October 21, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: 2 Timothy 2:15
Subject: Study
Title: Why Do We Study the Word of God?
There are things in this life that people tend to shy away from. One is political debate. Nobody wants to talk about politics because it always leads to heated discussion that ends up in voices raised and feelings hurt. Another reason we tend to avoid those discussions is that to be effective in presenting your political view you really need to be well versed on what it is that you are discussing – politics. And not too many people desire to know enough about the issues to present a clear and persuasive argument for your belief.
The other thing that people don’t want to talk about is the Bible. Don’t you hear people say that they have their own belief and you have yours so let’s just get along? What that really is saying is that my denomination or my belief is different than yours but don’t ask me to give a clear statement of what I believe because I really don’t know. Most people don’t know what their denomination believes in. That’s why I like to do a series about every 18 months about why we believe what we believe. I think it is important for you to be able to look at our statement of fundamental truths and have an understanding of what it is you profess to believe. Now, having said that, we know that there are many doctrinal differences between denominations. Most of those differences come from traditions instead of biblical theology. So when people say they don’t want to talk about the Bible, what they are really saying is I don’t want to get in an argument about denominational differences. That’s OK with me! I just want to talk about the Bible. But people still get a little nervous when you want to do that. I think in a lot of cases it is because certain denominations don’t have a lot of biblical theology to back up their beliefs. They have tradition theology but not too much Bible based theology. Others just don’t know enough about the Bible to get in a discussion, so it is easier to just avoid confrontation and discussion than to try to argue with nothing to back you up.
I want to read to you a verse from three different translations today and then we want to break it down to see what it has to say about biblical knowledge.
2 Timothy 2:15
KJV - 15Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
NKJV - 15Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
NIV - 15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Now as we enter in to this time of worship I want you to open your minds to receive – not to receive information to back up an argument – but to receive what God is really saying to you through this passage and this message.
I. STUDYING GOD’S WORD The first thing we want to look at today is the command that is set before us. 15Study… Be diligent… Do your best… What is your purpose for studying the word? Psalm 119:11, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Verse 105, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. In this context study is given as a defensive procedure to keep you from sin or straying from God’s path. That’s not a bad reason to study is it? Strong’s Concordance says that the Greek word means, to use speed, that is, to make effort, be prompt or earnest:—do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study. Hebrews 6 encourages and warns Christians about study or the lack of study, 1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. There are basic things that every Christian should know by now (except for very new Christians and they should quickly learn the basics) and they should be moving forward in their Christian walk. Go back to Hebrews 5, 11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. So if you have been a Christian for any length of time you should be at the point in your walk where you can teach others the basics. That is one of the elements of producing fruit in your life. The fruit of your study will produce other Christians. You don’t study so you can win arguments – you study so you can win souls to Christ. So far I have focused on study as the KJV says. But let’s look at the others words from the NKJV and NIV – Be diligent… Do your best… Diligent means to be hard working or industrious. Listen, nobody ever said study would be easy, but it is necessary. Don’t just work hard – do your best. I have worked around a lot of different tradesmen in the construction field. I have seen people who wouldn’t work and I have seen people who should have stayed home. They worked but at the end of the day there wasn’t much to show for it. As a matter of fact there was one fellow who was my age, but he was a burned out drug addict, who made so many mistakes that at the end of the day he often spent as much time tearing down as he did building up. You can be diligent without doing your best. So the whole concept of the word translated as study is to work hard and be the best you can be in what God has called you to be. 2 Corinthians 5:10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Now having said that let’s move on to the next point.
II. TRUSTING GOD’S WORD. KJV - Study to show thyself approved unto God… NKJV - present yourself approved to God… NIV - present yourself to God as one approved… Let’s get something right out in the open. Studying and building up knowledge does not make you more approved in God’s eyes. Nothing you can do will make you more approved. After a series of meetings had finished, the evangelist Billy Sunday was helping the workmen take down the tent. A young man who had been in the meeting the night before came up to Mr. Sunday and asked him earnestly, "What must I do to be saved?"
Sunday said, "You’re too late," and kept on working.
"Don’t say that," exclaimed the young man, "for I desire salvation; I would do anything or go anywhere to obtain it."
"I can’t help it," Sunday replied. "You’re too late; for your salvation was completed many years ago by Jesus Christ, and it’s a finished work. All you can do is simply accept it. You have done nothing and can do nothing to merit salvation. It is free to all who will receive it."
How is it that you are approved by God? What have you done that makes God look at you with great favor? Nothing! Ephesians 2: 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. We are saved by what? Through what? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by what? The Word of God! I want to take you in another direction. We are saved by grace through faith. That’s saving faith. We believe that Jesus died on a cross for our sins and has been raised to life so that we can have eternal life. So when we study to show ourselves approved are we doing that simply so we can be saved or is there another dynamic at work here? Faith comes by hearing the gospel of grace and accepting the good news. I think that there are multitudes of people out there that have heard the gospel and say that they believe the gospel but are not saved because they have never really placed their faith in Christ to save them. Do you see the difference between simply believing and having faith? Who is it that is justified in God’s eyes? The ones who have accepted Him by faith! The Bible goes a step further. The just shall live by faith! So if you study to show yourself approved by God or are diligent to present yourself approved, or do your best to present yourself as approved the purpose for your study or diligence must be so you can know God’s word and then act upon it by faith. Do you see the difference between just knowing what the word says and believing it or having faith in it?
III. APPLYING GOD’S WORD …a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth… I will never make apologies for the Word of God. When the Bible said the just shall live by faith that means taking what you know the word to say and then by faith acting upon it. Once in a while the word becomes so real and a certain passage will jump out at me and all I can do is believe it and understand that God must have put that word in the Bible for me to use. That happened to me the other day. Saturday morning, while it was raining, I was praying for the rain to stop so we could have our wiener roast. The passage from James came to my mind. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. Why did the Lord tell us that Elijah was a man just like us except that He was saying that we too could pray like Elijah and expect things to happen. And I prayed a prayer of faith according to that and the rain stopped and we had our wiener roast. Not because of who I am but because of what God said and who He is! To correctly handle the word of truth means for you to know and trust the Word just like that. Notice that Paul calls the Bible the Word of Truth! If it’s true then you can place your trust in it. You can stand on it. You can put it to use in your life.
Why can’t we move beyond knowing what the word says to having real faith in what the word says with the result being that you act upon the word… who correctly handles the word of truth… I really want you to get this, OK? What good does it do you to say, I know the Bible says that My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory… but I don’t know how I will ever get my electric bill paid this month. I know that by His stripes we are healed but I just can’t seem to shake this sickness. I know that the Word says that if I ask in Jesus’ name that I can believe that it’s as good as done but why doesn’t it feel like anything s happening? Correctly handling the word of truth means accepting it by faith. The just shall live by faith… Hebrews 11, 1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. You know, you can go out and sit in your car and pray and shout and hope that somehow your car will start and hope doesn’t get you anything. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad to have hope, but hope by itself doesn’t do anything. You see there is no reality to hope. But the just shall live by faith and that faith is the acceptance of the spiritual reality that has already been promised to you. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see… So what can you place your faith in so that you can receive what you don’t see? The Word of God! 2 Corinthians 4, 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Did you hear that? The things that are seen, the things of the natural world are temporary – not an eternal reality – but the things that are unseen are from the spirit realm – and that’s the real world. Spiritual realities transcend over into the natural realm. 2 Corinthians 5, 7We live by faith, not by sight. What does the Word of God say about my physical health? What does it say about my prayer life? What does it say about my needs being met? All those things have already been accomplished in the spiritual realm. Ephesians 1,3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. I’ve said this before and I’m going to say it again because I want you to get God’s line of logic. If you have been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing, and Jesus said that God’s will is supposed to be done on earth the same as it is in heaven, then that means that you are supposed to have the things that are unseen (the spiritual) right here and right now in the natural. Do you want to correctly handle the word of truth? Don’t water down God’s word but accept it for what it is.
I want you to consider a couple of things this morning.
1). We are Abraham’s seed because we are joined to him by our faith. Abraham was justified by his faith because he had the faith to believe God’s promises even though he never saw them. He had the faith to leave his homeland to go to a place he had never seen because of God’s word to him. He had the faith to believe that his ninety year old wife could carried the child of a hundred year old man because he believed that if God said it would happen that He was able to bring it to pass. He had the faith to be willing to sacrifice the son of promise because if Isaac had died God was able to bring him back to life. We are Abraham’s seed because we are called to have faith like that. Do you have that kind of faith? Jesus asked the rhetorical question, “When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on the earth?” He wants to and He wants it to start in you right now.
2) Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Do you see that word “diligent again? When you diligently seek after Him and the word of truth and have the kind of faith to not just believe but to put your belief into action through faith, you please God. When you please God He rewards you. How? By responding to the prayer of faith that stands on God’s word. All you are asking God to do is to be true to His nature. Without that kind of faith it is impossible to please God.
So ask yourself this question. “Do I want to please God or not”?
15Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Then watch God work!
