[Possible skit: two people bragging about how much they’ve studied the Bible; get in an epic Bible trivia contest; as they give each other increasingly obscure questions and answers, they ignore or brush off people (the homeless person – “Do you know where I could get something to eat?”; the depressed person – “Do you have a minute to talk?”; etc.); close it out: totally obscure answer, then the other person says, “Wow, you really are the best Christian!”]
- I want to focus this morning’s message on those who need to start digging into the Bible.
- Some of you are here this morning who have been getting into the Word for years and years. What are you supposed to do this morning? Well, you’re supposed to say, “Amen!” This is too important a subject to not be specific about how to make it happen.
- The reality is that if statistics are right the majority of those in the sanctuary this morning are not in the discipline of digging into the Bible on a regular basis.
WHY OPEN UP THE BOOK IN THE FIRST PLACE? Digging into the Bible regularly is an indispensable tool for becoming like Christ.
- Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 4:24; Philippians 3:21; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 1:4.
- You’ve heard me say this countless times: the goal of the Christian life is for you to become like Jesus.
- Simple, straightforward, yet a goal that’s challenging and life-long.
- If your goal is not to become like Jesus, then I have to question why you became a Christian in the first place. If you don’t think He’s amazing and worthy of modeling your life after, why did you come to Him?
- I hope you came to Jesus because you consider Him the most amazing person who ever lived. You not only are eternally grateful for the salvation that He purchased for you on Calvary, but also for the chance to live under the tutelage of the Master Teacher.
- Now, becoming more like Jesus doesn’t happen automatically.
- 1 Peter 2:2 says that we need to crave pure spiritual milk so we can grow in our faith.
- Some people presume that just showing up for church once a week is all that’s needed. Nope. If we’re going to grow in Christlikeness, we’re going to need to be in the Word regularly.
- This is not an impossible disciple (it’s a few minutes a day), but it is a discipline. It’s not going to happen by accident.
- We talked earlier in this sermon series about the fact that Jesus is not who you think He is. Our common perception of Him and our cultural stereotypes of Jesus are mostly misguided.
- How do you get to know the real Jesus? The most straightforward path is through the Bible.
- That’s where you can get the straight, unvarnished word about Him.
FIVE KEYS TO GETTING A STRONG START IN THE BIBLE:
1. MY GOAL IS CHANGED BEHAVIOR, NOT TRIVIA KNOWLEDGE.
- Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 2:2.
- Many people think that reading the Bible is for the purpose of accumulating trivia knowledge. Do you know the names of the twelve disciples? Can you recite all the books of the Bible in order? Can you tell me who went on the missionary journeys with Paul? That’s not the point! We’re not reading the Bible to be able to regurgitate facts back on command.
- Yet often that’s who impresses us. “Wow, he knows a lot about the Bible!” It’s potentially a good thing that he knows a lot about the Bible, but not if his head is where all that is stored.
- We’ve got to let it move from our head to our heart.
- The goal is changed behavior.
- We read the Scripture to become different people.
- 1 Peter 1:22 says that we should have “purified yourselves by obeying the truth.” Obeying the truth, of course, requires that you know what the truth is.
- So I read asking, “In light of this, how should I be living my life?” “What do I need to change?” “Where am I heading down the wrong road?”
- Am I willing to change my behavior?
- 1 Peter 2:2 tells us that we are to grow up in our salvation.
- Spiritual growth is not automatic. We have to seek it.
- What’s the “pure spiritual milk” that he mentions? It’s the Bible, which provides a spiritual meal for us.
- Now, this is important for us to do for our own sake in wanting to be like Jesus, but 2 Peter 2:2 reminds us of another reason it’s important.
- When we don’t change our behavior but instead continue to live in sin, we bring disrepute on the name of Jesus.
- Probably the biggest reason (at least it is in my conversations with people who are away from God) that people stay away from church is church people. Specifically, the questionable behavior that so often characterizes their lives. It’s that hypocrisy that drives people away.
- So this isn’t just about us, it’s also about those around us. If you’re going to be claim to be a Christian, then you’d better be pursuing Christ in your life to become more like Him.
2. BELIEVE THAT THE BIBLE IS LIKE A TELEPHONE TO HEAVEN.
- 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:23 – “living”; 2 Peter 1:21.
- Someone will say, “I just wish I knew what God wanted me to do.”
- Well, I have good news!
- So many of the questions that we have about how to act, which direction to go, what the answer is, and what we should do are answered in the Bible.
- People often complain, “I just wish I knew what God wanted me to do!” Well, in my experience, probably 90% of those questions that people have are ones that we already have clear answers to in the Bible. We just need to look them up!
- That should be an encouragement to you: in most situations in our life, knowing God’s will does not require some weird reading-the-tea-leaves ritual – just reading the Word.
- Now there are times when we’ll need to go to prayer in order to get an answer to a particular situation, but the vast majority of situations are addressed in the Word.
- If I held up an envelope and said that the words on the letter within were written by God Himself, we’d all want to know what God had to say.
- Well, the Bible is a message from God. It’s His message to us.
- 2 Peter 1:21 tells us that God spoke through the prophets, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
- It’s one of the clearest affirmations in the Bible that God used His Holy Spirit to speak to and through people to convey His truth.
- That means that the Bible is from God. It’s His words. It’s His message.
- 1 Peter 1:23 tells that the Word is “living.”
- What’s that mean? It means that it’s something that God is actively working through. He is using it regularly to work in people’s lives.
- I have experienced times when God spoke to me in prayer. I have never had Him speak to me in an audible voice, but I have at times heard the words from Him within my heart so clearly that I was able to take dictation of exactly what He was saying. That’s not happened very often to me, but it has happened.
- That’s a wonderful and amazing thing when it happens, but the more common way that He speaks is through His Word.
3. WHEN MY UNDERSTANDIGN AND THE BIBLE CONFLICT, I'M GOING TO TRUST THE BIBLE.
- Matthew 5:18; 1 Peter 1:24-25.
- This is a hard one for many people to accept. They’ll receive the Word in an advisory capacity, but not as though it’s binding on their lives.
- What that usually means is that where the Bible agrees with what I already wanted to do or where I didn’t really have a strong opinion, then I’ll listen to the Bible.
- But what about when the Bible:
a. Requires I do something I don’t want to do?
- For example, forgive an enemy.
- Then I say, “No thanks.”
b. Demands I get rid of things that are no big deal to everyone else?
- For example, watching certain movies or shows with gratuitous violence and sex.
- Then I say, “No thanks.”
c. Brings up things that weren’t even on my radar?
- For example, fasting.
- Then I say, “No thanks.”
- We like Jesus as Savior, but not so much as Lord.
- “Lord” means that He’s in charge of my life. It means that He’s calling the shots. It means that He’s boss.
- 1 Peter 1:24-25 tells us that people are like grass, but the Word of God endures forever.
- That’s a pretty stark contrast.
- One of the things that I draw from that is that there is a fleetingness to our lives that is not shared by the Word of God.
- That’s not to say that we’re not important. (After all, Jesus died for us.) It’s just that we’re not quite as all-important and amazingly-wise as we think we are.
- The Bible, on the other hand, has stood the test of time in bringing hope and change to people’s lives for thousands of years.
- Another thing that we need to keep in mind is that our decisions are hurt by our sinfulness.
- We want to believe that everything we think is great, but if we’re honest we have to acknowledge that we’ve made some horrible decisions along the way.
- The Bible says that in our natural state we are sinful and our heart is wicked. Because of that, we often pursue things not based on what’s right, but what’s expedient for us. Because of that, we often choose what’s wrong over what’s morally right. Because of that, we at times aren’t even close to where God’s heart is.
- When you have all that in mind, we have to question the universally-accepted idea that we should “just trust our heart.” “Just follow your feelings” is another, related lie. Those would be fine if our heart always pointed to true north in the moral universe, but it doesn’t.
- That’s why when there is a disagreement between what my heart is inclined to do and what the Bible tells me to do, the wise choice is to pursue what the Bible instructs me. As we’ve said, it’s stood the test of time and shown itself to be trustworthy.
- Accepting this idea is a major faith hurdle.
- It’s a hard thing to incorporate into our lives. Not hard in the sense of the actual doing of it, but hard in the sense that we chafe at it.
- There is something (read: sin) hard-wired into us that says we should be sitting on the throne of our lives. I want to be in charge! I want to make the decisions! I want to make the call!
- To acknowledge that God is now in charge of my life, that I am bought with a price, that He is Lord and I am a servant – those are all hard things to come to.
- But it is necessary to spiritual growth. Will you this morning not only say that you love and respect the Bible, but that you accept it as your guidebook, even when your heart disagrees?
4. SCHEDULE A DAILY APPOINTMENT.
- Deuteronomy 6:4-7; 2 Peter 1:19.
- Reading the Bible can be one of those “good things” that we mean to do but never get around to actually doing in the course of a day. My experience has been that if just try to get around to it at some point in the day you’ll probably let it go more times than not.
- I believe (and this is not a specific Biblical command, but just something that I’ve found necessary) that you need to have a daily appointment with your Bible. It needs to be a consistent time. Maybe it’s first thing in the morning. Maybe it’s ten minutes right after breakfast. Maybe it’s on your lunch hour. Maybe it’s as soon as you get in bed at night. You choose – but make it a consistent daily appointment.
- 2 Peter 1:19 tells us two things worth paying attention to on this point:
a. “. . . you will do well to pay attention to it. . .”
- Paying attention doesn’t mean just saying, “Hey, my Bible is laying over there” but instead actually digging into it.
b. “. . . a light shining in a dark place. . .”
- Going with that analogy, if we’re walking through the dark, light is something that we need constantly to help us to keep from stumbling. Obviously we’ve got other aspects of our lives to do (going to work, fixing dinner, getting the lawn mowed, playing with the kids, going to the store, etc) but it needs to be a regular part of our lives.
- In Deuteronomy 6, God tells the Israelites that they need to have the Word as their constant companion.
- Getting in the Word needs to become a daily habit. It can become something that isn’t a big deal to remember. It’s just something that you do every day, like brushing your teeth.
- The change that comes into your life is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires a daily immersion in the Word to slowly change us.
- Most of you know, but I’ll say it anyway, if you want guidance on daily readings to do, feel free to sign up for the daily readings plan that I lead at 60in60Bible.org.
5. SHORT CIRCUIT THE PROBLEMS OF INTERRUPTIONS AND A WANDERING MIND.
- I want to talk about two of the biggest problems I’ve experienced down through the years in getting something out of my daily Bible readings.
a. Interruptions.
- You sit down to read and then something interrupts you: the phone rings, an interesting TV commercial comes on, you get a text, a child runs into the room.
- This creates a problem because you’re trying to concentrate on what the Word has to say but your attention is divided.
- Because of this, it’s important to try to find a quiet spot that’s out of the way. Don’t have the phone near you. Don’t have your cell phone right there (I know it’s hard, but believe it or not you can go for ten minutes without it and the world will not end). If there are others in the house, go to a room by yourself and lock the door.
- You want to be able to concentrate without distractions.
- Remember that it’s probably only going to take ten minutes to read a chapter, so it’s not a huge time frame, but if you want to hear from God it is important to get rid of distractions.
b. A wandering mind.
- This is the bigger of the two problems for me. My mind wanders easily and often.
- You read the word “eat” in the passage, which reminds you of dinner, which reminds you that you need to go to the store, which starts you making a grocery list, which reminds you that there’s not much money because it’s almost payday, which gets you worried about your finances, and so on and so on.
- It’s so easy to find yourself on a mental wild goose chance.
- One simple thing that I’ve found effective in fighting this is a pen and notepad/sheet of paper. When that stray thought comes into your mind reminding you of something that you need to do, just jot it down. Then you can put it out of your mind and get back to focusing on your reading.
