I write a lot about the Bible. And I advocate that people read and study the Bible. I encourage them to explore Scripture daily. But why? What is the purpose of the Bible? Without knowing why we’re doing something, it’s hard to persist in it and turn it into a habit. But that’s precisely what we must do.
Reasons to Read the Bible
The Bible is the most popular book ever written. It has lasted through the centuries. It’s been translated into many languages; I suspect more than any other book. People have given their lives to preserve the Bible so that we can read it today.
Many households have at least one copy of it. They may even read it. But why?
Here are some common reasons why people read the Bible. They read Scripture to:
These are all reasons to read the Bible. Some of them are even good ones. But they’re not the best. What then, is the ultimate purpose of the Bible?
The Real Purpose of the Bible
The Bible provides the foundation for my faith. I need a basis for what I believe that is greater than me. I need something that transcends me and precedes me. The Bible provides a greater authority for my faith in spiritual practices. That’s why I love the Bible.
Yet it’s popular these days for people to pick what spiritual practices they want to follow. They take a little bit of one religion, mix in a bit of another, and add what seems right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6).
When they do this, they’re making up their own religion. More to the point, they’re making God into their image, not the other way around (Genesis 1:26).
A manmade religion may make them feel good, but it will do nothing more. It can’t save them. Only Jesus can do that (Acts 16:31).
The Point of the Bible
My friend Luke says, “The point of the Bible is to point us to Jesus.” He’s so right. His succinct, pithy one liner captures the essence of the Bible and gives us the real reason to read it.
The Old Testament of the Bible anticipates Jesus.
The New Testament of the Bible reveals Jesus to us.
First, we have the four gospels. These biographies of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) tell us about Jesus’s life and ministry.
The rest of the New Testament (Acts through Revelation) tells us about his followers. It reveals their reaction to what he did when he died as a human sacrifice to cover all the things we did wrong—and will do wrong. In this way he makes us right with Father God and prepares us for eternal life.
This is because the point of the Bible is to point us to Jesus. And nothing else matters.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
I’m not sure why it works out this way, but it’s another holiday weekend, and we’re off to visit another church. This one is three-quarters of a mile from our home. We could walk to it, and consider doing so, but we talk ourselves out of it.
Part of the issue is that I don’t know how long it will take to walk there. I think ten minutes will do it, but what if it’s twenty? Instead, we opt to drive.
We’re meeting family there, visiting this church together, the first time for all of us. I’ve been curious about this church since it launched two years ago. This is the first time Candy expressed a willingness to go.
A Satalite Location
This isn’t a new church, not really. It’s a satellite location of an established church. Unlike many satellite churches, however, this one offers its music and message live. There’s no remote feed from the main location.
Their model is straightforward. The parent church, one of the larger ones in the area, has been launching satellite sites for several years. I believe this marks their fifth.
Each location has a teaching pastor and its own worship team, with centralized governance and financial control.
I’ve heard of this arrangement before and know of two churches that attempted it. In both cases, things didn’t work out as planned. Early in the process the launch team at both sites decided they didn’t want to be a satellite location.
Instead they wanted independence and to form their own congregation. What started as a satellite location turned into a church plant.
This church has avoided this problem and seems to have fine-tuned the art of opening satellite locations.
When they launched this site, they coupled it with a smart direct-mail campaign to people in the surrounding area. That’s how we learned about them, and that’s why I longed to visit. Today we will.
Meeting at a Middle School
They meet at the local middle school, an arrangement I find most attractive.
Instead of investing money in a building that’s only fully used a few hours each week and is only a fraction occupied during business hours, they free up money to invest in outreach and ministry.
Yes, they do have the expense of rent, but that’s much less than what it would cost to own and maintain a building. In addition, if they outgrow this facility, they can simply rent a different one.
However, if you outgrow a building you own, you have limited options. So in addition to the cost factor, I appreciate this arrangement for its flexibility.
As we approach the entrance to the middle school, the church’s trailer sits alongside the driveway, smartly doubling as a sign for the church and signaling the proper entrance.
Renting space from a school means they need to set up and tear down each Sunday.
The large trailer doubles as a transportation unit on Sunday and storage space throughout the week for their needed equipment and supplies.
We pull in and drive past the trailer. There are two lots, with cars parked in both. I wonder which one to head to, accompanied by the question of which building entrance to use. My deliberation is short-lived.
Welcome Banners and Welcoming People
A large vertical welcome banner waves by both entrances off both parking lots. Apparently each entrance works equally well. I pull into the first lot and park our car. We head to the closest entrance, staffed with two smiling greeters.
We walk up and engage in easy small talk. I feel free to linger because there are no people behind us waiting to get in. It’s nice not to feel rushed, even though we didn’t leave home as early as I wanted.
The drive took less than two minutes, and we arrived twelve minutes early.
Entering, we walk down the short hallway. There’s no question about where to go. Another portable sign tells us to turn right for the church service, though the nursery and some children’s programs are to the left.
We veer right and find ourselves in a large open space, with people mingling about.
As we move forward, two men interrupt their conversation to talk to us, something I seldom witness at the churches we visit.
They share their names, and we give ours, making a connection with them as we do. They’re both involved in the worship team, but one has the summer off.
The other will play today. He’s on drums. After a few minutes, he excuses himself to join the rest of the worship team. We talk with the other man a little longer. He’s not outgoing, but he’s friendly and easy enough to talk to.
Meeting in the Gym
We thank him for his attention and move into the worship space, a typical middle school gymnasium.
It’s large enough for two basketball courts running left to right, or one running the other direction, with retractable bleachers to provide a nice-sized viewing area. Thankfully, we will not be sitting in the bleachers.
In the middle of the gymnasium are folding chairs set in three sections, with one hundred chairs per section. We sit down as we wait for the rest of our family to arrive and for the service to begin, wondering which will happen first.
As it turns out, both occur at the same time.
The overhead lights are off. What light we do have comes from indirect lighting. The subdued ambiance in the room makes it hard to read the literature they gave us when we walked in.
The space begins to fill. All age groups show up, but the demographics skew younger, with many families present.
It’s likely that most of the tweens and younger teenagers here today also attend this school during the week, and their younger siblings will go here in a few years.
As we wait for the service to start, the interlude is agreeable. Soft music plays in the background. People talk with friends before the service begins.
The atmosphere strikes a pleasing middle ground between churches whose members sit in stoic silence for their service to start and those where an excess of activity overwhelms.
Time to Worship
A worship team of five gathers up front. In addition to our new friend, the drummer, there are two on guitars, one on keys, and one backup vocalist. They have no one for bass. The keyboardist doubles as the worship leader.
All are male. I wonder if that’s intentional or how things worked out today. Also, four-fifths of their ensemble fit within the millennial generation, with one lone baby boomer.
They launch into their first song, which, thankfully, is familiar to me. The Bible tells us to sing a new song to God (Psalm 96:1), but encountering only unfamiliar tunes and hard-to-sing lyrics is off-putting when visiting churches.
The worship team’s leading in song is quite effective, though they lack an accomplished edge to separate them from the typical worship team at a midsize church. Since it’s a holiday weekend, we may not have their A-team leading us.
Regardless, their sincerity in what they do is evident. Their hearts seem in the right place.
After the first song, the teaching pastor welcomes us. He’s been on a sabbatical this summer, and this is his first Sunday back. He’s glad to return and gives some announcements. One is something they call “Breaking Bread.”
It’s a chance to get to know others in the church. The idea is simple: three individuals or families agree to get together three times in the next three months around a shared meal, dessert, or coffee.
Interested families sign up, and the church assigns the groups.
This helps people get to know others and form connections. It’s a short-term commitment with a long-term benefit.
Greeting and Offering
Then the pastor moves us into the greeting time. I interact with four people, two young boys who play along with the ritual and two adults. The boys offer wide smiles and immature handshakes. I appreciate their effort.
One adult keeps her interaction with me to a minimum, while the other one takes time to share her name and ask mine.
And yet after these four, no one else makes any effort to offer a greeting. I fidget a bit, longing for this time to end. Fortunately, I don’t need to wait long. As church greetings go, this one is neither memorable nor haunting. I survived it.
Our space is now over half full. We launch into more singing, a five-song set. I don’t know any of the songs, but I’m able to pick up the chorus on most of them and the verses on a few others.
Next is the offering. I wasn’t listening, but I don’t believe there was any mention that visitors need not participate.
Not that I would have felt any obligation, but it’s a nice gesture, especially given that a common complaint against churches is, “They’re only after your money.”
There’s an information card to fill out and drop in the offering baskets as they pass by, but Candy’s still working on it when the offering gets to us. We’ll turn the card in after the service.
The offering wraps up, and they slide smoothly into one more song before the sermon begins. They’ve added more chairs in the back, which are now mostly occupied. I suspect the sanctuary attendance is now pushing three hundred.
Sermon Part 3 of 3
In addition, I guess a hundred or more kids and their leaders are off doing their own activities.
After his break from preaching, the teaching pastor is more than ready to deliver our message. It looks like it’s week three of a three-part series.
He doesn’t recap weeks one and two, but I surmise the key points from the series title: “Belong, Believe, Become.”
I’ve heard these three words strung together at other churches, so I have a good idea of what the prior two sermons covered. Today is about becoming. Yet if there’s a title for today’s message, I missed it.
Our scripture text is from Matthew 16:13–18. He says this is one of his favorite chapters in the Bible and is glad to speak on it.
The passage is about Jesus and his disciples traveling to Caesarea Philippi, a corrupt place far different than the less appalling environments he and his disciples typically frequent.
What might the disciples have thought as they traveled to this place, a destination that good Jewish boys avoid?
When they arrive, Jesus asks them, “Who do people say I am?” After various answers, Peter says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
That’s when Jesus says to Peter, which means rock, “On this rock I will build my church.” I’ve heard sermons on this passage. People debate the meaning of this last phrase. Some say Peter is the rock on which God will build his church.
Others assert that Peter’s confession, that Jesus is the Messiah, is the foundational statement which will support the church.
A third understanding looks at the setting—which ties in with the image of a rock— and the depraved behavior of the people in this area.
This may be the rock on which Jesus will build his church. Why else would Jesus take them twenty miles to ask them a question he could have asked at any other time?
The point I derive from this is to take the good news of Jesus to the people who most need it. As I contemplate the implication of this, I jot down a soundbite from the minister.
Know Your Community
He says, “Know your community.” This makes sense. If we’re going to reach our neighbors, we should understand them better.
He talks about two kinds of community. One is the church’s internal community, and the other is the community around us. He gives us a simple three-point process to engage people: Step one is to talk to them. Step two is to ask them a question.
Finally, step three is to invite them for a meal, an outing, or a service opportunity. Most people, both those within and outside the church, are open to an invitation to do something.
He concludes with an encouragement to build church where we are.
Post Church Interaction
The service ends, and two things happen at once. One is that most people pick up their chair, collapse it, and stow it on a nearby rack. The other is that people come up to us to talk.
Some recognize Candy from her involvement in the community, and others are strangers, extending gracious welcomes. We enjoy these conversations, which are friendly and engaging.
After doing my part to pick up our family’s chairs, we move back into the lobby. There we turn in our visitor cards, and they offer us a gift. I suspect it will be a coffee mug or travel cup, and I also know Candy will pass.
We already have a cabinet stuffed full of them. She declines the offer with grace, and we enjoy an extended time of conversation at the visitor center, with a most engaging woman.
She tells us about their church, and we ask her questions. Many thoughts bombard my mind, but the one question I do ask is how next Sunday’s service will compare to this holiday weekend experience.
With a knowing nod, the woman affirms the service will be the same format. The only difference will be the number of people present.
I wonder how many more people but don’t ask. We could return next week to find out. In two weeks, they’ll have an after-church event for people who want to learn more about their gathering.
It may be worth coming back for that too. This church has much to offer.
I long to go to church in my community and attend with my neighbors. This church meets the first criteria, but I don’t spot any neighbors.
Perhaps if we come back on a regular Sunday, I might see some of them here. It’s a hopeful thought.
Get your copy ofMore Than 52 Churches today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Discover the Revolutionary Way Jesus Fulfills the Old Testament
When we consider that Jesus came to fulfill the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets, what’s important to understand is that we must see these passages in their proper perspective, informing our perspectives about church today.
This doesn’t mean to ignore what was just because Jesus fulfilled it. It means we should consider the Old Testament in its context. In addition to teaching the people how to worship God and the right way to live, the Law and the prophets also point them to the coming Savior, Jesus.
In Genesis through Malachi, we see repeated allusions to Jesus and the freedom he offers to us now. And if we read the Old Testament with care, we will also see that this future revelation about Jesus applies to all people, not just God’s chosen tribe.
When Jesus overcomes death, the veil in the temple rips apart, exposing the inner sanctum of the most holy place. This supernatural rending of the veil symbolically allows everyone direct access to God. No longer is God separated from his people, distant and removed.
He is now approachable by everyone. God ceases living in the temple and begins living in us. Our bodies become the temple of God. No longer do we need a physical building. We are his temple.
Yet we cling to the Old Testament idea of a temple and forget how Jesus fulfills it. Jesus’s disciple Peter helps us understand this. He writes that we are living stones built into a spiritual temple (1 Peter 2:5; also see Ephesians 2:22).
Yes, this verse is confounding.
It challenges our perspective of needing to go to church to experience God. Peter’s words flip this practice, and that’s the point. Jesus turned the old ways upside down and made something new. We must embrace this. We must change our perspectives.
First, Peter says we are living stones. As living stones, we are alive—not inanimate rocks. Jesus may have had this in mind in his rebuff of the Pharisees who took offense by the praise offered by his followers.
Jesus tells them that if the crowd doesn’t celebrate his arrival, the stones will cry out to exalt him (Luke 19:39-40). To do this, the rocks would have to come alive.
As Jesus’s living stones, our actions matter. We live for Jesus. We exist to honor him, praise him, and glorify him. Our purpose is to tell others about him through our actions and—when needed—even through our words. Our faith is alive, and what we do must show it.
Next, as living stones, we are part of God’s holy temple, a spiritual house. We become part of the construction of his new worship space. If we are part of his temple, we don’t need to go to church to meet him.
This is because, as his temple, he’s already in our presence, and we’re already in his. This means we can experience him at anytime, anywhere. Through Jesus, God’s temple exists everywhere we go. This is the first of our three new perspectives about church.
2. New Priests: A Holy Priesthood
After saying we’re living rocks built into God’s spiritual shrine, Peter adds two more mind-blowing thoughts. He says these first two truths—that we’re breathing stones shoring up God’s temple—sets up two more spiritual concepts.
Through Jesus we become a holy priesthood so that we can offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus (1 Peter 2:5). If we are truly priests through what Jesus did for us, then we don’t need ministers to point us to God, explain him to us, or help us know him.
God wants us to do that for ourselves as his holy priests.
Remember that back in Exodus, God calls his people to be a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6). But they recoil from that and refuse to cooperate. Later, Isaiah looks forward to the time when the children of God will become the Lord’s priests, ministers of the Almighty (Isaiah 61:6).
At last, through Jesus we’re poised to do just that. And Peter confirms this. As followers of Jesus—his disciples—we’re a royal priesthood. This makes us his holy nation, an elite possession of God.
Our purpose is to praise him for what he did when he saved us from the darkness of sin and moved us into the light of his love (1 Peter 2:9).
But there’s one more thing in this first passage from Peter. As living stones and holy priests, serving our Lord as part of his temple, we offer to him a spiritual sacrifice (1 Peter 2:5).
Though Jesus is the ultimate sin sacrifice to end all sacrifices, we honor what he did by living lives as holy priests that serve as an ongoing tribute to him. This spiritual sacrifice (see Romans 12:1) replaces the animal sacrifices we read about throughout the Old Testament.
This thinking is so countercultural to how most Christians live today that it bears careful contemplation. Through Jesus we can do things in a new way. We are living stones built into his spiritual temple, serving as a holy priesthood to offer him spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5).
Read that again: We are living stones built into his spiritual temple, serving as a holy priesthood to offer him spiritual sacrifices. Wow!
This can change everything—and it should.
No longer do priests (ministers) need to serve as our liaison between the creator and the created. Instead, all who follow Jesus become his priests, a nation of priests, just as God wanted back in Exodus 19:6.
This means that the laity, serving as priests to each other, should minister to one another, not hire someone else to do it for them. No longer is there a need for paid staff to be the link between God and his people. Everyone can now approach God directly, hearing from him and acting on his behalf.
The Holy Spirit who Jesus sent to us sees to that—if we are but willing to listen, hear, and obey what he says.
This is the second of our three new perspectives about church.
3. New Finances: Generosity
Last is that pesky temple tax, which we call a tithe. Today, a church’s building and employees can make up 90 to 100 percent of its budget. But once we remove the facility and the paid staff from the equation, there’s no longer so much of a need for money.
Does that mean we can forget about tithing?
Yes . . . and no.
The Bible talks a lot about tithing. In the Old Testament, God instituted tithes to support the religious institution he mandated for his people. This sacred institution included the tabernacle/temple, the priests, and the Levites.
To extend the financial support of the Old Testament temple and its priests to the modern-day church and its ministers is a misapplication. When Jesus fulfilled the law, he replaced both, turning us—you and me—into priests and making us into his temple.
Instead of the old way of doing things, Jesus talked about helping those in need and being wise stewards (Matthew 25:14-29). The early church in Acts shared all they had with each other (Acts 4:32).
That’s 100 percent. And being a faithful steward of all God has blessed us with also implies 100 percent—all things (1 Corinthians 10:31). We are to use every penny in the best way possible (1 Corinthians 10:24).
Whenever the New Testament mentions tithing, it always refers to the Old Testament practice. Nowhere do New Testament writers tell us to give 10 percent to God. And they never command us to donate 10 percent to the local church. Yet this is precisely what many ministers preach.
Instead we see New Testament commands and examples to use the money God blesses us with to cover our needs—not our wants (Hebrews 13:5), help others (1 Corinthians 10:24), and advance God’s kingdom (1 Peter 4:10).
Rather than tithing to church, we see a principle where everything we have belongs to God. We are to be generous stewards of his blessings, in turn using them to bless others (Genesis 12:2). We must use our resources to help those in need and advance God’s kingdom, not to support and perpetuate a religious institution.
If you feel a responsible use of God’s money is to support your local church, then do so. However, if you think the money is better used somewhere else, then donate to that cause. But never let preachers mislead you—or rile up guilt—by insisting you do something the Bible doesn’t say to do.
This is the third of our three new perspectives about church.
Status Quo Perspectives about Church
Yes, it’s easy to do what we have always done. It’s comfortable to cling to the status quo, but Jesus offers us so much more—and he yearns for us to take hold of it.
In these new perspectives about church, we see a new way to worship God: to worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). And it doesn’t involve attending church each Sunday.
So stop following the Old Testament model of church: going to a building to meet God, revering the clergy, and tithing out of guilt or obligation. Instead, be God’s temple, act like priests, and share generously. This is the new model that Jesus gives us.
So why do we persist in following the Old Testament model of going to church to seek God, being served by a minister, and tithing when Jesus died to give us something new, something much better?
Jesus turned us into his temple, promoted us to priests, and changed the 10 percent temple tax into a principle of generosity.
Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament. He offered himself as the ultimate sin sacrifice and then overcame death by rising from the grave. In doing so, he turned us into his temple, promoted us to priests, and changed the 10 percent temple tax into a principle of generosity.
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Even One Sin Is Enough to Disqualify Us from Attaining God’s Perfect Standard; Jesus Bridges the Gap
The book of Deuteronomy concludes with the death of Moses.
Moses faithfully leads God’s people as they wander in the desert for forty years, brings them to the border of the land God had promised to give to them, sees it from afar, and then dies before he can step into it.
It’s not fair!
How could God treat his dedicated servant this way? Yet this is what God had decided to do.
Years before Moses has a tiny slip-up. He disobeys God. God tells Moses to speak to a rock and water will gush forth. Instead Moses hits the rock with his walking stick—twice.
Perhaps he’s frustrated with the people’s grumbling; maybe he wasn’t listening to God’s instructions. Possibly he didn’t think it mattered.
It did.
As punishment for his mistake, God says Moses will not be allowed to enter the Promised Land, his final destination (Numbers 20:7-12). As a result, that’s the penalty for not meeting God’s exacting expectations: Moses dies.
We all fall short, so death is our penalty as well. But Jesus makes us right with God, bridging the gap between our failings and God’s gold standard.
Through Jesus we will make it to our final destination, the presence of God and eternity with him.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Focus verse: Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
Jesus offered the Samaritan woman living water to drink. Now he wants to feed the people life-giving bread. Just as we need water to live, we also need food—our daily bread.
After Jesus teaches a massive crowd of over 5,000 people, he intends to feed them. But the disciples don’t have the money to buy that much food, and all they can scrounge up is a boy’s lunch: five small loaves of bread and two tiny fish.
Jesus tells the people to sit to eat, anyway. He blesses the boy’s food, passes it out, and everyone has enough to eat. There are even leftovers. It’s a miracle, and the people wonder if Jesus is the Savior whom the prophets predicted.
That evening Jesus and his disciples leave, but the people find him again the next day on the other side of the lake. He criticizes their intentions.
They’re not seeking him because of his miraculous power, but because he fed them. “Don’t strive for food that spoils but for food that leads to eternal life.”
“What must we do?” the people ask.
“Believe in the one God has sent.” He reminds them of God giving the people manna—bread sent from above—to eat when they were in the desert.
The crowd wants this bread too.
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus says. “If you come to me, you’ll never go hungry or be thirsty again. Just believe, and you’ll live forever.”
He follows this with one of his more shocking statements. Jesus says they must eat his body and drink his blood, something prohibited by the Law of Moses.
Everyone who eats and drinks of him will have eternal life. Jesus’s followers have trouble understanding this teaching. But this is not a call to eat human flesh. It’s a metaphor. Just as we need food and drink for physical life, we need Jesus’s body and blood for spiritual life.
To eat his body and drink his blood is a euphemism for receiving him and his death as the solution for the wrong things we have done. In making this bold statement, Jesus foreshadows his execution, which he willingly accepts.
By doing so, he offers himself as a redeeming, life-restoring sacrifice—the ultimate sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Jesus isn’t contradicting the laws of Moses. Instead, he voices his intention to fulfill it.
The idea of eating his body and drinking his blood also foreshadows communion, which serves as a reminder of his death and resurrection—that is, his victory over death—to save us.
This appalls his followers, all Hebrews. The people grumble. They complain he’s hard to understand and say no one can accept his message. They view his statement as heresy, many turn on him and leave.
These followers become ex-followers. They reject him and go in search of something else, but his main twelve disciples stay. They’re committed.
The principal message of Jesus is easy: believe in him. He loves everyone and opens his arms to accept all. But sometimes he’s hard to understand. Sometimes his message offends people. Their response is to give up on Jesus.
To eat his body and drink his blood is not a physical call to cannibalism, but a spiritual invitation to salvation. All we need to do is believe Jesus is the bread we need for life.
Questions:
Have you ever miraculously seen food multiply to feed everyone?
Why do you seek Jesus? What do you expect to gain when you follow him?
What should you do that leads to eternal life?
How can you embrace Jesus as the bread of life?
How do you understand Jesus’s command to eat his body and drink his blood?
Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
God Speaks to Us Through His Spoken Word and His Written Word
Growing up I was taught that the word of God was the Bible. This idea has been reinforced throughout my life by various ministers, books, and fellow followers of Jesus. This means that to hear the word of God is to listen as someone reads the Scriptures.
Yet perceiving the word of God as a euphemism for the Holy Bible may be an oversimplification. It might even be wrong. Though this may sound heretical, I offer biblical support.
The phrase word of God appears in thirty-nine verses in the Bible, as rendered by the NIV. Given the context, it can mean different things.
The Written Word of God
Yes, Scripture does use the phrase the word of God to refer to itself. We see this implied in a few places but not many (Matthew 15:6 and Mark 7:13).
Jesus Is the Word of God
Next, Jesus is the Word of God (Revelation 19:13), and he lives in us (1 John 2:14). Also the apostle John writes that Jesus is the word (John 1:1-14). The word of God is also used in Scripture as a euphemism for the good news about Jesus (consider Acts 4:31 and throughout the book of Acts, as well as 2 Corinthians 2:17 and Colossians 1:25, among others).
The Spoken Word of God
Throughout the Bible, God speaks directly to his people (consider 1 Kings 12:22, 1 Chronicles 17:3, and Luke 3:2, among many others). He does this through angels, dreams, and audibly (Luke 3:22).
When God speaks to us, we better listen it hear the word of God.
This is the spoken word of God. It comes to us through the Holy Spirit, albeit manifested in diverse ways: through dreams, visions, and implanting supernatural words in our minds. And, yes, it can be audible.
The Sword of the Spirit
When we read about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, it talks about the sword of the Spirit, which is the written word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Most people understand this to mean the Bible.
Yet when Paul wrote these words, the New Testament did not exist. At that point, the written word of God—that is, the Scriptures—consisted of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha.
A better understanding of “the sword of the Spirit” in this verse is that it refers to the spoken word of God as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
When the Almighty speaks to us—in whatever form—may we hear the word of God and obey.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Several months later we have a chance for a return visit to this same church. The opportunity to experience a normal service with their regular pastor should provide the chance to experience what we missed the first time.
I hope to experience a spirit-led service.
Consider these seven discussion questions about Church 66.
1. The church moved since our first visit. An exterior sign guides us to the entrance, but that’s it. We walk down a long corridor and eventually find an open door.
How easy is it for people to find us?
2. We sing four songs, filling most of an hour. I try to worship God, but we don’t connect. I should have prayed with greater intention for this service.
Who’s to blame when we can’t connect with God?
3. As we sing, several people ease toward the pastor and surround him. They place their hands on him. Their lips move in quiet prayer.
Do we pray for our ministers before the service, during the service, or not at all?
4. The pastor begins with prophecies and prayers for healing as the Holy Spirit directs him.
Do we let God’s Spirit guide us to prophesy and pray for supernatural healing? If not, is he not speaking or are we not listening?
5. The pastor says to not preach against other religions, but to preach Jesus. Too many people fail to follow his advice, suggesting why so many view Christians negatively.
Do we rant about what we’re against or celebrate what we’re for?
6. When the minister shares a verse, I never see him glance at his notes. The text and reference gush forth as regular speech.
Do we know Scripture well enough to quote and cite it as normal dialogue?
7. The Holy Spirit powerfully directed our time together through both the teaching pastor and the worship leader. I’ve seen few church services this Spirit-led.
Does the Holy Spirit direct what we do when we gather with other believers?
If you feel it’s time to move from the sidelines and get into the game, The More Than 52 Churches Workbook provides the plan to get you there.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Jesus fulfills the Old Testament, but today’s church still follows the Old Testament model for church: we have a church building where we go to worship God, hire a minister who represents the Almighty to us, and take a collection to support the whole thing.
This is not what Jesus has in mind. Instead Jesus fulfills the Old Testament, not to perpetuate it or to eliminate it.
Here’s how: Through his sacrificial death, in one single action, Jesus does away with the need to go to a building, hire staff, and take an offering. (More on what Jesus did here.) We should do the same.
This all hinges on Jesus.
Jesus draws people to him—both then and now. The words he speaks and the hope he communicates attract them. Two thousand years ago, people assume Jesus comes to replace the Old Testament Law and the work of the prophets, but this isn’t his calling.
Jesus doesn’t come to do away with what the Old Testament teaches. Instead his mission is to bring the Old Testament into fruition, according to God’s plan, set in place from the beginning. Jesus makes this clear.
He says, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).
How does Jesus do this?
Jesus Becomes the Ultimate Sacrifice
The Old Testament is packed with instructions for making sacrificial offerings, commands that show the people’s relationship with God. These sacrifices have various meanings, but one key sacrifice occurs—and recurs—to redress sin. An animal must die because the people have sinned.
Since the people continue to sin, animal sacrifices persist as a requirement. These sin sacrifices must happen over and over, day after day, year after year, century after century.
Jesus, in his sacrificial death on the cross, becomes the ultimate sacrifice for sin to end all sin sacrifices. This is the main way Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. In his once-and-for-all sacrifice, he dies to make us right with God, to reconcile us into right relationship with the Almighty.
Jesus Turns Law into Love
Despite Jesus’s fresh way of looking at the assumptions of his people, his disciples struggle to understand what he means. They wrestle to reconcile his teachings with their traditions.
One such person asks Jesus to cite the greatest commandment in the Old Testament. Jesus’s answer is love. He says to “love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.”
This stands as the greatest commandment, but then he adds one more. He says to “love others as much as we love ourselves” (Matthew 22:36-40). These two simple principles summarize the purpose and intent of the entire Old Testament Law and the writings of the prophets.
Jesus removes a set of impossible-to-please laws and replaces them with one principle: love. This is another way Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.
May we love others because Jesus loves us.
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
The Book of Deuteronomy Offers Surprising Insights into Our Relationship With God
The book of Deuteronomy is never high on my reading list. The seemingly endless instructions about the form and format of God’s expectations for his people vex me, especially given that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament, and today we live under a New Testament arrangement.
Yet there are surprising truths buried in this stodgy book. We can easily miss these amazing insights if we read too hurriedly—or skip the book altogether.
One such passage presents a succinct summary of what God asks of us:
1. Fear God
Does this mean God wants his people to be afraid of him? No! He wants his people to stand in awe of him, with reverence and respect.
2. Walk with God
God asks us to move in relationship with him, to go where he goes. The word repent (which is found throughout the Bible) implies this. It basically means to change course and follow God (and Jesus).
3. Love God
God wants us to love him. That’s a great start. In the New Testament we see God’s love for us. Though it’s evident in the Old Testament, we can’t miss it in the New Testament.
4. Serve God
If we fear, walk with, and love God, we will spontaneously desire to serve him. Yet to make sure we don’t miss this part of our relationship with God, he spells it out for us.
5. Obey God
The fifth item also flows from those before it: obedience. Though obeying an authority is often dismissed in today’s culture, God is one authority who never disappoints, never falters, and never makes a mistake.
The book of Deuteronomy tells us that God is worthy of us doing the things he asks, starting with this passage: fear, walk, love, serve, and obey.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Focus verse: “There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.” (John 5:32)
In the Old Testament of the Bible, Moses writes that one witness is insufficient. To prove a point requires two or, even better, three testimonies.
The context is someone who has committed a crime, but the principle of needing multiple witnesses to confirm a matter carries through to the New Testament.
Though two are good, three are better. The Bible often repeats concepts three times for emphasis, to make a point, such as saying God is “holy, holy, holy” (Revelation 4:8).
Jesus tells people he is the Savior. He is the Messiah they’ve been expecting. Often, he is indirect, such as when talking to the Samaritan woman. Other times, he is more direct, such as in Mark 14:61–62.
Yet, he also acknowledges that what he says about himself doesn’t carry much weight. Though we believe Jesus is the Son of God and value everything he says, a skeptic won’t accept what Jesus says about himself.
Jesus understands this. He calls three witnesses to give testimony to who he is.
Remember the poetic opening to the book of John? In this we have reference to the first testimony for Jesus. John the Baptist came as a witness to testify about the light—that is, Jesus—so that the people will believe (John 1:7).
John later calls Jesus the Lamb of God (John 1:29). Next, he confirms Jesus is God’s Chosen One (John 1:34). Jesus reminds the people what John said about him. John is his first witness.
Though the Bible says John the Baptist is the greatest person to ever live (Matthew 11:11), Jesus has an even more weighty testimony than John. Jesus points to the spoken words of God.
After John baptizes Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus and a voice booms from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22). Father God supplies the second testimony for Jesus.
As if the testimonies of John and God aren’t enough, Jesus reminds the people that Scripture is full of references to his coming. Though the religious leaders study their sacred texts with diligence, they refuse to accept what it says about Jesus.
Yet the Bible provides us with the third witness for Jesus.
Based on the three testimonies about Jesus from John the Baptist, Father God, and the Bible, the people can accept with confidence that Jesus is who he says he is. And so can we.
Questions:
What do you think about worshipping God as holy, holy, holy?
What do you think about John the Baptist being the greatest person to ever live?
How can you give a testimony for Jesus?
How well does your life back up your words?
How well do people accept what you say about Jesus?
Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
