to remove from your life or some things that you may need to make a part of your life. I pray though we never get to the place in life where we stop trying our best and that we never are content with where we are, but I pray that we are always striving to do more and be more for the Lord each day.
There has been no book more feared, more controversial or more opposed than the Bible.
Just like with prayer, there is no place in Scripture that tells us how much and how often we should read our Bibles.
One survey by the Barna Research Group found that among those claiming to be Christians only 18 percept, that’s less than two out of every ten read the Bible every day. Worse than that 23 percent, nearly one out of four say they never read the Word of God.
If your growth in godliness were measured by the amount of your Bible intake, what would be the result? For too long people in the church have been content with Biblical illiteracy. If there were to be an exam that measured our Biblical knowledge than perhaps many of us would fail. I understand that knowledge is meaningless without application, but even Paul prayed that the Christians might grow in their knowledge and dept of insight. I have heard many people say that people in the churches today are more ignorant of the Bible than ever before. Here we have the Bible in our possession and many of us fail to utilize the greatest tool we have. For years the Bible remained chained to the pulpits of the church and the people were taught a lie that they could not read the Bible or study it themselves because they were not a part of the “clergy”, so for years people in churches blindly accepted what was taught without any ability to study or read for themselves the Living Word of God. Now, we have the Bible available to us, we have the chance to study and learn, we have the duty to rightly divide the Word, most likely many of us have numerous Bibles in our homes, but I hope they are not collecting dust. This Word came to us at a great cost. Many people lost their lives in the preservation of that Word, and now many of us refuse to read it or study it.
The Scriptures liken our growth process in Christ to that of the way that we as people grow up physically. In Christ we start out as babes, needing the nourishment of milk. The reason a newborn baby does not eat solid food is not simply because they cannot chew it, but also because they cannot digest it. In the same way a babe in Christ may not be able to digest some spiritual solid food, it will be difficult to understand and digest, but as we grow we better be on solid food and off of the milk.
When Hannah was on all her crazy baby foods I tried some of them on a dare from Stephanie. Some of them were not too bad, but some were out right awful. Staying on spiritual food is like eating that nasty baby food for your whole life, when you could be eating a big fat juicy steak. People have been content on the spiritual milk and do not strive for the solid food.
Babies in third world countries that are starving actually begin to loose their appetites due to malnourishment. A lack of appetite indicates a serious illness. A lot of times when relief workers will go over to these places and bring food to those that are starving and malnourished they have to force the people because they have lost their appetites.
There are many Christians that are seriously spiritually malnourished and they have lost their appetites for the Word of God. The Bible is our source of spiritual nourishment. We cannot expect to grow and stay strong in our faith apart from a regular diet of the Word of God. We as a church obviously cannot force-feed you, but we want to inspire a desire within you to desire and crave the word of God.
Why some people do not become students of the Word of God…
1. Some See the Bible As Just Another Book
Some people do not become diligent students of the Word because to them the Bible is just another book. Perhaps some of the people that think like this have read the Bible, but see no importance in keeping on reading the Bible. It is a book of stories to them that has no real meaning or application. Therefore, naturally the people that think like that will not be students of the Word and will never become more than an occasional Bible reader.
2. Some Fear Not Being Able To Understand
Many people do not dive in and become students of the Word because they are afraid of being unable to understand. There are several problems with this philosophy. First, you will never be able to understand something you do not seek to understand. Secondly, this seems more an excuse to not study than it is a reason why one doesn’t. If you have a hard time understanding, ask questions of someone more knowledgeable than you. Also, no one person understands everything that is in the Bible, but we study and learn more as we grow in Christ.
3. Some Fail To See The Importance of Study
Some people do not study the Bible because they do not see the importance of study. They do not understand the importance that a regular intake of the Word of God has upon us. They do not see it as a necessity, but rather as an option, an option they fail to exercise very often. Naturally, if you do not see something as a priority or an importance you are not going to do it. I will warn there is a grave danger of not grasping the importance of the study of God’s Word.
4. Some Are Simply Complacent or Apathetic
Some people, and most people within the church that are not real Bible students fit more into this category than the others. There is no other reason for some people’s lack of concern for personal study than complacency and apathy. In other words laziness and a lack of caring. I believe many people fail to study because they really do not care to study. I know they may talk a good talk, but they fail to really read and seek to understand and apply God’s Word to their lives.
I want to ask you this morning, what is the amount of your Bible intake? Are you a diligent student of the Word of God? I hope that this week you will have more intake from the Word of God than just what we read here together at church. For many people this is all of the Bible they will come in contact with all week and they think it is sufficient. What would you think if I told you that every week for the rest of your life you could only eat on one day a week? Of course I would allow you to eat as much as you want that day, but you could eat no other day except for one? Do you think that day would fill you for the whole week and provide you with the energy to make it through the week, every week for the rest of your life? I doubt it! Then why do some do it with God’s Word? Do you desire solid food or spiritual milk? Does it excite you to talk about and to learn more of the Word of God? Perhaps those questions bring about answers that you do not want to hear about yourselves. Perhaps they reveal that you may not be as strong and devoted as you thought you were. I do not know how much time and energy you put into your Bible study time throughout the week, but no matter what that time may be, I want to challenge you to take it up a step. If you are not studying the Bible daily, I challenge you to find a time to open up the Word of God and study it. If you are reading every day, I challenge you to do a little more, find a little more time. We have such busy lives, and I understand it may be hard to find that time, but it is necessary for good spiritual health. It may require time and even sacrificing some things, but it is worthwhile. I have never heard someone at the end of their life complain that they spent way too much time seeking to read, understand and apply the Bible to their lives. It is always the opposite. You can never take in too much Bible.
If we were to dig into every reason why it is beneficial to be a diligent student of the Word then we would be here for a long time.
Text: Hebrews 5:11-6:3
I. It Is Necessary For Sound Teaching
The Bible is absolutely necessary to ensure sound teaching and truth. There is absolutely no Truth, with a capital “t” apart from the Word of God. There is absolutely no real direction apart from the Word of God. We must acknowledge that throughout history many people have abused, misinterpreted, and inaccurately taught the Word of God.
II Timothy 4:3-4
The reason for the ease of this and for the vast following many false teachers receive is because people fail to see the Bible as their authority.
A New York enthusiast had a good collection of paintings, one of them being the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which hung over his writing desk.
For a long time he noticed that it persisted in hanging crooked despite the fact that he straightened it every morning. At last he asked the housekeeper if she was responsible for its lopsided position each morning that he came to his office.
"Why, yes," she said, "I have to hang it crooked to make the tower hang straight."
Does that sound strange? That is exactly how a lot of people read the Bible. Many people twist the Word of God in order to justify their own opinions or actions, or doctrine to make them all appear right. Many people take their beliefs and try to conform the Bible to them, but we need to conform our beliefs to the Bible’s teaching.
I really believe if people would go to the Bible than many issues would be settled. The Word is our source of Truth. Many people have been lead astray by trusting in false teachers and blindly accepting their words as the gospel truth. So, we acknowledge that there is much false teaching out there, and we need to be on our guard. We need to be like the Christians in the city of Berea, whom Paul encountered, Acts 17 tells us; they studied the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was telling them was true. I hope that you do that anytime you hear someone and you do not blindly accept someone’s teaching because they have a position, a title, or a following. We need to learn to be able to distinguish the truth from lies, and in order to do that we must be diligent students of the Word.
There has been a large problem in many circles with counterfeit money. Technology has advanced so far, that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish a fake from the real thing. Those that are experts though can usually point out a fake quickly. You would think they would learn to do it by learning what the fakes look like, but that is not what they do. They do it by studying the real bills. They know the real bills so well that a fake is obvious to them.
That needs to be what we are like. We need to learn and study the Truth so well that the fakes and false teaching are obvious to us. The problem is illiteracy in the Bible leads to people being lead astray.
Some may think that I am making a big deal about nothing. Some would say that it does not matter what our doctrine is, but I would beg to differ. The word “doctrine” means “teaching” and if we say “Christian doctrine” is not important than we are saying Christ’s teaching in unimportant. Paul warned Timothy, to watch his life and his doctrine closely. There are countless warnings about guarding against false doctrines. Also, what we believe impacts the way we live. You show me what you believe and I will show you why you acts the way you do. You show me how you act and I will show you what you believe. What we believe really does matter, and we all have a responsibility to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
Ephesians 4:14
God’s Word is the way we avoid being lead astray and avoid be carried off by false teaching. We all want the Truth, but in order to know the Truth we must be diligent students of the Word of God.
II. It Is Necessary For Standing Strong
a. Standing Strong Against Temptations
People after big hurricanes read and reread their insurance policies to see if they are covered and to see what help they can get. They want to know if their homes were covered if the things inside their homes were covered, if their hotel stays were covered. They do that to make sure that they do not fail to claim something that the insurance would pay, they don’t want to miss out on something
How much more vital is the word of God though? It is through the Word of God that we see and can claim promises that God offers us, it is in the Word of God that we read what God expects of us, yet so many people are living their lives based on how they feel God is and will be at judgment. Sadly, many of those thoughts are based on preconceived ideas rather than the Truth of the Word of God. Did you notice the language of our text? It speaks of those who have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. In other words, we naturally may not have a 100% accurate idea of what right from wrong is, we have to train ourselves to learn right from wrong. How do we train ourselves? We train ourselves by the study of the Word of God which tells us what God’s standard is and it teaches us right from wrong.
The Bible is essential to standing strong against temptations that we face. The Psalmist spoke of the importance of the Bible in standing strong against temptations, by saying; I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you. Other places in Scripture liken the Word of God to a sword, which is our weapon against the Devil and His attacks. We better be trained in using the Sword though. Even Jesus as he was tempted in Matthew 4 by the Devil, he was able to overcome by using the Word of God to fend off the Devil’s attacks. You cannot stand strong against the temptations you face apart from a regular diet of the Word of God, which is our source of strength.
b. Standing Strong Against Problems
Ronald Reagan said, “Within the covers of one single book, the Bible, are all the answers to all the problems that face us today--if only we would read and believe.”
Can you imagine the problems we and the rest of the world would be sparred from if only we would follow God’s commands and God’s principles as outlined in His Word? We would be saved many mistakes, many heartaches, many hurt relationships, many financial problems, and many difficult times in life. Not all of life’s problems are avoidable, but I do believe studying and knowing what God has to say could avoid many
III. It Is Necessary For A Growing Faith
A faith that is not growing is dying. The reason many people die spiritually is because of a lack of nourishment, and that nourishment comes from the Word of God. In the world today many preachers refuse not only to preach the Truth, but the refuse to preach anything with any real sustenance. The result may be increases in numbers, but absolutely no spiritual depth. Those teachers forget what Paul said…
Romans 10:17
There is a grave danger in not taking in the Bible. The danger is a lack of spiritual growth.
Have you ever been invited to someone’s house for what you expected to be a dinner, therefore you come hungry and expecting to eat a meal, only to find nothing but finger foods are there. If that has happened you usually end up stopping for something else on the way home.
For many people it is like that at church, they go to church and are not given a real meal, but only finger foods, and they leave hungry and miserable. The Word of God is necessary for our own spiritual growth.
I Peter 2:2
Some Tips…
1. Find a Regular Time and Regular Place (daily)
We are creatures of habit; it may help you to have a habit for how you spend your time in the Word. Find a regular time and a regular place, so that you will always know that is your time. For example, if you are a night owl, and you want to study before bed, at 10:00, that time will always be your Bible study time, and you will always remember that so that you do not just forget to do it.
2. Find a Place Free From Distractions
In other words, cut off the television; find a quiet room away from all people, even the spouse and kids if that applies. Mark out a time and make that God’s time. That may be a good time to incorporate your prayer time as well.
3. Find a way that helps you learn and study (write questions, underline, highlight, etc)
That way may be different from someone else, the important thing is that you learn how you learn and what works best for you and you do that in your Bible study.
