They're life.
This note is a continuation of the topic, Six questions to ask when studying the Bible.
What is something that the Spirit of God is leading you to do as a result of reading this text? (last note)
Who is someone who might benefit from hearing what you’ve seen in the Bible? (this week)
Why are these verses in the Bible?
This week, as we read God’s Word, we want to consider who it is that might benefit from what we have learned. We want to use what we learn to make an impact.
I can think of several scenarios for sharing the insight you gain from the Word of God:
One, we all retain insight and information better when we pass it on to someone else. It causes us to internalize the message so that we share it with them in a way that they can understand it. When I practice my weekly sermon on my kids, not only do I know I need to simplify or clarify the message if they don’t understand what I’m sharing with them, but also, through this process I get to learn the information even better than before.
Two, your insight might be someone else’s comfort, encouragement, or even their lifeline. An easy example to share is about my kids and bedtime. It seems like bedtime brings up occasional things that they worry about (monsters in the closet, fear of someone breaking into our home, etc.) We’ve shared this passage, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” // Psalm 4:8
The Word of God gives life and courage to those who experience the dark and scary parts of life. It’s not just little kids who need these life insights, adults of all ages need this too. Since Jesus’ words are life, give life, and promote life, it is very beneficial for us to pass them on to others.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. // John 6:68
Three, what you learned might help someone who is skeptical, someone who doubts, or someone who is searching for more meaning to life. It’s no mistake that God gives each of us a circle of connection. Each of these connections - these relationships - are people that God dearly loves. He wants to draw them all closer to himself and he has placed us in their life to be that link. Take what you learned and form a question that gets at the root of their skepticism. Or take a passage that you learned and tell them how this truth of God has impacted you. Your job is not to wrestle them into faith; your role is to share. God’s Spirit, delivered through the Words of God that you speak to them, will do powerful things in their heart and mind and life.
A Christian speaker, Michael Ramsden, was asked to speak on Ethics in Business to a room full of experienced professionals. He spoke about the challenges of wanting to be ethical but finding it increasingly difficult in a world that often pits business success against ethics. After several illustrations, he shared that, in business, one is continually being coerced and driven to compromise ethics for the sake of business success. The room of accountants nodded in agreement. Then he shared a quote from “a thinker from several thousand years ago which explains our desire to be ethical but also expresses that it is very difficult”: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
In the Q & A session after that presentation, several people remarked about this quote and wondered if it was readily available today…and would there be any sources that give commentary on this text? Michael smiled and shared that this quote was from the Bible, Romans 7. He knew that the Word of God is powerful, whether or not you immediately state that it is from the Bible.
For the word of God is alive and active. // Hebrews 4:12
Four, we are God’s chosen messengers. He has delivered the good news of salvation to us; we’ve been impacted by his life-giving words. Now that we have heard this amazing news that God loves us beyond what we could fully imagine, and has prepared a phenomenal place of peace and pleasure for us with him in heaven, we must pass this information on to someone else. And maybe it’s worth saying, this doesn’t mean standing on street corners yelling out about Judgment day and hell and how God hates sin. Instead, we will take the lead from our Savior who invested his life in the life of others. It’s in the context of deeper relationships forged between Jesus and his twelve disciples; Jesus and Nicodemus; Jesus and the Samaritan woman; Jesus and Mary, Martha, and Lazarus…it’s in the midst of those relationships that he shared the truth of God.
Start with your small group. Share insights you see when you’ve read the Word in a familiar setting, with people who already share the same beliefs as you. Then branch out to family or friends or other church members. Eventually, you will find that you have become comfortable being uncomfortable because you “have the Words of eternal life.”
God bless you as you read, learn, and share God’s amazing truths!
Pastor Al