Eat It

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 Please open your Bibles to Psalm chapter one, where we just read there. The heartbeat of our church for the series, for our, the whole church as in existence.

And this summer is to be formed by scripture. And so we’ve actually, this is part three of four. We’re talking about how do we be formed by scripture. So for the first two weeks, if you weren’t there, that’s fine. Let me catch you up. The first two weeks are all about how do we as a church and individually view the scriptures.

So we start at week one that the Bible is the final authority. That’s how we view it. Ultimately, we have to submit to it even if we like it or don’t. And so we had mentioned we don’t value things like tradition over scripture, which is really common to do, especially what you see in the Bible. The people like the Pharisees, they value tradition over the Bible.

We’re also not like the Sadducees, the Sadducees valued reason over scripture. So that’s this whole idea that we’ll love the Bible as long as it makes sense to us. Now the Bible is. Very wise, it’s full of knowledge. It’s not that it says things that are against reality, but it often pushes us to do things that you and I would consider we should not do because it seems like too sacrificial or whatever.

But we had said no. As a church, we are submitting ourselves to realize we don’t just buy what, what the Bible says. We allow it to guide what we do the second week. So that’s week one. The second week. Last week we talked about how the Bible is a library. It’s not just one book. It’s a bunch of books and letters and poetry.

And this library is a bunch of writings that actually tell one unified story that points to Jesus. So the Bible’s not a cookbook, it’s not a rule book. Uh, it’s not a textbook, right? It is a holy story, and it’s a story about who God is, who we are, what went wrong, why you and I feel and experienced so much pain and suffering, but also that there’s this.

Jesus, this God man who came to make it right, both now and fully in, uh, the second coming, Jesus will make all things right. And that’s the story we, we participate in. We don’t typically plug it here upstage, but I really encourage you this week to look up on YouTube, the form by Jesus podcast. Me and Pastor Caleb, we had a conversation this week diving deeper into what is the story of scripture.

So we really talked about how it’s six different chapters and I, I think it was our best conversation yet we might actually start to know how to talk to each other. This is wonderful, Caleb. I’m, I’m encouraged. It was a great podcast and, uh, make sure you guys check that out. But now we’ve list, we have the foundation.

How do we view the scriptures? It’s the final authority and it’s a story. Now for these next two weeks, we’re to look at how do we do the scriptures. James 1 22 says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. This next part is so hard. Do what it says. How do we do that? Well, we’re gonna answer in two parts today is eat it and tomorrow, or sorry.

Next set. You’re gonna be here tomorrow. No, next week is Obey it. How do we eat this book? That’s the theme for today. Let’s pray. Father, son, and Holy Spirit, we invite you into this room. Thank you so much. Ministry has already cured both before the service and during the worship. But God, we just submit ourselves to you today.

God, we just ask you that you would be with us, speak to us, and may we have hearts to listen and may we leave here delighting in your word. In Jesus name I pray. Everybody says amen. Now, no other document in history has been twisted or tamed more than the Bible. Let me give you a few examples, and I’m gonna go with the big three that plague.

Every generation, certainly our own. You ready? Money, sex, and power. Okay. Welcome to church. Now one Money. How have has people including us, how have we used the Bible to twist its conception of money and or tame it? By the way, Jesus, he says more about money than faith and prayer combined in the gospels, which is pretty fascinating.

I think it’s because it actually points to the real heart issues. We can say we believe things all day, but really when you look at your checkbook, which is I know an antiquated like checkbook, who has those anymore? But when you look at your bank account, it really shows what you believe. I guess Devin still has a checkbook.

I saw that point. I’m a P Devin’s, like of all people. He hates being pointed out. Forgive me. All right, so the Bible says of forgive, do what it says now. So with money, What we tend to do is, preachers are very, very guilty of this. They twist this concept of money. They will take a passage like Malachi three, and Malachi three says To tithe to the temple, to the, to the storehouse.

And then it says, and watch, I will bless you. I will multiply tenfold. And so what pastors will do, they’ll take that passage, they’ll go to a church or on our TV ministry or YouTube or whatever, and say, if you give to my ministry at least 10%, you will recce, you will receive back tenfold. You give me 10, you’ll get a hundred.

You give me a hundred, you’ll get a thousand. And not only Val, you’re gonna be healthy and prosper for the rest of your life. Anybody ready for this? All right. Put out the offering buckets. Our finance director is saying, amen. So anyway, that is twisting the scriptures. But you also have the very same thing on the other side where we tame it.

We hear those preachers who do those stories and all of that, and then we tame it and go, well, tithing giving. That’s an old covenant concept where we live in the New Testament, we live in grace. We don’t have to give, in fact nos. We do give, but when we want to give, but you know what you find out you never want to.

Right? And so that’s twisting verse taming. Let me give you an example with the biblical view of sex. The Bible has a beautiful vision of it, and I am such a pastor’s kid. Christian, I hate, I hate even saying the word. It’s so funny. On a pop, I’m like, sex. Okay, so, uh, let’s talk about how do we twist it? And how can we tame it both in the scriptures?

Uh, it’s very common for people, especially today, to use passages like Romans one and we’ll twist this passage where Paul gives a list of a lot of these sins to not to engage in, and he actually points out the how we have degenerated and how we now deserve wrath. It’s a wonderful chapter. It’ll really pick you up.

Read Romans one, but then it has been twisted by saying, okay, what Paul really meant here was that sex is okay as long as it’s monogamous. Therefore, you can have it outside of the covenant marriage. Therefore you can have it even with the same sex partner. We can do whatever we want as long as it’s just between a one other person that’s twisting the scripture, that’s not being faithful to the historical interpretation of that text.

Now we have grace for you. We’d love to walk that through. We don’t think that’s just something that maybe you’ll just change your mind on overnight, and we would love to explore that with you. We don’t mock you for having that view, but we do want to stick to what the scripture says so that can be twisted.

But also you can tame it. Maybe you grew up in a church kind of like me, where like your whole life, you’re not allowed to talk about it. You’re not, you don’t even know what it is. Right. Even though you figured it out by junior high, right. Just talking to other kids. No, we don’t know what that is. And then it becomes so perverted where we say, the only reason to do it, I’m just gonna say it.

Whatever. The only reason to do it is procreation. And so if you’re not trying to have a child, then you shouldn’t have it anymore. That is a wildly inaccurate view of the scriptures. It’s an, it’s avoiding a whole book of the Bible called Song of Solomon. Right. And so we can twist entertainment. Can I give you one more example with the power?

Power is all throughout the prophets in the Old Testament, and certainly within the New Testament, Jesus came to subvert power. It’s incredible. But we can take our Bible and twist things like power. You have like slavery, American slavery, they use passages like Roman, I mean, sorry, Ephesians six to say, Hey, slavery is good.

In fact, the Bible says in Ephesians six, slaves obey your masters. And so we’re just being biblical here. We’re gonna keep having slaves that’s twisting the scriptures. Or you tame the scriptures. When it comes to this concept of power, you have passages like one Peter two talk about how we’re royal priesthood.

The book of Hebrews says, we no longer need a priest to have access to God cuz Jesus is the great hype priest. But you can. You can tame this concept of power and authority and you can look at the scriptures and say, therefore we don’t need a pastor. In fact, I don’t even need a church. I can live my own Christian life.

That’s taming the scriptures. That’s misunderstanding the concept of authority. The Bible and some of us who even have pastors, we tame it by saying, okay pastor, this is always awkward cuz I’m a pastor. If you didn’t notice. But we tame it by saying, yes, I’ll have a pastor as long as he reassures me, but the moment he redirects me, I’m out the door.

We tame it. But as a result, we miss out on the power of God. The examples are unending, but here, there is a key practice from scripture to keep us from falling into this area. I imagine over half of us at least have experienced a twisting or taming of the scriptures, and usually our answer is just to get away from the Bible because it’s so confusing or people have used it and abused it, and so let’s just live our life on our own.

See, there is an answer, though we don’t twist the scripture and we don’t tame the scripture. You and I are called to taste the scripture, and that’s what we have here in Psalm one. I hope you’re there by now. If not, it’s up on the screen. How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers?

This word happy here means total fulfillment, complete wellbeing. It’s really common for us to think that Christians aren’t supposed to be happy. Have you ever heard that phrase? We’re not called to be happy, brother. We’re called to be holy. Anybody heard that? Well, how happy. Okay, so I don’t know what to tell you.

Sign me up for that. How? How do I be happy? Who does not walk in the advice of the wicked stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers? This is a key concept of discipleship and a key concept that we have here is why we’re talking about being formed by Jesus. Notice this. Notice this progression.

He talks about don’t walk with the wicked and then don’t stand with them, and then don’t sit with them. It is a slow progression of getting more and more comfortable with evil and wickedness and things that are contrary to God. So you start by walking alongside and then you feel so comfortable. You stand.

I get so pumped before church starts. Y’all are like standing together. It’s like, good, you guys love each other. Let’s keep this going. And if you really like each other, you’re gonna sit next to each other, right? This process of being intimate, he’s saying, watch out for this process. Because if you are not on your guard, you will drift towards destruction.

That’s actually in the next point. By default, we drift toward destruction.

So this word wicked here means a person who loves what God hates and hates what God loves. This word sinner here means missing the target. And so when we begin to stand with sinners, what we do is we no longer prioritize loving God or loving others. And then this mocks, uh, this is so common today. It’s described as someone who is so jaded, so cynical, they can no longer appreciate goodness or beauty.

So I want us to ask this question, what is the Council of the Wicked or advice of the Wicked or Council of the Ungodly? We tend to think it’s the big sense, me growing up as a Baptist, it’s like stealing, cheating, and hating, right? Those three, like if you have friends who make you do that, get out of there.

But what’s actually phenomenal, uh, kind of a realization I’ve had. Dallas Willard once said it perfectly, he said, the Council of the ungodly is just the way most people talk. Next slide, please. The Council of the Ungodly is just the way most people talk. John Ortberg commenting on what Willard had said.

He gave more subtle examples. So again, this advice of the wicked, what does that look like? You are listening to the advice of the Wicked. He gives four examples. If you are living as if it matters what people think of you, do you believe that that’s advice of the wicked? What matters more, what Christ thinks of you?

Amen. Or you’re living as if the outcomes of your life are on your shoulders and you control them. I know, I believe that lie, that’s advice of the wicked. Or you live as if aging is something to worry about. The Bible says actually to find joy in aging. The Bible says, though, your outward body wastes day by day, inwardly, you’re being renewed day by day.

Though God though, though though bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come See, this is advice of the wicked is to worry about that. The advice of the wicked is to live as if satisfying your desires and appetites is central to your wellbeing and wi a wise strategy for living this kind of advice usually goes under the radar.

We don’t hear those things and say, that’s advice of the wicked. We go, yeah, that’s, that’s gotta be true, right? You’re not making me do some big sin, so it sounds really nice. So let me actually listen and begin to form my life around these narratives, these lead to destruction. That’s the point that the psalmist will make.

Let’s look again at verse two. Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction and he meditates on it day and night. This word delight is what it sounds like, the highest form of pleasure. This next phrase is in the Lord’s instruction. Your your actually might say in the law because it’s actually this Hebrew word Torah, but many commentators believe it’s not just referencing cuz the Torah can also be Genesis Exo Leviticus, number Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible.

But really this Torah is all of scripture. It’s all of the Lord’s instruction. That’s why the CSB says it’s the Lord’s instruction. Can you imagine delighting in the whole council of God’s word? That’s the happy person. But he says you do this by meditating on it day. At night. See, I think this delight is kind of like a runner’s high.

It takes more than five minutes to begin to enjoy it. Some of you’re like, I’ve never ran more than five minutes, so I have no idea what you’re talking about. We just disconnected here. Right? But I found that my first mile, it’s always miserable. I don’t care. It’s just bad. Mile three. It was amazing. But then I’ve done, right?

But there is this special window where you’re like, I love running, and then you come back to reality. But there is a moment and that delight a lot of times takes time. And what it really takes the psalmist is saying is it takes meditation. Now, let me explain this word, meditation for you. Meditation especially today, can be really a lot if Christians are really afraid of that word, because it’s typically today associated with pagan.

Or maybe you can call it eastern meditation, right? So this eastern meditation is this idea where you hum, right? And your whole point, you criss-cross applesauce, which I can’t even do already, cuz. I’ve just never been flexible. Pray for me. But you do that, and I’m not making fun of it, but here’s what it does.

Easter meditation, you just try to empty your mind. First of all, I’ve never been good at that, right? Like, how do you do that? But it’s this idea, the whole purpose is to empty yourself and then define power within the Bible says that’s not gonna work, right? Your heart is deceitful and wicked who can know it outside of Christ, you are easily deceived.

It’s all sorts of things. So what Christian meditation is, is to have a time alone and then grab a scripture, grab a verse, and say it over and over and over again, and you will find the slow progression of liking that verse, of loving that verse, and then being obsessed with it. But it happens when you meditate on it day and night.

The Hebrew word here, meditate is haa. Can you say that with me? Haa. I’m really proud of Ron, who’s our sound guy in the back right now. He even remembers heavily anybody remember he, he quoted heavily the other day we’re, it’s in the book of Ecclesiastes. I was like, that’s amazing. So hopefully in 10 months you’ll mention Hak and I’ll be happy.

All right, so this word hak literally means to chew it over with Unhurried delight. Blessed is happy as the man who delight, who, who chews over the scriptures with unhurried delight every day and every night. My Sunday school teacher, back when you had flannel boards and all that, anybody remember those days?

Right? She would always say, she said, Hey. Kids remember, eat like a cow and we laugh, oh my gosh. Eat like a cow. What are you saying? Eat like a cow. Apparently cows have four stomachs and what they do is they eat it. They take it to stomach number one, they bring it back to stomach number 2, 3, 4, and then they go back and they regurgitate and it’s this weird process.

That’s why they smell so bad, right? It’s this process of taking it between stomachs and she would always tell us, Haah, right? Dwell on this word. Eat like a cow. Think of it, and then think of it again in another way and in a new way. And a new way. What happens when we do that? Look at verse three. He, this happy man or woman is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither whatever he does prospers.

It’s this idea that even when there is famine, This tree has water in areas you cannot see. It’s in the depths of that person’s character. And even when they’re having a storm enter their life, they are firmly rooted. Even when it’s a good season or a bad season, this tree will produce fruit. It is not a victim of circumstance.

It will remain firm. I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s the kind of life I want. I want to bear fruit in season and out of season. I want to have joy. I wanna be firmly rooted. The passage here is saying you do that by meditating. This is important, uh, because you almost see this word for word in another section of scripture.

So turn with me if you can to Joshua chapter one. So this is the sixth book of the Old Testament. And so if you have a actual Bible with you, kind of start towards the beginning of it and flip around until you see the book of Joshua. Now, Joshua one, seven through eight. I want you to really listen because it might sound familiar to you.

Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction. My servant Moses commanded you do not churn from it to the right or to the left so that you will have success or prosperity wherever you go. Verse eight, this book of instruction, the Torah must not depart from your mouth.

You are to see this line meditate on it day and night so that you may be so, that may carefully observe everything written in it for then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. Do you notice some of those key phrases in both Psalm one and also Joshua one, seven through eight? This is what’s so cool.

I’m gonna nerd out on you for five minutes. Please stick with me. Here’s what’s so cool now. In the Hebrew Bible, which is the Old Testament. For us, it was actually the books were ordered in a different way than you and I have in our Christian Bibles today. This not good or bad, it’s just different, and that’s okay.

But the Hebrew Bible, the order I’m kind of a fan of a little bit more cuz it kind of makes sense of the story of Israel. Now here’s what you have. You have what? What Hebrews would call the TaNaK. Okay? The TaNaK represents three different sections of the Old Testament. Number one is Torah, so Ta in the TaNaK is Torah, or you and I would call the law.

This is Genesis, Exodus of Leviticus, number Deuteronomy. So that’s the first five books of the Hebrews. Same as ours, right? We’re tracking so far. This next section is the the Na, which is the ne, the Tana Na is the prophets. And so for him, it starts in Joshua, which it does for us as well. All right? So we’re already doing good so far, but then it begins to change the order.

It goes from Joshua to judges, but then it goes to Samuel. And then the Kings and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then the 12 minor prophets a little different. Now what so Tana is the Keim or what we would call the writings, and so would Jesus would even reference in Matthew five, the law of the prophets, or some would say the law of the prophets and the writings.

This is the the Bible of Jesus’ Day. The writings start with Psalms and then Proverbs, job Song of Solomon Ruth Lamentation, Ecclesiastes Esther Daniel Ezeriah Chronicles. What does that mean? It’s fine. Just stay with me. What’s amazing is Psalm one and Joshua one are the beginnings of the new sections.

Do you see that? You have, in the beginning, God created the heaven, zero Earth, that’s Genesis. But then you have Joshua one representing a new section of the Old Testament, and then it ends and begins with Psalm one. What they call this is canonical seams. Good, huh? Right. You’re like, I don’t care what’s happening.

So the cannon is one way to say how it’s all formed together. These seams are transition points. Psalm Joshua one and Psalm one are intricately there to say, okay, now we’re going to, we’re kind of shifting perspectives here. We’re, we’re talking about the same thing, God and salvation and everything, but we’re, we’re entering in a new phase.

And so what this is saying, Joshua one and Psalm one are essentially saying, Hey, as you start this new section of the Bible, make sure you do the, if you want this to make sense and to change your life, make sure you what Hak, meditate on it day and night and carefully do what it says. And if you do that, you’re gonna succeed.

You’re gonna prosper in everything you do day and night. You see that? It’s a wake up call to say, in case you forgot how to read this, read it like this. Delight in his instruction. Meditate on it day and night. Just this week we’re actually. At dinner with some church folks, and we were talking about how hard it is to disciple people, because at best we have people for an hour, maybe two per week, and there’s a hundred, there’s another 167 hours of the week where they’re not hearing about the Bible.

It’s like, how do you change somebody, like look at a graph like if you only get two hours and your other 166 are advice of the wicked, and two are counsel of the Godly, where do you think you’re gonna churn? How do you think you’re gonna be formed? You’re probably gonna walk into the advice of the wicked.

And that’s why we as a church are trying to find like, how do we get you to get in your Bibles? How do you read it for yourself? Right? But that is a really key concept. He’s saying, you need to engage and meditate on this Bible, but do it day and night. But then it also says in verse eight, and also in Psalm one, it says, and then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

And it’s helpful for us to remember this isn’t just any success, it’s talking about biblical success. Pete Cero defines biblical success as doing what God has asked us to do in his way and his timing. That’s success. I’m gonna say it one more time. Doing what God asked us to do in his way and his timing.

Sadly, we have a totally wrong definition of success. It’s advice of the wicked, but we buy it hook, line, and sinker as if it’s truth. I was watching, uh, Marcus Limona. Has anybody heard of him? The show, the Prophet. It’s so good. I love it. So he was actually on Instagram and um, he was interviewing somebody and this guy was like, Hey, I’m such a failure.

I need you to help me with my business. And so Marcus Limonis just asked him, okay, you’re a failure, but do you have a family? He’s like, yeah. Are you, are you married? Yeah, we’ve been married for 30 years. Awesome. Okay. Do you have kids? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Do they love you still? Yeah, they actually love to still come back.

Awesome. Do you have a house over your head? Yeah. Have you ever had to skip a meal? Just a couple times. Okay, great. You know, and he is like, you are successful. Quit believing this lie that your business hasn’t gone from this level to this level. Look at what you have. And so many of us, we forget all the blessings God has given us and we think, oh, I’m not successful cuz I don’t have this little thing.

Let us realize that’s advice to the wicked. And God has really blessed so many of us with so many things. But all these key points in scripture are inviting us to meditate day and night so that we may succeed in whatever we do. How do we do that? Write this down The way we do. The word is to chew the word

What’s great about this word is it’s used different in the Hebrew scriptures, uh, many different ways. For example, my, one of my favorites is Isaiah 31 14. It actually says is like how a young lion hagas over his prey. Choose over it. Nas at it. Eugene Peterson wrote a whole book called Eat This book. It’s on our recommended reading list.

And he says that same kind of phrase, it’s like when you look at your dog, not a cat, praise God, but when you look at your dog and it is gnawing on the bone, have you ever seen that? And they’re just like, unhurried, delight, slobbering, savoring, just a moment with the dog and the bone. See, in that same picture, God is saying like, do that with this word.

s slobber it. Savor it. And I just know one of you gonna come next week with like a bite mark and be like, actually, you know what’s hilarious? I do have a bike mark. It’s called Maverick. It’s our puppy. Pray for my patience. Or he’s really biblical. I’m not sure. Now one last thing, go to Revelation 10 with me one more time.

I wanna show you something. Now, if there’s ever been a book that has been twisted or tamed more than any, what would it be? The book of. Revelation come in two weeks. We’re doing a summer study on the book of Revelation, and what’s amazing is you’re gonna leave every week, not terrified. You’re gonna be excited, praise the Lord, and not wonder if you’ve been left behind.

Now, Romans 10, nine through 10 says this. So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. This is John speaking. He said to me, take and eat it. It will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth. So then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it.

It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter. We’ll look at that context in a few weeks of this whole thing. But here’s a key point, key illustration for us. This scroll that you and I are called to eat is the scriptures. And here’s what happened. When you start to eat the Bible, it’s really sweet.

You learn. I am saved. I once was lost, but now I’m found my whole life, I’ve had it aching to be a part of a family. And the scriptures are sweet because I’ve learned I’m a, I’m a part of the family of God. I’ve learned I don’t have to earn my salvation. It’s not achieved, it’s just received. I’ve heard that there’s this hero, this God man, Jesus who lived the life I could never live, died, the death I was supposed to die, and he rose again in victory.

And all I have to do is say, yes Lord, and all of his blessings are mine. It’s sweet. You’ve been given purpose. You learn that your love, that you’re adopted, that you’re never he’ll, never leave you nor forsake you. It is so sweet. But read your Bible long enough. It gets pretty bitter cuz the Bible also says, you must not just tolerate your enemy, but what Love him if he asks for your tunic, right?

You’re supposed to give that, I don’t even know what that is compared to a robe, but whatever. A tunic and a robe, you’re supposed to give it all to him. Okay? You’re supposed to walk two miles in somebody’s shoes. That’s bitter. The Bible says, man, you, you’re supposed to give not just your, your money, but your whole life.

Not just until it hurts, but like you’re supposed to give until it hurts. And then you’re supposed to give a little more. It says to have awkward conversations with your neighbors. It says to cut off lust. The Bible gets bitter because it says, you know, that desire you have, you should probably deny it. It gets hard because the Bible gets bitter because it says to turn the other cheek.

But the key to tasting scripture is to lean into the bitterness. That’s when it’ll change your life. That’s when you get happy. Pastor Caleb is a coffee Kono. Okay? And, um, I, I realized for a while I convinced myself I love coffee. And then I realize, no, I love sweeteners and sugar, and I put a little coffee in it, you know?

Um, I gained weight as a result. That’s a whole nother story. Pray for me. Uh, cuz I’m still addicted to it. I don’t know what to do. But he says coffee’s supposed to be bitter. Which I think that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Then it not very good. No, no, no, no. If you lean into the bitterness and you let it sit there and you savor it, there’s sweetness on the other side.

I’ve never experienced this, I’m gonna be honest, but I hear, I’ve also learned I’m Caleb’s disciple cuz I have learned Starbucks is not the answer because they burn their beans so much, but it’s so, they’re consistent. It’s a whole corporate thing. Now he’s proud. Lean into the bitterness. And this principle is true not just for drinking coffee, but for tasting scripture.

You gotta lean into the bitterness and let it do its work. Write this down. When the scriptures get bitter, we try to make it better by twisting it for our control. Or taming it for our convenience.

So we put a lot of sugar on top and we gain weight as a result. The question is, why is it so bitter to our stomachs? The Holy Trinity, when you were reading your word, you’re engaging in the Trinity and what the trinity does, father, son Holy Spirit, confronts what Eugene Peterson calls the unholy Trinity.

So what happens is we twist or tame the Bible when it confronts our needs, our wants, and our feelings. And when we don’t surrender those three things to the Holy Trinity, it gets real bitter, real fast. Eugene Peterson, in his book, eat This book says the line, he says, the new Trinity, which is the unholy one, which is needs Once and Feelings.

The new Trinity doesn’t get rid of God or the Bible. It merely puts them to the service of needs one. And feelings. He later says, that leads to destruction and the only way to succeed to have a happy life is to eat this book. And Eugene says, when you come to the scriptures, bring Pepto-Bismol, cuz it just might be bitter to your stomach, but you need it without a submissive spirit and an understanding that it all points to Jesus and a consistent haing of the scriptures, it will not be transformative for your life.

But here’s the good news. Happiness comes from tasting the scriptures for our christlikeness to let the word do its thing. We gotta taste it, we gotta savor it and know there’s something good on the other side. Let me show you an easy example. One more time. Turn your Bibles to Matthew 13. Matthew 1344.

This is a verse that I have been personally Okay? And I wanna encourage you to do the same. Matthew 1344 says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field that a man found, and reburied then in his joy, he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. You want me to twist that verse for you?

I can do it pretty quick. You can twist this verse as a pastor, disciple maker, parent, whatever, and use it to yell at others and say, sacrifice more for Jesus. You’re not doing enough. Look at what? No, you should feel bad. You should be condemned. You’re not giving it. No, no, no. Look, I’ve already done it. I’m amazing.

This verse isn’t for me. It’s for you. Sell all that you have. Yeah, but you haven’t. No, no, no. Don’t look at me. Look at you. Right? This is how we twist the scripture so we immediately look at it, condemn somebody else for not doing something and push it on them. How can we tame this first? That’s really easy too.

This is just hyperbole sells all that he has. Well, not everything. Obviously, you don’t have to like give up every desire for Jesus, right? It’s not, you can still have joy and, and, and sell half, right? That’s taming it. But what happens when we taste it? Let’s read it again. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, okay?

That a man found and then reburied. Why did he do that? Well, cuz he wanted to be his treasure. That’s pretty neat. Then in his joy, he goes and sells everything he has. Man, I bet you I’m tasting this right now. I bet you everybody made fun of him. Why in the world are you selling everything for that plot of lamb?

Keep tasting it. Who has mocked me for, for me, surrendering my life to Jesus. Oh wow. Thank you, God, for this invitation. It sells everything he has. God. Is there anything in me that doesn’t wanna say, is there something that thinks I cannot sell this treasure because of that treasure? Is there anything that says, no, I will sell almost everything, but I cannot sell X, Y, and Z?

Well, guess what? You can’t get the treasure unless you sell it all. God, why do I believe money is more important than you? Jesus. Why do I believe my own success, my own whatever is better than, so you’re tasting it. You see what’s happening here? How have I, oh God, have I sold everything? But God then says in his joy, oh God, the kingdom is worth it.

In my joy, I do these things. God, if this isn’t a, if this doesn’t bring me to joy, there’s something I’m doing wrong because you’re kingdom brings joy. Give me Claire, you see we’re tasting together. Let’s taste it again. Let me read one more time. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure, okay? Buried in a field that a man found and reburied.

Then in his joy, he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. Wait a minute. Jesus is the man who sold everything. He had to buy the field.

You and I, the church we’re the treasure, and he sold everything. He was in heaven with God for eternity. He is God. And he left and came into a belly of the Virgin Mary. Then he had to grow up. He had to grow in stature and in favor, both with God and man. He had to like earn, like he had to start from what it seems like the, the baseline.

He, he gave it all up, but he sold it. But here’s what’s amazing. He did it with Joy. Hebrew says he went with joy set before him. He went to the cross. In his joy. He sold it all. He not only left heaven, came to earth, had to go through suffering. He was mistreated, he was misunderstood. His friends betrayed him.

He was, they tried to throw him off a cliff. They flogged him. But not only that, he died. He gave up his life. Why? For this treasure, and he did it with joy. That’s the kingdom because of our king, who is so good now that’s tasting the scriptures. Or you can read it and go, yeah, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried and filled, and a man found re buried.

Then his joy goes, it sells everything it has by that filled next, right? Will you taste the scripture? And I can’t taste it for you. I, I do. Once a week. I try. But what happens when you and I chew the word long enough? I just wanna remind you that’s real. Jesus did sell all that he has to buy you. All we have to do is receive that.

Receive that forgiveness, that love, that adoption, that is the core of the gospel that we celebrate every week. And so the practice, as we close the practice that we’re gonna really look at this week, I encourage you to go to form by jesus.com. That’s where we have the teachings for these major forms series.

So form by jesus.com/scripture has everything you need. Um, and what we’re encouraging you to do this week is to eat this book. And this is the last point. We eat this book by listening, reading, and memorizing. And so I want to challenge you guys this week to figure out a daily, or at least a weekly rhythm, to listen, also to read and also to memorize.

And we’re gonna push you here, but it’s cuz we want you to be happy. We want you to be like the man or woman who is like a tree who is just solid on solid ground, who bears fruit in every season. So go ahead and look at this next image. Again, it’ll be up on our website, especially for this sermon. Go click on the edit it section and you will see this slide.

But I want you to begin to pray through where is God challenging you to take a next step. We go from very easy to easy to moderate, to hard, to very hard to listen. The first step, it’s very easy. Just come to church. Bravo, you did that today. The next easy thing to do is to take notes in a sermon. Good luck.

I talk fast. The third thing is a moderate level. Listen to the Bible on your morning commute. What’s really hard is Lectio Davina. If you don’t know what that is, go in your groups this week in the In The Together guide, pastor Caleb walks through. What that is, it’s a very hard practice. It requires a lot of patience, but I can’t, I’m telling you, it’s one of the greatest blessings that I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Key moments of realization and revelation have occurred by engaging in Leto Davina, and also a really very hard thing to do is to listen to the Bible every morning and every night. Just have it on repeat. And then I can keep going. But the next level is what happens when you read it, right? And then the, the very last is to memorize.

So the easiest is to memorize John three 16. It’s beautiful. Very, very hard. It’s to memorize the sermon on the mountain, Matthew five through seven. But I encourage you to really challenge yourself this week. Pick one from each category and say, okay, God, how can I do this by myself or with my spouse, or with my loved ones, friends, whatever.

Why do we say to do this? Because we believe this is the final authority and it’s all about Jesus. And Jesus tells us Happy is that person who delights in his instruction and meditates on it day and night. Will we passion creek be a people of truth in a world of lies? May we do that by adhering to this book day and night.

Let’s pray.