I had a pen blow up on me yesterday.
My fountain pen exploded. This is going to be at the
beginning of this gonna be like the cut in.
Hey, friend, welcome to another episode of the Sunday Sit Down.
We are happy that you are here. And whether you're listening or
watching, whether you're in your car driving, hey, if you're in
your car driving and you are watching, probably don't do
that. That is not the way to listen to
the podcast. But we know that many of you are
listening all throughout the week and we think that's
fantastic. We are having a conversation
today about how to read the Bible.
That's that's our topic of conversation.
And we think that this passage is a good launching point for
that kind of conversation. Just how we got ourselves to a
place where we were preaching on Sunday.
And I say we because like it was a collective effort.
It was like a collective. Heavy lift struggle it was.
And then a collective effort. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. So, you know, I think that's
great. If you miss the sermon on
Sunday, let me just like super briefly say I started by saying
that for those of you who don't know, Justin and Allison member
in the congregation and I, the three of Us Weekly, we sit down
and we read the passage usually, hopefully it's been like before
we've done any commentary study. We'll get into that.
Any reading? Like we just go in mostly blind.
Dog do do some inductive studying basically, yeah, it's
it's Allison has an expert. I I would call her an expert and
inductive Bible study. She wouldn't say that, but I
will say it for her that like she's so keyed in with that way
of, of studying Scripture that we we do not like in like the
most like legalistic sense. We're not doing like a
legalistic inductive study in that moment, but we are spending
time trying to sort it out before jumping to yeah.
Commentaries, yeah. And it's great.
Like as a preacher, I've done a number of different.
So I've been involved in team ministries where we've done
preaching prep meetings and like preaching debrief meetings.
I've been involved in solo ministry where you're just,
you're on your own and you kind of got to rally some people
around if you want any kind of team approach to things.
And I would like I, I cannot explain or express how
beneficial the team approach is to teaching, to preaching when
you think about the long run of, you know, of preachers over, you
know, hopefully many, many, many years of wrestling out texts.
So I think it's gonna be a good conversation.
And hopefully it helps you have a conversation if you are
wrestling out, like how to read Scripture, how to read the
Bible, what can that look like? What ought to it look like?
And maybe some of the questions that come up, you know, what do
I do when I don't understand? So yeah, we're going to jump in.
You've got a couple of questions and we'll kind of run off the
text for it. Yeah, see how we go.
So, so Jesus starts, you know, the crowds increase.
Jesus said this is a wicked generation.
Great start, by the way, like, you know, you just like one of
the, one of the greatest things is when you start your passage
for the morning that you're a wicked generation, like, and
that in and of itself like, like, like we got to talk about
that. We got to unpack some of those
things, right? Like what is what does he mean
by that? Or like, anyway, anyway, so and
then he gives like these two examples, you, you spend a
longer time unpacking Jonah and then a little less time
unpacking the, you know, this Solomon and this queen from the
South, queen, the queen of Sheba, who, who approached
Solomon for wisdom. And even within those two
stories, we're reading this Bible, we're reading this, this
passage from the Bible, from the Gospel of Luke, all of a sudden
we're being inundated with stuff that we gotta know if we're
going to properly understand this, right.
So I don't know if that's maybe a starting point of like, you
know, like sometimes we gotta start cross referencing.
Yeah. You know.
Yeah, I think it's helpful. So when we're reading, when
you're reading the Bible, I think the number one thing I
wish people would always do is read the Bible.
How do I say this like allow scripture, allow different
scriptures to interpret and help you unpack and understand other
scriptures. So that's exactly, I think as
soon as we read this passage, for example, you know, I think
each of us very quickly, you know, you're recognizing for,
for us as, as as followers of Jesus, as Christians, as
preachers, as pastors in, in various seasons of life, they
are the three of us. And we we recognize these
stories. And I think each of us sat up
and go, OK, Jonah, we know this makes much more sense, at least
initially. OK, Queen of the South, what's
going on there? Different language.
And so immediately what I love about the way in which we
approach things is we're not going to necessarily like Google
something or just like default to searching for it online or in
commentaries. But I think pretty quickly we
realized our we've got to figure out who the players are here and
so that we can understand what's going on.
Queen of the South, what's going on there?
You've got Solomon. So, OK, kings, like first kings,
but I think you pulled up the story in our discussion about
the Queen of Sheba. I was like I.
Think it's the Queen of Sheba. And I was like, I can't believe
I remembered that. Like it's, it's a little bit
obscure, right? Yeah.
And meanwhile, I so my wife, who is, she's a Bible scholar in her
own right. She I said, I said I couldn't
even remember. She's like you, you didn't
remember that. And I was like, yeah, OK, OK,
you can say that. Now, no, no.
So I think it's helpful, like I think it's helpful just if we're
talking about really practical ways of reading the Bible and if
you're looking to study the Bible, I think one of the best
things you can do, and you can do this for free or you can do
this by spending a bit of money, and that is to get a Bible with
good cross referencing. Because like, so my Bible has a
little bit of cross referencing at the bottom.
It's it has some, you know, some notes about manuscripts where
words might be different. Yeah.
And that's a completely different subject.
But it has along the side some cross references, usually to the
other Gospels when we're in the Gospels.
Parallel passages, etcetera. Yeah, but for example, in in my
Bible here, when I get to Solomon and the Queen from the
South, I look over and I've got a little note that says 1131
First Kings 10 One Second Chronicles 9/1.
So just gives it right to you. So gives it to me and then
immediately I'm able to flip back and look and read some of
those stories. So I think the, the, now there
are different types of reading scripture.
So you can do something closer to like electio, uh, where
you're, you're reading smaller chunks in a more prayerful
slowdown way where you're just trying to be quiet and allow God
to speak to you. And, you know, you're focusing
on a few verses and you're reading it slowly.
You're not reading in that sense for understanding as much or, or
knowledge as much as you're reading for inspiration.
Like, you know, that, that it's, it's a prayer.
It's I, I think it's, it's a, it's a way of reading scripture
in a prayerful way that allows God to speak to you.
Meditative and kind of devotionally focused.
Yeah, Yeah. And yeah, there's a part of
reading scripture that that is so important and beautiful to do
in that way. I think when we're reading and
what we're talking about is like, how do you understand just
the what the book is saying? What is like?
What's going? On how does that impact what's
happening in the greater story of Luke?
How does that potentially back to my life like, yeah, the the
questions of of the more existential questions of
Scripture. Right.
So, yeah, so that's that's one. I think this the way we're
reading the second way is, yeah, is, is to figure out what's
going on. And the language that I really
like in this case is Timothy Keller.
The way he's described this in the past is before you can
really, I'm going to butcher any quotes so you know, like this is
like the grand version, whatever.
But you know, he, he says before you can understand what's going
on in a way that you can apply a principle or a thing to your
life, you need to notice. He just says, notice the thing.
So he's like, first, what do we notice when you're reading?
And I think that's part of our conversation is always what
we're noticing as we're reading it.
And it could be a passage that we're reading for the first time
in a long, long time. It could be something that we've
read, You know, we had the Lord's Prayer where you're
working really hard to not just flip into what you've maybe
memorized said over and over again.
Yeah, you've read this line thousands of times potentially.
I think a good place to start when you're reading scripture is
just by writing down what you're noticing and then taking what
you're noticing and going, OK, what do I know?
So I I think we and I can say this.
We recognized instantly, Joan. I, like we've said, but less so,
Queen of the South. Do we know that this is the
Queen of Sheba? Is this the queen of Sheba
visited Solomon, who is seeking for wisdom and found, you know,
what she was looking for. She's given, this is the part of
the story that we didn't get into.
Like she's given so much wealth and riches because she comes and
then like, you know, a kind of declare Solomon's wisdom and
then also declares, you know, blessed as the Lord, praise be
to the Lord, to to the Lord your God.
And then she was Solomon gives her like a insane amount of of
riches and she goes on her way and you're like, OK, well,
interesting. That's a weird story.
But what do we what can we take away from it?
And what is Jesus trying to say through it here?
You need to you need to notice it, You need to write it down.
You need to make note of it. And then you need to start
figuring out, OK, do I know all of these players?
Do I know all the names? Am I familiar with the stories?
Maybe I'll go back and read it. So it's not expensive way, but
you can spend money on a Bible that does this, which has some
cross referencing built into it. The second thing that I would
say really practically is just go to Bible Gateway.
Yeah, Bible Gateway and new version if you're on a tablet
or. Phone so I'm on you version
right now and it actually does exist in the NIV here does not.
Have cross references. Maybe maybe there's an option to
toggle that on that I'm not seeing.
But but yes, Bible Gateway for sure has all the cross
references. I brought my iPad.
And it's dead. Yeah, I I downloaded a drawing
app on it like it's like a paint by number drawing app.
And did your child one of your children use it?
Yeah, I'm not gonna say which ones, but it's dead.
I brought this because I have some quotes on it from my sermon
and. No, you don't.
No, I don't unless you remember. OK, so Bible Gateway and that
does have absolutely certain that that has all the cross
referencing that you could want or be looking for.
Yeah. So there's a paid, you know,
paid way of carrying around a Bible with some cross
referencing. There's a free version online,
on a phone, wherever. But I think, yeah, the first
step in the type of this type of reading is notice.
Like read, notice the things you're noticing, then try to
notice the things that you're not noticing initially.
That's why it's great to do it in a group because guaranteed
every single time we sit down, we're noticing different things
and then start to unpack, OK, figure out the, of the things
that I've noticed, is there any more work that I need to do?
Are there any more passages that need to go read and do that?
And I would say do this with a pen and paper.
Like we're constantly as we're going, writing stuff down and
making notes right in Bibles on manuscripts that we've printed
out. Yeah, and, and you know, the,
the beauty of doing it, and This is why I give you can do this
with multiple people. Like you're gonna get multiple
perspectives. And and by that, I, I want to be
clear in that I'm saying like, I think you can derive, you know,
a particular meaning, but we're all tackling it in different
ways, right. So, like your brain works
differently than my brain. Yeah, we're two guys.
And then for someone like Allison, even even more so as a
woman, she's seeing things that we're missing.
Yeah, because we're boneheaded sometimes.
And it's great. Like, yeah, that's exactly,
that's exactly right. And yeah, we need to see what
other people see and other people need to see what you see.
Yeah. The beauty of doing it in
community, I think anybody who's been to community Bible study
that we've done here or elsewhere knows that benefit
first hand, right? Because we can say it.
There's a knowledge piece, there's an understanding piece,
and yeah, it. So yeah, notice, notice and
write down. Get in front of.
You so I want to touch on particularly this example of of
the Queen of the South, the queen of Sheba that that Jesus
alludes to and the you know what what Jesus is seems to be
getting out here. He says for she came from the
ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom.
And now something greater than Solomon is here and, and there
seems to be embedded in this passage this sort of like
layered conversation around, around they're seeking signs.
And, and Jesus is, is saying this woman, she traveled
hundreds of miles to seek wisdom and you're, and, and this stuff
is right in front of you and you're still asking for signs.
And so there's a, I mean, there's something almost comical
there, like, yeah, but, but I think for us, there's, there's
something about the seeking of wisdom that I think I want to
tap into in, you know, in our reading of Scripture, not just
in this passage, but for all, everything, every time we read.
So let's talk about that. Yeah, I think that's good.
So there's a way of I OK, I preached this admittedly from
more of what I would call like the negative side of like,
you're right. Like this is this is right in
front of you and you're missing the you're missing it right like
and and that is a harsh, like Jesus does level that harsh
criticism. It's about to get harsher this.
Week. And it is going to get harsher
this week. Yeah, yeah, He's gonna eat with
some Pharisees and challenge them even more.
But you know, I, I, I think there's a, there's a reading,
there's a write reading of that where you, we need to see it.
We need to see Jesus critiquing these people.
He says something greater than Solomon is here, something
greater than Jonah is here, and you're missing it.
It's right in front of you. You don't understand, you don't
see it. So we need to we need to read
that and understand that and hear that and see it and and
wonder about our own lives. Like what?
And this is this is where I took us yesterday, which was, you
know, are there ways that God is acting in my life where maybe
I'm asking, I'm asking God like, give me the big sign.
We want this spectacular, but we we fail to see the everyday ways
that God is at work in our lives.
And I think that is something that we need to wrestle with.
And I think we need to wrestle with it for so many reasons.
Like we stink at slowing down and we stink at being quiet.
And our life is loud and noisy and the world is noisy.
And, you know, I flipped my phone to black and white a while
ago and you know, we've talked about some of this stuff.
Um, I'm like shocked Whenever I flip it back to colour now, it's
like, well, like it just like it's oppressive, almost like it
hits me and I'm like, Oh my goodness, this is so
aggressively colourful. And then I flip it back to black
and white. I'm like, OK, this is good.
Like all of life is like, we want these massive sort of big
hit you in the face kind of things.
And I think we fail to see the way in which God is probably at
work in mundane, everyday ways. There's a book that I really
love. It's called Liturgy of the
Ordinary, and it's like making toast.
How can you turn making breakfast into a liturgy that
welcomes and invites and sees and senses God's presence?
So like brother Lawrence kind of vibes.
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Doing this is like doing dishes.
Yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, I think we do,
we do need to hear that critique that Jesus levels to the crowds.
What I didn't say on Sunday, which I want to say today, is
that we can, there's a possibility, I think, for people
to hear this in an unhealthful, negative way, which is to say
you do the study, you do the work, you read the book, you are
curious and excited and you actually sit down and you do it
and you're underlining stuff and you get to the end and you're
like, I still don't understand. Am I part of this wicked
generation? Yeah, like unequivocally.
I mean, maybe, but but for that reason, no.
Yes and no, right. Yes, yeah.
For that reason, no. So here's The thing is, you
know, we, we emphasize and I think our like our
denominational heritage and I say our like for court, right as
a church in the Reformed tradition, as Presbyterians, we
have the tendency and it's not a good one to idolize intellectual
pursuit. Yes.
So, you know, since, since the Reformation, there has been a, a
very strong shift. It's why preaching, like
teaching is a large part of our worship together.
And it's why, you know, you you can sit down in some Reformed
churches and you know the the preaching will be 4550 sixty
minutes long. And I won't be 60 minutes long.
I shouldn't promise that I won't be 60 minutes long, but I
promise I won't be 60 minutes long on a Sunday like that is.
You haven't gotten close, so. Far No, 35 is kind of my, you
know, in between that 28 to 35 is kind of like, yeah, but we
can, we can. So this is this is the piece.
We can we can idolize this intellectual pursuit of
knowledge, what we think of as wisdom or even understanding and
what we can end U doing is in fact also what Jesus is saying,
missing the experience that's unfolding in front of us,
missing the presence of God that is imminent that is here in our
lives because we're so locked in on just if I could just know
this answer or know this thing, then I could live differently.
O what I want to say to people is what we see in this, I think
is some of the brilliance of Jesus here is when he talks
about the Queen of the South, so the Queen of the South, what he
highlights. Is that she came from the ends
of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom.
What what he highlights isn't she finally understood?
Hmm. Yeah, Jesus doesn't say she got
it, just doesn't say she, she attained the knowledge, the
wisdom. Um, what he highlights is that
she sought out Solomon because she was curious.
And that's the first king story, right?
Like it's the, the rumors of Solomon, I think is the
language, rumors of the wisdom of this dude has just blown up
across the, the known world and she chooses to go and find out
for herself. Doesn't take anybody's word on
it, doesn't just blindly accept or believe.
Doesn't, you know, ignore It doesn't just dismiss it doesn't
say, well, that that has nothing to do with me or my life.
Here she travels quote from the ends of the Earth, which is a
very specific term in the New Testament.
Doesn't basically mean far far away.
Like, well, like all in, like. So when Jesus in Acts, it's it's
a Luke, it's Luke's language, right.
In Acts, when Jesus sends the disciples out, what does he say?
He says you'll be my, you'll be my witnesses in GD and Samaria
and to the ends of the earth. Yeah.
And so, yeah, it's far off, but it really is, it really is
speaking to like the absolute furthest place that they can
conceive at that time. Which in this case may have
been, there's some theories that it may have been like, like
Ethiopia or something like that. Yeah.
So like hundreds of miles away. Right, definitely a very, very,
very long yeah trip. So Jesus highlights her pursuit
and I think for us, the flip is you won't understand everything.
And I hope that what, what I did on Sunday was, um, you know, a
little bit of like insider trading or insider baseball,
Like we don't understand all the things all the time.
Yeah. And when I get up to preach,
it's not because I'm this like fount of wisdom, right?
Like, it's not like I, and This is why I think it's important to
share some of these details. It's not like, you know, when
you hop up to preach, it's not because, you know, we're sitting
here going, well, Justin's the expert on this part of the
Bible. So that's what you're going to
speak about. Like we, each of us commit
ourselves to deep study and wrestling the text out and, you
know, basically fighting the, the, the implication out for our
own lives and for the life of our church.
And that's a process. It takes time for sure.
And I think what we want for our, for you to hear listener,
is that, um, no amount of knowledge or wisdom is going to
get you into heaven. Yes.
Right. Like, yeah, you know, it's, it's
not about knowing more, but what Jesus does say is, is pursue.
And if I could just flip us back a few weeks.
It's just going to go there, yeah.
Yeah. So maybe pull that up, right,
Because what? So he says ask, seek and knock.
Hmm. And what we talked about on
Sunday, on that Sunday was that the better language there, given
the Greek translation is keep on asking.
And Alt actually says that apparently is that was that
someone? I feel like someone told me that
and I was like, oh that's cool. I have the NLT here I.
You have it here, but it's yes, keep on seeking and you will
find. Keep on knocking.
Yeah, Yeah. That's good.
Yeah, like so like that's it. And and that's the that is the
translation. That is literally what what is
written in the Gospel of Luke. Is that it?
It is, yeah. Keep on keep.
It is. It is a present action that is
meant to continue into, you know, essentially Infinity
present present action that continues to be present actions
in the future, if that makes sense.
Yeah, and there's something about the ongoing pursuit not of
knowledge. Knowledge is good.
Knowledge can be helpful. It can, you know, understanding
things can be great. But there is something different
about the pursuit of wisdom that that I think that Jesus is
touching on here, that he's like, the pursuit of wisdom is
gonna be transformative. It's it's gonna, it's going to,
it's gonna make a difference in your life and the lives of the
people around you because it's not just vain, you know, head
filling, right. Hmm.
There's some, there's something about that too that I was
thinking about. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it yeah. I mean, I think we all each of
us know this. You can, you can know something.
Um, you can know something because you've memorized the
thing and you can know something because you've experienced the
thing. Yeah.
And that that's different, right?
And in English, I think knowledge in that sense maybe
fails. And and I, you know, we, we use
wisdom in, in that maybe, maybe that's in some sense the
difference then when people use the word wisdom.
But yeah, I think what Jesus is saying is keep on pursuing, keep
on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, lean in, keep
wondering. And those are the things that
Jesus is gonna honor. He's not, you know, He's not
looking for a perfect test score or for you to finally get it
right. You will there will be moments
where you go, oh, OK, like, and those are exciting, but even
those aren't like ultimately the moments, right?
I think what, what Jesus wants is somebody whose heart is bent
toward the pursuit of more, uh, like a, like a deeper, A deeper
relationship with, with God. And I think that's OK.
Last thing that I want to say is, uh, Christians can idolize
the Bible. OK, tell me more.
And I want to be very careful here because that, like that's
maybe we should start start with that.
Um, there's this, there's this old, there's this old Sunday
school song, Jesus loves me. This I know, Classic for the
Bible tells me so. That's the last time I'm going
to sing on this spot. No.
And so there is a phase within your Christian spirituality
learning formation, right? So within your Christian
formation where you need to just simply believe and know and
trust because the Bible tells you so.
But if you never graduate beyond because the Bible says so, you
will eventually run up against something in your life that that
level of faith will not be able to manage.
Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells
me so absolutely categorically 100% true.
Jesus loves me. You can know it because the
Bible tells you. But that's a that's an early
infancy stage of faith and of. Why School Song?
Which is why, which is why we teach it to kids.
Absolutely. And how do we teach kids?
We teach kids by memorization. We just need you.
We need you to memorize these things.
We need you to know these things we need to do like
multiplication tables, right? And you learn by memorizing and
by repeating over and over again.
But eventually you are going to run up against something in your
life where that answer does not cut it.
Why? Like why is my, you know, and
I'm going to use me and my, but I don't mean like for me here,
but for, you know, for many people, right?
Like why, why, why did I have to bury somebody far too early?
Right? God forbid, maybe your parent
who's buried a child, you're like, why does this feel so
backwards? And, and why is my, you know,
why is my marriage not the way I wanted it to be?
Uh, why is my career not the way I wanted me?
Why is my life different? Like I thought if you did the
right things and lived the right kind of life and worked hard,
then you know certain things would have like why?
Why is it not the way I expected and.
And someone's answer to that question if it's well, the Bible
says. Well.
Might not be very helpful. Might not.
Be very helpful. So one of one of the least
helpful, one of the least helpful Bible verses in the
midst of seasons of suffering, right, is what does the Bible
say? Well, God works all things for
good boy for those who love him. Now we're getting into.
It and and I go, yeah, is that a true statement about God and his
character? Yes, absolutely.
Is it a helpful statement for somebody in the midst of their
suffering? Probably not.
There are better verses to lean
on. So I think that the all, all of
that to say, because that's a whole other, you know, we spend
a whole other podcast on talking about this kind of stuff.
Is is the Bible the the beauty and the gift of the Bible?
And I say the Bible, but what I mean is like the scriptures
contained within it, many different books written by many
different authors and many different genres over many
different years. The beauty of it is that it
reveals God. And if it like if your study of
it is to master this, you missed the point.
Yeah, but then that's what Jesus would say.
Like you've missed it because it's not about becoming a master
in this book, understanding this thing, what it does is it it
reveals God's heart to you for you.
It like you're meant to find Jesus in these pages and then in
pursuing relationship with God through prayer, this is meant to
actually reveal more of God to you.
And so it is like, this is this is a beautiful thing.
This is like, this is a gift to humanity.
Yeah. But it's not the thing in in and
of itself. And so This is why, you know,
Christians say, hey, Jesus, the living word of God, like this is
meant to give you access to God in his heart and who he is and
who you are called to being created to be.
And you're going to see people who wrestle out spirituality and
like all of it, good ways, bad ways.
You're like, whoa, wow. I can't believe you messed up
that much. And you're still here.
You're in the book. Wow.
Like, what does it say about me? Great.
There's a chance. Yes, absolutely.
Like this gives you access to God, but don't mistake this for
God. That's what I.
Mean yes, no, I, I, I'm with you 100%.
And and I think I think it might be reductive to say that the
Bible is I'm like a means to the end of knowing God.
But but in in some ways there is there is some truth in that that
the the the Bible is is the is the way that we can learn to
encounter and know God that it would be better.
You know, we talk about the Sunday school kind of Kitty
version infancy version of of knowing Jesus loves us is from
the Bible. But the mature faith version of
that would be I know Jesus loves me because I've like I I've
encountered an experienced it and it has informed my my very
being, right? Yeah, that's a very different
faith, right? Neither are wrong.
They're different seasons of life, right?
But yeah, So what if we read all the things or we, we spend all
the time asking all the questions, reading the
scriptures. We we cross reference all the
things and we still don't get it.
Welcome to Christianity. Yeah, and I think it's worth
saying like, cause I, I'm, I'm asking a leading question
because I know we wanna go. Yeah, but like there are so many
passages that we are, we, we often are scratching our heads
trying to kind of figure, OK, what's what's, what's the author
after here? And then we go to the
commentaries, which we're going to get you in a second.
And the commentaries are, are in, you know, they say, well,
this, you know, this scholar from, you know, the Patristics
thought this and so, and so thought this and they think
this. And I, I think this is the most
likely outcome here, but we're not quite sure This, this, this
language is perplexing. Like there's all of these
complexities of the, you know, translating of the, of the
Hebrew into the Greek into the English or the Hebrew into the
English or the Greek into the English or the Aramaic.
And like, there are so many ways in which this is complicated.
There are, we have, we're translating not just language,
but culture and time. And like, there are going to be
some things that are confusing. And so to until the day that
Jesus returns, there are some things that we're still going to
be scratching our heads over. So just wanted to name that.
Yeah, I think that's helpful. Paul's got this great line right
now. I see in part, yes, but then I
will see fully. Now I know in part, but then I
will know fully, just as I am fully known.
And it's like this beautiful invitation to wonder and
curiosity and also unresolved life.
And I was gonna leave that sentence unresolved, but like,
you know, it, it really is it. It's just constant, constant
pursuit. And, you know, there are a few
Christians. I say a few.
You know, percentage wise, I don't actually know.
But there are certain flavors of denominations that wanna push
more toward perfection. But we're, you know, we're,
we're not one of them, at least denominationally, right.
Like, yeah, I think that's the piece that you know for sure
you're gonna find different interpretations on that as well.
But yeah, so I would say a couple of things because 1
again, I, I think if you are so locked in at understanding the
thing that you can't understand, you know, maybe that's helpful
for a season and it's fun and exciting.
I think at at times that can also maybe mean that you're
elevating the pursuit of intellect over like the pursuit
of relationship. So you know, I think listen to
that. The other thing that I would say
is, you know, as we began, don't read scripture in isolation.
If if you can read the entirety of the New Testament and think,
OK, I can just keep reading this by myself on my own.
I think you've missed like a major part of of what's going
on, which is Jesus is forming a community and that community
forms communities. And so this thing that we've
called Christianity for thousands of years now has
always meant to be lived out in relationship with other people.
Yeah. And so your relationship with
Jesus is going to be harmed if you're not finding it also
developed in relationship with other human beings, some of whom
you love and like and enjoy being around and some of whom
you love because you have to. And it's like, you annoy me, but
we're here together to figure this out.
Not you, Justin. You don't know.
But like, you know, I'm saying like it's OK, like I, I think
real shoulder to shoulder don't always get along.
That kind of community is where we're meant to study Scripture
best and. So that's kind of first step,
right? Like if we are struggling to
understand either like the the knowledge or wisdom or how to
the living out of Scripture, like that's probably a great, a
great starting point. Like get, get involved in a, in
a, in a small group of people who you can read with and and
try to discern with. Maybe it's community Bible study
maybe whatever that looks like yeah and like you're gonna get a
diversity of of perspectives and illegal.
Here's maybe what's going on here and next level, you know,
beyond the fact that we have, you know, people across our
church or across our city or whoever that we could
potentially learn from. We have voices across time and
space of, of people who have been wrestling this stuff out as
scholars who are way smarter than you or I, who have been
doing this a long, long time. Yeah.
Both modern and ancient, Right. You know, so like one of the one
of my favorite things to do when I'm reading a reading a passage
and you can find most of these things online for free.
Doesn't, you don't have to have like a whole stack of
commentaries again, we'll get there in a second, But like
finding even just what, what are the early, what did the early
church fathers say about some of this stuff?
You know, how did they, how did they understand this?
Cause they were closer to the time of Jesus, right?
They may have some insight that we that a we don't, or even
modern scholars don't. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So this may be helpful to talk through like our our preaching
prep process, right, which might just be helpful in terms of
laying out a framework for people.
So I think what we try to do here is really allow as best we
can the text to speak for itself.
So what that means is, um, I'm starting here, right?
So typically when I'm like on weeks when I'm preaching usually
and and I'm a week of preacher. I've tried my entire life to be
like Ohtani have. I have three-week like sermons
written for three, the three night like it's.
Hard. God bless that person who can do
that. It's.
Yeah, I what I've found of myself is like, I need to live
it in the same week. And I finally found like some,
some mentors and coaches who do the same thing.
And that's been so freeing because I've constantly like
some of my, some of my mentors and ministry coaches over the
years have have always been these like, yeah, we're a couple
weeks ahead, we're a series ahead or we're like full
outlines are done for an entire series.
Like, and I'm like, well, I can't outline this whole series.
I can break up the passages for the whole thing.
And you know, but like we're, we're going through Luke here.
Like it's not the same as a four week service sermon series, but
it's been so freeing to find the like tribe of people who are
like, no, we're living it out the week of.
So week of for me, it's, it's I'm, I'm praying and I'm
thinking and I'm getting quiet and I'm reading and that can
look different for everybody, but sometimes I'll walk,
sometimes I'll pace, sometimes I'll run sometimes, but you
know, I'm, I'm reading and I'm thinking and I'm praying
throughout the week for sure. But it starts there and then we
read, we sit down now on Mondays and we read the text together on
Mondays. And kind of the, the unspoken
spoken commitment is like, we've not done a ton of research,
we've not done a ton of reading and commentaries.
We've not gone off and done our own because we really want to
read this and allow it to stand and speak for itself.
Yeah. So we're reading, we're
studying, we're writing, we're noticing, we're making marks,
we're going flipping through scriptures like we've discussed.
So we start there and allow it to confuse us, allow it to
encourage us and challenge us and excite us and start to
wonder and think, oh, my goodness, like this is how this
could shape us as a community. And from that point.
Usually I think for those of us who like, you know, for, for the
preacher, like I always walk away from that, from that time
going like if I, if I was sick from now until Sunday, I could
get U and just teach through the passage.
I could do it. I've not ever done that, but I
could do it. Like that's how beneficial and
helpful it is. So, you know, you, you, I walk
away always so encouraged by that, that time together.
And then from there, it's in the personal, my own individual
study where I'm rereading it, I'm making notes, I've got a
list of questions and then I'm into commentaries.
And so then I will read all the commentaries that we have.
And so we have collection of I think 5 or 6 commentaries that
we're working through with the Luke.
Curated, I would say. Yeah, I definitely chose those.
Yeah, there. It's not all, it's not
exhaustive. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, because I find that sometimes like I'll go through
so like I, you get this Bible software called Logos, which,
you know, you can get different tiers and packages.
And I will, I have, I have learned that there are maybe two
or three that I will also read in addition to the the physical
copies that you have. Because I'm like, man, some of
these are just either two in the weeds or they're not from a, a
focus that really makes sense for our context, you know, and
so like, I think curated and, and if you ever have questions
about, you know, like, Hey, would this be a good commentary?
We could help you with that, right?
Like, because there are not all commentaries are made equal.
And, and it's not that, you know, I, I am, you know, making
like a snap judgment on well, I don't like that person or that
name, but it it's more so about like, Hey, is this a trusted
source who has been, you know, doing this for, for, you know,
over the long haul? Yeah.
Like there.
That's that's a challenge I find as well.
But yeah. Yeah.
So, yeah, so like I'll read through, get through
commentaries and again, I'm taking notes and studying and it
I'm always pleasantly amazed that, you know, many of the
questions that we come to are the questions that people have
been asking for generations. And they're the questions that
the writers have wrestled with. So I will go from there.
I'll read through all the commentaries and then, you know,
between those, those notes and the notes that we have from our
discussion, that's when I'll start to build like an outline
for a sermon. And OK, what are my, what are my
points? And what's the one thing I want
people to hear and take away from and how do I want it to
shape their Monday? So that's more about the
preaching side of things. At some point after I've, you
know, done a good chunk of my writing, I'll also go back and,
you know, if we're more topical for the day.
So, you know, we've talked through the Lord's Prayer.
I have some just really good books on prayer that I've read
and so I'll go back and and kind of skim through some of those
books and resources as well. So usually, usually I'm, you
know, probably 80 or 90% of the way through my sermon and then
I'll go and I'll read through some of those books as well.
Those would be like less academic, yeah.
Yeah, and some sometimes historical, like on prayer.
I I went back through, well, a few books, but a book by Pete
Gregg on prayer and a book by Philip Yancey on prayer.
Stuff that, like everyone could and should read.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
And and that's, you know, sometimes I, I will think of
like I, I know, I know this person, this author has a great
quote and I know it's in line with this point that we're kind
of working through. Let me go and find that, remind
myself of it and that kind of stuff.
So that's where it all starts to come together.
But I think if I could trace like for people, let let me just
outline a thread here is there's there's a benefit to just you
and and the book in front of you, right you in the passage,
you and Jesus, like pray, go into it praying God would you by
the power of your Holy Spirit. Allow me to see what you want me
to see. Yeah, right.
Go in prayerfully like this is alive, like we've talked about
the the Bible as being this, this living, active word because
of the Holy Spirit and what God's presence will do in you as
you read it. So go in expectant, read it and
and prayerfully read it and reread it and ask questions and
wonder and write notes. So you just you and the text in
Jesus, right like that. That's great.
And then get yourself a community of people who you can
ask and wonder with and wrestle stuff out with and know that
there's a wealth of resources that their commentaries and
books on things that you're now wondering because you've read.
But what I would say is don't do that backwards.
Don't just read the Christian authors because everybody's
reading the Christian authors. Don't start with, well, what
does this be like? You know what, what does Martin
Luther say about infant baptism? I mean, that's a great thing to
go and, and read and wonder, but don't start there.
Like don't go, hey, you know what does?
So and so say, pick your person about Luke 11 one to 10 or 11.
Like don't, don't start there. Start with it in front of you
and work your way toward your own questions because that's how
it's going to shape your life in real time as you're living your
life. And you're going to find your
own voice in it. And you're going to learn that
you ask your own questions in it.
And you're going to learn that God's that God reveals these
things to you. And you go, wow.
But so much like all of those stages are important because
here's OK, here's the opposite. So don't start by asking what
other people are saying, but also check what you're saying
against what Like if what you, you know, if if you've read a
passage, you're like, I now know the divinely given truth about
this verse and it is different than 2000 years of church
history. I am just saying, yeah, at least
double check that with a few other people, right?
Because that's you. We in isolation, it can go silly
and sideways, right? In our own biases can come in
and you know what we want instead of what we're actually
reading all of those things. So that's a lot.
But like there's a, there's a reason for all of.
This is a reason for all that. And there's a reason why if you,
if you look at the, the, the beginning of like a Bible
translation, it will list the sometimes dozens or hundreds of
scholars who helped contribute to that because like this stuff
is complicated. And, and I would be very wary of
one person, or at least for like, So for instance, let's
like, let's say Eugene Peterson's The Message, which is
more of a paraphrase than a translation, literally, but like
wonderful resource, great resource.
And yet also not something that I would, I would say is
something that we should use as our sole reading of the
Scriptures, right. And he did that mostly himself.
There's a reason why, like sometimes hundreds of scholars
have worked on these passages because they're wrestling it out
together. Yeah, yeah.
And it's why we begin in community, right?
For us who are preaching, we begin in community and it ends
in community. Like that's the book ends of, of
preaching, right? So that's a lot in terms of how
to read the, the Bible. I think the most important thing
is just read it. Yeah, just do it.
And and the most important translation of the best
translation for you is the one that you're going to read.
So don't get worked up about like, well, is at the end NIV or
NLT or ESV or, you know, New King James, whatever the version
like read the one you're gonna read.
If you want opinions we've got em but.
Definitely have opinions, however, read the one that
you're gonna read and read the one that you enjoy reading.
Like, you know, there are certain versions that are much
more readable than others. And so like, find one that you
enjoy and are going to spend time with and then write it up,
mark it like put notes in the margins, underline stuff, like
use it until it falls apart and then find something else.
Yeah. So I think that's that's the
best way to study the Bible is just to actually do it.
But hopefully that gives some framework, I think, for how we
kind of come through our own prep and how it might shape
people's reading. Hmm, we hope that you have a
great week and we'll see you in the next episode.