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Feed Yourself™ Lesson Two

By Glenn Davis

Introduction Part 2
Time and Methods

"Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time."  Col. 4:5

Time

Why don't we feed ourselves from God's Word?  One reason is that we don't know how - and we will be solving that over the next 18 weeks. However, for many of us, another reason is time.

We look at our lives.  We have no time.  We live in a busy society.  Something is always happening.  We may spend 40-60+ hours a week working, plus caring for our families, attending church, and participating in other activities.  There doesn't seem to be any spare time for Bible Study.  

If we use time as an excuse, it is precisely that: an excuse.  Often, we use this excuse while spending 2-3 hours a night watching TV or hours playing or watching sports.  The fact is, nobody finds time, but we all make time for whatever we think is essential.  Not too many of us miss natural meals!

We all have the same amount of time - 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week.  Just as we need to budget our finances, we also need to budget our time.  Often, financially, people live day by day; they spend what they make and trade their future for present pleasures.  With time, we often do the same thing, but we rarely think about it in terms of the passage of time.  Money is replaceable, but time is not.  Are we investing time for the future?  This applies in many ways, but in our case, are we willing to invest time in feeding ourselves from God's Word so we can be healthy and effective in helping others?  This will last forever.  How many of the things we invest our time in will last forever?  Some things are needful, but what are our priorities?  If we are to feed ourselves, we must be convinced that it is a priority.  If we are not, then we may start well, but we will fade when the going gets tough [and it will!]

Read 1 Cor. 9:26-27, Phil. 3:13-14, 2 Tim. 4:6-8.  How we start matters less than how we finish.  Many start well but get lost somewhere before the finish line.  Perseverance is a necessary virtue of the Christian life.  The road is not easy.  It cost Christ His life.  It will not cost us less.  We are all to be faithful until death, whether through natural death in old age, martyrdom, or something else.

As we begin this series, commit to investing time in learning and applying the principles of feeding yourself.  Work through each project - no skipping!  Your commitment will be tested.  Satan wants you half-starved.  God wants you healthy.  It is your choice [and mine]. What is it going to be?

Approaches To Bible Study

There are two main approaches to Bible Study.  Both have their place.  They are called the Deductive Method and the Inductive Method.

The Deductive Method starts with an idea or belief about what the Bible teaches.  You then take that theory to Scripture to try to prove it.  You search Scripture for what It teaches in relation to your current view.

We all do this to a certain extent because none of us is a blank sheet of paper.  We all have various beliefs, experiences, and traditions that shape how we perceive things.  In itself, this is not wrong; however, it can be very dangerous.  The danger arises when we are tempted to ignore Scriptures that contradict our theory, or when we twist Scriptures to make them fit our theory.  We must be extremely careful to search for the entire picture and be willing to change or abandon our theory if we discover the Word of God teaching something else.  In other words, we must be teachable, have open hearts to the Holy Spirit, and hold the Word of God above our theories.

With that in mind, we must remember that Bible helps are not divinely inspired.  Even something as simple as chapter headings or chapter-and-verse divisions is not inspired.  They are there to help, but they can contain errors.  A chapter or division title may not accurately represent what is being said.  Sometimes chapter breaks fall in the middle of a thought, and you must read the first verses of the next chapter to continue it.  The chapter and verse divisions we have today were completed in the 16th century.  Everything - headings, comments, illustrations - must be judged by the text.  It is easy to assume that because comments or illustrations are within the Bible, they must be accurate.  Do not assume.  Read, study, think.

This is the method the Bereans [from the Scripture last week - Acts 17:11] used.  Paul had taught them something.  They then took that teaching to the Scriptures to see whether it was true.  They began with a point of view and then, with an open mind and heart, checked it out.  Was it right or not?

The second approach is called the Inductive Method.  As you might guess, it is the opposite of the Deductive Method.  In the Inductive Method, you try to clear your mind of preconceived ideas and theories as much as possible.  You do not take a theory to Scripture to test it.  Instead, you start with the Scripture.  You meditate on it, perhaps memorize it, look at it from every angle.   Your objective is to let Scripture tell you what it means.  You do not start by thinking you know what it means; instead, you allow it to speak to you.

Just as the Deductive Method has its dangers, so does the Inductive Method.  It is easy to become subjective.  We can mistakenly believe we have received a private revelation and become lifted up in pride.

Read 1 Cor 8:1.  Knowledge needs to come with a humble, teachable spirit.  Pride is the spiritual silent killer.  It creeps up and takes us down if we don't constantly look out for it.

The answer to the dangers of Bible Study is not ignorance.  The Catholic Church tried that in the so-called Dark and Middle Ages.  Although it kept the "common" man from misusing the Scripture, it ended up doing the very thing it tried to prevent.  Ignorance is deadly.

The answer, no matter which method we use [and we will probably use both of them in different situations], is found in our relationship with Christ.  If we maintain a humble, teachable spirit before Him and let the Holy Spirit teach us, we will not go far wrong.  We need to be willing to quickly change our ideas when Scripture proves them wrong.  We need to be in the right relationship with a body of believers and under a pastor's authority.  If our study leads us into new areas, we need to be willing to have men and women of God test our ideas.  Read Gal. 2:1-2.  Even Paul was willing to subject what he was teaching to the judgment of the apostles in Jerusalem.  He wanted to be sure he was not going into error.  If we are willing to do all this, then Bible Study will not be a danger, but rather a life-giving and life-enriching activity that will grow us and others for eternity.

Read 1 John 4:1, 1 Thess. 5:21.  Everything needs to be tested to see if it is genuinely from God.  Christianity has no “secret” revelations.  We bring everything into the Light.  If we come up with a revelation that no one in orthodox Christianity has seen in the last 2,000 years, we need to be suspicious.  It may be new to us, but someone else who has studied the Word of God has probably seen it as well.

My father, an experienced missionary, Bible teacher, Christian school operator, and pastor, has said, "If you can show me from Scripture that what I teach is wrong, I will change."  We should all have that attitude.

WEEK TWO PROJECT

1.  Review how you spend your time every day of every week.  Keep a log if necessary.  Determine what your life priorities are.  Set aside a half-hour every day for doing this course to learn how to feed yourself from the Word of God.  If at all possible, make it the same time each day, a time when you are not likely to be interrupted.  Turn the phone off - you are its master, not its slave!  Also, remember this is Bible Study time, not prayer time [except to ask the Holy Spirit to explain what you are reading].

2.  Commit to read through your Bible.  Read two chapters a day on average - one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament.  Start with Genesis one and Matthew one.  When you get to Psalms, you may want to read more than one short chapter. On the other hand, for Psalm 119, you may want to break it into two or more readings.  However, try to average two chapters a day.  To feed ourselves, we need a big picture of the entire Bible, as we will see in later lessons.  You may want to break it up: read one chapter in the morning when you get up and one at night before you go to bed.  [This is not part of the 1/2 time you are trying to find.]

3.  A very special page has been set up for the Feed Yourself™ course students.  It lists many online Bible Study Resources.  It is easy to get "lost" in all the help.  Remember, your prime goal is to study the Bible for yourself.  Don't let "helps'" get in the way.  In a later lesson, we'll detail how to use some of these "helps" effectively.  The page is https://www.free-bible-study-lessons.com/study-the-Bible.html.  I suggest you bookmark it.

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Reference Works Used In This Course:

Bible Study Methods by Mrs. Shirley Davis

The International Inductive Study Bible by Harvest House Publishers

Effective Bible Study by Howard F. Vos, Zondervan

How To Understand Your Bible by T. Norton Sterrett, IVP

How To Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur, Harvest House

Independent Bible Study by Irving L. Jensen, Moody

How To Study The Bible For Yourself by Tim LaHaye, Harvest House

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