How do you read?

We are in week 4 of our year of Biblical Exploration. We are walking through the story of the Bible as a church community throughout the year, January Thru December. Why are we doing this? We are followers of Jesus and we want to have the same relationship with the Bible as Jesus. He was obsessed with this book. The goal of this year is to read this book and grow in love for him and each other.

This is a layered experience…we’re hearing from God’s word on Sunday mornings. If you do the mat, there are 52 weeks in a year and 66 books in the Bible. So we’re not going to go thru every book or every verse, but we are going to touch down on major themes. Our first sermon series we’re in now is “Why does the Bible Matter?” Then we’ll be walking through a 6 week series on the Story of God (Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, Church), and then a couple messages on God’s anger in OT…then the Wisdom Literature, Prophets, Jesus, how we live in light of Jesus. We’ll be walking along in the biblical story without necessarily going book by book, does that make sense?

We’ll be discussing these topics together in Community Groups. Sharing time together over a meal and having honest dialogue about the Bible.

And we will read the Bible for ourselves. Not just hear me talk about it, not just hear others talk about it, but to read Scripture for yourself. Consider reading the Bible through the year, it’s not the only way to read the Bible, but it’s a helpful way to hear the story.

The goal this year is not to get more Bible into our life…but to get more of our life into the Bible. This world is bigger than our day to day lives. We don’t make the Bible relevant for today because we don’t have to fit the Bible into our story, we need to fit our story into the Bible. This is the grand narrative that all the world fits into. God will not love us more if we spend 15 more minutes a day reading our Bible. But, God’s love will become more real to us as we see our whole lives as a part of a God-soaked world, like Jesus did.

Two weeks ago as we started our series we said there are some problems with reading the Bible. We’re busy, distracted by mountains of content on our phones. The Bible is a translation of ancient texts. It’s bloody. It makes exclusive truth claims, and claims to have authority. But if there are so many problems with it, why keep reading? Because as followers of Jesus, we want to have the same relationship with this book that he had. And Jesus was obsessed with this book. He was a full blown Bible nerd.

Two weeks ago we talked about how the Bible can be like a bizarre kitchen tool…you go, “Wow, that’s amazing, I think. But what is it?” Or the Bible is like a weird uncle. You’re supposed to love him, he gives you good gifts, but when he starts talking you’re like, “I don’t really know what you’re saying. I’m going to go now.” But because we are followers of Jesus, we want to know what the Bible is and what it is for. And so as we read 2 Timothy 3:14-17, we came up with a working definition of the Bible. Anybody remember it?

The Bible is a library of texts - both divine and human - with a unified story that leads to knowing Jesus & growing in Jesus.

And we went through each of these segments. The Bible is a library of texts - Bible is just from a greek word that means “Books.” The Bible is a translation of many ancient scrolls, written by people over 1,000 years. It is both divine and human. All Scripture is God breathed Paul says, or “Inspired” literally expired from God. AND, written by humans with real personalities, and God was able to get exactly what he wanted in the original manuscripts without overpowering who they were as people. It is a unified story that leads to Jesus. John Stott said the Bible is a handbook for salvation. Jesus saw it that way. Leviticus, Obadiah, Proverbs, Song of Solomon…they all make us wise for salvation through faith in Messiah Jesus. And it’s for growing in Jesus. It teaches us how to trust Jesus and through the Holy Spirit’s power become people of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. To be truly human.

Last week we said knowing the origins of the Bible is key to knowing what it is and what it is for. We read the first two instances in the Bible of the writing of the Bible, and where were they? Exodus! They showed us that the Bible is a story about how God saves his people, and it is a covenant guiding them to be priests, how to be truly human and showcase God to the world. Or, as we say at Gateway Chapel, to be a faithful presence and witness of Jesus.

I will unashamedly say I am the guy who reads the instruction manual. The cliche American man is the guy who says, “I got this” but I am definitely someone who says, “I don’t got this.”

Is it humanly possible to assemble IKEA furniture without the manual? There are 1,000 pieces are 1,000 ways to incorrectly make a clothes dresser. You consult the manual to let it tell you how to go about making it.

Just because we have something, doesn’t mean we know how to use it.

The same thing goes for the Bible.

Handing someone a Bible and saying, “Read it” can be like giving someone IKEA furniture without an allen wrench and saying, “Make it.” Or handing a 5-year old the keys to my Hyundai Elantra and saying, “Drive it.”

In Luke 10, Jesus was asked a tricky Bible question by a lawyer, and Jesus’ response was, “What is written? How do you read it?” I think he asks us the same question today. How do you read?

What if how we read the Bible is just as important as if we read the Bible?

And if that’s the case, much like an IKEA furniture piece tells me how to put it together, how does the Bible itself say we should read the Bible?

I need your help this week. Easel is back!

We are going to fly. I’m really excited, but there’s going to be a lot.

We’re going to look at the first four times the Bible talks about reading the Bible. What do these instances tell us about how the Bible wants us to approach it? And how does that lead us to Jesus? And how might be consider reading the Bible as a result?

Pray

When is the first time in the Bible we see someone reading the Bible?

Exodus! Chapter 24.

If you were here last week, we spent time in chapter 24. What’s going on? God has saved his people from slavery in Egypt. Moses parted the Red Sea, led them away from Pharoah’s army. Then they went through the wilderness and came to Mt. Sinai. God now takes his saved people and says I want to be in covenant relationship with you. So he talks with Moses, and gives them the 10 commandments.

And Moses wrote down these covenant laws. This was our second instance of the writing of the Bible.

And then in verse 7...

Exodus 24:7 ESV

7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

So here we have the first instance of the reading of the Bible. Okay. I need your help. Call out observations about what are unique elements of Moses’ reading of the Bible?

Chris’ Thoughts:

Verbal

Community

We will do it

Here’s something fun. The word for ‘read’ means ‘call out.; It doesn’t mean, ‘scan a page in silence.’ When in the biblical story have we heard some being calling and life happening? Genesis 1!

Genesis 1:5 ESV

5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

God is a God of language. His communication to us is primarily verbal. We learn language not from reading in a book but because our parents speak to us.

As modern Americans, we primarily think of reading Scripture as silent, by yourself, and for gleaning information. The Bible in the first instance says this is communal, it is out loud, and its purpose is less information as it is life transformation.

When is the second time in the Bible we hear someone reading the Bible?

Deuteronomy. Turn to Deut 17 verse 18.

Deuteronomy is the 5th book of the Bible. It’s basically a series of speeches by Moses. It’s like the halftime speech a soccer coach gives before the team goes back out on the court. She says, “Okay girls, that first half was horrible, we’re down 10-0, so here’s what we’re going to do to make sure that never happens again.” Moses is talking to Israel before they go into the Promised Land, “Israel, you really have messed up so far. That golden calf thing was a mess, but don’t forget what God has done for you and live in light of his love!”

And specifically, Moses says, one day y’all are gonna have a king. And that king needs to be a certain king of person and do certain kinds of things. He can’t just accumulate a million horses and he can’t have a thousand wives, and he can’t be a billionaire. He needs to be humble.

AND

Deuteronomy 17:18–20 ESV

18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Okay, again, I need your help. What do we learn about reading the Bible from this?

Chris’ Thoughts:

Leadership

Write down a copy for yourself

Be with you

Read it all the days of his life

Purpose is to fear the LORD his God

Doing what is written

Humility

Generations to come

Keep to the path

Caroline Campbell, a 28-year old from South Carolina, wrote the entire Bible by hand. It took her 10 years. It took up 43 binders and 10,493 pages. And…she has down syndrome.

Her church had a huge ceremony for her as she penned the final words of Scripture, Rev 22:21

Revelation 22:21 ESV

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

10 years. This is a slow process. I imagine Moses knew that when he told a future king to not rush off to a building project, acquiring wealth, getting women…but to slow down and write out his Bible. The leader of God’s people was not to be an expert in war reading, “Art of War” or “10 ways to win your next conquest” but he was to be a Bible guy.

For what purpose? Transformation. Humility. Fearing the LORD, remembering you’re not God. And for future generations to come.

When is the third time in the Bible we hear someone reading the Bible?

Again in Deuteronomy! Moses is finishing up his speech. He knows he’s going to die soon. And he says...

Deuteronomy 31:9–13 ESV

9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

What do we see?

Chris’ Thoughts:

Priests read it

Verbal, audio

Regularly read it

People are gathered as it’s read

All people: men, women, kids, sojourner

Learn to fear the LORD

Do all that’s commanded

Future generations

The Bible is not like other religious texts. Fletcher was explaining to me this week how this scene is in contrasts to other forms of reading in this day and age. Egyptian scribes would do the reading, but not read it to the people. In Babylon, Hammurabi’s law - one of the great texts of the ancient world - was never actually used. It was shut up in the temple.

The Bible - the first five books - were shut up in the Ark, but regularly it was to be read for all people. Not just the elite, not just the men, not just the adults, not just God’s people but even the sojourner, the Gentile.

Why? So we can be transformed. Learn to fear the LORD. For the benefit of future generations.

Okay. Moses dies. Who replaces him? Joshua. What is Joshua supposed to do that will give him good success?

So who is the first leader who is supposed to guide Israel as they read the Torah? Joshua!

Joshua 1:5–9 ESV

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.”

If we stopped at verse 7, we’d just say, “Joshua buck up and be a man!” But it goes on.

Help me out again, what do we see?

Chris’ Thoughts:

Mouth

Meditate

Day and night

Do what is written in it

Your way will be prosperous, have good success

Israel’s first military leader is not supposed to read “Art of War” or “10 Steps to Win your First Military Battle” he’s supposed to be a Bible nerd. Joshua is to have this book in his mouth, speaking it aloud as he reads it, meditating on it day and night.

What is meditation? Eastern meditation “Om” is emptying your mind. Christian meditation is filling your mind with God’s word. This word literally means to coo, to growl, or to mutter to yourself. It’s verbal.

Many of you know my dog Norman. Back when we hosted our community group at our house, Norman would freak out when people came over. He got so excited he even ate a girl’s shoe. True story. So we would give Norman a bone, a bully stick, to keep him occupied. And social, lively Norman, would turn into a recluse. He’d hunker down somewhere, just him and that bone, and you can hear him...”Nom nom nom...” And don’t get between him and that bone.

Joshua, chew on Scripture. Huddle up, gnaw on it. Turn it over. Find new bits to bite into. Play with it over and over in your mind, morning, noon, and night, until the day you die. Why? So you can do what is written. So your way will be prosperous and you will have good success.

How’re you guys doing?

As I reflect on this, I think about how greatly I have failed at reading my Bible as the Bible intends. Rather than chew on it day and night, I basically skim read in silence in the morning, forgetting what I saw by 9am. Rather than being a leader who’s heart is not lifted up among others, I can take Scripture and use it for sermons to make others like me, rather than deeply reflect on it and help others love Jesus. Instead of seeking to live out this book, I read it for information, so I can know as much head knowledge as quickly as possible so people won’t think I’m a failure.

Israel also failed. They forgot how God saved them, and they didn’t walk in light of the covenant. Their leaders, time and time again, disobeyed. And it hurt future generations. Hundreds of years later the people of Israel would be exiled away from their homes, the holy city of Jerusalem was destroyed. This was the single greatest catastrophe imaginable. All caused because the people didn’t do any of this.

And as they sat there in Babylon, like we’ve sat in these last couple years of life many times, they thought, “Where is God? What hope is there?”

There is hope. If they read their Bibles closely, they’d know God always keeps his promises, even when his people disobey. God’s purposes to bless his world are not stopped even by his own people’s disobedience, in fact, in some crazy way God’s grace is even more beautiful when his people mess up.

And hope arrives on the scene as Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus is the perfect Bible reader we could never be, and he himself fulfills the Scriptures which pointed to him all along.

In Luke 2, we read that crazy story where Jesus’ parents lose track of him, because he stays behind at the temple, studying and learning from the rabbis. And he tells his parents, “Didn’t you know I would be in my father’s house?” I’m reading my BIble!

In Luke 4, Jesus confronts Satan himself in the wilderness. And does Jesus battle him with a sword, a knife, or an angel army? No. With scripture! Time and time again he says, “It is written.”

In Luke 6, Jesus teaches the Torah from a new perspective in his sermon on the mount and then says the person who hears my words and DOES them is like someone who builds their house on a rock.

But Jesus knows his Bible. And he knows that the one whom God would send to restore blessing to the world, the Messiah, must suffer and die. So Jesus allowed his enemies to close in on him, accusing him of misinterpreting the Scriptures, condemning him to a criminal’s death.

But, Jesus does not stay dead. On the third day, according to the Scriptures, Jesus rises from the dead.

And in Luke 24 he appears to some unsuspecting disciples walking down Main St. These disciples are distraught because they thought Jesus was the Messiah, but now he’s dead. But they’re also confused because some of their friends said they went to Jesus’ tomb to pay respects and it was…empty. And the women even say he was alive.

But Jesus says to them

Luke 24:45–47 ESV

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

The reason you and I have hope today is because Jesus lived this story. He died to fulfill this story, he rose again to give us life, and he reigns now and calls us his people to live this story in our day and age.

Our hope is not in our ability to read more, read better, read more accurately. We fail, time and time again. BUT, aren’t you drawn to Jesus? As we’ve asked throughout this series, Why does the Bible matter? It matters because Jesus said it mattered, and he lived every second of his life guided by God’s Word, and now it’s our aim to be like him.

Jesus asks us, “How do you read?”

In light of this, how can we read our Bibles?

Share Scripture

What we are doing today matters, and is very biblical. Hearing God’s word spoken from a leader of God’s people is a crucial part of spiritual formation. Read it with friends. Fletcher and Sam get together every week to read the OT in Hebrew. Some gals met here last Sunday before church and read together. That’s awesome.

Hear Scripture

Audio Bibles. Dwell Bible App, Streetlights. Marissa was talking this week about reading along in her Bible as an audio book read the words. Awesome!

Speak Scripture

Consider speaking it out loud as a part of meditation. Maybe you’ve got a verse you like to say over and over. When I was in a bad spot with anxiety, Psalm 16 was huge for me, as I was speak it quietly over and over to calm my spiraling thoughts.

Write Scripture

We write down what’s important. This has helped me tremendously as a self professed speed reader. Slow down. What would happen if we stopped buying new Bibles because they looked cool, but just kept writing our own copies, 10 years at a time?

Ask Jesus for Help

Ask Jesus to open your eyes as you read. He cares more than we know about us reading our Bible’s well.

James 1:25 ESV

25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

The same word for ‘looks’ in James 1:25 , which refers to reading Scripture and from it being blessed by it, is the same word used when Peter goes to the empty tomb in Luke 24 and ‘stoops and looks in’ and doesn’t find Jesus in the grave anymore. May we excitedly turn to Scripture, and look in and see that Jesus is alive. May we meditate on it day and night, chewing on it like a hungry dog with a bone. And may we be blessed.

Pray

Kids - A great way to grow in Christ is to humbly serve. We want to open up another classroom for kids 5-10 by March 27, and to do that we need four more once-a-month kids volunteers. Why serve in kids? All of us want to grow in our ability to share our faith, and this is a chance to share the gospel once a month in a really safe environment, but serve Jesus and tell kids about him. Would you consider serving? If you’re interested, let me know or Cathy, and all you need to do is fill out a simple application form, and do a background check.

You should have received an email this week about joining Gateway Chapel’s new Faithlife Group. What is Faithlife? Faithlife is an online communications tool that will help us engage as a church online. It provides an easier website, simpler giving platform, better communications system for small groups, serve teams, event registration, Bible Study Resources, and more. The goal is that anyone can be connected with our community online without having to be on Facebook.

Many of you got that email this week and joined. Thank you!

One major next step if you haven’t already done so, is to download the Faithlife App. Go to your App store, download, and then search Gateway Chapel and you should find us.

The app is going to give you quick and easy access to events, giving, Bible study software, sermons, talking with serve teams and small groups. It’s going to be your home base for all things Gateway Chapel online.

Do you need to have a phone to be a part of the church? No. But I’m assuming you do. And this tool can help us as a church.