Well with this being Labor Day weekend, this week I became interested in some of the more obscure holidays people celebrate in our culture. For instance, I found out that one community celebrates February 12 as "Darwin Day." March 22 is "National Goof Off Day." November 24 is "Buy Nothing Day."
These are some pretty weird holidays. I shared them at our staff meeting this last week, and one of our staff members asked if these were now paid holidays. Usually a holiday is a time people set apart to celebrate something. And if that’s true, it seems like followers of Jesus Christ ought to have a holiday to celebrate the Bible. But since we don’t have a day like that in our calendar, I’ve arbitrarily picked today as a time to celebrate the Bible.
You see, for Christians across our world and throughout the ages, the Bible is more than just a book. Followers of Jesus Christ believe the Bible to be scripture, which is a fancy, religious word that simply means that we believe the Bible to be a divine communication from God. Because of that, we believe that when people hear and understand the words of the Bible people encounter the voice of God. So today we’re going to celebrate the Bible as scripture. Specifically we’re going to find four reasons why Christians celebrate the Bible as scripture.
So if you have a Bible with you turn to Psalm 19:7 and take out your outline. If you’re here today as a follower of Jesus, I hope today’s message will kindle a spirit of joy and celebration for the Bible in your heart. If you’re here today as a seeker investigating the Christian faith, I hope my words will help you understand why Christians view the Bible they way they do.
1. Scripture as Spiritual Bread (Ps 19:7-9)
Now Psalm 19 is a fascinating part of the Bible. As you might know, the psalms are songs that were sung to God in worship. The Psalms are like the lyric sheet you get when you buy a new CD. These are the lyrics people used to worship God both privately and publicly. This worship song naturally divides into two parts, vv. 1-6 and vv. 7-14.
Verses 1-6 deal with how God has revealed himself in nature. The heavens themselves declare God’s greatness and majesty. These first six verses are a celebration of God’s disclosure of himself in the world of nature. I experienced this firsthand just a few weeks ago, as my family and I spent a week in Yosemite National Park. The awesomeness of half dome and El Capitan declared God’s greatness and majesty.
But vv. 7-14 deal with how God’s revealed himself in scripture. Now when this psalm was written, it was talking about the Jewish Scriptures, probably just the first five books of the Bible--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. However, what’s said here applies just as much to the rest of the Old Testament and the 27 books of scripture we have as Christians hold as scripture in the New Testament.
Vv. 1-6 focus on the title "God". "The heavens declare the glory of God." The word "God" isn’t a name, but it’s a title. However, vv. 7-14 are much more personal. The word "Lord" in all capital letters in most English translations of the Bible represents the Hebrew word Yahweh. Yahweh isn’t a title, but it’s a personal name. Yahweh is the personal name God gave to the people of Israel. In fact, the name Jesus means "Yahweh saves."
In vv. 1-6, we find that through nature we can know certain things about God. We can know that God exists, that God is a powerful God, a good God, a just God. These are things we can know about God by studying the world God has made. But through scripture we can come to know God personally. The Bible isn’t just an information book or a book of data, but its an instrument designed take us beyond knowing about God and into knowing God. This transcends information and moves to the realm of transformation. Through scripture we encounter God and come to know God the way we know a friend.
Now in the second half of this psalm we’re going to find our four reasons to celebrate the Bible as scripture. Let me just give you the first reason: CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE BIBLE AS SCRIPTURE BECAUSE GOD USES THE BIBLE TO NOURISH OUR SOULS.
Now let’s look at vv. 7-9. Six different words are used here to describe the Bible: law, statutes, precepts, commands, fear, and ordinances. Of these, we probably get least excited about the word "law." To us "law" sounds boring, kind of like trying to read the California Vehicle Code. A law is restrictive, something we try to find loopholes in, not something we celebrate. But the word for "law" here is the Hebrew word torah, which means "teaching" or "instruction." The Psalmist celebrates the torah of Yahweh because it comes directly from God, giving the psalmist direct access to God’s wisdom. The other five words are different ways of describing the different parts of the Bible.
Along with these six ways to refer to the Bible we find several different descriptions of what the Bible is like. The Bible is perfect in the sense that it’s complete and not lacking in anything. There are no lost books of the Bible, contrary to what you might read on an internet web page or hear on a talk radio station. There was no conspiracy to keep certain books out of the Bible. The Bible has exactly what we need to know God and live our lives for God.
The Bible is also trustworthy. This refers to the Bible’s reliability, the fact that we can count on what’s recorded in it. It’s funny that many things written just 100 years ago are now obsolete. Pick up a physics textbook from 100 years ago, and you’ll find that almost that book claims to be true in physics is no longer viewed as true in light of quantum theory. That’s the way scientific knowledge is; it’s always growing and changing. But the message of the Bible is different because it’s reliable, trustworthy.
The Bible is right in the sense that it puts us on a straight path rather than a crooked path. The Bible is radiant. This refers to the Bible’s purity, that it hasn’t been corrupted by people. The Bible is pure, enduring forever, and altogether righteous.
Along with these different ways to describe the Bible we find several different ways the Bible effects us. It revives our souls, like a cup of cold water on a hot day. It makes wise the simple, like the directions to an impossible model. It floods our hearts with joy. It gives light to our eyes. And it endures forever.
In short, the Bible nourishes our souls. In fact, Jesus himself said the Bible is like bread. Jesus said, "People shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Just as each day we need food and water for our bodies, we need nourishment for our souls. God feeds our souls through the Bible.
As a church, we try all kinds of ways to help you find nourishment for your soul from the Bible. Hopefully you find some spiritual bread each week as you come to worship. But we want to help you learn to find nourishment in small groups as you read the Bible together. In our 201 seminar "Discovering Spiritual Maturity" we teach you how to find nourishment for your soul in your own personal Bible reading.
People try all kinds of substitutes to nourish their souls. I’m reading a book right now called God in the Stadium. The central thesis of this book is that sports has achieved the role of a religion in American culture today. In fact, I know of one newspaper that boasts, "If sports is your religion, we’re your Bible." People try to nourish their souls with sports, with relationships, with Dr. Phil on Oprah. Yet nothing truly satisfies and nourishes the soul like scripture does.
I’m reminded of a time when my mom and my late stepfather got lost in the desert. They almost died of dehydration. When they were finally rescued by some local residents, the only thing their rescuers had to drink was warm beer. I think the warm beer did more harm than good.
Yet so many things in our culture that promise to nourish our souls are no more nourishing than warm beer on a hot day. We celebrate the Bible as scripture because God nourishes our souls through the Bible. It’s bread for our inner spiritual life.
2. Scripture’s Value (Ps 19:10)
Now let me give you the second reason: CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE BIBLE AS SCRIPTURE BECAUSE ITS VALUE TO OUR LIVES IS BEYOND MEASURE.
Look at v. 10. Gold was the primary and most valuable currency available when this psalm was written. Yet the psalmist finds that the Bible is worth more than lots of money.
The sweetness of honey was a luxury usually reserved only for the very wealthy. You might think of cheesecake or some other tantalizing dessert. The psalmist finds that the Bible is sweeter still.
Now this doesn’t mean Christians worship the Bible. We worship God. And as Christians we believe that and the most complete revelation of who God is and what God is like is found in Jesus Christ. Yet without the Bible we wouldn’t know anything about Jesus, about what he taught, what he accomplished.
Once you understand that for Christians the value of the Bible is beyond measure, you can understand the great sacrifices Christians have been willing to make for the Bible. I think of a guy named William Tyndale. Tyndale lived in England in the 1500s. William Tyndale was the first person to translate the Bible from its original languages into the English language. That lifelong project cost Tyndale his career, his freedom, and ultimately his very life. It’s hard to imagine, but he was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English.
Christians celebrate the Bible because of it’s incredible value to our faith.
3. Scripture as a Moral Compass (Ps 19:11-13)
Now let me give you the third reason: CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE BIBLE AS SCRIPTURE BECAUSE IT PROVIDES US WITH A MORAL COMPASS FOR OUR LIVES.
Look at vv. 11 through 13. It’s the words of the Bible that warn us about the wrong turns in life. If I’m tempted to be unfaithful to my spouse, I read the Bible and see the incredible devastation that unfaithfulness can bring. If I’m tempted to think that I’m responsible for my own success, I read the Bible be warned of the intoxicating power of pride. The stories of the Bible are full of these kinds of warnings, for anyone who will read them with an open heart.
The Bible also helps us see our blind spots. There might be some things in our lives that we’re not even aware of, things deep within the depths of our own soul or patterns that we no longer notice. These things might be destructive to our relationships, damaging to our relationship with God. But they’re blind spots, we can’t see them. The Bible helps us discern these hidden errors.
The Bible also guards us against willful rebellion in our relationship with God. All of us at times rebel against God willfully, fully knowing what God wants us to do, but making the choice instead to do it our own way. When we do that, we can easily become captive to that choice; it can develop into an addictive pattern that we can’t break. The Bible can help us break the power of an addictive sin that tries to rule over our lives.
Because the Bible is a moral compass for life, it can help us become blameless. The word "blameless" in v. 13 is the exact same Hebrew word translated as "perfect" in v. 7. The word means "complete" and "whole," and the idea is that just as the Bible is complete, the Bible can help us to become complete and whole.
So in the Bible we find a moral compass to navigate the complicated seas of life.
4. The Bible as Empowering (Ps 19:14)
This brings us to our final reason: CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE BIBLE AS SCRIPTURE BECAUSE IT EMPOWERS US TO LIVE A LIFE THAT IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.
Look at the last verse of this worship song. Here the tone changes from a celebration to a prayer, as the psalmist asks God to help him live a life that’s acceptable to God. The psalmist is asking God to empower him, to put spiritual batteries within him, so he can live a life that’s pleasing to God. The Bible empowers us to speak words that are edifying and uplifting, so what comes out of our inner life is pleasing to God.
It also enables our inner thought life--our meditations--to be pleasing to God as well. Most of us would be utterly humiliated if people knew what we were thinking half the time. Our inner thought lives can be a cesspool of sin and corruption. Yet because the Bible is scripture, it can cleanse that cesspool and transform it into a holy place.
The prayer ends with the psalmist uplifting God as his Rock and Redeemer. God is like a Rock because he’s unchanging and solid. That’s why his Bible has lasted so long, because God has protected and preserved it. God is a Redeemer in the sense that he rescues us from our slavery to our sins.
Conclusion
So this psalm presents us with a wonderful celebration of scripture. And in our nation we’ve been Bible blessed. We have over a dozen different translations of the Bible into English to choose from. One out of four Americans own at least five Bibles.
Yet there are some in our world who don’t yet have the Bible in their language, so they too can celebrate the Bible as scripture. In my remaining time I want to have my friend Scott come and share with you his Bible translation work among the Pame Indians in Mexico.
