Putting the Word to Work
II Timothy 4:2
Purpose: To explain that the Word of God is our only tool to help others.
Aim: I want the listener to look for ways to confront others with God’s Word.
REVIEW:
1:1-2:13I. How Should a Christian React to Stress?
2:14-26 II. How Should a Christian Relate to Fellow Believers?
3:1-17 III. How Can a Christian Reside in a Hostile Culture?
4:1-22 IV. How Can a Christian Remain Faithful to Christ?
Vs.1-5 A. Put First Things First
Vs.1 1. The seriousness of the commands “solemnly charge you”
a. God sees us “in the presence of God”
b. God judges us “who is to judge”
c. God is coming “His appearing and His kingdom”
LESSON:
Vs.2 2. The importance of the Word
INTRODUCTION: I don’t want to scare anyone here this morning, but the truth is that every person listening to my voice has thousands of cancer cells in their body right now. The reason we don’t all have cancer is that our immune systems are healthy enough to fight off the cancer cells and keep them contained. Once our immune system gets weak enough, though, then the cancer cells can take hold and begin doing their damage.
In the same way, sin and temptation is always close to every Christian. We need regular infusions of God’s Word in order to keep us spiritually healthy. Psalm 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. (NAU)
The best way to stay in the Word is to be giving it out to others. Jesus commanded each and every one of us to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, . . . teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NAU)
If we are going to obey Christ’s command to share God’s Word with others, then there are four things that we must do.
a. Proclaim the Word only “preach the word”
Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Jesus’ ministry says, “I did not hear Him say ‘Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow."
The importance of this command can hardly be overemphasized. It is only the word of God which is given the promise, ". . . It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. " Is. 55:10,11. Thus our source of success in the ministry does not lie in our gifts, intellect or personality, but rather it lies in the penetrating power of "the word." It is interesting to note the different images given to God’s word throughout the scriptures and the power which these images evoke.
The Power of God’s Word
✔ * God’s Word is a FIRE -- "Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall devour them." Jer. 5:14 "Is not My word like a fire . . .?" Jer. 23:29 It burns away corruption. It purifies.
✔ * God’s Word is RAIN -- "For as the rain comes down . . . so shall My word be . . . " Is. 55:10,11 It refreshes and cleans us.
✔ * God’s Word is a HAMMER -- "Is not My word like . . . a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" Jer. 23:29 It breaks up our deception. It cruses our sin.
✔ * God’s Word is a SWORD -- "For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. . . " Heb. 4:12; "and take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Eph. 6:17 It cuts into our conscience. It slices our excuses to pieces.
Each of these pictures of the Word describes ways that the Bible changes us. The Word, and only the Word, has the power to change who we are on the inside.
Paul’s main concern was proclaiming what God said. We should avoid religious teachers who don’t spend much of their time teaching the Bible.
☛ 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (NAU)
b. Prepare to proclaim the Word “be ready”
BE READY means “stand by, keep at it” or “be at one’s task.” Christians need to be ready for action at any time. IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON means to share God’s Word when it’s easy and when it’s hard. It means to do it when it’s appreciated and when it’s rejected; when it is convenient and when it is inconvenient.
One person who was ready and willing to share God’s Word was a lady by the name of Darlene Rose. She and her husband were missionaries to New Guinea.
Their time with the people of New Guinea was happy and satisfying until March 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Army arrived on the island and made them prisoners. Eventually, the young couple was separated, never to see each other again.
Over the next three years, Mrs. Rose was confined to various camps and eventually held in solitary confinement when the Japanese secret police learned she was American.
Her year of confinement in a one-room building with high, barred windows was the most trying, she said, but she found ways to bear it.
"The Lord had laid it on my heart to memorize Scripture," Mrs. Rose said, "and I knew I needed exercise, so I would walk around the room quietly saying Scripture and singing hymns."
On a particularly low day she heard a hymn from her childhood being sung outside her window. She shimmied up a pipe in her cell and held onto the bars of the window until the song stopped.
"I still don’t know what it was," Mrs. Rose said, "but I got on my knees and told God, ’It’s all right that I’m here.’"
She had to eat her small daily dish of rice without utensils and she lost so much weight she was no more than "skin and bones." When it was possible the students in the Bible school where she had taught would add things to her rice to give her protein.
"One day there was a nice, long worm in there," she said. "I just said, ’OK, Lord, here goes.’"
Mrs. Rose was once given 92 small bananas, secretly given to her by one of her captors, whom she had led to Christ.
"I didn’t eat them all at once," she said, "and didn’t eat the last one until the day we were freed."
The two dresses she was allowed to take into captivity never wore out, despite their constant use. And she had to use them in other ways such as to remove the blood of mosquitoes she had killed on the cell walls. Her captors saw the blood, told her to remove it and ordered her not to kill any more mosquitoes.
Eventually, she contracted malaria, dysentery and beriberi -- all at the same time. Through it all, including beatings that caused her permanently to lose her hair, she always kept her faith.
"I have no regrets," she said. "It was a way to know God in a deeper way. He was always there."
The beatings, the starvation and the solitary confinement never broke her.
"I never cried in front of them," said Darlene Rose of her Japanese captors in World War II. "But as soon as everyone went away, I cried buckets."
When Mrs. Rose was freed by the Japanese, she was told of her husband’s death, but learned he had led many others to a knowledge of Christ while in captivity. With that knowledge and her love of the native New Guinea people, she eventually decided to return to the islands.
When Darlene had returned home after WWII, she still wanted desperately to return to the islands. She had met Jerry and they had married in 1948 and in 1949 she and Jerry returned together. Side by side they worked together raising their two young sons, Bruce and Brian, teaching, preaching, building landing strips, delivering babies, standing against headhunters and leading them to Christ.
In 2003 and in their 80’s, Darlene & Jerry, having returned to the States some years earlier, settled into a retirement center in Tennessee. They slowed down but never retired; always ready in season and out of season to inspire and encourage those they came in contact with to know the Lord.
Many Christians seem to think that serving the Lord is something they do at certain times. Christians do not punch a clock. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58 NAU)
We must work so that we are prepared to serve the Lord at any time. If Darlene Rose could serve the Lord in a Japanese prison, then we should be able and ready to serve the Lord in Philadelphia.
c. Apply the Word to others “reprove, rebuke, exhort”
Dr. John MacArthur asks, “Is the church supposed to be a ‛seeker-sensitive’ and ‛user-friendly?’ Should we be concerned with the felt-needs of those who come through these doors? Is preaching to be replaced with being ‛clever, informal, positive, brief, and friendly?’” We should answer with a resounding “NO!”
A.W. Tozer said, “We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.”
The Word of God should be used with three goals in mind.
Our Three-Fold Goal For the Word
Convince others of the truth
The word REPROVE is the verb form of the same word in 3:16. It means to give evidence, convict, and bring men face to face with their failures to glorify God.
Jesus used this word about Peter in Mark 8:33: But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (NAU)
The idea here is to lay out truth so that others have to make a clear choice between obeying God or disobeying God.
Warn others about sin
The word REBUKE means to reprove by speaking seriously or warning others in order to prevent an action. It’s not enough to say what is right – we must passionately warn others to forsake sin.
We must care about others enough to confront them with the truth. What is right must mean more to us than what others think of us. Proverbs 27:5-65 Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. (NAU)
Ephesians 5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; (NAU)
Encourage others to pursue Christ
The word EXHORT means to urge or encourage. We need to be using God’s Word to encourage others. The most effective way to do that is to remind others of how powerful and good God is.
Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (NAU)
d. Apply the Word patiently “great patience and instruction”
Notice Paul includes two important ideas in order to teach us what it means to apply the Word patiently. We must have clear teaching (INSTRUCTION) and a strong compassion (GREAT PATIENCE).
We need to be like Chris who was, . . . full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NAU)
If we are overpowering, people may respect us, but they won’t want to get close to us. On the other hand, we can just be kind and people will want to be around us, but we won’t have anything to teach them when they are near.
We must be, speaking the truth in love, . . . (Ephesians 4:15 NAU)
It is important that we are lead others patiently because spiritual growth is usually slow.
CONCLUSION: Paul’s call for us to REPROVE, REBUKE, and EXHORT is a call for us to get involved in each other’s lives. You can’t do those things until you know that person.
Are you actively involved in applying God’s Word to others? Whom are you helping to get closer to Christ? If you aren’t doing that now, then ask God whom you should get to know so you can share God’s truth with them.
Do you allow God’s truth to change who you are? When was the last time a message from the Bible changed you?
Truth reforms as well as informs.
William Jenkyn
