Devoted to the Book - Rev Wayne Matheson
READINGS: NEHEMIAH 8:1-10, LUKE 4:14-21 AND 1 JOHN 1:1-4
The people of Israel had a Book that was unlike any other book that had existed before, because it contained truths and ideas that had never hit the world before.
This Book said that instead of there being little tribal gods all over the place, there was one God, that this God is holy and just and good, and that He created all things and plans on redeeming all things.
This Book, unlike any of the other mythologies or religions of the peoples around Israel, said that human existence is not just an endless cycle of repetition over and over and over again, but that it is a story. This Book said that it is God’s story, and that the story had a beginning - that God said: Let there be light and there was - that it had a middle - there was a fall and God has begun this work of redemption and that one day it will reach a climax. There is going to be an end to this story. There is something to look forward too.
This Book said that this God created human beings in His own image. That means that they have an indescribable splendor about them, and that they are accountable to this just and holy God. That means they carry a powerful responsibility, and that they can now know how to live. Because of this Book, humankind is not stuck in darkness anymore. It is very hard to recapture what the world was like before this Book came to it.
Those ideas changed the way that the world thinks and feels. This Book so defined Israel that they called themselves simply The People of the Book. Other people were known for other things - for their power, for their armies, for their industry; Israel was a People of the Book. To help his or her child learn the Book was every parent’s greatest responsibility. To be able to grow up and teach this Book - to become a rabbi - that was the greatest ambition.
The Israelites showed their reverence for this Book in many different ways. They didn’t have a Book with a cover like we do. It was all in scrolls. If a scroll were considered to be part of the Book - it was a record of the words of God, then you could not eat while you were reading it. That scroll had to be preserved and could not be lost. That scroll was precious.
Did you hear that in the reading this morning? Ezra and Nehemiah were two central characters in the post-captivity era of the Israelites. After nearly 60 years of captivity in Babylon, Cyrus of Persia, who had conquered the Babylonians, began the extraordinary return of the Jews to their homeland in 538 BC. Many years after the rebuilding of the Temple was completed in 515, Ezra returned with the second wave of Jews in 458 BC.
Nehemiah was then called in 445 BC by God to return to Jerusalem to help rebuild the walls of the city. Nehemiah was a trusted official of the king and was sent back as Governor of Jerusalem. Nehemiah and Ezra had difficult tasks. Although the temple had been restored, and the people were filled with hope that the promised age was now upon them, neglect of their religious practice was driving them further and further from God.
The book of Malachi gives details of the laxity and corruption in the life and worship as God’s people. Now, at the turning point in the reconstruction of the nation, they turn back to their founding document, and ask Ezra to bring out the book of the Law, which had been neglected for some considerable time. Finally, the wall is built and the gates hung (Nehemiah 7). All the people were called to the open square in front of the Water Gate. Ezra reads from the Law from morning until midday to all those who can understand.
It was important for Levites to ‘explain’ or ‘translate’ what was being read to the people. Verse 8 in the Good News Bible reads:
They gave an oral translation of God’s Law and explained it so that the people could understand it.
The same verse in the NIV reads:
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
It is true that all of us read our Scriptures in translation, unless we can read the Biblical languages. Translation is both necessary and sufficient. There is no perfect translation but all serious translations communicate God’s eternal word.
It is also true that even though we may have Scriptures in our own language, we still may need help understanding them. The teaching ministry of the church is one of the most important means of spiritual growth – and it is exercised not just from the pulpit, but in small groups, in books, blogs, websites and articles and in one to one situations.
Engaging with Scripture requires effort. The Jews in this story displayed three important aspects of engaging with the Word of God. First, they displayed commitment in standing all morning. Secondly they studied (v13) to truly understand its meaning, and finally they showed persistence and consistency by reading the book of the Law daily (v18). How prepared are we to take up the discipline of reading, understanding and applying the Word of God?
The most important and striking part of this passage is what happens to the people as they engage with the message being read to them. The reaction of the people to the book being opened in their presence was worship. Not worship of the book, but of the God who has spoken. This is even before a single word has been read to them! Simply the fact that God’s instructions are right in front of them causes them to praise God.
The reaction to hearing the Word of God was weeping. They immediately realised how far short of God’s glory they fell in their personal, corporate, social and religious life.
After conviction came celebration. Fellowship – that arose out of their worship together - around a meal is an integral part of being in a Christian community today as it was for the Jews. Here we see an extra dimension to their celebration – they are to share what they have with the poor. The rejoicing shown here in Ezra’s day had a strong component of compassion and social justice. Do our celebrations have a social justice focus?
After this came renewal of their corporate spiritual life. As the heads of the clans came together to study the Law, they found instructions ordering the people to live in temporary shelters during the Festival of Shelters. So they did – together. This marks the first time since the days of Joshua son of Nun when the whole people set about honouring God together.
This led to more rejoicing. They did not stop with simply being sorry for their sin – they confessed and repented (9:1). They set about putting things right with God.
This then was followed by even more worship (9:3). The full power of God’s Word to convict, transform and evoke worship was a result of both the reverence shown towards it by the people and their desire to put right their relationship with God. It was precious…
They loved it so much that in Jesus’ day an historian by the name of Josephus, writing to a Gentile audience, tried to explain the Jews’ passion about the Book in this way:
Time and again we have given practical proof of our reverence for our own scriptures. It is an instinct with every Jew, from the day of their birth to regard them as the decrees of God, to abide by them and, if need be, cheerfully die for them. Time and again the sight has been witnessed of prisoners enduring torture and death rather than utter a single word against them.
What Gentile would endure that for the same cause? They never got over this awe. God has spoken. They said, ‘This is the Word of God.’ Paul writing to the church at Rome says:
What advantage then is there of being a Jew? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. (Romans 3:1-2)
Jesus came and He loved the Book. The first time we see Him as a boy, He is at the Temple, and talking with and teaching the rabbis about the Book. He is asking questions about the Book.
The first time we see Him as an adult He is being led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Satan tempts Him three times. Three times Jesus just quotes from the Book. He is so immersed in it.
Next time we see Him; He is beginning His ministry. He is going into a local synagogue, and He quotes from the Book.
The last day of His life, He is hanging on the Cross, and He cries out:
My God, my God. Why have You forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46 and Psalm 22:1)
He is reciting from the Book. He gathered the Disciples around Him, and He was their rabbi. What rabbis did was teach the Book, and He taught the Book the way the Book was meant to be taught. After He dies and is resurrected, this community formed the church, and one of the first things we are told about this community in Acts 2 is: They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching, (Acts 2:42)
Friends, the truth is in our day some people cheer the Bible; they do not actually read the Bible. According to Gallup consulting company, two-thirds of the people surveyed in America could not name who it is that delivered the Sermon on the Mount.
Fewer than half of all Americans could name the first book in the Bible - Genesis.
Eighty percent of Americans claim to believe in the Ten Commandments. The vast majority cannot name four of them.
Eighty percent of ‘Born Again Christians’ - believe the phrase ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is in the Bible. It is not in the Bible. Benjamin Franklin said that.
Twelve percent of people surveyed thought Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc.
Thirty percent of those surveyed believed that the Epistles are the wives of the Apostles … I just made that one up. That is not really true, but the others are true.
It is easy to point the fingers at others – so due to the work of the Bible Society here in Aotearoa New Zealand – we have our own research and friends the results are not great here either.
New Zealand’s religious landscape is changing rapidly. With the reduction in the percentage of the population identifying as Christian, the growth of other religions and the increasing number of those specifying ‘no religion’, New Zealand has become far more religiously diverse in recent decades.
Considering this significant change, we can assume that the place of the Bible in the lives of New Zealanders has changed also. Today, 57% of New Zealanders own a Bible, the same percentage as in 2013. Bible ownership by age shows those aged 19 – 44 the least likely to own a Bible, while ownership among 13 to 18 year olds is comparatively stronger.
7% of the population aged 13 or over read the Bible every day. A further 5% read the Bible weekly. These percentages have remained relatively unchanged since 2013 (13% reading the Bible at least weekly). Younger age groups are more likely to read the Bible, with 10% of 13 – 14 year olds reading it weekly (compared to the population average of 5%) and 7% of 15 – 18 year olds reading it once a month (compared to the population average of 2%).
And of those who identified as Christian, just over 50% said the Bible influences their life. If we are not reading it, what is shaping our view of God? How will we know if we are hearing God’s voice? So why are we not reading God’s Word? That same research from the Bible Society broken down into various age groups shows this:
Is it any wonder we say we do not understand or have little understanding of the grand story of Scripture; the creation, fall, redemption story and so find it difficult to put Scripture into context?
In the Book of Acts, it says that this community devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching, because they found that when they devoted themselves to the Book, they came to know God, and God used the Book to change them.
Jesus came to bring Good News - to bring the Gospel. The Gospel is not just the announcement of some minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven after you die! The Gospel of Jesus is that the Kingdom of God is real, and it has been around forever, and now, through Him - through His life and His teachings and His Book - it is available to anybody who wants it. When you get it, you become Good News.
If the Gospel is not Good News for everybody, then it is not Good News for anybody. That means that we have to become a different kind of person. It starts with being transformed, and that brings us to the Book … to be devoted to the Book. Sometimes in churches, people become superficial with it, and they measure spirituality in goofy ways. God’s goal is for the Scriptures to get all the way through us. We can never get superficial about it.
Think about your own devotion to the Book and about our devotion as a community together. Is it our desire to be a People devoted to the Book?: to Read the Book, know the Book, love the Book, do the Book, live the Book, die the Book. That is what the rabbis used to say. That is what Jesus did. Why did they love it so much?
Behind this Book there is a Father whose heart is so full of love that words were not enough. He thought about the most amazing thing that He could give us: The Word became flesh…the Word became flesh, lived among us…, and hung on a cross to die. (John 1:14)
We read this Book in the shadow of the Cross. We read this Book with His help. For those of us who know Him and love Him and follow Him, we want to be transformed. We want to know our calling. We want to be people of worship, and weeping and celebration and renewal of our corporate spiritual life and of confession and repentance and more worship…so we will devote ourselves to the Book…