Saturday, May 11, 2013

Tools For The Treasure, Part One

     In a few weeks I will be teaching a brief class on "Discovery Bible Study" here in Houston, and as I have worked on it I have come to realize that I have never given "Tom's tips" for digging the treasure out of God's Word in blog format. So today and the next two weeks, in a very, very basic way, I want to give a few thoughts, a few "tools," for digging out more of the endless treasure contained in God's Word.
     Let's start with some basic convictions about studying God's word I believe we need to take with us as we approach Scripture.
  1. Everything that any follower of Jesus needs from the Bible in order to live the Jesus life is accessible to her/him. This is an unshakeable conviction of mine and very important. If we think we have to be experts to understand the important things of God's Kingdom, we will miss God's heart entirely and disqualify most folks from finding the treasure. It is always God's heart to make everything we need accessible to all of us. To think that He would lock up the truth of His word in complexity so that only a few could access it violates the very core of the good news of a God who is committed to removing every obstacle between us and Him. What this means for you is that you are qualified to dig for treasure, no special gifting required!
  2. On the other hand, some digging is required! Because God wants us to move past infancy in our life with Him, He chooses not to spoon feed us by just dropping truth into our mouths with no effort on our part.Taking time with God's word, putting some careful thinking into the process, seeking Holy Spirit's guidance, etc., are all part of mining the treasure from God's word. As I have said before, simple is not necessarily always easy. 
  3. It's best to approach scripture looking for the Promise-giver and not just promises, looking for the Person, not just principles. The Bible is ultimately His-story not a book of facts and principles, and we can encounter God in remarkable ways if we allow Holy Spirit to show us His ways and teach us His paths as we read it. Reducing the Bible to a packet of principles or passel of promises will move us back into religion and away from a relationship. If I am just looking for promises and/or principles, I am looking for things I can do: things I can claim or put into practice, and that tends to put the focus on me rather than Papa God, doesn't it? On the other hand, if I allow my reading of Scripture to draw me into increasing intimacy with the One who makes the promises and reveals His heart and character and imprints them into my life through Word and Spirit... you get the picture, I trust. I hope this is clear because it's really important, methinks. If it isn't, let me know and I will try again.
  4. It's important to remember that the Bible cannot be approached like any other book. In the first place, it's the only book in the world that is inspired by God Himself, the only truly "holy" book. Secondly, it is a collection of books written over a period of hundreds of years by many different human authors, so it can't just be read from "cover to cover" without thinking about the context and circumstances of the writers and recipients. We will talk more about this when we discuss reading it in context. In some ways, of course, we do read and study the Bible like we do other books, but there are many differences as well, and remembering that up front helps us approach Scripture with increased awareness of our need for Holy Spirit's help and our need to stop and think as we read. More on this next week.
  5. It's also important to be aware  of our "filters" as we approach the Bible. All of us bring to anything we read or hear our own assumptions, cultural biases and other filters. We can't fully remove these, of course, because they are an integral part of who we are, but we can be aware of them so that we can put them aside as best we can. If we succeed in doing so, we will be able to see what's really there and allow it to challenge our assumptions and adjust our filters. Perhaps I need to give a couple of illustrations here. The easiest filter for most of us to understand is the filter of our own 21st century western culture. Obviously, the world of the Bible was very different from ours but if we are not careful we will read the Bible as if it were written in our time and culture. For example, we tend to think of "church" as the very cultural, often building-centered organization of our day rather than the New Testament church which consisted of groups of people meeting mostly in houses. The "church in Philippi" was a collection of brothers and sisters meeting in homes throughout the city, not a visible collection of buildings--you get the point, I trust. Another set of filters we bring with us are those that have been put into us by our exposure to whatever "Christian" teaching we have been most influenced by. Being aware of what has influenced us and being willing to lay it aside or at least have its assumptions challenged will open up an entirely new world of revelation for most of us! Perhaps you may want to take a moment right now and ask Holy Spirit what filters you bring to Scripture. You will be amazed, I think, at what He shows you and how it helps to lay them aside!
     Okay, because this list took more space than I originally thought, I will give part two next week at look at some of the basic tools for treasure hunting that we all possess. But here's a preview of some of them: in addition to the most important tool of allowing Holy Spirit to lead you, other important tools are Careful observation, Curiosity and Context. We will look at these three "Cs" more thoroughly next week. 

Lost in the wonders of His Word,

Tom, one of Abba's little children