The Scrolls is a weekly Bible study written by pastors and other leaders at Central Bible Church, based on that week’s sermon topic. Use The Scrolls as a personal Bible study tool, for family devotions, and for small group discussions. You can read part of it below. The downloadable PDF also includes discussion questions, more in-depth commentary, end notes, and a kids’ page designed for families to study the topic together. This lesson goes with the sermon "Power Breakfast."
The 30 Core Competencies were originally developed to define mission accomplishment. It’s one thing to have a mission focused on discipleship or personal transformation, namely, conformity to the image of God’s Son (Ro 8:29); it’s quite another to have a working description of what a transformed disciple looks like in order to assess mission accomplishment. According to our initial assumptions, a growing comprehension of ten essential beliefs coupled with a growing engagement in ten essential practices would be used by the Spirit of God to development ten essential virtues in every believer. Since these virtues mirror the fruit of the Spirit as outlined by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” they might serve as key indicators of spiritual maturity.
Given these assumptions, the 30 Core Competencies were intended to function as a biblical and practical theology of spiritual formation, which could then be used to probe texts, asking what each one taught about the various Competencies. As with biblical theology in general, texts have one interpretation—e.g., the meaning intended by the Bible’s divine author, shared by the human author, and conveyed through the human author’s words—but texts having one sense convey truth about more than one subject. Put differently, texts convey truth about more than one Core Competency. It’s up to the preacher or teacher, or the reader for that matter, to decide which competency or competencies to focus on. This is easily illustrated. Take Ephesians 3:14-21 for example:
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Its relationship to a number of different Core Competencies is obvious. For example, it touches on the Central Practice: Prayer by providing us with an example of how Paul prayed, and we might also pray. It conveys truth about the Central Belief: Personal God, namely, a divine person who is involved in and cares about our lives—one who answers Paul’s prayer and ours, one with “glorious riches,” who strengthens (v. 16), enables (v. 18), and fills (v. 19) “the Lord’s holy people,” and one “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us” (v. 20). It conveys truth about the Central Belief: Jesus Christ, namely, God’s Son and our Savior—who dwells in us, whose love for us surpasses knowledge and yet, is to be known or experienced by us. It conveys truth about the Central Belief: Holy Spirit, namely, the divine person who convicts, calls, converts, and changes us to be like Jesus—who dwells in us also and spiritually transforms us from the inside out.
If you read closely, you will see that Ephesians 3:14-21 not only conveys truth about these Core Competencies, but it also conveys truth about: the Central Belief: Identity in Christ, “I am significant because of my position as a child of God;” the Central Practice: Worship, “I worship God for who he is and what he has done for me;” and the Central Virtue: Love, “I sacrificially and unconditionally love and forgive others,” to mention but three others.
That said, when it comes to The Scrolls Bible studies, we generally focus on one Core Competency, the one thought to be central to the message of the passage.
Central Message of the Text
God strengthen your people, so that Christ may be at home in our hearts—in order that we can grasp and as a result know the immeasurable depth of Christ's love, in order that we may be filled with your fullness.
Family Talk
When you’re traveling on an airplane, one of the safety precautions the flight attendant always shares is, in the event of a loss of oxygen on the plane, put your mask on before focusing on your child’s mask. While this may seem counterintuitive, you’ll be in no position to help your child if you run out of oxygen yourself. The same is true in your spiritual walk. You can’t disciple your child if you aren’t seeking the Lord yourself. Think of it like this – God is a three-source power strip (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, get it?) and you’re a lamp. You’ve got to plug in to your power source in order to work properly. If you’re not connected to power, your light bulb won’t turn on and you won’t be able to shed any light on your child. So, the calendar flipped, and resolutions are being tossed around. What are you going to do to connect with God this year? Any goal requires intentionality and effort; you need accountability and a plan. Maybe you need to get connected in a community or home group this year or consider gathering a group of friends to read the Bible in a year. Now, what’s your plan to pass this on and truly disciple your kids? Again, this requires intentionality, effort, accountability and a plan. Biblical principles don’t transfer by osmosis. You must teach, train and talk about things of God in your home in order to disciple your kids. You are the best “discipler” of your child, the one God picked to share His Word. You can do this!