Bible in Relationship
The gospel was preached; you heard it; the Spirit was at work; you believed.
For everyone of us who has been born again by faith in Jesus, that is our story. The details are different, but one way or another we all have that in common.
We were lost, now we are found.
We were guilty, now we are declared righteous.
We were dead, now we are alive.
And through baptism we display that spiritual reality; we become part of the local church; and we enter into a life of fellowship with God, filled by his Spirit, walking together in obedience to Jesus, who is our Lord, Savior, and Treasure, and in that walking we are conformed more and more into his image. That is discipleship.
That’s what’s happening here!
We are being progressively sanctified. We are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus from one degree of glory to another.
And do you know what stands in the way of that?
Two things: Ignorance and Error.
There are things that we don’t know that we should know. And there are things that we get wrong that we should get right — which is sin, both deliberate high-handed sin, and unintentional mistake sin.
Ignorance and error are defects in the Christian life that we have to deal with — but how do we deal with it?
The answer is the Bible.
The apostle Paul says, 2 Timothy 3:16,
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable [listen to this] —
for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction, and
for training in righteousness.
Teaching and training confront our ignorance. Reproof and correction confront our error. That is what the Bible does. As Christians, we will not grow as God intends apart from God’s word.
So we need more of his Word. We need to avail ourselves to receive more of the word of God, which comes not just in solitude, but in community. We need the Bible in relationship. So here’s the exhortation this morning: Get with others, get in the word.
Prayer of Confession
Father in heaven, we extol your goodness this morning. At every angle of our lives, we can see your faithfulness and your sufficiency. You are the Cause of our life in Christ, and you are the Keeper. And your Keeping power comes through the same means as your Causing power, which is your Word. Thank you, O God, for the treasure that is the Holy Scriptures. Would you shape us more and more by your Word, and would you shape us together, in community, as a people?
In these days of getting back into our corporate discipleship rhythms of Community Groups and Life Groups, remind us of this purpose: it’s about the Bible in relationship as a means to your sanctifying work in our lives.
And for the ways that our hearts are obtuse to that work, for the ways that we like our ignorance and error, have mercy on us. Forgive us, and lead us now in a time of silent confession. […]
Father, we were dead, but now, indeed, we are alive, and that is because you have caused us born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We praise you in his name, amen.
