Music, Testimony & Announcements (Fridays @ LOHOP, Feb 20th starting weekly study on "Resurrection Life"), Offering, Prayer, Shema
Memory verses:
2 Tim 3:16, Add Romans 8:28 from our Bible study on Wednesday.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Today’s passage: Exodus 2:23-25 (we’ll pick up some other verses in the context of the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, plus we’ll end up in the New Testament quite a bit.)
Exodus 2:23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. 24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
Questioning the Text (A little detour for Bible study training)
Sometime after I started walking with the Lord, and started attending this church, Pastor Manny sat down with me and the Bible and encouraged me to do a couple of things as I read. These things have been solid, trustworthy tools for me, and they have stayed with me to this day, even after I’ve forgotten some of the first-class tools I gained while in seminary! You want to know what these tools are?
First, he encouraged me to memorize Scripture, and because I’ve tasted the fruit of this time and again, I so appreciate Bible Quiz and I would encourage ANY believer to take up the discipline of Scripture memorization. It’s also why we’ve started memorizing verses together!
The second thing Manny encouraged me to do was to ask questions while I read. I love this, because with God while we’re consuming His Word, we can be like that annoying kid who’s always asking Why… why did this or that happen? What made that person ask that way? What does this or that mean? A lot of times you can get your answers for these kinds of questions from the context, or from other areas of Scripture, or from commentary or other Bible teachers. As you get into the habit of asking, and finding the answers, the questions start to get a little deeper or more complicated, like, Why was this or that detail included at this point in the story? Or, What does this mean for me today?
The whole counsel of Scripture is an important framework for answering these questions; but just as when the prophets of old received dreams and visions from God but didn’t understand them, sometimes special insight can be gained through prayer. The Lord can unlock something for you and give you a glimpse of His heart. Now, while what you hear may challenge you to reconsider what you thought you knew about God, what you learn ought never to outright contradict any portion of the Word. In fact, it will usually illuminate other passages for you, and pull things together that you hadn’t seen together before, and connect things in a way that truly helps you to live in the truth.
I’m telling you this to suggest ways for to approach the Word. You may recall that we just spent a year doing this, asking questions of what we read, and then putting some answers together as a church. Just so you know, this is how most of my messages come together, and today’s message is no exception.
Let’s read the passage again:
Exodus 2:23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. 24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
So what do you suppose is my question? Here it is: Why did God wait until the people cried out? Why did He wait until their suffering drove them to cry out for help, to GROAN? If you know the story leading up to this you might know why I would ask this. You see, back in Gen 15:13-16 we heard God say to Abraham that He had a plan to bring his descendants out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery, and bring them to the land He had promise them. Let’s read it:
Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
Ok, so I can see here that God wanted to wait for the sin of the Amorites to reach its full measure… that’s another intriguing subject we won’t get into today. But God said only 400 years… later, in Exodus 12:40-41, we learn that Israel was actually enslaved 430 years. Why would God leave them there in Egypt one minute longer than 400 years? Why would He wait until the peopled GROANED in the midst of their struggle?
As I prayed, and considered other Scripture passages, and pondered our own life experiences, I found it actually made a lot of sense, and, as so often happens in these little question-and-answer journeys, I came away with more peace about things than I had had before, and more love in my heart, toward God and toward others, and more joy about just about everything going on around me.
Spiritual Fruit
More peace. More love. More joy. Sounds like spiritual fruit, doesn’t it? Cool! One third of ECHO’s mission statement is to equip the saints to harvest spiritual fruit in their lives, and here’s evidence that our study of the Word can do exactly that! Here’s what’s even cooler… there’s other fruit the Lord wants to produce in us… Remember the fruits?
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Using KJV here because NIV is a little weak on this; what does yours say? Probably “Patience” which while we know it’s difficult, it doesn’t quite sound like “Longsuffering” does it? “Looooongsuffering…” now that doesn’t sound nice at all! But it gives us insight into how this spiritual fruit is developed. Think about it… how do you become longsuffering? By suffering long!
Struggle Triggers Growth
I want to give you an illustration here from biology, specifically from human physiology. The human body never ceases to amaze me, the brilliance with which God designed us… truly, we can say along with the Psalmist that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made!” When Jeanita and I were at the hospital last Sunday, Shayla’s eye doctor met with us; he let us know he is a born-again Christian and blessed our socks off with encouraging words and assurance that God is great! He also explained in detail the issue with Shayla’s eyes. She has what’s called “Retinopathy of Prematurity” which comes from the blood vessels in the eyes not developing completely. This is basically what you’ll read if you look up ROP on the internet or wherever. What isn’t usually included in the description is why these vessels stop developing in premature babies; this doctor explained why, and because I’m just that sort of person, I went out and studies some medical websites to confirm it and try to understand it a little better.
The reason the vessels stop developing has to do with why they develop in the first place. This is kinda neat… growth doesn’t just HAPPEN, it really doesn’t just follow some DNA plan that is set when we’re conceived. Something has to trigger it… There are a few things that trigger the body to grow new blood vessels, and the biggest and most common trigger is the lack of oxygen. A baby receives oxygen from her mother in the womb, but it’s not as much oxygen as when she’s out in our atmosphere. When there’s a low supply of oxygen, the body grows new blood vessels to take advantage of whatever oxygen is available. The vessels branch out across the eye while the baby is in the womb in search of oxygen, and when the baby is born, the growing stops because POOF! All KINDS of oxygen is now available.
Do you see where this is going?
There’s more to ROP than I can get into right now, including an understanding that we can’t be growing ALL the time… cancer cells are cells that don’t quite get that, and that’s a whole other issue. For today, I want to camp out on this knowledge of how growth is triggered.
As I studied this process (known by many as “angiogenesis” in case you care), I learned that growth is triggered by this lack of oxygen, but also by something called “blood flow shear stress.” I was like, you have GOT to be kidding. It’s so funny, because these medical writers are going on casually throwing these terms around, like lack and stress, and I’m sitting here going, “OH MY GOD! This is SO COOL!”
You mean stress causes growth? Huh!! Well, think about it… For most of us, in order for us to change something about ourselves, the pain of staying the same has to become greater than the pain of changing. We don’t change our behaviors, even some pretty unhealthy behaviors, because in some way, that behavior works for us, it gets us what we need (or what we think we need). It’s when our behavior STOPS working for us, or when it causes too much pain in some other way, that we can be motivated to change. Lack of something needed, or some form of stress, causes us to grow and to change.
This is not just true in medical science and in psychology, but wouldn’t you know it, it was a true principal in the Bible long before science or psychology figured it out! There are LOTS of places we find this principal of suffering producing fruit; I’m going to share a few:
Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Sure, some of our suffering is due to our own foolishness, but we see here that when we stray off the path, even the discipline we experience produces good stuff. How about our memory verse:
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
And elsewhere in Romans:
Romans 5:3-4 …we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Rejoice in sufferings? Yep. It’s possible to do that. It’s possible to find joy, right there in the midst of your suffering, and Paul says it’s because we know that suffering will ultimately produce hope! How is that? I have a few ideas, and I believe that the knowledge of God’s bigger picture can change our perspective on suffering. Here are some truths we can hold onto when we’re suffering:
1. the suffering is temporary (God has a plan, just as we saw in the Exodus story, He had a plan all along and He explained this plan to Moses);
2. the suffering doesn’t mean that you are alone (we saw this also in the Exodus story… we read:
So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
Just as God heard the sons of Israel, He hears our cry, He sees, He knows, and in Ex 3:16 we see this precious statement:
Ex 3:16 “I am indeed concerned about you!”
Literal translation is “Visiting I have visited”…
Truly, even if you feel alone, the suffering does NOT mean that you are alone, He has not abandoned you.
So… the suffering is temporary, it doesn’t mean that you are alone, and finally,
3. as we see in our bodies, souls, and in the spiritual teaching in the New Testament, the suffering produces something, for your benefit and for the benefit of others.
Remember another little tidbit from Paul about the benefit your suffering brings to others:
2 Corinthians 1:6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
He equips you to harvest spiritual fruit, not only in your life, but in the lives of others. That’s ministry, folks!
Now, for some of you, godly fruitfulness isn’t enough to get excited about… if that’s you, I have one sidenote for you: there is a REWARD for suffering!
Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience (LONGSUFFERING) inherit what has been promised.
Just as the Lord promised an inheritance to the sons of Israel, He has made inheritance promises to us as well.
Now, I’ve just laid on you A LOT of information. If all of that was not enough for you to be able to agree that suffering, even YOUR suffering, can have a purpose, perhaps it will be enough for you to recall the suffering of the One who paid for your sin.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
When we’re suffering, when we’re being insulted, we can recall Jesus’ example and maybe find courage to follow it:
1 Peter 2:23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
Perhaps it will be enough for you to know that the apostle Paul, whom we know also suffered for the gospel, rejoiced in his sufferings, and saw in them something that drew him into a sweet fellowship with Christ:
Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
I could keep going. I really could. That’s the danger in following some of these questions, we find so many threads of truth in the Word that, woven together, provide for us a shelter, a covering to protect us and keep us warm as we walk in this cold world.
Final Caution: SHEMA!
Now. Some may still be sitting there thinking, “yeah, well, you don’t know what it’s like to deal with the suffering I’m going through; it’s easy for you to quote the Bible and say, Rejoice! Have hope!” Well, you may be right about that. There’s a lot I haven’t experienced, and it really is pretty easy for me to stand here and tell you all of this. But that doesn’t mean that what I’m saying isn’t true, and YOU KNOW IT. And this assurance we find in the Word is not false comfort, it’s TRUE comfort, and life and peace.
Take care that you don’t fall into the same trap the people in Israel did, when Moses shared with them words from God that were intended to encourage and to give hope, to turn their focus away from their struggle and toward the goodness of the living God. We’re going to finish with one more little section from Exodus: 6:1-9
Exodus 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." 2 God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.'" 9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.
“They did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.”
Ugh. What good thing might God say to you today, if instead of focusing on the drama going on in your life, you decide to listen, to SHEMA, to pay attention in the midst of your suffering? Will you surrender to despair, or will you let hope rise up in you? Will you deny God’s goodness, or will you acknowledge His ever-present help in your time of trouble?
Here’s a statement I wrote in my journal this week: “Will you keep going from drama to drama, or will you go from glory to glory?”
Let us pray…
Closing Prayer, Benediction
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
AMEN!
January 15th, 2012 “AMEN!”
Music, Testimonies & Announcements, Offering
Prayer & Shema
“AMEN!” Amen indeed!… this is generally what we say at the end of our prayer and at the end of a message that we agree with… AMEN! Jesus sometimes BEGAN His messages that way, tho: “Amen Amen I say to you…” He would say. What does “Amen” mean? (ask) Often translated at “Truly, truly” or “verily verily”… it is a Hebrew term, from AMAN which means to make stable or establish with certainty, to make firm, to make or to declare to be solid and believable, trustworthy. From it comes the word “EMET” which means that which is TRUE. When Jesus started a statement with “Amen, Amen” He was saying “listen up, this is something you can stand on, something you can build on, something firm, solid, foundational” Of course, being Himself “the Truth” it’s not like everything else He said wasn’t true; but sometimes He made a point of highlighting a particular teaching to be remembered and built upon. He also told His disciples, if your remember, that if we hold to His teaching, that would mark us as His disciples, and that we would know the… what? The TRUTH, and the truth would set us free. If we hold to His teaching… what teaching? Where is it found? Right here, in the Word… this is why the emphasis on the Word in the churches… we talked about that a couple weeks ago, and we also memorized a verse together, didn’t we? Do you remember it? Where was it? (ask) 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…” Very good.
The Scripture is our all-sufficient source of Truth from God. In the Scripture we find story after story of people clinging to untruth, making decisions based on fear that is rooted in lies, and then experiencing the consequences of rejecting the Truth. We’re going to look at one of these stories today, hopefully letting it be a cautionary tale for us so that we can walk with God and with each other in the Truth that brings freedom. Sound good? Okay, let’s go!
Text: Genesis 33:1-17 (read) Sounds like a wonderful family reunion, doesn’t it? This is sometimes referred to as the “reconciliation of Jacob and Esau”… and if you know what had gone on before, it seems like a happy ending to a difficult story. What had happened up to this point? If you’ve been reading along, you’ll remember that the last time these brothers were together, Esau was threatening to kill Jacob for not only taking His birthright but also the blessing that their father Isaac intended to give to Esau. If you don’t know the story, GO BACK AND READ IT! It will help you make sense of much of the rest of the Bible, including the New Testament.
Ok, so Jacob had left his family and gone back to the land where his grandfather Abraham has grown up, and there he found a wife… two wives, actually, plus two maids, who altogether gave him 13 children. That’s a whole other series of family issues that you should read about more than once… if nothing else it should give you comfort about your own dysfunctional family! But here in Genesis 33, Jacob is on his way back to Canaan, where his father and his brother live, and it’s been over 20 years. God had told Jacob to go back to Canaan, so he went, but not without a whole lot of fear. In Genesis 32:11 we read of Jacob’s prayer asking God to protect him: “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, the mothers with the children” I love verse 12 here, too, because Jacob gets his courage to go forward from the Truth, from what God had told him: “For Thou didst say, ‘I will surely prosper you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” Very useful illustration for us, when we’re in the midst of fear; bring up what you KNOW, the Truth, and ride that truth right into the face of what you fear.
Ok, so good one on Jacob there, but let’s consider that fear for a moment. Some say “time heals all wounds” but I’m not so sure that’s true… and it certainly doesn’t seem to be the case here as Jacob hasn’t forgotten that Esau wanted to kill him, and he certainly didn’t seem to expect Esau to have forgotten what had happened. You see, for issues that have not been resolved, for wounds that haven’t healed, time stands still. Most of us are carrying around these issues from years ago, and we tell ourselves, “Oh, I’m over that, it was so long ago…” but if we let God show us the truth of the matter, we’ll find that we’re NOT over it, we still carry bitterness and fear, pain and anger from past disappointments, and shame over things we’ve done to hurt others… and those unresolved issues won’t just go away. Let’s go back to the text and see the evidence of this…
Gen 33:14-17… Jacob says “I will proceed at my leisure… until I come to my lord at Seir” (which is where Esau now lived, an area southeast of the Dead Sea and of Israel that became known as Edom). So Jacob says--or at least lets it seem like--he’s planning to following along after Esau. But what does he actually do? V: 17 tells us he headed to Succoth… which we suppose is near Shechem… which is northwest of the Dead Sea, some distance from Esau and his family. Hm. What’s up with that, I wonder?
Well. Maybe God had told him to go there… but we only know for sure in Gen 31:3 that God said: “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” At any rate, if God had told him to head for Shechem, why did he give Esau the idea that he would come to Seir? Why didn’t he just say, “No, my brother, my God and your God has told me to go to Shechem, and so it’s off to Shechem I go!” Or, if God hadn’t told him to go to Shechem, perhaps he could have said “No, my brother, I’ve got my heart set on this other area up here” for whatever reason…
Does it matter? Isn’t this just a little white lie, not a big deal, a little “social lie” that we do to keep the peace, to smooth things over? Am I making a big deal out of nothing here? I really don’t think so, and here’s why… we know from later passages that the relationship was NOT good between Jacob’s family and Esau’s family… we see them burying Isaac together later on in Genesis 35, but every other encounter between Jacob (now known as Israel) and Esau (now known as Edom) shows that hostility continued between them… sometimes violent, as when the Amalekites (Amalek was Esau’s grandson Gen 36:12) attacked the Israelites when they came out of Egypt years later (Ex 17), sometimes a little more subtly but still clearly threatening, as when Edomites refused to let Israel pass through their land even when they offered to pay (Num 20).
I think it does matter, how we reconcile with each other over issues that come up… and you know those issues will come up, we step on each other, sometimes by mistake sometimes not so much. I think that, even if for the moment is feels like we’ve done well by “smoothing things over” with some evasive little lies, I think that there will be consequences of those little lies, and we end up enslaved and troubled by the barrier that remains. I believe God is not pleased with this half-baked reconciliation, not so much because He’s just this judging God who just hates lies as a matter of principal, but I believe He hates deceitfulness because it ensnares His people, it keeps us in bondage, and it makes fellowship difficult and troublesome, between us and Him and between us and each other.
This truth goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, in Genesis 3… another must-read story! Remember how the enemy, whom Jesus called the “father of lies,” lied to Adam and Eve, and how their response to his lies was to first break God’s command, and to then hide from God and try to deceive Him! This damaged their relationship with God, and resulted in their exile from the garden.
There’s good news though! Thank God for the Gospel, the Good News! Recall that, even though they were exiled from the garden, fellowship with God was still possible. This is important… even though there were consequences of their sin, all was not lost, and fellowship with God was still possible for them. This is important for us today because it’s true for us today: even though we make mistakes, even though we fall short, we still have fellowship with God, and we can still have fellowship with each other.
Let me say that again another way, because I believe this is His Word for us right now, today… The Lord wants to set some of us free with this truth today: even if there is a falling-out, even if there has been a breaking of trust, a disappointment, a hurt… all is not lost, there may be consequences, but reconciliation is available. Keep in mind this reconciliation doesn’t mean saying what the other person did was right, just as it doesn’t mean saying that what YOU did was right; it also doesn’t mean that you have to live next door to the other person and be best friends with them… God had a different destiny for Jacob and it didn’t involve him living with Esau… but even if God doesn’t necessarily require us to be super close to each other, I do know that His requires us to be honest with one another.
How do I know that? Glad you asked. Turn to Eph 4:25, and we’re going to conclude once we’ve looked at this passage.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.
In context He is describing who we OUGHT to be, setting aside the old way of our fathers, including the way of Jacob and many of the others described in Scripture. Instead of hiding in falseness, he says to “speak truth” to each other.
Do any of you have a text where “Speak truth each one with his neighbor” is in all caps? What does that mean? OT reference here is Zechariah 8:16, where God is describing what He wants for His “City of Truth” (Zech 8:1).
Even though the story of God’s people, in the Scripture and right here with the church of today, even though our story is full of examples of people lying to each other, I believe God is still giving us a vision of this “City of Truth,” He is calling us up into that vision, to BE that City of Truth, where we won’t hide behind social pleasantness and “little white lies” but where we’ll go ahead and let there be awkwardness as we try to be honest with each other. Echo, let’s refuse to be satisfied to live in the self-protective shadows of half-truths, and instead live in the light, as He is in the light.
How do we do that? We start with ourselves, our own relationships, those people in our lives that we haven’t been able to reconcile with. Let the Lord shed His light on the situation, and be open to acting on what He shows you. Sometimes it’s out of our power to reconcile, but most of us can admit that we are partly responsible… and we fail to truly reconcile for various reasons: we don’t want to acknowledge where we were wrong, we don’t want to let the other person or people off the hook, we just don’t like them and how they live… whatever. Sometimes we have trouble getting over how others have lied to us or disappointed us… we know Father’s heart on that matter: all sin is sin against God, so we can decide to not take it personally, we can forgive and we can get over it.
As we spend a little time now in silence, reflect on these things and let the Lord illuminate them for you. Let Him show you where the lie is, and let Him show you the truth, and let Him give you the grace to walk in the truth.
[2-3 minutes silence, followed by song]
Jesus said in John 3:21 that those who live by the truth come into the light so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been done by God. Not only does God show you the truth of anything wrong in your life, but He shows you that He is greater than the wrong, and that He loves you and WILL do great things through you. Get into the Word, pray and listen for Father’s voice… this is how we cultivate relationship with Him and each other, this is how we harvest spiritual fruit in ourselves and in each other, and this is how we overcome the works of the enemy in our lives, in our church, and in the world.
And all who would be set free by receive THAT truth, please indicate so by saying “AMEN!”
Closing Prayer: Let’s pray…
Benediction
Music, Testimonies & Announcements, Offering
Prayer & Shema
“AMEN!” Amen indeed!… this is generally what we say at the end of our prayer and at the end of a message that we agree with… AMEN! Jesus sometimes BEGAN His messages that way, tho: “Amen Amen I say to you…” He would say. What does “Amen” mean? (ask) Often translated at “Truly, truly” or “verily verily”… it is a Hebrew term, from AMAN which means to make stable or establish with certainty, to make firm, to make or to declare to be solid and believable, trustworthy. From it comes the word “EMET” which means that which is TRUE. When Jesus started a statement with “Amen, Amen” He was saying “listen up, this is something you can stand on, something you can build on, something firm, solid, foundational” Of course, being Himself “the Truth” it’s not like everything else He said wasn’t true; but sometimes He made a point of highlighting a particular teaching to be remembered and built upon. He also told His disciples, if your remember, that if we hold to His teaching, that would mark us as His disciples, and that we would know the… what? The TRUTH, and the truth would set us free. If we hold to His teaching… what teaching? Where is it found? Right here, in the Word… this is why the emphasis on the Word in the churches… we talked about that a couple weeks ago, and we also memorized a verse together, didn’t we? Do you remember it? Where was it? (ask) 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…” Very good.
The Scripture is our all-sufficient source of Truth from God. In the Scripture we find story after story of people clinging to untruth, making decisions based on fear that is rooted in lies, and then experiencing the consequences of rejecting the Truth. We’re going to look at one of these stories today, hopefully letting it be a cautionary tale for us so that we can walk with God and with each other in the Truth that brings freedom. Sound good? Okay, let’s go!
Text: Genesis 33:1-17 (read) Sounds like a wonderful family reunion, doesn’t it? This is sometimes referred to as the “reconciliation of Jacob and Esau”… and if you know what had gone on before, it seems like a happy ending to a difficult story. What had happened up to this point? If you’ve been reading along, you’ll remember that the last time these brothers were together, Esau was threatening to kill Jacob for not only taking His birthright but also the blessing that their father Isaac intended to give to Esau. If you don’t know the story, GO BACK AND READ IT! It will help you make sense of much of the rest of the Bible, including the New Testament.
Ok, so Jacob had left his family and gone back to the land where his grandfather Abraham has grown up, and there he found a wife… two wives, actually, plus two maids, who altogether gave him 13 children. That’s a whole other series of family issues that you should read about more than once… if nothing else it should give you comfort about your own dysfunctional family! But here in Genesis 33, Jacob is on his way back to Canaan, where his father and his brother live, and it’s been over 20 years. God had told Jacob to go back to Canaan, so he went, but not without a whole lot of fear. In Genesis 32:11 we read of Jacob’s prayer asking God to protect him: “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, the mothers with the children” I love verse 12 here, too, because Jacob gets his courage to go forward from the Truth, from what God had told him: “For Thou didst say, ‘I will surely prosper you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” Very useful illustration for us, when we’re in the midst of fear; bring up what you KNOW, the Truth, and ride that truth right into the face of what you fear.
Ok, so good one on Jacob there, but let’s consider that fear for a moment. Some say “time heals all wounds” but I’m not so sure that’s true… and it certainly doesn’t seem to be the case here as Jacob hasn’t forgotten that Esau wanted to kill him, and he certainly didn’t seem to expect Esau to have forgotten what had happened. You see, for issues that have not been resolved, for wounds that haven’t healed, time stands still. Most of us are carrying around these issues from years ago, and we tell ourselves, “Oh, I’m over that, it was so long ago…” but if we let God show us the truth of the matter, we’ll find that we’re NOT over it, we still carry bitterness and fear, pain and anger from past disappointments, and shame over things we’ve done to hurt others… and those unresolved issues won’t just go away. Let’s go back to the text and see the evidence of this…
Gen 33:14-17… Jacob says “I will proceed at my leisure… until I come to my lord at Seir” (which is where Esau now lived, an area southeast of the Dead Sea and of Israel that became known as Edom). So Jacob says--or at least lets it seem like--he’s planning to following along after Esau. But what does he actually do? V: 17 tells us he headed to Succoth… which we suppose is near Shechem… which is northwest of the Dead Sea, some distance from Esau and his family. Hm. What’s up with that, I wonder?
Well. Maybe God had told him to go there… but we only know for sure in Gen 31:3 that God said: “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” At any rate, if God had told him to head for Shechem, why did he give Esau the idea that he would come to Seir? Why didn’t he just say, “No, my brother, my God and your God has told me to go to Shechem, and so it’s off to Shechem I go!” Or, if God hadn’t told him to go to Shechem, perhaps he could have said “No, my brother, I’ve got my heart set on this other area up here” for whatever reason…
Does it matter? Isn’t this just a little white lie, not a big deal, a little “social lie” that we do to keep the peace, to smooth things over? Am I making a big deal out of nothing here? I really don’t think so, and here’s why… we know from later passages that the relationship was NOT good between Jacob’s family and Esau’s family… we see them burying Isaac together later on in Genesis 35, but every other encounter between Jacob (now known as Israel) and Esau (now known as Edom) shows that hostility continued between them… sometimes violent, as when the Amalekites (Amalek was Esau’s grandson Gen 36:12) attacked the Israelites when they came out of Egypt years later (Ex 17), sometimes a little more subtly but still clearly threatening, as when Edomites refused to let Israel pass through their land even when they offered to pay (Num 20).
I think it does matter, how we reconcile with each other over issues that come up… and you know those issues will come up, we step on each other, sometimes by mistake sometimes not so much. I think that, even if for the moment is feels like we’ve done well by “smoothing things over” with some evasive little lies, I think that there will be consequences of those little lies, and we end up enslaved and troubled by the barrier that remains. I believe God is not pleased with this half-baked reconciliation, not so much because He’s just this judging God who just hates lies as a matter of principal, but I believe He hates deceitfulness because it ensnares His people, it keeps us in bondage, and it makes fellowship difficult and troublesome, between us and Him and between us and each other.
This truth goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, in Genesis 3… another must-read story! Remember how the enemy, whom Jesus called the “father of lies,” lied to Adam and Eve, and how their response to his lies was to first break God’s command, and to then hide from God and try to deceive Him! This damaged their relationship with God, and resulted in their exile from the garden.
There’s good news though! Thank God for the Gospel, the Good News! Recall that, even though they were exiled from the garden, fellowship with God was still possible. This is important… even though there were consequences of their sin, all was not lost, and fellowship with God was still possible for them. This is important for us today because it’s true for us today: even though we make mistakes, even though we fall short, we still have fellowship with God, and we can still have fellowship with each other.
Let me say that again another way, because I believe this is His Word for us right now, today… The Lord wants to set some of us free with this truth today: even if there is a falling-out, even if there has been a breaking of trust, a disappointment, a hurt… all is not lost, there may be consequences, but reconciliation is available. Keep in mind this reconciliation doesn’t mean saying what the other person did was right, just as it doesn’t mean saying that what YOU did was right; it also doesn’t mean that you have to live next door to the other person and be best friends with them… God had a different destiny for Jacob and it didn’t involve him living with Esau… but even if God doesn’t necessarily require us to be super close to each other, I do know that His requires us to be honest with one another.
How do I know that? Glad you asked. Turn to Eph 4:25, and we’re going to conclude once we’ve looked at this passage.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.
In context He is describing who we OUGHT to be, setting aside the old way of our fathers, including the way of Jacob and many of the others described in Scripture. Instead of hiding in falseness, he says to “speak truth” to each other.
Do any of you have a text where “Speak truth each one with his neighbor” is in all caps? What does that mean? OT reference here is Zechariah 8:16, where God is describing what He wants for His “City of Truth” (Zech 8:1).
Even though the story of God’s people, in the Scripture and right here with the church of today, even though our story is full of examples of people lying to each other, I believe God is still giving us a vision of this “City of Truth,” He is calling us up into that vision, to BE that City of Truth, where we won’t hide behind social pleasantness and “little white lies” but where we’ll go ahead and let there be awkwardness as we try to be honest with each other. Echo, let’s refuse to be satisfied to live in the self-protective shadows of half-truths, and instead live in the light, as He is in the light.
How do we do that? We start with ourselves, our own relationships, those people in our lives that we haven’t been able to reconcile with. Let the Lord shed His light on the situation, and be open to acting on what He shows you. Sometimes it’s out of our power to reconcile, but most of us can admit that we are partly responsible… and we fail to truly reconcile for various reasons: we don’t want to acknowledge where we were wrong, we don’t want to let the other person or people off the hook, we just don’t like them and how they live… whatever. Sometimes we have trouble getting over how others have lied to us or disappointed us… we know Father’s heart on that matter: all sin is sin against God, so we can decide to not take it personally, we can forgive and we can get over it.
As we spend a little time now in silence, reflect on these things and let the Lord illuminate them for you. Let Him show you where the lie is, and let Him show you the truth, and let Him give you the grace to walk in the truth.
[2-3 minutes silence, followed by song]
Jesus said in John 3:21 that those who live by the truth come into the light so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been done by God. Not only does God show you the truth of anything wrong in your life, but He shows you that He is greater than the wrong, and that He loves you and WILL do great things through you. Get into the Word, pray and listen for Father’s voice… this is how we cultivate relationship with Him and each other, this is how we harvest spiritual fruit in ourselves and in each other, and this is how we overcome the works of the enemy in our lives, in our church, and in the world.
And all who would be set free by receive THAT truth, please indicate so by saying “AMEN!”
Closing Prayer: Let’s pray…
Benediction
Sunday, January 1, 2012
What's so great about the Bible?
Welcome to 2012, Echo! Below is the first sermon of the year, a preparation for our "through the Bible" following the "Our Daily Bread" plan. Enjoy!
January 1, 2012 “What’s so GREAT about the Bible?”
2012 Reading Schedule introduction: We’re following the Our Daily Bread (odb.org) Bible in a Year schedule. Sermons will be based on prior week’s and/or next week’s reading. If you’ve done the reading and receive some useful insight, each week we’ll give space for one person to share, just before the sermon. Reading suggestion: if you “fall off” read a little each day until the next book starts, then jump in on that day again. Listening to the reading is fine, great to do when driving; I know some can take in and process more through listening, and that’s no problem!
Bible Offering: You may remember that I mentioned taking up an offering for Bibles at Christmas, but I realized I wanted to spend more time preparing you for this, because I believe it’s important enough. We’ll be doing some of that today, and I expect we’ll take up the offering on February 12th, which happens to be the day we’ll be holding an all-church business meeting… we’ll be sharing the finances and accomplishments over the past year and plans for the coming year. That’ll be after the church service that day, and lunch will be included.
Persecuted DVD (From Assemblies of God site: biblealliance.org)
What’s so great about the Bible that these people hunger for it so much? That people will die for it?
The rest of the DVD describes some of the experiences of our brothers and sisters around the world, those who suffer and die horribly for their faith; some are imprisoned just for owning Bible. Their stories may seem far away and feel unrelated to our experience here in America, but these are real, current stories. There really are many believers in the world who, because they won’t reject Christ, are forced to watch their spouses and children being tortured and killed before they themselves are killed.
Why? Why would they hold tighter to Jesus and His Word than to their own flesh and blood?
We know there is a great reward for those who hold to the Word of God and who refuse to deny the name of Christ. We read about it in Rev 3, where the church of Philadelpia is commended for their faith:
So ok, it makes sense that the reward can be a good motivator… but is that enough? Will it be enough for you when you are forced to choose between your family and your God? Well, to be honest, we don’t know that all of us will have to face that exact choice. The bait, the temptation to deny Christ, is different depending on the culture and on what’s important to us… For many, it doesn’t take the threat of death to cause them to abandon their faith. Will the promise of reward be enough for you when you’re faced with these circumstances…
Will the promise of reward be enough, when the world is in your face and you are being ridiculed for your faith, told that it’s foolish, questioned about your behavior since becoming a Christian, where maybe you’ve stumbled repeatedly and continued in weaknesses that you’ve had since long before you accepted Christ?
Will the promise of reward be enough when you’re asked about God’s provision when you’ve been stuck in poverty, or when you’re asked about God’s healing when you or your loved ones have been struck with chronic illness?
How about that “freedom” Jesus promised, when you’re still imprisoned by bitterness and hurts, by broken relationships and the consequences of decisions made years ago, especially those decisions made by others that continue to affect you?
Will the promise of reward keep you? Maybe it will, maybe that will be enough for you… but I’m not so sure it will keep me, since I know how well the promise of a healthier life motivates me to exercise and eat better!
I believe that what will keep you and me is bigger than the promise of reward. You see, that promise is only a part of something much, much bigger, and that something is Truth… and particularly, the truth of the Word of God, absorbed into our daily lives and walked out day by day.
What will keep us? Knowledge of, commitment to, and trust in Jesus’ teaching, found in the Bible. Here’s what Jesus said His own teaching would do for us if we hold to it:
Hold to His teaching… “Continue in my word” NASB has it… “Meno” = abide, remain, stay, dwell in His Word. This involves continual contact, presence, exposure to the mind of Christ we find in the Bible. Romans 12:2 says to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” and I tell you, it WORKS. Being in the Word will transform how you see and think about things. This isn’t something magical or supernatural, really, because if you spend time immersed in anything you will be transformed by it, your thoughts, your worldview WILL begin to conform, or at least become desensitized to it. Ex. Profanity in movies, violence (ex. On 9/11 a 10yrold boy I knew was watching the live news footage of reporters at the Pentagon and said, “hey wouldn’t it be cool if they had a plane come crashing down behind them?”)
Being immersed in the truth of the Word produces something different in us. Knowing God’s truth sets us free in such a way that the enemy’s attempts to get you to deny your faith won’t work. The enemy will try to play on your insecurities… but the truth is, your security comes from God, not from your own greatness. The enemy will try to play on your fear of loss, loss of loved ones, loss of possessions… but the truth is, all of it belongs to God. (“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose”) Many believing parents I know speak of surrendering loved ones to God, but in reality they are just acknowledging that they never belonged to them in the first place. The enemy will try to play on your dread of loss of reputation, of being seen as a fool… but the truth is, the only approval that is worth anything comes from God, and the enemy cannot tarnish your reputation before God.
All of this truth is found in God’s Word, and this is why the Bible has been central to our faith since the very beginning, even before the whole Bible was finished being written! What do I mean by that? I mean that when the first apostles were writing the words that would later become part of our New Testament, they were quite aware of the true source and power of God’s written Word, which, for them in that day, contained pretty much what we call the Old Testament.
For example, here’s Paul writing to a younger disciple, his own “son in the faith” by the name of Timothy:
Here’s Peter’s take on how we got the Scripture:
These, and many other passages, are what really made me start to pursue a more reverential study of God’s Word… I’ve shared my testimony before, of how I was saved sitting alone at home and fell in love with God while reading the Bible. I don’t always share that from that point forward I had a tremendous hunger and sensitivity to the Word, and it was at that point that I heard my pastor say that the Bible is a human book of wisdom about God. RED FLAG! You see, because I had been spending time in the Word, seeing with eyes of faith that God had opened up, this sort of statement didn’t fly with me. I already knew that this was not what the Word said about itself. If she’d said it a few months earlier, I might not have thought anything of it. But from that point on, even though I deeply respected that pastor on many levels, I held her teaching of the Bible pretty lightly. She and I met and she confirmed that, not only had I understood her correctly, but she believes and teaches that Jesus Christ is not the only means of salvation. She understood when I told her believed differently, that Jesus is the ONLY way, and she understood when I left that fellowship a few months later, with a nice farewell dinner and kind words.
Side note: No matter how young you feel in your faith, if there’s something I say, or anyone else here says, that doesn’t seem to ring true with you and what you understand of the Word… don’t be afraid to bring it up. It might have been a misunderstanding, it might have been something carelessly or unclearly stated, but it just might have been error. I admit that I get careless or lazy sometimes and mix Scriptures, use them out of context, confuse them with things I’ve read elsewhere. Please, PLEASE allow yourself that boldness, for the sake of us all. BUT… Please also take the time to bring your question later, so there can be thoughtful discussion. If there was something unclear, it can be clarified not only then but before the congregation at the appropriate time. I’ve done that before, when I’ve shared something and then realized later that I had messed up… I don’t at all mind correcting that.
Ok, back to today’s message… I shared with you just a couple of passages that describe how the apostles saw Scripture, both the Old Testament and the words they were preaching and teaching, and eventually writing. There are whole shelves of books on this topic, like this one here (Norman Geisler’s Systematic Theology), and most of them start with those passages, especially 2 Peter 1:20-21 and 2 Tim 3:16.
He goes on to discuss 2 Peter 1:20-21 and 2 Tim 3:16, and then a whole bunch of other passages. This is some pretty important foundation for us as believers. In fact, you may or may not know that the #1 foundational doctrine in the statement of fundamental truths for our denomination, the Assemblies of God, says NOTHING about speaking in tongues... Nope, the very first statement is this:
And there you see the verses I read earlier. In fact, before even getting into the fundamental truths, our Constitution states that “the Bible is our all-sufficient rule for faith and practice.” All of the doctrines that follow flow from a shared understanding of that Bible, and form a “basis of fellowship among us.”
We'll touch on these doctrines as we study the Word together, but if you’d like to go deeper, especially into a better understanding of the inspiration of Scripture, there are several ways to go. You could borrow some of the texts I collected while in seminary. I have these great little “Know Your Bible” booklets too, and I highly recommend that you take one to read along with as you come to each chapter through the year. You could also start with the fundamental truths booklet from the AG, and study out the verses yourself. In fact, I recommend that, and maybe even memorizing one of the scriptures so that you always have that answer ready… 2 Timothy 3:16 is an easy address to remember:
Wondering if the part you’re reading came from God? “All Scripture is God-Breathed” Feel like you need to be taught? Rebuked? Corrected? Trained in righteousness? The Scripture is the place for you. Note this isn’t emphasizing the Bible’s usefulness for correcting others, but for your own equipping! See what it says next:
Remember what the name of our church stands for? “ECHO: Equipping the church to Cultivate, Harvest, and Overcome.” If equipping is our primary task here, do you see why the emphasis on the Word? Reading it aloud to each other, quoting it in our prayers and in our songs, exploring how it fits together, within itself and within our daily lives… all of these are opportunities for the Word to do just what it says it does: equips us for service.
The Word equips us to walk in power… to overcome every obstacle, not always because the obstacle is removed, but because the truth has set us free, free from the trap that the obstacles are intended to set for us. The enemy loves to get us in a corner, where we only see limited options and none of them GOOD options. What I say next might upset you, but I hope you’ll take it for what it’s worth: almost every issue that is brought to me can be resolved with a perspective shift. The issue may seem to be about health, or about money, or about a relationship, or about, about, about…about all of these things, or other things, or whatever… but I’ve seen things turn around, for me and for some of you, too, when truth is introduced… our perspective changes, and the chains fall off… the enemy’s attempt to shame us or terrify us is exposed, and things don’t look so big anymore. You see, the circumstances are the circumstances… we all got ‘em, some folks seem to have more of ‘em than others, and some folks seem to cause a lot of ‘em for others! But all of these things are being used to shape us, to test and refine our faith, so that we can stand in the end, so that we can truly hold to Jesus’ teaching. When we grasp His teaching, when we see what He’s doing in our lives, when we turn the corner and see that light of truth, WHOA! Everything looks different!
Now, don’t get me wrong, if we can help ease the pain of circumstances for each other, absolutely, I believe we should try to do that as much as possible… it’s hard to know when the pain is a necessary pain for someone else, so I try to err on the side of easing pain when I can. But more than that, I believe we should, as much as possible, encourage each other in the truth, the truth of the Word, to counter the enemy’s lies and half-truths and crafty little insinuations… I said this to someone this week, and I’ll say it to you all right now: I love you and I HATE to see you suffer, but you want to know what I hate even more? I hate to see you give up, to see the enemy convince you that his stinking lies are the truth. This ought not be, and it doesn’t HAVE to be… We can and we must find encouragement in the Word, for ourselves and for each other, in order to counter the filthy lie with the pure truth. This truth, tested and proven in our lives as we walk through and digest the Bible together, this truth becomes our true food and true drink… this is what those persecuted Christians find so great about the Bible that it’s worth dying for, and, I believe, it will be enough for you, too, to make you stand in the face of persecution.
Let’s pray.
January 1, 2012 “What’s so GREAT about the Bible?”
2012 Reading Schedule introduction: We’re following the Our Daily Bread (odb.org) Bible in a Year schedule. Sermons will be based on prior week’s and/or next week’s reading. If you’ve done the reading and receive some useful insight, each week we’ll give space for one person to share, just before the sermon. Reading suggestion: if you “fall off” read a little each day until the next book starts, then jump in on that day again. Listening to the reading is fine, great to do when driving; I know some can take in and process more through listening, and that’s no problem!
Bible Offering: You may remember that I mentioned taking up an offering for Bibles at Christmas, but I realized I wanted to spend more time preparing you for this, because I believe it’s important enough. We’ll be doing some of that today, and I expect we’ll take up the offering on February 12th, which happens to be the day we’ll be holding an all-church business meeting… we’ll be sharing the finances and accomplishments over the past year and plans for the coming year. That’ll be after the church service that day, and lunch will be included.
Persecuted DVD (From Assemblies of God site: biblealliance.org)
What’s so great about the Bible that these people hunger for it so much? That people will die for it?
The rest of the DVD describes some of the experiences of our brothers and sisters around the world, those who suffer and die horribly for their faith; some are imprisoned just for owning Bible. Their stories may seem far away and feel unrelated to our experience here in America, but these are real, current stories. There really are many believers in the world who, because they won’t reject Christ, are forced to watch their spouses and children being tortured and killed before they themselves are killed.
Why? Why would they hold tighter to Jesus and His Word than to their own flesh and blood?
We know there is a great reward for those who hold to the Word of God and who refuse to deny the name of Christ. We read about it in Rev 3, where the church of Philadelpia is commended for their faith:
Revelation 3:8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
So ok, it makes sense that the reward can be a good motivator… but is that enough? Will it be enough for you when you are forced to choose between your family and your God? Well, to be honest, we don’t know that all of us will have to face that exact choice. The bait, the temptation to deny Christ, is different depending on the culture and on what’s important to us… For many, it doesn’t take the threat of death to cause them to abandon their faith. Will the promise of reward be enough for you when you’re faced with these circumstances…
Will the promise of reward be enough, when the world is in your face and you are being ridiculed for your faith, told that it’s foolish, questioned about your behavior since becoming a Christian, where maybe you’ve stumbled repeatedly and continued in weaknesses that you’ve had since long before you accepted Christ?
Will the promise of reward be enough when you’re asked about God’s provision when you’ve been stuck in poverty, or when you’re asked about God’s healing when you or your loved ones have been struck with chronic illness?
How about that “freedom” Jesus promised, when you’re still imprisoned by bitterness and hurts, by broken relationships and the consequences of decisions made years ago, especially those decisions made by others that continue to affect you?
Will the promise of reward keep you? Maybe it will, maybe that will be enough for you… but I’m not so sure it will keep me, since I know how well the promise of a healthier life motivates me to exercise and eat better!
I believe that what will keep you and me is bigger than the promise of reward. You see, that promise is only a part of something much, much bigger, and that something is Truth… and particularly, the truth of the Word of God, absorbed into our daily lives and walked out day by day.
What will keep us? Knowledge of, commitment to, and trust in Jesus’ teaching, found in the Bible. Here’s what Jesus said His own teaching would do for us if we hold to it:
John 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Hold to His teaching… “Continue in my word” NASB has it… “Meno” = abide, remain, stay, dwell in His Word. This involves continual contact, presence, exposure to the mind of Christ we find in the Bible. Romans 12:2 says to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” and I tell you, it WORKS. Being in the Word will transform how you see and think about things. This isn’t something magical or supernatural, really, because if you spend time immersed in anything you will be transformed by it, your thoughts, your worldview WILL begin to conform, or at least become desensitized to it. Ex. Profanity in movies, violence (ex. On 9/11 a 10yrold boy I knew was watching the live news footage of reporters at the Pentagon and said, “hey wouldn’t it be cool if they had a plane come crashing down behind them?”)
Being immersed in the truth of the Word produces something different in us. Knowing God’s truth sets us free in such a way that the enemy’s attempts to get you to deny your faith won’t work. The enemy will try to play on your insecurities… but the truth is, your security comes from God, not from your own greatness. The enemy will try to play on your fear of loss, loss of loved ones, loss of possessions… but the truth is, all of it belongs to God. (“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose”) Many believing parents I know speak of surrendering loved ones to God, but in reality they are just acknowledging that they never belonged to them in the first place. The enemy will try to play on your dread of loss of reputation, of being seen as a fool… but the truth is, the only approval that is worth anything comes from God, and the enemy cannot tarnish your reputation before God.
All of this truth is found in God’s Word, and this is why the Bible has been central to our faith since the very beginning, even before the whole Bible was finished being written! What do I mean by that? I mean that when the first apostles were writing the words that would later become part of our New Testament, they were quite aware of the true source and power of God’s written Word, which, for them in that day, contained pretty much what we call the Old Testament.
For example, here’s Paul writing to a younger disciple, his own “son in the faith” by the name of Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:15-17 …from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work
Here’s Peter’s take on how we got the Scripture:
2 Peter 1:20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.They also recognized that what they were preaching was also the Word of God.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
These, and many other passages, are what really made me start to pursue a more reverential study of God’s Word… I’ve shared my testimony before, of how I was saved sitting alone at home and fell in love with God while reading the Bible. I don’t always share that from that point forward I had a tremendous hunger and sensitivity to the Word, and it was at that point that I heard my pastor say that the Bible is a human book of wisdom about God. RED FLAG! You see, because I had been spending time in the Word, seeing with eyes of faith that God had opened up, this sort of statement didn’t fly with me. I already knew that this was not what the Word said about itself. If she’d said it a few months earlier, I might not have thought anything of it. But from that point on, even though I deeply respected that pastor on many levels, I held her teaching of the Bible pretty lightly. She and I met and she confirmed that, not only had I understood her correctly, but she believes and teaches that Jesus Christ is not the only means of salvation. She understood when I told her believed differently, that Jesus is the ONLY way, and she understood when I left that fellowship a few months later, with a nice farewell dinner and kind words.
Side note: No matter how young you feel in your faith, if there’s something I say, or anyone else here says, that doesn’t seem to ring true with you and what you understand of the Word… don’t be afraid to bring it up. It might have been a misunderstanding, it might have been something carelessly or unclearly stated, but it just might have been error. I admit that I get careless or lazy sometimes and mix Scriptures, use them out of context, confuse them with things I’ve read elsewhere. Please, PLEASE allow yourself that boldness, for the sake of us all. BUT… Please also take the time to bring your question later, so there can be thoughtful discussion. If there was something unclear, it can be clarified not only then but before the congregation at the appropriate time. I’ve done that before, when I’ve shared something and then realized later that I had messed up… I don’t at all mind correcting that.
Ok, back to today’s message… I shared with you just a couple of passages that describe how the apostles saw Scripture, both the Old Testament and the words they were preaching and teaching, and eventually writing. There are whole shelves of books on this topic, like this one here (Norman Geisler’s Systematic Theology), and most of them start with those passages, especially 2 Peter 1:20-21 and 2 Tim 3:16.
From p 229: “The Bible claims to be a book from God, a message with divine authority. Indeed, the biblical writers say they were moved by the Holy Spirit to utter His very words—that their message came by revelation so that what they wrote was breathed out (inspired) by God Himself”
He goes on to discuss 2 Peter 1:20-21 and 2 Tim 3:16, and then a whole bunch of other passages. This is some pretty important foundation for us as believers. In fact, you may or may not know that the #1 foundational doctrine in the statement of fundamental truths for our denomination, the Assemblies of God, says NOTHING about speaking in tongues... Nope, the very first statement is this:
1. The Scriptures Inspired
The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:21).
And there you see the verses I read earlier. In fact, before even getting into the fundamental truths, our Constitution states that “the Bible is our all-sufficient rule for faith and practice.” All of the doctrines that follow flow from a shared understanding of that Bible, and form a “basis of fellowship among us.”
We'll touch on these doctrines as we study the Word together, but if you’d like to go deeper, especially into a better understanding of the inspiration of Scripture, there are several ways to go. You could borrow some of the texts I collected while in seminary. I have these great little “Know Your Bible” booklets too, and I highly recommend that you take one to read along with as you come to each chapter through the year. You could also start with the fundamental truths booklet from the AG, and study out the verses yourself. In fact, I recommend that, and maybe even memorizing one of the scriptures so that you always have that answer ready… 2 Timothy 3:16 is an easy address to remember:
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
Wondering if the part you’re reading came from God? “All Scripture is God-Breathed” Feel like you need to be taught? Rebuked? Corrected? Trained in righteousness? The Scripture is the place for you. Note this isn’t emphasizing the Bible’s usefulness for correcting others, but for your own equipping! See what it says next:
17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Remember what the name of our church stands for? “ECHO: Equipping the church to Cultivate, Harvest, and Overcome.” If equipping is our primary task here, do you see why the emphasis on the Word? Reading it aloud to each other, quoting it in our prayers and in our songs, exploring how it fits together, within itself and within our daily lives… all of these are opportunities for the Word to do just what it says it does: equips us for service.
The Word equips us to walk in power… to overcome every obstacle, not always because the obstacle is removed, but because the truth has set us free, free from the trap that the obstacles are intended to set for us. The enemy loves to get us in a corner, where we only see limited options and none of them GOOD options. What I say next might upset you, but I hope you’ll take it for what it’s worth: almost every issue that is brought to me can be resolved with a perspective shift. The issue may seem to be about health, or about money, or about a relationship, or about, about, about…about all of these things, or other things, or whatever… but I’ve seen things turn around, for me and for some of you, too, when truth is introduced… our perspective changes, and the chains fall off… the enemy’s attempt to shame us or terrify us is exposed, and things don’t look so big anymore. You see, the circumstances are the circumstances… we all got ‘em, some folks seem to have more of ‘em than others, and some folks seem to cause a lot of ‘em for others! But all of these things are being used to shape us, to test and refine our faith, so that we can stand in the end, so that we can truly hold to Jesus’ teaching. When we grasp His teaching, when we see what He’s doing in our lives, when we turn the corner and see that light of truth, WHOA! Everything looks different!
Now, don’t get me wrong, if we can help ease the pain of circumstances for each other, absolutely, I believe we should try to do that as much as possible… it’s hard to know when the pain is a necessary pain for someone else, so I try to err on the side of easing pain when I can. But more than that, I believe we should, as much as possible, encourage each other in the truth, the truth of the Word, to counter the enemy’s lies and half-truths and crafty little insinuations… I said this to someone this week, and I’ll say it to you all right now: I love you and I HATE to see you suffer, but you want to know what I hate even more? I hate to see you give up, to see the enemy convince you that his stinking lies are the truth. This ought not be, and it doesn’t HAVE to be… We can and we must find encouragement in the Word, for ourselves and for each other, in order to counter the filthy lie with the pure truth. This truth, tested and proven in our lives as we walk through and digest the Bible together, this truth becomes our true food and true drink… this is what those persecuted Christians find so great about the Bible that it’s worth dying for, and, I believe, it will be enough for you, too, to make you stand in the face of persecution.
Let’s pray.
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