Bible-Driven
The Church: Core Values • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Church: Core Values. Wk. 2
The Church: Core Values. Wk. 2
Good morning, Church. if you have your Bibles and I hope you do, go ahead and make your way to 2 Timothy 3. We will be in Chapters 3 and 4 in our time together this morning.
Last week, we began our series by focusing on what must remain central in the life of the church. Before discussing strategies, structures, or priorities, we considered the foundation that supports everything else.
We spent time reflecting on what it truly means for the church to be gospel-centered.
We talked about how the gospel is not merely the starting point of the Christian life, but the ongoing source of our identity, our unity, and our mission. It is not something we move beyond, but something we continually return to and grow deeper in. The gospel shapes how we think, how we live, and how we function together as the body of Christ.
We were reminded that the church exists because of the good news of Jesus Christ — His life, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection. Everything we do as a church finds its meaning and direction in that reality. Our worship, our teaching, our fellowship, and our service are all rooted in and sustained by the gospel.
In short, we emphasized that the gospel is not simply one important aspect of the church’s life. It is the center from which everything else flows.
This week, we are going to be diving into the importance of what it means to be Bible-Driven.
We stand firm on God’s Word as our ultimate authority. We don’t bend truth to fit culture; we shape our lives by Scripture.
John Stott once said “It is no exaggeration to say that without Scripture a Christian life is impossible.”
D.L. Moody said “I never saw a useful Christian who was not a student of the Bible.”
John Owen, and this is one of my favorite quotes— “If private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false.”
Which means God is not up in heaven saying, ‘You know what the Bible really needs? Version 2.0.
Think about the first part:
“If private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless.”
In other words, if someone says, “God gave me a message,” and that message simply repeats what God has already clearly said in His Word, then nothing new has actually been revealed. Scripture has already spoken. God has not left His church lacking clarity. He has not left us searching for additional truth to complete what He began.
God’s Word is not unfinished.
God’s Word is not insufficient.
God’s Word is not waiting for updates.
And then Owen says:
“If they disagree, they are false.”
That is just as important.
If a claimed revelation contradicts Scripture — no matter how sincere it sounds, no matter how strongly it is felt — it cannot be from God. Because the Spirit of God will never contradict the Word of God. God does not rewrite His truth from person to person. He does not say one thing in Scripture and another thing in someone’s impressions.
Church, last week we laid a foundation we must never move away from.
We established that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
That our hope before God does not rest on our goodness, our effort, or our performance, but entirely on the finished work of Jesus Christ. That redemption is a gift of grace, received by faith, secured by Christ.
But this week, we are asking an equally important question:
How do we know that?
On what basis do we say those things with confidence?
Because church, those statements are not religious slogans. They are not denominational preferences. They are not theological opinions handed down by tradition.
They are truths revealed by God.
And that is where Scripture alone comes in.
This week, we are establishing that everything we said last week — grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone — stands only because it is grounded in the Word of God.
Not church tradition alone.
Not human reasoning alone.
Not personal experience alone.
Scripture alone.
Meaning the Bible is not simply a helpful resource. It is not one authority among many. It is the final, sufficient, decisive authority for what we believe about God, about salvation, and about the church.
We believe salvation is by grace alone because Scripture teaches it.
We believe salvation is through faith alone because Scripture declares it.
We believe salvation is in Christ alone because Scripture reveals Him as the only mediator between God and man.
Church, this matters more than we sometimes realize.
Because if Scripture is not our authority, then everything becomes negotiable.
Grace can be redefined.
Faith can be reshaped.
Christ can be reduced to preference.
But when Scripture stands as our foundation, truth is no longer shaped by culture, emotion, or opinion.
It is received.
It is trusted.
It is submitted to.
And we never want to make scripture say that it was never intended to say. We don’t cherry pick verses for our own benefit.
One of my mat carriers put it like this— Each verse is made up of words and those words make up sentences and those sentences make up paragraphs that make up chapters that make up the 66 books of the Bible.
To read the Bible faithfully, we have to ask what is being said, who it is being said to, and how it fits within the larger message of Scripture. Without that care, it becomes very easy to misunderstand, misapply, or even unintentionally distort what God has said.
If you cherry pick veres that’s how you end up with coffee-mug theology instead of biblical theology.
That connects closely with Voddie Baucham’s observation:
“If we don’t know the Bible; if we don’t know doctrine; if we don’t know theology, it is virtually impossible for us to identify false prophets.”
That statement is not meant to alarm us, but to ground us in reality.
False teaching rarely appears as something obviously wrong. It usually carries an element of truth. In fact, that is what makes it persuasive. It often sounds biblical. It may use Christian language. It may affirm many things that are correct.
Very often, it is not completely false — it is partially true.
It may be, in a sense, seventy percent true.
And that is where the danger lies.
Because what is mostly true can feel entirely true. What is close to the truth can easily be mistaken for the truth. A subtle shift, a missing emphasis, or a slight distortion can change the meaning of something in significant ways.
This is why a growing knowledge of Scripture matters so deeply for the believer.
Not so that we become argumentative or suspicious, but so that we become discerning. So that our confidence is anchored in what God has actually said rather than in how something feels or sounds.
The more familiar we are with Scripture — its themes, its doctrines, its context — the better equipped we are to recognize when something does not fully align. Not because we are searching for error, but because we have become grounded in truth.
Knowing the Word steadies us.
It gives clarity where there might otherwise be confusion.
It helps us distinguish between what is genuinely biblical and what is merely close to biblical.
Let me just say this in a simple, honest way.
Every week when we gather, I’m not showing up with a fresh set of ideas or thoughts that I’ve come up with on my own. I’m not standing up here saying, “Hey, here are a few things I’ve been thinking about this week.” That’s not really what we’re doing, and it’s certainly not because I’m some great source of wisdom.
What we’re committed to doing is walking through the Word of God together.
We take the text seriously. We move through it carefully — word by word, verse by verse — because we genuinely believe that what we need most is not my thoughts, but God’s truth.
Even when we spend time on a particular topic, we still anchor ourselves in Scripture. We dig into a passage. We pay attention to what God has actually said.
And there’s an important reason for that.
I can place the Word of God before you. I can read it, explain it, and preach it. But I cannot make it come alive in your heart. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Only He can open our eyes, shape our understanding, and apply these truths in a way that truly changes us.
So in that sense, the real preacher is not me.
The Holy Spirit is the One who teaches.
He is the One who convicts.
He is the One who presses the Word down into our lives.
I simply have the privilege of being the one who speaks each week, but He is the One who does the deeper work.
Because the reality is this: if we could see things the way God sees them — if we could grasp His perspective with clarity — our lives would naturally begin to reflect that. And it is through His Word, by His Spirit, that He patiently works to bring about that kind of change in us.
So what I want us to do now— is read 2 Timothy 3:16- 4:5 and unpack what God’s Word has to say.
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 charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Lets pray.
1. Scripture Alone is our truth
The Apostle Paul is writing to young Timothy, and he says, The Apostle Paul is writing to young Timothy, and he says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” I love that phrase.
Because when Paul uses that language, he’s reminding us of something incredibly important. The Word of God is not lifeless. It is not cold. It is not merely ink on a page. It is God-breathed.
It speaks of something produced by the very breath of God — as if the words of Scripture are the result of the Spirit of God Himself giving them life.
That imagery is intentional.
Paul is pressing us to understand that the Bible is not ultimately the product of human creativity or religious reflection. Yes, God used human authors, with their personalities and contexts, but the source is divine. The origin is God Himself.
Scripture is God-originated.
The same God who spoke creation into existence…
The same God who formed the very first man…
Scripture tells us that when God created Adam, He breathed into him the breath of life. God breathed, and Adam opened his eyes as a living being.
And Paul says that Scripture is breathed out by that same God.
This is not just a historical record. It is certainly rooted in history, but it is far more than a collection of ancient events.
If Scripture truly comes from God — if it is breathed out by Him — then it carries His character. His truthfulness. His reliability. His perfection.
God does not speak error.
God does not inspire falsehood.
God does not breathe out what is flawed.
Which is why we say the Word of God is trustworthy. It is reliable. It is inerrant. Not because we are trying to defend a doctrine, but because we are acknowledging the nature of the One who gave it.
If the source is perfect, the Word is dependable.
This Word is alive. It carries the life, authority, and power of the God who gave it.
And when you truly place yourself under the Word of God, something begins to happen.
This Word has a way of working on you.
Of pressing into you.
Of reaching places in your heart and life that nothing else can reach.
It begins to expose things.
It begins to clarify things.
It begins, at times, to divide things.
Not because it is harsh, but because it is living.
No speech, no book, no motivational talk — no matter how polished — can do what the Word of God does. Because this is not human wisdom. This is the living, active Word of God, breathed out by Him and applied by His Spirit.
And when God’s Word begins to work, it does not remain at the surface. It moves deeper. It addresses the thoughts, the intentions, the hidden places of our lives.
The Word of God is not lifeless. It is not cold. It is not merely ink on a page. It is God-breathed.
Paul tells Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable.” Every part of it. Not some of it. Not the portions we prefer. All Scripture.
And it is profitable — useful, necessary — for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Why? “That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
In other words, God has given His Word with purpose.
It teaches us what is true, confronts us when we are wrong, restores us when we wander, and shapes us into people who live in obedience to Him.
Now, this isn’t just Paul’s perspective.
Peter speaks directly to this as well. He writes in 2 Peter 1:19,
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
That’s such an important image.
Scripture is a lamp in a dark world. Not because the world lacks intelligence, but because apart from God’s truth, we lack clarity. We lack direction. We lack light.
We talked yesterday at the F-260 Bible Study about the plague of 3 days of darkness that the people of Egypt experienced in the book of Exodus.
It wasn’t just dark, it was complete darkness. Blair shared how she went on a trip when she was little with her family and they did a guided tour in a cave and the guide turned off the light at one point and how it was disoreinting being in complete dark. You don’t know where youre at, or where youre going.
We are just like that without scripture guiding us in our lives.
Peter then says something that speaks right into the way people often respond to the Bible. He reminds us, 2 Peter 1:20
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
Meaning this — Scripture is not the product of human opinion.
And let’s be honest for a moment. Sometimes when people say, “Well, that’s just your interpretation,” what they often mean is, “I don’t like what the text is saying.” That’s not always the case, but many times it is less about interpretation and more about authority.
Peter is clear v.21: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
That is a remarkable statement.
God used human authors, yes. Real people, real personalities, real contexts. But those men were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Their writings were not ultimately driven by human initiative, but by divine guidance.
Even Paul himself — as he wrote letters, as he put pen to paper — was being carried along by the Spirit of God. What he wrote was not invented wisdom or personal philosophy. It was wisdom given by God.
And Peter actually addresses that directly. Later in his letter, he refers to “our beloved brother Paul,” and he says that Paul wrote “according to the wisdom given him.”
Given to him.
Not developed.
Not discovered.
Given by God.
Church, this is why we treat Scripture the way we do.
Because when we open this Book, we are not merely reading the thoughts of religious men. We are hearing the Word of God, spoken through men who were carried along by His Spirit for the sake of His people.
And I love what Scripture says about anyone who preaches contrary to God’s Word— contrary to the Bible— Galatians 1:8
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Think about what Paul is saying.
Even if an angel were to appear — something undeniably supernatural, something that would capture attention immediately — if that message does not align with the gospel already revealed in God’s Word, it is to be rejected.
Not reconsidered.
Not blended.
it is to be flat out rejected.
Because the authority is not in the messenger.
The authority is in the message.
And history is filled with examples of individuals who claimed to receive new revelation through angelic encounters.
Joseph Smith claimed an angel delivered what became the Book of Mormon.
According to Islam, Muhammad received the Quran incrementally from God through the angel Gabriel (Jibrail) over \23 years (610–632 AD)
Interestingly enough— Muhammad himself said if he or anyone else was a false prophet, he would be cut from his aorta. And as he was dying he said “I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison.”
These men claimed angels gave them the revelations. Even if it were true that angels came to give them those messages, they should have been rejected.
The issue is not whether someone claims a spiritual experience. The question is always: Does the message align with the revealed Word of God?
This is why we can never take the Scriptures for granted.
Just think about how blessed we are. We live in a time where you can download the Bible instantly — in countless translations, in languages you may not even recognize — and carry it with you wherever you go. You can open it at any moment. You can read it whenever you want.
That is not something believers everywhere in the world right now can even say. That is not something believers throughout history could say.
Men and women gave their lives so that God’s Word could be preserved, translated, and placed into the hands of ordinary people. People suffered, were imprisoned, and even died so that we could hold a Bible we can actually read and understand.
Let me highlight William Tyndale— some of ya’ll might have a Bible published through Tyndale Publishing House.
Tyndale was an English scholar and Bible translator in the early 1500s who believed that ordinary people should be able to read Scripture in their own language.
At the time, the Bible was primarily available in Latin, which most people could not understand.
Tyndale set out to translate the New Testament into English directly from Greek. Because English translations were not authorized, his work was considered illegal.
Unable to continue safely in England, Tyndale fled to the European continent, where his English New Testament was printed. Copies were later smuggled into England, and many were confiscated and burned.
Eventually, Tyndale was betrayed by someone he trusted. He was arrested, imprisoned for over a year, and tried for heresy.
In 1536, William Tyndale was executed.
He was strangled… and then his body was burned.
His final recorded prayer was simple:
“Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
And church, here’s what is remarkable.
Within a few years, the English Bible was officially authorized. Tyndale’s work became the foundation for what later shaped the King James Version. In fact, large portions of the English New Testament we read today trace directly back to Tyndale’s wording.
And yet, for many of us, it is easy to treat God’s Word casually. We have more Bibles than we have reasons for not reading them.
Jesus says in John 8:31 (ESV):
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”
Abide in my word.
Not glance at it occasionally.
Not keep it nearby out of habit.
Abide.
Please don’t take that lightly.
Please don’t let your Bible become something that simply sits in your car, or rests on a shelf, or gets opened only on Sundays. If you leave it behind here, you’ll come back for it in two seconds — we all know that. But my concern isn’t where your Bible is physically.
My concern is whether you are actually living in it.
Don’t just let it curl up in the back seat of your car — curl up with it at home. Open it. Read it. Sit with it.
Like David says, meditate on it “day and night.”
Let it shape your thinking.
Let it steady your heart.
Let it guide your life.
I’ve told you before, and I mean this sincerely — I wish I could make you love what I love. I can’t. I’ve tried to get some of you to love all kinds of things I love. Tried to make you all Gators… that didn’t work out so well.
Tried to convince people that mint chocolate chip ice cream is the best… still facing resistance there. Blair says I’m eating toothpaste/
But church, when it comes to this Word, my desire is deeper than preference or humor.
I love this Book.
Not because it’s part of my job.
Not because I’m a pastor.
But because this is the Word of the living God.
And I want you to love it too.
That’s why we preach from it.
That’s why we teach from it.
That’s why we keep coming back to it.
Because nothing else has the power to speak with God’s authority, reveal God’s truth, and transform God’s people the way His Word does.
Which brings us to the second truth:
2. Scripture Alone defines our mission
Paul gives Timothy a charge that carries real weight. He speaks in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, the One who will judge the living and the dead, and he grounds it in Christ’s appearing and His kingdom. And the instruction itself is remarkably simple:
Preach the Word.
Paul does not say entertain the crowd. He does not say adjust the message to fit preferences or follow cultural trends. He says preach the Word. That simplicity is intentional, because the life of the church depends on it. The health of believers depends on it. The endurance of truth depends on it.
A Bible-driven church understands that the central work of ministry is not creativity, innovation, or novelty, but faithfulness.
Even our salvation is tied directly to this. Salvation rests on the Gospel, and the Gospel is revealed in the Word of God. Apart from Gospel truth, no one is saved. If we want people to believe, we must give them something true to believe — and that is the Word of God.
As Romans 10:17 (ESV) reminds us:
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
And growth in the Christian life follows the same pattern. We do not mature by accident or by emotion alone, but by steady nourishment from Scripture.
1 Peter 2:2 (ESV) says:
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.”
Peter uses imagery here that is very deliberate. When a baby is born, no one has to teach that child to hunger. No one has to convince an infant to crave milk. That desire is built in. It is innate.
It is constant because milk is essential to life and development.
Peter says our relationship to the Word of God should reflect that same kind of dependence.
He is not describing a mild interest in Scripture or an occasional appreciation for it.
He is describing something closer to a sustained, ongoing desire — a recognition that the Word of God is necessary for spiritual growth.
The reason he gives is simple: “that by it you may grow.”
Spiritual maturity is not presented as automatic. Growth is not assumed to happen merely with the passage of time. No one gets smarter, stronger, faster, in better shape by accident.
It does not magically happen.
Peter connects growth directly to nourishment from the Word.
This runs against the way we sometimes think about the Christian life.
We often associate growth with circumstances, experiences, or emotional moments.
Here’s the problem with that: Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
Our circumstances do not dictate truth, our experience does not dictate truth.
Our emotions are horrible tools to dictate truth.
Just follow your heart. What a foolish idea.
Scripture consistently points us back to something more foundational. God’s primary instrument for shaping His people is His Word.
Through Scripture, God instructs, corrects, clarifies, and stabilizes the believer. The Word recalibrates our thinking, exposes areas of compromise, and steadily forms spiritual discernment.
For that reason, a diminishing appetite for Scripture is not a small matter. Just as the loss of physical hunger signals that something is wrong in the body, a lack of desire for the Word can signal something is unsettled spiritually.
Peter’s expectation is that believers will long for Scripture because believers understand their need for it.
That is why we proclaim the truth of God’s Word.
It is the ultimate authority in our lives as individuals and as the church.
RC Sproul once said “I think the greatest weakness in the church today is that almost no one believes that God invests His power in the Bible. Everyone is looking for power in a program, in a methodology, in a technique, in anything and everything but that in which God has placed it—His Word. He alone has the power to change lives for eternity, and that power is focused on the Scriptures.”
The same Word that leads us to Christ is the Word that matures us in Christ. Growth, stability, and endurance in the Christian life remain tied to our ongoing dependence on God’s revealed truth.
3. Scripture Alone governs our calling
Paul says, “in season and out of season.” That means when the Word is welcomed and when it is resisted. When it is comfortable and when it is confronting. When culture applauds and when culture objects. The church does not exist to adjust the Word. The church exists to proclaim it.
reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Rebuke and exhort with complete patience… I’ll be honest, I’ve got some room to grow right there. But that’s what the text says: “with complete patience and teaching.” Not just strong words, but steady words. Not reactionary, but faithful.
And then Paul gives the reason. He says a time is coming — and I’m not sure it’s coming, I think it’s already here — when people will not endure sound teaching. They’ll want what scratches the itch. They’ll gather teachers who tell them what they already want to hear, who affirm their preferences, who suit their passions. And over time, they’ll turn away from the truth and drift into myths.
Spurgeon said— A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.
So if the Word offends you, here’s the reality: the goal of preaching was never to keep everybody comfortable. I haven’t been called to entertain you. I haven’t been called to be popular. I’ve been called to preach the Word.
And I’ll tell you, there are Sundays I stand up here and the enemy whispers, “Who do you think you are? You don’t belong up here.” And my answer is, “You’re right. I don’t.” But Jesus finished the it upon that cross. This isn’t about my worthiness. This is about His grace and His calling. Jesus chose me. I didn’t choose this.
So I’m going to stand right here and do what the text says: preach the Word.
Because there are churches and entire denominations that are hesitant to teach the Scriptures plainly. Not because the Bible is unclear, but because they’re afraid of how people will respond. They’re afraid it’ll offend. They’re afraid it’ll disrupt comfort. T
The Word of God is sharper than any two edge sword. Its going to disrupt comfort because its not comfortable having a sword cut out pieces of you that aren’t of God.
They’re afraid it’ll cost something.
And there is a cost— Jesus tells us to count the cost.
AW Tozer said- A whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to 'accept' Christ without forsaking the world.
Jesus ate with sinners. He sure did. Jesus ate with sinners and told them to go and sin no more. We seat with sinners and keep our mouths shut to keep the peace.
and when churches don’t preach the Word fully and completely, they aren’t waking people up to God’s truth, they’re slowly putting them to sleep by singing them beautiful words of absolute crap. .
That’s not what we’re doing here.
We’re going to preach the Word of God, and we’re going to do what it says.
And that’s where James 4:17 (ESV) hits us:
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
So if the Word stirs you up about something — some obedience God has been pressing on you, some injustice, some step you need to take — and you do nothing with it, Scripture says that’s not neutral. That’s sin.
Church, we’ve been called to action. The Word isn’t just meant to move you emotionally. It’s meant to move you toward obedience.
We have not merely been given a book to admire.
We have been given a Word to obey.
This is not religious literature.
This is not spiritual inspiration.
This is the revealed truth of the living God.
And the question before us this morning is not:
Do we agree with it?
Do we like it?
Do we prefer it?
The question is:
Will we submit to it?
(Pause)
Because the struggle is rarely understanding.
If we are honest most of us are more knowledgeable than obedient.
Most of the time, the struggle is surrender.
We don’t wrestle with Scripture because it is unclear.
We wrestle with Scripture because it is authoritative.
Because it speaks into places we would rather manage ourselves.
Our priorities.
Our relationships.
Our habits.
Our sin.
Our comforts.
And here is the reality we must not ignore:
We are not transformed by the parts of Scripture we admire,
but by the parts we obey.
(Let that breathe)
So let me ask you plainly this morning:
Where is the Word of God confronting you?
Where is it correcting you?
Where is it calling you to obedience?
Because hearing the Word without responding to the Word is not neutrality.
Scripture says it is sin.
Maybe for you, obedience looks like repentance.
Maybe it looks like forgiveness you’ve been withholding.
Maybe it looks like a sin you’ve been excusing.
Maybe it looks like finally opening your Bible outside of Sunday morning.
Maybe it looks like surrendering something you’ve been gripping tightly.
But whatever it is, church…
Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
Understand this, I cannot manufacture a response.
Only the Spirit of God can move the heart.
But I can give you the opportunity to obey.
If God’s Word is pressing on you this morning…
Respond to Him.
If you need to pray, this altar is open.
If you need to come kneel, come kneel.
If you need to remain where you are and do business with the Lord, do that.
But let us not be hearers of the Word only.
Let us be doers.
(Pause – musicians begin softly)
And if you’re here this morning…
and you’ve never truly trusted Christ…
Not religion.
Not church attendance.
Not moral effort.
But Christ alone.
The same Word that confronts us also offers grace.
If you need to speak with someone about what it means to follow Jesus…
I’ll be here.
Our leaders will be here.
Don’t leave uncertain about eternity.
Whatever God is calling us to do, let us do it and do it immediately.
