Back when I was a young sailor, I came back home on Christmas leave. My sister asked me to take her to get some last minute Christmas gifts and I said OK. So when we got into the car, my sister told me that she was going to invite a friend, Sofi, to come along with us. Well – let me tell you – I still don’t know if my sister and Sofi had anything planned, but after that day, Sofi and I were on the fast-track to a wedding. But we had a bit of an obstacle – I was still in the Navy and around January 2nd or 3rd I had to return to California, where I was stationed.
So over the course of the next several months, we corresponded by mail. Remember, back then there was no email. There were no text messages. It was just the US Postal service. Telephone service was expensive! So we sent letters to each other … many, many letters! [pick up letter scrapbook] These are the letters that I sent to Sofi between January and July of 1975. Sometimes I’d write two or three letters a day and I’d get from Sofi two three letters each day. It was absolutely wonderful to get the letters from Sofi. Sometimes she would put a drop of perfume on the letter and then write SWAK on the back flap. The guy that worked in the mailroom and ask, “Hey, how do you do it man?”
But I loved to get letters from Sofi. I’d read them over and over again. We fell in love through the letters that we sent to each other. Many of the things that I knew about Sofi, I learned from letters that I got from her. I’d read them over and over again. I’d read the letters when I woke up, on breaks and before I went to bed. It’d take them to the mess hall – the cafeteria – and read them there. Why? – because I was vitally interested in falling in love with this little lady named Sofi!
Well, listen friends, the Bible is God’s love letter to us! Here, we see God’s heart more clearly than anywhere else. We see the depth of his love and his care and his mercy. So, listen, I just want to encourage you to fall in love with God by spending time with God’s incredible love letter, the Bible.
We have some pretty good examples of why regular Bible reading is important. Martin Luther said, “For some years now, I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant.” The last thing that brother Martin wrote was on a slip of paper the day before he died: What was on the paper? - Words of praise for the Bible and an appeal to read it with a humble spirit.
Why do you suppose that Luther love the Bible so much? Here are a few reasons: When Luther had questions or issues that troubled him, he came to the Bible expecting to find an answer. Luther delighted in the joy of discovery. He said, “For twenty-eight years, since I became a doctor, I have now constantly read and preached the Bible; and yet I have not exhausted it but find something new in it every day.” Ultimately, though, Martin Luther loved the Bible because it was there that he had found Jesus Christ.
So listen, let’s take a bit of time to look at the kind of things that God says about his Word – his love letter to us: In Psalm 119.105: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. When do we need a lamp or a light? When it’s dark! And friends, when the darkness comes around us – when we don’t see which way we should go – God’s love letter is there to show us the way.
In Isaiah 40.8, the prophet writes: The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever. In this world of instantly disposable and immediately obsolescence, we need something that is a sure thing; something on which we can pin our hopes and on which we can count. God’s Word will never pass away.
Isaiah also writes (55.10-11): As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my Word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. God’s Word has efficacy. That means that it will make a difference by doing what God intends to do with it. We saw how He made the heavens and the earth with it. He will also send his Word to penetrate into our hearts and build his Kingdom there!
Jesus also assures us that even though the world around us is crumbling and it seems as if the entre world is coming to an end, the Word of God will prevail. Matthew 24.35: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
God’s Word is can help us to understand our hearts and our inclinations and our understandings. The writer of Hebrews (4.12) says: For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Sometimes, it seems that the words in Scripture were written just for me – just for that moment in my life when the Word came to allow me to see God’s will and desire in my life.
But most importantly, God’s Word points us to the love of God – to the Cross – to our salvation, Christ Jesus. Saint Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3.15: …You have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
There was a time when the Bible was simply not available to the people of the Church. In fact, many pastors did not have access to God’s Word. One of the incredible tasks that Martin Luther took on was to translate the Bible into the language of the people. But it wasn’t an easy thing to do and putting God’s Word into the hands of the people was considered quite revolutionary. Let’s take a moment to watch this video clip from the movie, Luther. In this scene, Martin Luther brings a gift to his protector, Prince Frederick the Wise, in gratitude for the risks and challenges that Frederick was willing to go through to insure that the Gospel had a chance. [show chapter 17]
Friends, the Bible has come to us at great cost. Not only Luther, but other reformers risked life and limb to bring to us God’s love letter. Today, we can receive God’s Word in so many different ways. We are blessed beyond so many, many of God’s people throughout the ages! It is almost amazing if we don’t make time to engage God through his Word!
Question is, how do we engage God’s Word? What is the best way to actually read God’s Word and to learn to love it? Here’s the number one recommendation that I can give to you: make time to read your Bible! Be consistent. Do this whenever you can dedicate 10 or 15 minutes every day. How about in the morning with your coffee? Or at noon with your lunch. Maybe for you, in the evening, just before turning in will work best. But the bottom line is that we need to devote time consistently!
Next, find a good study Bible that is in a translation that is easy to read. Some people just love the King James Bible. They love the poetic nature of the reading and they have already spent time memorizing its passages. Some people love the very readable translations like the paraphrases The Message or The Living Bible. Some translations are dynamic equivalents – that is translations that are accurate, but not word for word translations that might not make sense to a 21st century reader. Among these, one of my favorites is the New International Version. One of the newer and more popular translations is the English Standard Version. This last translation has some of the beautiful poetry, but uses contemporary expressions and language. CPH has just come out with a wonderful new Luther Study Bible that uses the ESV translation. In addition, it has a lot of commentary and study notes associated with it. I would highly recommend getting one of these Bibles.
It’s probably not best to just start at Genesis and work your way through the Bible that way. In fact, if all you are going to do is start reading the Bible, I’d recommend the Gospel of John as a beginning and then the Book of Acts.
If you are just starting to read your Bible, I’d also recommend some sort of simple, daily devotional to guide. If you use Portals of Prayer, in addition to the verse of the day and devotion, the daily devotion includes a reading from the Psalms and another section of Scripture. It is good because it is systematic and then there is a devotional focus to the reading. There are a number of these devotional offerings including some that we can find online. One of the better of these is available through www.lhm.org.
Another excellent way to engage in a Bible study is to do it with other people. Nothing makes Bible study more interesting than seeing how other people engage the text. The insights that can be gained by hearing the questions and observations of other people are wonderful. I would encourage you to find a group of people with whom you could get into a weekly or bi-weekly Bible study. There are fewer better approaches to getting into God’s Word than with a group!
There are also bunches of tools that can be used to study God’s Word. There are Bible reading plans that are organized with a reading plan so that you can read the Bible in 90 days or some that are organized to help you read the Bible in six months and some that are organized to help you read the Bible in a year. You can even find One-Year Bibles that are organized in a way that are organized into daily readings that mix a reading from the Old Testament, New Testament and Psalms every day.
There are also a variety of tools and resources to help get much more deeply into the scriptures. Bible Commentaries are just that – books written to explain one or more books of the Bible. Usually these books are written to explain one or more parts of the Bible. We need to use some care when choosing a Bible commentary, because sometimes we can find commentaries that are pretty much out there in left field. One of the commentaries that I recommend is the People’s Commentary. These are absolutely excellent!
Have you ever tried to find a verse in the Bible but just couldn’t remember where it was located. You remember a word or two, like maybe the world love. A Concordance is just the book that can help you. A Concordance contains lists of words in alphabetical order. The words are listed in a brief context with the verse in Scripture in which it is found.
Another resource that can be useful are Bible Dictionaries. These are just like regular dictionaries, except that the words and topics that these contain are Biblical concepts. Again, some care needs to be taken when choosing a Bible dictionary because some are simply better than others.
These last resources are typically for much more in-depth study and are not necessary to engage God’s love letter to us. There are also a whole lot of excellent computerized Bible resources. I have a really neat program called Logos that allows me to carry in my computer a library that is about the same size as the library that I have in my office. There are also lots of really great online Bible resources. My very favorite of all of these is a website called Bible Gateway. It’s URL is: www.biblegateway.org. This resource has much of what I’ve discussed above in a free, easy to use website.
Well, this brings us to the end of our four-week series on the Bible. I hope that this has served as an encouragement to you to open the Bible; to bring it to Church; to engage it. Let me encourage you to open your Bible and engage it, because it is Your Time With Christ. Amen.
