Doing is the Second Half of Learning

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

-- Benjamin Franklin

Last week, I asked a pair of questions during the sermon. The first was, "What kind of verb is the word follow?" Immediately, the right answer came from several directions: "Action!" Then the second question, "How similar is that word to what we're doing right now?" Crickets, at least for a few seconds. Then the realization ... it's impossible to follow Christ by just sitting down.

There are times to sit and learn, but we will never be followers of Jesus if sitting down "learning" is the bulk of our Christian experience. Sitting to listen to a sermon, sitting to learn in a Bible study or Sunday school class, sitting in a circle in a small group. All of these are valuable and important. But they do not comprise the phrase following Christ.

To follow anyone, we must do what they do. That's the simplest definition of follow. The word in the original language of John 6:66-71 carries the idea to follow a teaching by obeying it. A follower of Jesus does the same kinds of things He does (within the sphere of human ability). It is a stretch to call oneself a follower of Jesus based just on regular attendance to sitting-and-learning events.

Let's look at this another way. Let's consider the word obey in terms of being a learner. But before we do, let's also look alternate ways to think about the word obey.

Obedience as "ought". Perhaps this is the most common view. We do because we're supposed to. It's what good followers do. We ought do some things, and we ought not to do other things, and getting those categories sorted out well means obedience.

Obedience as righteousness. Take that a step further, and you can look at obedience as a form of righteousness. By obeying, you're becoming more righteous - a better person, a purer person.

Both ideas have some merit. There is some sense of "ought" to obeying Christ - we certainly ought to. There is even a sense that we do become more righteous the more we walk in His ways (even though we cannot merit His favor or earn salvation in any way). However, I think there's a stronger motivation than these that God has for us for obedience.

Obedience as learning. Jesus taught His disciples, sometimes sitting down as a group, sometimes on a hillside or in a boat, and sometimes along the way. But teach He did. However, He also had His disciples do. They handled the fish and the loaves, they retrieved the donkey, they prepared the Last Supper, they went out by two's to tell others about the Kingdom. He did not expect them to obey just because they ought to or to make them more righteous. He did this to teach them! As they obeyed, they would learn. 

Why do we expect Him to teach any differently today? Have we outgrown the need to do in order to learn? Can we just study forgiveness and learn it, without actually ever forgiving anyone? Or, will we only learn forgiveness when we actually forgive someone?

That would mean that Jesus wants to me forgive not just because I ought or in order to be more righteous, but to really, truly, actually learn forgiveness. And I need to learn forgiveness because that's one of His key attributes. I cannot get to know the forgiving Christ well without learning forgiveness by forgiving people.

Not just forgiveness. Apply this same idea to anything He wants us to learn: love, joy, grace, generosity, compassion, humility, patience, endurance, surrender, and so on. We won't get to know well the Christ who loves unless we learn love by loving people. Go on down the list.

So, why do so many of our Christian teaching venues have chairs?

Consider the seated learning as the "first half of learning." Then consider the unseated, action verb learning as the "second half of learning." Whenever you learn something about walking in the way of Christ, don't consider that you've learned it until you're doing it. Take that lesson and find some way to do it right away - that day, that week, sometime before you try to learn the next thing. Don't declare you learned something awesome in a sermon until you're doing that awesome thing or actually living according to that awesome thing. Then you've learned it!

The last thing we want for our Bible studies is for us to learn something that we're going to disobey only to come back the next week and learn something else we're going to disobey.

You will get to know Christ better by this. It's a way of learning! Jesus even says so Himself in John 14:21. Rather than some mystical appearing of Jesus for those who obey, I rather suspect what He means is, "As you obey, what you are doing is getting to know Me in ways you can't learn by just sitting in a chair."

The one who has my commandments and keeps them—that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him. (John 14:21)

Three Step Bible Study

This is not the "one ring to rule them all." There are plenty of great ways to study the Bible (and even more really bad ways), so I'm not about to present the one best way that all must follow or be relegated to coach class in heaven. It is one good way. A lot of folks struggle to have a regular Bible study time because they don't have a particular approach they use, so I offer this way as one of many to help us get into a regular habit. When we see success happen, then we no longer have to find motivation - it's already there!

If you've studied Bible study methods, you'll recognize many elements below, perhaps even using different labels and terms.

This approach is simple enough - just three steps. But the order is important. Your rate of success will be orders of magnitude better if you exercise just enough discipline to work on these steps in order. (If a thought jumps at you that is out of order, quickly note it and then come back to the step you were on. You'll come back to that point soon enough and be able to develop it.)

I recommend having your Bible, a notebook, and a pen (or computer) so that you keep all of your notes together. And I do recommend writing (or typing) - there's something about the physical act that helps you ponder your thoughts more thoroughly.

The three steps are Understand, Interpret, and Cultivate. Pick a passage, large or small, read it at least three times, and then begin taking notes.

1. Understand. In this step, you are concerned only with what the text says, not what it means. You're not yet concerned about how it affects you or what to do about it. The only task here is to get a grasp of what the text claims. What do the key words mean? What happened? Who did what? Can I summarize what the passage says in one sentence? What are the main ideas or events? How did people respond? You can't ask all of these questions for every passage, but these are the types of questions to ask. You know you've done a pretty good job if you can succinctly state what the author intended to say (and the author intended to say one thing!).
2. Interpret. Now we talk about meaning (but not how it applies to our lives, yet). For example, what the author said could be "God's right arm" - that's the Understand section. That's what the author said. Now for Interpret, what does this mean? Does it refer to a literal arm? In this case, no - it refers to God's power (which brings victory). Is the author being literal or figurative? Is he being sarcastic? What is the main point? Is he telling us what did happen or is he giving us an example to follow? The parable was about three guys who got some money from their boss and did different stuff with it (Understand), but what is the parable teaching us (Interpret)? You know you've interpreted well when you can succinctly state what the author meant by what he said (and the author meant one thing!).
3. Cultivate. Finally, we talk about how this text affects our lives. How is this text intended to cultivate us into a stronger followers of Jesus? We often talk about application - how the text applies to our lives, but we want to go further than application. How do I learn to obey what this passage says? What does God want me to do or say or think? How does my following Jesus deepen in response to this passage? How can I cultivate this truth into someone else's life? How is this passage like nourishment for growth? You know you've cultivated well when your life actually changes to be more like what the text teaches. I would venture that we don't truly understand a passage until our lives reflect it.

Note that the author's context must be considered to Interpret, and our context must be considered to Cultivate. We should not, for example, take an Old Testament passage about the covenant with Israel and just assume we're supposed to do the exact same thing - like sacrifice a goat!

When I study a passage for my own devotional life, I use this pattern in my notes, whether the passage is large or small. I often try to study a paragraph or a distinct unit, such as a full parable, instead of just a couple of verses or an really long section. It's perfectly OK just to list questions without answers, by the way!

My notes often look something like this brief example:

Passage: John 3:16 (NET)

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Understand

• Who is speaking? Is this a continuation of Jesus' dialog from vv. 10-15, or is this now John giving us his understanding as the author?
• "this is the way" - Some translations have "For God so loved...", but that sounds like quantity, not manner. This phrase is referring to the manner in which God loves us.
• "world" - Who is the "world"? Every person? The rebellious "world" that we're not supposed to love (1 John 2:15)?
• "perish" - What kind of perishing is included here?
• ... and so on ...

Interpret

• Note that God expresses His great love by an act of giving, and that this giving is complete. He did not withhold anything in this gift - He gave us Christ completely, as evidenced by His death on the cross.
• He gave us His Son for a specific outcome - belief that results in eternal life.
• Is this believing a pure act of will or is it the inevitable action for the elect (how Calvinistic is this passage)?
• When does this eternal life begin?
• ... and so on ...

Cultivate

• How can I love as God loves? How can I love by giving Christ to others as the Father gave us Christ?
• How can I demonstrate that love this week?!? (It's best to actually list something specific here!)
• Who do I know that will perish because they do not believe? Who of these people will I see today? This week?
• ... and so on ...

Devotional books and study guides are often very helpful, but I much prefer that we interact with the text directly on a regular basis. (It can be helpful to refer to these other materials after interacting with the text on your own.) A simple tool such as this one can be used by beginners as well as lifelong students.

How to Teach the Book of Isaiah in Less Than a Week

Every time I go to Kenya, I spend most of my time teaching at the Ahero Evangelical School of Theology (AEST), which trains future pastors, elders, and teachers, both male and female. I usually have just under two weeks to teach. Sometimes I teach a two-week class, and other times a one-week class and either a smaller topic for the following week (or we're in a different location that second week). This year, I'll have 8 days in the classroom at AEST.

What topics I teach are usually up to the faculty of AEST - they have a curriculum and certain topics the students need in order to graduate, so they tell me what they want me to teach to fit into their plan. That usually means that I have to pull together a semester's worth of material from my notes and studies to teach in a week's time. A couple of years, I've had the luxury of bringing something I had already prepared that fit into their course requirements. This year, no such luxury.

AEST wants me to teach the book of Isaiah the first week and apologetics for the partial second week. Have you read Isaiah lately? It's big. It's complex. It's repetitive, and yet it moves in a particular direction. And did I mention that it's big?

How can I teach that big (it's big), complex book in a week? Well, I can do that - but how can I teach it in a way that will be of true benefit in a week's time? It's flat out too much information, too much theology, and too much prophecy to digest within a week.

I could do just a high level survey, but that's not effective for their concrete learning style. I could do representative sections, but then you miss the narrative, and they are also storytelling learners.

Rather than telling them what Isaiah has, my plan is to coach them into discovering what Isaiah has. In addition to being concrete, storytelling learners, my students at AEST are also group learners. So, I will  create three teams. Each day, the members of one team will all be in one minor section, and the other teams will cover the other minor sections. All three will then be covering a major section of the book in a day's time, and by the end of the week, the whole book will be covered. They will do individual work, and then work as teams, to discover what each passage of each minor section has to say. Then in class, the teams will teach the rest of the class what Isaiah has to say. My job will to be to make sure they stay accurate - very little lecture. By the end of the week, they will have a full overview of Isaiah, and will have taught one another what it says.

The great benefits are: 1) Discovery is far more effective than lecture, 2) they will finish the class with a method of how to study Isaiah after I'm gone, and 3) they will have worked together to help one another understand this great (big!) book.

I pray this will work! (I've never tried this kind of teaching before.)

Discovery is something you're going to hear more about at Grace Fellowship as we continue to learn how complete followers are cultivated.

"Can I join your secret club?"

"Can I join your secret men's club?"

I have heard this question a few times in the last month or so. On the one hand, I love the question, because it means that men are interested in a quiet experiment that we've been conducting. On the other had, I reel back at the question, because our quiet experiment was never intended to be a "secret club" that makes men feel left out.

In the words of Inigo Montoya, "Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

The speaker at the 2011 men's retreat, Ron Bennett, has co-authored a series of studies geared for men called HighQuest (http://www.highquest.info/overview.html). The idea intrigued us, primarily because the format of this series is unlike any men's study we've seen before.

The series is designed for men to disciple one another. The studies are not fill-in-the-blank workbooks, but guides that slowly introduce spiritual disciplines, and keep men in the same passage, but gives them enough freedom to focus on different parts of that passage. So, when the men come together, they have individually wrestled with God's Word without anyone guiding their answers to a foregone conclusion. But, since the men are all in the same passage, they can compare thoughts and learn from one another.

We decided that instead of having a big, church-wide big splash launch of Yet Another Program that Will Revolutionize Your Church But Will Last Only 6 Weeks Before the Enthusiasm Wanes, we decided to start small and without fanfare.

Four of us asked up to three other men to consider forming a HighQuest group. Then we just started meeting, each group at their own pace. In my group, we are four men who didn't really know each other that well coming into it. We have different church backgrounds, different experiences and habits, but the same desire to grow as men in Christ. I get every impression that all the groups are similar.

The feedback has been very positive across the board! I could list dozens of positive comments, but I think the most powerful statement is that after finishing book 1, we had a 100% return rate from all the groups for men wanting to do book 2. (There are 9 books total, about 10 to 12 weeks each.)

Starting in January, we are going to explain more about HighQuest and then invite more men to start more groups. Not a big program, not a big splash, and not the only good way to do men's groups. Just a lot of good experiences with a "quiet experiment."

My thanks to Chad Krizan for being our coordinator - he will be the one to organize the groups and get people started. But once the groups are started, they pretty much run at their own pace, take care of ordering their own books, and so on. This is one part of our continuing drive to realize our vision, which includes intentionally cultivating relationships in order to disciple our world for God's glory.

So, it's not a secret men's group. But we're about to go from "Beta testing" to production for those men who want to join in. And I have both personally experienced and observed in others real spiritual growth and an improving set of spiritual disciplines.

Creating a Bible Arc

One of my favorite tools for Bible study is called "Bible Arc," which is an on-line tool created by Bethlehem College and Seminary (affiliated with John Piper's ministry). It's available at http://biblearc.com, and it is designed to help you graphically show the structure of a passage.

To me, the structure of a passage is one of the most important ways to really understand the passage. Whether you look at just the high-level structure or the low-level detailed structure, seeing how the passage fits together is extraordinarily helpful in understanding what the passage means. I've talked about the importance of seeing the structure many times before, including how we can see the Trinity show up in Ephesians 1:3-14 by first seeing the structure. There are just a few tools that really open up the meaning of Scripture for me, and finding the structure is one of them.

The difficulty has been having a convenient tool to show the structure. There's always pen and paper, but that usually leads to a lot of cross-out changes, and then there's the issue of filing away all the paper so that you can retrieve it later. There's word processing, and outlining a passage with multi-level lists shows the structure, but it's hard to "see" the structure. If the passage has a complicated structure, then the lists become even less capable of showing the structure well.

The idea behind Bible Arc is that it allows you to graphically show the structure electronically (which also takes care of all the crossing out and filing hassle). It's basic enough for a beginner to use, but it has enough features for experienced Bible scholars to use.

With Bible Arc, you start by selecting which passage you want to study for a new arc. You can pick from several different Bible translations, including the original languages, also allowing the user to make his own translation. You can have two translations side-by-side, or just one translation. You can also choose for the tool to automatically break up the passage by verses or to start with no automatic breaks at all.

After you create your initial arc, then you choose where the "breaks" are in the passage, such as sentences, phrases, if/then clauses, etc. You select between two words where a break should be (in both translations if using two), and then the tool breaks between then and puts a line. You can do this at a high-level or a very detailed level.

Then, after all the "parts" have been separated, then you "arc" the parts that need to be grouped together. For example, you might have two parts to a sentence, with a break between, but you still want to "arc" the two parts because they go together. Again, this can be pretty general or very detailed.

The third step is to identify what role the different parts play, and this may be a step that many people choose to skip (although it is very helpful). For example, if a part is an "if" clause, then you drag the "if" marker from the legend to right next to that part. (There's a Key that help you understand what all the markers mean.) Basically, you are labeling what function each part plays. You can even make up your own markers.


Some of the labels describe not the part, but how two parts fit together. For example, between a part that says "Bob was happy" and the part that says "and then he threw a big party," you would put the "P" marker, which means "Progression." The second part is a progression from the first part.


There are helpful videos of every step along the way to show you how to do it.

The only way to really get the hang of it is to first look at someone else's arc, and then to play with it on your own. You can see one of my simpler arcs (of 1 Tim 1:18-20) at http://biblearc.com?c2g4. Click on "Key" in order to see what the markers mean. But I recommend just playing with it sometime, if you're into methods of focused Bible study. It takes a little while to get the hang of it, but after that, I find that it actually saves time, because it helps me quickly see the structure of a passage.

Creating the Environment

We cannot make God "show up." We can (and should) set aside time every day to be alone with God to read His Word and to pray. Some people call it "Quiet Time," others call it "Devotions," and we've even recently seen it called "an appointment with God." No matter what it's called, it's an intentional effort to be alone with God and His Word. But just regularly having that time won't necessary make God "show up" - where you become particularly aware of His presence and influence. However, if we don't set aside time, we are far less likely to ever have that awareness.

Even if we set aside only 15 minutes a day, having that dedicated time for the Lord remains history's greatest environment to experience the presence of God. Of all the books, seminars, studies, and DVDs we have, nothing does more for personal spiritual formation than being in the Word and in prayer. There's not even a close second place finisher - setting aside daily time is the all-time champ, with virtually no challengers. Put another way, wanting to experience His presence without setting aside that time is like wanting to see a ball game but never going to the ball park.

Even when we do set aside time, we can also fall into a habit of squandering that time, getting distracted, or wandering aimlessly because we don't have a plan. One of the most effective ways to spend fruitful time with the Lord is to develop rich habits. Not only a regular time and place with no distractions, but also a habit of how to read the Word.

First, you need to have an idea of what you will read in Scripture. It could be passages on a particular topic that you get from a book or it can be going through a book of the Bible. Both are valuable, but I strongly recommend that you: 1) Read at least a full paragraph, rather than isolated verses, 2) Read your passage more than once, and 3) Keep in the habit of going through entire books of the Bible at least 50% of a calendar year.

Second, it helps to ask a consistent set of questions of every passage. There are many suggestions out there for questions to ask, and most lists are fairly similar. I recommend the following for every passage:

What does it say? Without interpreting the passage, just summarize (in writing!) what it says. Before you interact with the text, you need to know what it is (and is not) saying. You might even look up a few key words in a Bible dictionary, concordance, or commentary just to get at what the author intended to say.

What does it mean? Now, you interpret, but only after having a good idea of what the author intended to say. This is not "What does it mean to me?", but "What does it mean?" Getting back to the author's intent, what did he mean by this? The Bible does not mean different things to different people - it means one thing. Every passage means one thing, no matter how hard different people try to make it say something different.

How does it relate? After understanding the meaning, now you can ask how that unchanging meaning affects you in daily life. What aspects of my life, my thinking, my reactions, and my priorities are affected by this truth?

Where do I need to be convinced? We can understand what a passage means and how it affects us, but still not be moved to change. What needs to happen in my life for me to be "sold" on the truth, to adopt it into my life, to confess, to change, or to respond?

Pray. Take what you've seen in Scripture, how it affects you, and how you still need to be moved to adopt it into your life, and pray about it. Be honest with God, ask questions, confess, rejoice, and interact with God, particularly in reference to the passage. Also, I like to pray for those on my prayer list based on the passage - that's a great way to keep me focused and fresh as I pray for loved ones and friends.

This set of habits can take 15 minutes or an hour. It just depends on how deep you want to go. Each question has a list of related questions that could go along with them - or these questions can be taken as is if there just isn't enough time for depth. Also, the framework is flexible enough to work well with any passage, regardless of length or genre.

The main thing is to be in a habit, whether it's this one or another. Try this one, try another one, stick to one that works well for you. You'll find yourself being more consistent, getting more out of the text, and perhaps becoming more keenly aware of God's presence.

Lately, I have been blogging my Quiet Time journal on http://colbiwiki.blogspot.com, using a slightly different framework, but the same elements are there. My hope is that these can provide examples of how a framework can be used.

Marking Up Your Bible

In my men's Bible study, we talked about ways of studying the Bible, including marking up your Bible with notes along the way. The idea is to have one copy of the Bible that is set aside for this particular purpose so that you can make notes in and around the text as you make observations. When you come back to that same text later, you have your own notes to help you remember what you've noticed before. Plus, just the act of writing notes helps you to think your way through a passage.

It's best to have just one Bible for this, so that you don't have notes strung around in many different places. Choose a Bible that has good space in the margins for personal notes. I recommend a translation that is more literal, such as the NASB, ESV, or NKJV. Other kinds of translations, such as the NET or NIV, are good to have for other purposes, but since individual words will make a difference (as you will see), your "mark up Bible" should be one of the more literal translations.

You can certainly choose your own method of mark up, but stay consistent! Think a long time before starting to mark up to make sure you have a system you want to use. You don't want to mark up one way, and then later change your mind and mark up another way, and then end up with a Bible with different kinds of mark up. You might even make some photocopies of some pages to "practice" on to see which mark ups you want to use.

Let me share my method, not because it's any better than other methods, but just as an example. My method is pretty simple:

• Circle: I circle words or phrases that are repeated in a passage. For example, in Isaiah 45, the idea there being "no other" God is repeated (vv. 5, 6, 14, 18, 21, 22, 24), even though different words are used. So I circled each occurrence. Now, every time I go back to Isaiah 45, I see some circles and quickly realize that the exclusive nature of God is an important theme in this chapter.
• Underline: I underline commands, especially ones that apply to us. Later, when I see an underline, I know there's a command for me to obey in that passage. I don't usually underline commands given to people in the narrative if the command doesn't apply to us (like telling Moses to go to Egypt - it's a command, but not to us, so I don't underline it).
• Exclamation point: In the margin, I put an exclamation point next to thoughts that are particularly important. Maybe it's the key point of the passage. Maybe it just strikes me as I'm reading as being particularly important. The exclamation point is like saying, "Look here!"
• Check mark: I put a check mark in the margin next to promises, especially promises that apply to us. Maybe they are promises that have already been fulfilled, maybe not, but the check mark alerts me that there's a promise from God to us here.
• Highlight: I don't highlight much, but if there's a phrase that is a core truth to the Christian life, I'll highlight it. I also highlight cross-references in the margins that I've looked up and have found to be particularly helpful.
• Square underline: I will underline some words or phrases with tips on each end to make the words look like they are sitting in a shallow box if the word or phrase is defined by the passage. For example, John 17:3 says "This is life, that..." The phrase that follows defines what "life" is. So I put a square underline under that word to alert me later that this verse defines what "life" is.
• Margin notes: Sometimes, you've just got to write a thought in the margin - no other mark up will do. These include inspired thoughts, cross references not already list, helpful interpretations, etc.

Be careful not to mark up too much! If you mark up everything, it's as good as marking up nothing, and then your Bible is harder to read. Be smart. As an extreme example, most sentences in Mark start with "And..." Don't bother circling every "and" - yes, it's repeated, and yes, it means something, but you don't want all that ink spilled on your pages.

Also remember that whatever you mark up and write will be there for the rest of the life of that Bible. I've written down things and then years later read it again, wondering, "What was I thinking?!? That's the stupidest thing I ever saw!" Try to mark up the things you think will also be relevant tomorrow and next month and next year.

For those who have a problem writing in their Bibles, I have one piece of advice for you: Don't do it. If you don't want to, then don't. It helps to have a Bible dedicated just for this purpose which you can treat like a pre-filled notebook of Biblical texts for notetaking, but if you'd rather not, don't do it and don't worry about it. This is not the test of a true Christian.

Find your own method. Some of you probably have mark up habits that I would like to use myself.

The Tech of Worship

Over the last several weeks, the Worship Teams has been investigating the use of a couple of different software packages for displaying the lyrics, announcements, and sermon notes. No software package is the best at everything, but one that suits many of our team's needs well is Proclaim, published by the people at Logos (http://proclaimonline.com and http://logos.com). In a lot of ways, this won't make much difference to the congregation - all proclaims display nicely. Most of the difference is in the ease of putting the presentations together in a team environment. However, there are a few features for the congregation that some may want to take advantage of.



First, you'll need a mobile device, such as an iPhone, iPad, or Android tablet. If you don't, then  you should be able to worship and takes notes as before. If you do, then go to the Logos website or the app store and download the Logos app for your device. This is a great app for Bible reading and a whole host of Bible study tools and Christian books. Many Bibles and books are free, but you can also purchase an amazing array of others. You will need to create a user ID and password for your Logos account. (Note, the support for Android phones is coming - the Logos app is there, but the Proclaim support is not yet functional.)

Then, when the worship service begins and the presentation software goes "on air," your app can detect that there is a presentation being shown. You can use the menu to hunt for a presentation, or you will soon get a pop up asking if you want to follow our presentation.

Then, whenever there is a slide on the screen with the following symbol in the lower righthand corner,



that means that there is a "signal" available. A signal can be a scripture reference, for example. Your app will ask you if you want to jump to that passage of the Bible. If you choose to, then your app will jump straight to the passage in the translation of your choice.

A signal can be a calendar event. For example, when the slide is being displayed for the ladies' tea, your app will pop up a notice that allows you to automatically add that event to your device's calendar. Just click, and it's on your calendar, with the right date and location.

A signal could be a website - click and your device will navigate to that website. There are a few other signals possible, but we likely won't be using them.

Logos is more than a mobile device app. There is a full program for both Windows and Mac with an extremely rich set of Bible study features. This program can also be downloaded from http://logos.com. This is the Bible software I use far more than any other, and I continue to build my digital library with commentaries, theology books, pastoral books, and so on.

You can also access your Logos library through a web browser at http://biblia.com. It's not as feature-rich as the full program, but it's great to be able to get to your books even if you're away from your computer.

The program, the app, and the website all stay in sync - leave off reading in John 3 in the program, and then later go to the website, and after you log in, you'll go straight to John 3. Plus, your entire library is available on all three platforms (for the most part - some book licenses are only valid in the program version).

Many of you use YouVersion (http://youversion.com) on your mobile device. That's good software, too. But we can't sync it with the presentation on the screen. Currently, we are using YouVersion to allow you to follow the sermon and take notes. We are still testing that - some of you like it, some of you don't. We're trying to find a more usable system for notetaking on your devices in a way that connects directly to our sermons somehow.

If you have any questions on getting set up with this, please just let us know!

A Journey

I'm on a journey that leads to destinations unknown. The ride has been good - a bit rough at times, but interesting. Sometimes I feel like I can see over the horizon and get a glimpse of the destination, but then it slips away, and I'm not sure I saw anything at all. But I know I will get to a good destination - I just can't tell you what that place looks like. I'm taking this journey at the pace of one step each morning.

For my daily Quiet Time, I'm spending time in the Word on the topic of God's Spirit. I made a list of every occurrence of the word "spirit" in Scripture, and am identifying which ones refer to the Holy Spirit in some fashion. Plus, there are some references that don't use the word "spirit" at all, such as "Comforter," "Helper," and "Counselor." I take one reference in context each day, study it, journal about it, and then pray through the passage for my own life. And then I pray that passage for those who are on my prayer list for that day - whoever is on the list, I'm praying from that passage for them.

There are 628 occurrences of the word "spirit" in the New American Standard translation, and a large portion of those refer to the Holy Spirit in particular. So - this journey will take a while. I'm in no hurry. I've already made it as far as Matthew. Most of my journaling is asking questions rather than answering them - and that's OK.

After I finish going through all the passages, I plan to then retrace my steps and collect my observations and questions into categories. I want to be able to see the variety of lessons there are for us about the Holy Spirit. I'm learning new things about the Spirit already, and I expect to find out more new things when I make this second pass.

I'm not sure where the journey is going, but I know it's good, and I'm excited to find out where it will lead me. Maybe it will become the stuff of a future sermon series on the Spirit, but even if it does not, I pray that I will know the Spirit more deeply as a result. Not just know more about Him, but to know Him better.

For your own Quiet Time, consider taking a topic and discovering all that you can from the Bible about it. There are plenty of tools and helps available to make this easier - I'm happy to help you with that part. Remember always to study a passage in context - most passages are understood rightly only by knowing the context (historical, cultural, and literary). At minimum, study a paragraph at a time.

What's the deal with the structure?

Last Sunday, we covered Psalm 106, and we saw how the psalm was laid out:

Praise (1-3)

   Request (4-5)

      Israel forgot, but God saved (6-12)

         Israel’s résumé of rebellion (13-39)

      Israel angered, but God remembered (40-46)

   Request (47)

Praise (48)

This kind of literary structure is called a chiasm (KEE-asm, or a "chiastic" structure), and they are actually pretty common in both the Old and New Testaments. I try not to "nerd it up" too much during a sermon with terms like this (only when I feel it will really be helpful), so I didn't mention what this structure was called or why they are important. The name "chiasm" comes from the Greek word for the letter "x," which is "chi," because the structure resembles the left half of the letter "x."

Why does Scripture have them, and why so frequently? First, it's a nice literary device - it's parallel and balanced, it reinforces ideas, and it organizes the point being made. Second, it helps set off one section of Scripture from another. The chiasm should be treated as a unit, somewhat distinct from what precedes and what follows. It helps us to know which ideas belong together, and we should study chiasms as a group, rather than separated into parts. You fully understand the point when you take it all together.

Third, a majority of the original audience of Scripture were listeners and not readers. They didn't have chapter numbers, verse numbers, or helpful paragraph headings. You can't always hear where a paragraph ends, for example. Literary structures like parallelism, transitional phrases, and chiasms help a listening audience know how the book is organized and how the thoughts go together.

Chiasms are important because, as noted earlier, they help us to know how best to study Scripture well. Literary units should most often be studied as units. Chiasms are also important because they help draw our attention to the center of the chiasm. In this case, the author draws our attention to the "résumé of rebellion," the large center section of the psalm. That's the author's teaching tool - Israel's repeatedly errant history. The other parts of the psalm help us to put that history in perspective and what to do about it.

That's why we started the sermon from the inside and worked our way out.

There's always a wise caution with chiasms, though. Some people go crazy with them - finding them where they don't really exist in Scripture, trying to make too big of a deal of how the structure affects the meaning of the passage, and so on. Structures like chiasms are helpful literary devices, not magic keys to unlock the "true" meaning of Scripture.

It's OK to "nerd it up" in the newsletter, right?

The Value of the Value of Repetition and Repeating Things

There are just a few simple things that have been the most helpful to me in trying to understand Scripture:

• Understanding the basic structure of a passage
• Having a basic understanding of the flow of biblical history (so that I can see where a particular passage "fits" into the overall story)
• Learning to ask good questions of a passage (which I wrote about earlier)
• Summarizing a passage in one coherent sentence
• Reading a passage several times

I want to address the last one - reading a passage several times.

Whenever you choose to spend time in the Word, purpose to read your passage at least three times, and preferably five times. Whether it's a big passage or a small passage, make reading it several times just part of your habit. And certainly, you can't read it too many times. Certainly, reading it one time is the way to get the least out of a passage, short of not reading it at all.

Through this practice, you will see things in the passage on the second, third, or fourth pass that you didn't see the first time. The first time you read something, you're focused more on the new words, phrasing, and more obvious parts of the passage. When you read it a second time, you already know where the passage is going, for the most part, and so your mind will naturally scour for new things, different angles, nuances, repeated ideas, and so on. Every time you read it again, you will pick up something new, or at least become convinced of the main points.

Scripture is a treasure trove! And we get more out of it by reading the passage before us more than one time. Why would we not want to get more out of it? And the time invested is not that much more, and certainly beneficial.

This also works for larger passages. I tried this some time ago for a pretty long passage - the entire book of Romans. I did not stop at any particular point to dig in deeper - I kept right on reading beginning to end, and then again. And as much as I've studied Romans in parts, I still saw new things in Romans I had never seen before, even though I've taught the book section by section. Now, all the parts make even more sense.

In your small groups and Sunday school classes, you might try this on occasion, when appropriate. There are many ways that we read Scripture in a small group, and we often butcher the passage in doing so. We either read too much to digest, we stumble over the words from reading aloud, or we stop at awkward places. How about reading the passage straight through one time, then either reading it again straight through, or just rereading each section as you intend to discuss it?

Another tip that helps: Read the same passage in more than one (good) translation. You get the benefit of repetition, but also the benefit of a few different words to address the same ideas. That broadens our understanding of a passage.

Hmmm ... I don't practice this reading technique in sermons. I'll have to think about how to do this without belaboring the message.

The Hardest Class I Ever Had

The hardest class I ever had was also the best class I ever had. Dr. Wilkins' class on the study of the text of the Gospels ("exegesis" of the Gospels). Before every class began, my fellow students and I would compare how much time we spent that week on the homework for that class. The average was about 18 hours. And still, it was the best class I ever had.

The class had a lot of requirements before you could take it. You needed to have taken three semesters of Greek and two semesters of Greek exegesis. You needed to have hermeneutics (the discipline of interpreting the meaning of the text) under your belt. You needed these because in the class, we did our translations and analysis, grammatical diagramming, and exploration of each passage along several categories (textual, historical, theological, and pastoral). It was brutal, but we learned more about these passages than we would have with spending only a couple of hours with each passage.

But Dr. Wilkins' taught us one of the two most valuable Bible study techniques I've ever learned. For the first half of the semester, one of the most important parts of our assignments was to do one simple thing: Ask good questions. Each of our assignments had to include several good questions - questions about the text, questions about the historical background, questions about theology or application, and so on. Just questions.

We didn't have to come up with any answers to the questions! Before we worried about finding answers, we had to learn the discipline of asking good questions. During the second half of the semester, we then had to worry about finding answers using various resources, but that was actually easier than coming up with the questions.

It was hard for me to put unanswered questions in a homework assignment. That goes against my background. But once I started to follow his instruction, I found it to be invaluable for understanding a passage.

Try this: Spend some time in Scripture each day. Pick a book of the Bible to go through, and don't worry about getting through the book quickly. Pick a smaller book to start off, if you want. Just your Bible, a notebook, and a pen. Pick a small, complete unit, such as a paragraph. Read it. Read it again. Read it at least one more time. Then read it twice more. Then in your notebook, write down questions about the passage - questions about the words and phrase, about the historical context, about the theology involved, and questions about how the passage applies to us today. Don't worry about finding the answers - just practice asking excellent questions. If it takes you more than one day per paragraph, that's OK! Be sure to pray before and after each exercise. Work your way through the book, and then look back and reflect on what new insights you have into the text just by asking good questions.


I'll tell you about the other highly helpful technique next week.