Shortcutting Bible Study

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Shortcutting Bible Study

Introduction: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

1. Excerpt from Peter Leithart
   1. “We are often impatient with music, and we are impatient with texts. A writer lingers, and we want to grab him by the throat and say, “Get to the point, man!” Evangelicals would reverently refrain from throttling an apostle, but the demand for practical Bible teaching often has a threatening subtext. “Don’t give me all these names, lists, genealogies, stories. Tell me what to do. Tell me about Jesus.”
      God in His infinite wisdom decided to give us a book, a very long book, and not a portrait or aphorism. God reveals Himself in His image, Jesus, but we come to know that image by reading, and that takes time. God wants to transform us into the image of His image, and one of the key ways he does that is by leading us through the text. If we short-circuit that process by getting to the practical application, we are not going to be transformed in the ways God wants us to be transformed.
      ‘Get to the point’ will not do because part of the point is to lead us through the labyrinth of the text itself. There is treasure at the center of the labyrinth, but with texts, the journey really is as important as the destination.”
   2. First paragraph:
      1. Why is this so often the desire? 
         1. It is the wrong goal & 
         2. It is much more challenging/difficult. 
      2. What aren’t we appreciating when this is our desire? 
         1. God! God’s thoughts and ways, Isaiah 55
         2. Similar to how you interact with a friend or a spouse. You are looking to know them not just get “answers” from them. 
   3. Second paragraph
      1. Consider what is involved in “practical application.” 
      2. What isn’t happening if we desire to just go straight for the application?
         1. The motivation behind the application! The knowledge of God and what he is doing, cf. Ephesians 1-3 & 4-6; Romans 1-11 & 12-16. 
         2. This is the reason the Pharisees misunderstood “Sabbath” commands (Matt. 12:1-8; Hosea 6:1-6), etc.
   4. Third paragraph: “the journey really is as important as the destination.” The “Treasure”: Cf. 1 Peter 2:3 “if you have tasted that the Lord is good” – Psalm 34
2. Evaluation of Quotes from Scott Kercheville’s Article
   1. “I have often found a desire to try to grab (and leave out) certain parts of the Bible to attempt to find a short-cut to whatever I find to be immediately understandable, practical, and transformative. Parts of the Bible that don’t fit into clean practical, moral, or therapeutic self-help categories are often set aside (or forced to fit these categories).”
      1. “This happens when transformation becomes the only goal. We think — as long as I am transformed, as long as I’m like Jesus, who cares how I got there? In that case, we may misunderstand who Jesus is and what it means to be like him. He is the one who is revealed (among other things) in those weird parts of Scripture we might be avoiding.”
      2. “Blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.” We have to step back out of our industrialized, right-now, fast-food American context and slow down. Sometimes we eat to just fill our bellies, but meals can and should be much more than that.”
   2. “The Scriptures are tremendously practical — but that is only one thing they are among many others. And we will find the Scriptures to be vastly more practical — and far more than that — if we don’t insist it must always be practical and turn reading it into the modern equivalent of McDonalds. McDonalds is fine in a pinch on occasion, but you’ll find yourself malnourished and unfit when you have to slowly trudge with God through the valley of the shadow of death … or when you’re all alone and Potiphar’s wife keeps tapping you day after day after day … or when you have everything you could ever dream of, and Jesus asks you to leave it behind and walk with him to the cross.”
   3. “It is not our job to mine the Scriptures for what we need. If we approach Bible-reading and interpretation like this, we become like children who pick through a Thanksgiving meal for the croutons and marshmallows only to find themselves hungry when the food is put up (and left out of the dessert table). We are children: we often don’t know what we need. We are also sheep: we often don’t know where green pastures are (nor that we must also walk with Him through dark valleys). Just as we must receive all of life — and walk through whatever station God has put us in — we are to receive and delight in all of the Scriptures.”
   4. Conclusion: “The song “I Will Possess Your Heart” is an 8.5 minute song that begins with a slow 4.5 minute instrumental intro before the first words are sung. I never understood the instrumental section until a few months ago. The instrumental tune at the beginning repeats over and over again. It starts very simply with a bass guitar, but more and more is gradually added each time the melody repeats. At first, the song may appear dull and slow. But if you accept it and then let the song do its work, by the end of it your whole body is moving with it. And then the first lines come in (which now make even more sense to me in light of the slow instrumental opening)”:

      “How I wish you could see the potential

The potential of you and me

It’s like a book elegantly bound, but

In a language that you can’t read just yet

You gotta spend some time, love

You gotta spend some time with me

And I know that you’ll find, love

I will possess your heart”