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Last updated on
Oct. 28, 2003
Study
Delivered October 5, 2003
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: Romans 12:1-2
Main Idea: Through the spiritual discipline of study we allow God's Spirit to transform our minds so we may resist conformity to the world, while growing in the knowledge of God's will.
Purpose: To challenge the listeners to persevere in regular study, especially of God's Word. To encourage the listeners with the benefits of such study.
Introduction: One of the greatest needs in the western church today is for the development of thinking Christians, not just in our seminaries and pulpits, but on the street and in the pew. There is a great need today for ordinary believers whose minds grow steadily into the mind of Christ, and who resist allowing their minds to be shaped by the popular opinion of the world around them. Long ago the great apostle Paul wrote of this very thing: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Romans 12:2a).
In his wonderful translation J.B. Phillips put it this way: "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould." Anyone who has ever worked with a mould, like a simple cookie cutter, knows that everything that is pressed into the mould pretty much comes out looking the same.
One comment sometimes heard today is that the life of the average western Christian is almost indistinguishable from the life of the average non-Christian. Their mind set is the same. They have the same goals, it is said, and pursue the same things. Now our society puts a high premium on wealth, personal security, comfort, pleasure, recognition, status, and so on. Life is all about self, self-fulfilment, self-happiness, self-achievement. To the degree that Christians mirror this mind set, it demonstrates a failure of discipleship. For Jesus called his followers to be "in the world, but not of the world." We are to think differently about values than the world around us.
Nonconformity: But how can we do this? How can we resist conforming to the world's standards, when we live in the world? We are being squeezed on every side. How then can we keep our minds, which control our actions, from being forced into the world's mould? The enormous pressure to conform begins at a very young age, as parents of schoolchildren well know, and as anyone who has been to school knows as well. There is tremendous pressure on our young people to wear the right clothes, to have the right friends, to listen to the right music, to have the right experiences.
Such peer pressure is relentless, and it doesn't only apply to children. We all face it. Day by day we are bombarded by messages encouraging us to seek security, comfort, wealth, and status. Jesus, on the other hand, asks us to seek only one thing, the Kingdom of God. But the pressure that the world exerts is so great and so constant that it is most capable of shaping the way that we think. We must never underestimate its strength. If we do nothing to resist that pressure, if we do not counteract it, we will inevitably find that we will long for all the things that the world longs for, rather than hungering and thirsting for God's Kingdom. A rather sobering self-examination is to look back over your last week, and ask yourself: What things preoccupied my thought life this week? Was I preoccupied with God and thoughts of serving God, or did thoughts of God's kingdom scarcely register on my mental radar? Our thought life so easily takes on the form of the world around us.
The Spiritual Discipline of Study: Therefore, as the apostle Paul so astutely pointed out, the great need is for a transformed mind: "Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God." Paul could not speak any clearer here about the reason why we need transformation–in order to discern God's will. Without transformation we cannot know it, or will not want to know it, because our values will be the world's values. And Paul is also very clear about the fact that it is our minds that need to be transformed. Why our minds? Because our minds control our actions.
A discerning mind is the need of the hour in a world where individuals, groups and nations constantly claim their right to exert their own will. (Give example?) If we are to resist conformity to the world's standards, and act differently by obeying God's will, we must learn to think differently. Ultimately the question we must wrestle with is this: How are our minds transformed? By what process do we grow in the knowledge of God's will?
Generally speaking, in our series on the spiritual disciplines, we have seen how the disciplines lead to transformation. The goal of the spiritual disciplines is to become more godly, more Christlike. "Train yourself in godliness," wrote the apostle Paul to his young friend Timothy, "for while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way." We are called to engage in spiritual exercise, to work out in God's gymnasium, in order that we may mature as Christians and grow into the likeness of Christ. We want to exchange old destructive habits of thought with life giving habits. When we embrace spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, solitude, and service, we show that we take such training seriously. Now all of these disciplines will help to transform our minds, but there is one spiritual discipline in particular that God has graciously given us in order to directly address this issue, and that is the discipline of study. That is what we are going to look at today.
In today's world we can study just about anything we want to. There are so many fascinating fields and subjects open to us, and God may well lead some of us to study them. But the spiritual discipline of study above all involves applying the mind to those things that will transform it into the mind of Christ, so that we may discern the will of God. Above all else, this discipline involves engaging ourselves with the Bible, the Word of God. There are certainly many other things worthy of study, but it is indispensable for us as Christians to have our minds reformed by immersing them in Scripture. Forming the Mind: It is a fact that our minds tend to take on the order of the things we think about. When the mind repeatedly returns to the same subject, ingrained habits of thought are formed. Repetition works. Let me give an illustration. I can only remember three phone numbers from the life I had before moving to Petitcodiac five years ago, not counting 911!. The first is my parent's phone number, which used to be my home number. The second is Joanne's old home number, since I used to call her a fair bit before we were married. The third phone number is one I never called once in my entire life. But I remember it because I heard it repeatedly, I was bombarded with it on the airwaves, and I'm sure many of you know it as well. It is the old number for Prince Edward Island Tourism: 1-800-565-7421!
That is a trivial example, but it can be much more consequential. If we repeatedly think about worldly concerns, our minds will become worldly. If we think about negative things, our minds will become negative. If we think only about trivial things, our minds become trivial. This is why the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (4:8). That is precisely what the discipline of study involves, thinking about "these things," repeatedly turning our minds to the things of God that help transform us. This is an area of greatest importance. What we study influences how we think.
One of the happy consequences of my becoming a pastor here in the Mennonite Church is that Anabaptist teaching truly has transformed the way I think and act. Before I became your pastor, I would have paid lip service to the teachings Mennonites hold dear, intellectually I agreed with them, which is probably a result of being raised by Mennonite parents, but I didn't think about them very much. But now, for example, I greatly value community life, much more than I ever did before. The concept of community has taken on a completely new meaning for me. In addition, concepts like peacemaking, reconciliation, and service have become not only deeply cherished ideals, but ideals which I strive to translate into action. The concept of the whole gospel for a broken world will from now on forever be a part of me. How did this change come about? Through your example for one, and the example was also reinforced through the repeated turning of my mind to Anabaptist teachings. Regular study helps to transform our minds, and by consequence, our actions. But, once again, if we don't study, by default it is the world which influences us.
The way to resist conformity to the world, the way to stand firm against its constant pressure, is to constantly bring our minds to bear on God's Word, to study God's character, God's will. For what the mind repeats, it retains. As we saw in our children's story, the OT instructs the Israelites to bind God's law on their wrists and foreheads, and to write it on their gates and doorposts. The purpose of this instruction is to direct the mind repeatedly and regularly towards God's will for us, God's will for our relationship with him, with one another, with creation.
One word of caution before we move on: as we engage in the spiritual discipline of study, we must always rely on God's Spirit to transform us. This prevents study from becoming a legalistic routine. We cannot transform ourselves, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus himself taught his disciples, "the Spirit will guide you into all truth." Study is a means of grace, that is, it is a means by which Jesus can gracefully pour his Spirit into us, and transform us.
Studying the Bible: Once we understand how important Bible study is, a new question arises: How does one study the Bible? It is time now for this teaching to take a practical turn. There are different things to say about that, but I just want to make a few points, beginning with this–one of the great needs today is simply for the reading of large portions of Scripture. I came across a quote a few weeks ago which I don't remember exactly, but it went something like this: the worst kept secret of the Protestant church is how many people stress the importance of reading the Bible, but how few people have actually read it through themselves.
Much of our Bible reading today is fragmentary and sporadic. Many people, for example, use devotional guides, which usually only ask us to read a few verses of Scripture at a time, followed by a story or an illustration. I want to say first of all that I am not at all against using such guides, in fact, I cautiously encourage it. It is certainly much better than no study at all. But a problem arises if such devotional reading is the extent of our study, for then we are short changing our minds. We need more than that. That is not a meal, it is a snack. Just like our physical bodies will not be as healthy as they can be if we only snack and never sit down to a solid meal, so too when we feed on the Word of God we need to do more than snack. We need to eat food from all the biblical food groups: we need to digest biblical history, to see what God has been doing, and to learn where history is moving; we need to read wisdom literature, in order to gain practical wisdom for life; we need to read the Psalms, so we can learn how to pray and express ourselves to God; we need to read the prophets, both to learn from the warnings given to others, and at the same time to learn what it is that God truly desires from his people; we need to read the gospels, which highlight the life of Jesus, including his teachings and miracles, as well as his death and resurrection; we need to read the NT letters, which draw out the significance of Jesus' ministry and challenge the NT churches to remain faithful to him in their own special contexts; and we need to read apocalyptic literature, like Revelation, which encourages us never to forget the eternal perspective, that in the end God's purpose for history will be fulfilled, that in spite of all appearances, God is still in control, and all evil will be defeated and God's Kingdom will stand forever. For the fullest possible understanding of God and God's will, we need to study all of God's Word.
Interpretation: In addition to reading large portions of Scripture, we should also say this: when we study any particular book of the Bible, a simple and very beneficial practice is to first read through the entire book at least once, and better yet many times. That is the only way to grasp the overall purpose of any given author. And when it comes to Bible study, there is no more important question to ask than that one: What did the original author intend? That question is absolutely vital. What is the point the author is making to his or her readers? That is the key question the spiritual discipline of study always seeks to answer: What did this text mean to the original audience? It will sometimes take a lot of work to answer that question, for it will mean paying serious attention to context: How does this point fit in with the rest of the author's argument? Why is it being made? In addition to literary context, we must also pay attention to historical context: What was social life like for the original readers? What customs did they observe? What problems were they struggling with? What unique challenges did they face?
Unfortunately we often skip this very important stage of study, and instead when we read the Bible we rush to the question: "What does this text mean for me?" That is a very legitimate question. Naturally we want to know what the Bible's message means for our lives; if we didn't want to know that, something would be wrong. We must ask that question. But at the same time, we cannot make the text mean anything that pleases us. On this one thing all serious Bible scholars agree–a text cannot mean today what it never meant originally, or our interpretation has gone astray. We must not come to the Bible and invent new meaning for it–its meaning for us can only be found in its meaning for its original listeners.
Nonetheless, many people come up with their own meanings for different texts. At some Bible studies we may hear a conversation like the following: This is what the text means to me, says one person. Oh, well this is what it means to me, says a second person. And yet a third person has a different idea, saying, this is what it means to me. It is for just such a reason that many people scarcely read the Bible anymore, saying, "What's the point, we can't know what it means, everyone has a different opinion."
But that is a false conclusion, for we can know what the Bible means. Certainly there are some texts that are notoriously difficult, and there will always be a measure of debate over certain texts, but the overall message of God's Word is clear and understandable. The original authors definitely did know what they meant when they were writing, and by paying proper attention to literary and historical context, we can usually know what they meant as well. As Gordon Fee writes, "The antidote to bad interpretation is not no interpretation, but good interpretation, based on common sense guidelines" (How to Read the Bible for all its Worth, p. 17).
Study and Meditation: None of this is to say that the only way to approach the Bible is in an academic way. In our series on the spiritual disciplines we have already looked at the discipline of meditation. If study is analytical, meditation is devotional. Meditation is every bit as much as important as study, perhaps even more so. Some people find study by itself can be rather dry, but it is in meditation that the fruit of our study becomes alive. We need to take time to reflect on the Biblical texts, to close our eyes and engage our imaginations, to stay with a single word, verse or story and allow God to speak to us through it. But our meditation should always be based on truth, the truth that we discover when we study. Study informs meditation, and meditation makes our study come alive. The two properly belong together.
Sacrifice: Before we close, let me address one area of concern. You may be thinking, "I don't know about the spiritual discipline of study, it sounds like it may be a lot of hard work." Well, let me put your minds at ease–it is. Study often involves hard work on our part, but so does anything that is worthwhile pursuing. All of the disciplines ask us to take spiritual training very seriously. Let me return again to our text from Romans 12, about the need to renew our minds. As Paul raises that concern, he first writes this: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (12:1). In view of all that God has done for us in Christ, our entire bodies are to be offered to God, which certainly includes our minds. Our response to God's love for us is to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to train ourselves for life in God's kingdom. Jesus himself asks no less of us when he gave us the greatest of all commandments: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind." When we take study seriously, we show that we do strive to love God with our minds.
In my opinion God has granted no greater gift to our physical bodies than the gift of our minds. Every part of our body is wonderful and intricate, but can anything surpass the mind? The mind is a tremendous gift. What a joy it is to be able to think and reason and plan. But with every gift that God gives, he also requires responsible stewardship. Responsible stewardship of the mind demands that we apply it to study the things that enable us to learn about God and God's will.
Conclusion: So let us persevere in the regular study of God's Word. As we do so, in humble dependence upon the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth, we will find that we no longer want to conform to the ways of this world. Our value systems will change, and we will find ourselves thinking in exciting and radical new ways. We will no longer want to live for self but for Jesus Christ, and that is what being a Christian is all about.