Spiritual Disciplines - Bible Reading Series

Spiritual Disciplines: Bible Reading

April 18, 2021

Psalm 119, 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Do you remember the passage I read to you at the beginning of worship? I love that passsage! It’s all about praising God. That’s also what we should be about. So, why did I read that passage to you?

Last week we began a series on spiritual disciplines. These are disciplines or habits that we need to develop in order to draw closer to Christ. Today, I want to talk about Bible reading and then get real practical next week.

The passage I read sounds like it would be a psalm, or a prayer of praise from Paul, but in actuality, it’s from 1 Chronicles 29. Lots of people would skip those passages because they don’t think there’s much useful in those books. They’re like history books about kings and lineage and you may you don’t like history. Actually, I love history. But this is a great prayer to meditate on. But we would miss it, if we just pick and choose what we’re going to read in the Bible . . . and . . . . that’s if we read the Bible.

I think I have every card and letter and note Debbie has ever given me. They’re great to look at. They’re great to see how our relationship developed. How we grew together as friends, from liking to liking a lot, to loving one another. It’s great to receive love letters, to get a card or a note just because.

Today we’re talking about a book which was written to you and I. It was written for one reason, God loves you!! And He wants you to know as much about Him as you are willing to take in. So, the words which are contained in this book, which we call the Bible, tell us about God and His love for us.

Remember, the purpose of Spiritual Disciplines is our total transformation. Spiritual Disciplines aim at replacing old destructive habits of thought and actions with new life-giving habits. The hope is that at the end of this series, we’re better equipped as we grow closer to Jesus and become more Christ-like.

I really struggled with choosing a passage of scripture for today’s message. Because there are so many amazing passages which speak about the importance of reading the Bible and using the Word of God to help us in this life.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, having 176 verses. It is also an acrostic Psalm. In other words, it is written alphabetically according to the Hebrew alphabet. So there are 22 sections of 8 verses each. In every section, there is a discussion about the importance of the Word of God. The psalmist uses words such as LAWS, STATUTES, and COMMANDS as he refers to the Bible.

The Psalmist begins this great Psalm by stating ~

1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD.

2 Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart. - Psalm 119:1-2

You see, when we seek to walk and live our lives according to the ways God wants us to live our lives, we will find blessings. We find blessings even in the midst of difficult times because we have this connection to God. Understand that these blessings aren’t monetary. They are relational. We experience the power and presence of God and that brings us power and strength, grace and mercy, hope and joy.

We can connect with God in many different ways, yet a main connection comes through His word. It comes back to the image of Jesus being the vine and we are the branches. In the same sense, the Bible is the Vine which gives us life sustaining nourishment, and as the branches, we drink in all this life we can from God.

Also notice an important caveat in verse 2. It is a caveat which occurs over and over in the Bible. And as we learn to read the Bible and take in ALL that God has for us, we need to see these points and reflect upon what it means for us.

God wants us to move toward Him, He wants us to give our whole self to Him. In verse 2 we read, “Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart.” Take this in folks, as the Psalmist tells us two basic things happen ...

Firstly, blessed are those who keep God’s statutes AND

Secondly, seek Him with ALL their heart.

You see, God does not just want us to have this great head knowledge, He doesn’t want us to just memorize the Bible, but have no ability to apply it in our lives. I’ve met many people who could quote Scripture left and right, but they had no ability to apply the Scripture. Isn’t that what much of the problem was with the Pharisees. They knew the law backwards and forwards, but they used it to their advantage and to the disadvantage of others.