All right, well we are in a series that we are calling the Blueprint and it is
basically a series talking about what is discipleship or how do we encourage
people to be disciples. To be a disciple is to be someone that follows
something. You can be a disciple of many things. In the concept of Christianity
we're wanting to be a follower of Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus. And so we've
been going through this for a handful of weeks now. We talked about why we need a
plan in the first place because people like me aren't a big fan of plans. But
sometimes you need a plan guys. You need a plan for that crib
to stay together the way that it's supposed to. For the faucet to run water
the way that it should. Sometimes we need a plan and our relationship with
God, sometimes we just need something saying that these are the first steps to
take. Try these things. And we said the first thing was actually to not do any
things at all. Was to rest. Was to go okay I'm gonna take a step back from this
desire to control or to immediately be something better and I'm just gonna rest
in God. I'm gonna come to Jesus. He said come to me all who are weak and weary and I will
give you rest. And then week two or well week page two, week three of the series,
Pastor Chris talked about living at the table in community. Putting all of
ourselves on this table with God and saying okay I'm gonna be a part of this
thing that he is creating. And then last week we learned about abiding in prayer.
And last week I explained that that prayer comes before reading the
scriptures in this plan because prayer is something that is always present. It's
always available and we learned three prayer practices there at the end. One
which was up turning your palms down, letting go of things, turning our hands
up, receiving something from the Lord. And then we did a breathing prayer where we
think one thing in and we pray something out. And then we ended that time with
something called Lectio Divina which means divine reading which creates a
great bridge into this week for reading the scriptures. But the more and more I
thought about it I think that the word read is misleading. Show of hands. Who
listens to audiobooks? Yeah, easily half of us listen to audiobooks. And when
you're done with an audiobook how do you describe that? Right, so do you say I
finished a book? You say I listened to a book? Or do you say I read an audiobook?
I have a confession to make. Up until very recently I was an audiobook snob. I
don't listen to them just because I'm the kind of guy I want to see, I
want to read, I want to ingest it that way. But if you had told me that you'd
read, actually this happened between me and Jen a couple months ago, if you had
told me that you had read, I just finished reading an audiobook, I would
have and I did say, I mean you didn't read it. I mean yeah yeah so I would say
at that time I would have said, I mean you didn't read it, you mean you listened to
it. I said maybe a better way because this is me I always have to be right.
It's like maybe a better way of saying is that you finished an audiobook. Maybe
that's the better way to say it. Because in my brain I know that the literal
definition of read is to look at and comprehend the meaning of written or
printed matter. That is the definition. So if someone said oh I read an
audiobook, I would say well you didn't look at the words with your eyes. You
listened to it so you didn't really read it, you finished it. But here's the
thing, like what what do you say to blind people? What you want to finish the
sermon for me? Come on up man. If you use your fingers to feel the
braille on a page you didn't look at printed matter and so then you what do
you say to them? Did they read it? What if you can see just fine but you have an
intellectual disability of some kind. You have an inability to look at text and
comprehend it fully. You know some of us in this room maybe we grew up
with undiagnosed dyslexia and didn't understand why we couldn't read as
easily as somebody else. Unless we think that all of what I'm talking about here
is a small percentage of people, then what happens if you're a part of the
21% of adults in America right now that are illiterate? It's true as of 2022 this
year one out of every five adults in America are illiterate and cannot read.
And of the people that are literate 54% of those more than two out of every four
people that can read they only read at or below a sixth grade reading level.
This makes my snobbery about reading problematic and at the risk of sounding
controversial it makes reading the Bible even more problematic. Any guesses what
version of the Bible is the most popular and most often read version of the Bible
in America? King James. It's the King James version of the Bible and depending
on which survey you believe somewhere between 33 and 55 percent of people that
read the Bible say that they read the King James version of the Bible as their
primary text. The King James Bible is the Bible but the King James Bible was
published in the year anyone? 1611. Again you want to finish this sermon? Come on
man. 1611. It was published in 1611, 411 years ago and it has a 12th grade reading
level. What that means is that that in order to understand a text that you're
reading it gives you the grade level of which you can easily comprehend this okay?
The second most popular at 19% is the NIV. It was originally published in 1978
and it has a seventh or eighth grade reading level and the third most popular
at 7% is the NRSP the new revised standard version and that has an 11th
grade reading level. Only 2% said that they read the NLT which is the new
living translation and that actually has a sixth grade reading level. Altogether
the top three versions account for as much as 81% of Bible readers reading
outside the grade level that the majority of Americans can easily
comprehend. It's problematic when the Bibles that most people are reading most
people have difficulty understanding. That's without even getting into the
theology of what they're reading. It's just the sentence structure that makes
it difficult to understand the scriptures. America needs to improve its
literacy rates. Yeah and and we need to improve our grade level comprehension.
Yes but also maybe the most popular forms of the Bible should be the ones
that most people can understand. This is part of the reason that I use the NIV
when I preach molestof and it's usually what I'm reading from because it's right
there on the cusp of what most people can understand but it's not so simplified
that someone that thinks or reads at a different grade level would feel like
yeah this is too frilly for me. Believe me if you're a Bible nerd you've heard
that oh that's too frilly for me. That they people have said the NLT or the
NIV that might as well be a paraphrase. In our discipleship we would be wise to
remember that reading for comprehension is not as common as we might assume. It's
not. And this again is why it continues to be important for us to understand just
how recent of a phenomenon it is to have the Bible available to us
individually the way that we always have it available. For a thousand years
leading up to Jesus and his ministry and for 1600 plus years after that to have
heard the scriptures was as good and equivalent as having read the scriptures
because it was the only way you could have ingested the scriptures. In the
first century synagogue in the early Christian Church you didn't bring your
own scroll because you didn't have one. There was no moment where Paul in the
local Church of Ephesus said okay now if you'd like to get out your Bibles and
turn to that wasn't a thing. You heard the scriptures read aloud and hearing
the scriptures counted. When Paul says in Romans 10 17 faith comes from hearing
the message and the message is heard through the word about Christ Paul is
elevating the power of hearing the word about Jesus whether a word of evangelism
or it was a church reading one of his letters about Jesus out loud because
culturally speaking he knew they didn't have copies of their own. When Paul
writes to Timothy and says in 2nd Timothy 3 15 through 17 is one of most
popular verses about scripture he says there's nothing like in Waman or
read from the message but he says there's nothing like the written word of
God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part
of scripture is God breathed and useful one way or another. When he said that he
said it knowing full well that no one in Timothy's local congregation had their
own copy of this scroll. What he's saying to Timothy is when you read this out
loud when you teach from this letter when you teach from these scriptures when
they hear this they will see the way to salvation through Jesus and things will
change it is beneficial for all of these things when you teach it they hear it
and God is involved. It's even clearer about this subject in the first letter
that he wrote Timothy 1st Timothy 4 13 he says until I come devote yourself
Timothy saying to the public reading of Scripture to exhortation to teaching
because to have heard was to have read to have heard was to have received Jesus
in John 15 right right there in that segment that I've been saying that a lot
of all of these ideas come from John 13 to John 17 he says when you obey my
commandments you remain in my love just as I obey my father's commandments and
remain in his love well the next question we ask is what commandments
exactly because those of us that went to like Christian colleges I can pretty
sure I'm just off the cuff now okay so forgive me if this goes off in a in a
tangent but if you went to a Christian college almost surely at some point
someone came and did a skit or a play describing like how maybe one of the
disciples was standing there writing everything down that didn't happen none
of the disciples were standing around writing everything down everything got
written down much later and so when Jesus says obey my commands they're
going what does he said what did he say yesterday what was that command oh and
then if you keep reading oh he says oh and my command is that you should love
each other no one's set there and like they didn't have a scroll they didn't
have a piece of parchment that they wrote it down on they heard it and they
decided to internalize it because the disciples didn't have little pocket
versions of the New Testament in their genes actually if you read the the book
of Luke when you get so in John this is just before he's handed over to be killed
in Luke after he's resurrected it says that he's meeting with the disciples
again and in Luke 24 verse 45 it says this and then Jesus opened their minds
to understand the scriptures again these were not scriptures that they had on
scrolls right in front of them they were the scriptures that he had taught them
the ones that they had learned as children the ones they had heard read
out loud when they would go to synagogue so back to the beginning if you listen
to an audiobook did you read it I've changed my mind I say yes you read it
hmm I was so convicted about this as I was preparing this message that actually
I want to change something about the blueprint of how it was designed for the
first seven plus years this part of the blueprint this day or this concept was
called obey the word and before we decided to do this series again I had
wanted this week to be more obviously to more obviously reflect what I actually
mean by that and so I changed it to read the scriptures because I was like that's
more obviously what we mean by that let's pray and let's read the scriptures
next week we talk about listening to the spirit and as I got into thinking about
read read read and and had all of these thoughts and these concepts and as I was
studying the scriptures about reading just the words read just don't show up
in the Bible so I felt like this is still missing the point so with the time
that we have left I want us to actually consider how we can meditate on the
scriptures today's page of the blueprint is to meditate on the scriptures if you
have a physical copy of the Bible or digital copy and you'd like to open that
with me you are welcome to do that or you can simply listen and hear as I read
because I'm gonna read from three different places read one from Psalm 1
from Psalm 19 and Joshua 1 Psalm 1 Psalm 119 and Joshua 1 we have a tradition
around here the point of it is to give our full attention to the scriptures as
they're being read so you can do that in a number of ways you can sit or you can
stand with me in body or spirit as we read the scriptures okay so I'm gonna
read Psalm 1 starting in verse 1 it says this how blessed is the man who does not
walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners nor sit in
the seat of scoffers but he delights his delight is in the law of the Lord and
his law he meditates day and night he will be like a tree firmly planted by
streams of water which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not
wither and in whatever he does he prospers Psalm 119 verse 11 I have
stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you verse 15 I
will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways I shall delight in your
statutes I shall not forget your word Joshua 1 8 this is just after the life
of Moses has ended in Joshua has been asked now to lead all of the Israelites
and this is what the Lord is saying to Joshua Joshua 1 verse 8 this book of the
law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it
for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have
success let us pray God of every tribe every tongue every color and every
nation every everyone I pray that the words that we read today would be
meaningful we would meditate upon them whatever you have for us to internalize
pray that it would become a part of the framework of our faith that our faith
would become stronger that we would become more like your son Jesus amen
amen thanks y'all have a seat all right if you do a survey of the entire Bible
if you were to read it from beginning to end and if you are looking for a unified
description of what to do with the scriptures sometimes you will see
mention of reading sometimes you will see mention of it being read aloud to
assemblies of God's people but almost always it seems the overall mandate the
request to us the believer from the scriptures about the scriptures isn't
only to read on our own or hear them when we're at church but it is to
meditate on them it is to meditate on the scriptures day and night what do you
think he's trying to get across here by saying day and night all the time the
scriptures are something that we are meant to be meditating all the time and
this is important because to read and to meditate on our two different things you
know how many books are on my shelves in there that I have read that I don't
remember much of what was in them there's a difference between reading
something and meditating on it earlier I gave you the dictionary definition of
reading reading gets boiled down to seeing and comprehending to consuming
to finishing but to meditate meditation is the rumination of whatever we've
received the word meditate in the Hebrew can be translated in a in a few ways but
the most captivating translation to me along with meditate is to muse the word
meditate means to muse to be absorbed in thought meditation on the scriptures
some people think of what meditation becomes modern-day meditation on the
scriptures is not the emptying of our minds meditation on the scriptures is
the musing of our minds on God's story it is our minds being absorbed in
thought about what scriptures are saying and so just like last week I said you
know I don't know that I actually have to convince everybody to that praying is
important I don't know that I have to convince everyone here that the reading
the scriptures and meditating on them is important and so what actually I want us
to walk away with tools on how to meditate on scripture how to think about
scripture tools that will help you work through a blueprint of forming your
faith and so with the time that we have left what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read
a ten verse passage three different times from three different versions and
each time we're going to muse meditate or think on or examine in three different
ways with three different mindsets okay the first time as I read the passage we
are going to meditate on the scriptures think on let our mind be absorbed with
thought ready like you were a detective okay so as I read it these are the
things that we can do as a detective to be absorbed with thought imagine the
scene as I read this imagine the scene if you were a detective what facts do
you observe about it if you have if you happen to have a pen you can write the
things down that you notice you could type into a note or phone this is what
I noticed this is what I observed what questions would you have think of the
old dragnet just the facts ma'am just the facts what do you notice what
questions would you want to ask about what is happening who's there who's
there who's present if you are a detective you want to make sure you know
who who all of the people are that were present because you're probably gonna
have to ask all of them questions to get the deeper most accurate understanding
of what it is that happened then in there what questions would you ask them
would they be honest with you hmm ask the question what is happening and why
why is this happening and then as the details come together if you were
Sherlock Holmes what deductions would you come to what solution or problem
solving does this provide for you in your life okay here we go I'm gonna read
this passage aloud think like a detective and after I read it I'll
remind you a couple things and you can keep thinking about it for a few more
moments this is from the NIV Luke 19 1 through 10 Jesus entered Jericho and was
passing through maybe you just you're in a film noir you see the the glass door
of the detective and you hear that Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through
sorry a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector
and was wealthy he wanted to see who Jesus was but because he was short he
could not see over the crowd so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to
see him since Jesus was coming that way when Jesus reached the spot he looked up
and said to him Zacchaeus come down immediately I must stay at your house
today so he came down at once and welcomed him gladly all the people saw
this and began to mutter he has gone to be the guest of a sinner
Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord look Lord here and now I give half of my
possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody out of anything I will
pay back four times the amount Jesus said to him today's salvation has come
to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham for the son of man came
to seek to save the lost now think imagine the scene what are you observing
about it this one has multiple locations where did they start where did they go
why does that matter why were people upset Jesus went there with this person
at this time who are the people that are upset why does it matter at all
think about the things that happened go back over in your mind the order of
things that you remember where did it start what town were they in what was
the name of the guy what was his profession is his profession connected
to the story is that part of what matters was Jesus there to catch a crook
why was he there
what deductions can you start to come to about why this is important why it
matters to your life that it is in the Bible why does it matter okay pin that
one up and move on this time I want you to think about this passage like you
are an apprentice of Jesus like you're one of his disciples but not not just I
don't want to use the word disciple because I don't want us to get stuck in
what we think that means think about an apprentice someone that is taking on a
job the point is that they are going to become what they are taking on a job for
now if you're the apprentice if you were there and this was your first day on the
job following Jesus around what would you be feeling and thinking as this
first-day apprentice you you answered an ad on Facebook marketplace or indeed
calm Jesus said you've got the apprenticeship meet me on the edge of
Jericho tomorrow we're gonna be passing through there you can meet me there okay
it's your first day and as we read this again what do you think what do you feel
what would you think Jesus is wanting you to learn by following him through
this town and doing what he's doing what seems important to Jesus what is he
simultaneously because he knows you're the apprentice what does he
simultaneously teaching someone else but also teaching you because he knows your
job is to watch and learn what does he do that you could be doing how do you
see him meeting needs what does Jesus do when someone asks a question how does he
respond and then if you came to work the next day and Jesus stayed home what is
the most important thing this passage that Jesus is showing you wants you to
practice so I'll read now from a version that's called the living Bible as Jesus
was passing through Jericho a man named Zacchaeus one of the most influential
Jews in the Roman tax collecting business and of course a very rich man he
tried to get a look at Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowds so he
ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree beside the road to watch from there
when Jesus came by he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name
Zacchaeus he said quick come down for I'm going to be a guest in your home
today Zacchaeus hurriedly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great
excitement and joy but the crowds were displeased he has gone to be the guest
of a notorious sinner they grumbled meanwhile Zacchaeus stood before the
Lord and said sir from now on I will give half my wealth to the poor if I
find I have overcharged anyone on their taxes I will penalize myself by giving
him back four times as much and Jesus told him this shows salvation has come
to this home today this man was one of the lost sons of Abraham and I the
Messiah have come to search for to save such souls as his it's your first day on
the job you've known Jesus in person for 17 minutes he's already causing trouble
the the crowd is already upset with him that he went to the wrong house she's
are we allowed to go here just where I'm supposed to go what if you're is the
apprentice what if your heart isn't yet ready to walk into the tax collector's
house what are you seeing what are you feeling as an apprentice of Jesus this
your first day following him around what is it that he wants you to be seeing so
that you can do what needs do you see him meeting who is he most concerned
with in other words like who's his clientele who's he trying to put first
in this story
and if next morning he said all right you go do it on your own today what does
that mean what is he asking you to go do all right so we've been a detective and
we've been an apprentice lastly let's meditate on this passage like we're an
artist as I read meditate and use let your maybe understand that in the
scriptures in the Hebrew scriptures this is gonna blow some of your minds they
did not have a word for brain because they didn't know that that's where
everything came from their word for soul is actually connected to our
throats because they just knew oh he lose that you're done and so when we say
let your mind be absorbed in thought especially now as we're thinking as an
artist we're not saying just think with your brain connect to your emotions
connect to your gut what do you feel as an artist what does this look like as we
read it what kind of painting from what era do you feel like this is if you're
well versed in artists do you feel like oh I'm gonna paint something that looks
like that artist is it classic is it watercolors should it be digital art if
you were the artist the first person to ever depict this story how would you
depict it how large or small should the artwork be what colors should you use
what characters in the story should be front and center how would you
communicate everything that's happening is it a drawing is it a painting is it
a photo where would you stand in the room to take the photo so that everyone
was given the position in this story that is required maybe it's not any of
those maybe it's a song what does it sound like if you had to hum it what
would its melody be what instruments would you absolutely need in order to
tell this story so that you could communicate how it moves you to others
how do you hope your piece of art would move the people that experience it
lastly what would you name this piece of art let's muse meditate on this as I
read the same story from the message then Jesus entered and walked through
Jericho there was a man there his name Zacchaeus the head tax man and quite
rich he wanted desperately to see Jesus but the crowd was in his way he was a
short man and couldn't see over the crowd so he ran on ahead and climbed up
in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by when Jesus got to the
tree he looked up and said Zacchaeus hurry down today is my day to be a guest
in your home Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree hardly believing his good luck
delighted to take Jesus home with him everyone who saw the incident was
indignant and grumped what business does he have getting cozy with this crook
Zacchaeus just stood there a little stunned he stammered apologetically
master I give away half my income to the poor and if I'm caught cheating I pay
four times the damages Jesus said today is salvation day in this home here is
Zacchaeus son of Abraham for the son of man came to find and restore the lost
just in a moment of silence you don't need my help
you're the artist how do you tell this story and why is it important to tell it
that way
okay I have one free Krispy Kreme donut for anyone that's willing to share their
description of this story anyone want anyone want to share how they would have
turned this into a work of art come on take the mic I knew you were gonna end
up here eventually everybody this is Andy everybody say hey Andy go on so the
people online can see you too so for the paint I had a painting and of course
it's you know Renaissance painting stuff all right because that's you know anyone
else have Renaissance come to mind that's probably the majority of
paintings about scriptures are from that area okay so in my picture I see in the
center of the pictures the crowd and they're all looking to the right and
Jesus is on the right that's how I saw him coming into town and I see Zacchaeus
is in a tree to the left kind of over the people and some of the people are
looking at Jesus and some of the people are like looking at Zacchaeus they have
angry looks on their faces disbelief they're touching the person next to them
like you know and so that's what I see so I see that the primary telling in the
picture is the center of the reactions of the crowd and so you see Jesus
smiling you know he's like glowing warm kind of you see Zacchaeus like surprise
or excitement but then the crowd is where the story's told in my room that's
awesome I had just a flash of of like some kind of artwork that is the family
tree and about how someone like Zacchaeus someone had erased his name but then
Jesus comes and every single version if you read multiple versions of stories
especially if you include paraphrases and more thought for word thought
for thought things not so like stuck to just word for word you'll see there's a
reason every version has some of the same words every version they say it was
that key is every version say that they were going through Jericho every version
says he was a tax collector and every version said that I have come to seek
and save the loss this is a son of Abraham they said it in some way so I
see this image of someone taking Zacchaeus his name and scribing it back
on the family tree
what was what Andy's name oh what would your name of the painting be you know to
be artistic you don't always have to be good at naming things it's all right
it's all right yeah Adam the first maybe yeah Adam had to name all the animals
according to Genesis that's an interesting concept anyhow I hope that
we walk away from today going oh reading the Bible isn't what I thought it was
that we have it available to us we can read it almost any time that we actually
want to but let me encourage you that when you have time when you decide I'm
gonna remember that thing that I heard or I'm gonna sit down and read in
whatever format that you choose to read that it's not just about ingesting
words it's not just so that at the end of the day you can click a box and go
look Jesus I did that thing I'm supposed to do but that whatever your personality
is whether you be an artist or detective an apprentice or any other number ways
of you that you think of yourself come to the scriptures with your whole self
and then not just with your brain but with your emotions and your personality
ruminate muse meditate on the scriptures day and night because they have a way
of lighting our path hmm that's it let's pray God we thank you for the
scriptures every version oh and we pray that you would just help us to to give
it in to them to meditate on them to meditate on the scriptures in a way that
has deep meaning that directs our paths that keeps us from the things that push
us away from you and through meditating on your scriptures we believe that we
will become more like your son Jesus thank you thank you thank you amen