T2W - July
Saturday, July 9 we had our second discussion of the book we are currently reading together, Women Counseling Women. One of the things I most appreciate about this book is that the general editor, Elyse Fitzpatrick, starts with the gospel (the topic of the first two chapters and our first meeting) and is now setting a solid foundation for the way we approach the Word of God.
Chapter 3 starts with a discussion of the terms, “hermeneutics” and “genre”, which can have some of us saying, “Herman who and what?” The goal is not to impress or confuse anyone with theological terms; the goal is to clearly understand God’s Word, and ironically, that’s what hermeneutics means – the science of interpretation, with the goal of a clear understanding! In this case, we are talking about discerning what the Word of God means. 2 Timothy 2:15 says,
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (NASB)
That is our goal as believers - to be accurate in the way we handle God’s Word; we must not twist Scripture to try to make it say what we want to hear. In 2 Peter 1:20 we read,
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
We live in a world of “here’s what I think it means,” or, “here’s what it means to me,” (note the emphasis on self) when the real question to be answered is, “What did the author mean?” This involves learning the Who, What, Where and When of the Scripture passage before we ever begin applying it to ourselves. When it comes to the Word of God, the intent of the Author is the thing we must seek to understand. That will involve work, study and prayer, but sometimes we just don’t know where to start. To help with this, we recommended two resources, Living by the Book, by Howie Hendricks, and an illustration from the book, Grasping God’s Word by Duvall and Hays. Thankfully, someone else found the illustration of a “principalizing bridge” helpful, and put it online (http://www.cornerstonebuzz.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/journey-4-notes.pdf) The illustration points out the importance of getting the sense of the passage in its original setting before trying to bridge over into modern day life. If we don’t, we are liable to “read in” to the passage modern thinking rather than “draw out” the original meaning.
As we seek to properly understand the text of Scripture, it will involve the other word-of-the-week, “genre”. Genre is just a fancy French way of saying “kind or type.” In the Old Testament there are different types of literature – law, prophecy, wisdom, poetry, etc, and in the New Testament we have the gospels and letters, to name some of them. The key is to not confuse the types. For example, when we read in Psalm 98:8 “Let the rivers clap their hands, let the hills sing for joy together.” We understand that this is poetry, a figurative expression and not literal hand-clapping rivers or singing mountains. We also need to understand the historical setting of promises given, and to whom they were given, so that we are not pulling verses out of various places to make the Bible say what we want it to say.
We could spend weeks on this topic alone, but since we only had an hour and a half, we moved on to the topic of chapter 4, discernment. Our discernment (or understanding) as believers grows as we grow spiritually, and it is directly connected to our proper handling of the Word of God. The only way to get better at discerning truth from error is to spend a lot of time with truth! On page 52 the author says it this way: We learn to discern truth from error by constant and close study of the real thing, God’s Word.
Not only are we to know God’s Word, we are also to “test” what others say by the Word of God. Our author quotes 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22,“test everything; hold fast for what is good. Abstain from every form of evil,” and then says,
Believers are to examine what they think, hear, see, and do, and measure it all against what God’s Word says. What you think of and understand about God (that is, your theology) will always drive your responses to everything in life. (p. 57)
As we learn what God says in His Word, and begin to discern truth from error in the world in which we live, the outcome should be living out what we know to be true. This always brings us back to the gospel and the grace of God, because we cannot live the Christian life apart from the Savior who loved us and gave Himself for us. So, don’t despair – sanctification is an ongoing process, and God is at work making us more like His Son (Romans 8:29).
Our next meeting is August 13. I will spend just a few minutes talking about chapter 5 (Women’s Ministry) and then Karen Anderson will join in to discuss the topic of dealing with your emotions (chapter 6). This is an issue we all need to approach from a biblical point of view, and we hope to see you then!
Dianne
For the T2W team
T2W - Our First Week
Saturday morning 18 women met in the Coffee Cove for the second official meeting of T2W, but for our first discussion of Women Helping Women, a book edited by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Since some of you wanted to be there but your schedules did not allow for it, we thought blogging the meeting would keep everyone in the loop.
Though it was a little early for some of us, coffee was provided and no one fell asleep. In fact, all caffeine aside, I was encouraged by the fact there was discussion (not “discussion leader speaks, then waits in uncomfortable silence while crickets chirp and everyone stares at her”). Thanks for that!
As most of you know, the plan is to meet once a month (2nd Saturday) to discuss a couple of chapters, and this week we logically started with chapters 1 and 2. We opened by asking, “what did you find most challenging, interesting, or surprising in our reading?” It was not surprising that more than one woman mentioned the statement on page 16, “. . .don’t be confused. The Bible is not a self-help book. Written on every page is this truth: we cannot help ourselves.” Since bookstores (secular and Christian) are drowning in self-help books, CD’s and DVD’s, this is a bold statement. Later in the same chapter, this thought was reinforced:
We don’t need self-help; we can’t use it. We need Other-help. We need a Savior. . . The Bible teaches that it is the gospel of Jesus Christ-the good news about what He’s already done for us-that transforms our lives. (p. 21)
That truth – the gospel is not about what we do, but about what Christ has already done – has transformed my thinking over the past few years, and I don’t think I’m alone. The problem that we often have is connecting this gospel truth to the way we live our daily lives, and that will be the focus of our time together each month – connecting the gospel to our lives, specifically as women.
When Elyse came to speak for Faith Lift a few years ago, she was in the midst of writing the book, Because He Loves Me. In the introduction she talks about how we as believers move beyond the gospel, not because we don’t value it, but “we don’t really understand how God’s love to us in the gospel applies to us practically, here on this side of Calvary, “ and then she asks the question, “In your pursuit of holiness, have you left Jesus behind?”
Chapter 1 reinforces what our pastors regularly preach – we never move beyond the gospel.
Chapter 2, Do God’s Promised Apply to You? is a discussion of the assurance of salvation, and more than one woman cited her appreciation of the quote on pages 29-30, which ends with the statement, “He assures us not by giving us confidence in ourselves, but by bringing us to the end of ourselves, so that we might know and love him.”
Again we are faced with biblical truth that seems upside down and backwards to a world living by the slogans, “Believe in yourself!” or, “You are worthy!” The freeing truth is that I am not nor will I ever be worthy, but Christ is, and His righteousness covers me.
So, when we discussed the indicators of our identity in Christ at the end of chapter 2, we reminded the overly introspective among us that sanctification is a process, and it doesn’t happen overnight. That should remind us not to excuse our sin, but to run boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:12-16).
We want to encourage you to keep reading this book, but not in place of the Word of God. In fact, we want to be like the believers in Berea, who “searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things a were true.” (Acts 17:11)
The last 20 minutes of our time together was spent in prayer for those in need in our church family, for our pastors and for various ministries in the church. Let’s continue to hold each other up in prayer during the month.
The next meeting is set for July 9, at 8 am in the Coffee Cove. We will be discussing chapters 3 & 4, so keep reading and come ready to listen and to share.
In Christ Alone,
Dianne for the T2W Team