Burn Your Books
Your books are not worth what you think! Burn your books!
Burn your books.
You may be thinking, “What is this pastor thinking? Is he some arsonist or something?” Why certainly I am not an arsonist in the way you are thinking. I am an advocate of reading and certainly reading good theological books.
So what do I mean by burn the books? I am a church planter and our church has been going through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings. It has been quite the journey. Our church is 8 months into the book of Acts and this past Sunday, I preached Acts 19:11-20. You should go read this passage. And also give the sermon a listen. You can go to our website and find this sermon. www.fccbainbridge.com
Just for a brief summary, God is performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. People are being healed and evil spirits being cast out by the mere handkerchiefs that touched Paul’s skin. Some itinerant jewish exorcists (the seven sons of Sceva) caught wind of these miracles and decided they wanted in on this ministry. It doesn’t end well for the Seven Sons of Sceva. They end up being beat up by the demon possessed man and ran out of town. The Bible says that fear fell upon all of them in the city of Ephesus. Those who feared the Lord…what was their response?
They burned their books. These books that were burned were the books that had all of their modern cultural teachings in them. They were, in a sense, what defined their worldview, and they were certainly worth a lot of money. Some debate on the exact amount of money exchange it would be worth, but the Bible says it was worth fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Don’t miss this. What happens here is not a simple bonfire to celebrate some emotional experience of salvation in Jesus. This burning of the books was a willful decision of obedience to repent of their sinful past and its influences. It was the mark of a true change in their lives.
Repentance is the active, consistent, willful, daily discipline of turning away from past and current sin. It is the key mark of a true Christian.
How should we “burn the books” in our own lives?
1. Burn the books of blatant sin
The Bible makes it clear the relationship a Christian should have with blatant sin. It is one that neither denies the reality of sin in the life of a Christian but neither one who consistently lives in habitual blatant sin. The typical cliche phrase that everyone is true, “No one is perfect”. Now, what an individual means when they say that can have numerous meanings. If it means “no one is perfect”, so that person can justify sin, it is a terrible use of the phrase. A Christian also should not be one whose life is clearly marked by living in sin.
1 John shows exactly how we ought to live.
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
1 John 1:5-10
Paul also gives clear teaching on the relationship a Christian should have to sin. He says to “put it to death”, and “to not let sin reign in your mortal bodies”. Christian, at all cost, you should be putting to death the sin in your life.
Put to death the sin of pride.
Put to death the sin of seflishness.
Put to death the sin of anger.
Put to death the sin of laziness.
Put to death the sin of careless and aimless living.
Put to death the sin of sexual sin.
Put to death the sin of disobeying clear commands of Scripture.
"Be killing sin or sin will be killing you"
John Owen
2. Burn the books of unknown sin
Our sin is certainly not limited to the sins we are aware of. Because of the depth of sinful nature, our sinfulness is endless. It is constant need of searching and killing sin in us. Our sin is not limited to mere actions that we commit. Our sinfulness extends to our thoughts, our lack of actions, our intentions, our unseen desires.
How do we become aware of these unknown sins if they are indeed unknown? I think there are two main ways.
a. Scripture reading and prayer
The psalmists seemed to have had a high view of Scripture reading and prayer. Specifically in two places. Psalm 119 is a delightful place to start, the whole chapter is helpful, but specifically Psalm 119:9-12 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!” Spend time reading the Bible and your sin will be revealed to you. Once it is revealed to you, repent of it.
Another passage that comes to mind is Psalm 139. The psalmist starts out the chapter by acknowledging the truth of God’s sovereignty. God knows when we rise and lay down, he knows the words before we speak them, he knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb, he knows all things. The psalmist closes the psalm by praying a prayer for the Lord to reveal his sinfulness to him. Psalm 139:23-24″ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” What a prayer to pray. You ought to pray this prayer often. The Lord will reveal these things to you. When he does, repent of it.
b. Godly relationships
God has designed the Christian life to be lived in the context of relationships. These relationships are designed to be lived in close proximity for the purpose of other people knowing our own sin AND being able and willing to reveal this sin to us. The two best ways for this to happen is (#1) to go to a Bible-centered church where these relationships can be developed, and (#2) to have godly mentors who can speak truth into your life.
3. Burn the books of idle influence
The Christianity that allows for idle time and an idle mind is no biblical Christianity at all. I certainly don’t mean that we must read, pray, think Bible all day everyday. I enjoy a good college football game. I enjoy a good nap. I enjoy other mindless things, but they are intentionally mindless. The mindless and idle activity I am talking about is the activity that has subtle influences on our minds and actions. The idle activity of unfiltered scrolling on social media, the idle activity of unfiltered entertainment, the idle activity of unfiltered thinking, the idle activity of unfiltered relationships. Notice that the common theme is the activity is unfiltered.
Let me help raise your awareness to the idle activity you are allowing into your mind and in your home. Unfiltered scrolling on social media will result in you being unsatisfied with the life you have because of everyone else’s posts that their lives are grand and perfect. It will result in you constantly wanting more and more stuff in this life because of the algorithms that social media has created to entice you to buy more and have more. The home remodels, the new vehicles, the vacations, more, more, more, more. These things are not inherently bad, but the discontentment it may bring is certainly bad. It will result in you seeing things about the opposite sex that you ought not see. Men, you do not need to see women in bikinis, women dancing, and the promiscuous, sensual, and outright sexual things that is now on social media. Just don’t give yourself the temptations there. Women, you do not need to see other men shirtless, dancing, and the promiscuous, sensual, and sexual things that is now on social media. Just don’t give yourself the temptations there. Social media is not bad but unfiltered use of it is dangerous. Not to mention the meaningless amounts of hours that is spent on social media when we could be so much more productive for our faith, for our friends, and for our family.
The idle activity of unfiltered entertainment is also dangerous. You should be aware and cautious of what you are truly watching on TV. Yes, it is just a college football game, but what about the commercials? Commercials are filled with worldly, anti-God prerogatives that promote sexuality against God’s design. Your kids are watching more than just the football game. I am not saying quit watching TV altogether, I am just saying that it should be filtered. The Youtube channels that young kids watch have commercials that are not what kids should be seeing at such young ages or at all really. Certainly we should be aware of the clearly sinful things that are on TV. Be careful of idle entertainment because it has more influence than you think.
5. Burn the books of self-sufficient living
What a task to burn these books. It seems like such a laborious, dreadful task that never ends. You are right, it is. But this is the good news of Christianity, we are not alone. We are not self-sufficiently burning the books in our life. We were not saved by works, and we are not kept by works. We are known by our works certainly, but what is the source of our works? It is the indwelling riches of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells within those who trust in Christ, and he is known as the helper, the comforter, the one who convicts of sin, the one who empowers us. Christian, you are not alone.
"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:13-14
Always be burning the books in your life. Burn them now, and keep burning them until your breath is no longer in you. It is hard, but totally worth it. Do it for the glory of God! Burn your books!
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
Romans 13:14
Ryan Wade
Pastor
Faith Community Church, Bainbridge, GA
Burn your books.
You may be thinking, “What is this pastor thinking? Is he some arsonist or something?” Why certainly I am not an arsonist in the way you are thinking. I am an advocate of reading and certainly reading good theological books.
So what do I mean by burn the books? I am a church planter and our church has been going through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings. It has been quite the journey. Our church is 8 months into the book of Acts and this past Sunday, I preached Acts 19:11-20. You should go read this passage. And also give the sermon a listen. You can go to our website and find this sermon. www.fccbainbridge.com
Just for a brief summary, God is performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. People are being healed and evil spirits being cast out by the mere handkerchiefs that touched Paul’s skin. Some itinerant jewish exorcists (the seven sons of Sceva) caught wind of these miracles and decided they wanted in on this ministry. It doesn’t end well for the Seven Sons of Sceva. They end up being beat up by the demon possessed man and ran out of town. The Bible says that fear fell upon all of them in the city of Ephesus. Those who feared the Lord…what was their response?
They burned their books. These books that were burned were the books that had all of their modern cultural teachings in them. They were, in a sense, what defined their worldview, and they were certainly worth a lot of money. Some debate on the exact amount of money exchange it would be worth, but the Bible says it was worth fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Don’t miss this. What happens here is not a simple bonfire to celebrate some emotional experience of salvation in Jesus. This burning of the books was a willful decision of obedience to repent of their sinful past and its influences. It was the mark of a true change in their lives.
Repentance is the active, consistent, willful, daily discipline of turning away from past and current sin. It is the key mark of a true Christian.
How should we “burn the books” in our own lives?
1. Burn the books of blatant sin
The Bible makes it clear the relationship a Christian should have with blatant sin. It is one that neither denies the reality of sin in the life of a Christian but neither one who consistently lives in habitual blatant sin. The typical cliche phrase that everyone is true, “No one is perfect”. Now, what an individual means when they say that can have numerous meanings. If it means “no one is perfect”, so that person can justify sin, it is a terrible use of the phrase. A Christian also should not be one whose life is clearly marked by living in sin.
1 John shows exactly how we ought to live.
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
1 John 1:5-10
Paul also gives clear teaching on the relationship a Christian should have to sin. He says to “put it to death”, and “to not let sin reign in your mortal bodies”. Christian, at all cost, you should be putting to death the sin in your life.
Put to death the sin of pride.
Put to death the sin of seflishness.
Put to death the sin of anger.
Put to death the sin of laziness.
Put to death the sin of careless and aimless living.
Put to death the sin of sexual sin.
Put to death the sin of disobeying clear commands of Scripture.
"Be killing sin or sin will be killing you"
John Owen
2. Burn the books of unknown sin
Our sin is certainly not limited to the sins we are aware of. Because of the depth of sinful nature, our sinfulness is endless. It is constant need of searching and killing sin in us. Our sin is not limited to mere actions that we commit. Our sinfulness extends to our thoughts, our lack of actions, our intentions, our unseen desires.
How do we become aware of these unknown sins if they are indeed unknown? I think there are two main ways.
a. Scripture reading and prayer
The psalmists seemed to have had a high view of Scripture reading and prayer. Specifically in two places. Psalm 119 is a delightful place to start, the whole chapter is helpful, but specifically Psalm 119:9-12 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!” Spend time reading the Bible and your sin will be revealed to you. Once it is revealed to you, repent of it.
Another passage that comes to mind is Psalm 139. The psalmist starts out the chapter by acknowledging the truth of God’s sovereignty. God knows when we rise and lay down, he knows the words before we speak them, he knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb, he knows all things. The psalmist closes the psalm by praying a prayer for the Lord to reveal his sinfulness to him. Psalm 139:23-24″ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” What a prayer to pray. You ought to pray this prayer often. The Lord will reveal these things to you. When he does, repent of it.
b. Godly relationships
God has designed the Christian life to be lived in the context of relationships. These relationships are designed to be lived in close proximity for the purpose of other people knowing our own sin AND being able and willing to reveal this sin to us. The two best ways for this to happen is (#1) to go to a Bible-centered church where these relationships can be developed, and (#2) to have godly mentors who can speak truth into your life.
3. Burn the books of idle influence
The Christianity that allows for idle time and an idle mind is no biblical Christianity at all. I certainly don’t mean that we must read, pray, think Bible all day everyday. I enjoy a good college football game. I enjoy a good nap. I enjoy other mindless things, but they are intentionally mindless. The mindless and idle activity I am talking about is the activity that has subtle influences on our minds and actions. The idle activity of unfiltered scrolling on social media, the idle activity of unfiltered entertainment, the idle activity of unfiltered thinking, the idle activity of unfiltered relationships. Notice that the common theme is the activity is unfiltered.
Let me help raise your awareness to the idle activity you are allowing into your mind and in your home. Unfiltered scrolling on social media will result in you being unsatisfied with the life you have because of everyone else’s posts that their lives are grand and perfect. It will result in you constantly wanting more and more stuff in this life because of the algorithms that social media has created to entice you to buy more and have more. The home remodels, the new vehicles, the vacations, more, more, more, more. These things are not inherently bad, but the discontentment it may bring is certainly bad. It will result in you seeing things about the opposite sex that you ought not see. Men, you do not need to see women in bikinis, women dancing, and the promiscuous, sensual, and outright sexual things that is now on social media. Just don’t give yourself the temptations there. Women, you do not need to see other men shirtless, dancing, and the promiscuous, sensual, and sexual things that is now on social media. Just don’t give yourself the temptations there. Social media is not bad but unfiltered use of it is dangerous. Not to mention the meaningless amounts of hours that is spent on social media when we could be so much more productive for our faith, for our friends, and for our family.
The idle activity of unfiltered entertainment is also dangerous. You should be aware and cautious of what you are truly watching on TV. Yes, it is just a college football game, but what about the commercials? Commercials are filled with worldly, anti-God prerogatives that promote sexuality against God’s design. Your kids are watching more than just the football game. I am not saying quit watching TV altogether, I am just saying that it should be filtered. The Youtube channels that young kids watch have commercials that are not what kids should be seeing at such young ages or at all really. Certainly we should be aware of the clearly sinful things that are on TV. Be careful of idle entertainment because it has more influence than you think.
5. Burn the books of self-sufficient living
What a task to burn these books. It seems like such a laborious, dreadful task that never ends. You are right, it is. But this is the good news of Christianity, we are not alone. We are not self-sufficiently burning the books in our life. We were not saved by works, and we are not kept by works. We are known by our works certainly, but what is the source of our works? It is the indwelling riches of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells within those who trust in Christ, and he is known as the helper, the comforter, the one who convicts of sin, the one who empowers us. Christian, you are not alone.
"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:13-14
Always be burning the books in your life. Burn them now, and keep burning them until your breath is no longer in you. It is hard, but totally worth it. Do it for the glory of God! Burn your books!
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
Romans 13:14
Ryan Wade
Pastor
Faith Community Church, Bainbridge, GA
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