Stop Reading the Bible!
Reading Scripture is not the same as listening to God. So "Stop Reading the Bible!" And instead, listen to the Bible, listen to God in his Word extending an interpersonal act that involves attention, exploration, discovery, and faith. January 24, 2010.
She pours his coffee, scrambles his eggs with a little cheese, and gently slides his plate in front of him. With barely a grunt of acknowledgment he remains buried in the morning newspaper. He prefers reading a report about the latest scandal in politics, a list of scores from yesterday’s games, and the opinions of a couple columnists he’ll never meet rather than listen to the voice of the person who shares his bed – and his life. A voice that promises love and hope, that expresses emotional depth and intellectual exploration far greater than what he can find in any paper. Sometimes reading gets in the way of listening.
Do you ever find when watching the news you read the updates scrolling along the bottom of the screen instead of listening to the broadcaster? Or when we show the WELS Connection video with closed caption text do you catch yourself reading the words instead of listening to the person speaking? Maybe you know a teen who prefers texting to talking. Sometimes reading gets in the way of listening.
One pastor I respect as a linguist noted the breakfast scene I just described, and then stated, “Listening and reading are not the same thing Listening is an interpersonal act; it involves two or more people in fairly close proximity. Reading involves one person with a book written by someone who can be miles away or centuries dead or both When I read a book the book does not know if I am paying attention or not I can read by myself; I cannot listen by myself.” He then offers this alarming statement, “Reading Scripture is not the same as listening to God” (Peterson, Eugene, Working the Angels: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 1987, pp. 87-89). So Stop Reading the Bible! And instead, listen to the Bible, listen to God in his Word extending an interpersonal act that involves attention, exploration, discovery, and faith.
Today the cumulative message of all three Scripture lessons appointed for the third Sunday after the Epiphany is the basis for the sermon. Listening to Jesus – the Word and Revelation of God – in the synagogue, listening to Ezra read salvation history from the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, and listening to 1st century Christians connect the dots of Scripture to their present circumstances will collectively improve our own listening to the Word of God.
Recognize Christ
“He stood up to read,” and then Jesus “rolled up the scroll saying to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The Bible goes on to say that in the synagogue “All spoke well of him.” But within minutes, after Jesus explained that he himself was the fulfillment of the Scriptures as the promised Savior, “All the people in the synagogue were furious,” and a mob tried to throw Jesus off a cliff (cf Luke 4:16-28). They were okay with Jesus talking about God, but not okay with Jesus being God. They were okay with the Bible offering sensible guidelines for religious living, but not okay with the Bible stating unequivocally that it finds its fulfillment not in us obeying its rules but in Jesus Christ obeying the Father’s word. Looking for the Bible to solve family problems, regulate behavior, or point the way to financial fortune is as much as throwing Jesus off a cliff if we don’t first listen to the Word and find Jesus, who says, “The Scriptures testify about me” (John 5:39).
Page to any book of the Bible and you can find Jesus the Christ. In Genesis he is the Offspring of Eve and in Samuel the Son of David. In Isaiah he is Immanuel (God with us) and in Mark the Servant of all. In Ephesians he is the Head of the Church and in Revelation well the Beginning, the Firstborn from the Dead, the Victorious Lamb, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the End just to name a few. Go anywhere in God’s Word, and listen, and you will find Jesus Christ there, as the Emmaus disciples listened – with their hearts burning – and found him walking by their side.
Respond in joy
“Ezra opened the book of the Law of Moses He read it aloud and all the people listened attentively the people all stood up lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” For many of God’s Old Testament people, the Scriptures had become a relic during their 70 years of captivity, and sadly even before that when the temple still stood. Their Old Testament Bible occupied a place in their culture like a dusty trophy from years ago in a school’s display cabinet. Inspiring no more than a collective yawn.
Listening attentively to the words of God spoken to them through Moses and then Ezra, the returned exiles cried in sorrow when they realized how their sinful neglect and refusal to listen had hurt their Savior God. “Do not grieve,” Nehemiah encouraged them, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Ezra 8:1ff). Listening attentively to God’s Word can be like examining an X-ray and seeing those dreadfully white streaks of torn ligament or broken bone. Tears of fear may flow but also a rush of relief that doctors finally know the problem and can treat it. Listening attentively to God’s Word helps people finally recognize, for example, that friction in a relationship isn’t always somebody else’s fault but more often our own sinful pride, neglect, or refusal to listen. Tears of regret and repentance flow, but also a rush of relief that we know the real reason for the friction and the real problem in the relationship – our sin. Listening attentively to God’s Word helps us believe that our worst sinful failures find their end at the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord and need not hurt us – or others – anymore, and helps us believe that our new life already began before today in the empty tomb of Jesus Christ our Lord. “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Jesus takes our sin. We take his strength, living in the joy of the Lord who loves us and leads us respond to his Word.
Revoice to others
The 1st century Christians “raised their voices together in prayer to God, ‘Sovereign Lord Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus Now, Lord enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:23ff). Reading the Bible like a newspaper can mean we note with interest what God did in the lives of Abraham, Job, or Mary, or we nod in agreement that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Facts fill our heads as much as “two plus two equals four” is a piece of data stored in some file folder in our brain. Bible knowledge is good, but it is not the end of listening to God’s Word. These 1st century believers not only knew the Scriptures, but applied them to their circumstances, then they held these living truths in heart and mouth, revoicing God’s words to God in prayer and to others in witness.
God speaks to us in his Word not as a lecture about our bad behavior but as a love letter eager for our reply, not as a monologue to gain our attention but as a dialogue to engage our involvement. Listen to God and revoice his precious words back to him in prayer. He’s eager to hear from you. Listen to God and revoice his life-changing words by speaking to others about him, with great boldness when required.
If you haven’t heard of this phenomenon, you have experienced it. Postmodern pundit, Neil Postman, calls it the “Low Information-Action Ratio” (LIAR). Lots of information gets little or no response. In our information age we’re so bombarded with data that we’re paralyzed. Not able to, or not willing to, act. Eventually we fail to act even on the important information. Like God’s Word. We can read it like a passing billboard, junk e-mail, or trivial status update of a Facebook friend and dismiss it without a second thought. The good news is, “the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is an information technology in a category all by itself because God will not let it be nothing. God will not let us be nothing. His words, filled with power, life, fulfillment, and himself call us to a High Information-Action Ratio (HIAR).
Stop Reading the Bible and, better yet, in it listen to the voice of God. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on January 24, 2010
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