11. The Four Keys

Announcements

Boys & Girls night

May 22, 6-9:30

Middle School

May 29, 6-9pm @ Church

Random Question

What’s the best way to start your day?

Prayer

Lesson

Key 1 - Content

Content is all about knowing what is written in your passage. The more time you spend observing details, the better you’re going to understand what the Bible means.

Detective examining the crime scene...

The same thing applies to our Bible study, the more time you spend gathering info; the location, the people, what they’re doing, asking questions, the better your understanding will be. That’s why we need to spend lots of time observing what’s really there.

Key 2 - Context

We’ve looked at this in the past, but someone remind us, what is context? (Before and after something, the big picture)

Taking presidential speeches way out of context...

- Just listen to the whole thing!

We can do the same exact thing in our Bible study.

Matthew 24:17 NKJV

17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.

Top knot in WWII

- Working women...

1. Literary Context

“What am I reading?”

2. Historical Context

What’s the history that’s shaping these events?

3. Cultural Context

What is different about that culture? How do these things affect the story?

4. Geographic Context

Where does this take place? How does that affect things?

5. Theological Context

What does this teach me about God?

Key 3 - Comparison

Do you ever find yourself reading a confusing verse in your Bible reading?

“My whole life I’ve been taught this way, but now this verse seems to say the total opposite, what do I do?!”

If this happens to you, don’t panic, you can find the answers to your questions. But you’ve got to look in the right place. I can guarantee you that you’ll find an answer to almost every question by searching the scriptures. The Bible explains what the Bible says.

Write this down, “Compare Scripture with Scripture”

Lets work through an example together...

James 2:24 NKJV

24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Most of you already know the answer to this verse,

But after a quick read, does this raise some questions in our mind?

How come? (Man is justified by works, we are not saved by faith alone)

Catholics believe this...

If this were the only verse in the Bible talking about salvation, what would you be lead to believe? (Salvation by works)

So, what do we do about this? (Look to other passages of Scripture that talk about this)

Here is the key, when the meaning of something is unclear, go to a clearer passage and let that guide you.

Turn to Titus 3,

Titus 3:5 NKJV

5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

If this were the only verse in the Bible talking about salvation, what would you be led to believe? (Salvation is NOT by works)

We got that clearly down, so, what do we do about James? (CONTEXT)

Turn back to James 2

James 2:14 NKJV

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

Here’s the question, is someone’s faith really genuine if they show no change of lifestyle?

To answer that question, James makes an analogy...

James 2:15–17 NKJV

15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

Obvious need (Food, clothing; the bare necessities)

James 2:15–17 NKJV

16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

What’s he trying to say here by bringing up this picture? (Actions speak louder than words. The actions that follow your salvation prove that your faith really was genuine)

Do you see what we just did? We had a hard verse (24), which made us question how we get saved.

Instead of losing our marbles and thinking our life is a lie, what did we do to solve our problem? (We looked to other Bible verses that shed light on the question)

Key 4 - Culture

Why do you think culture might be a tad bit important when we read the Bible? (It’s different from ours. Culture affects the way we live, we can’t understand certain parts of stories if we don’t know the culture)

Ruth

A classic one is the book of Ruth.

Have you ever been confused as you read through Ruth?

The book is PACKED with culture that is totally foreign to our modern minds.

Widows

Kinsman

Uncovering feet

Nearest kinsman

All this is super confusing! So, let’s unpack the culture of the day, and as we do that you’ll see why it’s so important we understand hwo things happened back then.

Widowhood

Ruth 1:3–5 NKJV

3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

Explain the family tree on PowerPoint

You’ve got Elimelech, he’s married to Naomi, what happens to him? (Dies)

With Elimelech gone, all her value lived in her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. They were the future of the family tree.

What happens to Mahlon and Chilion? (They die)

So, where’s the hope for the family? (Gone, no man to keep the family name alive)

Naomi is depressed, tells Orpah and Ruth to start new lives at their own homes. But Ruth doesn’t want to be a lonely widow.

What was difficult about being a widow back in that day? (No work)

Either you were sold as a slave

You were on the streets

You made a living as a prostitute

Kinsman

That’s where the law of the kinsman comes in...

Anyone have an idea what a kinsman is? (A near relative)

According to Moses’ law, when a man dies without having a son, his brother is responsible to marry the sister-in-law to protect her and provide for her.

Deuteronomy 25:5 NKJV

“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

If a ladie’s husband dies in our culture, is the ladie’s life over? What can she do to take care of herself? (Get a job, live off the insurance)

But that wasn’t the case back then, so she needed a kinsman to be protected and cared for.

Now, if the dead husband doesn’t have a brother, who’s the one that should marry the widow? (The nearest relative)

So, chapter two comes around.

Ruth 2:1 NKJV

1 There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz.

Lo, and behold, who comes by in our story? (Boaz)

And who is Boaz related to? (Elimelech)

So, we’ve got a near relative. HUSBAND MATERIAL!!!!

This is a match made in heaven.

If Boaz and Ruth get married and have a son, who’s family line is continued? (Naomi’s!)

Illustrate this point...

Uncovering the feet

And then we get to the most confusing part of the whole book...

“Why in the world does Ruth uncover Boaz’s feet in the middle of the night? What’s she doing?”

You never hear this happening today, so, our modern minds wonder, “Are they doing something inappropriate here?”

Here is where we MUST know culture, they are not doing anything inappropriate whatsoever.

So, there she goes, sneaking ever so quietly toward sleeping Boaz. She gently lifts up his blanket, uncovers his feet, and lays down there.

- And Boaz wakes up, “WOAH!” “Who’s there?!”

- “It’s Ruth, you’re a near kinsman.”

You know what Ruth is doing right here? (In uncovering his feet, she’s asking if he can be her kinsman and marry her)

This is a formal request.

Nearer Kinsman

What does Boaz tell Ruth in vs. 12? (There’s a closer relative)

Why does that information matter (He has first dibs on her)

Boaz brings the matter before the elders at the city gate (Rulers in charge of decisions for the city) and before Naomi’s closer relative

Offers Elimelech’s land

Relative is interested in redeeming that

But then he says, “Oh, one more thing, if you buy Elimelech’s field, you’ve got to marry Ruth so that Elimelech’s family line continues.”

Naomi’s relative says, “WAIT WAIT WAIT, back up! I can’t do that.”

So then, another confusing thing happens,

Ruth 4:8 NKJV

8 Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” So he took off his sandal.

Why does he take off his sandal? (Aha, another cultural thing we need to understand)

Deuteronomy 25:9 NKJV

9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’

Now why do you think they take off his sandal? (It’s to shame him for not doing what he ought!)

Boaz marries Ruth

They have a son

Who’s child does he count as? (Naomi’s, which means the family line goes on!)

This story is a beautiful picture of Christ. We are lost, destitute, but He redeems us and promises to care for us for all of eternity

Would we understand this story without diving into the culture? (Absolutely not!)

The Last Supper

Here’s another quick example why culture is important...

When I tell you about the Last Supper of Jesus, what do you think it looked like?

Da Vinci’s “Last Supper”

Everyone sitting (Jews reclined at a low table, no chairs)

Long table, everyone facing the same direction

Day time (It was in the evening)

Leavened bread & fish (They had unleavened bread and lamb)

Disciples are white (They were middle eastern men, darker skinned than that!)

Clothing (Where are the prayer shawls?)

Those were just a couple examples showing us why we need to understand the culture we are reading about.

SO, here are the 4 keys,

Content

Context

Comparison

Culturej