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2 Timothy 3:16-17

Psalms 119:105

“People of the Bible”

I want to talk about the Bible today. I am surprised that the only American presidents are sworn in by placing their hands on the Bible at the inauguration, which means a lot to the country. The United States of America is blessed because Americans respect the Bible. They believe in God and believe in the Bible. I’m not sure if any other country does it the same was as the United States does. What does the Bible mean to you? I wonder how many of you read the Bible regularly?  Do you any of you read daily, weekly or monthly?

I didn’t believe in the Bible when I didn’t know about God. I thought it was like an “amulet.” I saw that many Christians keep the Bible in a holy place or carried the Bible, but I rarely saw them read the Bible. The first time I got a Bible was when I was in the hospital. I was hopeless hearing I would not walk again due to my spine being broken. One day a pastor and his wife whose church my mother attended visited me and prayed for me. The pastor’s wife gave me her Bible and said, “Sister, please read the Bible. While I was praying for you, God inspired me. God may heal you if you read this whole book.” Her Bible was an old and thick book. It looked ugly and difficult to read. I thought, “If I read this ugly book, can I walk? No kidding! I cannot believe it.” As soon as that idea came to my mind, I threw it away. It was then that I lost my chance to heal my spine. After that, two years later, God gave me a second chance through a pastor, who I didn’t know. After I received his prayer, I recalled that the pastor’s wife said, “God may heal you if you read this whole book.” And I took the Bible back, and began reading it. To tell you the truth; after I read the whole Bible, I was released from a hospital. The pastor’s prayer gave me hope that I might walk again. And, after reading the Bible, I was confident God might heal me. I noticed that the Bible is like the mirror of my life. The Bible showed me how I lived and how I should live.

I found out how beautifully God made human beings. God made a magnificent world for humans. God made me his masterpiece. However, I didn’t follow what God wanted just as Adam didn’t. I wanted to live by myself, as Adam and Eve decided with their free will when they chose to eat the fruit, which God prohibited them from eating. And they left God. I also found that I lived like Jacob, who lived with his own wisdom, and who ran away from his father Isaac and his brother Esau. He lived in his uncle Laban’s house, but cheated on him and ran away from him again. He faced a life crisis, which out of nowhere he goes to Jabbok River. He wrestled with God to receive God’s blessings. He noticed he could not live without God’s blessings. Finally, God hit his hip and broke his hip. Even though Jacob had wrenched his hip, he met God, and God blessed him. When I read Jacob’s story through the Bible at the hospital, I felt I saw myself. And, I read Jeremiah, “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Through these verses, I was full of confidence that God would heal me and use me for God’s work.” What does the Bible mean to you?  Psalm 119:105 says, “Your [God’s] word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The Bible is the word of the Living God and our life’s navigation. When you face a crisis of life, you may find a way to go forth through the Bible as I did, and many Christians did.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, always proclaimed that he was a person of one book-the Bible. He believed the Bible is the primary source to find the way to salvation. According to him, God reveals through biblical stories “the way to heaven.” For him, “heaven’ and “salvation’ are a restored relationship with God and all of God’s creation, which may begin now or later. United Methodists today affirm, as Wesley did, that “the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary for salvation” and are “the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine.” (p.19. Andy and Sally Langford, Living as United Methodist Christians)

Methodism started from a small group reading the Bible at Oxford University in 1729. Three young men and John Wesley gathered together to read and study the Bible weekly. People called the group “Bible Moths” because they hovered over the Scriptures like moths around a flame. Another name is based on their systematic pattern of biblical study, prayer, fasting, and serving community, Methodists. Wesley didn’t create something unique for Methodism. Still, people who saw them called them “Methodists” because they kept gathering together for Bible study, prayed often, fasted twice a week, received Holy Communion weekly, served the poor, visited the local prison, and lived modestly. Wesley listened to the Bible and did what God commanded. Nevertheless, that gathering of eighteenth-century young adults, who studied the Bible and walked in the footsteps of Jesus, marked the beginning of a huge movement. Over the past two and a half centuries, this movement has changed millions of lives and transformed the world in significant ways.

United Methodists are first and foremost people who read the Bible and seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ within the universal church. We are similar to the first followers of Jesus Christ as we draw near to Jesus, explore the riches of the Holy Scriptures, and know that our lives have been transformed. (p.14-15, Living as United Methodist Christians) The Bible contains sixty-six different books:  the Old Testament has thirty-nine books, and the New Testament has twenty-seven books. The biblical stories sometimes reflect on your past life, current life, and future life. Through the biblical stories, we may find our location in our faith journey. John Wesley started Methodism with the Bible and was born again through listening to the Bible someone read in worship service. When he was not part of a mission to America, he was depressed and lost confidence to go forward. However, when he attended a worship service in Aldersgate, he listened to the Scripture reading. It was Luther’s Preface to Romans chapter 1:17, “For in it [the Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘the one who is righteous will live by faith.” As soon as he listened to the Scripture reading, he felt warm throughout his whole body as if the Holy Spirit covered him. After he started preaching outdoors and Methodism spread out to the whole of England. Wesley sent preachers to America in 1771. We are descendants of Wesley and the followers of Jesus Christ. We are the people of the Bible.

Look at the Altar! When you come into the sanctuary, you may find the eternal light, the cross, and the big Bible on the Altar. Do you ever wonder why we put the Bible on the Altar with the eternal light and the cross? It is a symbol of the Living God’s eternal word for salvation. The Letter of Hebrews says, “The Word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). It uses a verb of present progressive form, “is living,” which means that God’s word is living at present. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “ All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” I am proud that I am a Methodist. I encourage you to be the people of the Bible. Let’s read the Bible regularly, and be the people of the Bible. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Posted in Sermons