Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
October 18 , 2009
What Makes the Bible Special (Part 2)
(2 Timothy 3:14-17)
"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work."
(2 Timothy 3:16, 17)
I want us to continue our thinking this morning about a book to which most of us give much lip service but about which many among us don't know very much! I'm referring, of course, to the Bible.
In my message last week, I attempted to present a brief overview of what exactly the Bible is, how it was put together, what we believe about it and why it is so important to the lives of Christians and to the life of the Church. Today, I want to conclude this two-part message by focusing on how to read the Bible.
I believe that if we will use our heads and avail ourselves of the best knowledge available, God will bring to our understanding His full truth as it is found in the scriptures. The power of the Bible is experienced when, through it, the God's Word is heard and received by believers.
It wasn't all that long ago when Bibles were prized possessions – especially the family Bible. Family Bibles contained pages where the dates of births, marriages and deaths were carefully inscribed. After dinner in the evening, perhaps the husband or father would read from the Bible's treasured words to the family members. Some of you present here today might well remember such occasions in your own homes when you were growing up.
Yet, in most of today's households, those times are long past. Today, even family dinners seem the exception rather than the rule. And rather than gather around the book, family members are off in countless directions. Life has changed drastically from those simpler times.
What hasn't changed, however, is the importance of the Bible to Christian believers. Through its words, Christians believe that God communicates to us his living saving word – Jesus Christ! That is God's intent throughout the Bible – to bring us into a living relationship with Jesus Christ, so that knowing him, we may come to know God.
The Bible, though it is old, is as contemporary as this morning's newspaper. While some things change, God doesn't change! Neither does human nature. Human nature is the same from generation to generation. So the Bible addresses our nature. Its passages are about people interacting with God and with each other. There is nothing of human nature that is foreign to the Bible's content. Its characters know love and hate, jealousy and greed, friendship and alienation, loyalty and betrayal. This is what makes the Bible real. Scriptures also remind us that while hatred destroys, love saves; that while hopelessness discourages, hope in God lifts; that might and power are not what they appear to be, but that God's Spirit is certain.
The Bible communicates God's purposes for us and for our world. The purpose of Scripture has to do with questions about the origin, meaning and goal of human life in relation to God -- all of which lie behind or beyond the scope of secular scientific and historical disciplines.
The Bible was never intended to be authoritative in everything. It is not an encyclopedia of information in every field of human knowledge and understanding. For the life of me, I don't understand why some Christians get so upset about children being exposed to other theories of creation. The Bible isn't a scientific book on how God made the world. Rather, the Bible simply tells us that God was mightily involved.
Without question, God's marvelous and creative genius was and continues to be seen throughout all of creation! The Bible tells us that God created all things in six "days" and rested on the seventh "day." Since scientists believe that the earth evolved over millions of years, many people have been troubled by the Bible's account of God creating the world in six days. How do we deal with this seeming contradiction?
The key is in deciding how to understand the word "day." We can take the word "day" literally, as meaning a 24-hour period of time, or we can take "day" figuratively, as meaning that it represents an unspecified period of time.
Certainly, God is able to do anything. If a person wants to believe that God created everything in six days (i.e. "day" meaning a 24-hour period of time), then that is his or her prerogative. On the other hand, it is also one's prerogative to regard the word "day" as describing a rather extended period of time, and to conclude that Creation, as described in Genesis 1, took place in six periods of time or in six stages of unfoldment, which the writer of Genesis simply called "days".
After all, look how creation takes place around us. God doesn't create trees in a single day but over the course of many years! Flowers do not form in a single day but take weeks. Human babies develop over a period of nine months from conception to birth. So it would seem quite reasonable to assume that the writer of Genesis, with the word "day", was referring figuratively to a long period of time.
No matter how you choose to understand the word "day" in the story of Creation, the important point is to see that Creation came about because of God.
There is no reason to go to the Bible for understanding of such things as biology, astronomy, the structure of the universe or historical knowledge in general. The Bible is only intended to be authoritative in matters of faith, life and salvation. Therein, it is the undeniable norm and authority.
The primary theme of the Bible tells us that God loves us in spite of all our sin -- and that God desires to be our parent and Savior. The primary expression of God's will is the two-fold commandment to love God and neighbor.
Someone has rightly noted that when it comes to our reading the Bible, what we need are "time exposures" not "snapshots.”
Now, I fully realize that many folks have good intentions when it comes to reading the Bible. Perhaps they've made New Year's resolutions to read the whole Bible this year! So they begin.
The first book they come to, of course, is Genesis. Reading that goes well because there's a lot of action in Genesis. After the Creation Story and other etiological (origin) stories, beginning with chapter 12, Genesis tells the story of the exploits of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. One down – sixty-five to go. The second book of Exodus starts off with the story of Moses and his leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. So far – so good. Again, lots of action. The second half of Exodus, however, gets a little tedious when it talks about various offerings and the tabernacle and its furnishings. But with a little perseverance, Exodus gets read. Two down – sixty-four to go. (We're on a roll!) But then comes the third book – Leviticus, a book of laws. And Leviticus does us in.
Now, there is no question but that parts of the Bible are dull, repetitious, irrelevant and confusing. Granted, we call the Bible “the Word of God.” But it was written by imperfect men.
When one reads the Bible, it can be something like reading the newspaper. Where do you start when you read the newspaper? Front page? Sports section? Local news? Business section? Stock market report? Obituaries? Comic section? So with the Bible.
Start anywhere. Only, start at the beginning of a book. Some people get upset with the Bible because they open it to the middle of a book and expect it to make sense. That doesn't work for novels and it won't work for the Bible – except for, maybe, the book of Psalms.
Decide which book you want to read and then begin at its beginning. For example, begin with one of the Gospels -- such as Luke. The Gospels tell the story of Jesus Christ. The whole sweep of the Bile focuses upon the climactic moment when God makes full disclosure of Himself through his incarnation in Jesus Christ and Jesus is born.
Keep in mind: we read different kinds of literature differently. Read them all the same way and none of them may make sense. The scriptures have narratives, allegories, poetry, visions, letters, proverbs, prayers, commands and laws. We maintain the authority of the scriptures, while avoiding a rigid concept of inerrancy and giving all parts equal value.
Reading the Bible casually may have value, but it also has its dangers. Some folks tend to lift certain parts out of context, interpreting them incorrectly and applying them wrongly.
I've told you before about three people who were discussing the Bible and talking about their favorite verses. Said the first person, "My favorite verse is John 3:16 – ‘For God so loved the world…'" The others nodded in agreement. The second person said, "My favorite verse is Romans 8:28 – “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purposes.'" Again, the others nodded in agreement. Finally, the third person -- a young women -- said, "My favorite verse is Matthew 16:24." The others looked puzzled at her, not recalling what that verse said. So the young woman told them, "You know -- it's that verse that says, "If any man would come after me, let him...!"
Yes, some folks have a tendency of lifting certain parts of the Bible out of context.
To understand scripture, we must take into account who is speaking and for what particular purpose. Is it Jesus addressing his disciples in response to one of their questions? Or is it Paul, speaking to some people who have no knowledge of the Christian faith?
John Wycliffe, who first translated the Bible into English, used a group of very simple rules for reading and interpreting scripture. He wrote that readers of the Bible should:
“Note not only what is written or spoken,
But by whom,
And to whom
With what words,
At what time,
Where,
To what intent,
Under what circumstances,
Considering what goes before,
And what comes after.”
Someone else has suggested that there are three stages of Bible study: “The cod liver oil stage” – when you take it like medicine, because it is good for you; “The shredded wheat stage” – dry but nourishing; and “The ice cream and brownie stage” – just plain good.
The miraculous thing about this book is that it claims to be "the very power of God unto salvation to everyone who has faith." You can be a young person, a hardened criminal, a Christian who has never taken it seriously, or a person only exposed to bits of it and it is the power of God unto salvation to whoever will believe.
We believe the testimony of the scriptures themselves: " All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16,17). While those words, which written by Paul, referred only to the Old Testament books of the Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms when he wrote them, Christians have understood them in the context of the whole Bible.
When all is said and done, the Bible is the most important book for Christians to know. While it is not meant to be authoritative for everything, it is intended to be authoritative in matters of faith, life and salvation.
The primary theme of the Bible is that God loves us in spite of our sin and that God desires to be our parent and Savior. The Bible reminds us that the primary expression of doing God's will is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The Bible is the greatest book you can ever possess! For your own sake, read it.
