I don't understand it.
Notes
Transcript
College Bible Study
College Bible Study
I gave my life to Jesus in college and shortly after, joined a bible study with a group of guys who had been walking with Jesus for a lot longer.
They had been in youth groups, children’s ministry, and had been reading and studying the bible, some for years.
I remember one night, the leader, Nathan, challenged the group to put their familiarity with the bible to the test.
He started naming biblical topics and themes, asking us where in scripture we could go to find answers to our questions related to those topics and themes.
I was still having to go to the table of contents to look up where the book of Mark was in the bible.
I can remember feeling incompetent and deficient. How could I ever get to where these guys were? The bible was just so foreign to me.
I really had 2 choices in that moment.
I could shut my bible, go back to my dorm, and just accept that the bible is just too complicated for me to understand.
Or I could use that feeling as a motivation to lean into this group of guys that God had placed me in and to dig deep into His Word to know it better and know Him better.
Praise God that His Spirit led me to the latter of those choices.
Excuse: I don’t understand it
Excuse: I don’t understand it
When it comes to reading the bible, one of the most common excuses I hear, and there is SOOO much validity to it, is that “I just don’t understand it.”
The bible was written 2000-4000 years ago; originally in 3 languages (none of which are spoken today); in cultural settings that are drastically different than ours.
There are words and concepts that are hard to understand, and stories and circumstances that are hard to make sense of, so no wonder we are intimidated by the idea of reading and studying the Bible.
But if we believe THIS BOOK to be the most eternally important book ever written, that it is a book written by God and that it is fully true and the guidebook for all of life, then we can’t afford to put it down, we must move beyond the excuses, even the excuse of understanding.
Reasons we struggle to understand:
Reasons we struggle to understand:
I want to share three reasons we struggle to understand the bible.
And then I want to give you three responses that you can act on TODAY.
Let’s start in 1 Corinthians 2
6 We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him. 10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
6 We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him.
10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1) Because it is SPIRITUALLY UNDERSTOOD.
1) Because it is SPIRITUALLY UNDERSTOOD.
We can relate a lot with the Corinthian Christians.
They were living in a culture that valued intellectualism and considered the message of the gospel to be foolish and simple.
I don’t get the impression they had given up on the Gospel, they were struggling to not sound like fools among the intellectuals in Corinth.
So Paul spends the first chapter confronting and encouraging them.
The Gospel message is simple and straightforward.
And it sounds like foolishness to the cultural elites and intellectuals.
But the issue isn’t with the content of the message, it is with those who are hearing it.
Paul uses the word “wisdom” in verse 6, which would have been a word thrown around a lot in Corinth.
A wise person was a powerful and prominent person.
So you can understand why the Christians were struggling with a Gospel message that seemed so simple and foolish in their culture.
“If you keep saying the message is foolish, Paul, does that mean we are against wisdom?”
His answer is “No. We do speak wisdom—but a very different kind.”
The wisdom of 1 Corinthians 2 is the wisdom from God.
It is a wisdom that is “hidden and mysterious” to the rulers of the world.
A wisdom that He has progressively been revealing over course of history.
A wisdom most vividly revealed in life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
A wisdom that has been recorded for us in the Word of God.
It is a wisdom from God, not from intellect, not from rationale, not from personal study, not from experience gained in the world.
You don't figure out or find this wisdom by yourself, according to Paul.
It is gifted to us, given freely by God.
Listen to verse 13-14
13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
We understand God's Word through the Spirit.
Which is both really amazing news and really scary news.
Scary because if this word is foolish, pointless, useless, or distasteful to you and yet you would claim Christ as Savior, these verse should scare you.
Don’t hear me wrong here.
If you struggle to understand the bible because of reading challenges; or because of the complexity in certain passages or even whole books; or if you are struggling with the language used; I am not saying “then you are not a Spiritual person.”
There are real and legitimate reasons we sometimes struggle to understand the bible.
but it ought to make us stop on consider if the Spirit helps us understand, what is keeping me from understanding?
We use this as an excuse, but it ought to be an alarm bell!
Driving us to dig deeper, pray more fervently, and seek God’s Spirit more vigorously.
If we believe this book to be the most eternally important book we can read and yet we can't understand it, what must we do to get to a place to understand it.
At the same time, this passage is amazing because:
Even if you are simple minded or brainy, uneducated or over-educated, wise or inexperienced, young or old, new to the faith or a seasoned saint, understanding this word does not depend on you! Praise God.
Regardless of your reading level, your ACT score, your grade level, or whatever else, this word is spiritually understood.
So don't get stuck in the excuse that you just don't understand it. In Christ, by the Spirit, you can and will understand it.
But you need some help--> You need the Church
2) Because it is UNDERSTOOD best in COMMUNITY.
2) Because it is UNDERSTOOD best in COMMUNITY.
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.
Paul is speaking to the influence the local church has in the life of a believer.
God has called, empowered, and equipped leaders for the purpose of equipping all Christians for ministry.
He intends to use all of us to help each other to grow into Christ-like maturity.
And He does this by bring us together, through His Spirit, guided by His Word.
So that we are not “tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching...”
God didn’t intend on us finding our way in this world alone.
He didn’t intend on us trying to trying to figure out what was real and true by ourselves.
He didn’t intend on us reading and studying His Word on our own.
God gave us His Word to read and understand together.
One of the biggest reasons you might be struggling to understand the bible is because you trying to do it by yourself.
Story about our car door
God puts us into community to learn TOGETHER about Him and His Word.
3) Because we make it TOO DIFFICULT.
3) Because we make it TOO DIFFICULT.
I want to be really practical here.
One of the reason you might be struggling to read the bible is because you are making it much more difficult than it needs to be.
The King James bible is one of the most important translations in the history of the church.
It’s accuracy and reliability set the standard for 400 years for all other translations of the Bible.
But let’s be honest, it is hard to read and understand what is being said.
In the 400 years since the translation of the KJV, similar, and even more extensive, processes have been used to produce English translations of the bible that have met or exceeded the accuracy and reliability of the KJV.
The NASB and the ESV are two great examples, both of which are in much more modern English.
What are you using?
Translations matter
Study material is so helpful (ESV Study Bible, CSB study bible, MacArthur Study Bible, Lifeway.com)
And if you struggle to read, listen to the bible being read.
The Bible App has tons of translations with audio built in.
How to Respond
How to Respond
1) Turn to CHRIST & Depend on the SPIRIT
1) Turn to CHRIST & Depend on the SPIRIT
For believers: “Repent of using ‘I don’t understand’ as a cover for neglect.
Ask the Spirit for help every time you open the Bible. Commit to a real, concrete reading habit this year.”
For unbelievers/unsure: If it is all foolishness to you, your next step to come to Christ, ask Him to save you, and give you His Spirit so you can see.
Maybe that starts by opening the Bible and praying that God would give you ears to hear and a heart open to understand.
2) Join a GROUP
2) Join a GROUP
I mentioned last week that we are starting something in February that we are praying will get us as a church “in the Word in 2026.
Our prayer is to get everyone at EHBC connected to a groups this year that will commit to read God’s Word and come together weekly to discuss what we are reading.
For those who have been in one, this might sound a lot like a D-Group, and you are right.
We have seen more people grow as followers of Jesus in d-groups than in any other thing we have done as a church in the last 5 years.
So, though these groups aren’t D-groups, they have the same purpose, to get people in the Word and discussing it together.
These groups will just take a slower approach to reading through the bible.
We want to make the groups accessible to everyone, so we are looking to start groups on Sunday mornings during service times, Wednesday nights during our youth and kids ministry times, and throughout the week.
So if you have kids, odd works schedules, or something else, there will be a time for you to connect.
We are committing to reading 1-2 chapters of the bible 5 days a week, and making at least one observation about the reading each day.
In our groups, we will talk about how God’s Word spoke to us that week, spend some time in prayer, and encourage one another.
Here is our conviction, and this will come out through our sermon series as well, but:
We believe the Bible is the Word of God, meaning this book was written by God to us and is the authority in our lives to guide us and lead us.
We believe it is alive and active, meaning when we read the bible it speaks to our questions, decision, struggles, and circumstances.
Because of this, we believe everyone needs to be IN the Word.
So sign up.
3) Find helpful RESOURCES
3) Find helpful RESOURCES
Get a bible you can read and understand.
Get a study bible, a commentary, and/or resources that can help you understand the Word.
This year, let’s refuse to let ‘I don’t understand it’ be the reason we close our Bibles. Instead, let it drive us to the Spirit, into community, and let’s get IN THE WORD, together and see how God might transform us.
