Jump Start # 1248

2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

Well, I finished it this week. When the idea was presented, it sounded great. In the process of doing it, I really second guessed myself and wondered what in the world I was doing. Now that it’s over, I liked it. What I’m talking about is a recent class that I taught. The elders where I worship restructured some of our adult classes. Instead of the typical 13 week quarter classes, we had ten week classes and several five week classes. I was teaching some of the five week classes. The first round was about the Holy Spirit. Five lessons. Not too bad. Then came the monster, Revelation. Revelation in five weeks. Revelation in five days, basically. It was going to be the 33,000 foot view. Hit the high points. Tell the over all picture. See the obvious things. In the midst of teaching it I wondered if it was too much. But we did it. The class loved it. The big picture. The overview. We managed to squeeze in the two visions, the mark of the beast, the 1,000 year reign, Satan’s binding, judgment and Heaven. We made a booklet. We did it. After class was over I told someone since we did this, we can now do Ezekiel in 13 minutes. Only joking.

But this little experiment revealed something to me. I wonder if our verse-by-verse study that we so often do on most books is best. There is certainly a place for that, but every time? Always? The only way to look at a book of the Bible? What really got me thinking about this is that we don’t read other material the same way we do the books of the Bible. For instance, imagine getting one of those yearly Christmas letters from a friend. We always get a few every year. Now, imagine you and your family taking 13 weeks to read that letter. Once a week, you read a few words then you talk about them. You don’t read the letter in it’s entirety. We don’t do that we college texts. We don’t do that with the newspaper. Now, I understand, and I have myself taught, that no book is like the Bible. No book is read like the Bible. Understood. However, do we lose the message and kill the flow by being so tedious and meticulous with every word? Letters, especially, are to be read in one sitting. My friend Bob taught a class on Ephesians. He began every class with his iphone and speakers. He would play the book of Ephesians to the class. This is how they first received it. They didn’t have Bibles opened in their laps. They heard someone reading it. They had to listen. The book of Revelation gives a double blessing. First, to the one who reads, and then, to the one who hears.

Handling accurately the word of truth is what our verse today tells us. Mishandling the truth leads to wrong impressions, wrong ideas and trouble. With the Bible in hand, many things are said that are not truly supported by the Scriptures. It wasn’t accurate. My son-in-law, Jared, is an internal auditor. He looks at the books. When things are not accurate he goes into hyper drive and digs until he finds out why. Accuracy. We want that in our banking. Only in Monopoly will you find a bank error in your favor. We want our surgeons to be accurate. We want pilots to be accurate. We want surveyors to be accurate about our property lines. But when it comes to the Bible, somehow that drive for accuracy can be lacking. Too often, it’s easy to let someone else do all the homework and then make a passionate presentation to us. If it sounds logical and they can back it up with facts and passages, it’s good enough for most of us. God wants each of us to know, handle and be accustomed to truth. Our faith doesn’t rest in what someone else believes, but in what we believe.

The words do need to be looked at in detail. The questions that arise need to be answered. The thought, intent, background and principles need to be flushed out. We need to know the book. We are to be a people of the book. So approach books from different standpoints. Don’t be stuck always reading and studying the same way. Here are a few suggestions:

• When studying the gospels, focus upon the questions that are asked. Notice who asked the questions and how they were answered.
• In the gospels, especially in Mark, notice the reactions from the multitudes. Just study those reactions.
• Notice word patterns. You’ll see repeated words often in a context. Pay attention to those.
• Notice references to the Old Testament
• Notice the people Jesus met.
• Notice how Jesus was interrupted.
• Notice what bothered people and what bothered Jesus. They are not the same.
• Notice prayers.

These come out in a verse by verse study, but they can be lost. Try making these things the study. Is it wrong to study verse-by-verse? No. Absolutely not. We need to. We must. I will continue to teach verse-by-verse studies. But once in awhile, that 33,000 feet view helps.

Handle the truth accurately. At the end of the day, at the end of a lifetime, have I handled God’s word accurately? If I have, it then ought to have an impact in my life. It ought to have shaped me, changed me and made me better. The truth within my heart will guide my faith, it will define my hope and it will strengthen me in difficult times.

Handle it. Touch it. See it. Feel it. Tons of folks are using electronic versions of the Bible. I do in some occasions. Friends tell me that they can turn to passages faster electronically than I can with my fingers. We may have to have a showdown some day. I expect I’ll lose. However, I’m one who still likes the feel of pages in my fingers. I like the sound of turning pages when I preach. One is not better than the other. The Bible is not made to be stored in a museum, in a locked box, but rather handled. Raise the hood. Look inside. Tinker with it. Look at it. Ask questions. See things that are there. Underline. Make your Bible user friendly to you. I’m amazed to see some folks turn to a book of the Bible by feel. Without looking, they can turn to a section. They have handled and handled that book. It’s more than touching, it’s handling the message. It’s knowing what is said. It’s reading it. It’s studying it. It’s looking up verses. It’s seeing the true and accurate picture.

Whether you study word by word or take that 33,000 feet approach, get into the Bible. The more we get into the Bible, the more the Bible gets into us. Now, that’s when things start to really happen.

Roger