How To Eat An Elephant Blog Series - #2 The Point of The Bible

The Point of the Bible

The point of the Bible is simple.  The point of reading the Bible is not to gain knowledge.  The point of reading the Bible is not so that we can become religious and believe me if we read the Bible for knowledge sake we will become religious.  The point of reading the Bible is not to get God off our back!  The Point of the Bible is:  To know God and to understand His ways!

God is not a mystery!  He’s given us His Word so that we can know Him.  We can know what He’s like.  We can know what matters to Him.  We can know His character. My fear for you and I is that we go our whole life knowing about, having information about, and knowing God only on a surface level because we settle for connecting with Him for an hour a week.  There are so many Christians that settle for a casual-surface level-acquaintance kind of relationship with their Creator.  We can’t settle for knowing about…I want you to know God!

To Know God

I love what Paul wrote to some young churches in the city of Colosse.  Colossians 2:6-7, “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”  According to Paul…it’s not about simply attending a service…it’s about knowing God.  Look at that passage…Paul says, “Continue to follow Him”.  The only way you can follow someone is to stay close.  If you’re not close then you won’t be able to know where He’s going and what He’s doing.  Then he says, “Let your roots go down into Him (Jesus).  The only way that Kristy & I have deep intimate roots is because we’ve invested in our relationship.  I’ve known her for 11 years and have been married to her for 9 years!  If you want to know God…it’s by personally investing in your relationship with Christ.  “Let your lives be built on Him”…what or who are you building your life on?  Because if you’re building your lives on anything but Christ…you’ll end up exhausted, empty, and aimless.  And you will have missed out on the life that God had for you!

Look at that verse.  “Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thanksgiving.”  So what’s the outcome of investing in your relationship with Christ?  Stronger faith and trust and we will be overflowing with thanksgiving.  The Bible is a love letter from God to you.  I know growing up for me I thought this book for old, boring, archaic, irrelevant and dead.  But once I opened it open and began to read it I was amazed because I began to know who God is. I began to know His heart.  I learned what God cares about.  I learned what He’s passionate about.  I learned that He’s on an all out pursuit to redeem, restore and renew His creation back to it’s original intent in the Garden of Eden.  It came alive!  One of the greatest ways you can get to know God is to spend time in His Word.  If you want to know His heart then connect with Him, crack this book open and seek Him and He’ll be found.          

Author Max Lucado tells a story in his book, Just Like Jesus.  It’s a story about a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century.  She was quite wealthy but also quite frugal.  The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home.  Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door.  He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was.  “I’m wondering if you can explain something to me,” he said.  “You meter shows hardly any usage.  Are you using your power?” “Certainly,” she answered.  “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on the lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.”  She’s tapped into the power but doesn’t use it.  Her house is connected but not altered.  She has electricity but chooses to burn her own candles. 

If you’re a Christ follower God’s power & wisdom is available to you.  God’s wisdom is readily available and generously given, stop relying on yourself for wisdom.  You don’t have to discover direction on your own; don’t live off the light of your own little candles, power up to the source.

The point of the Bible is to know God and… to understand His ways

It’s not enough for me to know God; I want to know what He’s about. I want to know what’s close to His heart.  I want to know His purpose, His plans, what He’s up to.  Jesus said these words… John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” 

There are two key pieces in this one verse:

1.) Jesus calls us friends.  We’re not on the outside.  We’re on the inside.  God has made it clear He desires a personal relationship with us.  It’s a privilege that the God of the universe longs to do life with us.

2.) We can know His business.  God’s not holding out on us.  He wants us to know what He’s about and what matters to Him.  I love the Message Translation of John 15:15… “I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning.  No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.” 

God didn’t just create us and say good luck!  Be safe, hope you find me and if you do then I’ll see you in Eternity.  And He most certainly didn’t just say I’ll see ya on Sunday! God loved us enough to give us the gift of His word for every minute.  2 Timothy 3:16-17,  “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

 Check out these 5 verbs in this passage…

Teaching:  Showing where the path goes.

Rebuking:  Showing you that you are off the path.

Correcting:  Showing you how to get back on the path.

Training:  Showing you how to stay on the path.

Equipping:  Helping us become who God made us to be.

I mean if you want know how to have the best life.  It’s found in His word.  You name the subject, topic, or scenario and it’s there.  Relationships, parenting, finances, identity, marriage, sexuality, making sound decisions, getting wisdom, navigating through tough times, character issues, and the big question the purpose of life… it’s in this book!

The Bible is God’s story and we’ve been invited into it!   God’s invited us into His story to know Him and be a part of what He’s doing to understand and reflect His love, grace & purpose to the world. God loves you with all that He is.  We are His prize possession.  That’s why He gave us this book.  Maximum freedom is found only under God’s authority.  He loves us, longs to protect us, preserve us and gives us a life beyond our wildest imagination!   Life is as good as it will get when we submit and surrender to the Bible.  To move away for God’s authority is to move away from maximum freedom!  We are only free when we are under God’s authority!  The God-centered life works.  And it rescues us from a life that doesn’t!

Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”  Bible preachers and teachers will come and go.  Books, magazines, trends, philosophies will come and go!  People like me are going to come and go—but the words in this book will last forever!