Introduction

My grandma, growing up, constantly asked, “Have you been eating?” Whenever I visited, she would make sure that I ate.  Not asking “do you want more.” But stating “here, have more!” Grandmas keeping their grandkids well fed was true on both sides of my family, whether asking questions or keeping the cookie supply full, grandmas were doing their part. It was a way to see their love. 

Food is necessary and lack of food can be problematic. This could be seen through the phrase “You need to eat something” in my house. My wife has said this to me a time or two. Typically, around this time of year, I reduce my calorie intake going into the summer. In past years, these have been more severe and longer. There comes a time when you get cranky. I believe the proper term is “hangry.” 

We need to have sufficient food, which is necessary for life and sometimes for the comfort of those around us! The necessity of Scripture is compared to the necessity of food within Scripture. We read in Deuteronomy 8:3, 

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Jesus quotes this in Matthew 4:4 when being tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread,

But he answered, “It is written,

       “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Just as our bodies are dependent upon food for physical sustenance, we are also dependent upon the Word of God for spiritual sustenance. In fact, this is not only important to us personally, but it is also a key element of what it means to be Protestant. One of the distinctives that we have as protestants is that we hold that Scripture alone is our ultimate authority. We have already addressed this before. But part of what this means is that we need a Word from God, and He has given us that Word in Scripture. Bavinck writes that with the Roman Catholic church having a pope whom they say is infallible, this means that Scripture isn’t really necessary. The church can determine right and wrong and can be that which brings grace to others through its teaching. 

If Protestantism should deny the necessity of Scripture, it would weaken itself, strengthen Rome, and lose the truth, which is an indispensable element of religion. For that reason the Reformation insisted so firmly on the necessity of Holy Scripture.^[1]

For if not Scripture but the church is necessary to the knowledge of religious truth, then the church becomes the indispensable means of grace. The Word loses its central place and only retains a preparatory or pedagogical role. While Scripture may be useful and good, it is not necessary, neither for the church as a whole, nor for believers individually.^[2]

The Bible Reveals God’s Supernatural Wisdom

We need an authoritative Word

We each need external sources of affirmation and validation of meaning and purpose. We often search for them. We want to hear or experience those we look up to being proud of us. We want a significant other to express their love toward us. We want coaches and teachers to appreciate our efforts. Today, many seek external validation through social media – a view, a like, a share, is a way to feel worth and even meaning. It is easy to belittle this. To see it as shallow. But is it an indicator of something deeper within each of us? We are searching for external validation, for meaning and purpose. Like Augustine’s famous phrase in the Confessions, “you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Our hearts needing this validation is not a defect but a symptom of those created to be loved and cherished. But the problem is that if we don’t know the ultimate source for meaning and purpose, then these other pursuits will come up empty.

The doctrine of the necessity of Scripture reminds us of our predicament: the One we need to know most cannot be discovered on our own. And it assures us of a solution: this same ineffable One has made himself known through his word.^[3]

The wisdom of God’s Word transcends mere human wisdom

The work of Christ is not something that human wisdom could have devised. Nor could a mere human report of Jesus’ death and resurrection tell us what we need to know. The atonement comes out of the wisdom of God’s eternal plan, and its meaning could be given only in divine words. It is God’s promise that if we believe, we will be saved. A mere human promise to that effect could be dismissed as wishful thinking. Just as salvation is not by human works, it is not by human wisdom. In the message of the cross, God destroys the wisdom of the wise (1 Cor. 1:19), makes it foolish (v. 20).^[4]

Listen to the words of Paul.

1 Corinthians 1:21-25,

²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 2:5-16

⁶ Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. ⁷ But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But, as it is written, 

            “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, 

nor the heart of man imagined, 

            what God has prepared for those who love him”— 

¹⁰ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. ¹³ And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.^[5]

What is important to realize is that the “we” in this passage is in reference to Paul and his companions. He is saying that the Holy Spirit is teaching and revealing to him, for what purpose? For them to understand this same wisdom as he is telling them. How is he telling them? By writing them the letter, we now call 1 Corinthians. It’s a letter to them and to us. We know this supernatural wisdom because it has been recorded and written down.

Bavinck writes,

Scripture is the only adequate means of guarding against the corruption of the spoken word and of making it the possession of all human beings. The sound of a voice passes away, but the written letter remains. The brevity of life, the unreliability of memory, the craftiness of the human heart, and a host of other dangers that threaten the purity of transmission all make the inscripturation of the spoken word absolutely necessary if it is to be preserved and propagated.^[6]

This supernatural wisdom of the Spirit is inscripturated. It is written down and preserved for us!

It is a wisdom  that is outside of us that bears weight on all of us. This is extremely important. Our faith is not just one person’s opinion. It’s not lording titles or education over one another. But it is mutually submitting to the Word of God, which is over each of us.

We don’t need to grasp the depth of God’s wisdom to apply it

Related to this and worth mentioning is that we don’t need to grasp the depth of God’s wisdom to apply it and live according to it. God has given us what we need, we can understand it, but we don’t need to fully exhaust it in order to apply it. We have mentioned this before, but 

I love theology, it often seeks to understand the “why” questions. It searches around and underneath, bringing new beauty and motivating my heart. But there can be a danger of thinking that level of reflection is necessary for ordinary obedience; it’s not. I can ponder the goodness of God and his design for human flourishing when I think of his command not to steal, but just as much good is going to happen if I just take him at His Word in faith and don’t take things from others. 

The Bible Reveals God’s Love For Us

God’s Word tells the Good News of a God Who Saves

I said last week that in our sin we hide from God, but his word brings him near us. This has an important connection also with the necessity of Scripture. God’s Word not only reveals his wisdom, but also his love for us. We may gain insights, but these insights find their peak in knowing and experiencing God’s Love for us. Sunsets and waterfalls tell us of the greatness of God and how big he is compared to us, but the words of Scripture bring Him near and we can know and experience him as our God, as the one who cares for us and desires our good. 

Think about it? Is God aloof? Is he like a transcendent clock-maker? Like a clock maker who makes the clock and now leaves it to run by itself. Is God a God who made the world and sits back uninterested and uninvolved, letting the natural processes work themselves out? We may feel like that is wrong, but can we know for sure? 

In the Bible, we have the transcendent work that gives us assurance. As we began this series, it’s not merely a human word but a divinely inspired Word. It’s God’s Word to us.

John Frame responds to liberal theology, which often downplays divine revelation and says that we only have human, fallible words. He writes this,

But why should we believe that human beings, even those with degrees in theology, can figure out how God forgives human sin? The question is so immense, and the human minds are so small. No amount of instruction in ancient culture, the history of religion, or philosophy can give one the wisdom he needs to tell people how to get right with God. Only God can do that.^[7]

And that is exactly what God does. He does tell us how we can be right with God!

Think about 1 John 1:9,

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.^[8]

How can God be just and forgive sins? The beauty of the good news is on display in 2 Corinthians 5:21,

²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^[9]

It is because of this, that we can understand the wonder of a passage like 2 Thessalonians 2:14,

To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God calls us, through the good news, so that we are transformed and changed to reflect Jesus. 

God’s Word tells all the promises of God

In fact, promise after promise can be known and believed because God has given us this book. It’s because of this that Paul can be confident in his own ministry. Listen to his words in Romans 1:1-2

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures^[10]

It’s how we can be confident in our own standing before God and in what is in store for all who repent and believe in the good news. As we read in the book of Hebrews 10:23.

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.^[11]

It gives us hope not only in the present but also for the future. Amidst the chaos of today, we hold onto hope for a better tomorrow. We have hope for a future where righteousness dwells throughout the earth. We read in 2 Peter 3:13

But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Because God has spoken, we have his promises. Because it is God who has spoken, his promises are sure. 

People Need The Words We Have

Sharing Jesus multiplies joy

Think about the importance of all of that for our personal evangelism and evangelism as a local church. We have what others need. This may sound arrogant. It may sound like everyone is lacking, but we have it all figured out. But that’s not the case. What we have is not ours because of something within us, but it is something that came to us and we received. It is a gift. And now as those who have received this precious gift, we can give it to others. The gospel is amazing in that we don’t lose anything by sharing it with others, but it actually increases our joy and experience of it. 

To use a silly example, think of sharing something you love with a friend, child, or family member. Sharing this love with them and your knowledge of it is lifegiving when they see the same beauty in it. This, of course, is limited. A hobby or object can only do so much. A sports team and its players will dissapoint, a passion for the outdoors will be thwarted by weather or conflicting schedules. And each of these things cannot bear the weight of our greatest joys or concerns. But with sharing Jesus it’s altogether different. Knowing him brings meaning to everything we do. He is able to bear the weight of our greatest lows and center us when we make our greatest highs all about us.

It’s true that not everyone will receive Christ. 

Bavinck says it like this,

For the gospel is not flattering to human beings; it is directly opposed to their thoughts and wishes, and, as divine truth, gives the lie to their falsehood.^[12]

The gospel offends. It is difficult. We want to be the hero in our own lives. We don’t want to acknowledge and face the weight of our sin, realizing that we can’t make it right in our own power. It’s like telling a young entrepreneur who is living an extravagant lifestyle that their business will never make enough money to pay off their massive debts, but because you love them, you will go to the bank and pay them off. 

There are times when we face rejection. But the task is to share; we don’t have the power to change hearts. Even in the sharing, it can be encouraging. Just this week, I was talking to a guy at the gym, and when we got to spiritual conversations, he said, “That’s why you are so nice, being kind and gracious is kinda what you people do.” 

Each week, you are sent

In the book of Romans we see the importance of bringing the message to those who haven’t heard.

¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

I love “how are they to preach unless they are sent.” This can be seen in a formal and informal way. Formally, this is commissioning and sending. Many have related this to the process of licensing and ordination. It is a church or denomination formally putting a stamp of approval upon a person and commissioning them for a life of ministry. It is important to recognize the connection of this sending with the local church. There is discipleship and accountability built into the process. But this can also be seen informally. Jesus taught his disciples, then sent them out to minister, and they came back. It was a prototype, perhaps, of the gathered and sent church. When we are gathered, we worship, are equipped, encouraged, and sent out to live faithfully for Jesus and make him known. One aspect of this is in our evangelism.

I highlighted this last week in the weekly email, but I am so thankful to serve a church that actively reaches out to those around them with the good news of Jesus Christ. Not all the stories can be shared because of the circumstances but just about every week I hear a new story about someone from within the congregation who is actively seeking to point someone to Jesus.

Conclusion

The Bible has the Words of Life. Do we recognize that? If that’s true, then we should treasure what God has given us, we should from what it teaches, and apply it to our lives. Let’s not be spiritually hangry, but be nourished by the good food that God has given us in His Word. One thing it teaches us is to continue proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes, in both word and sacrament. That is what we celebrate this morning.

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^[1] Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 469.

^[2] Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 469.

^[3] Kevin DeYoung, Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible Is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 86.

^[4] John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Word of God, A Theology of Lordship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2010), 213.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 2:6–13.

^[6] Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 471.

^[7] John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Word of God, A Theology of Lordship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2010), 214.

^[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 1:9.

^[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Co 5:21.

^[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 1:1–2.

^[11] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 10:23.

^[12] Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 471.