Episode #98—Study, Do, Teach: A Blueprint for Interacting with Scripture

Ezra 7:10 gives some important insight for anyone who interacts with Scripture. The text reads, “Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” In some ways, this brief text offers a blueprint for anyone who wishes to interact with God’s truth.

Ezra most likely grew up in Babylon or Persia, depending on who was reigning at the time. He was a faithful scribe, probably teaching in the synagogues that emerged during that era. About seventy years prior, Cyrus had issued a decree for the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. That project ran from roughly 535 BC to 515 BC.Under King Artaxerxes, another decree was issued, seeking volunteers to return to Jerusalem. Ezra volunteered. He wanted to go back and teach God’s word there. The people had rebuilt the temple, but they were not in good shape spiritually. Ezra went back to reinstruct them, which set the stage for genuine reformation.This was not an easy move. Jeremiah had told the exiles to build houses and settle in Babylon, and they had done so. Babylon was home. But Ezra never lost sight of the city of God or of God’s ultimate purpose. He undertook a three- to four-month journey and faithfully laboured when he arrived. He was devoted, and was willing to pay the price.

The sequence in this verse is particularly striking. Ezra set his heart, first, to study the law of the Lord, second, to do it, and third, to teach it. Not study and teach. Study, do, then teach.This wasn’t academia. It wasn’t theoretical. Ezra was committed to the Torah, and wanted to teach it for the welfare of the people. This is evident later, in Ezra 9, where he tears his garment and pulls his hair out in grief because the people are not obeying God’s statutes and rules. He was a man who had a heart for God and wanted to teach so that people would follow God—not so he could show how clever he was.A pastor needs three loves: He must love God, love God’s word, and love God’s people. Keep those three together and your motive for teaching will be right. You want to honour God, rightly handle his word, and genuinely help his people.The danger, of course, is going straight from study to teach—bypassing the doing entirely. We all know what that looks like. We have all been to that Bible study where one person has all the answers. You may have seen a preacher exhorting generosity while not giving or purity while not pursuing it himself. Perhaps you have known a father who has told his children to obey while ignoring that same truth himself. The teaching is not the problem; the obedience is. We are sinful enough to take something as glorious as Scripture and still make it about us.

“Setting your heart” to something sounds dramatic. In practice, what does it look like?For those in ministry, it starts with a regular devotional life. Pastors should begin the day with a focus on the Lord, not just opening the books as a professional exercise. There’s a real temptation to approach study as a technical task—gathering material for Sunday—rather than as communion with God. The goal is to know the Lord, not just to know things about him.And it’s not always glamorous. Nobody gets woken up by angels whispering in their ear. Sometimes it’s just hard work. You sit down, don’t particularly feel like it, but do it anyway because God’s people need it and this is what you’ve been called to.Prayer is part of it too. Those in ministry are called to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word—and studying Scripture should itself be prayerful. “Lord, I don’t understand this. Help me understand this. Give me the burden of this word for your people.” It’s a constant, open communion with God even as you’re working through a text.Then there’s the practical discipline of eliminating distractions. Put your phone or silent. Turn notifications off. If it is a particular temptation, lock the phone away entirely, because the temptation to quickly Google something mid-study can derail your focused study. Samuel James, in his book Digital Liturgies, makes the point well: If we don’t discipline ourselves, the phone will end up shaping us rather than the other way around. When it’s time to study, put parameters around it. It’s time between you and God.For those not in fulltime ministry, the same principles apply, just in a different shape. Husbands and fathers don’t need to be scholars, but they need to be students. They need to be theologically sharp enough to give leadership in the home. That means spending time in God’s word, reading good books, and always with the goal of helping their children know the Lord. Deuteronomy 6 offers God’s vision of fathers weaving his statues into everyday life and conversation.This is important for mothers too. They often have more time with young children than fathers do, and that time is an opportunity. Point them to the Lord.

Study is one thing. Doing what you study is another.The principle is straightforward, even if the application isn’t: Whenever you encounter a truth that needs to be implemented, implement it. Repent of what needs to be repented of. Start what needs to be started. Stop what needs to be stopped. Rely on the Lord and just do it.If you’re preaching through 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 on generosity and you’re not giving, that’s a problem. If you’re teaching on prayer and your own prayer life is dry, people may not see it in every moment, but it will affect the power and integrity of your ministry over time.There’s also something powerful about teaching out of the doing. It lends credibility when a father can say to his kids, “I read this passage this morning and I realised I’ve been getting this wrong for two years—will you forgive me?” Teaching and the doing go together. And when people around you start noticing a change and ask what’s going on, you can point them to what God is doing in you through his word.That’s how reformation happens. You study God’s word, see what it says, and do it. There’s no shortcut and no excuse. You take God and his word seriously, and you act on it. The teaching that follows is grounded in something real.

The blueprint of Ezra 7:10 hasn’t changed. Set your heart to study. Study so that you do. Do so that you can teach. And teach because you love God, love his word, and love his people.It’s worth remembering that, when Ezra read the law before the assembly in Nehemiah 8—men, women, and all who could understand—genuine repentance followed. Chapter 9 records one of the great prayers of confession in Scripture. The word was taught and heard and transformation followed.That’s still the pattern. That’s still the goal.