It Pays to Study the Word

This past Sunday was an interesting day. I sat through a Sunday School class on Sunday morning (I haven’t taught or attended a SS class in a long time), and listened to a well-known Pastor (of one of the largest Churches in the area) on Sunday evening.

In the morning class the Teacher, in a side note from the lesson, spoke about an event during the Exodus. His conclusion fit the theme of his teaching, but his reasoning regarding the event was flawed, and he indicated that the event was, in itself, unimportant when in reality it was critical to understanding the Cross, and was the disobedience that kept Moses from entering  the Promised Land.

On Sunday evening the Pastor (of a different Church and a really good Preacher) used a text from the New Testament to support his point in the Old Testament but in doing so ignored completely the context, thereby lessening the importance of the Scripture for its New Testament reality and assigning it incorrectly to the Old Testament passage.

I am not trying to be “picky” or mean. I simply want to encourage you to be so faithful in your Word study that you are able to discern Truth from error. Everyone (at least everyone I know) occasionally makes a mistake in what they say. I have  gone back on occasion to share how I misused a word or passage with  folks who might have been confused had I not corrected that teaching. Rightly dividing the Word is absolutely vital (see 2 Timothy 2:15).

There are no insignificant or acceptable mistakes when God’s Word is proclaimed.