BY THE BOOK - PART 1

BY THE BOOK - PART 1 2 Timothy 3:16-17 January 8, 2006 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction January is the month that follows the gluttonous holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is predictably the time of year when more people begin dieting than any other season. I suppose that’s when we notice our weight more because there’s more weight to notice. For instance here’s a picture of me before the holidays . . . I can’t believe someone changed that picture—it’s supposed to show my legs, too! Maybe we all ought to go on that new garlic diet—you don’t really lose weight, but you look thinner from a distance. They say you know you’re overweight when You go to the zoo and the elephants throw you peanuts When you dance you make the band skip Your driver’s license says “picture continued on back” When you run away they use all 4 sides of the milk carton When you enter an elevator it can only go down Your belly button doesn’t have lint—it has sweaters Well if this season of regrettable gorging, voluminous victuals, monstrous meals, and insane indulgence reminds of us anything, it is that you are what you eat. Nowhere is that truer than in the spiritual dimension. Devour the awesome truths contained in this book and you will be Stronger in your Christian walk Closer to the Lord Wiser than your teachers Well-defended against your enemy Deeply rooted in hope Ready to serve others in the name of Christ Not to mention the specific promises in our text this morning. Text – 2 Timothy 3:16-17, beginning with verses 14-15 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.   The Nature of Revelation (verse 16) The plain fact of the matter is that, as beings created by God, we cannot be expected to know about God, except insofar as He wills that we know about Him. Nor can we adequately understand our own existence or the reason for our lives apart from Him who created us. If God willed it so, we could be as dumb as rocks and as self-aware as an amoeba. But God, maker of heaven and earth, did not want us to be ignorant of Him or His plans for us. So He decided to reveal some of that information too wonderful and mysterious for us to figure out on our own. He doesn’t tell us everything, lest our pea-size brains explode. But He tells us what He wants us to know—much like the parent who wisely answers partially when his four-year old asks Where did I come from? God speaks this wisdom to us from outside our space-time continuum. How does He reveal Himself? Of His own volition He determines to reveal Himself by a couple of means, each of which is understandable to human beings. One way is through nature, by which, Romans 1 tells us, we can know much of His eternal power and divine nature (1:20). We’ll call this revelation CREATION. Another means by which we may know something about God is CONSCIENCE—that is, a God-given intuition in us that understands things like divine justice and righteousness. In Romans 2:14-15 we are taught that even those who know nothing else about God have the righteous requirements of the law written on their hearts. The third means of God’s self-revelation is CHRIST. That’s right, it’s so obvious and yet we often overlook it, but one of the main reasons God came to earth incarnate in Christ was to reveal Himself and His nature to us. Christ is the perfect revelation of God’s nature, enfleshed before our eyes, a dynamic expression of God in human form—perfectly understandable. Hebrews 1:2 says, he has spoken to us by his Son and verse 3: The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. He was to be known as Immanuel—God with us. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23) The final means of His revelation is SCRIPTURE. Scripture is the written form of the special revelation God gave us through chosen people, patriarchs, prophets and apostles. To these He entrusted the historical records of His dealings with mankind, particularly His chosen people, and of the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This written record is, of course for our benefit who were not present during the ministries of Moses, Isaiah or Jesus. In addition to the historical narratives of God’s dealings with mankind, He has also given us further information about Himself and His purpose and plans for us. He has revealed in the Bible things about the future and eternity, justice and judgment, and His love and holiness, His mercy and wrath. Because He is God, we can be confident that all that He has revealed to us is enough for us. Though we would like to know more He has chosen in His wisdom to reveal only so much. All of what He has revealed of Himself and His purposes is captured in the pages of the Book called the Bible. And so the truths (all of them) revealed in the pages of the Bible help us to know Him and to know how to respond to Him. Paul says the scriptures make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. How did God get His Word/revelation to His human audience? Well, how does an eternal omniscient, omnipotent, creator God speak? Any way he wants to! Dreams & visions, donkeys & children, prophets and pagans, storms & whispers, angels and other angles; He even had a dismembered hand write a message on a wall! But, He ultimately got them all down in clear, readable, translatable text—the Bible. We don’t know exactly how He communicated into the minds of His scripture-recorders what he wanted them to write. He only revealed to us the source of those truths—Himself. He breathed it into them. That means the truth that would inspire the authors of scripture were first expired out of His heart into theirs. This God-breathed revelation benefits us today, because we are positively clueless without it. Thank God for the revelation He has given us. Through it we can find salvation and sanctification. We can know His will and understand Him more perfectly. The Usefulness of Scripture The first thing Paul says the scripture is useful for is teaching. This gets right at the heart of the purpose of revelation—to teach us about God. David wrote, The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130) In Psalm 19:7-8 we read, The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart; the commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. But we’re not to see the scriptures as only teaching us. We are to teach others these same truths. It is useful for teaching. His plan is that parents teach it to their children, believers share it with unbelievers and each of us let His Word dwell richly in our hearts so we can continuously share it with one another. Why is God so interested in getting His Word taught? Because we have problems! And His Word speaks to these very real life issues . . . Marriage and divorce Death and dying Financial wisdom Friendship Family Relationships Cranky bosses and indolent employees Ecological issues Justice for the poor and helpless Child-rearing Finding purpose in life Self-esteem Politics Emotions like fear, worry, anxiety, anger, Good and evil If the Bible doesn’t speak to issues, I’ve got to ask, What are the issues? People are always saying they don’t believe or read the Bible because it’s not relevant! If they say that, they’ve never read it. People don’t believe or read the Bible because it says that God is God and they aren’t! It says there is real, propositional, fundamental truth that can set society’s wretched relativism straight. It teaches there is a right way to live according to the Manufacturer’s instructions, and there is a wrong way that leads to death, and people on the way to destruction don’t want to hear it. God’s truth is useful for teaching, and if we’d listen once in awhile we might benefit a great deal in terms of living life the way it ought to be lived. The public schools in the old communist block nations started handing out free Bibles to students. In America all we give out for free are condoms and stupid advice. God wants us to teach His revealed truth to anyone who will listen. The Bible is useful for teaching, Paul writes, and it is also useful for rebuking. Plain and simple, one of the key roles of the Bible is to refute wrong thinking. Worldly thinking is under the sway of the anti-Christ, and you can easily find a lot of ungodly counsel and wrong ideas masquerading as wisdom. The Bible’s signal plea is Get wisdom. We live in a world polluted by stinkin’ thinkin’ and God has graciously provided us a source of truth. Where do you get your understanding of truth? Best-sellers? Doctor Phil? Madonna? The National Enquirer? Textbooks written by educated people with the ethical moorings of a jellyfish? Christian people, we simply cannot allow ourselves to be influenced by an intrinsically a-moral, pluralistic, anything-goes society. And the pressure is strong; the wrong ideas are loud. And there is the ever-present tendency to let our guard down and allow the world to squeeze us into its mold. So once in awhile we need correction. And once in awhile we need a brother or sister to give us a spiritual slap in the face when we’re wrong. Do you know what that requires? It requires a church full of biblically literate, truth-telling, Bible-savvy believers who know what they’re talking about when it comes to God’s will. Look, as a fellow-believer, I’m going to stray on occasion in my thinking or my attitude. I’ll get off track and not be representing my Lord very well. In that season I will be depending on you to rebuke my stinkin’ thinkin’ and my bad behavior. Do me this favor, will you? Come to me in the authority of God’s Word, not with worldly advice—tell me what God says! I’m counting on your rebuke when I’m wrong, so please build your godly wisdom. Closely related to rebuking is the next useful work for Biblical truth: the scripture is useful for correcting. Rebuking has to do with confronting wrong thinking, correcting with changing wrong behavior. Believers need course correction from each other. God is so good to provide corrective direction through His revealed Word. Philippians has been one of my most favorite verses the last couple of years. There Paul gives godly counsel that all of us who are mature should take a view of life that forgets what is behind and strains ahead for the prize of Christ-likeness, And if on some point you think differently, that, too, God will make clear to you. In other words, we can trust God to tweak us and perfect our course when we get out of line. Imagine a pilot flying without his instruments. He wouldn’t know where he was, how fast or far he was traveling. He’d be in a mess, especially if he were flying at night or in a storm. If as a Christian you have not taken the effort to get familiar with the truths in God’s Word, which God uses to correct you, how can you stay on course? Your instrument panel is inoperative. By the way, when a well-meaning brother or sister approaches you out of love for you, with some counsel including a rebuke or correction, decide now in advance to honor the scriptures they bring to you. Don’t be defensive or proud. Recognize this person is God’s agent prepared with God’s truth to help you in your walk with Christ. Jawanza Kunjufu, in his book, Restoring the Village, writes: When I was a 14-year-old high school freshman, school was dismissed early for a teachers' meeting. I conveniently neglected to tell my parents about the change and arranged to bring my girlfriend over to my house. We weren't planning to study. As we were going up the steps, my neighbor, Mrs. Nolan, poked her head out of a window and said, "You're home awfully early, Jerome." "Yes, Ma'am," I said, improvising a lame story about how we planned to review algebra problems. "Does your mother know you're home this early," Mrs. Nolan persisted, "and do you want me to call her?" I gave up. "No, Ma'am. I'll go inside and call her while Kathy sits on the porch." Mrs. Nolan saved our careers that day. If Kathy had gotten pregnant, she might not have become the doctor she is today. And my father had warned me that if I made a baby, the mutual fund he set up for me to go to college or start a business would have gone to the child. I'm glad Mrs. Nolan was at her window, looking out for me. The fourth and final area of usefulness for the scriptures is training in righteousness. I’m confident you remember that righteousness is both a gift and a goal. Through the salvation we have in Christ (the forgiveness of our sins based on His sacrifice), we are declared positionally righteous before God. Once we are believers, we are called to a process of sanctification, that is, becoming practically righteous. That is, our lives begin to change into conformity with Christ. Knowing the Word of God is the single most helpful thing you can do to enhance this process. God is very serious about your training program. And He is expecting your cooperation in it as well. How do you cooperate with God’s training program? Get His Word into your heart and mind, and help others to do so. God has a plan to put you to work in His kingdom in increasing fashion. The more you understand His truths found in scripture the more usable you are to Him. He wants you equipped with His Word so that you can effectively teach, rebuke, correct and train others in righteousness. The result of becoming wise in the scriptures God’s goal for you is that you would be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Do you know what that means? That means He wants you to be His servant to help others to understand His will. When you read and study your Bible, you are not just doing that for your personal benefit. You are preparing yourself to benefit any number of people you will meet, teach and influence in the future. Gordon MacDonald shared a helpful insight. Being a frequent flyer makes it possible for me to get a seat in the exit row on most airline flights. Great leg room. But with privilege comes responsibility. The flight attendant comes up, kneels by my aisle seat and says, "Have you read the instruction card that tells you how to open the door in the case of emergency? I need a verbal answer." I fudge the truth a bit and say yes when the truthful answer is no. I mean, does it take a rocket scientist to know that you simply swivel the handle and push the door out and to the side? So I tell her yes, I've read the card. But she's smart. She says, "If an emergency happens, I'll be depending on you to open that door. Dozens of other people will also be relying on you, too. So are you sure you know what's on that card?" Suddenly, she has my attention. It occurs to me in that insightful moment that this is not unlike the way some people respond to sermons (mine anyway) I really do read those cards now. Colossians 3:16 gives us a clear picture of what God’s will is for our lives regarding His Word: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Remember: you are what you eat. Depending on your diet and how faithfully you are learning and applying the truths of God’s Word in your life, you will either be a thoroughly equipped Christian or a spiritual sissy. This is exactly why I encourage you to sign up for a Life Group and meet with a small group of fellow-believers around a study of God’s Word. What more important thing will you be making time for these next three months?   [Back to Top]