The Foundation of Following Jesus
Part 2 – Studying the Word
2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4:3-4
January 16, 2004
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY'S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Audio of his message can be heard at www.aberdeeenwesleyan.org.
Me: I was very fortunate in that immediately after becoming a Christian I wanted to learn more about the Bible.
I hadn’t had a ton of exposure before then, except for what I had been reading the summer before I went to college.
I was also fortunate in that I was able to get involved with a campus ministry that had lots of Bible study groups on campus.
Throughout college, I learned lots about the Scriptures as well as different ways to study the Bible, which made for a really enjoyable experience that laid the major foundation for me becoming a different person, and ultimately, becoming prepared for full-time ministry.
But I didn’t study the Bible so I could be a pastor. At that time, I wasn’t planning on a career in ministry.
I studied the Scriptures because I enjoyed it and I wanted to be better equipped to lead people to Jesus.
We: Some of you had the same experience – you have always enjoyed studying the Bible and you had people who could help you and give you the tools you needed.
But others of you might think of studying the Bible and you say, “I’d rather have a root canal.”
For some folks, the idea of Bible study sounds boring and tedious.
Well, let me be perfectly honest. If you think it’s going to be that way, then you’re probably right. It’ll be boring, tedious, and meaningless.
Others might be thinking that you’d like to get more into the Scriptures than what you get just listening and reading but you never knew how to go about it.
My hope is that no matter what part of the spectrum you’re on, you’ll get something you can use today, and that the Holy Spirit will begin to fan a flame in you that you can’t ignore.
God: I’m not going to cover everything there is to know about Bible study.
First of all, I don’t know everything there is to know about Bible Study. I’m still learning, I’m still finding new ways to get into the Scriptures myself.
Second, we could spend literally weeks just on the stuff I am going to share.
But fear not, we’re only going to spend a couple hours…today.
Actually, we’ll be out of here at pretty much the normal time.
I’m going to start off with four reasons studying the Scriptures is so important and why we shouldn’t be satisfied with just listening and reading.
And then I’m going to briefly cover different ways to go about studying the Bible that anyone here can start doing right away.
Okay? Let’s dive into some reasons to make studying the Bible part of your life.
1. Gaining better overall knowledge.
Getting a deeper and broader knowledge of Scripture or knowledge of a particular topic are great reasons to be intentional about studying the Scriptures.
You may have been wanting to study a particular book or topic or person just so you can better understand what that person or that issue is all about so you can better relate when someone else is discussing it or so that you can simply nail down what you believe about something.
But you need to be careful. The Bible says that “knowledge puffs up.”
Not that it’s wrong to have knowledge, of course. But knowledge is supposed to lead somewhere.
In this case, knowledge is supposed to lead to life-change – making us more like Jesus.
Because remember: The purpose of Scripture is not to inform but to transform.
I know a number of people who can talk all day long about what they’ve learned about a particular topic, but it’s obvious that they haven’t learned anything that made a difference in their life.
And what’s the use of that kind of study?
So study different topics and whatever, as long as the goal is to equip you to be a better disciple of Jesus.
2. Discerning truth.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (not on screens) –
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Folks, there are lots of ideas about what people think the Bible says and teaches.
For example, lots of people think that the Bible say, “God helps those who help themselves.”
Sorry, that was from Poor Richards Almanac.
That’s just one example.
We talked a few weeks ago about how many people think that Christ’s Great Commission is to “go,” when in reality, His command is to “make disciples.”
Folks, it’s immeasurably important that we study Scripture so we can understand what Scripture really says about stuff.
If we don’t catch the truth about what the Bible says, then we run the danger of falling into error.
There are lots of church-going people who, not understanding what the Bible really says, will chase after all sorts of strange teachings.
You know why cults flourish? Because someone with a false teaching preys on people with an inadequate understanding of Scripture.
They mix a little truth in with the lie, and the people buy it. Scary, isn’t it? But most of us here today can point to people who seemed to have a grasp on Scripture, and then threw it away because some “new teaching” comes around and entices them away from the truth.
You know, if someone says they have understood something from Scripture that no one but they have gotten, or if they say that they understand everything in Scripture perfectly, run away!
Folks, this is why I say time and time again not just to take my word for anything I’m telling you.
Check it out for yourselves through study. Because the truth of the matter is that I may be wrong about something. I’m not afraid to admit the fact that I miss it sometimes.
Hopefully not very often, but since I’m not God and therefore don’t have perfect understanding, I will miss it once in a while.
Studying the Scriptures can help you recognize, avoid, and even confront error.
When you study the Scriptures, you gain a correct understanding of the Scriptures. And if you gain a correct understanding of Scripture, you gain a correct understanding of God and how to live for Him.
But the point here is that to avoid error, you have to know what the Bible says.
And to really learn what the Bible says, you need to do more than just listen and read, you need to study it.
3. Formation of Character
We talked about this passage last week, but I’d like to revisit it again today:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 –
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
• Teaching
This should be pretty obvious, right?
Everything we need to know about God and how to live for Him is right here in the Bible.
And our study of the Bible serves to teach us that – much more than just listening to it in church or even reading it.
Again, so we can learn about God, the Scriptures, and all that stuff so it can actually impact our lives.
• Rebuking
Telling you that something is wrong in your life or understanding of Scripture.
This happens in a couple ways:
First, when the Word rebukes you. You’re in the Word, and you discover that what you previously believed or thought was allowable by Scripture or whatever, was wrong, and you recognize the need to change.
The second way is when someone points out something in your life using Scripture as the foundation of what they’re sharing with you.
They come to you, hopefully in a gracious and loving manner, and bring something up to you that needs some attention.
Hopefully they’ll bring a solution as well, or at least be willing to pray with you when they do it.
Being rebuked is never fun, gang.
But when it’s being done by someone you know to be a godly person who loves Jesus, loves the Scriptures, and loves you, then it makes hearing it a bit easier.
And when that happens, you need to listen. You need to at least consider what they are saying and look to see if it’s true before you just push them aside.
By the way, if you’re the one doing the rebuking, at least do it privately, and be absolutely sure that you’ve got right before you confront someone else.
You may just end up displaying your own ignorance, and that won’t help anybody.
Another way that studying the Scriptures helps in your character formation is that they are there for…
• Correcting
Basically this means getting back on track in your understanding and application of Scripture.
It’s like looking at the road map and realize you made a wrong turn, then looking at the map to see how to get back on the right road.
Your study of the Scriptures help you get back on a correct understanding of Scripture, so that it can work to keep your character on the right track.
• Training in righteousness
This is the developing of our character Scriptural holiness.
I want to emphasize Scriptural holiness, because there are plenty of things that people will tell you that you need to do or not do to be holy but that aren’t addressed in Scripture.
I mentioned that back in the day it was considered unholy to wear wedding rings.
Women, you’d better not be wearing slacks – that’s not holy.
Guys, you’d better not have your hair touching your ears or past your collar, because that’s not holy.
You have a TV? Get ready for the lake of fire for letting that sinful thing into your home!
The idea here is that as we get into the Scriptures, the Scriptures get into us. And the Spirit can use those to draw us to be more Christlike.
And believe me, everyone in here can use more training in righteousness. None of here is perfectly Christlike yet. Least of all me.
If you ever hear me say that I’ve got it all together, you have permission to get in my face and rebuke me about it – graciously, of course.
The Scriptures help to train in righteousness because they help us understand what Christlikness is.
A fourth benefit of studying the Scriptures is…
4. Equipping for ministry.
2 Timothy 3:17 –
17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
First of all I want to point out that it says “man of God,” not “pastor.”
Yes, 2 Timothy is written to a young pastor, but the Bible is very clear that ministry is a responsibility of every believer.
Second, ministry needs to be based on Scriptural principles, not principles based on the world’s philosophies.
We minister when we bring the truth of God’s Word into their lives, with the teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training thing.
We also minister when we encourage and counsel someone with the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are filled with great advice and encouraging promises from God that we can use to build someone up.
We minister when we point people to the truth of Scripture and out of the error they might find themselves.
The Scriptures help us when people have objections to giving their lives to Christ.
One of the books on the stack on my desk right now is entitled, The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask.
It helps Christian show what the Scriptures say about the stuff people use as reasons to not become Christians.
It shows you how the Scriptures equip a person to minister to a person who has an inaccurate understanding of Jesus and what He requires.
And what does all this stuff equate to?
Being a solid disciple of Jesus who can work to fulfill Jesus’ command to make other disciples.
So how do we go about this studying thing? Let me give you just a few methods very quickly.
The stuff I’m sharing with you today is stuff anyone can do. So don’t let any excuses like “that’s too complicated” get in the way, because most Bible study is very simple.
Simplest method:
Paper and pen
Write out the questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Who is doing the talking, who are they talking to? Who is the main focus of the passage?
What is the passage talking about? What’s the main point?
What was going on in the passage (event, etc.)?
Where is the speaker (or author) when they are speaking and writing, and where are the hearers (readers)?
This can be very important because for instance, knowing that Paul was in prison when he wrote his last letters can give you a new appreciation for what he was writing and why he felt it was urgent.
When was this written (or said)? Not just the date, but when did it happen in that writer (or speaker’s life)?
Why was this written (or spoken)? Was it addressing a problem or issue? Does that problem or issue show itself to me in my life?
How do I apply this into my life right now?
Book study
Take a book of the Bible and examine it carefully – reading it many times, writing down recurring themes, and even charting it out to see how it all fits together.
It’s an excellent way to get a grasp on a book of the Bible so you can see how it fits into the overall picture of Scripture which gives you greater insight into the mind of God.
Topical study
Pick a subject of interest to you and discover what the Scriptures have to say about it.
Lots of ways to go there: prayer, marriage, parenting, evangelism, any of the stuff listed on the wall over here, specific doctrines. There is almost no limit to the different topics you can study.
Person of the Bible
Lots to choose from here, right?
Let’s see: Jesus, Peter, Paul, Joseph, Mary, you get the picture.
Learn about what they did and learn about their character – and what you can take away from it for your own.
Some tools you can use:
Concordance
Bible Study guides
Small groups
Bible software
Internet – can help you find free Bible study tools you can use right there or download onto your computer and print out for your study.
You: Get hold of some tools and resources and start one of these Bible Study methods this week.
Don’t be satisfied with surface intake of the Scriptures – get into it. Dig into it. Let the Scriptures speak to you as you labor over getting the meat of the message of the Bible, asking the Holy Spirit to drive the truths you discover deep into your heart – so the Scriptures can have their life-changing effect in your life.
If you don’t understand one of these things I talked about, come talk to me.
I’d love to help you start studying the Bible using any of these things I’ve talked about today.
I’ll be glad to help you find the tools you need for different types of studies.
And I’d be thrilled to hear about what you discover in the Scriptures.
But be ready for me to ask you how you’re going to apply what you learn, so that it’s not just information, but transformation.
And for those of you who might be thinking that you wouldn’t enjoy Bible study, can you at least ask God to give you a desire to get into His Word a bit more through one of these study methods?
We: Folks, one of the ways we can enjoy the full life Jesus wants us is to dig into the Scriptures to see all that He has for us.
And one of the best ways for us to show the world that we want to get past the shallowness that seems to be infecting Christianity nowadays for us to study the Scriptures on our own.
So you see, it benefits us and those we touch.
And folks, I can tell you that the people in our area – the people you and I see every day as we just go about living – need to see the Word of God coming alive in our lives as we study it.
So do yourself a favor, and put yourself in a position to not only receive blessings from God’s Word, but also become equipped for ministry in the lives of those around you.
Let’s pray.
