'IF GOD SPEAKS THEN WE...'

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Podcast of the CFRA broadcast on Sunday, August 19^th, 2012:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/8085/good%20news%20in%20the%20morning%20-%20014.mp3 ______________________________________________________

Rev. George Sinclair

by Rev. George Sinclair                           
 Pastor of the Church of the Messiah, Ottawa, ON.
 www.messiahchurch.ca

Broadcast Notes:

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(Abridged notes covering discussion on 2 TIMOTHY 4:1 – 5)
Part 2 of 2    (Link to Part 1)

‘If God Speaks Then We…’                                          

Christians just 'talk, talk, talk'. Other religions and spiritualities are more helpful. They teach yoga or meditation or cool new techniques. The Bible, and Christianity, just seems weak and empty. Can't we improve the Christian faith, and the Bible, by having fewer words and maybe by adding new ideas and images?

Maybe you think this. Maybe you know people who think this. Today we will look at a bible passage which addresses these concerns.

Please turn in your Bible and read Second Timothy, Chapter 3, beginning at verse 14 through to chapter 4 verse 5. I will be reading from the English Standard Version (ESV).

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 -  (ESV)

¹⁴ But as for you, ^(A)continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom^[a] you learned it ¹⁵ and how ^(B)from childhood you have been acquainted with ^(C)the sacred writings, ^(D)which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ^16 (E)All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that ^(F)the man of God^[b] may be complete, ^(G)equipped ^(H)for every good work.

Preach the Word

4 ^(I)I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, ^(J)who is to judge the living and the dead, and by ^(K)his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; ^(L)reprove, rebuke, and ^(M)exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ^3 (N)For the time is coming when people will not endure ^(O)sound^[c] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and ^(P)will turn away from listening to the truth and ^(Q)wander off into myths. ⁵ As for you, ^(R)always be sober-minded, ^(S)endure suffering, do the work of ^(T)an evangelist, ^(U)fulfill your ministry.

Footnotes:

a.     2 Timothy 3:14 The Greek for whom is plural

b.     2 Timothy 3:17 That is, a messenger of God (the phrase echoes a common Old Testament expression)

c.     2 Timothy 4:3 Or healthy

Cross references:

A.    2 Timothy 3:14 : [1 Tim. 4:6]

B.    2 Timothy 3:15 : [Eph. 6:4]; See ch. 1:5

C.    2 Timothy 3:15 : [John 5:39]

D.   2 Timothy 3:15 : Ps. 119:99

E.    2 Timothy 3:16 : Rom. 15:4; 2 Pet. 1:20, 21

F.    2 Timothy 3:17 : See 1 Tim. 6:11

G.   2 Timothy 3:17 : [Luke 6:40]

H.  2 Timothy 3:17 : See ch. 2:21

I.      2 Timothy 4:1 : ch. 2:14; 1 Tim. 5:21; 6:13

J.     2 Timothy 4:1 : See Acts 10:42

K.   2 Timothy 4:1 : ver. 8; See 2 Thess. 2:8

L.    2 Timothy 4:2 : 1 Tim. 5:20; Titus 1:13; 2:15

M.  2 Timothy 4:2 : 1 Tim. 4:13

N.   2 Timothy 4:3 : ch. 3:1

O.   2 Timothy 4:3 : See 1 Tim. 1:10

P.    2 Timothy 4:4 : See 1 Tim. 6:20

Q.   2 Timothy 4:4 : See 1 Tim. 1:4, 6

R.   2 Timothy 4:5 : 1 Pet. 1:13

S.     2 Timothy 4:5 : ch. 1:8; 2:3, 9

T.    2 Timothy 4:5 : Acts 21:8; Eph. 4:11

U.   2 Timothy 4:5 : Col. 4:17

Just before we talk about this text a little bit, let’s just say a very brief prayer:

Father, we thank and praise you that you are the ultimate author of Scripture; that you sovereignly had it come into existence; that you severeignly had it be recognized; that you sovereignly had it transmitted, so we can read this with confidence as words that come from you. And we ask that the Holy Spirit would move and work in our lives so that we might receive all that you desire to give us, through your word, written. And we as this in the name of Jesus. Amen

On one level, the Bible is weak. Anyone can mock it or appear to make it look ridiculous.

On one level, Christianity is weak. It seems to be God’s plan to let imperfect people like me (and you) to teach and preach the Bible.

Recap last week and the argument that we need a revelation and an interpretation from God Himself.

Illustration about metaphors and images about money. Conclusion, talking about God is not like talking about money. We have no independent and direct contact with God, so we are dependent upon what He reveals and we cannot get ‘behind this’ to improve or correct it. That would be arrogant of us.

The Christian claim is a constant claim for us to be humble. Remember, the fundamental Christian claim is that we are one beggar telling another beggar where to find free bread. And so what it is, is that when the Bible says to us that we are to preach the word, we are really, just trying to humbly open up the word; and what it is the Bible says, the words the God ultimately desired to have spoken and the interpretations and events that God desired to have interpreted, and we’re really just trying, humbly get out of the way as much as we can, and to be faithful to what it is that God has spoken and said, and we have to do it in the humble confidence, that in fact, just as the Bible says, that these sacred writings, (the Bible), as it says in 3:15, are able to make you wise in salvation through Christ Jesus.

You see, on one level we want you to know the Bible, but it’s not merely knowing the Bible because the purpose of the Bible is not just to look at the Bible; ..sort of like when you go to a city you don’t know and you want to find directions to something and you see a sign a sign pointing to where you want to go. Maybe you’re a tourist in Ottawa and you want to see the parliament buildings: You’d be sort of foolish spending all your time just staring at the sign pointing to the parliament buildings; you’d be far wiser, in fact, to follow what the sign points to, to go to the parliament buildings.

And that’s what the Bible does. In fact, remember in verse 5 of chapter 4: “⁵ As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

It means that all of the opening of the Word, whether you’re a pastor or a lay-person, you open the Bible in such a way, because the Bible is the means by which we can come to know Jesus; and know who He is, what He has done for us on the Cross, and come to have faith in Him so that we can be His, and ultimately be God’s.  

Knowing Jesus changes the Bible, in the sense that, if we haven’t come to know Jesus, then much of the things in the Bible doesn’t make sense, as it would be actually as foolish just to look at a sign pointing to parliament hill, when we want to go to parliament hill.

The Bible points us to Jesus. Jesus is what God has done for us. He sent His Son to teach (and all these things), but primarily He came to die upon the Cross, to open the door to Heaven; and the Christian hope and claim is that we come to Jesus to have faith in Him, so that we can be God’s.

Just remember that we enter the Jesus-way one-by-one, but we live the Jesus-way with Jesus and others.

Let’s just pray,

Father, help us to know the Bible; but more than knowing the Bible, help us to know Jesus, and through knowing Jesus, to know you.

Rev. George Sinclair

To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/8085/good%20news%20in%20the%20morning%20-%20014.mp3

(Link to Part 1: http://goodnewschristianministries.blogspot.ca/2012/08/god-speaks.html?spref=tw)