Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....October 25, 2021
One the past 6 weeks, we have been learning how to go deeper into Gods Word, the Bible...Finally, this week we finish up with a look at.......How Do I Live What I’ve Learned?
Ps. 119:97-104
This is the final teaching in our series on the Bible and how It can be of enormous value in our lives.
By the end of this teaching, you will know enough to be Bible-dangerous. Because today I’m going to tell you the secret to mastering the Bible.
• So far in our series, we’ve learned that the Bible is God’s gift to us. Lincoln said that.
• We’ve learned that it’s a book like no other. God said that.
• We’ve learned that the Bible can make us better. Psalm 119 said that.
• And last week we learned that one great way to get the Bible into you is to practice a three step process called, Inductive Bible Study.
Do you remember what the three steps are?
Observation
Interpretation
Application
Observation: What does it say?
Interpretation: What does it mean?
Application: What am I going to do about it?
Alright, if you’re ready for one more set of teachings today, here we go....
Throughout this series, we’ve dipped our toes into Psalm 119. It is so gratifying to me to be able to teach a subject during the same time I am doing devotions on the Scripture. I want to get ankle deep in it this week, so…
Read these words from the Apostle Paul written to his best friend, a man named Timothy:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:5
As far as we know, 2 Timothy is the last letter the Apostle Paul ever wrote. Paul, who knew the benefits of the Bible as well as anyone short of Jesus, told Timothy that if he wanted to maximize his life, he should do his best to study the Bible.
Why?
Well that’s what Psalm 119 will tell us.
Before we read it together, let me tell you a little about Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 is an alphabetic psalm. (Say, “alphabetic psalm.”)
What that means is, it’s a psalm that’s laid out alphabetically, so that in the first stanza, every sentence starts with the letter “A.” In the second stanza every sentence starts with the letter “B.” The third, “C,” etc. – Except that Psalm 119 was written in Hebrew, so instead of ABCD, it goes Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth. If you want to learn the Hebrew alphabet, all you have to do is look at the stanza headings for Psalm 119.
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and whoever wrote this psalm decided to include eight verses in under every letter. 8 x 22 = 176. So Psalm 119 has 176 verses to it. It’s the longest chapter in the Bible.
Every one of the 176 verses mentions God, and 173 of the verses mention “the law,” or “the commands” or the “statues,” or some synonym for the Bible. Psalm 119 is a song, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to tell us how incredible the Bible is.
Obviously this psalm is a little long for us to read in its entirety, so we’re just going to focus on the “Mem” section today. (Say “mem.”) Mem is the Hebrew word for “m.” When Israelis eat little chocolate candies, they pull out a package of Mem N Mems!
You won’t be able to see this in English, but in Hebrew, every verse of this section begins, with “mem.”
Follow me:
97 Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
98 Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
102 I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
Here’s a guy who has experienced benefit from the Bible.
v. 97, he meditates on it all day long.
v. 98, God’s commands are always with him.
v. 99, again, he meditates on God’s statutes.
v. 100, he does his best to obey God’s precepts.
As a result, v. 98, he says he’s wiser than his enemies.
v. 99, he has more insight than his teachers. – Students, wouldn’t that be a great position to be in?
v. 100, he even has more understanding than his elders.
From v. 101, we learn that as a result of spending so much time with the Bible, his feet have been kept from every evil path. – That would be a worthwhile exchange of time, wouldn’t it? Read the Bible and it will keep you off evil paths?
Apparently, the guy is a genius, who’s blessed with more on the ball than just about anybody he knows. His teachers respect him, his elders look up to him, and his feet are able to avoid bad paths.
How did he do this?
When we started this series six weeks ago, we read about Joshua, who was given a promise by God. God said to him:
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Joshua 1:8
That’s what God told Joshua to do: meditate on and obey God’s book.
Now read the promise:
Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8b
This is why God’s book is a gift. It teaches us how to live and promises that if we live this way, we’ll be prosperous and successful.
This is why it’s like no other book. It’s the book that makes you better.
So, why wouldn’t we want to read it?
Well, as a matter of fact, there are several reasons. Let me give you a few of them. Some people say…
A. Why Not Read the Bible?
1. I don’t read the Bible because I’m too busy. Isn’t this the number one reason most of us don’t read the Bible? Or at least why we don’t read the Bible as much as we’d like to? We’re too busy.
And what are we busy at? For most of us, it’s raising kids and making a living.
Let’s look at that for a second.
I don’t have time to read the Bible because I’m spending time with my kids so they’ll turn out well.
But wouldn’t my kids turn out better if I read the Bible more, or better yet, if I read the Bible with them?
Men, this is especially important for us. Because as we go, so goes our families. You know the expression, “You da man?”
Well, you ARE da man! It’s not enough for your wife to read the Bible and your wife to teach your children. Every study ever done on the family says that the most important influence in the family is the father. How you go and what you do is how the family will go and what the family will do.
“I’d rather teach my kids to hunt and fish and drive a truck.” – Does it have to be one or the other?
Or how about this:
2. I don’t read the Bible because I don’t like to read.
That’s a good reason not to read the Bible…. except… the reason you don’t like to read is because you don’t read very much. If I don’t run for two or three weeks, I won’t feel like running because I won’t feel good running. But if I start running today, 3-4 weeks from now, my muscles will adapt and I’ll look forward to my run every day.
I have a friend who used to say he was dyslexic and therefore couldn’t read the Bible. That was 20 years ago. When we launched the church, he got into a small group with a group of other men where they read and reported on what they read every week. He still meets with that group, but he also leads his own small group. And today, he not only reads the Bible, he memorizes a verse from it every week!
Here’s a third reason not to read the Bible:
3. I don’t read the Bible because it’s boring or hard to understand.
Friends, the Bible is the most engaging book in the world. Charles Dickens, who wrote some of the best books ever said, It is the best book that ever… – Charles Dickens
The only people who say the Bible is boring are people who haven’t read it enough to understand it, or aren’t in a small group where others can help them understand it.
How about this one:
4. I don’t read the Bible because the devil doesn’t want me to.
Now that’s getting closer to the truth. Of all the books in the world, this is the one that Satan would most like to keep you from. Why? Because he wants nothing good for you, and he knows that only good can come to you if you read the Bible.
One more:
5. I don’t read the Bible because I don’t want to change.
Of all the excuses, this is probably the most accurate one.
When I read the Bible it tells me that I should be a more loving person. – I don’t want to be a more loving person! Well, actually, I do want to be a more loving person. I just don’t want to do the work necessary to become a more loving person.
But the great thing is, when I read the Bible, I read stories about others-centered people, which makes my mind think more like an others-centered person. So over time, I become more loving naturally.
Now, let’s go the other direction for a minute.
What are some reasons you might want to read the Bible?
B. Why Read the Bible?
1. I want to read the Bible because it will make me smarter.
How many of you want to be smarter?
We learned last week that as an ethnic group, the Jews are the smartest people in the world. With .02% of the population, they have won 22% of the Nobel Prizes – 110 times more than they should have if they were average.
Read this:
98 Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
And this:
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
And this:
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
Here’s a second reason:
2. I want to read the Bible because it will make me better.
For those of you who have been in my classes....According to Romans 12:2, it transforms me by renewing, or “making new” my mind.
How many of you want to get better?
A third reason:
3. I want to read the Bible because it will make me successful.
That’s the promise of Joshua 1:8. -
8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night…
Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:7-8
Your shortest path to success is through the Bible.
Fourth: And this is certainly my favorite...
4. I want to read the Bible because it will keep me from doing stupid things.
For some of us “stupid” is a bad word.
Psalm 119:104 says,
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path. Psalm 119:104
Isn’t that a pretty accurate description of “stupid”?
Or how about this:
Psalm 119:11 says,
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
One of the reasons I want to read the Bible because the more I read it, the easier it is to say no to things that I know are hurtful to me and to others.
One more:
5. I want to read the Bible because it will help everyone around me.
When Joshua read the Bible, he prospered, and the whole nation prospered with him.
When David meditated on Scripture, he became the most powerful king in the region, and the whole nation prospered with him.
When dad reads the Bible, dad becomes better, and the whole family becomes better with him.
So, I want to read the Bible! But, how should I read the Bible?
C. How Should I Read the Bible?
1. Worshipfully - By that I mean, in the midst of worship.
• In the midst of worship.
The most important spiritual habit you will ever practice is the habit of assembling at church every weekend. Because if you assemble here, you will be reminded of everything else that is important. Like Bible reading. And loving your family. And doing right, etc.
I realize this is tough but....Come to church every week to learn the Bible in the midst of worship. This is what Pastor Dale has been sharing with us over the past week.
2. Thoughtfully - During last week’s sermon and last week’s reading, we learned how to observe, interpret, and apply Scripture. All of that takes thought.
• Using observation, interpretation, application.
3. Devotionally - Sometimes you won’t feel like digging in and asking all the OIA questions. For a change of pace, on some days, you’ll just want to sit quietly with your Bible and ask one simple, devotional question. – Which is,
• Asking one simple question: “God, what is it you’re saying to me from this passage right now?”
4. Slowly - Sometimes you’ll just want to sit and read the words of Scripture slowly, asking,
• “What should I do with this?” and
• “Should I pray these words?” or make a prayer of this?
When reading slowly, you might only get through one paragraph, but find a lot to chew on in that paragraph.
On other days you might want to read Scripture
5. Quickly - Covering lots of ground.
Sometimes I’ll get in a mood to read a book of the Bible per day. I’ll just read it like a novel, not stopping to analyze.
• Reading large portions quickly, like a novel.
However you choose to read, I hope you’ll choose to read…
6. Daily - Setting a time either in the morning if you’re a morning person, or the evening if you’re an evening person. – Or both morning and evening if you’re like the guy in Psalm 119. But the best way to get healthy is to exercise and eat right every day. And the best way to grow in character and spirit is to ingest spiritual truth from God’s Word every day.
And finally, whatever you do, I’ve found that the only people who read Scripture for the long haul are those who read it…
7. Corporately – By being part of a small group that encourages them every week.
What if you did this?
What if you let the Bible become a part of your life by reading it daily, talking it through corporately in a small group, and worshiping at church weekly? What might you become?
Author Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers found that the one thing that made people better at whatever it was they were working on was the time they spent with that thing or activity or pursuit. In a study of college music majors, he found that those who had put in a 4 to 6 thousand hours on their instrument were likely to become music teachers, while those who had put in 6 to 8 thousand hours were likely to became music performers, and those who reached the 10,000 hour mark were likely to become world-class at their trade.
Gladwell found that this 10,000 hour plateau applied not only to musicians, but also to chess players, hockey players, golfers, writers, computer programmers – to everyone in every field from academics to arts to athletics.
What if you could reach that kind of level in your Bible exposure? It seems ridiculous at first, but maybe it’s not so far-fetched. After all, if you just show up for church an hour a week, in a year, you’ll have logged 52 hours and in 20 years, you’ll have logged 1,000. Sit in church from age 20 to 60, you’ve got 2,000 hours.
At a small group where you meet around Bible content and you’ve got another 2 to 3,000 hours.
Suppose you were to commit yourself to reading the Bible – either by yourself, or with your wife or kids, for ½ hour a day, five days a week? That’s far less than the time most of us spend in front of the television or Facebook.
Family, here’s a formula for you:
Church – 1 hour
Small Group - 1 ½ hours
Personal/Family - 2 ½ hours
20 years 5,000 hours
At 30 years, you’ll be at 7,500 hours.
30 years = 7,500 hours
As you grow, you’re going to find yourself wanting to help others with this, so if after 10 years – you become a small group leader, that will add an hour and a half of personal preparation time to the mix. Which means you’ll accumulate another
1 1/2 hrs. prep x 20 yrs. = 1,500
That puts you at 9,000 hours – dangerously close to what it takes not just to be good or even great at something, but to be world-class.
Add anything to this: some extra Bible-contented classes here at the church, or listening to biblical preaching on podcasts or the radio while you’re driving, and within a reasonable 30 year time period, you will be marked by the Bible. God’s teaching, God’s thinking, God’s way of seeing and doing things will be coursing through your veins!
So how ‘bout it folks? How many of you are up for the challenge of becoming world class Christians and Bible students?
To get there, you’ll need a plan. I know some of you have told me you are doing a 2 year or even 1 year read through of the Word and that is beautiful. Here’s what it might look like:
20 years in church = 1,000 hours
+ 20 in small group = 3,000 hours
+ 20 in personal reading = 5,000 hours do that for…
40 years = 10,000 hours
How many of you would like to become a 10,000 Bible person? Some of you who are long-time Christians are already well on your way there. If you’d like to commit yourself to the 10,000 hour plan, (or you think you’ve already done that), would you stand so I can pray for you?
If you’re willing to commit yourself to a 5,000 hour plan, would you stand too?
And if you’re willing to commit yourself to a 3,000 hour plan, would you stand.
Now, 1,000 hours of anything is fairly significant. So if you’re willing to commit yourself to 1,000 hours, you stand as well.
Father, we believe that the Bible is your Word to us. We believe it changes lives, and we want our lives to be changed. We want to be better, more like you and Jesus, so we’re committing ourselves to these plans. Help us with them. Teach us your Word, and to think like you do, and love like you do, and live like you do. In Jesus’ name, Amen. I love you all....now go read the Word of God:)
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
I have always prided myself on my work ethic. But my life's work ethic changed dramatically when I found Jesus Christ....So, What is a Christian work ethic?
Colossians 3:23-25 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Another translation says to “work heartily” (ESV). Yet another says to “work willingly” (NLT). The Amplified Bible adds “from the soul.” Ephesians 6:7-8 shares a similar concept: “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.” In essence, this is the Christian work ethic. We are commanded to put forth our best efforts, to work from our heart and soul at whatever we do. We are accountable to God and stewards of the gifts He has given us. Our work flows out of our gratefulness to Him.
God instituted work with creation, prior to the Fall. Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” After Adam and Eve sinned, work became toil (Genesis 3:17-19), but work itself is included in the “very good” part of creation (Genesis 1:31).
Throughout the Old Testament, God gave the Israelites specific instructions about how to do their work. He also gave instructions about providing for those who had less: “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:22). This command confirms the importance of work. God does not tell the people to harvest everything and then simply give food to the poor. Instead, He tells them to leave enough of the grain to allow the poor to work for themselves. Work has a way of giving us a sense of purpose, productivity, and dignity.
The Proverbs and Ecclesiastes contain some wise sayings regarding work. Proverbs 14:23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Proverbs 6:6-11 says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” A strong work ethic is confirmed, with warnings concerning slackness.
The New Testament contains another important principle regarding work: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10); that is, the refusal of an able-bodied man to work should have the consequence that he lacks food. Paul also says that an “idle” man who refuses to work should not be part of the church (verse 6). Paul and his companions set a good example of hard work: “We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you” (verses 7-8).
Christians should work hard. Work is integral to life, and approaching work as God-given will give us more pleasure in it. We can work cheerfully and without complaint because we are working for the Lord who loves us and has redeemed us. A good work ethic can also be a witness to others (Matthew 5:16). The world takes notice of our efforts and wonders why we do what we do.
It is important to note that the Bible does not condone workaholism. We do not work merely to amass worldly wealth (in fact, Matthew 6:19-34 warns about this). We work to bring glory to God. We also do not work ourselves into the ground or to the extent that our health is damaged or our families suffer.
God is more interested in relationship with us than He is in what we do. God instituted the Sabbath at the beginning of creation. He did the work of creation for six days and then ceased. God is omnipotent; He did not need rest; He was setting an example for us. In the Ten Commandments, God confirmed both the importance of work and rest. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:9-10a). Later, we see that God even required a Sabbath for the fields (see Leviticus 27). Though the specific laws regarding the Sabbath no longer apply to believers, we are told that “the Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). It is a gift that we are wise to accept. So, while Christians are called to have a strong work ethic and to work hard at all that they do, they are also called to take times of rest.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Why Is the Bible Sometimes Confusing?
Anybody who has ever read the Bible has struggled with parts that have confused them. This should not surprise us, but rather we should expect it for a number of reasons. But before we look at these, we should note that Christians also believe in what has been called the clarity of Scripture. This means that the most important concepts in Scripture are clear and understandable to those who read it in dependence upon God and who humbly desire to understand it, believe it, and follow it. Psalm 19:7 says, “The statutes of the lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (see also Psalm 119:130). So even though there may be some things in Scripture that are confusing, the parts that are vital to understand can be readilyunderstood by God’s design.
The first reason the Bible can sometimes be confusing is because it is the record of God’s thoughts and ways. As we read it, we are trying to better understand God himself. The problem is that our finite human minds are ultimately unable to understand the infinite thoughts and ways of God. God himself says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9). This is further complicated by God’s holiness and perfection, especially as we compare it to the sinfulness of our human minds. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?” The Old Testament concept of the heart includes the immaterial things that are going on within us—thoughts, attitudes, motives, desires. Scripture is clear that sin has twisted and distorted the human mind. So this, too, greatly complicates our understanding of the things of God found in his Word. This should make us humble as we come to the Bible, leading us to depend on God himself for the help we need to overcome these handicaps.
Another reason related to this, but in itself hard to understand, is that God intended his Word to be confusing to those who did not want to know and believe it in the first place. Jesus told his disciples that he often spoke in parables or stories to both reveal and conceal the truth. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand’ ” (Matthew 13:11–13, quoting from Jeremiah 5:21). He goes on to quote from Isaiah 6:9–10. Therefore, this principle was also in effect in the Old Testament through God’s messengers, the prophets. The point is that there are things God wants to reveal only to those who already believe in him and are sincerely looking for truth. But for those who are not, parts of the Bible are divinely intended to be confusing. Paul puts it this way: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The very important implication is this: To understand the Bible, one must have faith in God and a genuine desire to understand what God has revealed. God will reward this by opening our eyes with the gift of understanding.
A third reason the Bible may be confusing is because life itself is complicated and confusing. A part of what God provides for us through the Bible is an explanation of the world around us and life as we experience it as well as solutions to the many problems found in the world and life. We live in a complicated world to begin with (for example, do you understand string theory?) and sin has made it even more complicated. All of this makes for challenging depictions of the nature of reality and complex solutions to the problems created by sin. The ultimate solution to these problems is Christ and his death and resurrection, but even the Bible acknowledges that this is foolishness to unbelievers (1 Corinthians 1:18). Again, the answer is to believe: “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
A fourth reason the Bible is confusing is because even though God intended it for all people of all times and places, it was originally written to certain peoples in certain cultural settings in certain historical periods. The Old Testament contains many references to farming, animals, crops, and plants that the intended audience would understand through personal experience, but for twenty-first-century city-dwellers, these references are puzzling. The New Testament epistles contain references to master-slave relationships (e.g., Ephesians 6:5–9) and “food sacrificed to idols” (1 Corinthians 8:1). These address common situations in the Roman Empire in the first century ad, but again, are baffling to the modern reader. So our challenge today is to try to crawl into the minds and experiences of the original audience so that we can understand Scripture the way they would have understood it. Only then can we better understand how it applies to us thousands of years later (and it does!).
Another possible reason for the Bible being sometimes hard to understand is that this is a God-intended means of continually drawing us back to Scripture in order to wrestle with it. Think about it: If God were easy to understand, he would not be worth worshiping; if God’s Word were easy to understand, it would not be worth studying. How often are we drawn back to children’s books to read and reread them so that we can understand them better and benefit from their great wisdom? There are riches to be found in the Word of God. And as is true of most kinds of riches, they are not obtained easily, but they are worth the hard work. David said that the law, statutes, precepts, and commands of God “are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:7–11). If we long for the greatest kinds of riches—those that come from God—we will continually be engaged with Scripture, despite the challenges and hard work that entails.
All of these reasons should motivate us not only to read but also to study the Bible. God is an infinite and holy God, and we are challenged to understand him with finite and fallen minds. The Bible discusses difficult problems and presents difficult solutions, and we are challenged to comprehend both. The Bible was written to people long ago in very different settings, and we are challenged to understand things now that they understood intuitively then. How can we do that? We touch on this next week.
Even the apostle Peter admitted that some of what the apostle Paul wrote was confusing: “[Our dear brother Paul] writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16). That should make the rest of us feel better.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou