Preaching The Word, A Worthy Vocation

Sermon – Preaching the Word, a Worthy Vocation

2 Timothy 4:2-5 (NIV) “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.”

Introduction – Proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in a world filled with bad news, opposition, criticism, and deception is not easy. But a healing word is needed in a broken world. Why is it that if an individual who believes in the teachings of the Bible speaks out about the tenets of his or her faith, he or she is often castigated as being narrow or critical or something worse?

Our society cries out about shootings, home invasions, gang crimes and corruption at high levels of government and business yet is not willing to listen when the Gospel message remind them that this land has literally turned its back on God but there is a way to turn things around. Has society forgotten that this country was founded on basic biblical principles? In society’s mad dash for freedom from any sort of moral restraint, the tide of “anything goes” promiscuity has swept our land into chaos. God is still speaking and the Bible, His holy word is still available.

What is the key to applying the Bible to your life or my life in today’s culture? The foundation of this question is what I was taught as a new believer: to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind,” (Matthew 22:37). We learn what this means and how to do it by reading and meditating on the Bible daily. When I held my new Bible in my hands, I didn’t know where to start. I was given a new Bible upon graduation from high school in 1967, but never read it much. Now, it was 1980, and I had just given my life to the Lord. Everything about Church, God, and the Bible seemed so wondrous, awesome, and new. I knew the Bible was the key to this new life, but I didn’t know how to apply it. You may say what is the Bible and why should I even care about what it says?

The word Bible comes from Greek and Latin words meaning, “Book.” According to Webster’s dictionary, the term was first used in the 13th century and defined as the sacred scriptures of Christians comprising the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is made up of 66 books with 40 different authors. These authors were fishermen, government officials, farmers, shepherds, doctors, priests, and kings written over a period of 1,500 years. Each author wrote under in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy reminds us that every word of the Bible is relevant and still applies to our lives today.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” (2 Timothy 3:16, NLT).

Love the Lord Your God with Your Heart, Soul, and Mind - When the Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus what the most important commandment was, Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment,” (Matthew 22:37). Jesus quotes the passage from the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 6:5. This passage is threaded throughout both the Old and New Testaments as our foundation because God knew that a relationship with Him is from the heart. It is important because God created us, He intimately knows our hearts. And He reminds us in Proverbs 4:23, “From the heart, flow the springs of life.”

Without our hearts grounded in the Bible, our passions, desires, thoughts, perceptions, and affections would not be aligned with God. We were created with our will, our hearts, our desires, and our thoughts. The truth of this passage in Matthew 22:37 means that every part of our lives needs to be filtered and refined through our relationship with God. In other words, there needs to be an authentic love for God that starts with God-oriented thoughts, behavior, desires, and affections. The book of James explains why:

"But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it" (James 1:22-25).