Engaging God’s Word

“This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” — John Bunyan

The Bible is the most popular book in the world. It is also the most misunderstood.

Plenty of people own at least one Bible if not many Bibles, but few actually know what’s in the Bible. And even fewer allow themselves to be changed by what God wrote in the Bible.

Bible Society and Barna teamed up to do some research on the state of the Bible in America and around the world.

54% of those who call themselves Christians are disengaged from the Bible. They may own one and they may even read it from time to time, but their life choices and decisions are not based on what the Bible says.

Fewer and fewer people believe that the Bible is the Word of God and without error. Some in America were questioned and actually believe that the Bible was just written to manipulate people.

Howard Hendricks writes “The great tragedy among Christians today is that too many of us are under the Word of God, but not in it for ourselves.”

Bible engagement is the keystone habit.

The more you engage the Bible, the more you are inclined to pray, attend church, create accountable relationships, confess sin, share the Gospel, etc…

This is the habit that fuels all of the others we will be talking about.

Joshua 1:1-9

The nation of Israel started out as one family that moved to Egypt during a famine. After several years, there rose a king who did not know about the blessing that family was the the people of Egypt. He just saw a large group of foreign people and he was afraid they would revolt and take him down. So he enslaved the people of Israel.

After 400 years of slavery, God judged Egypt through a series of plagues and caused Pharoah to release God’s people. They were led out by Moses.

They left and God took them to what was called the promised land, modern day Israel. He said He would drive out all the other wicked nations and give them the land, but they were afraid of the might and power of the people there. So God made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years under Moses.

Our text this morning picks up as they are at the end of 40 years and God is passing the authority to lead His people from Moses to Joshua.

In our text we are going to see the importance of God’s Word in Israel’s success and how it is important for our success in living the life that God intends for us to live.

Joshua 1:1–9 “1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””

God’s Word is meant to be lived, not just learned.

v.7 is the condition of their success in inheriting the promised land. “Only…” Just make sure you are solely focussed on this one thing only!

Be strong and courageous…This isn’t just a bravado. It’s not a facade. It’s based on confidence in God’s Word. Joshua was supposed to go forward in Battle confident because He had God with him and he was staying obedient to God’s Word.

Be careful to do…don’t turn away from it slightly.

God’s not being a jerk here. If you try to build a swingset or a trampoline without reading instructions carefully, you may get 7 steps in and realize that you missed something on step 3 and now you have to go back and undo something so you can do step 8. Or my favorite, you get to the end and you have extra parts.

I actually had a firepit that my mom bought for us for Christmas. It got to the end and had all these brackets and four plates of glass with no instructions on what to do with them.

Turns out it was a glass rectangle that went around the fire box to make it look pretty and funnel the heat up. I had to figure it out without instructions. That was not fun.

But we don’t have to do that with our walk with Christ. God has given us all the instructions that we need.

So we know now that obedience to God’s Word is important, but how do we make sure that we are living obedient to Him?

Being transformed by God’s Word is dependent on how you read, not how much you read.

“Not depart from your mouth”…v.8

“We get in God’s Word to get God’s Word in us.” - Robby Gallaty

You know that you are learning God’s Word when it is coming out of you. Jesus gave the illustration on corrupt speech. It’s not actually the words themselves that corrupt us, but what was in us already. The corrupt speech was a symptom of uncleaness within.

In the same way, God’s Word coming out of our mouths and coming out in what we do in our lives is evidence of God’s Word being brought down into our lives through slow and deliberate reading.

“Meditate on it day and night…” meditation again is that picture of a cow chewing the cud. It’s a truly great picture. They eat and then bring up what they ate over and over getting every last drop of nutrients out of what they ate.

Think about that with God’s Word. How often do you go back to what you read throughout the day. Bringing up one part of the scripture you read over and over again and just soaking up all that God has for you in it.

God tells Joshua and us that if we do this we will be careful to do all that is in God’s Word.

So it’s not about reading a bunch of Bible to say we read the Bible and check a box. Read 5 verses and get something out of it instead of trying to read 5 chapters and stay on schedule.

Staying Engaged in God’s Word Everyday

Pray before you read.

Read looking for God to say something. Expect it.

Write down a verse or a passage to focus on for the day.

Think about and write down how you can apply that verse in your life.

Jesus died to bring you into a relationship with Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

John 17:3 “3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

John 17:20–21 “20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Jesus died to give you the same unity and relationship that He already has with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

If you don’t know Him and you are still in sin, Jesus died to pay for and remove your sin so you can be brought into relationship with Him.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you need to realize that this is essential. You need this.

Billy Graham has never missed a day in His Bible.

It’s nourishment for my spiritual life and I don’t want to miss a single meal.

Wherever Billy Graham was, he would always leave his Bible open somewhere if he sat it down. When he saw the open Bible, he would stop and read a verse or two, if time allowed sometimes he would sit and read for a longer period of time.

Engaging God in His Word is the most important habit you will set in your life. Do whatever it is that you have to do to make yourself aware every day for your need to be with God in His Word.