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| Daily Devotions for June 28-July 2
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Greetings!
We believe that "all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God," in the sense that the Holy Spirit so
guided the sacred writers that the words they wrote constitute the Word of God.
We believe the Bible is the final authority and is fully sufficient for all
matters of faith and conduct. (2 Tim. 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
-- Taken from the
Wheaton Bible Church Statement of Faith, available online here:
http://www.wheatonbible.org/What_We_Believe
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 | MONDAY, JUNE 28
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Start your time today reading Luke 4:1-13. As we continue
our series on the topic of "Sola Scriptura," or "Only Scripture," we have to
consider the manner in which Jesus approached the Scriptures. For if we are
going to claim that the Bible is "enough," then we have to see if it was indeed
enough for Jesus as well.
The temptation here in Luke 4 is eerily similar to that in
Genesis 3. The devil uses the same ploy every time-tempting us to doubt what
God has said, encouraging us to take matters into our hands, trusting our own
judgment, our own wisdom, our own understanding. How, specifically, does Jesus
respond to this temptation?
Who do we turn to when we experience the same challenges to
what God has said? What is our knee-jerk reaction to anyone or anything that
forces us to reconsider whether or not God's word is really enough? There is,
for many of us, a gap between what we know, cognitively, when we read this
passage, and the reality of what happens when we are actually in a particular
situation. We know there shouldn't be, but if we're honest it's there
nonetheless.
It's as if we have categorized the Bible as something we use
for our spiritual lives only, a resource for doing our daily devotions, but not
something that would apply to "real life." Compartmentalizing the Bible like
this is equivalent to putting God in a box.
When we first moved into the new building, Pastor Rob
brought a chest of drawers up onto the stage and challenged us to rethink how
we conceived of God and His authority and influence over all parts of our life.
This is the challenge of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and something we have to be reminded
of over and over again.
So today the question is not, "How can I quote Scripture
like Jesus did?" Rather, we should be challenged to consider is, "How can I
integrate God's word into every part of my life?"
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| TUESDAY, JUNE 29
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Start your time today reading Psalm 19. If at all possible,
read it out loud. The first six verses of this magnificent psalm are generally
easy for us to affirm. When we see a beautiful sunset or a stunning vista, we
marvel at God's power and majesty revealed in the world around us.
But the psalmist seems to take a sudden turn in verse seven
to talk about the "law of the Lord." Underline or write out all the adjectives
he uses to describe the law. As incredible as it may be to spend a day at the
Grand Canyon, or even to witness a stunning rainbow, God's law is more amazing
still. Although we see God partly revealed in His creation, we have a
significantly more detailed and specific revelation in His word.
The challenge for me, and for anyone reading this psalm, is
to be in a place where we can affirm with the psalmist that God's Word truly is
sweeter than honey and more desirous than gold. What are the normal and
everyday needs and desires that are keeping us from engaging regularly with
God? What are the excuses that we keep giving ourselves as reasons for not
reading the Bible every day? What are we going to do differently this week in
order to break these bad habits?
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| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30
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Comfort. Peace. Hope. While we tend to look forward to the
summer as a time of perfect peace and relaxation, for many people it is an even
busier and more stressful time than the rest of the year. As we seek respite
from our busy schedule and try to manage our thoughts and emotions as we deal
with outings with family and friends, where do we turn? What brings us peace?
Today we read all of Romans 15. Where does Paul urge the
Romans to turn to for encouragement and hope? When was the last time you
thought of the Old Testament in this way? How does Paul model this dependence
on the Old Testament just within this one chapter?
Note especially here Romans 15:8-13. As we wrestle with the
question, "Is the Bible sufficient?" what would Paul's answer be? It is telling
that as Paul closes out his long letter to the church in Rome, a letter filled
with both theology and specific instructions for Christian living, he does so
with such a strong emphasis on the sufficiency of Scripture. For ultimately
Paul, like any pastor, cannot personally address every last question, complaint
or conflict in the church. Ultimately the word of God had to be their guide,
the glue that would hold them together as a community.
The same is still true for us today. Sermons, ACs, community
groups, Christian radio and even devotionals can only go so far. They can point
to the truth, but they are not the truth themselves. They are simply guides to
direct us to the sole source of life, the sole authority in life, God's word to
us.
Read Psalm 119:49-56. When this summer gets to be too much
to handle, where will you turn for endurance, encouragement and hope?
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| THURSDAY, JULY 1
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Anyone who has spent any time trying to read the Bible knows
that it is not always very easy to do. There are passages that are hard to
understand, sections that don't quite make sense on a first reading, and even
the odd verse here or there that seems a little boring.
The challenge for us is not so much with the Bible itself,
but the amount of effort we are willing to expend in working through any of
these perceived problems we have with the Bible. With that in mind, read all of
1 Timothy 4.
As Paul encourages Timothy in how to lead his congregation,
what is Timothy to grow in? What is the source for this? Note especially 1
Timothy 4:8; that this is useful both now, in this life, and also later, after
death.
What does Paul encourage Timothy to do as a regular part of
his teaching and leading (1 Tim. 4:13)? What does this say about the value and
importance of the Scripture for Paul? Last week Pastor Rob Rienow noted that a
common rhetorical tool is to say, "If you only remember one thing I say..."
Speakers will then end that sentence with some pithy, clever thought or word
they came up with themselves. Pastor Rob then said that while our wisdom might
sound nice for a while, ultimately it cannot change anyone. Only the word of
God can do that.
When we look at the world and see the many problems and
difficulties we face, when we look in the mirror in the morning and wonder
about the stresses and strains that kept us awake the night before, instead of
trying to think our way into a better future, let us turn instead to God's
word, for it alone has power sufficient to transform lives and bring about true
and lasting change.
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| FRIDAY, JULY 2
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So here we are after two weeks of exploration into the
reformation doctrine of "sola scriptura." The challenge, we should remember is
not just that we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, but that we also
believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. That means we should constantly be
asking ourselves, "What does the Bible say about this?" Everything we do, every
decision we make, should be run through that filter.
This is at the heart of Paul's admonition to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:14-17. But as we have seen, it is a doctrine that runs throughout
Scripture. You can barely read an entire chapter of any book without stumbling
into the fundamental underlying assumption that the word of God is sufficient,
completely authoritative for everything that we need in life. If we will build
our lives around that truth then we will be blessed indeed.
To close our week we will read Ezra 7. May the description
of Ezra in Ezra 7:9-10 be a model for all of us as we work to elevate Scripture
above all other sources of wisdom and authority in our lives.
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Jonathan Ziman
Community Life Pastor
Wheaton Bible Church
27W500 North Avenue
West Chicago, IL 60185
630.260.1600
www.wheatonbible.org |
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