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Change Without Compromise
The Bible: 2 Timothy 3:16
[Begin with a video about pluralism]
How many of you have had that same conversation? You and a co-worker or neighbor or family member have talked about spiritual things and someone has proposed to you…. “They are all the same God, aren’t they?”
Turn to your neighbor, ask them… “Have you had that conversation before?”
We live in a pluralistic society. We cannot afford to lament and say:
- It’s too bad that we live in a pluralistic society
- It’s because there isn’t prayer in schools
- It’s because of an artificial separation of Church and State
The reality that you and I live in is that we live in a society that largely believes in a “greater good” and that all religions somehow point to the same place.
In this society it’s perfectly OK to be a Christian. It’s perfectly OK to be salt and light in your community. It’s even OK to tell other people that you think Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven.
The only offense Christianity offers is that our faith system and our belief in Jesus being the only way is that we can back those statements up with this annoying little book: The Bible.
As believers, when we wrestle with the biggest questions in life… we have a reliable source to turn to: The Bible.
When we ask, “What is truth?” “Where does it come from?” “Why is there suffering in the world today?”
- Christians have a source for those answers.
- The Bible provides bedrock for our hearts, which are by design made of clay.
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
Don’t we all feel that way a little bit right now? Our head tells us one thing but our heart tells us another… That’s why we need something that provides a measuring rod in our lives… we can’t just make it up as we go along!
Did you know that the Bible is under attack?
In fact, there are two basic types of attacks being levied against God’s Word today.
- Internal attacks from mistaken believers.
o People who change or use the Bible for their own gain
o People who ignore certain parts of the Bible out of convenience
o People who are put in positions to preach and teach the Bible when they don’t know what they are talking about.
- External attacks from militant unbelievers
o Have you ever wondered why people spend so much time trying to prove…
• Evolution
• The age of the Earth
• The miracles of Jesus were impossible
• The Bible has errors
o Have you ever thought about the billions of dollars our country has invested in looking into space and trying to prove that human beings somehow developed out of mud?
o And if you have thought of that, have you ever wondered… WHY?
o Here’s my theory… all of those dollars are being spent to prove, ultimately… that the Bible is unreliable… because if you can prove that it is unreliable than you can ignore it.
o But the flip side is also true… if you can’t prove that it is unreliable than you can’t ignore it.
The Bible is literally true, alive today, and relevant for daily life.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”
1. “All Scripture is God-breathed”
The Bible, where did it come from? (internal vs. external evidence)
- What is it?
o The canon… what’s that? (Greek literally “a measuring rod”)
• The books of the O.T. and N.T. are said to be canonical when they have been measured and recognized as being the inspired word of God.
• Who canonizes? Man
• Who inspires? God
o Distinctions of our doctrinal position of the Bible
• Revelation: A disclosure from God to man
• Inspiration: The composing and recording of God’s special revelation.
• Authority: God’s inspired revelation contains the final word for faith & practice
• Canon: Man’s recognition of God’s inspired, authoritative revelation.
o Recognition of canon
• O.T. Canon
• N.T. Canon 397 A.D. Council of Carthage
• By AD 200 only 7 books of the NT were being debated.
o Hebrews (authorship)
o James (faith plus works)
o II Peter (content)
o II John (content/length)
o III John (content/length)
o Jude (content)
o Revelation (content/length)
- How did we get it?
o Many authors, single theme
o Many years, single theme
o Several languages, single theme
- Perfect in its original writing
o This used to present a real academic problem to us as we couldn’t prove how accurate the transmission was…
o Scribal accuracy (ex of DSS)
o Miraculous transmission from ancient world to today. (Diocletian persecutions of 302-303 AD
• The first of many persecutions where those who kept copies of The Bible were put to death.
• Did they die for the right books and letters?
o John Wycliffe (translating the bible into local vernacular)
2. “And is useful”
- How does the Bible become useful for us?
o Since the Bible represents a culture and people and time we cannot identify, we must interpret the word of God.
o Our church has some distinctive in how we interpret God’s Word which may be different from others.
• We believe the Bible is literally true..
• John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• We believe that to be literally true.
• It’s not an allegory… Jesus wasn’t telling a story
• It’s not figuratively true… well by “truth” Jesus meant ___. And by “life” he meant like socially having a life.
• It’s not a poem or another literary form.
• We believe the Bible should be understood and interpreted plainly and literally unless the context of the passage tells us otherwise.
• David’s Psalms have literal truth in them, but they are poetry and should be interpreted as such.
• Prophesy, especially OT prophesy should be read through the lenses of some of the prophesy has already been fulfilled.
• When we read Apocalyptics like Daniel and Revelation we understand the style of literature mixes literal truth with poetry and prophecy…
• But we always start with believing the Bible is literally true at face value.
o Why is reading the Bible plainly or literally important to us?
• Foundationally, we believe that the Bible is God’s Word for believers today…. And it is meant to be accessible to everyone.
• Other faiths and denominations believe that you have to be a priest or have certain educational background to read, study, and interpret the Bible.
• We believe that while that may have been God’s desire before Jesus came…
• We acknowledge that Jesus tore the veil and need for a priesthood to represent us before God!
• Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
• We believe that God’s Word is for you. It is given miraculously from antiquity to today for you.
• To understand and appreciate who God is.
• To use as a guide for daily living
• To act as a ruler against our deceptive heart!
3. “for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness”
The Bible is useful for daily living
- Let’s bear in mind whom this verse was written to.
- Paul wrote this to his best student… Timothy.
- While Timothy was young for being a pastor, he had been a believer for a long time.
o Acts 16 indicates that his mother raised him as a believer though his dad wasn’t
o 2 Timothy 1:5 “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, lives in you also.”
Why was Paul telling Timothy “How from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”? (v 15)
- Because Timothy is just as human as you and I.
- Each day we need to check ourselves against what God has revealed in his Word.
- Each day we need to allow ourselves to be rebuked by God’s Word.
- Each day we need to come to God’s Word looking to be corrected.
- Each day we need to ask God to train us in righteousness through His Word.
Why?
- When it comes to needing to be taught… we all need to be taught the good stuff.
- When it comes to being rebuked… we all need it.
- When it comes to correcting… we all need to hear it.
- When it comes to being trained in righteousness… every single one of us is desperate to be trained.
God knows us.
He made us.
He knows we don’t want to be taught, rebuked, corrected, or trained purely from other people.
So we have His Word as a ruler in our lives.
To measure ourselves against.
And to be corrected by.
I want to close today by asking you a question…
Will you submit yourselves to what the Bible tells you to do?
Will you trust Jesus at His Word? Will you place the Word of God high on the shelf of your life?
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