The Good Soldiers Handbook
Introduction
- II Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is
breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness.”
- Today
we have the privilege of placing ourselves within earshot of the Apostle
Paul as he gives instruction to the young pastor Timothy.
- Paul
the seasoned veteran of the mission field and of the local church knows
that his life is drawing to a close, the Emperor Nero will soon end his
life, and Paul has some final thoughts for Timothy.
- As is
true for most of us, when we see our life beginning to grow dim we begin
to focus on the most important of things. Paul also began to do this and
began by writing a letter of encouragement and admonition to Timothy.
- Timothy,
one of Paul’s converts from about 15 years prior in Paul’s ministry, was
the aging apostle’s favorite pupil. No one else received the accolades
that Timothy did; he is mentioned in several of Paul’s other letters and
also in the book of Hebrews.
- Timothy,
even though he had been appointed by Paul as an overseer or pastor, in the
churches of Ephesus it appears that Timothy was still as human as you and
I.
- Because
I don’t have luxury of walking us through the book of II Timothy as a
multi-week study (much like we did with Ephesians) I am forced to give you
the background material right up front at the beginning in order to
properly set the stage for understanding II Timothy 3:16
- So let
me backup just a bit
- It
appears Paul had heard reports of Timothy’s conduct, he sensed Timothy’s
doubts; it appears that Timothy had doubts about the gospel, doubts about
his role in spreading the gospel, and conflicts warring in his own mind.
- We can
see in chapter 1 and verse 6 Paul tells Timothy to “stir up the gift of
God which is in you…” Why would Paul tell Timothy to “stir up the
gift?”
- It
sounds as if Paul is drawing a reference to stirring a fire that is going
out so you can bring some fresh air to the coals and burn some of the
unburnt material. You would only say this to someone who is faltering in
one or more areas of life.
- Also
if you take a look at (and we are moving quickly here through these, or
course we could say much more about this) verse 7, Paul admonishes Timothy
to replace fear with what? With power, love and a sound mind.
- Verse
8 continues, and this is one of the strongest statements Paul makes to
Timothy, “don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or me His
prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings of the gospel according to
the power of God.”
- It
would appear that Timothy was having some rather severe struggles in his
life. Keep in mind this is pastor Timothy that Paul is speaking to, the
same person who probably read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in the
Ephesian church and then also got to explain what Paul meant in the more
difficult portions.
- This
same pastor has weakened from the pressures of the world, the pressure
that comes from persecution all around. So Paul admonishes Timothy in
chapter two to persevere, to be strong, to follow the rules.
- Now if Timothy, a pastor, and a man,
personally trained by the apostle Paul was having doubts about his role in
the kingdom and was struggling with kingdom living then it seems to me
that we can all get some good instruction by listening in on what Paul
tells Timothy.
- Now
back to the text: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness.”
All Scripture.
- Paul
is about to make some rather remarkable statements about Scripture in the
rest of this verse. His audience, Timothy, knew what he meant by all
Scripture but it is important that we know what he meant.
- This
statement here “All scripture is God breathed” or “breathed out
by God” is rather remarkable because Paul simply states it as fact, he
doesn’t try to defend the position he just tosses it out there.
- Now
keep in mind, unlike some of Paul’s other writings the purpose of the book
of II Timothy is not to introduce new theology to us. Timothy was already
quite aware of Paul’s theology. Paul’s intent here was merely to remind
and encourage Timothy in the things he already knew.
- So
Paul states very plainly that God breathed out the Scriptures. He doesn’t
bother to explain how this all worked he just says it. Peter on the other
hand gives us insight into how this process works, in II Peter chapter 1
and verse 2 he writes for us: “but men spoke from God as they were
carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
- So the
authorship is established but the context is still holy men of old, Peter
is still talking about the Old Testament, what about the New Testament.
- Well
Peter gets to that in II Peter 3 and verse 15 and following which reads: “And
count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother
Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16as
he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There
are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant
and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other
Scriptures.”
- So there
we have Peter, the pillar of the church in Jerusalem, an apostle and a man
who walked with Jesus and even saw him transfigured on the mount equating
what Paul writes and placing it on the level of the OT Scriptures.
- So
thinking back to II Timothy 3 we need to understand that all Scripture in
this context is the whole of the Word of God.
- It
doesn’t just contain the words of God, even though yes God’s words are in
there. But more importantly it is in its entirety the very words of God.
- Think
back to Peter … but men spoke from God as they were carried along…
Even though God worked through the words, the thoughts, and the emotions
of the writer God directed every word onto the page so that the final
product was an exact autograph of God and his very character and nature
are dripping from the page.
Breathed out by God
- The
next part of the verse we come to is …breathed out by God… or …God breathed… in the NIV. If you
have NIV you may want to make a note in your margin and write the word
“OUT” after God breathed because this is what the Greek literally says.
- When
we think of breathing we generally think of breathing in. If you are at
your doctor’s office and he says take a deep breath how many of you go
phew and blow all your breath out?
- The
distinction is an important one, God didn’t breath in but rather just like
Genesis 2:7 where God breathed the breath of life into Adam and Adam
became a living being so God breathes out and His Word becomes living
doesn’t it? Hebrews 4:12 “…For the word of God is living and active.”
- Why
else is it important that God breathed the Scriptures that you are holding
in your hand? Well for one thing when God breathed life into the Scripture
it became the fingerprint or even better the DNA of God himself.
- Ill.
Right now in LA according to Police Chief William Bratton, there is a
shortage of DNA testers due to the budget shortfall in California.
·
And due to this lack of testers the concern is that the
Police dept. will be unable to positively identify the criminals that they want
to turn over to the prosecutor’s office.
- We
have all seen TV shows where DNA is what allows the police to catch the
criminal, but why is DNA so important? It is because it is so unique that
it can’t be wrong, it is proof positive of the ID of the person in question.
- If you
hold a blood sample in your hand of a given person you have enough
information to positively identify them from every other person on this
planet.
- Likewise
the copy of the word of God that you hold in your hand bears enough
information about the God of the universe, the God of creation, and the
God that walked among men for 33 ½ years to then die on a cross and be
raised to life again just three days later to save my souls and yours that
He can be positively identified by what we know of Him from His word.
- When
we come to situations in life and we wonder whether God is in it or not,
all we have need of is looking to the Word because all we need that
pertains to life and godliness is already there for us.
- The
authors DNA is all over His inspired book, that is why God-breathed out is
so important. Every religion in the world has some form of sacred writings
but how many of them can say that the message was written by God Himself?
- All
Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for…
- Paul
now begins of a series of four things that the Scriptures are profitable
for.
- I
think it is important to note that these following four things the
Scriptures is profitable for must be unique to the Scriptures or otherwise
Paul wouldn’t be drawing attention to it like he is.
- Another
way of saying this would be to say that Scripture alone is profitable for
these four things. While it is possible to perhaps have one or two of
these items in an isolated context the four of them together is the unique
prerogative of the Scriptures.
- We
come to our first of four and that is Teaching
- Paul
reminds Timothy, remember Paul isn’t teaching Timothy something new rather
he is just reminding him of what he already knows. So Paul reminds Timothy
that the Scripture is useful for teaching.
- So
lets think about what kind of statement that is, that word of God, or in
other words the Scriptures are useful for teaching.
- Ill.
As some of you may be aware one of our children must go to UCLA a few
times a year to see a pediatric urologist there by the name of Dr. Bernard
Churchill.
- Now
for us one of the major benefits of seeing Dr. Churchill is he is the
professor of urology at UCLA and is also the head of the Clark-Morrison
urology center at UCLA so as you can imagine he is the top of his field.
- In
fact he is one of the top 4 Doctors in the whole country for the
particular specialty that we are in need of. He has about 2-3 times the
experience of most anyone else in this field.
- When
doctors all over the country need more info on how to perform a procedure
or what is the best care for this particular sort of problem they head
straight for the textbook to find out what Dr. Churchill has to say on the
issue.
- Not
only that but Dr. Churchill rotates students through his office and takes
them into surgery with him so he can teach them his doctrine, his dogma,
his methodologies for performing surgeries on urology patients.
- When
you want to learn about urology you don’t turn to the Cliff Notes on the
subject, you don’t turn to one of his students notes, you go straight to
the source, to the teacher himself to find out what he says on this
particular subject.
- That
is what Paul is reminding Timothy of here and in a way he is also
reminding you and me of this same thing.
- Commentaries
are good and helpful, devotionals can be profitable, Bible studies serve a
purpose but the best teaching comes straight from the word of God itself.
- The
word of God is the textbook for life that we should be learning by.
- Just
like urologists now where to turn for more information a Christian should
also know where to turn for more information. To be taught and learn right
head for the source.
- Reproof
- The
next thing that Paul reminds Timothy of is that the Word is useful for
reproof. Now here is a word that we don’t use everyday in casual English,
or do we? Let me give you an illustration of this word in a normal day.
- Ill.
Back in November of 2002 many Californians hung close to their Television
sets watching and waiting the outcome of a certain trial.
- Winona
Ryder was being tried on three charges and when the deliberating was done
the jury read this verdict
- We the
jury find the defendant, Winona Ryder, guilty of the charge of vandalism
(over $400 in damage) in violation of penal code 594A, a felony.
- And
they continued through all three charges.
- Throughout
the course of the trial the evidence was presented that she had done the
things alleged and when her actions were viewed in light of the laws of
the State of California she was found to be violation of those laws and
she needed to be reproved or rebuked.
- When
the jury read the verdict that was the rebuke. Later the judge sentenced
her for the crime, that was the punishment, but the rebuke was from the
jury.
- The
word Paul uses here that is translated reproof or rebuke in your English
Bible is a Greek word that literally means “tell a fault and show the
evidence.”
- Is
this not exactly what takes place in a trial when the accused is guilty;
the charge is brought, the evidence is provided, the verdict is read and
the guilty is rebuked.
- Paul
is reminding Timothy here that in addition to needing to come under the
teaching of the Word he also needs to come under the rebuke or reproof of
the Word.
- As
believers when we read the Word of God, God is able through His Holy
Spirit to speak to our hearts and convict us of sin and unrighteousness.
- Maybe
God has already rebuked you for something, maybe you know it isn’t right
but what do you do about that now? You take it to God.
- As God
is faithful to rebuke us, we need to be faithful to confess as 1 John 1:9
tells us and allow God to cleanse us from the unrighteousness.
- Important
point of distinction here, do not confuse God identifying sin in your life
with righteousness. For some people God puts his finger on something in
your life and you get so excited that God spoke to you that it stops
there, God identified but you never acted upon it.
- When
God identifies sin it is for one reason, to cause you to want to make it
right. You need to agree with God that sin is sin, don’t re-label or
re-package it as something else, don’t term it a minor infraction.
- Call
it what it is, agree with God, then confess it and ask His forgiveness. He
will forgive and He will cleanse but you must ask.
- Correction
- Next
we come to correction. Correction is a somewhat interesting word because
in the Greek it is really a compound word.
- The
word means literally to make upright and straight. It bears with it a word
picture of a gardener who finds a plant that was been stepped on or for
some other reason is improperly growing at an angle close to the ground.
- The
good gardener will take that plant and we will gently right it into an
upright position.
- However
just taking a living plant that is lying on its side and picking it up
will do little if anything for the plant because the plant will just fall
over again.
- In
order to be successful the gardener must stake the plant with straight rod
or pole of some sort but the key here is that the pole must be straight so
it will train the plant to grow straight as well.
- The
rod or pole here is the Word of God and the Gardener is the Holy Spirit.
As we read the words of Scripture not only do they rebuke as we looked at
a moment ago but they serve to correct us or to straighten us so we are
once again back on the straight-and-narrow, so to speak.
- God’s
Holy Spirit and God’s Holy word are the agents that make us straight and
upright in our thoughts and conduct.
- If you
are trapped in a sin, perhaps a secret sin that those around you are not
aware of, and you know it is sin; you have been rebuked you know that it
is not God’s best for your life yet you continue to struggle, there is
hope for you.
- This
isn’t my word on the subject this is the God speaking through the apostle
Paul. The text says the All Scripture…is profitable for…correcting. In
other words making upright, making straight.
- If you
know that what you have done is wrong, God has rebuked, you have
confessed, you have tried to turn from sin but the next thing you know you
are right back in the same sin again you need the heavenly Gardener to make
you straight.
- We
talk a lot around here in little catchy phrases. One of those phrases is
to equate the Christian life to a wooden stool. And this stool has legs on
it and if any of those legs are missing or are too short the stool becomes
unstable and no one can sit on it.
- Whenever
someone tells me they are struggling with a habitual sin one of the first
things I am going to ask them about is their stool, are they praying, are
they going to church, are they sharing their faith, and are they…reading
the Scripture.
- If any
of those are lacking and particularly daily Bible reading you can almost
be assured you have your answer why this sin is a habitual problem in
their life.
- The
antibiotic that allows us as Christians to overcome our flesh and it’s
desires and empowers us to walk in the Spirit is the Scriptures.
- If you
aren’t daily in the Word then you aren’t getting enough of the
prescription to fight off the infection of sin, it really is that simple.
- Instruction in righteousness
- The final component that Paul identifies for us here is
“Instruction in righteousness”
- Again the original Greek is helpful for
the word in Greek bears with it the connotation that one is being not only
instructed but is actually being educated in the matter at hand.
- Lots of people teach subject matters
everyday, and even larger number of people actually listen to the
instruction being given but only a percentage are actually being educated
by what they are being taught.
- For some they simply are not paying
attention therefore they can’t learn, for others they don’t have the
necessary background to understand the material being presented.
- What ever the reason is not all
instruction leads to learning taking place however Paul says of the
Scripture that it is profitable for instruction or in other words
education in righteousness.
- The word also bears the idea of
discipline in mind. We are to be disciplined in righteousness or more
simply put in right living, that is to be a discipline in our lives.
- So we have seen that not only is it necessary
that we are rebuked, and we have seen that we are in need of being made
straight again but now we see that we must replace those previous thoughts
and actions with a righteous counterpart.
- If we don’t choose to do this, if we
instead decide that we in and of ourselves are strong enough to continue
in the Lord then consider 1 Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore let anyone who
thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
- Unless the unrighteousness is replaced
by righteousness the emptiness will get filled back up but it won’t be the
Spirit who fills it.
Conclusion/Application
- If you
are here today and you have sin in your life, God has put his finger on it
then you need to confess it today.
- If you
are here today and you are living in sin, God