The Need for Jesus in Reading Scripture

Something's are necessary something's are helpful. Drinking water is necessary. Drinking Koolaid makes drinking water helpful but not necessary to drink water. Sold hermeneutical principles with which to interpret the Scriptures are helpful. Jesus is necessary to read scripture well. We need Jesus and the holy spirit to help us, without him we will not value and desire and taste of the goodness of God's word. We need his existential help, help in the moment, in hear and now, of reading scripture. The following is taken from Spurgeon's daily devotional, Morning and Evening in this entry Surgeon makes our spiritual need and his existential help evident:

“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.” — Luke 24:45

He whom we viewed last evening as opening Scripture, we here perceive opening the understanding. In the first work he has many fellow-labourers, but in the second he stands alone; many can bring the Scriptures to the mind, but the Lord alone can prepare the mind to receive the Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus differs from all other teachers; they reach the ear, but he instructs the heart; they deal with the outward letter, but he imparts an inward taste for the truth, by which we perceive its savour and spirit. The most unlearned of men become ripe scholars in the school of grace when the Lord Jesus by his Holy Spirit unfolds the mysteries of the kingdom to them, and grants the divine anointing by which they are enabled to behold the invisible. Happy are we if we have had our understandings cleared and strengthened by the Master! How many men of profound learning are ignorant of eternal things! They know the killing letter of revelation, but its killing spirit they cannot discern; they have a veil upon their hearts which the eyes of carnal reason cannot penetrate. Such was our case a little time ago; we who now see were once utterly blind; truth was to us as beauty in the dark, a thing unnoticed and neglected. Had it not been for the love of Jesus we should have remained to this moment in utter ignorance, for without his gracious opening of our understanding, we could no more have attained to spiritual knowledge than an infant can climb the Pyramids, or an ostrich fly up to the stars. Jesus’ College is the only one in which God’s truth can be really learned; other schools may teach us what is to be believed, but Christ’s alone can show us how to believe it. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus, and by earnest prayer call in his blessed aid that our dull wits may grow brighter, and our feeble understandings may receive heavenly things.[*]

[*] Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening : Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

Bonheoffer on Reading the Whole of Scripture

Dietrich Bonheoffer was a theologian and martyr in Nazi Germany during WW2. He ministered in a culture of propaganda brimming with half-truths and whole lies. For Bonheoffer, it was a battle for mind of a nation. The enemy were wolfs in sheep’s clothing. They used Christian language and twisting it, redefining it. The slogans were Christianized and only those familiar with the whole of Scripture had the discernment to see it was not Christ-like. Christians who diet only consisted of random biblical anecdotes and weight watchers scriptural passages were susceptible to be taken in by those in power. 

Bonheoffer taught in an underground seminary where he lived in community with his students. Bonheoffer trained his new ministers to make theologians of those in the pew or germany would be lost. During this time he wrote the book called Life Together. In this excerpt from the book he exhorts us to read scripture and lots of it. He writes:

"Almost all of us have grown up with the idea that the Scripture reading is only a matter of hearing the Word of God for this particular day. That is why for many the Scripture reading consists only of a few, brief, selected verses which are to form the guiding thought of the day… But there can be equally little doubt that brief verses cannot and should not take the place of reading the Scripture as a whole. The verse for the day is still not the Holy Scripture which will remain throughout all time until the Last Day. Holy Scripture is more than a watchword.  It is also more than 'light for today.' It is God’s revealed Word for all men, for all times. Holy Scripture does not consist of individual passages; it is a unit and is intended to be used as such.

"A Christian family fellowship should surely be able to read and listen to a chapter of the Old Testament and at least half of a chapter of the New Testament every morning and evening. When the practice is first tried, of course, most people will find even this modest measure too much and will offer resistance. It will be objected that it is impossible to take in and retain such an abundance of ideas and associations, that it even shows disrespect for God’s Word to read more than one can seriously assimilate. These objections will cause us quite readily to content ourselves again with reading only verses.

"In truth, however, there lurks in this attitude a grave error.  If it is really true that it is hard for us, as adult Christians, to comprehend even a chapter of the Old Testament in sequence, then this can only fill us with profound shame; what kind of testimony is that to our knowledge of the Scriptures and all our previous reading of them?

"If we were familiar with the substance of what we read we should be able to follow a chapter without difficulty, especially if we have an open Bible in our hands and participate in the reading.  But of course, we must admit that the Scriptures are still largely unknown to us.  Can the realization of our fault, our ignorance of the Word of God, have any other consequence than that we should earnestly and faithfully retrieve what has been neglected? And should not ministers be the very first to get to work at this point?

"How often we hear innumerable arguments 'from life' and 'from experience' put forward as the basis for most crucial decisions, but the argument of Scripture is missing. And this authority would perhaps point in exactly the opposite direction.  It is not surprising, of course, that the person who attempts to cast discredit upon their wisdom should be the one who himself does not seriously read, known, and study the Scriptures.  But one who will not learn to handle the Bible for himself is not an evangelical Christian."

from Dietrich Bonheoffer's Life Together pages 50-52, 55

Bonheoffer understood modern life required Christians to dig deep into scripture. It was a time in which every Christian must be a theologian. Times have not changed. The times may have gotten worse. Bonheoffer explains the need for Christians to understand scripture as a whole. Knowledge of the meta-narrative of scripture is central to understanding it theologically. Ethically, Scripture is our first authority and the knowledge of scripture is indispensable in making godly choices. People who don’t read scripture only occasionally and always accidentally make God pleasing choices.

Common practices of monks and other radicals

Reading/ listening to Scripture is fundamental to experiencing God and growing spiritually. Many Godly people of old understood this principle.  Many centuries before a strategy was developed for daily reading the bible called the Lectio Divina, or divine reading. The founders of the medieval tradition of Lectio Divina were Saint Benedict and Pope Gregory I. It needs to be stated that the method was given as a way to cultivate a devoted heart not a way to do theology. The study of scripture aiming at formulating doctrine has its own method. The more theological minded a person is the more clearly and beautifully the Lectio Divina will unearth there heart.

The daily life in a Benedictine monastery was broken down into the aspects: liturgical prayer, manual labor and Lectio Divina, the last being a quiet prayerful reading of the Bible. This slow and thoughtful reading of Scripture, and the ensuing pondering of its meaning, was a monk’s daily meditation.

Saint Benedict in his Rule (chapter #48) have his monks regimented times and manners for Lectio Divina. The goal was to progress from Bible reading, to meditation, to prayer, to loving regard for God. A Carthusian monk and prior of Grande Chartreuse in the 12th century named Guigo described the steps as a "ladder". Using the terms lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplation, as successive rungs on the ladder.  In Guigo's four stages one first reads the bible often following the liturgy of the church. The read leads to think about the significance of the text, that process in turn leads the person to respond in prayer as the third stage. The fourth stage is when the prayer, in turn, points to the gift of quiet stillness in the presence of God, called contemplation. I like to use the four steps of read, reflect, respond, rest.

1.       Read.  I take a bit-sized amount of text. I read the short text slow, usually out loud, 3-6 times.  Sometimes I’ll read 2 translations.  As I read, I’m listening for a word or phrase that catches my attention. If it is a story, then some aspect of the story that seems to jump out at me.

2.       Reflect. First, I seek to just understand the significance of the text. If The Lord catches my attention with a word, phrase, or aspect of the story. I reflect on it, and deeply ponder it in my heart. What is it about my life which needs that word or phrase?  Why did God put that word or phrase on my heart today?  What does that word or phrase speak into my life today?

3.       Respond. Further, I take a few moments to pray to God about what I’ve heard.  Since God has spoken to me through his word, I speak now to God.  If his word has convicted me of sin (both of omission or commotion) I respond with repentance and reliance on the gospel for forgiveness.  If his word has encouraged me, I thank him.  

4.       Rest.  Before leaving this holy time, I spend a minute or two in silence.  I just rest in the presence of God.  He’s spoken.  I’ve spoken.  Now I just relax, take some deep breaths, and am present with God.

Remember the goal of such a method of reading scripture is not doing all the steps or experiencing God or even inward transformation. The goal is just knowing and loving God through reading His Book.

 You’ll experience a new closeness with God, you will begin to be changed, and such things are just health by products of time in the Word. Lectio Divina is like training wheels, it is an outline to give you the steps to enter into communion with God. The more you do it the quicker the steps will slowly fade away into habit and God and His Word will take center stage.   

John Wesley on How to Read the Scripture

John Wesley was a revivalist and founder of the Methodist church. He loved scripture and gave his flock some pastoral advice on reading scripture in a way that would benefit them spiritually.  His advice is still sound, even today.  He wrote, it would be advisable:

1. To set apart a little time, if you can, every morning and evening for that purpose?

2. At each time if you have leisure, to read a chapter out of the Old, and one out of the New Testament: if you cannot do this, to take a single chapter, or a part of one?

3. To read this with a single eye, to know the whole will of God, and a fixt resolution to do it? In order to know his will, you should.

4. Have a constant eye to the analogy of faith; the connexion and harmony there is between those grand, fundamental doctrines, Original Sin, Justification by Faith, the New Birth, Inward and Outward Holiness.

5. Serious and earnest prayer should be constantly used, before we consult the oracles of God, seeing "scripture can only be understood thro' the same Spirit whereby it was given." Our reading should likewise be closed with prayer, that what we read may be written on our hearts.

6. It might also be of use, if while we read, we were frequently to pause, and examine ourselves by what we read, both with regard to our hearts, and lives. This would furnish us with matter of praise, where we found God had enabled us to conform to his blessed will, and matter of humiliation and prayer, where we were conscious of having fallen short.

And whatever light you then receive, should be used to the uttermost, and that immediately. Let there be no delay. Whatever you resolve, begin to execute the first moment you can. So shall you find this word to be indeed the power of God unto present and eternal salvation.

From John Wesley, Preface to Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, EDINBURGH, April 25, 1765.

What good men do when bibles become contraband!

In a recent article, Justin D. Long emphasized the above statement when he writes, “During this century, we have documented cases in excess of 26 million martyrs. From AD 33 to 1900, we have documented 14 million martyrs.” He did add, however, that thankfully martyrdom has been on the decline for the past decade. "The current rate is 159,000 martyrs per year -- down from 330,000 per year at the height of the cold war. With the demise of the Soviet Union and its sponsored communism, religious freedoms have opened up. Although there are still numerous restrictions and some persecution, martyrdom -- in the form of executions and assassinations -- has been significantly curtailed."

During the height of the cold war, a high-water mark for persecutions, there where men like Brother Andrew. Brother Andrew is an ordinary looking man, weathered a bit, but his eyes still glimmer with youthfulness even in his 80’s. A Dutchman by nationality and former soldier, he was converted to Christianity after reading the Bible upon his mother's death. He was a missionary under the iron curtain.  For decades he risked it all to get bible in the hands of those that wanted it.

Brother Andrew was born Andy Van Der Bijl, in 1928 the son of a deaf blacksmith father and a semi-invalid mother. Andrew was born in the smallest house of a small village in the Netherlands, called Witte. Such little beginnings brewed in him a thirst for adventure. At age 18 he left his home for military service in the notorious Dutch Commando. As a commando Andrew committed many things that haunt him.  Nothing he did - drinking, fighting, writing helped him escape the despair that haunted him. Shot in the ankle in combat, hospitalized and bed ridden, the witness of Franciscan sisters influenced him to study the bible.

Returning home a cripple to his old town, Every evening Andrew attended a meeting and during the day he would read the bible at night. One evening he gave up his ego and prayed: 'Lord if You will show me the way, I will follow You. Amen'. He gave himself to God and became a man with no borders.

Not long after his conversion, Brother Andrew attended an evangelistic meeting. At this meeting Andrew responded to the call to become a missionary. But it delayed. In God’s time, God opened Andrew to the realization it had not delayed but he had. He was living in the land of “but I”.  He needed to say 'yes' to God who was calling him to mission. Before this, Andrew had been saying 'Yes BUT I am lame.' 'Yes BUT I have no education' ‘Yes BUT I don’t have the money’.  Andrew simply said yes and begins to live from the land of ‘amen’. In an amazing instant, Andrew made this step of yes, and in God's grace he healed Andrew’s lame leg.  

In his book God Smugglers, He tells of his ministry of smuggling bibles in to closed countries. He wrote about times when he would have Bibles on the front seat of his car, and the border guards of these communistic countries would take the hubcaps off his car and the lining up in the trunk looking for contraband (that included bibles) and never see those Bibles. He would pray, "God, you have made blind eyes see, now would you make seeing eyes blind?" And it happened.

In 2007, on His 69th birthday, Brother Andrew was honored by being awarded ‘The Religious Liberty Award’ by the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) In the presentation speech the chairman of WEF's Religious Liberty Commission stated:

“Son of a blacksmith, Brother Andrew didn't even finish high school. But God used this ordinary Dutch man, with his bad back, limited education, without sponsorship and no funds to do things that many said were impossible. From Yugoslavia to North Korea, Brother Andrew penetrated countries hostile to the gospel to bring bibles and encouragement to believers… Brother Andrew has been the preeminent example of those from the outside who have excelled in the ministry of encouragement - the many years he has devoted himself to serving the oppressed. His exploits have become legendary as he has crossed borders carrying Bibles, which were liable to confiscation. Time after time God has blinded the eyes of the border guards, and the Bibles got through.”

Brother Andrew lives his life to the max, straight forward, out there living for God. We all can learn much from this true life real hero. He is still going strong at 80 with Jesus when most people are content to warm church pews. After the fall of communism in Europe, Brother Andrew shifted his focus to the Middle East. He has worked to strengthen the church in the Islamic world. He believes in the word and believes it should available to anyone desiring to read it. He is a man without borders.

How Passionate Are You About Reading Scripture?

In May of 2010, Uzbekistan began a new wave of crackdowns on evangelical Christians. They arrested church leaders, and Bibles, other literature and computers were confiscated. The crackdown first began in early May after a Muslim mother complained that her son had been baptized. Soon, churches and homes were raided by police, pastors were arrested and jailed, and people who owned a Bible in the Uzbek language were fined approximately $500, which amounts to two month worth of salaries for an average Uzbek citizen.  In you convert that into American dollars, we are talking about 6000 American dollars.  Is owning a bible worth risking a fine of $6000 dollars?

In North Korea is at the top of the list as the worst persecutor of Christians. It is even a crime to owning a Bible. An estimated 60,000 believers suffer in prisons.  On June 16th, 2009, a 33-year-old Christian mother, Ri Hyon Ok, was publicly executed. Her crime was one of devotion. She was caught distributing the Bible. The next day her husband, three children, and parents were put in prison.  The penalty for having a Bible includes the imprisonment of three generations of one’s family. 

Ri Hyon Ok must love the bible. I am sure it is not the book itself that she loved but the one she found in its pages. The one who made its words like honey and its consolation an energy that brings life to the very center of a person.  

In light of Ri Hyon Ok testimony and the testimony of her family, do you value reading the scriptures? If faced with the promise of execution for reading it, would you? Could you read it? If it meant the torture of your family to have the privilage of looking upon the words, “For God so loved..”is such a peek worth it?

Ask yourself, do you desire to read scripture so much you would risk your life? You may say, but we don’t live in a country where such things happen. Bibles are everywhere and all you may get is a passing disagreeable stair in a starbucks.

Jesus said, the man that loses his life for my sake will finds it.  Jesus was making an allusion to a divine value scale. A scale we can weight our desires against Christ. Ri Hyon Ok story reminds us of the value scale. Which is more valuable to you, the scriptures or your life? Which weights more on your heart? What tugs at you? Is it protects yourself or I want to read Deuteronomy? Come on, would you risk your life to read Deuteronomy?  In the end, the measure on that scale will tell you if you have a passion to read scripture to the glory of God or just a fleeting and very human interest in scripture.

Walk the Line

Did you know that reading the bible had its own temptation? We are always in danger of not reading what is for us in the text and reading what we want into the text.

What does it mean to “walk the line”?

Walking the line illustrates the task of the reading to discover what God has actually said in His Word.

• The line itself represents what God actually says in His Word:
• To go above the line means to add something that is not really there – to say more than what God’s Word says. Going above the line means to add something that God did not say. It leads to error often in the form of legalism. Think of Eve in the garden, the command was “do not eat!” She responded to the serpent with an addition to the word, “and even touch.” Oh, How far such small steps from the truth can make us fall!
• To fall below the line means to leave something out that is there – to not be wholly true and faithful to what God’s Word is saying. It leaves something out of the truth of what God says and often leads to liberalism. The phase in the Old Testament which best illustrates this way is when it was repeatedly said of Israel, “and each man did what was right in his own eyes.”

1) Carefully discerning and understanding what God’s Word actually says.

2) Carefully checking you're understanding by Prayer, and Accountability to Christian community.

The Importance of Staying on the Line

1. Its shows respect for God’s Word

2. We will drink from the pure waters of the word by walking the line.

a. Right from Genesis 1, we find that God’s words are beyond compare. From there and through the rest of the Bible we see that His Word is powerful, life-giving, good, and certain.

Our Task

We have an awesome privilege and responsibility to read God’s words and not our own imaginations and traditions. Like Timothy, we have been charged with a sacred duty to “rightly divide the word of Truth.”

What does walking on the line require?

· A commitment to God’s Word

· A Love of God’s Truth

· A passion for God

· A Diligence and care in handling it and living it out faithfully.

Repetition: Making the Point Again and Again and Again (10)