Are You Ready to Listen to God's Word Proclaimed? Part 6

 “The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.” - D. L. Moody.
“The goal of Bible study is not to make us smarter sinners but to make us more like our Savior.” – Howard Hendricks
Too often so-called “students” of the Word are looking for more information without ever getting to the all-important step of application. We need to ask this: “How does this truth change my life?” We should not be satisfied with just hearing a good sermon. James 1:25 pronounces a blessing on what you do when you apply God’s Word to your life. The one who is described as blessed in this verse is not a “forgetful hearer”, but an “effectual doer”. A forgetful hearer is one who neglects what needs to be done. It’s like hearing a sermon, complimenting the preacher, and then waiting for a new one next week. Meanwhile, the effectual doer is one who goes to work. That’s the significance behind the word “effectual”. Listen to a sermon, and get to work putting it into action.
Some good insights are offered in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 on how we can listen to scripture and use it for changing our lives. These verses tell us that the Word of God is profitable (useful and helpful) in four ways.
First, it is profitable for TEACHING  Other versions use the word doctrine. The word has to do with giving us information. Such information may be something new to us, or something of which we need to be reminded. When listening to the Word of God, we should be asking questions about what we are learning. Here are some examples:

1.      What did I learn about ______________ (God, Christ, Church, holiness, etc.)

2.      What promise do I see from what I heard?

Second, it is profitable for REPROOF  Reproof means that you are being confronted with something that is sinful, either doing something you should not be doing, or not doing something that you should be doing. The verb form of this word is translated as “exposed” or “convicted” (James 2:9; Ephesians 5:11). So the Bible should bring conviction in your heart that you are doing something wrong. Here are some questions to ask:

1.      What sins have I committed and need to repent of?

2.      What should I start doing (or start doing it again)?

3.      Are there commands that I have ignored, forgotten, or not previously heard?

Third, it is profitable for CORRECTION  The positive side of reproof is correction. It sounds just like the word: correcting the wrong behavior. Something in our life is out of order, and it needs to be restored to its proper place. The Bible shows you what you should be doing. It is looking for the opposite of what you have been doing. Ephesians 4:22-24 and 1 Peter 1:1-2 offer some examples that can be found in the New Testament where we have to do the negative (“put off”) before we can do the positive (“put on”). Try these questions to help find areas of correction:

1.      What should I be doing instead of _________________?

2.      Where do I need to make things right?

Fourth, it is profitable for TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS
Training is what we do with people who don’t know how to do something, like our children, students in school or coworkers on the job. Here the object of the training is righteousness. This is not the righteousness that is to be gained by trusting in Christ alone for salvation. Rather, it is the righteousness that we are to live out day by day. We should be seeing how God wants us to think and act. Scripture shows us how we are to live. That's what Paul says in Titus 2:11-12. Here is what we can ask:

1.      What do I need help doing? Who can help me?

2.      Is there an example to follow (or not follow)?

These four ways of allowing the Bible to be profitable in your life will help you be a “doer of work” rather than a “neglectful hearer” and thus be blessed in your “doing”. That’s a promise!

Are You Ready to Listen to God's Word Proclaimed? Part 5

The church is constantly in danger of being exposed to false teacher. It is important that listeners be able to discern whether the teaching they heard is biblical. We saw the reason for preaching the word last time in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. People want to be entertained and feel good. They will reject sound teaching, turn away from the truth, and turn toward false teaching.

So that makes it important for preachers to preach the Word, as well as for listeners to listen to the Word in a way that helps them become strong in their faith. Let’s focus on 1 Timothy 4:6-7 to see the importance of our own work in listening to the Word.  

First, we have a need for NOURISHMENT  Here is the context of the verses we are studying. Paul has just stated that there will be people who will “fall away from the faith” in what he calls “later times”. This will happen as the result of false teaching. So he tells Timothy that he will be a good servant when he shows the Church what will be happening.

The next phrase says he is “constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.” Timothy was a student of the Word! God was feeding Him. The word used for nourish is the opposite of atrophy, a wasting away of part of your body due to a lack of nourishment or feeding. So Paul is saying that Timothy has been nourished by continuing to follow the teaching he had been given while growing up and working with Paul (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15).

By the way, the word for “good” (describing servant) and “sound” (describing doctrine) are the same, and it speaks of the quality of something. He was an excellent servant because he was following excellent teaching. That sounds like good advice. We need to always look for good spiritual nourishment rather than spiritual junk food! Paul talks to Timothy and Titus about “sound” doctrine or teaching several times, but usually with another word that means healthy (hygiene is the Greek word for “sound” in 1 Timothy 1:10; 6:3; 2 Timothy 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1-2). It is obvious that Paul was concerned about the kind of teaching the church was receiving. There has always been a great need for discerning listeners as well as sound teaching.

Second, we have a need for EXERCISE  The nourishment we receive from God’s Word does not come easily, however. In verse 7 Paul tells Timothy of the need to “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” Other translations use the word “train”. But probably the best way to understand this word is from the good old King James Version: exercise. In English, we have the word gymnasium from this Greek word. It has the idea of a constant, strenuous workout.  You would be working up a good sweat! We need to go to God’s gym, and the equipment we need for our workout is the Word of God.   

Just as most people have a goal in mind with their physical exercise, when it comes to listening to God’s Word, we also want to focus on a GOAL. Paul tells us that the goal is GODLINESS, the opposite of what was being produced by  false teachers based on what Paul says elsewhere (1 Timothy 6:3; 2 Timothy 2:14-18). Jerry Bridges defines ungodliness as living your life with little or no thought of God. You don’t think of His will, His glory, or your dependence on Him. So the Christian who is getting the good exercise needed is going to be working towards Christlikeness. Sometimes we seem to be working more towards the goal of worldlikeness (a new word I made up! Think Romans 12:1-2). God needs to be the focus of our life.

Think about the nourishment and exercise you need, not just as a listener of the Word, but also as a student of the Word. That’s not just a once-a-week deal, but a constant, serious, in-depth time to dig into what God has revealed to us in Scripture.

Are You Ready to Listen to God's Word Proclaimed? Part 3

The third chapter of Expository Listening deals with being prepared to hear God’s Word. The author again uses the picture of farming to compare how we listen to God’s Word. The field that is hard is not ready for the seed. The heart that constantly ignores the message or just listens without taking action becomes hard and will not be fruitful. Here are some Biblical insights we can use to get our hearts ready to hear God’s Word.

1. Understand the purpose of coming to church. When we meet together, whether it is in an RMG, small group, or a Sunday service, it is not for our benefit. Hebrews 10:24 teaches a primary goal for the time together. Literally, it says, “Let us think carefully about one another towards the stimulating to love and good works.” It’s about the other people who are part of our group. Verse 25 goes on to say that we are deserting them (“not forsaking”) when we fail to come. That word is translated “deserted” twice in 2 Timothy 4. People need us to be there! The opposite of desertion according to this verse is encouragement, which means you come alongside them to offer them help. Think about physical presence when you think of being an encourager. These verses teach that we are obligated to take our eyes off of self and focus on how we can help others.

2. Meditate on God’s Word daily. Meditation is more than just reading the Bible. It is spending time with the Bible, probably just a few verses. It is a time when you think about what God is teaching you for how you ought to live. It is about finding a way to change your life. Psalm 1:2 says that the “blessed man” is doing it “day and night”. The result of such practice is fruitfulness. I loved reading the story of William Wilberforce who memorized Psalm 119 and then recited it every day as he walked to his office, where he fought against the slave trade in England. Bible memorization is one of the best ways to practice meditation, since you can do it anywhere, even when you don’t have a Bible with you. Spending extended time with the passage of scripture that will be taught in the Sunday message will be especially helpful as you come to church and listen to the message from the pulpit.

3. Get rid of sin that will prevent you from being hungry for God’s Word. Listening to God’s Word requires a heart this prepared, and that means it is clean. 1 Peter 2:2 commands us to have a longing for God’s Word, just like a baby has a longing for milk. But that longing is preceded by getting rid of sins that have been a part of your life. You’re not hungry for the good food if your filled up with junk. Make sure that you go to God in confession before ever going to His Word for instruction.

4. Pray daily for God’s Word being taught. The apostle Paul asked for churches to pray for him as he continued his ministry of the Word (Colossians 4:2-4 and Ephesians 6:19-20). Pray for the one who is teaching, that he will be “clear” (Colossians 4:4), and that the Holy Spirit will speak truth into the lives of the people (John 16:13). 

Also, Paul was in constant prayer for the people of the different churches where he had preached. It was often a prayer of thanks to God for how He had been at work in them, but it was also a prayer for God’s continued work in their lives. Consider the value of praying for others that you know with the words of Colossians 1:9-12. Pray that you and others who will be hearing the message will have these results in their lives as they hear God’s Word. 

What? Me, A Counselor Part 2

In Part 1 we were looking at Colossians 3:16 where Paul tells these Christians that they are to “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another.” Our focus was on the word “admonishing”. But as we studied this word we noticed that there are some other words used in the Bible that have a similar meaning. Today we will look at these other words and compare them in order that we might see what we need to be doing to help other Christians in their walk with Christ.

But let’s remember, this is not a moralistic lesson that gains acceptance with God when we do it. This is what the normal Christian life should be like. Why? Because of the gospel! Because it’s what Jesus Christ expects of His followers. Because we have the “want to” built into our life through the Holy Spirit who indwells us. Notice what Paul says to the Romans:   But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

With that in our mind, let’s look at some other New Testament words that will show us how we are to be obedient from the heart in helping other Christians.

1.     What does it mean to TEACH someone?

The expectation of teaching other Christians is included in the passage before us, but also in chapter 1. Notice what Paul says he was doing in His own ministry: We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” Of course, this is the great apostle Paul. That’s HIS ministry. Is that something that is also expected of the normal, every-day believer, too? Well, according to our verse (3:16), it is expected.

 Of course, there is a special spiritual gift of teaching that is described in scripture, but that does not suggest that only those with the gift should teach. Paul does not make any clarification about teaching if you have that gift. This is for everyone to be doing, though it may be done in different contexts. Some may teach a Bible study or a Sunday school class. Others may just do it with a small group, perhaps just one other person. Since it is paired here with the direction to admonish, we can assume that as you warn someone of their wrong behavior, you are also prepared to show them from the Word of God what is the right behavior.

And that is exactly what is involved in teaching: showing someone else what God’s Word says. It does not have to have a fancy outline, with dramatic illustrations and deep theological truths. It means that we are providing information to someone that they can understand and use.

2.     What does it mean to EXHORT someone?

When you see the word “exhort” in the Bible, it is actually translated from a couple of different words. Most frequently, it is the same word as the one used for encourage, which is also translated as comfort, urge, plead, beg, and implore. The context would determine which meaning should be used in any given passage. But the basic idea of the word is to come along to the side of someone to offer assistance. What kind of assistance? That’s where we need to see the context of the passage. We’ll look at a couple of verses that are specifically related to what we are expected to do in our relationships with other believers.

1 Thessalonians 4:18  This is the well-known passage where Paul explains the rapture to a group of believers who were worried about some who had already died without seeing the return of Christ. They were grieving. So Paul explains what will be happening with those departed saints with a description of what will take place when Christ returns for the church. Paul concludes this instruction with the direction to come alongside one another to help each other not be discouraged or grieving as those who have no hope. There is hope! So the context would seem to suggest that believers should be a source of comfort for each other in the face of grief.

1 Thessalonians 5:11  Immediately following the rapture passage, Paul turns his attention to the actual return of Christ to earth, what we can actually call the Second Coming of Christ. In this situation, Paul is challenging the Christians who have not died to consider their present situation and to live for Christ and be alert, not lazy and to be self-controlled or sober, rather than neglectful of our responsibilities (5:6). With that expectation in mind, Paul concludes his teaching on the subject with the words, “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” It’s the same word that is used in 4:18, but this time with a different context, a need for Christians to be doing something in their life. So most translations use the word encourage. But exhortation might also be a good translation. We are to come along to the side of other Christians to encourage them in their walk with Christ.

3.     What does it mean to ADMONISH someone?

And now we look at the word we studied in part 1. We said that it had the idea of putting something into someone’s mind. The Biblical Counseling movement have used the Greek word for admonish as their main word to describe their approach to counseling (nouthetic). We saw this being used in both Colossians 3:16 and in Romans 15:14. In the latter passage, Paul even makes it clear that all these believers were “able” to admonish one another. It is also translated as warn/warning, and instruction. This word suggests that a person needs  to be confronted with something that is wrong and then helped to see how they should change to conform to God’s Word.

Conclusion:

Two questions need to be asked. First, how do these different words relate to one another? In a way they are  synonymous, but synonyms do not mean exactly the same meaning, but rather, close to the same meaning. Teaching is definitely giving out information, exhorting and encouraging is helping someone to put that information into practice, and admonishing is challenging them to change their behavior according to the information.

The second question is easy. Are we expected to teach, exhort, encourage, comfort, and admonish other Christians? Answer:  YES! It’s right there in the verses we have studied. Some of us may be better equipped at doing it. We may do it in different ways according to our personalities/temperaments. But we need to be looking for opportunities to help build up one another in Christ through the Word of God. We may do it in small groups, but often this is a one-on-one situation where we have established a spiritual relationship. Don’t have anyone like that? That’s a problem. And you should address it. With all these “one another” concepts, it would appear that God expects to be involved in the lives of other people.

You may not be the appointed “admonisher” or “teacher” or “exhorter”. In fact, you should not be! But you should be preparing yourself to do any and/or all of them on an as-needed basis. And if you are involved in other people’s lives, it will be needed. Because we are all sinners. Are you ready to receive it? God will use others in your life to so that, with the apostle Paul, we may say “so that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

Book Review: One to One Bible Reading

Bible reading made simple! That’s another title for an excellent little book that is actually called One to One Bible Reading. The subtitle says it well: a simple guide for every Christian. That is exactly what you will find as you read it. By the way, it’s also an easy read. You will finish it in one sitting! The author is David Helm, a pastor in Chicago, and what you will read is the result of his own personal ministry of Bible reading with others.

The basic message of the book is that every Christian can read the Bible with another person and gain understanding of God’s message. The early part of the book establishes the purposes of reading one to one: evangelism, discipleship, training, and relationship. You can do your reading with someone who is not a Christian, someone who is a new Christian, someone who needs training for ministry, or someone with whom you wish to strengthen your relationship. The focus is on God’s Word.

Helm then gives two different approaches to studying the Bible with the other person. One approach, the Swedish Bible Study approach, using simple diagrams of a light bulb, question mark and an arrow to highlight areas where a person is either impressed by something in the passage (a light bulb), has a question about something he/she does not understand (a question mark), or sees a specific application to their life (an arrow). These items are then discussed between the people involved.

The second approach uses COMA questions, where the readers focus on specific questions relating to Context, Observation, Meaning, or Application. This approach is a more advanced and in-depth way of studying the Bible.

The appendix of the book gives you some general questions to ask for the various genres that you find in the Bible (narrative, poetry, expository, prophesy, etc.). These questions are also available through the publishers website for free to be printed as needed (much better than copying the pages from the book!). The questions are based on the COMA Bible study method.

Allow me to share with you my own personal experience using the One to One Bible Reading approach. I have used it in small groups as well as one to one. I have used it with my wife. Though I have tried both approaches to studying the Bible with someone else, the COMA method has been particularly effective in getting to the meaning and application of the passage after determining context and doing the important work of observation.

I have been blessed by the insights I have gained as I shared thoughts with those who are reading with me. It does not require a great deal of preparation (you can do all the work when you are together or in advance, your choice!), nor does it require one person to be the teacher and the other a student (both are students, learning together!). Yes, there will be times when you will want go deeper by studying other resources (commentaries come to mind), but there is plenty of “gold” to mine right there in your Bible.

This book is an excellent tool to be used for evangelism and discipleship. I cannot give it any higher recommendation. Get a hold of a couple of the books and share it someone else so that you can begin the life-changing process of allowing God’s Word transform your life and the life of someone important to you.