2. How to Use the Bible for Good and Not Evil

1 Timothy: Healthy Words  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Introduction

General: My own experience with false teaching…
Personal: There are many false doctrines that are dangerous because they lead people away from the good news of Jesus Christ and the grace of God.
Name it and claim it
There are many paths to God
Cheap grace and easy believism (a twisting of “once saved always saved”)
In light of all the false teaching, how can we use the Bible for good and not evil?
Biblical: The Apostle Paul wrote the letter of 1 Timothy specifically to instruct Timothy in how to correct false teaching. The big idea of the Pastoral Epistles is: Healthy words and trustworthy sayings lead to godly living and Christlike character… or Healthy words, holy life.
Subject: If the Bible can be twisted to teach false doctrine: How do we use the Bible for good and not evil?

Body

Read 1 Timothy 1:3-11 (ESV).
We can use the Bible in a healthy way by studying it for application.
Illustration: Someone recently shared with me that the Lord convicted her with this question: “Are you eating from the tree of life or the tree of knowledge?”
Exposition
1 Timothy 1:3-4… Two ways to study the Bible: speculation or stewardship.
Speculation = conjecture without evidence
Do angels have gender?
How many angels and demons are there? What are their ranks, titles, and powers?
Did Adam have a belly button?
What color was the Virgin Mary’s hair?
Stewardship = putting what you’ve learned from the Bible into practice
If you read the Bible simply for knowledge and not for application, you’ll be at risk of misusing the Bible by debating what the Bible means instead of doing what the Bible says, like the Bible scholar in Luke 10 who wanted to justify himself, and so asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
1 Timothy 1:5-7… Understanding the Bible comes through obedience, not speculation or even study.
Illustrations
Consider the Bible college student who writes a paper on suffering vs. the elderly widow who endures horrendous cancer with her faith in tact. Who has a better understanding of suffering?
Consider the professor who teaches a class on evangelism but has never personally shared his faith vs. the mechanic who has led ten people to Jesus. Who has a better understanding of what it means to share Jesus with others?
Consider the pastor who designs an entire discipleship curriculum but has never personally discipled anyone vs. the college student who has shown six other students how to follow Jesus. Who has a better understanding of discipleship?
Application
Am I saying we shouldn’t study the Bible? No! You can’t obey what you don’t know. That’s why we have Sessions starting this week.
Learn the Bible not so that you can know the Bible but so that you can live the Bible. If you want to use the Bible for good and not evil, learn it for stewardship and not speculation.
We can use the Bible in a healthy way by applying it for love.
Exposition: Two ways to apply the Bible — love or legalism.
Legalism (1 Tim 1:8-11)
God has a design and purpose for everything in life: speech, marriage and sex, money.
Our lives are not aligned with God’s design. So, the law reveals our sin, shows us our need for Jesus, and teaches us how to repent.
The law is the diagnosis. It is not the treatment. When we try to use the law as the treatment, we misuse the Bible through legalism.
Legalism = following the rules is more important than personal faith
Example: Ephesians 5:18, “do not get drunk…” Don’t drink any alcohol… don’t touch a beer can… don’t use cooking wine… or you’ll lose your salvation and go to Hell.
Legalism is very dangerous to faith. Example: Electric transformer illustration… We think legalism will protect but it won’t.
Love (1 Tim 1:5)
Legalism is based on fear but love is greater than fear.
Love fulfills the law.
Romans 13:10 NIV
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Summary: Use the Bible in a healthy way by:
Studying it for application.
Applying it for love.

Conclusion: Put It Into Practice

Isaiah 58:10 NLT
10 Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
Hunger crisis in Somalia… $12 to feed a child for a month… Will 100 of us give $12 today?
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