Why even have a prepared Bible Study ready?
There are some things about the Bible that can’t just be answered off the top of your head. Context, intent, background, author, and themes don’t just arise out of conversation. There is serious value to knowing and studying the Bible for your Lifegroup. We know that Jesus applied the Scriptures to memory when he taught and constantly referenced the Scriptures. The book of Hebrews is basically a cursory Bible study of the Old Testament. Besides this, the life of pursuit of Christ requires work, especially in the Scriptures. If Jesus had to learn, study, and memorize the Scriptures, you are probably not exempt. As a leader, you are developing your spiritual life when you write and teach a Bible study.
Preliminary Principles for Writing and Teaching a Bible Study
Every Bible study needs to be distinctively Christian, meaning it must ultimately get to Jesus. A good question to ask yourself is this: “If I did this study in a mosque, synagogue, Mormon Temple, an atheist convention, etc., would they kick me out?” If not, it’s not distinctively Christian. Luke 24: 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
Jesus studied, taught, and applied the Scriptures. His understanding of Scripture didn’t come off the top of his head and didn’t even arise out of cursory reading of Scripture. When Jesus was a boy in the temple his parents found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (Luke 2:46).
You stand underneath the text. This means there is nothing you can add to the text to make it better or more relevant. Your job as a Bible study leader is to “open the Scriptures” so that your hearers are more aware of what the text is actually saying about Jesus and how that compels us to live life. A good idea would be to pray something like this before you start: “Lord Jesus, may you give me what God would have me communicate to my hearers and may I humbly stand underneath the Holy Word, knowing there is nothing I can add, but there is so much I can share through it.” 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
We as Christians don’t know how to live a life of good works without the Scriptures. Also, one of these “good works” that 2 Timothy and Ephesians 2 are talking about includes teaching, preaching and evangelism, all of which are done within a study of the Bible.
The Prep
First, if you are teaching a book of the Bible or just a passage of Scripture, it is important to have some idea who the author is, what the book is about, a little background, and things like these. This can be accomplished by simply reading the front few pages from a study Bible, like the NIV Study Bible or the ESV Study Bible. If you do not have access to these, it might be a good investment. Also, the LU Library has many resources including the ESV and NIV Study Bible. I would also be happy to scan the material and send it your way.
Once you have an idea about who the author is, why he wrote the book, and what the background is, then you are ready to get into the Text. Try to think of yourself as the recipient of the original letter. Try to come to the Text without preconceived notions. When you have picked out your book or passage, read it. And then re-read it. Then keep reading it, then read it in different translations. Then memorize it, then read it some more, then keep reading it. You get the idea. The goal of the Bible study leader is to lose yourself within the Text, that your ideas, thoughts, and self-fabricated notions would be drowned in the tide of God’s Word. Don’t read as if it were a newspaper or a magazine. Read it like you read letters from your significant other. Pine over every word. These sentences and phrases are the revelation from God that he intends his people to read for as long as there is a Church. Pay attention to the flow of thought, to any extra words or phrases, and to the eventual goal of the paragraph, chapter, or phrase. During this entire process you should be in prayerful, humble “listening mode” for the Holy Spirit to move you toward his explanation and application of the text.
Once you have had a good prayer-led soaking in Scripture, you are ready to open your notebook and begin to form your lesson. I suggest stepping through the Text chunk by chunk, explaining what the writer meant and what it now says to us. Remember, Scripture was written at a specific time for a specific people but is applicable for all times and all peoples. Explain each verse or part as best you can, and allow for the Holy Spirit to lead you to the parts of the Scripture that He wants to emphasize. It always surprises me how many people say the talk or study I gave about X was so helpful and insightful in the area of X, but my lesson was really about Y. The Holy Spirit does the opening of eyes and the convicting of hearts.
After you have explained chunk by chunk the Text, ask “What is this saying about God in Christ?” Try and ascertain what this Scripture is saying about Jesus. Once that has been discovered, the next question to ask is “What is our response to this?” This is the part where you “apply” the Text or call the hearers to action. You don’t have to explicitly ask these questions, but the underlying idea should be present in your explanation/lesson.
The Bible is written about Jesus to give his people a better picture of Him. It is the force of this picture that changes people. It is not necessarily the information about Christ but Christ himself that pushes one to act and live differently. Christ changes people, not information about Christ. I’ll try to explain. Have you ever had a friend, coach, significant other, teacher, or mentor that helped you overcome certain areas of sin in your life? Most likely it was not the information that they gave you that made you change. It was probably just them. You didn’t want to let them down, and this person painted such a picture of the blessed life of honoring Christ in area X that you could not help but be drawn to that life. It was they that compelled you. This is the same about Christ. When giving a Bible study, try to make Christ clearer, certainly. But even more so, try to make Christ more real. Make him really the Savior, really a man with real hands and feet that were pierced, really God come to earth, really a lover of all men, really raised from the dead, and really the One who is coming back again. Make real the God-honoring life of Jesus that gave God all the glory. This is an especially difficult task, but the Holy Spirit can do it.
When you are done with your Bible study, your hearers should have a clearer and realer picture of who Christ is and what that picture of Christ compels them toward. It’s all about Jesus.
A few closing thoughts
You will never be John Piper, Mark Fesmire, Mark Driscoll, or Beth Moore. You are you and God really did intend to give you the gifts that he has given you. If you feel like you kinda botched the delivery, don’t worry about it. It’s not so much about being effective, but being faithful. 1 Corinthians 1 26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." Right. None of us went to Harvard or Oxford. None of us are geniuses. We are not eloquent people. Just regular people. This means that we are specially poised to be used by God in the most magnificent ways.
If you are a Christian you have God on your side. If you humbling desire to make much of Christ by your Bible study you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit not to be eloquent or astute, but to be used specifically in the lives of those you are teaching. When you give a Bible study it is not because you love the people in your group so much. It is because you love Jesus Christ, he who became a man to die on the cross so that we can have life, part of that life being to teach from the Word of God. The reason you love the people in your group so much is because God in Christ loves them so much.
Preparing a Bible study is labor. I mean serious mental, emotional, and spiritual labor. But you are laboring for the Lord in building his kingdom and doing what he commands in the Great Commission.
When delivering your study, always be open to interjections, questions, interactions, and comments. This will give the group an opportunity to share things that they have learned in the past as well as helping them to stay engaged.
This entire process should not take any more than four hours start to finish. If you devote a solid 2-3 hours to creating your Bible study, know that you have been diligent and God will graciously provide the rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment