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Ten Questions to Help You Read the Bible
I saw this recently (and then forgot where). It offers ten questions you could use when you’re reading scripture by yourself. Maybe this is something to print out and keep with you when you read. Instant devo-structure.
10 Questions to Help You Read the Bible Better
1. What does this passage tell me about God?
2. What does this passage tell me about myself/humanity?
3. How does this passage fit into the story of the Bible/the story of God redeeming His people?
4. How does this passage lead me to Jesus?
5. Based on this passage are there things I need to repent of?
6. Based on this passage are there things I ought to do/change?
7. How does this passage reveal the beauty of God and his gospel, and lead me into worship and adoration?
Bonus questions
2.5 Are there things I don’t understand in this passage that I need to ask about/research further?
6.5 What can I do today to apply this passage?
7.5 How can I share the attractiveness of Christ in this passage to people in my life?
A Whole New Family (Notes from last night)
We continued our study of Paul’s letter to the Romans last night by looking at how he describes salvation in Chapter 5, 6 and 8. Here are the notes:
5:1-2 Summing up Ch. 1-4: We have peace with God, “through Jesus Christ”
5:3-11 This produces a totally new outlook on life, on that is dominated by our assurance that, no matter what, we are totally reconciled with God. (Because of Christ dying for us)
Part 1: 5:12-21—He gives the reason this is true: we have a connection to Christ now that is more powerful than our old connection to Adam.
5:12 There’s a connected-ness to all human life. It’s part of what it means to be human. Adam sinned and sin entered the world. Death came in too. “All sinned” and so death spread to all men.
5:13-14 This is shown to be true by the fact that people died from sin even when their sin was undefined by a specific word of God (like Adam) through the law of Moses.
5:15-17 Adam’s sin vs. Christ’s obedience
The contrasts:
1. They are different in degree: Christ’s work is greater (v.15, 20), see “much more” (15, 17) – grace is bigger than sin. God’s act is bigger than man’s act.
2. They are different in consequence: death (15,17), condemnation (16) vs. life (17), justification (16)
5:18-21 We find ourselves enmeshed in a web of sin that connects us all the way back to Adam. But God has something bigger. See also 1 Cor 15:20-22, 45-49
Part 2: How does this happen? Through Union with Christ.
Romans 6:1-10 We are born united to Adam. In salvation we become united to Christ.
v. 3 his death is our death
v.4 his resurrection is our new life
v.6 his crucifixion was the end of our old life
Romans 8:1-4, 9-17 The way we’re now part of Christ is that we’re actually one with him by the Spirit dwelling in our hearts. He lives in us, and we are united to him.
Galatians 4:4-7 we’ve been adopted by receiving the Spirit of the Son
Galatians 3:1-5 This happens as we hear the word of God and believe it. The Spirit enters the hearts of those…
Back to Romans 5:1 How do you get “Peace with God?”
Just hear this word. Just believe the Gospel, and you can know God is giving you His Spirit. He is bringing a whole new life to you, and you are no longer defined by your past, or by your sins, or by your humanity without God—your old family under “father Adam”—but you’re now defined by the Spirit that is in you, the Spirit of Christ. You’re one with him now! And you have his status before the Father, The status of the Son! And that makes you defined by your connection to him, not your connection to Adam and old humanity. You have peace with God, forever, and you now occupy the place that is defined by God’s grace, not your sin and death.
Discussion Questions:
If we struggle to really believe these things, why is that?
How do these things redefine how humans think about identity, and answer questions about who we are?
How does it help us think about things like guilt, our past, self-worth, achievement…?
How does this help us think about God?
How would you share this with a non-believer?
How does Gender Reflect the Image of God?
A few weeks ago on Monday nights we took a couple weeks to look at how to think about gender from a biblical viewpoint. Here’s a few more helpful thoughts on the matter from John Frame. This comes from a chapter in the larger of the two books I recommended last week:
Is sexual differentiation an aspect of the image [of God]?
Yes, for everything we are images God. The point is not that God is male, female, or both. To say that our eyes image God, remember, is not to say that God has eyes; it is rather to say that our eyes picture something divine. Similarly, our sexuality pictures God’s attributes and capacities:
(a) It mirrors God’s creativity, by which He brings forth sons and daughters (John 1:12; Romans 8:14ff.; etc.).
(b) The love of a husband for his wife pictures God’s love for His people (Ezekiel 16; Hosea 1-3; Ephesians 5:25-33).
(c) Scripture describes God both in male and in female terms, though the overwhelming preponderance of imagery is male. The reason, I think, is basically that Scripture wants us to think of God as Lord (Exodus 3:14; 6:3, 7; 33:19; 34:5ff.; Deuteronomy 6:4ff.; cf. Romans 10:9f; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 2:11), and lordship, in Scripture, always connotes authority. Since in the Biblical view women are subject to male authority in the home and the church, there is some awkwardness in speaking of God in female terms. Our need today, in my opinion, is for a far greater appreciation of the Lordship of God and of Christ. Therefore, in my view, the movement to use unisex or female language in referring to God is fundamentally wrongheaded from a Biblical perspective.
(d) Nevertheless, the very submission of the woman also images God. God the Lord is not too proud to be our “helper.” Christ the Lord is not unwilling to be a servant. Godly women stand as models, often as rebukes, to all who would be leaders (Matthew 20:20-28).
And here’s his summary and conclusion:
Women and men equally image God, even in their sexual differences, even in their differences with regard to authority and submission.
The reason is that the image of God embraces everything that is human.
Both men and women, therefore, resemble God and are called to represent Him throughout the creation, exercising control, authority, and presence in His name. This doctrine is not at all inconsistent with the subordination of women to men in the home and in the church. All human beings are under authority, both divine and human. Their submission to authority, as well as their authority itself, images God.
Dates for the Women’s Small Group
Just to keep you up to date on what’s going on with Young Adults, here’s the calendar for our Women’s small group, led by Sara Gallagher. They meet here at church in the prayer room on Thursday evening at 7:30. Its working out to about every third Thursday this time around, but we thought it best just to put out the full schedule.
The group will be discussing the letters of Peter together, and Sara included the passages that will be covered each time, so you can read ahead. If you’re looking for a smaller group for fellowship directed by the word, here you go.
For more information, contact Sara at sgallagher@ccphilly.org.
November 7th 1 Peter 1:1-12
December 5th 1 Peter 1:13-25
January 2nd – 1 Peter 2:1-12
January 23rd -1 Peter 2:13-25
February 6th – 1 Peter 3:1-7
February 27th 1 Peter 3:8-22
March 13th – 1 Peter 4
April 3rd – 1 Peter 5
April 17th 2 Peter 1
May 1st – 2 Peter 2
May 22nd – 2 Peter 3
Friend of Sinners, No Friend of Sin
I found both sides of this exhortation from Kevin DeYoung challenging and helpful:
Jesus never apologized for getting on the inside with outsiders. It was his mission. What kind of doctor refuses to see patients? What kind of farmer refuses to get his hands dirty? What kind of church has no place for sinners?
People reviled Jesus. They called him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Have you ever been called names like this? Have I? Do we fear contamination from the world more than we have confidence in Christ’s power to cleanse?
Of course, I’m not encouraging people with drinking problems to go hang out in bars. I don’t expect new Christians to keep all their same friends who lead them into the same temptations. I’m not saying that if you really want to be relevant you have to watch sleazy movies so you can talk about them with the sinners in our lives. We need to use wisdom.
And we also need guts. We must not think of relationships with non-Christians primarily as dangers but as opportunities. Do we go out into the world hoping for conversion or expecting contamination?
Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Do we believe that?
The gospel–if we are talking about the true gospel–works through repentance and relationships. We need both. Jesus had relationships with sinners and tax collectors. And through those relationships what did he call them to do? He didn’t say call them to self-expression, or invite them to despise religious people, or summon them to eat, drink, and be merry (in our language: eat, drink, and be tolerant). He called them to repentance. One commentator says, “Jesus neither condoned sin, left people in their sin, nor communicated any disdain for sinners.” Jesus was not passive, just waiting for people to get their act together. And neither was he passive about confronting sin.
No one in the history of the world has been more inclusive of the broken hearted than Jesus. And no one has been more intolerant of the impenitent. A friend of sinners and no friend of sin.
How do we get Righteous? (Notes from Last Night.)
We continued our study of Romans last night by looking at the crucial passage in 3:21-26. They are a little sparse, but here are the notes:
3:19 Two issues we all have with sin: 1. We don’t think we really have any. Paul addresses this in 1:18-3:19; 2. We know we have it, and we feel like we can’t get rid of it. That’s 1:16-17 & 3:21-26.
“all the world is guilty before God” the problem is…how can God give us his righteousness? (1:16-17)
The issue this verse sets up for God is shown in two proverbs:
Pr 17:15 “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.”
Pr 24:24 “He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” Him the people will curse; Nations will abhor him.”
3:20-1 No, we can’t use God’s law to get rid of our guilt, but it does point the way to how we can. The way God’s righteousness comes to us has now been is “revealed” by Jesus’ coming.
3:22 “to all who believe” – this righteousness comes to us as we believe. God’s side is to give Jesus and tell us who He is for us (1:2-4) and our side is to believe what He has said and embrace Jesus as our only hope. “all”- this is how everyone gets saved. No one needs to try to find a different way. Anyone can believe and be saved.
3:23 “falling short”… of what? Of God as the standard: Mt 5:43-48, 1 Peter 1:15-16, in other words… and of what we were made to be: Gen 1:26, Romans 8:28-29, Phil 3:20-21 …that is, of God in Christ, of true Man…
3:24 “justified” – God pronounces us not guilty—righteous—fully acquitted of all charges and having the necessary qualifications for being in relationship with Him. “freely” – “as a gift.” “grace” for Paul doesn’t only speak of a quality of God but the way He has acted for us in Christ: “unconstrained by anything beyond his free will.” “redemption” — “Liberation through payment of a price”
25a Paul’s logic so far: (19) God’s law showed us that we’re all guilty, (21) but God has shown us how we can be righteous, (22) it comes by believing in Jesus…(25) whom God publicly displayed as a satisfaction for the wrath of God against sin (1:18)—i.e. so we know that this will work: we can really be saved from wrath, because Jesus showed us God was taking care of it all.
25b-26 “righteousness” – God had previously not exercised the full penalty against sin, so a problem had been set up. This is the problem we all feel in our souls when we want to get close to God. It’s like we just know we shouldn’t really be allowed to get close to God. And we’re right, but Paul is explaining how God took care of everything Himself.
26b God is just when He justifies us. We didn’t just get off the hook.” Jesus paid the full price. No one is saved for free. But we get it for free, because of how righteous, perfect, loving and alive Jesus is.
Take Aways:
1.The most important thing for a human being to know in 2013 is that God has provided what you really need: payment for sins, escape from his wrath, and a righteousness you couldn’t earn.
2.God does this because he wants to. It’s who He is as God. That’s grace.
3.God has the authority to do this, and he does it in a way that satisfies his justice.
4.No one needs to live in guilt. Nonbelievers–repent and believe!
5.Believers: You can’t feel your way to guiltlessness. You simply have to believe God’s word on this point. Only then you’ll have peace. (See Romans 5:1)
Two Helpful Books, for Free
If you have questions regarding issues of gender and how it relates to our humanity, God’s plan for us, and our roles in the church and family, these two books are some of the best resources available today. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is made up of an exhaustive group of essays and articles on every relevant scripture passage along with discussions of current theological and social issues. It’s the sort of book gives you thorough answers to your questions, and with the footnotes and bibliography, it would make an excellent research resource for writing that college paper on gender issues.
Best of all, they’re both free as pdf downloads from the website of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, http://cbmw.org/.
Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Grudem
“…Combining systematic argumentation with popular application, this volume deals with all of the main passages of Scripture brought forward in this controversy regarding gender-based role differences. Anyone concerned with the fundamental question of the proper relationship between men and women will want to read this book.”
50 Crucial Questions About Manhood and Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Grudem
“… Often what we need is a concise answer to particular questions. This is what this booklet is meant to give, by giving helpful answers to practical concerns and focusing especially on how men and women relate in the home and in the church. In doing so, it affirms the complementary differences between men and women and spells out the implications of those differences for the way men and women relate to each other in the most fulfilling way.”
Can you be good without Christ?
It’s sometimes tempting for people to think that they could live a basically good, ethical life apart from following Jesus. Maybe even, they might say, apart from belief in any God. And if this is the case, they might ask if there’s any point to becoming a Christian.
A friend of mine gave me an article the other day where C.S. Lewis addresses these issues. I don’t always appreciate Lewis’ thoughts on biblical matters, but when he’s on, he’s on. Here he is, in classic style, with some very interesting thoughts on all this.
“Will it help me? Will it make me happy? Do you really think I’d be better if I became a Christian?”
Well, if you must have it, my answer is “Yes.”
But I don’t like giving an answer at all at this stage. Here is a door, behind which, according to some people, the secret of the universe is waiting for you. Either that’s true, or it isn’t. And if it isn’t, then what the door really conceals is simply the greatest fraud, the most colossal “sell” on record. Isn’t it obviously the job of every man (that is a man and not a rabbit) to try to find out which, and then to devote his full energies either to serving this tremendous secret or to exposing and destroying this gigantic humbug? Faced with such an issue, can you really remain wholly absorbed in your own blessed “moral development”?
All right, Christianity will do you good – a great deal more good than you ever wanted or expected. And the first bit of good it will do you is to hammer into your head (you won’t enjoy that) the fact that what you have hitherto called “good” – all that about “leading a decent life” and “being kind” – isn’t quite the magnificent and all-important affair you supposed. It will teach you that in fact you can’t be “good” (not for twenty-four hours) on your own moral efforts. And then it will teach you that even if you were, you still wouldn’t have achieved the purpose for which you were created.
Mere morality is not the end of life.
You were made for something quite different from that…
The people who keep on asking if they can’t lead a decent life without Christ, don’t know what life is about; if they did they would know that “a decent life” is mere machinery compared with the thing we men are really made for. Morality is indispensable: but the Divine Life, which gives itself to us and which calls us to be gods, intends for us something in which morality will be swallowed up. We are to be re-made. All the rabbit in us is to disappear – the worried, conscientious, ethical rabbit as well as the cowardly and sensual rabbit.
We shall bleed and squeal as the handfuls of fur come out; and then, surprisingly, we shall find underneath it all a thing we have never yet imagined: a real Man, an ageless god, a son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy.
“When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” The idea of reaching “a good life” without Christ is based on a double error. Firstly, we cannot do it; and secondly, in setting up “a good life” as our final goal, we have missed the very point of our existence. Morality is a mountain which we cannot climb by our own efforts; and if we could we should only perish in the ice and unbreathable air of the summit, lacking those wings with which the rest of the journey has to be accomplished. For it is from there that the real ascent begins. The ropes and axes are ‘done away’ and the rest is a matter of flying.
Ten Questions for All Social Media
A few weeks ago up at Calvary Chapel Quakertown I participated in a forum on media and the Christian. I was given the assignment of speaking on Social media. There’s several reasons that’s a little comical (for instance, I’ve never had a personal Facebook page or Twitter feed), but it was a great exercise to prepare for and to think about Social Media for a little bit. While working through some of the issues Christians face in the world of social media, I wrote down a list of questions I’d want to ask of any current or potential social media use. The idea here is not to jump into something without thinking about it in the context of our discipleship to Christ. Here’s the list:
Questions for a Christian to Ask When Assessing Social Media Use
- Does it help me read better? Does it build my ability to sustain thought, follow logical arguments, and reason on my own? (These things are needed for reading scripture, of course.)
- Does it build my interpersonal skills, or make me less comfortable with presence? (That is, with the actual presence of another person.)
- Does it foster my participation in actual groups (the body of Christ) or does it contribute to any unhealthy isolation? (Not that all time alone is bad of course, but there is an unhealthy isolation.)
- Does it make me more, or less, aware of the people who are actually around me? (In many contexts–public, family, church–I must be engaged with those around me in order to have opportunities to love them and share the gospel.)
- Does it provide a space for the Gospel to be preached that actually accords with the Gospel? (Verses like 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 are key here.)
- If I am to seek to redeem my time (Ephesians 5), is this the best use of my time for the kingdom? Does it bear fruit (John 15), and does it bear much fruit?
- Does the Spirit lead me (Romans 8:14) to use my time and resources this way?
- Does this lead me, personally, into sin? (Matthew 5:29)
- Does it lead others into sin? (1 Corinthians 8:9)
- Does it communicate the right things about the Gospel to the next generation? In other words, how does it disciple? (It’s always helpful to remember that we’re not only preaching to the lost, we’re also communicating to Christians)
What is Freedom? (Notes from last night.)
Admittedly, the blog has been a little sparse lately…but here’s the notes from last night, as we continued our study of Paul’s letter to the Romans by looking at chapters 1 and 6:
We looked at the concept of freedom Paul was working with. This doesn’t seem to be the main thing Paul was thinking about when he was writing these passages, but it was clearly something he assumed. Since the culture we live in tends to assume the opposite things about freedom (than those Paul was assuming), it’s important to see what his assumptions are, and how they differ from our norms, so that we can correct our understanding and understand Paul’s reasoning.
1. The Wrath of God is Shown in a Certain Kind of “Freedom” – 1:18-32
Notice the expressions of freedom in this chapter:
- People freely think certain things: 1:18, 21, 28, 32
- God gives them freedom to follow the desires of their heart: 1:24, 26, 27, 28
- They then use their freedom to act out their desires, with disastrous results: 1:24, 27, 28, 29-31
So: When God allows us the freedom to feel whatever we want, and the freedom to pursue those feelings without being hindered, it is not a sign of his approval, but of his wrath. This is because, when we turn away from him, we have no source of life or goodness, and our hearts can only produce wickedness. Therefore the things we end up doing totally degrade and hurt us. We lower ourselves and twist ourselves, with the result that we end up far below what we were created to be. This is partly a result of our actions, and partly a result God’s wrath on our evil actions.
If this is the case, what is freedom?
2. Our whole concept of Freedom needs to be rethought – Ch. 6
- The expressions of freedom in chapter 1 are actually slavery to sin: 6:6, 7, 12-14, 16, 19, 20, 21
So: what feels like self-determinism is actually sin-rule ( see John 8:31-36, Proverbs 5:21-23, 2 Peter 2:18-19)
Why? We can’t escape this rule. It’s impossible. It’s just the way things are. - Salvation is partly being freed from this slavery: 6:6-7, 12, 14, 18, 22
- To get free from Sin, you become a slave/servant of righteousness, or of God: 6:16-19, 22
- Serving God is life (6:22), Slavery to sin is death. (6:23) What freedom is there in pursuing death?
Why would God do it this way? Because of what we were created to be and do. We were created to know God, to be totally connected to him relationally. We were created to be like Christ: able to know and communicate with the Father in all his love, and to rule creation with and for him. (But see Genesis 4:7) In other words: we were created to be like God–free to live and rule (see Genesis 1:26, Revelation 22:5) , and free from the ruining effects of evil.
To be free is to be set free to be who we truly are.
To be free is to be alive, forever, to know God and live in the fullness he created us for.
Challenges:
- Non-believers: Understand that God’s word says that our thoughts about freedom are messed up. We’ve believed a lie that we will be better off chasing what we want and excluding God. But it’s not true. And it leads to death.
- Believers: We should examine our own thinking to see where this wrong view of freedom has crept in to our lives. Do we see freedom the way God describes?
How would we know if this is the case? – Do we struggle to want to live according to God’s commands? Do we feel bad sharing them with people?