This week I've included the outline for anyone who'd like to print it out and fill in as you listen.
Essentials for Growth, part 4 Outline
11/11/12 Sermon
Reading the Bible is _________________
Read for ___________, not for ________________________
1. Fill ________________________
“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us . . . The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (NIV)
Before you open your ___________, open your____________
2. Choose ________________
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.”
2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
3. Slow down ______________________________
4. Pull off ______________________________
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly . . .” Colossians 3:16 (NIV)
5. Take ______________________________
“The word of God . . . is at work in you who believe.” 1 Thess. 2:13 (NIV)
6. Send ______________________________
Use whatever time you have, but _________________ while using it.
Colossians 3:1-17 (NIV)
`“[1] Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. [3] For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
[5] Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [6] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [7] You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. [8] But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. [9] Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices [10] and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. [11] Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
[12] Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [13] Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. [14] And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
[15] Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. [16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.:
Reading God’s Mind
Essentials for Growth, part 4
11/11/12 Sermon
We are finishing up a four-week focus on the “Essentials for Spiritual Growth.” Spiritual growth is all about becoming like Jesus. Ultimately that’s what it’s about. It’s not so much about doing something as it is about becoming someone. It’s becoming more and more like Christ.
If you want to be like Jesus then you need to know what Jesus is like. If you want to think with the mind of Christ then you have to know how Christ thinks. If you want to know what God thinks about something then you have to know what God says about something. And if you want to know what God says then you’ve got to get into the word of God. You’ve got to get into the Bible to find out what God says and what he thinks. Because reading the Bible is reading God’s mind.
The Bible doesn’t just tell us the things that God did. The Bible tells us how God does things. It doesn’t just tell us the things that he said; it tells us how he thinks about things. So if you want to know how God thinks you’ve got to get into the word.
That’s why I say that reading the Bible is reading God’s mind. If you want to know how God thinks about life and about you and about the world and about the challenges you’re facing, you’ve got to find out by getting into his word. The Bible is a gift to us. It is God’s word to us. There is life in these pages.
So in order to find out how God thinks we have to get into the word. And reading the Bible is critical; it’s absolutely indispensable in the Christian life. I’m sure most of you would agree with that.
But at the same time I’ve found for me and for a whole lot of other people who follow Jesus, reading the Bible can be really difficult. Why would God make it so difficult to connect with him? And communicate with him?
What I want to talk about this morning is a new way of looking at things when you come to this relationship with God. It’s what I call conversational reading. I have found this to be a much more personal way, a much more profound and deep way, and certainly a lot simpler way.
Prayer and Bible reading are not two separate activities. They’re actually two parts of a conversation. Like in any conversation, it’s usually best if both people are talking about the same subject. And if you’re going to have a conversation with God, then you should let God start the conversation.
You say, that sounds like a great idea. I’d love to let God start a conversation. How is God going to start a conversation with me? Here’s how it’s going to happen. He’s going to start it in the word. He’s going to start it in the Bible.
You go, “I’ve got a problem. I tried reading my Bible. I couldn’t get through my Bible. I didn’t understand the Bible. How am I supposed to let God start a conversation in the Bible?”
Well, get yourself an easy to read version of the bible and then, this might set you free today: Read for depth, not for distance.
Let me tell you what I mean by that. Imagine I have a glass of water in my hand. It’s not hot water. It’s just room temperature. Because sometimes when you come to the Bible you’re not all hot and fired up. Sometimes you’re just sort of luke warm. Then imagine I have a tea bag. What happens to the water if I dip this tea bag just one time in the water. Absolutely nothing. But if I take the tea bag and just let it sit in there for a while, just let it steep, after about ten minutes or so, a change is going to happen.* The water is going to absorb the flavor and the color and the aroma and the character of the tea.
I hope the illustration is rather obvious. The glass of water is your soul. And the bag of tea is just a piece of scripture. It’s not fifteen chapters, it’s not three books. It’s a paragraph. Maybe it’s just a verse or a phrase. But as you let it steep into your soul, as you think about it, as you dip it over and over again and let it steep you begin to absorb the nature and flavor and the character of the author of the scripture itself. It begins to make a change in who you are. That’s what it is to read for depth.
Let me give you one more picture and we’re just going to kind of camp out on this one for the rest of the message. Think of getting in your car and just going for a long drive. Not to quickly get to a specific destination, just to go and enjoy the ride and the scenery and maybe some new discoveries along the way. There’s actually a picture there of this whole idea of conversational reading. That’s where I want us to camp out today. If you’re going to do a drive like that, there are six things you have to do to make this kind of drive.
1. Here’s the first one you’ve got to do. Fill your tank.
The first thing you have to do is fill your tank. Because if your tank is empty you’re not going to get very far.
What do I mean by filling your tank? What I’m talking about is getting reconnected with the Spirit of God, and you do that through prayer – just a moment of prayer. But you have to be reconnected. It’s an invitation for the Lord to fill you in a fresh way so that you can hear what he wants to say in the word.
1 Corinthians 2 says, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, [why? so] that we may understand what God has freely given us… The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
What does that mean? It means that we cannot understand the word of God apart from the Spirit of God. We cannot understand, we cannot think with the mind of Christ, apart from the Spirit of Christ. If we want to understand what God has to say to us, it is entirely reliant on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our life.
So when I say you’ve got to fill your tank I’m talking about a simple moment of prayer where you just invite the Lord. Starting off you day: “Lord, come and fill me in a fresh way today.” Before you open your Bible, open your heart.
You don’t spend an hour in prayer. I’m talking about spending just a moment in prayer. Remember we’re going to let God start the conversation. So it’s just a moment of prayer. It doesn’t even have to be a memorized prayer. I’d just say something like, “Lord, thank you for this day. I don’t know what it holds. I don’t know what I’m about to face. But I need to hear from you. So here I am. I’m asking you to fill me, to give me eyes to see and ears to hear. Give me a mind and a heart that will understand what you want to say in the word. Lord, just fill me up today.”
A simple prayer like that. The first thing you do is you fill your tank.
2. Here’s the second thing you do. The second thing is you choose your road.
Where are you going to go? Are you going to go to the mountains? The desert? The ocean? Where are you going to go exploring today? It may be a road that you’ve driven on many times, a favorite drive. It might be a road that you’ve always kind of wondered about. Wondered where it went. Or maybe a place a friend of yours told you about.
It’s the same way when you come to the scripture. You’ve got to decide where you are going to read. It might be a favorite old passage. It might be a book you’ve never read before but you’ve kind of been curious about it. Or you’ve heard other people talking about it.
The point is you’ve got to decide where you’re going to go. You don’t have to begin in Genesis and read all the way through in order to Revelation. You can, but you don’t have to. The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books and God can meet you on any page in any chapter in any verse of the Bible.
The word says in 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture [not just some – all scripture] is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us what to do.” So God can meet you anywhere in scripture. The Holy Spirit will inspire God’s word. He inspired the words when they were written and he’ll inspire the words when they are read. But you’ve got to decide where you’re going to go. So how do you decide where you’re going to read?
Some people read their Bible like they’re watching TV, with a remote control in their hand. Just every couple of minutes, they’re flipping the channel, changing the channel. You never actually see the whole story. Some people read their Bible that way. They’re just kind of flipping around – a chapter here, a chapter there, a verse over here, a book over there. You never let God complete his thought.
Some people choose where they’re going to read like they’re playing the lottery. This is where you close your eyes and you open the Bible, you flip a couple of pages, you drop your finger and you hope you get lucky. But that’s where you get this like I found this one in 2 Kings 1:16“Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will surely die.” That’s not the way you want to choose how you’re going to read the Bible.
I suggest that you choose prayerfully and carefully. Ask God where he wants you to read. After all he’s going to start the conversation. Ask the Lord to direct you. He will. Because you filled your tank. You asked him to direct you. And by faith you can now come to the word knowing that God will speak to you. Ask him, “Lord, where do you want me to go? Where do you want me to read?” Use the table of contents. Look at the different books. Flip through a few books and look at the chapter headings and the section headings until something strikes you. Then just dive in on that road.
But I would say this, when you decide where you’re going to read start at the beginning of the book. Not in the middle of the book. Start in the beginning of that book so you’re not taking stuff out of context and stay on that road until you come to the end.
If Bible reading is new for you do not start in Leviticus. Don’t go there. I would suggest if Bible reading is new for you, start in the book of John – the gospel of John – the fourth book of the New Testament. It is fantastic. You’ll learn all about the life of Jesus. You’ll learn about his, his teachings, his ministry, his miracles, his death and his resurrection. It’s all there in the book of John. You want to stay on the road until you get to the end of the road.
So first you fill your tank. The second thing is you choose your road. I’ve chosen a road for us today, for the demonstration that we’re going to have here in a little while. It’s Colossians 3 on the back of your outline. That’s going to be our road for the day.
So you fill your tank, you choose your road.
3. Here’s the third thing you have to do. Absolutely critical – slow down and enjoy the scenery.
When you’re on a drive like this, the road can be a little wind-ey. If you’re driving too fast, you might miss something or you might wind up in a ditch some place. You’ve got to slow down. Remember this is not a race. It’s an exploration. So slow down. Enjoy the scenery. What’s going on in the text? What’s the context of what I’m reading here? What does this look like? What does it sound like? What would happen if I read it a little slower? What would I get out of it if I just slowed down and maybe if I read it like I was the author? That same kind of pace. Reading like I was writing it.
Sometimes we come to the word like we’re punching a clock at work: “Ok, God, you’ve got three chapters or ten minutes. Whichever comes first. If you’ve got something to say to me you’d better hurry up because I’m not going to wait around.” That’s how we come to the Bible. We just want to hurry our way through the conversation.
I have this terrible habit of what I call speed listening. I just want to get past the details and the feelings and get to the point—the Reader’s Digest version. The problem with speed listening, like driving too fast, is it could get you killed. But isn’t that how we come to the word of God so often? We just want to hurry our way through. “Lord, just get to the point! Don’t bother me with the details. I’m running out of time, here.” It’s like we’re trying to finish his sentence for him. Interrupting him. Cutting him off.
Can you imagine having a relationship with a person who did that to you all the time? They never engage with you in conversation. That’s what speed listening is.
So when you come to the word of God you’ve got to slow down. Slow it down.
Let me show you an example of this kind of reading. Turn to the passage there in Colossians 3. Let me show you what reading for distance looks like. Then I’ll show you what it means to read for depth. The first four verses.
If I’m reading for distance it’s going to sound like this. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
What did I just get out of that? Nothing. But if I read it like I was writing it down, if I slowed down and enjoyed the scenery, I start to pick up more of the meaning of what the text says. So I might read it this way. “Since, then… you have been raised with Christ… set your hearts on things above… where Christ is seated at the right hand of God… Set your minds on things above… not on earthly things.”
If I was reading for distance I would have thought Paul had just repeated himself. But he didn’t repeat himself. In the first verse he says set your hearts on things above. In the second verse he says, now set your minds on things above. He’s talking about what are you passionate about? What do you truly desire? Then what are you thinking about? He’s saying align those two things. Set your heart after God and think about him. He’s talking about integrity. But if you’re reading for distance you’re going to miss all of that. But when you just slow down and start reading for depth, you start picking up more and more of the meaning. So you’ve got to slow down and enjoy the scenery.
4. Here’s the fourth point: pull off at a scenic viewpoint.
You know when you’re driving on one of these roads? And I’m not talking about the freeway here. I’m talking about the blue highways, the dotted highways on the map. You’re driving on one of these roads and you’ll see a sign that says “Scenic overlook one quarter mile” and there’s a turn out. Pull off at one of those. Find out what makes this place so special. Why do they put a sign there? What are you supposed to see when you get there?
It’s the same way when you come to the word of God. A scenic viewpoint is one of those times when it seems like God just tapped you on the shoulder and says, “Wait. Hang on. Stop right here. I want to show you something. I’ve got something to say to you.”
The scenic viewpoint might be paragraph. It might be a verse. It might just be a phrase. But the point is it’s a place when you’re driving, you step out of the car, and you step into the scene. The scenic viewpoint in the scripture is where you just stop the pace you’ve been on and you step into the scene of the word and you start looking around. What does this place look like? What’s going on right there? What makes this place so special? What am I seeing here? What am I hearing? What do I think about this? How do I feel here? You begin to just slow down and explore this little spot.
The scenic viewpoint that I’ve chosen is verse 16 of that passage in Colossians 3. Look at what the Bible says, in fact, it’s just the first phrase. That’s the scenic viewpoint. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” As a scenic viewpoint I’m just going to stop and I’m going to keep reading that phrase because I want to explore it. I want to see how deep I can go in that phrase. So to do that I would emphasize different words each time I read it.
For example the first time I would say, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” By thinking about the word “let,” I realize that I have a role to play in this. In other words it’s saying give it permission. You’ve got to allow this to happen or it’s not going to happen. Permit, allow, welcome the word of Christ to dwell in your richly.
Then I might read “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Dwelling as opposed to just stopping by for a quick visit. Let it move in. Let it inhabit you. Let it take up its residence. In other words, become the dwelling place of the word of God.
Then I’ll read “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Richly as opposed to poorly. Let it inhabit you lavishly, extravagantly, deeply, profoundly.
You see what I’m doing here? I’m starting to put it into my own words. You don’t really know what the Bible says until you can put it into your own words. You may know the words on the page but you don’t really know what it means until you can put it in your own words.
It’s like when you’re having a conversation with your husband or wife, I won’t call it an argument. I’ll just call it intense fellowship. You’re having intense fellowship. You want to make sure that he/she knows that you’re listening. So you will say back to them what they just said to you but you’ll put it in your own words. That’s what it is here when you come to the scripture. You start to put it in your own words, your own paraphrase.
So I’d say, “Ok Lord, here’s what I’m hearing you say. That I have a role to play here. You want me to give permission to your word to move into me in a rich and life changing way. Is that what I’m hearing you say?” What’s happening is, I have now started my part of the conversation. God started the conversation off and now I’m beginning to respond to him out of what he’s saying to me in the text.
5. That leads us to the fifth point. The fifth point is to take a picture of yourself.
You’ve been in this beautiful place. You’ve explored it. You want to keep your memory. So you pull out your camera, your phone, your I-pad, whatever it is. You smile and you take a picture of yourself in this spot to remind yourself of what you looked like there.
It’s the same way when you come to the scripture. This is when you get into your application. How do I look in this place? How do I fit in here? What am I discovering here about God and about myself and my relationship to him and my relationship to other people and to the world? How do I fit in here?
The Bible tells us that the word of God is both a lamp and a mirror to the soul. So I ask myself, in the light of this lamp, of this passage, what am I seeing that maybe I never saw before that was hidden in the dark? Or as I stand in front of this mirror, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, how do I look in this mirror? Is the word of Christ really dwelling in me? How do I look here? What is the application to my life?
When you come to the point of application you’ve got to come with an unguarded heart. You’ve got to come with a complete willingness to do whatever God tells you to do. Don’t wait for God to tell you what to do before you say yes. Just say yes and then he’ll tell you what he wants you to do. But you’ve got to apply the word of God, otherwise you’re just wasting your time. Application is absolutely critical.
Look at what Jesus said in the book of Matthew. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man, who builds his house on the sand.”
The Bible says this in 1 Thessalonians “The word of God is at work in you who believe.” So if you believe, then the word of God is at work in you and you’ve got to let the word of God do its work. The Bible, the word of God, is a sword that will slay your enemies. It will uncover and put to death old lies and old ways of thinking. The word of God is a scalpel that will open you up, open up your soul so that God can do surgery, heart surgery on you. It is a salve that heals our wounds. The word of God is a seed that gets planted into our ears and that germinates and bears fruit. It’s a compass that keeps us pointed in the right direction toward home. The word of God is a window into the heart of the Father. The Bible tells us that the word of God is the water, the milk, the bread, and the meat of the spiritual life.
You’ve got to let the Bible, the word of God, do its work in you. That’s what application is all about. Take a picture of yourself. That then leads us to the final point.
You filled your tank, you chose your road, you slowed down and pulled off at a scenic viewpoint, you took a picture of yourself after you explored for a while.
6. Now the sixth point is...you send home a postcard.
This is where you start to pray. This is where you’re reading, you’re thinking, you’re meditating on the word of God. This is where it really turns to serious prayer. You begin to tell God where you were, what you saw, what you heard, what you thought, what you learned. Tell him what you felt. Tell him all the details about your experience in the word of God. Just begin to cooperate, to participate in the conversation. God started the conversation. He’s been talking to you. He stopped you, “Here! I’ve got something for you to see.”
Now what are you going to say to him? How are you going to respond to him? This is your prayer. What you find is that you’re now praying biblically. You’re actually praying the scriptures back to God. You are in a very real sense agreeing with God in prayer.
After you have sent home your postcard or for those of you who are techies you’ve twittered – we can use that picture if you want to. But you know what I’m saying; you’ve talked to the Lord. After you have done that, you get back in the car and you drive off to the next scenic viewpoint. The next scenic viewpoint might just be the next paragraph. It might be the next verse. Or it might be that the next day you come back to the exact same place and see what else you can learn there. What did I miss yesterday from this spot? Just go back to the same place again. It doesn’t really matter.
And it doesn’t matter how long this takes. Remember you’re not in a race. You’re exploring. The whole point is to see how much wealth you can pull out of one spot in the scripture. So you don’t have to be in a hurry. When you worship an eternal God you don’t have to be in a hurry. Take your time. No matter how much time you have. It doesn’t have to be an hour. It might just be a couple of minutes.
Use whatever time you have but take your time while using it. It’s a conversation. Don’t rush God, don’t rush yourself. Give yourself the time to hear what the Lord wants to say to you.
You might say, what happens when nothing happens? I’m reading in the scripture. I’m just not getting anything out of it.
First, let me say don’t obsess with tying to find something new. Because if you think you’ve found something brand new in the scripture that no one has ever seen before, chances are you’re wrong. That’s why we need godly men and women in our life who know the Lord, love the word, who can help us in clarifying our thinking. So don’t always be trying to find something new. But at the same time come to a familiar text with fresh eyes to see what the Lord might want to show you. Or with fresh ears. Read with your ears. What might he want to say to you, to say that you hadn’t noticed in that passage before?
But sometimes you feel like nothing’s happening. I would say that some passages, some books, are harder to read than others. But you also have to remember that this is a spiritual book. The words are spiritual words. God very often deals with us at a depth and a level in our spirit that we may not even be aware of. Just because you’re mentally not aware of it doesn’t mean nothing is happening. God could be working at a subconscious level.
There have been times in my life when the Lord has brought back a verse of scripture that I didn’t even remember memorizing. But he’ll bring it back at just the right moment. But God can’t bring a passage to your mind until you’ve buried it in your heart first.
So the most important thing when you come to the word of God is not just that you engage your mind or that you engage your emotions. But you’ve got to engage your faith. That’s of utmost importance. Engage your faith. Because everything we do for God has to be done in faith. We come by faith to the word trusting that the Lord will allow his word to do what it needs to do in our lives even if we’re not aware of the process.
The whole point of it is that you are coming to the word faithfully. That you are faithful and faith filled when you come to the word of God, just carrying on that conversation with him, to see what he wants to say to you.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for this congregation, for this church. Lord, we thank you for your word, for the gift that the Bible is to us. Lord, we want to commit to you that we will take the steps necessary, that we will open the pages again and look for you. Lord, I pray that you will reward our search. I pray that you will speak into the lives of every person here, that we will all find you in your word, that you will change us into the character of Christ, through your word. I pray for your blessing as we read. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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