Do You Believe the Bible?

Open up Facebook or Twitter, or turn on the news, or talk radio and you will be inundated with political chatter. Most of it garbage. I don’t like putting too much of my thoughts about the election cycle out there because it will just add to the noise. Everyone is saying who you should vote for or why it’s the “Christian” vote for this candidate or the other. Or WikiLeaks comes out with the latest dirt on how your candidates have been lying to you all this time.

It’s exhausting really. Whom can I trust? What is the source I can go to that is reliable and informative, but not manipulating me? It is a time of uncertainty and the candidates that have risen to the top don’t seem to be trustworthy.

It’s in times like these that we who are truly Christians need to remember our foundation: The Bible. God’s Word is not the word of some politician who is campaigning for your vote. They make promises to you that are lies, tell you what you want to hear and obfuscate the truth. Their tract record is unsavory and demonstrates one moment they say one thing and the next moment they flipped sides. They cannot be trusted.

But if we can’t trust our political leaders, why can we trust God and His Word?

What is the Bible to you? Do you believe it to be God’s inspired Word? What does that even mean?

God’s Word is not man’s word, it is different. It’s unique. It’s eternal.

The Bible is a collection of books, a library of 66 books. It has been written by over 40 different authors, most of whom never met each other, in 3 different languages (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic), on 3 different continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) over a period of 1,500 years.

And even though it is over 2,000 years old, the topics contained within its pages are as relevant today as they were when they were first penned. The Bible is God’s message to us, the Creator telling us the “WHY” behind creation. In its pages we understand our deepest problems and our greatest needs. We are told of the ONLY source of hope and the ONLY answer to our problems. We find the way to reconcile with our Creator and the power and strength to live.

Not only that, but the book comes with a promise that if you read it, study it and believe it you will encounter the Author, Jesus Christ Himself. The Bible is not some religious propaganda that is full of fluff and empty statements, but is the very Light we need to navigate the murky waters of our everyday.

Thus the Psalmist writes,  

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Psalm 119:105

Turn to the Word of God today, trust in what God says. Do not place your trust in a broken political system, trust in Jesus and allow His light to guide your path.

(Why You Can Believe the Bible by Voddie Bauchman)

I first heard Voddie preach this sermon in 2006 and I found it as helpful today as I did then. Check it out, it is worth your time.

Worship is More Than a Song

It was almost 14 years ago when I received a phone call that has stuck with me my entire ministry. I had just finished up seminary and was excited to find a church to serve at. As in any field, getting a degree does not guarantee a position, but I was pretty confident in the call God on my life to work with youth.

That’s when I got a call from a pastor in the Cleveland area. I don’t remember the name of the church, but the conversation went something like this. “Hey Brad this is pastor “so and so” and the chairman of the youth department at Liberty University recommended you for our youth pastor position. Do you play the guitar?”

Now I have own a guitar a time or two, that’s another story for another day, and I fiddle on them, but I’m not musician. I can “press play” with the best of them, but I’m not even capable of singing and clapping at the same time.

My response, “no sir I do not.”

“Well we are looking for a youth pastor that does,” he replied. Interview over. He then teased me about my singleness and such, but I knew I wouldn’t get a call back. And honestly, I didn’t want one.

Now, 14 years later, I see God’s providential hand was involved steering me away from that position to bring me to Lakeside Christian Church. And I often am amazed at how God worked things out.

Over the past 13 and half years as a youth pastor I’ve had a student led youth praise band almost the entire time. This has nothing to do with me, my musical ability or knowledge. God has always raised up students who want to help lead other students in worship. Sure we have had some growth periods and times where we struggled to field a whole band. But we have had some tremendous growth and I have had a front row seat in watching students mature as believers, young men and women and as musicians.

Worship is More Than a Song

This brings me to the point of my post today. Too often we get sidetracked from the main point. That one pastor 14 years ago dismissed me because I couldn’t lead praise music. Some people stop going to youth group or church because they don’t like the band. Some think the only time you are worshiping God is when you are singing.

Jimmy Needham attacked this perspective in his song “Clear the Stage.”

“'Cause you can sing all you want to
Yes, you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to
And still get it wrong; worship is more than a song”

What gets in the place of true and genuine worship for you? What idols creep into your life that distract you from connecting with God?

Sometimes it’s good to put aside the normal pattern, break away from the familiar and refocus your eyes on Christ. That’s what we did last week in youth group. We read through Psalm 145 together, out loud and prayed. We then skipped singing and went to the Arts & Craft room to create art for the glory of God.

It was neat to see how each of us had an idea that came from Psalm 145 and try to picture it. We had fun drawing, painting, gluing, glittering, and so on together. We learned about each other. We learned more about God. The result: Worship.

We ended up having such a good time that we didn’t get to the lesson. So this post belongs to last week and last week’s post belongs today.

Take some time out of your busy schedule, open up the Bible and read Psalm 145. Sit in silence. Get out in nature. Create something. Or maybe sing a song. Whatever it is, make sure it’s connecting with Jesus Christ in sincere faith and not just because of ritual.

What’s the Point?

There it is again. That wretched sound that breaks the silence and peace. You just want to ignore it, but it keeps calling out to you. Beckoning you to leave your comfort causing your dreams to dissipate before they are even remembered.

As you belligerently hit alarm clock to silence it’s annoying chirping, you are struck with the thought of the day. Why should I even get out bed? What does this day hold for me? Can’t I just go back to sleep forever.

We all have those days were it seems the best thing to do is never get out of bed. Maybe it’s because of difficulty of classes or an upcoming test. Maybe it’s because you dread encountering the person you recently had a fight with, or the reality that your parents are splitting up, or the last day of a job you thought you’d have forever, or that every time you look in the mirror you are reminded of your huge mistakes.

It leads us to ask the question, “what’s the point?”

The sad truth is we all think we are alone and special asking these questions. The enemy of our souls wants us to think we are unique in our inquiry and that nobody would understand our plight. Yet if we were to turn to a 3,000 year old book we would be surprised to hear a man who has written down many of own thoughts, as if he has crawled inside our head and relates our deepest struggles on paper.

We’ve been going through the book of Ecclesiastes on Sunday mornings and learning of how the wisest man to ever live, aside from Jesus, examines the meaning of life. What is the point indeed? The oldest and most profound question to man.

The truth is there is only two real directions to go in your answers with this question: the pointless life and the fulfilled life.

You may have heard someone say it this way, “Life is hard enough, I can’t imagine going through it without Jesus.” It’s a clue to someone who has found the way to the fulfilled life examining someone who is stuck in the pointless life. However, that person may not realize they are on the path of the pointless life, and so the sentiment comes across as condescending and cold.

But that very sentiment underscores the very truth, that there is a Person that brings sense to the chaos of life. If you have a moment read Ecclesiastes 3:1-14. Here we encounter a truth that God is sovereignly in control of the events and seasons in our lives.

The Pointless Life

If you do not know God this brings no comfort. The list just highlights the mundane cycle of life and the lack of control we have. It goes on and on and then it stops. Done, boring, purposeless.

It reminds you that your work and life pursuit will lead to nothing. Verse 9 asks the question “what do we gain from our toil?” and the answer is NOTHING! All that striving is chasing something that will never last. And when we can’t find meaning and purpose, it leads to hopelessness and bitterness. “What is the point?”

The Fulfilled Life

The pointless life leads to one interpretation, but verse 11 gives us a key to bring in a proper understanding. There is a pattern, a purpose for everything, and God is making it beautiful in its time.

What is the time frame I should expect for my pain to be made beautiful? How can my loss be made beautiful? How is this divorce going to be beautiful? 1 year, 5 years, 20 year? Come, on?

God’s reply is that He has set eternity in our hearts. We are to have an eternal perspective and look beyond our current struggles and losses and look to Him. Only then will we agree with the Apostle Paul when he says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared the to glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

But to get to that place you have to see beyond just a list here. There is a pattern and a constancy to life. God is moving and shaping in ways we cannot imagine. Good things and bad things happen every day and God doesn’t allow anything to be wasted.

Speaking of time, we see that when God saw that the time was right, He sent fort His Son into our world in order to redeem this world and our time (Galatians 4:4-7).

This cycle that he speaks of in chapter 3 is one that the Son of God entered. He moved into our neighborhood. He experienced the cycle of life and saw the injustice and pain. He knows the cold of night and the feeling of an empty stomach. He knows the sting of betrayal and the agony of death. Yet He has overcome death and offers life.

He brings balance to our life and perspective. He brings ultimate beauty to our lives and gives us blessings to hold on to. When we get our eyes off of our current situation and gain an eternal perspective we let go of our hold to this world and we look forward in anticipation to the next.

Yes, there is still sufferings in this world. Yes, there is injustices all around us. Yet knowing Jesus brings hope, meaning and comfort through trials. And He gives direction on how to ease the suffering and pain of those around us. We are not called to escape this world, but to be His ambassadors in this world.

So don’t just offer up the, “I don’t know how they get through it without Jesus Christ.” Be Jesus to them. Love them. Help them. Comfort them and share Christ with them.

He makes everything beautiful in its time.