Gentlemen, it is great to have you back.
Our Mission to disciple and develop men to lead. And I hope these last two lessons have empowered you with an understanding that will help you spiritually lead.
So far, we have navigated through two topics that I believe are critical to Bible Study. In our first session, we learned that the goal of Bible study is personal change. And last time we discovered the plot of the Bible to gain a scope and sequence on what God was doing through history and how that centers on the life of Christ. Today we are going to turn to actually study the Bible. And while it has taken a couple of lessons to get here, learning how to study the Bible, before understanding the goal, and the plot can derail our focus and context.
As we dig in today, I want you to know that the process we use for studying the Bible matters. And the method we will discover today is a process that preachers and teachers have used for hundreds of years.
I believe the greatest gift you can give any man is the ability to read and understand the Bible (hold up Bible). Because if you can teach a man to learn how to read and understand the Bible then he, on his own, can extract principles he can then use throughout his life. Yet while I believe most Christian men know it is important to read God’s Word, we sometimes we have a hard time mining truth from it, and therefore we don’t turn to it when we need it most.
Our goal in today’s lesson is to learn a process of studying the Bible with the outcome of giving you some time to use this method on your own. And the best part is, it is simple.
Now there are a lot of things about studying the Bible with other men that are intimidating. At Resolute, we have lead hundreds of groups with other guys, and we know that men often are most intimidated by the Bible because it is unlike any other book they have ever read. And this is often compounded by the fact that it has so much ancient history, cryptic language, and religious jargon. And of course, men worry that in a public Bible Study they might be made to feel less than competent and thus embarrassed and ashamed.
But don’t worry no one here is going to make you feel that way today.
As a man who reads and studies the Bible on a regular basis, I can tell you that Bible study, not just privately, but with other men, is extremely rewarding if not one of the most rewarding experiences of my spiritual life. This is because when men from various life contexts come together their observations, interpretations, and applications can be insightful far more than a private study. And I believe a man's life is radically changed when he is engaged in active bible study with other men because his learnings bleed out into his life at home, work, church, and in his community at large.
So now we are going to turn to the next page of your handout. It is entitled “The Inductive Bible Study For Men,” (Slide) and I want to encourage you to listen and take notes as I share with you a Bible study method that will forever change how you view, study, and read God’s word.• So now I am going to walk you through a simple bible study method that many refer to as the Inductive method. The word inductive is referencing a process we use to read and understand the Bible. There are two common ways to reason, one is called inductive, and the other is called deductive. Inductive Reasoning (Slide) seeks to draw meaning out of specifics and then make a general conclusion. Deductive Reasoning (Slide) aims to reach a conclusion and then prove the specifics. How men tend to read the bible is deductively, but this leads to us importing our ideas, opinions, and experiences into the Bible which can lead to errors as we interpret. However, if we can read the bible inductively drawing from the specifics of the text and letting it speak for itself, we will both remain faithful to God’s intended meaning, and discover real life change, because we are the ones who are changed by God’s unchanging Word.
So, let me walk you through the inductive process.
The first step is Observation (Slide). Observation is the step that we all want to fly past, but shouldn't. Here we are looking for the raw content and what the text says. So, what I do, is I find a section of scripture – typically a paragraph or two. And I read it multiple times observing how the text reads. And while I am reading I am persistently scanning the text for these six things while I am trying to figure out what the text says. And I usually start with looking for some of the smallest details and then along the way discover the larger details.
One, I am looking at the Words (Slide). I know this seems basic, but when I look at the words, I am identifying the people, places, or things in the text. Also, I am noticing the central or repeated words that bring attention to the subject and theme.
Two, I am looking for Characters (Slide). I want to make sure I am familiar with the people or characters in the text and the activity taking place around them.
Three, I’m looking at the Grammar (Slide). Here I am starting to step back to identify the subject, the verb, and the object of the text. I am trying to determine what words and characters take center stage. For example, I may occasionally notice the use of contrasts and comparisons that repeat. And if so these are emphasizing something I need to give attention to.
Four, I am going to be looking at sentence Structure (Slide). I want to examine how sentences and paragraphs come together. I am looking for connecting phrases like the word “therefore.” Words, like this in the structure of the sentence tells us to pay attention to previous statements and that a resultant thought is coming.
Five, I want to know the Genre (Slide). Noticing the genre is another step back from the details. We always need to pay attention to the kind of text we are reading. Whether it's poetry, prose, letter, narrative or prophetic literature. This helps us to define the context of the greater story.
Six, and finally, I want to note the Mood (Slide) of the text. Here we just notice the tone of the text, by paying attention to the actions and emotions of the writer and the audience to which it was written.
And that is how I make observations. I am always looking for these six things, and they again are words, characters, grammar, structure, genre, and mood. And the more proficient you get at this process, the more you will be able to exhaust from the text.
When I am leading others in a Bible study, I spend most of my time asking men what they see in the text. I would suggest spending at least 70% of your time here. And the key to making precise observations is to avoid doing two things that truncate the process.
One, Avoid Asking “What Does This Mean?” (Slide) Which is a question of interpretation.
And two, Avoid Comments That Begin with “Here Is What This Means To Me.” (Slide) Which is a comment of application.
If you avoid these two pitfalls then you will usually spend more time making observations, and when you make good observations, then your questions of interpretation will be answered, and your comments of application will be stronger.
The second step of Inductive Bible Study is Interpretation (Slide). Here we are trying to discern one thing, and that is what the text meant, not to us, but to the original audience. The first audience of every passage in the Bible is the people that it was written to. And in the interpretation stage, we’re looking to find the author’s intended meaning to that audience. So what I like to do here is think of myself as a reporter and ask reporter style questions. Questions like, who, what, where, when, how, and why. Questions like these dig after the historical context and most of them are answered by the observations we made in the last step. Once in a while, I may need a little bit of historical help, and sometimes I turn to a study bible or commentary to get a better understanding of the context. But what we are trying to do is discover the one main point the author is trying to drive home to his audience and what we are trying to avoid is importing our cultural assumptions into the text which can lead us to make the wrong interpretation and thus incorrect application.
And the third big step is Application (Slide). The application is where I am trying to find how the interpretation connects to my everyday life. I am usually thinking about two questions.
What Issues Am I Currently Facing? (Slide) and
What Steps Do I Need To Take? (Slide)
And I base the answers to these two questions on all I have learned in the observations and interpretations steps.
I have used this process for years and find it be enlightening whether I am engaging in personal study, preparing for a sermon, but it is incredible in Bible study with a group of men. Many people memorize this process with the acronym O.I.A. (Slide) which stands for Observation, Interpretation, and Application.
Now, gentlemen, we are going to dig in a little deeper and try it this together. At this time, you want to turn the next page of the handout entitled “The Wise & Foolish Builders.” (Slide)
Let me read the text for you, and I will give you some instructions.
The text is from Matthew 7:24-29 here is how it reads, 24 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. Matthew 7:24-29 (Slide)
While I could walk you through many observations in this text, I am going to assume that you found most, if not all of them. I’m also going to assume that in your interpretation you uncovered that this is a short parable that appears at the close of the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus Christ. Knowing this helps us to make the application that Jesus wants us to hear.
But, the question is, “What is this text teaching me?”
Well, you could probably draw a couple of applications out of this text. But there is one that Jesus does not want us to miss. And that is that God’s man needs to both hear and respond to God’s truth.
I believe this is one of the many challenges that Christian men face. Do we prefer to hear the truth and do nothing, or do we hear the truth and do something? And notice the problem is not a problem with the truth or hearing the truth, but a problem with integrating our hearing with our action. And this is what Jesus means by “founded on the rock.”
Consider this for a moment.
Have you ever attended church on the weekend and find yourself being spiritually convicted by a sin, a struggle, an issue, or a problem and then do nothing about it?
If you answered "yes," then you have been guilty of "building your house on the sand." And we have all done this, including me.
I believe Jesus illustrates with this construction analogy the difference between a man who hears alone and a man who hears and acts - the fully integrated man.
And Jesus even adds in an element - a storm, which exposes how well a man has integrated their hearing with their doing.
And believe me, there will be a storm in your life at some point. And this storm regardless of how "good" the man looks on the outside will reveal the man of God, on the “inside” who integrates their hearing and doing. Because everyone will experience a storm. Either you’re going into a storm, you’re in one, or you’re coming out of one. But the storm is imminent. So, the call of Jesus is to be prepared for the storm by integrating all of your life with his Word - both your hearing and doing – and thus is building on the right foundation.
Well, gentlemen, I think you have your application for the week.
Integrate the Word into your action, so when the challenges of life expose you, you stand firm. Great stuff right?
