NORTHSHORE CHURCH OF CHRIST

What methods should you follow when examining God’s word? How should you read it to get the most out of it, and how should you read it to truly understand what God’s actual intent is?

Much has been said and written on this subject, but I’d like to share some simple, practical pointers. Perhaps the following suggestions will ring true with you and help you in your discovery of the most blessed of all Books.

Read the Bible as You Would Other Books

The Bible is different from all other books because it comprises words not only written by men but also directed by the Holy Spirit. Thus, we understand it to be God-breathed: “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3.16). “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1.20-21).

However, God communicates to us through men and uses methods of communication which are common to man. There is nothing mystical about reading His word; anyone may understand it. As Jesus told the Father, “You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” (Luke 10.21).

God has always communicated to man in the common language of man, so we do not need special university training before we can understand it.

Seek to Understand What the Author Was Saying to His Audience

If you started to read something by Aristotle or Shakespeare, you would know the man had written in a completely different time and culture. He uses words in a different way than you are used to. How will you understand him? You will need to study the man’s writings and perhaps other literature from his era to get a good feel for how he thinks and communicates.

It’s also helpful to understand the author’s audience. Was he writing to a friend, a foe, the public? Was he attempting to persuade, reprimand, instruct? Who received his work, and how would they have read it? This takes work, but it helps greatly to understand the whole communication.

Every author writes to be understood. Despite current trends in how to read books, the message of the book is not up to the reader. If you misunderstand what an author has to say, you have not rightly interpreted the book. No, everyone cannot have his own valid interpretation. We do the author a disservice and treat his work with contempt and ingratitude if we do not really attempt to pick up what he’s put down. That’s how I hope you are reading my article right now.

Find Instruction for Your Present Walk with God

The last step of solid study is application. The author is teaching something or relaying some message to his original audience. How does it connect and apply to me? Is there anything useful? When dealing with the word of God, there is always something useful because God’s word is living and active and deep beyond measure. For instance, once we understand what Paul was saying to the Colossian brethren, we can then ask, “Does God intend for me to follow this rule or this principle today? If so, how should this be worked out in my day?” It was addressed to specific Christians, but God preserved it for the future church to own and in some way follow.

Summary

Follow these three main steps in your Bible study:

1. Observe: Read the Bible as you would other books
2. Interpret: Seek to understand what the author was saying to his audience
3. Apply: Find instruction for your present walk with God

God bless you as you plumb the depths of His sweet and powerful Book.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
(Ephesians 6.4)

God chose Abraham for a specific purpose: “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him” (Genesis 18.19)

When David returned from successfully bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, 2 Samuel 6.19-20 says, “Then all the people departed, each to his house. And David returned to bless his household.”

Solomon writes of the relationship between fathers and children in many of his Proverbs:

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,

and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

for they are a graceful garland for your head

and pendants for your neck. (Proverbs 1.8-9)

And now, O sons, listen to me:

blessed are those who keep my ways. (Proverbs 8.32)

Whoever spares the rod hates his son,

but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (Proverbs 13.24)

Discipline your son, for there is hope;

do not set your heart on putting him to death.  (Proverbs 19.18)

Discipline your son, and he will give you rest;

he will give delight to your heart. (Proverbs 29.17)

Does the burden of bringing up children in the Lord fall only to fathers? No, mothers also do this excellent work. Moses spoke to the people of Israel, men and women, when he said, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children…” (Deuteronomy 4.9). “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6.6-7). Timothy’s mother and grandmother worked hard to teach him the Scriptures through his boyhood years (2 Timothy 1.5; 3.15).

But Fathers are primarily tasked with teaching their children about God and His paths of righteousness.

We should be thinking generations down the line. What will my great-grandchildren be taught? Will my influence continue to the next generation…and even beyond? What a sweet thought, that grandchildren I don’t even know may one day bless the Lord’s name and fight in His kingdom.

Fathers, let us command our children to keep the ways of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice. Many fathers today act as curses to their families. Let us return to our homes to bless our families by leading them in paths of light and guiding with godly wisdom and instruction.

To the work!

She opened her eyes to the sound of her phone alarm, stabbed a finger at the off button, and stared bleary-eyed at the ceiling. The faithful sun was filtering softly through her bedroom curtains. If only she could just enjoy the morning, she thought, but children would be needing breakfast soon, leftover dishes in the sink would not wash themselves, today was laundry day, and she had wanted to clean the garage. She also needed to prepare to teach a kid’s Bible class that evening.

He opened his eyes to the sound of his phone alarm, stabbed a finger at the off button, and stared bleary-eyed at the ceiling. The sun had faithfully risen again in the east, peeking through his window blinds. If only he could just enjoy the morning, he thought, but he had to be at work at 8:00 sharp, the boss was planning a working lunch today, and he had to return home in time to eat and take his family to Wednesday evening Bible classes at the church.

With a sigh he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, shoulders hunched for a couple of seconds, willing himself to start moving. His wife usually had coffee going. He’d drink a cup, and the day would progress, as it always did…every day similar to the last.

We sometimes think our plans are small and our days are insignificant. What did I do today that was worthwhile, lasting, enduring? What will I do tomorrow that will be a game-changer?

Take heart! God has not called us to be significant. He called us to be faithful. Over time, we discover that being faithful is significant.

What does God expect of us, and for what purpose has He designed us? One of the prophets, Micah, wrote this: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6.8) The wisest of the wise, Solomon, wrote: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12.13).

Jesus does not teach us how to become world leaders, though some will be (Daniel, David, Joseph, etc.). He does not teach us how to run massive businesses or become social icons or rub shoulders with movers and shakers. He just calls us to be faithful wherever we happen to be. God empowers us and “apportions to each one individually as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12.11). We have “gifts that differ according to the grace given to us” (Romans 12.6), and God calls us to use whatever gifts He has granted to serve Him and serve others.

The Christian who finds himself with social or political power still considers himself a servant, because a servant is the highest office in the kingdom. Jesus, the ultimate servant, taught His disciples in Mark 9.35, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” In Mark 10.42-45, He said:

“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

If Jesus wants me to serve—like that is my main objective here—that helps me understand what is truly important and relieves me of a lot of pressure! Some martial artists call a multiple attacker situation a “target rich environment.” Don’t dwell on the fact that your attackers have more weapons (hands, feet, etc.) than you; focus on all the targets you have. I’m not sure if that illustration will hit home with everyone, but the point is it’s a mindset issue. Flip the script, as they say. If we continue to focus on how inconsequential and insignificant our day-to-day business is, we can easily become depressed and feel we are losing whatever race we think we are in. But if we recognize the value Jesus places in a cup of cold water given to a little one (Matthew 10.42) or in receiving our meals with thanksgiving, then we will understand the great consequence and significance in all our everyday, little things.

When my wife hands me a cup of coffee, she does something wonderful. When she takes time to drive one of the kids to an activity that will help him grow and mature, she is working in the kingdom. When I bring some flowers home to my wife, I demonstrate love. When I wash the dishes, I bless my family. When I finish a hard day of super-normal work, but I put in honest effort and worked as if I were working for the Lord and not for men, I glorify God.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10.31).

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3.17).

She opened her eyes to the sound of her phone alarm, stabbed a finger at the off button, and stared bleary-eyed at the ceiling. The faithful sun was filtering softly through her bedroom curtains. She knew she had a lot of things on her plate for the day, and she probably would discover two or three unplanned items, but this was a day the Lord had made. She would be glad and rejoice in it.

He opened his eyes to the sound of his phone alarm, stabbed a finger at the off button, and stared bleary-eyed at the ceiling. The sun had faithfully risen again in the east, peeking through his window blinds. The boss had plans for him today, and his family needed his attention, just like every day. “Dear God,” he prayed, “I thank you in advance for the blessings of this day. Please help me serve well.”

I have done it and didn’t even realize what was happening. I would speak out against some sin, and someone would push back: “You’re a Christian; you have to be tolerant,” or “You’re a Christian; you have show love,” or “You’re a Christian; you have to turn the other cheek while I smack you on the other side.” Shamefaced, I would shut my mouth and wonder at how quickly I had violated my own standards. Had I offended someone? Jesus would never do that.

Wait.

To the contrary, Jesus often offended His enemies. He made His own disciples uncomfortable at times…many times (see John 6 for a good example).

Why do we Christians so often fall victim to worldly people telling us when we ought to speak and when to shut up? Why are we so sensitive to the feelings of everyone around us?

Western society has pounded this into our heads: it’s good to tolerate everything. We Christians always want to be on the side of good, so when we don’t tolerate something, it hurts us to know that others think we are bad. The world has made us feel like sinners for speaking out against sin.

What a load of garbage we have bought! We have lost the vision of the early church, who, even in the face of heavy persecution, were accused of turning the world upside down (Acts 17.6). They didn’t coddle their listeners, nor did they snip off the less digestible bits from the gospel so it would go down smoother. No, they straight up told people they were sinners in need of repentance, lost in need of a Savior, blind in need of supernatural healing.

Do we avoid hot-button issues like sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, infant murder in the womb, drunkenness, spousal abuse, child abuse, male and female roles, disciplining our children, wives submitting to husbands, husbands loving their wives, the proper use of the tongue, etc.?

I used to think we should “just preach the gospel” (by which I meant to just tell people they needed Jesus, I suppose). After all, people are not going to hell because they are homosexual; they are going to hell because they have not bowed the knee to Christ. Yes. However, they must understand the sin in their homosexuality. Their Creator roundly condemns their lifestyle, and they are guilty of rebellion against the one true and living God. They must understand and confess their depravity before they can come to the cross.

John the Baptizer preached repentance to the people and gave the people practical advice on what they needed to quit and what they needed to start (Luke 3).

When someone from the world tells us we should quit preaching Jesus because we are offending them, we should push back on their “should.”

We could say: “Do you understand you are using the language of morality when you say I should not offend you? You are saying I am wrong. Where are you getting your standard of morality, pray tell? I have a mandate from God on high to preach and teach the truth. Where is your authority?” Isn’t that what Jesus did after He overturned the tables in the temple and the chief priests and elders challenged Him (Matt. 21.12-17, 23-27)? There are only two authorities: from heaven or from men.

We should not let the world tell us what is right and wrong, and when we stop preaching the truth because they demand we not offend them, we do exactly that.

Of course, we may be guilty of a wrong heart while we preach against sin. Our brothers and sisters in Christ can help give us moral direction, but the world is not qualified to spiritually guide us.

So let us speak and write boldly, with moral clarity, and with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world does not dictate our standard—Jesus does!

“If science, like art, is to perform its mission truly and fully, its achievements must enter not only superficially but with their inner meaning into the consciousness of people.” – Einstein

Launching from that quote by Einstein, author Ann Druyan (wife of Carl Sagan) began gushing about the value and place of science to our current culture. Notice her use of worship language:

“When I discovered Einstein’s rarely quoted words, I found the credo for 40 years of my life’s work. This always has been and always will be the dream of Cosmos… We didn’t know that particular Einstein quote when Carl Sagan and I began writing the original Cosmos with astronomer Steve Soter. We just felt a kind of evangelical urgency to share the awesome power of science, to convey the spiritual uplift of the universe it reveals, and to amplify the alarms that Carl, Steve, and other scientists were sounding about our impact on the planet… Nothing less than a global spiritual awakening can transform us. Science, like love, is a means to that transcendence, to that soaring experience of the oneness of being fully alive… this lack of a final destination, an absolute truth, is what makes science such a worthy methodology for sacred searching. It is a never-ending lesson in humility. The vastness of the universe—and love, the thing that makes the vastness bearable—is out of reach to the arrogant. What’s real must matter more to us than what we wish to believe… The misuse of science endangers our civilization, but science also has redemptive powers. It can cleanse a planetary atmosphere overburdened with carbon dioxide. It can set life free to neutralize the toxins that we have scattered so carelessly. Its unrivaled powers of prophecy are demonstrated by our current predicament.” (Ann Druyan in the March 2020 issue of National Geographic, p. 19).

Humans must worship something, and Druyan clearly renders obeisance to science. By her own admission, she gets her credo (her faith statement) from Einstein, and she speaks “with evangelical urgency” of science’s “awesome power.” Does science itself have awesome power? Science is the study or pursuit of knowledge. It is a human endeavor to know more about reality around us. Science is not a thing. When she speaks of the awesome power of science, Druyan is really talking about the amazing discoveries scientists have made over the years. Really, she’s reveling in the awesome universe around her and the brainpower and effort humans have made to discover it.

How does love enter the picture, exactly? Science does not create love, nor can it discover it, since it is not a tangible thing to be studied. Love is something apart from the physical universe, although every thinking human knows it to be real.

Amazement, delight, and appreciation of beauty also do not exist in physical forms. These metaphysical phenomena are the stuff philosophers argue about. Scientists have no business with metaphysics, unless they believe there is more to life than the physical universe.

On the one hand, Druyan says there is no “final destination” and no “absolute truth,” and that fact makes understanding the vastness of the universe (and love!) only attainable to the humble; it “is out of reach to the arrogant.” Her definition of humility, however, is not the same as that of Solomon or James in scripture. The humble, in her vision, are those who would ditch what they believe and just accept what is “real.” But wait. I am confused. I thought she said there was no absolute truth. How can she then insist that something is real?

By the logic put forth here, Ann Druyan should realize she does not have all the answers, and she certainly does not have enough to say there is no god but science. She has decided to worship science above all other things, which ends up being self-worship and the worship of other brilliant men and women who are all trying to figure this universe out. But they have decided, as a matter of fact, there is no spiritual realm—that’s completely off the table.

We just cannot help but worship something, can we? We are created with a need to worship, to give ourselves to something greater than ourselves. Ann Druyan sees the vastness of the universe as something worthy of adoration, just as the ancient Egyptians worshiped the Sun and the Nile River. Is there any difference? Those ancient worshipers thought actual supernatural beings sustained them and judged them. Druyan and other materialists believe they are their own judges, their own final standards of moral authority.

Though materialists do not accept it, Yahweh created all things in heaven and on earth, which makes Him more powerful and vast than the vast universe. We don’t have to wonder where love, truth, beauty, or joy come from. Yahweh loves, He is truth, He created that which is beautiful and good, and He created joy and delight in the human heart. We are created, in fact, to find fullness in Him.

“We bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14. 15–17)

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17.30–31)

Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1.15–17)

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1.3)

Glory be to God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) – the creator and sustainer of the universe.

We cannot help but worship!