Communication, Interpretation, and Getting God’s Words Twisted
Just an hour or two ago, I was talking with a family sitting right here at our early church service. There was a little girl and her stepdad, and I asked the little girl, “What’s your favorite part about church?” She said right away, “The singing.” I said, “That’s great, me too. What’s your least favorite part about church?” And she said, “Being quiet.” I thought, “That’s a good answer.” Then her mom comes. She must have been grabbing a cup of coffee in the lobby, and her mom comes in, and so I decide I’m going to ask mom the same questions. I ask the mom, “What’s your favorite part about church?” And the mom says, without having to think, “When I get to leave.” Oh, well, we appreciate honesty at our church. I said, “Thank you for the feedback.” And she’s like, “No, no, no, that came out wrong. I mean, like, I feel so good when I leave. I feel like church makes a difference in my life. I’m so glad that I came when I walk out those doors because it’s different than when I walked in.” And I thought, “Okay, that helps.” Thank you, thank you, thank you. This would have been the most depressing Sunday if, in the back of my brain, it would have been, “Just get it over with so this woman can be happy,” right?
Communication is one of the trickier things of life, is it not? Understanding the intention that the communicator is trying to communicate. It’s one thing to speak, it’s one thing to listen, it’s another thing to understand, to grasp what’s trying to be communicated. If you’ve ever been in a relationship, whether you’re dating someone or married, you know that few things matter more than communication, and few things affect communication more than interpretation. You probably know, in our emailing-filled, texting world, it’s so easy to not understand what a person is trying to say to you. You have to actually work really hard and apply some really basic communication skills to make sure that you’re grasping what another person is trying to give to you. If that’s true in our earthly relationships, how much more true is that when it comes to God? God is a God who loves to communicate. God is the God who loves to speak. But it’s really easy to get his words twisted. It’s actually fairly simple and unfortunately common that people don’t understand the things that God is trying to say to us.
Five Bible Passages That Get Twisted
I bet maybe in your life you’ve come across people who have understood the heart of God and people who have gotten it twisted, people who passed on to you a good interpretation of his word and those who perhaps were erroneous and mistaken in their thinking. Let me give you a whole bunch of examples.
The Bible says a really simple, famous verse that every parent loves and no child does. It says in Ephesians 6, “Children, obey your parents.” And when you interpret that right, that’s actually a really beautiful passage. Where there’s no love and respect and honor in a home, that home is drama-filled, chaotic, and you cannot wait to get out of it. But when parents are filled with patience and love and godliness, and their children honor mother and father and obey their parents in the Lord, it is generally the happiest kind of home. But that passage can get twisted. I’ve heard far too many stories of bad parents, abusive parents, who try to force their kids to keep family secrets a secret. They say, “You have to honor me. You have to obey me.” I’ve heard even spouses twist passages about love and respect. “You have to forgive me for what I did. You can’t leave me because the Bible says this.” The Bible has so many good passages about healthy homes, but if you misunderstand them, take them out of context, get them twisted, it’s not a happy home at all.
Or how about a second example? When Peter says, “Baptism now saves you.” If you’ve ever witnessed a baptism at our church, we love baptisms because we believe this passage. We believe that baptism is not some good thing that we do for God, just going public with our faith. We believe that baptism is something amazing that God does for us, that he takes the most common things in the world, like water and his holy word, and he saves us, he changes us, he washes away our sin, he gives us renewal and rebirth. We applaud for baptisms not because we’re seeing a human do some great work, but because we’re seeing God do a great work in a human heart. Baptism now saves you. But I’ve got to tell you, that’s a passage that way too many parents get twisted. I can’t tell you in my almost 20 years of being a pastor how many families will show up when a child has been born to get it baptized, and then I don’t see them until the next child is born that they want to get baptized. They mistakenly take that passage out of context and forget that Jesus said to baptize and teach, that you can give birth to a child that’s very much alive, but you need to keep feeding that child or that child will stop living. Baptism is a beautiful gift, but it can be abused and misunderstood if you think that just because it saved you, that you can never lose what God has given you.
Or how about this passage from the book of 1 John? “God is love.” I have a friend who converted to Christianity essentially because of these words. Because God is love, he never stops doing what is best for us as a perfect, loving Father. But some people get it twisted. They think that because God is love, God never gets mad at anything. They think that because God is love, only heaven exists and not hell. They think that because God is love, we should never have hard conversations with other people and call them to correction and repentance. It’s a beautiful phrase, but it, too, can get twisted.
Or how about this one? “What God has joined together,” these are the words of Jesus, “let no one separate.” Jesus was talking about marriage in this passage, and it is inspiring to me as a man who’s married to know that God joined me and Kim together. But I’ve seen some churchgoing people get this one twisted, too. Well, Jesus said, “Let no one separate,” and so some people jump to the unbiblical conclusion that you can never separate, never get a divorce, or God will be mad at you. I’ve seen people be victims of abuse, let their children stay in really toxic situations because they think, “Well, God brought us together, we can’t separate.” They have a really shallow understanding of Jesus and the Bible’s teaching on marriage and divorce.
Last example. The Bible also says that God saved us, and it’s not because of righteous things we had done. Maybe you’ve known this for a long time, but a lot of people that come to our church don’t know that the way you get saved, that the way you get to heaven is not by you being a good person. It’s not by you trying harder, it’s not by you climbing some ladder. The way that you get to heaven is Jesus, period. It’s grace, period. It’s God, period. God, in his amazing mercy, takes sinful people like us and he saves us, not because we’re good but because he is, not because we’re so perfect but because Jesus was perfect for us. What a beautiful thing. I know that whenever I die, I will be saved. I will go immediately to heaven, and this is the reason why. Because it’s not about Mike being a good guy, it’s about Jesus being a great Savior. But some people get it twisted. They think, “Well, if I’m not saved by the good things that I do, why would I try that hard to do good things?” Why give? Why serve? Why repent? Why change? Why try to love a difficult person at work? Why be patient with that grouchy neighbor? They forget that the Bible says the God who saved us by grace still has some really good works that we can do to say thank you that grace saved us.
Do you see my point? You don’t need five more passages. You can hear the Bible, you can read the Bible, you can go to church where the Bible is opened, but it’s only going to do what God wants it to do if you don’t get it twisted. So, big question. How do you know that your interpretation is what God’s intention was? How can you make sure, whether it’s baptism or salvation or marriage and divorce, that when you read the Bible, you’re actually getting what God is trying to communicate? How can we be sure that our church is, like, getting it right even though other churches have different understandings and interpretations? How can anyone know if we actually grasp the heart and the will of God? These are good questions, and I’m so happy to tell you today that there are some really good answers. There’s actually a set of skills that I want to teach you that are actually kind of obvious when you think about them. They’re the same skills that you use when you’re trying to understand a coworker’s email or the comment your spouse made before they went to bed last night.
What Is Hermeneutics?
There’s a set of really basic skills. You don’t have to be a doctor or a pastor or have some degree in biblical interpretation. I want to teach you, like, a crash course on the science of interpretation, and it’s sometimes called a big word — you got a pen in your hand that you can take a note? I want to teach you for the next couple weeks what some people call hermeneutics. Now that’s a word that will impress your friends after church is over, huh? “I studied hermeneutics today.” Actually, when I was in seminary, we had a class called homiletics, that’s how to preach. We had a class called dogmatics. It’s not about dogs, it’s about dogma, biblical doctrine and teaching. We had a whole class called hermeneutics. It actually comes from the Greek god Hermes, if you know anything about Greek mythology. He was a dude with the winged shoes. He would fly from the gods with their words down to human beings. And so, hermeneutics is this idea that God has spoken and we want to make sure that we interpret his words accurately. The science of hermeneutics is a set of basic skills to make sure that when you read the Bible and we teach the Bible here in our church, we’re actually grasping what God is giving. And my hope and my prayer is that at the end of today and the end of this series, that you’re going to realize that interpreting the Bible well is actually simpler and easier than you might think.
“Money Is the Root of All Evil” — Except That’s Not What the Bible Says
So, I want to start today with the number one, by far, most important rule of interpreting the Bible. But before I give it to you, let me give you maybe the best example of it. Let me show you a passage that many of you have heard before. It says, “Money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Give me a thumbs up if you’ve heard that before in your life. Isn’t that so true, that there is so often a connection with really gross acts of evil and money? For example, why would a country invade another country, go to war, send the drones, drop bombs, leave orphans and widows behind, sacrifice hundreds, if not thousands, if not tens of thousands, if not millions of soldiers? Why in the world would someone do that? And you might say, “Well, because they want more land.” To which I would say, “Why do they want the land?” And you’d say, “Because it’s valuable land, because there are minerals there, because there’s oil underneath that land.” And I would say, “Well, why would a country want more oil or more precious minerals?” And the answer, eventually, is money.
If I asked you, how do you possibly explain human trafficking? Why would someone do something that vile and evil? You think deeply enough about the heartbreaking subject, and the answer is money. If I asked you why a pastor or a priest or a church would guilt people into giving a bigger offering, why would you misuse the word? Why would you mess up people’s religious experiences? Why in the world would you ever do that? And the short, simple answer is money. Why would a company cover up what really happened with its leaders, hire some PR squad to figure out how to clean up the mess instead of just telling people what actually happened? And the answer is because if the truth got out, people might not trust the company. If they don’t trust the company, they might not buy the product, and if they don’t buy the product, the company will make less, say it with me, money. Yeah. I mean, you see why this is true, that money is so often connected to all kinds of evil, to lies, deception, cover-up, abuse, trafficking, war, violence, and all the rest.
But hold up. Hold up. If money’s so evil, why do you have it? If money’s this root that’s going to produce all kinds of evil fruit in your life, should we, if we’re being Bible people, start a big bonfire in the parking lot after church so you can put all of your money? Should we make a run to the bank on Monday morning and just get rid of it all? And you, are 21st-century Americans, which means you actually have more money, which is supposedly evil, than most people historically, comparatively, in human history, have ever had. So, are you especially evil people? And wait, isn’t it money that helps us spread the good news of Jesus Christ? Wasn’t it money and generous rich people that helped build the building where we’re worshiping Jesus today? Isn’t it money that helps to build hospitals and feed the poor and take care of the homeless in our society? Isn’t it money that was given to you when you needed it most, such a help as you were getting on your feet as a young adult? How can money be so evil if it does so much good? And weren’t some really good people in the Bible really rich by the grace of God? Wasn’t Abraham rich? Wasn’t Solomon rich? How can it be so bad if that’s what the Bible says?
Now, some of you know why I’ve twisted your brain up in knots just now. I chose my words very carefully a few minutes ago. I said that “money is the root of all kinds of evil” is a passage. But do you know what I did not say? That it’s a Bible passage. Let me show you the reference. “Money is the root of all kinds of evil” is not in the Bible. There are 31,173 verses in the Bible, and zero of them say that money is the root of all kinds of evil. So let me read to you today what the Bible actually says.
“Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” — 1 Timothy 6:9–10
Everything I just said to you was connected not to money itself, but to people who want, who are eager for, who idolize, and who love money at an excessive level.
The Number One Rule: Read the Bible
So, what is the first and most important rule of interpreting the Bible? If you’re taking notes, here it is. Read the Bible. Don’t read about the Bible. Don’t just assume that what you heard from a friend or in church or from a parent is the truth. Don’t read about it, read it. And if you do, 90% of the time, you don’t have to be some longtime Christian, or some deeply educated pastor. You just read the Bible, and what God means is right there on the page.
That’s what Pastor Tim learned when he went to the Bank of Canada. Not the Pastor Tim who serves at our church. There’s an author and blogger named Tim Challies, he’s from Canada, and he had heard this kind of analogy when he was growing up in the church, that if you touch currency enough, you just know what’s real and what isn’t. In fact, he had preached that message. And he wanted to see if it was true. So, he booked an appointment, he jumped through all the hoops, and he went to the Bank of Canada, where a woman named Monica, who was a currency expert, gave him a crash course on the difference between legit and counterfeit currency. She brought out a 20, and she told him to do four things with it. Monica told Tim, “First, you’ve got to touch it, then tilt it, then look at it, and then look through it. And if you do these four basic things, even you, Pastor Tim, will probably be able to tell if it’s real or if it isn’t.” According to Monica, you didn’t need to have a four-year degree, you just needed about 45 minutes with someone who knew what they were talking about, and you could tell the real thing from what was not real.
I’m so happy to tell you today that the Bible is exactly like that. If you want to go to Bible college, great. If some of you want to be theologians and pastors, outstanding. But you don’t need to do that to have confidence that you can understand the word of God. You just have to touch it enough. You have to turn its pages. You have to get familiar with the way that God speaks in his word. And if you do this enough for a long time, you will almost immediately be able to tell what is legit and biblical and what’s not.
Hearing About vs. Actually Listening
Now some of you are thinking, “Pastor, this is the most obvious sermon I have ever heard in church. Wait, I came — I put on pants — I showered and put on pants today, and gas is expensive, and I drove all the way here for you to tell me to read the Bible?” And the answer is, I did do that. But I need to do that, and let me tell you why. I recently realized that I had some pretty strong convictions and opinions about people not because I had heard them but because I had heard about them. It dawned on me when I heard some long-form podcast with a famous politician that I had a really strong opinion about, and I realized for years I’ve had a conception of this person not because I’ve ever heard them talk but because I’ve heard other people talk about them. I read the news story, I saw the social media clip, there was a little snippet of one thing he or she said. But I’d listened to podcast after podcast, seen headline after headline. I had heard for years so much about them, but I’d never actually heard them. And it only took an hour for me to realize, “Oh man, my interpretation of what this person is like is way, way off.”
You see, you and I live in a culture where there’s a lot of talk about and very little listening to. We find our podcasts, we find our news stations, we find our favorite websites, and we let other people tell us what to think about other people. It’s not necessarily wrong, it’s just the wrong place to start. I talked with a guy after the first service today, and he said, “It was wild. I listened to a podcast from a politician that I thought I hated, and it took like 15 minutes for me to realize this guy is not hate-able. The news that I was listening to had taken the little snippets and just turned the volume up to 12 with anger and rage, and every time I heard his name, I got fired up. And then I literally listened to him for 15 minutes and said, ‘Oh, turns out he’s a human being. Turns out I don’t agree with everything he stands for or promotes, but I can understand what he’s like.'” My point is, we live in an age where it is so easy to do that with the Bible, too, where there are countless podcasts, so many YouTube channels, TikTok. You can scroll all day and hear about — you can hear people like me talking about the Bible, and you can spend little to zero of your time actually engaging with the Bible.
Now I need to clarify it. Obviously, I’m preaching a sermon right now. I will continue to do this. I like it, and I hope you do, too. I love devotional books where there’s, like, one little Bible passage and then a couple paragraphs that an author writes. I like those, I write those, I hope you enjoy those, too. I like social media. I like engaging where people are at on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube and Facebook. I’m going to keep creating posts. I hope you enjoy them, I enjoy them, too. But what I’m trying to say to you is all of that must, must, must be secondary to our engagement with the primary source that is the word of God. Do not end up with the kind of faith where you are totally dependent on your pastor’s interpretation. Do not spend a whole year where you know exactly what that TikToker thinks about Jesus, but you haven’t been forced to think for yourselves by primarily engaging with the words of Jesus. Let’s let commentary be commentary and Holy Scripture be Scripture.
Why It All Matters: The Bible Points to Jesus
But before I say “amen” and “see you next week,” one last thing. I should tell you that the reason I really want to push you and nudge you and beg and plead with you to read the Bible, it’s not just so that you can check the box and say you did it and our church is above average on the percentile charts. I want you to do it so that you can know Jesus. Jesus is the heart of the whole Bible. From the first page, the Old Testament points to him, and from the last page, the New Testament points back to him as well. In fact, in John 5, Jesus was speaking, and he said this:
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” — John 5:39
I want you to read every word that is about Jesus. I want you to grasp, better than you ever have in your life, the height and the width and the length and the depth of the love that God has for you through his son, Jesus Christ.
The whole Bible is pointing you to the beautiful name of Jesus. I want you to read on the first pages about Adam and Eve, two people who were tempted in a garden and they gave in, and it messed up your life forever. So that when you get to Jesus and he is tempted in a garden the night before he dies, but he stands strong, he resists temptation, he would save your life forever. I want you to read about Noah, the guy who used a bunch of wood to build an ark to save his family, so that when you get to Jesus, you’d realize that he used some wood to save the family of God, to save you. And yes, I want you to read Leviticus. Promise me you won’t skim it. And when animal after animal after animal after animal is being slit and cut, when they’re bleeding out on the temple floor, you would realize in your soul, God takes sin so seriously. Blood has to be shed if God hates the things that we have done, and yet in his mercy he said, “Instead of you, how about this?” So that hundreds of pages later, you get to the New Testament, and John the Baptist says, “Look at Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” And you would realize, “God did take my sin seriously.” He didn’t turn a blind eye, but he just poured out his wrath on his son, and in him I’m set free. I want you to read every page of the book so that when it comes to Jesus, you would see the richness and the beauty of the blessings that are yours in his name. Read the Bible, and you read about Jesus, and you and I can never get enough Jesus.
My friends, God gave us a book, and identifying a good interpretation from a bad one is not an incredibly difficult or impossible task. You, too, can do it with great accuracy. And when you don’t get it twisted, you will learn more than ever before about your Savior, Jesus. Let’s pray.
God, it is mind-blowing and beautiful that you gave us a book. You didn’t put your will as some vague impression in our heart. You didn’t promise to speak to us through unclear and confusing dreams. Unlike the ancients, we didn’t have to look at the sky and try to figure out if the birds were trying to tell us something about your heart. We don’t have to read the stars, study a horoscope. No, God, you gave us a book that does not change. Your word is the same yesterday and today and forever, and we are so grateful that we can know you.
Thank you for the Bible. It can be misused, God, but it is a great gift from your heart. And I pray more than ever before that we as people, that us as a church, that we would be people of this book. Help us to interpret it well, to be humble and patient, be willing to change and be corrected if our interpretation is off. And bless us in the weeks to come with a simple set of skills that every time we hold this book in our hands, we never have to feel overwhelmed or too uneducated to understand you. But instead, we can know exactly what you want and, most importantly, exactly what you’ve done through your Son, Jesus. We want to be a Bible people, God, who pass on the best interpretations to our friends, to our family, and to the next generation.
We pray this all in the saving name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And all God’s people said, amen.
