We are continuing to walk through our church’s values in the sermon series on Sunday. Additionally, the blog posts here correspond to that sermon, being follow-up “notes” to Sunday’s teaching.
This week Dcn. Chris preached on the value we place on “Bible.” Let me unpack that value a bit:
Every church which bears the name of Jesus Christ should be a church that submits to the authority of Holy Scripture. We want to be such a church too. But there is a difference between a begrudging submission and a joyful delighted submission. At All Saints we want to go beyond obedience to Scripture to those wide open spaces in which obedience becomes joy. Just as Jesus came and turned the water of the ritual purification rites into the wine for the wedding at Canna, so also we want to see our obedience to scripture transformed.
We want to sing with the Psalmist “I delight in thy commandments, which I love” (Ps. 119:47).
When we conform our lives to the authority of scripture we are surrendering ourselves to being patterned after it: all our thoughts, emotions, hopes, imaginations, joys, the way we talk, the things we find good, the things by which we are repulsed, all of it our whole selves is patterned after the likeness. Just as Moses was shown the pattern pf the Tabernacle on the mountain (Ex. 25:40), and just as Ezekiel was shown the pattern of the Temple (Ezek. 43:10-12), so also the Scriptures come into our lives to show us the pattern for the house of God —which is the Church.
To be truly in submission to Scripture we must allow it to read us, and not merely be critical “readers” who stand above the text. It is like unto a sharp sword, living and active (Heb. 4:12); and a communal love of scripture shapes a community who allow the Scriptures to open-up, investigate, shine-light-upon, confront, challenge, convict, heal, and speak. One is only really submitted to a thing which one allows to speak into one’s life.
God’s Word, as “a lamp unto my feet and a light upon my path” (Ps. 119:105), it not only luminous itself, it is illuminating. Not only does the Bible make sense, by it everything else is made sense of.
The Scripture is full of words of comfort. The people to whom these words of comfort come become themselves a word of comfort to the prodigals around them: e.g. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15).
The Word of the Lord, when rightly loved and received, becomes a source of courage. The Bible makes men and women brave. We become like all those in Scripture to whom the Word of God came with the preamble “Do not be afraid…!” (e.g. Matt. 1:20, 28:5, 10; Lk. 1:13, 30, 2:10). A church thus formed by the Brave Book turns their hope in God into songs of worship: “Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7).
When new bishops are consecrated in our diocese they are given a Bible. As that Bible is given it is held over the newly consecrated bishop’s head while the giver says:
“Give heed to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. Think upon the things contained in this Book. Be diligent in them, that your growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ may be evident to all. In doing so you shall save both yourself and those who hear you. Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf; feed them, do not devour them. Hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring back the lapsed, and seek the lost. Do not confuse mercy with indifference; so minister discipline, that you forget not mercy; that when the Chief Shepherd appears, you may receive the never-fading crown of glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
…Amen indeed!
When Augustine sat weeping, dissipated and hopeless and sick with sorrow and sin, a voice came to him “Tolle lege” which means “take-up and read!” Augustine obeyed the voice, took-up the Word of God and read it. Over and over and over again he read it. He did not stop reading it. Go and do the same. Biblical mastery does not mean “we have mastery of this Book” it means “this Book has mastery over me.”