I. Introduction

A. Illustration - Bill White writes, During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, "Thank you." But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package after all?" She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds." Like the contents in this package, the resources for growth and strength are available for every Christian who will take advantage of them (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

B. Richard Foster, in his book Celebration of Discipline, wrote, (NEW SLIDE) What we study determines the kind of habits that are formed, which is why Paul urges us to focus on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious (pg 64). Foster and White are basically saying the same thing – we all study various things in life, whether it’s TV or sports or hobbies or work or any number of other things that we spend a lot of time thinking about or focusing on. But God has His own list for us to focus on and study. And that’s what Paul is writing about in Romans 12:1-2, and I’m reading from the New Living.

C. Romans 12:1-2 from the New Living – (NEW SLIDE) And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? (NEW SLIDE) 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

D. (NEW SLIDE) God’s goal for us is transformation – remaking us into His image through close, personal relationship with Him. Transforming our thought life, or renewing our mind, is how He wants to accomplish that goal. Because what we do is determined by what we think.

II. Focusing Our Minds

A. In Philippians 4:8, Paul writes, (NEW SLIDE) And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Notice how the New Living says “fix your thoughts.” That’s an accurate representation of the Greek. The problem is that this verse sounds like a very high and lofty goal and a great concept, but it seems like it’s extremely hard to try to do. Well, if we try it on our own, it’s like we’re trying to hit a target while shooting blanks. It doesn’t work! (NEW SLIDE) We can’t focus our minds, fix our thoughts, allow God to transform us by changing the way we think if we try to do it our way. We’ve got to do it God’s way. And God’s way involves study.

B. There are several different things we can study as Christians. The first, obviously, is the Bible. In his book I Believe in the Church, David Watson writes, All Word and no Spirit, we dry up; all Spirit and no Word, we blow up; both Word and Spirit, we grow up (as cited on PreachingToday.com). (NEW SLIDE) Daily time in God’s Word is just as critical as consistent, daily prayer if we’re going to have a vital, intimate relationship with the living God. We can’t afford to be Bible scanners. You know what I mean? My folks, like most people in small communities, have a police scanner that they only turn off if they’re going to bed or leaving the house. They hear bits and pieces of what’s going on while they do other things. But what they hear over that scanner has no power to transform their lives. Many American Christians are Bible scanners – skimming through passages in the Bible without really thinking about what it all means and how it applies to them. If that’s what we do, we will get no life from God’s Word, because we’re not allow it to penetrate our hearts. So how do we study God’s Word in a way that will allow His Spirit to work in our hearts through it?

C. (NEW SLIDE) First, after reading the passage, we’ve got to ask, “What does it say? What does the text plainly say?” Not “What would I like it to say?” That’s twisting the truth to fit our particular opinion. What we’re trying to do here is simply observe what the passage says. What does it say?

D. (NEW SLIDE) Second, after observing, we interpret. We ask, “What does it mean? What does it mean within its context? What does it mean within the context of the entire Bible?” Again, the danger here is reading in our own opinions of how we believe Christianity should work. If we’re going to allow our minds to be transformed, then we’ve got to stop reading our own viewpoints into Scripture when we study it. I know that’s tough, because we all have filters we use to interpret everything in our lives. What is the plain meaning of the text?

E.(NEW SLIDE) Third, after observing and interpreting, we apply. We ask, “What does it mean to me? How can I apply the plain meaning of the text to my life personally?” The danger here is that we’ll be tempted to take the easy way out and give ourselves an easy application instead of the difficult but life-changing one that God had in mind when He inspired the passage to be written. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, (NEW SLIDE) All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. (NEW SLIDE) 17 It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. If you have trouble figuring out a personal application, which all of us do at times, use a good commentary or talk about it with other Christians to help you understand how to apply the passage to your life. What does it mean to me?

F. Illustration – In a sermon, preaching professor Haddon Robinson said, The people involved in the public relations department of the church always make Bible study sound as though it is easy. It is not. It takes a great deal of effort to understand this text, and even more to understand how it applies to our lives. We like to think that when we study the Bible, it's like getting a shot of spiritual adrenaline. It gives a spiritual high. Studying the Bible is much more like taking vitamins. You gulp down a couple of vitamins in the morning, but no wave of energy flows through your body. You take the vitamins because they build you up. They protect you against the diseases in the environment. In the long pull, they make you strong (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Robinson is right. (NEW SLIDE) Studying the Bible is hard work, but over time it will transform your heart and life by the power of the Spirit.

III. What Else Do I Study?

A. So what else do I study besides the Bible? Medieval church historian Erasmus, who compiled the Greek text that was used in the King James translation, wrote, When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes (as cited on PreachingToday.com). (NEW SLIDE) Good Christian non-fiction books are a great place to start. We’ve got to read them regularly to help keep our perspective on our walk with Christ and to help us apply biblical truths to our lives. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago two books I’m currently reading, Uprising by Erwin McManus and Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. Both of them are helping me to see biblical truth from new perspectives and to apply it in ways that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. True, there are some things in those books that I already knew or had thought of, but reading them allows God to expand my thinking and change how I view myself as well as how I view Him. Sometimes we get a bit confused about how a biblical truth can be effectively expressed in a book besides the Bible. The Bible teaches us truth. Other Christian books can help us to apply that truth to our own lives by seeing how someone else has applied it.

B. (NEW SLIDE) One of the great facts about Christian books is that we learn the mistakes that other people and churches have made, why they were made, what lessons there are to learn from them, and how to avoid them. We simply don’t have time to make all the mistakes that have been made, nor is that good stewardship of our time or our talents. Learning from others through books speeds our learning curve and helps us grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ. (NEW SLIDE) Try reading twenty pages a week from good Christian non-fiction books. God will use that time to change your life.

C. Books are great, but what else can we study? Romans 1:20 says, From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. (NEW SLIDE) When we study the creation, we gain a better understanding of the Creator. As Ed says, it’s hard to see how anybody can’t believe in God when they see what He has made. Let me give you an example. Now I’m not a science buff but I have learned a little bit about genetics and DNA. When I think about all the complex processes that have to happen just for one cell or even one strand of DNA to replicate, I have to believe there is a God. There is no way it could have happened accidentally. Did you know that up many of the most brilliant scientific minds that have ever existed have been Christians? Sir Isaac Newton, considered by many to be the most brilliant scientist ever, was a devout believer, and everything he learned about science reinforced his belief in a Creator God. Leonardo da Vinci was a believer, as well as Copernicus and Galileo. Dr. Don Chittick, a leader in fossil fuel research and in explaining creationist belief, is one of the sharpest yet most personable men I’ve ever met. We could go on, but suffice it to say that the Creation points directly to the Creator, and when we study nature we learn an awful lot about Who God Is. John Stott wrote, Don't neglect your critical faculties. Remember that God is a rational God, who has made us in his own image. God invites and expects us to explore his double revelation, in nature and Scripture, with the minds he has given us, and to go on in the development of a Christian mind to apply his marvelous revealed truth to every aspect of the modern and the postmodern world (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Study the Bible, study good Christian non-fiction books, and study nature.

D. One more area of study we’re going to cover. Besides the Bible, Christian books, and nature, we also can study people. (NEW SLIDE) The interaction between people, the way they talk and deal with each other, can teach us a lot about ourselves. Studying people can teach us a lot about how a lot of what we say tends to be aimed at justifying what we do. Or about how pride or need for control can show up in others. As Richard Foster writes, Remember, we are not trying to condemn or judge anyone; we are only trying to learn. If we do find a judging spirit emerging within ourselves, we observe that and learn. When we study people, we learn more about what controls us and influences how we act. We’re not trying to become amateur psychologists – we’re simply trying to gain a better understanding of ourselves so that we can become more of who God wants us to be. When we see ourselves in the actions of others, we can’t run from the truth any longer. (NEW SLIDE) Studying people helps us deal with the unChristlikeness of ourselves and learn how to let God transform us.

E.I know that some of us have a bit of a bias against studying anything. A lot of it comes from negative experiences from school. Some of it comes from temperament types that are less into studying than others. And some of it comes from a bias we’ve picked up from the fact that some of the most liberal scholars are also some of the most highly educated (of course, so are some of the most conservative scholars). In a 1977 interview with Christianity Today, Billy Graham was asked this question: "If you had to live your life over again, what would you do differently?" His answer: "One of my great regrets is that I have not studied enough. I wish I had studied more and preached less. People have pressured me into speaking to groups when I should have been studying and preparing. Donald Barnhouse said that if he knew the Lord was coming in three years, he would spend two of them studying and one preaching. I'm trying to make it up" (as cited on PreachingToday.com). (NEW SLIDE) The discipline of study is a powerful tool God uses to transform our lives by changing the way we think. Let’s give Him every opportunity we can to change us by studying as much as we can!

IV. Conclusion

A. Please bow your heads and close your eyes out of respect for each other’s privacy. I know some of you may be thinking, “But Pastor Brian, we’ve got to do more than study!” That’s right, we do have to do more than study. But if we don’t spend time daily studying the Bible, if we don’t study good Christian non-fiction books, if we don’t study nature, if we don’t study people, then we will be limiting God’s ability to transform us by changing the way we think. Let’s spend a few quiet moments just listening to the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts about our habits and attitudes regarding study.

B. What’s God been speaking to your heart? If you want to respond to Him today by surrendering yourself to His will for you to study on a daily basis, please make that surrender to Him right now in your own heart. Let’s pray.