The B-I-B-L-E

Good MORNING, and Happy Bible Sunday. As I begin, I’ll acknowledge something we all know but rarely say out loud: there is a reason that the Bible has very thin, see through pages, and that’s because it is a really, really big book, and would probably weigh twice as much if it was printed on regular paper. If the Bible were a Netflix series, it would have 66 seasons, that’s a lot. And there would be some, like Leviticus, that only the most dedicated would even try to watch.

But here’s the beautiful thing about God’s Word: you can skip around and mostly understand what’s happening. You don’t need to understand Leviticus completely before you can appreciate the Gospel of John, though it helps.

The Bible contains history, poetry, prophecy, actual letters from people who were very concerned about church drama, and one book of love poetry that can be quite funny, because ancient terms of endearment sound funny to modern ears. But through all these pages, through genealogies and place names we can’t pronounce, there’s one constant thread: The Bible shows God’s relentless, pursuing, never-giving-up love for humanity. And that’s why we should dig into it with the enthusiasm it deserves.

Today is Bible Sunday, based on our Collect of the Day, where we prayed that God would use his Word in our lives, provided that we make our effort to read it, mark it in our heart, learn it, and meditate upon it. God has given us His Word to support our walk in this life through troubles, and to remind us of his hand in good times as well, since we usually credit ourselves for those.

In times of crisis, God’s Word is there to bring us encouragement.

In times of confusion, God’s Word is there to give us direction.

If you are discouraged? Jesus says in John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

When we are worried, Peter tells us I Peter 5:7”cast all your anxieties upon (God,) because he cares for you.”

The Bible is not just a book which tells us how people in the past have looked at God. It is, as Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:16, Breathed out by God, Inspired, God wants us to know Him. The word of God is written for everyone, and it can aid us in our daily life as it directs us to Christ. This is why the principalities and powers of this world, who seek our destruction, are ALWAYS trying to get us to distrust the Bible’s truths.

One quick favorite story about the how the Bible has been attacked in the past. (many stories like this) One favorite way to undermine the Bible has been to claim the books weren’t written when we think they were, but decades afterward. One scholarly movement beginning 200 years ago was especially determined to undermined the Gospel of John, because John so clearly states the divinity of Christ. Without much evidence, the claim was made that John was written by someone or some community of believers about 130 years after Jesus walked the earth, (160 or so) so it couldn’t possibly be accurate, and this became the view of most academics… until about 1940.

Then, God decided to have a laugh at the expense of man’s wisdom. Beginning in the 1930’s and 40’s, archaeologists began finding ancient copies and scraps of copies of the Bible, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, all over the Middle East.

The picture on the cover of the bulletin is the front and back of one tiny scrap the size of a credit card, called Papyrus 52. P52 was found in Egypt, in a scrap heap, and had writing from John 18 on both sides. The important part? The papyrus and everything else it was dated around AD 125. So, how could a copy of John’s Gospel have found its way to an Egyptian scrap heap in 125 if John wasn’t written until 160? And just like that God wiped out thousands of books from LIBRARIES of theological seminaries across Europe and North America.

Every generation has had people doubting God’s Word. “Did the Lord Really Say?” seems to be the #1 response against the Bible, from the Snake in the Garden, to Jeremiah who was always accused of this, to Jesus time, and even today!

Today, the attacks on the Bible are usually attacks against St. Paul and his epistles, saying that he didn’t like women, and that we should just consider him a product of his time. He was uptight and stuff. Maybe he was, but if God inspired him to write things we should be taking for our encouragement and direction, it wouldn’t matter how uptight he was, he was God’s chosen instrument.