July 15, 2018 – “Dear God…Is the Bible Reliable?” by Rev. Cody Sandahl

Lay Reader = 2 Timothy 3:10-17
10Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Introduction
We are still in our series looking at some of the questions people most frequently ask about our faith. Last week Pastor Carol looked at, “Is Jesus Really God?” This week we are asking “Is the Bible Reliable?”
Quite a bit hinges on this question, because the Bible is what we have. Without the Bible we’re all relying on signs, portents, the alignments of the planets, whether we’re feeling groovy today or not. Instead of relying on those ways of uncovering God’s will, we have this text – the Bible.
I can respect a fairly wide range of ways of interpreting the Bible. But I have three core concepts. First, when you seek God’s will through the Bible, sometimes it should challenge you. If you only get affirmation and atta-boys from the Bible, you might be hearing your mother instead of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that God’s Word is sharper than any two-edged sword. Sometimes it cuts. But like pruning a tomato plant, those cuts shape us into something more wonderful.
If you can’t tell me a time when reading the Bible has challenged you or inspired you to change somehow, I would encourage you to focus your prayers in that direction for a while. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where you could use some spring pruning.
My second core concept comes directly from our first reading today in 2 Timothy: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
So what is included in “all scripture” being inspired by God and useful? Is the Old Testament inspired by God and useful? Yes. What about the violent parts of the Old Testament? Inspired by God and useful. What about the parts where we don’t like what the Bible says? Inspired by God and useful. But what about the letters from Paul that seem antiquated to some modern sensibilities? Inspired by God and useful.
So my second core concept is that we can’t throw out any parts of the Bible. We’re going to run another version of the hot button theology class this fall, and we’ll show how you have a dialogue between different parts of the Bible rather than saying, “I don’t like that, so it doesn’t count.”
My final core concept comes from 2 Peter 1 – “Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding.” In other words – we don’t understand God’s will through logic. We understand God’s will through the Holy Spirit. Just because you think it, doesn’t make it true. Just because you feel it, doesn’t mean it comes from God. Just because you want it, doesn’t mean it’s God’s will. It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s not about us. It’s about God.
And this is one of the core ideas of our faith tradition. We come from the Reformed branch of Christianity, and one of our slogans is, “The church reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God.” There are things that faithful Christians thought a thousand years ago that we no longer think are true. There are things that faithful Christians today are thinking that future Christians will no longer think are true. Not to mention the things that we think are true, but God is actually shaking his head. So my final core concept is that we should have some humility as we interpret the Bible. I can guarantee you that you are wrong somewhere in your faith. I don’t necessarily know which part. But I guarantee you that you don’t have it all figured out. Same thing with me – I don’t have the mind of God, so there’s no way I have this all figured out. We should have a little humility.
So again, I can respect a fairly wide range of ways of interpreting the Bible, but I do ask that you enable God to call you to change, that you include all of Scripture without throwing out the parts you don’t like, and that you have humility rather than judgment when someone disagrees with you. If you can do those three things, we’re good.
With that said, let’s get to some of the reasons I do believe that the Bible is reliable. Our text today comes from the Old Testament prophet Haggai.
To understand why this is incredible, you first need to know the narrative leading up to it. The Israelites, the Chosen People, God’s People, were defeated. Conquered. Their political and religious leaders were shipped out. Jerusalem lay in ruins. The Temple of God was destroyed. But about 70 years later, God fulfilled his promise to restore Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders started to return. One group came and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem so they could be safe. Another group came and rebuilt the Temple.
But here’s what the priest Ezra writes about the rebuilding of the Temple: “But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.” In other words – this would be like buying a used Cadillac from 1989 with 250,000 miles on it and the fender missing. It technically runs, and it’s technically a Cadillac, but it’s only exciting if you’ve never seen a new Cadillac.
At the time of Haggai, the ruler of the restored Jewish people is named Zerubbabel. He is the closest descendant of King David. And Haggai gives this surprisingly positive prophecy concerning Zerubbabel and the rebuilt Temple.
Haggai 2:1-9, 20-23
2In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, 3Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? 4Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, 5according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. 6For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; 7and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts. 8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. 9The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.
20The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 21Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the horses and their riders shall fall, every one by the sword of a comrade. 23On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts.
Reliable?
I love pumpkin muffins. It’s true. And in particular, my mom’s pumpkin muffins are literally a taste of heaven. The next time she’s here, ask her for some pumpkin muffins, because then I’ll get some, too!
When I was in college, my parents lived about four hours away in Port Aransas, and one of the ways my mom said “I love you” was to send a batch of pumpkin muffins whenever someone from my family was driving between Port Aransas and Austin.
And this particular time, my dad had driven up and sure enough he delivered a small but still satisfying supply of four pumpkin muffins. I called my mom to thank her – you know how rare that is for a college student, right? that’s how good the muffins are – I called my mom to thank her, and she asked if I had shared any with my roommate.
I didn’t know how to respond. I mean, four muffins? Share? That’s blasphemy! So I haltingly told her the truth, “Well mom, I would have shared with him, but since there were only four I ate them all myself.”
After a long pause, my mom responded, “Well I’m going to have to take that up with your father, because there were two dozen when he left Port Aransas!”
My dad is a very reliable person. When they were renovating a home, I remember one time some electricians were standing around watching my dad run some wire, and they shrugged and said, “He’s better at this than us.” He can rebuild engines. He’s a retired pastor. He’s good with money. Very reliable.
Except when delivering pumpkin muffins. I asked him once, and his only defense was, “Well it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
So if we’re going to ask, “Is the Bible reliable?” we have to ask a series of questions. To me, reliable means trustworthy. We were just Charlie’s therapy camp – it’s called Adam’s Camp – for a week, and Becca and I went on a hike where you had to cross a running creek several times. You have to pick which rocks seem reliable as you walk across them, and which ones you think will wobble if you step on them. So is the Bible a solid rock where we can place our weight as the river of life rushes around us?
And if it is reliable, is it always reliable? Or does it have some pumpkin muffin weak spots like my dad? Are you with me?
Surprising Predictions
Anyone ever seen the movie Back to the Future? How about Back to the Future II? One of the main plot points in Back to the Future II is that the bad guy, Biff, finds a piece of memorabilia from the future: Gray’s Sports Alamanac, listing the results of various sporting events for the next 50 years. Even the dimwitted Biff realizes he can use this to his advantage. And he becomes a wealthy man by selectively betting on key games that he already knows the result.
Sometimes reading the Bible is kind of like having Gray’s Sports Alamanc in our hands. Although with a twist. The Bible tells us a bunch of things that will happen, but it doesn’t give days or years.
My dad was at the University of Texas during the longest win streak in program history – thirty straight victories. The team claimed two national championships in ‘69 and ‘70. If you want to see my dad wince, ask him about the pumpkin muffins. If you want to see him still beam with pride, ask him about “30 straight.”
Now let’s imagine that someone told my dad at that time that Texas would have some hard times coming, but then win the national championship again someday. He probably would have thought three or four years of OK teams, then we’re back! In reality Texas went thirty-five years until its next football national championship.
Or let’s up the ante. The Chicago Cubs famously won the World Series in 1907 and 1908. And not again until 2016, almost 100 years later. That’s some waiting! People wondered if the Cubs were cursed! Maybe God is a Yankees fan and doesn’t like the Cubs! And yet they did win again.
The Bible is kind of like that. It tells us what’s going to happen, but it might take a while to happen.
For instance, let’s look at our text today. Because this text has had a twisty, turny history. Haggai says that Zerubbabel is chosen by the Lord of hosts, that God is about to shake the heavens and earth through him. People LOVED that prophecy at the time. And yet, Zerubbabel is the last descendant of David to rule Israel. And keep in mind that Haggai was written around 500 BC.
Haggai gets the people excited again when he says that the rebuilt Temple will have greater splendor and glory than the former. But I already told you that the people who had seen the previous Temple wept with disappointment when they saw the rebuilt one.
What gives, Haggai? Is your prophecy antenna out of alignment or something?
Well let’s fast forward 500 years, to a little before Jesus’ birth. Herod is the Roman governor over Israel. And Herod wants to leave a legacy, and he knows that the hardest legacy to overturn is one made of stone. So Herod embarks on a massive building campaign, including spiffing up that haggard second Temple that was rebuilt in Haggai’s time. Herod pours resources into it, enlarging it, adding new buildings, making it a whole compound, bringing in the splendor of the Roman Empire.
The renovated Temple was so nice, one of the Roman emperors wanted to put his own statue inside of it, but luckily for him he was talked out of it.
Just in time for Jesus, the Temple becomes greater than ever before. Just in time for Jesus, the Temple has splendor and glory beyond the first Temple. And, for added measure, the Jewish people are so proud of the renovated Temple that it makes them mad when Jesus makes disparaging remarks about the injustice going on inside the Temple walls. So it took 500 years, but Haggai was right.
And what about Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel? What about God shaking the heavens and the earth through him? Well let’s look at Luke 3, the genealogy of Jesus. Are you ready to discover that even the genealogies are inspired by God and useful? Here it goes. Luke 3:27 – “Joda was the son of Joanan. Joanan was the son of Rhesa. Rhesa was the son of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel.”
Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, ancestor of Jesus. And thus did God shake the heavens and earth through Zerubbabel. And in case you’re wondering, there are over 300 specific prophecies like this that were fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Take that, Back to the Future II!
So if someone points out that the Bible predicts a time when justice will be served, when peace will be had across the world, when the dead will be raised – and those things haven’t happened yet. I would respond – take a look at the other prophecies in the Bible that have been fulfilled – hundreds of them. The Bible has a pretty good track record. But it also took far longer than almost everyone imagined at the time of the prophecy, so I’m not surprised that it has taken a long time. No one saw the exact time or the exact manner that those previous prophecies would be fulfilled, so I’m guessing we won’t guess the exact time or manner of the remaining prophecies either.
So to me the Bible is reliable because it has made surprisingly accurate predictions in the past. So I’m willing to wait for the fulfillment of the remaining promises.
Contradictory Scriptures
But what about the Scriptures that seem to contradict each other? I mean, there’s a verse that says swords will be beaten into plowshares – implying peace. And there’s another verse that says plowshares will be beaten into swords – implying war. Or here’s my favorite pairing.
The first is Proverbs 26:4, remember that Proverbs 26:4 – “Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself.”
Contrast that with “Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes.”
Totally contradictory. First one was Proverbs 26:4. Where do you think the second one is found? Proverbs 26:5. The very next verse!
So obviously the writers of the Proverbs are fools themselves – failing to notice contradictory verses right next to each other. Or maybe – just maybe – the Proverbs, the purveyors of wisdom, are trying to make the point that sometimes you need to respond to a foolish statement and sometimes you just need to let it go. Or as I summarize it: “Much of wisdom is knowing when to generalize and when to particularize.”
But that’s wisdom literature. What about the parts where cold, hard numbers are different? You see this a lot of times with the two books of Chronicles, because those are re-telling stories found elsewhere in the Old Testament with a little different twist. So you might see that there were 742 people according to Deuteronomy, but 1 Chronicles says there were 815. Stuff like that. Maybe the writers of the Bible are just incompetent – unable to count?
But I just read in the news a few weeks ago about a defense program – I can’t remember which one – and according to one government agency the project was right on track with its money. But another government agency said the project was going to wind up billions of dollars over budget. And here’s the kicker – accounting experts said both reports are correct! They just used different methods of accounting! Different numbers in the Bible don’t bother me, because if I’m going to allow different accounting methods today, I’m going to allow different accounting methods two-to-three thousand years ago.
So to me the Bible is reliable even when it seems contradictory, because the Bible isn’t a collection of checklists and recipes to follow. It contains Truth with a capital “t”, and that means sometimes it’s generalizing and sometimes it’s particularizing.
Summary
But really, if we’re asking “Is the Bible reliable?” we’re asking, “is it reliable for me, personally.” Is scripture really inspired by God and useful – in your own life?
You’ve probably heard this famous part of American Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
That’s pretty much the fundamental idea of America, right? Everything else flows from there. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, everything comes from that belief in certain self-evident truths. If you don’t believe in those truths, nothing else makes sense.
With our faith, there are a few self-evident truths that must be believed or nothing else makes sense. God created everything. Humans messed up in general and I mess up all the time in particular. God came to us in person in Jesus to reunite us with himself. Jesus tasked his followers, including us, to tell others about that good news. There will be a day when Jesus comes again and fulfills the remaining promises. And the primary way we know about any of this is the Bible. Without believing in those truths, we have nothing.
That’s why every time there’s a controversy in the church, it becomes a battle about interpreting the Bible. Because the Bible is the content of our faith.
So I’ve covered a few arguments about the Bible, but this is where it all boils down. Has the Bible been true for you? When you read the Bible and pray to God and sense a direction to go, and you do it, have you regretted it or cherished it? Has the Bible passed the sniff test in your life? That’s what it means to be reliable.
If the Bible has been reliable for you in the past, how can you trust it today or tomorrow? And if you’ve never tried trusting what the Bible reveals about God, I encourage you to run a little experiment. See if you regret it or cherish it when all is said and done. Then you’ll know if the Bible is reliable. I’ve personally never regretted it. Hasn’t been easy! But I haven’t found a pumpkin muffin weak spot yet. I’ve never regretted following the God revealed to me in the person of Jesus through the words of Scripture. Amen.