GOD S WORD, BETTER THAN GOLD

Transcription

1 Pastor Stan Johnson Flagstaff Christian Fellowship 123 S. Beaver Street Flagstaff, Arizona GOD S WORD, BETTER THAN GOLD 2 Timothy 3:16-17 By Stan Johnson October 26, 2014 To access previous sermons or to subscribe to weekly Sermons via go to Sermons tab: God s Word, Better than Gold 2 Timothy 3:16-17 In commenting on the Bible, an unknown writer said, "This Book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ; yes, to glory itself, for eternity. (from SermonIllustrations.com) It is an understatement any time we speak of the great value of the Bible. Its source is from God as we shall see in the passage for today. Its content is from God, truth from the creator. Its nature is authoritative and personal. It is described as true and living and powerful. This morning we will look at a passage in 2 Timothy that teaches us about the great profit the Bible is to each of our lives if we will come to it with teachable hearts. My desire is for each of us to grow in love with God s word to see its personal nature to each one of us as God s love letter to you and me. In order to lead into verses 16 and 17, which we will be looking at more closely, let me read 2 Timothy 3: Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

2 These verses are part of a second letter from Paul to Timothy, a young pastor at the church at Ephesus. This is a very personal letter to Timothy, Paul s son in the faith. Paul recalls Timothy s growth in his faith as a young man in 2 Timothy 1: 3-7. In talking about suffering hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, (2:3) Paul addresses hardships in doing ministry, his own imprisonment as an example. Paul also lifts up the great value of the gospel, how Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (1:10) In light of Paul being imprisoned, he reminds Timothy, in 2:10 that the word of God is not imprisoned. Paul values the word of God greatly and exhorts Timothy several times to value and clearly proclaim the word of God. Implied in his exhortations is to love God s word. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, according to the power of God. (1:8) Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. (1:14) The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also, (2:2) Here, the content of Paul s teaching to Timothy is God s word. You entrust something dear to your heart to faithful men. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (2:15) Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. (4:2) When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments. (4:13) This was probably Paul s personal copies of portions of the O.T. Then in 3:14 and 15, just before our verse for this morning, Paul challenges Timothy to continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All of this to say Paul greatly valued the word of God and in 3:16 and 17 he gets specific as to how God s word is essential to our Christian walk. Here is where Paul tells us that: All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work: training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. From these two verses, we learn that the Bible is God s word to us, is given for our profit and furnishes us for every good work. 1. The Bible is God s word to us, the words He wanted written down for us. The note in my Ryrie Study Bible explains this phrase All scripture is inspired by God. In other words, the Bible came from God through the men who wrote it. God superintended these human authors so that, using their individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error God s Word to man. 2 Peter 1:21 also states this: for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. The various translations may vary in their translation of certain words, but in the original languages, we can have confidence that God gave us the words of scripture. 2. All of scripture is profitable for us. The word for profitable means useful, beneficial, advantageous, and helpful. These verses bring out the absolute sufficiency of scripture to meet all the spiritual needs of God s people. One of the churches my wife and I visited a couple of years ago was High Desert Church in Victorville, Calif. In listing its core values, the first two were Truthful and Helpful. At first my thought was helpful doesn t sound very theological, but then as I thought about it a little more and in reading this passage I thought helpful is very appropriate and very Biblical. All scripture is profitable or helpful. Let s look at 4 ways scripture is helpful to us: A. Scripture is helpful for teaching. The word for teaching is also sometimes translated doctrine or instruction. It means both the act of teaching and what is taught. Here, the focus is on the content. John MacArthur states this about this verse in his commentary on 2 Timothy: When it comes to godly living and godly service, to growing in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4), God-breathed Scripture provides for us the comprehensive and complete body of divine truth necessary to live as our heavenly Father desires for us to live. The wisdom

3 and guidance for fulfilling everything He commands us to believe, think, say, and do is found in His inerrant, authoritative, comprehensive, and completed Word. Any question you have about living life you can find the answer in God s word, either in specific or in principle. Proverbs 3:5 and 6 addresses this, as much to believers as to those who don t know Christ. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. When it comes to scripture teaching me, when I read any passage in the Bible I ask myself, What does this passage teach me about God, or Christ or myself? B. Scripture is also helpful for reproof. The word for reproof means to voice disapproval of, to admonish. It carries the idea of rebuking in order to convict of miss-behavior or false doctrine. Pastor MacArthur explains how this works, Regular and careful study of scripture builds a foundation of truth that, among other things, exposes sin in a believer s life with the purpose of bringing correction, confession, renunciation, and obedience. As I read scripture on a regular basis, God often stops me on a particular verse and uses it to point out a truth I haven t fully understood or a thinking or behavior I was wrong in. The author of Hebrews tells us that this is the nature of scripture in our lives. (Hebrews 4:12 and 13) For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any twoedged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. When it comes to scripture reproving me, when reading it I ask myself, What does this passage show me about myself that needs to change in thinking or doing? Before I continue, let me state the obvious. As helpful as scripture can be, it is of little value if we aren t in it on a regular basis. Let me illustrate: A story is told of a devout father whose son was studying for the ministry. The son decided to go to Europe for an advanced degree, and the father worried that his simple faith would be spoiled by sophisticated, unbelieving professors. Don t let them take Jonah away from you, he admonished, figuring the swallowed-by-a-great-fish story might be the first part of the Bible to go. Two years later when the son returned, the father asked, Do you still have Jonah in your Bible? The son laughed. Jonah! That story isn t even in your Bible! The father replied, It certainly is! What do you mean? Again the son laughed and insisted, It s not in your Bible. Go ahead, show it to me. The old man fumbled through his Bible, looking for the Book of Jonah, but he couldn t find it. At last he checked the table of contents for the proper page. When he turned there, he discovered the three pages comprising Jonah had been carefully cut from his Bible. I did it before I went away, said the son. What s the difference whether I lose the Book of Jonah through studying under non-believers or you lose it through neglect? C. A third way scripture is helpful is in correction. The word for correction literally means to up again, a restoration to an upright or right state. (Vines) One commentator explained it this way. If reproof stresses the negative aspect of pastoral work, correction emphasizes the positive side. Not only must the sinner be warned to leave the wrong path, but he must also be directed to the right or straight path. This, too, all scripture is able to do. The Word, especially when it is used by a consecrated servant of God who is diligent in the performance of his pastoral duties, is restorative in character. (William Hendriksen Simon J. Kistemaker on the Pastoral Epistles.) Part of the correcting process in each of us is the quality of humility. In James 1:21, we are told to in humility, receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls. The word for humility here refers to that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. (Vines, page 401) When I daily go to God s word, I pray Psalm 139:23 and 24. Search me oh God and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. I am opening up my heart to be examined by His word and my heart s desire is to change as God shows me. So, a question I ask myself

4 when reading the Bible and related to correction is How can I change or correct my thinking or actions in response to these verses? D. The fourth way Paul says scripture is profitable is for training. The word translated training here is also translated instruction or education or discipline. It is the noun form for the word often used to train your children. This term training speaks of God using His word in every believer s life to transform us. Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:18 reminds us that: We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Part of the transforming work that God does in our lives as we spend regular time in the Bible is to draw our hearts to Him. I find that as I have continued to work on regular habits of reading the Bible daily and taking walks to pray and memorizing and reviewing scripture that they have been moving from a discipline I have to work at to something I really look forward to. John 14:21 illustrates this for me. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. I remember when I first memorized this verse I was motivated to follow the Lord and spend time with Him and work on spiritual disciplines to show Him that I loved Him. As I have worked on these, I have found that the last part of this verse has become more prominent to me as I have grown to want Christ to reveal more of Himself to me, to disclose Himself to me. Spiritual disciplines move from a need to a delight; from I need to to I get to ; from an obligation to a privilege. The prophet Jeremiah said it well in Jeremiah 15:16, Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. Mortimer J. Adler, in How to Read a Book has observed that the one-time people read for all they are worth is when they are in love and are reading a love letter. They read every word three ways. They read between the lines and in the margins. They read the whole in terms of the parts, and each part in terms of the whole. They grow sensitive to context and ambiguity, to insinuation and implication. They perceive the color of words, the order of phrases, and the weight of sentences. They may even take the punctuation into account. Then, if never before or after, they read carefully and in depth. So should believers read the love letter that the Eternal Lover of our souls has given to us so that we may better know him and his purposes. When it comes to scripture training me, when reading a passage or listening to a message, I ask myself What does God want me to take from this passage and apply to my life? To illustrate how the scriptures can accomplish all four of these; teaching, reproof, correction and training, let me read for you verses in Ephesians 4: For teaching we have in verses 20 and 21, But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus. For reproof we read in verse 28, He who steals must steal no longer, and in verse 29 let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment. For correction we read in verse 25, Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with His neighbor, for we are members of one another. For training we read in verse 32, Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. 3. The Bible furnishes us for every good work. In 2 Timothy 3:17, Paul gives us the purpose of scripture in our lives, So that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. I need to say something about the word adequate. In looking up this word, the meaning is more along the line of complete or perfect or capable and proficient. We often use adequate to communicate just enough and probably no extra. This word has more the idea of complete. We have everything we need to be equipped to do all the good works God desires us to do. By way of application and to help you in your daily time with the Lord in His Word let me introduce you to a fun way to have a daily quiet time with the Lord. It s called journaling. There is a lot you can do with journaling, but here is a simple way.

5 Journaling When using a journal in my daily devotions, I have found the following format helpful: Date: Scripture verses: This morning I learned: To wrap up this message on the value of God s Word in our lives, let me read Psalm 19:7-11. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.. Lord, help me today to I like to personalize what I m reading. It helps me to think through how to practically apply this scripture to my life. I will read as much as I need to take something with me from God s word. Sometimes this may be only a few verses. Other times this may be a whole chapter. Don t feel bad if you skip a day. Just pick it up again the next day. Try to find a regular place and time to do this every day. You can journal daily as God is teaching you or weekly. One result of journaling is that after a period of time you can look back over what God has been teaching you and often see a particular area He s working on in your life. You can also see an area that you are growing in to encourage you. Writing is often overlooked as a ministry skill, yet we have much of the New Testament because of believers who wrote down what God was teaching them. Who knows, God may use you to encourage other believers through your writing.