Going through papers after moving I came across something that was surprisingly relevant to our time.

March 20, 2012
I dreamed last night that someone stole my car. And then I dreamed what the meaning of the dream was. And then I dreamed about writing this. So here it is –
I dreamed last night that someone stole my car. Actually they didn’t so much steal it as they took it apart and hauled it off piece by piece; while I was in a meeting for several hours. I came out from the meeting and couldn’t find it. Someone pointed me to the few pieces still there that they were finishing taking apart and driving off with. The folks in the neighborhood had an interesting time watching them dismantle it, but didn’t bother to ask about or challenge what they were doing. I asked the people taking my car if I could get a few papers that were still there and they said “OK.” They seemed to figure that there wasn’t anything I could do to stop them. I managed to write down a license number and called the police but they really weren’t interested.
I know, it’s one of those weird dreams. And then I dreamed about the meaning of the dream.
We live in a time when no matter how much or how completely something belongs to you, there is always someone, somewhere who thinks they have a right to take it from you. Jobs, possessions, property, reputation; everything is fair game.
We in the Church are the last line of defense, because we are the last ones who say there are absolutes; absolute truths, absolute right, and absolute wrong. That’s why churches are under assault, religion is belittled and people of faith are mocked. If we are swept out of the way then anything goes, anything can be taken, and anything can be enforced. In such a world truth will not matter, but simply how many people or how big a crowd you can work up into taking something from someone else. In such a world the only safe place is to be with the crowd, and if that sounds to you like some of the worst episodes in human history, then you know why the dream would not fade.
A time is coming (or is it already here?) when we will have to take a side. You cannot stand in the middle and hope to get along without ending up on the side of evil. That is the universal witness of human history. We in the Church are training up our young people and telling them to stand for the truth and stand with the words and teaching of Jesus. That is a dangerous thing. But it is not as dangerous as failing to stand with the one person in all human history who actually is the Truth.
Read Hebrews 11:1 – 12:17

What would happen if I began by not saying “The Bible is God’s Word” but instead say “The Bible contains God’s Word”?  What happens ends up looking like this:

1.       If the Bible “contains” God’s Word, who decides which parts are and which parts are not God’s Word?  (Very simply, each would decide for himself.  I would decide for myself; you would decide for you.)

1a.       If we each get to decide for ourselves we won’t ever agree.  (Disagreeing about almost every part of faith is exactly what is happening among the liberal denominations.)

2.       If I get to decide what is and isn’t God’s Word I will only accept the parts I already agree with anyway; and reject the other parts (and call them “out of date” or “irrelevant”).

3.       And then I will never actually have God’s Word tell me I’m wrong and correct me.  I will miss God’s call to repent, again and again.  If God is not “just like me” I will miss Him.

4.       In all this, I would have exalted myself over God’s Word, judging it instead of being judged by it.  That is a place I do not want to be in my relationship with God.

We begin with the one truth that is at the center of all we say and do as Christians.  Christ is risen!  Jesus is the living one and He is with us.  He hears our prayers.  He rules His Church.  He guides our lives.  We worship and pray to Him.  This changes everything, because we are not talking about ideas, theories, or simple knowledge.  We are talking about the relationship we have with a living person.

Scripture is the living Word of the Living God.  So the Bible is God's word to us, where God calls us to know Him and live forever.  The reason we believe the Bible is because we believe in God and know Him in Jesus Christ.

There is a two-way relationship here.  We believe the Bible because of our relationship with God and we have that relationship in, through and because of Jesus Christ.  Secondly, the Bible is the living word of the living Lord, so it has the power to create faith.  We do not simply jump in and believe whatever is written because it is written.  We believe because of the work of God.  So how does it all begin?

Our encounter with God begins as God comes into our world.  It is Christmas and Easter.  It is Jesus being born, living, dying and rising for us.  That is where our knowledge of our Triune God begins, with knowing Jesus.

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only [begotten] God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known.

So God comes to us; and we begin learning about God as we come to Jesus and learn about Him.