A Healthy Biblical Diet

This post originally published at www.modernchristian living.com   Bill Petite

Christians today have available to them multiple translations and versions of the Bible. In my opinion, there are some of these versions  which have really watered down the meaning of the original language and therefore have lessened the impact of the message. But, there are some very accurate translations available to us. For Christians to grow spiritually, it is important that they have a healthy Biblical diet; this would be the ability to read and understand the true meaning of the word of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. Reading the Bible without any type of plan or guidance is like shooting at a target with a blindfold on. The other issue is that many Christians simply don't read their Bible or they read it very little. God did not give His word through the men He inspired to write it as an optional tool for us; it is our manual for life and it tells us a great deal about our God. How hard is it to have a relationship with someone if you know nothing about him/her? The Bible contains more information about God than most Christians will ever know in their lifetime. It should be a goal in every Christian's life to know and study the Bible with the intention to know more and more about God and to enhance their relationship with Jesus. When we are saved, we enter into a relationship with Jesus; other than our prayer life, how do we get to know Jesus more and more? The Bible is about Jesus from Genesis to Revelation so, if we begin to study the Bible, we will then be on track in our relationship with Jesus. How can we know what the Bible is saying to us? Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us; in John 14, Jesus tells His disciples He would send the helper, the Holy Spirit.

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.   John 14:16-18   NKJV   www.biblegateway.com

Jesus did not ascend back into heaven and leave the disciples with only what He had taught them in the previous three years; as He ascended back into heaven He didn't tell them, "Good luck, I hope you remember everything I taught you because you're going to need it. I'll be here with the Father so if you need me, just yell." Jesus asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit as our helper because He knew we would be totally lost and helpless without Him. I say this because if you have ever tried to read and understand the Bible before you were saved, it really didn't make much sense. And, if you are reading this and you are not saved and have tried reading the Bible but could not understand it that is why. Without the Holy Spirit residing in us, the Bible is just another literary document with no meaning or impact at all. Now, that doesn't mean God can't use the Holy Spirit to reach an unsaved soul through the Bible, it is simply a fact that when unsaved people try to read the Bible for any other reason than for salvation, it will make no sense at all. That was my experience; I tried to read the Bible before I was saved and it was a total mystery. I didn't understand what any of it meant. The true meaning of the words in the Bible are best understood when being helped by the Holy Spirit. So, when a person is saved, that person should immediately be instructed to read John for the purpose of getting to know Jesus as our savior and to know how much He loves us. The Gospel of John is often referred to as the Gospel of love since it concentrates on the love Jesus has for us. As a new Christian reads the Gospel of John and has had a good head start on their Bible reading, this person should be instructed on how to develop a healthy Biblical diet in their Bible reading habits. Many new Christians are left to survive on their own with no discipleship at all. The Church is terrible about this; many local churches don't have a discipleship program established for new Christians and therefore these people are many times like sheep without a shepherd. They have no idea what to read, how to read the Bible or how to study the word. Many churches are only looking for the numbers; they are only concerned with filling the seats and putting the number of conversions on a monthly report. There must be a follow-up program for new believers. Discipleship is most important; there are far too many Christians in the Church today who are not willing to serve as a disciple and help new believers. There are far too many local churches who aren't really sure what to do with new Christians. New believers, when left to themselves, will develop bad habits concerning Bible reading or how to study the Bible. A friend of mine, after he was saved, was asked how or what pattern of reading habits he was using. His reply was, "I open my Bible in the morning and wherever it opens to, that is what I read." That's like abstract art, most of the time it makes no sense (my apologies to all you artists). There has to be a reading plan and a study plan; random and scattered reading gains a person nothing and the person will not grow. A scheduled, orderly reading plan will help a new Christian to become familiar with the Bible. Reading from Genesis to Revelation on a disciplined reading schedule will take a person through the Bible at a pace which the person can handle. The reading plan which I have been using for years consists of 23 chapters a week and it will will take a person through the Bible in a year. You can divide those chapters any way you want throughout the week; I read 3 chapters a day on week days and 4 a day on weekend days. This is a simple and easy to use reading plan for any Christian whether new or well matured. If a day is missed, move on and don't worry about make up unless you have the time available to do it. The new Christian should also be taken through a new believers Bible study to help them understand things like the importance of prayer, Bible study, assurance of salvation and many other important doctrines and aspects of the Christian life. It is extremely important that a new Christian have the opportunity to be involved in a discipleship program and learn how to have a healthy Biblical diet. This will get them out of the starter blocks and well on their way to a well-rounded Christian life. It will prepare them for the struggles and the joys of serving God!

“The one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians.” ― Kevin DeYoung

A Healthy Biblical Diet Of Teaching

One of the biggest problems in the Church today is the fact that the Bible, in its entirety, is not preached. It is common to hear sermons on social issues or some other topic that deals with the world and its problems. Why are we concerned with trying to emphasize the fringe and ignore the heart or the meat of what the Bible says? Mega church pastors give the impression they are attempting to keep up with the Jones', so to speak, as they conduct ministry. If one mega church pastor begins to preach a sermon on sex, they all, like dominoes, fall into line and begin to preach a series on sex, which, by the way, has happened in many of those large churches in this country. One pastor in Texas must have felt he really had to upstage the others as he prepared to begin his sermon series on sex in the marriage. He and his wife spent a day on the roof of the church building sitting on a bed to draw attention to his newly proposed sermon series. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul going into one of the areas he planted churches and pulling a stunt like this? What was Paul's favorite attraction when he went into these unreached areas? Jesus. He taught them about the savior, Jesus Christ. He didn't use gimmicks to reach the people, he simply taught them about Jesus. Can you imagine Paul putting a bed on top of the temple and then start to promote a new series on sex in the marriage? Well, it doesn't stop there. Some pastors have never taught through the Bible. I have nothing against topical sermons as long as the sermon is based on scripture and the scripture is included in the sermon and properly interpreted. But the best way to teach the Bible is to teach the Bible. I have many times been asked to preach/teach a Sunday morning or a mid-week service and I simply take the passage which the Lord had put on my heart and teach it. It didn't have to be a social topic on how to convert the government into a Christian organization or how to stop the violence in the streets! We pray for those social problems and ask God to work in those areas according to His will but we shouldn't take that very valuable time on Sunday morning and talk about it. That time is set aside for the instruction from God's word. We need to know the purpose of God’s word; we need to know how important it is to know His word and why we put so much emphasis on knowing it.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.  2 Tim. 3:16-17 NLT

There are many churches today which have compromised for the purpose of filling the seats. They have given in to worldly practices in order to attract people to come into their sanctuaries. They compromise on the Bible teaching so they don't offend or step on toes; they will do these things in order to keep the people coming back. If something is used to draw in the people, well that is one thing, but when you have them in the seats, teach them what the word of God says. Don't cheat them out of the opportunity to know who Jesus really is and how to know Him as savior! It is very difficult, if not impossible, to bring a person to the saving knowledge of Jesus without teaching the word and telling them about Him. Teaching a "feel good about yourself" message or giving a motivational speech and occasionally mentioning the word god, will not allow people to know who Jesus is. How do they know what the Bible really says if it is not taught to them and they have no encouragement to read it?

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?   Rom. 10:14  NLT

We can't afford not to teach those in attendance every time the doors are open for service. We can't cheat, those who don't know Jesus, out of the opportunity to hear the good news about Jesus. There are simply far too many other things going on in our churches today that cheat people out of the good news of Jesus; they may never hear what Jesus has done for us. In the Church today, there must be a healthy Biblical diet available for the people. Without a healthy diet of Bible teaching and instruction, the average Christian will grow stale. Another important concern is many pastors only teach what they want to teach; some will concentrate on prophecy and end times and others will never teach these areas. Some will teach an evangelistic message every week and everyone in the church is already saved. In one local church which I attended, the pastor would take suggestions from the people for his summer long Sunday messages. There has to be a healthy balance of teaching which includes the entire Bible; teach the whole counsel of God so the people will receive a well-balanced Biblical meal over time. Hot topics related to worldly social issues will never help a Christian to grow and entertaining the church will result in nothing more than a church full of entertained people.

“The "show business," which is so incorporated into our view of Christian work today, has caused us to drift far from Our Lord's conception of discipleship. It is instilled in us to think that we have to do exceptional things for God; we have not. We have to be exceptional in ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, surrounded by sordid sinners. That is not learned in five minutes.”
― Oswald Chambers

The Church has become a place to be fed, with food, to be entertained and given a feel good message. It has treated the Bible as a document you might want to read or take a look at if you get time. There is little encouragement to bring one with you to services or to read it on your own. Bible studies are not organized to teach the Bible but instead some book which was written by a woman or a man and seems to be the hottest topic around the church. Bible studies without the Bible??! It is so important for Christians to find a local church which teaches the Bible, regardless of topical or exposition (verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book) format. Attending a local church because it has all the newest fads, technology or food vendors is the wrong reason. God wants our undivided attention when we are in service for Him; He is a jealous God and cares very little about the technology or food vendors in the lobby. His concern is for your hearing the word and receiving it and applying it to your life. So, that is why it is important to have a healthy Biblical diet in your life. Regardless if it is in the church you attend or your private reading and study habits, it is extremely important for the Christian to be Biblically well fed!