Should I read the Bible?

Tim Michalek

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Who should read the Bible

Anyone who wants to know God and hear from Him.

Imagine getting a series of text messages from an unknown number.

hello!

I hope you are having a good day.

I missed you so much.

I love you.

I’ll do anything for you.

Please will you marry me?

at what point would you know that it is the wrong number?

The Bible is God’s love letter to us. It tells us all about who he is and what he’s done. It tells us a grand story of how he came to save us and will some day fix everything.

This does not mean that everything in the Bible is written to us like a personal text message.

If we don’t understand what the Bible is and how we should read it, we can actually misinterpret the Bible and misunderstand God. We can think God said something to us, when in truth, he did not.

And as Christians, since we base our entire life on the Bible, we really want to understand God’s true message in the Bible.

Two main questions in the sermon today- What is the Bible, and How Should We Read and Understand the Bible?

What is the Bible?

1. God’s revealed Word (from 7 Arrows)

How did God create the world?

God speaks. And things happen. (Man he made with hands+breath)

That could have been the end of everything God said. He didn’t have to speak to Adam and Eve and promise to send a deliverer. (Abraham promises, Moses the law, David a kingdom, and the prophets the warnings and blessings of the Day of the Lord)

God could have been silent. But he chose to speak.

Now most everyone in this room today will be like all of God’s people that have come before us. We will never hear an audible voice from God. We won’t see a message written in the sky. The way the Spirit of God speaks to us won’t always be as clear as a text from a friend.

But God does speak to us. He has written a love letter to you. He’s proven his love for thousands of years through millions of people to show you he has not forgotten you and will keep his promises.

God didn’t have to speak, but he speaks most clearly to us through the Bible.

The Bible is the word of God revealed by God to display God. This is not simply a bunch of stories written by various people thousands of years ago. These aren’t the words of men. What the Bible says, God says. (Rogers, Matt. Seven Arrows: (23) )

1 Thes 2:13 “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

2. The Bible is a gift from God

Since the Bible is one over arching story that shows the love of God, you can think of it as his love letter to you. A letter to show you all about himself and your relationship with him.

So as you think about what the Bible is, it is a gift. Something precious you don’t deserve to possess, but you do!

Psalm 19:7-10 “7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

No one talks about a duty like this. They talk this way about a gift.

God’s words to us are something so special, so unique, that the wise desire it more than millions of baht. David here is saying, wealth is not important. Being rich and famous person is not important. What is really important, what really brings him joy, is the relationship he has with God through his word.

Did you notice what else he compares the Word of God with? Honey

My children love sweets. Sophie loves chocolate, but the boys love any kind of sweets. Now imagine if I said to them, sit down here. You can either read the Bible or you can have chocolate. What do you choose?

3. The Bible is clear (but not simple)

Psalm 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;”

Some people around the world love trying to find hidden messages in the Bible. They will find the 47th book and open to the 4th chapter and the 7th word to spell out new messages like “Go to the house of crying.” And they will think God is telling them to go find a person who is crying. That is NOT how God speaks to us through the Bible. There are not secret messages you will discover if you use math or chance. God wrote the Bible in human language, not angelic language. He wrote it in plain language that the initial readers can understand. The Bible is clear.

However, the Bible is not always simple to understand. Some passages of the Bible are much easier to understand than others. So a simple rule to understand the Bible: Use the clear passages to help you understand the hard passages.

4. The Bible is True

Inspired and inerrant

2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

This is an important concept especially in our current generation. More and more people who call themselves Christians want to say that the Bible is not really true. (especially in the original documents). They say the Bible contains some good messages from God, but that the Bible isn’t historically or scientifically accurate. That there have been many errors added over the years. That we can’t actually know what God said.

Brothers and sisters, God has miraculously preserved his word for us. If we are to be followers of Yahweh, we must believe what he has said. He breathed out these words into the original authors. They made no mistake in writing the thoughts God wanted them to have on paper. It was a miracle.

5. The Bible is United

“The Bible is composed of 66 books, written by dozens of authors, on three continents, over thousands of years. Yet, the Bible tells one story which points to the person and work of Jesus Christ.”

Remember after Jesus resurrection? He was talking to some of his disciples, but they didn’t know he was Jesus? They were really sad and confused that Jesus had died. They knew the Scriptures and believed that Jesus was the Messiah. They believed he was going to set up God’s eternal kingdom. But even though they knew some of the Scriptures, they didn’t understand that their Messiah wouldn’t just come and be a king. He would come and die first. So Jesus explained how all the Scriptures and all the history of Israel pointed to him. How again and again God had saved David’s lineage. How God’s promise to save didn’t just include saving them from Rome, but he would save them from sin.

Luke 24:44-46 “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,”

6. The Bible is sufficient

2 Pet 1:3 “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,”

We don’t need to be searching and begging God to speak to us. He has already spoken to us. We don’t need a new revelation to obey God. We have all the words we need in the Bible. This doesn’t mean that God could never and would never speak to you. But in all of human history, God spoke directly to only a few people. So if you want to know what God says to you, read it.

7. The Bible is necessary

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Don’t think you can be a good Christian without reading the Bible. Don’t think that you can do what God wants without reading his message to you. We need to read and meditate on God’s word for it to change our hearts. We need to understand God’s word to be able to obey it. The Bible is necessary to share the love of God with others.

Don’t be afraid to quote the Bible who don’t believe the Bible is true. God’s word is powerful whether they like it or not.

8. The Bible will transform us

Col 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Let the Word of Christ fills you full, like a cup that is overflowing. Paul says when this happens, you share it with others. It comes out in teaching and encouraging each other. Parents should be talking about the Bible to their kids. You should talk about the Bible to your friends. With your parents. You should be so full of God’s word that you want to sing it.

When we read and understand the Bible, and we choose to follow it, it changes our lives.

Wow! I should read the Bible. It is amazing! How can I get all the treasure out of the Bible?

You read a lot of things.

instructions to assemble furniture (from IKEA) OR Clothing tags on how to wash

when you sign up for something there is fine print (lots of legal things no one understands)

Novel with people and story that are not real

Direction signs on the road

The Bible is most helpful when you meditate on Scripture. But meditating on the Bible is not like Buddhist meditation. You don’t empty your mind. You fill it. You ask questions. You think. You take a truth about God and think about all the ways that truth is true. And what that truth means for you.

Rather than thinking about the Bible like an instruction book, or a rule book, or a story book, think about it like a big mango tree.

Some mangos are easy to see and easy to reach. Some mangos are high up or are hidden by leaves. Some of the most beautiful delicious mangos take work to get.

The Bible is like a mango tree that has mangos every day, every month, every year. And anyone willing to go and get these mangos will be rewarded with fresh fruit. And this fruit doesn’t just feed your stomach. It feeds your soul. It connects you with God.

So as a guide to help us know how to get the mangos from the tree, we will ask 7 questions. So we don’t miss any of the fruit of the mango tree.

How should we read and understand the Bible?

Ask 7 questions

What does the passage say?

What did it mean to the original audience?

Understand genres

Letters, OT Narrative, Acts, Gospels, Parables, Law, Prophets, Psalms, Wisdom, Revelation

What does it tell us about God?

What does it tell us about man?

What does it tell me to do?

How does it change the way I relate to people?

How does it prompt me to pray?

Let’s take one passage and do these quickly. You can obviously take a lot of time for each question, but today we will only take a little time.

Matt 9:1-8 “And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.”