Starting in the Middle

Introduction:

If we’re honest, many of us take issue with the Bible, or what Jesus referred to as “the scriptures.” Even for those of us who are trying to take the Bible seriously, we face problems.

Maybe we’re puzzled or bored by it. Its language is sometimes strange, complex, and difficult to comprehend. Perhaps we’ve tried reading the Bible many times before, but come away from each reading more confused than when we started. It feels like there is some good stuff in there, but it’s bogged down by lots of long, boring stories, genealogies, and religious codes.

Maybe we don’t trust it. How could an ancient, millenia-old book possibly speak to the everyday realities of living in the 21st century? Perhaps we see the Bible’s teachings as archaic at best, and morally reprehensible at worst.

Maybe we’re scared of it. If we actually decide to read the Bible, what questions might arise? What new doubts will I have to face? What will be asked of me if I take it seriously? Or perhaps the Bible has been weaponized against you and you fear that it could happen all over again.

And yet, if we look at the life of Jesus we see a life deeply entrenched in the Hebrew scriptures, or what we call the Old Testament. Jesus quoted the scriptures, meditated on the scriptures, wrestled with the scriptures, interpreted the scriptures, found his identity in the scriptures, built his ethics on the scriptures, and framed his world in the story the scriptures tell.

So how do we reconcile all of this baggage we have with the Bible with our desire to apprentice under Jesus of Nazareth? It would seem that the first step is honesty, to acknowledge before God and others what we truly think and feel about the scriptures.

This week’s Practice is simple: have an honest conversation with your small group about the Scriptures and their current place in your life.

I think many will be surprised to understand that we all have questions, varying thoughts, and yet a willingness to apprentice our lives around Jesus.

If you believe what you like in the Bible, and reject what you like, it is not the Bible you believe but yourself.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

The Bible is not antique, or modern. It is eternal.

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)

Prayer

Message:

As Christians, most of us know that the Bible is a very important book, but not many of us know where it came from. This four-week series helps explain how these divinely inspired writings came together to be the Bible we know today. The title of this series is: How the Bible came to us.

I would imagine for those of you who grew up in church became familiar with the most popular Bible stories.

Daniel and the lion’s den

David and Goliath

Queen Esther

Noah and the ark

Jesus turning water into wine

Jesus healing the sick

While most know some of these key stories . . . Bible stories . . . Most people don’t know . . . The story of the Bible. Understanding how we got The Bible is almost as important as knowing what’s in it. The backstory sheds light on the story.

As kids, knowing how the Bible came to us is unimportant. As adults, it is so important. If you don’t know the story of the Bible, it’s easy to discount the stories in the Bible.

Some may perceive this book being written by a bunch of men who wanted to control people with religion and create a cult following. While this may be a perception of some, it can be equally confusing to people who call themselves Christian but don’t understand how we actually got the Bible. The Bible that we derive our ethics, way of living, our understanding of God, and our faith in Jesus.

Tension:

The way we got our Bible is not how we got The Bible.

My first Bible: NIV Young Discover’s Bible with a scene of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea with Moses in the background.

God’s Word. All true. I believed it . . . before I read it. You? Maybe you weren’t encouraged to read the Bible. Maybe a Priest read it to you.

Either way, many of us carried our childhood understandings of the Bible into adulthood. For some: If the Bible says it, that still settles it. For others: Not that easy.

They need to wrestle through their questions and doubts…

Somebody pointed out: What about the other parts of the Bible?

The parts they didn’t talk about in Sunday school.

Lot and his daughters

The concubine that was chopped up into pieces

The unrated version of world wide flood

You couldn’t look the other way. So you may have walked away. Or are considering . . . for both groups . . . this series is important.

You may be surprised to discover that . . .

The story of the Bible does not begin in the beginning. It begins in the middle. It begins with first-century Greek. Doctor/Luke/documented events surrounding the life of Jesus.

Luke 1:1–4 (NLT)

Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

Something had happened worth documenting. “Many.” Unusual. There aren’t many cases of multiple written accounts of the same event.

Luke was not writing the Bible. Luke was creating an orderly account of events. He tells us why and how the story of our Bible began. It began when it became clear Jesus was not who folks hoped he was. Joseph . . . took body/cross.

Burial of Jesus

Luke 23:50–53 (NIV)

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.

Luke 23:55–56 (NIV)

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Jesus was dead. No Christians. Followers scattered. No hope. Brokenhearted women.

Disillusioned/scared disciples.

Rome felt they won politically. Temple leaders felt they held onto power. Law and the Prophets were protected. If it had ended there . . . no Bible.

If it all ended there…

No Christians. No church. No Old Testament prophesies fulfilled. No New Testament writings.

No account by Luke or anybody else.

However, it didn’t end there.

Luke documented the life of Jesus, because the story of Jesus didn’t end on a Roman cross. Jesus was seen alive. Followers came out of hiding. They went to Jerusalem and preached in the streets. Luke documents their message. Peter:

Acts 2:32 (NIV)

God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

Acts 3:13–15 (NIV)

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

So the Jesus movement/the church began. But still no Bible. They had the Hebrew scriptures but no Bible. Luke documented the 30 years following the resurrection in a document entitled Acts or Acts of the Apostles. Luke: Acts Interacts with Peter and John. Travels with Paul. He documents the rise of the Gentile church, a movement that would shape Western civilization. His was not the only account.

Luke 1:1 (NIV)

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,

Why so many?

We gloss over this very quickly.

It was very expensive to put ink to papyrus (pu-pie-rus).

Most couldn’t read. Again . . . Something extraordinary had happened . . . something that had to be preserved for future generations. Peter and the rest of the crew of disciples weren’t getting any younger. Lives were in danger.

It is believed that Peter dictated his account of Jesus to another Greek: Mark. Peter:

Mark From Papias (pay-pee-as), an early second-century writer. Mark is short. Bottom line. Event- driven. John Mark: Traveling companion of Paul, friend of Luke. Written in the 50s.

Matthew: Directed his account to the Jews. Jesus=Messiah. Church fathers reference an earlier Hebrew version that didn’t survive. (Greek: 50s) Why Greek? For all nations!

John: Dictated. “Why bother, John? Others have already written.” At the end of his account he tells us:

John 20:30–31 (NIV)

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.

[You, you, whoever stumbles across this document. Not The Bible yet. A witness of these extraordinary events dictated this amazing document.]

31 But these are written that you may believe . . .

[Believe what? What do you want us to believe, John? If you left faith because you don’t believe “it” anymore . . .] [What is the “it” you don’t believe?] [John, not The Bible, is about to tell you the only IT that matters.]

31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

That’s it. That’s the “it.” The implications are staggering. If John’s account is all you have, John’s account is all you need. For decades, people have been directed, not to The Bible, but to John’s account. They read it and believed! So we arrive at the end of the first century. But still no The Bible. Thousands of Christians, valuable documents documenting the life/words of Jesus. Imagine how valuable these documents were to people who’d heard bits and pieces. Whose parents heard John/Peter preach. I grew up on stories of . . .

Pointing to the Bible in the case:

From the beginning these accounts were considered . . . valuable and reliable. Over time, they were considered . . . sacred and inspired. They were eventually embraced as . . . Scripture. Still no Bible.

Conclusion Now, the Roman Empire was suspicious of Christians. Not because of what they believed as much as what they didn’t believe. Problem: Christians: No gods. “Caesar is not our Lord.” This offended Caesar and the gods! Romans were very superstitious.

Second/third-century Christian author Tertullian summed it up:

“If the Tiber floods the city or if the Nile refuses to rise or if the sky withholds its rain, if there is an earthquake, a famine, a pestilence, at once the cry is raised, ‘Christians to the lions.” —Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus/Apology

Point: Keep the gods happy at all times at all costs. Demonstrated their pleasure/ displeasure through nature. In AD 303, Emperor Diocletian (dai-uh-kee-shn) issued . . .

PICTURE: Emperor Diocletian Emperor Diocletian issued an edict that resulted in the worst state-sponsored persecution of Christians to date.

Places of worship were destroyed.

Assembly was forbidden.

He mandated the destruction of Christian writings.

Not Bibles—documents, collections—hidden, buried. Christians died rather than give them up.

Christianity spread.

The Essenes hid scrolls in caves during the Jewish revolt, also known as the Jewish War. This helped preserve antiquity.

Political change brought reform and the easing of hostilities…

ByAD324... Constantine The Great was the undisputed emperor of the empire. He cancelled the edicts. Returned property. Christianity became the preferred religion of the empire. Christian scholars could work in the open. They were funded by the state. Stage was set for the assembly of the first “ta biblia”—The Bible. But there’s much more to the story. We will pick it up there next time in part two of How the Bible came to us.

Prayer