All Sufficient
Notes
Transcript
Claim (of the passage): Ministers of the Word should continue in godliness and faithfulness to the Word for it contains all anyone need for salvation and every good work
Focus (of the sermon): Expect all sorts of distractions and persecutions away from God’s Word, but hold fast to the Bible - you need nothing more - and hold minister accountable to the same.
Function (for the congregation): To trust God’s Word as fully sufficient for salvation and good works, and to not be distracted by false teachings.
Pray
After the shock of hearing what fasle teachers are like in their hearts in our previous passage last week.
, this weeks passage begins with a very different character description.
False teachers are those who are lovers of the themselves, disguise themselevs as godly, deceivers, controlling and ultimately, depraved in their mind and are rejected by God.
Where as Paul the apostle, is
Rejected not by God, but rejected by people - and his charatcer is quite different:
You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
Rejeceted by people and suffering the consequneses.
Paul’s not boasting here - his point is one of contrast.
1 - No-one Dies For a Lie
1 - No-one Dies For a Lie
Where as a false teacehr is in it all for themsleevs.
For their own gain, comfort, power, control, finacial reward
- Paul is simply showing -
it’s pretty clear he is not in it for himself in a self-centered worldly sense.
Otherwise he’d do things differently! He’d avoid suffering!
Rather, Timothy is being reminded that Paul lived a simple life,
his purpose in life is to spread the wonderful truth of Jesus,
he has faith in Jesus’s rescuing power, not in himself.
And so he has patience in his suffering, love for the lost,
endurance when it’s hard.
Timothy is also reminded by Paul what he endured in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.
We don’t know all the details, which Timothy presumably did, but we know some:
In Antioch, we read in
But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.
In Iconium
There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to ill-treat them and stone them.
And Lystra
Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
Of course people will sometimes die for something they believe in.
Kamikaze Japaneses pilots in the WW2,
Suicide bombers.
Being prepared to suffer doesnt proove somethign is true or right
- it just prooves that you really believe it is true.
But Pauls example is very different.
This is not just something he believes in.
He claims to have met the risen Lord Jesus - he knows if what he is saying is true, or made up lies!
And while people will die for something they believe in,
people wont die for something they know to be a lie.
The apostles example is incredibly compelling for us.
If they knew Jesus hadn’t risen to new life - they wouldn’t have persevered in the suffering - becasue they’d know it wasn’t true.
But becasue they did - and according to history, all but 1 or 2 died for their claim that Jesus is God - well then we and Timothy - can be assured - they are not in it for selfish gain!
Their motive is very different! Their motive is one of joy in Christ their saviour.
They know Jesus is God Alimghty - the saviour who died in their place on the cross, so that they might inherit eternal restored relationship with God almighty.
They will avoid God’s right judgement and enjoy Him forever.
And as such, they now are prepared to undergo extraordinary persecution becasue they Love their saviour Jesus - and they would love others to know him too!
They are God centered, not self-centred. - ARE WE?
Paul’s testimony is very powerful - becasue he knows if what he claims is true or not - and nothing about his actions or characetr contradict that.
Now you do likewise says Paul to Timothy.
You may not have met the Risen Lord Jesus in person, but you know me, Paul.
You know I’m reliable.
You know how I live,
How I operate, my motives,
my faith,
My love, my endurance!
Pause
And we apparently should be ready and expectant of persecution too.
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
2 - Godliness leads to persecution
2 - Godliness leads to persecution
It’s a simple point we are too quick to forget.
But forget we must not.
We are not expected to go out looking for high degrees of persecution - but we are to be ready for it.
Most Christains who are faithfully speaking of their faith, and living a visibly godly life - are likely to already experinces some persecution.
The friends at shcool who just refuse to hear your understanding of gender and sexuality.
Your class mates who think you’re weird for not being on social media, or for looking at lustful pictures.
Your feeling of isolation, or not fitting in becasue you don’t go to the parties where everyone is drinking or smoking things they shouldn’t.
The snide remark from colleagues at work becasue we didn’t drink as much as all the others at the Christmas party,
The extended family who don’t understand why you want to go to church on Xmas day rather than spend that 90mins with them.
Your sports team who are frustrated that you priorities church over an important game.
If we never receive any of this - perhaps we’re not really pursuing godliness and are rather living as lovers of ourselves rather than lovers of Jesus.
Especially when we consider those who face severe persecution in our world becasue of their faith, evenagelism and godliness
Some are threatened with death,
violence, social rejection -unless they deny JEsus
Declaring Jesus as the only saviour, that we need forgiveness because we are terrible sinners before an almighty God - these messages are not going to always attract positivity.
And in our life times - some of us may face much worce persecution that we currently do.
But don’t be suprised, and don’t loose your faith when it comes!
Expect it - and pray that we wil be ready
after all the alternative is far worse
while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Falese teachers - and all those who are led astray by them, - go from bad to worse.
Believing and being tempted by teaching that elevates self - and denies godliness - leads to more and more deception.
I mentioned last week, we must be incredibly careful and discerning about who we listen to online and social media.
Check it against scripture, talk to Anna, Tim or myself before going to far into teachings of others.
Stand firm - believe the truth of the Gospel.
Expect hard times and rejection - and keep going!
We have been freed the judgement of God - it is what we rejoice in and it is why we love him.
Let’s not blindly wander back to judtgement - enticed by promises of good times and comfort.
Rather:
3 - Trust the all sufficient Bible
3 - Trust the all sufficient Bible
Lets’ look at those 2 aspects - Trust - and all sufficient.
First, Why can we trust the Bible? 2 reasons:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,
A - Why Trust the Bible
A - Why Trust the Bible
1 - Because No-one dies for a lie.
1 - Because No-one dies for a lie.
We’ve already done this one - but this is Pauls point - trust the bible, becasue it’s obvious the apostles knew their writings to be absolutely reliable and true!
They might die for something they believed ot be true - but they wouldn't die for something they knew NOT to be true!
Timothy had heard and received Pauls teadching
- much of our NT - and was ‘convinced’ of it -
not based on Paul being a brilliantly convincing speaker
- we know from another of his letters to the Corinthian church that he actually wasn’t an amazing speaker.
Timothy believed Paul becasue he knew Paul was prepared to suffer and even die for what he was claiming.
It’s the same for us - admittedly more removed than Timothy who met Paul in person -
but that is why letters like this are so convinceing -
they show us just what the apostles were prepared to go through,
how they lived and what they taught -
at massive personal cost
- so that we might be convinced that they are worth believeing.
They just simply would not have kept going,
kept writing,
kept teaching,
and held to unto all that until death if they were not telling the truth.
The second reason to trust the Bible is
2 - Because it is God Breathed
2 - Because it is God Breathed
2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV 2011)
All Scripture is God-breathed
This is a very important doctrine.
the bible is not just a collection of manmade books and letters
- but the very people who were prepared to die for what they knew to be true,
also assure us that it is God breathed.
What we have in our hands is the very Word of God.
Don’t get familiar with the phrase ‘the Word of God!’
These are God’s words speaking to us - not just written words - living words.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
The Bible is alive when we receieve it with faith by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
This is how God speak to us today, acts in us today, moves us today.
And as such we can trust it - and we should read it, study it, pray over it, sit under it on Sundays, discuss it!
Pause
So, the bible is trustworthy,
but it’s also ‘all sufficient.’
That simply means it is all we need!
B - All Sufficient
B - All Sufficient
All suffiencet for what you say? - it’s not got a recipe in there for my favourite Balti.
No - but it is all suffient in the following 3 areas:
1 - For Salvation
1 - For Salvation
2 - For Sanctification
2 - For Sanctification
3 - For Service (good works)
3 - For Service (good works)
1 - For Salvation
1 - For Salvation
and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Here Paul reminds Timothy that it was his upbringing
where he was taught and exposed to the Holy Scriptures
that made him ‘wise for salavation through faith in Christ Jesus’.
He didn’t find salavtion in cleaver arguments or apologetics,
he didn’t find salvation in other religions,
He didn’t find salvation in supernatural experiences,
He didn’t find salvation in good moral behaviour -
He didn’t find salvation in his wise mother and grandmother
he found salvation in the bible.
God spoke to Him through His word.
exposed his sin so that he knew he needed a saviour,
and showed Him Jesus as the one who can save.
All through the Bible.
If we want someone to find salvation in Jesus,
they don’t need arguments about the existence of God,
They don’t need us to be really clever or convincing
they don’t need miracles to prove there is a God.
they need to hear and or read God’s Word so they hear God speak.
Nothing else will save them -
for the Spirit of God speaks and acts and saves,
and convicts and reveals in and thorugh God’s Word the bible.
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
2 - For Sanctification
2 - For Sanctification
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
Sanctification is what God works in us to be more and more godly throughout our Christain life.
He is making us more and more like what we will one day be fully,
when Christ returns and makes us sinless and holy in God’s sight.
If you don’t want to be and strive after being godly - then you don’t want eternity with JEsus.
And so the way in which we pursue godliness and find ourselves being sanctified is through God’s Word being pressed upon us.
This is one of the core reasons that church gathering is so important,
- it is so that God’s Word can be ‘useful to us’ as preachers use it to
teach, rebuke, correct and train us.
• It is useful for ‘teaching’ God’s people doctrine;
• It is useful for ‘rebuking’ those who are wandering into sin;
• It is useful for ‘correcting’ error in the church;
• It is useful for ‘training’ God’s people in living godly lives.
And notice that it is ‘all of scripture’ that is useful for us to grow in godliness.
We must not pick and choose the parts of the bible we like.
When I work out what books of the bible to teach through here at GCWP,
I don’t think first - what do I like, or what do I think we need.
First - I think, what haven’t we done already,
what will be very different from the last book we did -
because first we must trust that God has something for us in ‘all of scripture.’
And then we might narrow it down with what we think might be also useful for our time.
Jesus prays to God the Father in
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
3 - For Service (good works)
3 - For Service (good works)
so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Similar to sanctification, but with an eye on practical loving good works - The Bible is all sufficient for you
If you lack something you think you need to serve God and serve the church, to do good works under God.
Then your user manual is the bible.
It can thoroughly equip us for EVERY good work.
As with sanctification, and salavation
God may use a friend to point out his word to us,
He may use a good book to explain his word to us,
He will certainly use sermons to reveal to us,
But it is all only becasue God’s word is all suffeinet to equip us.
Forget self-help mantras,
Forget inspiring influencers,
Forget motivational memes
Sit under, read, study, pray upon God’s word.
To conclude:
If the bible really is this all suffiecent for salavation - and therefore evangelism, for sanctification, and for service,
can you image the work God would do in our lives if
we put down our phones and screens and gaming controller.
and picked up our bibles instead!.
We are not just tempting ourselves to sin with the amount of time we put into our phones and games - we a starving ourselevs of God breathing life into us.
Parents, you children do not need screen time - it is harming them and depriving them. Ignore what the world sasy - and ignore what your children say!
Trust God’s word.
They shoud not have phones and screesn in their bedrooms - but they should have a bible.
Teenagaers - and adults - consider what we are missing out on every-time you scroll away a few hours.
Do you want to be infulenced and tempted, and convinced and decieved by your frineds, influencers, worldly idols,
Or do you want the living God to breath new life, living Words, that save, sanctify and prepare us to serve Him for all eternity.
He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.
We could go on all evening with these sorts of bible truths - but I trust these are enough to ‘rebuke us’.
Let’s Pray
Help us to put down our phones and allow you to breath lifeinto us through your word.
Amen
1 - Have you considered how reliable and trustworthy Paul’s (and all the New Testament) letter are?
2 - Are you avoiding persecution or are you ready?
3 - Are you missing out on God speaking to you through His saving, sanctifying and equipping Word? What might you change about your habits this week to correct this? (think about bible reading time, home group commitment, church attendance etc)
