Found Genuine By God

Introduction

Greetings...

I would like to begin by thanking the men of the congregation for having me out again for this years Summer Series.

I am honored for the opportunity to present my studies with you, for your consideration and pray our time together will increase your love for God.

Tonight I would like to spend some time in Paul’s second letter to Timothy.

Specifically I would like to spend some time examining the meaning of , so open your Bible there and we will begin looking at our text for tonight.

The question I want us to consider tonight is, “What does it mean to be found “approved to God?”

2 Timothy 2:15

2 Timothy 2:15 AV

15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Approved To God

For the longest time I kept thinking “approved by God.”

However, that is not the idea behind the verse, the idea is that “we” make every effort to present ourselves to God as one’s approved.

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

It’s our responsibility to “present ourselves” in this light.

The same basic idea is found in by Paul.

2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV

2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

This tells us that it is our responsibility to be found approved.

But what exactly does it mean to demonstrate one’s approval?

This is answered in the definition of the word approve which means “to be found genuine by test.”

James 1:12 NKJV

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

James 1:12 ESV

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Summery

So, we are to “make every effort to present ourselves as genuinely faithful Christians to God.”

1 Peter 1:7 ESV

so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Rightly Handling The Word Of Truth

It means you respect the Word of Truth.

It is the mind of God delivered into written form.

1 Corinthians 2:16 ESV

16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Cor

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

It means you desire the Word of Truth.

The great downfall of the church, in rightly handling the Word of God, is found in apathy towards the Word.

There no longer seems to be a real desire to” know” truth.

John 8:32 ESV

32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

1 John 5:13 ESV

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

It means you learn how to study the Word of Truth.

Believe it or not, most members of the church have no idea how to study God’s Word.

If I were to ask each person here to give Keith a paper, by next week, on why we partake the Lord’s Supper each first day of the week without going to any paper on the subject but simply using the Bible and non-commentary Bible aids…how many here could do it?

If I said you had two weeks or even three weeks how many could make a sound argument from the Bible as to why we do it this way?

God has always used his leaders to teach others how to make clear the word.

Nehemiah 8:8 LEB

8 So they read the book from the law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that they could understand the reading.

2 Timothy 2:2 ESV

2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Summery

Now just in case y

God has always expected His people to help each other with the Word.

If you respect the Word, desire to know the Word, and therefore learn how to study the Word you will end up rightly handling the Word.

Now rightly handling the word will produce faith or trust in you () but for that faith/trust in God, to be genuine, it must be actively working for God.

A Worker For The Lord

At some point the church lost focus on “working” for God.

This is by no means a new idea.

We were

James 2:14

James 2:14 ESV

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

We have to get back to our signed agreement with God.

Remember when we agreed to become a child of God we agreed to...

Give up everything for God.

Luke 14:33 ESV

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

To work hard for God.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

To be a light for God to a dark world and sinful world.

Mt 5:

Matthew 5:16 ESV

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

This means as Christians we must be so careful with our influence, especially today in the modern times we live in.

I love technology and the great breakthroughs things like “smart phones” and “social media” offer.

If you share something that is “innocent” in and of

I host a weekly podcast were “little oh me” can average almost 19,000 downloads a week or close to 3000 a day.

However, I have seen more people hinder their influence with others and ruin their reputation with a great number of wayward souls because of their carelessness with social media.

If you are on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest or any other platform let me be clear…you can ruin your reputation with the world quickly.

Young men you can ruin your chance or make it hard to be an elder one day by allowing poor decisions on social media.

1 Timothy 3:7 ESV

7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Young women you can ruin your chance at attracting the “right” guy by allowing poor decisions on social media.

The “right” man is looking for a woman described in .

Proverbs 31:11–12 ESV

11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.

Now before I go further let me be clear, this isn’t a “young person” problem though young people are more likely to make these types of mistakes.

I can’t tell you the number of people my wife and I have reached out to letting them know they have posted something innocent but didn’t check where it came from, which had foul langue or immodesty and were ignored or told it wasn’t a big deal. Some of these preachers and preacher wives.

Considering 81% of Americans have a social media profile this is almost an “everybody” issue that needs to be addressed.

Summery

The point is we cannot present ourselves as approved before God if we can’t even present ourselves approved before the faithful in Christ.

Conclusion

To those that are older children of God make sure you are holding the younger children of God to a high standard and don’t despise their youth when they expect you to be that “higher standard.”

Let me be clear, these arguments won’t fly on the day of judgment.

It is living the Christ-like life that demands of ourselves a striving for perfection () with the humility of knowing we need the blood of Christ constantly ().

If you are young in the faith let me be clear the “I was just sowing my wild oats” argument won’t sway the ultimate judge.

It’s making

If you are older in the faith let me be clear as well the “I have served my time and now it’s the young bucks responsibility” argument won’t sway the ultimate judge either.

Those that “rightly handle the Word of Truth” don’t make excuses for not working while there is daylight.

No, they change and hold others accountable as well.