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Reading the Bible Like Jesus

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Matthew Harmon thinks we should should read the Bible the way Jesus did, since obeying him should include obeying his instruction regarding the Scriptures.

If Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation of God, it makes sense that he’d be the person we look to for guidance on how to read the Bible. Not only should we have the same view of the Bible that Jesus had, but we should read it the way he read it.

And perhaps among other things, that at least means that we should view the Bible as:

  1. Fulfilling the Two Great Commandments
  2. A Narrative That Points to Him

Check it out!

How to Honor God with Your Money

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Tilemahos Efthimiadis (2006), Creative Commons
Tilemahos Efthimiadis (2006), Creative Commons

For the last few weeks, we’ve been studying what Proverbs says about easy money.

Believe it or not, trusting in Jesus will actually improve your money management. When you’re not so concerned about wealth, you can treat it rightly. If it’s not your hope and security, you can use it as a tool. You can afford to lose it. You can risk giving it away or sharing it with others. You can put it to work to gain more so you can give more. Here are some ways you can serve God and love others with your money.

  1. Make a budget. (See Prov 27:23-27.) In a time of sanity and thoughtfulness, plan out how you think God would want you to use your money. A budget helps set bounds on greed by defining reasonable guidelines for spending.
  2. Get counsel on your budget. (See Prov 15:22.) Find a wise person whom you trust. Ask him or her to look at your plan and give you fresh insight on the wisdom of it. Few sins are as blinding as greed (Matt 6:19-23), so an unbiased set of eyes can help reflect reality.
  3. Track your budget. Your plan does you no good unless you daily keep track of whether you’re following it or not. Keep all your receipts. Develop a system for recording them and measuring whether your spending is within the bounds of your plan.
  4. Consider setting a minimum percentage of your income for giving. That way, as your income increases, your giving will increase as well. As income increases, it’s likely you can also increase the percentage you give away.
  5. Save for your children. (See Prov 13:22.) Even if you don’t have any yet, it can help you take your eyes off yourself if you set aside money designated for future generations.
  6. Save to give. You can’t predict the future, so you won’t be able to anticipate many needs. Consider regularly setting money aside with the intention of giving it away as God brings unforeseen needs to your attention.
  7. Claim all your tax credits and deductions. It might sound strange, but many people don’t do it! For example, did you know that, in the U.S., you might not have to pay tax on money you donated to qualified charitable organizations, including your church? Check out the IRS Guidelines or talk to a financial adviser for more information. If the governing authorities are willing to exempt you from some taxes, why not take them up on it so you have more with which to serve others?

As Bruce Waltke puts it, “Sinners love wealth and use people; saints love people and use wealth to help others.”[1] The latter is what Jesus did for us. His Spirit is now in us, empowering us to do the same to the glory of God.

What ideas do you have about how reject easy money and honor God with your resources?

[1] Proverbs 1-15, p.193. (affiliate link)

This post was first published in 2012.

The Value of Historical Context from Colossians

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One of the best ways to identify historical context is from the Bible itself. In this post, Kenneth Berding shows us how many historical details are simply bursting off the page in Colossians chapter 4.

Berding shares nine things that we simply would not know if Colossians 4 weren’t in the scriptures:

  1. Colossians and Philemon were sent by Paul at the same time (4:9)
  2. Aristarchus was a “co-prisoner” with Paul (4:10)
  3. Barnabas had a cousin (4:10)
  4. Paul had a co-worker named Jesus (4:11)
  5. Colossae’s pastor was Epaphras (4:12-13)
  6. Luke was a doctor (4:14)
  7. Demas used to be a valued co-worker of Paul (4:14)
  8. Paul also sent a letter to the Laodiceans (4:16)
  9. Archippus had a ministry in the church in Colossae (4:17)

Check it out!

Easy Money is Self-Destructive

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Easy money will keep you from being wise because it turns you from the Lord to focus on yourself. And self-focus is ultimately self-destructive: Easy money “takes away the life of its possessors.”

Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;
It takes away the life of its possessors (Prov 1:19, ESV).

Remember how to get started on the path of wisdom? “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7). If we desire to be wise, we begin by focusing on the Lord, continue by focusing on the Lord, and end with focusing on the Lord. We must admit our weakness, own our failure, and trust in Jesus for life and security. He rewards us with wisdom, instruction, righteousness, discretion, and attractiveness.

We forfeit all these gains when we turn inward. We begin to doubt God’s Word. We think that Jesus is neat and all, but he can’t really help us in the trenches of life. What we really need is a more diversified portfolio to protect us from a recession. Then we get proud in our choices, confident with the future, and less needy for a Rescuer. We lose the trust of those we care about the most, and we never really obtain stable lives.

“Uranium” (2008) Marcin Wichary, shared under Creative Commons Attribution License

Solomon’s conclusion is that easy money “takes away the life of its possessors.” It is like a bar of uranium that looks so shiny and pretty. It has a lovely glow about it, and might be nice to touch. But the closer I get to it, the more it harms me.

That’s why Jesus came to break the cycle of sin and misery and lead us to God. Our greatest financial need is not for better money management, but for rescue. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). Our hearts constantly entice us to find our community and security in wealth, so Jesus gave up all his wealth to bring us lasting security and community with him.

Don’t buy it.  It’s not worth it.  Next week, I’ll give some practical tips on how you can reject easy money and pursue wisdom instead.

This post was first published in 2012.

Follow the Bible’s Larger Story

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To help guide you to stronger, more delightful Bible reading, Stephen Kneale offers four guiding principles:

  1. What does this say about Jesus?
  2. How does this fit with/relate to other passages?
  3. Read it knowing God ordained events as part of his story
  4. Let the clear interpret the less clear

Kneale writes:

Though we affirm the perspicuity of scripture and the fundamental clarity of its essential message, the ever-present issue when reading the Bible is this: how do I know I am reading it rightly? It is all too easy to read ourselves into the story when it isn’t necessarily about us, miss the main point of a passage or just badly misread what is said altogether. Whilst utter interpretative perfection is unlikely to any of us, there are some helpful guiding principles that can keep us on the right track with any passage of scripture.

While these are not the only principles that could or should guide your Bible reading, they represent some good habits to develop as you go.

Check it out!

Rediscovering Joy in Bible Reading

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I appreciate this brief reflection by Simon van Bruchem about “Finding Joy in Bible Reading.” Among other things, he suggests:

It will help if we consider what we are doing when we read the Bible. It is not like a textbook we have to wade through in order to pass an exam. It is not something we have to do out of expectation or duty. It is something we get to do; a privilege, a blessing.

Countless people through history would have loved to have the access to God’s word that we enjoy today. We can read and we have it (most of the time) in our own language. We can afford it; we can get access for free on our phones or the internet. We have it in audio form and have so many books that help us understand it. What a blessing this is!

He discusses the fact that we love hearing from the people we love. In the pages of Scripture, we hear from the lover of our souls.

Check it out!

Easy Money Can’t Deliver on its Promises

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Last week, we saw that easy money promises community and security. Don’t fall for it.

My son, do not walk in the way with them;
Hold back your foot from their paths,
For their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed blood.
For in vain is a net spread
In the sight of any bird,
But these men lie in wait for their own blood;
They set an ambush for their own lives. (Prov 1:15-18)

abandoned pink piano in a derelict building
Photo by Mike Norris on Pexels.com

Security

Where is the promised security? “But these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.” All the promises of an easier life with fewer worries are simply lies. If we murder an old lady for her credit cards, we’re likely to be imprisoned or executed. The authorities are not very forgiving with tax evaders. Buying more stuff puts us in more debt, which costs us more in the long run.

Even winning the lottery can be more trouble than it’s worth. For example, consider Canadian Gerald Muswagon who won $10 million in the lottery, spent it all in seven years, and then hanged himself in 2005. Or William “Bud” Post, who in 1988 pawned a ring to buy some lottery tickets, won $16.2 million, racked up $500,000 in debt within three months, and had to declare bankruptcy. He ended up with numerous homes full of unused junk and declared, “I was much happier when I was broke” (Source: Maclean’s Magazine).

Please note that Proverbs is not condemning all wealth. The warning is against the unjust acquisition of wealth (what I’m calling “easy money”), which happens whenever we trample on others to gain it. Proverbs expects that wise people will gain wealth: “Honor the Lord…[and] your barns will be filled with plenty” (Pro 3:9-10). However, the methods for acquiring wealth make all the difference:

  • Diligence in gainful employment: “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty” (Prov 28:19).
  • Inheritance from wise forebears: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous” (Prov 13:22).
  • Patient endurance over time: “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” (Prov 13:11).

In addition, the motivation for gaining wealth ought to be to serve others and not ourselves. God provides money and possessions to those who will share it with others: “Whoever multiplies his wealth by interest and profit gathers it for him who is generous to the poor” (Prov 28:8).

From Prov 13:22 and Prov 28:8, quoted above, we see that you can’t keep your wealth; either you plan to give it away, or you have it taken from you. Is that your perspective on money? The critical point is that the wise person never finds his security in his wealth, but rather in the Lord. “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination” (18:10-11).

Community 

Not only does easy money fail to keep its promise of security; it also can’t deliver on community.

One hint of this failure to provide community comes in Prov 1:15: “My son, do not walk in the way with them.” When I trample on others to gain wealth, they’ll eventually withdraw to avoid my folly.

People will catch on to my selfishness and run away: “for in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird” (Prov 1:17). If I come to you with a proposition for easy money, and you have the wisdom to see through the empty promises, you will fly like a sparrow. I can lay the net out to catch you, but—unless you are blind to reality—I’ll never gain your confidence.

That last fact gets at the heart of the matter. How often am I willfully blind to reality? I hear the promises of easy money, and I want to believe them! Gaining wealth, by hard work over a long time, in order to serve others, doesn’t sound like much fun. It sure doesn’t give me much hope that my stress will go away. So I spend more money, get nicer things, go further into debt, and leave it to my next of kin to pick up the pieces. This plan of action does not build community with those I love the most!

Now, not only does easy money fail to deliver on its promises; it also is highly self-destructive (Prov 1:19). More on that next week.

This post was first published in 2012.

Piper’s Advice on Commentaries

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We don’t want you to become commentary junkies. And neither does John Piper. While there are certainly people out there in danger of arrogant isolation, refusing to consider the opinions of others recorded in Bible commentaries, Piper’s world is a bit different:

Now, in the world I live in — where I function at Bethlehem College and Seminary and Bethlehem Baptist Church and Desiring God — and the circles I go in, there aren’t many people who are falling off the horse on the first side, who say, “I never read commentaries. I never read books about the Bible. I just read my Bible, I pray, and that’s all I need.” I don’t know anybody like that in my sphere. That’s not the world I live in. I’m sure they exist; I just don’t have anything to do with them.

In my sphere, the error is almost always on the other side, the other direction. And therefore, I have devoted most of my life to encouraging people not to be dependent on commentaries and books about the Bible but to give assiduous attention to the biblical text directly — for themselves. When it comes to church leadership, I see more danger in becoming an inauthentic second-hander than in spending too much time assiduously thinking for yourself about what the Bible text is teaching.

My experience within my own circles has been similar to Piper’s. Which is why we want to help you learn how to study the Bible for yourself. By all means, don’t avoid commentaries altogether. The question is not whether but when.

And Piper can help you think that through further.

Check it out!

Easy Money Makes Promises

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Why is it the case that pursuing a quick buck, as the cost of serving others, will always keep us from being wise and ought to be rejected?

If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
Let us ambush the innocent without reason;
Like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
And whole, like those who go down to the pit;
We shall find all precious goods,
We shall fill our houses with plunder;
Throw in your lot among us;
We will all have one purse’ (Prov 1:11-14).

These verses are morbidly comical. When was the last time you ever had a total stranger approach you on the street and ask, “Hey, whadd’ya say we go find a defenseless old lady, beat her to death, and take her credit cards? We can share them; I promise.” It just doesn’t happen like that, and Solomon knows it. It’s not like the ancients were so much dumber than we are that they’d fall for such a thing.

man wearing sunglasses and leather jacket at the party
Photo by Wolrider YURTSEVEN on Pexels.com

Rather, Solomon is taking what is usually implicit, and he’s making it explicit by telling a story. He’s bringing to light what is really going on every time we give in to our desire for more stuff. We’re not innocent victims (Prov 1:10 implies that we consent to it), and we’re not making life any easier for ourselves. Instead, we love ourselves and ignore reality. We believe the world’s promises.

The first promise is that easy money will give me community. “Come with us… Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse.” Easy money promises me that I can be just like everyone else. I won’t be left behind, and I can’t be the butt of people’s jokes. I won’t be one of those weirdoes who is out of touch with his own generation. I will be normal, acceptable, informed, and relevant. I might even be envied and pursued by others who are normal, acceptable, informed, and relevant. I will have the community I’ve always longed for.

The second promise is that easy money will give me security. “We shall find all precious goods; we shall fill our houses with plunder.” Once I get all the precious stuff that normal people are supposed to have, my life will be easier. Communication will be easier. Managing my life will be easier. I’ll finally be able to relax on that ideal vacation. My clothes will be more comfortable, my work will be more productive, and my stress level will drop drastically. I can pay for the car, the house, college tuition, and weddings. I’ll be set up for retirement. Problems will disappear, and nothing will shake me. I will have security.

In the poem’s next stanza, we’ll see that easy money can’t keep such promises.

This post was first published in 2012.