Bona Fide
Part 10
A study of James- “kind of”
“ The truth , the whole truth and nothing but the truth”
As I was praying and preparing for this week’s sermon
I wanted to continue our sermon series on James
I believe the dots we are connecting are important for us
In becoming Bona Fide believers
And
I love doing book studies as well
You see
As I preach through a book of the bible
I have to preach what God has written in his word
This means I often have to preach messages that are hard
Messages that I would prefer to skirt
Messages that
Let’s get real here
You might prefer not to hear as well
I in no way ever want to be accused of being a tickle your ear preacher
Or hell fire and brimstone on the other end of the spectrum
I truly believe we have enough of those around already
And I also believe that they are doing and injustice to themselves
By not preaching all of God’s word as we are commanded to do
An Injustice to their listeners
By only talking about the love while completely ignoring the justice of God
Or completely embracing the justice while forgetting about the love
Both are important parts of his Word
And his character
And both are necessary for spiritual growth
True spiritual growth
Bonefideness is what we call that here at Caney Creek
I also believe in my heart they are doing an injustice to God himself
Sometimes by painting a picture of him as some sort of a genie in a bottle
Someone to call on when the water is hot
And the wheels are falling off your life, or when we want something
Or as a Harsh Father figure
Who is all about telling us what not to do?
Stealing our fun
Some like to say
-----Pause----
You have heard me stress
Many times the importance of in context
Preaching
Teaching and study of God’s word
It is vitally important that we use good
Hermeneutics when studying scripture
I know that’s a big word that is sometimes not often used in our daily vocabulary and some may not understand its meaning
What it means in simple terms
Is using a method to interpret and understand scripture
Let me put this in perspective
Would you
Take a book
Such as Lonesome dove
And open up to say page
106 and look half way down the page
Read a sentence
Or a part of a sentence
And believe that you could base your thoughts, opinions and understanding of that book on one small part of the book?
Would you think you knew enough about the book to write a report or tell someone about it
Kind of ridiculous – Right?
Unfortunately
That is how many in the world today
Try and interpret scripture
They open God’s word
Take a verse, sentence, partial sentence
Or even passage out of context
And base their personal opinions
Beliefs
Values
Morals
And doctrines
On that out of context information
Others in the world today
Lead many astray by applying this type of teaching to the sheep they have been called to lead
Sometimes purposefully ----other times out of ignorance
So today
I am going
To take a quick break from James
But I can tell you today’s teaching still stay with the Bona Fide theme
It is my desire today to show you
How to use scripture
And the dots we have been connecting throughout this study
To grow in maturity and knowledge
To grow in understanding
To grow in depth
And to grow in faith
------ Pause----
You see I believe
And I am not alone
In this thinking
That is it is God’s word that changes lives
I and other preachers ----and you when you witness are simply messengers of his word
The bible is unlike any other book ever written
Because it and it alone is a living breathing document
That speaks to the very heart of man- and women
To develop faith
And to help them take the necessary steps towards the righteousness
Or the Bona Fineness
That God desires
First let’s open God’s word to 2 Timothy 2:15
In this passage the
Apostle Paul is speaking to his protégée
Timothy
He has left Timothy behind to lead the church at Ephesus
And he is giving him
And us
In the process
Instructions on how to teach
How to lead in a way that others will follow
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
Work hard means simply this
Open the word
And study
Read
Pray on and meditate about what you read
Seek Godly council when you don’t understand
And seek God’s wisdom to help you understand
Receive his approval means he will be pleased that you have taken the time to read
Study
Understand
And teach his word
Verse 15 b
Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
This simply means apply yourself to God’s word
Read it daily
Think about it often
---- Listen to me -----
When we use God’s word
As he desires
We will have no need for shame in this area of our life
And when we correctly explain the word of truth
We receive the blessings he has for us and those blessing pass on to those we are called to minister to
So we see here in scripture
In context
That the first step in developing a method of studying the bible ties to opening it
And reading it
One of the most important keys to fully understanding scripture is to first
Read it literally unless the text is clearly symbolic
Most of the bible
I said most
Not all
Is written to say what it means
When for example
When Jesus feed the 5 thousand recorded in all four gospels
There is no hidden meaning to the number he feeds
5000 + women and kids is what that means
But in the case of Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well in John 4
We have a literal meeting with a symbolic twist
Let me read that for you
John 4:1-15
Jesus[a] knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.[b] She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
In this passage Jesus and the woman were literally there
And Jesus uses water
Something that was already a common denominator between him and the woman
He was thirsty
She was drawing water
As an illustration of salvation
Living water in this passage clearly means eternal life
The water in the bucket or in the well had no power
It was symbolic of the power or the Holy Spirit through a belief in Christ to quench our spiritual thirst.
Trying to pull deeper meaning out of the significance of the 5000 is not a good method of study
Neither is trying to put physical limitations on spiritual illustrations such as the water
Next
We must consider the historical context of the passage
Who was the writer talking to?
What subject was being addressed?
What was God through the writer trying to tell the audience?
Let’s look at Leviticus for an example of what this means
Leviticus is a part of the Mosaic Law
And the Mosaic Law was given to the nation of Israel- Those God freed from Egypt
Leviticus 19:28
“Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD.”
In the historical context of this passage
God is giving instructions to the nation of Israel- his chosen people
He is teaching them to set themselves apart
The pagan cultures that the children of God were surrounded by
Were characterized and often identified by the way they cut and marked their bodies
God is telling them through Moses
Be different from those around you
----When they look at you they should see a difference-- in simple terms
But when we take this verse out of its historical context
It becomes
Tattoos are not biblical
Is that true?
For the people that the Mosaic Law was given to – yes
For believers today – no
Does it have relevance in our lives- yes- we are called to come out from the world and be different this is what we should learn from that text.
And yes, Paul says
Everything is permissible
But not all things are beneficial
We must ask ourselves
After we have been given new life through Jesus
Do our actions proclaim Christ or hurt the cause of Christ?
----Pause---
Next we must use grammar to interpret scripture
Not all words in the Greek – Hebrew and Aramaic have English translations that truly do them justice
As a result Theologians will use the translation or definition that holds best to the passage and to the context of the teaching
I can tell you I don’t speak Greek – Hebrew or Aramaic
I don’t write – Greek – Hebrew or Aramaic
And I don’t read it either
But I have sources that do all of those that I trust
And I rely on their abilities where mine fall short
Let’s go back to the book of James
Chapter 1 first half of verse 1
“This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Look at the word slave with me
From a modern way of thinking this could be seen as a negative thing
We tend to think of slavery in the way that is was a short time ago in our country
People were captured against their will
Taken far away
And forced to do the will of those who captured or bought them
It has a negative context
But here James claims to be a slave in a positive way
The Greek word – “doulos “
Refers to complete obedience or the surrender to the lordship of someone other than yourself
When we apply the Greek meaning of the word slave
We understand that James was not forced into slavery
But that he surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus willingly- joyfully
So we see that we do not have to be scholars of the early biblical languages
But that the grammatical context of the passage will and does have a bearing on its meaning
Next
It is imperative that we understand the type of writing we are reading
There are books of history in the bible – these are very literal in nature- the thing they report actually happened
Sampson destroyed the temple – this is not symbolic- it is historic
Jesus walked on water, was crucified and rose again– this is not symbolic- this is historic
There are books of prophesy in the bible – some are very literal and others full of symbolism
For example the prophesy in Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice, O people of Zion![a]
Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,[b]
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.
Is literal- Jesus – the messiah did indeed ride into Jerusalem on a donkey
On the other hand much of the prophesy in Daniel is filled with symbolism
Such as Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2:31-35
“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. 32 The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, 33 its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. 34 As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain,[a] but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. 35 The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.
We must dig deeper to understand the meaning of these types of Prophesies
To make it even more complicated
Some books of prophesy contain both historical and symbolic significance
Such as Daniel again
We have no reason to doubt that the fiery furnace or the Lion’s Den were anything other than historic
While the vision of the statue was symbolic
There are books of poetry in the bible- Poetry uses word images to convey thought
Such as in Song of Song
Song of Songs chapter 1 verse 15
“ How beautiful you are, my darling,
how beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves.:
The writer is not saying his beloved eyes are doves- he says they are beautiful like doves
-----Pause--
So
If we are going to truly learn
Understand
Apply
And teach the bible
We must
First read in context
Read the scripture
Read the passages before and after
Read the whole book if necessary
And
Try and get an understanding of who- what and when
Look for the literal meaning before looking for hidden meaning
Look at the of the passage from a historical view
Sometimes we need to understand the culture and the times in order to understand the meaning
Try to understand the meaning of hard to understand verses though the understanding of the original words and uses
Try to determine if the writing is meant to be historic- poetic- prophetic etc. and read with that in mind
The concordance and notes if you have a study bible can help with that determination
The introductions to each book can also help with understanding the context of the writing
All of these methods
Are steps that are valuable in helping us to rightly divide? Rightly learn and teach Gods word
But there is one more that I believe will help us as much or more than the others
Uses Scripture to interpret scripture
God’s word does not contradict itself
If we are reading a passage of scripture and it seems to contradict another part of God’s word
We must stop and go back though the steps
Let’s use James and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as an example
James says in Chapter 2 of his book
James 2:14-17
“ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”
And Paul says in Ephesians 2:9-10
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Critics say they contradict each other
James says deeds- Paul says faith- they say
But when taken in context
James is talking to believers about applying their faith, How to use their faith, becoming Bona fide
Not about salvation
And Paul is talking to believers about how to obtain salvation or better yet
How they received salvation through grace
Paul says and James agrees
Salvation is by faith
But then James adds
If you want to show your faith- your salvation
You have to do something
When we look at what some call contradictions
When we do this with a method
We will see that what some call contradictions is simply a matter of focus
W hat I mean is that the writer of one book wanted to stress a certain part of a story
While the other had a different focus
Let me use a worldly illustration here
Let’s say a black cat with white spots ran across the stage behind me
When retelling the story
Some of you might say
A spotted cat ran across the stage
Some might say it was a black cat
Another might say it was a white cat
But no one would say a cow ran across the stage
We would all agree that it was a cat
And in the retelling we would recount the story as we saw it
And regardless of who told it
The hearer would clearly understand that a cat did run across the stage
But
If 100 people told the story
In exactly the same way
Down to the last detail
That in of self would indicate collusion
And collusion casts doubt on the reliability of the story
Often it is the slight variation from a different perspective that verifies the truth
Whew!!!
Let me wrap up quickly
Some people avoid hermeneutics because they mistakenly believe it will limit their ability to learn new truths from God’s Word or stifle the Holy Spirit’s illumination of Scripture.
Others avoid it in order to use scripture to promote their own ideas, views and beliefs
And yet others avoid it just because they would rather be spoon fed scripture and not have to put in any extra effort
But these fears and excuses are unfounded
Because
Biblical hermeneutics is all about finding the correct interpretation of the inspired text.
The purpose of biblical hermeneutics is to protect us from misapplying Scripture
And to keep us from allowing our own ideas, views desires and experience
To take the place of Gods true word
God’s word is truth
In context in John 17
Jesus is praying to the Father and in part of his prayer he says
John 17:17-19
17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.
It is his truth that makes us holy
It is his truth that sets us free
And his truth is right here
We have a responsibly to use it in the correct way
Close from the heart
Pray
