BIBLE STUDY      by The Rev. Chet Okopski
       
The Pastor’s Bible Study, on Wednesday evenings, is open to anyone who wants to attend a Bible Study at Grace Church.  We meet in the Chapel at 7:00 PM, after Prayer Meeting.  You do not have to be a Bible Scholar to attend this Bible Study.  It does not matter if you have ever attended a Bible Study before.  This Bible Study will be interesting and informative.  It is also an excellent opportunity to get to know the Senior Pastor of Grace Church on a one to one basis. 
       
There are three disciplines that a Christian must follow to maintain the Christian life:  Prayer, Bible Study, and Worship.  These dynamic disciplines will enable you to begin to do the work of Christ with your life: To love your neighbor as yourself and to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.   Falling short in one of these areas of Christian discipline (Prayer, Bible Study, and Worship) will create an environment in your life that will undoubtedly allow you to fall short.

We Protestants seldom think of prayer as work, but it is the work of the Christian life.  Work was defined by Aristotle as “performing one’s proper function.”  The proper function of the Christian is prayer, Bible Study, and worship.  These three things are our work.  When we perform our proper function, then we are inclined to live the Christ life, and to do Jesus things.

Many Christians never study the Bible.  Sometimes, in efforts to study the Bible, Christians enroll in classes and study groups that use a book by a famous Christian, or a study book that outlines Biblical verses or principles.  Still, this keeps us one step away from reading and studying the actual Bible.    The first principle of Bible Study must be this:  Read the Bible.  This is our Christian work.

One of Martin Luther’s principles for Bible Study was:  “Let the Bible criticize the Bible.”  What Luther meant was that the more you read it, the more the Bible will explain itself.  You may read something in the New Testament that you do not understand.  Several weeks later when you are reading some verses in the Old Testament, you suddenly understand the New Testament teachings that only a few weeks ago meant nothing to you.  Karl Barth, in Evangelical Theology, quotes the old reformed rule of Bible Study:  “Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus in Novo patet:  the New Testament is concealed within the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed by the New.”    Please believe that the more you read the Bible, the more you will understand the Bible.  It will help you go forward, and it is true.  Where to begin?

Where you begin your Bible Study, if you haven’t studied the Bible before is really dependent upon your personal needs, and where you are on your spiritual journey.  If you just want to start reading the Bible, and you haven’t ever read a book in the Bible before, I would strongly recommend the Gospel of John.  (As you read it remember that the word Gospel means Good News.  This is the Good News according to John.)

If you are philosophically inclined and like to think about great principles and ideas, then you should definitely begin your Bible Study with the Book of Proverbs.  These great truths of life will give you encouragement; affirm truths that you already know, and let you know where you have probably made your biggest mistakes.  Ecclesiastes is another philosophical book that questions life and offers unconventional answers that many people are surprised are even in the Bible.

If you like romance, then start reading the Bible with the Song of Solomon. Here is one of the greatest love stories ever written.  In fact, ancient scholars simply called it:   “The Song of All Songs.”  It was considered the ultimate love story, the story of a young working girl that the king sees and falls in love with.  The Bible tells us about our need for human contact and human love, and what great lengths we will go to for love.    The Bible compares the love of our Savior to the love of the King for a young woman he sees working out in her father’s vineyard.    Our quest for God is felt deeply in the young woman’s plea:  “Has anybody seen the one whom my soul loves?”

If you like poetry, then start your personal Bible Studying in the Psalms.  Start with Psalm 23.  It will be familiar to you.  Read through the Psalms with promises in them, promises of blessings for you.  Read through the Psalms of worship, and let the Holy Spirit pray through you as you read God’s Word.  Another book that people who love poetry enjoy is Job (pronounced with a long o) the story of a man who challenges everyone’s preconceived ideas about God.  The answers that Job gives to life’s hard challenges are rejected by the religious people of his day.  As Biblical scholars grow older, they generally rediscover Job, and find his story and their own.

If you like history, then start your Bible Study reading in the Book of Kings.  Read about how King David, a simply shepherd boy, is called by God to be the King of Israel.  Read the intrigue of high office, the deception, and the historical accounts of battle and negotiations between empires.  Or read the Book of Acts and see how the Church of Jesus Christ was formed, how it spread, and who were the key players in evangelizing the ancient empires of the Mediterranean basin.

First, find a book in the Bible that you want to read.  Forcing yourself to read parts of the Bible that bore you probably won’t keep your interest.  Get involved in a Bible Study where you feel comfortable and can ask questions.  I think we have just the thing for you here at Grace Church!

For a daily devotional online click on this link to Charles Spurgeon's archive: http://www.spurgeon.org/daily.htm