Ep. 292: Before You Open Your Bible

*Below is an edited transcription of the audio conversation.

Daniel Markin:

Okay, welcome to indoubt. My name’s Daniel Markin, and on today’s episode I’m chatting with Matt Smethurst and he has been a writer for Gospel Coalition for a long time. Still is writing, although not full time, but he and I are going to be chatting through this idea of before you open your Bible. And he wrote a book on this, Before You Open Your Bible. What are some of the heart postures that we need and that can actually really help us as we approach God? Hope you find it helpful.

Daniel Markin:

Hey. Welcome to indoubt. Today I’m joined by Matt Smethurst. You might not know who Matt is. Maybe you do. Maybe you’ve read some of his articles on the Gospel Coalition, but rather than me introducing him, I want, Matt, you to introduce yourself. How you doing today?

Matt Smethurst:

I’m doing well. Thanks for having me, Daniel. Yeah, my most important thing about me is I’m a child of God, married to Megan, father to three wonderful children, and we live in Richmond, Virginia, where two months ago we planted a church, River City Baptist Church. And yeah, that’s the big thing going on in our lives right now, and it’s been super exhilarating.

Daniel Markin:

And my guess is quite a shift from what you’re doing before. Because you were like managing editor, correct, at Gospel Coalition. And that’s different from pastoral work, but how’s that transition been?

Matt Smethurst:

Yeah, so I was serving full time with TGC for 10 years and I currently am still an editor on a very part-time basis. But yeah, it’s been a big shift, and to be honest, it feels in some ways like a promotion, because I always understood our work at TGC to be the supply line serving those on the front lines.

Daniel Markin:

And my understanding then is as you’re supplying the front lines, you’ve been doing a lot of writing over the years. And one of the questions I always like to ask writers is how do you write? Are you the type of guy who writes a little bit every day or do you like to lock yourself in a cabin for a week and just get the book, just pump it out? What’s your writing process?

Matt Smethurst:

I’m more of the latter. I wish I were the kind of person that wrote every day, whether or not there was an assignment due, but I’m more the type where the deadline really helps me and I work best, not in brief 30 minute spurts here or there, but in a couple of days just completely blocked off to knock out a chapter or something along those lines. I enjoy the process. I enjoy the way that writing forces me to be clear. Sometimes I have to write myself clear. I don’t even fully know what I believe about something until I’ve put pen to paper as it were and crystallized my thinking. But yeah, it’s something that’s a real honor to get to do in articles and in now books.

Daniel Markin:

Mm-hmm. I mean, that’s one of the things that is I think the best part about reading a book. Right? Because we can read articles and those are actually really helpful. But one of the things that I really, is when you get into a good book, you have this sense of like the author has taken the time, like you said, to edit that down, to like really craft and carefully say what they are truly thinking and truly believing. But they’ve concentrated the thoughts and now you’re getting the most clear, concise thought out piece. And that to me is so helpful when you’re trying to consume information, being like, “Oh, someone took the time to think this through. Now I can begin to consume it.”

Daniel Markin:

So I want to talk about your book. You have many books, but one of them, which is really interesting and something that not a lot of believers I think consider. Your book is called Before You Open Your Bible. Talk us through, as you think about this, like why this book and then let’s just begin to tease out some of the points of this book.

Matt Smethurst:

Yeah. Well, why this book? That’s actually the easiest question to answer because I know myself and I know how sluggish spiritually, my own heart can become, cold and indifferent to the things of God and to the word of God. Despite my theology, which knows better, I can just so often prioritize other things above the word of God. And so there are a lot of helpful resources out there, Daniel, as I’m sure you’re aware about how to study the Bible, but a lot of those resources start a little too far downstream for me because I realized that my tendency to neglect the word of God was not due to an inability to interpret or do exegesis. It’s due to a heart problem.

Matt Smethurst:

And so I wanted to explore this idea of approaching God’s word, almost like a prequel to a lot of those other helpful resources. And so I reflected in the book on what it looks like to approach your Bible prayerfully humbly, desperately, studiously, obediently, joyfully, expectantly, communally, and kind of the 50 cent word Christocentrically, which just means centered on Christ. And I think to the degree that we do that our hearts will be warmed beside the fire of God’s word and will be ready, not just to understand it, but to apply it and bring God pleasure as a result.

Daniel Markin:

I love that. And one of the things I think has been so daunting for a lot of believers is you pick up the Bible. It’s big book and you open it up, you start reading the pages and a lot of the time we want to know what’s going on. And I think we take our cues from a lot of sermons or Bible studies and we think, “Wow, we have to pull this entire thing apart.”

Daniel Markin:

And I think even before we start, we’re already thinking about that and not thinking about this conversation, this relationship with God himself. And that’s what I really appreciate about some of these things is having a heart posture that you are approaching it with. Right? It caused you to be like, “Okay, before I open this up, where am I at with the Lord?”

Daniel Markin:

And give us a little bit. You talk about prayerfully here. What does that look like? Is that just saying a quick prayer before you open your Bible?

Matt Smethurst:

Well, saying a quick prayer is better than not approaching it prayerfully at all. And I don’t want to imply that in order to become qualified to read God’s word, you have to spend X amount of time in prayer, but it’s just kind of a commonsensical observation. If indeed this is a personal relationship that we’re enjoying with God through Jesus Christ, we need to ask him for help in understanding his own revelation to us. The Bible is God speaking to us. Prayer is us speaking to God. So it’s a two-way conversation. And all we’re doing as we prayerfully approach God’s word is saying, “Hey, open my eyes,” at Psalm 118, “to see wonderful things in your law. Help me not to just grow in knowledge, but help me to be transformed by your word and be different as a result.”

Matt Smethurst:

And yeah, so I have a chapter in the book that’s just kind of unfolding some practical tips for how we can go about praying ourselves up as we approach God’s word.

Daniel Markin:

Mm-hmm. And that’s a humble thing to do is humbling yourself before God and just seeking him in prayer. And the other piece that you have here is humbly. So what does that look like? How do you humbly approach the Bible before you open your Bible?

Matt Smethurst:

By remembering that God didn’t owe us a Bible. God could have rightly and justly given us the silent treatment forever because of our sin against him in our first parents, Adam and Eve. He didn’t have to speak, and yet he has. In generosity, in love he has disclosed himself. He’s forfeited his personal privacy in order to reveal to us things about himself, things about us, how we can know him, how can we honor him, and how we can enjoy him and the life for which we were made. And this is so important to when we read the Bible because fundamentally this book is a gift. That your Bible is like an all access pass into the revealed mind and will of God. And it’s more exhilarating than any other book we own because it’s the only book in which the central character loves us back.

Daniel Markin:

Yeah. But let me ask you this. I’ll hear from people all the time. They’ll be like, “I communicate better with God when I’m walking through a forest. I do better with God when I’m in nature or I listen to sermons or I listen to worship music. I don’t really read my Bible very much.” What would you say to someone like that?

Matt Smethurst:

I would say that is similar to saying that you commune best with your significant other by just looking at pictures of them or remembering fond memories with them, but never actually listening when they’re talking to you. The Bible is God speaking to us. And so there is nothing wrong with communing with God in other ways and in other environments. One book that I would really commend to your listeners is Brett McCracken’s The Wisdom Pyramid. And he talks about the place of nature, for example, in one’s walk with Christ. And yet fundamentally, the foundation of it all is what God has told us about himself in his word. Otherwise, we’re going to be walking through that forest, we’re going to be alone on that spiritual retreat, and we are going to be pursuing an idea of God by making an in run around the words of God. And that’s never a wise thing to do.

Daniel Markin:

Mm-hmm. One of the other pieces that you add here is desperately. What does that look like before you open your Bible to approach God desperately?

Matt Smethurst:

This has to do with the recognition that we will starve spiritually. Our souls will wither up if we are not feeding ourselves on the life giving word of God. I mean, even Jesus Christ combated the devil in the wilderness with the word of God and quoted Deuteronomy. “Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Matt Smethurst:

How dare we give ourselves a promotion and assume that Jesus needed it, but we don’t. We need to approach God’s word in accordance, not just with what it is, which I’ve already referred to, but also in light of who we are and how much we need that life giving word. And an analogy I use in the book is how sometimes we can ruin our appetite for an epic dinner because we’ve been snacking all day. And it should be no surprise to us that when we’ve been nibbling from the table of the world throughout the day, through words and screens and images and fascinating trivia and just all the things that aren’t necessarily bad, but just can crowd out our attention and dominate our affections, it shouldn’t be a surprise that if we’ve been eating cheese puffs all day, that we won’t have an appetite left for the word of God. And so, yeah, this is something that I struggle with admittedly, but I want to approach the Bible as someone who is starving and hungry to hear from God.

Daniel Markin:

I appreciate that side of it, because one thing I notice about Jesus is he does approach God when he’s desperate. In moments, so you think about the garden. But then think about even in the good moments, he still recognizes his need. Even like, it seems like things are going really well. And that to him is like, I still desperately need to go to the Father to speak with him. And I think that’s a point that often we miss. And just even the rhythm in my life and maybe your life it’s like things are going better and we feel less inclined to go to God. And so for me, that one, desperately, is like, no, no, no, God is the one who is sustaining me at all times. It’s only by his spirit that I’m being sustained and he holds all things together. And so I really like that desperation that you’re talking about there.

Daniel Markin:

Another one you have is studiously. What does that look like? That sounds like being a student, but then that also sounds like a little bit intimidating. How do you approach that?

Matt Smethurst:

Yeah. Well, this is admittedly one that is counterintuitive, I would say in modern day evangelical circles. My journey here kind of began in college when I was reading Psalm 111 and I was startled by a word in verse 2. “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.”

Matt Smethurst:

It’s just not the word I would’ve expected, or if I’m honest, maybe even wanted. I mean, I would expect to read great are the works of the Lord, celebrated by all who delighted them. But studied made me think, “Yeah, when it comes to Christianity, maybe class is in session. Maybe we are meant to honor God by actually knowing who it is we’re honoring.”

Matt Smethurst:

So for example, if I were to start raving to you, Daniel, about my wife and tearing up and just gushing about her, you and your listeners might think, “Wow, he sounds like a good husband. He’s crazy about this girl.”

Matt Smethurst:

And I’m talking to you about, “She’s the most incredible girl I’ve ever known. She’s from Oregon. She has gorgeous red hair. She hates chocolate.”

Matt Smethurst:

Well, would my actual chocolate-loving, brunette wife from Virginia be honored by that description? No, she would be insulted by that description because it’s false, even though I was saying it with great emotion. And I think a lot of times we can base our Christianity so much in our feelings about God, rather than the truth about who he’s revealed himself to be.

Matt Smethurst:

So when I say we need to approach our Bible studiously, I mean we need to dive deep into theology, not for the sake of becoming smarter or feeling better about ourselves, but for the sake of stoking our worship and deepening our love and fueling our mission and sustaining our life.

Daniel Markin:

Mm-hmm. I mean, as you study, you begin to plumb the depths of God and begin to… And every layer that you keep going down, there’s a deeper and deeper awe that comes of that. And that’s been one of the things that I love about Christianity is there’s deeply satisfying answers for everyone. For people who are very simple and wouldn’t call themselves intellectuals, not academics, there’s deeply satisfying answers found in the scriptures of how God communicates and walks with them. And then to those who are very intellectual, there are deeply satisfying answers in the scriptures to that. I think about the disciples, right? You have a bunch of outback kind of guys not from the city center. So you just think country folk, right? But then you get Paul who he’s so studied and God uses both. He communicates to both. Because Paul is going now to the city center reasoning with the academics in the temples. There are deeply satisfying answers to all who would look to find it and that comes through study.

Matt Smethurst:

Yeah. That’s a good point. I’ll just add one thing. The Bible, it is an ancient book. It’s a foreign book in some ways. It’s a complex book, but fundamentally it’s a simple book. It’s not esoteric. So the New Testament was written in Koine Greek, which was not the language of the academy and of the scholars. It was the language of the street at the time. And it’s been said that the Bible is shallow enough for a child to wade in, but deep enough for an elephant to swim to your point. And when we approach the Bible studiously, it’s like the difference between raking leaves and digging. When you rake, you’re just going to find leaves, but when you dig, that’s when you have the chance to find diamonds. And as we dig into the word of God, we will unearth treasures therein.

Daniel Markin:

That’s so good. So then as we dig and we find the treasures of God, that’s going to call us towards something. And one of those is obedience. So you talk a little bit about preparing yourself obediently. What does that look like as you begin to open the Bible?

Matt Smethurst:

Well that’s coming to the Bible understanding that we are not hearing from a cosmic buddy or a world class psychotherapist or a Santa Claus in the sky, but that we are hearing from the risen and reigning Lord and King of the universe. And so we ought to have an appropriate reverence in the way that we approach his words, understanding that he knows what’s best for us, even if we don’t always immediately see or feel that.

Daniel Markin:

Mm-hmm. And that leads to joy. And you talk a little bit about that here with approaching it joyfully. And that’s something that is so interesting is the Christian life is meant to be joyful. And especially as you’ve walking now with the Creator in the way that he has designed life to be in relationship with him. That should actually be a good time, should be enjoyable. I’d love to hear a little bit about your perspective on that. About how to not feel daunted when you read the Bible, but be like, “Hey, this can be fun.”

Matt Smethurst:

Well, I totally agree with you that… In fact, when I got up to preach, we have a new church plan and I was just reminding everyone like, “Hey, this is such a privilege to get to have access to God’s word in our own heart language, to be able to gather without fear of who might report us to the authorities. There should be something about this that is, of course, serious and solemn, but we also should have a ton of fun. I mean, we get to be Christians. We get to hear from the God of the universe.”

Matt Smethurst:

Having said that Daniel, I would want to guard anyone who listens to this and thinks that fun is a prerequisite or a condition that they can put on God and his word. Sometimes it’s not going to be fun. Just like eating healthy food or exercising, sometimes it’s going to feel like a slog, but it is the nature of discipline to give way to delight. So give yourself to it and trust that…

Matt Smethurst:

And I’ll even say a word about church. I understand that things with the pandemic are in different places in different parts of the world. But if you’re in a place where your church is regathering and you have yet to get back into the rhythm and the habit of gathering every single week with your church, my advice to you would be get your body there and let your heart catch up. Don’t wait until you wake up on a Sunday morning and just really feel like going to church until you go. Get your body there and trust that that discipline will give way to the old delight.

Daniel Markin:

That’s so good. Let the heart catch up. What do you mean when you say approach the Bible expectantly?

Matt Smethurst:

Again, that’s a function of knowing and respecting the Author. So if the Author is indeed the omnipotent, all powerful, Lord of history, well then we should approach his word expectantly that when we read it and encounter him in the pages of his word, that he will accomplish more than we could ask or imagine. That he can not only give us information, but that he can work the miracle of transformation. And in this chapter in the book, I just share a couple of anecdotes, one from history and I think Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation and then another from my own experience serving as a missionary overseas in a really just soul stirring, invigorating experience that I had seeing God work in the life of someone else.

Daniel Markin:

Mm-hmm. And as you talk about someone else, one of the other things here is approaching the Bible communally. And sometimes that often doesn’t happen if we’re doing a personal reading. But an essential aspect, I think of the Christian life is community. I don’t know if you can as our church father said, “You can’t have God as your father without the church as your mother.”

Daniel Markin:

And it’s so important to have the church with you because it’s about being adopted into a new community, into a new family. And you can’t just forsake your brothers and sisters. And so talk to us a little bit about communal viewing of God’s word and approach.

Matt Smethurst:

Yeah. Well, I love how you just got really specific, Daniel, and you didn’t just leave it as Christian need community because that is utterly uncontroversial. Every Christian knows and affirms and probably even desires community. What sometimes happens though, is we stop there and we don’t press in more specifically to what that community looks like according to the New Testament, which is not just a bunch of Christians throwing a Frisbee or a meeting for coffee at Starbucks. It is Christians gathered in little embassies of the kingdom of heaven on planet earth, which are called local churches.

Matt Smethurst:

And so the New Testament has no category for a churchless Christian, a Christian who is just a free agent spiritually, but is not being vouched for by a church, that is not committed, invested in a church. So I just want to commend to every listener, you will not grow in Christ the way he intends, unless you are folded into, incorporated with a local church. And I would say in a formal way, like actually joining the church and maybe in another podcast one day, I can make that case for why it’s not enough just to be a faithful church attender. You actually have to be a member.

Matt Smethurst:

And that is what I’m trying to communicate among other things in this chapter is that, hey, if you’re struggling in your personal Bible reading, lean into your congregation’s Bible reading. If you’re struggling in your personal prayer life, lean into your congregation’s prayer life. We were not meant to do this alone. And if you’re looking for a church, make sure that you are looking for the right thing. Don’t just look for the most impressive production, the most entertaining event. You can always find a Ted-talk online if you want to be wowed by someone’s oratorian humor. You can find a Spotify playlist if you want the most impressive music. Find a church that champions the gospel of Jesus Christ, that preaches the Bible chapter by chapter, book by book, and that is crystal clear about how we can be made right with God and how we can honor him in our day to day lives.

Daniel Markin:

Mm-hmm. I’ve seen a photo and I think about young adults when I see this photo. It’s a pack of zebras. And then it’s a zebra that’s wandered off on its own. And in the distance, you can see there’s lions waiting to attack that single zebra. And it’s a good image of, I think, how the enemy prepares for us. Right? Like in a pack, together in community, we’re a lot stronger, but if you wade out on your own and you think, “Well, I’m going to do this whole Christianity spirituality thing on my own,” you’re just an easy target for the enemy, for the devil.

Daniel Markin:

And don’t be surprised if you look at your life, it’s been years since you’ve been to church, you feel distant from God, and so much of that is because you forsaked community. You said, “It’s not for me. The church is not for me.”

Daniel Markin:

And what you’ve done is you cut yourself off from the very people who can offer you accountability and help in good times and in bad times.

Matt Smethurst:

Yeah, and quick book recommendation. Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop have a phenomenal book titled The Compelling Community. I had my whole core team read it before we launched as a church. It’s a really helpful read. The Compelling Community.

Daniel Markin:

Amazing. Hey, listen, we’re coming to end of our time, but Christocentrically is the last one that you had here.

Matt Smethurst:

Yeah. This means understanding that when we open the Bible, we’re not just encountering a bunch of individual stories, but we’re ultimately encountering one big story with one ultimate hero. So we ought not… And this goes back to what I just said about what to look for in a church. Don’t go to a church where they’re just opening the Bible merely to encourage you to dare to be a Daniel or to face down your giants like David. Go to a church where the hero of every sermon is not you and is not any random character in the Bible, but is Jesus Christ on page after page.

Matt Smethurst:

In the Old Testament, it’s about anticipation. The Gospels it’s about manifestation. Acts is about proclamation. The Epistles are about explanation and Revelation is about consummation. But your whole Bible from beginning to end Genesis to Revelation is about Jesus. Go to a church where that is clear and in your own heart, as you’re reading the Bible, whether you are in Leviticus or Amos or whatever, look for how this is pointing beyond itself to the good news that is only possible because of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Daniel Markin:

Yeah, man. It’s so good. Thank you for your time. Thank you for just talking us through some of these things. And if people want to get this book, if they want to go deeper into this what’s the best place for them to purchase it or grab it?

Matt Smethurst:

I think probably Amazon is the simplest place. You can also find it on the 10 of those website. And just so folks know, I’ve just written a follow up book, kind of a companion volume called Before You Share Your Faith: Five Ways to be Evangelism Ready.

Daniel Markin:

Awesome. Matt, thank for your time. Thank you for being on the program. And we look forward to speaking with you soon.

Matt Smethurst:

Thank you, Daniel. It’s been an honor.