Called to Live on Every Word of God-Matthew 4:4

Called to Live on Every Word of God (PPT) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’”  (Matthew 4:4). Briefly, Jesus is saying that regardless of what dire or life threating situation we may be in (starvation in Jesus’ case), there is nothing more important in life than living on the word of God. Thus, reading and reflecting regularly on Scripture is the best and most effective therapy session anyone can have…and it’s free of charge. Yet, a sobering sad stat is that only 1 in 5 Christians read their Bibles daily.

How does a Christian live on every word of God (Dt 8:3; Mt 4:4)? Shouldn’t we simply take what God’s word says and live accordingly? Personally, I desire to live according to Mt 6:33 by always having God as my priority. Practically, it means that Scripture reading and study must be my daily habit.

Scripture’s encouragement to read the Bible. The Bible is God’s word (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:23). The psalmist says to delight in and to love the torah or the teaching and instruction of the Lord (Ps 1:2; 119:97). Psalm 119–the longest chapter in the Bible–stresses the centrality of God’s word to all God’s people. Ezekiel was told to “eat the scroll” (Eze 3:1,3) which became sweet to him. Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are full of Spirit and life” (Jn 6:63).

Christians do not read their Bibles daily. The sad reality of Christians today is that the Bible is not read or reflected upon regularly, daily or delightfully. In fact, only 1 in 5 Christians read the Bible daily. A 2013 American Bible society poll found that only 1 in 4 Christians (26%) read their Bibles regularly (4x/week or more) and that the majority (57%) read their Bibles 4x/year or less. A 2012 Lifeway survey found that only 1 in 5 Christians (19%) read their Bibles daily.

Why do Christians read their Bibles so infrequently? Boring? Don’t get much out of it? Too busy? Other things I need to get done first? Not fun or exciting? Not delightful or sweet? Why not? Some reasons include not recognizing our enemy Satan’s schemes and we listen to his lies. We don’t realize the depth of our sins, rebellion and self-righteousness, as well as our our total helplessness and inability to save ourselves. We have wrong overly optimistic expectations of what God should do for us and how God should bless us based on our misunderstanding or wrong assumptions of the Bible. Finally, Christians do not understand what the Bible primarily is and is not, what the grace of God truly is and what the difference is between law and grace, between advice and good news, and between idolatry and our true identity. We’ll unpack this below.

Christians assume that they know how they should live as a Christian without regular reference to what the Bible actually says. They live by their own strength and effort without renewal or refreshment from God. The world influences them more than the Bible. Christian life becomes habitual or tedious, and a burdensome undesirable imposition. Without renewal from God and Scripture Christians will not exude the humility, gentleness, joy, forgiveness, excitement and enthusiasm of loving God and others. This may explain why so many are simply turned off by Christians and Christianity.

What the Bible primarily is and is not. Tim Keller shares often–in virtually every sermon–why the Bible and the gospel fails to deeply transform Christians. It is because the Bible is viewed, regarded, practiced and understood as primarily a book of rules (such as the Ten Commandments). Then Christianity is practically no different from all other religions. Religion says, “Do this, do that, be good and obey–to show that you’re a good Christian and then God will bless you.” But the Gospel says, “God accepts and blesses you through Grace alone, therefore you obey.” The distinct difference between religion and the gospel of God’s grace makes all the difference in understanding Christianity and the Bible.

Adding law to the gospel of grace. Why do Christians fail to grasp and apply the gospel of grace and instead communicate obedience to rules and commands? They’re afraid of antinomianism. They think that obedience to the law is what produces a genuine Christian life. They don’t deeply believe that grace alone truly changes people from the inside out. So the sprinkle in the law to “help” the gospel do its job. It simply does not work.

Good wonderful things that can very easily become our functional “savior”:

• Friends, family, spouse, children.
• Career, money, pleasure, sex.
• Being needed. Being nice.
• Hard work, being responsible.
• Serving the needy, the helpless and the disenfranchised.

If we’re moved by any of the above more than by God, it’s not likely that we’ll read the Bible regularly.

What the Bible and Christianity is about. John Calvin (Institutes of the Christian Religion) says:

1. The sum of true wisdom (is) the knowledge of God and ourselves.
2. Effects of the knowledge of God, in humbling our pride, unveiling our hypocrisy, demonstrating the absolute perfections of God, and our own utter helplessness.

Issues to consider what we do not read the Bible daily and take it seriously?

• If you’re not motivated to reflect on Scripture daily, find a mentor (Pr 27:17).
• If you’re not moved by the Bible it’s likely because you do not grasp the amazing grace of God (Ac 20:24).
• If you don’t read the Bible daily, it’s likely that you do not understand the CCCCC:
• Complete comprehensive complexity of the character of Christ.
• Jesus is both soft and tough at the same time. He is gentle, kind and humble and also clear, uncompromising and willing to die for what he believes. If we are soft, we humans tend to not be tough, and if we are tough, we tend not to be soft. We are imperfectly balanced and do not come to see Christ as perfectly and wonderfully balanced with both softness and toughness, both full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14c).
• If the Bible is not your go-to daily, then something else is, usually something good in itself:
• “Worship” with our emotion rather than being rooted in Scripture.
• “Social justice” as though helping people is the most important.
• “Discipleship” where one becomes like their shepherd, rather than God.
• Serving one’s local church/denomination in the name of serving God.
• Your career, your family, your reputation.
• Bibliolatry, where the words of Scripture is honored more than God–a person with an amazing awsome personality.
• If the Bible is dry it may be because of your expectations and desires not being met or fulfilled.