Out of this sermon many people agreed to read a chapter of Mark a day for sixteen days
How are you doing with your New
Year’s resolutions? If you are like 45
percent of the population, you made one.
Most of us don’t do well at keeping
them. Thirty-six percent of us who make
a New Year’s Resolution have already stopped keeping it by the end of
January. And only eight percent achieve
a New Year’s Resolution by the end of the year.
But the large number of people who
make a resolution—45 percent of the population is easily over 100 million
people—shows this desire among us to keep growing and developing. This is our journey. We want to keep growing and developing. As disciples or followers of Jesus you and I
want to keep growing and developing to become who God wants us to be. We want growth and development that will
last.
With hopes for growth and
development that will last, I’m sharing a three week sermon series called
Identity.
SLIDE This series is driven by one
question, “who am I becoming?”
It’s interesting. All of us are changing. Often we change in ways we don’t even
realize. Take our bodies for
example.
SLIDE Do you know how many skin cells a
person loses during a day?
According
to a link on the BBC and the Boston Globe the human body has 1.6 trillion skin
cells.
Every hour we shed between 30 and 40
thousand skin cells—about a million skin cells a day. A small part of our skin is different today
than it was yesterday.
We’re changing and
developing on our journey. Do we like
who we are becoming? Are we satisfied with
the person we look at the mirror in the morning? Have we found ourselves saying, “I’m becoming
so much like my mom and dad and I vowed I would never do that.” Are we finding ourselves in a place of
limbo—seemingly stuck with where we are.
What’s our identity? Who are we becoming? There is a lot at stake in this sermon
series.
I’m sharing three spiritual
practices that can help with this question.
Last week we looked at the spiritual practice of worship. When we worship regularly we affirm and
re-affirm our allegiance to God. When we
worship well consistently we grow in our love for God and our love for our
neighbor and ourselves.
Today I’m going to look at the
spiritual practice of Bible reading.
I’d like to encourage you to get out
the bulletin. On the left hand side of
the bulletin is a place for you to take notes.
I’m going to give you a method today of reading the Bible that I believe
can help all of us understand the Bible.
I’d like you to write it down and put it in your Bible.
When a person mentions the Bible a
lot of images go through our mind.
How do I look at the Bible?
Last
week I shared a story about my Grandmother Harris—who is 100 years old. Let me share a story about my other
Grandmother. Her name was Dorothy
Moore. Our Presbyterian heritage came
through her. She was a Iowa farm
wife. She passed away 20 years ago. My Grandmother had a big Bible. It was like this. We might call it a coffee table Bible. It’s a Bible that you would put on the coffee
table. Everyone would see it when they
came to your house.
How easy are coffee table Bibles to
read? They aren’t. They are meant to share a symbol.
Unfortunately for Christians or
disciples of Jesus the Bible often functions as a symbol. We want to be known by the book even though
we don’t read the book
SLIDE The Barna group did a
survey in 2013 about the Bible.
88
percent of respondents say they own a Bible
80
percent think the Bible is sacred
The
average household has four Bibles
61
percent wish they read the Bible more
SLIDE A
majority (57 percent) of those ages 18-28 read their Bibles less than three
times a year, if at all.
Only 26 percent of Americans said they read their Bible
on a regular basis (four or more times a week).
What does this information tell
us? We value the Bible, but we don’t
engage it. We might think for
ourselves. How often do you read the
Bible? If we were looking for something
to read late at night would we pick up the Bible? Do we have times in our day when we engage
the Bible? Is the Bible helping us as we
grow and develop?
Or does the Bible function like a
beautiful piece of art work—like something we would put on the coffee table. We might spend more time looking at it, than engaging
it.
SLIDE There
is a lot of confusion about the Bible.
In my experience of talking about
the Bible with people I’ve found many people that look at the Bible as a book
that tells us what we can’t do—it restricts the way we want to live our
lives.
Some people look at the Bible as
confusing and difficult to understand.
Some people look at the Bible as
having been terribly misused by the church.
The Bible has been used to justify war and sexism and homophobia and
racism and the slaughter of people.
I think that many of us look at the
Bible like we look at green vegetables.
We know the Bible is good for us, but we don’t really every enjoy
them.
It’s this sense of engagement that I
want to encourage.
For me personally the Bible is the
most important book in my life. For me
the Bible is a treasure. I own about
eight Bibles. I read it every
morning. I have the privilege of
teaching from the Bible. I get paid to
study the Bible and share sermons that are based on the Bible. This is one reason I so love my job. I have the privilege of reading, studying and
teaching about the Bible.
But it’s important for you to know
something. I wasn’t born loving the
Bible. I didn’t come out of my mother’s
womb with a gene that predisposed me to want to read the Bible every day. In fact I didn’t really grow in my love for
the Bible until I was in my early 20’s.
It’s astonishing to me that many of
our churches do such a poor job of teaching the Bible. The
congregation I grew up didn’t reach me to love the Bible. I love this congregation. Even though I went to church every Sunday they
didn’t teach me in a comprehensive way to love the Bible. Fortunately we had a gospel reading every
Sunday in worship. Hearing stories about
Jesus triggered my love for him. My
church didn’t teach me to love the Bible.
I hope this never describes Chain of
Lakes Church. I hope that we teach you
the storyline of the Bible; I hope that everyone who comes here has
opportunities to learn about the Bible; I hope that the Bible is not a
confusing book which we can’t understand.
Instead I hope we see the Bible as a treasure that can help us unlock
the secrets of life. We see the Bible as
a central resource in helping us become who God wants us to be. I hope we grow in our love for the Bible
If I can do anything in this sermon,
I want to stir up a desire in each of us to love the Bible. To love the Bible we have to read it.
My own desire to read the Bible came
to me when I was about 20. I was
attending Carleton college—fantastic school, but not known as a bastion of
religious thinking. I was going to
church on Sundays, and I was participating in an Intervarsity group on
Wednesday nights. One weekend we went on
a retreat. I was given a free devotional
book. I was either a sophomore or junior
in college. One of the first devotionals
I read was Psalm 1. I don’t think I had
ever read Psalm 1 in my life. The
translation that I read was the Revised Standard Version. This translation does not include Inclusive
language for people. That’s why at Chain
of Lakes we encourage the NRSV. But I
learned the RSV translation of Psalm 1.
SLIDE
Blessed
is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of
sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the
LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
SLIDE
He
is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its
season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
SLIDE
The
wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows
the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1:1-6.
This Psalm just spoke to me. Verse three grabbed me.
SLIDE
He
is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its
season, and its leaf does not wither. In
all that he does, he prospers.
I grew up with trees. I was the beneficiary of the pioneers who
planted trees into the southwestern Minnesota prairie. I understood the harsh conditions in which these
trees lived. And I understood that to
live a tree had to have a deep root system.
From living on the prairie I understood that there would be seasons that
a tree wouldn’t grow, but there would be seasons where a tree would yield its
fruit.
This metaphor of a tree with deep
roots spoke to me. I understood at a
deep level that the deeper I can place my roots into God the more that I will
prosper in my life. This prosperity has
nothing to do with financial prosperity.
It’s a blessing. This is why I
think the RSV translation of blessing is better than the NRSV translation of
happy. This is a blessing, it’s not an
emotion. This prosperity has everything
to do with my relationship with God.
Sure I will have a seasons where my own leaf will not develop and in
fact will wither. But if I would stay
rooted, then I would prosper.
This is just one chapter of six verses. The Bible has 1189 chapters with 31, 103
verses. I realized that the Bible was a treasure. If I could access this treasure, I would be
satisfied. I would prosper.
I wanted to learn the Bible. This started my own love affair with the
Bible.
I want you to have a love affair
with the Bible too. I want you to read
it not only for information, but I want you to read it because you can find
answers to the question, “who am I becoming?”
I want you to develop your own sense of identity because you’ve unlocked
the treasures of the Bible.
Jesus loved the Scriptures too. He saw them like the song Michael Smith
penned that we’re going to sing. Ancient
words; ever true; changing me; changing you.
Jesus didn’t have the same Bible that you and I have. He had portions of the Scriptures that we
know of as the Old Testament. In the
reading that Heather shared Jesus was attending a synagogue worship service in
his hometown of Nazareth. He did it
often. He stood up to read the Scripture
for the day. Someone gave him a
scroll. In Jesus’ day the Bible was not
a book. He unrolled the scroll and read
what we know of as Isaiah 61
SLIDE
The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because
he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He
has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind,
to
let the oppressed go free.
Jesus
rolled up the scroll and gave it to the attendant. Then Jesus sat down. The person who spoke at synagogue would sit
down when he spoke. Everyone’s eyes were
on Jesus. Jesus grew up in Nazareth so
it was like everyone in the small town who had watched Jesus grow up were
looking at him. We don’t’ know if this
is the first time that Jesus ever spoke at the synagogue, but it’s possible.
He said something revolutionary. Do you know what he said. It’s important what he said.
Today
this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
I’d like to paraphrase what Jesus
said.
These
ancient words are true. They are my
identity. They describe me.
SLIDE Jesus
did the same thing that I’m encouraging us to do. He answered the question “who am I becoming”
based on Scripture. Jesus was saying I’m
the one who Isaiah had predicted about 500 years earlier who would come.
This was a profound move that Jesus
made based on the Scriptures. It’s
relevant for you and I who live almost 2,000 years later. What Jesus did in that small synagogue in the
village of Nazareth affects us who worship in a suburb called Blaine. The city of Blaine couldn’t be more different
than the village of Nazareth, but the function of Scripture is the same.
I realize that you and I might not
be able to open up a Bible and have an answer to all of our questions. But
remember—the point of this sermon is to increase our interest in the
Bible. If know at a deep level that
there is something “there” in there than we can open up the treasure. Perhaps we won’t come up with an answer right
away to the question, “who am I becoming.”
But if we read the Scriptures every day I can promise—and I don’t make
many promises—but I can promise that we at some point will have a revelation
from God. And this revelation will last
longer than a New Year’s Resolution. And
this revelation will probably be something we didn’t anticipate. And this revelation will help you go deeper
with God. And this revelation is so way
cool that it’s worth reading the Bible every day in anticipation that you will discover
it.
Let me get practical. Let me share a simple method for going deeper
into the Bible. This method is not
mine. I don’t even know where it came
from. There are many good methods for
reading the Bible for understanding.
This method works for me.
The method is this. When you read a passage from the Bible ask
yourself five questions
SLIDE
What
does this passage teach me about God?
What
does this passage teach me about myself?
What
does this passage teach me about humanity?
What
does this passage teach me about the church?
How
does this passage teach me to love deeper?
Not every story or group of passages
in the Bible will answer all five questions.
But every story or group of passages in the Bible will have an answer to
at least one of these questions. e
questions. But every passage in the
Bible will help us with at least one of these questions.
When you read the Bible ask that the
Spirit will guide you. Take these
questions and ask them about the story.
From today’s reading we learned that
Jesus was the one that Isaiah had predicted would come. We learned that Jesus’ identity had come from
the ancient words of the Scriptures.
I have a challenge for you.
SLIDE I want to encourage all of us to
read one chapter of the gospel of Mark for the next 16 days. Have you ever read through a gospel? This is our opportunity. Read a gospel from cover to cover. I want to encourage you to get out your
Communication card. If you’d like to
read a chapter a day, put a big “Yes.”
Tomorrow I’ll E-mail you brief guide that will help you with the gospel
of Mark.
The gospel of Mark is the shortest
gospel; it was the first gospel that was written; it has a tremendous urgency
to it. There was a lot at stake for Mark
as he wrote his gospel.
The Bible is not meant to be put on
our coffee table and gather dust. It’s
not meant to gather dust anywhere. Reading
the Bible can give us such a deeper understanding of ourselves. Our view of the world is different. Our view of ourselves is different. When we come to the conclusion that God loves
us deeply we have a fresh perspective on ourselves. We might not be as quick to criticize
ourselves in our own mind; we might be able to accept ourselves at a deeper
level; we can be more secure in who we are; we might trust the journey.
I want us to go forth loving the
Bible. These ancient words will help us
unlock a treasure that will forever impact our lives.
