Paradigm 25 - Discipleship and the Word (online meeting on 18/5/20)
Edmund Chan says that we are becoming a Biblically illiterate society where even churchgoers only have a superficial knowledge of the Word. We get our Bible knowledge second-hand rather than from personal study. The Word is "incidental, not fundamental". So our Bible studies are dominated by superficial opinions instead of Christ-centred depth. He says there are 4 things that will help us engage with Scripture:
1. A desire to encounter God, not just to learn about Him
2. A disciplined approach to Bible study - training whether we feel like it or not.
3. Learning to delight in the Word because it changes us.
4. Being devoted to the Word as a response to God's love. We commit time and effort and seek to obey it with all we have.
Why is it important to experience all these things? My answer is that we engage with the Word of God in basically the same way as engaging with God himself. We do not approach Him in a single way, and so we can only approach His Word rightly by taking a multilayered approach for completeness.
Which comes first in these 4 elements? The answer varies from person to person.
My feeling is that the delight leads to desire leads to devotion leading to discipline.
We can only desire what we have tasted. So the delight must be tasted first. Then comes desire, which leads us to committing ourselves to devote our lives to discipline.
We consider Ps 119:9-16 - Where do we find the ideas of Chan in this passage?
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!
13 With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
1. What is(are) the goal(s) of studying the Word given in these verses?
V.9 tells us that it is to maintain purity of life - so that we do not sin against God (v.11b) not stray from His commandments (v.10b).
How then does the Word guard us. There are at least 3 interrelated ways:
a. When we seek the Lord in the Word with a 'whole heart' (v.10a) and fix our eyes on His ways v.(15b). This is devotion.
b. When we 'store up' (memorise (v.16b) and meditate (v.15a) on the Word. I shared that we are enabled to be specific in our grasp of the truth, in our prayer and in our day to day application only to the extent that we have memorized the Word of God. Scripture memorization is necessary. When we meditate, we think on the Word in a focused way, let it sink into our being and ask ourselves how we will apply the Word specifically to our lives.This kind of reading is a kind of cross between Bible study and prayer. We slow down and stop, considering verses we have already understood a bit at a time. These steps require discipline.
c. When we delight in him (v.14a, 16a) we are preserved from running after other lesser delights.
I also see desire in the Psalmist's repeated "I will"s (v.15, 16)
The Psalms tells us that the LORD is 'blessed'. He is happy, fulfilled, content, full of good things. We do not add to His blessedness by blessing Him (just as we do not add to His glory by glorifying Him). Instead we acknowledge His blessedness. Because we want to share in His blessedness we want to be taught what brings blessing by Him. We proclaim boldly and with conviction the locus of our blessing in the Word. In our blessed state are as happy with what we find in the Word as much as gaining all the wealth we can imagine. We remind ourselves that the Word brings delight and not boredom or hardship. We resolve not to lay it aside.
1. A desire to encounter God, not just to learn about Him
2. A disciplined approach to Bible study - training whether we feel like it or not.
3. Learning to delight in the Word because it changes us.
4. Being devoted to the Word as a response to God's love. We commit time and effort and seek to obey it with all we have.
Why is it important to experience all these things? My answer is that we engage with the Word of God in basically the same way as engaging with God himself. We do not approach Him in a single way, and so we can only approach His Word rightly by taking a multilayered approach for completeness.
Which comes first in these 4 elements? The answer varies from person to person.
My feeling is that the delight leads to desire leads to devotion leading to discipline.
We can only desire what we have tasted. So the delight must be tasted first. Then comes desire, which leads us to committing ourselves to devote our lives to discipline.
We consider Ps 119:9-16 - Where do we find the ideas of Chan in this passage?
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!
13 With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
1. What is(are) the goal(s) of studying the Word given in these verses?
V.9 tells us that it is to maintain purity of life - so that we do not sin against God (v.11b) not stray from His commandments (v.10b).
How then does the Word guard us. There are at least 3 interrelated ways:
a. When we seek the Lord in the Word with a 'whole heart' (v.10a) and fix our eyes on His ways v.(15b). This is devotion.
b. When we 'store up' (memorise (v.16b) and meditate (v.15a) on the Word. I shared that we are enabled to be specific in our grasp of the truth, in our prayer and in our day to day application only to the extent that we have memorized the Word of God. Scripture memorization is necessary. When we meditate, we think on the Word in a focused way, let it sink into our being and ask ourselves how we will apply the Word specifically to our lives.This kind of reading is a kind of cross between Bible study and prayer. We slow down and stop, considering verses we have already understood a bit at a time. These steps require discipline.
c. When we delight in him (v.14a, 16a) we are preserved from running after other lesser delights.
I also see desire in the Psalmist's repeated "I will"s (v.15, 16)
The Psalms tells us that the LORD is 'blessed'. He is happy, fulfilled, content, full of good things. We do not add to His blessedness by blessing Him (just as we do not add to His glory by glorifying Him). Instead we acknowledge His blessedness. Because we want to share in His blessedness we want to be taught what brings blessing by Him. We proclaim boldly and with conviction the locus of our blessing in the Word. In our blessed state are as happy with what we find in the Word as much as gaining all the wealth we can imagine. We remind ourselves that the Word brings delight and not boredom or hardship. We resolve not to lay it aside.
Comments
Post a Comment