Throne Room: Bible Reading

Scripture Reading

Please stay standing as we read from Holy Scripture....

Psalm 119:1–16 CSB

1 How happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk according to the Lord’s instruction! 2 Happy are those who keep his decrees and seek him with all their heart. 3 They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. 4 You have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept. 5 If only my ways were committed to keeping your statutes! 6 Then I would not be ashamed when I think about all your commands. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn your righteous judgments. 8 I will keep your statutes; never abandon me. 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word. 10 I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands. 11 I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you. 12 Lord, may you be blessed; teach me your statutes. 13 With my lips I proclaim all the judgments from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in the way revealed by your decrees as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

This is the Word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

Opening Illustration

There’s a story of a notable rabbi who had a grandson. One day his grandson was playing hide-and-seek with another boy. His grandson remained in his hiding place for a long time, assuming that his friend would try and find him. Finally, he left his hiding place and saw that his friend was gone.

The boy started to cry, and he ran to his grandfather. The rabbi began to cry. The grandson turned to his grandfather and said, “Why are you crying?”

The rabbi said, “God too says: ‘I’m here, but there is no one to look for me.’” [1]

God wants you and I to search for him, and he can be found. In fact, God is not hiding from us, he is speaking to us through his Word. And he wants to speak with you.

Personal Introduction / Sermon Intro

Well, Good morning, TBA church. If you’re new here or we haven’t had a chance to meet, my name is Jamie Bennett. I’m the discipleship pastor here at TBA.

So today is the first Sunday of Lent - 40 days until Easter- and this is a picture of Jesus during his time in the wilderness. It is a time to focus on repentance and preparation for our hearts, but its also a time of Joy because the King is doing his work in our lives.

It is my pleasure to welcome you as we continue in our teaching series about the Throne Room practice.

If you were here last Sunday evening, then you might remember that we discussed distinctives of the Throne Room experience. And if you recall, the first one was Worship, and what worship looks like in your throne room practice tonight.

But that’s not what we’re talking about today. We will come back to that on another Sunday….

- today we’re going to discuss how:

SLIDE

Approaching the Throne of God Through Bible Reading and Meditation Helps Me Know Him, Hear Him, and Orient My Life to His Word.

Specifically,

Today I want to journey with you as we uncover 2 functions of Scripture, 3 Practices for using Scripture in your Throne Room experience, and 4 tried and true rules for handling the Word of God correctly.

Sound Good?

So let’s look first at two functions of Scripture for your Throne Room practice.....

2 Functions of Scripture

SLIDES-Scriptures

The doctrine of Scripture teaches us that Scripture is both a human work and a divine work. We all know the passage from 2 Timothy which says

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

The word inspired means breathed-out. Scripture is literally breathed out by God which refers to the Holy Spirit.

Scripture comes from God but we also know that there are human authors who prophetically wrote the books of the Bible. 2 Peters 1 states,

2 Peter 1:21 CSB

21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

1) First Function of Scripture

SLIDE- Scripture is God Speaking to Us

So, first, I want you to see that Scripture is God speaking to us. God is really present in the Scriptures because the words of Scripture are God-breathed out.

In the throne room, this first function of Scripture leads us to read and meditate on God’s words which leads us to his divine presence. This is unhurried Bible reading… it is different from Bible study. It is reading so that you can hear God’s divine voice speaking to you.

SLIDE- Quote:

The theologian Hans Boersma puts it this way: [2]

Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition Guigo’s Four Steps

The heart’s longing for an experience of spiritual vision is key. Scripture as such does not take us to God. Purity of heart does, and Scripture’s aim is to purify the heart. Only the pure in heart can see God (Matt 5:8).

When God speaks to us through Scripture, it can change our heart. Our longings for God’s presence grow stronger, our minds are renewed, we begin to see heavenly perspectives on what God is doing on earth, and we receive Kingdom revelation which gives us an awareness of who He is and How he works.

SLIDE- exegeting God’s presence

When we read Scripture to hear God’s voice, we are exegeting God’s presence.

Exegeting means pulling out- extracting.

In other words, the search for meaning with unhurried time is a search for God, not an attempt at historical reconstruction.

The first function of of Scripture requires reading and meditation not Bible study…

More on the practice of reading and meditation in a few minutes.

2) Second Function of Scripture

SLIDE- (both points)- Scripture is the plumb line for interpreting God’s Voice

So the second function of Scripture is that it is the plumb line for interpreting God’s Voice to us.

A plumb line, is cord with a weight on it, which dangles freely. Using the law of gravity helps painters and carpenters find right angles and keep things perfectly straight. A plumb line doesn’t change or move with the whims of the carpenter. It remains true, and all work must line up with it or risk being crooked.

The Bible is the standard by which everything else is to be measured. For example, if a person says that he or she “feels led by the Spirit” to commit adultery because God wants them to be happy (and yes, people have said that), we know that person is mistaken.

We know because God's Word commands faithfulness within marriage.

This is also why we need to be good Bible studiers, where we exegete the historical background and understand how the language is being used.

During the protestant reformation, Martin Luther said that Scripture was the norming norm. A norm is something that is authoritative. We have a rich tradition in the Christian faith. That is a norm. We have leaders whom God has appointed to us a shepherd and teachers- their instructions are a norm. The church body speaks to each other to encourage and instruct. This is a norm. But their is only one norming norm, and that is Scripture.

By it, all things are measured.

And this is especially true when it comes to hearing the God through creation, life circumstances, through the quiet promptings of the Spirit, and through other people.

All of these experiences must be measured against God’s plumb line.

And this requires us to put on our detective hat and examine the scriptures to see if what has been said is true (like the Bereans did in Acts 17).

Let me give you an interesting example from the Bible.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul is defending the teaching of the resurrection of the dead to some of the Corinthians who had received a bad teaching that there is not resurrection.

So Paul goes back to the Gospel message. This is the great resurrection passage and he states that the resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith. But I want you to see what he grounds the resurrection in… not just his eyewitness testimony… here’s what he says:

Slide- passage

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 CSB

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Paul first states that he preached the gospel message to them and then he begins to elaborate on the message. Paul says this is the most important things that he said- that Christ died for our sins and that he was resurrected on the third day.

And both of those things are grounded in the teaching of Scripture.

Paul, the inspired apostle, in the very act of authoring Scripture himself states that Scripture is the grounds for his claim.

Scripture is God’s plumb line for understanding his voice. It guides and directs us, and it conveys rich theological truths like what we just read.

Slide-two functions

So, Scripture is God Speaking to Us and Scripture is the plumb line for interpreting God’s voice.

3 Practices for Throne Room Reading

So now that we have a good understanding of how Scripture functions, I want to really quick give you three practices that you can explore in your Throne Room Reading.

And you’ve actually already seen these because they are on the bookmark we handed you a few weeks ago. If you don’t have that bookmark, please go to next steps and you can get one there.

1) Read and Observe (What stands out?)

Slide- read and observe - what stands out

The first practice is to read and observe.

This is where slow meditative reading takes place.

At first you might read the entire passage from beginning to end, making note of the general flow of thought.

And this is the question you ask——

What stands out? Is your heart stirred over a particular passage or verse?

Write this down in your journal.

2) Interpret and Meditate (Why is this passage meaningful?)

Slide- progressive—-Interpret and Meditate— why meaningful

The second practice is to interpret and meditate on the passage that stands out.

To interpret is to understand why this passage is meaningful. This is where the truths of Scripture have the ability to pierce the human heart. Henry Blackaby says that meditation is God's invitation to take his Word seriously.

This takes time. Unhurried time. You are asking God through the Holy Spirit to illuminate this passage so that you understand it and apply it to your life.

Read the passage of Scripture again. Maybe up to four times, interspersed with periods of silence.

Look for the revelation of Christ in your passage.

Then maybe you ask a few of the W questions.

Who is this passage about, What is it saying, Why is it being said, Who is talking, Who is hearing?

And how does your passage fit within its context and with the entire Bible.

Does your passage address something in your life situation and circumstances?

Why are those scriptures so meaningful?

Write these things down in your journal.

3) Hear and Orient Your Life to the Word

Slide- progressive—-add “Hear and Orient Your Life…

The third practice is to Hear what God is saying and to Orient your Life to the Scriptures.

What might God be saying to you about this verse(s)? (STOP AND LISTEN!)

This is the point where you might journal questions to God. Address God in the first person, this is a written prayer with God, not to God.

What is the Spirit teaching you? Is it comfort and assurance? Is it guidance? It it conviction? It it something that the Spirit is teaching you about God?

Now, I need you to hear this.

This practice isn’t actually about you.

When you read Scripture in the Throne Room it is so that you can orient your life to Scripture.

So the wrong questions to ask is:

Lord, what am I supposed to do about this?

or

How do I fix this?

Think about that- who is the subject. It’s you.

But this isn’t about you. It’s not about how you can fix your life.

The right question to ask is:

Lord, what is it that you are doing here?

or

Lord, what is it that you want me to do now?

Ask and Journal questions like that.

Then, Journal how you will adjust your life to the Scriptures so that you can obey God.

………

So that’s our 3 throne room practices for Reading Scripture

Read and Observe.

Interpret and Mediatate.

Hear and Orient Your Life.

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4 Rules of Engagement

Before we close, I want to cover 4 rules that we need to carry with us as we approach Reading and Hearing the Voice of God in Scripture.

1) Involve and Share with Others

While the Throne Room practice is something you do as an individual, this practice is not meant to be kept hidden and secret. God has placed you in community.

So the first rule is this

>Slide - Progressive- Involve Your Community

You should share your Throne Room experiences with those in your church community. At minimum, this should be a close friend or mentor. It could also be a small group or dgroup, or you could form a new group for the express purpose of sharing your journals with others.

This is why the journals are so important. Not only do they provide a record for you to refer back to, but they also give you a guide to use as you share with others what you think God is speaking to you about.

God places us in community because you and I both have blind spots. We all are in a power struggle wanting to place our will above his. Others whom you trust can offer clear affirmations, warnings, or words of caution.

Listen, Write Down, and Pray over what they share.

Also, God might actually have something for you from another person’s journal- so this goes both ways.

2) Context Matters

How do we avoid reading into Scripture something we want God to say instead of hearing what God is saying.

Slide- progressive- context matters

This is why the second rule is so important which is that context matters.

It matters a great deal.

This is how we avoid mistaking that it takes two or three people to gather together before the Lord is present. Have you heard that verse before. Usually quoted before someone begins a time of prayer….

The context of that verse in Matthew chapter 18 is discipline and it relates to the Old Testament principle that for any charge or judgment to be made, the offending party had to bring two or three witness before the king. Jesus is saying that in matters of church discipline, he will function as a righteous judge and requires the church to follow the right steps for discipline.

You see, Scripture is rarely a set of isolated proverbs except maybe for the book of Proverbs and even those have a theme that is weaved through out all 30 chapters-they go together to tell one big story.  

Scripture is actually a story of how God works in peoples lives.  Through it we can learn how God is interacting in our life too. It is His Story not ours. I want to illustrate this with a personal example.

This last week, I received a message this week from a trusted source who believed that God wanted me to understand something about a current ministry assignment.

In short, if I move forward in that task, which is a very good thing, then I need to be ready for the Spiritual Battles I will be faced with.  

Later that day I brought this to the Throne Room time and asked God to confirm this message along with some other things that were spoken to me. I wanted to know if this was from God. Sure enough, the next day someone else felt compelled to offer similar advice.

So, as this week went by, I continued to process and think about it… and then this past Thursday, I’m reading my Bible and I read a passage in Acts 23, specifically, Acts 23:11.  

This passage stood out to me as I was mediating on the Scriptures. Here’s what it says:

Slide - passage:

Acts 23:11 CSB

11 The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”

I was struck by the passage that says, “The Lord stood by Paul” - here the risen Jesus himself suddenly appears to Paul, stands beside him, and gives him this encouraging word.

And so, I could have thought all kinds of things on why that passage stood out.

Maybe the Lord’s saying to me that everything going to be Ok and that I don’t need to worry about it.

Who knows, I could have come up with any type of meaning if I wanted to.

But the context of the passage doesn’t allow me to do that. You see, this word of encouragement from Jesus was right after Paul was accused by the Sanhedrin, also some Jews were plotting to kill him, and the Roman governor of Jerusalem decided to ship him off to be judged by someone else so he didn’t have to deal with the messiness of a murder. That’s the context of the passage.

Jesus telling Paul that he needs to have courage - in essence, don’t be afraid, doesn’t mean that Paul is going to be ok. It means that Paul was going to face even more of what he already experienced which was accusation, judgement, and trial.

Yes, ultimately Paul could be confident and joyful because  the Lord was with him but that doesn’t mean he was safe.

And we know from the greater context, that Paul was going to be ok whether in life or death, but in this passage he was about to enter the battlefield and it was going to take him all the way to Rome to face the emperor.

So as I For me, two things spoke to me that made this meaningful and helpful for my current questions:

First, I knew the Lord was saying no matter what, I’m with you as I promised.

And second, I couldn’t help but recall that quote from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe where it was said-

“Safe, who said anything about safe.  Course he isn’t safe. But he’s Good. He’s the king I tell you.  

Jesus reminded me that orienting my life to his word is not safe.  But he’s good. And he’s with me. That’s how context matters.  I could have easily thought something different if I didn’t understand the context of verse 11.

3) Scripture Always Interprets Scripture

Slide- progressive - third rule

The third rule is that Scripture Always Interprets Scripture.

Never use just one verse to justify your action.

If God is revealing a truth about Himself, you will be overwhelmed with many scriptures saying the same thing.  

If you’ve heard from God through other means- through thoughts, dreams, preaching, or other people- that revelation will always be interpreted through Scripture in its context and you will see it throughout all of Scripture.

Think about the road to Emmaus at the end of the Gospel of Luke. Here Jesus is walking with some of his followers and they don’t recognize him. And they were speaking about the death of Jesus. And they had doubts about recent reports that Jesus was resurrected. So then Jesus says this to them:

SLIDE- passage

Luke 24:25–26 CSB

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

The disciples should have known from the Scriptures that Jesus would rise again, so Jesus had to open their eyes to what the Scripture teaches so that it could confirm the Gospel message.

If Jesus used Scripture to interpret God’s revelation, we need to use Scripture to helps us interpret Scripture as well.

Henry Blackaby speaks to this saying: [3]

Slide-quote

“God does not contradict himself. Nor does he make things up as he goes. He knows where he is going; in fact he's already there! Whatever God is doing today will be based on what he did yesterday. History is important.“

― Henry T. Blackaby, Hearing God's Voice

4) Orienting Your Life is the Point

The final rule is that

Slide- all four points….

Orienting your life to the Scriptures is the point of the Reading and Meditating on Scripture.

If your experience does not match what is revealed in scripture, immediately seek to bring your experience into conformity with the scripture and not the other way around.

The point of all this is to come to know him better not to make him aware of your life’s problems.

I’m certain, that the God of the universe, who created all things, understands your problems.

But he does ask you to trust him with your life. So ask questions like:

“Lord, what area of my life does this apply to right now?

And

How are you at work in this and what are you asking of me?”

demonstrates trust that He has the answers.

God will confront your life with the fruit of meditation. This might cause the pain of repentance or it might flood your heart with gratitude.

But set this intention right from the get go:

If you’re going to seek God’s presence and will over your life, then you need to resolve to obey God’s voice.

If you are in the Throne Room of God, you have to obey.

You must submit yourself to his story, not the other way around.

As the old hymn says, you need to Trust and obey- for there’s no other way.

Conclusion

Andrew Murray, an early 20th century pastor and missionary once commented on how we come to know God. Listen to these words. He says:

There are two ways of knowing things. The one is in the mind by thought or idea—I know about a thing. The other is by living—I know by experience. An intelligent blind man may know all that science teaches about the light by having books read to him. A child who has never thought what light is knows more about light than the blind scholar. The scholar knows all about it by thinking. The child knows it in reality by seeing and enjoying…

And then he says this:

Do not trust your own understanding. It can only give you thoughts and ideas about spiritual things without the reality of them.” [4]

The point he’s making isn’t to be ignorant or unintelligent in your approach to seeking the presence of God. No, the point is that God in Christ is revealing himself to you because he’s is the King of the universe and invites you to know him through his word.

In our Throne Room experience, God will truly reveal himself to you through his Scriptures- But- God does not give new revelation about himself that contradicts what he has already revealed in all of Scripture.

Instead, God speaks so that you might be able to apply his Word to the specific circumstances in your life.

When God speaks to you, he is not writing a new book of Scripture; rather, he is applying to your life what he has already said in his Word.

Throughout the Bible, whenever God spoke to someone, that person's life was never the same again.

The same will be true for you.

The Biblical feast of Purim is this coming Friday. In that story, Queen Esther boldly approaches the king to save her people. And the king extends his scepter allowing his beloved queen access to the throne room.

The Lord of all and King of the universe has extended his scepter to you.

Approaching the Throne of God Through Bible Reading and Meditation Helps Us Know Him, Helps Us Hear Him, and Helps Us Orient Our Lives to His Word.

Let’s Pray

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Footnotes:

1. Story is Adapted and Paraphrased from: Sobel, Rabbi Jason. Aligning With God’s Appointed Times: Discover the Prophetic and Spiritual Meaning of the Biblical Holidays (pp. 210-211). RJS Publishing. Kindle Edition.

2. Hans Boersma, Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2023), 47.

3. Blackaby, Henry; Blackaby, Richard. Hearing God's Voice (p. 217). (Function). Kindle Edition.

4. Andrew Murray, The Inner Life (Pittsburgh: Whitaker House, 1984), 55.