02.10.06
Why I Am A Christian (2): God’s Word
Psalm 19:7-14
I recently bought a book of the short stories of a 19th Century Russian author named Anton Chekhov (not to be confused with the Chekhov in Star Trek). Chekhov was a prolific writer whose short stories are a testament to God’s common grace. The book has an introduction written by a professor of English literature at Columbia University. In his introduction, Plante writes, “In Chekhov’s writing, everything, absolutely everything, is seen as a problem that has no solution; everything, absolutely everything, is questioned by why? Why? Why? though no answer to the question is ever proposed.” Again Plante writes that Chekhov’s works are dominated by “a great, unrealizable longing impelling the cry “Why, why?” while the one crying knows that there are no answers.” It is little wonder that Chekhov became fascinated with the philosophy of Nihilism, where nothing really matters. But what I want to know, and I’m sure what you want to know, is whether Chekhov is right – are there no answers? You won’t find answers looking in Chekhov’s short stories, but is there a book we can go to which will both state the problems of the human condition and at the same time provide realistic and workable answers to the why? questions?
I believe there is – the best selling book in the world, selling last year over 100 million copies – the Bible. The Bible is quite unique, and it is the Bible which provides me with the second reason why I am a Christian. If you remember from the last time, I suggested that the first reason I am a Christian is because I live in God’s World. Well, the second reason I am a Christian is because I am a reader of God’s Word. The Bible has much to say about itself, but I have chosen Psalm 19:7-14 as the place to introduce you to why the Bible is such an amazing book, and why on the basis of the Bible, you should be a Christian too.
[A] God and His Word (vs. 7-9)
I want to ask three questions about God and His Word:
1. Whose Word is it? – I want us to notice first of all that whereas in the first part of this psalm, the part which talks of what we can know about God through the Created Order, God is called ‘God’ – because that’s all we know about Him, that He’s God. Last time, when we were going through Romans 1 we saw that God only reveals certain aspects of who He is through the created order – God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and His Godhead – His perfect standards and the judgement of sin. And we cannot know anything more about God from the Created Order than He has chosen to reveal to us. But in this second part of the psalm God is called ‘the LORD’. Now the name LORD, in small capital letters, refers to a particular name of God – God has many names – but the Lord stands for the name He gave Himself on top of Mount Sinai at the burning bush with Moses. Remember how Moses was commissioned to go to Pharoah and command him to let the people go, and Moses asked God, who shall I say has sent me – and God said, tell them “The Lord has sent you” – the word ‘Lord’ means ‘I am that I am’.
For God to call himself ‘I am that I am’ in this situation meant that He wanted the Israelites, who were in bondage in Egypt, to know that He had not forgotten them – He was the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob – and He was their God – His faithfulness was everlasting. The Lord is the covenant name of God – the name which tells us that God always keeps His promises. God makes promises to us, and keeps them every one. He is faithful to us – even when we are unfaithful to Him.
Now we do not learn of these things by gazing at the stars – an electron microscope cannot tell us of God’s great love for us – only the Bible can. Remember the great children’s hymn – “Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so” – the stars don’t tell us of God’s faithfulness – indeed were we to make our judgments concerning whether God loves us or not from all that happens to us we would be undecided – there is so much death and destruction in this world –there is so much pain and suffering. Supernova don’t tell me of God’s love, the fangs of serpents don’t tell me about God’s love – only God’s Word – both written and living can do that.
Supremely, Jesus is the way we know about the Love of God. God demonstrated His great love towards us by giving us Jesus, who died on the cross for us, to take away our sins. Can a star teach you that? Can the greatest of panoramas teach you of the love of God expressed in the agony of the cross? No. The universe only tells us of the power of God, not His great love and compassion as expressed on Calvary. So we need God’s Word. A star can tell me that I don’t match up to God’s glory, but a star cannot tell me what to do about it.
2. What is it Like? – in vs. 7-9 the Bible, the Word of God, the Book of Answers, is described using different adjectives like perfect, trustworthy and so on. But I believe these can be divided into 3 groups:
· Perfect – the idea behind this word is completeness, health and integrity. The Word of God is all we need – it is completely sufficient for our salvation and for all things which pertain to life. Other books falter and fail, other books are inaccurate and do not portray the human condition as it really is – but this book, the Bible, is complete and brings health.
· Solid – the idea here is faithfulness. The Word of God is faithful, it is dependable. It is not fickle or contradictory but from beginning to end tells the same story of the failure of man and the love of God. It says hard things to us and shows us the kind of people we are, but it invites us to come to know God Himself through Jesus Christ. The Bible doesn’t show favouritism, but speaks fairly and uprightly to all men, whether rich or poor, male or female, black or white.
· Pure – the idea behind this word is cleanliness. The Word of God is without fault, without blemish or spot. Nothing written within these covers is impure – sinful human beings may judge some of the things the Bible says to be morally wrong, such as the Bible’s stance on homosexuality, but at the end of the day it is not the Bible which needs to change to fit into their agenda, but their actions which need to change to fit into its agenda. Other books will lead you down fruitless pathways – but this book will lead you towards righteousness and purity.
Can you find another book like this one? Not surprisingly, the answer is no – no other book is intrinsically perfect, no other book utterly solid, so solid that you can build your life upon it and find it to be utterly realistic, no other book so pure as to lead you towards purity and righteousness before God and men.
But I want you all to notice, among the Bible’s own descriptions of itself, a tremendous mystery – and that is that the same adjectives the Bible uses to describe itself, the Bible also uses to describe God. God Himself is perfect, He is faithful and He is pure. People often say that the Bible is just another book, a book just like Chekhov’s short stories. But it’s not – because you can separate out Chekhov from the words he writes, but you can’t separate God from His Word. I’m not saying that this book is itself divine, as if it is God, but what I am saying is that God has so invested Himself in His Word that you cannot damage His Word by calling it ineffective and historically mistaken, without calling into question the integrity of its author. No, we need a perfect Word to talk about a perfect God; we need a faithful word to tell us about a faithful God; and we need a pure word to tell us about a pure God. This Book, as tangible as it is, is not like other books at all – it is truly the ‘Holy’ Book.
3. What does it Do? – in vs. 7-9 the Bible, the Word of God, is said to have different effects upon those who read it. It is a perfect word, and it makes those who read it perfect. It gives us much and we can summarise what it gives us under 4 groups:
· Life – many of us were brought up to think of Christianity as a dead ritual, a thing we were forced to do on a Sunday against our will. But there came a point when we suddenly went from being dead to the truth of Christ to being alive. It was as if we had new life – in fact, that’s what the Bible calls the process of conversion – ‘new birth’. And how did that happen? I would argue that in the overwhelming majority of cases it comes through the Word of God – it is through God showing us, through His Word, all that He wants us to know, that He brings us to life. This book is more important than a defribulator, more life-giving than a shot of adrenaline – it is through this book that we gain life now and life forever.
· Wisdom – would you know wisdom – I’m neither talking here about mere common sense, or about cleverness – I’m talking about true wisdom? Would you gain God’s perspective on living? It is here, in the pages of this living book that you will find God’s wisdom for your life. And His wisdom often runs against the wisdom of this present world because God has a wider and more all-encompassing view of reality than this world – He sees time and eternity, He sees space and infinity – and therefore, if you would be truly wise, you must look here. That is where our fathers who founded the ancient Scottish universities started – my own University of Aberdeen has as its motto the Latin ‘Initium Sapientiae Timor Domini’ – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. Pursue wisdom with your academic textbook in one hand, the Bible in the other, and the fear of God in your heart.
· Joy – this world pursues happiness and pleasure at any cost. But there is greater and deeper and more fulfilling joy to be found in God’s Word than anywhere else. Why is that? It is because God made us and He knows what is good for us – and everything we need is written in His Word. Chekhov may inspire you, but he hardly makes you rejoice. John Steinbeck may fascinate you, but he doesn’t evoke meaningful and lasting pleasure within you. Only God can do that, and He does, through His Word. Are you a pleasure seeker – a hedonist? Then here, in God’s Word, you’ll find the ultimate in eternal hedonism – Jesus Christ Himself.
· Light – we live in a world of darkness, where billions of people are groping around in a spiritual darkness clutching at the first thing which they think will give them hope and a reason for living. But left to themselves, they never find anything truly meaningful. But the Word of God, it is true light – the light of a candle in the darkness, the illumination of the sun in the darkness and emptiness of space. It is by the light that we see reality as it is – without light, we would see nothing and understand nothing. What then is the light through which we view reality, we who believe the Bible to be the Word of God – it is the Bible itself. It is the Bible which tells us what reality is and shapes what we see. What we see does not shape the Bible, rather, what the Bible says conditions our ultimate reality. It is the light which enlightens our darkness and gives us true sight.
Again, I want you to notice that all these effects of the Word of God are effects of its author –God Himself. A mere book does not give life, a mere book does not give joy – it is when God speaks through His Word that we become wise and are enlightened. The theologians say that the Bible is ‘self-authenticating’ – that means that we don’t need external proof that the Bible is the Word of God – we just know it when we read it. As we turn its pages and read its truth, the Holy Spirit drives home to our hearts the rightness of what we are hearing and how these are not merely the words of men, but the very words of God. The foundation, the impact and the realism of the Word of God show us that this is God’s Word, and as such, is worthy of deep respect and reverence. Not the respect we show to a great work of literature, but a respect we pay to the divine author of this greatest of books.
[B] Mankind and God’s Word (vs. 10-14)
We have so far seen the perfection in and of itself of the Word of God. It doesn’t need our approval nor our interaction to render it perfect. Saying that, what impact does it have upon us in terms of what value we place upon it, about what we are to use it for and about how we are to see the world through its lens? In vs. 10-14 the Psalmist answers those questions for us:
1. Price (vs. 10) – how important is God’s Word for us? The psalmist, in vs. 10, tells us of the wealth of a person who has the Word of God, and of the desires the Word of God satisfies within the servant of God. It tells us first of all that it is more precious than gold, than much pure gold. How do you go about judging your individual wealth? Purely in terms of the size of your home? No – you can have everything in the world but be poverty stricken in the things which really matter. If you have the Word of God in your mind and in your heart only then are you truly wealthy. Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch Christian, suffered much at the hands of the Nazis for her faith in Christ – stripped naked and facing the gas chambers of Auschwitz we might think that she was desperately poor. But she had God’s Word hidden in her heart and because of that she was wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of her Nazi torturers. We look at the prosperous in our society and envy them, but if they don’t have the Bible, they are not to be envied, they are to be pitied for their abject poverty.
But secondly, the psalmist talks of the desire of the servant of God after the Word of God. To the Psalmist, the Bible is sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. To the servant of God, the Bible is the sweetest, the most desirable thing. Talk to the Christian who is in love with His God, and you will find someone who is deeply in love with the Word of God because it is in and through that word he finds the God he loves. Give the Bible to Sudanese Christians who have never seen the Bible before, as John Brand, the UK secretary of Africa Inland Mission did on one occasion, and the response when they received it was one of holding it to their hearts – because to them it was the most precious and desirable thing in the world. To open the Bible’s pages is to drip water on parched lips, or to give a morsel to a starving man. Other books are entertaining – their language and storylines may haunt you for some time, but nothing is like the Bible. To us, it is invaluable.
2. Purpose (vs. 11-14) – the Word of God plays two functions in the life of the Christian believer – the first is that it shows us how to live in a righteous way – not necessarily the righteousness of the world, but true righteousness, righteousness according to God. In vs. 11-13 Psalm 19 talks about how the word of God does this: it talks first of all about how the Bible convicts us of our sins – it warns us, shows us our errors and highlights for us our hidden faults. It shows us the ways in which we are falling short of God’s perfect standard. The world in which we live holds up, in general, a praiseworthy moral system, but it’s not necessarily God’s system – and after all, it’s God who made us and its God to whom we are ultimately responsible. And whether we are outwardly moral, or immoral, the Bible shows us who we really are on the inside, and it is uncannily and uncomfortably accurate in all cases. But secondly, the Bible leads us in how to live righteous lives – it shows us how to be kept from presumptuous sins (that is those sins we commit in ignorance); it shows us how we can live lives free from the domination of sin. It shows us how we can be free from our lust, our greed and our pride. It points us towards utopia – not a utopia we will ever be able to achieve in this life, but a utopia of perfection and righteousness we aim at but know we will only ever attain to in the world to come. Chekhov, and every human author, was full of contradictions – on one hand he detested the abuse of governmental power, but on the other hand he had no problem with sexual promiscuity and homosexuality – but God’s Word will show us how to live lives of complete righteousness, with no contradictions.
But the second function the Word of God plays in our lives is given to us in vs. 14 – it shows us why we exist – and the answer itself is not comfortable. It tells us that the reason we exist is to be acceptable to God – in other words, we live not for ourselves – we are not the centre of our own universes, God is. Our lives are to point to Him – our whole lives – our lives of speech (the words of my mouth) and thought (the meditations of my heart). We exist for God, not the other way around and it is only by living for Him and in Him that we are able to find the answer to the question of meaning in our lives.
But you ask, how can I live for God? The Bible points out my sin and the corruption of my heart, how then can I live for God? The answer is given to us in the last few words of the Psalm – it all comes together in the God who is my Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer – in other words, it becomes possible to live your life in a way which is pleasing and acceptable to God through relationship with God. And how do we come into relationship with a Holy God, a God of infinite worth and holiness – surely my sin keeps me from ever being able to approach such a holy God? The answer is – through the work Jesus Christ did upon the Cross at Calvary. For on that Cross, the living Word of God took upon Himself all the sins we had ever committed and paid the penalty for them thereby wiping our slate clean before God. Trusting in Jesus is the first, the second and the last step to acceptability before God. And as we trust in Him, the living Word we find out about in the Written Word, the meaning of our lives focuses down into living for God – only here, not in Chekhov’s bleak nightmares of why? Why? Why? will we find true meaning and satisfaction in life.
If you leave this building today and go out into the streets and ask 100 passer by’s the question, “what single thought nags away at you? What keeps you awake at night thinking about it?” – the universal answer will be the ‘why’ question. People want to know, people need to know, people were made to know, the answer to the why question. It’s not good enough to respond to the ‘why’ question with the answer Charlie Sheen gives at the end of the traumatic anti-war film Platoon when he says, “The more I think about it, the more I am convinced there is no rhyme or reason to this life” because intuitively, we all know he’s wrong. And what I’m telling you is that I haven’t found the answer in this world, merely though what I can see and sense – and neither will you. You will only find it by reading, understanding and living God’s Word – both written and incarnate – the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ. And I’m asking you today, commanding you on the basis of God’s authoritative book of answers, come to Jesus Christ, understand life and stay awake at night no more. AMEN