The spiritual disciplines are like various paths leading us into the presence of God where we can behold His glory. In this message Brian focuses on the paths of Hearing, Reading, and Studying the Word of God.
The Spiritual Discipline of Devotion to the Word
2 Timothy 3:16
Imagine a very tall and majestic mountain which is world renowned for the incredible scenic views which hikers which make it to the top can experience. If you take one path, it leads you to a spot on top of the mountain from which you can see lofty snow capped mountains. A different path leads you to a spot on the mountain from which you can gaze down on a rich green meadow of lush grass spotted with brilliant wildflowers. Another path leads you to a spot on the mountain from which you can see the ocean and its giant waves crashing on the rocky crags below. So you decide that you are going to take up the challenge to climb that mountain every day so that you can experience those incredible scenic views. When you start out, and everything is going fine until you get about ¾ of the way up the mountain. You never dreamed this hike would be so long and so difficult. But, you have made a commitment, and you’re going to stick with it, no matter what. Finally, you scale the final crest and fall down on the ground, winded and exhausted, but thrilled that you made it to the top. In fact, you are so taken with the fact that you actually made it to the top of the mountain that you forget to even look at the gorgeous view. Instead, you walk back down the mountain, determined to do it again the next morning.
Brothers and sisters, God is like a great mountain, and there are an infinite different facets to His beauty and glory. The spiritual disciplines of the Christian life are like paths to help us come into the presence of God to behold a different aspect of His glory. One day as you meditate on Scripture, you see one aspect of God’s glory. On another day as you fast and pray you see a different sight of His beauty. The problem is that too often, we get so focused on completing the spiritual discipline that we forget why we are doing it. We get enamored with completing the discipline, and forget that the value in the discipline is to commune with God and behold His glory.
Today, we are going to begin to discuss the spiritual disciplines related to cultivating our relationship with God. There are many different spiritual disciplines in this regard, including devotion to the Word, Prayer, Fasting, and Worship. However, it would be easy for you to get the wrong impression about these spiritual disciplines. You might begin to think of these as legalistic tasks that we must pursue in order to be “good Christians.” You might begin to feel overwhelmed. “Yeah, I’ve got to read the Word, and study the Word, and memorize Scripture, and meditate on the Word, and pray, and fast, and worship, and etc.” No! Think of the Spiritual Disciplines as paths that lead you into the presence of God to commune with Him. Think of them as tools or helps to bring you to God. They are means to an end. They are not ends in themselves. We can apply what Jesus taught about the Sabbath to the spiritual disciplines. You were not made for the spiritual disciplines. The spiritual disciplines were made for you. In other words, they are to serve to enable you to grow in your relationship with God. Don’t worry about it if you are not doing every spiritual discipline every day. But definitely avail yourself of those disciplines that prove helpful in enabling you to connect with God and walk with Him.
We’re going to begin this morning with what I believe is the most vital spiritual discipline of all – Devotion to the Word of God. Under that discipline there are several subdivisions:
- Hearing the Word
- Reading the Word
- Studying the Word
- Memorizing the Word
- Meditating on the Word
- Obeying the Word
I’m sure that we won’t be able to discuss all six aspects of devotion to the Word today, so we’ll just examine the first three, and look at the last three next week.
1. Hearing The Word:
This is the easiest of all the sub-disciplines related to devotion to the Word of God. It is important that you hear the Word of God. Think about it. Why does God call and raise up pastors, preachers, and teachers of the Word? Because He wants His people to hear the Word proclaimed. God wants you to hear the Word. Consider these passages of Scripture:
Luke 8:21 But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
Luke 11:28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
1 Timothy 4:13 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture.”
In order for you to benefit from hearing the Word, all you have to do is make sure you are gathered with the church when they meet, and then listen carefully to the Word which is being proclaimed. Although it takes the least amount of effort, it is immensely helpful and important for the believer. Some Christians isolate themselves from the rest of the body of Christ. They don’t gather with other believers, but instead just stay at home and read their Bible, and think that is enough. It’s not. God has designed that Christians would assemble to hear His Word proclaimed for their own strengthening and edification.
So, how can you apply the admonition to hear the Word? Make sure you are here at The Bridge every Sunday morning to hear the Word taught and preached. Make sure you are at the Wednesday night Bridge Group to hear the Bible taught. Our brother Fernando has told me that he has a very difficult time remembering things because of the car accident he experienced seven years ago. So, now he brings notebook and takes careful notes of what is being taught and reviews them the following day. He is able to retain much more of the message now than he did before.
If you have internet access you can download sermons from great bible teachers around the world for free and either listen to them at your computer or download them to your phone and listen to them as you are driving or working. It can be a great way to make the most of your time. If you would like to listen to other preachers and teachers but don’t know which ones to trust, come and talk to Kelly or myself and we can share with you those men of God who are sound and have benefited us the most.
Commit yourself, at the very least, to regularly hearing the Word.
2. Reading The Word:
I don’t think we really, truly, understand how great of a blessing it is that we have a copy of God’s Word in our own language, and can read it whenever we want. Think about it. Until about 1450 A.D. the Bible could not be printed. That means that for about 75% of the history of the church, the only copies of the Bible, were those that we painstakingly copied by hand. Of course, they were very expensive, and very rare. It would be very unusual for an ordinary believer to own a copy of the Bible. Further, even if he did own a copy, it would be unlikely that he would be able to read it. Only a small percentage of the general population could read and write. So how did a Christian in the first century grow in his faith? He cherished the gatherings of the church where the Scriptures were read. He committed the sayings and stories of Jesus to memory. He sang songs of praise which were compilations of Scripture. But a Christian in the first century could never imagine the blessing that we possess today! Every Christian in the United States may own and read his very own copy of the Bible whenever he wants. I hope that puts in perspective the great sin of owning a Bible but never reading it. In actual fact, only about 1 out of every 5 Christians reads his Bible daily (19%). What’s more, 23% of professing Christians say that they never read the Bible.
Jesus often asked the scribes and Pharisees a question beginning with the words, “Have you not read”? Jesus assumed that those who claimed to be God’s people would have read the Bible. At one point Jesus responded to Satan, “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Evidently Jesus expected us to read every word. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” If that’s true, shouldn’t we read we read it all?
Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” There is a blessing promised to those who read and hear the words of this book, but of course, only those who discipline themselves to read it, will receive the blessing.
Someone once wrote, “This Book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword and the Christian’s charter. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened in the judgment, and will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.”
John Wesley once wrote, “I want to know one thing, the way to heaven: how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one book.”
Likewise, George Whitefield wrote in his journal when he was a brand new Christian, “My mind being now more open and enlarged, I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees, laying aside all other books and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light and power from above. I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God in one month than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men.”
Evangelist Robert Sumner in his book, The Wonder of the Word of God, tells the story of a man who was severely injured in an explosion. His face was badly disfigured and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He had just become a Christian when the accident happened, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. But he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been too badly damaged to distinguish the characters. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, “I can read the Bible using my tongue.” At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had read through the entire Bible four times! This man puts most of us to shame regarding his devotion to the Word.
Let me give you a few practical suggestions for those of you who want to embrace the spiritual discipline of reading the Bible in order to commune with God.
- Make the time every day to read the Scripture. Probably the greatest excuse people give is that they just don’t have the time to read the Bible on top of everything else they are doing. Well, then, get rid of some of the other stuff you are doing. Another hour of your day is not going to magically appear. You are going to have to eliminate some other time-sucking activities that are really not that important, and replace them with a daily time of reading the Bible. Job said, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). Job considered the words of God as more valuable than his food. Do you? So, No Bible – No Breakfast. No Read – No Feed. Take that seriously. The best way to make sure you spend time in God’s Word is to decide that you won’t eat until you have fed on the Word of God. You say, “but I have no time in the morning with all my other responsibilities.” The answer of course is to get up earlier to make time. You respond, “I can’t get up any earlier, because I’m going to bed at 11 or 12 or 1 in the morning.” Then you need to start going to bed earlier. If you take the spiritual disciplines seriously it may radically reorient your life. Remember from last week, it usually takes about three weeks to form a habit, and another three works for that habit to feel like it’s a natural part of your life.
- Form a Plan. In other words, don’t play Russian Roulette with your Bible. Don’t just let it fall open at random, and read a few verses. No, read through books of the Bible from beginning to end. That way you are reading your Bible in its context. There are a lot of people who advocate reading through the Bible in a year. I’ve tried to do that, and I’m not a big proponent because I found that I became fixated on the path, rather than the majestic view on top of the mountain. I read so much each day just so I could say I did it. Far better that you read one verse of Scripture, think about it deeply, pray about its truths, and truly commune with God, than read 5 chapters but remember nothing when you are done. What I did for a long time is keep a sheet of paper with all the books of the Bible written on it. When I had read through a book, I put a check next to it. That way I knew at a glance which books I had read, and which ones I hadn’t. I could still read through those books at whatever speed I found helpful in my communion with God, but still read through books from beginning to end. Of course, every Christian should make it a goal to read through the entire Bible, and once he is done, go back and read through it again. If you are new to reading the Bible, my suggestion is to start in one of the gospels, preferably John. Then continue reading through the New Testament. When you are done with the New Testament, go ahead and read through the Old Testament. If you get bogged down in an Old Testament book, come back to a book in the New Testament for a while in which God has spoken to you.
3. Studying The Word:
Another path to the top of the mountain to behold God’s glory is study. Jerry Bridges puts it this way, “Reading gives you breadth, but study gives you depth.” If you simply read through the Bible at several chapters a day, you’ll get a good overview of Scripture, but it’s not until you slow down and study that you will really begin to understand a book of the Bible.
A good example of someone who studied the Word was Ezra. Notice Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Notice that Ezra was committed to doing three things: study the law, practice the law, and teach the law. I love that! He was committed to practicing the law, even before he taught it to others. And notice that he had set his heart to do these things. Ezra disciplined himself to study God’s Word. Are you following his example in this regard?
Another example is Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent (study) to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” This exhortation is especially relevant for pastors and bible teachers, but every Christian should strive to fulfill it. All believers should study the Word of God so that they accurately handle God’s truth, are not ashamed when they stand before Him on Judgment Day, but rather are approved by Him. Are you being diligent to study God’s Word?
Another great example of someone who disciplined themselves to study God’s Word was the apostle Paul. In 2 Timothy 4:13 we have the great apostle writing his last inspired words before his death, and we get a glimpse into his heart when he writes, “When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.” The “books” and “parchments” would have almost certainly included copies of the Scriptures. So, what does Paul want most as he is in a cold, drafty prison cell waiting to be beheaded? He wants a cloak to keep his body warm and the Scriptures so that his mind and spirit can be warmed. Paul had been caught up into the third heaven, had seen the resurrected Christ, had performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, and had even been inspired to write Scripture himself. In spite of all that, Paul continued to read and study God’s Word until he died. If the great apostle needed to study the Word, surely you and I do as well.
So, how does a person study the Bible? It’s really not complicated. If you are already reading the Bible, just slow down and keep a pen and a notebook open before you. Start recording observations about the passage.
- Who is writing?
- Who is he writing to?
- What is the central idea of the passage?
- Write down the connecting words like “for, therefore, nevertheless, but, as, like, so that.”
- Write down questions that come to your mind as you are reading the text.
- Look up cross-references in the margin of your bible to see if you can get answers to those questions.
- Look up a key word in the verse you are studying and trace how it is used in the concordance in the back of your Bible, or look it up in an online Bible software program.
- Notice the time and place words.
- Ask yourself the 5 W’s, (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and also How.
- Notice the repeated words or phrases.
- You might also outline a chapter, paragraph by paragraph, and then when you have finished the chapter, move on to the next chapter until you have outlined the whole book.
As you get more and more familiar with the Bible you will want to do some topical studies, character studies, and word studies. There are a lot of bibles that will do all of this for you. My advice is don’t use a study Bible that has all kinds of notes and explanations, until you have exhausted your own study. If you run straight for the answers from someone else’s work, you will rob yourself of the joy of discovering truth for yourself. If you have prayed, journaled, and searched the Scripture and you are still stumped by something, then consult study bibles or commentaries to see what insights you might glean from other writings.
If there is such benefit from studying the Bible, why do so few Christians do it? I’ll let R.C. Sproul answer that question: “Here then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.” That’s why studying the Word is a spiritual discipline that you must work at. We are like the guy who has heard of the beautiful scenic views from the top of the mountain but will never see them, because he refuses to make the journey because it’s too much work.
Those Christians who enjoy God the most are the ones who are willing to expend the most effort in their pursuit of Him.
Take some time right now and think about it – who are the people that you personally know who are the most godly? Do you have them in your mind right now? How many of those people are devoted to God’s Word? In my mind, every single person that I know who is truly godly is also truly devoted to His Word. I can’t think of a single exception. If you truly want to be a godly person, the path to get there is devotion to God’s Word.
Are you regularly climbing the mountain to behold the glory of God? If not, will you commit today to disciplining yourself to be devoted to His Word?
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