One night the Green Bay Packers lost an away game they had been expected to
win. After the team took the long bus ride home, legendary coach Vince Lombardi
made the players put their sweaty uniforms back on and March out onto Lambeau
Field. The coach huddled them together and held up a pigskin, egg-shaped object
high in the air and said, “Gentlemen, THIS is a football!”
Coach Lombardi knew one of the fundamentals of winning a football game is
having a firm grasp of the basics. The same thing is true of the Christian life. So
in the spirit of that unforgettable night in bitterly cold Wisconsin (lift Bible high)
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a Bible!
KEY POINT I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God that guides my
beliefs and action.
Why is the Bible so foundational to the Christian life?
1. The Bible is the inspired Word of God
2. The Bible contains God’s truth and will for our lives
3. Thus, Christians need to know how to read and understand the Bible
These points are as basic to the Christian life as the football is to the game of
football.
The Bible is the Inspired Word of God
In Paul’s second letter to Timothy he tells us that “All scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so
that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The Greek word we interpret as “God-breathed” is the same word used in Genesis
2:7 where God BREATHED life into Adam.. The writer of Hebrews also confirms
the claim, saying, “The word of God is alive and active.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Many books are motivating and inspiring. Every bookstore has an “Inspiration”
section of books. These books move us. The encourage us to be better persons.
They cause us to reflect on our lives and our place in the world. The Bible is all
this and more. This is a book from God HIMSELF. What does that actually
mean? How did the Bible come to be?
Well, the Bible did NOT just fall out of the heavens bound in leather.
It came to us over a very long time and through the oversight of God in four
phases.
Phase 1: Revelation
Revelation means God chose to reveal himself to humanity, not just once, but over
and over again.
In Romans Paul tells us that God reveals himself to all people externally through
nature. This is called General Revelation. “Since the creation of the world God’s
invisible qualities –his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Romans 1:20
God also reveals himself internally through our consciences. Our consiences bear
witness to what is right and wrong. I had one of THOSE days this week, when at
the end of the day al I could say to myself was, “Well, I think you screwed that
up.” How did I know that? Paul says our thoughts accuse us and at other times
they defend us. Whether we know THE LAW or not, there are some things that
just seem matters of common sense. You don’t drive your car into your neighbors
house and expect there won’t be consequences. As they say, ignorance of the law
is no excuse. Somethings we just know are wrong. That is internal revelation of
God through our God-given consciousness.
Finally God reveals himself through a specific person at a specific time with a
specific message to communicate. These are dreams and visits from angels, such
as Mary and Joseph experienced. It was through this special mode of revelation
–specific revelation - that God spoke to the authors who penned the books of the
Bible.
Phase 2: Inspiration
God revealed, or breathed, his message into his chosen people to be written down.
In the OT –stories were first passed down by oral tradition, passed from generation
to generation at the dinner table or around the campfire. In time, God’s word,
especially as revealed to the prophets, was committed, primarily by the prophets of
the OT and later by the Apostles of the NT era. It took 40 authors over 1400 years
to write down the 66 books we call the Bible. After all, they didn’t have
computers and keyboards.
OT - They had papyrus, or animal hides or may have even written on clay with a
bronze or bone writing tool. rolled into scrolls and maybe feathers dipped in dye.
NT – Romans used thin sheets of wax on wooden tablets and a metal writing
stylus.
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the
Prophets own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the
human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20, 21
Phase 3: Transmission
The painstaking task by which individual books were copied down to the scale and
detail of classic works of art.
Care and scrutiny of the work was so intense that it often took several months to
copy one page.
When a page was completed, they would check for accuracy by identifying the
middle word on a page, checking the position of the copy against the original and
if it didn’t match up exactly the copy was burned and the work started all over
again.
There are only 400 words in the NT that we are unsure of who originally wrote
them and none of those relate actual doctrine. That is a 99.9% accuracy rate.
Don’t let anyone tell you that the message of the Bible has been watered down by
years of copying. When we consider the care and precision with which the words
of scripture have been transmitted through the ages, the number of times
throughout history that nations have tried to suppress the word and destroy Bible, ,
it does seem that God Himself has had a hand in preserving His word for his
people.
After an amazing amount of testing, time, energy and divine guidance, in AD 400,
370 years after Christ’s death, the 66 books of the Bible as we know them today
officially came together for the first time under one cover.
Phase 4: Translation
This is the process by with the Bible is translated from the original Hebrew and
Greek copies into other languages. One of the first translations was in Latin. We
know today there are a variety of translations and paraphrases of the Bible, with
more being worked on all the time. It is important to understand the difference
between a translation and a paraphrase. A translation always begins with one
language and ends in another – translating scripture from Greek to English. A
paraphrase begins and ends with the same language. For serious study of the
scripture a translation will be more appropriate. By the way, Eugene Peterson’s
Message is a Translation, not a paraphrase.
What I found most surprising as I prepared this message is the statistics about
Bible translations. I think most of us have an idea that in our modern world
everyone has heard something about the gospel. Here are some facts:
There are 180 million people in the world who do not have access to scripture in
their own language.
There are about 7,000 languages in the world. The Bible has been translated into
only 513 of those languages.
The Hmong people of Southeast Asia are among those who have only in recent
years been able to get Bibles printed in their language thanks to the efforts of
Voice of the Martyrs and Hmong Baptist Fellowship. The Hmong have been a
hunted ethnic group for centuries. Killed in great numbers by Chinese Emperors,
now Hmong Christians are restricted across Vietnam, Loas and China, forbidden to
have Christian literature in their own language.
In spite of these trials, the Hmong are one of the fastest growing groups of
Christians in the world with hundreds of thousands of believers.
In one Hmong village 20 people responded to the evangelist’s message and gave
their lives to Christ and were baptized. They began meeting in the home of one of
the believers to worship and were given Bible in their native language and a few
hymnals.
But the authorities were not pleased. Less than two months later police interrupted
Sunday service, confiscated all 16 Bibles and the few hymnals. Though they
promised to return the Bibles and hymnals after examining them, believers never
received them. Police also took cellphone to prevent them from calling for help
and to make them feel more isolated.
So this is all very interesting. But what difference does it make?
Does it matter to you that --
The Bible is the inspired word of God conveyed to us in writing by
God’s chosen prophets and the Lord’s Apostles.
Does it make any difference to know how careful the transcibers of scripture were
to maintain the integrity and truth of God’s word – that
The truth of God’s word and God’s will for our lives has been
meticulously preserved in the words of the Bible.
Do you read the Bible?
88% of Americans own a Bible.
More than ½ of Americans think the Bible has too little influence on a culture in
morale decline.
BUT only 1 in 5 Americans read the Bible on a regular basis and if they do read it,
the majority – 57% - say they read their Bible just 4 Xs per year or less.
I’m sorry to say, but with statistics like that, I know there people in this room who
rarely if ever read their Bibles. So I ask you bluntly,
DO YOU BELIEVE, DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE, (KEY CONCEPT) THE
BIBLE IS THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD THAT GUIDES YOUR
BELIEFS AND ACTIONS?????
VOM reports that 191,267 people have asked them for Bibles. The first thing
Christians living in restrictive nations ask for is prayer. The second is Bibles.
There are an average of 4 Bibles in every home in America, but in the majority of
homes the Bible is read only 4 times per year.
Ponder all this in your hearts as you watch the following video.
Let those who have ears hear.
by Rev. Robyn Plocher
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