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Study To Show Yourself Approved. 7 of 11

Steven Findley
04/27/25 - Sunday AM Bible Study

Series: An Eleven Part Series Aimed At Developing And Increasing Bible "Study" Skills.

Always open up with the prayer because that's one of the most important parts of a Bible study is asking the Lord to help it to guide us in in our
Search for his for his work
All right, so
Let's let's I'm going to instead of making statements. I'll ask questions. What's the purpose of a Bible study?
I don't understand the intended meaning. All right, so Larry found it. I didn't know like I didn't know if we're going to be someone would find it or not
Yeah, so the purpose of a Bible study is to understand the intended
meaning of an inspired author
So there's all sorts of things you can find in the Bible
There's all sorts of things like a lot of times what we call
What we call proof texting or
Is to Jesus if you want to use some somebody making up a Latin or a Greek term or something
Adding meaning to the text
Proof text is hey, I have a point. I'd like to make how it how does the Bible help me make it?
I have a belief system. How can I use the scripture to shore up my belief system?
So that with people might do that
But that is not the intended
That the intended meaning of the author
So all Bible study what are we really ought to be doing instead of saying hey, I have a belief system
How does the Bible support that for me? Which is a lot of what you see and a lot of
A lot of contemporary preaching kind of follows that pattern
You know very famous preacher Joel Osteen
That's what he does is he uses the Bible to support a contemporary message. I listened to a woman
On a podcast and she was thought she came from the occult world so she was a witch and
She was had training as a witch and like was involved in secret societies and all this stuff
But she turned to the Lord became a Christian really a faithful woman from from listening to her talk in the way she talked
Rejected all that stuff and she said but when I was looking for a church
I realized a lot of the churches I was going to were teaching
What they call
New age spirituality or or new new age speaking things like
A lot of the things that were being taught as if from the Bible were actually cultic things
Isn't that interesting like even like you remember from the 90s the power of optimism
Yeah, you realize that that it comes from the cultic practices not from the Bible
Like that is like what do they call it manifest?
Manifesting whatever like you got think about it and focus on it and you can manifest it in your life like that
All that is this new age spirituality just being
being
Comment veered as if it's the Bible message and a lot of places use that sort of stuff and so as Bible students
We need to be able to say not hey, I have this great idea. How does the Bible help me say it?
But we need to realize I have no good ideas
That's why my life ended up how it did without Jesus
My ideas are terrible
My solutions are terrible
Every now and then I might have something that's almost as good of what Jesus did just because I was taught it or something
But if you want to have a good life
You need to pattern yourself
After Jesus and the only way you can pattern yourself after Jesus is if you can understand the intended
Meaning of the inspired author
So that's what Bible study does for us and now
So that's what we're working on that's what studying the Bible is all about what are the five areas of context?
All right, so we have the immediate and what is the immediate?
In a ring it's the bulls-eye
It is the bulls-eye that's what you might I know
Yeah, so yeah, but so if you're reading a text, what's the immediate?
If you're as you're reading the text what's the immediate context?
Yeah, I
Fancy word is the pericopy
Right the section the teaching section because the Bible is broken up into we're teaching about this and we're teaching about this
We're making this point and we're making this point so it's not a verse
It's more like a paragraph for a couple of paragraphs that are kind of dealing with the same topic
That's going to be your immediate complex or context
Outside of that you have the broad context
Which is you know what's the thing being taught about before that?
What's the thing being taught about after that? So now you have three sections of teaching that you're considering right what came prior?
What are we talking about what follows and that helps you to understand what's the logical progression of what I'm reading?
Then you have the book context. Okay, what's the book about who it's to the book context?
I was thinking about this this morning because I was thinking I don't have anywhere where it says historical context
But I would say probably the book context would would embrace that because who's it written it written to when was it written?
Who was the author and then you can go through and say okay?
What's he writing about what problems are you this he addressing?
How does this fit into those problems?
So you can ask all those questions and that gives you the book context. Testimate is important
New testament
Directly applies it's commands to our life
Old testament applies its principle to our life and in the Old Testament the context is the law of Moses largely
So you're going to say okay. Well, it's telling me to sacrifice a goat
How do I obey this command of sacrifice a goat?
Oh, it's Old Testament. That means that's not for me to sacrifice the goat
But I can learn something about the cost of sin and forgiveness and that's what James is going to bring up in this very text as we go through it this morning
So we have to consider the context
We've looked at the how to study the Bible document which is basically seven making 17 observations about the text
various things and the goal of that what's the why is the?
How to study the Bible document a really good thing. Why is why is that what what helps does that give us?
Right and yeah, so Larry says by the time you've answered the 17 questions and the way it works is you think okay
Look for conjunctions you go through looking for conjunctions. I'm going to look for who's speaking all the all the nouns all the you know all the who?
What where why when things or not what where we win but a
Person place and things so I'm going to go through and find all the nouns I'm gonna go through and find all the verbs
I'm going to go through and find all the contrasts. I'm going to go through and find all the descriptors
I'm going to go through and find and by the time you read through it and find all those things two things happen
One is you have a pretty good idea of what's going on in the text and two you you know
What happens next and and so familiarity is
The most important aspect one of the most important aspects of understanding scripture you have to know it
You have to be familiar with it and that's also going to be a defense for you because if someone
Misquotes it or takes it out of context you're going to know right away
Because you're going to know all the conjunctions therefore
He's like no it's talking about this no it says therefore this and so you're going to be able to it'll just
An alarm bell will sound so this is really good because next next week we're going to start talking about
Bible study aids like
the sources concordances
not the sources lexicans concordances
Commentaries things like that like aids to study
So but if you don't have familiarity with the text
Concordia commentary might say something that's way off base and you're never going to know
Because you don't know what the text says in the first place and so this is why it's super helpful and even if you're going to do a Bible study
If you're listening to the teacher and he gets out of line
If you're familiar with the text you're going to be able to say no wait a minute. This is why that happened
Or says this right here like we just I you know and you'll get to recognize things and those are the people who have
Good textual familiarity and have spent some time meditating on it are my favorite Bible teachers
Because they'll see things I didn't see and that to me that's exciting
So that's why that document is really good
You're getting clear understanding of what is being said without any sort of outside material as other things
But that 17 question thing is a good guy because
Everything you don't know about the text when you're done
comes from your own mind and your own observations you are
Examining the text closely
And when Jesus said how do you not read?
What he really meant was how do you not read and examined and noticed
Like it's not just read it because you can read so many things that I just got
Never think about it again. It can't even recall them like lately. It seems like
I'll have words that I know
That I use regularly and I can't bring them to my live my lips for whatever reason
They're just like the there's some sort of a wire cross right now. I do but I'm my vocabulary. It seems like it has diminished
externally
Because I know the words internally, but yeah, and so so
That's what happens if we read and we don't really get familiar and don't really have some form of at least mild memorization of it
um
Yeah, so we've covered everything in here. So this is what we're gonna do this morning
uh, we can't we've worked on this if you haven't
Done your 17 questions yet and you've been in this class
There's not much I can do for you. You've had your opportunity. I gave you everything you needed and so you know
If you're not interested in doing it, that's not uh
Not much I can do about that, but I would encourage you to do it because
This is a
critical practice to
Being a disciple of Jesus. So you know, so we need to like I would encourage you to do it, but
That's all I guess that's all I would want to say about this. I would encourage you to do it
I realize my mic is off and I'm using this other mic. So I turn my lapel on. Yeah, Jace. Sorry about that
They might be up there like doing jumping jacks in the window. I won't even notice so
So uh, I present a particular challenge to the
audio video room
So open your bibles
James chapter two
We're going through this text. I've given you on your paper a blank outline
The only thing I did to help us out a little bit which I was
The reason why is because of the time it would take to read through that 13 verses and think through where's the break
And so I gave a break, but I don't want to just assume the text break just because I said it
So look through that real quick. I'll how about this. I'm going to read this
And if you guys find a better place, let me know
James chapter two starting a verse one my brethren do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism
For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes
And there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes and say
You sit here in a good place and you say to the poor man you stand over there or sit down by my footstool
How have you not made distinctions among yourself and become judges with evil motives?
Listen my beloved brethren
Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him
But you have dishonored the poor man
Is it not the rich who oppressed you and personally drag you into court?
Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called
If however you are fulfilling the royal law according to the scriptures you shall love your neighbor as yourself
You are doing well
But if you show partiality you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point
He has become guilty of all
For he who said do not commit adultery also said do not commit murder
Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder
You have become a transgressor of the law so speak and so act as those who are judged by the law of liberty
For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy mercy triumphs over judgment
All right, so I know we read that's a quick reading through it, but
What do you think where's the break in that like where would you split up this outline?
Yeah
Uh
Yeah, verse uh 14 or 13
Yeah, yeah, so I think 14 yeah starts the new the new section
So Bruce doesn't he thinks my break is a little bit superficial
So I
Yeah, it doesn't exist
It doesn't exist so I threw it in there, but but I can see where you're coming from on that because I actually thought that same thought it through that same thing
So yeah, I can see where you're coming from on that so Bruce says no break which we don't have to do but um Larry
Um, my bible has an agent that
Lends me to think that there's a break at
Okay, so you got a prickly break right there. Yeah, okay
Yes, I'm using this the fancy term, but it helps because we every title and really it's the titles
The title is called a prickly and that is the teaching section that the that the um
Uh, translators added to your bible, but
Yeah
Okay, no time. Yeah, but but that's good
If you take the verses out and you read it without that stuff and the and
You know you may not see a break and so that that kind of helps
What they think, but we just remember we got to challenge what they think because they might be wrong
Just like I might be wrong
So uh Rick
Yeah
Yeah
Yeah, so you if there's not a however which here's the I mean it's it's good for study
But it's bad for reading in the new American standard
It might convey both of those ideas by the same Greek word
ESV will make a choice
New American standard will add them all in so you have a lot of and so that
What does that mean and so and that
That's
Well, but that's not even a phrase like which I say choose one
Like they all kind of communicate a slightly different variation of a gap in it of a transition or a sentence
But you don't need to put them all in
You know I was wet. So I got a towel or I was um, you know
I was cold and I went inside like you know you like you can use those things, but don't put them all in right?
Like choose
Choose one, but that's that's my criticism, but for study it's helpful because it kind of helps you to say okay
There's some there's a conjunction here in that so
All right, so
ESV harder to tell
Anyway, any other thoughts on that mike
Okay
Okay, so you put yourself out on the limb because you told us what it means
But now we're about to outline it and see we're gonna see if Mike is is on point or not now
So so we so now Mike's in the hot seat for the rest of the class
All right, so you're right though is is there is one this is a one teaching I would say and so but let's just see
I'm gonna go with my break
Um, and then when we get through we can say okay, well
Yeah, you're just you're just making it so you can have two points on your outline instead of just one big one
So made that really that's probably at least partially true
So let's go James to one through seven
This is our first section. So a
Like let's do point our point a here
um
You know, it's like I made myself a teacher key so I don't have to
Go off a memory. It's just so we might be able to speed things up. Okay
a
My brethren do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism
for
And I wish I had the text up on the screen because I could circle the four
Okay, four is a conjunction right? So he makes a statement and now he's saying
This next statement is is explaining something about the previous statement
So
Yeah, so our first point then is
uh
Don't hold your faith
With I'm gonna just go uh favoritism
Actually, I don't want to do favoritism. What I want to do is partiality
It uses the word favoritism, but partiality is really the uh
um
Flow through the text a little bit better. So I like that. I like that word better. So what do you think?
Okay with that. So this is verse one
All right
Four so when we see the four
What is it like how should we interpret that
Okay, he's he's adding to the verse prior. So don't hold your faith with partiality
That's my point
Don't do it
Now here is why we shouldn't do it
Right four
Okay, so this will be then I I wait I should have gone one and then a but we'll go um
I think on yours. That's how I how it is laid out so while trying to follow the
New way out so it's not too confusing
So one and now point a
Four if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes
And there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes
It's a sit here in a good place and you say to the poor man you stand over there
Uh, by my or sit down by my foot stool. Have you not made just made distinctions among yourself and become judges with evil motives
so
um
You
What's he do here
Yeah
He gives an example
Okay consider this
Uh poor guy in dirty clothes and a rich guy in clean clothes and gold okay and you
I give the rich guy a good spot to sit an honorable spot
Which we don't really have that same thing
But maybe we let him sit in the very back or something would that be the more honorable spots
Uh, and we make the the poor guy sit up here in the front, you know
You know on the what do they call it the uh
The front row what's the what's the term for that
There's a term for it. I can't recall like the uh
It's like the Repenters row or something like that like you know, there's a there's a name that some
I've heard people refer to but here's our example right
Uh, you notice the rich guy and you treat him differently than you treated the poor guy
And so we get the example uh that leads to a question
Uh
It leads to the question
Haven't you become judges with evil motives like when you act this way
Aren't you
Showing your motivation that is not good
The so do we understand the example James is giving
Yeah, and why is it evil motives but this term judges with evil motives
There is a precedent for that and does anyone know what the precedent for a judge with evil motives is
From the Old Testament
Yeah
Yeah, he can be bought
And if you for the right price
Uh, you don't have to go to jail the other guy does
For the right price
So if a judge is is
Biable
Is he gonna render just decisions or godly decisions
No, and so that's his first point. Here's our example. Okay
You're making these you make this distinction
Doesn't that expose something about you
Yeah, the partiality
Is is an exposure that you are not a just man or you are not just a woman
You are making distinctions based on things that are
sinful or wrong. So
First example
Two through four here's my example now. There's some follow up first five. How's it start?
Listen
When he says listen he asks a question now. He's gonna answer his own question
So we got listen so this is sub point i
He says listen
My beloved brethren and so he also brings in my beloved brethren. So that's that that's a good point that I'm about to
You know
Exort you in some way
Did not god choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised
Those to those he loved him
So what did god do
Oh
Yeah, he says listen didn't god. Oh, I have a little bit more. This is five through seven
So we have three questions
Didn't god choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him
But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress and personally drag you into court?
Do they not blast him the fair name by what you have been called so and here and I
What we see is
problems
With that behavior so
Problems with partiality
Or
Or showing in the example the partiality between the rich and the poor so here's the problems with that
So we'll go down here number one is
God chooses the poor
What does this mean?
Why do you make this point?
You
Okay, so
Oh, yeah, so Jesus is teaching says something about that Larry
Yeah, he's contrasting something isn't it
Here's what god would do
Here's what you did now. What's he pointing out when he says that
This if if god's doing something different than you you're probably wrong
You're not doing the right thing. So why is it wrong to show partiality when the rich guy comes in and the poor guy because
God doesn't make that distinction
Right god chooses them to be rich in faith
So the value of the poor man
Who's all in for Jesus is greater to god than the rich man who blasphemes the name of god
Right, and so
God makes the decision based on their substance
You are making the decisions superficially based on what benefit you think you're going to receive
That's really what he's bringing out here right is you're making the distinction but not on godly
principle so number one is then god choose the poor
six or number two
Is the answer to that or i i
Oh, we're not i i we are number two
Too many layers all right you
chose
The rich
So now we have the contrast between what god would do and what you would do
Um, and what do the rich do or here's the next one isn't not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you in the court
So number three is the rich
Now he's not saying about everyone but it but jet in a lot of cases this is the rich oppressed
And the next thing he's going to say is
The law of liberty is love your neighbor is yourself
And so what we're seeing is the rich are breaking that
uh law
By oppressing and
They blaspheme
So
Why did james bring up these two things
What does that sound like they for just asking okay wonder why these two examples of
Uh, pressing you and dragging you to court and blaspheming
Okay
Yeah, so maybe a practice what do you think Larry?
Okay, so if we're going to
Some up what does god expect a man to be and do
What's the answer to that?
What's the greatest commandment?
Love the Lord Jagan
There's a man who blaspheme to do that
No, he's doing the opposite. He's despising God. Uh, love your neighbors yourself
Is dragging people to court
Uh, loving your neighbors yourself
No, and so this guy does not exhibit
The standard of righteousness that God holds people to and yet why are you then you're showing favor to him
Well, what value does that have in the church?
Right
Personal benefit
So so the illustration is meant to bring out the point that when we are
seeking to
Personally in our decision-making process in our partiality
We are doing the opposite of what God does
Where God is seeking to uphold the righteous
Then they would be seeking to uphold the unrighteous so
First
Yes
Yeah, that's exactly right is there there's their focuses on the world not and even if you recall about what
God told Samuel about David
You know man look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart and we're seeing we're seeing this displayed
And this is why God says don't show partiality
It's because
When we start looking at the outward appearance then we start to getting off the track
So that's our first thing our last question in verse 7
Do they not blast you now here's the why I would call it a break
We just finished dealing with the example
Right the examples over and the questions were related to the example so that's why I have them is
Subset of here's the problem with partiality we illustrate it and then he asked some questions that that illustration would bring out
So now here's the second part is
Verse 8 if however
So we see the break you are fulfilling the royal law according to scripture
You shall love your neighbors yourself. You were doing well
But if you show partiality you are committing sin and convicted of the laws of transgressor
so point one is
Don't show personal favoritism and here's why and point two is
partiality is sin
So that's what I would title this next section. So what do you think Bruce?
Break or no break
Okay
Yeah, he could break either way. So yes, that's good
Yeah, now really it's it just goes on to talk about the same thing
But it's just adding another component to it. So really this is sometimes when you study the Bible
um
You can break things out in a way that makes sense that kind of or what we're doing
Is we're organizing the information in the text in a way that we can
Were so we can ask these questions about it right like for instance when we say well
Um
This contrast
Let's think about that contrast
What's the rich guy doing like why are those two things brought up as the problem with the rich guy
Well, you can see an underlying biblical principle in that loves Lord
You got it with all your heart like the neighbors yourself
And that's that gonna be brought up here in the text. So it's a natural progression teaching progression actually
Because he brings it up and then he goes on to say now if you're not if you're loving your neighbors yourself
You're doing well like that's what you need to be doing
But can't you see how showing partiality is not that
And so that's really where he's going with that. So he's it is a natural progression of the thought and it's a good progression
I'm just breaking it up so we can uh see uh deal with these two
Teaching points that what I would call teaching points. So
Here we are two eight through 13
point one is
We're right over here is partiality is sin
Is sin now is that and this is from verse is eight and nine I believe because he makes a contrast
Notice how we're breaking these up. I just want to
But
So and if
however
You notice how those conjunctions really give us a clue and also gives us a clue
What kind of a question should I ask coming up?
So he makes a statement if you're fulfilling the royal law. So here's the example a guy walks in two people walk in and you prefer one over the other
now that's not what God would do now if you're
Loving your neighbors yourself. That's what God would do
You're doing well
But
Why are we what's the butt tell us
Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, if if point A is you're doing well and then you say but
You know, okay, let me put it this way. I don't mean to offend you, but
What am I gonna do but what did I just say? I don't want to offend you, but I'm going to offend you right that I'm making a contrast
I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do something the opposite of what I did over here
You're doing well, but
This is not doing well. So that's the contrast that we're seeing and so he's bringing up
Here's what God would do
And if you're doing this you're not doing what God would do. So if you see it night that that word
prompts us to ask some good questions that is going to really draw out the intention of the author
See we're making a contrast again. What do we do in the first section?
We drew a contrast
He's comparing what we got doing. What are you doing? So that's really helpful
Partiality is sin now. Here's the second thing. We're talking about how do you deal with people?
Now partiality of sin is what is my standing before the Lord?
So that's that's where we're going with this. So he gives the law and in notice in verse
eight
Well, if you're using a new American standard, you should love the neighbors yourself is that all caps
That is the way the translators indicate to us. This is a quote from the Old Testament
We're reading an Old Testament law that Jesus repeated as being
One of the fundamental principles of Christianity and we have that confirmed
So this is just all kind of looking at the words what's a royal law
Is that interesting one given by the king who's the king?
Jesus and so when you hit James says this is a royal law and then he quotes Old Testament
Yeah, there's authority there, right?
This is Jesus's law even though it's an Old Testament scripture
So it's the helpful in a variety of ways now he didn't say even though it's an Old Testament scripture
He could have been quoting Jesus when he said that
They just uh the translators just tell us this is also an Old Testament quote
But he could have been quoting Jesus because Jesus said this very thing and that's the point is
One of the laws by which Christians will be held in the same way
The Old Testament was held don't murder don't commit adultery like that's the example he'll use
It's the same thing for us you break that law. What do you become?
Center yeah center you be your transgressor is Larry just said so
If you show partiality you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as a
transgressor what's the difference between a center and a transgressor?
Yeah, so that's good Mike did you have a
I
Yeah, there's some intent there
Yeah, so sin means to miss the mark
You're aiming at the mark and you didn't hit the mark transgression is more about
It's a little bit more deliberate and then
And niquity means
Uh, it basically is kind of the opposite of missing the mark is aiming down
It's the concept as I'm I'm going for the bat
And so there's kind of three different levels, but you're convicted as a transgressor so
Let's ask the question because maybe in there in there my wife your center and your transgressor
Why is that such a big deal just pray for forgiveness and go your merry way, right?
Like why is why is springing this up like why is this like kind of a hard-hitting point that James is making
Go ahead
Yeah, so Larry's making some connections back to the first point
Because isn't interesting
Uh, well, we'll get to it here in a minute, but you know, okay
Sin and transgression here's the thing that they that the reason why it's a bigger deal
um
Because Jesus had to die
In order for you to get that forgiveness
And so if you take that lightly, right? So it's a heavy there's a death involved
When you sin
You are guilty and worthy of death
The fact that a sacrifice has to die instead of you if you're looking at the Old Testament system
Doesn't change the fact your guilty of death
And he makes that point really well in the next section look what it says for whoever keeps the whole law
And yet stumbles at one point has become guilty of all
How did he become guilty of all
Just because I showed partiality is that made. I'm a murderer
Yeah, it made your center, but what's the problem?
So we have let's just say sin and then
bad sin
All right
One is showing favoritism one is murder and adultery those are examples he brings
Okay, here's the problem is you got bad sin and you have sin and the
The results for both of them is death now it can go
Execution which is a pain with your own life
Or it can go sacrifice
Now if we go one more level
Jesus sacrifice
So
The little sin
What do you become worthy of death now you might be able to offer sacrifice and in the
In the mosaic system cheap maybe a bird
But is it cheap now you got to go do it you got to get the bird you got to make the public confession
So there's all these things that are required because you have to have something else diet order for yourself to live
Otherwise, you were worthy of execution
um
And if it's a murder less say okay, you're gonna get stoned to death you're gonna be worthy of an execution
Uh, but Jesus took that for you
So as we look at this um what we see is um
When we start saying
This sin is more acceptable than this sin
What have we done
Yeah, you've taken God's place um don't we do that
Yeah, is it more acceptable
To yell and anger in your car where no one can hear you
Or to yell and anger at your kids
Someone who made every yell at anger at their kids
Maybe yelling and anger on the road all the time
Right well, no one else is there. It's not hurting anybody. Not that big a deal
You know what have you done you've shown partiality
But not with people you've shown partiality with God
Right
Jesus didn't have to die as much for this one as he did for this one
Right like you're making this distinction and what he's saying is we aren't to make those distinction
So I'll leave it at this
There's a few more points on your outline, but I'm gonna leave that as your homework and next week
We will go through and but but do you see how we
We're out of time. So did you see how we went through and every time there's a transition
We started just asking
Why does this transition matter? Why did he do this? What's he working on here?
What is this word imply to me? So four means okay, let me
Explain this or let me add to this
But it will ask a contrast. These two things are different. How are they different and we can start going through and asking these questions
And when you have a good familiarity with the text that you've gone through the 17 questions
We're gonna be able to outline really well and once you have this outline what you're gonna just