Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Good morning!

The reason we share that video is because it’s important for us to be transparent about our finances …and we don’t want any secrets about how money gets used at Park.

And you heard at the end of that video that right now, we have a surplus at FG!

And I want to remind you that this is in line with our current goal to bring on our youth director, Alan Kern from Part-Time to Full-Time.

We’re not far from our goal—but still have some work to do!

So keep an eye out for a more detailed update on Alan in the next week!

Alright, let’s get to the message.

We’re continuing in our series this morning, Explore God, where we are looking at the 7 MOST asked questions about Faith, God, and Christianity.

This morning we’re looking at the question, ‘Is the Bible reliable?’

Which, admittedly, is an odd question to put towards the END of this sermon series, isn’t it?

I mean we’ve been spending the last 5 using the bible to answer these questions, so we would HOPE the bible itself is actually reliable, right?!

But the reality is, this is a vital question for us to wrestle with!

Introduction

Because Christians, throughout history, have made some pretty big claims both about what the bible is and what it means for the way we ought to live!

And so we need to know if those claims are legit!

Martin Luther and the 95 Theses

Ma

I don’t know if you know this, but recently is the 500th year anniversary of an unbelievably important moment in history.

Millions of people are getting ready to celebrate around the world and thousands and thousands will soon descend on a small German town to commemorate this day.

It’s a day that will mark what is one of the most, if not the most important moments in the last 500 years.

On November 1st 1517, a relatively unknown monk walked up to an old church in Wittenberg, Germany did something normal.

He took some paper on which he had written out some thoughts and nailed it to the door of the church.

Now this wasn’t an odd thing for him to do.

In fact, that was the usual way people proposed a topic for public discussion.

To be fair, this would have been the equivalent today of somebody posting something of their Facebook wall.

The monk’s name was Martin Luther and the document is known today as the 95 Theses.

What he didn’t know is that this one action would radically alter the course human history, so much so that 500 years later, every single one of us is at least indirectly affected by this act on a daily basis.

Because in a matter a months—his paper went viral around the Christianized world.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

I know that in my own experience, I’ve had friends and family who aren’t followers of Jesus bring up some form of this question—basically to say that the bible in our hands today can’t really be trusted—that it’s been radically changed over the years—there are historical errors—it contradicts itself and so on...

You can still go to the place where Luther did this, at Castle Church in Wittenberg German.

Here’s a picture of what the church looked like.

And here’s a picture of what the church doors look like today—they’ve been replaced by iron doors with the 95 Statements inscribed on them.

Why is it a big deal?

Because Luther’s paper started a series of public debates in which he would eventually call in to question the legitimacy of the single most powerful person in the world at the time—the Pope AND the authority under which he led the entire Church.

On November 1st 1517, a relatively unknown monk walked up to an old church in Wittenberg, Germany did something normal.

He took some paper on which he had written out some thoughts and nailed it to the door of the church.

Now this wasn’t an odd thing for him to do.

In fact, that was the usual way people proposed a topic for public discussion.

To be fair, this would have been the equivalent today of somebody posting something of their Facebook wall.

The monk’s name was Martin Luther and the document is known today as the 95 Theses.

What he didn’t know is that this one action would radically alter the course human history, so much so that 500 years later, every single one of us is at least indirectly affected by this act on a daily basis.

Because in a matter a months—his paper went viral around the Christianized world.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

hy is this question important?

You can still go to the place where Luther did this, at Castle Church in Wittenberg German.

Here’s a picture of what the church looked like.

And here’s a picture of what the church doors look like today—they’ve been replaced by iron doors with the 95 Statements inscribed on them.

Why is it a big deal?

Because Luther’s paper started a series of public debates in which he would eventually call in to question the legitimacy of the single most powerful person in the world at the time—the Pope AND the authority under which he led the entire Church.

And I’m bring this up because I think it almost perfectly raises the question we’re looking at today—is the bible even reliable?

In many ways, we should have talked about this question earlier in the series.

Why is this question important?

Roadmap

So here’s how we’re going to use our time this morning.

It’s going to feel a bit like a lecture at some points along the way—but I promise we’re gonna go to church today!

But I want to walk through a series of questions about the bible.

Here they are [SLIDE]

W

What do Christians believe about the bible?

Hasn’t the bible changed over time?

What about historical errors or contradictions in the bible?

Is the bible meaningful today?

And as we answer these questions, here’s what I hope happens.

If you’ve been a Christian for a while, I hope this’ll equip you to better answer these questions with friends and family who aren’t followers of Jesus—and not only that but that it would also rekindle an affection for the bible!

For others of you…you’re not sure what you believe about Christianity…I hope you walk away this morning thinking very differently about the bible.

I may not fully convince you, but perhaps you leave knowing you cannot simply dismiss the bible…that you have to actually take the next step and begin to wrestle with the claims that it makes!

We also going to be doing text questions today—so if there is anything I say that’s not clear or you want to ask a follow up question—you can text it in and we’ll try and answer it at the end of the service today.

All you need to do is text the word AskFG + your question to 62953.

Sound good?

Let me pray, and we’ll get started.

What Do Christians Believe About the Bible?

Why start here?

Alright let’s look at this first question—What do Christians believe about the bible?

What IS the Bible?

Some of you already know this, but the bible really is an incredible document—even if you just think about it on an historic level.

Consider this:

It’s actually made up of 66 distinct books

Has at least 40 different authors

Written over a span of 1500 years

In 3 different languages

On 3 different continents

BUT it has ONE common storyline working itself out from the first book, Genesis to the last one, Revelation! [SLIDE]

What does the Bible say about ITSELF?

But what does the bible have to say about itself?

Well if you have a bible with you, open with me to II Timothy chapter 3.

If you have one of the blue house bible’s, it’s on page 996.

We need to spend some time here, because maybe more so than any other section of the bible, it’s what the author, Paul, says here that BEST explains what the bible IS and articulates what Christians believe about it!

II Timothy chapter 3.

Look with me at v. 16, Paul starts this way, “All Scripture is breathed out by God...”

Look at that word Scripture in v. 16.

It’s a religious word that Christians use a lot…but is there something specific Paul has in mind?

All throughout the bible, the word Scripture is the most general term to describe the Words of God.

It’s a ‘catch-all’ word that shows up 50 times in the New Testament but—get this-- it’s always talking about the Old Testament.

In fact, for hundreds of years before Paul even wrote this letter, the Jewish people had a collected the Words of God—the Law, the writings of Prophets, the historical books—and compiled it into a single collection…which is what makes up the Old Testament we have in our bibles today.

This was their scripture…it was the collection of the Words of God.This helps give us the scope of what Paul’s talking about here.

When he says the Scriptures are breathed out by God, in his mind, he’s talking about the Old Testament.

But if that’s true…it brings up an intriguing question for us, doesn’t it?

If Paul is talking about the Old Testament…what does that mean for the other half our bibles—the New Testament?