a tell all book

From my sermon on 9/18/11 from Psalm 105:1-11

There is a song I learned in church growing up…sing with me..

Oh the B I B L E, oh, that’s the book for me…
I stand alone on the Word of God, the B I B L E.

What a wonderful book. We give it to 3rd graders today. The Psalmist gives thanks for the book, saying call on his name, make know his deeds, remember his works and the judgments he uttered.

I want you to remember your first Bible…or your first memory of a Bible story….who gave it to you…who told you the story…I want you to turn to a partner and share your memory.

This year marks the 400th year since the King James Version was published. That event made the Bible accessible to English speakers. Today, there are so many translations of the Bible, and paraphrases and Bibles directed to special groups. You may even have a Bible app on your smartphone. But I want to know do you read the Bible today?

I was trying to think of a way to get the 3rd graders and in fact all of you to read the Bible. I came across a quote from Ted Wardlaw , the president of the Austin Seminary, that might help. He had a seminary professor who said in class one day, “The Bible is the most dangerous book ever written.”

Can you believe that we give this book to 3rd graders? Annie Dillard in her book An American Childhood talks about growing up in an upscale suburb of Pittsburgh. She wonders about the sanity of those who gave her the Bible, “if they had read it, they would have hidden it. Didn’t they recognize the vivid danger, that we would, through repeated exposure catch a case of wild opposition to their world?”

The Bible is a tell all book. Have you read tell all books where a movie star or sports hero or rock idol will expose everything? Or if they don’t their maid, or driver, or body guard will.

The Bible tells us all about God…who God is, what God does, what God says. We read the Bible to remember this God so that we can be saved from spiritual amnesia. That’s why the Psalmist says we read this book.

But don’t read this book! It’s dangerous. This God favors the vulnerable, the widow , the orphan, the sojourner in the land. OUCH! God opposes the proud, the rich, the powerful. This God welcomes all kinds of people we would never welcome. This God wants Abraham and Sarah and us to be blessed to be a blessing to others. This God wants Jonah and us to preach good news to our enemies. This God wants us to be a light to the nations so that all will be drawn to worship.

Don’t read this book! It’s dangerous. God calls the most unlikely ones. Abraham and Sarah are in their 70’s when God says they are going to have a child and that that child will be the start of a whole new people of God. Joseph is part of a blended family, one of the youngsters. His brothers want to kill him, but settle for selling him into slavery in Egypt. He becomes the #2 man in the land and saves his people. There is Esther who wins a beauty contest in Persia. She uses her natural abilities to save her people. There is a boy who shares his lunch with those who have come to hear Jesus. His generosity sets in motion a miracle by which 5,000 are fed. There is a woman, a foreigner, a Gentile, who pleads for her sick daughter to be healed. Jesus hears her prayer and heals the daughter.

Don’t read this book because it will not only tell all about God, but also all about you. One the second page of the Bible, one man kills his brother over whom God likes best. I know you never fight over toys or over getting attention in your families. Don’t read this book because you will find that we are prone to lyin’, cheatin’, stealin’, and foolin’ around.

Don’t take the class I start next week during Sunday School time on the Bible from Scratch, the New Testament for Beginners. You will only find out all about yourself.

For goodness sake, please don’t underline in your Bible, write notes in it, or highlight it. If you do, then when I come to do your funeral, I will know what was important to you and how the Bible impacted you.

You know I am kidding, right? I really want you to read the Bible. More than that I want the Bible to read you, who you are. A writer from 1734, J. A. Bengel, said, “Apply thyself wholly to the scripture text, then apply that text wholly to thyself!”

Don’t read this tell all book, because if you do, you just might find that

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong, they are weak, but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.