#relaytraining

The following are copied directly from the notes I made on our first relay training day - Unfortunately I haven't proof read any of this, nor has the formating copied across particularly well but hopefully you can get a grasp of the teaching! Bible handling

4 stages of preparation: Observation, Interpretation, Application, How will I teach this?

What is the Bible?

An example Bible study Psalm 19: Three Voices The voice of Creation v1-6 What is the paradox about creation’s voice? 

Creation has a voice but it is not literal voice yet it speaks to the world. You can see God’s glory in creation but you cannot articulate it. 

The voice of the world

What kind of book is the bible? 

A good book - it is life! It effects every area of your life. Titles: Law, Precepts, fear, more than gold Qualities: Perfect, sure, pure, clean, righteous, Results: 

What difference would it make if the second half of each line was not included? 

There would be no result, no power, no effect

How is sun a picture (7-11)

The sun is a picture of God’s glory: proclaiming him throughout the earth. 

Do you find it surprising that v10 describes law? 

It is surprising because we don’t think of the law as a good thing, sometimes we don’t even think about the law as a good thing. 

The voice of the servant (v11-14)

What is the effect of God’s word on him? 

It warns the servant, keeps him focused on God and brings realisation of what is pure and Holy

How does this then impact us and compare to our experience of God’s word? 

The word should transform our lives, as it is relevant to every aspect of our lives. 

What sort of Book is the bible?

The bible is God’s word (2 Tim 3:14-4:5)

“14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

There is an intimate connection between the breath of God and the Word of God which is echoed in the Psalms. 

There are 3 implications of this connection:

If we have the word then we have a speaking God.

God is speaking through his word, he is speaking today. 

 “12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

We should expect God to do something with his word 

3) God speaks through his word in order to be understood.

While the clay cannot fully understand the potter - he can know what God has revealed to him. This helps us to stay humble as we cannot fully understand God’s mystery but we can get to know him;

“7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;” (Psalm 19:7)

Not only is breath and word connected but also the Spirit of God. 

 “11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinth 2:11)

Without the Holy Spirit you will never understand the Bible transformatively - You may understand it intellectually but you could not have it impact yourself 

 “19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:19-21)

When God spoke he did not by-pass the individual he was speaking through - He spoke through their situation, their own literary genre and time period and the personality of the author. This is a sign of God’s graciousness to include us in the process and gives a greater depth to the nature of the texts. 

This means we have to analyse the text and unpack it appropriately. 

Session 2: Observation

Nobody stays stationary in reading God’s word - You either move closer to him or further away depending on whether it has been faithfully taught or not. 

1 Peter 1:3-9 - Born again to a living hope

Observation

Compare translations: Key differences? 

Note the purpose of different translations and the different language and words used in different translations. Bible words have bible meanings also, dictionary definitions may be helpful but not exact.

Key words that need defining?

Structure: Break into manageable chunks:

Read and summarise each chunk in your own words: Then summarise the entirety

In 1 Peter 1:3-9: NIV and ESV - The NIV tends to be more readable but the ESV is better for studying. The message gives a good feel for books and the tone of the writing. 

This passage has quite a lot of Christian jargon and specific words that may not easily be understood - It’s important to make sure you can define these words in their context. 

Structure; what are the sections in this passage; 3-5: Focus on God and the inheritance we have - Our Inheritance from God  

6-7: Focus on us and the trails we face - Refining in trials 

8-9: Focus on result, the combination of the two - Rejoicing in Jesus regardless

— Our inheritance from God enables us to rejoice in Jesus regardless of trials we face. 

 For Narratives or other genres the structure breakdown occurs differently;

Luke 15: Identify key scenes, the turning points, the whole message. Setting > Tension > Resolution. 

Conversation between father and son - confrontation

Son goes independent - rejection

Son cannot stand on his own - failure

Son realises he would be better to return - realisation

The father embraces the son - resolution

The father celebrates - celebration

The other son is frustrated - confusion

The father presents the reality to the other son - explanation and cliff hanger

Session 3: Interpretation and Application

Trouble without context;

1 Corinthians 10:13 

“13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

This passage can be misinterpreted to me that we can do anything because God will not give us more than we can handle. The verse preceding this gives it context as well as the rest of the passage talking about the Israelites and verse 6: 

“6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did…. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall…”

With context we can understand the full meaning of the verse rather than taking it out of context - It is a comfort in times of failure instead of a call to complacency. 

The importance of context; 

3 common but unhelpful attitudes to the bible;

the bible was written about me - The bible is about God

the bible was written to me - The bible was written to individuals at that time, but its meaning transcends those individuals and time and is applicable to us too. We must ask; what was it saying to its original hearers, to the church in its history and to us today. 

I need to find a unique interpretation - It is not important to reach a new conclusion to the church but to reach a true conclusion potentially new to the individual.

1) Literary Context

Why is this text here in this book, this stage, the bible at all?

A sentence is within a paragraph within a section within a book within a testament within the Bible. 

We need to understand how this context applied to our observation of the text, what we derive from the text must fit in terms of the rest of the book and the flow.

In Luke 15: The parable of the lost son is within the context of other parables of things being lost - emphasising the theme of Lost and found

These parables are all being told to the pharisees who were arguing about Jesus’ behaviour of affiliating with sinners or the lost

2) Historical Context 

Who was it written to and what is their situation? Why was it written to them in that situation and what did it mean to them?

We can find clues as to the historical context, within the text itself. In Luke 15: We see the inheritance tradition between Father and Son, the Jews relationships to Pigs; they are the lowest of the low - unclean and unworthy to eat. The father running is unseemly behaviour for that age. Significance of killing a fattened calf. 

Do these images have other connotations today? Do we associate the images here with other ideas or concepts. 

3) Biblical Context

Why is it placed here in this part of the Bible?

Where is this placed on the bible timeline? 

Creation         Fall                        Jesus death resurrection           Jesus’ return

|____________|____________________|_____________________________|

|                                                                      |                        | Leviticus                                                 1 Peter                    Us

For scripture like Leviticus 4:27 - Where we see sacrifices made for sin, we need to consider where we are in comparison to that teaching and what a difference Jesus makes with regards to that. The New Testament reaffirms this Bible timeline concept;

“1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?” (Hebrews 10:1-2)

4) Christocentric context 

What does this passage teach me about Jesus? 

We need to realise that the whole of the bible is about Jesus and we should preach him from every passage of scripture. 

John 4:31-41: Jesus explains that there are 4 witnesses that testify to his claims of who he is: 1) Jesus Himself 2) John the Baptist 3) God the Father 4) Jesus’ works 5) Scripture

 On the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:25-27 Jesus himself declares that all scripture is about him

“ 25 And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

“Preach Christ in all of Scripture” Tim Keller 

Tim Keller gave examples of how to preach christ in all Scripture; 

Preach Christ in every part of scripture

Preach Christ in every inter-canonical themes in scripture - the theme of covenant, of exile, of kingdom, of idolatry vs true worship

Preach Christ in every image in the Bible - the image of the tree of life (Christ is there in Genesis, Revelation and proverbs)

Preach Christ in every major figure in the bible - All characters point to Christ - They are types of Christ’s character (Even Esther delivered God’s people)

Preach Christ in every Law of scripture - Tithing (your motivation for giving is because Christ gave more etc) 

Preach Christ in every reflection of Jesus - Compare the negative to the positive of Christ. A bad husband demonstrates how Christ is the perfect husband. 

We need to be vigilant to preach Christ in everything - He fulfilled the law for us so we can 

Typology is the study of Types of Christ - Which Characters mirror an element of Christ - It is born out of study and deep critical analysis of what the reflection of Christ is in that Character. 

Get “Morning and evening” by Charles Spurgeon

Luke 15 Reveals Christ in the reflection of Christ in the elder son, who pays for the younger son’s party as Christ pays for us. 

1 Peter 1 Has a direct implication to us but we need to think about what it teaches us about Christ - He is our inheritance, our hope, and giving Glory to him, praising him with Joy.

Treating the passage as Christocentric we can rephrase our original summary phrase; 

- Our inheritance from God enables us to rejoice in Jesus regardless of trials we face.

becomes…

Our hope in Jesus enables us to glorify and praise him in everything, even in trials. 

Application

Application results in changed lives. Find the timeless truth about Jesus: Think about what changes are needed or what commands help you reflect this truth of Jesus in your character. 

What is the big theme of the passage? Have you found a timeless truth about Jesus? 

Without application you are left with hypocrisy. We need to preach from a position of humility and from preach from lives that are changed by Jesus. 

Our theme sentence needs to respond and apply what we have learnt - Is it a timeless truth about Jesus or is it a direct response to the teaching we have? 

Our Aim sentence, that we want to people to leave the study with;

We need to understand the timeless truth that Jesus is our inheritance and thus respond to that by rejoicing and glorifying him particularly in suffering our trials. 

Session 4: How will I teach this? 

Different styles: 

Free-flowing discussion on or around the text - Unintentional, little purpose - Waste time - People get to express themselves and be involved but potentially heretically 

Detailed preparation - Little other contribution and personal elements - Can become regimented and unaccessible or inapplicable

Informally led with some prepared direction - Allows for flexibility whilst keeping study intentional - Prone to side-tracking and segways

Application heavy - Risks not understanding the text - Risks missing Jesus with self-focus

Simplify your material before bringing it to the group focusing on the theme sentence  Always remember your purpose and focus on your aim sentence.