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RELATIONAL BIBLE READING
A. Introduction: We have begun a series on the importance of becoming a Bible reader. Many sincere
Christians struggle with Bible reading, so we open each new year with a series aimed at helping people
get the most out of reading the Bible.
1. Successful reading starts with understanding what the Bible is and why it was written. The Bible is
a collection of 66 books and letters that were written by men who were inspired by God. II Tim 3:16
a. Altogether, these 66 books tell the story of God’s desire for a family and the lengths to which He
has gone to obtain His family through tell Jesus. The Bible is 50% history, 25% prophecy, and
25% instruction for living.
1. The Bible reveals that God created human beings to become His sons and daughters who live
in a mutual, loving relationship with Him. But all human beings have chosen independence
from God through sin and are disqualified for His family. Eph 1:4-5; Rom 3:23
2. Two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus Christ incarnated (took on a human nature) and was
born into this world to die as a sacrifice for sin. By doing so He opened the way for all who
believe on Him to be restored to God’s family through faith in Him. Heb 2:14-15; I Pet 3:18;
Rom 5:1; Rom 5:8; etc.
b. The Scriptures reveal Jesus. He is called the Word of God. Jesus is the Living Word of God
who is revealed in and through the written Word of God (John 1:1: John 1:14). Jesus Himself
said: The Scriptures testify of me (John 5:39, NKJV).
1. The Old Testament (the first 39 books) is primarily the history of the Jews, the people group
through whom Jesus came into this world. It has numerous prophecies about Jesus, as well
as real events and people that foreshadow or picture Jesus and His work.
2. The New Testament (26 books) was written by eyewitnesses of Jesus. It includes records of
His ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection (the gospels), along with writings that explain
what Christians believe and how we are to live (the epistles).
2. We were created to know God. Knowing the Lord, knowing Jesus, is the satisfaction of life. Jesus
said: This is the way to have eternal life (real life)—to know you, the only true God and Jesus
Christ, the one you sent to earth (John 17:3, NLT);
a. The primary way that God reveals Himself to us is through His written Word. The Bible is our
only fully reliable, completely trustworthy source of information about God.
1. Without the Scriptures, our relationship with God is based on our imagination. To imagine
means to form a mental image of someone or something not present to our senses.
2. We read the Bible, not out of a religious obligation, not to get brownie points from God, but
to know Him—our Creator, our Redeemer, our Savior.
b. God is relational and desires relationship with us. He already knows us, but wants us to know
Him. In this series we’re emphasizing relational reading, reading the Bible to get to know God.
B. Jesus was born into a people chosen by God to receive and record His written Word. It began with the
Lord’s revelations given to Moses after God delivered them (Israel) from Egyptian slavery Ex 19-31
1. At Mount Sinai, God gave Moses His Laws and commandments, and instructed Moses to write them
down and teach them to the people. The first commandments were written by God Himself on
stone tablets, and the rest God told Moses to write down. Ex 24:12; Ex 31:18; Dan 9:11-13; etc.
a. These laws and commandments were preserved, copied, passed on to succeeding generations,
and added to as God inspired other authors to write. God gave His Word to Moses and Israel
(the Jews) so that they could know Him and His ways.
b. Note a statement that Moses made: Ex 33:12-13—You (God) have said (to me, Moses), I know
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your name. I know all about you. And I am pleased with you. (Moses replied), if you are
pleased with me, teach me more about yourself. Then I can know you. And I can continue to
please you (NIV), so I will understand you more fully and do exactly what you want me to do
(NLT).
c. God’s commandments (His Word, His Words) are for our benefit. When we live in submission
to and relationship with Him, when we live according to His commands, that is the place of true
joy, fulfillment, and meaning.
2. As a Jew, Jesus grew up in a culture that understood the terms commandments and Law to mean the
Scriptures, God’s written Word. They also understood that to love God meant to obey Him.
a. When Jesus was here, a religious leader asked Him which is the most important commandment
in the Law. 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).
b. All of God’s commands are intended to lead us into loving relationship with Him and with our
fellow man. The point for us now is that God wants your heart—He wants all of you.
1. God is passionate about His relationship with you. Perhaps you’ve heard the verse which
says that God is a jealous God. Those words were spoken to Israel at a time when Israel was
worshipping false gods: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is
Jealous, is a jealous God (Ex 34:14, KJV).
2. The Hebrew word that is translated jealous means to be jealous or zealous. To be zealous
means to have an eagerness, an ardent interest in pursuing something.
3. Ex 34:14—You must worship no other gods, but only the Lord, for he is a God who is
passionate about his relationship with you (NIV).
c. The night before Jesus was crucified, at the Last Supper, as He prepared His twelve apostles for
the fact that He was soon going to leave them, He told them that He would continue to make
Himself known to them through His Word.
1. Jesus said: 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 (John 14:21-23, ESV).
2. The Greek word that is translated keep means to observe, give heed to: If you love me, you
will do what I have said…If anyone loves me, they will obey me (John 14:21-23, CEV).
3. Note two key points in Jesus’ statement: One, He promised to continue to reveal Himself to His
followers through His Word, and two, obedience to His Word is an expression of love for Him.
a. Earlier in His ministry Jesus told His followers that His Words are spirit and life (John 6:63).
He made this statement in the context of calling Himself the Bread of Life (John 6:35)
1. Bread was the most basic food in the ancient world and made up a large part of everyone’s
diet. Bread was called the staff of life. Jesus compared the Word of God to bread: People
need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God (Matt 4:4, NLT).
2. We could do an entire lesson on what it means that His words are spirit and life. But
consider this paraphrase of John 6:63. It captures the essence of what God’s Word does for
us: 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 those words, you would be brought into
contact with the life in me (J. Riggs).
A. We connect with God by His Spirit, through His written Word, because He reveals
Himself to us through His Word—which the Holy Spirit inspired. II Pet 1:21
B. The Bible is no ordinary book. It is a Book from God, and just as food works in us to
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nourish us when we take it in, so God’s Word works in those who take it in. I Thess 2:13
b. Almighty God wants more than blind obedience from us. God wants our heart. He wants
obedience that comes out of love for Him. Love is supposed to be our motive for obeying Him.
1. Our love for Him comes out of knowing that He loves us: I John 4:19—We love Him
because He first loved us (NKJV); Rom 5:8—God showed his great love for us by sending
Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners (NLT).
2. I John 4:9-10—God showed us how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world
so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins (NLT).
4. Luke 7:36-50—On one occasion, when Jesus was dining at the home of a Pharisee named Simon, an
immoral woman brought a jar of rare, expensive perfume into the room. She knelt as Jesus’ feet,
weeping and wiping His feet with her tears. She kissed His feet and put the perfume on them.
a. The Pharisee said to himself: If this man were from God, He would not let this kind of woman
touch Him. Jesus knew what the Pharisee was thinking and told a parable (story) about a man
who loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 to the other. Neither
could repay the man, so he cancelled both their debts.
b. Jesus then asked Simon, which debtor ‘do you suppose loved him (the lender) more after that?’
Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt’. ‘That’s right’ Jesus
said (Luke 7:42-43, NLT).
1. Jesus looked at the woman, but said to Simon, you didn’t offer me water to wash off my feet,
give me a kiss of greeting, or anoint my head with oil. Yet this woman has washed my feet
with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and kissed them again and again.
2. Luke 7:47-50—(Jesus said) I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so
she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only a little love.
Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven…your faith has saved you; go in
peace’ (NLT).
5. Paul the apostle wrote 14 of the 27 books in the New Testament. Note what he wrote to Timothy,
his son in the faith: You have been taught the holy Scriptures since childhood, and they have given
you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus (II Tim 3:15, NLT).
a. Paul wrote in Greek and the Greek word translated trust is the word for faith. It means a firm
belief in the truth of someone or something. Faith is trust or confidence in a person. Trust is an
assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone (Webster’s Dictionary).
b. There is a difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing someone. To have
faith or trust in a person, you must know that person. God reveals Himself to us through His
written Word so that we can know Him, love Him, and trust Him.
1. Ps 9:10—Those who know your name trust in you, for you O Lord, have never abandoned
anyone who searches for it (NLT); They who know your name [who have experience and
acquaintance with Your mercy] (Amp); who know what thou art (Moffat).
2. The word name has the idea means reputation, memory, renown. God calls Himself by
numerous names in the Bible and each one reveals something about His Person and work.
c. The Bible is more than a book that teaches us how to think and act, more than a checklist of do’s
and don’ts. Yes, there are teachings and commands that tell us what to believe and how to live.
But there is more to it than that. The Bible reveals a Person who wants relationship with us
1. We are saved through faith in a Person. And we’re to live our lives by faith in this Person
who reveals Himself through His written Word so that we can know and trust Him.
2. There is a difference between obeying a rule (a commandment) and obeying a Person (or
doing what they tell us) because we love and trust them.
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d. God wants faith or trust that expresses itself in love for Him and others. New Testament faith
comes out of relationship, out of love for God. We love Him because He first loved us.
1. I John 4:16—We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him (NLT);
We know and have believed the love that God has for us (NKJV).
2. Gal 5:6—For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, it makes no difference to God if we are
circumcised or not circumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love (NLT).
C, Conclusion: Reading relationally means reading with the awareness, the consciousness, that I am
interacting with a Person, a wonderful Being who loves me, and wants me—Almighty God, my Creator.
1. As believers in Jesus, we are in relationship with Someone who is unseen and unfelt. And we are
part of a kingdom that is unseen and unfelt.
a. Even though the Lord is us right here with us, we can’t see or feel Him. But we can relate to
Him, interact with Him, by faith. Faith is a firm belief in the truth of someone or something.
Paul wrote: Heb 11:1—Faith perceives as real fact what is not yet revealed to the senses (Amp).
b. We can engage with God in the Scriptures by realizing that God inspired the words, is right there
with us, and wants be known by us. We can ask Him to open our understanding and help us
understand His Word. Luke 24:45
2. In recent years I’ve emphasized reading the New Testament regularly and systematically. To read
regularly means to read for 15-20 minutes every day. To read systematically means to read each
book from start to finish.
a. Don’t skip around. Don’t worry about what you don’t understand. Just keep reading. You’re
reading to became familiar with the material. Understanding comes with familiarity, and
familiarity comes with regular, repeated reading. This type of reading is important because,
among other things, it helps us see the context of individual verses.
1. Relational reading is not in place of, but in addition to, this type of reading. As you read, if
a verse stands out to you, stop and think about it. Think about each word and personalize it.
2. Engage with the Lord as if you were there in the audience when Jesus spoke or were listening
to someone read the latest epistle from one of the apostles. Consider individual words and
how the first listeners would have heard them. Try reading a chapter or a short epistle
through three times in a row. Try slowly reading out loud.
b. Last week we pointed out that Jesus spoke to people who were familiar with meditating on the
Scriptures (Ps 1:1-2; Ps 119:97-99; Josh 1:8). The Hebrew words translated meditate have the
idea of reflecting, pondering, and talking to yourself. Both are part of relational reading.
3. Paul wrote to Christians who were experiencing increasingly severe persecution to urge them to stay
faithful to Jesus no matter what. In his letter (epistle) he reminded them of what the Scriptures say:
He has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you”. So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my
helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me (Heb 13:5-6, ESV).
a. Paul was quoting an Old Testament passage where Moses reminded Israel that God would help
them when they faced enemies. The passage says: Do not be afraid of them! The Lord your
God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you (Deut 31:6, NLT).
b. When we read the actual passage, we see that what Paul wrote and what we say is not a word for
word quote. It has been personalized and made relational—God will help me.
c. Much more next week!
