Solid Food S1E5 The Importance of Context

Solid Food is a podcast aimed at improving biblical literacy by teaching listeners how to study the Bible for accurate interpretation and application. The importance of context in Bible study is discussed, emphasizing that understanding the circumstances surrounding a verse is crucial for accurate interpretation. Taking verses out of context can lead to false interpretations. The example of Revelation 7:3-4 is given, where the context reveals that the 144,000 mentioned are just a part of a larger multitude going to heaven. The importance of context is further emphasized with a quote stating that a text without context is a pretext for a proof text. The podcast then delves into the importance of context in understanding Revelation 3:20-22, where the intended audience is the church at Laodicea and the message is about the danger of complacency. The geographical context of Laodicea between hot springs and cold mountain water is explained, highlighting the significance of Jesus' wish for t Hello, and welcome to Solid Food, a podcast that is meat for your soul. This podcast is designed to improve the biblical literacy of all those who desire to know and please God better by teaching us how to study the Bible in a way that will allow us to arrive at an accurate interpretation and better application. If you found this podcast, you are at least curious about the Bible, if not very serious about it. You may, like many, pick it up and read it on your own, or follow along in worship or study when someone else reads it, but may not fully grasp what it's saying, or for that matter, understand how the preacher or teacher arrive at their conclusions. If this describes your situation, welcome home. This podcast is designed for you. This is the place to learn not just what the Bible says, but what it means and how to learn what it means for yourself. According to one of our greatest childhood teachers, Theodore Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, it is better to know how to learn than to know. I'm Dr. Lee Lewis, and it is a privilege and a blessing to be your host. Today, a critical aspect of Bible study, the importance of context. The importance of context. Now Lee, what do you mean when you say the importance of context? Well, context defined is the circumstances that form the setting for an event, a statement, or idea, and have it expressed in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed. Now to make this a little bit more clear, Grant Osborne, in his writing, The Hermeneutical Spiral, A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, said, in scripture, the context provides the situation behind the text. In fact, there is no meaning apart from context, only several possible meanings. Suppose someone says aloud, write. But how as a hearer do you know what is meant by write? Maybe the speaker meant write this down, or look to the right, or let's perform this right or ceremony. Or they may have meant it's correct. You see, without context, any of them is possible. Again, that's Grant Osborne. Now whether we know it or not, we've all heard scriptures taken out of context. One of my favorite is found in the book of Revelation, chapter 7, verses 3 and 4. There, in essence, it says that 144,000 are going to heaven, at least this is what is attributed to that particular passage. There is a religious group who says there's only 144,000 people are going to heaven, and this is where they get that from. But the reality is, if you look at the context, if you keep on reading, if you go down to verse 9, it talks about the fact that then I saw a multitude which no man could number. So were 144,000 mentioned? Yes, they were. But does the Bible in anywhere say that only 144,000 are going to heaven? No, it does not. So there, again, is an example of something being taken out of context. Now theologian, Dr. Don Carson, ascribes this quote to his father, and it's one that we learned very early on when we become preachers, when we study to become ministers of the Lord. And it says this, a text without a context is a pretext for a proof text, all right? Let me say that again for you. A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text. Well, Lee, what does all of that mean? Well, a pretext being an excuse to do or say something that is not accurate. What this means is failure to accurately account for the situation and circumstances that surround a given verse, provide the liberty to make it mean whatever we want, and then use that false interpretation to prove other claims, positions, or interpretations. Now this doesn't have to be malicious. It could be a situation where someone is teaching or sharing something they've heard from a source they deem reliable, or that they have not studied well. In any case, our goal is to learn how to study the Bible so that we will arrive at accurate interpretations and correct application. So for our consideration today, I'd like for us to take up just such a situation. I hope that you have your Bibles with you and that you're studying with me, and if you do, I would invite you to meet me at Revelation chapter 3, beginning in verse 20. That's Revelation chapter 3, beginning in verse 20. And while you're making your way there, I would share with you that that is really one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It's one that I quote often. It's one that I've studied extensively because there was a time, and I'll admit this, I'll confess this to you, the audience, that I taught this out of context. Fortunately, using exegetical principles and tools and things that we've talked about in this podcast in the past, I've come to a better and more accurate understanding of what is actually being said here. So again, Revelation chapter 3, verse 20 through 22, the Bible says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me. It goes on to say in verse 21, he who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. I can't help but say, may the Lord add a blessing to the reading, the hearing, and the doing of his divinely inspired word. Now you have no doubt read or heard this passage before. How did you understand it? Was it in terms of evangelism? Was it in terms of going to heaven? Who in your estimation and understanding is the intended audience for this glorious invitation from Christ himself? If we consider the context in which it was stated, we might find that we have a... If we consider the context in which it was stated, we might find that we have been under the wrong impression of what is being said and to whom it is being said. Jesus in the book of Revelation told the apostle John to write letters to each of the seven churches of Asia. Of the seven, only one was commended. Each of the others was addressed about specific issues, and when I say issues, I mean problems and concerns within their congregation. It was the church at Laodicea that was admonished for their lackadaisical attitude concerning their faith, and by extension, their relationship with God as a church. Now let us consider what was said to them with the thought, the danger of the status quo. Now again, let me make sure that I maintain, I don't want to give you multiple subjects and topics within one conversation. What we're pursuing today is the importance of context, but when you take a look at that particular passage, there's a message there, and it has to do with, again, if I were preaching this, it would be the danger of the status quo. So let's begin in Revelation chapter three, verse 14, since you already have your Bibles and you already have it out, and you already have it turned to Revelation chapter three. Let's go back to verse 14. Here we will read, to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write, the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of creation of God says this, I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot, I wish that you were cold or hot. No doubt you are familiar with this passage of scripture, and I'd like for us to kind of walk through it on our way back to our subject for the day. Here when it talks about to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write, the amen, the faithful witness, true witness, and the beginning of creation of God says this, that's Jesus. The amen is Jesus, the faithful and true witness is Jesus, the beginning of the creation of God is Jesus. And Jesus is instructing John to write a letter to the church at Laodicea. And in this letter, he says, I know your deeds and that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. Okay, fascinating. But why? Why is that language used? Here's where Bible study and the pursuit of context really comes in. It's important that we understand that Laodicea was geographically located between a city called Hierapolis, which is to the north and Colossae, which was to its south. Now, you may recall that Paul asked that the letter he wrote to the Colossians be shared with Laodicea and vice versa. So there is a bit of a geographic context there. And of course, a subcontext is that when Paul wrote letters, he intended for them to be circulated. Not our point, but I did thought, you know, since I was in that area, I dropped that off for you. Now, Laodicea was destroyed by earthquake in AD 82, but was rebuilt by wealthy citizens without the help of Rome, who was the governing source at that time. Now this is a clue to several things that we're going to discuss momentarily. Physically, Hierapolis was known for its hot water springs. And in those hot water springs, there were all kinds of minerals. I recently had the opportunity to visit the Dead Sea. And the Dead Sea is such because of the very dense salt content. It's so dense, in fact, that when you go there, you float without the aid of floaties and various other flotation devices. It's that dense. And so the water is very mineral rich, and it is mined for those purposes, and there's all kinds of products that they sell there. This would be similar. And people used it as a hot springs, and people used it as a place to go for therapies and healing and things of that nature. That's Hierapolis, hot water. Colossae, on the other hand, was at the foot of the mountains. And it was known for its cold water. Snow would accumulate on the mountaintop, and it would melt and run down the mountain, and at the foot of the mountain, come out in a lake, which led to a river. And so it was known for its cool, cold, actually, fresh, clean water. So what we have there is two diametrically opposed water sources located in different places. And we see that Laodicea is located between those two places. Interesting that Jesus said that, though. He says, I wish that you were cold or hot. What does that mean? Well, hot has its own benefits, and cold has its benefits. Either of them are better than being lukewarm. Perhaps you use hot water for your tea, or cold water for your Kool-Aid. That's what I use it for. Or your iced tea. But how much do we use lukewarm water? What good is that? Maybe we wash our hands with it, but as far as taking it into our bodies, not as much as hot or cold water. So he goes on in verse 16 to say, so because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Now, that's an interesting thing for the Lord to say to the church at Laodicea. You're neither hot nor cold. I would rather you were one or the other, but I will spit you out of my mouth. Now I find this interesting, because this is also a passage that is typically taken out of context. A lot of times we will use this to say that we are sitting on a fence, and God doesn't like that. And whereas you could probably make that case utilizing other scripture, that's not what this is talking about at all, literally, because their local water was lukewarm. It was not good water. They actually had to have water piped in from either Colossae or Heropolis. Now the interesting thing is, is that by the time the cold water gets from Colossae, it's no longer cold. And of course, the hot waters in Heropolis are no longer hot. Interesting. I would also add that when you talk about those hot waters with all the minerals and all those kinds of things, when you take that in, it actually is not great for you. It might be great to bathe in. It might be great for the minerals and the effect that it may have on your skin, but maybe not so good for drinking. And I can tell you that, once again, having been to the Dead Sea, that's water that you don't drink at all, at all. And so when the Lord says, because you're lukewarm and not hot or cold, he says that you don't have the positive properties of either. You don't any longer have the positive properties of the hot water that heals or the cold water that refreshes. You're just lukewarm. That lukewarm water, again, because of the mineral content coming from Heropolis, could actually make you sick. He says, I will spit you out of my mouth. Now, again, if you look into the original language, essentially, he's like, I'll vomit. This is what God is saying. This is what the Lord is saying, I should say. It wasn't good for much. It made people sick. So the spiritual comparison is made to this reality that God would vomit them up because of their lack of enthusiasm, their intensity, and fire for him. And so I needed to kind of make that connection as well. We're using analogies and we're using poetic language here when we're talking about being hot or cold. Clearly, Jesus isn't saying that I wish you were a cold person or a hot person. It has to do with your spirituality and whether you were being a refreshing person or whether you were being a healing person, something that is positive and something that was designed to reflect the teachings of Christ. And they're neither. They're neither. Well, how do you know all that, Lee? Tell me more. You're losing me and confusing me. I don't ever want to do that. I don't want to do that. Look at verse 17. Scripture says, because you say, I am rich and I've become wealthy and I have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Again, because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing. You don't even realize your condition. Why did he say that? Because Plowdesaia was known for its wealth. Again, when the earthquake happened, they rebuilt a destroyed city without government aid. They had enough money to be able to rebuild the city for themselves without getting the government involved. Why did they have enough money? Because they were the centers of industry for several industries. They were a financial center. And so people banked there. Financial transactions, investments, things of those kinds of things were taking place in Plowdesaia. Just like you would have financial centers today of New York or London or Tokyo, places like that, where people exchanged money and did financial transactions. But they were also known for their textiles. In particular, they raised sheep and the sheep were black sheep. This allowed them to be the source of undyed, darker black garments. And that was popular at the time. Further, there was a medical school there. And associated with this medical school were medicine manufacturing that had to do with the eyes. There was an eye salve that they manufactured there. People with eye problems will come from all over to buy the products there. So again, you've got people that are showing up for financial reasons, people that are showing up for textile reasons, people that are showing up for educational reasons with the school, and people who are showing up for their eye salve. So they had all these streams of income that were there, which meant that they became very wealthy and again, they could afford to rebuild their city without government help. But Jesus is saying, because you are rich, because of these industries, you don't realize how wretched you are. And look at the words that he chooses to use. He says, you are poor, so much for your wealth. You're blind, so much for your medical school and your eye salve. You're naked, so much for your textiles. Despite the fact that you have all these things, you are still wretched and miserable. But I tell you what he does is he doesn't leave them in that situation. He gives them some advice. Verse 18, he says, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourselves and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed and eye salve to anoint your eyes that you may see. Jesus is recommending a solution to these folks who have become so lackadaisical in their faith because they're relying upon their wealth. They didn't realize how bad off they really were from a spiritual context. And Jesus says, nevermind these physical things. We get so caught up in our material possessions that we lose sight of the importance of our spiritual lives. He's saying, realign yourself to your spirituality, to your relationship with me. How can you do that? Buy from me the gold. But I want us to see this as well. Because if you were to travel with me over to Isaiah chapter 55, really beginning in verse 1, the Bible there says, oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk, watch this, without money and without cost. We're not going to go to the Jesus store and start buying all these things. These are all, this is all language that is utilized to convey a concept. What Jesus is saying is, I am the source of the things that you really need. Do we need clothing, shelter, food? Yes, we do. But Matthew chapter 6, verse 33 tells us that all those things will be added to us and that we should be seeking the kingdom. And this essentially says the same thing. Seek ye first the kingdom, all these things will be added to you. So it's not about a financial transaction, it's about a spiritual transaction. So when he says, come and buy these things from me, that you will have what you really need. You think that you're good now, but you're naked and wretched. Come to me, clothe yourself, cover your nakedness, and have your eyes open so that you can see. Verse 19, and this is really kind of the linchpin between the context and what we're really putting our attention toward today. He says, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, therefore be zealous and repent. Now, Paige Patterson says, discipline is the word padeo. And it may mean, depending on the context, instruct, train, whip, scourge, or beat. Okay, that's discipline. In any case, the sense is discipline with the objective of obedience. But again, following the Greek, there's the word padeon. Remember I said padeo is the Greek word for discipline, but this is linked to the word padeon, which means child. So what are we saying, Lee? So it's basic meaning points to the training of a child. Because the Lord loves the Laodiceans, he has rebuked them and seeks to give them disciplined training as he would give to a child. We've seen this before. In the book of Hebrews, the author there in chapter 12, between verses 4 and 11, says that such discipline constitutes proof that we're children of God and not illegitimate. Any parent disciplines their own children. All such children do receive this discipline. Remember, God elsewhere says, he chastens those whom he loves. So what are we taking from this is that Jesus is saying, I'm coming at you, I'm calling you out for your behavior, for your lack of spirituality, for your lack of not being cold or hot. And again, we tend to think even of that out of context by saying, well, when he says we're neither cold nor hot, that means we're in the middle, we're lukewarm, we're riding the fence. That's not what it means at all. It means that we don't have beneficial properties about us that lend themselves to the Lord. And so I'm disciplining you, but I'm disciplining you in love. I'm telling you these things that you be not lost, that you maintain your relationship with me, that you can continue to enjoy the spiritual benefits of being a child of God, of being a follower of Christ. This is where I'm telling you these things now. I'm not giving you this as an intervention, this is what he's saying. So that is the context. This is the letter to the church at Laodicea. Now let's go back to our original consideration located in chapter three, verses 20 through 22. And we'll read it again for emphasis sake. Here again, it says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with me. And he who overcomes, I'll grant to him to sit down with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Here it is. In Ephesians chapter five, verse 25, the Bible tells us that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. What we see happening in Laodicea is that they had become seemingly, and I say that with intent, seemingly so self-sufficient that they had in effect put Jesus outside the church. They put him outside the church. How do we know that? Well, we just read the context. We just read all the things that Jesus was saying to them. You think that you're rich, but you're poor. You think you have the finest clothing, but you're naked. You think you see clearly, but you're blind and as a result, you are wretched. Don't stay in that condition. You're not hot or cold. You're not beneficial for healing or refreshing. You're sitting around congratulating yourselves on your business success and your financial acumen, and in the meantime, you've lost complete and total sight of what I require of you as my followers, as what the church should be. You should be letting your light so shine before men that they would see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. That's what you should be doing. But instead, you're comparing notes on who's got the latest technology, who's got the nicest car, who wears the nicest clothes, who has the nicest home. You've missed it, and when you gather together supposedly for worship, you're not worshiping at all. You're not worshiping me anyway. You're worshiping the material. They, in effect, had put Christ outside the church. How do we know that? Because he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. Family, you don't knock on a door on which you're on the inside. The only time we ever knock on a door is if we're trying to get into something. If you walk up to someone's house, you knock on the door because you want them to let them in, or if you head to the bathroom in your own house and the door is closed, you're not sure if someone's in there, you knock on it to see if someone's in there. Why? Because you need to get in there. We only knock on doors that were on the outside of. They had put Christ outside the church, and as much as this is a convenient and beautiful passage for sharing Christ with those who do not yet know him, this text is really aimed at the church at Laodicea, and by extension, any church that has become so self-sufficient in their attitude and so deficient in their judgment that it has effectively excluded the Lord who built the church and sacrificed himself for its redemption. Family, this is a strong yet tender warning for any church with this problem in any era. So here we can see the importance of context. For years, perhaps, some of us have been reading that scripture and using it to invite our friends to Christ. I want to encourage you to continue to do that because that's what we are called to do. We are called to go forth unto all nations and make disciples. We need to continue to do that. We need to talk about the value proposition of Christ. We need to talk about the love of God and how he desires that all men would be saved. Please continue to do that. But when we are studying the Bible and trying to study the Bible accurately, we want to make sure that we speak of it in terms of the context in what it was written. Yes, it makes a beautiful invitation, but the invitation is not extended in this context to those who don't know Christ. It is extended to the church who has excluded Christ. That's what this is. We have to see the importance of context, and without carefully using the exegetical principles of digging into the author's original intent and his audience's original understanding, we could find ourselves dramatically off course in our own understanding and application. And this is to be avoided at all costs. And it can be avoided with prayer, with effort, with determination, and the proper use of Bible study tools and methodologies. We can definitely avoid it. We really can study and interpret the Bible for ourselves accurately. Is that all right, family? Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining me today. It is my sincere prayer that our time together has been encouraging, educational, and edifying to you. I want to thank you personally for joining the Solid Food podcast, and may the Lord richly bless you. Until next time, I wish you great spiritual food and great study. And do be sure to bring a friend to our next meal.