Think for a moment on this July 4th how
privileged we are to each have a bible and be able to read and study it. As Paul notes in Ephesians 3, “Whereby, when ye read, ye may
understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.”
“Think about how in the time of the Apostle Paul in the Greco-Roman
world, the literacy rate had reached a pinnacle in ancient history,” says
Jordan. “The Greek world, the Greek philosophers, the Roman world . . .
Historians say that the Roman civilization was based on ‘the book and the register.’
“No one, either free or a slave, could afford to be
illiterate. The written word was all around them, both in public and private
life, through the law, calendars, regulations on shrines, etc. Funeral epitaphs
were engraved in stone or bronze. The republic amassed huge archives of reports
on every aspect of public life. So people were literate, but when the Roman
Empire fell, literacy became a fleeting thing.
“You go into a period called the Dark Ages and during that
age, only about 30 percent of the population in Europe could read, and they
would be the clergy or the wealthy who had time to do it and teach their kids.
“Now you imagine if you lived in, say, 1,000 A.D. and you couldn’t
read that verse in Ephesians because you didn’t have a bible, because bibles
back then were all handwritten, and if you had one, you wouldn’t be able to
read anyway.
“II Timothy 2:15 says, 15] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
“The word ‘study’ means ‘the application of the mind to
the acquisition of knowledge as by reading, investigation or reflection. To research
or a detailed examination and analysis of a subject. To endeavor, to think
deeply, to reflect, to consider what God says.’
“Paul says ‘Study!’ and you think, ‘Oh, geez, I need to
apply my mind to the acquisition of knowledge by reading, but I can’t read by
investigation! I got to go find somebody to read it for me by reflection and
thinking deeply.’
“What would you do? Look at you this morning. How many of
you don’t have a Bible in your lap? I’ve got a bible on my phone, my tablet, my
IPad, my laptop, my desktop.
“If I told you today, ‘I’m going to send you to a remote
island all by yourself and you’re not going to see anybody for 10 years, and I
want you to study God’s Word,’ what books would you take with you as study
aids?
“First thing I would do is take a King James Bible, an
English dictionary, a concordance, Treasure
of Scripture Knowledge. Maybe you’d take a bible dictionary, take a
commentary or two. Take a 1611 Bible. Take a Strong’s Concordance.
“Do you realize a Strong’s Concordance was first published
in 1890? It was 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’s
in there somewhere; where’s it at?’
“Now you don’t even own a concordance anymore because the
Bible app you got on your stupid phone is hooked into it. Do you understand you
are a privileged group of people that in church history didn’t exist?!
*****
“The printing press was introduced by Guttenberg in 1445. By the way, Guttenberg’s said to have invented the printing press and that’s not true. 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 the Venetian mapmaker everybody talks
about that Columbus might have saw—did he see or didn’t he see?—the map that he
got . . . what he did was introduce the printing press. That’s all strange to
you, I know, because your history didn’t teach you that.
“In the 14th century when Wycliffe first translated the
bible, 80 percent of English adults couldn’t spell their name. In the 15th
century, when Gutenberg introduced the printing press, only about 30 percent of
European adults were literate.
“By the 17th century, the number went up to 60
percent. By the 18th century it was ubiquitous. Did you know in
Sweden in the 17th century, the 1660s along in there, there was 100
percent literacy rate because the church required people to be able to read. Do you understand you could have lived in an
era where you couldn’t read? A lot of us wouldn’t have been able to.
“I wear glasses because I can’t read without them. Did you
know the first eyeglasses were introduced in the 1200s? Nero, Seneca, the 1st
century; they were the first people in recorded history talking about
magnification, but it wasn’t until the glass-blowing industry got going in the
11th and 12th centuries that they made ‘looking stones,’ as they
called them. The first glass put into frames was in Italy in 1286.
“So if you could get a bible and you could read, but you
couldn’t see . . . Paul says in Galatians 6, ‘You see what a large letter I’ve
written you.’ He’s not talking about how long it is; Galatians is a short
little book. He’s talking about, ‘I wrote this with my own hands and I put it
in big letters because I need that to see.’ You see, if you write letters big
enough, blind as I am in one eye, you can still see them.
*****
*****
“Do you understand how privileged you are? It ought to
humble you to understand . . . I was in Wal-Mart the other day and I bought a
KJB with a nice cover on it for $9.99. Until 1450, a bible had to be
handwritten.
“Several years ago, a guy in New York handwrote the King
James Bible; he wanted to figure out how long it would take him. It took him
four years. Now, if you were in Wycliffe’s day in the 14th century,
and you got 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.
“Before that, they first started writing with chalk. Then
they figured out how to add wax and graphite together. Then they had wax and
color together—crayons. Before that, they chiseled it into rock. Can you
imagine toting a bible like that around?! Well, you couldn’t do it.
“Do you understand how privileged you are, and 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 and
it takes him four years. How many quills do you think he went through? Lots. I
got this nice pen with a gold tip on it and it will write forever. If it
doesn’t, they’ll put me a new one in it. But when you use those bible marking pens,
how long do they last? 2-3 months. Why? Because you wear them out. If you had
to have a quill, you would have to have a bunch and that’s just to get one
copy.
“Paul says, ‘[8] 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 them for us, put them into our hands. We call this the ‘Information
Era’ and it really is, but you see it’s that information that people need to
hear.
“That ‘humility of mind’ Paul talks about 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 and made it available. There ought to be no other
course for your life or for 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
notepad and turn it off and lay it on the couch? That humbleness is about being
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 to look at it and to
examine it and analyze it and to think deeply and reflect upon it.
“Paul
says, ‘Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.’ 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 that 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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