Today is the second Sunday of a sermon series Im sharing called, Questions Thinking people ask about the Bible.

This series is part of a Year of the Bible focus for us at Chain of Lakes. I hope that this year, 2012, in our congregation all of us will grow in our confidence, knowledge, and love for the Bible. Ultimately we will grow in our love for God. I also understand that some of us dont know a lot about the Bible. Were trying an experiment. Every week on the back of the bulletin cover were sharing five questions about the Bible. Last week I made the questions pretty easy; this week they are a little harder. They are from the first part of Genesis. SLIDE You can find the answers to the questions on our web sitecolpres.org. Worship tab Questions of the Week tabfind the answers to the questions. I cant show you the page right now because Id be giving you the answers. The second experiment were trying is to encourage all of us to memorize a Scripture every two weeks. The Scripture were working on right now is the Shema. It is this: SLIDE Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Deuteronomy 6:4-6. Memorization is an issue of repetition. Teach the 3-2-1-1-2-3 method Weve called this series questions thinking people ask about the Bible. Let me share briefly what I mean by thinking. One of the beauties of the Presbyterian tradition is we are thinking people. We encourage people to use their minds. We ask a lot of questions. We arent afraid of questions. We know that all of our questions might not have answers. Everyone is encouraged to ask questions. Not just the pastor.

We ask you to think. I design my sermons for a high school senior or first year of college level of thinking. Some of them might be higher. Last week I shared five views of biblical inspiration. I realize that was a lot of information. But I do that because I respect your intelligence. We are thinking people. Today Im looking at the question, Considering the Bible is interpreted in so many ways, how do I interpret it? I want to encourage you to get out this brochure in the bulletin. Im going to teach you a way to interpret the Scriptures. I think you might want to write this down to remember this method. You can write it down in the sermon notes section. In the devotion I shared some wellknown Scriptures and then gave some examples of using this method. Todays question is a reflection of the thoughtfulness of the people at Chain of Lakes. To come up with this series I asked people to share the questions theyve always had about the Bible, but never have had answered. Many of you asked some form of the question were looking at today. One person wrote: SLIDE How can one be certain that they are correctly interpreting the scripture? The Bible can be the most dangerous book in the world if it is not interpreted correctly. It has been used to promote racism, anti-Semitism, child beating, male domination, cult control etc. Another wrote: SLIDE I think one question I have always had about the Bible is actually a number of questions related to how are we supposed to use it, is it a literal or interpreted guide? or are certain parts more literal than others Another wrote: SLIDE Why are there so many vastly different interpretations of the Bible and the stories within it? These differences are the cause of many wars and horrific acts. I dont believe God would view these differing opinions as bad necessarily, but Im certain God wouldnt want them to be the cause of wars.

When I read these questions I thought that we at Chain of Lakes are a thinking group of people. Your questions are thoughtful and articulate and right on the money. I love being the pastor of a group of thinking people. It shouldnt surprise us that people misinterpret the Bible. Let me tell you a story of misinterpretation. Its a story about Jesus. Jesus had been baptized and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He didnt eat for 40 days and 40 nights. The devil also described as the tempter came to tempt Jesus. The devil told Jesus to turn stones into the bread. Jesus said no and he cited Scripture. You shall not live by bread alone. The devil took Jesus to stand at the top of the Temple. If you are the Son of God jump off this Temple. Do you remember what the devil did? The devil used Scripture to make his argument. SLIDE for it is written He will command his angels concerning you, and On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. The Scripture that the devil quoted was from Psalm 91:11-12 The devil wanted Jesus to jump off the top of the Temple. The devil used Scripture to try to convince Jesus that Abba, Jesuss father would protect him. Jesus responded by quoting Scripturedo not put the Lord your God to the test. This was from Deuteronomy. Right away we see that Scripture is misused and misinterpreted. For centuries white Racists used the story of Noah in Genesis 9 to argue that AfricanAmericans are inferior to Whites. They used Scripture to make a case for racism. I dont know if you remember the story. Noah was drunk and sleeping naked in a tent. One of Noahs sons, Ham saw Noah when he was drunk. When Noah was awake Noah put a curse on Hams son Canaan. People argued that Ham was black so the entire black race was cursed.

This just one example. People interpreting the Bible to justify racism. Heres the important point. Id like you to think about this. The Bible has been misinterpreted. Does this demean the Bible or demean the person who has misinterpreted the Bible? I think the answer is obvious. We cant throw the Bible out because people have misinterpreted it. Even the devil misinterpreted the Scriptures. Jesus didnt stop using the Scriptures in his teaching because it was misinterpreted. We shouldnt either. If anything the fact that the Bible has been misinterpreted should encourage all of us to learn how to interpret the Scriptures. If anything past misinterpretations shouldnt cause us to ignore the Bibleit should deepen our interest in interpreting the Scriptures correctly. SLIDE What is an interpretation? Put simply an interpretation is a teaching or a lesson

that we take from a story or a text. We learn something from a story or a text. What we learn is what I would call the interpretation. Interpretation is different than an application. An application is when we take the teaching or lesson and relate it to our lives. Today were looking at the question, How do I interpret the Scriptures? How do I take a teaching or a lesson from the stories of the bible. There are many ways to do this. Let me give you one way. When you study the Scriptures ask four questions. SLIDE What does this passage teach me about God? What does this passage teach me about humanity? What does this passage teach me about myself? What does this passage teach me about the church? These questions are easy to remember. God, humanity, myself, the church.

Not every passage in the Bible will provide responses to all four of these questions. But I believe that every passage in the bible will provide a response to at least one of these four questions. The answers we develop to these questions is our interpretation. That doesnt seem so hard, does it? Does that seem hard? The next thing we want to ask ourselves is whether our interpretation is correct. None of us want to develop an interpretation of the Scriptures that promotes racism or sexism or the oppression of any person or group of person. Once we have our interpretation, it should be consistent with three things. SLIDE First. Any interpretation must be consistent with the gospel message of Jesus. If

our response to these four questions is inconsistent with what Jesus taught, then our interpretation is wrong. What is the gospel message. God loves us God gives us the gift of salvation through Jesus God gives us the gift of forgiveness God shows us how to livelove like Jesus loved God gives us a call, a purpose in our life God gives us the gift of the Spirit. That might be a little simple. If we develop an interpretation of the Scriptures that is inconsistent with the gospel, then we know our interpretation is wrong. SLIDE Scripture. We humans are great at taking things out of context. We can pull a passage of the Bible and make the case that the Bible wants that to happen. Whats important is we understand the central Second any interpretation has to be consistent with the entire message of

message of Scripture. Any interpretations that we develop have to be consistent with that message. Whats the entire message? Jesus was asked that question. Remember the story of the man who asked what the most important laws were. Jesus said the most important laws were to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our interpretations should lead us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves SLIDE This ties into the third idea. Any interpretation has to be consistent

with the rule of love. When we read the Bible it should lead us to love God even more and to appreciate the love that God has for us. If we suddenly take a Bible passage and teach people that God hates us or that we are called to hate people or a group of people, then we know this is wrong. This last rule of interpretation is one that is missed a lot of the time. I know that Ive known many people who are very knowledgeable about the Scriptures. If these people were put on a game show and asked questions about the Bible they would win a lot of money. Unfortunately their head knowledge of the Scriptures hasnt moved to their heart. Just because a person is knowledgeable about the Scriptures doesnt always mean the person will love God and love people. Let me review. Develop an interpretation by asking four questions See if the interpretation is right by seeing if it is consistent with three ideas Consistent with the message of Jesus Consistent with the entire message of the Bible Consistent with the rule of lovelove God and love our neighbor as ourselves Is this helpful?

I understand that the Bible might be confusing to us as we read it. We dont feel confident in developing an interpretation. We need some tools to help us develop an interpretation. SLIDE The first tool is a Study Bible. The one I recommend is the Harper Collins Study

Bible. I found it yesterday for $23 It has short explanations for each book of the Bible. It has Study notes at the bottom of the page. SLIDE The second tool is a Bible Dictionary. A Bible Dictionary will explain a term. If

were confused about something we can read about it in a Bible Dictionary. The Bible Dictionary I use is Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. I recommend it. I found it yesterday on the Internet for $28. SLIDE The third tool is a commentary. In a commentary an author will write a more

detailed explanation about a passage. Today we read a passage from the book of Acts. One commentary I enjoy is the New Interpreters Bible Commentary. It is 12 volumes. Most of the time churches will have libraries with these resources in them. One day we will have a church library. I have a personal library in my office of commentaries, Bible Dictionaries and Bibles in my office. If anyone wants to borrow a book from my own library, you are welcome. These tools can help take away the mystery of the Bible and help us develop an interpretation. I want to wrap up by taking this method of interpretation that Ive shared with you and use them in the story from Acts that Mary Ann read. Were going to get some more Bibles in our sanctuary. Turn to ____ in your Bible. The question I want to look at is What does this passage teach me about myself.

I want to focus on the Ethiopian eunuch. What is a eunuch? Definition from Bible Dictionary Eunuch had traveled from Jerusalem to Ethiopia to worship. Probably had gone there for a festival. Traveling back to Ethiopia in a chariot. Its 2,200 miles from Jerusalem to Ethiopia. It have taken the eunuch between two and three months to take the trip. He was reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah. Philip had been prompted by the Spirit to go talk to the eunuch. Philip asked him the question in verse 30. Do you understand what you are reading? The eunuch responded How can I, unless someone guides me? The question of the Ethiopian eunuch is a question we often ask. I dont understand what Im reading. I dont get what this passage is trying to teach me. Im confused. One of the reasons I love the Bible is it shares our questions. Philip went on to explain this Scripture from Isaiah to the eunuch. The passage explains that Jesus was the one who died for us. He was the sheep that was led to the slaughter. His life was taken away from the earth. Philip explained this to the eunuch. It made sense to this man from Ethiopia. They saw some water and the eunuch asked Philip to be baptized. Philip baptized him. When the eunuch came out of the water the Spirit snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw him no more. The eunuch went away rejoicing. What does this teach us about ourselves. What interpretation can we take away that is consistent with the message of Christ, with the message of Scripture and will encourage us to love. Two brief points.

First we need a community of people to help us understand the Scriptures. The eunuch was interested in God. He had just spent between two and three months traveling to Jerusalem to worship. Something must have clicked for him befause he was reading Isaiah. But the eunuch couldnt have understood the Scriptures without Philip. He needed another person. The Christian faith is not an individual sport. Its meant to be played and practiced in community. To grow in our relationship with God we need to practice with others. Here at Chain of Lakes we encourage everyone to participate in at least one small group a year. These groups can help us grow in the faith. Right now we have an excellent group that is studying Mark that just started. We meet at 9:15 on Sundays. This week were going to have a meeting to plan out some groups in Lent. Back to the eunuch. What would have happened it Philip hadnt taught him the Scriptures? He wouldnt have learned about Jesus. He wouldnt have been baptized. He wouldnt have experienced a sense of rejoicing. He wouldnt have become the person God desired for him to be. He would have missed out so much. The same is for us. We miss out so much when were not involved in a community. The second point I want to lift up is what the eunuch was doing at the end of the story. He went away rejoicing. He had experienced joy. At Chain of Lakes we would say he had experienced joyful love. This is the point of reading the Scripturesjoyful love. We are released to love others because we understand what God has done for us. The eunuch understood this because he had read the Scriptures. What greater joy can there be to know that we are loved unconditionally? The Bible teaches us that?

What greater joy can there be to know that we have been given the gift of salvation? The Bible teaches us that? What greater joy can there be to know that we have a purpose in our life? The Bible teaches us. What greater joy can there be to know that we are forgiven of our sins? The Bible teaches us that. What greater joy can there be to learn about the Kingdom of God and creating it here on earth. The Bible teaches us that. What greater joy can there be than to have a role model in our lifethat is Jesus. He teaches us how to love. When we study the Bible and develop interpretations we are changed from the inside out. We experience the presence and power of God. This is what I want for all of us at Chain of Lakes. This is why were starting and building this new church. We want to become disciples who impact the world. The Bible is the manual that inspires us to do that. What greater joy can there be than to read and know and learn how to interpret the Scriptures.

Thank you for these Scriptures You have given us the Bible to help us grow in our love for you and our neighbors and ourselves Confess that we have used it in ways that have hurt people We have used it in ways that have exploited groups of people. We are sorry that we have taken this gift that we call the Bible and turned it to something evil We dont want to do that in our new community Stir within us the desire to learn the story of the Bible Give us confidence that we can interpret the Scriptures Dont let us be intimated by this book that we call the Bible May the Bible prompt us to grow deeper in our love for you, and for our neighbors and ourself. We pray for the world today Peacepeace in Afghanistan Leaders of the nations Pray for this new communityChain of Lakes Help us follow your call to be an authentic Christian community Core Values Hospitality, Gods Church, Relevance, Acceptance, Outward Focus, Investing in Future Generations, Healthy Disagreement, Joyful Love Pray for the people here John Thiessen Wyatt Thomas Irlbeck