Psalm 119:129-136 Creekside COB February 27, 2005 The Framework of Faith: An Open and Shut Case We call, God's Word. The Word of God. The Holy Word. The Scriptures. The Sacred Page. The Good Book. We use these expressions when talking about the Holy Bible, the B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the book for me. Sometime around age five, I got interested in the Bible. The story that hooked me was little David dispatching the fearsome Philistine giant Goliath with a perfectly slung stone right between the eyes. What confused me was that fact that I had no memory of killing Goliath. Realizing I wasn't that David didn't dampen my curiosity about the Bible. I still have my first Bible I was given in the third grade. I remember when I felt inspired to go into my room to read it. It was part inspiration and part motivation because my Sunday school teachers said we were supposed to read it. The inspiration usually didn't last long. I tried reading it regularly. Frequency was dictated by mood, and mood is a flimsy basis for a discipline. It was this way through high school, and into adulthood. I "wanted"to read it, but I didn't stick with it. Our secularized society tossed the spiritual dimension of life on a pile with the Veg-O-Matic and the leisure suit. The Bible is still has at least an honorary place. It is found in the majority of American homes. Evidence of its status is chiseled into stone on monuments and public buildings. Witnesses giving testimony in court put their hand on the Bible and swear to tell truth. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court instructs the new elected president to put his hand on the Bible and swear the oath of office. Our country was founded on the idea that the church and state should remain separate, but as the city of Elkhart discovered, many support the display of the Ten Commandments in government buildings. 1
Before the Bible was absorbed by society, it belonged to the church. Christians are called, "people of the book." It is a book, but more than a book. It is the book by which we live. As Paul says in 2 Timothy: You took to the sacred Scriptures with your mother s milk! There s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Jesus. Every part of scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another showing us the truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God s way. An earlier portion of Psalm 119 reads, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." The record of God s revelation in the Bible is a compass to guide our paths, the North Star keeping us oriented in this disorienting world. Someone said, "The Bible is a record of all-too-human people seeking, finding, losing, and being found by God." We study the Bible for inspiration, instruction, and direction. We do it not only for our sake. We are witness to people outside the community of faith looking for a meaningful life. They are worn out trying the world's remedies for what ails them, with nothing to show for it. We are supposed to chase the "good life," when it's the "life that is good," we are really after. I want to offer you some assumptions about scripture, and suggest how it becomes part of us as revealed in verse 129 of our lesson: "Thy word is revealed, and all is light; it gives understanding even to the untaught." (Psalm 199: 130) The first assumption is this-- the Bible isn't a magical book that gives dividends without investments. You've seen the orange juice commercial where the lady sticks her hand into the grocery cooler and it comes out in an orange grove. Seeing it, the grower puts a carton of fresh, Florida gold in her hand, and she walks off happy. The Bible contains sixty-six books, made of five distinct types of literature that were written over a thousand-year 2
period. The, "open-the-book-and-poke-a-verse" method won't get you a carton of orange juice. It is like the priest on one of the early transatlantic flights. He was terrified when the captain told the passengers both engines had failed and the plane was going down at sea. Desperate for a word of comfort, he opened the New Testament and looked on the first verse he saw. It was John 6: 12-- "Gather up the fragments that nothing may be lost." The Bible is a trustworthy guide. It lights the way, but requires understanding, not divine luck. Second, the Bible is God-inspired, but not every verse carries equal weight. "Blessed are those who crush children's heads against the rocks," is hardly equal to Jesus' words, "Bring the little children unto me." The Bible isn't inspired because there are no translation errors, nor is it inspired such that we should interpret every passage literally. Spiritually, yes, but not always literally. Third, understanding the Bible requires interpretation. Its meanings aren't always clear. We must ask questions of every text. Who wrote it? To whom was it written? Why was it written? What does it mean? What significance did it have for believers then, and what about now? Bible study isn't uninformed people sitting in a circle saying, "This is what it means to me." If we could interpret the Bible ourselves, the Jews wouldn't have needed Moses. Jesus or Paul wouldn't have been necessary. There would be no need for teachers, Bible scholars, commentaries, or teaching aids of any kind. Have you ever tried to drink from an open fire hydrant? I wouldn't recommend it. (Personal experience.) Understanding the Bible, all on your own is like trying to quench your thirst from a fire hydrant. Enough assumptions for now. Let me show my age by taking you back thirty years to the TV series, The Walton's. For those too young to know the difference between the Walton's and Wal- Mart, it was about a big, close-knit family living in the mountains of North Carolina during the Depression. John Boy, the eldest of the Walton siblings is among a crowd of kids gathered outside a 3
church on Christmas Eve. Two wealthy spinster sisters purchased presents for kids in the community. In order to get a gift, each child had to stand before the sisters and recite a Bible verse. At first, it was easy-- "Jesus wept." "For God so loved the world..." "The Lord is my shepherd..." Soon, the well began to dry up. Fortunately, John Boy knew verses by the dozens. He stood at the back, whispering verses into the kid's ear that didn't know the Bible. His Bible knowledge got everyone a gift. From the start, the church was organized around those who know must share with those who don't. We need the insights of teachers, preachers, mentors, and most of all, people whose lives have been formed by the Bible. "The word is revealed, and all is light; it gives understanding even to the untaught." Our Brethren heritage gives us guidance at this point. Three streams of Christian thought influenced the early Brethren. The REFORMED tradition gave us, sola scriptura, or "the authority of scripture alone." From the ANABAPTISTS came the emphasis on, "obedience to the Word." The PIETISTS taught us that the Bible is best understood when we work at understanding it together. We believe that faith is intensely personal, but no one comes to Jesus or the knowledge of his will apart from other Christians. You can't discover all the Bible's meaning on your own. None of us found our way to faith alone. We need people like John Boy, Ed Smith, Evelyn Miller, and other teachers and lovers of the Bible to help us find the way. Years ago I was stopped at the traffic light by the Calvary Temple in South Bend. A guy was on a ladder changing the message on the church sign. I noticed he had misspelled a word. Wanting to be helpful, I opened the window and pointed to the mistake. He gave me an angry glare. Thinking he hadn't heard me, I hollered, "You misspelled (whatever the word was, I don t remember), wrong!" He didn t appreciate my help, and told me so with a word we don't use on Sunday morning. 4
It was ironic that this church believed the Bible was infallible, and without error in its original manuscripts. The Bible was written by people who recorded the words and stories and experiences of the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, as well as their own experiences of God in history. People who knew nothing about syntax and punctuation recorded it. Sometimes their chronology was mixed up and they miscopied words here and there. Like the guy on the ladder, they sometimes misspelled words. Instead of saying the Bible is infallible and inerrant, the Brethren say the Bible is our "infallible rule of faith and practice." We believe it is totally trustworthy in everything having to do with doctrine and life. The early Brethren said, "The Bible is the Spirit's message in black and white." The Holy Spirit guided the process that brought the Bible into being. God's Spirit was working in the hearts and minds of those who recorded it, and the Holy Spirit is the means by which we grow in the knowledge and practice. The Bible directs our hearts and minds to the heart and mind of God. But first, it must be opened. Wallowing in, "I know I should read it more," or "I know I should join a Bible study," won't do a thing for you. Open it and read it, remembering the Bible isn't just a tour through the antiquities of an ancient, cobweb-covered religion. It's about our relentless God who made us, loves us, lost us, and through Jesus, keeps reaching for us until we're home again. Crack the cover and read about people who were brave some of the time--and cowardly most of the time people who wanted God but were afraid of God--who wanted to be good and do right, but weren't and didnt--people who were saints and sinners; who believed but needed a ton of help with disbelief. After you read, close it. Peter Gomes says devotion begins when we close the Bible. When we close the Bible, it takes root in our hearts and minds. Reggie White was the greatest defensive lineman in the history of professional football. He was an enormous man who put fear 5
into opposing quarterbacks, but had a gentle heart that made everyone a friend. Reggie White was also a minister. He was ordained him at age seventeen, and throughout his college and professional career he made it known that football wasn't the most important thing in his life...god was. His vocation was being a Christian. After every game he gathered players from both teams. They knelt on the turf and held hands as the "Minister of Defense"prayed. Last month, three years after retirement Reggie White died unexpectedly. He was only forty-three. Grief spread beyond the world of football to all who knew what a great man he was. Shortly after he retired, Reggie changed. He was depressed. He resigned from the church he led. He stopped going to church. He was disillusioned with the church. He said most churches are more concerned with maintaining tradition than serving God. Church leaders who had praised him, publicly criticized him. He began a scholarly study of the Bible, and realized that its creation was far more complex and subject to human influence than he had realized. Reggie White became obsessed with learning more about the One behind the pages of the Bible. On a trip to Israel he met a Hebrew scholar and struck up a friendship. Reggie asked him to teach him Hebrew. Two hours a night, five nights a week, he was on the phone to Israel being tutored. He spent another six or more hours each night studying what he learned. Reggie White died learning the scriptures that fed Jesus. He died learning the scriptures Jesus loved. Fortunately, you don't have to learn Greek and Hebrew to study the Bible. All you have to is set aside a regular time and open it. Listen to the story of your life told through the stories of its characters. Set you heart to searching for the God who lovingly made you and his son who saved you. The Bible is not the end of your searching. It's the beginning. When we close it, it gives light to show the way and guidance necessary to live lives that are good. 6