Interpreting the Bible: Part 2

Do you remember your first job?

Can you think back that far?

Do you remember how when you started that job, even if you had had some training, you had a lot to learn? You had to figure out how the systems worked in the office or on the job. You had to probably, in many situations, had to do a little reading. or you had to be with someone on the job who would take you through the various steps of how whatever your job was worked. And you know when you began that job, in many ways, you didn't have a clue.

You started with very little knowledge, but because your income depended on it, many times your putting food on the table depended on it, your spouse depended on it, your children depended on it, because all those things were very important you learned how to do it didn't you and sometimes it wasn't easy but you did it what i'm my point here is we often will take situations that are very complex very challenging in the work environment and if we're faced with those because our livelihood depends on it our family depends on it we learn it and we figure out how to do it But sometimes those same people who have done so well in figuring out how to do their jobs, they come to the Bible and they say, I haven't got a clue and there's no way I can learn how to do this. I'm going to tell you, if you made the effort and were able at whatever job you first had to learn how to do that job, you too can learn how to study and understand this Bible. but like your first job you have to start at the beginning and learn some basics you have to learn how things work and you don't learn it all at one time and it will take some effort right but you know what your life depends on it and the lives of others depend on it so I'm going to argue if you were willing to make the effort at that first job or your current job to learn it and know how do it, learn the systems and so forth because it was important to do it. This is even more important. Sometimes we don't ask you as adults to do enough when it comes to learning the Bible. Sometimes we sort of just give you pablum all the time in church, you know. Just keep it simple. Don't offer anything that's of any depth. I'm saying we need to challenge our adults and we need to challenge ourselves to learn the basics, to learn how the system works, to learn what we need to know so we can better understand and know this Bible. You probably haven't noticed, but over the last several years in this Sunday school class, what we do at the beginning of the year is lay some foundation. Johnny was doing a Bible blitz, kind of a big picture view of some issues of scripture and I'm doing some foundational stuff about how to interpret the Bible and some of this stuff means we've got to put on our thinking caps a little bit we've got to be willing to work through it and we'll get through this pretty soon and then we'll move on to some other stuff this year but right now we're thinking about how to interpret the Bible and one thing that I think we need to know when we come to interpret this Bible is that this book is not all the same type of writing. In other words, if you read this book, you will read some parts of it that are poetry.

You will read some parts of it that are letters. You will read some parts of it that we call narrative, just storytelling. Some parts of it are gospels. Some part of it is what we call apocalyptic, deals with some of that end time stuff. And you know what? Each of those different have their own issues for us to be able to understand how to interpret them.

And just as today, if you read a letter, you would read it with one set of understanding, different from the way you would read poetry, you need to understand how to deal with the different types of writing in this book. Does everybody follow me? The big fancy word is there are different genres in this book. And that's what we're going to talk about for the next few minutes this morning. we're on page three letter d we started this last week if you do not have a handout if you want to get up right now and go to the back table there are a few back there just uh just go get them somebody from the table can go get a few okay if we're out and you have an extra maybe you'll share with somebody at the table maybe a couple can can share okay but since we need to put on our thinking caps we better pray ready let's pray lord i thank you that we have the privilege of coming together to study your word forgive us for taking your word too lightly forgive us for not investing the time and effort to understand it forgive us for not laying the foundation

but today i pray that by your spirit we will be encouraged to do just that and that we will that we have the opportunity to learn from the master what it is that is important in life, how we are to live, what character we are to have. But Lord, to do that, we need the help of your spirit to help us better understand this word and apply it to our lives. And this day, we ask for your presence as we turn and think about your word. For it's in Christ's name we pray, and for his sake, amen. everybody loves a good story and one type of writing that we have in the scripture is called narrative narrative is scripture that tells the story of what happened or what was said in your handout it tells the story the word story is the blank they're filling the blank much of the old Testament is storytelling. The book of Acts, a lot of it, is just telling us the story of what happened or what did not happen. But there's some important things we need to remember when we're talking about narrative. The first thing we need to remember is this. What is described is not necessarily prescribed. And I'm going to illustrate that in just a moment. But what is described in is not necessarily prescribed.

In other words, we're told that many things happen in Scripture, but you know, a lot of those things that happen are not things that we should do. In fact, sometimes some very bad things are described in Scripture, and we definitely don't want to do them. So we need to be careful when we come to narrative, when we read a story about what happened, that we don't necessarily assume that everything that happened there today. King David did some very good things in scripture that we should follow but King David did some things that were not so commendable and just because he did them and we're told he did them does not mean we should do them. Everybody follow this? This is common sense isn't it?

Interpret the story in light of didactic. In other words interpret the story in light of the teaching of other parts of scripture where we're told clearly how we should live or should not live. Here's some examples about narrative. Everybody remember Pentecost in Acts 2. It's the moment, if you don't remember the story, when God's Spirit was powerfully poured out on disciples who were gathered together in the city of Jerusalem.

And you know what happened when the Spirit was poured out on the disciples? What happened?

What happened? They all began to speak in tongues. And the people in the crowd said, regions of the world we can understand what they're saying because they're speaking in our languages they're speaking in different tongues well you know brothers and sisters if you have received god's spirit if you have received god's spirit truly then you too when god's spirit was given to you i'm sure that you too spoke in tongues and until you speak in tongues you have not truly received God's spirit because that's what happened in Acts 2. Is that right?

No. What is described is not necessarily prescribed. And we see in the story of Acts several, on several occasions when God's spirit is poured out, God shows that the spirit has been poured out in a dramatic way by speaking in tongues. It was evidence that the Spirit had come. But if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 where Paul talks about the gifts of the Spirit, he asks some questions about the gifts of the Spirit. And he asks, are all apostles?

What's the answer? Are all people apostles? No. Are all pastors? No. Do all speak in tongues?

Tongues? What's the answer? No.

So is tongues a spiritual gift? Yes. Does it still exist today as a spiritual gift? Yes. But it is a gift that not every believer has.

So my point though is, just because in the narrative of Acts 2 it happened, it doesn't necessarily mean it happens the same way for us. How about the Apostle Paul? Going on the Damascus Road, light shines down from heaven. hears the voice of Jesus and he comes to faith in Christ. So if you have been saved, I'm sure you too saw the light from heaven. You literally heard Jesus' voice when you were saved because that's the way it happened with Paul. Obviously not. It could happen that way, but for many of us it's a little more, a little less dramatic maybe in how we came to understand that we needed Christ.

Just because it happened that way with Paul doesn't necessarily mean it always happens the How about this story? This is one of my favorite, most troubling stories in the Old Testament. Everybody remembers Jephthah, I hope. If you have a son, don't name your son Jephthah. And you're going to see why in just a second.

Jephthah was one of the judges in the book of Judges. And Jephthah was getting ready to go into battle with the Ammonites. And Jephthah, before going into battle, made a vow to the Lord. And here was his vow. guy is not too bright here's his vow he says lord if you will deliver the ammonites into my hand when i return home the first thing that walks out of the door of my home i will offer to you as a burnt offering sacrifice now think a minute who is likely to walk out of the door of your home when you arrive from battle.

Well, in his case, it was his daughter.

Do you remember what Jephthah did?

Jephthah talked with his daughter. His daughter said, just give me a little time to be by myself before you carry out this vow you have committed to the Lord. and Jephthah then offers his daughter as a burnt offering sacrifice.

Did he do the right thing?

Did he do the right thing?

Well, let me first go back to my point. Just because it is described that that's what he did does not necessarily mean he did the right thing.

Now, does everybody follow me? Now, let me argue here. I've taught this lesson before about Jephthah, and some people say, well, of course he did. He made a vow to the Lord he should have burned his daughter. I would argue that Jephthah, number one, made a foolish vow.

So he sinned with the vow that he made to begin with. Number two, I would argue that as soon as Jephthah saw his daughter walk through the door, he should have fallen to his knees and begged the Lord for forgiveness for such a foolish vow. And understanding that the God we serve is a God who does not ask us to offer human sacrifices as the pagan religions did, he should not, I would argue, have offered his daughter as a burnt offering. To do that, in my judgment, was just to build sin upon sin. That's what sin does.

You know, you commit one sin and then you commit another. That's the way sin works. Now, some have argued with me, well, no, he made the vow he should have killed his daughter. I would argue differently. But the point I'm trying to make here is just because that's what he did does not necessarily mean that's what he should have done.

Does everybody follow the point I'm making here?

Questions? I think the point about narrative is common sense, but it's important because sometimes you will have people tell a story and then draw wrong conclusions from the story about how we should live. We've got to be careful that when we study the story that we draw right conclusions about how we should live from the story. And often we have to look to other teaching passages to understand it. Yes, sir?

Isn't the whole concept of bargaining with God such things? think so i think so and i think jephthah was doing that so i think i think he committed sin at the outset the bigger question then becomes did he commit sin when he when he went through and killed his daughter and we're going to leave that i'm just illustrating the point about narrative the second type of writing we have in scripture that i want to talk about are letters epistles Epistles are scriptures that take the form of a letter written by one person to another person or to a group of people. These are in the New Testament. You go over to Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. All those letters are written by one apostle to a group of people.

Often a church, but sometimes people in a church, but sometimes an individual. We write letters today, don't we? They wrote letters in the Bible. Now, here are some observations about epistles. And epistles are interesting.

Letters are interesting when you start to study them. First, letters often address very specific situations. In other words, you have the writer of Scripture writing to a specific group of people at a specific time, at a specific place, dealing often with specific issues that that particular group faces. Right? A letter, the letters we read in the New Testament are sort of like hearing one side of a phone conversation.

You ever done that? Your spouse is on the phone, you're listening, and you can sort of tell what's happening at the other end of the line, but you're not always 100% sure. when we read the letters of Paul, for example, we often can get glimpses of what's going on in the church that he's writing to, but sometimes we can't be 100% sure what's going on there from reading his letter. It's sort of like hearing that one side of a phone conversation. Sometimes in these letters, biblical principles will be expressed in a way that is culturally appropriate for that time.

and that same biblical principle we need to maintain today but we might express it a little differently in our culture and i'll give you an example of that in just a moment does everybody understand these basic points about letters again i think these are common sensical sort of things if you think about it but sometimes we have to just stop and say it well here we go how about this here's here's a part of a letter paul wrote to the corinthians and paul says now concerning about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Or the sense may be, it is good for a man not to marry. That may be the sense of this. Now a lot of people have read that verse and said, oh, Paul is teaching that men should not marry, or that men should not touch women in any fashion, even within the context of marriage.

But is that what Paul was saying? Well, no. Number one, you need to know something about this. When we first got the New Testament in that Greek, there was virtually no punctuation in the original writings, and all the letters are just run on letters. It's like you get words, and there are no spaces between the words.

All the letters are just jammed together. And what is happening here, in all likelihood, is Paul is not saying it is good for a man not to touch a woman. he's quoting what the Corinthians have asked him about. Now about the things you wrote. You told me you believe it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

Now let me tell you what the truth is. Everybody follow me? And so literally we could probably in some modern translations actually put quotes around that it is good for a man not to touch a woman making it clearer that this is something the Corinthians said to Paul and were asking about it. And what you have going on in the church is you have some people who are professing an ascetic lifestyle. Ascetic means you deprive yourself of food and drink and sexual relationships.

And some were even teaching that in the context of marriage, you shouldn't have sexual relations. That somehow that wasn't spiritual. What does Paul say? Paul will go on just two or three verses later and he says, Look, guys, the husband's body is not his own. It belongs to his wife.

And wives, your bodies are not your own. They belong to your husband's. Don't deprive one another. In our modern vernacular, he would say, have at it. Have at it within the context of marriage and only deprive one another of the sexual relationship for brief periods by mutual consent to pray and fast, But then get right back together so that Satan won't tempt you and you won't fall into sin.

So Paul is actually saying the complete opposite of it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Now he says, hear me, it's husband and wives have at it with each other. Right. Okay. How about this?

Paul writing to Timothy, pastor of the church at Ephesus. Timothy's having some problems with the women in the church, apparently.

Paul says to Timothy, I want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.

Should I ask everybody who's wearing gold this morning who's a woman to stand? Is Paul saying here we should not wear any gold jewelry at any time? at any time? What's the principle here? What's the principle? The principle is to dress modestly with decency and propriety. And probably what was happening in the church at Ephesus, you have here all of a sudden this new thing called the Christian church. And guess what? You've got people from all segments of society thrown together. You've got slaves. You've got people who are richer.

may have been concerned first and foremost that some people were coming dressed sort of ostentatiously to church and would make others in the congregation feel less welcome who could not afford that. So he's saying, come on folks, let's be a little more modest. Let's not be flashy in our dress. And there may have been some concern about possibly some women who had once been prostitutes, braided hair something enticing he's saying let's be careful that we don't do anything that would be unholy in our dress so today what would be the principle the principle is we dress modestly but today for a woman to wear some gold jewelry or some pearls that doesn't mean you have to be extremely rich or being overly ostentatious so the modesty might be expressed in different ways remains the same. Does everybody follow that?

Everybody with me? How about this one? I'm going to go to Medrick now.

Everybody read it?

Was Paul giving a universal principle that at all places and at all times in all situations women could never exercise authority over a man and could never teach in church teach men in church well we're not going to solve this issue today here's my point we're in a letter and we must remember that often letters were written to address specific situations where there were specific problems and specific issues at specific times at specific places it becomes pretty apparent if you read first timothy that that timothy was having some trouble with the women in the church and it may be that paul is saying look some women with their newfound freedom are preaching some false doctrine spreading some things that aren't true and for the sake of the gospel I'm saying for now the women in the church at Ephesus no teaching no authority until we get things straightened out

that's now some have tried to argue this is a universal teaching because he talks about creation he talks about Eve was deceived in creation but maybe that's just an illustration of the problem that was going on in the church at Ephesus. But my point is, what we would have to do to determine if women for all places and all times cannot exercise authority over men or teach, I think we're going to probably have to go to other passages of Scripture and see what the answer to this question is. You cannot just conclude it from an analysis of this verse that's written to the church at Ephesus. Does everybody follow me? Because letters are often written at specific times, at specific places, dealing with specific problems.

Okay? Now, maybe we'll have to have a whole series of lessons on this issue sometime. But does everybody understand the point I'm making? Okay? All right.

Gospels. Anybody have questions about letters?

And folks, you probably know, in seminary, you will spend whole semesters sorts of issues that we're talking about. I'm giving you highlights of things that I think are important for us as lay people to consider as we study the scriptures. Now let's go to gospels. You know the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are really a unique form of writing that really developed with the writing of the New Testament. And if you think about the gospels, they are really a combination of history, biography, and proclamation about the good news of Jesus Christ.

So they're not just history. It's not just about individuals. It's also about events. But it's also proclamation about the good news of Jesus Christ. Now here's some things we need to know about the Gospels.

the first thing that i would say we need to know is that the gospel writers are selective reporters and editors now what do i mean by that you know of all the things that happened in jesus life all the events of all the things jesus said the gospel writers under the inspiration of god's

what stories they would tell about Jesus, what they would tell us about those stories, they had to decide which of his teachings they would report to us. Right? Just as a newspaper editor today, before the paper is issued the next day, he has to decide or she has to decide, of all the stories in the world, which ones will we tell about? And what will we say about them? well we know we don't know everything that happened in jesus life we know very little about his early life isn't that true no very very little and even john in his gospel says you know if we put down everything that jesus said we'd have so many books we'd fill up the world he's making the point that we have not written down everything that jesus said and the reason i make this point is sometimes i was sort of when i remember growing up you know i kind of wondered why do we have these four gospels?

You know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You know, why don't we just have one? Wouldn't that have been easier? Just give me one gospel. Let me just run one of them.

But one reason I think we have these different gospels is each gospel writer, if you study closely, has his own distinctive emphases. There's some things he emphasizes in ways that the other gospel writers did not. Let me use Luke as an example. Luke really likes to emphasize some different things in his gospel. For instance, prayer.

Do you know that only Luke, of all the gospel writers, tells us what Jesus did the night before He chose the twelve disciples? What did Jesus do the night before He chose the twelve disciples? He spent the whole night in prayer. And only Luke tells us that. was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. Do you remember that? He was with Peter, James, and John, and suddenly he's transfigured. Do you know what Jesus was doing when he was transfigured?

Only Luke tells us he was praying. Do you see by giving us those little details, Luke is emphasizing something about the importance of prayer in Jesus' life and maybe telling us how important it should be in our own lives. How about women in Jesus' ministry? Do you know that only Luke of all the gospel writers tells us that there was a group of rich women that financially supported the ministry of Jesus Christ? He's the only gospel writer that tells us that. Luke 8. You can go read it. Luke 8, verse 1. Only Luke tells us the story of Anna the prophetess. You remember Anna?

as she saw the baby Jesus. And only Luke gives us all the details of that story of Mary and Martha. You remember Mary and Martha? You know, Mary's sitting at Jesus' feet. Martha's in the kitchen working a little upset.

But I think Luke is trying to highlight for us the importance that women had in the life of Jesus. Only Luke tells us the story about Elizabeth and John the Baptist. And Elizabeth was a very important person in the story. Emphasizes Jesus' concern about the poor and those who are hurting. Only Luke tells us the story of the Good Samaritan.

That's not in any other gospel. Only Luke tells us that Jesus, when he gave his first public sermon, says, I come to proclaim good news to the poor. And you see the emphasis on the care for the poor. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph offered two doves as a sacrifice after Jesus' birth. It was the sacrifice of poor people who couldn't afford a goat or cattle.

And Luke really emphasizes God's concern for the lost. Only Luke tells us the story of the prodigal son. You see, by picking up on these distinctive things, I think it enriches what we learn from the gospel writer. Now let me make one other point about Gospels. There are some things that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all report and tell us about in unison.

In other words, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, sometimes they're a choir singing in unison. They all tell us that Jesus is the promised Messiah. They all tell us about the cross and its significance. They all tell us about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every one of them.

And a point I would make, and I press home hard when I talk with folks about this, is when Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are singing about something together, we better pay attention because it's important. Jesus is the Messiah. The cross is central to what He was about and is central to us. And the resurrection shows who He claimed to be. thing to realize this common emphasis. Does everybody follow me here?

Okay.

I've already given you examples. I got ahead of myself.

Last one we're going to talk about today, parables. Everybody know what a parable is? A parable is a story from everyday life used to make an important point.

Here's some things you need to know about parables. context is important in other words if we're going to understand these parables we need to know what's happening to whom was jesus speaking what caused him to say this parable we need to know the culture because often things he says in the parable are have some cultural significance and if we understand the culture better we will understand the parable better and most parables and this is important here most parables have a central point there's one main thing the parable is trying to teach us and if we miss the main thing then we've missed the point of the parable so we got to look for the main thing in these stories everybody follow me here are two examples parable of the sower everybody remember this story there's a sower We're not told who the sower is. Often in people's minds, I think they're thinking it's Jesus, but we're not told that. Jesus just said there was a sower. He went out, and he wasn't a very good farmer, it seems like, because he was just kind of throwing seed everywhere, you know?

That's kind of the way God is, isn't he? He just throws the word out everywhere for all sorts of people to hear. He's throwing this seed out. And you know the seed falls on different types of soil, right? You know, some of the seed, the ravens come and eat up before it has time to take root in the ground.

Some of the other seed falls on rocky ground and, you know, it springs up a little plant, but the roots aren't very deep and as soon as the sun comes out, it scorches the plant and it dies. Some lands in a little better soil and grows, but then thorns and thistles come and choke out the plant. Then some falls on good soil. And man, there's a bumper crop. 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold, depending on how good the soil was.

What's the point of the story? Is it just a good farming lesson? What's the point? What was Jesus trying to get his audience to understand about themselves? And what are they trying to get us to understand about ourselves?

We call it the parable of the sower. call it the parable of the soils you know what the point of the story is the real point is what kind of soil am i that's the question that's the question have you heard the word but you've let the satan just steal it away and you haven't paid attention are you somebody who the word took a little bit of root in but then when a little trouble came along you just turned away from the things of the faith? Are you somebody who looked like maybe this stuff was taking root in your lives, but then you let the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things come in and choke out the word? Or are you one of those good soils where the crops are just booming? The word is taking root and there's fruit in your life. That's the question.

and you see that question makes us a little uncomfortable and that question made jesus audience a little uncomfortable because many of them were not very good soil and sometimes we aren't either but the challenge is be the good soil let the word take root let it grow everybody see the point one other example the parable of the unmerciful servant you remember this story? I love this story. It's a great story where the master forgives 10,000 talents of debt that the unmerciful servant owed to him. Then that servant who has been forgiven 10,000 talents of debt by the master has somebody who owes him money, another servant. And this other servant owes him 100 denarii, but the unmerciful servant will not forgive the debt. Well, now we can see the difference between the number 10,000 and 100 is a pretty big difference, right? So the master forgave obviously more than he forgave, than the unmerciful servant forgave the man who owed him money, right? But until you know how much 10,000 talents is, you don't realize the real difference between 100 denarii and 10,000 talents.

And this is where, if you're studying this parable, you've got to say, how much is 10,000 talents? Well, 10,000 talents equals 60 million denarii. A denarius, it was one day's wage for a common laborer in Jesus' day. So if you worked as a common laborer for one day, you typically got one denarius. Okay?

well how many years of wages is 60 million denarii in other words how many years of wages did the master forgive the unmerciful servant we just got to do a little math he forgave him 164,383 years of wages and then this sorry dog of an unmerciful servant would not forgive three months of wages now what's the point of the story

how much has the master forgiven us

he's forgiven us a lot folks yet you know so often we are just so unforgiving we won't let the littlest thing go we will not forgive somebody does us a little wrong we're going to remember it and we're going to make them pay pay and pay some more and Jesus says come on folks remember how much I've forgiven you now go and be merciful be merciful be merciful do you hear? do you see how just taking a little bit of time and a good study bible will tell you this this is where you just need a good study bible a good study bible will help you know how much the master forgave the unmerciful servant may we be forgiving like that