We have to forget the fortress mentality!

The text for today was the last part of chapter of five of Luke. God really showed me something I needed to see.

In my observations I saw that Jesus did things different then the religious folks of his day. They avoided sinners-- he went to eat with them. Others were fasting as a group-- his disciples weren't. I also noticed that Jesus really had a clear purpose and objective. When they challenged him on why he was eating with sinners, the answer was right there-- this is my purpose.

The interpretation to this passage is really challenging. Jesus was telling us that he was going to do it different then everyone else. His goal was to get out where the people were that needed him, not fortress himself away from them. No wonder they often felt loved by him! He even tells a parable where he says new things require new boxes or new paradigms. I'm going to do it different. Sinners need me so I'm going to them. One final word in the parable-- people when they have the old wine, don't like the new. What he's saying there is that change is difficult. We are happy with the status quo but we must embrace change.

In the application part I was convicted. This is my prayer. "Father, I'm too into the fortress mentality once again-- I need to get back out there where the people who most need you are. Help me to make friends and be salt and light where I'm needed most." My application is that I want to reach out and make some friends who don't know Jesus that maybe by God's grace I might help them know him.

Make your applications a prayer

Several of you have mentioned that you are reading what I am writing so I will continue to do this through the week. Melissa commented that she found the observations and interpretations sort of morphed into one thing. I can relate. Even the handout I gave you was a bit muddied so let me see if I can simplify this. Let your observations be things that you notice or stand out and questions you have. Then let the interpretation section be a rewriting of the passage in your own words. To do that, you might have to try and answer some of the questions raised in your observations. Here's where Bible study can get more involved if you have the time and the curiosity. If you have a question that you don't understand, you might want to read some extra sources on the passage. John McArthur writes great commentaries that are thorough and easy to understand. You might want to look at other parallel passage in the Bible that talk about the same subject. The final section, would be the application. What specifically does God want me to apply to my life, from the text? As I said on Sunday, there may be many things you think of but hone in on one of them and make it an item of meditation and prayer throughout the day. In fact, why not practice writing out your application in the form of a prayer to God? I think that will help you be specific.

Here's what I wrote down from the text today. (Luke 5:12-26)

Observations:

• I noticed that the man focused, not on Jesus' ability but his willingness. "If you are willing..." Jesus also does the same, "I am willing..."
• Again, there was the don't tell anyone command but to no avail, the crowds just kept getting bigger.
• Jesus always felt the need to slip away and pray-- alone.
• It seems there is a point begin made in verse 17 that on this day there was power for Jesus to heal; does that mean that at some times there was not? Could Jesus heal whenever he wanted to or were there limitations on his abilities?
• (vs. 20) It seems that Jesus made his statement about the man's sins because he wanted to make a point.
• (vs.22) Jesus could read their hearts!
• (vs.23) They were both equally easy to say-- Jesus meant which is easier to say and it be proven true?
• Jesus reasons, "Because I have authority to heal instantly that which men do not, I tell you have authority to forgive your sins too."
• The response to the healing was that men glorified God-- that is they 'made God big!' Both the guy healed and the people who saw it happen. They were filled with fear. I think whenever people see God actually move in power, the response is fear. Why? There is a God and they must answer to him.

Interpretation:

There are two stories in this text. In the first Jesus heals a man who covered with leprosy. He had no hope. He was an outcast. He had faith that God could heal him but he wasn't convinced that Jesus would be willing to. Maybe he had heard of Jesus healing other lepers but just didn't think he'd care to intervene in his life. Yet Jesus was willing. The result was as it had been time and time before. The news of his power spread and more and more people came to him to be healed. But in the middle of all that, Jesus continually saw the need to get alone with God and pray.

In the second story some men take a paralyzed friend to see Jesus. They have to cut a hole in the roof to get him in before Jesus because the crowd is so big. Jesus recognized the faith of the men and says that because of their faith, the man's sins are forgiven. The religious people think that is terrible because only God can forgive sins. To this Jesus responds, knowing their hearts, "Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven or you are healed, get up and walk?' " I've always loved that question! Both are easy to say but only one is easy to say and have the proof follow. If I say your sins are forgiven, how can you prove it? But if I say, 'You are healed' you either are or you are not. Prove it! So Jesus says, so that you will know that I can forgive sins I say to this man WALK! And he does. I love that. The people are amazed, astonished and afraid. I think knowing you are int he presence of God is scary. Peter was afraid on his boat-- they are afraid in the house.

Application:

Lord, I think you want me know that Jesus is God. The whole point of this second episode seems that you wanted to make the point, "Jesus can forgive sins because he IS God. The religious people had it right, "Only God can forgive sins!"

Also, in the first part I find myself being so much like the leper, "I know you can but I'm not really quite convinced you are willing." I pray all the time for things, like what Anne's going through, but I'm not really sure you're willing. Yet in the text you stress, "I am willing." Help me pray with more heart faith that you are willing. Increase my faith in the willing part.

Those were my thoughts and applications? What were yours? Are you writing them down? Remember, one important part of this Bible study exercise is to journal, to write your thoughts down. It will help you focus and be more pointed in your applications. Besides, it will help you remember and we all know I need help in that area!

Leaving it all behind

Today's inductive Bible study was on Luke 5:1-11. Did you read the text? My kids said it was easier today. Even Joy, who had a real hard time the first day, is beginning to get a handle on inductive Bible Study.

Some of the things I observed were that Jesus interrupted their work. They were almost finished; they were cleaning their nets. Peter didn't want to do it but he did it anyway. I noticed that they caught so many fish they needed help to bring them in and that Peter's response to this was worship. I also see that Peter must have showed fear because Jesus says, "Don't be afraid." The story ends with Jesus challenging them to change the focus of their lives.

Interpretation is us putting the text in our own words so that we understand it. Here's what I wrote. Jesus is teaching along the sea of Galilee and he notices some boats on the shore. He decides it would be good to teach from the boat. Maybe it would help people see him or maybe it would enable more people to hear. He asks Peter if he can use his boat and obviously Peter lets the Rabi. We don't know if Peter knew Jesus at this point but I believe it's safe to assume he knew he was a rabi and probably had heard about him and his miracles. After Jesus teaches, maybe hours, and Peter listening, Jesus asks him to get in the boat and put out to deep water and go fishing. Peter doesn't want to do it! He's been fishing all night. Tired. Just finished cleaning his nets, which he'd have to do after this failed attempt. It's the wrong time to fish-- they had fished all night. That is the right time. But he says, I believe hoping Jesus would say never mind but he doesn't, ok, because you ask me, I'll do it. The rest is history. The catch is so big Peter has to call for help from his buddies. At this point Peter is overwhelmed with the sense that God is present. He worships Jesus. Obviously he's a bit afraid. Jesus tells him it's ok and that at this point Jesus will make him a fisher of men-- not a fisher of fish. They leave everything.

The application part of inductive Bible study is the most personal. What is God saying to me? For me I felt the Lord tell me I need to be like Peter-- obedient even when I don't want to be. There are things that God asks me to do because I love him and trust him that I don't want to do. This morning I asked him to help me obey, like Peter, when I think I know best. I asked him to help me trust him. The second thing I took away from the text was that God wanted me to devote myself to fishing for men. Fishing for fish, whatever my livelihood, is a good thing but being a fisher of men is what God wants for me. I asked him to help me today fish for men.

How about you? What did God say to you? In our family devotions Katie shared that she notice that Peter had the biggest catch he'd ever had but the story says he left that behind and began to follow Jesus. She prayed that God might help her put a much greater value on following Him than she does on her earthly possessions.

Inductive Bible study is a great place to start as we begin to understand and apply the Bible. How about sharing your application? If you have a moment, why not share your application in the comments.

Remember Mr. Ortberg's definition of training: "It is arranging my life around those activities that will enable me to do what I can't now do by direct effort." Arranging your life around the activity of Bible study will enable you to know God's Word in a way you can never know by simply wishing it were so. I hope you will keep this practice up.

Learning to do inductive Bible Study

Well, I hope you've come to read here because you are checking out the Bible Study for today. All week I'm going to record my thoughts here so you can get an idea of how to do an inductive study.

Our text for today was Luke 4:31-44. First I'm going to simply record my observations.

Observations:

• They were amazed because his teaching was different– he taught with an authority they were not used to.
• The demon said “us” but the text refers to him in the singular. There must have been more than one of them.
• The demon went to synagogue!
• The demon screamed out as loud as he could? Why?
• News spread of him all around.
• Not out of place to ask Jesus to heal Simon’ mom.
• Simon Peter was married.
• Healed, she began to serve.
• He constantly told the demons to be quiet because they knew who he was. Why?
• Early in the morning, Jesus got a lone. Why?
• Jesus wouldn’t plant himself in one spot– He was sent to all the people.

Interpretation:

• Why did Jesus tell the demon to shut up? I guess we’ll never know for sure but it seems he either didn’t want a frenzy or he wanted folks to come to that conclusion on their own. Whenever the Messiah thing bubbled to the top, he was often mobbed with people.
• Why would the demon scream so loud? Exactly the opposite reason. He obviously wouldn’t want Jesus to succeed so why announce the great truth? Because a frenzy would rob Jesus of an opportunity to present truth in a way that people would understand and get it.
• Conclusion: It was so important to Jesus to communicate truth is such a way that people could get it. Without huge distractions.
• Why did Jesus go out early? No distractions. Could be alone, away from the demands of people. We all need time alone to replenish and restore. Time with God. Time alone.

Application:

• Jesus spoke and taught with authority. God, help me to walk in Your authority. Not with pride or boastfulness but with assurance. I want to be convinced and convincing. And help me to communicate clearly today as I have opportunity. Help me make that a priority.
• The importance of a daily time alone with God can’t be minimized. Jesus felt it necessary– I must make it necessary. Lord, I’ve not been as faithful as I need to be to get alone with you. Help me to make that an indispensable priority in my life.

Those are my writings from the day. Throughout today, I've tried to think about how I can make myself clear in my presentations and how I can make my time alone with God a priority. I've tried praying about these off and on.

Several of you are doing the exercise this week and I'm so glad. It would be neat if a number of us come out of this series with a commitment to train spiritually on a daily basis.

A first attempt at Inductive Bible Study

Good morning church family,

How did your first exercise in inductive Bible Study go? Not very well, huh? My wife said I chose a hard passage to start with because it didn’t have any command to obey. We did it as our family devotions this morning and my kids found it hard. Don’t give up though. Training is never easy to start with. Hopefully, if you stick with it this week, you’ll have a better handle on a great exercise for transforming your mind and revitalizing your spiritual life.

As I talked with my kids today, here’s a couple of things that I clarified. Write down your observations. Some of them are so obvious they don’t really need any interpretation but then there may be some things that you observe that you don’t understand. Here’s an example. Katie noted that in the text for this morning, Luke 4:14-30, Jesus sat down after he read— she wondered why? Shep wanted to know what the saying, “Physician heal yourself meant.” Anyway, take one or two of the observations you noted and try to discern what they meant. And then finally, look at all you’ve written and ask the question, what do I take away from this?

For me, I came away with two applications. First, I noted that Jesus read the scroll and said “What I just read is about me.” When I read the words from Isaiah I noticed that Jesus was bringing good news, news of release and freedom. He wasn’t bringing bad news or even condemning news— he was bringing news of hope. Isaiah called it good news. So as a way of application I’ve asked God today for an opportunity to be an encouraging person, a person who brings good news and hope to others. Second, I observed that they went from loving him to hating him in just a very short about of time— maybe a few hours. So I asked why. As best I can discern, they turned on him because he spoke of God loving non-Jewish people. It was their prejudice that must have driven them to such hatred so quickly. So as a second application, I’ve asked God to help me never let prejudice blind me or direct my life. I asked him this morning to help me judge men on the content of their character whether than the color of their skin or their ethnicity. My hope is to think on these things through out the day.

Don’t give up. Bring your notes on Sunday and we’ll see some of the things God taught us this past week. Remember, training is never easy and every expert was once a beginner!

Some things trump all the rest.

(This is a letter I read to my church family on the Sunday prior to the election. I'm posting it today because several of you have asked to read it.)

Well the election is two days away and I know all of us are very glad. No more ads! I can’t wait for that.

Last Sunday I told you it was so important that you vote and that you vote your values. I’ve been thinking about that all week and the truth is, that wasn't really saying anything. We always vote our values. When we pull the trigger in the voting booth, we are always saying the candidate we vote for will best support what I value most.

There are many things we can value in the voting booth. We can value the economy most. The commercials we’ve watched make it clear that there are two thoughts on how to grow the economy. One is nick named trickle down economics where big business grows and gives jobs. The other is being called trickle up economics where the middle class and small businesses are promoted by being given tax breaks and larger businesses are taxed more.

Or maybe you value change. I think just about everyone is wanting change in our country. We’re tired of the cronyism in Washington and the just absolute unwillingness to make hard choices. We want to believe there are some principled men and women who will do what’s best for America rather than adding pork and earmarks to bills running up our country’s deficits. I’ll be honest, change was high on my list of values.

In this election we have an opportunity to elect a man of African heritage. It has been as recent as my life time that the 24th Amendment was passed removing the poll tax which attempted to keep black people from voting. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was the most sweeping reform in civil rights for people of color, was passed when I was five years old. Some folks value putting that chapter of our history behind us and this election gives them that opportunity. That would be high on my value list as well.

I think most of us try to evaluate candidates against the many things we value and see who would be the best. I don’t think a single issue can necessarily qualify a candidate, but I do believe a single issue can disqualify him.

I’m sure there were many issues before the Germans when the Nazis were killing the Jews and Gypsies but don’t you believe that issue should have trumped all the rest?

Or during the time of Abe Lincoln, when his platform was for the ending of slavery and the Douglas’ was not; wouldn’t that issue trump all the other issues?

For all my adult Christian life, I have been unapologetically pro-life. I have done what I can to defend the life of unborn children. We have gone to Washington consistently to speak with our political leaders. We have written letters. We have given money to fund abortion alternatives. And for many years now, I have said that abortion trumps all the other issues I value when it comes to voting. I want to say to all of you that protecting the lives of unborn children, ought to trump every other thing you value.

This is not pro-life Sunday but I want you to watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYQpA-tics


God’s word is really clear that children are a blessing from God. That life is sacred and shedding innocent blood, ranks super high in what God hates. Listen to what God says about the shedding of innocent blood....

"Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD." (Leviticus 18:21)

If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech…I will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who follow him… (Leviticus 20:1-5)

Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed. (Deuteronomy 19:10)

He sent them to destroy Judah…Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive. (2 Kings 24:2_4)

There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood… (Proverbs 6:16_19)

"Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you." (Ezekiel 35:6)

Last week I told you that I had come to the conclusion that I was writing in my vote. I was pretty confident in that direction but as I’ve thought that through, I’ve come to the conclusion that it was because I had placed the value of change above the value of life. I’ve reconsidered.

On the issue or value of life, there is a vast difference between the candidates. Vast! Now, if you think that's an overstatement, that the difference between the candidates isn't that great, or they will not influence the future of abortion in this country, I challenge you to look their statements and their records. Mr. Obama is clearly and strongly committed to the legalized killing of unborn children, backed up by his 100% pro-abortion voting record. Mr. McCain has repeatedly stated his commitment to life and has also demonstrated it by his voting record to oppose the legalized killing of children.

I’m not thrilled with the pro-life candidate, but you need to understand that the pro-abortion candidate is very committed. In his July 17, 2007 speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund Mr. Obama said,

"We know that a woman's right to make a decision about how many children she wants to have and when— without government interference—is one of the most fundamental freedoms we have in this country. . . . I have worked on this issue for decades now. I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught constitutional law. . . So, you know where I stand. . . The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do."

If you don't know about the Freedom of Choice Act, it was written by the most radical pro-abortion activists because they saw informed consent and parental consent laws being passed at the state level. They wanted something powerful that would dismantle anything that could serve to reduce abortions through requiring that people be told the truth before an abortion or before their sixteen year old, who can't be given an aspirin without their permission, can have an abortion.

So on Tuesday you have a clear and different choice. I know there are many things that you value that may make you want to vote for the pro-abortion candidate. Believe me, I understand. But I want to challenge you all to make defending the life of innocent, unborn children your highest value when you go to the polls on Tuesday.

(I am indebted to Randy Alcorn whose blog on this very issue impact my decision.)