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PUT FORTH THE EFFORT TO READ

A. Introduction: This is the last lesson in our series on reading the Bible. My goal in the series has been to
help Christians overcome some of the challenges they face as they try to read, by explaining what the Bible is,
what it will do for you if you read it, and how to approach it as you read. We begin with a brief review.
1. The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books that together tell the story of God’s desire for a family and the
lengths to which He has gone to obtain His family through Jesus (Eph 1:4-5). Every book in the Bible
adds to or advances this story in some way until we have the full revelation given in and through Jesus.
a. I’ve urged readers to begin with the New Testament. It was written by eyewitnesses of Jesus (or
close associates of eyewitnesses). These men walked and talked with Jesus, saw Him die, and then
saw Him alive again. What they saw changed their lives, and they wrote to tell what they saw.
1. To get the most out of the New Testament, you need to read it regularly and systematically. To
read regularly means to read daily (if possible) for a short period of time (15-20 minutes). To
read systematically means to read each book as it was written to be read, from start to finish.
2. The purpose of this type of reading is to become familiar with the text, because understanding
comes with familiarity, and familiarity comes with regular, repeated reading.
b. This year, to help you get started with regular, systematic reading, I’ve encouraged you to focus first
on the reading the gospels. (Reading four books is much less daunting that reading 27 books.)
1. The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are biographies of Jesus, written to tell people
who Jesus is and what He did, so that they will believe that He is the Son of God (God
Incarnate, the Savior), and have life through Him. John 20:30-31
2. People are sometimes bothered by the repetition in the gospels. The gospels repeat because
they cover the same basic storyline, but each one emphasizes a different aspect of Jesus’ Person
and work. And each is directed toward the needs of the community that the author served.
A. Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience and Mark wrote to a Gentile audience. Luke wrote to
a new believer to assure him of the historical reality and certainty of what he had believed.
B. John wrote to a universal audience to clearly state that Jesus is God Incarnate (God become
man without ceasing to be God), because false teachings about who Jesus was and is began
to arise several decades after the Lord returned to Heaven.
2. Sincere Christians often struggle with Bible reading because they have false expectations about what it
will do for them. And they have not been properly instructed on how to read it.
a. Many get frustrated with reading the Bible because it doesn’t seem to relate to everyday life. But
the men who wrote the Bible were not writing to help us solve our problems or have a better life.
The authors wrote to communicate information about God’s plan for a family through Jesus.
b. About 50% of the Bible is a historical narrative related to God’s plan. About 25% is prophecy
concerning Jesus the Savior. And about 25% is instruction on how God’s sons and daughters are
supposed to live in this world as they serve Him.
c. Far too many people approach the Bible from the standpoint of what does it mean to me? But that’s
the wrong approach because the Bible wasn’t written to you and me in that sense.
1. It was written by real people (who were inspired by God) to other real people at particular times
in history, to communicate information about God’s plan of salvation from sin through Jesus.
2. To properly interpret any passage we must consider that context—what the author meant when
he wrote, and how the original hearers understood his words.
3. Last week we began to talk about the gospels (who wrote them and why). We addressed some of the
issues that people struggle with when they try to read the gospels. We’ll finish up tonight.
B. Part of the challenge of reading the gospels is that the writers lived 2000 years ago in a place and a culture that
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is foreign to us. They made cultural and geographic references in their writings that they and their readers
understood, but that we don’t. They used figures of speech that were familiar to them, but not to us.
1. To benefit from the gospels, we need to understand some things about their writing styles. You might
be wondering, how can I possibly know those things?
a. Sometimes the text itself makes these things clear when you read the entire passage rather than one
one or two verses. You find an explanation for what you don’t understand a few pages later.
b. This is why you need to read entire books instead of isolated, random verses. Understanding really
does come with familiarity and familiarity does come with regular, repeated reading. (Getting
teaching from a good Bible teacher who knows the Bible well is also very helpful.)
1. Don’t worry about what you don’t understand at first. You can presume that what you don’t
understand is possibly a cultural reference or a figure of speech that is unfamiliar to you.
2. Just keep reading. Ask God to help you see Jesus in the Scriptures, what He is like and what
He does. Remember, you are reading to get to know the Living Word, Jesus, through the
written Word, the Scriptures. Jesus said that the Scriptures testify of Him. John 5:39
2. Much of Jesus’ teaching was in the form of parables or short stories where He used examples and images
familiar to His audience to make His point. For instance, when Jesus was asked why the Pharisees
fasted often but His disciples didn’t, Jesus replied that no one puts new wine in old wineskins. Matt 9:17
a. In that culture, wine was stored in bottles made of sheep or goat skin. When wine is fermenting, it
expands. New wineskins had great elasticity and accommodated the expansion without bursting.
1. Old wineskins would burst. Jesus was making the point that He was going to bring in a new
way (a new covenant) that couldn’t be fitted into the old way of doing things (the old covenant).
2. Through His teachings, Jesus was progressively preparing them for what was ahead. His
sacrificial death will open the way for those who believe in Him to be indwelled by the Holy
Spirit and become literal sons and daughters of God through a new birth. John 1:12-13
b. Each of Jesus’ parables teaches one essential truth to the people that He was actually speaking to
when He gave the parable. The details are incidental. For example, Jesus told a parable about ten
virgins with oil lamps that went to meet a bridegroom. Matt 25:1-13
1. We tend to try to focus on and try to figure out the details and miss Jesus’ point. We ask why
were there ten virgins? What does the oil in the lamp symbolize? However, no one who
heard Jesus tell this parable had those kinds of questions. The context makes that clear.
2. Jesus just finished giving a number of signs which will signal that His second coming is near,
and He told several parables to urge His followers to live with the awareness that He will return.
Therefore be prepared, stay faithful to me, and do what I’ve asked you to do. Matt 24-25
3. People sometimes struggle with what seem to be inaccurate statements in the gospels or statements that
seem to contradict Jesus’ loving nature. But these are nothing more than the reader not understanding
or misunderstanding the culture of 1st century Israel. For example:
a. Matt 13:31-32—Jesus called mustard seeds the smallest seed of all, but said that it can grow into a
tree big enough to house birds. However, mustard seeds are not the smallest seeds in existence.
1. Jesus wasn’t talking about every seed in the world. He was speaking to Jewish people living in
1st century Israel about a seed that they were familiar with. Mustard seed was the smallest seed
known to them and cultivated in their fields.
2. Two species grow wild in Israel, and one was grown for a condiment. It can in fact grow big
enough to house birds. And, some mustard seeds grow into trees about ten feet tall.
b. Luke 14:26—Jesus said that if you want to be my follower you must hate your mother and father,
wife and children, brothers and sisters. But He also said that His followers must love their enemies.
1. The Greek word translated hate has the idea of to love less. Matthew’s gospel says: He who
loves his mother and father (etc.) more than me is not worthy to be my follower (Matt10:37).
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2. Jesus was not contracting Himself. He was making the point that obeying and pleasing Him
must be the supreme desire of His followers’ hearts.
c. Matt 8:21-22—In the context of following Jesus, a disciple said let me bury my father first. Jesus
replied: Let the dead bury the dead. Jesus wasn’t being mean or telling not him grieve his father.
1. The phrase bury my father was used in that culture to mean that a son had to fulfill his duties to
his parents and couldn’t leave home until they died. It didn’t mean his father just died. Jesus
was stating the cost of following Him: I, your Lord and Master, come first before all else.
2. A second explanation: At death, bodies were placed in tombs. The following year, relatives
returned, gathered the bones, and placed them in an ossuary (bone box) to make room in the
tomb. Jesus may have been telling the man: Let someone else gather your father’s bones.
d. Matt 24:34—Jesus listed numerous signs which will indicate that His second coming is near and
said: This generation shall not pass until all these things be fulfilled.
1. Sincere people are troubled by this verse because many generations have come and gone since
Jesus uttered those words, and He has not yet returned. The Greek word translated generation
can mean race or people group (Matt 17:17; Luke 16:8; Phil 2:15). Jesus was saying that the
Jewish people group (the people He was speaking to) will not cease to exist before He returns.
2. This passage is also sometimes interpreted to mean that the generation that sees the beginning
of these signs of His return will see them all. Either way, it’s not a mistake or a contradiction.
C. Before we conclude this series I want to cover one more point not directly related to how you read, but just as
important. You need to know that you can trust what you read in the New Testament.
1. It has become increasingly common to hear that we don’t the right Bible books or that the words have
been changed over the centuries. And people wrongly say that church councils picked the books in the
New Testament centuries after Jesus lived, to advance political agendas and mislead and control people.
a. However, no one “picked the books” in the New Testament. That is contrary to what we know
about how these documents spread. From the beginning, Christians recognized certain documents
as authoritative. Authoritative means they were directly traceable to an original apostle of Jesus.
b. We know this from the early church fathers who came after the apostles. These men were taught
by the original apostles and became the next generation of leaders once the apostles died.
1. These men and others wrote extensively about the early church, its practices and doctrines. All
of their works (down to AD 325) have survived, and have been translated into English.
2. They give us much information about early Christians (what they believed and how they lived).
They also tell us which books were recognized as authoritative (connected to an apostle).
2. Church councils were held in the centuries following the apostles to settle doctrinal disputes, not to pick
Bible books. The Council of Nicaea (AD 325) was called to settle a doctrinal dispute over Arianism.
a. Arius was a church leader in North Africa who began to teach that, although Jesus was the Creator
of the world, He himself was a created being and therefore not truly Divine. Arius gathered many
followers and, as this heretical teaching spread, conflict arose.
1. Constantine became Emperor of Rome during this period (AD 324). He professed faith in
Christ when he prayed to the Christian God and was victorious in battle. How genuine his
faith was is a topic for another day, but he did end imperial (Roman) persecution of Christians.
2. As the Roman Emperor, Constantine was the head of the state religion (pagan) and responsible
for maintaining good relations between his people and their gods. Constantine saw himself in
a similar role as a Christian emperor.
b. When Constantine became aware of the raging disputes over Arianism in the eastern part of his
empire, he ordered a church council to meet and settle the issue. Church leaders met at Nicaea,
a village in northern Asia Minor (now part of the city of Iznik in Turkey).
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c. The Council of Nicaea declared Jesus to be of one essence or substance with God the Father, and a
creed (or statement of doctrine) was composed that is still in use today, the Nicene Creed. The
council had nothing to do with picking and choosing which books should be in the Bible.
3. Even if we know that have the right books, how can we be certain that we have the original words?
How do we know that the wording hasn’t been changed over the last two thousand years?
a. There are no original manuscripts of the New Testament (or any other ancient book for that matter)
because they were written on materials that disintegrated long ago (papyrus, animal skins). What
we have are copies. The issue is, how reliable are the copies?
1. There is some evidence in the writings of the church fathers that the original documents written
by the apostles may have survived until the end of the 2nd century.
2. Around AD 180, Tertullian (a church father) wrote: “You who are ready to exercise your
curiosity…run over to the apostolic churches…where their authentic writings are read”. Then
he lists specific cities where the apostles sent their epistles.
b. Critical to determining the reliability of the copies is how many copies exist (so that they can be
compared to make sure that they say the same thing), and how close to the originals were the copies
made (less passage of time means less chance that the information was altered).
c. More than 24,000 New Testament manuscripts (full or partial) have been discovered. The earliest
is a fragment of John’s gospel dating to within fifty years of the original writing.
1. The New Testament was written AD 50-100. We have almost 6,000 manuscripts that are
earlier than AD 130, a 50 year time gap. How does this compare with other ancient books?
2. Homer’s Iliad was written in 800 BC. We have 1800 plus manuscripts, and the earliest dates
to 400 BC (a 400 year time gap). Plato’s works were written in 400 BC and we have 210
copies. The earliest dates to AD 895 (a 1300 year gap). Yet no one questions these works.
4. There are variations in manuscripts copies—about 8% in the New Testament. Copyists (scribes) did
make mistakes. But the vast majority are spelling and grammar errors, and words that are left out,
reversed, or copied twice. These errors are easy to recognize and don’t affect the meaning of the text.
a. Occasionally a scribe tried to harmonize two passages about the same event in different gospels, or
he added a detail known to him, but not found in the original. Sometimes a scribe tried to make the
meaning clearer by explaining what he thought it meant—and they weren’t always right.
b. These changes are insignificant. They don’t alter the narrative, and they don’t affect any of the
major doctrines (teachings) of Christianity. And we have hundreds of early manuscripts that show
us what the text looked like before the additions were made.
1. If the Scriptures were inspired by God (God-breathed) as the Bible claims to be (II Tim 3:16),
then it must be error free, because God cannot lie or make a mistake.
2. The Bible is infallible and inerrant. Infallible means incapable of being wrong and unable to
deceive, and inerrant means free from error. Inerrancy and infallibility apply only to the
original, God-inspired documents, not to the copies.
D. Conclusion: We could say a lot more about why reading the Bible is so important. But at the top of the list
is to get to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, the Living Word, the Lord Jesus, is revealed in and
through the Scriptures. As we close, consider what Jesus said about Himself and His Word.
1. John 6:63—My Words Spirit and life: All the words through which I have offered myself to you are
meant to be channels of the Spirit and of life to you, since in believing these words you would be brought
into contact with the life in me (J. S. Riggs Paraphrase).
2. John 14:21—Before Jesus left this earth He connected making Himself known to His followers to His
Word. He said He would continue to reveal Himself to those who have and keep His commandments.
3. It takes discipline to become a Bible reader, and it isn’t always earth-shaking. But it is worth the effort!