Keeping the Charge / Biblical World View

Introduction

Good Morning

This morning I have the charge to preach from God’s Word about the importance of preaching from God’s Word. Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy of some sort…so apparently the application and the teaching are going to be coming at you at the same time today.

But it really is something of a continuation of where we left off last week. We had a lot of great things to tell you about last week, with the introduction of the RightNow Bible Study resource and then the Gideon’s being here to report on how the are giving away literally millions of copies of the Bible all over the World. It was so cool to see how God lined up those themes to our week on Biblical Worldview.

Remember how a Biblical Worldview is the lens through which we view our world.

And we said that this mattered because there were disturbing statistics out there as to how many Christians, Christians like us, look at our world through the lens of the Bible. Only 17% of us operate with a Biblical World View. That leaves 83% of Christians whose faith is important to them and who attend Church regularly basis but don’t believe the Bible to give us the true understanding of who we are and why we are here.

And when we have those jaw dropping moments, we are often quick to say, or at least think, “How can all those other Christians be like that?”…but my hope is that by the end of that message none of us were content with that kind of response. My hope is that we spent this past week with eyes wide open over where this Worldview might be living in our life.

Because Secularism is much more compelling than we might have thought.

Especially since having a Secular World View does not mean that a person has to reject the idea of the God of the Bible, leave their Church or turn their back on their Christian friends. You can continue to have and operate out of a Secular Worldview and still be an active part of a Christian Church - and this is what makes Secularism so dangerous.

So let’s review those four identifying statements of a Secular World View that we presented last week from the book Faithfully Different by Natasha Crain. I highly recommend it and it will be back in our library soon.

But as we look at these four statements, let me invite you once again to consider how you might have seen them played out this past week. The Secular Worldview says that:

Happiness is the ultimate goal so that means that my...

Feelings are the ultimate guide. If my happiness is the point then my feelings are the only way to get there. This means that...

Judging is the ultimate sin How can you judge how I feel? They are my feelings and I feel that this will make me happy then who are you to tell me I am wrong. No one can do that…not even God, because

God is the ultimate guess I am sure some sort of God is out there, but unless he can help me to feel happy I have no need for Him in my life, especially if He demands something of me that I just don’t “feel” like doing.

And we said that We default to this Secular Worldview because our natural bend is to desire self-rule. That is the bend of our “sin-nature”. We were all born into it and we confirm it every time we act in opposition to God’s design for us. And when we remain in our sin nature, we have nothing but a desire for this “self-rule” and so it “feels” very natural to give into the allusion that it will bring us “happiness”.

This is the same lie that our first parents Adam and Eve fell for and all it has brought is confusion, pain, suffering and destruction into our world. Because this world was not created to operate that way.

Thankfully our loving creator God did not leave us guessing as to who we are or why He created us. So when we rejected Him for this “self-rule” He created a way for us to be rescued. He sent His Son Jesus to pay the price for our rebellion and make us new again.

And He gave us His Word, the Bible, to teach us about this free gift and guide us back to a right understanding of who He is and who we are in light of who He is. This is what a Biblical World View is all about. Without the Bible we could be aware that God exists, but we would have no way of knowing for sure how He has worked in our world.

Without the Bible, how would we know about the life giving message of Jesus Christ?

How would we know how we can become new creations with a new nature?

How would we know that we are no longer then slaves to our old nature that always leads to confusion, pain, suffering and destruction but that in Christ we become “New” so that our new nature’s bend is now to pursue God’s design and will?

The Bible isn’t what makes these things true, they are true separate from it’s existence, but how would we know about it except for God giving His Word to us and protecting and preserving it down through the generations?

The foundation verse for our Biblical World View is found in 2 Tim 3:16-17 where it says:

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

All Scripture is breathed out by our God and He has made it profitable for us that we may become all the He created us to be.

Tension

2 Timothy is one of two letters that we have from the Apostle Paul to his young protege Timothy. Timothy was sent to Ephesus to establish the Church there and Paul was writing to him to encourage him with instruction on “how one should behave in the Church, the Ekklessia of God.” (1 Tim 3:15)

In this series on the early Christian Church called “Ekklessia, we have been primarily using the book of Acts as an outline, but then in Acts 16 we read of how the Apostle Paul meets and invests in Timothy. So this brought us to the letters Paul wrote to him.

By the time Paul writes 2 Timothy the early Christian Church is no longer the grassroots movement that it once was. It has spread far and wide, and with that comes the threat of distorting or drifting away from the truth about Jesus. So Paul writes 2 Timothy to encourage him to persevere against any teachings that do not square with what he knows to be true in the Bible.

There were always people attacking the Christian Church from the outside, but with the exponential growth of Church they are not seeing more and more attacks from the inside. Many in the Church are drifting and distorting the Word of God in order to suit their own desires. These people are looking to become influential and they thought that they could ride the way of this growing movement called the Church to get there.

Things are no so different today.

Before laying out her observations of the compelling nature of Secularism, Natasha Crain leaned on her education and experience in the marketing world to show how Secularism has become so influential to many in the Church. She lays out two foundational principles of influence in the marketing world. She says:

“Humans have a an innate sense of how to influence one another, but marketers take their understanding of influence several steps further. They analyse the art and science of influence through studies in human psychology and other relevant disciplines. As you might imagine, those research findings are extensive, but for our current purpose, here is what you need to know.

Influence is overwhelmingly the product of two key factors: the relevance and prominence of a given message. Relevance is about how well a message meets a person’s felt needs…Prominence [meaning that]…the more a person is exposed to a given message, the more influential it has the potential to be.”

The key takeaway is this: People are most influenced when (1) a message directly speaks to strongly felt needs, and (2) that message is prominent in their live.”

I don’t know about you, but descriptions like these light me up because I can vividly see how this can, has and does work in my world. Every commercial I watch now, I am like… “Oh, I see what you are trying to do, and I see why you keep trying to do it.”

This seems pretty harmless when you are talking about how to sell breakfast cereal, car insurance or the “snuggie” (You either thought about it or you already own one) but it anything but harmless when that model of public influence is being utilized to sell Christians on Secularism as a World View. And according to the statistics it is working very well.

So what is the answer? What can compete with a message that seems so relevant to our old nature and is being pressed into us so prominently in our world?

That is what we are after today, so open up your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 4. It is on page 996 in the Bibles in the back of the Chairs. I encourage you to open up a Bible today. I would like to see you do it every day - but especially with what we are heading into today. While you are opening up to it, I will pray.

Truth

More than anything else...

God’s Word should be prominently proclaimed in our Ekklessia and our lives (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

2 Timothy 4:1(ESV)

1 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:

Paul is opening up this charge with very strong language here. Do you hear this? This is not just another thing to throw on the to-do list like “don’t forget to water the plants” or “make sure and pick up milk”. No, this was a solemn charge that Paul was laying on Timothy. It was based on some of the most important aspects of his faith…and of ours.

Paul is appealing to Timothy’s expressed faith in the very real presence of God in his life. He is not appealing to Timothy with a “marketing strategy that is sure to reach his target audience”. This is not that kind of motivation. It is not a psychologically researched based influence that makes you want to “impulse buy” something.

Paul knows that these words means something fierce to Timothy because he has ministered alongside of him. He knows that Timothy gets it. He knows that Timothy has laid his life on the line for the cause of Jesus Christ. He knows that Timothy is living his life for the reward to someday hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

If we say we are Christians, that we are followers of Christ, then we should be living our lives remembering that we are accountable to Him for it. Jesus is coming back Church, to judge the living and the dead. The question is: Will He find us faithful to His will and purposes or will he find us exhaustively pursing our own passions. Paul is drawing Timothy’s mind to the picture of that moment when he stands before Jesus and we should carry that picture in our mind as well. It should motivate us, it certainly did Timothy

2 Timothy 4:1-2(ESV)

1 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: [ And what is he charged to do?] 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

The Greek word translated “preach” here is the word κηρύσσω (kerusso) and anyone who frequented a Christian Book Store in the early 90’s probably recognizes as the Christian T-shirt company. I checked and the same company still makes t-shirts with the same intent for Christians to “proclaim” their faith. That is what the word Kerusso means, it is a command to preach, proclaim or herald something…in this case the “Word of God”.

To some degree, we all need to be ready to do this. It is not limited to wearing a Christian T-shirt but that could open a door. Because as Paul says here... it is not always going to be when you expect it or are completely prepared for it. We have to be ready in any season.

I say, “to some degree” because Paul is talking directly to Timothy here who is an elder/teacher at the Church in Ephesus and so he had particular responsibilities in that Church that not everyone else had. However, if we turn to 1 Peter we find the Apostle Peter talking to the whole Church when he said:

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

And back in 90’s wearing a Jesus T-shirt may have been a way to have to make a defense, but I can’t help but think that in our current culture full of “e-cowards” and “internet bullies” you may find yourself defending your faith even faster if you post something online about the reason for the hope that you have.

The big idea is that God has charged us to be ready to defend the hope that we have, and this requires that we have an understanding of the way that God works in our world. We wouldn’t have this understanding without knowing God through the way that he has chosen to reveal himself: His Word. Without a firm trust in the Word of God, we have nothing solid to “reason” with.

Paul doubles down then on what he said early about the usefulness of the Bible in charging Timothy to use God’s Word to reprove, rebuke, exhort and patiently teach God’s Word so that the rest of the Ekklessia will be equipped for every good work.

Some of these words are not in daily use today, but we can more easily understand the ideas when reading from a modern language translation like the New Living Translation which says:

2 Timothy 4:2 (NLT)

2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

God’s Word should be prominently proclaimed in our Ekklessia and our lives and...

God’s Word is relevant because God gave it, no matter how we “feel” about it at the time. (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

2 Timothy 4:3-4(ESV)

3 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, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Boy I sure hope that doesn’t happen any time soon!

Of course it has happened, in Paul’s day all the way up to our own, people have used and abused the name of Jesus Christ to gain a following and influence of their own. And recognize that this is not necessarily describing people who have abandoned the Church entirely, they just flock to Churches who either tell them what they want to hear or at least do not tell them what they don’t want to hear.

Do you understand the difference? They are looking for a Church who either agrees with them and will say so from up front or (more often than not), they are looking for a Church that avoids talking about that issue all together. Which is just as good... because now I can continue to do what makes me “feel happy” without anyone telling me that God objects to it.

It is Secularism, wrapped up in a “Churchy” tortilla.

We can’t tell God how much we love Him and His Word and then limit it’s usefulness, relevance or authority to just the parts that we like. The parts that help us reach the goal of our happiness…and then when we hear someone read or teach from a part of the Bible that we don’t like then we go looking for a new Church.

The Bible is inspired because God gave it to us, but that doesn’t mean that every part would make a good inspirational poster on a break room wall. Some parts are hard to understand and others are even harder to accept, but they are still relevant because God gave them to us.

Hebrews 4:12 says:

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

That doesn’t sound like a book full of “light reading” or pithy inspirational sayings to me. The Word of God is powerful because God gave it to us to do a powerful work in us. A needed work. Something much closer to “open heart surgery” than “happy heart sayings”.

Of course this doesn’t mean that every word of God’s Word is equally useful or equally relevant in every situation, that is why reading the words of the Bible is not enough. It’s a great start but we must study what the Bible is saying and does say as a whole so that we can learn from the full counsel of God on any issue. Earlier in this same letter Paul tells Timothy to...

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.

A great test for whether or not we are “rightly handling the word of truth” is to ask ourselves are we ready to believe what God’s Word says - no matter where it leads us. That is what a commitment to a Biblical Worldview looks like.

And sure, we might get something wrong the first time we read it, but that is why God has given us leaders in the Church to help us to understand what it says and to point us to other places in the Bible that help us better understand what is being said. Being committed to a Biblical Worldview does not mean that you will always get it right, just that you are committed enough to dive even deeper in when you think you don’t understand what is being said. That is a whole different attitude from just dismissing what we read because we don’t like what we found.

God’s Word should be prominently proclaimed in our Ekklessia and our lives (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

God’s Word is relevant because God gave it, no matter how we “feel” about it (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

God’s Word can continue to influence us, even as others turn away from it (2 Timothy 4:5-8)

Unlike worldly influence which often depends on mass concensus, the Word of God is powerful enough to stand on it’s own against all other influences despite their felt relevance or prominence. Paul ends this personal part of his letter to Timothy with one last directive. He says:

2 Timothy 4:5 (ESV)

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Others may turn away from the truth and wander away into myths, but not you Timothy. You do what God has charged you to do. You fulfill your ministry...just as I have done...

2 Timothy 4:6–8 (ESV)

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Paul brings Timothy full circle here, using his own testimony of faithfulness to point Timothy again to the day when we will stand before the judgement seat of Jesus and He will reward us for the good that we have done as we have carried his name.

And our ultimate reward will be to lay our crowns before our righteous judge, the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ.

Gospel Application

I had the privilege of subbing in for the teenager Sunday School class last week, and it truly is always is a privilege. As we discussed the markers of Secularism in the class one of the teens said that they understood now what the Secularism World View looked like, but they wanted to know how it contrasted with a Biblical World View. I thought that was a great idea.

You may want to think about how you might answer her question, but I think that in response to Secularism being defined as

Happiness is the ultimate goal

Feelings are the ultimate guide

Judging is the ultimate sin

God is the ultimate guess

A Biblical World View would turn that on it’s head. Starting everything with...

God is the ultimate good

Sin is our ultimate problem

God’s Word is the ultimate guide

God’s glory is the ultimate goal

Landing

We can take some time to unpack some of your ideas or reflections on that in our Table Talk groups after Church…but for right now let’s prepare our hearts for Communion. The Spiritual practice where we remember the ultimate price that was paid to deal with our ultimate problem in order to ultimately bring us back into the glory filled presence of God for all eternity.

Would you pray with me

Communion