Basic Training: Knowing Our Weapon
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INTRODUCTION
· We come to our third lesson in our Basic Training series… Our theme verse once again is , which gives us the standard that we are to live by if we want to be good soldiers. “3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” We are training to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ so we can guard ourselves from being entangled in the affairs of this life and so we can please God as we face please our Commander as we face the temptations and hardships that our adversary brings.
· Last week, we started talking about our “soldier’s manual/handbook”. We talked about many of the reminders that we receive from its pages about our great heritage as members of God’s army.
· Today, I would like to continue focusing on God’s word and it’s place in the life of the soldier. Not only is the Bible our handbook where we learn about our great history, it is also the soldier’s sword… The New Testament in a couple places refers to God’s word as a sword. calls it the sword of the Spirit. likens the work of God’s words to the sharp piercing of a sword… Whenever we think about basic training… one of the most basic things we need to learn as Christians is how to use our weapon. We need to learn how to read and study our Bibles so we can rightly divide the truth and be equipped to defend ourselves when the enemy attacks.
· So for our lesson today, I would like to give you some thoughts regarding how to get to know your weapon – how to study our Bibles so we can understand and know the truth so we can properly apply it so we can fight against the enemy…
FIVE STEPS TO GOOD BIBLE STUDY
These steps, I believe, when they are put into practice as we open up our Bibles to read and study, will help us see the truth that the Spirit is trying to get across and will help God’s word make a bigger impact in our lives. This lesson will be very different than others you have heard me preach because I am not going to study a specific passage, but instead teach you how to study a passage. A lot of what I will show you today are the steps that I go through to prepare to teach classes and sermons, or steps that I have found helpful as I just spend time in God’s word. Hopefully they can be helpful to you…
1. PRAYER
· As we open up the Bible, we need to remember what makes this book different than any other that we study or read: it is God’s word given to mankind. We need God’s help to understand what we are reading and studying in His word. We need His help to make sure we come to the correct conclusions about what His word means and how it applies to our lives. We need His help to overcome our preconceived biases and traditions that may contradict what we will read or study. We need to pray before we get into scripture that we will see the truth.
2. ASK IMPORTANT BACKGROUND QUESTIONS ABOUT A BOOK/LETTER…
· There are questions we must ask ourselves before we read any passage in the Bible so we can better understand what we are reading or studying…
Who? Who is the author of the book? Who is the author writing to? Who are the people spoken of in the passages? It is important for us to understand that many of these books were written by one person and sent to either an individual or a group of people. In many of the New Testament epistle, for instance, we are reading someone else’s mail. Nothing in them is directly written to US… It was written to a specific audience for a specific purpose… What? What’s happening in the book? What is the author going through? What is the audience going through? What is the historical context that the book or letter is being sent in? OR What type of literature is the author using? These all need to be kept in mind before we read or interpret a passage. Where? Where are the events in the book taking place? Where are these places located? When? When was this book written? What time period is the author speaking of? Is he telling of past, present, or future events? Why? Why was the author writing this book? What purpose does this book or letter have?
· How? How does the author convey the message? Does he use historical narrative? Does he use poetry and other types of symbolic language, such as apocalyptic language that is not meant to be taken literally…
· All of these questions are important because they give the book context. If a specific interpretation of a passage does not take into account these questions, we can be guilty of misusing a passage.
· Don’t be afraid to use a lot of sources to find out the answers to these questions. Don’t stick with just one source… This is a lot easier with the internet.
3. EXAMINE THE PASSAGE IN IT’S IMMEDIATE CONTEXT
· This is an important point if we want to understand God’s word. This may sound strange when I say it, but this should be a rule we live by when we open up the Bible: NEVER READ A BIBLE VERSE! Never read a Bible verse. Instead, always read a paragraph at least! One of the reasons why so many verses are taken out of context and abused is because the person quoting the passage does not read the few verses before and after which give the verse that is being quoted it’s meaning, and often when the verse is quoted in isolation without the verses around it, you can come to a completely different meaning than the original author intended. This is a danger for us especially when we are doing topical studies, reading devotional books, etc. Passages are often taken out of context whenever we don’t consider the context of a passage before we use it. Just because someone quotes scripture in a lesson does not mean they are using it accurately.
· Whenever we are going to quote a verse or if we are studying a verse, take note of the verses before and after it to make sure you are going to use the passage to convey the message that the author originally intended.
· A basic rule of all communication: Meaning always flows from the top down, from the larger units to the smaller units, not the other way around. The key to the meaning of any verse comes from the paragraph, not just from the individual words.
· The numbers in front of the sentences give the illusion the verses stand alone in their meaning. They were not in the originals, though. Numbers were added hundreds of years later. Chapter and verse breaks sometimes pop up in unfortunate places, separating relevant material that should be grouped together.
· Stand back from the verse and look for breaks in the narrative that identify major units of thought. Ask, "What in this paragraph or group of paragraphs gives any clue to the meaning of the verse?"
· There's a reason this little exercise is so important. When we consider a verse in isolation, one meaning may occur to us. But how do we know it's the right one? The surrounding context helps us in coming to the correct answer. We began by asking what the purpose of the whole book/letter was. Then we narrow that down to specific paragraphs within the book, tying them to the main themes in the book, then we narrow that down to specific verses.
· Once you understand the surrounding context of a verse, you can narrow your focus and ask what the on the meaning of the verse is.
4. INTERPRET THE PASSAGE
· Do not ask first, ‘what does this verse or passage mean to me?’ or ‘what is the author commanding me?’ These are the wrong questions to ask first. Instead, what we should always first ask about a passage is, “what is the author saying to the original audience?”. Asking, “what does it mean to me?” or “what is the author commanding me?” is jumping to application before getting the intended meaning of the passage, and asking these questions first puts us in danger of relativizing the text; implying that the passage can have a different meaning for everyone. First understand what the author is intending to get through to the audience. Most the time, the author intends the audience to get a specific message from what he writes. It means ONE thing, and usually the intended meaning is very clear. We need to be careful not to ‘relativize’ the text and give it many possible meanings when there is an obvious interpretation of the passage.
· Try to interpret the passage first on your own, put the verse in your own words…
· and then if you need help or have questions, go to other sources. Check out what other translations say (many times just dong this will be enough). Look at what some commentaries say. And do not be afraid to use multiple sources from authors from different backgrounds. When a passage is difficult to understand, it is helpful to get many perspectives regarding it’s meaning.
· Once you interpret a passage, ask, “does my interpretation make the author contradict another teaching in the Bible?
5. HOW DOES THIS VERSE APPLY TO ME?
· Is there a specific application I need to make to my life from this passage? If we answer all of the other questions but NEVER get to this question, then Bible study loses it’s main purpose!
“as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” ()
· This at times is one of our biggest problems with Bible study. We fill our heads with knowledge. We understand what the text is saying; what the Biblical writers are getting through to their audiences, but we never get to the ‘how should this change me’ question. Studying the Bible sometimes can be merely an intellectual exercise instead of a spiritual exercise in which we are convicted to change.
· There should be a lesson for us that challenges us as we study God’s word. There should be things that we see need changed if we are honestly evaluating ourselves. We will see sins that need confessed and repented of. We will see beliefs that need changed. If you and I have not been challenged to change something in our lives, to repent of something, to confess sin, or to change what we believe… it may be the case that we are skipping this step in our study
· And remember, an application of the text is not the same thing as a commandment of God. Applications are not inspired. Just because you and I may see a certain application or principle in a text does not mean that the principle or application is a “thus saith the Lord.” We often fall into this trap. I can study a passage and then say, this is a good application of the passage, then I can look at others who are not getting the same thing from the passage and say, “you are wrong or you believe error.” In my mind I am obligating all to follow my opinion about how the text applies today or trying to bind a principle that I see in the text that others may not see. This is dangerous for us to do. It is one way we can bind our own opinions and traditions on others without even realizing it…
6. PRAY
· Were there specific things that challenged your beliefs? Were there specific teachings that you have not been applying and need God’s help in making changes?
These are our five… or actually 6 points to effective/good Bible study…
CONCLUSION
There are other things I could say regarding studying our Bibles, but these things at least give us some general guidelines to consider so we can rightly understand and interpret God’s word so it can work in us to change us and strengthen us to be faithful soldiers of Christ…
Is there something that you need to change in your life? Is there a sin that is keeping you from growing closer to God? Are you neglecting Him and His word because you are distracted by all that this life has to offer? If there is something we can do for you to help you know the Lord or to grow closer to Him, why don’t you make your need known as together we stand and sing…