2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
“What is Sound Doctrine?”
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer,
Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
I was sitting in a repair shop lounge a few weeks ago waiting for my car to be fixed…and oh…the bill…
…but that’s another story.
Anyhow, the t-v was on and it happened to be the time and channel that a very famous and influential television evangelist broadcasts his
t-v show each day.
He was talking about the war in Iraq: “You know what we ought to do?,” said the t-v preacher, “we ought to starve those Iraqi’s to death. That would solve the problem.”
Hmmm… starve, men, women, children, widows, orphans, people created in the image of God…people who possess infinite sacred worth…simply because God loves them.
It was all I could do not to get sick right then and there.
I asked one of the employees at the repair shop if I could change the channel on the t-v, and then did so quickly.
Now, is this the teaching of Jesus Christ?
Can you imagine Jesus Christ telling His followers to starve anyone, or even to hurt anyone in anyway?
I mean we are talking about Jesus here!!!
It is Jesus who cautions us not to even be angry with each other…
…It is Jesus who tells us: “You have heard it said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also….”
… It is Jesus who tells us: “You have heard it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
…and it is Jesus who tells us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning, Paul warns his young protégé, Timothy: … “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.”
He goes on to basically tell Timothy: “These false teachers will teach what they think people will want to hear and actually use the Scriptures themselves to manipulate and control.”
Remember Jesus taught us: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
I’m afraid that we do have many wolves in sheep’s clothing…using and manipulating the Scriptures for an agenda which is so far from the Gospel of Jesus Christ…that…well…we must watch out!
Some 2,600 years ago a young man of eight years of age came to the throne of one of the most powerful nations of the world.
For seventeen years this young man ruled his country as best as he could…but his reign wasn’t successful.
The country was in turmoil, the theological foundation of the country was eroded, morality was non-existent, idols were worshiped everywhere, the Temple was neglected, and the once-powerful country was in sharp decline…
…sound familiar?
Anyhow, something happened.
A wonderful event happened that turned the reign of this young king around and made him one of the most revered individuals in the history of his nation.
The country turned around economically, politically, and spiritually.
Everything started to mushroom for the good of the country.
What was the simple act that turned the nation around?
The king’s name was Josiah, and we find his story chronicled in the book we now call 2 Kings.
It seems that one day a priest was walking by a lonely and neglected corner of the Temple.
He was housecleaning, if you will.
And there he found a book, the Book of the Law, the Book of Life, the book we now call Deuteronomy, the Word of God.
And it was the rediscovery of the Word of God that turned an entire nation around.
But there is a word of warning here: it was found in the Church!!!
It was in the Church that the Word of God had been neglected.
It was in the Church that the Word of God had been ignored and left on a dusty table.
And this can happen to us today!
So what are we going to do to ensure that this does not happen to us?
Paul’s solution for this upcoming peril was for his protégé to accept the charge to be firm in the Word:
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”
But before Timothy could accept the charge about the Word, he had to be changed by the Word.
And the same goes for us.
Are we being continually changed by the very Word that we are charged to keep?
Or do we still hold a very shallow view of the Bible and of the world?
Do we pick and choose the passages that make us feel good, or that our “itching ears want to hear”?…
…or are we keeping our heads “in all situations?”
As Christians we must not just own a Bible or use the Bible…
…we must allow the Bible to be the inspired Word that it is.
As Paul tells us in verse 16 of 2 Timothy chapter 3: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…”
Now first of all, the Bible is inspired because it works!
It changes lives!
And it changes lives because God will not leave it alone.
He has been and will be in every aspect of its existence.
The word inspiration means “God-breathed.”
Now, how in the world does God inspire?
Did He lock the biblical writers in a cave, put them in a trance, and dictate every word, jot and tittle?
And how did God inspire Jesus?
Could there be a connection?
It’s my understanding that the Father inspired the Son through the everyday events of life as He lived it.
If Jesus was a mechanical spiritual superman, then why did He have to pray so much?
Why did He struggle with the kind of ministry He was to have—as we see in the temptation experience?
Why did He struggle with God’s will for His life, as we see in the Garden of Gethsemane?
It was during the everyday experiences of living that Jesus nurtured His relationship to the Father, exercised faith, and received the Word from God.
And isn’t this true for us today?
I mean, the Holy Spirit is just as alive today.
And doesn’t He operate in our lives in order to reveal the truth of God and to help us to recognize God’s truth when we see it?
The Holy Spirit shows us truth, but not just the truth of God.
The Bible through the Holy Spirit shows us God Himself!!!
The Bible is God’s book from beginning to end.
And it is God who is seen in the Bible and it is God who speaks through the Bible.
God has revealed His personality and His nature in and through the Bible.
And the most perfect revelation of God, the ultimate revelation of God, is seen in Jesus Christ.
If you want to know what God looks like, look at Jesus.
If anyone has an idea about God that is different from the revelation of God we see in Jesus Christ, it is untrue.
Jesus is the criterion by which all of Scripture must be interpreted.
We can only understand the Bible if we understand it through the eyes of faith in Jesus Christ.
It’s not enough just to know the Bible, the key to unlocking the meaning of the Bible is the spirit and love of the Lord Jesus Christ as He lives in our hearts and as we live for Him by faith.
Does that sound like a struggle?
Well, it is.
But that’s part of what makes the Christian life so fun, challenging and exciting!!!
I don’t think that we can properly read, interpret, and apply the Bible without a certain struggle.
It was true with Jesus.
Jesus struggled with Scripture.
Read Matthew Chapter 4.
The temptation experience was not so much a struggle of Jesus with Satan or with temptation, as it was a struggle with Scripture.
Every time, Satan tried to tempt Jesus with Scripture.
In Jesus’ day there were two ideas of what the Messiah ought to be.
Both were found in Scripture.
One was the idea of a strong militaristic, nationalistic Messiah who would come in with the sword and destroy all the enemies of Israel.
The other was the concept of the suffering servant, one who would come and be despised and rejected and would lay down His life as a sacrifice for the nation as it is found in the Book of Isaiah.
Jesus’ greatest struggle wasn’t with sin; it wasn’t with Satan…
…it wasn’t with the scribes and Pharisees and the Roman army…
…it was with Scripture!…
…it was with trying to discern where God was leading Him and the kind of ministry He was to have.
If Jesus had to struggle with Scripture…then you better believe that we have to struggle with it as well!!!
“All Scripture is inspired,” Paul said, “and will make you wise unto wholeness.”
It is useful for teaching.
It is the core around which we instruct, lead and guide.
The Scripture is for “rebuking” which is to show us where we are wrong.
The Scripture is able to “correct” us, to show us how to do right.
The Scripture is able to instruct us in righteousness, to put us in a right stance with God and in a right relationship with other human beings, in order that the man and woman of God might be completely equipped for everything God has called us to do.
So how do we, the Church of Jesus Christ interpret the Bible?
How do we keep with “sound doctrine”?
For one thing, we need to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
God wants us to understand His Word.
We need to choose a definite place and time for reading and studying, because consistency builds our relationship with God.
And as we seek God through our study and through our day, it is helpful to record in a journal at the end of the day and answer the question: “How have I experienced God today?”
Because knowing that we are accountable at the end of the day to answer that question will cause us to be more sensitive to God’s movement throughout everything we have done and decided to do.
Another thing is to remember that the Christian journey…is just that!
It’s a lifelong struggle with Scripture.
We will never, in this lifetime, know it all or have all the answers.
But we can be sure of this.
Jesus Christ is Love because God is Love.
And Jesus Christ would never do anything to hurt another human being in any way.
And we are to allow the Holy Spirit to mold our lives after the Life that is Jesus Christ…
…the Lord…
…the Savior…
…the Prince of Peace…
…the Suffering Servant.
