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READ THE BIBLE RELATIONALLY
A. For the past few years, we have begun each new year with a series about the Bible—what it is and how
to read it. This year is no different.
1. Sincere Christians struggle with reading the Bible for a variety of reasons. Many find the Bible
hard to understand, boring, and unrelated to everyday life and the struggles we face. And, because
they don’t understand its purpose, when they do read, they read ineffectively and get little benefit.
2. In this series, we’re going to address these kinds of issues and hopefully help us be more successful
at reading the most important book ever written.
a. If you’ve heard our series on the Bible from the past few years, yes, there will be some repeat.
But we’re all a year older and wiser, so hopefully, we’ll see things we’ve already covered more
clearly. And, we’re going to add some new elements to our discussion this year.
b. In our past series, I’ve emphasized the importance of reading the New Testament regularly and
systematically—and we will briefly review that practice. But we’re also going to talk about
learning to read the Bible relationally. We’ll explain what that means and how to do it.
B. Let’s begin with some facts about the Bible. If you’re a regular, then you’ve heard them before. But
knowing and understanding these facts is crucial to effective Bible reading. One reason sincere people
struggle with the Bible is that they have false expectations about what it will and won’t do for them.
1. The Bible isn’t a self-help book or a book written to help you solve your problems and give you a
happy, successful life. The Bible was written to communicate specific information about God.
a. The word Bible is from a Latin word that means books. The Bible is actually a collection of 66
books and letters written over a 1500-year period (1490 BC-100 AD) by more than 40 authors.
b. Despite the length of years and number of authors it took to produce the Bible, these 66 books
have a cohesiveness to them. There are two reasons for this cohesiveness.
c. First, Almighty God inspired the various authors as they wrote. Second, there is one main
theme that runs through the entire Bible, and each book adds to or advances it in some way.
2. The Bible is a unique book because it was inspired by God Himself. Paul the apostle, and an
eyewitness of Jesus wrote: II Tim 3:16—All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (NKJV).
a. This verse was originally written in Greek, and the Greek word that is translated inspiration is
made up of two words: Theos (God) and pneo (to breathe). The word can be rendered Godbreathed: Every Scripture is God-breathed (II Tim 3:16, Amp).
b. God breathed out His Words to the writers who wrote them down. God did not turn them into
robots. They used their own writing skills and expressions, but they were aware that the
thoughts and words they wrote came from (were inspired) by the Lord.
1. One of the authors, Paul the apostle, wrote: I Cor 2:13—We speak words given to us by the
Spirit, using the Sprit’s words to explain spiritual truths (NLT).
2. Another author, Peter the apostle, wrote: II Pet 1:20-21—Above all, you must understand
that no prophecy in Scripture ever came by the prophets themselves or because they wanted
to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God (NLT).
3. The Bible has a cohesiveness to it because of its overall theme. The Bible relates the story of God’s
desire for a family and the lengths He’s gone to in order to obtain His family through Jesus.
a. The Bible opens with God creating the earth to be a home for Himself and His family. God
made human beings in His image and likeness (as much like Himself as a creature can be like its
Creator) so that a mutual, loving relationship is possible. Gen 1:1; Gen 1:26-27
b. However, the first human beings (Adam and Eve) chose independence from God by disobeying
His direct commands to them. Gen 2:15-17

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1. As the head or beginning of the human race and earth’s first steward, Adam’s sin brought
corruption and death to the race resident in him and to the family home (the earth itself).
2. Rom 5:12—When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death
throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned (TLB).
4. God, who Is Omniscient or All-Knowing, knew this would happen and already had a solution for
what happened. Following Adam and Eve’s disobedience, the Lord began to reveal His plan to
undo the damage done by their actions and recover His family and the family home.
a. He promised to send the Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). The Seed is Jesus and the woman is
Mary, the mother of Jesus. When God made this promise no one yet knew that Lord Himself
would one day incarnate (take on a full human nature) and be born into this world. Luke 1:30-35
b. The Lord Jesus incarnated so that He could die as a sacrifice for men and women. Through this
act He would deliver us from the guilt and power of sin and open the way for us to be restored to
our created purpose as God’s sons and daughters through faith in Him. Heb 2:14-15; I Pet 3:18
5. The rest of the Bible is a progressive revelation and advancement of this plan, as God interacted with
people on earth. The Bible is roughly 50% history, 25% prophecy, and 25% instructions for living.
a. The Bible has two main divisions—the Old Testament (39 books, originally written in Hebrew)
and the New Testament (27 books and letters, originally written in Greek).
b. The Old Testament is primarily the history of the people group through whom Jesus came into
this world, the Jewish people (descendances of Abraham). In addition to history, the Old
Testament also includes many prophecies about Jesus and His purpose in coming to earth.
c. The New Testament is a record of Jesus’ birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. It also
recounts the activities of Jesus’ first followers, once He returned to Heaven, and they went out to
spread the news of His death and resurrection to the known world.
1. All of the New Testament authors were eyewitnesses of Jesus. They weren’t trying to write
a religious book. They wrote what they saw and what they heard from Jesus (gospels).
2. They also wrote letters (epistles) to converts which explain what Jesus accomplished through
His sacrifice. And they give instructions on how His followers are supposed to live.
d. The authors wrote to real people to communicate vital information about God’s plan for
humanity. Everything in the Bible (Old Testament and New) was written by someone to
someone about something. These three factors help us get the context for specific statements
the writers made and help us understand what they were trying to say (lessons for another day).
6. Jesus is God’s full revelation of Himself and His plans for a family. Because He is God Incarnate,
He showed us what God is like through His words and actions. Jesus is called the Word of God.
He is the Living Word of God who is revealed in and through the written Word. John 1:1; John 1:14
a. Jesus said: The Scriptures…testify of Me (John 5:39, NKJV). After Jesus was raised from the
dead, He showed His followers from the Scriptures how that through His death and resurrection,
He fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies written about Him. Luke 24:25-27; 44-46
b. Now, because the New Testament clearly reveals Jesus, in recent years, I’ve instructed you to
read it regularly and systematically. (The Old Testament is much easier to understand when it is
read through the light of the New Testament, because of what it tells us about Jesus.)
1. To read regularly means to read for 15-20 minutes every day (or as close to that as possible).
To read systematically means to read each New Testament book from start to finish. That’s
how the books and letters were originally written to be read. Don’t skip around.
2. Don’t worry about what you don’t understand. Just keep reading. You are reading to
became familiar with the material because understanding comes with familiarity, and
familiarity comes with regular, repeated reading.

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C. Over the last several years, many of you have become regular, systematic readers of the New Testament,
with some impressive results. Tonight, I want to suggest another way of reading—not in place of
regular, systematic reading, but in addition to regular, systematic reading—relational reading.
1. God is relational. He created human beings for relationship with Himself. He knows us and wants
to be known by the beings He created. Note these statements that God made to His people.
a. Jer 9:23-24—This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty
man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know
me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that
I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken (NLT).
b. Hosea 6:3-6—(The prophet wrote) Oh, that we might know the Lord. Let us press on to know
him… (God said) I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know God (NLT).
2. The great prophet Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible from information he received from
God on Mount Sinai in Arabia. At that time God gave Moses laws and commandments which the
nation of Israel, the Jewish people, were to live by (many lessons for another day).
a. The point for us is that God gave them His Word so that they could know Him and His ways—
what He is like and what He wanted for them and from them. Through His written Word God
also shows us what He is like so that we can know Him and His ways.
b. Note what Moses wrote: You (Lord) have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor
(favor means grace, acceptance) with me.’ If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your
ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you (Ex 33:12-13, NIV).
3. God can reveal Himself to men and women in a spectacular, visible way as He did with Moses and
Israel at Mount Sinai, but that is highly unusual. The primary way that God reveals Himself to us is
through His written Word. The Bible is our only fully reliable source of information about God.
a. Without the Scriptures, our relationship with God is based on our imagination. To imagine
means to form a mental image of something or someone not present to our senses.
1. To imagine is not wrong, but it is subjective. A subjective mental image of God means that
your image of God originates with you, and may or may not be accurate.
2. The Bible (the written Word of God) is objective. Objective means that it exists outside of
us, independent of us. It isn’t dependent on us and our feelings or our circumstances. God
is Who He is, and God is the way He is, whether we know Him or believe Him or not.
b. But God can and does make Himself known to us through His written Word. We contact God
by His Spirit through His written Word. We engage with Him through information in the Bible.
1. The night before Jesus was crucified, as He prepared His apostles for the fact that He was
soon going to leave, He assured them that He would continue to make Himself known to
them. He said: I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you (John 14:18, NLT).
2. Jesus went on to say: Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves
me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest
myself to him…If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and
we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:21-23, ESV).
A. Remember, Jesus was born into 1st century Israel (the Jews). They understood the
commandments to mean the written Word of God. Notice that Jesus connected love for
God with knowing what He says and obeying Him.
B. Love for God is supposed to be the motive for obeying God. We love Him because He
first loved us (I John 4:19). He loved us enough to die for us (I John 4:9-10). And our
response to Him is love expressed in obedience (more on this is later lessons).
c. In the Scriptures we see God’s plan for man, a plan motivated by and carried out in love. And
they are intended to lead us into loving relationship with Almighty God and with our fellow man.

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1. When Jesus was on earth, a religious leader asked Him which is the most important
commandment in the Law. Matt 22:36
2. Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all
your mind’. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. All the other commandments and all the demands of the
prophets are based on these two commandments (Matt 22:37-40, NLT).
4. Reading is relational. We read the Bible to get to know a Person, the Author and the subject of the
Book—Jesus, the Living Word—who has promised to reveal Himself to us through His written
Word. We can engage (connect) with the Lord and know Him in and through the Scriptures.
a. When Jesus made the statements about manifesting, disclosing, or making Himself known to His
followers at the Last Supper, He was talking to men familiar with meditating on the Scriptures.
Note these Old Testament passages
1. Ps 1:1-2—Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the
way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night (ESV).
2. Ps 119:97-99—Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day…your testimonies
are my meditation (ESV).
3. Josh 1:8—This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on
it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it (ESV).
b. Two different Hebrew words for meditate are used in these verses. Both have the idea of
reflecting or pondering. One word means to murmur and the other comes from a word that
means to converse with oneself.
c. To meditate on God’s word implies thinking and talking to yourself about it—not mindless
repetition, but thoughtful reflection.
5. What does this look like in real life? As you read, if a verse strikes you or stands out to you in some
way, pause to ponder it and converse with yourself about it (or meditate on it). Here’s an example.
a. Let’s use John 3:16—For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (NKJV).
b. Recognize that God inspired this verse to reveal something to you about Himself and His plan
for you. Jesus actually spoke these words to real people when He was here on earth, and God
inspired John, the writer, to record what Jesus said. Then personalize the Scripture. Read it
thoughtfully. Consider each word. Say the words to yourself.
1. Jesus said that He (God) loves the world. I’m part of the world. That means He loves me.
His love moved God the Father to send His Son Jesus to die for me. The Creator of the
universe knows me and loves me. God loved me enough to die for me.
2. I believe in Him. That means I won’t perish. I won’t be lost. I have and will have
everlasting life. Lord, thank you for your love and your plan for me
c. When you read relationally, you aren’t trying to find a deep or hidden meaning. You are
reading with an awareness that Almighty God inspired these words to communicate information
about Himself and His plan to all who hear and read them. Remember what we talked about in
the series we just completed. God wants to make Himself known to us if we seek Him. Ps 27:8
D. Conclusion: We have more to say next week, but keep these thoughts in mind as you read relationally.
1. You aren’t just reading a book. You are interacting with a Person, a Being—Almighty God who
has known you since forever, loves you, is with you, and is for you.
2. God’s promise to us is that if we will take time to sit in His Presence and interact with Him through
His Word, He will make Himself known to us. Ps 46:10