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Don’t Apply the Bible?

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Crossway’s blog has a provocative article by David Mathis, who argues that practical application can sometimes be a red herring that distracts us from careful Bible study.

So then, is it right to think of “application” as an everyday means of God’s grace? Is this a spiritual discipline to be pursued with every Bible encounter? The answer is yes and no, depending on what we mean by application.

Good teachers have claimed that every encounter with God’s Word should include at least one specific application to our lives—some particular addition, however small, to our daily to-do list. There is a wise intention in this: pressing ourselves not just to be hearers of God’s Word, but doers. But such a simplistic approach to application overlooks the more complex nature of the Christian life—and how true and lasting change happens in a less straightforward way than we may be prone to think.

Mathis goes on to argue that Bible study doesn’t always produce specific additions to our daily to-do list. Often, it should produce astonishment at who God is, and worship. Such astonishment and worship change us on the inside. And we will see specific change on the outside after only long periods of reflective astonishment.

Mathis makes some important points, and I don’t disagree with him. However, terminology can trip us up. Mathis argues against daily “application,” which he considers a red herring, but he narrowly defines “application” to include only detailed behavioral changes. He offers the substitute of astonishment and worship as a better daily practice.

But in the process he almost replaces one kind of application (hands) for another (heart). He argues against overly ethical application (too much focus on the hands), but seems to suggest an overly pietistic application (too much focus on the heart). I humbly suggest both approaches are imbalanced; we should regularly do both. In addition, let’s not forget also to apply the Bible to our heads. Remember the application matrix, which enables us to stretch our application into every category.

So I’m happy to recommend Mathis’s article to you. But when he writes of “the red herring of Bible application,” hear him describing, not application itself, but “the problem with focusing exclusively on hands application.” Don’t ever remove “application” (hands, head, and heart) from your Bible study. And with this clarification, the article is right on target.

Check it out!

When the Bible Overwhelms You

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Rod Waddington (2013), Creative Commons License

Rod Waddington (2013), Creative Commons License

Application is the youngest sibling of the OIA Bible study method family. He is third-born and regularly forgotten. We assume he’ll tag along and join his brothers in the back seat of the car, but too often he’s still hiding under the rack of sweatpants at Walmart.

Application is far from automatic, mostly because application is hard. In fact, application is downright rare.

You’ve probably skipped application in your devotions from time to time. (I know I have.) Many preachers never get to application, and some Bible study leaders only raise the issue during the last two minutes as a conscience-soothing garnish. One of the weaknesses of the American church is a half-hearted commitment to Bible application.

Application Can Overwhelm

We occasionally stick the landing. We discover the author’s central theme through observation and interpretation. We buckle up and start to apply the text.

And then we’re hit with a flash of panic. I can’t do this. We feel overwhelmed.

I see at least two causes. Through his Spirit, God may bring a heavy conviction upon us. Like Peter’s audience at Pentecost, we may feel our guilt acutely and see our disobedience in every shadow. We’re overwhelmed because we don’t know where to turn or where to begin.

We may also feel overcome because of repeated exposure. We listen to sermons, attend Bible studies, have personal devotions, and read “Christian living” books. (You may add: we read ridiculous blog posts.) With each interaction we see a need for repentance. We’re overwhelmed because we think we just can’t handle one more. Our list is long enough!

Poor Reactions to Feeling Overwhelmed

In our flesh, we face temptations in these moments of brokenness.

We might be tempted to sit out this round. This is too hard! I don’t know where to start, so I won’t.

We might be tempted to cut back on our interaction with the Bible. If we leave the Good Book on the shelf, we can pretend all is well. Welcome to the land of the ostrich.

What might it look like to proceed faithfully when we feel overwhelmed by the call to apply the Bible?

Three Steps to Take

I can think of three steps to take.

  1. Recognize there are no more demands on you now than a week ago. When you hear or discover an application of the Bible, you’re not being inventive. You’re seeing more of the law’s demands which were always there. God’s standards are enormously high—he doesn’t lower them when we embrace the gospel. “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). If you’re feeling guilty about missing this standard, cheer up—you should have been feeling guilty about it yesterday!
  2. Remember the gospel. The weight of the law is immense and a proper view of God’s law provokes our feelings of guilt. Why do we feel guilty? Because we are guilty! This is just as true for forgiven sinners in the church as it is for unrepentant sinners everywhere. We all need the death of Jesus in our place, and we all need the works of Jesus credited to our account. If you are a Christian, rejoice! God has embraced you and pledged himself to you, forever. Your behavior didn’t get you in, and your behavior won’t take you out. God’s call to obedience is real, but your lack of growth won’t turn your gracious Father away.
  3. Get specific. Much of the feeling of being overwhelmed results from deep conviction but vague notions of obedience. This is the time to get specific and practical. Has God convicted you that you don’t take enough gospel-directed risks? Identify a specific risk you can take in a conversation with a coworker or neighbor this week. Ask a friend to follow up with you next Sunday. Have you been selfish with your time? Think of a creative and generous way to use 60 minutes this week to bless others.

40 Application Questions From Isaiah 40

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Angell Williams (2008), Creative Commons License

Angell Williams (2008), Creative Commons License

Isaiah 40 is rich with imagery, promises, and soaring truths about God. If you’ve spent time worshiping with Christians, you’ve probably sung a hymn or song which draws on this chapter.

And though we’ve sung from Isaiah 40, I suspect far fewer of us have studied it or dug deeply into the application of this passage. After all, application is hard—we’re usually satisfied if we can find one token application before we move on to the nachos.

Not today, my friends. We’re going deep with application today.

The Main Point

The main point1 of Isaiah 40 can be stated succinctly.

Take comfort: the incomparable God will come and care for his people.

Preparing for Application

When beginning to apply a passage, remember that there are two directions of application (inward and outward). We are confronted with these questions: How do I need to change? How can I influence others to change?

There are also three spheres of application: the head, the heart, and the hands. The author’s main point in a Bible passage should affect what I think/believe, what I desire, and what I do (respectively).

Finally, the best applications are specific and keep Jesus and his saving work in mind.

Application Questions for Isaiah 40

Instead of providing my own application of Isaiah 40, I’ve written questions to guide your application of the passage. I worked hard to get forty questions, just to show that the Bible reaches far deeper into our lives than we usually allow.

Head Application, Inward

  1. Do you believe that God is the creator of everything (Is 40:12, 22)? Do you believe that God is the ruler over the nations (Is 40:15–17)? Do you believe that God directs and names the stars in the sky (Is 40:26)?
  2. When are you likely to forget that God is the creator and ruler?
  3. How can you remind yourself that God is the creator and ruler?
  4. Do you believe that God is wise (Is 40:14)? Do you believe that God is unique, unlike any idol (Is 40:18–20)? Do you believe that God is able to strengthen the weak (Is 40:29–31) and protect the vulnerable (Is 40:11)?
  5. When are you likely to forget that God is wise and unique, the source of protection and strength?
  6. How can you remind yourself that God is wise and unique, the source of protection and strength?
  7. Do you believe that God wants comfort for (and not vengeance upon) his people?
  8. Do you believe that God is devoted to his people? When are you likely to forget this? Why?

Heart Application, Inward

  1. In times of distress or uncertainty, what brings you comfort? Do you find comfort in hearing truth about God?
  2. What do you rely on for strength or energy? Do you depend on caffeine, sleep, “comfort food,” or something else?
  3. Do you know the burden of exhaustion and discouragement shouldered by God’s people? Do you want God to comfort his people?
  4. Do you want to be comforted by God, or would you prefer to find comfort in something (or someone) else?
  5. Do you rejoice that God has come to be near/with you in the person of Jesus? What specifically about Jesus’s presence brings you joy?
  6. Do you rejoice that God is eager to give you His strength? What difference does God’s provision of his strength make in your life?
  7. Do you fear the nations? How can you pray so that you will not fear them?
  8. Do you fear the government? How can you pray so that you will not fear it?

Hands Application, Inward

  1. With what actions do you seek comfort? When do you desire comfort? How can you train yourself to seek Biblical comfort?
  2. How can you turn God’s creation into reminders about God’s character for yourself? (Witness the way Isaiah uses these images to teach about God: a shepherd with lambs (Is 40:11), stars (Is 40:26), nations (Is 40:15–17), grass and flowers (Is 40:6–8), scales and measurements (Is 40:12), grasshoppers (Is 40:22), craftsmen (Is 40:19–20), eagles (Is 40:31), youth (Is 40:30).)
  3. When do you find yourself needing strength? How can you seek/receive the strength that God promises?
  4. How can you seek God’s strength through his word?
  5. How can you seek God’s strength through worshiping him?
  6. How can you seek God’s strength through fellowship with his people?
  7. How can you seek strength from God through the means he provides (sleep, recreation, etc.) and still acknowledge God as the source?
  8. What does it look like for you to “wait for the Lord” (Is 40:31)? In what circumstances is it difficult for you to wait for the Lord? Why?
  9. How will the truths from this passage affect the way you celebrate Advent/Christmas this year?

Head Application, Outward

  1. What are some false/inadequate comforts you have given to other people? How can you replace these imitations with Biblical comfort?
  2. When do you have opportunities to remind other Christians what God is like? How can you plan to be ready in these situations?
  3. What questions can you ask your neighbors or friends to lead to a discussion about God?
  4. What questions can you ask your children to lead to a discussion about God?

Heart Application, Outward

  1. Do you desire that all of God’s children know his comfort? Are there some you would rather not be comforted?
  2. How can we help each other discover what brings us comfort?
  3. How can we help each other discover where we turn for strength?
  4. How will you build friendships so that these are natural/welcome topics of conversation?
  5. Are you hesitant to reveal your own misdirected comfort-seeking to others? If Jesus has died for you and welcomed you into God’s family, why are you hesitant?

Hands Application, Outward

  1. How can you extend God’s shepherdly comfort to his flock?
  2. Identify at least two people within your sphere of concern who are especially vulnerable. How can you care for them?
  3. How can you encourage others to seek God for strength?
  4. How could you involve others in a Christmas celebration that focuses on God’s comfort and care for his people in Jesus?
  5. How can you use creation to discuss God with your children?
  6. How can you use creation to discuss God with your neighbors?

Back to Jesus

How do these application questions specifically remember Jesus? I haven’t made that explicit, but consider this. In the beginning of the chapter (Is 40:2), when God calls for comfort for his people, the basis of the message is this: “her warfare has ended, her iniquity has been removed, she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” The foundation of the message is reconciliation with God, initiated by God. Jesus has come near and provided comfort and care for us; therefore, we can exhort ourselves and others to seek out our merciful God.

  1. Here’s a brief outline of the passage to support this claim. (But you should study the passage yourself to check my work!) The theme of comfort is introduced in Is 40:1, and the three “voices” that respond to this command introduce their own sections in Is 40:3, Is 40:6, and Is 40:9. Isaiah discusses God’s unmatched actions and abilities in Is 40:12-14 (his creation and wisdom), Is 40:15-17 (the nations are insignificant before God), Is 40:18-20 (God is unlike any human idol), Is 40:21-24 (God dwells in the heavens and brings earth’s rulers to nothing), and Is 40:25-26 (the Holy One directs the stars by his power). We also read of God’s coming to his people in both Is 40:3-5 and Is 40:9-11, and his concern for his people is evident in Is 40:9-11 (his ruling arm provides tender care, especially for the most vulnerable) and Is 40:27-31 (God gives his own strength to his people).
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Let Down Your Guard to Keep Up the Fight

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In the classic image of a gray, moat-encircled castle, the drawbridge is a crucial defense tool. When the bridge is up, enemies are exposed and archers have the advantage.

In this position the castle is isolated and cannot receive any food, supplies, or correspondence. Though dropping the bridge makes the castle vulnerable, a fearful king who won’t let others inside is in trouble of a different kind. The king falls if the bridge doesn’t.

Your Heart is a Castle

Georges Jansoone (2006), Creative Commons License

Georges Jansoone (2006), Creative Commons License

We shield our hearts from others without thinking. On one level, this is natural—we don’t need to reveal deep secrets in every conversation.

But some people don’t let anyone across the drawbridge. We need community to apply the Bible, and at its core a community is a network of close, honest friendships. Letting down our guard is difficult, but it isn’t just a nice idea to consider—it’s essential to growing as a Christian. Without friendships, our hearts starve like the paranoid king.

Small Group Prayer

A small group is an important place to build Biblical community. Your fellow group members may not start out as your dearest friends. But as you meet regularly and discuss the most important topics in the world, you create an environment where transformational vulnerability is possible.

Even a brief period of prayer can promote honest sharing in your group. These opportunities can embolden people to disclose themselves in ways that mark true friendship.

The group leader should encourage prayer requests that cannot be delivered in another setting. You can learn about Bob’s aunt’s cat’s bunion surgery by email without missing an opportunity to care for Bob. But when Bob confesses his anger or loneliness or gluttony, you are better equipped to bear his burden and love him if you can look him in the eyes and draw him into a conversation.

Assignment #1: Find one personal item to share during your next small group prayer time. What are the areas of your life in which you see great need for repentance and growth? How can you strengthen your group with stories of God’s provision or his deliverance from an entangling sin (Heb 12:1, NASB)?

Applying the Bible

Effective Bible study involves careful observation, intense interpretation, and penetrating application. Though it is the most uncomfortable part of the process, if we skip application we’ve missed the point.

Applying the Bible is more than just saying “pray more,” “read my Bible regularly,” “trust in Jesus,” or “focus on the Lord in everything.” Amen to these exhortations, but when application is not concrete it’s like trying to visit Greenland by “going north.”

Friends within your small group can help you get specific, but you need to open the door before they can walk through. Here are two keys: practicing application on your own, and being willing to discuss application (past and future) in detail.

The vocabulary isn’t all that important, but the more familiar you are with the categories of application, the more broadly and thoroughly others will be able to address your concerns during your small group meeting. As part of this process you must anticipate the particular resistance your flesh offers to change. If you can pinpoint your tendencies, you can enlist help to combat them.

You also need to be able to talk about application with your friends. When the Holy Spirit helps us connect the main point of a passage to an area of disobedience in our lives, we need to push through the fear and feelings of exposure that often ride shotgun. If you are willing to be specific about your sin and answer questions from your group members, you will be that much closer to the obedience you seek.

Assignment #2: For your next small group meeting, read the relevant Bible passage ahead of time and prepare some personal applications to discuss with your group. Remember that vulnerability inspires vulnerability, and if one person in a group is willing to talk honestly, others will as well.

3 Tips for Bad Bible Study, Part 3

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Today we conclude our series helping you avoid the troublesome effects of good Bible study. If you’ve been following along, you may have already observed first-hand how assuming you already know what the text says shields you from unsettling new ideas. Hopefully you’ve also understood how dangerously exposed you are to the life-changing truths of the Word if you fail to find your own meaning.

Having mastered these tips, you’re ready to complete the trifecta of biblical impotency:

3. Protect Your Heart

If your aim is to stay in control of your life and not have to change course every time some pesky fact or bothersome truth comes along, this tip is the ace you can always keep up your sleeve. After all, human nature is what it is and occasionally you’ll let down your guard against learning something from the Bible. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you’ll find yourself having clearly understood a truth from God’s Word which you had never understood before.

When you find yourself in this situation, don’t give up. It’s not too late to render harmless even the most disruptive truth. All you need to do is prevent it from penetrating your heart. Protect your heart, and you’ll never have to worry about your life being shaken up by the Bible. I don’t care how profound the truth is. If you can keep it segregated from your motivations, hopes, and treasures, you’ll be no more affected by it than if you’d never understood it at all.

To accomplish this, work from the inside out. Identify the things that are most important to you, the things closest to your heart. These might be achievements you want to attain, affections you want to win, or objects you’d like to own. If you’re not sure, try completing this sentence: “I would be satisfied with my life if only _________.”

Now here’s the key step: once you’ve identified the desires of your heart, build a wall around them. Never allow what you read in the Bible to question their intrinsic value or their ability to satisfy you. If you want to be secure in your plans and preferences, your heart’s desires need a wall to protect them from examination. Think of it as granting them a certificate of exemption from scrutiny. This is how you protect your heart.

It’s hard to overstate the power of this technique. People who diligently apply themselves to protecting their hearts can build up a shield that is all but impenetrable. In fact, some people’s hearts are so well-armored that they can flagrantly disregard my first two tips for bad Bible study yet still be in no danger of having their plans disrupted by the Word.

As strong a defense as this is, though, remember that it is your last defense. If you’ve allowed yourself to open your mind to the Bible, and if you’ve acknowledged that it speaks an objectively true message to you, then the wall around your heart is all that’s left between your comfortable status quo and the earth-shaking effects of God’s Word. If one well-placed arrow finds a single gap in your wall, your heart will be pierced and your plans will go out the window. The comfort of empty ritual will be gone, replaced by whatever it is that God intends for your life.

If that happens to you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

How to Apply the Bible in Community

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Perhaps you nodded at the suggestion that Christians should apply the Bible in community. Agreement might fire the engines, but it doesn’t get you off the runway. How can our friendships grow so that Bible application is natural? How can we get this plane in the air?

Cliff Muller (2009), Creative Commons License

When talking about community, many Christians focus on accountability. But Christian friendship doesn’t start (or stop) there. Let me offer four resolutions toward developing helpful, God-glorifying relationships.

Resolve to Spend Time with People

To apply the Bible in community, you must be in community. This goes beyond becoming a member of a good church. You need to know other Christians and you need to be known by others. When Paul writes about the church using the metaphor of a human body (1 Cor 12:12–27), he emphasizes how the parts of the body need each another (1 Cor 12:21–22).

This need is more than a physical or social dependence. We are to bear each other’s burdens (Gal 6:2), forgive one another (Col 3:13), confess our sins to one another (James 5:16), love one another (Rom 12:10), and speak truth to one another (Eph 4:25).

These commands point us well beyond handshakes and saccharine smiles on Sunday mornings. We need to pursue deep, honest friendships with other Christians. Relationships with other sinners—though messy—are worth pursuing because God commands them and they are designed for our benefit.

Resolve to Ask Questions

My treasured friends, the ones who have had the greatest spiritual impact on me, are the ones who excel at asking questions. When they see me caught in a sinful pattern or spiraling downward in my thoughts, they adopt a holy refusal to leave me alone. They ask me questions to help me think through my behaviors, thoughts, and relationships in the light of the gospel. Such questions are uncomfortable, but they help uncover my sin and point me toward Jesus. Don’t you want to be this type of friend? I sure do!

The good news is that we can all become friends like this. Start with a tiny question: why? Why was that disappointing? Why did you enjoy that? Why did you respond to her that way? It seems like you’ve been withdrawing recently; why is that?

Answering why questions can reveal your true hopes, fears, joy, and motivation. Even if you are not a verbal processor, you may get powerful clarity by speaking some thought you’ve been storing in your head. Friends can expose wrong thinking, a bent character, and errant behavior by asking these simple questions.

Why questions are not the only questions to ask, of course. As your relationship grows and you see the your friends’ struggles and tendencies, you’ll learn additional questions. You will notice the parts of their lives they don’t like to discuss. You will see how they respond to disappointment and criticism. Soaked in the gospel, your questions may be just the signpost toward hope that your friends need.

Resolve to Talk About God

I’ve seen too many Christians leave faith as an assumed-but-not-discussed topic between them. We can do better.

As you grow closer to other believers, you should care deeply about their walk with God. Their Christian discipleship is one of the most important qualities about them. So ask!

Here are some helpful questions to ask your friends: What has God been teaching you lately? How have you seen God work in your life over the past month? What are you reading in the Bible? What are you learning? What fruit of the Spirit have you seen God growing in you? How are you different from the person you were a year ago? These questions are like salt in your relationships. Don’t empty the whole shaker at once! But if you sprinkle them into your conversations, your friendships will have a richer flavor.

Though conversations like these might not feel natural at first, press through the awkwardness. You might even take the opportunity to discuss what sort of friends you want to be.

Putting it Together

So talk about the Bible with your friends. Tell them what God has been teaching you and how you’ve been trying to apply it. Ask them the same.

And talk with your friends about your sin and areas of frequent discouragement. Tell them the ways you are struggling to trust God. Ask them the same.

Soon you will find that these discussions overlap. You’ll talk with someone about a passage of the Bible, and later in the month that same person will notice an area of your life that is begging for application of the same text. Applying the Bible in community isn’t one extra step to put at the end of your small group Bible study. It will happen naturally as you develop close, Christian friendships.

Resolve to Pray

Since our sin nature is opposed to these ideas of exposure, humility, and vulnerability, we need to pray! We must ask for God’s provision of good friends and for his help to be a good friend. By his Spirit, he needs to change us into people who embrace the faithful wounds of those who love us (Prov 27:6).

Why We Need Community to Apply the Bible

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Because it is so personal, application can be the most demanding part of Bible study. In observation and interpretation, we focus on the words and meaning of a passage of Scripture, and our distance from the study provides some cover. But application is dangerous because God calls us not just to think but to change. Applying the Bible is difficult.

Yet this difficulty doubles when we attempt application on our own. Like a solo mission on a battlefield or a five-on-one game of basketball, the odds of successful application spike when we engage without company. Relationships are messy and the cause of deep grief at times, yet God ministers grace to his children through other Christians. We need each other in order to faithfully apply the Bible.

Grayson Akerly (2013), Creative Commons License

Our Blindness

We need other people because we all have blind spots. We often see ourselves dimly, as in shadows. While we may identify obvious transgressions, there are subtle sins below the surface. Blind spots show up in each of the three spheres of our lives where we must apply the Bible.

Ephesians 4:22–24 gives three steps for change when applying the Bible to your head: Identify what you think, identify what God wants you to think instead, and start thinking God’s thoughts. But how do we identify what we think? Our minds and beliefs are far more complex and layered than we assume, and the lies we believe often hide behind solid truths. A willing friend can help unveil our thoughts.

When applying the Bible to our heart, we focus on character. We ponder what kind of person God wants us to be. We have previously considered some questions to give us traction in this task: In what ways are you relying on your performance? What are your greatest hopes?

But here’s the problem: How confident are you in your ability to answer these questions? Can you diagnose your character by yourself? Our true hopes and values may be slightly (or dramatically) different from what we state in polite company. When a brother or sister forces us to answer why questions, we unmask our hypocrisy.

Perhaps most obviously, we have blind spots in our behavior (applying the Bible to our hands). We might not realize how our words were harmful or how we ignored someone in need. We might not identify our conversation as gossip, our snacking as gluttony, or our “personal time” as selfish. Good friends can point out our overlooked sins.

If we ignore community when applying the Bible, we will miss aspects of our head, heart, and hands that need to change. But our blind spots are not the only reason we need other Christians in our lives to help with application.

Our Resistance

Because both the old man and the new man dwell within us, we always face a challenge when pursuing obedience to God. (See Galatians 5:16–17.) Our flesh likes inertia and dislikes change, especially if that change is brought about by faith. When applying the Bible to our lives, our flesh offers massive resistance.

Sometimes this resistance appears shortly after we resolve to change. Despite the conviction we feel and God’s call to repent, our flesh grabs a bullhorn and reminds us of the inconvenience of change. The old man offers dozens of reasons to delay or abandon this new obedience. One way to rob these protests of their power is to anticipate them with a friend.

But our flesh contends against our repentance over time as well. We’ve probably all experienced this: under the conviction of the Spirit you decide that change is needed, so you start off on a new course. You’re not walking perfectly, but by God’s grace you begin in the right direction. Over time that initial conviction of sin wears off, and you no longer connect the new behavior to the reason that inspired it. So the new behavior happens less and less frequently until it doesn’t happen at all. Sometimes we need friends to ask us about a repentance begun months ago.

If we ignore community when applying the Bible, we may lose momentum in our application and give up.

The “How”

Our blind spots and our resistance to change provide some reasons that Christians should apply the Bible in community. In my next post we’ll discuss how to apply the Bible in community.

How to Know Whether Your Bible Study was a Success

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I want to believe that what I do matters, especially when I’ve put in much time and effort. Don’t you?

And when we lead Bible studies, our common temptation is to measure success in all the wrong ways:

  • Did a lot of people come? Is the group growing? (Acts 19:29-41)
  • Was the meeting exciting? (1 Kings 18:28-29)
  • Did I faithfully speak the truth? (Job 5:8-16, quoted approvingly by Paul in 1 Cor 3:19)
  • Did I follow all the steps and have the right interpretation? (Luke 10:25-29)
  • Do people feel close to each other? (Gen 11:1-9)
  • Are defenses being lowered? (Gen 3:1-7)
  • Are people learning? (2 Tim 3:6-7)
Bernard Goldbach (2011), Creative Commons

Bernard Goldbach (2011), Creative Commons

When I call these the “wrong ways” to measure success, I’m not suggesting any of them are bad things. Merely that they are not the main things. If these things happen, then praise God! But unless the main thing happens, the study was not yet a success.

The main measure of success

What is the main thing? I addressed it early in this series when I explained the main reason to attend a Bible study. I now return to the same goal for evaluating success:

As a result of the study, do people know God better through his Son Jesus Christ?

If you remained faithful to the truth, there’s a good chance you led them to the one who is the Truth. But if you didn’t incarnate love in the process, you made much noise without making an impact. That’s not success.

If a lot of people came and felt comfortable with each other, but their affections and lives weren’t conformed further to Christ’s image, you may have merely accelerated their slide into hell.

If very few people came and you’re patting yourself on the back for standing fast as one of the only truly faithful ones in the land, it might be time to work on sweetening your speech and adding persuasiveness to your lips.

If people learned a lot, terrific. Did the increased knowledge increase their love for God and bolster their commitment to submit to Christ the Lord?

Yeah, but how do you measure it?

You may commit yourself to helping people know God through his Son Jesus Christ. It feels great to make such a commitment, but it still feels vague and idealistic. How do you know whether it’s happening? What is the visible evidence of such success?

In his book Growth Groups, Colin Marshall gives the following diagnostic indicators of a healthy small group. These indicators are most helpful when we remember they are secondary. That is, they don’t define success; they show that success is possible. If these indicators are present, the group might be healthy, and we can get close enough to people to evaluate their progress in knowing God. If these indicators aren’t present, the group is probably not healthy, and we probably can’t get close enough to people to know.

  1. Ownership: each member belongs to the group. People have commitment to the group and concern for the group’s welfare.
  2. Participation: high levels of involvement in discussion. People prepare for the meeting, engage with the discussion, and/or interact deeply with the text.
  3. Openness: honesty in self-disclosure. People feel safe to celebrate success, confess failure, and commit to personal change.
  4. Service: each member using their gifts. People trust each other and all pitch in. They don’t rely on the leader to do all the work.
  5. Achievement: the group goals are being achieved. People pray and work to the end that they would know Christ more and that others would come to know Christ.

I appreciate Marshall’s diagnostic, because it gives me a way to measure the overall health of the group. But, as with a healthy human body, it’s possible to look healthy on the outside without truly being healthy. But with ownership, participation, openness, service, and achievement, our chances are good of peeling back the layers and captivating people’s hearts.

 

How to Encourage Heart-Oriented Application

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Practical application often has a bad rap among Christians.

Some people read the Bible and believe they’ve done the work of applying it if they come away with a list of truths about God. “But that’s not practical,” many object. “When does the truth get out of your head and into your life?”

Others read the Bible and believe they’ve done the work of applying it if they come away with a list of behaviors to carry out the next day. “But you can’t reduce the knowledge of God to 10 easy steps,” the first group objects. “It doesn’t matter what we do if it’s not grounded in the truth of the gospel.”

And both groups are right, after a fashion.

What is Application?

Applying is believing. John wrote his Gospel with one purpose: “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). Have you studied that book lately? You may find each chapter pretty repetitive, and fresh or innovative application will seem like a long-lost dream until you move to another book. I once had a guy stop coming to a Bible study in John for this very reason.

Applying is doing. James wrote his epistle to highlight the “doing” life of the scattered people of God. “Be steadfast under trial.” “Be doers of the word.” “Show no partiality.” “Do not speak evil against one another.” And so on. Theology is not absent from James, but it covers itself in thick layers of action and imperative.

Capturian (2010), Creative Commons

Capturian (2010), Creative Commons

Let us not forget, however, that applying is also loving and cherishing. We can know the truth and still be far from God (James 2:19). We can do all the right things and yet not come to the only one who can give us life (John 5:39-40).

As we lead Bible studies, we do well if we help people to believe and do. But we must not neglect the opportunity we have week in and week out to help them deepen their love for God and be conformed to the image of his Son. Our application should target the heart.

How to Target the Heart in Bible Study Discussions

It’s not rocket science, but it does need forethought and intention.

1. Show them how to do it. “Follow the leader” isn’t merely a game for preschoolers. Your group members play it every week. You must apply the Bible to your heart, and you must do so publicly with your group. Only then will they see how it’s done and that it’s not so scary (Heb 13:7, Phil 4:9, 1 Cor 11:1). Figure out why vulnerability is so hard for you, and repent.

2. Ask about obstacles or hindrances. When we hit a good, solid “do” application from the text, I find it helpful also to ask people, “what keeps us from doing this thing God wants us to do?” When people answer that question honestly, they’re usually cracking open the door to their heart. It often reveals what they value more than obedience, or more than the Lord himself.

3. Suggest options. Getting to the heart is not as complicated as some may think. We love something other than God, and good leaders can expose those loves and offer more godly alternatives. Are you concerned with what people think of you? What would happen if you didn’t get that [promotion, mobile device, spouse, child] you want?

4. Celebrate progress. We get more of what we reward, and we foster micro-cultures in the process. So when someone gets it and identifies character deficiencies or expresses desires for deep-seated change, I’m all over it. If I give more air time to those folks than to the folks who want to discuss their third cousin’s upcoming surgery, the latter folks learn quickly how to target their own hearts as well.

Six Bad Habits in Leading Bible Study

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This is a guest post by Andy Cimbala. Andy has a passion for college students to become committed disciples of Jesus Christ, and he loves seeing them lead great Bible studies! Andy & his wife Melissa are the lead campus staff for the DiscipleMakers ministry at Shippensburg University, and he blogs for The Relentless Fight. If you’d like to write a guest post for Knowable Word, please see the guidelines page.
Dennis Larson (2012), Creative Commons

Dennis Larson (2012), Creative Commons

If God can use a silly donkey to speak his word (2 Peter 2:16), he can use anybody. But the wise of heart will use sweetness of speech to increase persuasiveness (Prov 16:21).

Thus, even when truth is present, a bad Bible study can leave participants confused, wondering if they’ll ever understand what the Bible says. But as leaders we can prevent Bible studies from being dull by learning how to study well and how to lead well—and by avoiding at least six bad habits.

1. Winging It

The Spirit of God works as we lead Bible study, and he also works as we prepare for it. Before you lead, spend time in prayer and preparation to discern the main point of the text and to generate some helpful questions to guide the time.

2. Being Vague

When God speaks, he means to communicate something knowable and specific, and what he means is not a matter of one’s own interpretation. Your job as leader is to direct people to the text to discern what the author is saying. Clarity is a rare but precious commodity. Strive for it as you frame the time and ask good questions. Feel free to guide the group by taking tangential discussions offline.

3. Talking a Lot

The answers are in the text and not your brain. Direct the group back into the Bible, and ask questions to help them seek and find the truth there. Be quick to listen and slow to speak. By all means, draw the group out, and dominate the time with God’s voice, not yours.

4. Keeping it Academic

What good is it to understand the point of a passage but never have it change our lives? James says this is like looking in the bathroom mirror but having to pull down the car visor 15 minutes later because you forgot what you looked like (James 1:23-24). When you lead a Bible study, reserve time for application and push folks to grapple with the text’s connection to their lives. Don’t be satisfied with purely cognitive but apparently spiritual answers.

5. Sputtering to the Finish

Leaders are servants, and a great way to serve people is to communicate start and end times—and hold yourself to them. Also, a strong way to end the study might be to restate the main point, summarize a few applications, and close with prayer. You may want to sneak any announcements in before the closing prayer. What you don’t want is for people, who sacrificed time to attend, to wonder whether it was worth it.

6. Neglecting Prayer

Since the Holy Spirit wrote the Scripture, sensible leaders ask his help to understand it. While prayer might not fit your goals for the discussion time itself (particularly if the group’s purpose is outreach to unbelievers), prayer during your preparation expresses dependence on the Lord and gives him the honor he deserves.

May God strengthen you to be an excellent Bible study leader! May you lead with consideration, clarity, and confidence in the author and perfecter of faith. And if your study doesn’t go well, remember that our gracious God can still speak through anyone.