Today's message was about the Bible, the Word, and reading "through" the Bible to encounter Jesus.

There is a long standing debate about placing Jesus "over-against" the text, or to devaluing the scripture in favor of the Jesus we find in Scripture. The question in these debates is often whether we are talking about the Jesus "of" Scripture, or the Jesus who we meet that then stands over-against the Scripture, causing us to reinterpret Scripture through him. Without getting too deeply into the debate, my take on this is that God is always calling us to a constant reinterpretation of ourselves and the Scriptures in light of the dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ and the Father via the Holy Spirit. This is dynamic. It isn't static. It - like any relationship - is constantly growing and morphing and maturing. As Jesus interprets me to myself through the process of the truth-repentance-forgiveness cycle, I am constantly being remade, and his Word (mediated through the Scriptures) becomes alive in a new way to me at this new place in my journey. That makes the relationship between Jesus and the Scripture dynamic, too. The Scripture reveals Jesus to us. Jesus enlightens the Scripture. And on goes the cycle.

I mentioned getting more intimate with the Bible to gain more intimacy with God through it as God's chosen means of revelation. (We call this "Special revelation" as opposed to "General Revelation," which Paul talks about it Romans 1 - in nature, in our conscious senses, etc. - which are accessible to all humans, but are not salvific.) Here are some tools to help you get to know the Scriptures better:

• Gaining a grasp of the whole story and its trajectory is really important. It's important to understand the Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration story and where portions of the Scripture fit into that story and how. To get the story straight through, read The Story published by Zondervan - a chronological read of most of the Scripture. I mentioned this morning a journey I would lead through the Bible beginning in January. This is one of the resources we will use. When I first discovered it almost 5 years ago now, I read a chapter a day and had read the story of the bible in 31 days (the book has 31 chapters).
• Start a Bible Reading Plan. Some of the best are at YouVersion.com. I would recommend the First Steps Reading Plan developed by Wayne Cordeiro, the pastor I mentioned this morning who is know for saying that God has highlighted your bible for you. Wayne promotes a process of daily scripture reading built on the acronym S.O.A.P. for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. He published the Life Journal (which is also a heavier dose reading plan here), an actual journal where you record the Scripture (buy it here, and proceeds go to support church planting), your observation, your personal application, and a prayer. I've used this process for many years myself, as have many staff members at our church.
  • By the way, some people have discovered it, but if you have a smart phone or tablet in church, you can access the Scripture, sermon notes, links, enter a prayer concern, and sometimes answer questions on the South Harbor Groups Live Events page at YouVersion. Find it here. Once you have an account, make sure to join the group. You can even share insights on Scripture with friends.
• Start a Life Transformation Group. These groups, based on John Wesley's original small groups, are based around Scripture and accountability. You can download a model for this type of group here, on pages 9 & 10, in a guide I wrote last year for the Fair Haven network of churches some of us call the Harbor Network.

Lastly, I cut the message short, and dropped the last points. Here is where I was headed:

Because Jesus is the Word, and Isaiah 55 tells us that the Word is "productive," meaning it produces, then Jesus is the producer. When God says in Isaiah that his Word is like rain that waters the earth and causes fruit to grow and the land to be lush, he's speaking of Jesus as the one who comes down from heaven. Jesus is found throughout the Old Testament - he shows up, as CS Lewis says, "incognito" all over the place. Jesus is the Word (John 1) who produces transformation, recreation, renovation so that we can "go out with joy and be lead forth with peace, the mountains and the hills breaking forth before us." This happens when we "hide the word in our hearts" (Psalm 119:11), we hide Jesus in our hearts. Once there, he begins to make renovations on our heart (BTW... there's a great book by Dallas Willard by that name - Renovation of the Heart) and changes us from the inside out.

• The Word – Jesus – shapes what you believe. Jesus begins to mold and shape our beliefs. There are some ways to participate with Jesus in this reshaping - we call them "spiritual disciplines," or as I call them, "spiritual practices." They consist of things like prayer, reading scripture, meditating, giving, worship, and more. Through these practices, we open ourselves up to have our beliefs shaped by the Word who dwells within us.
• The Word – Jesus – shapes how you change. Jesus is the one doing the work. He is the one who was co-creator with the Father, and he is the one who makes you change. We really can't change ourselves in significant ways without the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We can, though, invite Jesus to reshape us.
• The Word – Jesus – shapes who you are. If Jesus is shaping your beliefs (when you let him), and shapes how you change, then when you surrender yourself to him, he ultimately shapes you. He shapes you into the person he wants you to be. He helps you become. He helps you to become your true self. This is the process we call "sanctification," which is the process of becoming holy. Another way to say that is that through the work of the Word - Jesus - we are being made whole, restored to what God originally intended us to be.
• The Word – Jesus – shapes what happens. Here it is important to be clear. As humans, we think we can do so much. We think we can effect so much in the world. And yet if Jesus - the Word - is the one who creates all things good (Colossians 1) and in him all things hold together (ibid), then he is the one who makes things happen. Here is where the title of this message came from. The Word Does the Work. Jesus does the work. Jesus changes things. Jesus saves us. Jesus remakes us. Jesus does the work. You and I participate and benefit from his work, but in him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)

Quotes from Today's Sermon:

"We revere the Bible, but we don't read it." --George Gallup, The Baptist Standard, December 4, 2000.

Referred to: "[The Holy Spirit] will highlight one verse or thought that momentarily stops you in your tracks or seems to shine out from the page. He will whisper, ‘This is for you--this is a promise you can hold to’ or ‘this instruction will get you back on track.’" --Wayne Codeiro, The Divine Mentor.