[FYI: This
Bible study is posted in three places: sweetlybrokengirl.blogspot.com and
myimpressionisticlife.blogspot.com and ironsharpensironbiblestudy.blogspot.com.
At Sweetly Broken Girl, I did not include my own answers to the questions I asked. This way, people can have the study as it is, without input from others.
At My Impressionistic Life and Iron Sharpens Iron Bible Study, I added some of my own answers to the questions. The only difference between the two blogs is that the Bible study is the only thing at ironsharpensironbiblestudy.blogspot.com, whereas there are lots of other posts at myimpressionisticlife.blogspot.com. At the last minute, I decided to post the Bible study on its own blog to make it easier for people to access.]
The “Iron Sharpens Iron” Bible
Study
Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
Have you been a
Christian for a long time? Do you have a
good grasp on the basics of Christianity and Scripture? Do you like to spend time with other people
discussing what you’ve learned about Scripture and how to apply it to your
life? Do you like wrestling with the
more challenging verses and issues?
I would love to have a
Bible study that would take me deeper into my faith, that would make me wrestle
with some of the harder things of Scripture, and that would help me build a
deeper relationship with others as we explored these hard things together. But most Bible studies that I come across go
over the basics of Christianity. And that’s
great, but I’ve already done many of those throughout the decades that I have
been a believer. And so since I couldn’t
seem to find one that went beyond the basics, I decided to write my own.
Actually, I credit the
creation of this Bible study to a friend of mine, Randi. When we were talking about getting together
as couples to do a Bible study, I started talking about the kind that I didn’t
want to do. I didn’t want one that went
over the basics or that had you fill in a blank with a Bible verse or that
asked questions like, “According to John 3:16, what does God promise to give us
if we believe in Jesus?” I had already
been through enough of those. I knew
most all of the appropriate biblical answers to the basic questions. I wanted something more in a Bible study.
After hearing all that I
didn’t want, Randi asked me, “Well, then, what kind of Bible study do you want to do?” And it really got me thinking.
While I value the
studies that go over the basics and that give you a good, solid foundation in
the faith (they are necessary and excellent resources), I am way past them. I want to struggle with deeper things. I want to get more real and raw and figure
out how to apply Scripture to a messy life.
I want to talk about the harder-to-understand things in Scripture, the
things that don’t just give us basic knowledge but that deeply challenge us and
that stir up our hearts and that call us to dig deeper and climb higher in our
faith.
And
that’s what this is – the kind of Bible study that I have been wanting to do. And I’m hoping that this study is challenging
to your faith – beautifully, painfully challenging. No easy, pat answers. No simply filling in the blank with a Bible
verse. This is about diving even deeper
into your faith and wrestling with Scripture, wringing more truth from it, and
discovering what it means for your
life specifically. And it is my hope
that this study will help you grow together with other believers and that you
will be able to sharpen each other, as iron sharpens iron.
(I thought about calling
this Bible study “The Heather-Likes-to-Hear-Herself-Talk-Too-Much Bible Study,”
but that would be too awkward to type in every time you wanted to look it up. So I called it “Iron Sharpens Iron.” It flows off the tongue easier.)
While anyone can use
this study, I am writing it specifically with mature believers in mind. It is intended for those who have been
Bible-believing, Christ-following Christians for a long time and who have a bunch
of Bible knowledge and a firm faith.
This study will not explore the fundamentals of Christian faith because
it assumes that you already know these.
Plus, there are many great studies and books out there that do
that.
[And I highly recommend
that you spend time learning from the many great theologians out there. I have checked out so many great books from
my church library, and it always saddens me to see how little they have been
checked-out in the past decade or so. We
are letting these wonderful, inspiring, faith-maturing gems go to waste. Take some time to read some good books on
faith from those who have walked this journey before us!]
And this study won’t cover
every aspect of every topic, but (hopefully) it gives you a lot of things to think
about and talk about. In fact, it’s not
even set up like a real, official, “proper” study. It’s more like reading my personal thoughts
on these issues (as rambling and tangential as they may be) as I wrestle
through them and bring up questions about them and find ways to live them. And then I give you some Bible verses to
consider and a bunch of questions to answer.
Think of me as a friend who is wondering aloud with you about God’s Word
and Christian life and faith. (FYI: When
I talk about “our country,” I am referring to America since that is where I
live. But I am sure that a lot of what I
say can be applied to anyone’s country.)
And things may not be
black and white. In fact, they may bring
up more questions than they answer. But
I think this is where a lot of growth happens.
In the wrestling and the contemplating.
In exploring it with others. In
meditating on Scripture and pleading with God for insight. In digging deeper for answers. In challenging others and being challenged
yourself.
This is why I say that
this study is intended for mature Christians, because it might raise more
questions and doubts than it answers. It
might challenge your faith. It might
confuse you. And some of these things might
not be comfortable to think about or talk about.
But do not be afraid of
contemplating them, of wrestling with Scripture and with God over things that
confuse or trouble you. Discuss these
hard things with other believers, challenge each other and learn from each other. This is why I am writing this rather
unorthodox Bible study. It’s not just
academic and theological. It’s not just
for the mind. It’s meant to be
relational and personal. It’s for the
heart and the mind together.
Getting Started
So if possible, gather a
couple of your closest friends (keep it small, 3 or 4 people at most) and meet
regularly for discussion. Try to allow
for a couple hours each time you get together so that you have time to enjoy each
other’s company and some good conversation (and maybe some cookies and
coffee). Meet as often as you wish, like
once a week or every other week.
Each week, start with
the fun, light-hearted “icebreaker question.”
Maybe ask this as everyone is getting settled and getting a snack. It’s to get everyone talking and sharing and
hopefully laughing. Then, when you are
ready to move onto the lesson, open up the evening in prayer. I’m a firm believer in prayer and that it
makes a difference.
When it comes to the “lesson”
part, I suggest that everyone reads it on their own before you meet as a
group. They are long sections, and I
ramble and detour and repeat myself sometimes.
And just when you think I’m wrapping up, I’ll dive into it again. (I can’t help it. I like to repeat myself, to say the same
things over and over again, to beat a point to death. It’s just who I am. A redundant, repetitive, point-beater!) So it might make it hard to read it out loud
together in the group.
And I also suggest
everyone answers the questions (all of them or just the ones you want to answer)
before you meet together. Then when you
get together – after the cookies and icebreaker question and prayer – you can
begin sharing your thoughts about the section and your answers to the
questions.
[But if you really
prefer to not have “homework,” everyone can read the section silently to
themselves when you get together. It
will take about 15-30 minutes or so. You
could possibly read it aloud as a group, but it might take longer. And then answer the questions as you read
through them. But I think you will get
more out of this study by doing the work ahead of time, before the group
meets. And then get together to discuss
your answers with each other.]
The lessons are not necessarily
meant to “teach” you, because they really are just my thoughts and opinions on
these things. (Feel free to disagree
with anything I say.) But my intention
is to spark thoughtful contemplation and sweet conversation about deep,
spiritual things. The “meat” of the
study will be in the fellowship, in answering the questions together and
wrestling with Scripture and with how to apply it to your life.
There will be some
overlap in questions within a section and between sections. But answering the same question from a
slightly different angle reveals more truth to us. And since there are a lot of questions and
the conversation might last a long time, you might want to have at least two
meetings to go over the longer ones. And
that’s okay. It just means more time in
good conversation with close friends.
This is the reason I say
to keep it really small - so that you can get deep into conversation with a few
people instead of shallow with many. At
least that is how I prefer things to be.
But I’m sure it will work with a large group, too. (I hope.)
It’s up to you and your preference.
But when answering the
questions, don’t just always give vague answers about Christians in
general. Make it personal. Give answers that relate to your life in
particular. Be specific and personal
whenever possible.
Remember, these
questions are not meant to be fluffy or formulaic or to give you basic biblical
knowledge. They are meant to challenge you
and grow you, to make you wrestle with yourself and God and life and faith. And remember that we are not looking for just
our opinions on these issues. We are
looking for a strong biblical view of them, trying to find out what the Bible
says. So try to bring it all back to the
Word of God.
[Please note that some
of the questions may be too painful or too personal. So it is important to pick people you trust
to go through this with. But make sure
everybody knows that they have the right to “pass” on any question they don’t
want to answer and that not every question needs to be answered and discussed. Pick the ones that matter most to you.]
Oh, and bring your
Bible. You may want to look up some of
the verses I quote and read them in context.
Plus, it is my hope you will be able to contribute by sharing your own
verses with the group, ones that you want to explore or talk about or that go
with your answers.
And do not approach this
study as a coloring page, where you have to color in the lines. Look at it like a springboard, using it as a
starting point to launch you into deep conversations and possibly unexpected
directions. Don’t worry about staying
“on task.” Follow the bunny trails that you
end up on and go where the Spirit leads.
Challenge each other. Ask
follow-up questions. Put the study aside
and spend hours discussing something else that came up. After all, those are the most memorable, relationship-building,
heart-changing conversations. And we
don’t seem to get enough of those in life.
(This is one of the reasons I wrote this study, to give us more of those
kinds of conversations. The kind I ache
for.)
A Confession
Before you start this
study, let me just clarify that I am not a Bible expert or a theologian. I am actually a licensed professional
counselor who got my Master’s Degree in psychology at a Christian graduate
school. [But I am not working outside
the house right now because I decided to stay home to raise and homeschool our four
sons. (God help me! It’s like herding cats sometimes, trying to
make them sit at the table, stop bickering, and get their math done!) And I love it! Wouldn’t trade it for the world.]
But I have been a
Christian for over 30 years now. And I have
spent the last many years struggling through trials, heartache, depression,
loneliness, poor self-esteem, doubts, and fears (fear of abandonment, of never
feeling “good enough,” of burdening others, of being a terrible failure in
life, etc.).
I have struggled long
and hard to learn to live with the scars of a broken home life – having a mom
who is on her fourth husband (my father was the first one), having a biological
father who had almost nothing to do with me, losing contact with step-dad #1 early
on and then having step-dad #2 basically vanish after a really messy divorce,
losing contact with my five younger brothers and their families after the
horrible divorce devastated the family, losing contact with basically all
extended relatives when they all went their own way after one cousin died of
stomach cancer at 58 years of age, losing contact with my one real friend (at
the time) who abruptly stopped calling me when her marriage was struggling, and
watching one close relative struggle with deep, suicidal depression.
And all of this is on
top of the incredible self-doubt and fear that comes with being a homeschooling
mom (actually, that comes with just being a mom in general) - the pressure to
always do more and do better, the self-loathing that comes with realizing that you
can’t do it all and that you can only do half of everything you attempt to do
because not only do you have to do the schooling but you still have to do the cooking
and cleaning and child-care and life-living, and the constant fear that you are
going to fail your kids and that they will be terrible losers in life because
of you.
It’s been a long, hard
road. And I don’t pretend to have walked
it well.
The struggle and pain
have knocked me down many times. I once had
a mild nervous breakdown, causing me to flee with my husband and two kids to
the middle of nowhere for a few days so that I could get away from the stress. I have recently had my first – and
God-willing, only – panic attack,
being so overcome with stress and heartache that I couldn’t get out of bed for
days because I was so weak and so afraid that moving around would make me throw
up the one cracker that I ate that day. I
freak out when one of us gets sick because I am always expecting something bad
to happen. I have had my heart broken
and my dreams dashed so many times that I have learned it’s “better” to simply
stop caring, stop hoping, stop wanting things to get better. And I have spent several years in deep
depression, wrestling with the deepest parts of my faith and trust in God.
[Things have gotten so
bad at times that I know I would have lost my faith completely if it weren’t
for two very “supernatural” experiences I had which convinced me that there is definitely
a spiritual world out there. (I’ll get
into that in one of the lessons.) I can
totally understand and have sympathy for those who lose their faith when the struggle
gets too hard, who have been battered by life and are left wondering, Where is God in all this? My heart breaks for them.]
As I have gotten older
and faced more trials, I have learned that life and faith are not as easy,
straightforward, and simple as I used to think they were. And I am not as strong and confident and polished
as I used to be, as I always thought I was.
Whereas I used to have all the nice pat-answers for everything, now I seem
to have none of them. Things have gotten
a lot messier . . . but a lot more real.
And I am learning to be
okay with that, as I wrestle with the deepest things of faith and with how to
apply them to a messy life, with finding and embracing grace wherever I can
find it and sharing it with others, and with learning how to cling to God
despite all the heartache and struggle. (I
have blogged about a lot of this at myimpressionisticlife.blogspot.com. And a lot of the stuff in this Bible study
comes right from that blog.)
As you read this study,
you’ll be able to see that it’s not written from the mind of a scholarly
theologian. It’s written from the heart
of a counselor and from the very human heart of an imperfect, struggling,
fellow Christian.
And if this scares you
or bothers you, this may not be the study for you.
In fact, I have faced a little “scolding” about this Bible study. After writing my blog – myimpressionisticlife.blogspot.com – I decided that instead of just sharing it on-line with the world, I really should share it with my home church, too. Aren’t they the family of believers that is closest to me? Shouldn’t I make sure to offer this to them specifically, in case it can help or encourage anyone? Shouldn’t I get their input, to make sure that what I am writing is on-track? If my blog suddenly became popular, shouldn’t they share a little of the spotlight and have a little ownership over it, getting a little recognition as the church that helped “launch” it?
And so on my church’s
blog, I left a quick message that included a link to mine. And someone actually clicked on it and read
two posts, one of them being the introduction to this Bible study.
But then the very next thing
that the pastor wrote on the blog (just a few days later) was a post about the
dangers of doing independent Bible study, without input from other wise, godly
sources. And while he didn’t exactly call
me out or direct it at me, it felt like an admonishment, like disapproval of what
he read on my blog, like it was meant to scold me for thinking that a common,
everyday Christian could dare to write a Bible study or encourage people to do
their own Bible study, without some godly theologian or pastor directing them.
[The worst part was that
I left a comment on that post like “Yeah, I know what you mean. I know someone who won’t listen to what the
major theologians believe but who reads the Bible on his own and thinks that
God reveals all sorts of hidden secrets to him that He doesn’t reveal to others.” But as soon as I hit “send comment,” I
realized that the post was most likely in response to the Bible study that I
wrote. How humiliating!]
While I do value pastors
and theologians and scholars and while I do think that we common Christians can
sometimes get off-track when left to ourselves, I do not think that we cannot
understand or study the Bible on our own.
I think that God’s wisdom is available to all through it and that it is
possible for all of us to understand it.
And I think that mature Christians can help each other learn from it and
grow through it.
However, please
understand that I am not encouraging anyone to formulate their own theology or
to become some sort of “Bible study renegade.”
We always need to be cautious to make sure that we are being true to
what Scripture teaches and that our theological beliefs are not off-track. And this is why input from other godly
sources (from theologians and godly pastors and scholars) is crucial, to make
sure we are not going off in our own misunderstandings.
So once again, please understand that I am not encouraging anyone to make up their own theology or to spread misguided views. But I do think that we “common, everyday Christians” can encourage and help each other on our journey through faith and in learning how to understand and apply Scripture. And if we say things that are off-track, we should welcome the gentle, constructive correction that we might get – that we should get - from other believers. Because that is what it is to be a family of believers, to help each other on our journey of faith.
But if you think that I
am erring in my judgment here (and I pray this is not the case because I do not
want to insult the Lord at all or encourage the spreading of misguided theology)
and if you think that I really should have left it up to the professionals to write
the Bible studies, then I apologize for my brazenness and irresponsibility. And this Bible study is probably not for you.
[I will admit that I
have had to work through some bitterness and heartbreak over the post on my
church’s blog. It just felt like such a
slap, and after I put myself out there so honestly and vulnerably, just wanting
to encourage and help others. I don’t
know . . . maybe I really am the one who’s off-track here but just can’t see
it. So if you begin reading this and
believe that I am ungodly in my views, please stop reading and send me a
comment about it. I would rather be
challenged and corrected than bring disgrace to God or lead people astray. And I really do mean that.]
Really, I am just one
Christian sharing my experience with other Christians, hoping that my life and
thoughts and struggles might help you on your spiritual journeys. My opinions are just that – opinions. Do not take them as authoritative. Use them as food for thought. Disagree with them if you want to. But let them take you deeper into your faith
and deeper into some real, raw, heart-changing, faith-challenging conversations.
So . . . are you ready?
For reference, here are the topics in order (and I will tell you which ones are exceptionally long so that you can prepare accordingly):
1. A Full, Abundant Life
2. In The World, Not Of The World (long)
3. Humble Like a Child
4. Transparency and Tearing Down
Walls
5. A Proper Balance
6. Forgiveness
7. Wisdom and Fearing God
8. Bringing God Glory
9. Predestination vs Free Will (really long)
10. Understanding God’s Will (kinda long)
11. Be Still
12. God’s Word
13. Prayer (definitely long)
14. Radical Obedience
15. Supernatural Stuff and the
Armor of God (exceptionally long)
16. Righteous Living and
Idolatry/Temptation (somewhat long)
17. Is Depression a Sin? (really, really, really long)
18. Expectations and Contentment
(Happiness vs Joy)
19. Modern-Day Pharisees (pretty long)
20. Atheism and World Religions
(Very long)
21. The End Times (really very long)
22. Gray Areas (short . . . quite
short)
Okay, so gather some friends and let’s get
started! And God bless you on this
journey!
