3 lessons & a hazard
The Bible, the Holy Scriptures, is a spiritual book. Its many writers, spanning at least 1600 years, were inspired by the Spirit of God to give us His word— a word for all people everywhere and throughout all time. And because it is a spiritual book, we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand it. Nevertheless, we have a part to play— and the people of Berea (Acts 17) set us a good example:
These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. Many of them, therefore, believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. (Acts 17.11,12).
Let me share with you three basic lessons we can learn from the Bereans in Acts 17 and conclude with one occupational hazard we are uniquely susceptible to as teachers and preachers of God’s Word.
3 Lessons
First, they were willing to learn: “They welcomed the message.“ Clearly, they were open to God. Before we read the Bible, we need to be quiet in God’s presence and welcome God’s voice to speak His Word in a penetrating way that overcomes any resistance to the message He will bring to us. Welcoming His message will require a daily willingness to surrender.
Second, they were disciplined: they “examined the Scriptures every day.“ This is where scheduled Bible reading guides (The Lectio, Life Journal, Lectionary, Chronological Bible, etc.) may prove helpful. Don’t compare your Bible reading schedule with anyone else’s. Some read through the Bible in a year. Others choose the First Testament or the Second Testament to read through in a year. Still, others focus on a single book. What matters is the daily devotion, not the annual bragging rights for the quantity covered.
Third, they were obedient: “Many of them believed.“ This book is not for the merely curious. God uses it to change lives. When God speaks, we must act. Bonhoeffer, in his masterpiece, The Cost of Discipleship observed: “It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey... only the one who believes obeys and only the one who obeys believes.“ We are wasting our time when we read the Word without a readiness to obey the Word. Perhaps, even worse than wasting our time is the fact that reading the Scriptures without a willingness to submit to the Scriptures will cultivate a hardened heart and a resistant spirit that is indifferent to the Word we read.
This leads me to an occuptational hazard particularly common to pastors…
Our Occupational Hazard
Forgive me if I am projecting my own experience, but I think sermon-mining is an occupational hazard facing every pastor who conscientiously endeavors to fulfill their sacred responsibility to teach and preach God’s Word. It is the well-intentioned, but compromised, habit of daily Bible reading with one eye and ear open on behalf of the congregations we serve. The “eureka“ of sermon-mining is the verse and accompanying insight that elicits a “that will preach!“ I found, in my life, it quickly took over as my reason for reading the Scriptures daily and frequently led to disappointment when my efforts produced nothing.
Semon-mining eventually makes our Bible reading a surrogate experience where we actually end up reading the Bible — mining God’s word on behalf of others. Ultimately, this will misdirect our attention, stunt our spiritual growth, and foster a gentle yet pastoral legalism that is better equipped to spot the splinter in our congregants‘ eyes rather than the plank in our own.
So if this is a hazard, how do we avoid it? Let me share what liberated me.
Several years ago, while I thought I was engaged in my daily Scripture reflection, I felt the Spirit of God convict me, saying: “Don’t bother with your reading. Come back when you are wanting me to speak with you and for you.“ That morning, God’s convicting word was like an intervention. For all of my daily discipline, I had fallen into the very dangerous space of reading the Bible for the purpose of telling others. When I asked God for a solution, He inspired me to put a “firewall“ around my daily Bible reading. Nothing I would read and/or write down was allowed to be “sermonized“ for a minimum of one year! This remains true to this day. This simple practice transformed the meaning and restored the value of welcoming God’s word to me daily with fresh expectancy.
In Conclusion
Jerome, the 4th-century translator of the Scriptures into Latin, observed, “The bulwark of the Church is that person who is well grounded in Scripture.“ What would the communities we pastor look like if we were benefiting from minds and hearts that were filled with life-giving and life-shaping knowledge of God’s Word? Jesus promises that anyone alive to the Word of God-- whether pastor or congregant-- will be the one who holds it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patient endurance. (see Luke 8.15)
Let me conclude with this confession of DietrichBonhoeffer — a 20th-Century Berean::
I read the Bible in the morning and the evening and often during the day as well. And every day I consider a text which I have chosen for the whole week and try to sink deeply into it, so as really to hear what it is saying. I know that without this I could not live properly any longer. And I certainly could not believe.
