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2 Timothy 3 – 4:5. With a focus on 2 Timothy 3:16
Before I actually begin the message, I would like you to look at the bulletin insert labeled “before the sermon: The Centrality of the Word of God.” For the next ten weeks we will be looking at each of the ten healthy missional markers identified by our denominational leadership as essential characteristics of every spiritually healthy congregation.
Before I say anything more about that I would just like you to read the bulletin insert with me.
Now, using that information, do an initial assessment. On a scale of one to five where a five would mean excellent, how well does this congregation do with putting the word of God at the center of everything, from your life to the various ministries? It is important that everyone here should do your best to have a say in this matter. Every voice counts.
We are called to be people who are in the world but not of it. We may as well say that we are called to be in the culture but not of it because the world in which we live is the culture in which we live. We are supposed to have an impact to change the culture, not be changed by it. But the only way that this is going to happen is if there is more of the Bible in us than there is of the culture in us. The culture in which we live is actually opposed to true biblical living. You know, the world, the flesh and the devil are all lined up against us being people who truly live for Christ. The world is the culture.
So I say again, the only way that we are going to have a positive impact on the culture to win the lost to Christ is if we are different from the culture and happier for it. That means there has to be more of the Bible way of life in us than the worldly way of life in us, more of the Bible in us than the culture. But the culture is all around us pushing, pushing, pushing to get inside of us and change us to conform to the pattern of this world. That’s automatic. The only way the Bible is going to get into us is if we pick it up and read it, and study it, and meditate on it, and memorize it, and think about it more than we think about the latest TV shows that so easily hold our interest and push the culture into us. To resist that cultural push and to push back with the centrality of the word of God is to enter into the spiritual battle that we are called to fight.
Put the Bible at the center of your life in order to put Jesus at the center of your life! For the same reason that you would not walk very far down a sidewalk or path with your eyes closed, do not walk very far down the path of life with your Bible closed. “Your Word O Lord is a lamp unto my feet, a light on the path.”
I will be referring to the three points of the assessment on the bulletin insert as the outline for this message. So first, we believe that the Bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine and conduct. That is one of our Covenant affirmations. It is really just another way of saying 2 Timothy 3:16. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” It is a great thing to say, but the question remains, do you really believe it and act on that belief? If you are going to say you believe that, don’t you think it should also make a difference in how you live?
What kind of a difference would it make? Well just look at the verse. There is a sequence of discipleship in it. First the Word of God is useful for teaching. God understands that even after we believe in the word of God and come to faith in Christ, that we don’t automatically know everything about how to live the Christian life. We need to be taught. The word of God teaches us. But next, our knowledge will be tested, just like in school. A good discipleship class will ask the disciples to say back to the teacher what was being taught. If you get it right, great! But if you get it wrong, you just go back to the Word of God because it is also useful for correcting errors in our understanding.
The process continues. Suppose we think we learned something from Scripture and begin to live it out besides just talking about it. What if you are doing something that goes against the teachings of Scripture? Then you need to be rebuked. Now a rebuke doesn’t have to be an angry word. It is good if it is a wise word, spoken with a caring attitude. The best course of action is for the one who speaks to you about your behavior to be well versed in Scripture and use the Scripture to show you how your action is out of line.
Here is an example of a rebuke from Galatians 2:11. Paul said, “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” Opposed him to his face and in front of others. There was a conflict here. Paul saw something going wrong, which he then described in the next few verses as follows: “For before certain men came from James, he, that is Peter, used to eat with the Gentiles. But when these men arrived from James, Peter began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.”
Then Paul gives his reason for rebuking Peter in verse 14: “When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, [because in God’s grace we are set free from the old law]. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” What follows after that in the book of Galatians is six more verses in which Paul expresses again the inspired teachings that should have kept Peter from acting the way he did when he was afraid of the circumcision group, and should also have kept him from being afraid of the circumcision group in the first place.
So, as disciples of Christ, while we are learning the Scriptures, we try to absorb the teachings. We allow our views to be corrected. And we also accept that sometimes we may be acting wrong and in need of rebuke. A healthy missional church puts this into practice by having its members reading Scripture and talking to each other about it in ways that lead to more Christ-like behavior. A healthy missional church also has its disciples willing to be accountable to each other. They actually listen to each other and take seriously a brother or sister who has a concern about Christian behavior.
The contrast with our American culture ought to be obvious by this point. In our world, people want to do their own thing. People want to form their own opinions and they don’t like to be challenged, especially when it comes to behavior. We can argue sports with great enthusiasm and even have fun with that because it is so shallow. But on matters of how I spend my money, or my time, what I watch on TV or anything else I do, that’s my business. Leave me alone as long as I am not hurting anybody. And if you think I am sinning, stop being so judgmental. It’s between me and God. You see how even Christians have this worldly attitude rather than being willing to submit ones thoughts and actions to accountability in the fellowship?
But if you really believe that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, then you will invite and even welcome the process I have outlined above for the healthy missional church. Here is an even briefer example of the difference between American Culture and Biblical wisdom. The culture says be independent, follow your heart, as in trust your instincts and you will automatically know the right thing to do. The Bible in Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” It also says in Proverbs 15:22, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” And in Hebrews 10:24, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together.” The Bible says, be interdependent and rely on each other for wisdom and guidance to do the right thing. And 2 Tim. 3:16 assures us that the best wisdom and guidance comes from us together using the word of God.
For the next point of assessment, does our preaching and teaching in all settings reflect careful preparation, relevance, and creativity? This one is about our leaders’ work of using and sharing the Bible. But in order for you to know how to assess this one, you would do well to be like the Bereans Paul talked about in in Acts 17:11 where he said, “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” Both Jews and Greeks were studying the Scriptures, using the Jewish Scriptures as much of the Old Testament as was available to them to check up one what Paul said to them. So Paul would have gotten high marks from them on this point of assessment.
A healthy missional church does not exist just because the pastor is healthy and missional and uses the Bible to live by and instruct his congregation. As I said a few weeks ago. It takes the whole church to be the church. Each of us bears responsibility to know and use the Word of God correctly. All of us together bear the responsibility to know and use the Word of God correctly.
The point also mentions preaching and teaching in “all” settings. So that raises the question of how many settings are in place for all the people of God to have regular interaction with the word of God and with each other. We have Sunday School, not well attended. We have our worship services, best attended, and we have Wednesday evening Bible study, not well attended. We also have a Thursday morning ladies bible study. I hope the ones who do attend would report that these additional settings bless them. But my real desire is to see everybody in this congregation taking advantage of multiple opportunities. In many churches, they try to get every member involved in small groups. To accomplish this there must be meetings available in different times and locations to accommodate various work schedules. Would you agree we need to work on that?
If you are among those who only come Sunday morning, what other setting is blessing you? It doesn’t have to be here. I know that some of the ladies here for example attend another Bible study at the Christian Reformed Church. And yet if that is the case, we may still ask, are there enough settings or opportunities offered here? Aren’t there still some people in our membership who only attend Sunday worship Services and no Sunday School and no other Bible study? Do you really think that is all you need? Is it really that you have no time for it? Or would your actual assessment be that this church does not preach and teach in all settings and reflect careful preparation, relevance, and creativity? Is it possible that if you see the value of this you may be able to help us get there?
The third point of assessment reads, “Our people are equipped and growing in their ability to study and apply Biblical truth in ways that lead to a scripturally integrated life. This one is about all the people, you and everyone around you. The reason Kathy and I read the whole chapter in 2 Timothy is because I wanted you to hear how the verse we are focused on is in the context of some very practical instruction from Paul to guide a young pastor in his ministry under some very difficult circumstances.
He says, “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—[and here’s the kicker. These people go to church!] –having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
There’s advice about how to recognize people who call themselves Christians but don’t act like it, encouragement to endure hardship and persecution by remembering the true teaching, and a reminder that the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, [he says to Timothy and really to all of us who should want to be good students of the word of God,] keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” Make the centrality of the Word of God a primary value in your life.
How well do you know and use the Bible for your personal life? Is your Christianity based on a few verses you memorized in Sunday school years ago, shaped by church culture and American life? Or can you really say that your Christian life is vitally connected to an ongoing relationship with God based on time with him in his word, time with other Christians discussing the Bible, social issues and theology, and praying together about how to live life in Christ?
Are you just a believer in Jesus, or are you a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ? Let me give you one more example of the difference between American Christianity and the genuine Christian life in Christ based on what is actually written in his word. Have you asked Jesus into your heart? Where is it written that that is how you become a Christian? I challenge anyone familiar with the Bible to find the verse where it says that. Jesus does say that you must be born again. But he does not say, “Why don’t you invite me into your heart?”
Now let me tell you what I find. Romans 6:11, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 12:5, “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Sure Christ is in me as a believer. But the emphasis of Scripture is on me being in Christ.
It is not Christ in me, it is me in Christ. This is an important distinction, because if I ask Jesus into my heart I may just be inviting him in so that I can have a better life. But if I am willing to be found in Christ, that means he is in charge. My life is over. He lives his life through me. I am his disciple. He comes first in everything. This is the true teaching of the word of God. It is not enough for me to invite Jesus into my life. The real gospel is an invitation from God, inviting you and me into His life. So here is the invitation, do you want to be a real disciple of Jesus Christ and bear much fruit? Believe in him, and submit to his call to follow him at all costs.
Jesus Christ is the Lord, he is the Savior! He is God! We owe him our lives. He comes first. He must come first and if you really believe this you will live accordingly. Now please go back to the bulletin insert and turn it over to the side labeled “After the Sermon.” On a scale of one to five where a five would mean excellent, think again, how well does this congregation do with putting the word of God at the center of everything, from your life to the various ministries? How well do you do? Let’s be determined to do better. Together in Christ, we can. He will help us because it is what he really wants for us! And we will be blessed if we do this. Amen.
2 Timothy 3 – 4:5. With a focus on 2 Timothy 3:16
Before I actually begin the message, I would like you to look at the bulletin insert labeled “before the sermon: The Centrality of the Word of God.” For the next ten weeks we will be looking at each of the ten healthy missional markers identified by our denominational leadership as essential characteristics of every spiritually healthy congregation.
Before I say anything more about that I would just like you to read the bulletin insert with me.
- We believe that the Bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine and conduct. (This one is about whether we believe this.)
- Our preaching and teaching in all settings reflects careful preparation, relevance, and creativity. (This one is about our leaders’ work of using and sharing the Bible.)
- Our people are equipped and growing in their ability to study and apply Biblical truth in ways that lead to a scripturally integrated life. (This one is about all the people you and everyone around you. How well do we know and use the Bible for personal life?).
Now, using that information, do an initial assessment. On a scale of one to five where a five would mean excellent, how well does this congregation do with putting the word of God at the center of everything, from your life to the various ministries? It is important that everyone here should do your best to have a say in this matter. Every voice counts.
We are called to be people who are in the world but not of it. We may as well say that we are called to be in the culture but not of it because the world in which we live is the culture in which we live. We are supposed to have an impact to change the culture, not be changed by it. But the only way that this is going to happen is if there is more of the Bible in us than there is of the culture in us. The culture in which we live is actually opposed to true biblical living. You know, the world, the flesh and the devil are all lined up against us being people who truly live for Christ. The world is the culture.
So I say again, the only way that we are going to have a positive impact on the culture to win the lost to Christ is if we are different from the culture and happier for it. That means there has to be more of the Bible way of life in us than the worldly way of life in us, more of the Bible in us than the culture. But the culture is all around us pushing, pushing, pushing to get inside of us and change us to conform to the pattern of this world. That’s automatic. The only way the Bible is going to get into us is if we pick it up and read it, and study it, and meditate on it, and memorize it, and think about it more than we think about the latest TV shows that so easily hold our interest and push the culture into us. To resist that cultural push and to push back with the centrality of the word of God is to enter into the spiritual battle that we are called to fight.
Put the Bible at the center of your life in order to put Jesus at the center of your life! For the same reason that you would not walk very far down a sidewalk or path with your eyes closed, do not walk very far down the path of life with your Bible closed. “Your Word O Lord is a lamp unto my feet, a light on the path.”
I will be referring to the three points of the assessment on the bulletin insert as the outline for this message. So first, we believe that the Bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine and conduct. That is one of our Covenant affirmations. It is really just another way of saying 2 Timothy 3:16. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” It is a great thing to say, but the question remains, do you really believe it and act on that belief? If you are going to say you believe that, don’t you think it should also make a difference in how you live?
What kind of a difference would it make? Well just look at the verse. There is a sequence of discipleship in it. First the Word of God is useful for teaching. God understands that even after we believe in the word of God and come to faith in Christ, that we don’t automatically know everything about how to live the Christian life. We need to be taught. The word of God teaches us. But next, our knowledge will be tested, just like in school. A good discipleship class will ask the disciples to say back to the teacher what was being taught. If you get it right, great! But if you get it wrong, you just go back to the Word of God because it is also useful for correcting errors in our understanding.
The process continues. Suppose we think we learned something from Scripture and begin to live it out besides just talking about it. What if you are doing something that goes against the teachings of Scripture? Then you need to be rebuked. Now a rebuke doesn’t have to be an angry word. It is good if it is a wise word, spoken with a caring attitude. The best course of action is for the one who speaks to you about your behavior to be well versed in Scripture and use the Scripture to show you how your action is out of line.
Here is an example of a rebuke from Galatians 2:11. Paul said, “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” Opposed him to his face and in front of others. There was a conflict here. Paul saw something going wrong, which he then described in the next few verses as follows: “For before certain men came from James, he, that is Peter, used to eat with the Gentiles. But when these men arrived from James, Peter began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.”
Then Paul gives his reason for rebuking Peter in verse 14: “When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, [because in God’s grace we are set free from the old law]. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” What follows after that in the book of Galatians is six more verses in which Paul expresses again the inspired teachings that should have kept Peter from acting the way he did when he was afraid of the circumcision group, and should also have kept him from being afraid of the circumcision group in the first place.
So, as disciples of Christ, while we are learning the Scriptures, we try to absorb the teachings. We allow our views to be corrected. And we also accept that sometimes we may be acting wrong and in need of rebuke. A healthy missional church puts this into practice by having its members reading Scripture and talking to each other about it in ways that lead to more Christ-like behavior. A healthy missional church also has its disciples willing to be accountable to each other. They actually listen to each other and take seriously a brother or sister who has a concern about Christian behavior.
The contrast with our American culture ought to be obvious by this point. In our world, people want to do their own thing. People want to form their own opinions and they don’t like to be challenged, especially when it comes to behavior. We can argue sports with great enthusiasm and even have fun with that because it is so shallow. But on matters of how I spend my money, or my time, what I watch on TV or anything else I do, that’s my business. Leave me alone as long as I am not hurting anybody. And if you think I am sinning, stop being so judgmental. It’s between me and God. You see how even Christians have this worldly attitude rather than being willing to submit ones thoughts and actions to accountability in the fellowship?
But if you really believe that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, then you will invite and even welcome the process I have outlined above for the healthy missional church. Here is an even briefer example of the difference between American Culture and Biblical wisdom. The culture says be independent, follow your heart, as in trust your instincts and you will automatically know the right thing to do. The Bible in Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” It also says in Proverbs 15:22, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” And in Hebrews 10:24, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together.” The Bible says, be interdependent and rely on each other for wisdom and guidance to do the right thing. And 2 Tim. 3:16 assures us that the best wisdom and guidance comes from us together using the word of God.
For the next point of assessment, does our preaching and teaching in all settings reflect careful preparation, relevance, and creativity? This one is about our leaders’ work of using and sharing the Bible. But in order for you to know how to assess this one, you would do well to be like the Bereans Paul talked about in in Acts 17:11 where he said, “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” Both Jews and Greeks were studying the Scriptures, using the Jewish Scriptures as much of the Old Testament as was available to them to check up one what Paul said to them. So Paul would have gotten high marks from them on this point of assessment.
A healthy missional church does not exist just because the pastor is healthy and missional and uses the Bible to live by and instruct his congregation. As I said a few weeks ago. It takes the whole church to be the church. Each of us bears responsibility to know and use the Word of God correctly. All of us together bear the responsibility to know and use the Word of God correctly.
The point also mentions preaching and teaching in “all” settings. So that raises the question of how many settings are in place for all the people of God to have regular interaction with the word of God and with each other. We have Sunday School, not well attended. We have our worship services, best attended, and we have Wednesday evening Bible study, not well attended. We also have a Thursday morning ladies bible study. I hope the ones who do attend would report that these additional settings bless them. But my real desire is to see everybody in this congregation taking advantage of multiple opportunities. In many churches, they try to get every member involved in small groups. To accomplish this there must be meetings available in different times and locations to accommodate various work schedules. Would you agree we need to work on that?
If you are among those who only come Sunday morning, what other setting is blessing you? It doesn’t have to be here. I know that some of the ladies here for example attend another Bible study at the Christian Reformed Church. And yet if that is the case, we may still ask, are there enough settings or opportunities offered here? Aren’t there still some people in our membership who only attend Sunday worship Services and no Sunday School and no other Bible study? Do you really think that is all you need? Is it really that you have no time for it? Or would your actual assessment be that this church does not preach and teach in all settings and reflect careful preparation, relevance, and creativity? Is it possible that if you see the value of this you may be able to help us get there?
The third point of assessment reads, “Our people are equipped and growing in their ability to study and apply Biblical truth in ways that lead to a scripturally integrated life. This one is about all the people, you and everyone around you. The reason Kathy and I read the whole chapter in 2 Timothy is because I wanted you to hear how the verse we are focused on is in the context of some very practical instruction from Paul to guide a young pastor in his ministry under some very difficult circumstances.
He says, “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—[and here’s the kicker. These people go to church!] –having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
There’s advice about how to recognize people who call themselves Christians but don’t act like it, encouragement to endure hardship and persecution by remembering the true teaching, and a reminder that the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, [he says to Timothy and really to all of us who should want to be good students of the word of God,] keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” Make the centrality of the Word of God a primary value in your life.
How well do you know and use the Bible for your personal life? Is your Christianity based on a few verses you memorized in Sunday school years ago, shaped by church culture and American life? Or can you really say that your Christian life is vitally connected to an ongoing relationship with God based on time with him in his word, time with other Christians discussing the Bible, social issues and theology, and praying together about how to live life in Christ?
Are you just a believer in Jesus, or are you a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ? Let me give you one more example of the difference between American Christianity and the genuine Christian life in Christ based on what is actually written in his word. Have you asked Jesus into your heart? Where is it written that that is how you become a Christian? I challenge anyone familiar with the Bible to find the verse where it says that. Jesus does say that you must be born again. But he does not say, “Why don’t you invite me into your heart?”
Now let me tell you what I find. Romans 6:11, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 12:5, “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Sure Christ is in me as a believer. But the emphasis of Scripture is on me being in Christ.
It is not Christ in me, it is me in Christ. This is an important distinction, because if I ask Jesus into my heart I may just be inviting him in so that I can have a better life. But if I am willing to be found in Christ, that means he is in charge. My life is over. He lives his life through me. I am his disciple. He comes first in everything. This is the true teaching of the word of God. It is not enough for me to invite Jesus into my life. The real gospel is an invitation from God, inviting you and me into His life. So here is the invitation, do you want to be a real disciple of Jesus Christ and bear much fruit? Believe in him, and submit to his call to follow him at all costs.
Jesus Christ is the Lord, he is the Savior! He is God! We owe him our lives. He comes first. He must come first and if you really believe this you will live accordingly. Now please go back to the bulletin insert and turn it over to the side labeled “After the Sermon.” On a scale of one to five where a five would mean excellent, think again, how well does this congregation do with putting the word of God at the center of everything, from your life to the various ministries? How well do you do? Let’s be determined to do better. Together in Christ, we can. He will help us because it is what he really wants for us! And we will be blessed if we do this. Amen.
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