Reads the Word of God
Notes
Transcript
We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand.
Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.
Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.
But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.
For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.
I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready,
because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans?
Biblical maturity is not a result of time, but of obedience.
We are going to spend seven weeks examining how a mature believer interacts with God’s Word.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
A mature believer reads the word of God.
Matthew 12:1–5 (CSB)
At that time Jesus passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick and eat some heads of grain.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry:
how he entered the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence—which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests?
Or haven’t you read in the law that on Sabbath days the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent?
Jesus expected the spiritually mature to have read the scriptures.
When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes.
Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue reigning many years in Israel.
God expected kings to read daily. Not everyone had means to have a scripture available to them. We do now!
I want to encourage you to read for relationship building. This is not study.
Gospel plea.
What is keeping you from reading the Word of God?
What is God asking you to sacrifice to be obedient to read His Word?
Will you commit to reading this week?
My suggestion: Colossians