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A BOOK TO IGNORE
#4
STIRRED TO ACTION BY A STORY
Once in a while we notice a birthday that ties in with
a spiritual point we want to mention here on the Voice of Prophecy. And
of course, we don't mind a hop, skip, and a jump of logic if that will
help us get to the truth. So . . . today we announce that Barbra Streisand
is blowing out candles even as we speak. The Oscar-winning "Funny
Girl" is actually a mature 57 here on April 15, 1999.
And the film role that we want to recall on this Thursday is "Yentl,"
where Barbra Streisand played a Jewish student so desperate to find God,
to discover Him. This was her passion: to know God and experience Him.
All this week as we consider the benefits of a dusted Bible instead of
a dusty one, a Bible that's being used — I hope we can focus especially
on this critical truth: all study of God's Word is meant to lead us to
know Him. Friend, God is there in those 1,950 pages of my favorite NIV
translation! His life, His essence, His character, His attitudes, His
heart . . . we find them when we read the Bible. Or, at least, that's
why we ought to read it. Every time we crack open that Book, we ought
to have as our goal an encounter with the God of heaven and His only Son,
Jesus Christ.
One of the more delightfully challenging books we like to grapple with
here at our Voice of Prophecy offices is written by the late A. W. Tozer.
And the title is "A Knowledge of the Holy." He makes a statement
that initially might strike you as a bit flamboyant, an exaggeration.
But maybe not. See what you think:
"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important
thing about us. . . . A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic
theology but to practical Christian living as well."
Do you agree with that? There are many things about
you as a person — and of course, I have no idea what they are. But is
your opinion of God, your impression of Him, the single most important
thing about you? Is that mental picture of God, that formed visualization,
the one thing in your life that most defines you, that shapes you?
But you know, the second half of Tozer's remarkable statement is equally
incredible. Take that picture of God — whether you see Him as an absent
old grandfather, an impersonal force, an Old Testament deity, a forgiving,
easygoing Friend. Not only does that impression shape your theology, says
Tozer . . . you know, your religious convictions. But it also molds your
daily life, your moment-by-moment behavior. What the Bible has taught
you about this Being we call God affects not just your religion, your
Sunday-morning denominational choice, but your entire 168-hour week, your
waking and sleeping hours!
I think the Bible itself makes such a claim, in places like Second Timothy
chapter 3. Here are verses 15-17:
". . . From infancy you have known the holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith
in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed" — "given by
inspiration," says the King James — "and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of
God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
That's pretty all-encompassing, isn't it? We read things
in the Bible about God, and what we decide about Him — those impressions
and opinions — are capable of teaching us, correcting us, shaping us,
and even equipping us for every single good thing we do.
I suppose starting off as we did with a Barbra Streisand birthday card
reminds us of how we so often learn about people even from stories, whether
they're on television or in books or told from person to person around
the campfire. We learn about people from the stories we hear about them;
isn't that right? If you watch enough stories about a certain person on
television, even in a situation comedy, after a while you know exactly
how Kramer and George Costanza are going to act. The stories have revealed
these people to us; we can almost predict the lines ahead of time.
And you know, the exact same thing is true in the Word of God. I would
submit to you that even as you read through the Bible only noticing the
stories . . . you'll begin to formulate a picture of God. Now, don't just
read one or two; but as you experience a whole television season, so to
speak, of stories about the Divine Presence, about God, you'll have a
very fair picture of how He responds, what He's capable of.
Daniel in the lions' den — and there's a God with strength and rescuing
power. Cain and Abel, the first murder story, and we discover that God
means what He says, that He grieves over His creation, that He comes right
to the point with straightforward confrontation. But also that He's merciful
toward the sinner, as He protects Cain from any act of vengeance.
Stories of Jesus with His disciples reveal uncountable character traits:
love, patience, honest rebuke, a teacher's heart, a sense of humor and
wit, a visionary purpose, unswerving loyalty, uncanny diplomacy. Even
a love for festivity and parties! And as you read through these stories,
you can almost begin to get to the point of predicting outcomes. "I
can tell what's coming next," we say.
Even more, you begin to predict accurately what Christ would do in your
life right here. What would His stated will be for this spiritual predicament
you're facing at the office or with your spouse or your rebellious teenager?
And the stories you already know the ending to, help you to discover the
solution to your own open-ended, still-developing story.
Of course, no one understands like a Hollywood mogul — or a Hollywood
critic like Donald Wildmon — how stories change lives. What we see on
the screen impacts our behavior; we're changed people when we turn off
the television set. Stories have a way of doing that, and the more vivid
the digital Dolby sound, the greater the change.
How important, then, to allow the stories of the Bible to have that same
life-changing effect! We've been mentioning all this week the necessity
of making the Bible US, of really taking it in, chewing on it and digesting
it until these aren't just words printed on a page but principles emblazoned
in my mind and your mind.
So let's add a bit to what we've been saying so far. We need to read that
Bible on a regular basis, to memorize key verses, to assimilate it. We
need to talk it up, to discuss the Bible with friends.
But now let's say this too. We need to take this great old Book, stories
and all, and actually live differently because of what it says! We need
to change, to be transformed, when something we read in the Bible suggests
a transformation.
How often have you read a verse and immediately known in your gut — "I'm
not doing this"? We all have, many times, I'm sure. Well, then .
. . do it! And I'm talking to myself right here; "Lon, do it! This
verse says change . . . so change!" Which, of course, I need the
ongoing power heaven to ever do. Friend, we can do all things, the Bible
says, including change, but only through Christ who strengthens us.
It's worth noticing a story Jesus told in the New Testament — Luke chapter
10. A lawyer asked Christ a question about what it meant to be a neighbor
to someone. And Jesus told the classic story about the Good Samaritan,
who helped a bruised and bleeding robbery victim after two other men had
passed by on the other side of the road. Of course, there were people
in the crowd who needed to hear that story; they weren't being good neighbors.
Ironic that this story, about a "good Samaritan," had in the
starring role the very kind of person most of these Jews literally hated!
They thought of Samaritans as half-breeds, both physically and spiritually.
So the listeners to this little drama needed to hear the story they were
hearing.
But now, would they act upon what they'd just heard? Right at the end,
verse 36, Jesus looks at them and asks: "All right, now, which of
these guys was a good neighbor to the man who was robbed?" And the
lawyer, reluctant to even use the word "Samaritan," finally
admitted: "Well, uh, the man who showed mercy on him."
Now notice what Jesus says. Five powerful words.
"Go, and do thou likewise."
And friend, when we read our Bibles, and find there
stories about the character of God, anecdotes that point us toward a different
road than the one we're on at the moment, we need to take those five words
to heart: "Go, and do thou likewise." We need to act upon these
stories, let the words of Scripture have more impact than just "in
one eye and out the other."
Is it hard? You bet it is. I know it hurts and so do you. We don't mind
reading the smooth places in the Bible where we're all in one accord,
where we think we're living up to what it says. But the jagged places
are there too, aren't they? And when the Word of God runs counter to how
we're ordering our lives, then it's our lives that have to change.
Mark Twain once remarked:
"Most people are bothered by those Scripture
passages which they cannot understand. But for me, the passages in Scripture
which trouble me most are those which I DO understand."
And I guess we've all shared some of Mark Twain's "troubling,"
haven't we . . . at least we have if we've opened up our Bibles. There's
some plain talking in those 66 books. But God Himself promises us great
things if we'll not just read, but then live by what He's lovingly told
us in His Word.
God's own servant, Solomon, who walked on both sides of the freeway for
sure, gave this counsel as coming from a wise father. Proverbs 4:4:
"Lay hold of my words with all your heart."
That's the reading and the thinking part. And now the doing: "Keep
my commands . . . and you will live."
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