Explore the Bible: Matthew 13:10-17

Jesus used many parables in His teaching, and Matthew 13 has several of them. After He gave the parable of the sower, His disciples were curious as to why Jesus used parables. His answer was that those who had spiritual insight would understand the point of the parable, while those who refused to listen would hear the story but miss the point. He quoted Isaiah 6:9-10 to explain this principle.

The passage Jesus quotes is from the call of Isaiah in chapter 6. Isaiah has his vision of the Lord in the temple, and answers God’s call for someone to go and speak for Him. Even as He commissions Isaiah, the Lord warns him that people will refuse to listen to what he has to say, and will reject his call to return to the Lord. Jesus recognizes that people in His own time were in the same position as those of Isaiah’s time, and that many simply refused to listen to or understand what He had to say.

This refusal to heed the word of Christ goes beyond a few parables taught in the first century. Today there are many who attend churches and who know what the Bible says, but who refuse to accept that it is God’s Word. While there are certainly parts of the Bible that are hard to understand and require some significant study, much of its message is straightforward. The gospel is clearly spelled out, and the way to heaven through Jesus is stated many times in very plain language.

So how do people miss it? Many really don’t. They understand exactly what the Bible teaches, and their human nature rebels against the thought of it truth. They want to believe that they can make themselves right with God, and that there are other ways to heaven. They see the Bible as infringing on their freedom and hopelessly narrow-minded, not a message that fits the world of our day as they see it. It isn’t a question of intellect, but of will.

As we continue to study God’s Word, we have to constantly search our own hearts to see if we are open to hear what the Holy Spirit has to teach us or if we want to make the Bible fit what we already believe. Jesus’ own disciples took years to begin to figure out just what He meant by His teaching, and the gospels make it clear that when He died they didn’t yet comprehend what happened. It took years (and the Spirit!) to open their eyes fully to the full truth of His teaching.

We should be ready to allow as much time as it takes for the lessons of Scripture to find a home in our hearts. You may find that over time you see parts of the Bible more clearly, and maybe you even have to change your mind to match the truth. Some sections you may never fully grasp, and some truths of Scripture are simply beyond our finite human minds. (Just how does the Trinity work, anyway?) The rest of our lives, and indeed all of eternity, await our continued searching of the Scriptures to more fully understand the mind of God.

The Baptist Faith and Message- I. The Scriptures (Part 1)

Ia. “The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.”

In order for humanity to know what we need to be right with God, we need God Himself to reveal the truth to us in a way we can understand it. We believe that the Bible is that special revelation from God, the actual Word of God given to us exactly as God wanted it to be expressed. We call the divine role in the writing of Scripture “inspiration,” which comes from 2 Timothy 3:16 where we are told all Scripture is “God-breathed,” which is translated “inspiration” in older translations.

God did not drop the Bible from heaven already written, or even dictate it to people to be written word-for-word (except in a few instances that are described in the Bible). The Holy Spirit inspired people to write what was needed, using their own personalities and styles (1 Peter 1:20-21). There were about 40 authors of Scripture, and as we read what they wrote we can see the differences between the authors. Yet they wrote exactly what God wanted them to write; theologians use the term “verbal inspiration” to mean that each word of the Bible, not just the general ideas, are from God.

The Bible is the revelation of God’s thoughts, commands, and warnings. While we can learn some truths about God from creation and conscience (as Romans 1 tells us), we cannot know how the universe and humanity began, the extent of our separation from God, or the details of God’s provision of salvation through Jesus Christ without a divine message to give us the details. The message of the Bible centers on salvation (Romans 16:25-26).

Since the Scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation, they must be completely reliable. We believe that the divine inspiration of the Bible keeps it from all error of fact and make it completely trustworthy in all that it tells us. We can fully rely on what the Bible teaches us about God and about salvation, but also about everything else it touches on. The word for this trustworthiness is “infallibility.” We believe that only the Bible is an infallible source of truth; no person, church, denomination, or creed is reliable except as it conforms to the Bible (Psalm 19:7-10). Through the inspired Word of God we can know the truth that He has given us and find the ultimate truth of Christ.

A look at "The Baptist Faith and Message"

I am beginning a series of short studies on "The Baptist Faith and Message." This is the statement of faith for the Southern Baptist Convention, and has been adopted by my home church as our church's statement of faith. This study will cover the basic doctrines of the Christian faith as well as beliefs that are distinctive to Baptists. I hope you will find this series helpful in understanding what the BIble teaches, even if you don't agree with everything that we Baptists believe. It can be stimulating to our own faith to understand how other Christians look at the truths of Scripture and apply them.

I will post the installments here on my own blog as they are posted to our church's web site.

Explore the Bible: Matthew 12:15-21

Matthew quotes Isaiah 42:1-4 here and applies Isaiah’s prophecy directly to Jesus. Unlike the application Jesus made of Isaiah when He answered John the Baptist’s question in Matthew 11:4-5, here the prophecy isn’t focused on the great works of the Messiah. Rather, Matthew uses the prophecy to point out why Jesus urged people not to spread the Word about Him. His role at this point in His ministry was to do the work He was sent to do, not to draw attention to Himself in such a way as to put the focus on Himself as the divine Deliverer.

In a Jewish study Bible I have, Isaiah 42 is said to refer primarily to the nation of Israel as a whole. It does point out that rabbis have seen it as a description of the Messiah (as well as the prophet Isaiah himself or the Persian king Cyrus), but attempts to make the description of the servant fit the role of Israel in a future ideal kingdom. It requires taking some Hebrew phrases in unusual ways, and writes off “open blind eyes” in verse 7 as another parallel way to say “freeing the prisoners.”

Even from an Old Testament perspective, however, it seems to make more sense of a special servant of the Lord, the Messiah. This Anointed One would not come with violence, and would not cease His work until justice was established over the whole earth. He would Himself be a covenant for the people, and would bring liberation not only from prison, but from the imprisoning conditions imposed by illness or handicap. Yahweh announces that this will, in fact, be something new.

For those of us under the New Covenant, we have Matthew’s divinely inspired interpretation to guide us in our understanding of who the Servant is. Although Matthew stops at verse 4, he would have seen the continuation of Isaiah’s prophecy as also applying to Jesus. Thus Matthew shows that he views this passage as referring to the Messiah, and that he believes that Jesus is that Messiah.

We are certainly to proclaim the truth about Jesus to our whole world today. While Jesus was here on earth, He often told people to keep what He had done quiet, but at the end of His earthly ministry He told His followers to proclaim the good news to all people; Matthew records this at the very end of his gospel (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus is the justice and hope that both Isaiah and Matthew speak about. On the cross, Jesus made both possible and fulfilled the mission He had during His time here on earth. The ultimate fulfillment will come when He returns to establish His kingdom. We can continue to have a future hope as we read the words prophesied about Him all through God’s Word, and that hope should spur us to share the reason for our hope with all we meet.

Explore the Bible

I'm beginning a weekly series of short studies related to a Bible study that I co-teach on Sunday mornings at my church. We are following the "Explore the Bible" curriculum from Lifeway, which is designed to take you through the entire Bible in 8 years. As such, it necessitates focusing on just a short passage each week, while providing a reading guide that a student can follow to read through the entire book (or section of a book). We're finishing a study in Matthew 1-13, and will begin a study of Acts 1-12 beginning in March.

The studies I plan to do will be short (this is a blog, not a theological journal), and will generally ficus on a passage that we either passed over or had to cover very briefly. I may also bring up some topics related to that week's study that might be a little more tangential but interesting. I hope that these small studies will be of interest even to those who aren't involved in our particular curriculum.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 30: Amos 8:9-13

Our 30 day journey comes to an end with today’s devotional. I don’t think there was a better passage to end with than this one from Amos. In some ways, there is a famine for the Word of God even in churches today. Some churches have ceased preaching the gospel and moved on to a more political or societal message. Others only preach the parts of the Bible that fits what they or their members want to hear, ignoring large sections of the Word. Still others preach the Bible from the pulpit, but in such a way that it makes no impact in the lives of those in the church (and, worse, on those outside the church.)

God chose to give us a special revelation in the Bible that goes beyond what we can learn about Him through nature or conscience. The Bible isn’t just a collection of writings of people who came up with the best religious ideas they could manage. It is God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit and having the authority of the Almighty God behind it.

In our part of the world today, we have been blessed with unsurpassed access to the Word. Sadly, many Christians have multiple Bibles on their bookshelves, computers, and cell phones, but they seldom (or never) actually read, study, meditate on, and memorize those Bibles. They treat the Bible as a talisman, or even an idol, whose presence means blessing even if it’s never used to hear God speak.

In some eras of the church, the Bible was only available chained to a table in the church building, or perhaps only available when the authorized priest or minister read from it. Some Christians today act as if that is still the case, only taking in the Word when they hear it on Sunday. God never intended His Word to be limited to just a professional spiritual elite, who could then dole it out to the rest of the people. The Word of God was meant for all to hear and understand.

So as we finish our journey, I want to encourage you to take advantage of the feast you have. The time may come when we, like many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world and throughout history, face a famine, and will have to struggle to access the Word. Until that time, let’s not impose a famine on ourselves by neglect of the Bible, God’s revelation to us. Continue to be in the Word, and the Word will soon be in you.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 29: Micah 4:1-3

Many teachers and churches today are trying to find ways to make the Bible’s teachings more attractive to unbelievers. This isn’t just trying to find relevant ways to present the Biblical message, which is a process that has been going on for almost 2000 years now. These teachers want to ignore certain passages, emphasize others, and maybe even outright reject certain teachings as old-fashioned or outdated.

In today’s passage Micah looks forward to the time when the Lord will be directly judging the earth. He will be teaching His ways to all the people, and the result will be peace and righteousness. This won’t just be for Israel, or some limited earthly kingdom. This will be a rule and a judgment for all the nations of the earth.

The prophets of the Old Testament often preached a message that the Lord’s love and mercy wasn’t only for Israel. There weren’t many Jews who accepted that. They thought that God worked through His people, and that to follow Him you had to become a Jew first. Even some groups of Christians in the early years of the church taught that you had to become a Jew before becoming a Christian. The vision of a worldwide people of God took a while to catch on.

Micah sees this time as one when the message of the Lord is so attractive to everyone on earth that they “stream to it.” The picture we have here is not of a coerced bowing down before the judgment of the Lord. Rather, the way of the Lord is something sought out by people who are willing to do whatever it takes to hear His Word.

There is a certain truth to the statement that people are not attracted to the message of the Bible, especially the gospel, in our culture today. Then again, there never was a time when the truth of Scripture didn’t offend people. The Bible tells us we are all sinners, that we can’t help ourselves, and that there is only one way of salvation. It teaches us what God expects of humanity, and tells us that going our own way is wrong. These messages will never attract people who are sinful by nature, living for themselves.

But when the Holy Spirit moves, the Word is seen for what it is: God’s communication of His love, grace, and mercy to us even though we are sinners and rebels against His laws. This shows us just how attractive the gospel message is, and how powerful the teaching of Scripture can be in helping us become the people God created us to be.

While we do want to communicate the truth of God’s Word in ways that people in our society understand, we don’t need to make the Bible more appealing to people. If they choose to live for themselves, they will reject it without any concern for what it says. If they are led by the Spirit, they will be drawn to its message. While the day Micah foresaw has not happened yet, we can be sure that the Word of the Lord will continue to draw people of all nations, races, languages, and cultures to Him as they heed the leading of the Holy Spirit.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 28: Daniel 9:1-3

The way we got the Bible we have today is a fascinating study. We use the word “canon” (from the Greek kanon, measuring rod) to describe the official collection of books recognized as Scripture. The Biblical canon formed first from the recognized Jewish canon we now call the Old Testament, then from a collection of writings recognized as inspired written by apostles and their associates which we call the New Testament. Together they make up the full “canon of Scripture.”

Some of the books of the Bible were recognized as authoritative revelation from God very early. We saw in an earlier study how Joshua was told by the Lord to read and meditate on the Law just given a few decades before to Moses. Here in Daniel we see another instance of a Biblical book gaining recognition as Scripture at an early date.

Jeremiah was active as a prophet prior to the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC, and he lived for some years after that in Egypt. He had begun prophesying during the reign of King Josiah, probably around 626 BC. This was approximately 20 years before Daniel was taken captive to Babylon. It is possible that Daniel had heard Jeremiah speak, or at least knew about him, before he went to Babylon.

In our passage about 70 years have passed since then. Daniel read from the prophecy of Jeremiah, and found there indications that the Jewish captivity was coming to an end. He also recognized the book of Jeremiah as part of the Scriptures at that early date. This gave him confidence that what Jeremiah had written was true.

This recognition of a book less than a century old as part of God’s Word (along with the way Daniel’s prophecies were so accurately fulfilled) so bothers some scholars that they try to date the book of Daniel to some 200-300 years later. To do so, they have to deny that the Daniel of the Bible was a historical figure, and that the events of Daniel were just fictional stories designed to make a point. Yet the historical value of Daniel was not challenged until well after it was accepted by the Jews as part of their Scriptures.

The Bible which we have today grew as books such as Jeremiah were recognized to have an authority that went beyond their human authorship. Books that were included in the canon were seen to be inspired, and they were often widely used even prior to being included on any official list. The church did not create the Bible, but took the canon of the Jews and added to it those books that were considered inspired by God. (While I don’t want to oversimplify the direction the process of canonization took, it is far less complex than it is often implied to be by those who wish to cast doubt on the authority of the Bible.)

When we read the Bible today, it is to us an ancient book, dating back anywhere from 1900-3500 years depending on which book you are reading. But we must remember that these books were written, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in times when their words needed to be heard, and that the people of God, Jewish and Christian in turn, heard the Lord’s voice through them. May He speak to us as vividly as we come to the Word today.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 27: Matthew 23:1-7

Jesus’ warning here Matthew 23 would been shocking to most of the Jews of His day. The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees were held in high regard by the common people. They were seen as the ones who knew and understood the Law, and whose lives reflected the highest standards of holiness. Most Jews would have considered attaining the righteousness of a Pharisee to be an insurmountable task.

Jesus looked beyond their surface. He pointed out how they used the letter of the Law to avoid acting in the spirit of the Law. Jesus also looked at their motivations for their teaching and their behavior. In this passage Jesus accuses the Pharisees and teachers of the Law of hypocrisy, selfishness, pride, and ambition. His appraisal of their hearts and their actions found them to be unworthy of the honor they craved.

When we seek teachers to guide us in understanding God’s Word, we should look at their character as well as their teaching. Many prominent teachers are using their gifts and skills as teachers for their own benefit. They seek fame, success, money, and influence more than they seek to share the Word. This can lead them to focus only on passages that their listeners find comforting while ignoring the hard lessons of Scripture. In some cases, this can lead to teachers even rejecting what the Bible says in favor of ideas and positions that can get them a larger audience.

Note that in Matthew 23:1-7 Jesus doesn’t criticize the teaching of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. While he warns their students not to follow their examples, He still sees that they are teaching what the Word said. A teacher may be faithful to the Word in his or her teaching but still be using their position for the wrong reasons.

This doesn’t mean that pastors and teachers should never receive their living from proclaiming the Word, nor that it isn’t right to look up to godly teachers. The Bible teaches that those who labor in teaching are worthy of honor and of compensation for their work. (See for example Luke 10:17 and 1 Timothy 5:17.) If that compensation and honor become their prime motivation to continue their work, however, they have moved away from what the Lord desires into human selfishness and sin.

In finding a teacher worthy of your honor and of your time, make sure you look not only at what they teach (although you want someone who is committed the Bible), but at what motivates them to teach. That may be hard to determine, but, as with the teachers of Jesus’ time, the heart of a teacher will be exposed. A godly man or woman who seeks to lead students toward Jesus and to a Christlike life is one worth following. 

30 Days in the Bible, Day 26: Acts 17:10-12

Personal Bible study and corporate Bible study are both important parts of our discipleship journey. We need to spend time in the Word ourselves, and we need to spend time learning from qualified teachers. There is a balance we need to strike between these two elements of discipleship, and there also seems to be a little tension between the two.

On the one hand, we want to find those who have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to guide us along with the Spirit in understanding and applying the Word to our lives. If we sit under teachers and just pick them apart, using our own judgment to decide when we agree with them and when we don’t, we will not benefit from their teaching. We need to trust the pastors and teachers we have found to be faithfully and reliably grounded in God’s Word. They may tell us things we don’t want to hear, but which we may need to hear for our spiritual growth.

On the other hand, the responsibility for our spiritual growth from a human perspective rests with each one of us. We need to examine what our teachers say in light of the Bible to ensure that what they are teaching is what God is saying. While the Bible clearly teaches that those who teach are held responsible for what they teach, each Christian is responsible for what they have learned and how it is put into practice.

Ronald Reagan used to use the phrase “Trust, but verify” of those with whom he dealt on a political level. While discipleship involves spiritual rather than political concepts, it’s not a bad way to think about how we approach the teaching we receive. Once we have found pastors and teachers we have sounded out and found to be good, we need to have a level of trust that what they are presenting is what the Word of God teaches. However, we also need to dig into the Word to verify that they are remaining true to the Lord and His Word.

The fact they we may find disagreements between teachers, or between teachers and ourselves, doesn’t mean that one or the other is unfaithful to the Lord. There are many teachings in the Bible on which Christians disagree while remaining true to a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. There are two things we should look at when we find a disagreement. First, is this on a fundamental truth that is at the core of our Christian faith, like the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and salvation through faith in Jesus alone? Second, is what is being taught backed by a thorough and careful study of the Bible and based on what the Word says? We want our teachers to be true to Jesus Christ and to the basic truths of our faith, and we want them to base all of their Christian teaching on God’s revealed Word.

I hope that as you have been studying along with these devotionals that you have made sure that what I write has been consistent with the Word. A teacher who feels they are above examination is a teacher who isn’t worthy of trust. Find a teacher who follows Jesus, is led by the Spirit, and teaches from God’s Word, and you’ll find a teacher who can help you grow more like Jesus as you make your discipleship journey.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 25: Deuteronomy 6:1-9

The Sh’ma is the foundation of a devout Jew’s morning and evening prayers. Traditionally it is supposed to be the last words spoken before sleep at night, and for many Jews they are the last words they speak. It is a reminder that one’s faith is in the one and only God, the God of Israel.

It is also the basic creedal statement of Judaism. Creeds have been used for millennia to remind religious believers of the foundational teachings of their faith in summary form. For the Jew, all other beliefs are dependent on who God is. It speaks of God as one, as the only God, and as the God of Israel. By reciting the Sh’ma, a Jew is reminded of his or her relation to the one true God.

Christians have developed their own creeds over the centuries. They started to appear even in the first centuries, while the Bible was being written. They were recited to remind Christians of the foundations of their faith, and often said in group settings to remind everyone present that they shared a common faith.

Many Christians today still recite the Apostle’s Creed, which is based on basic statements that began to develop in the first two centuries of the church. As a student at a non-Baptist seminary, I would recite this creed several times a week in chapel. It was a constant reminder to me of three things: (1) the basic beliefs of my faith, (2) the faith I share with all Christians throughout the world, and (3) the fact that I follow a faith that is rooted in a long history.

Some Christians are skeptical of creeds. “No creed but the Bible!” is often the cry of groups that reject any creed. Yet we all have our own “creeds,” statements of what we believe. Your creed can be found in the answer to this question: “What do you believe?” The answer you give to that question reflects your basic beliefs.

Creeds have been used as teaching tools in many churches throughout the ages. They do not take the place of the Bible; a creed is only as valid when it is true to the teaching of Scripture. They do serve as an outline of the teachings of Christianity. In one sense, they serve to help us understand our faith in the same way the Lord’s Prayer helps us understand how to pray.

As we study the Bible, we can help ourselves recall its teachings by finding summary statements like creeds and statements of faith that organize Biblical teaching into an easily remembered form. Those statement aren’t our faith, which is found in our relationship to Jesus Christ, but they can help us understand and grow in our faith as they remind us of the truths we have learned from God’s Word.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 24: Nehemiah 8:1-3

Studying the Word of God on your own is an important discipline. We can open the Word whenever we want to, and spend as much time as we can reading, meditating, and studying. (This is, of course, not true for all Christians, and we need to pray for our brothers and sisters who do not have free access to the Bible.) There is no substitute for time spent listening to the Holy Spirit speak to us through the inspired Word.

For many Christians, personal study is their chief focus. They don’t want to spend time listening to others preach or teach the Word. Perhaps they believe that as long as they have the Spirit, they can learn everything they need to know on their own. While there is some truth to this, it misses a much bigger point.

When we look through Scripture to find how the Holy Spirit guides us into truth, we find an interesting fact: He does this partly by giving us pastors and teachers that He has gifted to build us up. We saw this when we looked at Ephesians 4. If we do not take advantage of times when we can study the Bible together under the instruction of a Spirit-gifted teacher, we are missing part of what He wants to teach us.

Here in Nehemiah we see Ezra, who in Jewish thought is considered the greatest teacher of the Law, bringing in help from other gifted Levites to explain to the people the meaning of the Law. The Israelites gathered for hours to hear the Law read and taught. They understood that this was all part of their worship, and that what they were hearing through these teachers was God speaking to them through His Word.

We have many opportunities to find good teachers and to study the Word under their leadership. A godly, Spirit-led teacher can help us to see truths we may have missed on our own. Pastors and teachers who have spent time studying the history, culture, and languages of Biblical times can help us bridge the gap between those times and ours. They can also help us to avoid drawing erroneous conclusions from the Bible by helping us place its teachings in context and in their place in the whole of Biblical truth.

Studying in groups should not replace personal study, but be added to it. We do need to learn to search the Scriptures on our own, but we also need to be guided (and to guide) others as we search together. If you are not currently involved in a Bible study led by a solid, Spirit-led teacher, I encourage you to find one and start adding the benefits of studying together to your spiritual journey.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 23: Acts 2:40-47

When Luke described the practices of the early church in Acts 2:42-47, the first thing he mentions is that “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” I don’t think this is an accident. When we look at what the church did in these verses, we see actions that arise out of an understanding of God’s Word. The fellowship, worship, and outreach of the first century church are built on the foundation of God’s revelation of truth to them.

What was the content of the apostles’ teaching? It began with the proclamation that Jesus was the fulfillment of the hope of the Old Testament. The Law, Prophets, and Writings of the Jewish Scriptures looked forward to the coming of the promised Messiah and to a salvation that would reverse the curse of sin. The apostles believed and taught that this Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth.

The Bible of the early church was what we call the Old Testament today. The earliest books of the New Testament wouldn’t be written for another 15-20 years, although some of the gospel accounts probably started circulating almost immediately. Since they still considered themselves faithful Jews, the apostles would have gone to their Scriptures to teach about the meaning of the coming of Jesus. Jesus Himself had gone to those Scriptures to explain to the two on the road to Emmaus the OT teaching about the Messiah.

Over about the next 60 years, the apostles’ teaching was written down in the recognized Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypse we now call the New Testament. This teaching explained and filled in the details about the person and work of Jesus and about the role of the Holy Spirit. As a result, we are able to read and study the apostles’ teaching today. When we read and study the Bible, both Old and New Testament, we find ourselves in the same place as those early Christians who based everything they did on that teaching.

If we want our modern Christian fellowship, worship, and outreach to have power and lasting effects, we need to follow the example of the first Christians. What we do in the name of Jesus must be founded and built upon what He reveals to us in His Word. A church may meet together, go through some defined worship practices, and speak a message, but if those are done in human power and wisdom rather than in the power of God’s Word the results will not have eternal value.

Christians and churches today must worship the Lord in Spirit and truth, fellowship with and build up each other, and reach out to our world with the good news of Jesus Christ. We can’t do this unless we hear what God says in His revelation, and put what we learn there into practice. As we continue to dig into the Word individually and as a group, we will find that all we do as Christians will be honoring to Jesus and will draw us closer to Him.  

30 Days in the Bible, Day 22: Luke 11:1-10

This passage also contains a part of the teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. Here we find a shortened form of the Lord’s Prayer, which suggests that Jesus used this model of prayer on multiple occasions. The general outline is the same, although Luke’s version is shorter. This may be evidence that the Lord’s Prayer was not meant to be the exact wording of a prayer to be repeated by Jesus’ followers (although praying the Lord’s Prayer can be a valuable experience) but a model on which to base our own prayers.

The Bible has a lot to say about prayer. Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament we find encouragement and teaching on the subject of prayer. Jesus Himself made prayer a significant part of His life, both in content and in time spent in prayer. Note that the Lord’s Prayer is taught along with other teaching about prayer in both Matthew and Luke. We cannot truly serve the Lord if we neglect to pray.

Our emphasis through these 30 days has been on the Word of God. By reading, studying, meditating on, and memorizing Scripture, we hear the Lord speak to us. The Bible is His revealed Word, and as we follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in our time in the Word we canlearn what God has to say to us. The Bible is God’s message to all those who believe in Him, the way He initiates a conversation with us to draw us closer to Him and to our Lord Jesus Christ.

A conversation is a two-way communication. The Lord speaks to us through His Word, and we speak back through prayer. While our study has been focused on God’s side of the conversation, we must never forget our side. As we read and study the Bible, we will find many passages that will help us to pray and encourage us to be faithful in prayer.

It amazes me to think that God wants to hear from me. The God who sent His Son to take my judgment, the Savior who gave Himself for me, the Spirit who guides, convicts and directs my life listen to my prayers, and even more astonishingly answer them. There may be no greater motivation to pray than knowing this is true, and that in prayer we speak directly to God.

As we continue our journey in the Word, and as we continue to see how we can more effectively learn about what God has revealed to us, let’s not forget to answer back. Listen to what the Lord has to say, then let Him know what you are learning. By engaging in this divine conversation, we will find ourselves drawing closer to our Lord, and becoming more like Him.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 21: Matthew 5:1-12

If we look at the way Jesus taught during His time here on earth, we find that it is very different from the way teachers work today. As a teacher myself, I know there is a lot of pressure on those who work in schools to get their students through a set block of material. There is a test coming, and we have to have our students ready. We can’t spend as much time as we’d like to keep covering a subject as thoroughly as we’d like.

Jesus used the rabbinic model that was common in first century Judaism. While there were many books written in that era, rabbis focused on oral teaching that was repeated until their students learned it. Learning from a rabbi required a commitment of time and effort from a student. Many rabbis traveled, so their students had to travel with them. A rabbinic student had a hunger for knowledge and truth.

We see Jesus repeating teaching in the gospels. One of the large blocks of teaching that is repeated is some of the material from the Sermon on the Mount. We find it in Matthew 5-7 and some of it in Luke 6. Each of these passages is slightly different, which suggests that Jesus would match His teaching to specific audiences even while keeping the underlying truths intact. From what we see in the gospels, and what we know about Jewish teaching in His time, we are sure Jesus reinforced His teaching by repeating ideas and stories throughout His ministry.

In our churches today, people aren’t going to spend their lives following a pastor or teacher around day to day. However, we have many ways to study sound Biblical teaching that we can expose ourselves to the truth every day. Modern churches and technology give us the Bible, study helps, and the chance to study with qualified teachers. We have more resources than any rabbi ever had.

This blessing comes with a caution. We can use the wide variety of Bible studies and helps to keep moving from passage to passage and idea to idea without taking the time to allow each teaching to sink in and take root in our hearts. We can also rely on easy access to teachers and helps in such a way that we aren’t truly learning what the Bible teaches, expecting to just look it up. Our goal must still be to get the Word into our minds, hearts, and lives.

Jesus is the greatest teacher of all time, and the Word allows us to learn from Him. While we aren’t rabbinic students, we still need to commit to studying the Word He gave us and putting what we learn into practice in our life. When we make this commitment, we will see our lives transform to become more like our Teacher and Lord. 

30 Days in the Bible, Day 20: Ephesians 4:11-16

When we look at what the Bible says about teachers, we generally focus on the requirements and responsibilities of the teacher. That is incredibly important, especially in our fast-moving media age, but there is one other aspect we should also examine. We not only want to know the qualifications of a teacher, but what they seek to achieve by their teaching.

Ephesians 4:11-16 gives us insight into what we should expect solid Bible teaching to accomplish in peoples’ lives and in the church. If we have godly and qualified teachers bringing out the truth of God’s Word to the members of the church, we ought to expect to see certain changes in those lives and those churches. (By the way, this is also true for apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors, all of whom have a singular charge given here.)

Those who sit under teaching consistent with the Word should themselves become equipped to live the Christian life. If the members of a church are not becoming more like Jesus Christ, or if they are not developing in their ministry and service to others, the teaching misses the point. The goal of teachers in the church is to increase the number of Christians who are actively living out their faith day to day.

Note that this specifically includes becoming equipped to serve. Every Christian has been gifted by the Holy Spirit for service. We each have our own ministry within the church; this passage mentions only a few. (You can go to Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 for more.) However, you can’t just dive in to every possible kind of service that is needed in the church. Teachers help us learn about our gifts and how we can develop and use them for the glory of Jesus.

The church and its members should be built up by sound teaching. If teachers or teachings result in people separating from each other or in churches dividing, there is something wrong with the teacher, the teaching, or both. The goal is to help Christians grow in their life with Christ, and good teachers will assist their students in doing this.

The next goal seems impossible in our world: to bring the church together in unity. This ties in to building up the church. There are so many denominations and churches around that we start to ask which one is the true church. What we ought to be working toward as Christians is showing the world our common Savior and His sacrificial work on our behalf. We will one day all be united when we see Jesus face to face. Until then, good teaching should seek to proclaim the truth of the Word, and look forward to the day when we are all one in the presence of our Lord.

Good Biblical teaching also keeps us from pursuing false teaching. Almost any teaching can sound good if you listen to a teacher who is persuasive and points you to a selected number of passages in the Bible. We need teachers who will proclaim the whole Word of God, so that we may know the truth that God reveals in that Word. Since we’re human, we may not all agree on every point of doctrine, but we should know the central truths of Scripture and be able to detect when someone is straying from them.

The final goal of sound teaching mentioned here is spiritual maturity. As Christians, we want to help each other grow to be more like Christ. That may require correction, which must be done in love and with a goal of helping each other on our path toward full maturity. We won’t reach that final goal until we get to eternity, but we should see ourselves and our fellow Christians getting more and more like Him. Teachers who keep us focused on Jesus and on the Word will help us to grow like this as we journey toward heaven.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 19: James 1:22-25

The way we see ourselves in our mind is seldom the same way we see ourselves in the mirror. I like to think that I look very much like I did about 15 years ago, but when I look in the mirror I see my father staring back at me. The truth is I don’t have a very good idea of my appearance in my memory, and that’s probably true for most people.

The same thing happens when we look at ourselves spiritually. It’s easy to focus on what we have done that is good, while minimizing our sin. We may tend to think of ourselves as better than we really are. On the other hand, some people are so conscious of particular sins that they begin to see themselves as worthless and not deserving of forgiveness. Both of these are distorted images of who we are.

That is why James encourages Christians to constantly look into God’s Word for an accurate reflection of who we are. In the Bible, we see that we are sinners, unworthy of heaven, but that through the grace of Jesus Christ we have been made right with God. We see that we are forgiven, not because we are worthy, but because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us on the cross and gave us forgiveness through faith in Him. We are neither perfect saints nor are we hopeless sinners. Through Christ we are sinners saved by grace, united with Him and always seeking to become more like Him.

This passage can tie in with what we saw yesterday about memorizing Scripture. With God’s Word hidden in our heart, we always have a mirror available to show us who we are. It’s a little like the way many women carry around a small compact mirror to check on their hair and makeup. We can check up on our spiritual condition by holding up passages from the Bible that speak to whatever we may encounter in our lives.

By reading, studying, and meditating on God’s Word, while committing more and more of it to memory, we will have an accurate picture of who we are in Christ, how we relate to our heavenly Father, and how we can live in a way that please and honors Jesus. As we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us through the Word, we will grow more like Christ, and as we grow more like Him we will be able to show Jesus to those we encounter every day.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 18: Psalm 119:9-16

With all the access we have to information these days, we don’t often worry about memorizing material we come across. When my children ask my wife a question, she’ll tell them, “You have the knowledge of the universe in your pocket. Look it up!” With smart phones, tablets, computers, and other devices, we can find almost anything we want to know pretty quickly.

I believe that technology can be a real blessing for learning the Bible. Having the Bible on my phone makes my devotional reading easier, since I can have it at my fingertips in seconds. However, we can take the ease with which we can access Scripture and use it as an excuse to not get the Word into our hearts and minds. While the Bible on a phone is convenient, it isn’t always there to help us fight temptation or to find a verse to comfort or challenge someone with whom we are talking.

Years ago, when I was a child (yes, a very long time ago indeed!), Bible memory was an important part of our Christian education. As I grew older, I went through the Navigators Topical Memory System (still a very good resource). To this day, I often recite verses in the venerable language of the King James Version that I memorized during those days.

I think several factors have led to the lack of emphasis on Bible memory. First is the gradual elimination of Sunday school and related programs for children in the church. This is where much of my memorization began. Second is the proliferation of Bible versions. When most churches used one version, we heard the Scriptures in the same way everywhere, and it often allowed us to memorize passages almost by osmosis. Third is the way that society in general has placed less emphasis on memorization, including in our education system. All of these create new challenges for getting the Word into our hearts.

The psalmist mentions his own practice of hiding God’s Word in his heart. Jesus used memorized Scriptures to resist the temptations Satan threw at Him. Paul cited the Old Testament constantly in his epistles. Throughout the Bible, we see the results of having the Word not just at our fingertips, but in minds and hearts.

Bible memorization is an important spiritual discipline, one which you will find helpful if you make the effort. Choose a good translation of the Bible, set up a list of verses to memorize, and just get started. I find it helpful to print business-card sized reminders, or write out the verses I’m learning on pocket-sized slips of paper. Whatever tools help you, start to get God’s Word into your heart, and see how it works out into your life.

[NOTE: The Navigators have provided a list of verses from their Topical Memory System on their web site for free. You can find that list here.]

30 Days in the Bible, Day 17: Deuteronomy 17:14-20

If the instructions in today’s passage had been taken seriously by the kings of Israel and Judah, how much different could the course of their history have been? God commanded each king to read and follow His law. As we read through the historical books of the Old Testament, we see that this command was ignored by most of the kings. Even if they kept up the external tradition of writing out their own copy of the Law (which we are not told that any king did), they clearly failed to put its precepts into practice.

While not kings, many leaders in the broad stream of Christianity fail to understand and apply the Word today. We see large numbers of churches that call themselves “Christian” espouse teachings that openly ignore what the Word says, sometimes defiantly so. These churches are more interested in fitting in with the intellectual, social, and moral climate of contemporary society than they are with remaining true to God and His Word. They believe that by reflecting current ideals they will attract the world to them.

Most of these situations do not arise when people who attend a church start to pressure the pastors and teachers of the church to compromise. More often, they begin when leaders come in who reject or reinterpret Biblical teachings to match popular thought. There is a lot of pressure to be acceptable to those who have status outside of the church, to appear to be reasonable and tolerant by people who are more interested in justifying their sin than to be faithful to Christ.

When we look for a church, or for a pastor or Bible teacher, our first criterion should be “Is this someone who knows and lives the Word of God?” While we’ll never find someone who is perfect, we should seek out leaders for whom the Bible is their authoritative guide for life and whose lives reflect an understanding and commitment to following the Lord and His Word.

Ironically, it is denominations and churches which have turned away from the Bible which are losing members most rapidly. The very thing they thought they could achieve by compromising with modern culture has not happened. When we seek to be like the world, we give those in the world no reason to join us. We can’t offer them anything they don’t already have.

The Bible as the revealed Word of God provides the Christian and the church with something far more important and valuable than anything this world has to offer. Through the Word, we learn of our need, of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, of eternal life, and of a life with meaning that goes beyond our time here on earth. We need to learn from leaders and teachers who know, study, live, and proclaim these truths to us. For that, we must always come back to God’s Word, and to what it reveals to us about Him.

30 Days in the Bible, Day 16: 2 Chronicles 34:14-21

The story in today’s passage doesn’t end where we left off. The king’s representatives went to the prophetess Huldah to ask what the Lord had to say about the situation Israel was in. She confirmed what they already suspected- Israel was about to face judgment for abandoning Him and following other gods. Their neglect of God’s Word had brought them to a place where they didn’t even care what the Lord had to say about their worship, their conduct, and their society.

However, Huldah added that this would not happen while Josiah was king. Since he had responded to the Word with humility and sorrow, the judgment would not fall while he ruled. The Lord honored Josiah’s response, which reflected Josiah’s understanding of who God is and what Israel had done to offend Him.

Given this reprieve, Josiah didn’t sit back and relax, knowing he was off the hook. Rather, he gathered all the leaders and the people of Israel, and read the Book of the Law to them. He renewed his commitment to follow the Word of God, and had the people do the same. The chapter ends with these words: “As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.” (verse 33b)

I’d like to say the story had a happy ending, but it didn’t. Josiah was the last godly king of Judah. Less than 25 years after his death, Babylon came in and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. The promise of the people had been short-lived, and the judgment the Lord had pronounced through Huldah was carried out.

While we don’t stand in the same situation as the nation of Israel, I think we can learn some lessons from their story. In the devotional guide today we looked at the necessity of staying in the Word on a consistent basis so we know what the Lord asks of us. We cannot possibly do what is pleasing and right in His sight if we don’t go to His revealed Word to find what that is.

We also see from Josiah’s experience that when we have sinned and strayed from God’s path, there is forgiveness available as we repent and turn back to the Lord. Jesus paid the price for our sin on the cross, and the New Testament tells us that if we confess our sin we will be forgiven through His blood. The Scriptures not only reveal God to us, but reveal ourselves to us. As we see areas in which we have not followed our Lord, we can turn back to Him and restore our fellowship.

Finally, we see that making one promise isn’t enough. We have to live out our commitment to Christ on a daily basis. Being a follower of Jesus Christ isn’t about a single moment of our life, no matter how powerful that moment might be. It is taking up our cross daily and following Him, spending time in the Word and prayer, and living out what we see revealed to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christianity is a daily building of our relationship with our Savior as we seek to become like Him in everything. We must continue to hear from God through His Word to build this relationship and draw closer to Him.

30 Days in the Bible devotional guide

Just a reminder or a note for new readers: the devotional guide from my church for "30 Days in the Bible" is available as a free PDF download here. If you are reading the supplemental material on the blog, it is designed to stand alone as devotional material, but it also builds off the material in the guide. If you've been following our journey, congratulations on reaching the halfway point!

30 Days in the Bible, Day 15: Proverbs 2:1-6

As we read the book of Proverbs, we find the phrase “fear of the Lord” over and over again (depending on your translation, a dozen times or more). This isn’t talking about the fear that unrepentant sinners should have toward the Lord, a fear of His judgment. These generally urge the one who would follow the Lord to fear Him. Today’s passage tells us to seek wisdom so that we may “understand the fear of the Lord.”

To modern ears, this sounds unusual, to say the least. We consider fear an entirely negative emotion, one that we seek to avoid. Perhaps the only time we genuinely seek “fear” is when we’re watching a horror movie, but then the fear is tempered by the fact that we’re watching can’t really hurt us. When we think we’re in danger, we experience real fear, and it’s not something that we like.

So why would the Bible tell us to fear the Lord? I believe there are two primary aspects to this fear. The first is that we recognize the awesome power and majesty of God. In Israel at the time of the United Kingdom and in the cultures that surrounded them, the king was a figure of majesty, one to whom proper respect was due. Even today, if you were to come into the presence of a powerful ruler, even in a democratic country like the United States, you would be very careful to pay proper respect to that leader. There is a recognition that there is a gap between our station and that of the ruler.

If this is true on an earthly level, how much more is it true of the almighty God? While we certainly have the right through Jesus Christ to approach the Father and to approach Him as children, we have to remember we are also approaching the King. Sometimes Christians approach Jesus casually, as just a friend who is there to help us, but without any sense of His glory and majesty. We should approach Jesus as a friend (which He certainly is), but never forget that He is also our King and Lord.

The second aspect is that of standing before a judge. We are set free from judgment through the blood of Jesus, but that does not change the fact that we are sinners saved by grace. As such, we deserve nothing more than eternal judgment in hell. The only reason we are not going to receive that judgment is the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. Understanding this, we approach the Lord with gratitude for His mercy, but with humility as we realize our place before Him. Our fear is not a trembling horror at judgment, but an honest understanding of who we are and who God is.

The fear of the Lord is not something to be dreaded by the Christian, but to be embraced. Reverence, wonder, and humility keep us from treating God as something less than He is, while at the same time giving us awe at the love, mercy, and grace of this infinite God that saves us from what we deserve. As we approach God- Father, Son and Holy Spirit- we must have a Biblical fear that leads us to worship and honor Him.