Why Study the Bible?

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We are to “teach”......

The command to make disciples is was to engage, share the Gospel, baptize, and to teach

In order to teach, we have to know what to teach

Substitute teachers - Andrew & Elijah

3 Different types of subs:

1. Those who do know and desperately want to impress so you end up doing more work than when your regular teacher is there!

2. The sub who is obviously just in this for the money, and is really just a glorified babysitter

3. The sub who doesn’t have a clue, but tries to teach, and then your real teacher comes back a few days later and you realize the sub taught you everything incorrectly

But in order to “teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded us” effectively as says, we need to know what to teach.

, “

In fact, in order to evangelize in the first place, you need to know what this Book says.

And that’s one reason why we study the Bible, that’s why nothing should seem more natural to us than reading the Bible, to prepare us to carry out His greatest commandment.

We should be as dependent on this Book as Jaxton was a bottle as a baby.

The kid would suck it down....that’s how we should be with God’s Word, craving it.

When you think of the Bible, I know you all would agree with this, but the Bible is “God’s Word”

Meaning, literally, God wrote this. He would say the same exact thing in an audible voice from Heaven as He had written inside this book.

And so, if we truly believe that, then this book should not only be used as a guide to help us teach others, but to mold and shape everything about who we are!

But, should that reason be why we study the Bible, or is that a good enough reason?

There are good reasons to read it, and bad reasons, but what should be the motive and driving force behind opening God’s Word?

Because there are wrong reasons, even if they seem good. And in fact, I would say most Christians study the Bible for the wrong reasons, so let’s look at a couple of the wrong ones

1. Guilt

Guilt is a powerful reason to make us humans do anything, and the same thing can be attributed to making us read the Bible

“I have to read the Bible today because Pastor Derek said all praise team members had to do 5 days of devotion a week, and if I don’t then I’m either; letting him down, letting the group down, not being a good Christian, etc.”

New Year’s Resolutions

I can’t miss a day, and then if we do, we have this tremendous amount of guilt based on a schedule we set in our mind

Or, I don’t read and I always feel guilty about it and so then I’ll read for a day, and then fail again.

And so this guilt is the driving force behind us reading, not the real reason we should be reading

So guilt is basically this:

Good Christians read because they’re afraid not to

Bad Christians don’t read and feel guilty

Guilt is definitely not the right reason to study God’s Word, and guilt will not ever be a successful blueprint for consistent time in God’s Word.

So if you read, are you driven by guilt?

2. Status

Often, our motivation for reading can be driven purely by a desire for status

Meaning....do we read to be looked at as “Mr. Answers”, or to seem super intelligent, or to be that “go-to guy”?

College Janitor Bible Study Example

tells us that knowledge puffs up. It can make us prideful

Sometimes we read to become like someone else, to be as respected

For me, I’m a huge fan of Piper and Platt. And sometimes I’m like, “Man I wish I knew my Bible like John Piper does, I’d love to have that influence”

This mentality is sinful, I’m looking for status, even if I don’t come right out and say it.

Is it good to know God’s Word, and know it well? Absolutely

Should we memorize passages of Scripture and meditate on them day and night, you betcha

But you have to be honest, what is the reason behind doing so?

3. Teaching Material

Again, this is a struggle of mine.

I was telling McGrew this morning, I struggle sometimes with my “personal” devotional life, because often I’m reading in order to do what?

To teach you guys

And so even when I’m reading for myself, I often catch myself writing points down that I can share with you guys, instead of reading God’s Word for my own heart, for my own spiritual health

So, do we read to have teaching material, to have a rebuttal to someone’s tough questions, or to lead a Bible study?

Once again, these things are good to do, but these can’t be the reason we open this book.

So what is the reason?

Well, to get to that point, let’s look at what the point of the Bible is, because we need to understand and remember these truths to know the real reason to study God’s Word

1. The first and foremost point of the Bible to remember is that it:

Teaches us about Himself

Now, in a world where everything is so centered around us, this is a big issue, and we aren’t excluded from this struggle.

Look at all the “self” words we have in our culture:

Self-centered, Self-Worth, Self-Aware, Self-Belief, Self-Seeking, or “Let me take a Selfie”

Mom’s Christmas Gift

And so to come to the understanding that when we open this book, it should never be to learn about “ourselves” is no small feat.

We are products of the culture that we live in, we are products of a sinful nature, and we have to fight against that when we open this book.

This book is God’s revelation of who He is - holy, what He’s about - His glory, what He’s done - Creator and Sustainer, Redeemer, and what He’s going to do - Every knee will bow

God isn’t who we need Him to be in light of what we want. God is who He is despite who we are.

2. Secondly, we need to remember that this book starts and ends with God.

This book is God’s revelation of who He is - holy, what He’s about - His glory, what He’s done - Creator and Sustainer, Redeemer, and what He’s going to do - Every knee will bow

God’s “Selfie”

3. However, we do learn about ourselves through this book, it’s just always in light of Who He Is

1. We learn about who we are, where we came from, and what our problem is

It answers all of life’s important questions

2. We learn how we are to live

, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness”

3. We learn how to have a relationship with Him.

God communicates with us through His Word.....and all through it He’s yelling out, “I LOVE YOU”

And like any relationship we have, when we enter into one with God, we cry back, “I LOVE YOU TOO”

4. And then we learn how to exalt Jesus, how to make sure our lives are lived to glorify Him.

, “ 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Because this whole book, even the OT, points to and exalts Jesus Christ…and so should our lives:

How does the Bible, especially the OT talk about Christ if He hadn’t come yet? I’m glad you asked!

Abraham & Isaac

Jonah

Hosea

The Law

Gospels - duh

Revelation

5. And the book obviously prepares us and teaches us how to live out the Great Commission, to glorify Christ.

So, we’ve seen the point of Scripture, and so we can see why we cant approach it out of guilt or shame, or status, or just to teach…because when we do that we’re making it about ourselves.

The Bible is all about Him and how we live in light of who He is.

So, when we open God’s Word, there should be a right motive and a right driving force behind doing so.

Motive:

1. We open God’s Word with the understanding of who He is, and so we open His Word with humility

Humility

We become the student

We search the Bible not in light of views we already hold, but in light of what God wants to show us.

We disregard our pre-conceived thoughts or our culturally-saturated minds and humbly approach the throne of grace

And so when you come to those hard passages that you don’t agree with, or that our culture doesn’t agree with, and you find yourself fighting against the truth of His Word, what do you yield to? Yourself or to God?

Driving Force:

2. And the driving force behind it should be to become more like God. That should be our motive.

Everything God wanted us to know about Himself is found in these pages right here, in these 66 books.

And when we are humble, and approach it with this mindset, then we are approaching God’s Word with the right heart attitude.

And from that point, as we learn about Him, as we are shaped to become more like Him, we then can teach others as we are commanded to.

Sum it Up:

So basically, here’s the take away from tonight:

When we come to our time in God’s Word, as we all should be doing, as we approach His Word, we should let go of everything we want and expect to find, and instead let God tell us exactly what to think and what to do.

Why do you think the world, unbelievers, hate God’s Word?

Because it goes against the entire rhetoric that culture is living under.

Be yourself, be happy, live however you want, life is short have fun, you do you.

Ask yourself:

1. Are you even opening God’s Word? If not....then maybe you’ve got some serious heart issues. Maybe you aren’t even a believer.

2. If you open it, are your motives pure? Are you doing it because I told you to, or you want to be a know-it-all, or you want to be able to fire back at people’s tough questions

3. If your motives haven’t been pure, try this approach. You won’t regret it.

Humbly approach God’s Word to learn about who He is, and allow Him to make you who you need to be!