The Bible has a Purpose
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Main Idea:
Main Idea:
2 Timothy 3:10-17
Main Idea:
Good morning church, my name is Zach Klundt, I am the associate pastor here at Freshwater.
Pastor Robert was suppose to preach this morning on the Bible has a purpose, at about 5:00pm yesterday. Robert texted Aaron and I and said he was under the weather— To which I responded, do you need me to preach tomorrow.
If you know Robert then you may know the answer I got.
I’m 99% going to preach tomorrow— MJ flu game baby!
While with it being 1% i began to study 2 Timothy 3:10-17 in preparation that he was not going to be able to go this morning.
At midnight he told me he wasn’t going to be able to go.
So here we are this morning.
I am thankful for the opportunity to preach this morning but I would also encourage you to be praying for Robert as he is still under the weather.
This morning we are going to be kicking off a series called Finding Purpose.
Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be looking at the different purposes in our lives, and this morning we are going to be talking about how the Bible has a purpose in our lives.
The Bible is vastly important as we will discover today.
My hope is that we leave here today with a better appreciation and love for God’s word.
I want us to walk away knowing that God’s word needs to be an anchor for our lives.
Me:
As I was studying and writing this sermon today, I couldn’t help but recall going fishing with my grandpa.
As I was growing up in Andalusia, IL I lived really close to my papa’s house.
Andalusia is known as a village of about 1100 people and it is situated right on the Mississippi River.
And my papa was a huge outdoors men, he loved being in nature.
He loved hunting pretty much any animal.
He was a huge fishermen— he would put down nets on the river and pull out massive channel catfish.
He was a manly man— and then he had me as a grandson.
I loved my papa and I know he loved me, but I also think he was like I wish you liked nature a bit so I would have someone to do natury type of stuff with.
Anyway— I did go fishing with him often growing up.
Well I would reel in the fish.
He would put the worm on or get the stink bait on my hook.
And then He would take the fish off if I caught one.
I mean that’s fishing right?
I will never forget how important having an anchor was on the boat.
My papa would alway take us to the best spots but you didn’t want to lose your spot so what do you do?
You throw down the anchor.
I was good at that.
My papa explained it to me in a way that I remember to this day:
Zachy, you throw down the anchor because no matter what waves come from other boats or barges you can still planted.
As in there is a lot of things that will try to take you off course but if have your anchor down the chance of you moving is slim.
I may not be a skilled fishermen or like nature, but I can relate to letting down an anchor.
I can relate to not wanting to drift in a culture that is calling out for my attention.
That is waiting to distract me and take me off course.
I can relate wanting to not get off course, but yet find myself with one foot in the culture and another in God’s word.
Trying to become more like Christ but failing to hold fast to the truth of what it means to follow Him.
We:
If you are a believer in Christ my hope is that you see God’s word as truth.
That we do our best to follow it’s teaching and to live our life in a way models Christ.
Because if we fail to drop our anchor on the word of God we will be swayed by whatever may come our way.
Things that sound good will take us away from the truth found in God’s word
We will be swayed to falling false teaching or statements like, the Bible was written thousands of years ago and is therefore not relevant to our lives and situation now.
We will be pulled into believing that we need to not follow certain parts of scripture because God would want me to be happy and he wouldn’t deny me of my happiness.
We will fall into the idea that our sin is not as bad as other sins therefore I will keep doing it.
We will begin to drift into other’s people teaching and reels from social media, or the dreaded facebook preachers who have also failed to tether themselves to truth and have relied on their own understanding.
When we grasp hold of God’s word we can find ourselves holding on to truth in a world that is screaming at us to drift a different way.
We must come to terms today that this book is vital to us as believers.
we must be anchored to God’s word.
It is the place we run to when we are suffering, it is the place we go to when we are in the mist of trials, it is the place we go to teach, to train, to correct, to rebuke.
It is the place we go for hope and to show hope to a hopeless world.
It is the scriptures, It is God’s word— preserved and given to us.
So that we can know the character of God.
So that we know of the plan of salvation.
So that we know that Christ came to save the world through him.
It is divine, it is life changing and transformative.
It is living and active.
This is what Paul is communicating to Timothy in his second letter that he wrote to his companion in the faith Timothy.
God:
I invite you to turn in God’s Word to 2 Timothy chapter 3 picking up in verse 14.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Will you pray with me this morning:
God we thank you for your word.
Without it we would not know how deeply you love us and want to have a relationship with us.
God as we prepare to open up our heart this morning God help us to be challenged and encouraged and to leave more in love with you then when we first came in.
Holy Spirit give me the word to say this morning.
Help me to communicate your text this morning.
God we love you we ask all of these in Jesus name amen.
As we begin to dissect God’s word I like to start with the background of what is happening here in 2 Timothy and where Paul the author is at.
What is interesting about 2 Timothy is that this letter is believed to be the last letter Paul wrote and sent.
Paul was in Rome and he was in prison.
Now it was more like a house prison but still he was locked up but he had opportunities to write letters to churches he helped plant.
And he wrote a letter to Timothy, who was really like a son to him.
Paul loved Timothy and was very much invested in Timothy’s life.
Paul’s letter would strike it’s reader as a good-bye letter to a dear friend.
The letter is very personal.
And Paul is writing to encourage Timothy to stand firm in the faith.
And as we get to chapter 3 verse 10, we come off the heels of Paul writing about hard times are ahead.
You can imagine Paul in prison writing to Timothy— you think the times now are bad— just wait:
There will be a time where 2 Timothy 3:1-5
But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
Paul is saying these people are no good— stay away from them.
I am sure that we all know people who are like this or have seen in our world today people we could say yep these are the people Paul is warning Timothy about and also us as well.
We can’t run from them but Paul does tell us what to do.
in verse 10 he starts with BUT
But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Paul is still giving Timothy a warning here.
He is saying you have followed my teachings, reminding Timothy to remember his life.
Paul’s life.
Timothy was a around for a lot of Paul’s life and ministry and Timothy followed Paul and the example Paul set forth.
“Paul’s great aim in life was to finish his ministry of testifying to the Gospel for the glory of Christ.”
And when it came to persecutions Paul is telling Timothy— hey the suffering and trials are coming be ready.
In fact anyone who wants to live a godly life is Christ is going to be persecuted.
Paul is saying that if you are living a godly life you will be persecuted.
And while I understand that we do not live in a country where Chrsitianity is outlawed or where Christians are being murdered for their faith.
I was struck with the question of do I live in a way that would welcome persecution?
I’m not saying hey sign me up for torture and wanting to be hurt, but there is a correlation between living a godly life in Christ and being persecuted.
As in the more we grow in Christ the more trials and suffering that comes our way.
Because standing on the truth, being anchored in the truth is going to cost us something.
Being a Christian is going to cost us something.
It is why Jesus says to count the cost before following me.
Paul is encouraging Timothy to know that persecution is coming and so are the false teachers.
And what makes false teachers so dangerous is that they deceive themselves.
Meaning that they begin to believe in their own truth instead of God’s truth.
And we know how hard some people can be when they believe they are right about something even though they are totally wrong.
And those people then go and deceive others— they lost their anchor and they drift on their own.
Not holding fast to what is true they replace truth for a lie and then they share that lie as truth and mislead others.
And it can be so simple, it can be a slight change of a word, and omission of a word that changes the truth and leads people astray.
Paul is warning Timothy about these people.
So When the false teachers come up to challenge Timothy and when the persecution begins what does Paul tell Timothy to do?
2 timothy 3:14
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 tell Timothy to be anchored to God’s word.
He says continue in what you learned and have believed since you were a child.
Timothy grew up in a home with a dad who was a gentile and a mom who was a jew.
Timothy would have been taught by his mom and his grandmother who were mentioned in chapter 1 of this letter.
These women played a huge role in Timothy’s life and making him acquainted with the scriptures.
This is how Timothy grew up.
Many jews children would have been taught the Scriptures at a young age and would have learned them well.
And this does mean the Old Testament, in this context.
Timothy would have known most of the Old Testament, and Paul tells him— that the Old Testament points to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.
You are able to be wise for salvation thought Christ.
The Bible is a book at leads us to salvation.
As I listened to three young ladies who are going to be or were baptized today baptized today, when i spoke with them on the phone, they all told me that someone opened up the scriptures to me and it lead me to Jesus and a now saving relationship in Him.
God’s word leads to salvation.
The Bible is about Jesus.
“He is promised at the beginning, he is there in the middle, and he is held up at the end as our object of worship for all eternity.”— Daniel Akin
That is the power of scripture— it has the power to lead one to Christ who offers salvation.
Paul goes on in verse 16
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.
Why do we put some much stock in the scripture?
Because scripture is breathed out by God.
Paul was talking to Timothy about the Old Testament here as most of those writing were already part of what we would call the OT.
Yet this does not mean that we dismiss the NT as not inspired by God.
For it is just as much is as the OT.
And we know this as Peter places Paul’s writing in the same category as the rest of scripture.
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
The spirit worked though the 40 different authors to give us exactly and entirely what God intended us to have.
Paul makes no distinction about some Scripture is by God but some isn’t he says all Scripture.
We can’t pick and choose which part of the Bible we like.
I am sure we would love to take out passages and omit certain commands but that is not up to us.
It is all from God and it is good and true.
Why does it matter if all scripture is inspired by God?
Paul writes to Timothy that the Bible is profitable, it is useful
for teaching and rebuking.
Correcting and training in righteousness.
We know it is profitable to teaching as this is where we go to when we hear a message or do a bible study we know that God’s word is profitable when it comes to teaching.
And God’s word is profitable when we begin to stray from Christliness— we can stand firm.
When we need a course correction we know that God’s word will guide us.
And as we dive into his word we find ourselves being trained in his word.
Daniel Akin had a quote I thought fit well:
Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus Continue in the Totally Sufficient Scriptures (3:16b–17)
God’s Word meets our deepest needs. It transforms us from the inside out. People need God’s Word more than man’s observations and practical suggestions. Sure, there may be times to offer some practical suggestions and council or to read from a contemporary writer. However, we must distinguish between “good stuff” and “God’s stuff.”
We must hold scripture in high regard.
Paul holds scripture in high regard as he sees it’s value not just the information that it has.
The Bible will with stand any test.
The Bible is the control to every test.
Paul is saying Timothy this is what you go too when it comes to false teachers.
Run to the Scriptures and see how it stacks up.
Paul tells Timothy that the Bible, while we must know it and remember what we have been taught we must also act on it as well.
It is one thing to believe in the scripture it is another to live it out.
The Bible is useful so that we may be a man of God complete and equipped for good works.
While the scriptures equip all Christians, Paul had Timothy in mind when he was writing this when he says man of God.
Paul is clear to Timothy that when life hits- run the scriptures.
When you come up against false teachers run- to the Scriptures.
When you are lacking wisdom run to the scriptures.
When you are living out the example of Christ run to the scriptures.
When you are leading others to salvation through Christ run to the scriptures.
Paul wrote to Timothy to tell warn him but also to tell him that when you anchor yourself to the scripture you will be ready for what comes your way.
You will be prepared for what this world throws at you.
You:
Why does this matter?
It matter because I think many of us that do not spend nearly enough time in here. (Bible)
And we can come up with a million reasons,
Here are the top 5:
1. It makes you uncomfortable
As Paul wrote to Timothy he told him that scripture is profitable in teaching, rebuking, correction and training in righteousness.
Meaning that there are going to be things that make us feel uneasy.
We are going to be convicted.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
God’s word is going to cut us to our soul at times.
If you are not in God’s word because you are uncomfortable I would ask that you search your heart and see why you are uncomfortable.
2. It’s too hard
If it was easy everyone would do it.
When just starting out, it may be hard to understand the Bible.
Ask for help and know that you are not alone.
No one understands everything.
Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus Continue in the Word (2 Timothy 3:14–17)
I recently heard of a panel discussion that featured several top-shelf biblical scholars. They were discussing interpretive issues related to the Old Testament, specifically regarding the story of Joseph in Genesis. In response to a certain question, one of these premier Bible scholars said, “It may be that I need to do further study of the Old Testament. And I’m very certain of that.” Does that response convict you? Even authoritative Bible scholars come to issues in the text and conclude that they need to spend more time in the Bible. Even the brightest of biblical minds “need to do further study.” We should never stop studying the Scriptures!
And know that it may be challenging to start but 5 mins a day- 30mins a day will add up over time and you will find yourself growing in love with God’s word.
3. You are undisciplined
This is a hard one.
Because you may find that you are undisciplined in a lot of areas of your life, that reading the bible is just another area where you could be more disciplined in.
I would encourage you to start small.
Create a goal you can keep and keep working towards it.
4. We think it is stale and lifeless
As already mentioned God’s word is living and active.
If we find ourselves not in awe of God and his wonderful works we may need to examine our own hearts.
5. You have a dysfunctional relationship with God
Maybe it is just as simple as saying if you don’t read the bible it is probably because you just don’t want to.
Why it is time for us to again examine where we are at in our walk with God.
If we see our relationship with God as important then we will make time to get to know him through his word.
The purpose of God’s word is to point us to Jesus.
And in order to fully understand the word we must know the Word and We must Live Out the Word
I want to throw out one last challenge if I may.
Rather a question for us to pounder on:
Are you someone who is worth being an example to someone else?
If you are someone who is hearing everything and you are like yep I got this.
I love God’s word it is an anchor to my soul.
Then let me challenge you to be a Paul to someone.
Paul as he was writing his letter tells Timothy that Timothy has followed his teachings, conduct, and faith— If you are at a place in your faith where you got this figured out.
Grab somebody who doesn’t and help them out.
This is what discipleship looks like.
Taking someone under your wing.
You don’t need permission to disciple anybody.
And if you are here today and you are like, you know I know I need to put a higher value on God’s word then go to someone who’s faith you admire and ask them to show you how they do it.
Fall in love with God word and let it be an anchor to your soul, so when the waves, and the winds of this culture come at you, you know you have the hope of the gospel tethered to yourself.
Let’s Pray