Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Well, my name's Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the Village Church. We're in week two of our series on how to read the Bible. This is a, a pretty different, um, kind of sermon series than usual. Typically we teach through like books of the Bible. So when we get into January, we're gonna open John back again, teach verse by verse through that. Um, but this is actually a little bit more of a training series. We wanna make sure that every one of you are equipped to handle the word of God, to teach it, to interpret, to apply it. Um, if you are a mom, a dad, a grandma, a grandpa, or if you are working with somebody who is a new believer and they don't know how to read the Bible, we just wanna make sure you have really incredible, helpful tools. To that end, um, we, at the end of the service, we have four people being baptized.
Speaker 1 00:00:48 And so that's why the baptismal is up. And again, every time this is open, I say, If I meander too close to this, holler at me cuz I don't wanna fall in today. Hasn't it happen yet? But I'm confident eventually it could, could very well happen. Um, tell me, tell me if you relate. So I I am bothered when my children use my words out of context to my wife to get something they want anybody. To their credit, it's actually been a couple years since they've done it, but man, does that just make me so angry. All right. I, I am bothered generally speaking, when I am taken out of context at all. I am, I am bothered when my good intentions are misinterpreted as bad intentions. I, this is gonna sound a little weird, but I am bothered when people meet me and their perspective of me has been predetermined by the words of somebody else that doesn't even know me.
Speaker 1 00:01:57 Drives me nuts. Now, sometimes their perspectives of me are like, they're bad and they're like, Oh, you're, you are Michael fueling. Sometimes they're like, Oh, you're Michael fueling. I'm like, No, no, no, even you're good. It's too good. Like, reign that sucker in a little bit and the bad. I'm like, I'm not that bad. Could we just, But do you ever have this feeling? You meet somebody and they've been preloaded with information about you and you're like, I hate it. Being taken outta context drives me nuts. Here's the irony of all of that. Every one of those I do to other people, except for I do not think, I take my wife's words out of context to get something I want. Other than that I do all of these things to other people. And I think to myself, if I and you, if we hate being taken out of context and misrepresented this much, how much more the God of the universe who's revealed himself in his word?
Speaker 1 00:02:51 And so one of our sacred delights and duties is to approach the word of God and understand that this was written by both a human author and inspired by the divine author. And just like we want to be read and interpreted in context relationally, we also wanna g give God the same dignity to do that to his word. And this is one of our desires is to help you in this series. Now, last week I shared with you two different words. Um, I'm gonna review these quickly because I think they're really essential in helping us understand how to interpret and apply the Bible. The first word is exa Jesus. Uh, technically this is the process of discovering the original and intended meaning of a passage of scripture Exa means to pull out of. So you look at the intention of the human author, you look at the intention of the divine author, and you pull out the context.
Speaker 1 00:03:45 Let me encourage you, you all in this room are master exegetes. You know how I know this? You do it every moment of every hour of every day of your life. You, you read things and you interpret them in their context, and you understand what the authors are trying to get at. You talk with one another on a regular basis. You listen to each other's words, you interpret them and you imply them. And 98 or 99% of the time, you are accurately exegeting the people in the information written or relational that is coming to you. You are professionals at it. So this is great encouragement to you because you already know how to read something or listen to somebody and interpret them accurately and then to re-articulate that to somebody else, You're all really, really good at it. And so what I what I know is this, is that when you open up the Bible, you already have the basic skills to exegete what the Bible says.
Speaker 1 00:04:45 Everybody loves to be exegeted correctly. So does God. The shadow side of exo Jesus is what's called is of Jesus, is of Jesus is the process of putting your own ideas, agenda or bias into a text. Most of us are also really good at this as well. You know how I know this? Because when you and your parents, or you and your husband or wife or you and your friends fight, typically somebody is importing or imposing bad interpretation onto another person. I know what you meant. I understand what you meant. This is what you were doing. I know what you were up to, right? And, and how many of us like being on the, on the receiving end of those kind of accusations? Of course, we, we don't, right? But we also understand intuitively what it means to impose something outta somebody else that actually isn't real or true because it's all been done to us.
Speaker 1 00:05:36 So the aim of reading the Bible is not is of Jesus. I don't get to put into the text things that are not in the text. Amen. My job is to find the intention of the human author and the intention of the divine author God who inspired the human author and to pull out Exige what they wanted in there. And we, we take these and we apply them in a way that is appropriate. All right? So last week we talked about, um, best practices in interpreting the Bible. And then today we're gonna talk about, um, five common errors people make all the time when they read and interpret the Bible. Um, probably you're gonna, you're gonna realize, uh, two or two, at least two out of five, um, you have done personally yourselves. So before we get into that, I wanna invite you to open up your bibles to the book of second Timothy chapter two, verse 15.
Speaker 1 00:06:26 I'll have it on the screen, but if you have a Bible, you can look at it there. First and second Timothy are what's called pastoral letters or pastoral pistols, meaning the apostle Paul wrote them and he wrote them to a pastor. So Timothy is a young pastor and Paul is training him and mentoring him. And when you read First Timothy, you read Second Timothy and the book of Titus written to a different pastor. This is all pastoral training to a young pastor who's learning how to do all of this. And one of the pastors main responsibilities is to interpret, to teach, and to apply God's word accurately. Why? Because we are modeling for you how to interpret and to teach and to apply God's word accurately. Interpretation, application and teaching. It is not simply the job of the pastor. All of us as believers in Jesus Christ are required to interpret, to apply and to teach God's word to those in our lives.
Speaker 1 00:07:25 So second Timothy chapter two, verse 15, he says, Do your best, uh, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. Uh, there is one key behavior at the end of the verse that the apostle Paul is going after. And he wants this young pastor Timothy to understand this. You have a job and if you do this job well, the Lord will approve of you. Do not mess this thing up rightly. Handle the Bible. Rightly handle the word of truth. Because when people don't rightly handle it and they teach lies or falsehoods, the consequences are devastating for the people of God. People look to pastors in spiritual leaders to enable sinful behavior in them. And if we're not careful, if we misinterpret and misapply God's word, we can enable a whole bunch of people to sin in a big way. This is why James says teachers are gonna be judged more strictly. So rightfully handling the word of truth, literally this means to guide along a straight line. There is a standard, which is the word of God, and we are to tow this line. Let me illustrate. There are two types of people in this world. One type, those who wrap presence well, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:09:00 Second type me, those who don't wrap presence. Well raise your hand if you are a good present rapper. I'd really actually love to know. I'm jealous. I would love to hire all of you. 20 cents per present. We're in, we'll talk. Thank you. I legit need to hire like a 13 or 15 year old, usually girl to like, like literally just, I hate with all of my heart wrapping presences. It's not that it's hard, but it's just really easy to mess up. I mess up always in the same place. I get this piece of paper and it's got lines in it, like it should say, Cut here moron. And I'm like, duly noted. So then I, I cut and I get distracted. I'm like, huh. Uh, and all of my wrapping, I really have one big intention, and that is to cover up all the lines that are cattywampus and all over the place, right?
Speaker 1 00:09:59 And I really hope then I use an ignorant amount of tape because I'm like, when they open it, I would like them to have to destroy this wrapping paper. So there is no evidence of how terrible of a cutter I actually, I actually am. And it's, it's objectively, it's not hard, right? So a couple things, like if you're gonna cut a straight line at a piece of paper, you can't be rushed. You kind of have to take a deep breath. You have to relax, chill out. You have to write, have the right tools, you know, you know those scissors that like cut curly thingies. Like you can't do that. That's ridiculous. You can't get distracted. Like if I'm watching TV or listening to something, I'm always like, Oh, what happened over there? And then just lines, here's my biggest issue is like this, this will prevent all straight line cutting if I don't wanna be there in the first place.
Speaker 1 00:10:40 <laugh>, like, I don't wanna wrap presents. I hate wrapping presents. It's like every year it's like I, my soul dies in the process of wrapping presents. Pretty sure my wife is is in the kids area right now, God willing, no. Yep. Good. Awesome. So we're everyone's happy and, and, but this is the deal. It's like you have to get this first thing right? If you're gonna wrap a beautiful present and he's like, Timothy, stay to the line. Like the line is there to guide you. You can do this, man. And I've got really encouraging, I got really encouraging news to you before we, we get into these five common errors with a little training, interpreting the Bible correctly and faithfully is not difficult. 98% of the time, you're probably wondering, well, how will I know when I'm in the 2%? Very easy. You're gonna be really confused by what you read.
Speaker 1 00:11:30 You're gonna have an emotional response to what you are reading. I don't like that. That bothers me. How dare God, who does he think he is? This is ridiculous, right? So you know, you're in the 2% when you're emotionally responding and you're probably in the 2% when somebody looks at you and says, Yeah, your interpretation is way off. You should go back and like refigure that out. So that's part of the perks of studying the Bible and being a part of a local church and being in community is you think you might be doing a good job. And then somebody who's been walking longer in the Lord with the word of God says, uh, I don't think that was faithful to the human author or the divine author. Let's go back and and look at it. All right? So let's do a little bit of training.
Speaker 1 00:12:07 I wanna help you with the 98%, the first, um, two, uh, common errors. They're gonna be a little bit more philosophical. Spend a bit more time here. And then the last three are gonna be more tactical. So here's the first common error. Every one of you can avoid neglecting the scriptures true authority. So there, there are two predominant ways of understanding the Bible's authority. Moms and dads, I need you to listen to this because you may not be understanding what's happening in your sons and daughters, but I think I'm gonna help you get to the core of what this is. The first understanding is what we call a progressive understanding. The second understanding is we call a conservative understanding. Now, don't worry, most of you think I'm gonna get into politics because typically progressive and conservative or political words, um, they are not primarily political words.
Speaker 1 00:13:00 They're actually entire ways of seeing the whole world. That impacts people's politics, it impacts people's theology, it impacts people's morality. So I'm gonna rise above politics and everybody in this room skews conservative or political big picture. So what makes one person progressive or another person conservative? It comes down to one word. Authority. Who determines or what determines truth, morality, reality, progressives and conservatives have different sources of authority. Let's talk about progressives first. Uh, progressives by and large have authoritative documents. If you think politically progressives are gonna also in America, they're gonna believe in the constitution. So will conservatives, theologically, progressives, we're gonna, they're gonna see a, uh, an authority in the Bible, right? So we'll conservatives, we'll see an authority in the Bible. This is the authoritative document, But here's the progressives core conviction. Our core authoritative documents should evolve as culture progressives for the progressive.
Speaker 1 00:14:20 Their core authoritative documents are, hear me inherently flawed. And their core conviction is that these documents are interpretation and application of them. As culture shifts, our interpretation of them needs to adapt and evolve with culture. So for theological progressives, the Bible and therefore the gospel, sexual ethics, gender ethics, identity, ethics, morality and more are not static and stable, but they're evolving, adapting, and changing. So how do you know if you're a progressive or if you're leaning progressive? Very simple theologically, I'll give you an easy, an easy clue. If you believe the Bible is out of date, you likely have a progressive view of the world. Okay, let's talk about conservatives. Conservatives have author authoritative documents, um, for conservative Christians are authoritative. Document is gonna be the Bible. Conservatives believe their authoritative documents are not inherently flawed, but are rooted in eternal and true principles. So here's the core conviction of a conservative.
Speaker 1 00:15:39 Our core authoritative documents transcend our cultural moment because they are rooted in eternal principles that what the human author and the divine author meant in that moment. If there is a truth talk, it is true everywhere in all the time, no matter what language they speak, what what century or millennium they live in, no matter what culture they come from, truth is truth. And if it's revealed in the authoritative documents, it's true everywhere, no matter what the culture does or does not say. So if you believe the Bible is out of date, not out of date, but all people for all time are communicated what truth is in the Bible, you're probably conservative by, by nature. And, and this is really important because how you understand the world, whether you're conservative or progressive, informs how you're gonna interpret the Bible. And let me give you a very practical example of this.
Speaker 1 00:16:40 I wanna talk about the exclusivity of Jesus. What I mean by this and what theologians mean is that there is only one way to heaven. And that is through Jesus belief in him and Jesus alone. That is it. That is the exclusivity of Jesus. Progressives and conservatives are going to approach this issue differently. Now, I wanna say something that might feel controversial, but actually it's just, it's kind of more just a fact. Progressives and conservatives are going to agree on, on this fact the Bible pretty much exclusively, and I can't think of one, one exemption to this communicates that eternal life is only through Jesus. Like there's, you're never gonna find a New Testament in Texas that says you can have eternal life through a different God or a different religion, or all people go to heaven in the end, you're never gonna find that.
Speaker 1 00:17:34 And so as a progressive, I want you to put yourself in their brain for a moment as they approach the Bible. Here's what they believe about the authors of scripture. The authors of scripture are communicating not the finish line, but the starting line. And so what, what the authors of scripture were communicating were snapshots moments in time, 2000 or 3000 or 3,500 years ago, that the people of God believed, but that wasn't true for all time and all people that was true for them at that time. And so our job is to kind of parachute in. And and as culture evolves, our doctrine and interpretation need to evolve with it. The conservatives are gonna view this very differently. They're gonna see from beginning to end. The Bible teaches the exclusivity of Jesus that there is no other way of salvation. And so the conservatives see this as a fact in truth, not just taught in the Bible for first century Christians, but it is true for everyone everywhere all the time, no matter what they believe or what culture they come from.
Speaker 1 00:18:35 And so what you find here is that there is this, this issue and it's emotional, right? And, and, and, and what might drive somebody to approach the Bible and say, Mm, I know what it says, but I don't wanna believe that. Let, let's be honest for a moment, I'm just wanna pull back from the academic and get very real. If you have ever had somebody you love who hated Jesus die, this is one of those 2% subjects that is emotionally gut wrenching. And we will do everything within our power to make the Bible say whatever we need to say to feel good in the moment. Do you understand this is an impulse in every single one of us. Can I just tell you, I so desire the Bible to say some things that it never says I want them to be true. But my my job, my life is not committed to taking my ideas and imposing them out of the Bible.
Speaker 1 00:19:26 It is to read the Bible and let the Bible tell me what is true. There's some antidotes, and we'll dig into this a little bit more in a moment. Understand this, that the Bible and its authors, this is very important. They do not self-identify as progressive, but conservative. If you haled every biblical author up here today and, and you try to interpret their words progressively, meaning that wasn't true for all time, but true just for you in that moment, they would be offended and they would tell you, You're taking me outta context. And I actually do believe that what the original authors meant, their worldview, how they wrote the Bible, what they intended to communicate, it mattered. Well, how, how do we know this? Because in the first century, the apostles who wrote the vast majority of the New Testament, they took these truths about Jesus all over the known world to all different cultures and languages.
Speaker 1 00:20:23 They took it to all different religious systems. And, and their funda fundamental assumption is they took the gospel of Jesus Christ to various different cultures and contexts is that this truth transcends whatever's happening in your microcultures. Their fundamental conviction is that these aren't transient truths, but permanent and eternal truths. And so the the progressive mindset will say, Well, just that's their culture. You don't wanna impose too much on them because at the end of the day, the Bible's a starting point and, and really we gotta continue adapting and changing our interpretation with culture. But the conservative side of this says, No, no, no, no, no. We, we actually understand that the Bible's authors meant something and they intended that these things would be true for all time, for all people and forever. Uh, here's, here's the second antidote. Identify with clarity whether you yourself are conservative or progressive.
Speaker 1 00:21:14 Here's what I, I know in this room, um, there are a handful of you who are visiting. There are a handful of you who've been here for a while. Uh, you are from the more progressive side. You know that I'm more well exclusively conservative in my interpretation of scripture. But you wrestle and we process through it. And I love the questions that you ask, but you also need to understand what kind of position you're coming at the Bible with because it's gonna help you understand, uh, really some of the differences between what you find at Village Church or other conservative churches. It's gonna help you understand like why you're reading the Bible the way you are. And, and one of these strong encouragements I give to people is whatever you believe read the Bible the way it was written, it was written from people who considered themselves speaking authoritatively for all people and for all time.
Speaker 1 00:22:01 This brings us to common error number two. So we're still in kind of the philosophical errors and we're gonna get, again, more tactical errors here in a moment. Making the Bible affirm my feelings. I wanna say this again. There are so many things I wish the Bible taught. Do you know as an American how much easier my life would be if I could go to the Bible and make it affirm what I felt about different things? My life would be so much easier. But the Bible at the end of the day, is not a book that is designed to affirm me. It is a book that is designed for me to change and align myself to it. When the Bible and I are outta sync, which happens often, it is not my job to make the Bible line up to me. It is my job to align my beliefs, my values, my emotions and my behavior to the word of God.
Speaker 1 00:23:02 And and psychology. There's a behavior trait called projection. Here's what it what it means. It's when people attribute to others their own negative issues, insecurities or ideas. Do you guys like when people project upon you? No way. But do you know that we all do this? Like I'm not better than this. I wish I could tell you I was, I project all the time. The amount of times I go to the word of God and I want to project my own ideas onto it. And I want it to affirm me. Sometimes I am desperate for the word of God to affirm my ideas. I wanna come back to this illustration. If you have lost someone you love who hated Jesus, the doctrine of hell is torture. And there are probably few le more vulnerable moments would we approach the Bible. We almost demand upon it to agree with what we need in our desert to be true in that moment.
Speaker 1 00:24:05 And there are some truths that are utterly excruciating. And the more you ponder that one, that's one of those things that is just challenging. But if I don't feel like it's true or believe it's true, that has no bearing on its truthfulness, does it? I don't feel like any of you exist. It doesn't matter does it? Because reality and truth are real and true no matter what I feel. And so the need, the impulse, the desperation of me, I'm just talking about you, of me to approach the word of God and just so badly want some things to be true. I have to be ever aware of this as a Bible teacher. It is not uncommon that God and I are outy. And as I get prepared to teach the Bible, I have to change my ideas. I have to change my emotions, my behavior.
Speaker 1 00:24:59 It is not the Bible's job to change. It is mine. And that's a, that's a really hard posture. But if you are going to interpret the Bible well, we have to overcome this era of making the Bible say what I wanted to say. Uh, here's an example of this. I'm gonna kind of go deeper into the exclusivity of Jesus. There are cultural mantras all around us. And these mantras are implanted and designed to teach you what culture believes is true. So here's a common one. Good people go to heaven. Doesn't that feel like a theological hug to your heart? Don't you just wanna go like, Ah, yeah, I love that. That just feels, that feels right or all religions are basically the same. As long as you're a good person, you'll get to the good place in the end. And there's something about living in this cultural moment that even if you know in your head that that's like not at all what the Bible teaches, nor is it philosophically or logically consistent or anything else, doesn't it just make you want to suspend all of your thoughts and go Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:26:02 And that's the, that's that's, that's part of the design of cultural mantras. They're teaching progressive theology through these feel good statements. But here's the deal. If you meet a progressive theologian, they're gonna agree with you. Oh, the Bible doesn't teach that at all. In fact, the, the Bible is actually pretty clear. You have to believe in Jesus in order to go to heaven. And anybody who doesn't, the Bible's actually fairly clear that you go to hell if you reject Jesus. But here's the deal, what you're missing, you're gonna debate on a Bible point for them. The Bible is the starting line for you as a conservative. It's the finish line. Do you get the difference? And so they have all permission in the world to say, I agree, but things need to evolve and adapt and change cuz the world is evolving, adapting, and it changing.
Speaker 1 00:26:52 And this is why it's so important to know whether or not you're conservative or you're progressive in a village church. Again, you're gonna find that we interpret the Bible from a conservative perspective and that grinds with some people. But you have to actually know the difference. And so if I come up to you and say, Well, what, what you believe is contrary to the Bible, they'll say you're right. But the very nature of it is that it has to adapt. I'll say this again. The Bible was not written to make us feel good about our own ideas, but to reveal truth about humanity, reality, morality, and God. Amen. Here's the antidote one, simple antidote. Submit your ideas, values, and behavior to the authority of God's word. And I want to just say on top of this, I understand how unbelievably gut-wrenching that can be at times.
Speaker 1 00:27:44 But if the Bible is revelation from God about God and reality and myself, it is my moral obligation to align my head, my heart, and my life with reality. All right, let's get more tactical. The third common error, misapplying Old Testament promises to New Testament Christians. Okay, don't raise your hand. This is a rhetorical question. How many of you love prosperity preachers and health and wealth? Gospel preachers, <laugh> don't say yes. <laugh>, let me rephrase that. How many of you like to be ex how many you like to, to be extorted for money at the abuse of God's word? Of course, nobody, right? That's, we don't. Every single prosperity gospel preacher, word of faith, preacher gets this point wrong. In fact, I cannot tell you how many years in 20 plus years of pastoral ministry I've heard really good intentioned Christians get this principle wrong.
Speaker 1 00:28:42 So let's do a little review to make the point. To whom we're the Old Testament laws and promises written specifically Israel? Great job. The nation of Israel. Okay, are you the nation of Israel? Okay, good. <laugh>, just wanna give to be clear, every once in a while I feel like, yeah, like no, just pause for a moment, okay? Just chill. All right? If you are, if you're a Jew by blood, are you the nation of Israel? No. Okay, I'm gonna give you some illustrations and I think this will, this will make the point. If my parents leave my brother in inheritance, am I allowed to claim that inheritance as my own? No. No. If someone offers you a job and a salary, can I come in and take that job and that, that salary without permission? No. Okay, good. If if I promise my 14 year old, I am going to take her to Panera.
Speaker 1 00:29:48 Can my 12 year old claim that promise for herself? No. If my parents tell my sister that she's beautiful, can I take that compliment for myself? All right, we're making a point here. Can I cash in a gift card that's expired? No, but you're gonna try, aren't you? Right? You're gonna get all emotional and you're gonna be like, But I've paid the money, the money there. No, they're like, but like technically, can you do that? The answer is no. What people do is they forget that Genesis 12, all the way to the end of the book of Malachi is written primarily about and for the nation of Israel. And that is not you and me. In fact, um, in in the prophecies written to the nation of Israel, there is an expiration date on the covenant, the rules of engagement, if you will, between Yahweh and Israel.
Speaker 1 00:30:40 There's an expiration date on this covenant. In fact, the old covenant itself points to the day when that covenant is gonna be dead and gone and there's gonna be a new covenant, a new set of rules of engagement between God and humanity and his people. And so the covenant itself had an expiration date, and with the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, guess what happens to the old covenant? It is retired and there is a new covenant that now has taken effect. It's called the new covenant, a new set of rules and regulations that determine how God and humanity work. Open up your Bibles Deuteronomy 28. I wanna show you this. I will have it on the screen as well, but I wanna show you this. I'm gonna give you just a little glimpse into where prosperity preachers kind of get their ideas from. Jura chapter 28, verse one.
Speaker 1 00:31:25 If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord, your God being careful to do all of his commandments that I commanded you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and they will overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed should you be in this city, blessed should you be in the field. In other words, you're gonna make more money. Your crops are gonna grow. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb. There'll be no miscarriages. Everything's gonna be perfect. Mom and baby are gonna be happy and healthy and everything's gonna be wonderful. Blessed should be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blush shall be your basket and your needing bowl.
Speaker 1 00:32:10 You're gonna have more than enough food you can ever imagine. Blush shall you be when you come in and blush shall you be when you go out the Lord, He, this is my favorite part, The Lord's gonna cause all your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They should come out against you one way and flee before you. Seven ways the Lord will command the blessing on you and your barns and all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Wouldn't you love that to be true for you today? Here's the deal that was written under the Old Covenant for the nation of Israel. If you will do this, I will do this because the nation of Israel was an incubator for the Messiah who would come and save the entire world.
Speaker 1 00:32:52 And when the Messiah was born, this covenant concluded and there was a new covenant. Here's what happens. People parachute into the Old Testament, they pluck out promises designed for the nation of Israel and apply them to their own personal lives. It is one of the most dangerous interpretive approaches possible. And so when somebody teaches from the Old Testament, you have to be very clear how to interpret and to apply the Old Testament to yourself. Now, if you've been around village, you know I love teaching the Old Testament, and this brings us to our antidotes here. And number one is get clearheaded on the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. I don't have time to teach you on that. The last few messages we did really sought to help you understand some of the major differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Speaker 1 00:33:39 But antidote number two is this. In every Old Testament promise, look for the heart of God, the values of God and general truths. So if my, my daughter is watching how I'm loving her older sister, she may not be able to claim those promises that I make to her older sister for herself. But she is learning my heart, she's learning my character, she's learning the kind of person that I am. And the stories of the Old Testament are written for your good and for your instruction and to learn about the heart and the mind and the character and the values of God. They are all over the pages of every story. But this fundamental arrogance, so many people in trouble. Here's the fourth common error, skipping the context. So we've established nobody likes being taken out of context, Amen. Nobody. But there are four different kinds of contexts when you open up the Bible.
Speaker 1 00:34:32 Now, you may not remember all of these, but I'm gonna give you one tool at the end of this that will actually prevent you from making these mistakes most of the time for different kinds of context. One is the biblical context. Um, what part of the Bible story does this happen? So does this happen in Genesis chapters one through 11 before the Nation of Israel is created? That's a really important timeline in scripture. Genesis chapter 12, all the way to the last book, the Old Testament, Malachi, all of those are written, are written for the nation of Israel primarily. So you know, when you read those, you're parachuting into the old covenant, God's relationship with Israel, the Gospels and the New Testament. All of that is written for the church. It's written for the new covenant people of God. And so understanding like the biblical context, what book or section of the Bible you're reading determines how you should be interpreting this.
Speaker 1 00:35:24 Uh, what is the historical context? What, what was happening in the timeframe of this particular story or book of the Bible? Understanding that is huge. What is the book context? Every the thing about the New Testament, every single book was written by someone. And for someone with an agenda, what was the agenda? Why did they pen this? And when you begin to understand why these things were written, it helps you interpret them correctly. And then, and then lastly, what is the cultural context? You, again are parachuting into cultures 2000 to 6,000 years old into dead languages, into customs that you have no idea about. And so when you see people do things and you go, How do they do that? That actually makes no sense. You're, you're probably experiencing some kind of cultural difference between you and them. Let's look an example. Matthew chapter seven, verse one.
Speaker 1 00:36:22 You guys all know this says, Judge, not that you not be judged, all right? Don't answer this out loud rhetorical, Okay, Christians, are you allowed to judge some of you're like trick question <laugh> because Jesus said don't judge. But I'm pretty sure other Bible passages do say, so for example, First Corinthians chapter six Christians, you are going to judge angels, In other words, demons, when they're judged and sent to hell forever, somehow you're gonna participate with Jesus and they're judgment and condemnation. You're also gonna judge the world that that's a, that's a crazy thought. I don't know how that's gonna look or what that means, but all I know is I'm told that I'm gonna be judging. First Corinthians chapter five, verse 11 to 13, Listen, listen to this. But now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother.
Speaker 1 00:37:16 They're a Christian. If he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idol or rev violent drunker or swim or not even to eat with such one. And it's clear by the way this is written, these are people who are un repentant and persisting in them for what if I had to do with judging outsiders? And the answer is nothing. If they're not a Christian, I don't judge. God has them. Here's what he says about non-Christians. Isn't that those inside the church from you were to judge. God judges those outside and and so here I am. Jesus says, Don't judge Paul says, you're gonna judge angels demons who have fallen. You're gonna judge the world. Oh by the way, don't judge non-Christians but judge people inside the church. Anybody confused? Galatians six says verse one. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
Speaker 1 00:38:10 Huh? Okay, so what is it Judge, Don't judge. Judge Christians don't judge the world. Here's the point, what Jesus is saying, Let's go back to what Jesus said, Judge, not that you not be judged what he says. And at the end of this he says, you hypocrite take the log out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to take the spec out of your brother's eye. What Jesus is actually warning you of is hypocrisy. Because if you go to somebody and you condemn them for the very same thing you're doing, then you should submit yourself to the same judgment you're demanding of them. And he's basically calling out hypocrisy believers in Jesus. Are we to judge the, are we to judge non-Christians? Nope. Are we to judge other Christians? Yes. Are we to do it in a spirit of gentleness? A hundred percent.
Speaker 1 00:39:02 Are we ever called to be jerks? Nope. But what do you hear in the world? Well, Christians aren't supposed to judge. That is not true. We are not supposed to be hypocrites. We are not supposed to be rash and mean. We are not supposed to judge and condemn non-Christians. That is God's job. He can do whatever he wants with them. Our job is to judge and discern one another in a spirit of gentleness and love. Let's get another example. Flipping's four 13. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Amen. Taking outta context massively, but amen. Sports, war, politics, competitions, what is all things? This is one of these great examples. The verse right before it tells us here's what he actually meant. I've learned the secret in being content in any and every circumstance situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Speaker 1 00:40:04 I can do all things. What is the all things I can live in any circumstance the Lord gives me, put me in prison, I can live there, give me a big house. I can live there. And by the strength that God supplies, I will be content. Whether I have much, whether I have nothing. The immediate context almost always answers our confusion and questions. And this is where we are just patient readers. We take our time and we say, what's the context here? Is there a cultural context? Maybe the verse right before or right after actually gives us a clue to what's, what's going on. And this is the perk of slowing down. One antidote for you. Get a study Bible study Bibles are wonderful at the beginning of every book. They tell you who wrote it, what year is written in, who the audience is, what's going on, some of the unique cultural situations happening.
Speaker 1 00:40:56 And then as you read on every page with every verse are notes explaining some of the things you wouldn't naturally know, some historical context or cultural things. So profoundly helpful. There's a a TV show called Timeless. And in timeless for travelers, they go back in time in a time machine to different parts of US history. And all of them have no idea what they're doing culturally in any of these moments except for one. Her name is Lucy. And Lucy is an American US historian and she knows everything about linguistics and the way they dressed and every part of America throughout all of American history. She's their study Bible. Your study Bible is your Lucy. You need one. The the Bible is so far removed from American culture. It is ridiculous and it is not. You should never be ashamed to not know what nobody has ever taught you.
Speaker 1 00:41:46 And so when you open it up, embrace the fact that you need a Lucy. Embrace the fact that you need help. And people have been so good to us to create study Bibles for our good. Again, I've shared with you in the past, my favorite is the ESV English standard version Study Bible. Finally fifth common era ignoring the Holy Spirit in our Bible reading. Listen to John 16, When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak in his own authority. Whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me. For he will take what his mind and declare it to you. And all that the father has is mind. Therefore I said that he will take what his mind and declare it to you.
Speaker 1 00:42:34 The Holy Spirit is your teacher, your helper, your convictor, your trainer. And if you have personally trusted in Jesus, he resides in you. And we have this incredible opportunity when we open up the word of God to the same Holy Spirit who inspired these words to train us and equip us who have believed in Jesus Christ. As we open up the Bible, the Holy Spirit is the fundamental key to unlock spiritual transformation. But he can be quenched or he can be followed and the Holy Spirit will never lead you in any direction except toward Jesus and toward Christ likeness. So some simple antidotes. Number one, invite the Holy Spirit to lead you. When you open up the Bible, ask him, help me. Show me things about me. Show me things about you in the text. Open my eyes and my heart to this. Show me where I am outta sync with you.
Speaker 1 00:43:47 If you are tendered to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will in time respond to you. If you quench the Holy Spirit, guess whose voice gets quieter and quieter? The Holy Spirit, which brings us to the second antidote. Listen to the spirit's voice when you're reading, worshiping, praying or listening. Fundamental assumption right now, every single one of you, the Holy Spirit, if you are a Christian, is in you prompting some next step. If you are not a believer, the Holy Spirit is still prompting you and calling you to Jesus. I know this, that when I preach or we worship, we come together. The Holy Spirit is never static or stagnant. You may may not feel him, but the Holy Spirit's activity has never been contingent on whether you feel him, right? So I know this right now, like if I could see into the spiritual realm, there are gonna be things happening that would absolutely blow all of our minds.
Speaker 1 00:44:43 I I just have a fundamental belief that when we preach and do this, that there is a protective, some kind of something around this place. That the word of God can be preached and the spirit of God can move and we can lift up our voices and and unison and there's some sort of protection here that goes on. But here's what I know. The Holy Spirit is moving. And I also know this cuz I've been where you're at. I know what it's like to have ideas and promptings of the spirit in my brain, convictions of sin and like demands for next steps. I'm like, Nope. Quench, nope. Quench, nope. Quench, I know that feeling and I know most of you know that feeling. And right now I have a strong suspicion that there is promptings of the Holy Spirit in the vast majority of us in one way or another.
Speaker 1 00:45:22 And our responsibility is to not quench the Spirit. If you want the spirit to speak louder, it requires you to follow the voice of the Spirit as he leads you to Jesus and he leads you to Christ likeness. He will never lead you to do anything contrary or contrary or contradict to the word of God. If you follow the Spirit, his voice gets louder and louder and louder. So Phil church, as you open up the word of God, so many errors, But start with this, Jesus, will you help me say Spirit? Will you open my eyes and then resolve in your heart? I will do what your word says and what your spirit prompts and the word of God is. You obey. It will exponentially come alive. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for its clarity.
Speaker 1 00:46:14 We confess, we muddy it up. We confess that we come to it with agendas, we project our own issues onto it and therefore hunt you. But God help us with that. We don't wanna do that in our most sane, clearest minded moments. We want reality. We don't wanna live in a fairytale or an illusion of our own making. We wanna live in relationship with the one true God. We want to live in a way that is consistent. We wanna believe things that are accurate and real. We want to pass down to the next generation truth. And I wanna thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ, that for anybody who is trusted in Christ, Lord you forgive us and train us and equip us and transform us. So thank you for that. We love you. Would you continually equip us to be men, women, students, and children who interpret your word appropriately, accurately. But God, may we also be people who obey your word and fall in love with you more and more because of our time in it. We love you, we pray all of this and Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
