February 2, 2003
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The
question for the last few weeks and for the next few weeks, is what do
Christians do? We pray, we worship, and today we add that Christians study
scripture. We have been blessed to be able to feed our souls and minds in the
pages of books, and from movies and music, and other sources. This spring we will revive the practice of giving Bibles to our fourth graders. If you’re in the fifth grade and don’t have one, let us know, and we will get you one too. Just remember when you get your Bible, it will be a gift for you to read and study, and come to love. I
know many of you already study scripture regularly. You take time every day to
study the Bible and to consider its meaning for your life. Some of you even rise
early in the morning to have some quiet time with scripture. Others of you pause
in the course of the day read and reflect. Still others of you prefer to have
your devotional time in the evening. However you do it, you take the time
necessary to contemplate the verses of the Bible in order to find the help and
inspiration you need as you go through your day. We
know the importance of the Bible. In addition to the personal devotions we read
and discuss scripture in church school, in fellowship, in Vacation Bible School,
and in worship on Sunday morning. It is read to encourage couples at weddings,
and to comfort mourners at funerals.
I
want all of us to understand that studying the scripture is one way that
Christians grow strong and stay strong in their faith. That is why I have asked
you to let me know what texts or topics would get you out on an afternoon or
evening for a time of Bible study. There is an insert in today’s bulletin that
asks you to write down the topics or texts that would bring you to Bible study
for four to six weeks at a time. Please fill out the form and return it to me. What
are we doing when we read the Bible? We are studying a book that is a collection
of sixty-six smaller books, some simple and some complicated and all of them
telling together telling a universal story from a particular point of view. From
Genesis to Revelation the Bible is the Judeo-Christian story of God’s eternal
and amazing grace. It is a book which tells from cover to cover the timeless
story of God’s creative, redemptive, and sustaining love for the world and its
people. If
we are honest, we know that the Bible has not always been presented as an
instrument of God’s love. It has been misused by some to justify the abuse of
women and children, the existence of slavery, and religious bigotry against
anyone who stands outside our understanding of who God is and who God really
loves. It has been used to suggest that God supports a certain social agenda or
political party. Be
careful when you read the words found in the Bible. We don’t have to shape
them to our purposes. If we study and discern, we will find ourselves shaped by
the revelation of God found in them. For example, congregations that take
seriously Jesus’ command to his disciples, “let the children come, do not
hinder them”, are congregations that welcome children. Not only do they, and I
hope we welcome them, but they also develop ministries for them, and welcome
them, and as we do, we are nurturing the next generation of this
congregation’s leadership. I want us to be shaped by scripture. Studying
scripture can help us define God’s purposes for us. Jesus went to the
synagogue in Nazareth one Sabbath day. As was the common practice, he along with
other men were invited to read a passage of Hebrew scripture. Luke reworks the
words we find in Isaiah 61. 1-2: “The
Spirit of the LORD
God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good
news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD’S
favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;” As
he reads these words, Jesus is telling us who he is and what he will do. Here is
the mission statement for his ministry. He is saying, “I am the One who is
anointed by God, sent to the world as the Messiah of the world. It will be my
task to embody the gospel, the good news of God especially to the poor”. Then
good news to the poor was simply to tell them that their salvation had come and
they will never be excluded from the realm and reign of God. What is good news
to the poor now? For the materially poor, we don’t know, these are after all
uncertain times here in Ohio and in America. But we belong to God and will trust
God whatever comes. For
people who lack material resources, for people who struggle to make ends meet,
the good news is this: being poor in not always about having too little money.
It is about whether we have resources of the spirit. Growing up, my parents did
not have enough money. But we were never without food, or shelter, or clothes,
or friends. We always had transportation, we had the church, we had a commitment
to learning, we had a wealth of resources. For
those who are poor in spirit – no matter the income, for those who are
unhappy, whose relationship and family life is not all that is desired, who live
with little hope and no joy, the good news is this: God loves you and can give
you all that you need to get through the difficult times that come to all of us.
The good news is that tough times are awful, they hurt, they scare us, they seem
to diminish us, but they are temporary. What is permanent is the love and
presence of God as promised in Joshua 1.9: “Be
strong and courageous, do not be frightened or dismayed for the LORD
your God is with you wherever you go”. The
presence of God will, according to scripture soothe us, give us nerve, and lift
us up. Jesus
will embody the prophet Isaiah’s words to preach good news and to proclaim
release to the captives. Do you know anyone held hostage and captive by harmful
habits they cannot break, by every new fad they must embrace? Have you felt
bound by alcohol, by drugs, by anything that gets between you and God? Read and
live the loving good news of Jesus Christ and be set free. He
came to give sight to the blind – sometimes literally through physical healing
and sometimes symbolically as, it happens when as a result of reading and
receiving his story, our vision is expanded. We come to see a different way to
live, we get a new insight into how to be Christ’s people in the world. Jesus
came for one more reason. He came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
He came to proclaim a Jubilee year of justice during which land is restored and
slaves are set free and everybody knows the joy and freedom that comes from
knowing and being known by God. Why
is Bible study important for us today? It is important because what Psalm
119.105 says is true: God’s word
is a ‘lamp to our feet and a light to our path’. It helps us find our way.
It has encouraged, empowered, calmed, called, and challenged people of faith and
people seeking faith. It has been a source of inspiration, insight, and
enlightenment for people all over the world. It is the means by which we find
wholeness, hope, and healing for our spirits; the light of scripture makes all
the difference in the world. Once
when our family was driving to Arkansas we found ourselves in the Ozark
Mountains. It was late, there were no other cars on the road, and just for a few
seconds, my father slowed down and turned off the car’s lights. It was
seriously dark, except for the small glow of the light coming from the radio. He
wanted us to see the difference the headlights made. The Bible is like that.
There may be other sources of light in our lives, but sacred scripture helps us
to understand the difference the light of God makes in our lives. The
light of scripture shines brightest in us when it is as one writer says,
“gathered into the store of the heart, the mind and the mentality with which
one thinks and wills. The heart itself must be converted from all else. The word
is reason and opportunity for the human heart to be whole” (Interpretation
series. Psalms. James L. Mays. Louisville, John Knox Press, 1994, p.385). In
order for scripture to be relevant in our lives, it has to be owned by us, it
has to have some meaning from our lives, as it did for Jesus. “The
B-I-B-L-E, that’s the book for me. I stand upon the word of God,
the B-I-B-L-E!” We learned
those words as children but it is as adults that we come to understand the depth
of those simple words. I
told you at the beginning of our service this morning that I would ask you to
share a favorite verse of scripture with us. This is the time. What are the
texts that move you? What verses have you gathered into you heart, which ones
encourage, inspire, and challenge you? Some
of you have shared yours. Here are a few of mine. When I am feeling unsure and
perhaps a little afraid I read, Isaiah 43.1: “Do
not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine”.
When
I need reminding of what God wants from us, I remember Micah 6.8: “God has shown us
what is good, and what does God require of us, but to do justice, love kindness,
and walk humbly with our God”. When
I want to remember Christ’s purpose for his followers, I know it is to love
and serve God and to celebrate John 10.10 in which Jesus declares that he has
come that we “we might have life and
have it in abundance”. When
I am confronted with tragedy, as we were yesterday morning when the shuttle
Columbia and its crew were lost over Texas, I was reminded again of Matthew 5.4:
“Blessed are those
who mourn, for they will be comforted”. The words of Romans 8.38-39
also came to me. “For
I am convinced, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord”. Days
come when we are reminded that life can be brutal sometimes. There are words in
scripture that let us know that we can be deeply bruised but we do not have to
be irreparably broken because God holds us dear, I read these words: “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that
it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and not to us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to
despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed”. When
the a cappella group Take 6 recorded a song based on these verses, they titled
the song, “I’ve God Life” and their chorus speaks of our hope in Christ
when it says, “I’ve got a life in Jesus, and I know that I’m gonna win
this race”. That kind of
confidence leads us to action and hope. Luke
tells us that when Jesus finished reading the words of scripture from Isaiah, he
sat down and as was the custom, he commented on the verses he had read. What he
said changed the world. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing” (4.21). The wait for redemption is no longer in a by and by far away
time. The time is here now. “The
age of God’s reign is here; the time when God’s promises are fulfilled and
God’s purpose comes to fruition has arrived; there will be changes in the
conditions of those who have waited and hoped. Those changes for the poor and
the wronged and the oppressed will occur today. This is the beginning of an
eternal Jubilee. Today.” (Interpretation
series. Luke. Fred Craddock. Louisville. John Knox Press, 1990, p. 62). People
did not quite know what to do. But Jesus did. He went on to live the ministry
God gave him. That is what Christians do and was we pray and worship and study
scripture, it is what will make this part of God church pop, and sparkle with
the love of God through Jesus Christ. God has promised and the promises of God
can be trusted, absolutely.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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