Thinking, Acting, Being like Jesus
Word of God
Introduction-
We are in the third week of our series thinking, Acting, Being like Jesus.
We have looked at knowing God, and the salvation of God.
If you are to think like Jesus you need to know God and you need to understand the plan of salvation that God offers us through His Son Jesus Christ.
This morning we look at the Word of God. (The Bible)
Truth #1- I believe there is only one true God of the Bible. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
Truth #2- I believe a person comes into a right relationship with God by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Truth #3- I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God that guides our lives and our actions.
Text
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Illustration
( Appropriately given today because the Green Bay Packers play the Dallas Cowboys.)
The Green Bay Packers had been soundly defeated by a team that they should have beaten and the team was in their locker room licking their wounds and wondering why they let this happen. Coach Vince Lombardi came into the locker room and made them suit up back in their dirty uniforms and go back on the field of play. He huddled them together and pulled out a football. He said “This is a football, the object is to take this football across the goal line and score. He had taken them back to the basics. This is a football. This morning, I take us back to the basics of Christianity. This is your Bible!
Its objective is to show you how to have a relationship with God and how to receive the gift of salvation that is offered to mankind.
God’s word should be as basic to a Christian as a football is to the game of football.
The Bible tells us
Who God is
How much God loves us
How to receive the salvation offered by God for the sins which lead us away from God.
The best way to live our lives and how to treat others.
How to maintain relationships.
They are all questions people are asking, but most are not looking into their Bibles to find the answers.
These verses start with an explicit claim
“All Scripture is God -breathed.”
Just like God breathed life into Adam and Eve, the Word of God breathes life into us. The Word of God is alive.
It is not like any other book
God gives it and that makes it living!
Hebrews 4:12-
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
The word of God was revealed by Jesus (incarnate Word) but was by God written under the inspiration of God and recorded for mankind.
The Bible came to mankind in 4 phases (write down)
#1 Revelation-
God decided to reveal Himself to mankind. If not we could not of found him for ourselves.
In His revelation, He showed mankind their sin and their only way of redemption through Jesus Christ.
Specific message, specific person, specific time.
#2- Inspiration
Many books have inspired us, but there is only one book that God wrote that can save us. It took 40 authors over 1400 years to write 66 books of the Bible.
Specific people chosen by God to record His Word.
#3- Transmission
God went to extreme measures to make sure His Word went forth with accuracy. The way the scribes recorded left no room for error. If the copied text did not match up perfectly in the center of the page, it was burned and started again.
After much testing, time, energy, and the most important , divine guidance, in 400 A.D., the 66 books of the Bible came together as we know it today.
I love those that think the King James Bible is the only true translation. That version was written in around 1500 A.D.
God will not allow His Word to be tainted and has taken on the awesome task and responsibility of interpretation of His Word.
#4- Translation
Today there are over 7000 languages in the world, roughly 500 the Bible has been translated into their native tongue. That tells me the work of God is not done and that God will not only provide it but protect it.
God brings a warning to those that translate His Word
Matt 5:18
“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished.”
Jesus in Revelation tells us that we cannot add or subtract from His Word.
Back to the last couple of weeks. If you believe that there is only one true God of the Bible and you believe that the only way to have a relationship with God and be a child of God is through Jesus Christ, then you have to stand on the truth that God’s Word is the inspired word of God and that He will protect its integrity at all costs.
Nazarene doctrinal statement
“We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, in-errantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.”
We believe that God will protect His Word.
Given and interpreted so that everything written will lead us to a relationship with God and offering salvation to those that accept.
Anything else cannot be joined with God’s Word as our article of faith.
No extra book of Mormon
No extra interpretation of Ellen White of the Seventh day Advent that believed that:
Jesus was the archangel Michael
worshipping only on Saturday
Satan will bear the sins of all of us
Hell does not exist.
Only the clear word of God under God’s anointing.
I will go as far as to say that we should be praying God’s Spirit is on us as we read God’s Word so that we don’t take it out of context and make up our own interpretation.
Psalms 119:1-2
“Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the laws of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statues and seek Him with all their hearts.”
God’s word will accomplish its purpose if we will let it.
Isaiah 55:10-11
“As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seeds for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Let me turn this mirror back on us
What God says will happen- will happen
What God says could happen in your life, will happen if you let Him.
The Bible is not a book of suggestions, it is the very word of God that invites whoever will come to have a relationship with God and does not lie!
Do you believe that or not!
Are you In or out!
Do you believe it enough that it will change your life? Your thoughts? Your actions?
The principal here is to take God at his word! Bible must govern our lives even when we do not like what it says or we do not understand something.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight.”
Closing,
Here is a decision that each one of us must make.
Do you believe that the Word of God is truly the word of God?
Do you believe and will you allow the word of God to change your life?
Do you believe that God is big enough to preserve His word?
If the answer to all these questions is yes, then you must believe that even though you may not have all the answers, God is big enough to complete what He started.
If your answer is no, then His word will never be enough for you and will not change your life like God intended.
He would not be your final authority when it comes to how you will live your life.
Each one of us must be all in when it comes to God’s word. God’s word is alive and will change your life. It must be the final authority for our lives.
Amen.
