How to Eat your Bible
2 Tim 3:16-17
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
01-17-2021
Learning to eat
I became a Christian in 1992 and, soon afterwards, my brother bought me a NIV Study Bible with my name on it.
I treasured that Bible. I bought a case so I could carry it around. I put in on my desk where people could see it.
There was just one problem. I didn’t read it. It was a huge book with lots of strange names and things that I didn’t understand.
At that same time, I started listening to Christian music and artists like Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Rich Mullins, and Michael Card whose music was full of Scripture.
About six months into my Christian journey, I decided that I needed to read the Bible to understand God better and how to walk as Jesus did.
For months, I sat on the deck of my North Carolina chalet (which Maxine says was a shack) with a guitar and highlighter and read book after book, making notes of life events and things that God spoke to me. A lot of the notes are places where I found lyrics that I loved that came straight out of the Bible.
Eventually I finished the whole Bible and I’ve been reading and listening to it ever since.
Last week, we studied a very dangerous prayer, “Speak to me” and I made the case that the number one way God speaks to us today is through His Word.
If that’s true, then why don’t more people read it?
Many of you made a new year’s resolution to read your Bible. You know howe I know that? Because the number one podcast in Apple podcasts this week is “The Bible in a year.”
That may be your desire but you don’t even how to start.
This morning, I want to highlight a recently released book by Pastor Nate Pickowitcz that will help you learn how to eat your Bible.
We are going to be in many different passages this morning, but you can turn to 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and hold you place there.
Prayer.
Famine in the Land
Research tells us that 88% of Americans own at least one Bible and the average household has five Bibles.
Now with the YouVersion Bible app (and others) more people have access to the Bible in their own language than anytime in history.
But research also tells us that 48 % of Americans are completely disengaged from the Bible and 9% report that thy read it sporadically.
The 2019 Discipleship Pathway Assessment study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research found those who regularly attend Protestant churches are inconsistent in their reading and thinking about Scripture.
A third of Americans who attend a Protestant church regularly (32%) say they read the Bible personally every day. Around a quarter (27%) say they read it a few times a week.
Fewer say they only read it once a week (12%), a few times a month (11%) or once a month (5%). Close to 1 in 8 (12%) admit they rarely or never read the Bible.
A 2016 LifeWay Research study found 1 in 5 Americans said they had read all of the Bible at least once. However, more than half said they have read little or none of it.
In the latest study, churchgoers aged 50 to 64 are more likely to say they read the Bible every day (35%) than adults under 50 (30%).
New Testament scholar Kent Barding wrote:
“Christians used to be known as people of the book - they memorized it, meditated on it, talked about it, and taught it to others. We don’t do that anymore, in a very real sense we are starving ourselves to death.”
The prophet Amos says the same thing:
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. (Amos 8:11)
Michael Card has a song called “So Many Books” whose chorus is:
So?many?books, so little?time
So many hunger,?so many blind
Starving for words, they must wait in the night
To open a Bible and move towards the Light
All these stats aren’t meant to shame you or make you feel guilty if you aren’t in the habit of reading your Bible.
This past week, John Piper tweeted, “Most Christians neglect their Bibles not out of conscious disloyalty to Jesus, but out of failure to plan a time and place and method to read it.”
If we believe the Bible is the primary way that God speaks to us, then we have to develop a plan for reading it, mediating on it, memorizing it, and make it part of our daily lives.
Eating your Bible
Nate’s book title comes straight out of the Bible.
Jeremiah said,
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.” (Jer 15:16)
Ezekiel literally ate the words of God:
“And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” (Ezekiel 3:1-3)
David wrote that God’s words were like honey:
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)
When Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread in the desert by satan, He responded, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
Before we begin to dig into to our Scripture feast, let’s establish what we believe about the Bible at Chenoa Bible Church.
What we Believe about the Bible
The Bible is the most amazing book -66 books, written on three different continents, in three different languages, 40 authors, over a period of 1,600 years yet it speaks with one voice.
The authors were two kings, two priests, a doctor, two fisherman, two shepherds, a tax collector, a cup bearer, and a fig farmer.
If you go to our website under “what we believe” you read this about the Bible:
“We believe that the Holy Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, was written by men divinely inspired and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction. That it has God for its Author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter. That it reveals the principles of God and is the final authority for all Christian faith and life.”
Paul wrote to Timothy:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Did you notice it says ALL? Do you know what the Greek word for all is? It’s all! ?
All Scripture is “God-breathed” or inspired and is useful for teaching us what is right, rebuking and correcting us when we are wrong and equipping us for the good works that God has prepared for us. (See Ephesians 2:10)
We not only believe the Bible is inspired but also inerrant, infallible, perfect, and sufficient for knowing God and the plan of salvation.
We believe the Bible is authoritative for our lives.
If we believe that Scripture is inspired - the very words of God, inerrant - without error, infallible - lasting forever, perfect - the complete revelation of God, and sufficient to lead us to salvation and to spiritual maturity then we must consider it the absolute norm for faith and practice of a Christian’s life.
John Wesley wrote:
“I want to know one thing - how to get to heaven. God Himself has condescended to teach us the way. He has written it down in a book. O give me that book of God! I have it - here is knowledge for me. Let me be a man of one book!”
We believe the Bible is a living book.
“For the word of God is alive 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.” (Hebrews 4:12)
The story is told of a street evangelist that would go to the soup kitchen lines during the depression, place his hat on the ground, and run circles around it yelling, “It’s alive!”
Of course, people would gather to see what he was talking about it and he would lift his hat and there would be a Bible under it. Then he would share the Gospel.
The Bible isn’t just a book of information but it is about God’s transformation of you to make you more like Jesus.
How Does it Change You?
Your Spirit
The Hip Hop artist, Odd Thomas, said this recently in a interview, that he had people tell him that Jesus loved him but when he asked how they knew that they said, “I just feel it.” But when he read the Bible, he said that he actually understood that Jesus loves him and it totally transformed his life.
In the Bible we learn the Gospel, the “good news,” that God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross in our place to pay for our sins, so that we could live in freedom and joy here and live with Him in heaven forever.
That’s why I preach the Gospel every week no matter what the text is. It is the means by which God had ordained that people are saved.
Paul said that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
Maxine had a friend who was a Bible major at the Christian college she attended. The interesting thing about this friend was that he was an atheist at the beginning of college. He considered the Bible a great work of literature and wanted to study it.
By his senior year, that had all changed. The study of God’s Word had radically transformed his heart and life and he is now a pastor!
Your Mind
God desires that we know Him, and studying the Bible is the primary way we come to know Him.
Paul prayed for the Colossians believers:
“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…” (Col 1:9-10)
Nate writes “The Word of God not only provides knowledge and wisdom, but also has the power to renew and change your mind.”
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)
The first half of my life I lived controlled by shame. But as I read the Bible and came to understand that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus, (Romans 8:1) it changed the way I thought and reacted to situations.
Your Will
Knowing the Bible should ultimately lead to our obedience to God is all areas of our lives.
Jesus made this very clear:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
The Bible calls us to be sanctified, which simply means, “set apart.”
Jesus prayed, “sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Our lives should be changed from the inside out by what we know of God.
Augustine was a godless man controlled by his passions and lusts. He was the 4th century equivalent of a party animal.
When he was 31 years old, while he was walking in a garden, he heard children playing and singing, “Take up and read.”
He opened a Bible to Romans 13 and read these verses:
“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Rom 13:13-14)
At that moment, everything changed and Augustine went on to be the one of the greatest theologians in the history of the church.
Let’s go back to the original question - how do we eat our Bibles?
Nate gives us four steps:
Begin with Prayer
Before we beginning reading, we should pray. What are some things we should pray? We pray for understanding, for wisdom, and the courage to obey it.
Remember from last week, Samuel laid down and said, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” (I Samuel 3:10)
Mercy Me has a song called “Word of God Speak”
Word of God speak
Would You pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your majesty
To be still and know
That You're in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your holiness
Word of God speak
If some of us are honest, we really don’t have the desire to read God’s Word. Remember, God already knows that so being honest with Him is really the best policy.
I’m going to challenge to you pray another dangerous prayer,
“Lord, I don’t desire to read your Word but I want that desire. I’m praying that You would give me a greater desire for You and Your Word.”
That is a prayer that God loves to answer. Nate writes, “God will eventually ignite a spark in your heart that will cause it to burn with fresh desire for His Word.”
2. Read - What does it say?
First, we need to make a decision to carve out time to read the Bible. I’ve had people say that they didn’t have the time but we make time for what’s important for us.
Decide when to read. Some of you are early risers and others are night owls. Read the Bible at the time that you will get the most out of it.
Eliminate distractions. Turn off your phone. Find a quiet place.
Susanna Wesley, mother of Charles and John and eight other children, couldn’t escape to read so she would sit at the table and put her apron over her head and read the Bible. The kids all knew that when she had the apron over her head to leave her alone.
Third Day has a song called Your Words:
Let me hear Your words
Above all other voices
Above all the distractions in this world
For Your words bring life
And your voice speaks promises
Lord, Your love offers more
Than anything else in the world
Pick a translation that you can understand. At Chenoa Baptist Church, we use the New International Version. In fact, if you don’t have a Bible of your own, please take the one in the pew holder in front of you. ?
I’ve known several adults that do not read well and use a children’s Bible in their reading time.
I also know people who are auditory learners. When I read, I read out loud because I need to hear it as well. That’s why I’ve listened to the Daily Audio Bible every morning for the last 13 years.
It’s an app that you can get in the ITunes store. Brain Hardin reads a portion of the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms (which you go through twice in a year), and Proverbs. He then give a short devotional for the day about what we read together.
After you read it, meditate on it. That doesn’t mean to empty your mind but to think about it, to chew on it throughout the day.
You may even want to memorize verses. Write them on a note card and carrying them with you. Put them to music.
Some people say that they can’t memorize Scripture but know every word to Hamilton. You can do it.
Where do you start? In the book of John. John was Jesus best friend and he wrote a book to help you get to know Him. If you read one chapter a day, you will be finished by Valentine’s day.
Or you could start in Titus and read the entire book every day for 30 day straight.
3. Study - What does it me?
You can understand this book!
While you are reading, write down any questions that you might have. I LOVE questions!
There was a student in our ministry that would come with her Bible covered in sticky notes with questions on the them.
There are no dumb questions, except to question the genius of Barry Manilow!
Use Bible dictionaries, concordances, commentaries, and websites.
Two that I use every week are “Precept Austin” and “Blue Letter Bible.”
D.L. Moody once said, “So few grow because so few study.”
Take one book, or one topic and do a deep dive. Read it, study it in depths and then ask God how do I apply it?
4. Use - How do I apply it?
The Bible isn’t just meant to be read and studied but God wants us to apply it to our lives.
The Bible has full authority in our lives. As Americans, we don’t like to have people tell us what to do but when we surrender our lives to Christ, we make it clear that we are willing to obey His Words and His ways.
Nate writes: “In applying the Word of God, you are grasping the truth of God and bringing it to bear on your own life. Application consists of opening your soul so that God’s light can shine into every corner , exposing darkness and revealing the areas that need tending to.”
Here are four things that we can do in response to His Word;
repent - As we read the Bible, he ought to ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin so we can confess them to God.
Believe - “we are not able to put the truths of Scripture into practice in our own lives unless and until we put our faith solely in God through Jesus Christ.
Grow - reading the Bible is the way we grow in our faith. Without it, we stay immature and don’t become more like Jesus.
Love - As we study the Bible, our love for God for others is meant to increase and abound.
There are endless points of application. The Bible speaks areas such as marriage, family, sexuality, politics, government, finance, missions, law, and many others.
The question that we ask when reading and studying is, “What do you want me to know and what do you want me to do?”
Steven Curtis Chapman has a song called, “The Great Adventure”
I opened up the Bible and I read about you and me
Said we'd all been prisoners and God's grace had set us all free
Somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"!
Voltaire
The famous French philosopher Voltaire hated Christianity with a passion.
In 1764 he wrote, “The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles commend, what rogues teach and young children are made to learn by heart…we are living in the twilight of Christianity”
In a 1767 letter to Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, he wrote: “Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world…My one regret in dying is that I cannot aid you in this noble enterprise of rid the world of this infamous superstition.”
In 1776, he proclaimed that “One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.”
Not long after his death, the Geneva Bible Society bought his house and produced thousands and thousands of Bibles. In fact, Voltaire’s bedroom was so full of Bibles you couldn’t walk in there!
Voltaire is long dead and The Bible is still changing lives today!
We sang these words earlier in the service:
How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word
What more can He say than to you He has said
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
I want to end this sermon but giving Nate Pickowitcz a chance to encourage us to eat our Bibles this year.
