15-5

Seventy Faces

Have you ever played with a kaleidoscope? They are so cool aren't they? They are great because when you look through them, you never see the same thing twice. It is the same way with God's Word isn't it? You can read a passage 100 different times on 100 different days and it will speak to you in a different way each time. That's because the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writer is speaking to you today, helping you to understand the Bible. He knows everything about us and He knows what we need to hear, that is why the Bible speaks to us differently each time we read it! The Bible is the place where you get to know God. "The Bible is the place where God bears His soul."

"The quest for the lost soul of Christianity always leads us back to the Bible. But rediscovering the wonders of Scripture requires more than reading. That's where the quest begins, but that's not where it ends. Not if you want to get it into your soul. You have to meditate on it. Then you have to live it out. Meditating on it turns one-dimensional knowledge into two-dimensional understanding. Living it out turns two-dimensional understanding into three-dimensional obedience."

A musical trainer was hired to work with a group of opera singers who couldn't hit a certain pitch, even though it fell within their range. He tried everything, but then on a whim he tested their hearing. What he discovered was that they couldn't sing that pitch because they couldn't hear that pitch. The problem wasn't their voice, it was their hearing. "Until you hear the voice of God, you won't be able to sing His song. Why? Because you're out of tune. That's how we get stuck in sinful habits and negative cycles and destructive patterns. But when you open the Bible and really hear the voice of God-His loving voice, His graceful voice, His powerful voice, His convicting voice, His affirming voice, His authoritative voice-you life begins to echo God's. Your live becomes a joyful noise. Your life begins to harmonize with the Holy Spirit." Here is what it comes down to: to love God is to love the Bible.

Mark Batterson talks about a time in his life when he was reading the Bible for little more than sermon prep. As a result, he wasn't reading very much of the Bible, just little sections at a time. It's good to know that other people have the same struggles we do isn't it? The problem with that is we end up reading the Bible for what God wants to say through us rather than reading it to find out what He wants to say to us. Then he read this quote by J.I. Packer that changed him, "Any Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible from cover-to-cover every year." He says he was convicted by it, and couldn't argue with it, so he set out to do it. As a result, he fell in love with the Bible again. I agree, how can we say we love God but don't spend time reading His word? You can read through the Bible in a year spending 20 minutes a day reading it. If you don't have 20 minutes a day for Bible reading, then your priorities are messed up.

I know it is hard. It was something that I struggled with for a long time. That's because spiritual disciplines are just like physical disciplines. I didn't like going to the gym at 7am every morning when I first started doing it. It was hard! Even though I felt better physically afterward, getting out of bed was so hard! But 6 months later, and Abi can attest to this, I complain more if I don't get to go to the gym than I do if I make it there (even at 7am!)! Why? Because what starts as discipline ends up as desire. The same is true of God's word. The more you read the Bible the more you'll discover that you crave it. "It's an acquired taste."

Do not put the responsibility of getting to know the scriptures on your Pastor. That is your job. Many people across the world leave churches because they say, "I'm not being fed." It is a Pastor's job to prepare the best he can to share the Word of God each week, but let me say this: kids learn to feed themselves when they are toddlers. "If you're not being fed, that's your fault." I love what Mark Batterson says when he says, "Here's a news flash: the Bible was unchained from the pulpit nearly 500 years ago during an era of history called the Middle Ages." "If you are relying on preacher to be fed, I fear for you. Listening to a sermon is acquiring second-hand knowledge."

"We are what we read. But let me take it one step further. Reading without meditating is like eating without digesting. If you want to absorb the nutrients, you can't just read it; you've got to chew on it. Meditation is the way we metabolize scripture. That's how we get it into our soul." I know meditation brings all kinds of images to our minds. But what we are talking about here is filling the mind with the Word of God. "If the goal of reading is to get through the Bible, the goal of meditating is to get the Bible through us."

But reading and meditating aren't enough...we have to obey it too! "Dynamic properties are not revealed in a static state." "Too many of us try to understand truth in the static state. We want to understand it without doing anything about it, but it doesn't work that way. You want to understand it? Then obey it. The way you master a text isn't by studying it. The way you master a text is by submitting to it. You have to let it master you." Too often we judge spiritual maturity by how much of the Bible we know. But that has never been and never will be the litmus test. Most of us know way more of the Bible than we obey. The judge of spiritual maturity isn't how much of the Bible you know, it is how much you obey.

Have you ever audited a class? It's great! You get to hear all the information, but you don't have to do any of the homework or take any of the tests! One problem though, you don't get any credit for the class either. It's the same way with the Bible. "You don't get credit for auditing Scripture. You've got to put it into practice." You don't get credit for knowing what the Bible says about caring for poor people if you don't care for the poor! Oh how our churches would change if we simply put into practice what we say we believe. You say you believe the Bible? Prove it. Put your money...and your time where your mouth is. It will change your life and it will change your church.

Here is what we are called to do regarding the Bible: Read it. Meditate on it. Then live it out.

Enjoy the Journey