Biblical Church 2019 (Biblical Sharing)
Text: 2 Timothy 3:16-4:4
So we’ve been looking at what makes a church a BIBLICAL CHURCH. I mean; let’s be honest, any group of people can get together and claim that they are a “church”. Right? If you read my newsletter last month you read the statistics… more than 5000 new Southern Baptist “church’s” have been planted in the last 17 years. Doesn’t mean they’re Biblical.
And so far, we’ve said that a Biblical Church has to be made up of Biblical Christians who have been truly converted. That’s number one… and then number two… A Biblical Church is a church that is devoted to rightly learning the Bible. Today; we’re going to talk about how a Biblical Church, is a church that is sharing the Bible… And I’m going to take you a little deeper than normal this morning… but I’m confident in your ability to understand. And I’m assured that the Holy Spirit will enlighten our understanding, as we hear God’s Word this morning.
So… a Biblical Church is a Church that is sharing the Bible - - - The Word of God.
And that starts right here in the pulpit and should work its way out to you in the pews, and then work its way out these doors and into the world around us. So we’ll look at our text, and we’ll get right into it this morning, (READ TEXT).
So this is the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, who was the young pastor at Ephesus at the time… but Paul wrote this knowing that his letters, just like all the Apostles letters would be circulated among the churches of the time. So we can say that this is a letter specifically intended for Timothy – who is a pastor, and then by way of circulation, God uses it to teach all pastors, who by way of preaching use it to teach Christians. So… you as lay Christians, can take this teaching, and use it two ways… you can take these principles and apply them as you share the Word in your witnessing, and you can use it as a standard for your pastor. This is a standard that you can use to measure me… or any pastor, with. You can say, “Is my pastor doing this in the way that Paul instructed Timothy that it should be done?” Now that’s different than the qualifications for an elder… those are given in other places in Scripture… those are the things like, “Is he living a consistent life that commends the Gospel? Is he married, and if so, to one wife? Is he sober minded, and respectable? Is he able to teach? Does he control his temper and attitudes? Is he a lover of money, and a drunkard? Does he manage his household well? Does he care for and lead his family in a growing relationship with God, and do his wife and children bring honor to him, or do they disrespect him and despise him? Has he provoked them to wrath?” If he can’t lead his home, he has no business leading the Church… “Is he splitting churches? Is he stealing sheep?” All of those things can either qualify or disqualify a man from being a pastor… but we’re focusing on SHARING THE WORD this morning… Because again; you can’t have a Biblical Church if you’re church isn’t sharing the Bible.
Makes sense right?
So in our text; I want you to see that this is not a suggestion from Paul… It’s a command. In Chapter 4:1 he gives this command to Timothy as a “solemn charge”, and he does it in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. So Paul is very serious about this, it’s not to be taken lightly. And then… in chapter 4:2 he gives the command – PREACH THE WORD.
Now to us… because we are a learning church, we’re going to ask questions about this, and make sure that we’re understanding exactly what Paul is commanding here. So the first one is, “What is Timothy being commanded to do?” TO PREACH. What does “preach” mean? Well the word itself is the Greek word, “kerysso”… and it means to make an open, loud, bold, public, proclamation. It is to “herald” a message. So back in the old days, before they had 24-hour entertainment news, or the internet, or even phones, or anything like that, they would have town criers, who would stand in the town square and give the news. They would proclaim it out loud, for everyone to hear. In other words, they would “preach” it… “kerysso”.
So it’s not just teaching the Bible, even though that’s included in it…
Some of the things that are included in preaching the word are found right there in the last part of verse two… Preaching includes “reproving” which is to correct error and wrong thinking with kindness and love… Preaching includes “rebuking”, which is to reprimand strongly. It includes “exhortation”, which is to lift up, comfort, and encourage someone… and these things are to be done with patience and through teaching. Right there’s your teaching element. So we see that “PREACHING” includes teaching, but it’s not just teaching.
And notice… it’s not supposed to be philosophy that he uses to reprove, and rebuke, and exhort. It’s not self-help that he uses to do this… it’s not psychology, or sociology, or even great personal stories… He’s not even supposed to use extra-biblical revelation. In other words, Paul doesn’t say to Timothy here, “Hey Tim, little buddy… spend a lot of time in prayer, and get a ‘Word’ from ‘God’, or from the ‘Holy Spirit’ and then share that with the congregation.” That’s not the command here… the command is PREACH THE WORD.
So that leads us to our second question. What is THE WORD that Timothy is being commanded to preach and proclaim? Well… look back up at the beginning of our text. 2 Tim. 3:16 (READ).
You’ve heard that saying, “A text without context is just pretext.” Well that’s often times very true. Looking back up to chapter 3 verse 16 gives us the context for what we’ve just been looking at in chapter 4. When Paul commands Timothy to preach the word, the word that he has in mind is the God inspired Scripture. So when you and I share the Word, we’re to be sharing the Bible…
And it’s very important that you see this. PLEASE HEAR ME on this… We know that’s exactly what Paul means, because he uses the word “Scripture” here… it’s the Greek word “graphe”. In other words, “The writings”, “The letters”, “The BOOK”. The Word of God has come to us in a written form… IN A BOOK THAT WE CALL - - - THE BIBLE!
So why? Why are we to proclaim, or preach the Word – the Bible? Why can’t we share our emotional, personal, stories? Why not extra-biblical “words” from God? Why just the Word?
Well… look back at our text… chapter 4 vs. 3 (2 Tim. 4:3). That little three letter word that starts verse 3 is a sign pointing to the reason. “FOR”. In other words, “Here’s the reason why we are to preach the Word.”
What’s the reason Paul? Here it is: “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching…” THAT’S – Good teaching, right teaching, solid teaching, Christ-centered, God-honoring, BIBLICAL TRUTH. They won’t endure it… they won’t put up with it any longer. It’s “too divisive”, “it’s too archaic”, “it’s too – whatever”… They'll say it's not relevant to where they are in life... that it's not sufficient for all matters of faith and practice. They'll say it's "boring", of course that’s just an excuse, right? Why do they REALLY not endure it? What does the text say? “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate FOR THEMSELVES teachers..." Why do they accumulate for themselves these teachers?
"TO SUIT THEIR OWN passions…”
So what Paul is saying here is that there are going to be people, who are driven by self, drivin by their own sinful, worldly passions, and because of their own sinful, worldly passions, they will come to a point, where they don’t want to listen to the preaching of God’s Word, so what they’ll do is accumulate for themselves teachers who suit those worldly, sinful passions.
Why are there so many false teachers out there today? Why is Beth Moore so popular, even though she's highly questionable? Because people want to hear that stuff... they don't believe in the sufficiency of Scripture... they think they need more than just the Bible... so they accumulate to themselves these false teachers, these sensationalists, who claim to be getting extra-biblical words from God, or who claim you can manipulate God. There wouldn't be so many false teachers, if not so many people wanted to listen to them.
And as they begin to do that… Look at what Paul says in verse 4, they will “… turn away from listening to the truth, and wander off into myths.”
So Paul is saying, “There are going to be people who do that. The time is coming.” But also the idea here is that through the preaching of the Word, that can also be staved off… That this falling away can kind of be stifled, or stymied… It's going to happen. It's in God's Word, and His Word can't be changed or undone... but the process can be slowed in a sense, as pastors, and as Christians in general, faithfully exposit Scripture, and share the Bible.
In-fact; the Bible tells us that it is the Word of God, used by the Holy Spirit, as it is correctly proclaimed; that God uses to transform, you, me, culture, society, and EVERYTHING!
And that He uses His Church, rightly proclaiming His Word, to restrain the expansion of evil.
Let me just run through some of what the Word does… The Word of God is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, and it equips us for every good work – that’s right there in our text. It is used to bring about what God purposes (Is. 55:11). It helps us in our daily life (Joshua 1:8). It makes us clean (John 15:3) and sanctifies (John 17:17). It gives us direction (Psalm 119:105), and keeps us from sin (Psalm 119:11). The Holy Spirit uses it to bring life (John 6:63), and it brings faith (Romans 10:17), and it saves us (James 1:21), (see also Romans 1:16, 1 Peter 1:23). It instructs us, gives us endurance to persevere, gives encouragement, and hope (Romans 15:4), And; it transforms us by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).
Without the Bible, we can’t know God. Without the Bible we can’t know Christ. Without the Bible we would never know that God created all things for His purpose, and for His glory. Without the Bible we’d never know that God the Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, became flesh, and bore our sin on the cross. Without the Bible we wouldn’t know the meaning and purpose of the Church. Without the Bible we wouldn’t know the meaning of marriage. Without the Bible we wouldn’t know the meaning of gender, or nationality, or ethnicity.
Church, God uses His people, going forth, sharing His Word, to restrain evil in this world. And there’s a direct correlation between how messed up our society is, and how wicked our culture is, and how hell-bound our world is, with the failure of the Church to go forth and share the Word of God.
If we are going to be a Biblical Church, we have to engage everyone around us with the Word of God… in other words, we have to do the Great Commission. We have to GO, not sit here… GO, share the Gospel, and make disciples. It’s Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
CLOSING
