Support my Church through Studying the Bible
- I can surely say that the Lord has never failed me. On the other hand, I have failed Him many times. Sometimes it seems that He has failed me, but He always comes up at the appropriate time. We continue our series and today the theme is "I support my Church through commitment to studying the Bible". How does Bible Study support the Church.
- In the first episode of this series we quoted from Acts 2 - that the people devoted themselves to the Apostles' teachings. Jesus had recently died, risen from the dead and there were still witnesses that has seen Him walking around with them after His resurrection. At that stage they didn't yet have a "New Testament", but people had heard what He had to say and some started to write down His Words and actions. These writings became more and more valuable, and were even translated into many languages as time went by. Even now, after such a long time, we can be devoted to those writings of the early apostles, and so we have an understanding of what Jesus did and said. Today we all have many Bibles at home and even electronically. This is a great blessing. Paul tells us that all teaching is God breathed to help us become people are equipped to doing good works. The key to do this is the Scripture.
- The Churches have teachers and pastors who help us to grow, But we need to apply all this ourselves. The Bible is for the whole Church, not just for ourselves. It is a living text for the whole Church. When we are together we understand how big God's love is. We learn from each other - none of us knows everything. The Jews discuss and argue about the teachings of the "Old Testament".
- The Psalms tell us to meditate on the Law day and night. The Word is more sweet than honey, more precious than gold. The Psalmist was dedicated to something which was so precious to him. The Christian life is lived in fellowship. We need to encounter the Bible individually as well as together. The Word is something that needs to fill our entire lives. Each person interprets not only the Bible but everything differently. This interpretation can be done well or badly. With the Bible we need to keep in mind that it was written in another time and place and in circumstances which we don't exactly understand. So reading the Bible, we should put our thinking cap on and be as smart as possible, to understand what it meant at that time. Understanding what it meant then, can help us understand what it can mean for us today. By doing this together we help build the Church up.
- Paul writing to Timothy begins by saying that all Scripture is "God Breathed" and this is significant. Many writers wrote the various books of the Bible, but the common denominator is that it is God who breathed it. We should not only try to understand what the writer is saying, but also to listen to the voice of God. God speaks to us individually but also collectively. Sometimes we know that God is speaking to us through something we have read many times before but suddenly we have an aha moment.
- On the road Emmaus, after the resurrection, Jesus told 2 unsuspecting disciples all about what was said about Him in Moses and the prophets. This is in the Old Testament. When we read the Old Testament our first thought might not be that it is talking about Jesus. Jesus explained this to those 2 disciples and we know that Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is everywhere in the Scriptures and sometimes we need the illumination of the Holy Spirit to see this. As we read we should learn that this is now our story, not just the story of the Jewish people. This is my story and my song and this is precious. The main purpose of Scripture is show us God and His interaction with us and how He is revealed in Jesus Christ.
- Sometimes people say that there was God in the Old Testament and there is Jesus in the New Testament, but God is One and Jesus and the Father are One. Seeing Jesus we understand what the Father is like. We should not just understand the Bible as a bunch of rules, but to understand who God is. Jesus has shown us exactly what God is like. The Bible is not worshipped, but it helps us understand the God we worship. Together and alone we must be committed to find His breath in the pages of the Bible.
- We love the Bible because we love the God that is within it, and we need to treasure it. Sometimes the Bible brings us joy and encouragement and sometimes it doesn't make us feel anything, but that's ok, we continue to grow and learn.