When I was still a boy i really don’t like receiving too much instruction from my teachers, parents and from other people. Not that I’m rebeliious but I want to do it my way.
Maybe to some, we do like and love to receive instructions, but to most of us we really hate it. Tonight in our series we’ll be talking about the importance of the word of God. The BIBLE is more than instructions, but I could say the word of God is a love letter written to us.
Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Let see the life of King Josiah:
2Kings 22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. 3 In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD 6 the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. 7 But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are acting faithfully.” 8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
Background:
Josiah was just a boy - 8 years old when he became king, Josiah was faithful to God.
Those who had led the country (his predesessor) before Josiah didn’t spend a lot of time in worship. There was lots of idol worship going on then - lots of attempts to do the culturally popular thing of that day.
So the house of God was in bad shape. Josiah ordered funds to be handed over to the workers - the carpenters, builders and masons - to repair the temple, and make it a central place of worship once again.
It was while this work was going on that the high priest found a scroll - the book of law from the Bible - the book we call Deuteronomy. This book that gave instruction on how to be a faithful Jew was found among the rubble in the temple.
The book was taken to the king. It was read aloud to the king, and when Josiah heard it, he grieved.
He grieved because the people had not been living faithfully to God’s word. He grieved because he had been ignorant and uninformed, living without a whole piece of his identity, his faith, without a whole piece of his relationship with God.
First of all, Josiah had a heart for God. Josiah, we could say, wanted to cultivate those holy habits in himself. He had a desire to explore God’s word and discover how it instructed his life and how to live faithfully as God’s servant.
Josiah had a heart for God.
Josiah also read God’s word diligently. His passion for God drove him to discover more about God, and one of the ways Josiah did that was to explore the Bible, the sacred Scriptures and to let those Scriptures be instructions for his life.
Josiah was diligent about reading God’s word.
Josiah implemented the teachings he discovered into his whole way of life. Josiah followed the teaching he discovered, incorporating the instruction the Bible provided him in how to live. The Bible helped Josiah discover how to be the person God had created him to be.
James 1:22-25
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
James 1:24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
James 1:25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.
BIBLE IS NOT JUST FOR OUR INFORMATION BUT FOR OUR TRANSFORMATION
B.I.B.L.E.-Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth
a Love letter from God:
Some people say it is God’s love letter to us and they make a rather good analogy. If we received a love letter from somebody, we wouldn’t just leave it alone, we would be reading it over and over again and maybe underlining and circling and so on.
Thats how we should read it - as a love letter from God.
Imagine if all of us here in this room value the importance BIBlE as God’s love letter to us. I’m sure will be Wiser, Obedient, Reject sin and have the passion to Disciple people.
