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The Only Book You Must Read This Year

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As you set your reading goals for this new year, please remember there is only one book you must read. As John Piper writes:

I have never called any book a “must-read” except one, the Bible. I suppose that’s because I take the word “must” so seriously. I mean, “Must,” or you perish. “Must,” in order to make it to heaven.

Now there you go, turning salvation by grace into salvation by works. Salvation by Bible reading!

Probably anyone who responds like that is not very saturated with the Bible. For the Bible makes plain that there is a practical, ongoing “holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14), and that this holiness is produced by the Holy Spirit through the word of God. Hence Jesus prays for us, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

This is how we confirm that we are truly his disciples, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31). And if we are not found to be his holy disciples in the end, we will perish. This is what Paul meant when he said, “I warn you . . . that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).

The truth of God, rising continually through the roots of faith planted in God’s word, is the way God keeps Christians alive and enables them to bear the faith-authenticating fruit of love, so that they will not be castaways in the last day. This is the essence of why I say the Bible is a “must-read” — the only must read.

Piper then goes on to give 7 inspiring reasons to read the Bible. I can’t list them here, as most of them consist of a long sentence. But Piper’s reflections are motivating and worth considering.

Check it out!

HT: Andy Cimbala

Don’t be a Second-Hander

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In this short clip, John Piper describes his experience reading commentaries: often helpful, but rarely igniting his devotion to the Lord. To learn from the Book, you’ve got to look at the Book—and keep looking! Don’t go elsewhere for all your material.

https://vimeo.com/189824100

This year, may we be a people motivated daily by the best source material in existence. May we look and look and look and not let go until the Lord blesses us.

Check it out!

The Most Important Component of Children’s Ministry

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In a blog post last week, Russell Moore makes an critical point about “The Cosmic Importance of Children’s Sunday School“:

Sunday school transformed my life.

What I needed was the slow repetition, over years and years, of the Word of God. What I sometimes find among Christians is knowledge of systematic theology in one tribe or of biblical moral principles in another—without knowing the narrative of the text itself. Some Christians know how to argue their view of whether Romans 7 describes pre- or post-conversion experience but don’t know the difference between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, between Abigail and Michal. We would all—as gospel Christians—affirm the entirety of the Bible as necessary and profitable but still might, if we’re honest, think that knowledge of the text’s details—rather than the theology or life principles arising from it—is more about Bible trivia than the Christian life. If so, we are wrong.

Now the exact structure of the education—that is, what we think of as “Sunday school”—is much less important than the form of the education—the slow repetition, over years and years, of the Word of God. And Moore nails his point here. The next generation needs to be fed God’s Word. Principles of theology are important, but not sufficient. Lessons in morality are important, but not sufficient.

The Church’s little ones are depending on us to get this right. Please consider what Dr. Moore has to say on this topic. Check it out!

Don’t Freak Out Over Translational Variations

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Earlier this year, Dr. George Guthrie wrote a wonderful piece with “6 Reasons We Shouldn’t Freak Out over Word Variations in our Modern Translations.” He addresses the concern often expressed about whether we can trust the Bible in English when there are so many differences in various translations. Yes, there are differences. Yes, sometimes the differences should concern us (when they are careless or unfaithful to the original language). But most of the differences are so minor as to be of little concern.

Guthrie gives 6 reasons for his recommendation:

  1. They are translations, and translations have various ways to express an idea accurately.
  2. Modern translations generally follow one of two main methods of translating.
  3. Our primary English translations are consistently very good, for which we should praise God.
  4. Variants in the manuscripts behind our translations do not affect the message of the Bible, neither the theological truths, nor the exhortations and commands for living.
  5. All the variations in wording can be studied by any person willing to learn.
  6. Variations in wording keep us humble, seeking God for understanding, growing in our study of God’s Word.

In addition, Guthrie offers this marvelous advice:

In reality, there is no such thing as a strictly “literal” translation, since all translations involve interpretation, all translations must render Greek and Hebrew grammar in ways that are understandable in English, and all translations have places that are “functional” in nature. At many points a literal rendering of Greek and Hebrew word order, for instance, would sound like gibberish in English!

If you’d like to understand Guthrie’s reasons better, see the full article. Check it out!

Big Audio Bible Sale

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The website Christianaudio.com is in the middle of their twice-yearly sale, where a large number of books are available for $7.49, no membership required. They have included many audio Bibles in this sale, with the result that these Bibles are for sale at a steep discount. (My favorite audio Bible, the ESV Hear the Word Audio Bible, normally sells for $28.98.)

If you’re interested in listening to the Bible, and you’d like the flexibility of taking the audio with you (as opposed to simply streaming it), this is a great opportunity. At this time of year, you might consider an audio Bible gift for a friend or family member.

Check it out!

More on How to Apply Old Testament Promises Today

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As a follow-up to my “check it out” post a few weeks ago, here’s a brief interview with John Piper addressing how to apply Old Testament promises today. Piper starts with 2 Cor 1:20 to show that all the promises belong to us through Christ. Then he explains how the meaning of some promises changes in light of Christ’s work on the cross.

You can listen to the 9-minute recording or read the transcript. Check it out!

5 Ways Loving Your Neighbor Will Change Your Bible Teaching

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To help you teach the Bible more effectively, Mark Ward writes of the basic but crucial matter of loving the people you teach. Loving them will strengthen your teaching in at least 5 ways:

  1. Love will keep you from assuming knowledge they don’t have.
  2. Love will keep you from using words not in their vocabulary.
  3. Love will help you work at finding the best ways to help them take the next step.
  4. Love will give you the energy you need to push them forward.
  5. Love will alleviate improper pressure on you to please others.

Check it out!

How to Apply the Bible’s Promises

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Context matters! Many Bible readers read promises such as Jeremiah 29:11 or Exodus 14:14 and memorize them as personal promises to us today. But this is not a helpful way to read the Bible.

Stand to Reason recently published a great post about how to know whether a certain Bible promise applies to us. In this post, Amy Hall explains how to consider the context of the original text and audience, and she suggests we figure out what that promise in that context revealed about God’s character. Then we can consider how we can rest in that aspect of God’s character today. This doesn’t mean the exact promise still applies, but that God’s character is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The post demonstrates how to consider the context to discover the main point so we may apply the main point and not all the details. Here is a taste:

Always look for what you can learn about God through His dealings with human beings throughout the Bible. When God makes promises about who He is, that always applies. When God promises to give something specific, look more closely at the context to see if He’s promising it in a unique situation (or under the terms of the Mosaic Covenant).

Here’s how I would apply that approach in the case of Jeremiah 29:11. In Jeremiah 29:11, we learn that God cares for His people and doesn’t abandon them, and that He hasn’t abandoned them even if it seems everything has gone wrong in their lives. We see that His good purposes are still moving forward, even when everything looks grim. This, we can cling to, because it’s an understanding of God’s character, which doesn’t change. What we can’t cling to is the specific outworking of God’s character in that unique biblical situation. That is, in that particular situation, God’s goodness and wisdom decreed that He would bring back those who were exiled to Babylon, saying, “I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations.” But in a different situation, God’s goodness and wisdom may decree something different. John the Baptist was beheaded, not released from jail (Matthew 14:1–12). Stephen was stoned, not saved (Acts 7:54–60).

For the rest of the article, check it out!

God’s Glory, as Revealed in Exodus

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At the DiscipleMakers Fall Conference a few weeks ago, our theme was “Firm Foundation: Timeless Truths. For Now. Forever.” I spoke on the topic of “The Glory of God Alone: The Vision that Propels Us.” As I’ve spent oodles of time in Exodus, and God’s glory is a major theme in Exodus, I couldn’t resist rooting my talk in Exodus. What better picture of God’s glory than that of a bush that burns yet is not consumed (Ex 3:2).

Some folks said I took this talk in a direction they didn’t expect. Instead of focusing on how to put God first in our lives—a critical thing to do, of course—I focused on what God considers most unusual about himself. And, of course, these traits will lead us to put him first. But starting with God’s view of himself, and not with our need of him, yields interesting results.

Here’s a short clip:

Here’s a link to the full talk.

On our main conference page, you can find more videos on the following topics:

  • Scripture Alone: the Truth that Ground Us
  • Grace Alone: the Message that Transforms Us
  • Christ Alone: the One who Claims Us
  • Faith Alone: the Reality that Empowers Us
  • 14 breakout sessions on various topics

Check it out!

 

4 Practical Guidelines for Reading Old Testament Stories

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As I’m well into my series of sample Bible studies through the book of Exodus, it’s a good time to step back and consider how to read stories such as we find in Exodus. This week’s “check it out” comes courtesy of Dr. George Guthrie, who gives 4 practical guidelines for reading Old Testament Stories:

  1. Read the story in light of the bigger story of which it is a part! Don’t read each chapter/episode as though it were in a vacuum, but read it as part of the larger epic. For example, when we hit Exodus 19, we must draw connections back to Exodus 3, where God promised Moses would bring the people back to the mountain of God to worship him.
  2. Read the story in light of its purpose. Take note of the clues dropped by the narrator about why he’s telling this story. For example, I noted last week that God’s plans come with the intentions “you shall know that I am Yahweh” (Ex 6:7) and “the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh” (Ex 7:5). Such purpose statements are like bright signs highlighting a text’s meaning.
  3. Understand important cultural elements in the story. The narrator assumes his original audience would have understood certain things due to their experience, history, or shared experiences. Such things are left unstated but nonetheless key to interpretation. For example, though Exodus 6:14-25 never uses the term “high priest,” this cultural element would have been immediately clear to the original audience.
  4. Read the story, recognizing God as the hero. Though Old Testament characters do give us some examples to follow or avoid (1 Cor 10:1-11), those characters and narratives themselves constantly point to God as the primary mover. For example, Exodus 2-7 makes no attempt to put Moses on a pedestal. The narrative shows him as a weak man, full of impediments, doubts, and fears—but he has a big God who will keep his promises to his people.

For more explanation with some very clear examples from other parts of the Old Testament, see Guthrie’s full post.

Check it out!