DISCIPLINE IN STUDY HABITS

II Timothy 2:14-18

 

Paul is speaking to Timothy about those in verse 2 to whom Timothy would commit the task of teaching:

 

I.                            GET THEM TO REMEMBER THE THINGS HE HAD JUST MENTIONED TO HIM.

A.                       Be a good solider and endure hardness and not be entangled in affairs of this life – vs 3-4

B.                       Be a good athlete and strive lawfully – vs 5

C.                       Be a good farmer and be first partaker of the fruit – vs 6

D.                       Know the Gospel for which I suffer – vs 7-10

E.                        Know that if you die with Christ, you will live with Him – vs 12

F.                         Know that God is trustworthy when we are not – vs 13

 

II.                       CHARGE THEM TO NOT WRANGLE ABOUT WORDS.

A.                       To no profit (useful for nothing).

B.                       Which subvert or overthrow the hearers.

 

III.                  GET THEM TO GIVE DILIGENCE (Endeavor, study, labor, exert yourself to:)

A.                       Present yourself approved to God a workman that is not ashamed.

B.                       Rightly divide (cut straight) the Word of Truth.

 

IV.                  GET THEM TO SHUN (Turn to avoid)

A.                       Profane and vain babblings.

B.                       Words that eat (pasture) like canker (gangrene).

C.                       Men like Hymenaeus and Philetus, who err from the Truth and overthrow the faith of some.

 

THIS TEXT TELLS US:

 

I.                            WHAT OUR STANDARD IS TO BE…THE WORD OF GOD.

 

II.                       WHAT IS TO BE AVOIDED?  Striving over useless, profane words, and men who overthrow men’s faith.

 

III.                  WHAT THIS REQUIRES OF US:

A.                       Exertion or study of the Word.

B.                       Presenting ourselves approved to God.

C.                       Not being ashamed of the Word.

D.                       Skill in cutting straight (good word for a tentmaker) the Word of God.

E.                        A turning away from philosophies of men.

 

THE CONTRASTS ARE DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY MADE:

 

1.                          Teaching sound or healthy doctrine.     TO                     Unprofitable doctrine that eats like gangrene.

2.                          Words that increase to Godliness.        TO                     Words that increase ungodliness.

3.                          Diligent teachers.                                   TO                     Teachers who are ashamed.

4.                          Rightly dividing the Word of Truth.      TO                     Erring from the Truth.

5.                          Being approved workmen.                     TO                     Exposed babblers like Hymenaeus and 

              Philetus.

6.                          Edifying or building up men’s faith.       TO                     Overthrowing or destroying men’s faith.

7.                          The Word of God                                   TO                     The philosophies of men.

8.                          God’s wisdom.                                        TO                     Profane babbling.

 

THE MAIN IDEA THEN IS TO SEEK:

 

1.          Healthy words                                   NOT                 Unhealthy words

2.          Useful words                                      NOT                 Vain words

3.          Edifying words                                   NOT                 Destructive words

4.          Holy words                                         NOT                 Profane words

5.          Being approved of God.                     NOT                 Of men

 

WE HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO:

 

1.                          Create or invent new teachings or novel ideas.

2.                          Perpetuate the unholy, vain traditions and thinking of men.  Use “shibboleth’s” of a party.

 

WE HAVE THE OBLIGATION TO:

 

1.                          Know the Word of God to rightly divide it.

2.                          Know WHAT NOT TO SAY as well as WHAT TO SAY.

3.                          Know the end result of what we say.

4.                          Build men up, not tear them down.

5.                          Avoid the useless fads of our day, which are pseudo-intellectual.

 

DISCIPLINE IN STUDY, HOW DO YOU DO IT?

 

1.                          Have a place to study where that is all you do there.  You are immediately in study mode.

2.                          Have a time to study.  Set hours without interruption, if possible.

3.                          Have the tools of study within reach.  I recommend ON-LINE BIBLE Software.

4.                          Have good lighting and don’t study in bed or even get too comfortable.

5.                          Have study breaks.  Jump on a mini trampoline.  Gets your brain clear.

6.                          Take notes…pen or recorder by bed for “dream-produced ideas”.

7.                          Always carry a book with you to read.  A man who never quotes, will never be quoted.  He who will not    

              use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves he has no brains of his own.”  C.H. Spurgeon.

8.                          Listen to tapes in your spare time (in car, while walking, or exercising.)

9.                          Always outline the text.

10.                   Discuss ideas on coming lessons with others.  I met Kevin and exchanged ideas, and now my mind is 

             blank!

11.                   Use Rudyard Kipling’s 6 Honest, Serving Men:

   “I had six honest serving men.  They taught me all I knew. Their names are when, where, and why and 

    what and how and who.”

    Example:  WHERE was it written?  WHEN was it written?  WHY did it need to be written?  WHAT was the 

   author’s goal?  HOW was it to be accomplished?  WHO was it addressed to?

12.                   Here are the questions that I use in studying a text:

a.                           What prayer can I echo?

b.                          What praise can I render?

c.                           What command should I obey?

d.                          What promise can I claim?

e.                           What warning should I heed?

f.                            What pitfall should I avoid?

g.                          What example should I follow?

h.                          What admonition should I regard?

i.                             What facts should I remember?

j.                             What danger should I note?

k.                          What encouragement can I gain?

l.                             What attribute should I acquire?

m.                       What commitment should I make?

n.                          What fault should I repent of?

o.                          What sin should I confess?

13.                   Some additional questions I ask a text:

a.                           What is the key idea and word of the passage?

b.                          Are there any reoccurring phrases in the passage?

c.                           How does this fit in the main gist of the book?

d.                          Are there any contrasts in the passage?  (See my text)

e.                           Are there any Old Testament passages quoted in the text shows context will broaden this passage?

f.                            Are there any unique Greek words in the passage? (Our text uses strive, no profit, ashamed, rightly 

              dividing)

g.                          Are there Greek words translated differently elsewhere that throw light on the passage?  (Subverting – II 

              Peter 2:6 – overthrow (#2692) “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned 

              (them) with an overthrow, making (them) an example unto those that after should live ungodly.”

h.                          Are there other ways a phrase may be translated?  (“Can not be put to shame” or “one who is not 

              ashamed”).

i.                             What is the author’s mindset?

j.                             What error is he correcting?  Judaizers?  Gnostics?…etc.

k.                          Any origin of the Greek word that makes the meaning plain.  “Subverting” is “catastrophe”.  “Canker” is 

              “gangrene” (gangraena).

l.                             Are there any word pictures in the Greek?  Will eat…pasture.  See Vines Expository Dictionary #9.

m.                       Is anyone mentioned in the text spoken of elsewhere?  Hymenaeus, I Timothy 1:20.

n.                          Does any other Scripture express a very similar idea?  Titus 3:9, “But avoid foolish questions, and 

             genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”

 

REMEMBER:

 

I.                            IF YOU KNOW:

A.                       The mindset of the author.

B.                       The situation he was in.

C.                       The goal of his writing.

D.                       The error he was refuting (almost every Epistle was to refute an error).

You can understand the passage.  If you can understand the passage, you can make practical application to a similar situation that exists today.

 

II.         THE THINGS I BELIEVE ARE THE SIX BASIC THINGS INVOLVED IN STUDY ARE:

A.                       Repetition of the subject matter.

B.                       Concentration on the subject matter.

C.                       Reflection of the ideas involved.

D.                       Comprehension of the ideas.

E.                        Incorporation of the concept in your own thinking.

F.                         Application to the lifestyle of you and your listener.