It is so good to be back here at Lakeside. Wherever I have travelled in the world, my fondest memories of what it means to be part of a body of believers are of growing up here at Lakeside.
My wife Laura and I sincerely want to thank you for your 28 years of partnership in our ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators. For 13 years of that time my family lived in West Africa translating the Bible with the Toma people.
Living in Africa meant making some adjustments to our shopping habits. We couldn't just go to the grocery store, but did much of our shopping in the open air market. Since local religious customs did not permit pork to be sold in the market, if we wanted to eat pork we had to buy a live pig and butcher it.
So one day I went to a friend and said that I was considering butchering a pig and that I was tired of eating meat with bits of pig hair in it. I told him that I wanted to make sure that we got all of the hair off. He told me to heat up a bunch of water and pour it on the skin and that loosens up the hair so that you can scrape it off with a knife. He said that if you really want to do a good job, buy a razor in the market. I said, "I have some razors, I will try that."
The next day I saw my friend and he asked how the butchering went. I told him, "Not good at all, I followed your instructions carefully. I got a sharp knife and a razor, and heated up a lot of water. But when I poured the hot water on the pig...it went running off and we still haven't found it."
Of course it really didn't happen that way. I just gave a knife and razor to my friend and had him butcher the pig for me. He got to keep some of what he considered the very best parts: the head, the hoofs, the organs, and the cleanly shaven skin with lots of fat...and I got to have meat without any pig hair in it.
It helps to have clear instructions.
In the book of 2nd Timothy, the apostle Paul tells us that Scripture gives us clear instructions about many aspects of our life and our faith.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (ESV)
God's Word is amazing. That is why I have given my life toward the goal of seeing Transformed Lives Through God's Word in Every Language.
There are almost 7,000 languages in the world. And yet almost 2,000 of those languages don't have even a single verse of Scripture. Hundreds of millions of children don't have the opportunity that Timothy had, to grow up acquainted with the sacred writings of God.
Whether you grew up with Scripture or whether it is a newly discovered friend, this morning I would like to start by asking: What would your life be like without God's Word?
First of all there are some basic truths about God and our relationship with him that we would have no way of understanding or even knowing without the Bible.
[In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (ESV]
In the very first verses of the Bible we learn about the sovereign God, the Creator of the universe. Many people in the world don't know this basic truth about God. What would your relationship to God be like if you didn't know Him as creator?
[Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV)]
We learn from Scripture that there is only one God. Many people even today grow up believing in and performing sacrifices to many gods or worshipping their ancestors or spirits. What would your life be like without God's Word?
[For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV)]
From Scripture, we learn about the problem of sin and the law and God's grace. We learn about Jesus and his death for our sins and his resurrection. What would your life be like without this gospel message?
Without God's Word, we wouldn't know what the true gospel is. Much of the letters of Paul were written to combat false teaching.
I have seen this in Africa, where cults come in to try to lead Christians astray. During my last visit to West Africa, one Toma man shared about his experience: "What is good about this translation is that you can get directly to the idea in your own language. When someone comes to try to trick you, to deceive you, you can read for yourself what God's Word says."
Of course there are some parts of the Bible that seem to give a few too many instructions. For many years Lakeside participated in a national Bible knowledge competition called Bible Bowl. Each year youth all over the country study the same books of the Bible and then meet together in teams for competitions. My junior year of high school the text we studied was Exodus. I memorized every verse of Exodus. I knew in detail how to construct a tabernacle.
I have to say that there have not been many times, even during my time in the rain forest of Africa, that I needed to know how to build a tabernacle. And as we translated Exodus for the Toma people, I sometimes grew impatient with all the details about its construction.
But what I have come to appreciate is that even this part of Scripture teaches us much about God. It teaches us that God is holy. It teaches us that he desires to be worshipped. And this part of Scripture teaches us that God desires our best in service to Him, and that He gives us resources and abilities to do so.
Without God's Word, we wouldn't know about the nature and mission of the church. We wouldn't know about Jesus' words telling us to make disciples of all nations. Those nations wouldn't hear the very words that God breathed. They wouldn't know the accounts in the Bible that prove that Jesus has power over demons.
We know a man in West Africa that is living evidence of that truth. Mamadou had epilepsy. Local witch doctors treated him with their occult medicine until he got so demon possessed he became a raving, uncontrollable menace. In his own words he couldn't see human skin without trying to bite you.
One of our missionary colleagues was preaching through the gospels as he translated them for Mamadou's people. He preached to the small local church on how Jesus gives us power over the sorcerers and the demons. And the church began to regularly fast and pray for the demon possessed.
One day the church leader came to the missionary and said "About 3 miles over I went to see my friend Mamadou. He was lying there demon possessed and hadn't eaten for 12 days. When I walked in, Mamadou said, ‘Jesus Christ has come to save me!' I need to borrow your vehicle to go get him." They drove over to the neighboring village and put Mamadou in the car. It took four people to hold him down. They brought him back and put him in a hut. As soon as they got him there and prayed for him, he said, "You can let go of me now, I'm all right. You can stop holding me down now, I'm fine."
One day Mamadou and the men of the church went back to Mamadou's village to hunt monkeys. Hundreds of people surrounded them to stare at him and whisper. The last time they saw him, he was screaming, snarling, and snapping, nearly dead. Now he was alive, healthy, even going hunting. Who is this Jesus? His Word has such power to transform lives! Mamadou's life was transformed by God's Word. What would your life be like without God's Word?
Even if we feel like our culture denies the truth of Scripture, many aspects of our culture would be very different without Scripture. We would have a different understanding about personal accountability, about our responsibility to be concerned about others, about the ultimate goal of human existence.
Without God's Word our country might not even exist. Our very independence from Britain was founded on the Scriptural idea of equality. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
It really isn't that evident...It is only in the context of Genesis that we learn that we are created in God's image. It is on that basis that it is "self-evident" that all are created equal. Civil rights are right, because we are all created in God's image.
In the last few months, domestic violence has gained national prominence as an issue through several National Football League players. Their behavior and the initial reaction of the NFL sparked a national outcry. But in many parts of the world, it is legal, even considered normal and acceptable, for a husband to beat his wife.
Why do we consider this a bad thing in our culture? I believe it is because of influence of Scripture on our culture. In the book of Ephesians we read: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,... In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." Ephesians 5:25, 28 (ESV)
Our friend and Pioneer Bible Translators president Greg Pruett has completed a Bible translation for another people group in West Africa. One day Greg heard his neighbor telling another man not to beat his wife saying, "The time for beating your wife is past." The other man asked, "If you can't beat your wife anymore, how will you keep her from doing bad things?" His neighbor answered, "The thing that tells us not to beat our wives is the same thing that tells them not to do bad things."
That "thing" is the Bible in their language. When he said that the time for beating wives is past, he showed how the kingdom of God had come among his people. God's Word in their language has brought a new era in their history, a time when husbands love their wives, when parents care for their children, a time when Jesus is King.
So I have been asking the question What would your life be life without God's Word? Now I would like to ask What would your life be like with more of God's Word?
More than 10 years ago, one of the largest churches in America, Willowcreek based near Chicago, began an ongoing study of their own church and 1,000 other churches. Along the way, they have concluded that many of their programs and strategies were not helping people grow and develop spiritually.
Bill Hybels shared: "we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."
In one of the books explaining the results of their research they wrote: "The Bible is the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth. The Bible's power to advance spiritual growth is unrivaled by anything else we have discovered. Reflection on Scripture is by far the most influential spiritual practice." [Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal About Spiritual Growth]
Let's look again at what Paul said to Timothy about God's Word: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (ESV)
The Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation.
You know the difference between knowledge and wisdom, don't you? Knowledge is knowing that the Tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Scriptures make us wise for salvation when we overcome sin by applying Scriptural responses to the various situations in life.
Paul mentions four ways that Scripture is profitable or useful for us: First, Scripture is useful for teaching.
Scripture informs us about what is right.
We have already covered many examples of the truths of the Bible. And while the Bible does tell us what truth is, and helps us to champion moral issues in our modern culture, we would be wrong to use the Bible only in this way. We need to be careful not to "use" the Bible, instead we need to engage with Scripture, allowing it to teach us.
On the Basic Beliefs page of Lakeside's website there is a section devoted to what the church believes about the Bible. It ends with the statement: "We have made a commitment to conform our lives and beliefs to the truths of Scripture. The Bible is only useful when it is received with a spirit of humility and obedience."
Even when we read very familiar passages, the Holy Spirit will often breathe new life into them to speak to us in our current situation. That is why we need to engage with Scripture daily.
Sometimes I need a Post-It Note reminder like this one. ("The Bible is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions.")
The daily truths we learn from Scripture are not always cosmic truths that blow our minds. Often they are just gentle reminders of truth we already know. But we need those reminders.
The second way that Paul says Scripture is useful is for Reproof... or some versions say rebuking. Scripture informs us about what is wrong.
Now it is easy to immediately understand this as rebuking other people, using Scripture to tell them how they are wrong.
In his book Life On Mission Tim Harlow says: "The only people that Jesus hit over the head with the Bible were people who hit people over the head with the Bible."
Scripture IS profitable for reproving false teachers. Isn't Scripture MORE profitable when we hold our own lives up to its mirror? Too often we use the two-edged sword of Scripture to stab others, instead of allowing it to pierce our own conscience.
Last December Laura and I presented to Lakeside a copy of the most recently published Scripture in the Toma language--Genesis through 2nd Samuel. In March I travelled to West Africa to preach at the dedication of this book. As you can see from this picture, the dedication was held outdoors because the church building was not large enough to hold the audience. It was moving to see and hear the reaction of the Toma people rejoicing to receive God's word in their heart language.
The third way that Paul says Scripture is useful is for correction. Scripture informs us how the wrong is to be righted.
There are many places in Scripture that tell us what true repentance is, changing or correcting our behavior.
Scripture also helps us change or correct our thinking.
A counselor friend of ours talks about a pattern of thought often called Stinkin' Thinkin'. Some of us feel that what we do or who we are will never be good enough. This is wrong thinking, or stinkin' thinkin'.
Scripture can help us change stinkin' thinkin' into godly thinking.
Scripture tells us that we are created in God's image, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, that we are children of God, that we are God's own possession, chosen for the praise of His glory.
All of these things are done for us, we don't earn them.
In Romans 5:8 we read: "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (ESV)
Because God loves us we have infinite worth. That understanding from Scripture allows us to correct the stinkin' thinkin' that would pull us down and defeat us.
The fourth way that Paul says Scripture is useful is for training in righteousness. Scripture informs us how to live as a result.
As a result of teaching us what is right. As a result of reproving what is wrong. As a result of correcting the wrong into right.
It's easy to read Scripture in a very abstract way without personally applying it to our lives.
For example, for years I read this passage about spiritual gifts in Romans: "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us." and the passage goes on to list several spiritual gifts concluding with If a man's gift is "showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." Romans 12:6, 8b (NIV 1984)
I don't know if you have taken a personality test, but my Myers-Briggs personality test said I had a judging preference. So I had an excuse. I obviously didn't have the gift of mercy, so either I didn't have to show mercy, or at least I didn't have to do it cheerfully.
But then I read verses like Luke 6:36: "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." (ESV) Or James 2:13 "because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!" (NIV 84)
So, convicted by Scripture, I realized that even though I might not have the gift of mercy, that didn't excuse me from being merciful. So I gritted my teeth, and mustered all my might to be cheerfully merciful. But deep down inside I was still a judgmental person. Then one Easter, I heard some Scripture in a sermon that changed this part of my life.
The sermon was based on Ephesians 1:18-20, where we read this prayer of Paul: "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 1:18-20 (NIV 1984)
The message of the sermon that day was that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us who believe in him. The power of the resurrection is available to us to change . . . to become the people God wants us to be.
After I heard this sermon, I realized that I had been trying to do a "merciful act" on my own strength.
So Scripture not only tells us how we are to live righteous lives, but it also gives us the good news that we don't have to do it on our own strength.
I feel like I have come a long way in being less judgmental. God saw fit to train me in this aspect of righteousness by sending me to Africa, to the country that was at the very bottom of the list of economically challenged countries. There I was given many opportunities to show compassion and mercy.
I still struggle sometimes with being judgmental. That is why I need the daily influence of God's Word.
Dean Trune says that daily reading of Scripture is like taking a shower every day. "On any given day, I'm not sure I really need one, but those around me appreciate it."
In 2 Timothy 3 verse 17, Paul tells us the purpose for Scripture being profitable or useful: "so that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (ESV)
Ephesians 2:10 takes this a step further: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (ESV)
God made you with unique skills, things you find possible that other people find impossible. He may not want you to build a tabernacle, but He has prepared some tabernacle-sized works for you to do. And he will give you the resources and abilities to do them.
This last March with a group of Toma Christians, we took the first step in recording a dramatized version of the Toma Scripture. Even though we have a literacy program to teach people how to read the Toma language, some people will never learn to read and would not have access to God's Word in Toma.
But by recording the Scripture, illiterate Toma people can listen to it on radios like this one that take SD memory cards. Although most Toma people don't have smartphones, they do have phones that can take extra micro-SD cards with Scripture on them.
How many of you have some kind of app on your smartphone that lets you read or listen to the Bible?
In the bulletin I have listed my two favorite Bible apps. You can go ahead and download them now, as long as you don't check your email, Twitter, or your fantasy football lineup.
YouVersion just added its 1,000th language this month, with 41 different versions of the Bible in English
There are over 800 different reading plans to help you engage daily with Scripture
The Bible.is app is created by the organization Faith Comes By Hearing. They specialize in dramatized audio recordings of Scripture, so each of the different speakers in Scripture are recorded by a different voice.
One reason I like the Bible.is app is that it even has Toma Scripture on it. Download the Bible.is app and listen to the Toma book of Ruth. Or even better, listen to God's Word in a language you understand.
Let me close with a testimony from a Toma friend of ours. During the Toma Scripture dedication in March, he said: "To read the Word of God in my language has been a blessing, not only for my family, but also for the others in my small group who meet regularly to read Scripture together. To have the answer to our problems here in this world, and to have peace, joy, and love in this world, we must be in direct contact with the Word of God. I testify that truly, this Word has truly helped me in resolving my problems. Habitually, as soon as I am confronted with a problem, I withdraw into solitude to open the Word of God, to read it and to benefit from it as counsel for my problem."
May God speak to all of us in this way through His Word.