A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures for ever.’
Isaiah 40:6-8 NIVUK
I believe it was John Stott who recorded the cautionary tale of the liberal presbyterian minister who went to visit an elderly woman, a member of his congregation. The minister was no great lover of the Bible (I know - talk about being in the wrong job!), but as he listened to his church member relate her tale of woe, he thought a few comforting verses might lift her spirits. So he asked her if he could use her Bible.
The old lady took a thin and apparently very light volume from her shelf and handed it over to the minister. The minister was surprised at its lack of weight, but took it anyway and opened it. To his complete shock, the leather-bound book contained just one page - the contents page.
'Mary, what's happened to your Bible?' he asked.
'Well, minister.' she began. 'I've been listening to your sermons for many years now, and I've often heard you say that this part of the Bible is not true, and that part is not relevant, and this other part isn't right. So I thought to myself, "Well, if they can't be relied on, why should I have them in my Bible?" So I ripped them out.'
I'm sure that minister felt sternly rebuked when he left from that old lady's house. At least I would hope so.
Personally, I cannot conceive of any form of Christianity without the Bible. You say you are a follower of Jesus Christ? Amen! Hallelujah! But from where are you going to learn about Him? How are you going to get to know Him? Do you even know why you are following Him?
If we are Christians, then we must learn how to follow Christ. And the best way to do that is to read the Bible.
But why?
Let me explain. Imagine you are a writer and you have been given a rather expensive commission to write the biography of a living celebrity. Write this book and do it well and you might never need to work again.
So you set off with great enthusiasm to search for every media article about them. You interview their fans. You speak to everyone who ever knew them - from the midwife who delivered them to the barista who makes them their coffee every morning. By the time you've finished this huge piece of research, you are ready to start work. You have so much information that you think you know them inside out.
But do you?
I don't think so. For sure, you know about them. But have you spent even one second speaking to the celebrity themselves during your mountain of research?
No.
You know other people's opinions of them. You might know those opinions very well. But even if you took all those opinions and averaged them together, you still cannot say you know the celebrity. Not until you sit down and interview them directly and get their side of the story.
It's precisely the same with Jesus Christ. You can read every book ever printed about Him - and there are millions. You can listen to every sermon and every podcast ever recorded about Him. You can travel to the four corners of the globe and interview His every follower. But until you get to know Him for yourself, you don't know Him. You only know about Him.
There are many who read their favourite Christian author, listen to their favourite Christian music, sit under the teaching of their favourite Christian preacher, but until they meet with Jesus Christ personally, for themselves, they are not following Him. They can't, because they don't truly know Him.
And how do you come to know Jesus Christ?
Through His Word the Bible.
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30-31 NIVUK
So let me make this really plain: every Christian who wants to grow and become like Jesus must read and study the Bible for themselves. Devotional books, commentaries, spiritual books, podcasts, sermons, psalms, hymns and spiritual songs all have their place. But without directly reading and studying the Bible for yourself, you will not grow.
In case the penny hasn't dropped yet, I have never forgotten an illustration I heard way back when I was a student, almost thirty years ago. All kinds of animals and birds wean their young by hunting for food, killing it, eating it, and then regurgitating it into the mouths of their young. It's quite disgusting to watch. But really, it's their equivalent of canned baby food. Only instead of being mashed to a pulp with a food blender, it's passed part-way through their mother's digestive system first.
Sermons, podcasts, devotionals, commentaries and Christian books are all useful. They have value. But they are pre-digested food. The speaker or writer has wrestled with the great truths of the Bible first and then simplified them for you to understand more easily. If we feed ourselves only on them, we will never grow to maturity.
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 NIVUK
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:11-14 NIVUK
This is why we get so many Christians lining up behind Christian teachers or theologians or denominations and causing havoc when people don't agree with them. They are just simple believers who are very immature and haven't learned yet to think for themselves (1 Corinthians 3:1-4).
So if we really want to grow, we must, absolutely must, read and study the Word of God for ourselves.
But how do we do it? The Bible is ancient literature. It can intimidate us - or we can use its nature as an excuse to avoid putting in the effort to understand it.
Let me give you five things you - and, indeed, pretty much anyone, can do to get to know the Bible better. These will come in my next five posts.
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