Sermon Transcript — January 4, 2003

Why Study the Bible in the 2000's?

by Dr. Ralph Levy

There was a time in the church when we used to talk about Bible Study, and one of our publications some of you will remember was "Why Study the Bible in the Space Age?" You remember that? Well here we are in the year 2003, and what I want to talk about this afternoon is "Why Study the Bible in the 2000s", or "Why Study the Bible in the Age of Terror", because I think that has become the kind of backdrop that many of us feel we have entered as we have entered this new decade, this new century, and this new millennium. Why? Why do we study the Bible? And the reasons basically are the same reasons that we have always had for studying the Bible. I want to enumerate three this afternoon for you. I will apologize, by the way, for the fact that I am a little bit nasal. I am not trying to do an imitation of Rudolph, the red nose reindeer. I wouldn’t do that kind of thing. But I caught a rather heavy cold over the last few days. So I have been praying that God would make it possible for me to get through the sermon without starting to sneeze up here.

THE REASONS FOR STUDYING THE BIBLE.

1. To banish Biblical ignorance. I want to give you a little bit of information about Biblical ignorance. It is amazing in our society how deeply imbedded the Bible is in our culture, but how there is a tremendous Biblical ignorance among many people who even use Biblical terminology and don’t realize it. Banish Biblical ignorance.

2. Because a Biblical education is a gift of the greatest value. It has been said that the greatest gift that anybody could give anyone is a good education. And certainly an education in the word of God is the greatest gift that anybody could be given. I certainly look back on mine, as I think all of us in God’s church do, with tremendous gratitude for the things that we have been able to do.

3. Because this is the 2000s. This is a different age. This is a time that is quite different from the time when many of us, probably most of us, came into the church. We thought the space age was the last age. And it turned out not to be. Here we are how many years later, 10, 20, 30, 40. Some have been in the church for 50 years, and here we are now in the year 2003, and history is going past, and we certainly do seem to be in very difficult and very testing times. We seem to live in this age of terror. And so that’s one of the reasons we should be studying the Bible.

But let’s go back to the first point that I enumerated in the beginning. Why should we study the Bible? Number one, to banish Biblical ignorance. It has been stated that this country and much of the western world has now entered the post-Christian culture. The post-Christian age. It used to be that there was a commonly accepted body of Christian or, if you wish, Judeo-Christian beliefs that everybody shared in the United States and even in England where I am from, which is a far more secular culture. I can remember as I look back on my childhood in London, England, I remember that my parents would use a phrase to refer to our neighbors. We had some neighbors who lived on one side of us. Very, very nice people, and they would use this phrase to refer to the neighbors, and to others from time to time. They would say, they’re the salt of the earth type. And I didn’t even realize until much later, of course, that is a phrase from the New Testament. People commonly use the phrase, to turn the other cheek. And I think many people who use that phrase don’t realize that is also a phrase straight out of the Bible. Wars and rumors of wars. Occasionally on the newscasts people will use that phrase. And I think many people in our society don’t realize that these phrases that are kind of woven into our vocabulary are, in fact, straight out of the word of God. And yet, in spite of that, the other side of this is that there is a tremendous ignorance of the Bible. I did a little bit of research and came up with some interesting quotes. I would like to read some of these to you. I think you will enjoy some.

Here are some responses, student bloopers given to teachers through the United States from eighth grade through college level. Here are a few of the quotes that were given by the students.

Now here are some answers that British children gave to some questions given in church. Britain is a much more secular place than the United States, and you can tell, I think, from some of these answers.

On a slightly more serious note, here is a little bit of research, a survey conducted by the Barna Research Group, revealing widespread ignorance of common Christian terms. Researchers asked a sample group of 1210 adults to define the "great commission", "evangelical", "John 3:16", and "gospel". In each case only a small minority gave accurate answers. Even so called born-again Christians had trouble answering. Only 9% of the respondents accurately defined the great commission. About 75% of those who called themselves born-again Christians could not offer a definition. Eighteen percent of the respondents correctly defined evangelical, with 57% of born-again Christians unable to give a definition. Twenty five percent of the respondents gave accurate or partially accurate descriptions of John 3:16. And half of those who call themselves born-again Christians could not offer a definition.

So here it is interesting in the United States of America, which still professes to be a very religious nation, even some of these basics that I think we understand, I think sure we could do a whole lot better, but many of these things are lost on different people.

The new minister was asked to teach a boy’s class in the absence of the regular teacher. He decided to see what they knew. So he asked, who knocked down the walls of Jericho? All the boys denied having done it. And the preacher was appalled by their ignorance. At the next deacon’s meeting he told about the experience. "Not one of them knows who knocked down the walls of Jericho," he lamented. The group was silent until finally one seasoned veteran of dispute spoke up, "Preacher, this appears to be bothering you a lot. But I have known all of these boys since they were born, and they are good boys. If they said they didn’t know, I believe them. Let’s just take some money out of the Repair and Maintenance Fund, fix the walls, and let it go at that."

Well, there’s a lot more of that. We’ll look at some of those through the years.

We have got this backdrop of Biblical ignorance, and I think it is very interesting that against the backdrop the people don’t know Bible basics. Yet, nevertheless, we have got the ubiquitous internet with us today, and if you get on the internet you can find all kinds of ideas that you probably know. All kinds of different ideas and strange concepts, and weird things that are out there, even among some of the Sabbath keeping people of God. I would like for you to turn with me to Ephesians 4:11-15. We want to banish Bible ignorance. That is one of our goals, of course, in the United Church of God, and that is one of our goals that Ambassador Bible stands for, and I am sure, by the way, that the incoming students know a lot more about the Bible than the people I have just read about. Ephesians 4:11-15. He himself, Jesus Christ, gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. And just as we heard in the first split sermon, there is a reason for this. There is a reason for everything that we do in the church. There is a purpose. There is an edifying purpose in all of this. It is not just so there may be offices. There are not badges. Verse 12. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. That’s not for the work of the ministry. That’s for the work of ministry. In other words, for serving, just as we heard in the first sermon. For the edifying of the body of Christ. And so there’s a reason for these offices. Then verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. If that isn’t the goal for all of us to attain to, to be still striving for, I am sure, I don’t know where else we would find one. That fullness of Christ. But then it is related to doctrine. Verse 14. That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. And there are a lot of winds of doctrine these days. We get papers and emails and things coming into the office. We see a great deal of it. We see it on the various committees and subcommittees and different ideas that blow around, and then blow around again. Things that have gone around and come around, much of it people come across…you know people come across different ideas among the Sabbath-keeping groups very often, and they think, oh, this is totally new. And they don’t realize that this has come up back in the 30s when Mr. Armstrong began his ministry, or the 50s, or the 70s. The same things go around and around, and people get blown around by them. We are not to be that way. Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our head, and what he desires for us is stability, that we would be grounded, that we would have a good basic, or more advanced hopefully, working knowledge of the scriptures, and we are not easily blown about by one wind of doctrine after another. And I think for all of us in God’s church today, we should when we get on the Internet maybe keep our salt shaker next to the computer. Put the salt shaker next to the computer or next to the monitor, because there are so many ideas out there, and most of them are to be taken with a grain of salt. We need to be very, very careful before we begin swallowing…I am not saying there is nothing there of any value on the Internet. But we should be very, very careful with some of the ideas that are out there. And not be quick to say, oh, I have never heard this before. Doesn’t this sound appealing? It must be true. We want to be well grounded so that, just as it says here in Ephesians 4, we can’t be blown around easily.

Point number two. Let’s move forward here. Number two is that Biblical education is the greatest gift. And I think of my own experience in coming to Ambassador College, and going through and taking most of the Bible classes (I already had a university degree from a university in England) and learning so much. It really was a turning point in my life. I saw many friends and others going through Ambassador College, and seeing their lives change as well. I learned the rules. I learned what makes life work. And I learned the outcome as well. My interest that time as I came into the church was particularly prophecy. I wasn’t looking at the time to join a church or anything of that kind. Certainly wasn’t looking to become a minister. That wasn’t my plan, but when I first came into the church I was fascinated by the subject of prophesy, and how human life would end up, and what would be the end of the whole story. I can remember hearing Garner Ted Armstrong on the radio talking about the subject of prophecy, and it just absolutely shocked me and transfixed me. I kept on listening, kept on listening. It was a number of years later when I came to Ambassador College I began to learn about the rest of the picture. Prophecy of and by itself is not the end of the story in terms of our personal lives. It is something that certainly got many of us interested, but it was a changing, starting point. It was a changing point for me. It was a turning point in my life as I was baptized just a few days after I came to the United States and became a student at Ambassador College And I saw many other peoples’ lives changed. As I have seen people and gotten to know people in the United Church of God over the last couple of years it has been so good to see so many of my contemporaries, and people who went through Ambassador College at the same time stay with the true faith, and serve God’s people, and act on that same turning point that they went through. Studying the Bible is a great gift. It produces turning points.

A few quotations for you. This is out of Halley’s Bible Handbook. Abraham Lincoln said, "I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book." It is amazing how some of those early presidents of the United States were not shy about talking about the Holy Scriptures.

George Washington, going further back: "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." In the modern world we have got this idea that you can’t talk about the Bible, that a president should never talk about religion. Well, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and many of the others were not shy about mentioning the Holy Scriptures.

John Ruskin said, "Whatever merit there is in anything that I have written, it is simply due to the fact that when I was a child my mother daily read me a part of the Bible, and daily made me learn a part of it by heart."

Andrew Jackson said, "That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests." It seems he had a slightly different definition of church and state from the way separation of church and state is interpreted these days.

Lord Tennyson said, "Bible reading is an education in itself."

And one more quote here. Sir Isaac Newton said, "There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history."
So the quotes go on. And it is interesting how even scientists talk about the value of the scriptures.

Why do we study the scriptures? What is the purpose of it? 2 Timothy 3:16. I called Mr. Fenchel on the phone this morning and compared some of the scriptures we were going to be using. He did touch on verse 17. But this is such an important passage in 2 Timothy 3:16, this is widely quoted in many, many Christian churches, a very strong statement about Biblical inspiration. It says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And I want to pause there and just note what, of course, Paul is speaking about here is the Old Testament scriptures. Because little if any of the New Testament was canonized at the time this was written. So he talks about all scripture being God breathed. That is the way the Greek phrases it, all scripture is God breathed. God breathed into this word. And so the word that we have in our hands is living. God placed his life, his breath into it. It is breathed of God. Now look at the second part of the verse. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete. We read verse 17 in the first split sermon.

I want you to stop for a second and look at these four purposes that Paul gives us in verse 16. Reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, and I missed the first one, doctrine. What do those mean? You ever stop to reflect about that? Why do we have the scriptures? Number one, for doctrine. A synonym of that would be teaching. The scriptures are good for teaching. And in fact, Paul is talking here about the Old Testament scriptures. One of the things we have done at ABC, by the way, is that we have stretched out our study of the Old Testament scriptures. We spend a lot more time in the Old Testament than we ever did in the theology major at Ambassador College. We felt that was a weakness we had in the old theology major at Ambassador College. So the scriptures are good for doctrine.

I want to read from William Barclay’s Commentary here for teaching. "Only in the New Testament have we any picture of Jesus, any account of his life, and any record of his teaching. For that very reason it is unanswerable that whatever a man might argue about the rest of the Bible, it is impossible for the church ever to do without the gospels. It is perfectly true, as we have so often said, that Christianity is not founded on a printed book but on a living person. The fact remains that the only place in all the world where we get a firsthand account of that person and of his teaching is in the New Testament." So the word of God is good for teaching, or for doctrine.

What’s the second purpose? Secondly we have got reproof. The word used here for reproof is talking about conviction. Convicting people. Persuading someone of something that goes beyond dispute. Conviction of error. Again, from William Barclay: "The scriptures are valuable for reproof. It is not meant that the scriptures are valuable for finding fault. What is meant is that they are valuable for convincing a man of the error of his ways, and for pointing him on the right path." And then Barclay talks about a Chilean man, Bisente Chiorga, who found a few pages of a book washed up on the seashore by a tidal wave following an earthquake. He read them and never rested until he obtained the rest of the Bible. Not only did he become a Christian, he devoted the rest of his life to the distribution of the scriptures in the forgotten villages of northern Chile. It is beyond argument, says Barclay, that the scripture can convict a man of his error and convince him of the power of Christ. We should probably add, it doesn’t just have to be a man. It can be a woman as well, obviously. But the scriptures have power to convict and show us what is right and what is wrong beyond any level of doubt.

Thirdly, what is the third purpose of the scriptures? For correction. Scripture is good for correction, setting something straight. And if we look at the scriptures, we go through seven months of ABC, or we go through year after year of sitting in the church and hearing the preaching, and in our own personal Bible study and nothing changes in our life, then something is seriously wrong. And I like to tell the ABC students, you know, if you go through seven months of intensive Bible education, there should be a number of occasions when you look into the scriptures and say, I say what the scripture says. It is different from my life. It is different from my way of thinking. That is part of the reason we have the scriptures. It should change us. It should change our approach. It should change our life. It should correct us. Again, quoting from William Barclay, "The scriptures are of use for correction. The real meaning of this is that all theories, all theologies, all ethics are to be tested against the Bible." I think that is very well said. ALL theories. ALL theologies. ALL ideas. Every last one has to be tested in the cold hard light of what the scripture says. Does the scripture back it up, or does the scripture show that it is wrong? If they contradict a teaching of the Bible, they are to be refused. It is our duty to use our minds and set them adventuring. But the test must ever be agreement with the teaching of Jesus Christ as the scripture is presented to us.

So one of the reasons we are here as part of God’s church, or as part of ABC is in recognition that we are willing to change. And something should be changing. We need to have the experience, as I am sure most of us have from time to time as we look into the word of God, I need to change this in my life. Not, I need to change the institution. Not, I need to change Ambassador Bible Center. Or, I need to change the United Church of God. No doubt there are things that we have to grow in collectively, but the essence of growth is individual change. Looking at our own personal lives and saying, I see this, and I must change it in the light of the scripture. If there isn’t any change, something is wrong. That is the reason why we are part of the church. And certainly from year to year as we come up to the Passover and we look at our lives we should approach it in the same way. Has there been any change in my life? Has there been any change in some cherished concept? Has there been any change in which I am dealing with people? Has there been any change in the way in which I worship God, and the way in which I relate to God? Correction is part of the word of God.

And then finally, the last and fourth purpose as mentioned here is instruction in righteousness. And some of the commentaries point out the term used here in the Greek is the term associated with the training of a child. It is associated with a child growing up through babyhood, into a young child, into adolescence, and eventually into adulthood. Growth. Getting to know the scriptures. Growing up. Instruction in righteousness. And certainly I think most of us look on the time that we have been in the church, and we see that we have learned a great deal. We are not where we were, are we, when we first walked into a service of the Church of God. And then, as Mr. Fenchel brought out in the first sermon, the purpose of that is that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Once all of this has been learned, once the word of God has done its work, then the purpose is to take it and do something with it.

I was very encouragement, by the way. I was having a conversation with one of our ministers in another part of the country. I won’t be specific. This was a very positive example. But I was having a conversation with one of our ministers in an area where we had several ABC students come and then go back to that particular area. He gave a tremendous compliment. He said, you know when the young people come back after seven months of ABC, they have really changed. And he cited some very specific names. He told me, this person is now serving and doing this in the church. And this person is also doing that. And I thought, well that’s great, that’s what it’s all about. He went through several of the students from his particular area.

What I want you to know is that there are the four purposes that Paul gives us here in 2 Timothy 3:16. And if you stop to analyze them, only one of these purposes relates simply to knowledge. One out of the four relates to knowledge. The other three all have to do with, how would you put it, Christian growth, Christian practice, living it, serving it. And so, when Paul talks about the purpose of the scripture, he says the reason we have the word of God is to show us how to live. The number one reason is not simply knowledge. The number one reason, the emphasis here is on showing God’s people how to live. Only 25% of it, if you want to quantify it that way, is knowledge.

Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 8:1. There is a little bit of a caution here as Paul talks about this problem of meats offered to idols. And some of the people in Corinth apparently felt very good about themselves. They understood that it wasn’t a problem to eat meats offered to idols. And indeed it wasn’t. But Paul had to warn them about something, because the church wasn’t united on this. 1 Corinthians 8:1. Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Everybody understands a certain amount. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And so the effect of knowledge, if we are not careful, can simply be to make us think, I know things nobody else knows. I have got an angle on a particular doctrine. I know Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, or whatever it may be. And yet the scripture says there is a danger in that. Simply knowing things doesn’t make us Christians. Putting it into effect, love, is what edifies. Putting it into our lives.

And so we really hope as we look toward these next seven months of Ambassador Bible Center that these teachings and the things we will be passing on in class will have an effect in the lives of the 40 or so young people who are here, and also that they will have an effect in the church. One of the reasons that ABC was founded was so that the church would be edified. That’s the reason why we are here. Not just to build ourselves, not just to promote our own ideas. But so the church would be edified. And I think really the net effect of ABC has been very positive. We have been very glad to hear of people getting involved and becoming more committed to what the church stands for, and serving their brethren in different areas.

Finally, point number three, why do we study the word of God? Precisely because this is a different age. I think we all remember where we were on September 11, 2001. I was in Portland, Oregon. There was a regional ministerial conference, and I had woken up and switched on CNN, and it was amazing how quickly CNN had managed to place a camera in such a location that they actually caught live that second airplane smashing into the second one of the Twin Towers. And of course it was horrifying. And it has changed our lives, and it has changed our world, for the worst. It has given us a world that in some ways feels much more uncertain. I think up to that event we felt a lot more comfortable, we felt a lot more secure. But we live in uncertain times now. And if you read the economic news, there is uncertainty about the economy. There is uncertainty about the political future of the nature. There is much less of a feeling of great confidence. I was in New Jersey in November, where we did an ABC mini sampler. And it’s very interesting to get the feel how that part of the country feels now. I spent a couple of days after the mini sampler was over and I went to New York City. And New York City has a different feel to it. Aside from the fact that these two big beautiful buildings have been knocked down, New York City feels different now. It just doesn’t have the same bounce. I describe it as a much more sober feel to it. And I think everybody who lives in this nation has felt sobered over the last year and a half. There is uncertainty. There is uncertainty about the war with Iraq. There is uncertainty about the economy. There is uncertainty about this terrible scourge of terrorism. But God gives us certainty. He gives us a refuge. He gives us through his word and his promises things that we can cling to.

Psalms 91. Turn with me back to the Old Testament please, to the book of Psalms, Psalm 91:1-6. Where is our certainty? Where is our confidence? Really, when it gets down to the bottom line, our confidence is only in the word of God. And the word of God is replete with promises. God tells us that in spite of what’s going on around us, we shouldn’t be perturbed. That there are certain promises. Psalm 91:1-6 says, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, says David, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him I will trust. Maybe we can’t trust so much in our savings or our 401K’s as we thought we were able to do a couple of years ago. Maybe we can’t trust quite as much in peace and safety. We don’t know what is going to happen. There may indeed be a war with Iraq. They are talking about that possibly coming up in February of this year. That may happen, it may not happen. The word of God says that for us as God’s people, our security, our confidence is in him.

Verse 3. Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the perilous pestilence. And He shall cover you with His feathers. And under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. Oh yes, knowing God and knowing what he has planned for this world, and knowing what ultimately will be given, not just for us but for all humanity, is a tremendous shield. And you know, in these times of uncertainty since the terrorist attacks and some of the other things that have happened, at times I have thought about the enormous numbers of billions upon billions of humanity who don’t know what you and I are privileged to know. Who don’t understand that God will not allow it all to end like one of those great big jumbo jets smashing into a Twin Tower. It is not going to end that way. His truth is our shield and buckler. We do know, brethren, we do know that Jesus Christ will come down from heaven at a time of huge peril, at a time when it is going to look to most of the world as if it is hopeless. And he will ultimately save the entire world and bring it under the government of God. That is our comfort. That’s our confidence.

Verse 5. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night. What about our own individual situations as we face things that may frighten us and may disturb us. God says don’t be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noon day. And then another couple of verses. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes you shall look and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place.

Where is our ultimate confidence? It is in this word. We know how it will end up. We know the end of the story. We know God will not allow humanity to be obliterated. We know ultimately what our destiny is. Time has passed brethren, and as we look into the scriptures we see many things that may happen to us as God’s people. We may, in fact, be persecuted. The scriptures indicate there will be persecution against God’s people. But we know where our refuge will be. We know what the final outcome will be.

Turn with me, if you would, to 2 Peter 1:19. Here is Peter talking. The context is the transfiguration. Peter had heard the voice from the mountain. And then verse 19: And so we have the prophetic word confirmed which you do well to heed. And some of the classes that we have got at ABC are on prophecy. We have tremendous class on Daniel and Revelation taught by Mr. Melvin Rhodes who is going to be coming down from Michigan to teach about Daniel and Revelation. It is a very, very good class. I think you will enjoy it. We do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. And sometimes the world is a very dark place. Things get very dark and very uncertain. Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

So Peter makes the point that we know the end of the story, and the prophetic word is like a light shining in a dark place. It is a little bit like a flashlight. If you ever carry a flashlight up in the mountains late at night, and you shine it into the darkness it is tremendous how that flashlight will pierce through the night. The prophetic word is just like that. It tells us the end of the story.

So why do we study the word of God? We study the word of God because this is the age that we live in. We study the word of God because there can be no greater gift than a Bible education. We study the word of God because we are intent on banishing Biblical ignorance.

One last scripture, 2 Peter 3:17-18. Here is where the emphasis is going to be at ABC this year. 2 Peter 3:17. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, many of us have known it for a long time, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked. And then verse 18. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

And that’s our watchword for ABC this year. That’s going to be on the banner, Growing in Grace and Knowledge. That’s what we’re going to be about.


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