20 Mar Book it! (Because a Bible that is falling apart indicates a life that isn’t!) Part 26
For the last few weeks we have begun to discover some Truths to Trust God’s Word:
- The Bible is historically accurate (Ps. 33:4)
2. The Bible is scientifically accurate (I Tim. 6:20)
3. The Bible is prophetically accurate (Matt. 26:56)
4. The Bible is thematically unified.
5. The Bible is trusted by Jesus (Matt. 5:18)
6. The Bible has enduring power (Luke 21:33)
7. The Bible has transforming power (John 8:31-32)
Then we began to share “Four Characteristics concerning Continuing in the Word”:
- Make it the foundation of your life (Matt. 7:24).
Here the Bible tells us, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock”. Here the Word of God clearly tells us that the storms of life will come to all our lives but if our foundation is built on hearing and doing the Word, our house (life) will stand!
I began sharing different foundations that will surely not uphold you in this house. Let’s call them “Four Faulty Foundations”:
1.) Popular culture.
Popular culture comes and goes. It is so funny to me to watch people who think they are creative and different. I went to a ministerial conference a few years back. This conference was known and advertised for being very creative. Therefore all the “creative” leaders came from all over the country to get even more “creative”. The hilarious thing to me was that all of the “creative and different” ministry leaders were almost identically the same! They dressed alike, they talked alike and they acted alike…all in the name of “creative and different”!
Pop culture comes and goes, so if you build your life on it…this will always be a faulty foundation!
2.) Tradition (Mark 7:7-9)
“Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”
According to these powerful verses there is something that can make the Word of God have no effect on our lives! Not the devil and not even your mother-in-law (and no, they are not one in the same). It is tradition that makes God’s Word ineffective in our lives!
Remember this: tradition is when we hold onto methodology more than the message.
Tradition, symbols, methodology…all take us away from our relationship with Jesus and point us to religion.
That is why tradition is such a faulty foundation! It promotes religion over relationship, symbols over the Savior and methodology over the message!
Let’s continue this week with…
3.) Reason
“I know the Bible says that, but that just doesn’t seem right to me!” I hear this type of thing all the time said by those with notoriety in this culture. I remember a past president who was a proponent of traditional (and Biblical I might add), one man and one woman marriage, who later said he “evolved” on this subject and became a proponent of homosexual marriage. Yet the Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:25, “There is a way that seems right to a man: but in the end thereof are the ways of death.” The Bible also tells us, “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:5).
The Greek word translated “imaginations” in this verse is the word “logikos” where we get our English word “logical” from. It could also be translated “reasonings”. It is always good to be reasonable and logical until that reasoning or logic contradicts the Word of God. Then always stick with the Word!
Remember this: When you look at a verse in the Bible you don’t understand…it’s because you don’t understand! Hold on to the Word even when you don’t yet fully understand it! There is one thing I discerned a long time ago…there is one God and I am not Him!
Join us next week as we wrap up our “Four Faulty Foundations” so we can Book It!