Study—That We Might Believe

The following is excerpted from the sermon “Lent: Discipline of Study” by Todd Hunter.

Why don’t we study the bible?

  • The Bible is too hard to understand—and I have limited time and intellectual ability.
  • We wonder if the Bible remains reliable, relevant to our modern world?

What happens when we don’t study?

  • We lose contact with God’s Voice; lose our way under pressure from family, peers or media.
  • We lose confidence for living, discerning, deciding; we lose trust.

Why the Discipline of Study is Core to Discipleship:

  • The purpose of study is the transformation of our entire being into the image of Jesus and obedience his Gospel of the Kingdom of God…
  • We need to know the narrative of scripture from Divine intention to telos; knowing the story gives us a source of basic discernment—of fundamental patterns for living as an actor…
  • Know how our fore-parents dealt with God and the world—their worldview or lens for living…
  • Study is a source of comfort, encouragement and exhortation for followers of Jesus…
  • Study gives us increased ability to share the content of faith and to give a rationale for faith… Jesus used scripture to orient his work, describe his actions, defeat temptation and make his points to adversaries…
  • Study teaches us to form our deepest values, to ask and answer life’s great questions, to interpret life’s critical events and to make crucial judgments from a biblical basis…

Recommended reading:
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: Fourth Edition
How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour


Click here to listen to sermon Lent: Discipline of Study.