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Sermons

"GIVING THANKS FOR GOD'S WORD"
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE TEXT: PSALM 119:89-105
BIBLE SUNDAY/PRE-THANKSGIVING SUNDAY
DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 22, 2009

SCRIPTURE TEXT: 89 Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
90Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
91They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.
92Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
93I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.
94I am thine, save me: for I have sought thy precepts.
95The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.
96I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
97O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
98Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
99I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
101I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
102I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
103How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:89-105, King James Version)

PRAYER: "Lord, we give You thanks for the written word we have just read. May it take on flesh - and fill us with grace and truth. May it dwell, with Christ, in our hearts. Amen."

MESSAGE: There are many expressions of praise to God which will be lifted up in churches all over our nation today and in the week to come. Thank God for at least one week out of each year when Christians in America take time to give Him praise and honor. To everything there is a proper season, and this is the season of Thanksgiving - to God. Next week we can return, if we so desire, to weighing and worrying about our problems and shortcomings - and those of the world around us. But let's just set this one week aside, for plain old praise to Almighty God.

I would ask us to focus our thanks to God on a specific blessing this morning - His Word, as contained in the Holy Bible. And I'm going to ask you to be active in today's sermon, rather than just passively listening. So would each of you please take out a Bible - out of the pew racks if you didn't bring your own - and look at it? Notice that the Bible isn't a particularly big book - in fact, I've got one in my car that's so small it fits into my shirt pocket. (The problem with that one is the print is also so small I practically need a magnifying glass to read it.) Back to the book at hand - this single, ordinary-looking volume you're now holding has been printed more billions of times, read by more billions of people, and changed more billions of lives than any other book, or government, or nation, or philosophy, or leader, or power, or what-have-you that has ever appeared on the face of this earth. The most significant influence upon the entire history of the world throughout the past 2,000 years - you're holding it right now, in the palms of your hands: The Holy Bible.

Continue, please, to participate in the sermon with me. Let's now open the book you're holding. One of the greatest tragedies concerning the Holy Bible is that it's opened far too few times by men and women. The American Bible Society, alone, printed and distributed, for sale or giveaway, more than 600 million Bibles during the last century. This year, they'll distribute at least 14 million more. And there are dozens more similar Bible societies in this country and throughout the globe. But - experience teaches that, no matter how many Bibles are provided, only one-half thereof will ever be opened, even to look at the title page. Only one-third will ever be partially read and just one twentieth - 5% -- will ever be read in its entirety. So let's open these Bibles.

First, look at the title page, which is the second leaf in this red pew Bible that I'm holding. "The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments." The Holy Bible - holy because it is God's word to you and me. The Bible is not one or two or even a group of ordinary people's thinking - bright ideas, upbeat philosophy, good moral instruction. It's not even seminary trained preachers' or professorial theologians' written musings. None of that. It's God's word - to us: The Holy Bible. Sometimes I think that we churchgoers who are perhaps overly familiar with the Bible need to pause, step back, and recapture some of awe and reverence for things that are truly holy in nature. The Holy Bible is chief among the sacred works of God entrusted to humanity. Hold that book gently and gingerly, folks - You've got the word of God in your hands this morning!

Let's move onward in these Holy Bibles to the table of contents, and see what's in store there. In the particular volume I'm holding, those contents are found on page "ix" - Roman numeral nine. Whenever I pick up a non-fiction book, I scan the table of contents to get an idea of what to expect. In these Holy Bibles, the contents consist of two lists of "books" within the overall book - 66 of them in all, a mini-library of God's written word to humanity in various times and situations. And, of course, there is a major division among these 66 books: the Old Testament, 39 books given by God prior to the coming of Jesus Christ to earth, and the New Testament, 27 books given by Him during and after the time of the Savior's arrival.

As you look at the page numbering in the table of contents, you'll notice that few of these books of the Holy Bible are very long. They average 18 pages per book in this edition. Even though the Holy Bible is not an unusually long book overall, many people are afraid to begin reading the Holy Bible because, in its entirety, it's nearly 1,000 pages. But praise God that He's conveniently subdivided His word to us into bite-sized, digestible chunks. Most anyone can read 18 pages - and that's all you have to do to read an entire book of the Holy Bible in many cases. And please be aware that the Holy Bible doesn't have to be read from cover to cover in its printed order, i. e., Genesis to Revelation. It's very possible to skip around, to sample here and there, and still find untold numbers of gems of inestimable value and truth - because every word of the Holy Bible is God's good word to us.

Let's continue on in our exploration of the Holy Bible, please. Turn to page number 1, the first chapter of the first book of the Holy Bible, called Genesis. Looking at the first line there we find, in the first four words alone, a great and valuable truth - "In the beginning God…" In the beginning, God. Consider what that means. Before everything else, before this world, before Alexander the Great, before George Washington, before nuclear weapons, before economic uncertainty - in the beginning, God. God comes into being before anything else. And of course, a preacher can't resist asking this obvious question: "In your daily life, do you live as though: In the beginning, God?"

Now in case you're worried that we're already 10 minutes into the sermon and only on page one of the Holy Bible, let's take a giant leap forward, right into the middle of it all. If you take your Holy Bible and try to open it to the approximate center, you should wind up somewhere in the Book of Psalms. The Psalms are God's hymnbook, written for His people, so that they could better sing His praises forevermore. That's what the Psalms really are - God's own hymnbook for His people. You'll note that I chose as our sermon text this morning a portion of the exact middle chapter of the Bible - the 119th Psalm. How fitting to have, in the very center of God's word, a song that celebrates the greatness of that word. Truly, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." That well-known verse is the middle verse of the entire Bible. And it reveals the heart - the purpose - of God's written word to us.

Let's do yet another exploratory exercise in the Bible now. This time take your Bible, already opened to the middle, and halve the second half of it. If you do that more or less accurately you should wind up somewhere in the Gospel of Matthew. Once again, God has provided us a convenient subdivision of His word. The New Testament comprises roughly the final one-fourth of the Bible.

To any of you who might be afraid to tackle reading the Bible because of its overall length, what about trying just the New Testament as a starter? Surely 250 pages isn't all that formidable. I'm pretty sure that many of you go through more pages of spy novels, gothic romances, or James Patterson cop stories every week.

Consider for a moment Matthew 1, verse 1, on the first page of the New Testament: "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ…" Very quickly we learn who the New Testament is going to be about. The Gospels don't conceal their subject matter. Almost every word is clear, plain, direct - and Jesus Christ is the subject thereof.

I never cease to be amazed at self-proclaimed Christians who say to me, "I believe in Jesus, but I don't have time to read the Bible." How can you believe in Jesus - without knowing anything that God has said about Him?"

I have a friend, a former Marine jet pilot now flying for Southwest Airlines, who used to carry a little New Testament zipped into his flight jacket. One day some years back, he invited me out to the flight line at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque to look over his new A-4 aircraft. He had his flight jacket on, and opened the pocket to show me his New Testament - he called it his "good luck charm." I asked him if he ever took it out of his jacket pocket and read it, and he replied, "No, I figure God will take special care of me just because I carry it while flying." I then asked him if he had read the flight manuals which crowded the tiny cockpit of his plane. "Of course," he responded. "I'd be a fool to try flying this aircraft without knowing the details of how to operate every system." What a beautiful opening that gave me; I just couldn't resist telling him that only a fool would try to be a Christian - would try to fly to Heaven - without reading the flight manual. If you want to know Jesus Christ - everything about Him is right here, in the New Testament. Thanks be to God, it's all here - in the Holy Bible.

Finally, let's do one last thing - let's dare to peek at the very end of the Bible. It's not a "whodunit" mystery; it won't spoil things to know the ending, even if you haven't yet read the rest of the book. The last verse of the last book is Revelation 22:21: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen." The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ - the pure love of God revealed in His Son Jesus - that's what the Bible, from beginning to end, is really all about. The whole Bible celebrates the love of God, revealed in Jesus, and freely offered to any and all who will accept it.

This week is Thanksgiving week throughout our land. Let us praise and thank our Lord, throughout the week ahead, for something very, very special. Thank Him for His word, given to us in the Holy Bible. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all God's people. Amen.

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