Talking About the Bible

Transcription

1 Talking About the Bible I. INTRODUCTION Welcome to week 5 of How to Study and Teach the Bible. Just so you know, next week, the college class will be starting up its own thing for the semester. The college class will stay here. Andy Winn will continue with two weeks of Bible study workshop in which you get hands on experience crafting Bible studies. Up until this week, we ve been talking a lot about interpretation of Scripture. This morning, we re going to pivot a little bit and start talking about how to actually teach someone else about the Bible. We re not just interested in figuring out how to teach a Bible For Life lesson or lead a formal Bible study, but also how to talk about the Bible with friends, Christian or otherwise. Before we jump into our lesson this morning, let me ask a general question. Why do we need teachers and leaders at all? Why isn t it enough to just put the Bible in people s hands? Certainly, we believe that the Holy Spirit is active in the hearts of God s people. God can work powerfully as the individual Christian reads his or her Bible. But God has always given teachers to the church, because people need to be instructed. That s true of teachers as well! Turn to Ephesians 4 with me. Would someone read Ephesians 4:11-14? Ephesians 4: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Paul says that God gave teachers to his church. Why did he do that? What does Paul say? To help them grow into spiritual maturity, fully equipped to do the work of ministry and wise enough to reject false doctrine. None of us can get to maturity alone. We all need teachers.

2 Now, in Ephesians 4, Paul is talking about men who are uniquely gifted for, and called to, a formal teaching role in the church. That may very well be some of you, but it might not be all of you. There is another sense in which all of us are called to be teachers though. This is part of what he means when he says that we should be equipped for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. That is every Christian s job. We could also look to Hebrews 5:12. There the author of Hebrews rebukes these Christians for their immaturity For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. So we should recognize and appreciate those set apart by the church as teachers. But we should also realize that all of us are called to grow skilled in the word of righteousness so we can teach and encourage others. II. WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH? So let s assume you have a chance to lead a Bible study or just talk about a text of scripture with someone. What are we trying to accomplish? What should our goals be for a Bible study? To understand the main point of a text and apply it to our lives. That s pretty simple. I think one of the most common mistakes people make is to think that every Bible study needs to be comprehensive and exhaustive. Well, there is certainly real virtue in working slowly through a biblical text and doing a very in depth study. We ve done a lot of that in College BFL. But if you re studying the Bible with someone who doesn t have a great deal of knowledge, or you just don t have a great deal of time, you might not be able to get into as much detail. That is okay! The Bible is not going to be snatched away from us tomorrow; we ll get another chance at it. Moreover, we ll never exhaust the truth of Scripture so we shouldn t feel bad if Here is my idea of a successful Bible study: If you are able to approach a text of Scripture, understand the main point, and think about how the truth should be manifest in your life, then you ve done a good job. III. CHOOSING A TEXT

3 The first thing you ll have to do if you re teaching a Bible study is choose your text. If it s a one-time study, you can choose anything. If you re teaching through a book of the Bible, you ll need to decide how much to bite off at one go. Even if you re just choosing a biblical text for personal study, you still have to decide what you re going to study. Seminary professors call this delimiting the text or figuring out the limits of the text you want to study. It probably would not be that helpful to sit down each time and say, So what do you think about the Bible? Any thoughts on guidelines for how to choose a text to teach or study? How has this been done in Bible studies you ve been a part of? There are no hard and fast rules. In fact, I think it is helpful to study the Bible using a microscope and a telescope. So you can do a single sentence or a whole book at once. That being said, I have a few guidelines which I think make sense. Generally speaking, choose a larger portion rather than a smaller one. This is particularly true if you are a new teacher. If you pick a larger section, you ll have an easier time understanding the flow of the argument. You ll have more context for each individual statement and so will be less likely to miss the big point. You ll also move through books more quickly, so you re less likely to get discouraged or exasperate your study partner. Do at least at least a paragraph at a time. As we ve said before, a paragraph is the fundamental unit of thought. You want to study at least a complete thought. Don t do more than you can read in one sitting. Reading Scripture aloud is one of the most neglected tools in our Bible study arsenal. I have no problem taking a chunk of Bible study time to read a long passage of Scripture. But as a general rule, don t do more than you can read. Pay attention to the natural structure of the text. Books of the Bible usually break down into obvious chunks. So it could be a particular episode in Jesus life or a specific oracle in one of the prophetic books. Our English translations often help us by adding paragraph breaks and section headings. Those are great guides, but don t feel tied to them. Any questions about choosing a text? IV. TALKING ABOUT SCRIPTURE

4 So how do we actually talk about Scripture? How do we actually craft a lesson or Bible study? You can do this different ways, but I ll give you one very basic, very good structure. Start with prayer, read the text aloud, walk through the text with a series of questions, close in prayer. You ll notice that there isn t a lot of lecturing in that structure. Obviously, if you are preaching a sermon, your lesson will look very different. But if you re leading a Bible study, you don t need to plan a lot of lecturing. If there is an important bit of background that someone is unlikely to know the answer to, by all means tell people rather than make them flounder. But you be brief and spend most of your time in discussion. This is still teaching, it is just teaching by asking good questions and then guiding the conversation that results. I would recommend that, if you have the opportunity to teach someone else about the Bible one on one or in a small group, you structure your study through the questions you want to ask.. Indeed, probably all of you have been in Bible studies that fell flat because the leader didn t know how to lead a discussion and you ve probably been in great Bible studies led by skilled leaders. So let s talk specifically about asking questions. So how do we ask good questions in a Bible study? What makes a discussion question good or bad? Let me list out some guidelines for crafting questions and structuring a Bible study. Ask Questions Tied to Each of the Three Steps of Interpretation. You ll remember that in week one of this class we talked about biblical interpretation and I gave three steps for interpretation. Who remembers what those steps were? 1) Exegesis What does this mean?; 2) Theology What does this tell me about God?; 3) Application What does this tell me about myself?. I will often ask those questions without alteration. What does this tell you about God? is a great question to ask. But most of the time you want to ask more specific or targeted questions that fall under these headings. So let s look at a text of Scripture and see if we can come up with some questions that fall under these headings. Turn to Philippians 2: Would someone read Philippians 2:12-18? What would be a good

5 exegetical question to ask? How about theological question? Application? Ask Introductory Questions. It s usually a good idea to ask introductory questions. So ask questions like What do you think this is about? Any initial thoughts? You might be talking to someone about Scripture who has a really pressing question or comment after reading the text. Sometimes it is good to address those sorts of issues right off the bat so you can clear the air. Ask Mostly Open Ended Questions. It s not wrong to ask an occasional yes/no question or ask a question that demands a basic factual answer. But most of your questions should be open ended. Why is this important? You want people to engage with the text. Ask Leading Questions. Now, in a court of law, this can get you in trouble. But when leading a Bible study you should ask leading questions. When I preach a sermon, I have a structured message with an outline with points and examples and arguments. A Bible study or casual conversation obviously isn t quite that structured, but it should have a kind of outline. Think about those tree steps of interpretation. You should know what the main point of the text is, what it tells us about God, and what the main applications are going in. You should ask questions that are going to lead your people to a right understanding and application of the biblical text. Let s go back to Philippians 2: What is the main point of this text? What are some questions that would draw out that point? Ask Questions of Varying Difficulty. Don t ask questions that are impossible. If nobody would know the answer without looking at a commentary, don t ask that question. Just give the information. But ask some questions which are easy you can ask repeat the words back to me kinds of questions and some that take a little more thought of reflection. Ask Application Questions Throughout. Don t put all of your application questions at the very end. Ask application questions throughout your

6 lesson. There is often be a logical sequence to Scripture where we understand and then apply at the end that is why Paul s letters often start with doctrine and end with application but we want to teach people to constantly be thinking applicationally as they study Scripture. So be applying Scripture as it goes throughout. If you re going to split off with Andy Winn next week for the Bible study workshop, you ll have the opportunity to come up with these sorts of questions. But any questions about crafting a question? V. FACING DIFFICULTIES Sometimes in a Bible study, a leader might run into difficulties. What are some of the challenges that can arise in leading a Bible study? Someone who shares something false. What should you do if someone answers a question by saying something false? There are different categories of false statement. Sometimes, you might have someone who just understands some detail in Scripture a little differently than you. So, remember when we looked at Colossians we talked about the phrase peace of Christ in chapter 3, v. 15. I think that probably means peace between fellow Christians, rather than inward peace, but that s obviously not a huge interpretive issue. However, someone could say something that is heretical or dangerous. If that happens, you are responsible for clearly and kindly correcting them. You don t want others to be led astray. Here is a general principle for dealing with comments: Correct gently, and affirm what you can. Put the emphasis on what is true. You don t want to crush people for speaking up. Someone asks a question you don t know the answer to. What do you do if someone asks a question you don t know the answer to? Study hard beforehand to be knowledgeable about the text. But this will happen. If you don t know the answer, just say so and then try to find out later. In studying the Bible with someone, you re not claiming to be omniscient or setting yourself up as an infallible authority. You don t have to be perfect.

7 You ask a question and no one talks. This is probably what scares people most about leading a Bible study. And it does happen! I ve had more than one or two occasions where a question I asked fell flat. First, try rephrasing and clarifying your question. Sometimes that helps. Second, learn to not be afraid of awkward silence. It s part of the job of teaching. Normally, when it s silent in BFL, I m the least embarrassed person in the room. You just have to get used to it. Third, call on someone you know won t mind being asked. Do not call on someone who will be embarrassed. I had someone come up to me once and tell me that a friend they had brought was really frightened that I would call on them. I didn t because I didn t know the person would be happy to answer. So don t be afraid to call on someone, but don t call on someone unless you know they wouldn t be mortified or embarrassed. Any questions? VI. USING RESOURCES Alright, let s talk about using resources in preparing for your personal study and for your study preparation. I m going to get pretty specific to try to give you some guidelines, but let me start with a few general questions. First, what are the dangers of using resources like commentaries? You could just repeat the technical information they contain. You could lose sight of the big picture, forget to do application, and give way to the temptation to lecture. What are the dangers of not using those kinds of resources? You ll misunderstand the text and spread your ignorance around like a communicable disease. It s good to use resources, but we have to use them in their right place. Generally speaking, I find it useful to have two or three different resources when I teach. I like to have a little diversity of opinion so I can hear the arguments for different positions. Moreover, you ll find that different resources have different strengths. I wouldn t use twenty, but it is good to have a couple. Let me list off a few of the resources I recommend.

8 The Bible. This goes without saying, but I want to say it again. By far the most important thing you can do to understand a biblical text is to read it multiple times very carefully. You can read it aloud, use different translations, read before and after for context. But read it multiple times carefully. Take notes on a few of the times you read through. Most of my best insights and applications come from careful reading. Teachers. Our church has a lot of teachers you can ask if you have a question. I am more than happy to talk to you about Scripture. I know the other ministerial staff are just as happy. Feel free to ask your pastors about questions you might have. Study Bible. Study Bibles have a great wealth of material. The cross references are great to help you understand the connections between the different parts of Scripture. The notes at the bottom give a very brief commentary on the text. I think the ESV study Bible is by far the best study Bible every published. The notes and articles are absolutely top notch and I recommend it very highly. Commentaries. Biblical commentaries are explanations of books of the Bible. They come in all sorts of lengths and theological perspectives. Some of them are very technical and deal with the original languages a lot; some are very concise and applicational. It can be a little bewildering. If you d like to buy a biblical commentary, you might want to ask me for a recommendation. You can also go to bestcommentaries.com. It s a rating site for commentaries organized by Carson, Piper, and some other top notch scholars and pastors. Look at what they recommend. Sermons. This is one you might not think about. Why not listen to a sermon by a pastor you respect and trust? You can find all of Andy Davis sermons online. Piper has his sermons online. Mark Dever has his sermons online. You can also get some very good collections of sermons published in book form that you can use as a kind of accessible commentary. Any other thoughts/recommendations for resources? Any questions about resources? VI. EXAMPLE (IF TIME) We ll spend our last few minutes with a brief example. Turn to James 3: Listen as I read this passage aloud.

9 a. Exegesis b. Theology c. Application