Just What Is The Purpose Of The Bible?

In the movie “A Few Good Men,” Lieutenant Jonathan Kendrick (played by Keifer Sutherland) tells Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise) 

“I have two books at my bedside, Lieutenant: the Marine Corps Code of Conduct and the King James Bible.”  

It's estimated that more than six billion copies of the Bible have been sold. But how many people know what the purpose of the Bible is? 

I opened the Bible for the very first time while attending college at the University of Minnesota. There wasn't enough room on campus for all the students that desired on-campus housing, so we were placed at the Hotel Duluth. I read through chapters of the Bible and found it very interesting, but I never understood what the real purpose was. 

Jesus said to the very religious and pious people of his day, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life John 5:39-40 (TNIV). 

These are the same people that let the Law come between them and the Life Giver! They even accused Jesus of being a sinner, a blasphemer and eventually got their wish and had him “gorified.” They were sin-centric not Christ-centric, and therefore never experienced the freedom of the new life that Christ wanted to give them; the freedom that resurrection Sunday pictures. 

Jesus, the Messiah, said he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; but to fulfill them (Mat. 5:17 TNIV). The word fulfill is the Greek word Pleroo, and it means to complete. Jesus not only completed the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, but he is the Light that opens up the Scriptures so that we can understand them (Luke 24:44-45).

The Light of the gospel of Jesus Christ will remove the scales from your eyes and the shackles from your ankles! 

Are you living life thinking that Jesus called you to change?  Changed equals “chained.” It's "do it yourself religion," as Bible translator and author Francois du Toit says. Jesus never called us to change. He calls us to receive a new life in him (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3). 

I couldn’t understand the purpose of the Bible when I opened it up for the first time while attending UMD, because I never wholeheartedly received what God wanted to give me in Jesus Christ. 

The purpose of the Bible is to lead us to Jesus Christ for eternal life or immortality in him; that we may receive freedom and participate in the new life we have in him; and that we would grow in the grace and knowledge of him (2 Peter 3:18); and that we would participate in his priestly ministry. 

I’m sending each of you a “key.” Here it comes! Now catch it. Stand up. With the key in one hand, lift the opposite leg up and put your foot over your knee. OK. Now reach down and unlock the shackle from your ankle. Shake it off and free yourself from that ball and chain that you’ve been carrying around. Now do the Hallelujah dance. Jump up and down and yell, “I am free! Free! Free! Hallelujah Amen! 

You are now free to experience your new life in Christ!  You have been unshackled from whatever sin or problem, fear or anxiety that you have focused your life on! You are now free to enjoy your life in Christ. You are free to wholeheartedly experience him! To live in Him! The old life is gone with all its sin and problems and fears. It’s really that simple. Don’t complicate it. Don’t labor. Rest in Jesus (Mat. 11:28-30). 

There is no life in the prophets. There is no life in Bible stories; nor is there life in the Scriptures; but the Scriptures, the Bible does point us to Christ who fulfilled them; he filled them to the full; he completed them; because as the Messiah, that’s  what He was called to do. Jesus completed his earthly ministry when he was resurrected from the dead, and ascended to the Father.

We have been given a new life in Christ - not a changed life, but a new life in Him - eternal life in him - freedom in Him! We share in his priestly ministry. It’s good news for everyone, especially for those who believe. 

We are free! Free! Free! Celebrate your freedom in Christ!

Simplicity In Christ

Several months ago I thought I smelled something burning in my bedroom. I was pretty sure it was the light fixture. I climbed a ladder and took the glass cover off the fixture. I unscrewed the light bulbs and didn't smell any odor of anything burning. When I tried to screw the nut onto the screw that held the cover up, it turned along with the nut and I wasn't able to get the nut tightened over the glass cover. The screw went through a plate that was fastened to the ceiling. I put the glass cover on a table in my living room, thinking that I needed to get up in the attic to tighten the entire fixture. Several days later, I crawled around in my attic trying to find the mounting bracket for the light fixture. There is no floor in my attic, so I had to walk on a small piece of plywood that I dragged over the two by six beams. I moved along the attic by standing on the plywood that I laid on top of the two by six beams. When I walked to the end of the piece of plywood, I stepped off it and onto the two by six beams and then pulled the plywood out ahead of me. Then I walked on the plywood from the rear of it to the front it. I continued to do this for about forty feet, until I got to the place where I thought I would find the mounting brackets for the light fixture. I have cellulose insulation that covers the beams and the sheetrock ceiling and that made it difficult to locate the light fixture.

A couple of weeks later, I called my neighbor's son Payton and asked if he would come over to help me. I had him stand under the light fixture and tap on the fixture so I could find it as I crawled around the attic for the second time. He kept talking to me and tapping on the fixture and I was able to locate the electric box that the light fixture is connected to. However, there weren't any mounting brackets for the light fixture. I came down from the attic and observed the fixture for the second time. I realized that the tin plate somehow must drop down from the ceiling so that I would be able to tighten the nut behind it.  I called my cousin Mike to confirm this. He told me that everything that is holding the fixture up is below the ceiling. So yesterday I unscrewed the two screws that hold the tin plate that is mounted to the ceiling. I dropped the tin plate down from the ceiling and was able to tightened the nut that screws onto the stem and holds the glass cover in place. It took me about fifteen minutes to repair the light fixture.

After I put away my tools, I started thinking about my relationship with Jesus. Paul reminded the Corinthians that our relationship with Jesus is simple based on faith and trust in Him. Jesus Christ is everything that we need to stand on. He is the Rock that is under our feet. Our salvation is in Him. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV).

Paul was defending the gospel of grace from those who wanted to make it complicated thinking that faith in Jesus wasn't enough. Three different times the Lord spoke to Paul and said to him:

"My grace is all you need" (2 Corinthians 12: 9 NLT).

The gospel is grace by faith in Jesus Christ. We need to keep it as simple as that.

Oh yeah and the burning smell that I thought was coming from the light fixture, turned out to be a plastic bag that I had in the room which had the smell of garlic in it.

Is there such a thing as a successful Christian?

If there is, what does he or she look like? For a very long time I have tried to be a "successful Christian." But I believe I created a false image in my mind and without realizing it, I was practicing idolatry. Most often I was discouraged and even depressed when I didn't live up to the image of a "successful Christian." I have come to realize that a successful Christian doesn't live for his or her own happiness and isn't necessarily happy. But just maybe a successful Christian is one who knows his identity is in Christ; knows he has Divine life and knows he has been given eternal life in Christ. Maybe the successful Christian is the one who knows what Jesus Christ accomplished for him at the cross and  lives in the reality of who he is in Christ. Maybe believing the reality that we are in Christ and Christ is in us and we are one with God, means that we don't have to live up to a false image that we create for ourselves and we are free to allow Christ to live His life through us and to suffer with others as He suffered for us. Just maybe that is what a successful Christian is.

(References: The Book of Colossians, especially Col. 1:12-14,19,27; 2:9-15,20; 3:1-4,11)