Balance Your Reading of Scripture | Clip from Recommended Reading in 2022

Let's move on to a sixth principle, the principle of a balanced diet when we read.

And this is kind of where all of this has been leading to this issue. How to balance our diet spiritually.

Now, with the Scripture, we have to do very little to have a balanced diet with Scripture, because Scripture is perfectly balanced.

As long as we read all of it. Yes, yes, that's where I'm headed. If we have favorite spots.

So oftentimes, you know, I think kind of the classic example that comes to my mind is maybe a sweet older lady in the church who only reads the

Psalms. Or maybe kind of a bit of a hardline Calvinist who only reads

Ephesians. And you want to kind of get into the

Bible with them and kick them out of their favorite spots and make them explore with Christ, you know, every area.

McShane talks about this. And, you know, of course, he came up with a reading Bible plan to go through the

Scripture in a year for his people. He said you would be a very poor geographer if you only walked in certain parts of the world, if you didn't see every aspect.

So we want to balance Scriptural diet by making sure that we are reading the whole of Scripture at whatever pace, but we're covering everything and we're not just staying in our favorite spots.

Can I ask you a question there, John? Yeah. If you had someone then in your congregation who, even if they wouldn't express it like this, in practice is scared of certain parts of the

Bible, you know, the minor prophets are off limits. Anything that involves, say, apocalyptic imagery, those bits of Ezekiel or Daniel or Revelation, they're just not going to touch them.

Or sometimes even for some people, it's as if the Old Testament is a closed book. How would you equip and encourage

God's people to read the whole of Scripture? Well, I probably would try to start with motivation to remind them that this is a book written by a father and a savior, a redeemer, their defender, and the best of friends.

And one of the great realities of Scripture is that it is understandable by the believer that the

Spirit of God will teach us. When I preached through the book of Revelation years ago, because we were looking at Johannine literature, and I would really, if you would have asked me honestly, do you wish that Revelation had been written by Peter so you wouldn't have to cover it in that series?

You know, I would have said yes. I was terrified of preaching Revelation. But the thing that moved me to choose to do it, and really it became such a delight, was this reality.

My God has given this to me for my good, for the good of His people. So He then is duty -bound, so to speak, to teach us if we will come humbly and do the hard work.

So I would try to entice them to think of these areas of Scripture that they find difficult as kind of unexplored territory where the

King will meet them and teach them. I also do try to provide them with helpful commentaries.

So simple commentaries, you know, maybe the Well -Win Commentary Series comes to mind. Just simple, short commentaries that help them walk through some of the more difficult passages, you know, at least in their mind.

And then I suppose it would be good, and this is where I think I fail, following up to make sure, you know, so how have you found yourself progressing?

I tend to, well, I'm afraid, I tend to think, okay, I set you on a good course,

I gave you some material, you got a good start, and if you have any problems, come tell me.

So I probably need to chase them down in the middle and say, so how are you doing?

Yeah. When you mention Revelation as well, I think reading the book of the

Revelation and seeing how John is drawing on the entirety of previous

Revelation in order to populate his vision, there's real continuity there.

And I think, again, that in our preaching, if we can show, not just by preaching through some of those perhaps more neglected portions, but also demonstrating how the

Lord speaks with one voice in this book, and hopefully then enabling people to, again, join those dots and to see how what

Paul says, for example, in Romans, is by no means contrary to what Isaiah or Jeremiah says, but when they're quoting one another and engaging with one another, there's this sort of building, progressive, developing declaration of the saving intent of God.

And I love what you say too about, remember, who is giving this and for what purpose? God your

Father speaks that He may be known and delighted in and that you may bask in His glory.

Yes, and I have found in my own experience as an individual, but also as a pastor, that passages that might at first glance seem most difficult sometimes hold the sweetest honey of the whole

Bible or the most precious gems. So, for example, the book of Hebrews. Years ago, someone asked, would

I teach through the book of Hebrews? I remember Richard Owen Roberts saying that he felt that the most significant biblical book for the

American evangelical scene would be the book of Hebrews to kind of shake us, alert us, spur us on.

So with that recommendation, I thought, well, I've never taught through that. But then I knew there are a number of warnings that just terrify me.

How am I going to explain that warning? But again, if we trust the character of our

God, I feel like a little child, really. I feel like a toddler. I put my hand in his hand and I say, okay, if you will lead me,

I'll go anywhere in this book. And I trust that the result will be honoring to you and beneficial to your people.

And it was really just one of the most helpful seasons we ever had in the church.

Walking through passages that seem so terrifying, but once you saw them in context, held the sweetest treasure.

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