Four asks of formation

Only since the invention of the Gutenberg press and the Protestant Reformation have regular people had access to the Scriptures. The inventiveness of Johannes Gutenberg was a grace. Translation of the Scriptures from Latin to English (and other languages) is a grace. And widespread reading literacy is a grace. We can be grateful to Gutenberg, Luther, and our teachers for being instruments of God’s grace to us. Ultimately, we’re grateful to God.

Having received so much grace, now we’re responsible to be good stewards of it. Do we read what so many of our ancestors longed for? Does reading literacy become Bible literacy for us?

When we read our Bibles, four questions will form us as citizens of God’s kingdom:

1. Ask: Who is God?

Who is God? And what is he like? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What do his names tell us about him? How is he described by those who followed him? And how does he reveal himself?

2. Ask: How does God dwell with his people?

What was God’s attitude toward his people? What was their attitude towards him? In Israel, the Old Testament shows us so tangibly how God cares for us, how he guides and corrects us for our good, and how he hopes others will see him by our example. What was true in the Old Testament, was also true of Jesus in the Gospels, and true of the Holy Spirit since. Then, Revelation casts vision for God dwelling with us for all eternity.

3. Ask: Who are we in Christ?

This phrase ‘in Christ’, along with its partner ‘Christ in us’, aren’t magical concepts. They mean we are immersed in the ways of Jesus and saturated with his ways to our core. People filled with God’s ways, and surround by his ways, have a new identity. How does the Bible describe that identity? What are the many markers of that identity?

4. Ask: What is God’s kingdom like?

Jesus talked so much about his kingdom—a word to describe everything submitted to his authority as King. His kingdom has a culture that’s often described as an upside-down (or right-side-up) culture—so opposite to the patterns of the world. How does he describe that culture? How do the other New Testament writers describe it?

As we read the Bible, we should continually ask these four questions and internalize the answers. By this habit, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be formed more and more into the likeness of Jesus. His kingdom will become more normal, less foreign to us.