Gospel-Centered Bible Study Ideas for You
It’s July 15 — can it really already be time to think about back to school and back to Bible study? Apparently so, since I received a from our women’s ministry leader that teachers needed to let her know by August 1 what we’re teaching.
If any of you are looking for good material, be sure to check out the Living Story Bible studies. I wrote these to help you know the story of grace Scripture tells, to know your own stories, and to live them out in real life. I address questions that people new to Bible study may ask and that people who have been doing it for years may need to be reminded of — in short, the good news of the gospel.
There are now three studies in the series — you can do them in sequential order, but they will also stand alone:
Learning God’s Story of Grace looks at the whole story of redemption: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation, and what it means for our lives.
Living God’s Story of Grace focuses on the struggle of faith and hope that we all experience.
Loving in God’s Story of Grace is about, you guessed, it — love — the radical, countercultural love that the gospel tells.
Try them — you’ll like them! And, if you do one of these studies with a group and would like me to meet with your group via Skype or telephone, let me know! I would love to interact with you!
Check out this “theological theme,” in which I try to take some “big words” and make them make sense in real life:-)!
Theological Theme: Justification by Faith
“Abram believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
In the first chapter of the study, we asked the question, “What does faith do?” One of the most important byproducts of faith is “justification.” To understand the word justification, consider this story:
I had spoken impulsively, reeling off some sarcastic remark sure to draw peals of laughter from my daughter’s friends. Immediately I felt chagrin. My joke came at the expense of my daughter’s dignity. I wanted to justify my action, saying I was only trying to be funny, but it was clear there was no excuse – I had traded my daughter’s reputation for a moment of fame among a group of 13-year-olds. In God’s court of law, I would have been declared guilty of a love-failure.
As sinners, which we all are (Romans 3:23), there is no justification for our sin. In a court of law, we are declared guilty. That is why Genesis 15:4 is such a radical statement. Abraham is declared “righteous,” that is, “not guilty,” just because of his faith. Abraham’s righteousness does not come from his moral rectitude or good actions – it comes from his faith, which comes from God.
Faith in Christ brings an even more astounding reality to our stories. We receive the credited righteousness (see imputed righteousness in Learning God’s Story) by transferring trust from our own efforts at being good to Christ’s finished work on the cross (Romans 3:23-26). When a person confesses, “I believe Christ has fully paid the price I owe for my sin,” we are credited with Christ’s righteousness (Romans 4:23-24).
The radical concept of justification by faith should humble and astonish us. One of the great old hymns asks, “How can we keep from singing?” Indeed, when we understand that the holy God sent his holy Son as the only adequate substitute for our sins, how can we keep from living a life of loving God and loving others?
