_____________________________________________________________
(Podcast of CFRA broadcast on Sunday, August
12th, 2012)
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/8002/good_news_013_aug12.mp3 _____________________________________________________
 |
| Rev. George Sinclair |
Broadcast Notes:
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‘God
Speaks’
Are Christians
arrogant? Why do they think they have figured out God better than anyone else?
What makes them think their symbols and images are the best? If God even
exists, a God sort-of-like the God Christians believe in, how could any word or
symbol ever be adequate? Christians are just following themselves.
Maybe you think
this way. Maybe you know people who think this way. The Bible text we will look
at today is helpful to sort out what Christians do and do not believe regarding
these valid questions.
Please turn in
your Bibles to Second Timothy chapter 3, verses 10 through 17. I will be
reading from the English Standard Version.
Link
to: BibleGateway.com with Footnotes and Cross References:
2
Timothy
3:10-17 - (English Standard Version, ESV)
All Scripture Is Breathed
Out by God
10 (A)You, however, have followed my teaching, my
conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my
persecutions and sufferings that happened to me (B)at Antioch, (C)at Iconium, and (D)at Lystra—which persecutions I endured;
yet (E)from them all (F)the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed,
all who desire to (G)live a godly life in Christ Jesus (H)will be persecuted, 13 while
(I)evil people and impostors will go on
from bad to worse, deceiving and (J)being deceived. 14 But
as for you, (K)continue in what you have learned and
have firmly believed, knowing from whom[a] you learned it 15 and
how (L)from childhood you have been acquainted
with (M)the sacred writings, (N)which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 (O)All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, 17 that (P)the man of God[b] may be complete, (Q)equipped (R)for every good work.
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)
Cross references:
E. 2 Timothy 3:11 : Ps. 34:19
G. 2 Timothy 3:12 : Titus 2:12
J. 2 Timothy 3:13 : Titus 3:3
N. 2 Timothy 3:15 : Ps. 119:99
First, let me just
say a very brief prayer:
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for this
passage of the Bible, and we ask that your Holy Spirit would move in myself and
in all who are listening, so that your word will be brought home to us, so that
we might know Jesus and know you. And this we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Today I will not
prove that the Bible is true. Instead, we will see what the Bible says about
itself, and therefore what Christians believe about the Bible. This will help
us understand how Christians respond to valid questions. Christians believe
certain things about the faith and about the Bible NOT because of rationalism
or modernism or any philosophy, but because we have heard the Bible's witness
to itself.
Read verse 15.
This verse, and all the way through, is referring to the Bible, not any sacred
writings. 'Sacred writings' was one of the ways people referred to the Bible.
Note that
reading and knowing the Bible has the ability, the power, to bring you to
saving faith in Jesus.
Verse 16, “All
Scripture” or “Every Scripture”. In the original language of the Bible, Greek,
either meaning is a valid translation. In this case, we do not have to decide
between 'all' or 'every'. It is an intentional rendering so that we are to
accept both ways of reading the text. This means that the Bible as a whole
comes from God AND that each small bit of Scripture comes ultimately from God
AND every unit in-between the whole and individual words.
The verse says
that human authors wrote, but that behind their writing God was at work so that
what was written was what God wanted written.
So Christians do
not claim that there is something special about the people who wrote the Bible
– so that the things they said should be believed. Christians believe it is the
words and the Bible itself which is inspired or 'breathed into existence' by
God.
You might say,
“George, you have not answered my questions about words being adequate or about
Christian arrogance”
First, the
example of knowing rocks, knowing dogs, knowing a dinner guest and knowing God.
The Conclusion – unless God chooses to speak and reveal Himself, we cannot
possibly know Him. He is able to choose adequate words. This is what the Bible
is.
Using the rock,
for illustration; everything we do to learn about a rock comes from the
observer, not the rock. The rock can’t contribute anything, interactively; it’s
inert and passive.
But, if we move
up (in a sense) the scale of “being”, we see that things start to change. It’s
a little different trying to get to know a living plant; a flower. We can know
whether a flower is living or dead, but the flower is still fundamentally
passive.
Now, let’s jump
to something like a dog. When it comes to knowing about a dog, most of the
direction of knowing will still come from us towards the dog, but now the dog
has some degree of ability to resist or aid you or me knowing the dog. The dog could run away. Or, the dog could bite
me and make me want to run away. In fact, the dog has some small role, but as a
human being I have a far greater role in trying to know the dog, but the dog
can start to resist me.
Now let’s think
about our dinner party. At a dinner party, perhaps you’ve had the experience
where you have been placed a dinner table where you don’t know anybody and you
turn to your left and begin to make some polite conversation. You begin to ask
some personal questions, showing that you have an interest in that person. But
every question is answered with a one word answer of “Yes” or “No”, and the
person rarely takes their eyes off their dinner plate. They completely and
utterly resist all of your attempts to know them. So you turn to your other side and that
person is exactly the same way. So, you see, when I’m trying to know about
human beings, I have to be active, but they have to be active. Both sides have
to be active if I‘m to know anything about the other person, and if they’re to
know anything about me. Normally if you’re to know about another person, you
have to be open, yourself, if you’re to elicit conversation, and in a sense,
encourage them to open up and talk to you.
Now, let’s think
about this for a second. If God is to be at all like the God described in the
Bible, the difference between God and me is greater then the distance between
me and a rock. Both the rock and I are created. God is uncreated. The rock and
I are both finite. God is infinite. The rock and I both exist in time. God does
not exist in time. The rock and I both depend on an environment. God does not
depend on an environment.
So, if in fact,
to know another person, I need them to reveal things about themselves, if I am
to know them, when it comes to knowing about God, I am more like the rock. I am
completely an utterly dependent upon God revealing something of Himself to me.
And, you see,
this is the claim that Christians make. It’s not an arrogant claim at all. In
fact, it’s the opposite of arrogance. The true Christian claim is to concede with
the atheists and agnostics that we can never have adequate symbols about God
that come from ourselves. What Christians claim is that God has spoken, and
that God has chosen the images and the symbols and the words that adequately
describe Himself; and that God has not only spoken, but that He has acted. And
He has acted in such a way that key actions are recorded, and what they mean
are interpreted.
Here’s another
example: I pastured for a long time in a small rural parish, in a tiny
community where many people were related to each other. Let’s say you were
passing through such a village and you noticed in a restaurant, a young couple in their late
twenties. And the man is downcast and all of a sudden he bursts into tears.
They have a young child with them. The woman stands up abruptly, slaps him on
the face and walks out. You might say “Whoa, what went on there?” Maybe a
person would say, “I’m the aunt of the young woman, and my best friend is the
mother of the young man. And, what you just saw was absolutely terrible. That
woman just treats that man like garbage. She does anything she wants to him and
he is such a wuss; she even slaps him in public, and he won’t stand up for
himself." On hearing that interpretation you would feel sorry for the man. But
maybe, just thinking of the exact same illustration, imagine if someone told
you a different interpretation. They
said, “Oh, that is such fantastic good news! That man is such a terrible husband to
his wife and she’s never had the backbone to stand up to him." You see, just
looking at things, you need an interpretation of them to actually know what’s
going on.
So, with the second
example, using the scene in the restaurant, the conclusion is that we need God to act
and we need Him to provide an interpretation of His acts. This is what the
Bible is.
Christians are
not being arrogant. We are merely receiving and listening to what God does and
says. He acts to save us in Jesus, and He tells us we need to come to Him as
our Saviour.
So that’s what
the Bible is. The Bible is something that comes from God that both records significant
events that He has done through history, that reveal Himself, and it’s an
interpretation of those events.
That’s why
earlier in verse 15, it says, “…how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, (that’s the Bible), which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” You see, the biblical claim is that God
has done something remarkable through the person of Jesus with his death upon
the cross and his resurrection. The Bible interprets this as not just being
something that Jesus did for Himself, but it’s something Jesus does for us. It’s
something He does, to reconcile us to God so that we can become God’s children.
And the Bible interprets how it is we are to respond to what it is God has done
for us, in the person of Jesus.
He’s not only
revealing Himself, He’s revealing the way back to Himself. And the Bible says
that we are to have faith in Christ, Jesus, in a way that leads to our
salvation. It means people belong to God, that we are reconciled to God, that
we can be intimate with God; that we can be His forever. And faith means
turning to Jesus and giving your life to Jesus; to trust Him in what he has
done for us on the cross.
So, just to
remember, as today's program ends, that we enter the Jesus-way, one by one, but we
live the Jesus-way with Jesus and others.
Let me just have
a short prayer:
Father, Thank you that you have acted to redeem us
in the person of your Son; and thank you, Father, that you have spoken, to
reveal to us what your Son’s death means and how you want us to respond. Thank
you, Father, for this and help us to follow Jesus and follow Him all the time.
Amen.
Friends, as we
bring this show to a close, please pray for this show, that God will bless this
ministry.
Rev. George
Sinclair
To listen to the above broadcast, click
on the following link:
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