Parables 101 pt.2

An embarrassing chapter in my life was during a preaching practice lab in school, and I couldn’t preach because the teacher found that I had misinterpreted a parable which I was preaching from.

I don’t want that to happen to you. A while back we looked at what are parables, now we are going to learn the Steps to understanding Parables:

Step 1) Know the context.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to know the background to the story (well…you should want to know the background to every story, not just parables…just saying).

I’m trusting the very, very first thing you do is read the passage. Best thing you can do for yourself is read the whole chapter to capture the whole idea. Then read it again. Read the preceding and seceding chapters is even better. Ask these questions while you’re reading:
• who is He talking to?
• why is He talking about this?
• when and where is He when He is saying this?

By knowing the context, we are one step closer to unlocking the door to understanding parables; but for every door there is a key, and the key here is called the central theme.

Step 2) Look for the central theme in the story.
When you’re shooting an arrow, you want to aim at the target. In a parable, you’re looking for the point that the speaker wants his listeners to derive from the parable. Glare at the passage and ask yourself:
• what drives the story?
• what are the key elements in the story? How do they relate to each other?

When you have found the central theme, it is imperative that you don’t indoctrinate it. I mean adding details that aren’t necessary are in the parable.

Step 3) Don’t detail
I was preaching on the Parable of the Pearl on that faithful day I was alerted to my sin of misinterpreting Scripture. My error was that I was detailing the story. I made the characters literal. I said Jesus was the Pearl whom we should give everything to receive for ourselves. That sounds sentimental, but it’s unscriptural. Observe these pointers when attempting to understand the parable:
• remember Parables are ONLY illustrations (don’t detail characters, etc).
• parables convey truth, not found it.
• every parable has only one interpretation, but can have various applications.
• rely on the Bible as your authority; commentaries, etc can deceive you. (as one of my Bible teachers enjoys to say: “The Bible is the best commentary on itself”)

Knowing the context, finding the central without detailing it, will enable you to healthily unlock the treasure of the parable. Happy treasure-seeking!

Parables 101

Do you understand parables? I know I have trouble knowing what Jesus is trying to say in His favorite method of teaching.

By what I have learned from Teachings of Jesus class, I want to show you how to unlock the secrets to understanding parables.

First, I’ll give you the background profile of Parables and in my next post, I’ll show you how to understand them.

Parables are defined biblically as an earthly saying with a heavenly meaning. It exhorts a spiritual message but through a contemporary scope for listeners to better comprehend.

But more important to grasp, a parable at its core is just an illustration. Jesus used them to capture attention and help the listener remember the lesson by using relative items to reveal the unfamiliar realm.

Primarily, Jesus used them to separate his audience of the sensitive from the skeptical:

“…I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:14-15 NKJV).

Now you know what parables are and why Jesus used them. Check in next time to find out how to master in understanding God’s hidden truths.

Love and Lions

“The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.” -Proverbs 28:1

Fear should never be listed in the Christian vocabulary. Only the wicked should be afraid because they should fear punishment coming for their wrong. Solomon contrasts the cowardly wicked to the boldly righteous. While the wicked run away when no chases them, the godly are described as lions – bold and unafraid. Where is the source of this boldness? It is found in the love that is in God.

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:6).

God is love and when we find ourselves in love we are in fellowship with God. God’s love is as strong as death (Song 8:6) and nothing is able to separate us from it (Rom 8:39).

According to the Apostle John, fear doesn’t even exist in the presence of love: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:7).

If we are afraid, then we are showing that we are fearing of being punished. Unless we deserve to be punished for something, we should never express fear in our faith. Romans 8:1 says, “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”.

Rather then cower in fear, we should always demonstrate God-bred boldness knowing that “we are more than conquerors through Him that love us” (Rom 8:37) and that “greater is He that is in us [you] than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Let us thank God who has given us the victory over all things through Christ Jesus (1 Cor 15:57) and by this we never have to be afraid.