Going a Little Farther
Tonight we have a Bible study happening. 
I used to attend a large church (as you may already know). While attending, I was at various times, a leader, employee, intern, and congregant. The one thing I heard more than anything else was, “we never go deeper here” in regards to Bible study
Maybe it is because we did not have enough oxygen.
I remember hearing our pastor answer such complaints by pointing out the simple commands of Matthew 5 and 6 (loving God with everything in you and outside of you, and loving your neighbor as yourself) and how we failed to even get those down. While I agree, I think sometimes you have to challenge your people to see if they can go a little farther.
What does deeper mean?
Last week I handed out some information I compiled about the Apostle John and the first two chapters of his Gospel account. The idea was to give some background into the culture, the writing of the book, and how we can learn from the account. I think it was well received but I could not help but think how superficial this handout was. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure it helped. I am sure some people could identify better with John and his purpose for writing the Gospel.
For me it is hard to “go deeper” without going into the academics. What is the form, genre,or influences of culture behind the text? Who was John writing this for? You catch my drift. I think many people (myself included) get caught up in “going deeper” as some kind of scholarly exercise. How much information and how many cool new words can I pack into my brain? How much of this stuff will help me win debates with my neighbors and friends?
The Gospel is best understood as it is lived.
I believe the Gospel is Jesus Christ. He is the “good news.” The best way we can “go deeper” (there are a lot of quotation marks in this post…) is to live the way he asked us to live. If we love the Lord our God and our neighbors as ourselves, the deepness and fullness of the Gospel will take root. It will make sense. Academically learning about the Scriptures and Jesus is great, I am a huge fan nerd. If you come to our Bible study tonight (consider this an open invitation if you live near me) you will be challenged in the area of Biblical academia. I think this is only half of it. The other half has to be lived.
Then you will go deeper.
-Don-
P.S. The drawing winner for the book will be posted tomorrow! Stay tuned!
