Taking the Word Seriously

“But take [God’s Word] seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom.” –Matthew 5:19b (The Message)

I love the bible. I really do, and I find such knowledge, such wisdom, such guidance for right-living.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. –Psalm 119:105 (NRSV)

But the problem is that the bible can also be used as a sledgehammer, to bully people, to offer hard judgments while not realizing their own sin. Didn’t God tell us not to judge?

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” –Matthew 7:1-5 (NRSV)

Indeed, anyone who uses the bible as a weapon is nothing more than a Pharisee.

I wanted to talk about the bible because I’ve been preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-7, where Jesus gives us a vision for the Kingdom of God and a guide for living right by God. The Jewish audience of Matthew would have gotten the point—this Sermon on the Mount is just as authoritative and important as when Moses gave the Torah (or God’s Law) to the Israelites.

Last week, I talked about salt and light, that we are to live that “Salty Life,” to let our light shine before others. But I was not able to talk about the next few verses:

“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working. Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.” –Matthew 5:17-20 (The Message)

But take it seriously.

Whenever I encounter someone who questions my accepting of gays and lesbians and other views of the bible, I quickly realize I’m dealing with someone who takes the bible literally. And trying not to be like a Pharisee, judging others, I try to graciously thank them for their insights but then offer my perspective.

I once heard someone asked the great theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, about the creation story of Adam and Eve … was it literally true?

And his answer was, “No. I think it’s more true than that.”

There is so much depth, such a rich ocean of knowledge and guidance one can receive from the Word—the analogies and metaphors, the prophetic witness, the soul and heart-wrenching laments of the psalms, the many, many stories of people of faith and their encounters with the divine. To limit the reading of the bible to only one perspective, not only ignores the culture and context, but it also often misses the truth that God is trying to speak in this time and place.

God is still speaking.

Even our one of our forefathers, John Robinson, a pilgrim on the boat about to come to the new world for the first time, to build a new future, even after the great reformers, said, “God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from God’s Holy Word.”

But take the bible seriously. Delve into its mysteries. Look at the historical context. Analyze the text itself, looking at different translations or better yet, the original language. Commentaries and study bibles can be helpful, but remember, they are also an interpretation. Also, please remember your own lens. We each carry our own bias and perspective that colors how we see the world and everything around us. We are products of our culture and environment and that all impacts how we read God’s Word.

And finally, it is not possible to read God’s Word without the Holy Spirit. You’ve got to pray about it and have the right, selfless, open attitude. You’ve got to give yourself over to God’s direction and guidance.

I find it helpful to read and study God’s Word in a group, so that one can hear another’s insights and perspective. Bible studies are great opportunities to study God’s Word.

Take the Word Seriously. Study it, sit with it, meditate upon it. Invoke the Spirit, and open yourself up to our Still Speaking God.

Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United’s website.