Don’t
Waste Your Bible Reading
Reading of the Word
Psalm 119:33-40
Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me
understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline
my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes
from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to
your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that
I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your
righteousness give me life!
Prayer
Father many
years ago you fed over 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Many of those
people had different hunger needs and wants and desires, yet you miraculously
feed them, they were satisfied and had left overs. Today, there are many here
that have different spiritual hunger, needs and desires that need the feeding
of your word today. Please come and feed
us this morning. I ask in Jesus name. Amen
Warm up:
The title of my message this morning is Don’t Waste Your
Bible Reading. There are notes in your
bulletin to follow along the train of thought. If you need a bible please raise
your hand and the ushers will get you one.
In the dry seasons of my walk with Christ I pray this Psalm.
Especially where it says incline my heart to your testimonies… to your word. Nine
out of ten (93%) Americans say that they own a Bible. In fact, the average
American household has four Bibles. If
you Google Bible reading plan, you will find a variety of great reading programs
for every style and desire.
Yet, in Christian surveys the # 1 reason people express
why they don’t read their Bible is the
excuse that they are too busy. Today I want to go deeper than these statistics
and get the heart of wasting our Bible reading.
We
waste something when we basically do not use the way it was intended to be used
for.
Let’s dive into our outline
First let’s look at why do we waste our bible reading.
I.
Reason Why We
Waste our Bible Reading
Jesus reveals the heart of the matter on –
of all days- the day he rises from the dead.
·
So in essence here are two guys talking about
the events of the last few days. Then Jesus appears yet doesn’t reveal to them,
who he is. And they reveal that they know their bible- which is the Old
Testament writings when they said they had hoped he was the Messiah… perhaps putting a few
things together in essence trying to gather what they know in light of what
they learned. They are having a biblical conversation.
·
Then Jesus says this:
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it
not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his
glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
·
Jesus says we are slow to believe… Believe what? Believe what we profess.
·
We profess to believe what the Bible says.
·
But in our day today living, we will live what
we truly believe.
If you’ve been attending LEFC any length of
time, you’ve heard us summarize this by stating: people don’t live what they profess they live
what they believe..
Now
the question beneath the answer is even more telling. Why do we waste our bible
reading? because we are foolish and slow
to believe. Then the question beneath
that answer is:
Why are we slow to believe?
We struggle--- {Grab the Value sign]
with this
The answer: We struggle with the
ABC’S of God Word
(a)
We struggle with the Bible’s authority
i.
We struggle to submit when it tells the
Christian that God is speaking here.
(b)
We struggle with the Bible’s inerrancy
i.
We struggle to be humble enough to accept that
the Bible is right .
(c)
We struggle with the Bible’s clarity
i.
We struggle to believe the Bible means what it
says
(d)
We struggle with the Bible’s sufficiency
i.
I’ll talk about that in a little bit.
And
what that answer reveals – is that we struggle not just with the
characteristics of God’s word- but with God himself.
So guard against being a fool and being slow to believe. We
all do this! Not one of us in this room lives the Christian life so perfectly
that we live exactly what we profess we believe.
We are not quick to submit and be humbled by these words. We
are not empowered and passionate in our love for Jesus that we so fully
overflow with the correct Biblical worldview all the time.
We sin in our slow beliefs, and it shows--- in how we trust,
obey, submit and repent to God.
So Why do we waste our Bible reading?
because we are slow to believe
Second point let’s talk about…
II.
Revealing
Ways We Waste Our Bible Reading
Now this is the portion of my message that gets messy and meddles
Why would I meddle? I mean there are many of us that ask why do preachers
meddle and get so specific in what they area saying.
I’ll tell you why.. Because the
blind spots of our lives need to be exposed.
And the Word says Faithful are the wounds of a friend.
And this morning, I am your friend, because I share this with concern
love and care that you will not miss the purpose of Bible Reading. I
don’twant for you to stand before God
and say, look at all this religious and theological reading I did for you Lord
and the Lord to say, I never knew you.
I was stepping all over my toes on this so I’m in this boat first. But I
felt I needed to go through this in the top ten style of presenting this Some on this list we will camp on for a few
minutes, some will be quick bites that I’ll note and then move on.
TOP TEN WAYS WE WASTE OUR BIBLE
READING
10. We don’t open the Word of God.
Now you might be saying well that doesn’t make sense. How can I waste my
Bible reading if I don’t open the Bible?
·
Now this is different than going through the dry
spells and tough season wher e our Bible reading is a struggle and your fighting through it.-- perhaps its hard and difficult to go through because
everything is fine but you not feeling watered
The “we” I am referring to are the one who comes here this morning- hears
the Bible reading this morning. Yet sees no reason to crack open the Bible
during the week.” Why should you open it” You don’t understand the
benefit—“sure I love Jesus and I ask for forgiveness but I don’t open his word, that’s for preachers… not me.”
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and
everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By
this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his
commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
1
John 5:1-3
·
A person who is saved by grace alone through
faith alone in Jesus alone is one who was once dead in their sins and then
forgiven and then brought alive to a new birth in Christ and with that new
birth is new strength- not from yourself… with that new birth is new desires-
not from your old dead worldy self- but new desires for God,* his relationship,
* his love *his ways HIS WORD… Continually…
·
If you find the commands of Scripture and the
habit of Bible reading burdensome… This may indicate either an undetected
cancer in your spiritual life that you need to repent of and have it removed out of you heart and soul
as you pray Lord “incline my heart to your testimonies and not selfish gain” Or
it may be a check of your spiritual pulse and life over all.
·
Are you saying I may not be Christian if I don’t
read the Bible?” No I’m not saying that.
·
Yet such a lack of a loving habit as reading
God’s living word is and lack of desire
as someone who claims to love Jesus and put their trust for both this
life and eternity- should cause you to pause and reflect on the reality of your relationship
with God.
·
One of the hard meddling truth is this -You can
have goals in life so out of sync with the Bible that you find the Bible boring
and his commands burdensome.
·
If the desire for God’s word is waining or has
never existed- you are wasting the Bible reading that you’ re hearing this
morning and the Lord is lovingly calling you to turn away from selfish gain and
begin to walk toward the living word- that is Jesus Christ- and to put your
trust in him to forgive you and make you alive spiritually.
So top ten ways we waste our Bible reading 10 We don’t
open it- we rely on Sunday and that’s it.
Moving on.
9. We don’t engage in studying it on any level.
It is a waste if Christians
do not
*seek the
truth of God.
* esteem the
wisdom of God.
* treasure the
beauty of God. Those are found in
Scripture
* savored the goodness of God.
* trust the
faithfulness of God.
* believe the promises of God.
* obey
the commandments of God. That is found
in Scripture.
We waste our bible reading if we don’t engage in with it on any level.
8. We just audit a bible study
This is a quick one… You may have been going to bible studies all of your
life. But do you just audit the class and enjoy the conversation. We waste our Bible reading when the approach
is so academic or even so social that it loses the spiritual impact.
How about this? Does the
book you are reviewing, get you back into the Scriptures? Many Bible studies
are just good spiritually minded books that quote the Bible, but does it get
you back into the Scriptures?
We waste our Bible reading by just auditing a class or Bible study
7. We limit our studying to one book or topic.
Another quick one. This again is
about engagement. Are you reading and wearing out pages in your bible because
you are rereading your favorite book?
·
When was the last time you went to Obadiah for encouragement?
I know just as many people fascinated with the topic of the end
times and the book of revelation as there are
people fascinated with systematic theology and the Pauline letters… yet
both can limit their exposure to certain books or topics and waste their Bible
reading.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God
may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2
Timothy 3:16
·
Don’t substitute your Facebook inspirational
postings for the Bible.
·
Social media has proven we have time to read.
So we waste our bible reading when we limit our reading to one book or
topic.
6. We don’t return to what we learn.
Listen to what the Bible says about wisdom Proverb 8:22-36
"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of
his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of
the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no
springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the
hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or
the first of the dust of the world…
·
God has set up wisdom… it starts with the Fear
the Lord. As the creator of this world he know how this works and transcends
our knowledge of it. He reveals true wisdom. He has designed this life to work
for his glory and our good yet we don’t
return back to it.
Here is the call…
32 "And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my
ways. [what ways? wisdom’s way] Hear
instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens
to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds
me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me
injures himself; all who hate me love death."
·
How many times do we re read Bible studies we go
through?
·
How many times do we skip over verses, accounts
and truths we feel we have already mastered.
·
Were you challenged when you heard the quote
from DA Carson last week when John preached that said mastering God’s
word is one thing by being mastered by it is something else?
·
In fact this passage says Fools don’t listen to
true wisdom. False wisdom hurt yourself
and those who hate wisdom show that they
love death instead of life.
·
We waste our Bible reading—even our Bible
studies when we don’t return back to what we learned.
5. We fail to remember what it says
We waste our Bible reading
when we fail to remember what it says.
·
The Bible exhorts Israel to remember the works
of God’s deliverance and benefits of being his people.
·
So the Church is also to remember God’s deliverance
of our lives from the bondage and condemnation of sin. We are to remember
promises we have as Christians.
We call it today “preaching the Gospel to yourself.”
Many Christians know what the gospel professes but fail to remember the
hope and strength and promises of God when we are in need.
The number one person you listen to is yourself. Make sure you are
including conversations that—as it is says about King David… encourages
yourself in the Lord.
v
Remember God’s redeeming power to obey God’s
word
v
Remember your former condition while in sin to
be compassionate to others- not self righteous.
v
Remember your sin in order to delight in God’s
forgiveness.
v
Remember your position in Christ--- because
of Christ so that you can’t boast!
We waste our Bible reading when we fail to remember what it says.
4. We fail to quote it in our witnessing, exhorting and ministry to
the One another body
We waste our Bible reading
when we don’t talk about it with others.
I remembering hearing this years ago by Pastor David Holt when he shared
he was having a spiritual conversation with one of his kids and they asked him
when they asked him a question he was quoting the Bible more. He said it was
because my opinion isn’t as important as God’s word.
·
I have to admit the longer I’m a parent the more
try I try to point my kids to scripture instead of my opinions.
·
A lot of ministry the family of God is to have
with one another is to point Back to the Lord, back to the Cross, back to His
word of truth. To let the word of Chist dwell in us richy (Col 3 says)
·
We are to quote it to encourage the discouraged
this morning. We are to quote it to bring wisdom to those who need direction.
We are to pray it for one another.
·
We waste our Bible reading, if we fail to quote
it in our witnessing. God’s word is the
power of God onto salvation.
·
The power of salvation is not found in our
clever arguments and abilities to defend apologetically God and his word alone.
Quote Scripture. Use Scripture to present the defense, the truth and the
gospel.
We waste our Bible reading
when we don’t talk about it with others.
3. We don’t believe it is sufficient
·
I hit on this earlier but I’ll say it like this.
We waste our bible reading if we believe it’s the appetizer to the Spiritual
meal at the devotional sit down. The warm up to the devotional book our
reading.
·
James Montegomery Boise says it like this…(
btw JMB was the Pastor of Tenth
Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. His preaching is featured in the radio
broadcast The Bible Study Hour and he was the Chairman of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The
international council of biblical inerrancy successfully addressed the liberal theological
attacks and debates in the 1970’s and 80’s on the authority and truthfulness of
Scripture. )
He said it like this:
“I
want to say here, however, that important as I believe the matter of inerrancy
is— and I do believe it. I believe churches will flounder and die if this is
forgotten. Important as this is, I do
not think it [ biblical inerrancy] is
the most critical issue about the Bible facing the American church today. The
issue I would pinpoint today is the sufficiency of God’s Word.
I
would ask the questions: Do we really believe that God has given us what we
need in this book? Or do we think we have to supplement the Bible with other man-made
things? Do we need sociological techniques to do evangelism? Do we need
psychology and psychiatry for Christian growth? Do we need extra-biblical signs
or miracles for guidance? Is the Bible’s teaching adequate for achieving social
progress and reform?”
We will waste our bible reading
if we don’t believe in its sufficiency alone! We will waste our Bible reading
if we don’t believe in its power alone to change, heal, encourage and sanctify
us.
Psalm 19:7-9 says
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making
wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing
the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening
the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true, and
righteous altogether.
We will waste our bible reading if we don’t believe in its sufficiency
alone!
2. We waste our bible reading
by being hearers only and not doers
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For
if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks
intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away
and at once forgets what he was like. 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. James 1:22-25
·
We waste our Bible reading if we don’t apply it
to our life.. This is a point many of us
have been waiting for because we know it. We understand it. We know where we
all sin here--- right?
·
We understand that we can walk out of here and
away from our devoted Bible times and forget what God commands us to do in
living for His glory, in walking in grace. In loving one another.
·
We deceive ourselves into thinking that reading
and talking about the Bible is the same as doing the Bible.
Yet
Not being a doer of God’s word is
not the biggest waste of your bible reading.
You see…You can be applying the
moral commands and spiritual disciplines revealed in this book and still be
wasting your bible reading.
We need to see the do’s and do nots in light of who He has revealed… which is Himself.
Not just Bible verses... bible
revelation of God Almighty through the son Jesus Christ.
1. We waste our Bible reading if we just grow in knowledge and not
in love
·
God is not so much the object of our study as
the cause of our wonder.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind.’ Matthew
22:37
·
John Piper says it like this:
The Bible is relevant for the life and work of any man. But
really it comes down to this. Does he want to see the greatest treasure in the
universe? Does he desire to know Jesus and enjoy Jesus more than anything? Does
he love people so much that he grieves over the fact that they don’t know Jesus
and will be lost forever without him? That is the question. If Jesus is supreme
in this person’s life, if the passion is to know him above all, if the passion
is to desire him and enjoy him and treasure him more than anything, if the
passion is to bring as many people with you as you can into that experience,
then you can’t live without the Bible. It is the most relevant book in the
world.
·
On the elder retreat-this past year we sensed
that the challenge for our family of God here is was not necessarily more
knowledge of Jesus- but more love for Jesus.
·
We are to not just grow smarter, we are to grow more graciously
softer to Him and to others
·
To love the Lord our God with All of our
being—but also to love our neighbors love ourselves more.
So in our outline
I.
We have the Reason why we waste our bible
reading
II.
We have revealed
some of the ways how we waste our Bible reading
You and I are at this
point where we are saying… I’ve failed
in this. What happens now . How do I
respond to the truth that I have wasted, my bible reading and
that I don’t love Jesus more than I did 15 years ago
Last point This
is how you respond…you
III.
Remember and Repent When We Waste our Bible Reading
You
need to remember the purposes for why God has given us the Bible. We will not waste something when
we know the purpose of it. God gives us the Bible to reveal Himself, so
that our redeemed lives will witness to his glory in saving us, loving us and
adopting us.
And in
turn hear his Spirit speak to us and we will do what the Father commands and we
will love Jesus with all our heart soul mind and strength
·
We need
to remember God has given us the bible is given to us to reveal Himself to
us thru the person of Jesus not just
truths and advise to live by.
·
And when we are revealed Jesus, our hearts are called to respond to that
revealing love grace hope and salvation
that is found only through a relationship with Him. And we are to respond to
this --revealing day after day after day…
·
The Bible calls out Behold you God, behold your
creator behold your Savior
·
So take heart if you’ve failed and repent.
·
“Repent” what do you mean repent” I mean for you Christian turn away from habits of meaningless reading
and begin the habits of graciously encountering Jesus Christ again.
There are3 Motivations for
repenting
1.
You should repent because the mercy o God’s
forgiveness is amazing: Remember : The mercy of God’s forgiveness.
2.
You should repent because his redeeming power
renews and empowers. He redeems the
years wasted He empowers the remaining years for purposes. Remember: His
redeeming power renews.
3.
You should repent because you can trust his
sovereign will. The journey your Christian walk is on has brought you to this
decision today and it is no accident. Remember:
His sovereign will
Closing Prayer
Father incline our heart to your word and make yourself not so much the object of our study as the
cause of our wonder, worship and love. In Jesus name