Plug Into The Word

INTRODUCTION:

I remember reading the article like it was yesterday. Some research had been compiled by the Barna research group. They said “out loud” what many ministry leaders already knew.

“Americans revere the Bible — but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.”

Look at some of these statistics:

Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels.

Many cannot identify more than two of the three disciples.

60% of Americans can’t even name FIVE of the TEN commandments.

12% of Americans think Joan of Arc is Noah’s wife!

50% of High Schoolers thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife!

According to 82% of Americans, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a Bible verse. (born agains better by 1%)

A considerable number of respondents said the sermon on the mount was preached by Billy Graham!

It’s one thing for secular Americans to not know their Bible very well (the bible is quickly eroding from our cultural landscape) But what are we to make of so many Christians being biblically illiterate?

It’s no wonder Christians haven’t slowed the moral decay in our culture. We don’t even know what the Bible says about “the issues.”

Broadview And The Bible

Certainly many pulpits across America have exchanged biblical and expositional preaching for 10 steps to a flatter stomach and better workplace. But that’s not how we roll at Broadview. May it not be said of us.

If you’re new to our church one of the things you need to know about us is that we love the Bible. We believe the Bible. We preach expositionally through the Bible. We are serious about the Bible.

We believe the Bible is the Word of God. When the Bible speaks, God speaks.

It’s a compilation of 66 books written by 40 different authors across three different continents over 1,600 years but it tells ONE singular story. A glorious story of redemption. (Endgame illustration)

It’s a story about a creator God who works to restore the his creation to His original design through his son Jesus Christ. The world was in a state of brokenness because of mankind’s rejection of God. But God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son Jesus into the world to atone for sin and reconcile the creation back to God.

In other words - the point of the Bible is not me and you. The point of the Bible is God and the Gospel.

It’s not a self-help book of powerful quotes and practical wisdom (though it contains both). The point of the Bible is Jesus. Genesis is ultimately about Jesus. Exodus? Jesus. Leviticus?

Jesus! He is the redeemer and savior and friend.

It was not written by high-profile elites or super-powered academics. It was written by farmers and prisoners and fishermen and ranchers and average normal people inspired by the Holy Spirit. In other words this is not just a good book.

It’s an invitation into the heart and mind of God. An invitation into life.

You can reject it and try and feel your way forward on your own. Or you can embrace it and find God’s design for a life that full of joy and fulfillment.

I want you to embrace the Bible.

I want you to love the Bible.

I want you to read, know and understand the Bible.

I want you to be transformed by the Bible so that you become who God meant you to be.

MATTHEW 4

So today we’re going to look at two passages of Scripture that I believe give us a compelling picture of why we ought to not only read the Bible but to love it, submit to it and allow it to shape our lives.

The first is a statement Jesus makes during his 40 days of prayer and fasting in the wilderness. It’s located in Matthew 4.

Jesus is about to begin his ministry and before he does he spends 40 days in prayer and fasting to properly prepare himself for what was about to happen.

Not By Bread Alone

At the end of this 40 day fast by Jesus the devil comes up to him and tempts him. Jesus was in a vulnerable position because he was hungry

Matthew 4:2–3 (CSB)

2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

That’s like the understatement of the century! “He was hungry...” Either way you get the picture, right. Jesus is craving physical sustenance and the tempter comes up to him and says, “you know it wouldn’t be hard for you to indulge and turn these stones into bread...”

Jesus response is a quotation of Deut 8:3

Matthew 4:4 (CSB)

4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

In Deuteronomy, The Lord reminds Israel of their 40 year wilderness wanderings and the manna that he would provide each day for their physical sustenance.

In a way, bread represents the human craving for all things material. We have appetites that must be satisfied. But sometimes in the pursuit of satisfying those cravings, we prioritize the creation over the creator.

It’s old fashioned idolatry. We foolishly believe that it’s only through “bread” (or money, or security) that our desires can be realized but it’s not true.

Man wasn’t made for bread. We were made for God. That was the lesson God taught the Israelites in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 8:3 (CSB)

3 He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

The Lord was teaching his people to subordinate their physical desires underneath their desire for God. It’s not to say bread is unimportant. It’s only to say it’s not AS important as the Lord.

This is what Jesus is saying to Satan. “My craving for God is greater than my craving for food. My sustenance in God is deeper than anything else this world can give.”

That is the power of the Word of God.

What This Means For Us

What does this mean for us? Well most of us haven’t fasted for 40 days and have no idea the power of that craving. However we DO know what it’s like to have a craving that needs to be satisfied. If you don’t, just wait a little while and you will.

Our flesh is made to crave. We crave food. We crave sleep. We crave pleasure and purpose. We crave all sorts of things. But those cravings - all of them - at root are a craving for God himself.

So Jesus is reminding us that feasting on the Word of God will enable us to resist and keep at bay all the other cravings that appeal to our flesh. Why? Because our souls were made to feast on His Word.

Why is this the case?

With the time we have left I want to try and answer that question. We will do so by examining a key text of what the Bible has to say about the Bible. It’s in 2 Timothy 3.

2 TIMOTHY 3

The plan for our 6-week Spiritual Growth Campaign to get “Off the Grid: Unplug from the Noise and Plug into the Word” came from meditating on the book of 2nd Timothy. It’s Paul’s last letter to his disciple Timothy before his life comes to an end.

It’s a beautiful book in so many ways. It presents a compelling vision for disciple-making in the local church, the importance of disciple-making in the home and the role that the Scripture plays in both environments.

Our key text this morning is in 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Paul has been commending Timothy for being a good disciple. He has grown to be like Paul in his teaching, his lifestyle, his purpose and drive for ministry and finally the persecution and suffering that comes from living a life of godliness in a culture that rejects him.

Paul’s wraps it up by saying this in verse 14.

2 Timothy 3:14–17 (CSB)

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I love this passage of Scripture so much because it illustrates the power of the Word in the context of the home, the church and your individual life.

Supremacy of the Word

One of the reasons I’m so passionate about you committing to this 6-week Bible reading plan (if you don’t already have one) is because centering your life on the Word will transform you into who God made you to be.

The Word of God MUST become supreme in our life because in feasting on the Word our souls become satisfied in God.

We were made for God. We were not made for bread. Knowing that, God graciously chose to reveal himself to us. He graciously chose to reveal his plan of redemption in words - in the Bible.

And through the Word of God we can come to know God and hear God and see God and enjoy God.

The Word of God must become supreme in our life, in our homes and in our church.

Inspired By God

Why is that the case? That what I want to spend the rest of our time discussing.

We could spend all day on this text but I just want to draw out three reasons why the Word of God must become supreme in our life, our homes and the church.

The reasons for making God’s Word supreme really rests under one overarching umbrella: Scripture is uniquely inspired by God.

It’s an interesting Greek word. It means to be “breathed out by God.” When the Bible speaks, God speaks.

That means the Scripture is inspired by God in a way that other things are NOT. We’re not saying that the Scriptures are “inspiring” like a compelling piece of artwork or beautiful and moving song.

To be “breathed out by God” means that the words Scripture are the “words of God.” Theologians call this verbal plenary inspiration. What does that mean?

First off its verbal. That means the words themselves are inspired and not just the ideas or concepts. The words that are used, the meaning of those words in their context, the genre the syntax all of it was uniquely inspired by God.

Second its plenary. That means every word. Not just the OT words. Not just the NT words. Not just the “red letter” words. Not just the words that still resonate with our 21st century modern sensibilities. ALL of the Scriptures are inspired by God.

OT & NT: In the immediate context this probably would’ve only applied to the Bible used by Timothy’s parents/grandparents. But there are good reasons for including the NT books under this umbrella because they too are shown to be uniquely inspired by God as well.

Carried Along By The Spirit

How did God ensure that the words of Scripture matched the Word he intended to reveal to mankind?

Peter describes it this way in 2 Peter 1:20-21

2 Peter 1:20–21 (CSB)

20 Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

This doesn’t mean that the human authors of Scripture fell into some kind of trance and robotically dictated the words God wanted. No! God used their personalities, their writing styles and everything else that made them unique and leveraged it for his eternal and divine purposes.

If God has the creative power to speak the universe into existence from nothing then he has the power and means to perfectly record what he wants to record in order to reveal to his creation all that they need to know about Him and his redemptive plan.

To put it simply: the Spirit of God inspired the Word of God so we could become the people of God we were originally designed to be.

God’s book was uniquely inspired by God’s Spirit for us to become God’s people.

Scripture Gets Us Started

With that in view, let’s look at our three evidences that this is the case.

The first reason Scripture is supreme is because God’ Word gets us started in the Christian life. The Word gets us started in the Christian life by showing us how to be saved.

A provocative way to say it would be “God uses Scripture to save us.” For that reason alone we should make is supreme in our life, our homes and the church.

You see this in our passage in 2 Timothy 3:15

2 Timothy 3:15 (CSB)

15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

I’m not saying that we’re “saved by the Bible.” God’s the one who saves us.

Or, as Paul says in Ephesians “we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.”

But how are we to know and believe on Christ without the Bible?

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.”

Without the Word of God we would never get started in the Christian life.

Raising Kids on the Bible

This is huge especially in how we raise our kids. Paul tells Timothy to “continue in what he had leaned” from his parents and grandparents about trust Christ.

That means from an early age they were familiarizing Timothy with the Word of God. (particularly the OT and how it promised a Messiah who would save and that Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise).

I know as parents you want your kids to be great at so many things. It’s important that they learn academics and excel in some kind of leisurely activity - sure. But woe to us if they get really good at swinging a baseball bat but are ill equipped in understanding the Scripture.

They will never come to a place of saving faith without a familiarity and understanding of God’s message of salvation that’s described powerfully and supernaturally in the Word of God.

Keeps Us Going

Not only does the Bible get us started in the Christian life. It also is uniquely inspired by God to keep us going in the Christian life.

The Scripture is uniquely helpful for keeping us “in the game.”

Paul list four specific ways in which the Scripture are “useful” or “profitable.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (CSB)

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness...

Teaching (Tells us What’s What)

First Paul says it’s useful for teaching. KJV says “doctrine.” The Bible is useful for telling us what’s what.

This is a great reminder that truth - according to a Christian worldview - is objective.

It’s not some ever-changing internal self-made reality that we determine for ourselves. It’s a never-changing external God-made reality that we discover.

Those are two fundamentally different ways of seeing the world. There’s no such thing as “my truth” or “your truth.” There’s “THE truth” and it doesn’t care about what we think.

If you’re going to embrace the Bible as God meant it to be embraced then you must allow it to be your teacher. An external, fixed source of authority for your life. It tells you what you need to know.

That means we can’t change or dismiss the clear meaning of a text just because we don’t like it. (doesn’t fit our preferences, traditions, agenda, comfort.) Who cares!? We must take God at his Word regardless of the implications.

Reproving & Correcting (Pulls us Back/Pushes Forward)

Teaching is followed by two other words: rebuking and correcting. These two words are usually closely linked when used in the Greek New Testament. They go together.

You might think of them in the context of athletic sports. Essentially Paul is saying the Bible is our spiritual coach.

“Rebuke” is basically God saying “no not that way...” and

“Correcting” is basically God saying, “yes that’s the way...”

Not like that (reproof)… more like this (correcting).

No that’s not the way to life. THIS is the way to life.

The Bible’s rebuking work is sometimes described with the word “conviction.” How many of you have heard a sermon or read a Scripture and the Spirit of God CONVICTED your heart and said - this ain’t the way!

Conviction is a precious gift from God. He uses the Word to restrain sin in our life. What grace!

Modern people might think it crazy (who wants to feel bad all the time). But if our lifestyle is inviting misery and suffering then it’s a loving gift from our heavenly Father to say “stop it!”

Thankfully the Lord doesn’t stop there. He pulls us back from the brink of destruction but he also guides us towards a path to something better. Correction. Here’s the path to walk in. You’ll find life and rest and joy and peace.

Training in Righteousness (Makes Us Stronger)

That leads us to the final reason why the Bible is profitable for keeping us going in the Christian life. The Lord uses the Scripture and our interaction with Scripture to “train us in righteousness.”

This word means what it sounds like. The Bible is a trainer. Have you ever committed to a season of training in your life? I’m thinking in particular weight training or cardio training for a 5K or something like that.

It’s HARD. It’s not easy. It’s PAINFUL. But each time you break those muscles down they build back stronger. Right? That’s how training works. It tears us down to build us back stronger.

Well righteousness works in a similar way. The Bible is given to us by God to help us become righteous. It’s not automatic. It’s not easy. It’s hard and it’s painful.

There are times when - if you let the Bible do in you/through you what God intends then it creates pain and suffering in your life. But it’s good. You’re becoming who God intends you to be!

So many of us are weak and anemic and helpless against the schemes of the Devil because we haven’t been trained in righteousness. We’re being tossed to and fro because we refused to put in the work of the spiritual grind.

It Helps Us Finish

That leads me to the last evidence that the Bible is uniquely inspired by God: it helps us finish the race.

Paul describes it with picturesque language in verse 17.

2 Timothy 3:17 (CSB)

17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The Word of God helps you finish the Christian life by promoting faithfulness to the very end.

That word translated “complete” is the Greek word “telos.” It is sometimes translated “perfect.” The idea is having arrived at its intended destination. One has fulfilled their purpose in life.

The word translated “equipped” communicates a similar idea.

We might think of equipment. Fully equipped means you’ve got the gear you need to do the job you’ve been called to do. That’s not a bad translation.

But it literally means to bring to an end; to finish. I think of a runner finishing his race.

Paul uses this very language later in the book. 2 Timothy 4:7

2 Timothy 4:7 (CSB)

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

That’s the picture of a man who made God’s Word supreme in your life.

Paul’s opening encouragement to Timothy was to continue or abide in what he had learned and firmly believed.

2 Timothy 3:14 (CSB)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed.

That word believe is the Greek word for faith.

Timothy if you will continue to make the Word supreme in your life not only will you stay in the game and succeed in the Christian life - you will finish the race and receive the ultimate reward.

In other words “you never get too old to read the Bible. You never out grow it. You never know it “too well.”

It’s a living and breathing word. You’ll never grow overly familiar with it because it speaks new truth to you ever time you read it.

CONCLUSION

So the question, as we close, is will you read the Bible? Not only will you read it but will you love it, submit to it and allow it to transform your life? You’re answer to that question will determine the joy you experience in the Christian life.

I think every Christian has a general desire to be obedient to Christ. We say we want to LOVE God because he has first loved us.

Well know this: the heart cannot love what the mind does not know.

How can you love God if your only knowledge of him is the 1 or 2 hours you get on Sunday? How can you love someone you don’t really know.

Let us make the Bible supreme in our home, our life and our church.

God’s Word is sufficient for everything we might face in this life.

Let us feast on the Bible and be satisfied because through it we commune with God.

Commit to this 6-week Bible reading plan. If you’re not already reading the Bible on a regular basis then this will drastically change your life. But you’ve got to make an intentional choice.

Unplug from the noise. Plug into the Word. Get off the Grid and Reconnect with God.

Will you join us?