just worship God: bible

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The Bible is taught by preaching (announcing/heralding) and teaching (explaining). This can, does and should take place in a variety of ways and contexts.

God’s word defined who the Israelites were and how they were to live. In Deuteronomy we see Moses preaching and teaching, announcing and explaining God's’ law to the people. However, the teaching of the law did not end when Moses stopped speaking.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

Because of the importance of God’s word, the teaching of it was to take place in a range of places, at multiple times, with different groups of people. It was (and is) foundational to everyday life and so is taught and learned in that life.

For the people returning to Jerusalem after the exile God’s word was again crucial to re-establishing God’s people in God’s place. The combination of preaching and teaching can be seen again in Nehemiah 8

Nehemiah 8:8

They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

God’s law was announced to the people by reading it and then a number of priests went among the people explaining what had been read. The important thing was that the people understood what they were hearing. It was not assumed that everybody got everything the first time they heard it and, again, the preaching and teaching took place with a range of people, groups and methods.

As Jesus starts to build his church in the New Testament, his word is still the fundamental shaping influence on that rapidly growing community.

Acts 2:42-47

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 5:42

And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

God’s written word (about God’s incarnate word, Jesus) was the central thing in this brand new church. They were devoted to His word, which again saw people learning by preaching and teaching. This took place every day, in the temple and in homes. The word was not confined to the temple because it can’t be confined to the temple.

Throughout Acts we see God’s word being spread:

in multiple languages 2:11
through impromptu speeches to gathered crowds 2:14-36, 3:12-26, 8:5-6
in the temple 2:42-27, 5:20-21, 5:42
and in homes 2:42-27, 5:42, 28:23, 28:31
in speeches made when being charged/threatened/persecuted 4:8-13, 7:2-53
by all Christians who were scattered due to persecution 8:4, 11:19-20
one to one 8:26-39
in small groups 16:14, 16:32
in synagogues 9:20, 13:5, 13:15, 13:43-44, 14:3, 17:1-3, 17:10-11, 17:17, 18:4-5, 18:19, 19:8,
to the church 11:26, 14:27, 20:7-11
in apologetics talks to unbelievers 17:17, 17:22-31, 19:9-10

All these cases refer to the word being preached, or taught or spoken. We do not not know the form which that took in every example but it is clear that God’s word was announced and explained in a variety of ways, by different people, to different sized groups in different places.

We are called to preach and teach the word. To announce who God is and what he has done and explain what that means. The bible shows that this can take place in a variety of ways and should take place in a variety of ways.

What does God's word do?

"Consider some of the very specific things god's word claims to do:

1 it initiates faith (Romans 10:17)
2 it gives new spiritual life (1 Peter 1:23)
3 it helps us grow spiritually (1 Peter 2:2)
4 it sanctifies (John 17:17)
5 it searches the heart and convicts (Hebrews 4:12)
6 it liberates (John 8:31-32)
7 it refreshes and renews (Psalm 119:25)
8 it revives and enlightens (Psalm 19:7,8-11)"

Mike Bullmore in The Gospel as Center

read the bible this year

Why not read through the entire bible this year? Youversion.com has a lot different bible reading plans to choose from here, all of which are compatible with their online and mobile phone apps, keeping track of your progress as you go.

video - in the beginning was the word

John 1:1-14 from Jeremy Poyner on Vimeo.

no lone rangers

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

(John 1:1-2 ESV)

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

(Genesis 1:2 ESV)

The biblical story doesn’t start with creation, but with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit before creation. The trinity. God existed in community before He started creating anything. Three people loving each other (Mike Reeves). The Father, Son and Holy Spirit loved each other perfectly, they did not need us to build a community. They existed in perfect community.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

(Genesis 1:26-27 ESV)

God says that Adam (and Eve) created in OUR image, in a clear reference to the trinity. One of the ways that we are made in God’s image is our ability to relate to each other in community. Our ability to love as a reflection of the perfect love shared between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

    And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:28 ESV)

Adam and Eve were given the task of creating community, filling the earth with people, God’s people. When sin enters the picture in Genesis 3, one of it’s effects is on the relationship between Adam and Eve, and consequently every other human relationship that has ever existed. Sin corrupts community in the same way it does with everything else and it isn’t long until Cain is murdering his brother.

    Now the whole earth had one language and the same words... And they said to one another... “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
(Genesis 11:1-9 ESV)

The tower of Babel shows us a community centered on itself. A community-centered community which becomes focussed on making a name for itself. As a result, God invents different languages so that the people can’t understand each other! While this may seem harsh, it is God’s mercy to remind us of our limitations. If God intervenes to stop me making a name for myself, that is for my good. If God causes problems to bubble to the surface in communities, it is to show their need to be centered on Him, where community will flourish instead of self-destructing.

    Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
(Genesis 12:1-3 ESV)

When God calls Abraham in Genesis 12, he outlines his plan to make a community - a great nation. This community will be blessed by God so that they will be a blessing to others. From that moment on, being a descendent of Abraham, part of God’s people, God’s community, was the primary way that the Israelites identified themselves. It wasn’t a hobby, it was who they were.

    And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
(Matthew 10:1-4 ESV)

Jesus taught and spoke to large groups of people, but his primary strategy was to invest the bulk of his time into 12 disciples. He explained his parables to them, taught them in more detail, involved them in his mission and lived life with them. Jesus did not have to operate in this way, but chose to work through community. This community was very diverse, including fisherman, a tax collector and a religious revolutionary, but they were united, not around their shared interests, but around Jesus.

    As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
(1 Peter 2:4-5 ESV)

While our salvation does have a personal aspect to it, we are saved to be individual Christians. We are described as living stones that are being built up together. While it may be technically possible to be a Christian and not part of a church community, this category does not exist in the bible and should not exist today. The church is God’s plan for his mission, our sanctification and his glory. We can not come up with a better plan!

    After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
(Revelation 7:9-10 ESV)

Our future holds a glorious, perfect community. All tribes, peoples and languages (the reversal of Babel) are represented. This diverse community is not standing around patting each other on the back for becoming united with each other. This community is centered on one thing; the Lamb [who was slain and] who is seated on the throne - Jesus.

not plan B

The gospel is the storyline of the bible. It is not something that God decided to try after the Old Testament didn't work

The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

(Genesis 3:14-15 ESV)

Immediately after the first sin, God prophesies about the gospel. Talking to the serpent, God speaks about an offspring of a woman who, although he would have his heel bruised, will ultimately crush Satan's head. Jesus was born to a virgin and, though he died in apparent weakness, conquered Satan, sin and death, through his death and resurrection on the cross

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

(Exodus 20:2 ESV)

As God is about to give the 10 commandments to Israel, he reminds them that he has brought them out of slavery, he has rescued them. The law was not a way of earning God’s favour so that he would bring them out of slavery, He had already done that. The law was a response to God’s grace, how they should live in the light of God’s rescue. In one of the most well known lists of “rules to follow” of all time, we see that it is God’s grace, not our obedience, which is the important factor.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5 ESV)

Isaiah 53 talks about a suffering servant who will come and be our substitute. The transgression and iniquity are ours but, because Jesus was pierced and crushed in our place, we are healed, we are at peace with God.

The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

(John 1:29 ESV)

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!"

(Revelation 5:11-12)

All through the Old Testament, lambs are used as sacrifices to remove the people’s sin. This was an imperfect system that had to repeated over and over again. This system was perfected and completed by Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the culmination of God’s work and the angels never get tired of it! We will join with them in the new creation, singing about the lamb who was slain for the rest of eternity!

"If there is no appetite for God’s Word, this is a real problem to be faced, not a temporary and irrelevant matter to be by-passed. View this as a warning light flashing on the dashboard of your life and don’t pretend it isn’t there.

My approach when I sense there is an issue of appetite and desire is to follow advice Ron gave me years ago – be brutally honest with God about it and pray out loud. Somehow I find I can’t get very far into a prayer where I’m telling God that His book isn’t very well written and everything else is more attractive and compelling to me…before I know it I find myself feeling convicted and broken before the cross. As a close friend sometimes puts it, when there is sin you should feel bad!

Then in broken repentance I find I want to respond to God again and so open my Bible in order to hear from Him and respond to Him.

So am I saying only read the Bible when you feel like it?

No, I’m saying we need to read the Bible whether we feel like it or not. However, the solution isn’t a gritting of the teeth, but a recognition that the lack of appetite and desire is a serious issue, an indicator of a spiritual problem. Consequently it is better to take the state of my heart seriously, rather than dismissing and by-passing it."

Peter Mead, I don't feel like reading my Bible

"The many books of the one Bible are not like the many pennies in the one jar. The pennies in the jar look the same, yet are disconnected; the books of the Bible (like the organs of a body) look different, yet are interconnected... underneath and undergirding all of these, it seems to me, is the motif of God's grace, his favor and love to the undeserving. Don't we see the grace of God in every book of the Bible?

Genesis shows God’s grace to a universally wicked world as he enters into relationship with a sinful family line (Abraham) and promises to bless the world through him.

Exodus shows God’s grace to his enslaved people in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage.

Leviticus shows God’s grace in providing his people with a sacrificial system to atone for their sins.

Numbers shows God’s grace in patiently sustaining his grumbling people in the wilderness and bringing them to the border of the promised land not because of them but in spite of them.

Deuteronomy shows God’s grace in giving the people the new land 'not because of your righteousness' (ch. 9)."

Dane Ortlund, The Grace of God in the Bible (click to read the full list - this is a MUST READ)

video - Matt Chandler: David, Goliath and the Gospel

God speaks

"God speaks to you every time you read the Bible. Personally. Intimately.

I read my Bible regularly because I have to. Not “have to” in the sense that someone might criticise me if I don’t or that God will get miffed with me. But “have to” in the same way I have to eat food every day. This is how I live.

Without God’s word in my life, I too readily get preoccupied with myself, my fears, my insecurities, my reputation. Without God’s word I’m so much more vulnerable to temptation. I need God’s word to realign my heart day by day towards Jesus. I need that medicine for the soul, that battle speech, that love song. And I need it every day."