Digging Deeper into God’s Word

Studying God’s word is as much intentional as it is devotional.  Many believers get the devotional side—read it and see what God is saying to me.  But what happens when the text is confusing or we don’t get anything out of it. Did I just say that last part? Yep.  There are times I read a passage and I’m like WHAT? Or ZZZZZZ.

There is an approach to studying His word that not only brings greater clarity and accuracy, but allows you to plunge into its depths and extract insights that will leave you wanting to shout and wanting to weep and sometimes both! His Word is living and active!!! (Hebrews 4:12)

I had sporadic results with my “quiet times” before reading Dallas Theological’s incoming students complementary book (I think I paid for it somewhere in the 60K seminary cost), Living by the Book by Prof Howard Hendricks.  Much of what I will share was inspired by that book. Let’s briefly break it down for you…

OIA-Observation/Interpretation/Application.

Observation- What do I see?

Interpretation-What did it?

Application- How do I live it?

Most of us rush too quickly to the Application without first Observing and Interpreting, thus missing the rich depths of God’s love. It’s like eating the crust of the pie and missing the filling, unless you’re a crust lover like me…anyway.

Observation: What Do I see?

Slow Down-Less is sometimes more.

1.  Read prayerfully- Before you read as the Lord to speak to your heart and listen to the tug of the Spirit on your heart. The inner promptings will feel peaceful and will never contradict the scripture if it is a prompting from the Spirit.
2.  Read slowly- Reading aloud may help here. The point is let the passage penetrate your mind and heart.
3.  Read repeatedly/meditatively- You will miss what God wants you to hear if you do not read repeatedly.
4.  Read attentively- pay attention to the 5 Things below
5.  Read confessionally- Confess your sin, lack of faith, lack of understanding of the passage your reading.
6.  Read inquisitively- Ask questions. What does this mean? Why was this written? Who wrote it? To Whom? What was the conflict or issues the author was addressing? How does this fit into the meta-narrative(greater story of the Gospel). Why did God write this for me?

5 Things to pay attention to as God tries to speak to your heart through His word. Pay attention to these things. There are no accidental sentence structures of word choices. God has planned it all to speak to your heart. Look for:

1.  Things repeated- words, phrases, ideas that repeat.
2.  Things compared/contrasted
3.  Confusing words/ideas
4.  Progression- Things that progress
5.  Key words like “for” “because” “as a result” “For this reason” which give clues as to the main point of emphasis. This should cause you to slow down and read carefully and repeatedly what follows

Interpretation: What does it mean?

This is not what does it mean to you but what did God want to say through the author to the original, intended audience. You must know:

1. The Author,
2. The Recipient
3. The Purpose-why the book or letter was written is critical.  Go to www.soniclight.com to get more free insight into this. You should know this before reading that particular book of the Bible.
4. Context is king! What passage or verses come before and after the verse/passage you’re reading. The context (or surrounding verses, author, recipient, date, etc.) helps us correctly interpret the verse or passage. Keep it in context.

For example when Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me, “ He is not talking about salvation as many have preached. This passage was written to believers not unbelievers. Therefore, the church, through sin, has kicked out Christ. The church needs to repent not get saved. This is not a salvation passage. But if you did not read the context or know who it was written to you would take this out of context and interpret it incorrectly.

The word of God was not merely written to be observed or interpreted but to be lived out or applied!

Application: How do I live it?

Every passage was written for everyone to get something out of

1.  Are you obeying it?
2.  How are you like the characters in the story? Don’t easily dismiss yourself from being the villain or Pharisee or disobedient disciple. Most of the time we don’t act like the Father or Jesus but like those they are teaching or opposing.  Be honest with yourself as you read
3.  What could the characters (or you) have done differently?
4.  How can you live this out?
5.  Who do you need to share this with?
6.  Memorize the key verse

God’s word is rich and endless in its depths. Use these simple tools and you will experience God speaking to you in deeper more frequent ways. To go even deeper I highly recommend Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=living+by+the+book+hendricks&action=Search&kw=living%20by%20the%20book%20hendricks&event=PPCSRC&p=1018818&cm_mmc=Google-_-Titles-_-christian%20living-_-living%20by%20the%20book%20hendricks&gclid=CMfBobfwibACFSdjTAodbBDoLQ

She Still Calls Me Daddy is the title of a book I’ve never read but one I’ve experienced. At 13, my daughter, Aubrey, still wants hugs and kisses at night, still likes to curl up with mom and I and watch a good movie and loves being home, most days!  She is a spunky, feisty, independent, strong, opinionated young woman who has her eyes on Ivy League schools already. No, we aren’t pushing that idea, we didn’t even plant it!

With all the makings of independence she still calls me daddy and still wants my attention and affection. And she gets plenty of it! Since she was born I have made it a habit to spend lots of time with her, doting over her, and showering her with praise and hugs and encouragement, and yes come to Jesus meetings as well.  But I have given her my most precious resource, my time. Time playing chase, sports, dress up(Not me! Her Barbies and they all came to Christ) We even go on daddy daughter dates, some months more frequently than others.

Now let me put it all on the table. I have blown it as a dad more times than I’d like to admit. My tone and even my words have wounded her and I have had to take a knee and look into her hurt, innocent eyes and ask her forgiveness for being a jerk.  But there are two kinds of dads, Jerks and those that know their Jerks at least some of the time.

With all that said we had a special happy 13^th birthday dinner, just the two of us.  We dressed up (I even wore a tie, those who know me are fainting now, but I wore it with jeans and tennis shoes! Think Urban, hippie Austin, not Manhattan) and we went to the Cheesecake Factory. I bought her a ring from James Avery and placed it on her finger and read a letter I had written to her about my love for her and my role as her protector until she meets the right one. I also clued her in to the world of teenage boy hormones and how they think and what they think about. Sorry guys, you’re busted!

Now this had been on her mom and I’s radar for quite some time  but our Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Bible studies, as well as the movie Courageous, did shape it some. The point is as a father we must:

1. Love Jesus.

2. Love their momma.

3. Repent and ask for their forgiveness when we sin against them or their mom, and we wil

4. Prepare them with the Gospel to live in the harsh world by discipling them through the word of God, praying with them, and modeling your love for Jesus to them.

5. Plan special moments for special occasions, like the their 13^th birthday, etc…The Movie Courageous has some good ideas, so does the book, Raising a Modern Day Knight.

But all this in done in the context of TIME. They require lots of our time and we must give it to them!

Being a dad is hard work but the reward is unbelievable. And yes you’ll fail, but let her know it and repent! She’ll love and respect you more! I love my little girl who is now 5’5” and God has changed me because of her! Time well spent…for me and for her.  And remember Jesus gave us His time on this earth through His incarnation, ministry and ultimately through the cross and resurrection.  Let’s be generous with our time to our kids! Christ was generous with his. He gave it all away!

I am by no means a family expert nor do I claim to be in the Hall of Fame of Fathers. But I do know leading a large family while youth pastoring another larger family can be very difficult.  I know there are many things to juggle with life and ministry.  We know the family first principle, at least most of us. So I will assume family before ministry and the new(perhaps 2000 years old) exciting missional model weds them together. Do ministry with your family and weave the ministry into the fabric of your family in missional communities. You are leading and discipling others in the context of community where the church family is apart of your family because we are all apart of the body of Christ.  Sometimes we create a false dichotomy where church family and my family are two worlds. But is that Biblical? What if in the context of serving my wife well or playing with my kids, other families were present where they could engage with and observe my family and the way we love and lead. Talk about discipleship.

But to keep things in perspective with regards to our families, we must ultimately be providers. We must provide spiritually- the Gospel- in teaching it and living it and we must provide financially so our brides can have the freedom to stay at home and our kids can have their momma and we can participate in generosity. We must also provide time with our families. Through simple, yet fun times such as a family bike rides to vacations (when $ allows) to just having dinner together and praying with your kids.

+. Gospel. The greatest gift you can give your family is Jesus. He is everything and changes everything. We must live it and teach it to our kids.  What is it? What are the implications of it? How can we live it? Give it? Grow in understanding it? There is much to be taught concerning the Gospel and is must be the core of any family.

$. Life has enough pressure and pastoring even more, so as leaders we must relieve the burden of finances. For some that may mean a budget overhaul, but it will mean providing a financial environment that allows our income to pay all the necessities. And if she works her income can pay for the extras. But her working would be out of desire (empty nest or working while kids are in school) or out of life-stage.  Regardless it is our job as men to relieve pressure and provide freedom o our brides.

X.  Time, and large amounts of it, is key in leading your family well. No one can be the husband to your bride and the father to your kids but you. Many can preach at your church and lead your elder meetings and even pastor your church but you are the only lover and leader of your family.  Quality time is usually met within the realm of quantity time and is rarely a planned event. “Okay kids we’re having quality time now. So share your deepest fears and feelings with me. Ok, I’m waiting” No it usually is spontaneous and happens in the context of regular and large amounts of time together. My son recently revealed he had his first crush on a girl. “Her name is Elizabeth and she is pretty and very funny and nice.” There was no prompting. This came within our normal tuck in at night and pray together and talk about life time. It opened up to the door to talk about being equally yoked together. Spontaneous times of applying God’s truth are usually more powerful than planned times, although we must plan the times as we disciple our families. As men we don’t simply provide the tools and environment for our families to be discipled we are the tools and environment.

Gospel-centered Discipleship copy

The lens we view life from colors how we see everything. The lens that changes life is the Gospel.  Gospel-centered discipleship filters our life through the redemptive power of the cross.  We were saved are being saved and will  be saved.

Philippians 3:1-11

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Philippians 2:1-11

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Philippians 1:1-11

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Much has been written on leadership but I would like to offer three very basic ways we often see leadership in the life of the church- the razor blade, the pillow and the rod.

Razor blade leadership slices those it attempts to lead. With sharp words, cutting remarks, sarcasm or other passive aggressive techniques, this style uses force instead of love. Razor blade leadership is often disguised as visionary leadership when it is really self-kingdom building leadership that leads others to follow the leader and not the leader of leaders-Christ. Razor blade leadership cuts staff instead of coaching staff. Razor blade leadership pushes others towards a goal instead of persuading others towards Christ. Razor blade leadership is not relational leadership but task-oriented leadership. Yes goals and tasks are important but they must be a means to an end and not an end in themselves. They must point others to the Gospel. The goal is always the Gospel. The goal is never bigger, better or even excellence as much as we try to equate that with godliness. We can be excellent and be excellently wrong.  Excellence is great but the goal is the Gospel.  Razor blade leadership may even mention the Gospel but it does not bleed the gospel. It bleeds self-promotion and ego-driven ministry, not Gospel-driven ministry.

We can also lead with a pillow.  We can lead very softly.  We can avoid conflict, cower under difficult choices and never firmly challenge others to pursue the cross. We can avoid consequences for sin, run from church-discipline when one is caught in sin and pretend things aren’t as bad as they really are. We can lower expectations and put up with others leading out of comfort and not calling. We can be soft. The pillow leader attracts soft, emasculated men—men who want to hide in the soft comfort of their sin and past. Pillow leadership is just as bad as razor blade leadership. Instead of killing others it lets others kill themselves.

But Jesus came to show us another way to lead. We lead with a shepherd’s rod or staff. The rod is not sharp like a razor blade and not soft like a pillow, but it is firm. No cutting will happen with the staff but the staff is hard enough to strike blows to the ravaging wolves seeking to kill the sheep with false doctrine. The rod is firm enough to reign in sheep headed towards a perilous cliff. Would I ward you off from danger with a pillow or staff?  The pillow would only encourage you to move toward the comfort of the pillow and thus fall off the cliff. Perhaps even taking me with you. The razor blade could kill you. However, the rod would firmly shove you away from the cliff. The rod restores by pointing others to God’s Kingdom, to His Gospel. The rod builds others, coaches others, and courageously confronts others. The rod shepherds others.

I’ve found myself leading in all three ways.  With the razor I’ve damaged others with words, or moved way too fast, being obsessed with goals and using people instead of building into people. With the pillow I’ve avoided conflict out of fear of rejection, which is pride. But only one is truly shepherding. Only one tenderly, yet firmly leads with strength. The rod. No wonder John 10 describes Jesus as the Good Shepherd, not the Good Butcher or the Cotton King. Jesus as the good shepherd protected and loved the sheep and lead with great strength and compassion. What do you lead with? Ask others you have lead. Maybe they’ll tell you the truth.

Here’s one of my latest sermons about giving your everything for Jesus. I hope you all enjoy!

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In the end self-promotion fails. Jeremiah 4:30 says, “And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, you accomplish nothing by wearing a beautiful dress, decking yourself out in jewels of gold, and putting on eye shadow! You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers spurn you. They want to kill you.” More »