2016-04-08
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week when I cited EPH 5: 15-16, I neglected to hover over the first phrase, “Make the most of every opportunity…” which meant being led to holiness, growing in faith in Christ, and not being tossed about by the waves (meaning of philosophical fads). It also included a reminder that the days of grace on earth have a limit. What this means has huge ramifications on the way we lead our lives and on the goals God has for us. When I hear “make the most of every opportunity,” it means look for chances to share the Gospel with all who will listen, engage in daily study of God’s word, pray often--not only asking God for His help but also thanking and praising Him for blessings already received-- serving our fellow humans for Him, discovering and making God’s agenda our own, and actively engaging in both individual and corporate worship. Every aspect of our lives is impacted by this divine directive! Anyone who has carefully studied God’s word for some time has to see that He has built in armor for us to wear in spiritual warfare with the evil one. Things like this are covered in EPH 1: 18-20 and EPH 6: 10-18. Today’s philosophical fads are things like idolizing Hollywood and it’s values, “beware of global warming,” our big and very dysfunctional government is the last and best source for solutions to all problems, people who differ from us are automatically our “enemies,” it’s best to acquire as much money and power as possible, and the like. To God, these are idols, idols we have no business worshipping. We live in a society that eschews learning the lessons past history has to teach us. So, what does God want of us? He wants everyone who will listen to exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit. GA 5: 22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” As those mature in our faith, ones who feast on spiritual meat, we must take responsibility for our own actions. We must not take on the role of eternal victims.
As I promised last week, we need to look at some techniques for how to study God’s word. To begin we must remember 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully equipped for every good work.” Some useful rules to follow: Pray first; context is king; let God explain Himself first; Ask the five W’s and an H; attend to the geographical and historical perspective; use helpful references. Let me explain. Pray first before doing any task for God. Context is king means always put what you are reading in realistic context, the context that is meant by the inspired human author. For example, Paul and Epaphras, who were conveying God’s teaching to the Colossians, were doing so in the face of competing with human-crafted heresies. Prayer for God’s discernment of the truth was essential. Knowing this illuminates the situation at the time. It’s never okay to take some truths out of context and mixing them with a human-crafted philosophy. This is the pattern cults use. This truth is the reason the writers of Kings and Chronicles in the Bible always identified each king with regard to his degree of obedience to God—whether or not he tried to mix Paganism with Judaism or got rid of all the altars to Pagan gods altogether. Letting God explain Himself first means using cross-references first when one doesn’t understand a verse or passage at hand right away. If one still doesn’t understand, read the study notes from an acceptable version, like the NIV, for example. And, as a last resort, consult a widely accepted commentary, like The Believers Commentary.
Asking the five W’s and an H means asking: Who, what, where, when, why, and how? If you find it would be helpful, make a chart when beginning to study a book of the Bible. One might even find it helpful after finishing to go back and select the key verse for each chapter and for the book as a whole. This gives you a quick layout of what you are studying. For example, I think COL 1: 26-27 are key verses for the first chapter. Finding the historical and geographical context: As I mentioned, the historical context of Colossians is the time when many heresies, leading to Gnosticism, were causing confusion about what is God’s truth. As for the geographical context, look at a map for Asia Minor at 60 AD to see the relative positions of Colossae, Laodicea, and Hieropolis, three towns not far from each other who received the message from the apostle Paul (who was imprisoned at the time) via a dedicated servant of Christ, Epaphras. Some useful references: Because the meaning of a word given is important, I urge the use of two great references which will help, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and www.biblos.com. Strong’s is based on the KJV, so be sure to consider the archaic form of a word. Every word in every verse has a three or four digit number. Consult the word (given in alphabetical order) first. Find the code and then look in the Hebrew section in the back under the code for OT and the Greek section under the code for NT. Biblos gives a “lexicon” section. Click on that first. Then fill in the exact citation with book, chapter, and verse in the field at the top. That takes you to a word by word explanation of each word in the Hebrew (OT) or Greek (NT). [I found it helpful to learn the Hebrew and Greek alphabets first]. As for commentaries, I recommend: The Believer’s Commentary, and Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. All of these will be a great help. I also like the Good News Bible-Today’s version, a paraphrased Bible which is found on-line, for very clear support of a regular Bible.
PRAYER: O Lord, You are a loving God, Who wants to share all You can with Your human creation [JN 15: 13-17]. To that end, You have given us Your word and the technical innovations that allow us to have it in book form and on-line. Throughout our lives as believers in Jesus Christ, You have encouraged us not only to study Your word, but also to seek You out often in prayer [JER 29: 11-13]. Through these two channels, You have blessed us with better knowledge of You, Your teaching, and Your will for our lives. As we study the Scriptures, we mediate in between to learn Your lessons and discern Your messages to us [PS 51: 6; PS 119:125]. You are generous and open with us, so that we might know Your will and make it our own. You have given us the Holy Spirit to dwell in our souls, so that we might learn from Him and be guided to greater holiness [RO 8: 14-16, 26-27]. In prayer, we listen for You and are guided when at a crossroads in our lives. The great example of sacrificial offering shown by Your Son, Jesus, and His humility is deeply implanted in our lives [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Christ is Lord of all, no matter what their background, and we must remember this [IS 44: 24]. Your love for us in unparalleled anywhere in the universe, a paradigm for us to follow. Christ in us and Your love, by which You will that we live, matter more to us than anything else [COL 1: 26-27; PS 33: 22]. You have given us the gift of faith in Jesus Christ and built in us the willingness to face our sinfulness with revelation, honest confession, and desire to stop the thought or behavior at hand [PS 19: 12-13]. We rehearse this history of interaction with You and blessing from You, making this prayer an offering of thanks and praise to You, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: There is so much to write about the subject at hand that the space in these devotions seems very short. However, there is little of greater importance than knowing God better, little that is more important to Him. So, these messages will be all about God and His amazing interactions with us. Next week, I am commanded to write about the historical, cultural, and geographical background to the book of Colossians. It can be very illuminating to begin this way when writing about this part of the Bible, because it gives us a better understanding of the pressures, people, and needs at a point in the history of the spread of the early church. In the meanwhile, I urge each of you reading this to try the approaches for studying the word of God that I’ve given above. They have stood me well over many years and have given me knowledge of God that I might not have otherwise. This has blessed me beyond anything I could have ever imagined. It has applied to my covenant relationships with other people and with our loving Deity. In addition, the pressure I personally feel to share the Gospel message with those who have not yet heard it has led me to the work I do with an organization called In Search of Shalom. Through this work, I have met some remarkable non-believers, a few of which have become believers in Jesus Christ due to our series of chats. The Holy Spirit is at work all over the world, awakening people to the blessings of faith in Jesus Christ. He is at work right now and in the future bringing each of you further blessings in your life. You are not alone in your times of trials. He is right here with each of us! Praise and thanks be to the Lord Jesus!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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