Sermon by Pastor Robert Green, Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, October 28, 2007, Yr. 3C, No. 641, Ascension Evangelical Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, PA, W.E.L.S., based on 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
“What is the take home?” was a question a doctor once asked a hospital chaplain who had given a lecture on the value of prayer in the care of seriously ill patients. The chaplain was speaking at a lunch lecture series at a teaching hospital in Temple, Texas, and he invited me to hear his lecture. At the end of his talk the doctor, a professor, asked, “What is the take home?’ meaning what was the key thought that the young doctors in training could take home with them from the lecture.
“What is the take home” for you and me as children of God when we hear the words of St. Paul in the reading appointed for today from 2 Timothy? Paul wrote this letter to young Timothy whom Paul had trained to be a pastor. Paul wrote from a prison dungeon, while chained as a common criminal, believing, as he says in the verses right after this reading, that he was about to be put to death. Thus, this letter was of great significance as Paul knew it probably would be his last chance to write.The main purpose of this letter, addressed to Timothy, was to encourage young Pastor Timothy to be faithful to his calling as a pastor. So, what is the take-home for you, dear child of God?
But you, Child of God, have the courage of conviction of faith to:
- Remain in the sphere of what you have learned;
Though this is addressed to you, God also sends it to you. In this reading, God tells you, his dear child, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” To continue in something is to remain in it and this is an ongoing constant thought. In the Greek, where Paul says “continue in what you have learned”the little word “in” paints the picture of something being in a sphere as if something is being completely surrounded by it. Thus, to continue to be in or remain in what you have learned is to keep what you have learned all around you, to have that knowledge as a constant presence in your mind.
Timothy had learned was the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. He had been taught them from infancy. Paul wanted Timothy to keep his knowledge of the Scriptures as a constant presence in his thinking. God wants no less of you and me. This means to at all times to keep ourselves well aware of what God has said to us. It demands of course that we take the time to learn and become convinced of what God says. It is sinful not to remain in what we have learned.
Isn’t it truly amazing that the Word of God can be known by an infant? The word for infant means a baby or even an embryo. Doesn’t this go against all that we know about babies? How can a baby, who can not yet speak, known God’s Holy Scriptures? God says his Word is powerful and effective and does not return to him empty. He says faith comes from hearing the message and the message is in the Word of Christ. God can use his Word to bring someone to faith, whether it be a full grown adult or a infant, so tiny it is held in one hand. The equally amazing thought is that having learned the Scriptures, you and I can remain in them as a constant source of comfort and guidance.
The key reason why God wants us to learn and remain in the Scriptures is because the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus for the Scriptures tell us about Jesus. The entire Bible is centered on Christ, from the beginning of creation with the promise of the Savior to come, expressed to Adam and Eve that the single male offspring of earth would crush the devil’s head, to his coming in human form and suffering dying on the Cross to pay for our sins. The entire Bible is about how God kept his promise and what it means for us. Jesus said of the Scriptures, John 5:39-40 (NIV), “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” The meaning is simple, believe his promise of a Savior and be saved!
Dear child of God, this is a reminder to treat his Word as the source of all spiritual wisdom so that you read, mark and learn it as best you can in order to remain in them. Are you content with knowing only what child knows, that Jesus loves you and died for you or do you hunger to learn as much as you can about this wonderful Book of God’s wisdom?Are you content with hearing the Word on Sunday, and then putting aside until the next Sunday or do you desire to be in the Word daily? Dear child,may you have the courage of conviction of faith to remain in the sphere of what you have learned!
- For all Scripture is God-breathed and so is useful!
The reason we should learn the Scriptures and remain in them is because,“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”That the Scriptures are God-breathed explains inspiration to us. God breathed into the Holy Writers the very words he wanted written for his Scriptures. Notice that God does not say, “Some of the Scripture is God-breathed, I am not going to tell which is, you will have to guess.” Nor does he say that you or I may reject a single word of Scripture as not being God-breathed, just because we do not like it or understand it. Rather he says, it is all, every word of it, God-breathed!
The Scripture is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” only to the extent that those who use it believe it to be what it is, God’s Word and not the mere words of men. I cannot properly teach as a pastor if I do not so treat the Word as being God’s Word and not merely my own. I will not be successful in rebuking sin or correcting false doctrine if I do not properly use the Scriptures as God’s absolute Word of truth. If you reject the Scripture as entirely being God-breathed, then upon what basis would you accept being taught, rebuked or corrected by it?
To be trained in righteousness is both the concept of salvation by which we are declared righteous, to be right before God, through faith in Christ and in how to live a righteous or right life on earth before God. How are we to know what conduct is God-pleasing? What decisions should be made in any given situation to please not men, but God? Both questions can be answered only by going to the Scripture, to be taught, rebuked, corrected and trained by it.
God wants you to be trained to do good works, so he says, teach, rebuke, correct, and train, “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The word for “man of God” does not refer to male believers, but to all believers. God wants every one of us to be thoroughly equipped for every good work. That is why we offer multiple Bible studies. It is the impetus for the next Bible study I will offer on identifying and using the Scriptural gifts that God has endowed each one of you with. Will you make the effort to come and grow, to be trained so that you are thoroughly equipped for every good work?
Paul goes on to make a solemn charge of young Pastor Timothy, saying, “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: …” The charge is based on the fact that the author of the Word is our God, our Savior Jesus Christ, who will come to judge all. By his Word we know the outcome of the judgment for all who believe will be saved.
The charge to Timothy was clear, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” Paul speaks first of all to Timothy and all pastors, for this is our charge “to preach the Word.” But do not think for a moment he is not speaking to you, for the word for “to preach” means simply to proclaim. God has commanded you to go and make disciples of nations by baptizing and teaching them to obey all that he has commanded. To do this means to proclaim his Word. You proclaim the Word of God each time you share what you believe about God and why you believe it.
God wants you and me to be prepared in season, when the time is convenient for us, and out of season, when the time is most inconvenient, to proclaim the Word by teaching the Word, correcting error in doctrine and practice, by rebuking sin and bad doctrine, and by encouraging others in all matters of faith. He wants us to do this with great patience and careful instruction.
The reason we need great patience and careful instruction is as Paul tells us, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Sadly, the human spirit is so tainted and corrupted by sin that it will be glad to be believe anything but the truth, and so finally to really believe in nothing. We need patience for today there are all together too many false teachers in the Christian community who are willing to teach whatever itching ears want to hear in order to fill their pews. The unceasing attack against God’s truth, from within the Christian community and from without, have turned so many away from God’s truth as those without faith or with weak faith turn to the myths of man to find the meaning of life.
The need for patience and careful instruction is great for what is at stake is the saving of the souls of men and women and children. Yet we will not begin to achieve this order without our own effort and willingness to be taught, rebuked, corrected and in trained in righteousness. No wonder Paul closes charging Timothy and all Christians, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” You help your pastor to discharge all his duties, to do the work of an evangelist when you join with him in proclaiming the Word!
When the professor asked, “What is the take-home” at the end of the lecture, I was asking myself the same question. The question was appropriate, for the lecture had been rather poorly put together, drawing conclusions based on assumptions that were not provable, and though the lecture was on the value of prayer in the care of seriously ill patients,the Word of God was ignored.There was little to take home. What is the take-home for you in Paul’s letter to Timothy? Take to heart God’s charge to you, “But you, child of God, have the courage of conviction of faith to:remain in the sphere of what you have learned; for all Scripture is God-breathed and so is useful!’ To God be all glory, amen!