Bible Study

Intro

Welcome!

Alright - we need to stay civil in this discussion - but who is the goat in football? Who is the greatest actress of all time? Who is the greatest writer of all time? Best video game of all time? Okay - the one yall have been waiting for - who is the goat in basketball?

Ok ok ok for everyone who said LeFlop - I will pray for you. No matter who you said for any of the answers - what do they all have in common? To be good at anything it takes discipline, practice and habits that build skills endurance and knowledge. The same hold true for people who follow Jesus. Lets revisit a scripture that Logan shared last week that was pretty much punch to my face:

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NLT

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

I want to highlight two parts of this passage. The first being in 26 when Paul says “So I run with purpose in every step.“ The ESV translation states - I do not run aimlessly. The greek for aimlessly is adelos which also means uncertainly. So not only does Paul have purpose to his steps, he is convinced of and sold out to that purpose.

The second I want to highlight is in verse 27 when Paul says, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. The greek word for discipline is hypopiazo - kinda fun to say - but it means to bring someone to submission by constant annoyance (yall know anyone like that??? Ya probably should look in the mirror if you think you don’t haha) Another way of saying it is - to put under strict self-imposed punishment.

Right out of the gate, we know we need to be sold out to the purpose before us to the point of self-imposed punishment, or constant annoyance if you are a younger sibling.

Tonight, we’re in the third week of our series on six helpful habits needed to run our best race. And we’re using the acronym Habits as our guide.

H stand for Hanging Out with God

A stands for Accountability

B stands for Bible Study

I stands for Involvement in the Church

T stands for Tithing

S stands for Sacraments

These are habits we need to have in our lives, these habits, these spiritual practices (cause what do we do when we want to get better at anything?) or disciplines make all the difference in how you go from a convert to a disciple running the spiritual race.

PRAY

So we are looking at the third habit, B, for Bible Study.

Bible study is a given though right? How many times do you hear read your Bible throughout the week? Hopefully from me, you have heard study your Bible not just read it! But have we really looked into why we need to study the Bible? And if its such an obvious discipline, why do so many of us struggle to maintain this habit regularly? My perspective is, theres a huge difference between knowing something is important and having the conviction to follow through with it in our actions. We can know a lot of things, and we can even do a lot of things but if our heart isn’t in it - anything we do is just going through the motions. Or wait for it - maybe we are just checking a box.

If you struggle with this, you might find it encouraging that you are not alone. This is a struggle that people have been wrestling with for thousands of years.

To give a little context to the next passage we are going to cover, many scholars believe that Pauls writing in 2 Timothy was the last or one of the last letters he wrote before his execution by the Roman government for preaching about Jesus. Most likely, this was written from a prison cell, knowing that his time on this Earth was coming to an end. So these are some of his last words and its what he chose to write about that I find so incredible.

2 Timothy 3:14–17 NLT

But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Have you ever been in church listening to a sermon and just every point the pastor was making felt like it they were speaking directly to you? That’s kinda how I think about this passage. I know that Paul was writing to a young pastor, but when I read it - I know that this is a message that stands the test of time and is just as much for us today as it was for Timothy back then.

With this everlasting principle in mind - lets unpack what Paul was saying here. So a few key insights that stand out in a way that should be helpful for us as we consider the practice of Bible Study:

God’s Word points us to Jesus

The Bible is full of stories, Noah and the flood, Jonah and the big fish, the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - one of my FAVORITE examples of Jesus in the Old Testament. They teach us some great lessons, but did you notice what Paul said in verse 15?

2 Timothy 3:15 NLT

You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.

He said all those stories worked together by pointing to one person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. One of my favorite ways to read the Old Testment is to try and see how each story points to Jesus.

The story of Noah and the flood points to Jesus because its about how a broken world has been made new - and Jesus did that too!

The Story of Jonah (it wasn’t about a fish) point to Jesus by showing us that God wants to redeem people whom others may see as beyond redemption.

Lets look a little closer at the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Setting the stage, King Nebuchadnezzar had bound them in a furnace because they refused to bow to his gods nor his golden image. In fact - they proclaimed that God would protect them no matter the punishment.

Daniel 3:24–25 ESV

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

Man - if that doesn’t get you fired up! See what I did there?

The list goes on and on. Paul wanted Timothy and us to know that Scriptures - all of them - point to Jesus. This is actually what we call today as the Progressive Revelation of Christ - From Genesis to Revelation, we see this story of our Savior unfold.

A second Important truth Paul pointed out in his letter to Timothy was that: God’s Word shows us THE truth - not just any truth, THE truth

Of course the Bible tells us all kinds of true things, like how GOd loves us, and how Jesus died to reddum us, but Paul was giving us a more micro picture in verse 16

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Paul told Timothy and us that when we allow ourselves to dive into the BIble, we will learn a lot about God and in turn, learn alot about ourselves. By continuing to study God’s word, we’ll start to recognize God’s goodness and His perfect plans for our lives. But lets be honest, sometimes what we learn about ourselves is not so great, but we do have a Great Savior to redeem the not so pretty things in our life. I want to challenge you to see it, not from a perspective of beating you down, but as an opportunity to become more like Jesus and align with God’s word. The only way we can be more like Jesus is if we have a way to know whats true and whats not. Notice I didn’t say there was an in between. One of the greatest deceptions of the enemy isn’t to get you to believe in him, its to get you to believe in anything other than the TRUTH of God. So he doesn’t care if we are 1 step away or have our backs completely turned to God - if God doesn’t have our full attention - he sees an opening for attack. Thankfully the Bible helps align our vision and our steps toward God.

God’s Word prepares us for the best possible future: If I told you that I could tell you everything you need to know about your future, you’d want to know, right? Of course you would! And that is what Paul said Scripture does - lets look at verse 17

2 Timothy 3:17 NLT

God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Reading the Bible won’t tell you which college to attend or who you might marry one day. But studying the Bible does tune our hearts and minds to hearing the Holy Spirit working in our lives. And this is important because each of us was made by God for the express purpose of doing good things! And while that may not sound like much at first, imagine what our world would be like if every time someone had to make a decision, they took a step back and asked themselves, “which of these choices will lead to the most good?” There would be less fighting, less war, less poverty, less hunger, less bullying, less racism, less sexism - and more Jesus. It can happen when we allow Scripture to become an integral part of our lives. We have the opportunity to take all the good that God has created and bring that good as a reality into our world. I don’t know about you, but if the Bible can help us do all of that - then I want in. There was a recent study by the center of Biblical Engagement that surveyed 40,000 people from ages 8 - 80. What they discovered is when we are in the scriptures 4 times a week it radically changes our life:

feeling lonely drops by 30%

anger 32%

bitterness in relationships 40%

Substance abuse/alcoholism drops 57%

feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%.

Yall - I want to abandon the silly desires and distractions of this world and experience the life God has planned for me. If you want the Bible to change your life, it requires building a habit of Bible study. I know the Bible is a BIG book, and some of it is very difficult to understand. But if you want to be genuine in your pursuit of Truth, I have 3 BIG things as we close out.

Commit to reading your Bible every day - hear me out.

This is a very difficult task. We all know it is. So my challenge is really to Love God more tomorrow than you do today. Maybe its just one verse that you catch while scrolling - engage with that passage, don’t just read it and keep scrolling. As your love for God grows, your love for His word grows. And before long, studying the Bible is no longer an item on your list, its what you do before your list even starts. It becomes a “habit”

Here’s one more passage that speaks to this:

Joshua 1:8–9 NLT

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Isn’t that incredible??? The angel told Joshua that if he wanted to succeed in what God had called him to do, he needed to read and know the Scriptures. The same thing is true for us - we can’t possibly understand what God has in store for our lives if we don’t commit to reading and understanding the words that He’s given us. The 2nd big thing is what is so beautiful about God’s design for community.

Study your Bible with other people

There are countless apps and ways to study the Bible. I especially like the ones that allow others to give their input or reactions to the scripture that we have read. The Bible App has been the best one for that feature that I have seen. When I see friends or students who have taken notes or highlighted scripture, I am interested in what they have read and learned - and I usually get a different perspective that maybe I haven’t thought of before. Like Logan discussed last week, studying the Bible with other people is a great way for accountability not only in the discipline of study, but the outcome or interpretation of the study. And that is so important - when you read something confusing, cause you will, you’ll have a group of people whom you can share your questions with and that leads us to the last of the Big 3:

Don’t stop asking questions until you find answers

Let me let you in on a little secret that really shouldn’t be a secret - no one knows everything about the Bible. There isn’t even one person alive who is close to knowing everything. Sure some people have spent their entire life reading, studying and memorizing the Bible, but they still have questions - and so do I. Its not only okay to have questions, its encouraged. SO ASK YOUR QUESTIONS! Whether you are using credible resources online, your peer group or leaders in Youth or your pastors - ask and ask and ask. Don’t settle for an incomplete understanding of something that is important to you. Don’t settle for an incomplete or better said an infant level of faith - engage the Word - and engage it with others and build your discipline to finish the race.

PRAY