HTSTB - Part 1

Kevin Beck

How to Study the Bible • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

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Connection/Tension

Open with prayer guide...

So this is the time of year when people start to make changes - resolutions - for the new year. We make plans to grow or improve in some part of our life - eating better, more exercise, more sleep. Anyone make any new year’s resolutions? Care to share?

Christians tend to also want to take steps to grow in their faith around this time. We resolve to pray more, or maybe give more, or get involved. Bottom line, many of us have a desire to get to know God better. There is NO GREATER WAY to get to know God - his character and goodness and nature - than reading his word, the Bible. In fact, it’s essential.

Yet most Christians don’t. The Bible, if reflected in the NYT Bestsellers list, would top the charts every year. We buy A LOT of Bibles. But we don’t read them. Some don’t because they just don’t care. Some don’t feel like it applies to their life, or is a waste of time. Maybe the majority, however, tried to read it, but then get confused - or bored - and gave up. I think for most of us, the biggest problem we face is that we want to read the Bible, but we don’t know how. Where do we start?

Unfortunately, many people try one of two methods of reading. The first is to just start at the beginning in Genesis and read it straight through. Ever tried that? Read Genesis - not too bad, pretty interesting. Get to Exodus, and it’s pretty good too - some exciting stuff happens. Then you get to Leviticus. And our desire to know God better shrivels and dies. (If you aren’t laughing it’s because you’ve never tried to read Leviticus.)

The other method we try for Bible reading I call the “Flop Method”. This is where you just let the Bible flop open, stab your finger at a verse, and then try and do what is says. Doing this method might bring us to this verse: Ezekiel 4:12 “You shall eat it as a barley-cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.”

So that’s in the Bible. Who’s hungry? Probably not the best way of reading the Bible. So the goal of this short series will simply be to help you learn how to study the Bible better so that you can actually understand what you read and get something out of it. We’re going to do this by actually studying - at a very high level - a book of the Bible. The short letter in the NT - Philemon.

I’m very excited to teach this series because God’s word is alive! This is how God most often speaks to me. It is active. It is powerful. God will use it to speak to you, guide you, protect you, and empower you. It can guard you from temptation. Renew your mind. Build you faith. It is the truth that will set you free. Do you want more of the Holy Spirit in your life? Study your Bible.

Text and Context

This morning I going to give you five big ideas about how to study the Bible. I’ll go through them quickly and then we will break each one down:

The following on one slide, the numbers lines coming in one at a time

How to Study the Bible (centered)

Choose a translation you understand.

Choose a time, place, and plan to study.

Understand the context.

Read slowly and ask questions.

Pray, listen for God to speak to you, and apply what He shows you

Let’s start reading Philemon at verse 7: “For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” (Philemon 7–9, KJV)

Wow! That is so powerful. I feel like we could just stop right here and leave encouraged. Do your bowels feel refreshed?

Choose a translation you understand

Obviously, to our first point, choose a translation of the Bible you can actually understand. There are lots of translations. The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. When translators bring it into English, they try and use words that capture the meaning of the original language.

I read from the KJV, which came out in 1611. Do you think the English language has changed since then? It’s changed since last week! Back then people thought that we experienced emotions in our bowels. Now we would probably say we experience them in our heart. So pick a translation that is understandable. My recommendations would be:

(the following on one slide)

NRSV (this is what I read and study from) - more word for word instead of thought for thought

NIV - good compromise between readability and accuracy

NLT - more thought for thought vs word for word

I would tend to stay away from paraphrases like The Message for study - too inaccurate.

Choose a time, place, and plan to study.

Seek consistency. You need to treat it as a date on your calendar. Have a time and place. For me it’s first thing when I wake up at my kitchen table. For you it might be a favorite chair. If you are a stay at home mom it might be when you put your baby down for a nap. For you night owls, it might be after everyone is asleep and the house is finally quiet.

Have a plan. Being consistent to study your Bible is much easier when you already have a plan you are following. You might choose to work your way through a book of the Bible. Or there are dozens of reading plans that you can Google. The YouVersion app has thousands of reading plans based on topics, books, character profiles - you name it.

Understand the context

This is SO important. More problems arise in people’s live and in the church because people don’t know the context of what they are reading. What happens when you don’t know the context? You come to incorrect - and even harmful - conclusions.

Let’s say that a friend of yours was in Tulsa a few weeks ago and they told you that they saw me at a restaurant having dinner alone with another woman who was not my wife. What would you think? Suspicious? Concerned? But what if you found out later that I was there having dinner with my daughter who lives in Tulsa? That’s context, and it changes everything.

Understanding context is one of the most important things you’ll spend your time on when reading the Bible. A text without a context is just a proof text. And then you can make the Bible say anything you want...

The first context we need to understand is “What are we reading?” First, the Bible is a library, not a book.

All on one slide

The Bible is… (centered)

A collection of 66 different books

Written in three languages

Across three continents

Over a 1,500 year period

By 40 different authors (shepherds, farmers, tent makers, doctors, fishermen, priests, kings)

New slide

It’s a collection of poems, prophecies, letters, laws, histories, and biographies, written by people and inspired by God, telling one unified story that brings us to Jesus and shows us how to become like him.

To study, understand, and apply the Bible today, context is king! To understand the context, we need to ask:

All one slide

Who wrote it?

To whom was it written?

What is its purpose?

Let’s start with Philemon and try to find the context...

Philemon 1–2 “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:”

This tells us some things. Usually, to learn the context we need some extra resources.

A study Bible

A Bible handbook - Reading the Bible Book by Book

The Bible Project videos

All on one slide

Philemon was written by Paul while he is a Roman prisoner.

To a (probably) wealthy man named Philemon who leads a church in his home.

About a runaway slave named Onesimus who had stolen from Philemon.

Onesimus met Paul in Rome and Paul led him to Christ.

Paul’s purpose for writing is to bring reconciliation, asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus and accept him back as a brother in Christ.

Right off the bat, we can see this is a pretty big deal. History tells us there were around 60 million slaves in Rome during this time. When a slave ran away, harsh steps were taken to make sure the slave population didn’t revolt. So usually, at a minimum, an “F” was branded on their forehead to mark them as a fugitive. But very often they were beaten or even killed.

So Paul is telling Philemon, this slave who stole from you, embarrassed you, threatened the social fabric when he escaped, I want you to forgive him and no longer treat him as a slave but as an equal. Pretty big deal. We will come back to this later...

And we see that Paul is setting all this up at the beginning: Philemon 4–7 “When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.”

Does it sound a little bit like Paul is trying to soften Philemon up to make him amenable to what he’s going to ask him to do? Oh, Philemon, you are so loving, I know you will do what’s right… Now we know the context.

Read slowly and ask questions

The two questions we always need to ask are:

All on one slide coming in one at a time

What does this say about God?

What does this say about me?

If you ask nothing else, at least ask these questions. If you want to go a little deeper, you can ask the S-P-E-C-K questions:

All on one slide coming in one at a time

Is there a SIN to be avoided?

Is there a PROMISE to be claimed?

Is there an EXAMPLE to follow?

Is there a COMMAND to obey?

Is there something to KNOW about God?

Pray, listen for God to speak to you, and apply what He shows you

What is God wanting to show me or say to me? Here is where the Bible can transform our lives.

Philemon 8–10 “For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.”

If you dig a little deeper - maybe go and Google the Greek - you will find a little Easter Egg. Anyone know what Onesimus’ name means? Useful/Profitable.

Philemon 11 “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me.”

Tension between “formerly” and “but now”. In fact, you can’t have the “but now” without the “formerly. He is saying that formerly, Onesimus was useless to you, but now he is useful. Formerly he was just a slave, but now he is a brother in Christ. God has rewritten Onesimus story.

And this gets to our last point. Because where Bible study takes us is to ask what God is saying about himself and about us. I don’t know if you are like me, but sometimes the devil tries to remind me of what I was formerly. God reminds me of the “but now”. Maybe you could say that formerly your life was useless or unprofitable - or maybe painful or directionless, but now God has made it profitable. Or maybe he is reminding you right now that that is what he is doing. That he is actively at work on the “but now” of your life, and he wants you to be encouraged to not quit or give up because he is making something beautiful and profitable in your life.

Gospel/Response

We can see from Onesimus story that God is a storyteller. But not just a storyteller - a story-writer. Onesimus was formerly one way, but now he is something different because of the grace of Jesus in his life. Like Onesimus, this is what God is doing in your life, too.

God is rewriting your story. Some of you can look back and say formerly I was sick, but now I’m healed. Formerly I was an addict, but now I’ve been set free. Formerly I struggled with depression and anxiety, but now I have peace. Application: Praise God!

And for some of you he is still writing. He is right now in the process of rewriting your future testimony where you WILL BE able to say, formerly I was sick, or an addict, or depressed, and right how he is writing your story of freedom and deliverance so that you will have a “but now” to tell others soon. Application: Hold on and don’t quit!

And some of you he wants to change your story today. To change you from formerly being one who was lost, without Jesus and without hope, and make you right now a child of God. (next steps slide) Jesus is here by the Holy Spirit to transform your story right now...

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