We Believe In The Authority Of Scripture Series

Good morning! Please open your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3. We begin a new series this morning on the things we believe. The foundational truths that hold us together as a church and as followers of Jesus. Over the next few weeks we are going to talk about the Bible, prayer, fellowship, serving, and mission. Like the video we just watched says, if you chip away at any of these, our church is in danger of crumbling. Now, I want to give a little caution about this series. There is absolutely nothing that I’m going to say in the next several weeks that you are going to disagree with. Of course you believe the Bible is God’s Word. Of course you believe in prayer. Of course you think fellowship and serving are vital for the life of the church. There’s nothing controversial or even new about any of this stuff.

The caution is this: What we believe is proven by what we do, not by what we say. [someone says he loves music]

During this series, I want all of us to examine ourselves, and ask the hard question, does the way I live my life demonstrate that I believe the Bible is my final authority? Do I act as though I believe in the power of prayer?

So this morning, I want to begin by talking about the most important of these bedrock beliefs: We believe in the authority of God’s Word.

The story is told of an admiral at the helm of his flagship one night. On the horizon, he sees a blinking light. He checks his bearings, looks through his binoculars, and sees that his ship and whatever this light is are on a collision course.

So he orders his crew to send a signal across the water: “Change your course two degrees south.” A few minutes later, the reply comes back: “You change your course two degrees north.”

The admiral, angered that his authority was being challenged, sends another signal: “I am an admiral. Change your course two degrees south.”

The reply came back, “I am a Petty Officer. Change your course two degrees north.”

Well, by now the admiral is furious, and he orders the radioman to transmit: “I am a battleship. Change course two degrees south.” The reply came back. I am a lighthouse. Change your course two degrees north.”

Now hopefully at this point, the admiral realizes you don’t argue with a lighthouse. The lighthouse is a fixed point. It marks the boundary between land and sea. It warns of danger. It helps a ship at sea to find its way, to navigate from point to point.

And a lighthouse is able to do all these things not in spite of the fact that it’s been around for hundreds of years, but because of it. Because no matter what else may change about the technological advances of battleships or the lines on a map, the coastline is still the coastline, and rocks and reefs and sandbars still cause shipwrecks.

But what if the admiral said, “I don’t need you, lighthouse. You are old. You are outdated. You’ve been stuck in the same old place for centuries. The world has changed, and I’ll decide where the boundary lines are. I’ll determine my own compass.

That man is heading for a shipwreck. His medals, his rank, his accomplishments don’t matter.

For our lives, the Bible is is our lighthouse. It does not change to fit a changing society. It does not change to fit our ways. We don’t ask the Bible to adapt to where we want to steer our boat. Instead, we align our lives with the Bible. That was Paul’s message to Timothy, and it is his message to us too. If you are physically able, please stand to honor the reading of God’s Word as we read 2 Timothy 3:14-4:4

2 Timothy 3:14–4:4 ESV

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.