Bible Sunday
The Living Word: Matthew 24:30–35
The Bible is an extraordinary collection of books, written over many centuries, telling the story of God's relationship with humanity. Through its pages, we find people who struggle, doubt, fail, love, use their power, forgive and discover God's presence in unexpected places. Above all, we encounter Jesus, who shows us what God is like and invites us to follow him.
The trouble with the Bible is most people do not read it regularly, and when people go to another extreme and decide they want to understand it fully they buy a book to explain it. Then they buy a commentary to try to understand what they’ve read in the book. Eventually, they have a whole shelf of books about the Bible, and have been so busy doing that, they haven’t prayerfully read the bible itself for a very long time!
The bible is given to be read, wrestled with, prayed over and lived. It’s a problematic book in many ways. It would be much easier if it were undisputably clear. But it’s what Christians have read for millennia and it’s what we have now, as a gift.
Our Gospel reading today contains a remarkable promise from Jesus: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
So much in the world has changed in 2000 years, and just in our short span our lives change. Our circumstances change, our understanding develops, relationships change, and the world around us changes. Words that seemed important to us years ago may have been forgotten. Yet Jesus tells us that his words will not pass away.
Through the bible, the Holy Spirit can speak into our lives today, bringing comfort, challenging us, revealing the truth about ourselves and drawing us closer to God, and it should also change us.
Firstly, the bible matters because it brings us closer to God.
At the beginning of John's Gospel, we read these extraordinary words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John goes on to tell us that “the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
John is talking about Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. He is not simply someone who brings us God's message; he reveals God to us in his own person. If we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus: at the way he welcomes the excluded, touches the untouchable, forgives sinners, challenges hypocrisy and loves even those who reject him.
The Bible helps us discover this living Word. Through its stories, its promises, its poetry and its teaching.
And for many people, particular words of Scripture become precious because they meet them at a particular moment in their lives. A verse that we may have heard dozens of times can suddenly speak with extraordinary power when we are frightened, grieving, uncertain or simply wondering whether we matter.
Last week in the ABC of Evangelism – Authenticity, Boldness and Confidence, I mentioned Psalm 139. I spoke about how psalm told me that God knew me, that there was nowhere I could go where the Spirit of God wouldn't be there with me, and that I was fearfully and wonderfully made and his hand would guide me. Likewise Psalm 42 sustained me after my husband died – and I’ve spoken about that a bit before.
But one of the most consistently sustaining passages for me, when I’ve supported a loved one who is seriously ill or when I was quite poorly myself was Romans 8. Here’s a few verses which you may recognise:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sometimes I read those verses in tears not sure if I believed them, sometimes I read them and knew the Spirit was present with me, sometimes I was numb, but new them to be truth. This is why the bible matters it’s not something we just read and interpret; it’s a place where we encounter God's love and discovered something of who Jeus is and who we are in God’s sight.
These passages do more than give us information about God. They speak to our deepest questions. Am I loved? Am I known? Does my life matter? Is God with me when I cannot feel his presence?
The Holy Spirit works through the Bible. We may read a familiar passage and suddenly notice something we have never seen before. A verse may stay with us throughout a difficult day. Words we have heard in church may return to us when we need them most. The text has not changed, but somehow we hear it afresh.
But we do have to read it for that to happen, and often that means getting help to understand the context of what we’re reading too.
The Spirit can use the bible to illuminate our lives, deepen our faith and help us recognise God's presence.
Secondly, the bible matters because it changes us and we can share that change.
Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” These words remind us that what Jesus says is not simply relevant to the people who first heard him. His words continue to call us into a life shaped by God's love and it’s for all generations.
Reading the Bible is not just for our own comfort. We can know a great deal about it and find it personally helpful, but fail to live by it’s challenge to change.
The purpose of reading it is not simply to become more knowledgeable. It is to become more like Jesus. To have the living word dwell within us.
When we read about forgiveness, we are invited to become more forgiving. When we read about welcoming strangers, we are challenged to make our welcome real. When we read that we are loved by God, we are invited to live with greater confidence in that love, and to offer that same love to others.
Sometimes the words that challenge us most are precisely the words we most need to hear rather than dismiss – what does this actually mean today? Sometimes the words that comfort us are what enable us to face another day, but should also be shared, and used to help someone else face another day.
I wonder, when was the last time you shared a bible verse, or the thread of a bible story with someone?
So perhaps we need to make space for Scripture in our lives, not simply reading it because we think we ought to, but approaching it expectantly. We might read a few verses slowly, ask what they reveal about God, notice what they stir in us, and pray about how we might respond.
We don't have to understand everything, we simply need to keep coming back, with open hearts and minds, allowing God's Word to do its work in us. What is Jesus really like? How can I be more like him?
At the PCC away day, we thought about all areas of inclusion. We were asked by our facilitator to think about bible verses about inclusion. At first we sat quietly and then the floodgates opened. Through our shared knowledge of the bible, we discovered how radically inclusive Jesus was and the thread of inclusion that permeates scripture. If we’d left it there, that would have been great in itself, but pretty pointless if our next act was to exclude someone or forget all about it. Our learning, our stretched understanding should fire us to live out the living word. I believe the Spirit was prompting each of us to discover afresh how much God loves each and every person no matter what their circumstances, or how much I myself like them, or want to be with them or not. It was challenging personally and corporately, I think. I’ve been reflecting on it a lot.
What place does the bible have in your life? And if the life of this church?
So, the bible brings us closer to God, through the Spirit illuminating the word, and it should change us. We should be expectant of these things.
As I close, I want to share a great story in a book called Open Doors which is about taking bibles to places where they are illegal.
Daniel (not his real name) had carried boxes of bibles through the airport before. The old scanner was too small for the box, so customs officials had always waved him through. But this time, he discovered that a new, much larger scanner had been installed.
A customs officer asked what the books were. Daniel replied, “Documentation.” The officer ordered him to open the box. Since it was tightly sealed with tape, a guard fetched a large knife, while nearly a dozen customs officials gathered to watch.
As the guard cut through the tape, the blade suddenly shot out, almost hitting Daniel. Daniel dramatically fell backwards, and the officials burst into laughter. The guard apologised, insisting he had not meant to hurt him. Daniel played along, making them laugh even harder.
Someone helped Daniel to his feet and waved him through. He collected his opened box and walked away, looking back at the scanner. The image the bibles was still clearly visible on the screen the whole time.
Why would someone take such a risk for a book?
Because, for people who have little access to Scripture, the Bible can be a precious source of hope, a way of learning about Jesus and a reminder that they are not forgotten by God.
Most of us can pick up a Bible whenever we want. We can read it on our phones, choose a translation or leave it unopened on a shelf. We have a freedom that others do not enjoy.
The question for us is not whether we are prepared to risk our freedom to obtain a Bible, but whether we value the freedom we already have to read it.
We should not read it carelessly, nor assume that every passage is straightforward. But neither should we be afraid of it. We can bring our questions, our doubts and even our disagreements to God, trusting that the Spirit can work through our honest engagement with his Word.
The words of Jesus do not pass away. The living God continues to call us, comfort us, challenge us and draw us closer into his presence.
And may the Holy Spirit help us not only to hear the Word, but to live it and share it, so that others may encounter something of God's love through us.
Amen.