10.25.2015 Tough Questions - Understanding the Nature of Scripture

10-25-2015 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

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Over the next couple weeks, we will close off this series on doubt and questions – and we will be looking at the Bible – some of the confusion and attacks and things that cause people to lose faith are in relationship to the understanding of the Bible – it is a primary way – maybe a lack of understanding – that cause people to lose faith..
There are many out there who are trying to discredit the Bible and stir up doubts. Science and the Bible – people try to show it does not match – or violence in the Bible – it looks like God is, at times, promoting violence – and then there are apparent contradictions to try to get people to question their faith – historical or archeological problems in the Bible – or those who are anti-supernatural – things that people have not seen with their eyes, they throw those things out – and it can shake people’s faith. There are a lot of helpful tools out there – Ravi Zacharias and others - “Christian Apologetics” – Google that – and it can be helpful for some. But even with all that is out there – for us to be confident in our faith – simply require faith. Every time a Christian thinks he has come up with the answer to the question – there is always another question. At some point – we just have to believe. For some though, - it can’t be a blind belief –but a faith that comes from the changed life in Christ – regularly seeing God working in our lives – not just believing it – but knowing that God is alive and working in our lives. We can all get to that point – because we have seen it in our lives and all around us. You might not be able to scientifically prove it – like when you know you love someone – you can know it without question – but it can’t be scientifically proven.
We try to answer some of these questions and maybe we miss the point – where did Cain get his wife? The obvious answer is – it was his sister! There was no restriction on that then. But the Bible never says. And it doesn’t help anyone to answer the question. How can a man live inside a whale? Why does God seem to command genocide in the Bible? How many times did the cock actually crow? The answers aren’t really helpful and might be a waste of time. For me – I have focused on a core issue in having confidence in our Bible – more than having my questions answered. I have read stacks of books on this topic – I have spent a majority of my studies on this – it is about understanding the nature of Scripture. What exactly is the Bible? How did it come to be? How are we to understand it? Why was it written? How?
If we don’t get a better understanding of this – it causes us to read it improperly and come up with a lot of poor answers to a lot of questions. I will dive into this – and I will say – nothing I will say today is original – save the editing! If there is a direct quote, I will give a name – but this comes from those who devote themselves to this.
2 Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
This is the primary verse when we discuss the nature of the Bible. It is inspired (God-breathed) – and it is powerful.
2 Peter – no prophecy is the matter of one’s personal interpretation – but men moved when spoken to by God. This is a God-thing and a human thing. God used real people to write this book – He did not just write it Himself. What He says in the way He wants to say it – is the fact that it is inspired – BUT – He used real people to say it to other real people in human language to be understood by those who were reading it. It is not a magic book – when we do that, we take God and His working out of the picture – we must understand it for what it is – we must read it as it was meant to be written and interpret it the way it was meant to be interpreted.
Here are some of the ways – things that this has led to – not having a direct understanding of the Bible. This may make you mad at me – what I am about to say – and I apologize for that – because we need to know the truth and not so concerned about if it doesn’t go with what I have always thought it taught. But what if it is true and what you have always thought isn’t? We need to know the truth. I am not putting these down – because there is a little truth in it – but it can lead us off. Some consider the Bible to be an owner’s manual for life. But that is not what it is – there is a misunderstanding there.
Medicine chest – you have a problem – you go to the medicine chest – and take a pill. And yes, the Bible answers a lot of our problems – but that is not the nature of the Bible.
Others see it as a list of rules – but that is not the way to read it – or you will miss it completely.
Some see it as a how-to book – from dating to how to use money. And yes, there are things that help – wisdom for everything – knowledge and truth – but that is not how or why it was written.
You see ads or tabloid headlines: The money secrets of the Bible! There are none! Is there wisdom on handling money and honoring God? Yes.
All of these things –God gives us understanding of many things – but when we look at it this way we are reading it wrongly and are forgetting its power. The Scripture is something of great power and the only way to tap into that is to read it according to how God wrote it.
Hebrews 1 gives us some great insight:
Heb. 1: 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
Here is what it tells us – the Bible is an ancient book. It was not written in America by Americans. But many Christians read it as if it were. Most even.
It is an ancient book written by ancient people to ancient people – over the course of thousands of years, at specific points in history – and written for the specific instances of the time – and for us to understand it – we must do our best to understand that! The question – cannot even a child understand the Bible? Yes. And No. Yes, the child can understand the basic, central message of Scripture – the gospel, the good news – this God who loves us and chose people to represent Him on earth and to be with Him for all eternity – that can be understood by anyone. Jesus said – you have to come as a child – but on the other hand, some scholars, smarter than all of us here – will spend their entire lives and barely scratch the surface. That should excite us! God teaching us about Himself. – and the more we understand the Bible, the more that is revealed to us. We can’t just be satisfied by the simple message – Paul said we are still taking milk and should be taking adult food. So it is not just for the scholars and pastors – it is for all of us to study. It is not about knowing Bible trivia – because it gives you knowledge – but it doesn’t give you God! The point is to know God, not dates and places – and yes – you get to know God along the way.
Joel Green: Our goal is not to master the Bible but for the Bible to master us. Our job…
That is what we are looking for.
Here is a little phrase that needs some explanation – the Bible is not written TO us, but it is written for us. It was written to specific people so they could understand things in their context. There are creation evolution debates – and no matter how much you prove that science supports Creation – there are those who just won’t believe it. But we do need to understand that the Bible was written for ancient peoples to aid in their understanding - and Genesis was NOT written to support Creation – but to demonstrate to that people who they are in God’s world.
I won’t say where I stand on this – there are Christians who believe in a literal 6 day, 24 hour Creation – and there are those you have read their books and respect deeply – who believe that the earth is billions of years old! And if you research it – you will find good Christians on either side of the issue – and it is important to have convictions – but those convictions should be held with an open hand.
The Bible is a diverse piece of literature – poetry, prose, proverbs, apocalyptic writing – prophecy – but the central core message is the story of God and His redemption 0- and along with that – the story of people and their rejection of God – and subsequent coming back to Him.
If our vision of God is flawed, the more devoted, the more religious you are, the worse-off you will be – Dallas Willard.
That is why we must see God clearly.
The Bible is filled with various witnesses – and there is diversity in the message – but we must be willing to accept complexity and ambiguity – but we are unwilling to do that. We want the Bible to make us unconcerned – we ignore the difficult passages – and I say – don’t do that. It is in the difficult passages that you learn the most about God.
The Bible twists and turns – there are threads and themes that run throughout the Bible.
There is a theme: Disobedience gets punishment and obedience leads to life and blessing. Then God throws the book of Job into that. And it basically turns it on its head.
Then we have the psalms that say the same thing – and then we have David – a man who is a rotten individual – but he is a man after God’s own heart – and we want to sanitize all that.
There are divergent stories in Scripture – given to correct our misunderstanding of the dominant stories in the Bible.
We take it wrong – we overemphasize part of is – and the Bible gives a protest that is competing with the other story so we can be corrected. A great example of this is Luke 4:
Luke 4: 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
They heard about the Messiah’s coming – and Jesus is turning their understanding on its head – He gives a divergent story about God blessing the enemy – Sidon – the enemy – and instead of going to the widows of Israel – He goes to the widow of the enemy. Yes, you are the chosen people – but why? To bless the world – to bless those you’ve learned to hate.
27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

The Jews focus on the Exodus - getting the slaves out of Egypt - but the moralists focus on getting Egypt out of the Israelites - and God gives 10 commandments to do that. Different people focus on different things - and in doing so, we miss the whole picture.

Genesis 25: 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
You know the story – Jacob I loved; Esau I hated – and we think – How could God say that? God loves everybody! This should make us say – something is not right! Even just the baby holding onto the heel of the other – that is unusual – but what we have is sibling rivalry and favoritism – daddy loved the older and mommy loved the younger.
As they grew up – they were competing and striving – and Jacob steals the blessing – and Esau is angry and decides to kill Jacob – so Jacob goes to Laban’s house – and he meets Rachel – and he wants to marry her – so he has to work for 7 years – and when he wakes up in the morning – it is the older sister, Leah!
Jacob and Esau – younger gets the blessing – then Jacob loved the younger sister – and God did not allow the unloved one to go unloved. This weird story begins to open up –
God uses these weird stories to show us that the person who is unloved will ALWAYS be loved by God.
Jacob has to go back home – and in doing so – will run into Esau – Jacob is scared – so he sends all these gifts –
Genesis 33:1 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.
The ones he loved most he puts in the back. Imagine being the ones in the front!
3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
What does that remind you of - there is another story...Where do we hear this? The Prodigal Son! The Bible uses this over again - that God loves the unloveable. We ask – why did that happen? We might not know – but amazing things happen – it reveals God’s nature.
Gen. 33: 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.
Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
6 Then the female servants and their children approached and bowed down. 7 Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.
8 Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?”
“To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.
9 But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
10 “No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 11 Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.
“For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably!”
The face of God is so often seen in the bad brother - Esau, whom God 'hated' - and how often does the face of God show up in the least expected? – the Rahabs – the prostitutes –and you can go on and on and on. Maybe that person is you! Maybe that person is the one you think God would never show up in - because you know what that person is like.
Let’s pray.
Lord, I pray You would help us to understand how deep – the vastness and depth of Your wisdom and character – because that is the only answer to our questions- we have this God who is so incredible. In all the difficulties – scientific or historic – or whatever – when we know this great God we are transformed –and we know for sure that life is right when God reigns. And when He reigns in this world, all will be put right. In Your name we pray – amen.