"Getting Personal"

 I John 5:13

Dear Friends in Christ,                                                                                    I John 5:13

   I came across a great story sometime ago that some of you here today, unfortunately, just might be able to relate to, especially if you’ve ever known the following sensations: sudden heart palpitations, sweaty palms, beads of perspiration breaking out on your forehead, and an instantaneous reflex reaction to pull back on your right foot.  Why?  Because you see in your review mirror the flashing lights of a state patrol officer.  That’s what happened to one woman who was barreling down a West Virginia highway going 15 mph over the speed limit.  When the state trooper finally got her pulled over, he handed her a ticket, to which she replied, “Don’t you give out warnings?”  (I have a feeling she’d been through this before!)  He said, “Why, yes, ma’am, we do give out warnings.  They’re posted all up and down the road.  They say, ‘Speed Limit 55.’”

   Well, I have a feeling that when many people who have rejected God all their life find themselves standing before his judgment seat at the end of this journey that we call life and they hear a verdict pronounced upon them that isn’t at all what they were expecting, I have a feeling many of them are going to want to say what that lady said: “But don’t you give out any warnings?”  To which God will say, “Yes, sir, I did.  Yes, ma’am, I did.  In fact, I had a whole book of warnings that I gave you so that you could be properly prepared for this day.  And that book was called the Bible.”  And then those people will have to hear the words that I guarantee you nobody wants to hear: “I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”

   Well, back on January 20 we started a journey that was designed to get us back to the Bible so that none of us will ever find ourselves in that situation.  Though it’s been nearly 7 months that we’ve been doing this series of messages, my final sermon today marks really only the 14^th one in this series.  Because of other special emphasis Sundays during the Lenten and Easter seasons and other occasions, coupled with the Sundays that Vicar Josh preached, it’s just taken us this long to get these 14 sermons finished and the series completed.  And as we draw it to a close today, we’re going to finish up what we started the last time I preached 2 weeks ago.  We’re at the point where we’re getting real practical and personal as we consider the question: What can I do to stamp out biblical illiteracy in my own life?  Or, to put it more positively: What can I do to personally get back to the Bible?  And just in case you weren’t here 2 weeks ago, the first 3 suggestions we looked at included the following: 

1.  Tithe your free time to God.  2. Allow the Bible to transform you, not just inform you.  3. Metabolize the Word.  If you are interested in knowing what we talked about in that sermon, you can access it on our church’s web site at salemlc.org.

   Today we want to wrap things up by looking at 4 other suggestions to help us get back to the Bible so that when we read it, we don’t look upon it as some burdensome chore that we feel we have to do, but rather it becomes something that we look forward to, something that we anticipate as one of the highlights of our day.  And the next suggestion I have to help you get to that point is this: Mark your Bible.  This is something that some people are reluctant to do for a variety of reasons.  Some might feel that it’s sacrilegious to do it because these are the very words of God and it just doesn’t feel right to underline or highlight them, as if some of those words are more important than others.  Or they feel as though they are desecrating the Scriptures by marking in them.  Then there are those Type A personalities who are true perfectionists at heart and who want their Bible to remain as crisp and perfect as it was the day they bought it.  I suppose I used to be that way myself, but as I read my Bible more and more, I kept finding passages and verses that I wanted to be able to find back again pretty easily, so I started underlining them, sometimes highlighting them, sometimes marking the page with a sticky note, sometimes turning back the corner of the page, sometimes writing it down so that I’d know where to find it.  And by the way, when you mark your Bible it doesn’t hurt to put the date in the margin and maybe the reason why that particular passage meant something to you.  Then when you go back at some future time and read it, you can see how far God has brought you since then or how he has blessed you in some way.  And someday after you’ve passed on, your children or grandchildren can do the same.  They will have a running record of those verses in Scripture that meant a lot to you and why they meant a lot.  You may have seen a Bible like that in your own family.  And what a comfort it is to the family to know that God’s Word played such a vital role in the life of this loved one who is no longer around.

   Then another suggestion I have for you is: Read the Bible for God’s purposes, not just yours.  Typically most of us read the Bible for our own purposes.  We come to it looking for answers, looking for promises, looking for principles, looking for direction.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  But I really believe more than anything that God wants us to come to the Bible looking for him. 

   Now you’ve got to understand that when you do that, sooner or later you’re going to discover some things about yourself that aren’t exactly flattering.  For when you have a personal encounter with the great and holy God, it doesn’t take long for you to see yourself in a whole new light.  For the holiness of God will highlight your unholiness.  The righteousness of God will underscore your unrighteousness.  The perfection of God will reveal more clearly than ever your imperfection.  It will strip you of all pride and bring you to your knees in humble repentance.  And though that may not be what we like, it is from God’s perspective what we need.  For then and only then can we fully appreciate what Jesus did for us on the cross.  Then and only then can we be understand the desperate need that each one of us has for a Savior.  Then and only then can the immeasurable love of God break through the darkness of our sinfulness and restore us to fellowship with him again.

   You see, my friends, contrary to what many Christians want to believe today, God’s priority with you and me is neither our comfort nor our convenience.  Rather his priority is our salvation.  His #1 goal is to get each one of us safely home to heaven.  And for that reason, he has not only done everything possible and everything necessary to make that happen, he has also given us this Book so that we might read and study and learn about his plan of salvation for us and we might live each and every day with that knowledge tucked away safely in our hearts.  Did you know you can do that, my friends?  Did you know that you can live each day with the certainty that if this was the day that the Lord decided to call you out of this life, you would immediately enter his heavenly presence where you would dwell with him for all eternity?  That’s what John tells us in our text for today.  He says: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  Just imagine what living with that kind of knowledge could do for you.  All of a sudden, when the storms of life come, when the ground feels like it’s giving way beneath you, when the world around you seems to be spinning out of control, you don’t have to worry.  You don’t have to fear because you have the blessed assurance that through Jesus your eternal destiny is secure and the best is yet to come.

   Then a 3^rd suggestion I have for you today is this: Read the Bible privately.  By that I simply mean, read it at a time and a place where you can fully concentrate on what you’re reading.  Very similar to how Jesus instructed us to pray.  In Matt. 6:6 he says, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  All Jesus is saying there is that when you pray (and I would add, when you read your Bible), it’s wise to do so at a time when you can shut out all distractions.  And admittedly, that’s not easy in our day and age to find a place where there are no distractions.  There are times when I have to go to the doctor or I have to take my mom or dad for an appointment and I know that I’m probably going to have to wait at least a half hour, maybe even an hour.  So I always bring a book with me, but because of the incessant elevator music that is playing in the background at most doctors’ offices, I find it very difficult to concentrate on what I’m reading. 

   So when you read your Bible, turn off the TV, turn off the radio, turn off your I-Pod or MP3 player.  Find a quiet time and a quiet place so that you can concentrate solely and fully on the words of God that he is sharing with you that day.

   And that takes us to one more suggestion I have for you to make your reading of Scripture as meaningful and enjoyable as possible, and that is: Personalize the Word.  Though the Bible is all about God, when you read it, you’ll find it much more meaningful if you keep looking for yourself in the text.  And one way you can do that is by asking yourself questions like: “How would I respond to that?”  or “If that were me, what would I do?”  For example, recently I finished reading the book of Daniel.  In fact on the morning that I completed this sermon I read the story of the 3 men in the fiery furnace.  And I tried to put myself into their place.  If that were me and I was told to bow down before some idol or else I’d be thrown into a fiery furnace and reduced to ashes, what would I have done.  That’s a tough question, isn’t it?  And I would hope that I would have the same courage as those 3 fellows who responded to the king’s threats by saying some of the most powerful words in Scripture: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." 

   But there’s another way you can personalize the Scriptures, and that is by applying them to yourself.  For example, when Jesus says in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that means that God so loved you that he gave you his one and only Son so that if you would believe in him, you would not perish, but you would have everlasting life.  Or how about this great passage out of Isaiah 43:1-3 where it says: “But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: (substitute your name there) ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”  So let the God of the universe speak directly to you when you open the pages of his Book and let his words bring to you the comfort and strength, the wisdom and understanding, the power and truth that we all need for all areas and all aspects of life.

   Well, that brings us to the end of this sermon series that I entitled “Back to the Bible.”  Next week I’m going to start a new series that I’m going to call “Back to the Basics.”  It dawned on me that because so many Christians today have not been reading their Bibles, they no longer know the basic teachings and truths of Scripture, something that has been proven time and time again in numerous surveys and polls that have been conducted in recent years.  And with so many different views and teachings floating around out there today, it is vitally important that we be well grounded in the truth of Scripture.  So I want to spend some time going back to the basics, back to the essentials of the Christian faith and doing so in a fresh, new, and exciting way.  Until then, may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus at all times.  Amen.