Rightly Dividing The Word Of God
Today I want to talk to all of you here today about something that has been on my mind and heart for some time and I have been waiting for the Holy Spirit to turn me loose on this topic and I feel that now He has.
And the main Scripture text that I want to use today is found in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verses 14 and 15:
14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
Last week President Obama made headlines at a National Day of Prayer meeting that he attended by quoting Scripture out of context and misusing Scripture to rationalize his political beliefs. I promise you that this will not be a “political sermon” but it will include why it is wrong to twist the words of the Bible to suit your own ends.
This would be true whether it was President Obama or myself doing it and it is not the person doing it that matters it is the fact that Scripture is misused to try to get people to wrongly believe that the Bible, the Word of God can and should be manipulated to conform to some kind of political message.
President Obama said this about taxation and “shared sacrifice” in his speech at a National Day of Prayer meeting that he attended: “…And when I talk about shared responsibility, it’s because I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income, or young people with student loans, or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone. And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense.
But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’ teaching that “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.” It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others…”
The verse that Mr. Obama tried to quote and wrongly use to bolster a higher taxation plan really said this: Luke 12:47-48 47 "And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
While we don’t have time during this message to go into a deep Bible study on this parable, and this verse in particular it is important to understand its biblical context and what biblical context is in general.
Context is looking at the whole story here and not simply and wrongly, taking a snapshot of the story and trying to pass it off as the whole story or the most important part of the story like Mr. Obama is trying to do with his gross misuse of this verse of Scripture.
Mr. Obama was quoting this Scripture to try to get people to believe that Jesus was trying to tell people that they needed to have a tax increase and that it was our moral obligation to give the government more of our money because it was what Jesus would have us to do according to this verse of Scripture from Luke.
Is this REALLY what Jesus was trying to teach His disciples, those people who were not Christians who were listening, and us today? Absolutely not, that inference could not be farther from the truth!
But like most portions of the Bible, and like Paul Harvey used to say you need to read the rest of the story to gain proper context and perspective. And I have been amazed that most of the critics as well as supporters who have come out both for or against Mr. Obama’s twisted statement have no clue what this passage actually means.
Now I want to say here that Mr. Obama is not by any stretch of the imagination the only one who has ever misused Scripture to make a case for something that is wrong. But since he is the one who makes the claim that he is a Christian and I am not going to judge his heart but I will say this that his fruits don’t exactly give me a lot of confidence about his Christianity.
As a Christian it is his obligation and duty to be a workman and to show himself approved so that he can rightly divide the word of truth. That’s not me saying that it was what Paul said to Timothy about how Christians are supposed to study the Word of God and to know what it means and to be able to quote it accurately and in context and not to twist it or try to manipulate it.
But I suppose it is asking too much of reporters and pundits, or even Presidents to pick up a Bible and check the context and meaning of a passage of Scripture that they intend to use knowing full well it will be reported on as news and as truth because they, as well as most other people, simply won’t take the time to find out what the passage of Scripture really means and says.
I want to re-read the two verses from Luke again here: 47 "And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
The word required here could have just as easily been translated as “expected”. But what is “expected” here is not for us to pay more taxes. Jesus was speaking about salvation here, not money! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the real treasure here not more money for the government!
Earlier, in the same chapter Jesus made this point perfectly clear. A man in the assembled crowd asked Jesus to force his brother to share the inheritance that the older brother received from their father.
This account is found in Luke 12 verses 13-15: 13 Someone in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14 But He said to him, "Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15 Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."
An abundant life does not consist of our possessions at all! An abundant life consists of the riches that come with a belief in God and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. WE (Christians) are the ones to whom much has been given. And much is expected of us by God because of our relationship with Him. Not by paying more in taxes, but by sharing the Gospel. And not just any “word” but the Word of God.
We, as Christians, are the ones to whom much has been given not the billionaires of this world, not the Bill gates’, the Warren Buffets, or any other wealthy human being you care to name! If you were to combine all the riches and resources of every person in every country and then combine that with the wealth and resources of every country in the entire world it would still not equal in value the treasure and riches that I have, and that you have in our hearts and that is the Holy Spirit of God who has made us alive in Christ Jesus and has changed us from the inside out and has made us a new creation in Christ Jesus!
And because we have been given this New Life in Christ we have an awesome responsibility to spread that wealth around with all people and it has nothing to do with money or material things and it especially has absolutely nothing to do with taxes!!
It saddens me and breaks my heart to hear someone of such position, such prominence, someone that people will unfortunately listen to, trust, and believe that what he quotes out of the Bible is true, accurate, and in context when in reality nothing could be farther from the truth, and shame on him as a Christian for doing this.
It would be the same for me if I was to stand in this pulpit and twist and contort the Word of God to further an agenda that I might have. Like the name it claim it doctrine for example, it would wrong for me to stand here and preach that if you pray for something hard enough and long enough that God will grant it for you and if you give enough money to the church then God will take care of all of your financial problems ( and any other problems too for that matter)! That would not be rightly dividing the Word of God now would it? And yall would call me out on that I would hope!
We need to call out those who are trying to misuse God’s Word too and most people can’t do that because they are, in reality, clueless as to the real meaning of the Scripture that some people may be using to further an agenda that they have.
This subject should fire us all up because it is God’s Holy Word that is being denigrated and cheapened here. Every time the Word of God is twisted and taken out of context and no one challenges the misuse of Scripture it weakens and waters down the Bible and more to the point it waters down and cheapens the Gospel of Christ and I for one am getting sick and tired of this happening.
I will stand up and challenge the President’s misuse of Scripture just as I will challenge the misuse and twisting of the Word of God no matter who is doing it and I want you all to join me in standing up for the Bible and the Gospel message that is our real treasure and our real wealth so that one day when we are all called home we can hear from Jesus Himself that we did rightly divide the Word of Truth and that we were good workmen who showed ourselves approved to do that by studying God’s Word and applying it correctly to our lives.
Satan is a master of manipulating and twisting Scripture. Look at how he confused Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. What he asked Eve certainly sounded very close to what God had said, it was close enough that it caused Eve to second guess what God had really told her wasn’t it? He tried to do the same thing with Jesus Himself when He was in the wilderness with Him for forty days and he was trying to use Scripture to get Jesus to sin. The difference between the two examples, other than Jesus being God in the flesh, was the fact that Jesus knew Scripture and knew it intimately and therefore satan couldn’t trick Him because He knew better and so should we.
Like I said earlier this message is not about politics it is about the truths found in the Bible. It is about all of us needing to and wanting to study the Bible more and learning what it says in proper context so that when someone quotes it and wants us to believe what they are saying, we can know whether or not to believe what they are trying to tell us. It is about unashamedly standing up for the Bible and not tolerating any one from the President on down to misuse it without being challenged or called out.
I love the Word of God and in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 Paul wrote this: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The Word of God is Holy and it worth standing up for. It has changed my life immeasurably and it will continue to do so as long as I live. I will continue to read it, pray it and live it as long as there is breathe in me to do so, and I will not sit idly by and watch it get hijacked any more, what about you?!
PRAY
