55 Preaching/Teaching 2 Timothy 2: A lover of God's word

A Lover of God’s WORD

EOT-Paul presented to Timothy what an approved worker of God’s word looks like.

EOS-A lover of God’s word-

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Intro-

Today I will be asking a question: Are you a lover of God’s word?

When I was younger I was not a lover of God’s word.

My encounters with the Bible were rare and confusing.

I remember one time I tried to read the Bible, I knew it was supposed to be a good book and I started in the New Testament because I knew that was easier: Matthew. Now do you guys know what is in the book of Matthew chapter 1? A genealogy. I did not even know what a genealogy was at this time.

Here are a couple of names in this genealogy

Try saying these names.

Rehoboam

Jeconiah

Shealtiel

Now the only book I read in High School was Magic Johnsons Autobiography and those type of names were definitely not in there.

It was in college where I was presented with the good news of the gospel and I began a relationship with God because what Jesus had done on the cross. I received his free gift that he paid in full for. The man who shared this message with me began to start teaching me God’s word and also the importance of loving God’s word.

Bible: God’s love letter to you and me!

questions for you:

How well do you know God’s word?

Do you know it better than you did a year ago?

Do you spend time with God on a regular basis?

Could you walk someone through the Bible and show them how to have a relationship with God?

Can you quote me 20 verses from the Bible?

The Bible tells us that if we want to be a people who live for God and work for him we have to love and enjoy his word.

Here is what Paul said to Timothy in his final days:

2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB95)

he wanted Timothy to do the same, to handle God’s word correctly. es not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

The Awana children’s ministry took its name from this verse: “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed.”

Are you an approved workman who is not ashamed of God’s word?

Are you a lover of God’s word.

Paul was confident that when he was going to stand before God he would not be ashamed, and he wanted Timothy to have this same confidence one day.

What did Timothy need to do?

Be diligent- to present himself to God. This is over and over again. This is not a one time thing, this is a lifestyle. Presenting ourselves to God is not accidental.

Like anything we want to be great at we have to be diligent with it.

IN this book Paul is writing with urgency, ready to make his maker, he did not have time to mince words, he was getting down to business.

It’s not a matter if we will stand before God, it is a matter of when we stand before God.

Present-we can present ourselves to others. We can present ourselves to our self and make life all about us, or we can present ourselves to God.

Handles it accurately-Do you know how to handle God’s word accurately. It is not a good reality that the church is full of men and women who do not know how to handle the word of God Correctly.

Handling it accurately means we teach God’s word in a way that is consistent to what it really means.

Literally this means cutting straight. This paints a picture of a workman who is careful and accurate in his work. Picture a brick layer.. It pictures this builder who lays bricks in straight rows, or a road maker who constructs a straight road, and a farmer who plows a straight furrow.

What would happen in Houston if our roads were not straight.

Paul was about to stand before God unashamed, because he handled God’s word correctly.

he wanted Timothy to do the same, to handle God’s word correctly.

If Paul were here today he would want our church to handle God’s word correctly.

When you stand before God one day would it not be awesome if you can say this to God that by your grace, I Faithfully loved your word for a lifetime.

Do a quick survey on the wheel: Four areas who is strongest on the word of God.

Today I want us to be a church that Loves God’s word and is always growing in God’s word.

Today I want to look at three marks of a lover of God’s word

1. The first mark of a lover of God’s word is: they major on the majors (16-18).

What are some majors of the faith:

That we worship the Triune God

That we are saved only through Jesus

That we are saved by faith

That we are saved by grace

That we are to live for the glory of God

That the Bible is God’s holy word

That we are to love God and love others

That we are to make disciples.

These are all majors, they are hills worth standing on.

2 Timothy 2:16 (NASB95)

But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness,

When we don’t major on the majors:

Leads to ungodliness (16)

Meaningless discussion is a characterization of the world.

How many things do we spend time on that are not majors. It could be things that are not bad in themselves but we have made them majors. News channels, politics, sports.. Facebook, instagram, Twitter, these things become major things.

When minor things become major things the result is ungodliness.

We don’t drift towards Godliness.

Their were people in the church who were majoring on irrelevant things.

This might not seem like a big deal but it was leading to ungodliness.

What irrelevant things can you major on?

Spreads like Gangrene (17)

2 Timothy 2:17 (NASB95)

and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Don’t you love how Paul just calls these people out. Again he does not have time to mess around, we are talking life and death.

We want to multiply disciples, but evil also multiplies, this disease would multiply if it was not addressed, The way you address gangrene is you it literally have to cut it off.

When the word of God is not central churches will have diseases.

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

Gangrene is the decay of tissue that develops in a part of the body where the blood supply is obstructed by injury, disease, or some other cause. Medical writers of Paul’s day used this term (Gr. gangraina, only here in the New Testament) to describe a sore that eats into the flesh. Such is the effect of the talk of ungodly people on the body of Christ.

Christ Whitaker almost had to cut his foot off because of gangrene.

Are you majoring on the things of God?

Which way are you leading people?

2 Timothy 2:18 (NASB95)

men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.

The early church had such a hope in Christ that they were literally ready for the return of Christ right now.

Isn’t this something that we should still be looking forward to today.

However they were taking their teaching too far and teaching that may have led to them teaching that everything in Christ was to be experienced right now.

A modern day example could be the health and wealth gospel.

What is so amazing about the Bible is that it is easy enough for a baby to understand but deep enough for a theologian to drown.

What are some spiritual hand grenades today:

Calvinism

Their teaching was not focused on the main thing.

My goal as a preacher is not for you to tell me I preached a good sermon.

My goal is that you would take anything I say and test it to the word.

My prayer is that you would become so well acquainted with the word that it is your main source for spiritual food. And that you would feast from it so well that it would overflow out of you as you lead others to the one who gives life.

Application:

As a new believer I was majoring on the majors. You know what I remember from back then. I wanted to share the love of God with anyone I came into contact with. Sometime I think back to those times and wish I would still have that passion now.

What are you majoring on right now?

There are so many lesser things that we make greater:

For some it is the News, for some it is politics, what is that thing that you major on that does not need to be majored on?

How did you get to know a lot about it. Study, went to school, you put a lot of time into whatever that area of expertise you hold. I wonder if the reason the word of God is at a low in the Church is because we just don’t put the time in.

Jim Elliott-Sin keeps me from word or the word keeps me from Sin.

2. The next mark of a lover of God’s word is: their life stands out (19-22).

God’s word was not meant to just give us head knowledge it was meant to change our lives.

Does your life stand out for God?

Is your life different?

When God’s word started changing my life and I was reading it like a love letter my life started to stand out.

Then I get to college and because it was a christian school I had to take Bible course.

There was a bad habit I was in, in college. I was not a major cheater, but I looked at a few answers in my high school days.

And now I am taking a Bible test, so what did I do?

I took a few answers.

I was not a worker for God.

I was now becoming a lover of God’s word.

Do you really want to bring maximum glory to God?

(I know we are at church so we kinda have to say this)

But do you really want to?

2 Timothy 2:19 (NASB95)

Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”

There are two seals of ownership:

The Lord knows those who are his.

This should give us a ton of confidence in our walks with Jesus. If you are a believer the Lord knows those who are his.

Abstain from Wickedness

When our lives look like the worlds life it does not look genuine. God wants our lives to be authentic for him.

2 Timothy 2:20 (NASB95)

Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.

Now before I break this verse down I want to say something. If you are a believer in Jesus we are all saved solely on the blood of Jesus. It is a free gift we cannot earn it. We are saved because of what Jesus did on the cross. We are not saved by our works, we are saved to do his works.

But as a believer we have the option to be a vessel for honor or a vessel for dishonor.

A vessel for dishonor

When I think of a vessel of honor and vessel of dishonor I think about Samson.

When I think of a vessel of honor and vessel of dishonor I think about Samson. Samson was believer who lived like a non believer. He was totally out of control every step of the way.

Is that you right now?

You are a Christian but you live like the rest of the world?

The stats show that the church looks more like the world than like Jesus.

Maybe you are even morally not so bad, but the drum beat of your life is not honoring and looking like Jesus.

Samson lived most of his life as a vessel of dishonor.

A vessel for honor

What is awesome about God and his grace is that even if we are not living as a vessel of honor we can become a vessel of honor. Remember Samson, finally at the end of his life he became a vessel of honor. He was before the Philistines and he said remember me God.

Then it said that God remembered Samson and he killed more Philistines when he died than when he lived.

He gave God more glory when he became the vessel of honor, in one day compared to his whole life. It was not that Samson was not a believer it was he was a believer who lived like the world. But by the grace of God he got it at the very end.

Paul tells us how we can be a vessel for honor.

2 Timothy 2:21 (NASB95)

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

God wants us to be those vessels for honor.

Samson at the end of his life became that vessel for honor.

This should give us great hope that we all can be vessels for honor.

What do you need to cleanse yourself from to be a vessel for honor?

Are you taking some shorts cuts, is their a secret sin, are you just lazy to be in God’s word. What do you need to cleanse yourself from to become a lover of God’s word?

The word sanctified literally means SET APART.

There could be works right now that God has for you that you cannot do until you cleanse yourself.

Samson could not defeat the Philistines until he cleansed himself.

What if there is something great God wants you to do but he just can’t.

Application:

'The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.' Jim Elliott or DL Moody

We are talking about loving God’s word:

One of the ways that we can do this is by memorizing God’s word. How you going to stand out for God if you do not even know what God says.

In College i began to memorize scripture.

I started with t he Topical Memory System:

QUOTE A FEW

3. The next mark of a lover of God’s word is: they apply it to their lives (23-26).

Observation plus interpretation without application equals abortion.

If we have all the head knowledge in the world about the Bible but do not apply it to our lives we commit spiritual abortion.

God’s word is meant to change our lives.

Jesus was hardest on people in the NT who new a lot of head knowledge but did not apply. He called the white washed tombs.

When we apply it to our lives it is almost as if we are in training.

He get’s to the point and give Timothy specific things he is to do.

Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations

2 Timothy 2:23 (NASB95)

But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

“The irrelevancy of much of the controversy then prevalent among Christians seems to have deeply impressed St. Paul; again and again he returns to this charge against the heretical teachers, that their doctrines are unprofitable and vain, and that they breed strife about questions either unimportant or insoluble.”

Churches are known for dividing over the color of the carpet and the music. Stay out of this Timothy. If you get in these kinds of arguments it will lead to fighting.

2 Timothy 2:24 (NASB95)

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,

Kind to all

Able to teach

patient when wronged

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

The emphasis in the word translated skillful in teaching in the Greek (didaktikos, cf. 1 Tim. 3:2) is on the teacher’s ability to bring out the best in his students rather than the teacher’s knowledge.

2 Timothy 2:25 (NASB95)

with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

Correcting those who are in opposition

If you decide to be a lover of God’s word their will be people who are opposed to you.

2 Timothy 2:26 (NASB95)

and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Application:

I want to be a lover of God’s word for life.

What about you?

Three challenges for you today, and I want everyone to take one of them.