Being A Biblical Church (Part Three)

Biblical Church 2019 (Biblical Sharing)

Text: 2 Timothy 3:16-4:4

So we’ve been looking at what makes a church a BIBLICAL CHURCH. I mean; let’s be honest, any group of people can get together and claim that they are a “church”. Right? If you read my newsletter last month you read the statistics… more than 5000 new Southern Baptist “church’s” have been planted in the last 17 years. Doesn’t mean they’re Biblical.

And so far, we’ve said that a Biblical Church has to be made up of Biblical Christians who have been truly converted. That’s number one… and then number two… A Biblical Church is a church that is devoted to rightly learning the Bible. Today; we’re going to talk about how a Biblical Church, is a church that is sharing the Bible… And I’m going to take you a little deeper than normal this morning… but I’m confident in your ability to understand. And I’m assured that the Holy Spirit will enlighten our understanding, as we hear God’s Word this morning.

So… a Biblical Church is a Church that is sharing the Bible - - - The Word of God.

And that starts right here in the pulpit and should work its way out to you in the pews, and then work its way out these doors and into the world around us. So we’ll look at our text, and we’ll get right into it this morning, (READ TEXT).

So this is the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, who was the young pastor at Ephesus at the time… but Paul wrote this knowing that his letters, just like all the Apostles letters would be circulated among the churches of the time. So we can say that this is a letter specifically intended for Timothy – who is a pastor, and then by way of circulation, God uses it to teach all pastors, who by way of preaching use it to teach Christians. So… you as lay Christians, can take this teaching, and use it two ways… you can take these principles and apply them as you share the Word in your witnessing, and you can use it as a standard for your pastor. This is a standard that you can use to measure me… or any pastor, with. You can say, “Is my pastor doing this in the way that Paul instructed Timothy that it should be done?” Now that’s different than the qualifications for an elder… those are given in other places in Scripture… those are the things like, “Is he living a consistent life that commends the Gospel? Is he married, and if so, to one wife? Is he sober minded, and respectable? Is he able to teach? Does he control his temper and attitudes? Is he a lover of money, and a drunkard? Does he manage his household well? Does he care for and lead his family in a growing relationship with God, and do his wife and children bring honor to him, or do they disrespect him and despise him? Has he provoked them to wrath?” If he can’t lead his home, he has no business leading the Church… “Is he splitting churches? Is he stealing sheep?” All of those things can either qualify or disqualify a man from being a pastor… but we’re focusing on SHARING THE WORD this morning… Because again; you can’t have a Biblical Church if you’re church isn’t sharing the Bible.

Makes sense right?

So in our text; I want you to see that this is not a suggestion from Paul… It’s a command. In Chapter 4:1 he gives this command to Timothy as a “solemn charge”, and he does it in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. So Paul is very serious about this, it’s not to be taken lightly. And then… in chapter 4:2 he gives the command – PREACH THE WORD.

Now to us… because we are a learning church, we’re going to ask questions about this, and make sure that we’re understanding exactly what Paul is commanding here. So the first one is, “What is Timothy being commanded to do?” TO PREACH. What does “preach” mean? Well the word itself is the Greek word, “kerysso”… and it means to make an open, loud, bold, public, proclamation. It is to “herald” a message. So back in the old days, before they had 24-hour entertainment news, or the internet, or even phones, or anything like that, they would have town criers, who would stand in the town square and give the news. They would proclaim it out loud, for everyone to hear. In other words, they would “preach” it… “kerysso”.

So it’s not just teaching the Bible, even though that’s included in it…

Some of the things that are included in preaching the word are found right there in the last part of verse two… Preaching includes “reproving” which is to correct error and wrong thinking with kindness and love… Preaching includes “rebuking”, which is to reprimand strongly. It includes “exhortation”, which is to lift up, comfort, and encourage someone… and these things are to be done with patience and through teaching. Right there’s your teaching element. So we see that “PREACHING” includes teaching, but it’s not just teaching.