Breathed Out by God

Introduction

2 Timothy 3:14–17 ESV

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I hope you have had a great first week in your Bible reading plan! We are going to continue to discuss God’s word and the effect that it has on our lives, but first, I want to say a few things that I hope will free you up and a few things that will help you.

You might miss a few days and get behind on the Bible reading plan. Guess what? That’s OK!

You may have little ones running around the house. You may have gotten busy. You may have just forgotten to read it.

We take baby steps, knowing that God is pleased with the small steps of obedience that we take.

You might have your own Bible study or devotional plan that you are doing? Guess what? That’s OK!

I would be excited if you were doing our Bible plan, but your reading the Bible - and intentionally planning your own study - excites me more than that!

You might understand the Bible better when you listen to it? Guess what? That’s OK! Listen to it.

In fact, Dwell Bible app is a great way to make sure that you hear the Bible every day. Or find a podcast the reads the Bible daily. Find whatever works for you.

I don’t care how you absorb the word - just do it!

The Lord’s grace is ever sufficient. And you have not sinned by missing a day of Bible reading. We read to pursue God, not to be approved by Him.

God is pleased with our efforts to follow Him.

None of you looked at your children the first time they tried to walk and got frustrated that they couldn’t do it.

Nevertheless, we press onward, knowing that we desire to know God through His word.

CIT: The Bible tells us how we can know God and obey Him.

Explanation

2 Timothy 3:14–15 ESV

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul is teaching Timothy what is means to be a pastor/elder in the church. He is a mentor for Timothy. He reminds Timothy to continue in the Word of God.

In the prior verse, Paul categorizes all people into two groups. (1) Those who desire to live a godly life, and (2) Those who seek to do evil.

Paul is saying to Timothy, “As a young pastor, you are called to teach the word to others. But you cannot know how they will respond to it. Even so, YOU continue in the Scriptures.”

That is the challenge for us to day. In a world that is rapidly changing in a nation that values Jesus less and less every day, you may not be able to change it.

But you can, by the grace of God, read the Scriptures and know God through them.

The best time to sleep is always when what’s happening outside - it’s raining! Why?

Because you know how miserable it would be to have to be in that rain right now. Your bed just feels a little bit warmer, dryer, and cozier than it normally does.

View the word of God as your home on a rainy day. It is the solace that you seek and the life that you need.

Everything else around you could be completely changing and falling apart, but if you have God and His word, you are in a safe place.

Your own life could be upended, but if you have God and you can know Him through His word, you have everything that you need.

The ultimate responsibility of the Bible is to point to Jesus.

He was, is, and always will be the centerpiece of the story.

He is the unavoidable beginning and conclusion. The Scriptures point to Him.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Qualities of the Scriptures

Breathed out by God

The Bible is God’s inspired word.

It is not a book written by men but by God.

While the authors of the New Testament certainly wrote the Bible, the Holy Spirit inspired their words.

As the Bible speaks, so God has spoken.

We obey the word as if God were standing in front of us and telling us what to do.

The rest of this passage shows us HOW God’s word enacts change in our lives.

They are individual as we read and interact with the Bible.

They are also communal, or corporate, as we grow in Him.

Profitable - Profitable doesn’t mean “useful” or “helpful.” It literally means, to bring an increase or a profit.

For teaching

To teach is to make something known. The Scriptures make God known to us.

You cannot know God unless you are taught who God is through His word.

One of my greatest prayers for you as you are reading the Bible this year is that you would learn something about God that you didn’t know.

Aside - The next three words reproof, correction, and exhortation - seem like the same thing.

Is Paul just being extra, or do they have a different meaning? And if they have a different meaning, what does that matter for my life today.

They all mean “correction,” but each highlights a slightly different form of correction.

For reproof - Exposing sin or fault

Paul uses this word several times throughout his letters

Ephesians 5:11 “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

1 Timothy 5:20 “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.”

The Bible has the ability to expose our sin, BUT when we live in a faith community that prioritizes the Bible, we, the body, sometimes has to expose sin that the individual might be healed.

The Bible exposes our sin. It cuts to our heart (remember last week).

We read with the intention of seeing our sin that we might rid ourselves of it. A natural response to reading God’s word is conviction.

For correction (some of your Bibles say, rebuke) - To ask someone or something to change.

We often think the word “rebuke” means to scold something. I don’t know where we ever God that idea.

When Jesus rebuked the storm (Matthew 8:26), he wasn’t scolding it. It seems rather foolish to think of rebuke in such a way. No, Jesus corrected it, or told it to change.

In the same way, God’s word rebukes us or corrects us. We don’t simply hear what we are doing wrong, but we are told to correct our sin. The Biblical concept is repentance.

For training in righteousness

The Word of God is not always reactive, but it is best when we use it proactively.

Instead of going to God’s word for a specific reason, we ought to read it so that our minds are conformed into the image of our creator.

Car manual - We only read it when we need something.

Is there a light on your dash? Consult the book.

Is it making a strange noise? Consult the book.

You don’t know how to cut on the interior lights? Consult the book.

Car manual Bible isn’t necessarily wrong. We should go to the Bible when we have needs. When should search the Scriptures. But while Car manual Bible reading isn’t necessarily wrong, I also don’t think its complete.

God would rather you know the Scriptures so often that the way you should live and the things you should do become evident, but because you go to the Scriptures to find it, but because the Scriptures live in you.

We immerse ourselves in the Word so that when hard times come, we know what to do.

We immerse ourselves in the Word so that righteousness becomes instinctive - more like riding a bike than a research project.

The function of the Word of God is that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Invitation

2 Timothy 3:15 (ESV)

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Come to Jesus.

Look more like Jesus.

Share Jesus.

Join Jesus’ bride, the local church.