LEARNING THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL READING Pastor Robert Simmons January 31, 2016 2 Timothy 4:9-12 9 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. This morning I want to tell you the absolute number one way for you to be a growing and maturing Christian. The number one way for anyone to become a stronger and more mature Christian is by regularly and consistently reading the That is the secret for growing in your love and relationship with Jesus Christ. Everyone agrees with that; no Christian disagrees with the statement reading the Bible regularly and consistently is the surest way to become a stronger and more mature Christian. The purpose of this sermon is not to create guilt for those of you who may not have a practice of reading the The purpose of this sermon is to provide you some very practical suggestions so that you can begin the practice of reading the Bible on a regular basis so that you can experience spiritual growth and maturity. In addition to the reading of Scripture, the subject of spiritual reading also involves the reading of good, spiritually based books. Have you ever thought how wonderful it would be to sit down with some spiritual giants and spend an hour learning from them? Wouldn t it be great to have an hour with John Calvin or Martin Luther or John Wesley? How about John Stott or James Packer or Michael Green or N. T. Wright or D. A. Carson or John Piper some of my personal favorite spiritual giants. Well, actually, did you know that you can do that quite easily? I hear you protesting that it is totally impossible to sit down with some of those people I just named because many of them are now in heaven. But you can still sit down and learn from them by reading their books. Their best thoughts and ideas have been captured in the books they have written and you can regularly spend time with them by reading your way through their books. Good spiritual books are part of the discipline of spiritual reading, but I am going to leave that aspect of the discussion to another day. I want to concentrate on the discipline of spiritual reading as it applies to the THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL READING So the first thing that must be said is that reading the Bible is a discipline. LEARNING THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL READING (#5 in the Series: The Means of Grace ) 1.31.16 Page 1
When I say that the discipline of the spiritual reading of the Bible is a discipline I mean at least four important things. First, you must learn the art of spiritual reading. It is not something that comes automatically with becoming a Christian. Conversion is a radical work of God inside the human life but we then have to learn how to live that new life. There are certain things about the spiritual reading of the Bible that must be taught and learned. It is the responsibility of the Church to teach you how to read the Bible and then it is the responsibility of the Christian to learn and put into practice as they read the Second, learning the art of spiritual reading is not an option but a necessity for every Christian. You simply cannot be the kind of Christian Christ died for you to be without a knowledge of and application of the If I said to you that eating is vital to sound physical health you would laugh at me for making such an obvious statement everyone knows that eating is vital to good health. A spiritual reading of the Bible is food to the soul; there is no health without taking God s Word in and digesting it. Third, since the spiritual reading of the Bible is a discipline, we must remember learning to spiritually read the Bible requires effort. You have to work at it. You have to make time for it. You have to establish it as a priority of your life. You have to place it on your to do list. Just as you would make an appointment to see a friend at Starbucks, you must make an appointment to sit down with God and read his word to you. The fourth thing about this discipline is that it is a process. Some days and weeks and months you will do just fine and then you will enter a season or period when you have to bear down and force yourself to take time away to read and pray. It is an ongoing discipline the rest of your life. You will be tempted to give up sometimes, but don t give in to that temptation. Your spiritual growth is at stake. Listen to these words from C. S. Lewis about choosing to practice the discipline of spiritual reading: Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other Creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at LEARNING THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL READING (#5 in the Series: The Means of Grace ) 1.31.16 Page 2
each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. 1 IT IS SPIRITUAL READING We don t read the Bible just to obtain information. We are to read the Bible to encounter God. The Bible is a unique book and is in a league of its own. Paul tells us that this book is Godbreathed or inspired, as we would normally say it. It is a book whose contents have come from God and has been breathed out just like the words you and I speak are breathed out. It is very difficult to speak while we are breathing in! So, because the Bible is a unique book, and inspired book, a book that has come from the mouth of God, it requires a spiritual reading. What does that mean? How does one read the Bible in a spiritual way? I will suggest four things that a spiritual reading of the Bible involves. First, a spiritual reading of the Bible requires that it be read prayerfully. We should begin our reading with a prayer that God would open our minds and hearts to hear what he wants to say to us and that we would understand and believe that message. And then all the while we are reading Scripture we will want and need to pray for insight and clarity to understand what we are reading. Pause in your reading to reflect on what you are hearing. Put yourself into the text. In the story of the crippled man being carried to Jesus on his cot by his four friends, ask yourself what you might be thinking and feeling when they tell you they are going to carry you up on the roof, tear open the roof, and let you down in front of Jesus. Place yourself in the text in this way as often as you can. And if you are reading something from Paul in one of his letters, place yourself in the church to whom Paul is writing and ask how what Paul says might impact you. In this way pray your way through your reading. The second thing a spiritual reading of the Bible means is that you are to read it carefully and slowly. Don t rush your reading. Many people and I have been one of them read through the Bible every year. That is an excellent thing to do and I never want to discourage anyone from doing that. Last year I read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice. But here is a potential danger with reading through the Bible in a year: you are more worried about reading the assigned chapter and verses so you can stay on schedule than you are to hear what the text is saying. As you read, let the Spirit of God speak to you, and that may mean that you will need to read a smaller section of Scripture so you can place yourself in it and analyze your life in light of what it is saying, and allow it to work itself into your heart and mind. Take your time with the text. 1 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1960), pp. 86-87. LEARNING THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL READING (#5 in the Series: The Means of Grace ) 1.31.16 Page 3
Thirdly, a spiritual reading of the Bible involves applying to your life the truths and insights the Lord has made clear to you during your reading. The application of the Bible to our lives is critical. It is not so much a question of how much of the Bible can you recite but how much of the Bible is finding its way into your thoughts, words, attitudes, and actions. Does the reading of the Bible make any difference in your life? Is your life experiencing changes as a result of your exposure to God s word? That is what matters most. Here is a fourth point to remember in your learning the discipline of spiritual reading. Read the Bible as it was written: from the beginning of a book all the way through to the end of the book. Don t jump around the Bible, reading from John 3 today and then Genesis 42 tomorrow and back to Revelation 22 the day after. Select a book of the Bible, begin with chapter one and stay with it to the end of the book. Then select another book and read your way through the entire book. You will never understand the message of any book of the Bible when you are jumping from one book to the next at random. WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN READING THE BIBLE Let me offer you some proven guidance that will make your Bible reading more productive and fruitful. Here are five questions to ask yourself as you read the Question 1 Is there a command for me obey? The Bible is filled with very clear commands from God for you and me to obey. Take note of them and begin to obey what you discover God is commanding. Question 2 Is there an example that I should follow? The Bible is filled with men and women whose lives are excellent models and examples for us to follow. The godly lives of the men and women of the Bible are there for our benefit and are examples of the kind of life that honors and pleases God imitate these great people of faith. Question 3 Is there a promise from God I should claim? I can only legitimately claim as a promise from God those promises God has revealed in Scripture. When you uncover a promise from God, claim it and lay hold of it, believe it, and ask God to apply it to your life and situation. Question 4 Is there a sin to turn away from? The Bible reveals certain sins that we must become aware of and avoid at all costs. Treat sin as a poison to your soul or as a venomous serpent you must run away from. Question 5 Is there a principle that I should be following? A principle in the Bible is a timeless truth tightly stated. Principles are broad statements of truth that universally apply to every situation we face. 2 CONCLUSION The Bible is a means of our experiencing God s grace and love and power. Take the effort to develop the regular practice 2 Steven Lawson, Ligonier Ministries. LEARNING THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL READING (#5 in the Series: The Means of Grace ) 1.31.16 Page 4
of reading and praying the Scripture. There is no growth in grace without exposure to the Bible; but there is explosive growth and change waiting for all of us when we spend time learning the discipline of spiritual reading of the If you have never really read the Bible before, start today. Begin in the New Testament with one of the four Gospels. And slowly work your way through that Gospel. If you have become inconsistent in your reading, allowing weeks and perhaps months in between your reading, begin again today. Make an appointment with God to meet him in his word on a regular basis. LEARNING THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL READING (#5 in the Series: The Means of Grace ) 1.31.16 Page 5