The Core and the Means, Part 4

 Unfunded Mandates

Finishing the post yesterday, it was clear that two things had been left out of the previous posts, there was more to say about why men and women are not abiding in the Word.  Secondly, there should have been a suggestion on how one can become more familiar with the Bible.  I created something I detest, unfunded mandates.  I challenged you to do something without suggesting or showing how to do it.  Abysmal failure on my part.

So, other than a pastor or teacher using the Bible as a springboard, what is another reason folks in our churches do not have confidence that they can understand the Word.  Many pastors ignore or misapply Ephesians 4:11 – 16 (Here at Bible Gateway) and Matthew 28:18 – 20 (Here at Bible Gateway).

This happens in at least two ways.  One is to create the detested unfunded mandate.  That is, to exhort one to study the Bible without showing how, equipping.  That is exacerbated when a pastor believes that standing in front of a group of people and telling them what he got out of the Word is equipping.  It is not.  There is no measurement of the effectiveness of the transmission of information.

The misapplication of Matthew 28:18 – 20 is that the directive to teach “ALL (emphasis added) that I commanded you,” is either ignored, severely limited, or else reduced to verbal instruction, again, without measurement.  In no other discipline is one taught without either observation of application of that being taught, or a test of some sort to measure how much of the information was successfully transmitted to the one being “equipped”.  Yet, we will continually have classes in which information on the Bible or the Christian Life is shared without following up in anyway how well that information was received and applied.

Here is an offer.  If you wish to learn how to do Bible study, I will show you how.  If you are near Tulsa, watch the event tab on this blog.  We will soon offer a seminar for men and a separate seminar for women on how to do Bible study.  If you are not near Tulsa, let me know if you are interested and we will figure out how to help using Zoom.

Basic Familiarity with the Bible

Now what is a way to grow in general knowledge of the Bible?  Use a reading plan.  Simple, but takes discipline.  I use M’Cheyne’s Reading Plan.  With that you read through the OT once a year and the NT and Psalms twice in a year.  There is a way to stretch the plan out to two years.  I have been using this since February 2016.  I used other means prior to that.  After looking this over and using it for a time, I find that it has helped me get a better handle on the story arc of the Bible.  Further, it seems like the Lord uses this to deal with the issues I am facing on a regular basis.

Those are the two things I felt were lacking in the previous posts.  That said, there is much more that could be said about both issues.  

If you scan the blog, you may find some more help or if there is something you want help with, tell me in the comments.