Dear saints in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of the fondest memories I have of Advent from my childhood is doing devotions with my family. Every year in the days and weeks that led up to Christmas we would take time each night after supper to read, pray, and study God’s Word together. As soon as everyone had finished eating, before any of the dishes were done, and before everyone scattered to their own corners of the house we would read a devotion together. These devotions were nothing fancy, we just used a booklet like this one from Lutheran Hour Ministries or something like that, but those were special moments.
If I’m being honest, however, I have to admit that I didn’t always think that way at the time. I often would have much rather gone off and done my own thing (watch TV, play video games, or sometimes even do my homework) rather than spending those extra moments at the table when supper was already finished.
Looking back now, however, I see how special those moments spent together as a family around God’s Word were. There was more going on, you see, in these family devotions than just us spending a few extra moments at the table as a family. This was more than just another family tradition. There was more going on than just me and my siblings being held (sometimes against their will) at the table with one another. Whether I perceived it at the time or not, these were holy moments, moments in which Jesus, our God and Saviour, came to each of us and to all of us, collectively as a family and as individuals, as we read and heard His Words together.
The season of Advent is focused on the three “comings” of Jesus. The first “coming” is Jesus’ coming as a child born of the virgin Mary. The second “coming” is his coming again at the end of the world. These first two “comings” of Jesus are most familiar to us. The first is what we are preparing to celebrate at Christmas and the second is what we’ve be talking about here over the last few weeks. The third “coming” of Jesus is, however, perhaps a little less familiar. The third “coming” of Jesus is His coming to us right here and right now in our lives today. Listen to these words of Jesus from John chapter 14:
“If anyone loves me,” Jesus says, “he will keep (or guard or observe or treasure) my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
Notice what Jesus is promising to do here. He is promising that He and His Father will come and make their home in the hearts of those who treasure and keep His words. He is promising to come to you, right here and right now, through His Word. He, your Saviour who 2,000 years ago rode into Jerusalem to suffer and die for your salvation and then rise on the third day, is promising that as you read, hear, study, and contemplate His words that He will come and live in your heart.
I read a survey this week, a poll, which said that 80% of church-going Christians do not read the Bible on a daily basis.[1] 80%. That’s a really high number. That’s a significant majority. Most Christians, that number tells us, don’t read the Bible regularly. As high that number is, as alarming as it is to think that so many of Christians don’t read the Bible regularly, I have to say that I was not entirely surprised by that number either. I wasn’t entirely surprised because I know from my own experience how challenging it can be and is to make a habit of daily or even regularly reading the Bible.
Back in September when the kids started school again I decided to make a habit of reading Scripture and a devotion each morning before getting the kids up for the day. For the most part I have been able to keep up this habit, but it has not been without challenges. Every morning I fight the same battle between my desire to sleep just a little bit longer and my desire to read God’s Word. Every morning, once I’ve rolled myself out of bed, I fight the same battle between my desire to ease into my day with some mindless time spent scrolling through Facebook or catching up on the news and my desire to read God’s Word. Every morning, once I’ve finally cracked open my devotion book and found the right Bible passage on the Bible app on my phone I fight the same battle between my desire to just get this over with and move on to something more enjoyable and my desire to take to heart the Words of God which I am reading. Day after day I fight these battles so I know full well how hard it can be to read and study the Word of God on a regular, daily basis and if you are part of the 20% who does read God’s Word daily then you probably know how difficult it can be too.
As I’ve reflected over the last few days on my struggles reading God’s Word daily and as I thought a bit about the fact that so many Christians don’t read their Bible’s regularly it got me wondering why it is so hard to make a habit of reading God’s Word. Why is it so challenging to read God’s Word daily? Why do we struggle like this? Why do so few Christians read their Bibles?
The answer I came up with is rather simple: the devil. Satan desires, above all else, to take God’s Word away from us. Nothing would make him happier than if we never bothered to open the Bible or read or study it. Like the birds in the parable which Jesus told about the sower who sows seeds in his field, Satan loves to snatch God’s Word away from us in hopes that our faith in Jesus, our confidence in His salvation, and our joy and anticipation about His future coming might wither and die.
As simple as that answer is, it is important that we dig a little deeper and understand how Satan goes about his work of snatching the God’s Word away from us. He doesn’t, after all, literally take our Bibles away. Last time I checked the Bible is still the highest selling book worldwide and I am sure that most of us have at least one copy on a shelf in our home somewhere. No, Satan attacks God’s Word in much more subtle ways.
The primary way in which Satan attacks God’s word is by taking away our joy in reading it, by causing us to forget that in it and through it our Lord Jesus is in fact coming to us and making His home in us, and by turning the daily reading of it into and obligation. Satan knows that if we feel obligated to do something, if we feel like we have to do it, that we won’t want to do it. He knows that obligations quickly become chores for us and that we find no joy in chores. God, however, wants us to find joy in his Word. He does not want His Word to be a chore for us. He wants us to enjoy reading His Word. And He would not have us consider reading His Word an obligation.
A little while ago a heard a pastor say something that really caught my attention. He said that there are no commandments in the Bible which command us to read the Bible. I haven’t had a chance to thoroughly investigate that claim, but I’m pretty sure he is right about that. The closest thing you have to a commandment to read the Bible is the 3rd Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” This commandment tells us that we should fear and love God so that we do not despise his word or the preaching of it, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. It does not, however, command us to read the Bible. Rather than commanding us God invites us to read His words and promise to do great things for us in and through His Word. He promises to bless us (Psalm 1, Luke 11:28), to create faith in us (Romans 10), to strengthen our faith (Matthew 6), to forgive our sins, to set us from the powers of darkness (John 8), to teach us His ways, to give us eternal life (John 6), and, yes, to make His home with us (John 14).
I don’t know about you, but I find this incredibly freeing. Reading the Bible, then, isn’t an obligation, something I have to do because God says I have to do it, but something God, in His great abundance of mercy and love and in His desire to bless me as His child, invites me to do. And with that invitation comes all His promises: forgiveness, life, and salvation.
The season of Advent is a perfect time to reclaim the joy of God’s Word and begin a daily habit of reading the Word of God. In this season when we rejoice in our Saviour’s coming we can read His word and rejoice that He comes to us right here and right now, that He lives in us by faith. If the idea of reading the Bible still seems too complicated or too difficult just use these devotions, they will help keep you on track. If you end up confused or have questions you just can’t figure out write them down and ask me or someone else who might know the answer. If you miss a day don’t worry about it, just pick it up again the next day. If you don’t have family at home and it feels silly to do devotions on your own remember that you are not alone and that your brothers and sisters in Christ are reading God’s Word with you. And, if you already do read the Bible daily, then do so with a joyful heart because in and through His Word Jesus your Saviour, who rode into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago to save you from sin and death and who is surely coming to you again, comes to you right now to heal and save.
In the words of our Old Testament reading today, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, (let us read and study His Word) that He may teach us His ways and that we might walk in His paths.” In Jesus name. Amen.
[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2012/september/80-of-churchgoers-dont-read-bible-daily-lifeway-survey.html
Pastor Aaron Astley 