From the Pastor's Study
From the Pastor’s Study
Bible Knowledge Exam
May 11, 2022
“Oma, are you studying for an exam?” A young boy, just a couple of years into school had been watching his great grandmother read her Bible, and he wondered why. He had another relative who was in university, and she had been spending a lot of time reading and studying in preparation for her finals, and this young boy thought that perhaps his Oma was doing the same. (He also told his Oma that she was “on the way out” because she was so old!) A member of the congregation told me this story a few days ago, marvelling at the perceptive mind of her great grandson. Laughingly, the Oma told the boy that she was not studying for an exam, and she didn’t have to pass any exam in order to get into heaven.
There is no Bible knowledge exam that we have to pass in order to gain eternal life. The thief on the cross put his trust in Jesus Christ in his final hours of life, and I suspect that all he knew was that Jesus was sent from God to give salvation to all who would trust in him. This thief probably had some religious upbringing, for he was likely a Jew, but chances are, judging from the choices he had been making that ended up with his crucifixion, he knew very little of the Bible. Had he had a Bible exam, he would not have passed. If we did anticipate having to pass a Bible exam in order to get into heaven, I expect that most of us would be working on a PhD in biblical studies, just to be sure.
It is quite clear that trust in Jesus Christ is the only way we gain access to heaven, to eternal life. Why, then, should we read the Bible?
We might ask the same question of farmers: why do farmers read farm papers if they are already farmers? Or why do auto mechanics take courses after they have already gotten their ticket? Why do teachers have PD (professional development) days if they already have a job? Why do greenhouse owners go to trade shows if their business is already successful? No one does this to gain access to the profession, for they are already in. They read and take courses and go to trade shows to better themselves in their profession. Continual learning shows a sign of humility that says, “I don’t know everything yet, and because I want to be the best that I can be, I will seek opportunities to learn more.” Some professions have built-in humility. Those in the medical field know that there is always more to know, so those in charge have built in requirements for continuing education. That is also a sign of humility.
For the same reason, we read and study our Bibles. There is always more to learn and know. The thing about the Bible is that it isn’t just a record of ancient history, although it contains some of that. The Bible is a little like a manual for life, teaching us to understand the world is a different way than we would understand it if all we did was watch TV. Besides telling us how we can be saved (the central message of Scripture), the Bible gives us insight into God’s ways, and as we gain that insight, we become more capable human beings. After all, if God is our Creator, then he should also know how we ought to live.
When we read Scripture, we do so as an act of humility. We turn to God’s Word because we know that we don’t have life all figured out. None of us really knows how to live, and as soon as we begin to feel that we have gained some proficiency in life, something happens which brings us to the realization that we don’t really know. A teenager, for example, might think they know it all, but when they strike out on their own, they find themselves having to learn how to face new challenges for which they might not have the answer. Parents may think they know what they are doing until their children get married and the in-laws are different from the ones they would have chosen. Every time we encounter a new situation, we discover how incapable we are, and we find ourselves needing direction. A committed follower of Jesus Christ will seek help and direction from God’s Word.
Recently I found myself having to work through a difficult situation, and I turned to God’s Word. What should I read? If paged through Scripture and I found Psalm 119. (I mentioned the same psalm last week.) It’s a long psalm and it took me half an hour to read through it, thinking about some of the ideas I found in it. At the end, I discovered that the best thing I could do was remain faithful and obedient to the Lord, all the while trusting that he would be faithful to me and my situation. As I reflected on what I had read, I came to understand that I had been at a crossroads. It would have been very easy to reject God’s ways at that point and even stop trusting in him. When in a difficult situation, it is as easy, sometimes, to turn against God as it is to turn to him. Scripture reminded me to turn to him again and trust him by being obedient to his ways. It was the best way, and although the situation remains unresolved, I am convinced that I need to remain faithful to the Lord.
There won’t be an exam on Psalm 119 when we get to heaven. We won’t be asked how many verses are in the psalm (176) or how the psalm is arranged (an acrostic with 8 verses in a row starting with a subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet), but we will learn that the teachings of Psalm 119 hold true, namely that we remain obedient to the Lord no matter what, for he will be faithful to us.
We read the Bible because we want to become more faithful followers of Jesus Christ, and we trust that as we read and study, the Holy Spirit will shape our hearts and minds so that we do just that. We don’t read the Bible to pass an exam to get into heaven. We read the Bible so that we can learn to live in trust of the Lord more each day. We read the Bible because we want to be as good at following Jesus Christ as we possibly can be.
Pastor Gary
