Ep. 116 | The Incredible Value of the Bible
Speaker: Jesse Turkington
Available on all podcasting platforms
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Available on all podcasting platforms -
Summary
Jesse shares about the value of the Bible and how it can help us in our daily walk with God. Passages explored: Luke 24:27, Matthew 28:19-20a, John 3:12, Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 77:11-12
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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi
Speaker’s Bio
Jesse Turkington is the executive director of Parable Ministries and has been a Bible teacher since 2014. When Jesse was just finishing high school, he started a little Bible study at his parent’s house. Little did he know, this Bible study would change the direction of his life. He fell in love with the richness of the Bible and he wanted to pursue serious study. About 10 years later, Jesse still carries that passion for the Bible and from this passion was born Parable Ministries - a Bible teaching resource. Jesse believes that the Bible is a life changing book and that it can transform the way we view the world.
Transcript
Intro:
Hey there, welcome to Pickled Parables. This podcast is presented by Parable Ministries as a Bible teaching resource. Thank you for joining us. Pickled Parables is a podcast about taking in and living out the Bible. Here we will study, contemplate and testify to the Bible's incredible teachings and how it leads us to live better lives. To stay up to date with all things parable, follow us on Instagram at parable underscore ministries and visit our website at parableministries.com. We hope today's message finds you well.
Message:
Hey everyone, my name is Jesse.
Thank you for being with us on Pickled Parables.
I have a lesson to share with you today about the incredible value of the Bible.
First, let me start with an illustration.
The nation of India is home to some of the worst traffic jams in the world.
Due to the large population and the density of some cities, traffic can be an utter disaster.
Those accustomed to living in these cities have developed expectations of doing whatever is necessary to arrive at their destinations.
Here in the states, and particularly in the Pacific Northwest, we have a very structured way of driving.
In 2021, California was ravaged with several devastating wildfires.
Cities, towns, and little communities had to be evacuated and removed from the path of these fires.
Because of this influx of evacuees, Californian roads became a snail race.
I saw a picture that was taken on September 6th of 2021, and you can see the people evacuating from the path of the fires in their cars, yet doing it very slowly.
Because the area that they were leaving was being shut down, there was no oncoming traffic on the other side of the road, at least in this picture.
An Indian man looked at this situation, and he was told the context.
They were evacuating from nearby fires.
And he said to the person showing him the picture, why are they not using both sides of the road?
If they're trying to get away quickly, why are they going about it so slowly?
Even in the face of imminent danger, these Californians were evacuated by observing the traffic laws and staying in their designated lanes.
This was something that confounded an Indian mindset.
Now, as we approach the Bible, we need to make an acknowledgement.
Our way of thinking in this Western hemisphere is different than that of the biblical authors of the Middle East.
Our worldviews have been influenced by different cultures.
We have different social customs.
We live in a different environment.
We have different types of plants and vegetation.
All of these things bring expectations and preconceived notions for when we are introduced to new things.
At this point in time, I don't know if it's possible for us to read the Bible without having preconceived notions.
Now, one of our goals as Christians, as Christ followers, is to read and understand the Bible in the same way that Jesus read and understood the Bible.
And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
That's from Luke chapter 24 verse 27.
With this in mind, I want to address the difference between exegesis and eisegesis.
Exegesis is the drawing out of and eisegesis is the putting in of.
So, to exegete is to read a written text methodically and interpret the written text with the intention of discovering its intended meaning.
You may have heard of exegetical preaching, where the pastor teaches verse by verse through a book of the Bible and brings out in his sermon the original meaning that the authors were intending for their specific audience.
This is exegesis.
Exegesis is the putting in of.
So, in contrast, exegesis is putting meaning into a written text.
Rather than letting the text speak for itself, exegesis allows the meaning to enter the text.
So, to say it again but more clearly, one draws out and one puts in.
This is important for us to be aware of because a common approach that Westerners have, particularly Americans, towards the Bible, is we want to find whatever we can in it that encourages and reinforces our ideas.
Many people prefer to read the Bible eisegetically rather than exegetically.
This is a good thing for us to acknowledge and be aware of because then we can confess, I don't want to do that.
I want to read the Bible in the same way that my Savior understood the Bible.
As Christ followers, that is one of our goals.
So in our daily practice, as we walk with God, I want to highlight the Bible's importance in that practice and then appreciate with you the Bible's intelligent design.
So this is why the Bible is important.
The Bible is divine revelation to mankind.
Ultimately, the Bible's purpose is to glorify God and to instruct His children.
This is the predominant thrust of the Bible, to glorify God and to instruct His children.
In addition, the Bible applies to almost every aspect of life.
Within this book, we find almost 10 different kinds of literary genres, meaning that the Bible has a lot to say and a lot of different ways of saying it.
The value of the Bible in our walk with God is like the value of a compass to a frontiersman.
The Bible reorients our thinking, which is why it's important for us to read the Bible exegetically rather than eisegetically.
The Bible was not intended to be a choose-your-own-adventure book.
The Bible was designed through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who partnered with people.
It was directed and overseen by God and compiled through the effort and talent of scribes and prophets.
This is a beautiful picture because at the very heart of this book lies a divine invitation.
The construction of this book was completed by God through men for mankind.
God wants relationship and He worked with people in order to offer it to other people.
This is something that gets built upon even after Jesus' death and resurrection.
Christians have been commissioned by the risen Christ to go therefor and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
That's from Matthew 28 verses 19 through 20.
Within God's desire to have relationship with people, he works with people in order to reach other people.
And this is not because of any limitations on God's part.
This isn't to say God is limited by the actions of people.
This is done because of his holy and righteous desire to adopt us as children.
So, the Bible is important to us because it reveals this incredible revelation.
Within the perfect fellowship of the Trinity, God is not lacking and needing fellowship, yet he wants to bring us into relationship and be our king.
This is a wonderful thing.
The Bible is not just a testament of this divine desire, but it also serves as our spiritual food.
It's clear from biblical examples that God establishes earthly practices in order to effectively communicate heavenly truths.
This is really exemplified when Jesus talks with Nicodemus in John 3.
Jesus asks him, If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
It's from John 3, verse 12.
You see, we as a people lack the imagination or even the mental capacity to fully understand the mind of God.
It's declared in Isaiah, chapter 55, My thoughts are not your thoughts.
Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
That's from Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 8 through 9.
One of the examples that Jesus gave Nicodemus in order to help explain a heavenly truth was the idea of being born again.
Now, Nicodemus didn't have any categories in his mind for this kind of understanding.
So he asked Jesus, how can a man be born when he's old?
That's a valid question.
There is nothing that makes sense about a grown man being born.
There is no precedent.
There is nothing like it.
It's a completely foreign idea.
However, we do know what it is to be born, or rather to give birth.
We know what that is.
It's the natural process of procreation.
So Jesus gave Nicodemus something that he could understand, and he used that to explain something that Nicodemus would never have been able to understand, being born again.
So as I say that the Bible is our spiritual food, what I'm meaning is the Bible informs us.
It instructs us, reorients us, and grows us closer into the Lord.
If we are to walk with God, the Bible is our lamp to help us see the path that we're walking on.
Now, often the Holy Spirit will work in tandem with the Bible and lead God's children in their spiritual growth.
As we read the Bible, the Spirit may open our eyes to something that we missed the first 13 times reading through it.
The Bible is the Spirit's playground because it is the word of God and the Holy Spirit will use it to glorify and promote God the Father.
Now, admittedly, there are several Bible scholars who do not profess a belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and subsequently do not have the Holy Spirit in dwelling with them.
However, they are experts and well-versed in the contents of the Bible.
They're most likely even to read it exegetically.
That's an important rule within the world of academia with any written text.
With these unbelieving scholars, the Bible is considered to be impressive.
It's respected even.
Yet, these men and women will not experience the full offerings of the Bible because of their forsaking of the Holy Spirit.
This is something we should note because as we have intimate access to the Holy Spirit, we should absolutely invite him to join us as we read through the Bible.
We should take full advantage of the Holy Spirit's ministry, especially in this regard.
Now, I have come to believe that the best description for the Bible is to say that it is meditative literature, and I'm sure as I say that word meditate, it probably condors up some expectations and probably some preconceived notions of what that would look like.
You're probably aware of the Eastern practice of meditation, and you might remember that the Bible is technically an Eastern manuscript.
So you might be thinking that this meets at that same intersection, but the Bible has its own definition when it uses the word meditation.
While Eastern meditation is devoted to the emptying of your mind, biblical meditation is interested in filling your mind.
I wrote a series of articles for our website at parableministries.com about biblical meditation.
And I want to share a small snippet of one with you.
The biblical concept of meditation is best illustrated by a cow's digestive system.
You see, when cows eat, they don't take the time to chew up and evenly prepare the food for digestion.
Rather, cows swallow their food whole.
In time, they regurgitate it and chew the food, much like how a cowboy would chew tobacco, by chewing 20 times on the left side and then 20 times on the right side.
After this thorough munching session, cows once again swallow their food, but this time it usually stays down.
This process is called rumination.
We use it as a figure of speech sometimes, like, yeah, Uncle Barry and Matty Joe, they were chewing the cud for a couple hours yesterday.
Meaning, they talked in a reflective manner.
It's an expressive idiom.
People chew on thoughts similarly to how cows chew the cud.
This is the basic premise of biblical meditation.
First, we hear something from the Bible, but often we don't have time to properly ruminate on it.
Rather, we simply take it at face value.
However, at a later time, we then bring it back to our minds and think about it thoroughly.
As Asaph described in Psalm 77, verse 11-12, I will remember the deeds of the Lord.
Yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Asaph used three verbs to capture the essence of biblical meditation.
Remember.
Asaph begins with remembering, calling to mind the deeds of the Lord and his wonders of old.
He intentionally took note of history and pulled it into his thinking.
Ponder.
To ponder is to think deeply.
And interestingly, people can ponder a thought in community.
It doesn't have to be a private matter.
Meditate.
To meditate is to dwell in a specific thought.
In the Bible, it was usually implemented as a private matter between God and man.
A conversation, if you will, between maker and made.
Biblical meditation is not the emptying of the mind.
It is the practice of critical thinking.
As Christians, we are called to fill our minds with worthwhile thoughts and to think through biblical teachings.
I wrote that in the year of 2020.
And I think that sums up what I mean by saying biblical meditation rather well.
The Bible is meditative literature in the sense that it is dense.
You can read the Bible over and over again for a lifetime and you will always find something new.
It is incredible how well crafted this book is.
This is where we start appreciating the artistic value of the Bible.
Because it is unlike anything I've been able to find.
Ancient Jewish literature was so sophisticated that we are still studying it and making new discoveries.
The Bible is a never ending well of living water.
Through the partnership of divine inspiration and through the God given talent of scribes and prophets, the Bible, both Old Testament and New, are so interconnected and so rich that you could spend a lifetime studying it.
It is a joyful passion.
As Christians, it is our desire to read the Bible exegetically and to learn to understand it in the same way that our Savior, Jesus Christ, understood it.
As you read, invite the Holy Spirit to join you.
As you meditate, memorize the words and let it permeate your mind.
The Bible isn't meant to be taken apart so that it can fit into our lives better.
The Bible is meant to be understood so that we can conform our lives to it.
As you walk with God, hold the Bible high like a lamp and let it light your path so you can walk with confidence.
The Bible is an absolute treasure, and we should not forsake it or forget about it.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to Pickled Parables. If you enjoyed this message, please rate us, subscribe and share with your friends. If you're interested in more things like this, check out our secondary podcast called My Dusky Bible. To stay up to date with all things Parable, follow us on Instagram at parable underscore ministries and visit our website at parableministries.com. Parable is a volunteer organization and we would deeply appreciate your prayers. Thank you for joining us today, we'll catch you later.
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