In the time of the Apostle Paul, the Greco-Roman world was one in which the literacy rate had reached a pinnacle in ancient history.
"Historians say the Roman civilization was based on the book and the register, meaning no one, either free or slave, could afford to be illiterate," says Jordan. "The written word was all around them both in public and private life. The republic amassed huge archives of reports on every aspect of public life. But when the Roman Empire fell, literacy became a fleeting thing.
"In the period called the Dark Ages, only about 30 percent of the population in Europe could read. They were the clergy or the wealthy who had time to do it and teach their kids.
"Imagine if you lived in say 1,000 A.D. and you didn't have a Bible because back then they were all handwritten. If you had one you couldn't read it. But the verse says, 'Study!' You think, 'Oh, geez, I need to apply my mind to the acquisition of knowledge by reading, but I can't read by investigation reflection or thinking deeply. I got to go find somebody to read it for me.'
*****
"If I told you I was going to send you to a remote island all by yourself where you're not going to see anybody for ten years and I want you to study God's Word, what books would you take with you as study aids? The King James Bible, an English dictionary, Strong's Concordance, a Bible dictionary, a few commentaries?
"Do you realize Strong's Concordance was first published in 1890? It's the first English concordance. In 1885, if you wanted to find a verse, you had to remember where it was. You ever do that? 'I know that verse is in here somewhere, where is it?'
"Nowadays everybody has an app on their phone for that. Do you understand you are a privileged group of people that in church history didn't exist!
"The printing press was introduced by Gutenberg in 1445. By the way, in 1437 there was a fleet of Chinese vessels that went up into the Mediterranean and delivered to Pope Edmond information from the Chinese emperor, part of which was printed books.
"The Chinese had developed the printing press long before. They had mapped the circumference of the planet. They developed latitude and longitude. That's the reason Columbus' Venetian mapmaker that everybody talks about, the map he had came from China.
"When the printing press was introduced in Europe in the 14th century, the time Wycliffe first translated the Bible, 80 percent of English adults couldn't spell their name. By the 17th century literacy went up to 60 percent and by the 18th century it was ubiquitous.
*****
"Do you know the first eyeglasses were introduced in the 1200s? Nero and Seneca in the First century were the first people in recorded history who talked about magnification, but it wasn't until the glass-blowing industry got going in the 11th and 12th century that they made looking stones, as they called them. The first glasses put in frames were in the 12th century.
"So, if you could get a Bible and you could read, you still couldn't see. In Galatians 6, when Paul says, 'You see what large a letter I've written you,' he wasn't talking about how long it was. Galatians is a short little book. He's talking about, 'I wrote this with my own hands and I wrote in big letters because I needed that to see.' If you write the letters big enough you can see them.
"Do you understand how privileged you are? It ought to humble you to understand. I was in Walmart the other day and bought a King James Bible with a nice cover on it for $9.95. Until 1450, if you had a Bible it had to be handwritten.
"Several years ago, a guy out of New York hand wrote the King James version. He wanted to figure out how long it would take to hand write it. It took him 4 years.
"Now, if you were in Wycliffe's day in the 14th century, and you had a Lombard Bible that Wycliffe translated into what was English at the time (English just began in the 1300s), you know how he did it? He didn't have a nice fountain pen with a big reservoir. He had a quill tip and he dipped it in ink.
"Before that they first started writing with chalk. Then they figured out how to add wax and graphite together. Then they added wax and color together for crayons. Before that, they chiseled it into rock. Can you imagine toting a Bible around chiseled in rock? well, you couldn't do it!
"Don't you see how privileged you are? You stick the thing under your arm, tote it home, throw it on the couch and don't think about it. Now, that guy with a felt-tip pen writes that Bible for four years. How many quills do you think he went through? Lots. And that's just to get one copy! How much is four years of your life worth, and if you had a copy by that means, do you think you'd be giving it away?!
*****
'I bought those Bibles at Walmart because we send them to prisoners. For 10 bucks we can provide a Bible to a prisoner. You think if it took me four years to write it I would send it to him? I wouldn't give it to you!
"Today you can research everything over the internet and never even leave your family room. Some days I don't even put on my shoes.
"We're privileged like no other age. We talked about those commentaries and stuff. Strong's Concordance was published in 1890. The first English American dictionary was published in 1828 by Noah Webster. The Bible was not finally put into English until 1611. What did you do before that when you wanted to know where a verse was?
"Do you understand the study aids you have?! The dictionaries, the information where people have studied, put it together, wrote it in a book, put it out there and you read it. Listen, sometime I'll study for hours and days to figure something out and i'll stand here behind the pulpit and teach it to you in 10 minutes and you've got it.
"It took me days and weeks sometime to figure it out and put it all together, but I can give it to you and you go, 'Woo-hoo, that's great, Brother Rick!' and go home. I don't get mad at you; I'm glad that you got it. You see, you benefit from the studying. That's what the ministry's all about.
*****
"Paul said, 'Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.'
"Look at all the privileges you and I have at our disposal that we didn't do anything to produce. The Body of Christ produced it, put them under our hands.
"We call this the Information Era, and it really is, but you see, it's that information that people need to hear. We need that humility of mind that comes from just appreciating what God has provided for us.
"You and I live in a time where the Body of Christ has produced truth, made it available. There ought to be no other course for your life or mine than to proclaim God's truth so that others can hear it.
"How can we just sit on it? How can we just take our laptop or notepad and turn it off and just leave it on the couch?
"We need that humbleness of mind, overwhelmed with the privilege you and I have of possessing God's Word in our own hands, and the tools to study it, and investigate it, and look at it, and examine it, and analyze it, and to think deeply and reflect about it. Paul says, 'Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding.'
"God help us not to just leave it on the table. 'To whom much is given much is required.' The thing that changed Paul's attitude was seeing all the abundance of what God had given for him in Christ.
"The thing that can give you the humility of mind grace produces is to take a moment and think about all the wonderful privileges God's given you in your life. I'm not talking about just in Christ; I'm talking about how it's impacted your life and then let that motivate you."
(new article tomorrow)
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