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Interpreting Scripture can be a challenge, especially in the wake of the past two years. How can we differentiate right from wrong in today’s hostile climate? How can we rest in Jesus when we’re experiencing burnout?
The ten Bible-study sessions in Mark: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus encourage us to turn our eyes fully on Jesus. You and your church can rest in the fact that Jesus’ authority is dependable. Read on for a few key insights into this Good Book Guide that highlight Jesus’ authority—and why that’s good news for us and our churches.
At the beginning of each chapter in Mark: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Jason Meyer briefly summarizes what was discussed in the previous chapter and introduces the next section with a relevant question about modern-day issues.
The passage goes on to discuss sin and Jesus’ ability to forgive us of it. As we start with a discussion reflecting on our culture’s own ideas about right and wrong in the “talkabout” section, believers are reminded that God has created our moral standards, and they are dependable. We don’t have to engage with another debate on Twitter or hyper-analyze our own sin; we can simply rest in the truth that God has already revealed to us in his word.
In the “investigate” section of each chapter, readers simply study the text. The summary and questions about the passage make it even easier to engage with, while the dictionary is helpful for words we modern-day believers aren’t always familiar with.
These sections help us connect with a text that may often confuse us, or help us look at it a little differently than normal. You might even get something out of the text you’d never noticed before, and be inspired anew to share it with your fellow church-goers.
These “investigate” sections also include information about the culture of Jesus’ day and use that context to highlight his character even more. There is nothing quite so encouraging to our faith as witnessing Jesus’ heart for the very people our culture, and his culture, would normally despise.
Observing Jesus in this way can inspire us to love those we may find unlovable, and to accept his grace rather than continue striving for our own perfection.
The “apply” sections take what we have studied in the text and adjusts the focus to our own lives, or the lives of our churches. These questions make practical the concepts already discussed, and can help you and your church form a game plan for things like, in this case, communicating the heart of Jesus toward sin and sinners to those outside the church.
Questions about sin and reliance on Jesus are serious, and it can be tempting to insert too many of our own opinions and experiences into the mix. Focusing on the words of Jesus when discussing these issues helps us align more truly with the heart of God while also relieving the church of the pressure to come up with all the answers.
The “explore more” section of each chapter either takes us to another book of the Bible or further into a section we’ve already read. In this case, we’re going deeper into the book of Mark to learn more about what Jesus thinks of what is right and wrong. He is the “fixed point of reference to which every understanding of what is right and wrong must relate”—and seeing that idea elsewhere in the Bible helps us to remember and understand it.
Each chapter closes with a personal application question for the reader, followed by a prayer.
The second chapter of Mark: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus encourages us once again to look to Jesus as the standard for right and wrong and as the source of our forgiveness, and to rejoice in that forgiveness. Rejoice, rest in, and be refreshed by Jesus’ authority and forgiveness.
Thoughtful questions and a guide for those leading the studies make this a great resource for small-group Bible studies, and the accompanying expository guide is available for purchase to help you lead small groups.
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