Everyday Theology | Part 2

Announce:

We are making the move back to three services this Sunday, August 2, 2020 In three services 8:15, 9:30 & 10:30.

We will be on FB at 8:15 & 10:30AM.

Also, for those who would like to attend but are hesitant to come inside, we will be live on 95.9FM in our church parking lot.

With regards to mask, here is what I would like to say. We encourage the use of masks while entering and exiting the church buildings.

If you have a prayer request or need, please feel free to drop that in the comment section below as we spend time in God’s Word together.

[PRAY]

Study:

When I mention the word Bible, what is the first image that pops in your hear?

For me there are two images...

Illus.: When I was a kid my grandmother had a large family bible that sat on her coffee table. I dont’ ever remember anyone ever reading it. I do remember my grandmother dusting it, but that was about it.

This image impressed upon me that the Bible was an important book, but that it was not absolutely necessary that we read it. Sure, it was important for pastors to read it, but that was about it.

Illus.: I think about the Bible that sat on the Lord’ Supper table in the church that I grew up in. It was a beautfibul and very old copy of God’s Word. It had a certain historical value and was a cool decoration.

This image taught me that the Bible was an important book that was necessary for worship.

The sad thing is that neither of these images taught me that the Word of God was alive and active. Neither of them taught me that the Bible was practical and that I should read it regularly. Neither of them taught me that it was God’s chosen means to reveal who He is to me.

However, I am grateful that I had good Sunday School teachers, pastors and professors who have instructed me in the understanding and applying this book to my life.

So, what about you?

The fact is that when it comes to God’s Word many of us have a very confused or at least unclear understanding of it. We get confused by some of the stories, becuase they happen in a time and place that is foreign from what we experience today. We get overwhelmed by the sheer size of the Bible. It’s 66 individual books. Some are short like the minor prophets and Jude, but others are really long.

Therefore, tonight as we dive into part two of Everyday Theology we are going to dive into Biblical Theology or the Bible. A right understanding of the Bible is founational to right theology. If we don’t understand why we have this book and what it signifies, then our theology can get off track quick.

So, as we study Biblical Theology or the Bible, we are going to approach our study through the understanding of FACTS, FAITH & FEELINGS.

Pick up cards and review FACTS, FAITH & FEELINGS.

FACTS: What do we need to know about the Bible?

There are three terms that help us understand what we need to know about the Bible… (p.41 Foundations)

(1) Revelation

Revelation (not the book) means that God has chosen to reveal his nature and His will to us through the Bible. The Bible was written so that God can show us what he is like and what he wants us to be like.

Think of it this way...

Illus.: Talk about the summer that Julie and started dating and my internship in Michigan. I learned so much about Julie and she about me through those letters. There was no internet to speak of then. There was no smartphones or texting. It was expensive to make phone calls due to this thing called long distance.

Just as I got to know Julie through those letters, so we get to know and love God through the Bible.

The Bible puts it this way...

Ezekiel 38:23 ESV

So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

So, the Bible is God’s primary means that he reveals himself to us. It is primary meaning that He uses other means, but they must always be compared to how He revealed himself in the Bible.

Bottom line - God’s Word is the final word on anything we learn or no about God.

(2) Inspiration

Does this mean that God’s Word is inspiring?

No, inspiration is the process through which God gave us the Bible. God worked in the hearts of human writers to inspire them to write down his words. God’s words words written through these people are perfect, infallible and trustworthy.

Does this mean that they sat down and jotted down the exact words that God gave them?

No. They were inspired to write the words that they wrote.

I like best the way Paul explains inspiration to Timothy...

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Here Paul was not telling Timothy something new. Timothy already knew the God’s Word was inspired. However, the way Paul describes inspiration is so powerful. He uses the phrase “breathed out by God.”

When we express ourselves through words, we do so while exhaling (literally breathing out). Like when I get passion about what I am saying I am breathing out my words. I am expressing myself.

When God moved on the hearts of the writers of the Bible books, he did so in such a way that his character and nature are revealed in what we read. The Bible is not the thoughts of the writers, but the thoughts and intentions of God as revealed through the personality of the writers.

How does that work?

There is a great example where the author of Hebrews is quoting Psalm 2 in Hebrews 3 & 4. Check out the difference in these quotes...

Hebrews 3:7 ESV

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,

Hebrews 4:7 ESV

again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

In one instances he attributes it to the Holy Spirit and the next to David. Which is it? Both. That’s inspiration. The Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts, minds and wills of human authors to communicated the very words of God.

(3) Illumination

Illumination is the Holy Spirit’s work of bringing light to the words of the Bible as we read them. Illumination is the means by which we understand the Bible.

Have you ever read a Bible verse that you’ve read before but for some reason you understood it like never before?

That’s illumination.

The Bible explains it like this...

On the Road to Emmaus...

Luke 24:45 ESV

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

When Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit...

John 16:13–15 ESV

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Jesus was saying here that the Holy Spirit will take all the God has revealed about Himself through the Scriptures/Bible and will open our minds to understand it. Thankfully not all at once.

Summary...

Revelation - God revealed himself through Scripture.

Inspiration - God moved upon mankind to write Scripture.

Illumination - God is still opening our understanding of the Scriputres via the Holy Spirit.

Notice, that Revelation and Inspiration are past events, but Illuminaton is still taking place in our lives daily.

FAITH: What do we need to believe about the Bible?

There are several doctrines that are developed around the Bible. However, for sake of time and because there is one doctrine that stands above them all. I believe this doctrine is the most important thing that we can believe about the Bible. It is also what I believe to be one of the top three Christian beliefs that are under attack in our culture today.

The doctrine that we are going to look at tonight is INERRANCY.

Hold up the card with the word INERRANCY on it.

Where does this idea come from?

It comes from God’s Word...

John 10:35 ESV

If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—

Jesus addresses the Pharisees that are attempting to stone him. They had twisted God’s word in order to try and execute him. Jesus calls them of what God’s Word has said and that it is without error. It can’t be broken.

Numbers 23:19 ESV

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Remember, that God’s Word is inspired or breathed out by God. Therefore, Numbers 23:19 is saying that what God has said in his word will hold true. God will assure that it is true. God’s gurantees it.

Illus.: Anyone ever tried to get a company to make good on a warranty or guarantee just to get them to say - WE DON’T COVER THAT!

God assures us that everything He revealed in his word is true.

What does it mean?

Here is the best way to think about INERRANCY.

God’s Word is truthful in everything that it affirms and everything it denies.

Think of it this way… (Please note this is an illustration not a comparison)

Illus.: One of the most common phrases I have heard used in the office by folks on staff and others in our church body is “Bro. Aaron said....”. If Adam tells someone that I said something does he have to use the exact same words that I used to communicate a truthful statement about what I said. No, as long as he affirms what I affirmed and denies what I denied, then we are in sync.

This is how we can have different Bible translations and they all be good and reliable translations. As long as they affirm and deny what the origingal Hebrew and Greek manuscripts affirm and deny.

What about the contradictions in the Bible?

I am not going to dive off into this too much. I plan to teach a class on defending the faith later in the fall or early spring that will take time to dive into this idea.

However, there are some who will read the Gospels for instance and start pointing out differences. Here is the deal. The differences that exist in the Gospels are few and even fewer when you look a little closer.

These differences can be understood generally in this way...

Illus.: Not too long ago Julie and I were out in her car and we locked the keys in her car. We tried all kinds of ways and even called a friend to get us and take us home to get our extra set of keys. As we waited I asked, “How can we lock keys in a car that will not lock with the key fob inside?” We pushed the door completely closed an dit unlocked itself. Over the next few days I told folks about that story. One time I said her car and another time I said my car and another time I said our car. Well, a critical person could hear those version and start saying that I was laying or contradicting myself, but Since we are married all those things are true it is her car, my car and our car. I am not speaking untruthfully. I am just saying the same truth different ways.

So, at the end of the day God’s Word is truthful in everything it affirms and denies. God’s Word is INERRANT and we can trust it.

Also, next time I get fired up and mention the inerrant word of God, yall can get fired up as much as the preachers in the room. This good truth from a good God.

FEELINGS: What do we need to do with the Bible?

There four things that the Bible shares with us that we must do with God’s Word… (p. 61 Foundations)

(1) Love God’s Word

Psalm 119:97 ESV

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Here David had learned to love God’s Word. This only happens when we do what David says in the last part of this verse.

For many of us reading God’s Word is like taking medicine.

If we would make it our practice, it would become something more.

Illus.: Share how I struggled to read the Bible as a young man. I struggled to read altogther. However, I have made reading God’s Word a daily part of my life. I miss it if I don’t get to it right away in the AM.

The more you read it. The more your will love it. The more you will love God.

(2) Understand God’s Word

As we learned earlier, the Holy Spirit illuminates God’s Word so we can understand it. Let check out the following verses...

1 Corinthians 2:12–15 ESV

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

Here Paul is reminding the believers at Corinth of their responsibility to seek to understand God’s Word with the aid of the Holy Spirit.

Bottom line - the reason many don’t know God’s Word is becuase they don’t read God’s Word.

(3) Handle God’s Word

Paul speaks of that to Timothy in...

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

The fact is that many of us don’t know how to handle God’s Word correctly. We are like kids who have been handed a sword. We can barely lift it and don’t know what to do with it. The only way to know it is to use it.

Illus.: Share how people have told me how much they appreciate the way I understand and explain scripture. The fact is that every believer can too.

Think of it this way...

Illus.: Talk about how my kids try to get me to play video games with them. I just don’t know how to work the stinking remote. They can do all kinds of things becuase they spent too much time with the games.

Bottom line - we’ve got to spend time with God’s Word if we want to handle it properly.

(4) Study God’s Word

Acts 17:11 ESV

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

What did these guys do?

They didn’t just listen to Paul and believe everything he said. They study themselves. They read the Bible themselves.

My goal in preaching and teaching is not to feed you so that you are full. My goal is to make you hungrier for the things of God, so that you will dig into God’s Word on your own.

Illus.: Talk about being on a diet and how I can’t eat much in some settings. Often this will just make me hungrier.

My hope and prayer is that this study makes you hungry for God and His Word.

Quick Summary...

What do we need to know?

God revealed who He is through his Word as He inspired men to write the Bible, and by the Holy Spirit God is illuminating His Word so that we can understand it.

What do we need to believe?

God’s Word is truthful about everything it affirms and denies.

What do we need to do?

We need to love, understand, handle and study God’s Word.

Quick Challenge

If you are not reading God’s Word on a daily basis, I want to challenge you to start reading daily starting today. Go to YouVersion for reading plans.