woman; neither works."
Wise sayings like these of Will Rogers have been with us since the beginning of time. They are a part of every language and every people's heritage. The Old Testament contains an entire book of proverbs, or wise sayings, and additional wisdom literature with fascinating sayings, which have been handed down from generation to generation. Sayings such as these:
Also, some years before the time of Christ, Cicero was giving us some words that have been repeated millions of times since he first spoke them: "One does not have to believe everything he hears," and "Virtue is its own reward." And when we really stop to think about it, we see that the Ten Commandments were in a sense wise sayings that Moses and the early Israelites felt were worth repeating, worth saying again and again.
Now, with all this in mind, let's look closer at riches of the Bible. The Bible is full of wise sayings, strong commandments, great lessons, thoughtful parables, excellent examples, and powerful events that serve to teach us God's way, God's truth, God's will for us in this life.
Remember how the apostle Paul expressed it in his second letter to his close friend Timothy. He said, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 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" (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
Recently, I had the privilege of giving Bibles to the third graders in our church. In anticipation of that significant event, I tried to think of how to express to our children, and all of us, in three simple sentences, or three wise sayings, what the Bible teaches us. And here's what I came up with. I'm sure that you will think of other ideas (there are so many), but for now look with me at these three basic sentences that remind us what the Bible teaches us.
First, the Bible Teaches Us to Love God Because He First Loves Us
Again and again, Jesus says this: God is a loving Father (not an angry, hostile, vengeful deity who must be appeased), a loving Father who cannot rest until he finds his lost children.
This is the recurring theme of Jesus' teaching and we see this especially in Luke 15 in the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
Interestingly, there are three different kinds of lostness depicted here: (1) the coin is lost by accident through no fault of its own; (2) the sheep is lost from wandering off, drifting away, going off on its own; (3) the son loses himself on purpose. He willfully, arrogantly, and pridefully runs away to the far country. But, in each case, the search is intense and victorious. And when the lost is found, there is great joy and celebration. Over and over the Bible teaches us this. We see it especially in the teachings of Jesus, the seeking, gracious, forgiving love of God! We love God because he first loves us.
His name was Ray. He had come to ask me a favor. His daughter (who was sixteen years old) was a teenage runaway, and someone had seen her in Dallas. He wanted me to go to Dallas with him. So, we went to Dallas in search of her. All day, one place after another, we looked. I'll never forget the intensity in Ray's face, the sense of urgency, the conscientious, dedicated manner of the search, the hopefulness in his eyes as we went into arcades and discothèques and coffeehouses and teenage hangouts. "Maybe she'll be here," he would say. We looked and looked all day long and into the night, but we didn't find her that day.
On the trip back home, we rode along in disappointed silence. I'll never forget Ray's slumped shoulders and misty eyes, his agonizing unrest, because he was separated from his daughter. His child was lost, and he was heartsick. He wanted to find her and bring her home.
She surfaced a few days later in Washington, D.C. She had heard somehow that her dad was in Dallas looking for her urgently. She was touched by his love. She called Ray crying. She wanted to come home. Ray was on the first plane to go get her and bring her back.
I learned something of what God is like that day with Ray—something of what Jesus taught in his parables about God's seeking love. God is a loving Father who desperately wants his children back. He wants to find them and bring them home. Nowhere is this more powerfully expressed than on the Cross at Calvary. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16).
That's why we love God, because he first loves us. When we understand that and accept that and celebrate that, then we can't sit still; we want to thank him and serve him and love him back.
Some years ago, Karl Barth, the noted theologian, was on a speaking tour in the United States. A student said to him, "Dr. Barth, you are one of the greatest theologians of all time. You have written volumes and volumes of theology, but can you sum up your faith in a single sentence?" Dr. Barth said: "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so." That's number one: the Bible teaches us to love God because he first loves us.
Second, the Bible Teaches Us to Love Other People for God's Sake
Some years ago when we were living in Shreveport, Louisiana, a young man came down and joined the church at the end of our worship service one Sunday morning. His name was Tommy. He lived in a church-sponsored home just two blocks from the church. Tommy decided that I would be his friend, and we did indeed become good friends.
Tommy was quite a character. He had a sweet spirit, but he frightened some people because he looked different and talked really loud; and sometimes in his innocence, he would say embarrassing things or ask me embarrassing questions. He didn't mean to say things that most people would not say in public. He was curious and we were friends and he felt like he could ask me anything, and often he did ask me in the most public places in a booming voice.
He worked at a nearby hospital. He put the linens in the supply closets and could do his job well as long as nobody changed the routine. If the routine changed, however, he would become lost and confused and frustrated. If the door always opened toward him, no problem. But if someone changed the door so that it opened away from him, he could not figure that out. It would never occur to him to try it the other way. But Tommy was a good guy and a special child of God. He needed a friend, and I decided that I would be a friend
