Pastor Slaughter
10-31-2021
Reformation
God’s People Gather Around the Word
Text: 2 Timothy 3:14-16
What would a peanut butter and jelly sandwich be without the peanut butter? What would Adam be without Eve? Or where would Lois be without Clark? Or shampoo without conditioner. There are just certain things that go well together almost to the point where you can’t picture one without the other.
What would the church be without God’s Word? Just another social club? Where would we be without God’s Words? We wouldn’t necessarily know what is right and wrong except from our consciences. When someone needed encouragement, would we just only be able to give false hopes and wishful thinking? How would we know God’s Word, if no one had it to teach us? Who would rebuke us when we start to stray? Who would correct us with the gospel comfort? How would we be equipped for service in God’s kingdom? How could we separate God’s people from God’s Word? We can’t! God’s people gather around the Word!
Overtime, respect for God’s Word started lesson as people elevated the Pope and tradition. As people started elevating things to the same level as God’s Word or even above God’s Word, people started to muddy the waters of His Word. Salvation became something you could buy with indulgences, what the Pope said was more important than what God’s Word said. People were left burdened by sin and peoples salvation was at stake. It wasn’t until reformers like Martin Luther came and pointed people back to God’s Word.
Timothy was a pastor, and 2 Timothy was one of Paul’s last epistles written. Paul was writing to reinforce the importance of God’s Word in Timothy’s and really all of our lives. Paul reminds us that God’s Word saves, and God’s Word equips us for every good work.
Paul tells Timothy, “That from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Luther wanted people back to the Word…Why? Because God’s Word saves. It points people to Jesus. It tells us who God is and what he has done for us! Paul said in Romans, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” That gospel is powerful! The Holy Spirit works through that word to create saving faith. The gospel has the power to raise the spiritually dead to spiritual life, to give the spiritual blind sight. Back to God’s Word that saves!
But do we treat God’s Word as the power of God? Or is it just another book? Do we come to church and gather around the Word, simply because our parents tell us too? Do we come to church simply because that is what we are “supposed to do” instead of seeing the impact that God’s Word has on our lives?
Why is it so important to gather around the Word? Why is so important to study God’s Word? If it has made us “wise for salvation” then why do we need to continue to be in it, to gather around it? Picture it like exploring a cave. As you go through the cave, you discover all kinds of caverns and cisterns. You discover different tunnels connecting different rooms together. But the more you explore, the more you realize that it would take multiple lifetimes to explore never-ending nooks and crannies of those caves.
Yes, you have found the cave, you have heard God’s Word which brings you salvation by pointing you to Christ. But as you explore the cave of God’s Word what do you discover? As you look in one cavern of God’s Word you see what you are supposed to do, but you recognize you that you didn’t. You explore another cavern and find that you have done something that you shouldn’t have. The more you explore the cave, you see the ugliness of your sins and the more God’s Word convicts you of sin. You hear God’s rebukes from Scripture. The more time you spend exploring the cave, the more time you hear those rebukes, the more you realize your desperate need for a Savior.
I think it is so so so very important for us to learn what Scripture has to teach us and to hear its rebukes, because without it how would we know what sin is? Abortion, sex outside marriage? Drunkenness, failure to pay taxes? Gender identity? Look in the news, hear it in music, you see it on our tv and then go and compare it to the Bible. Clearly not everyone agrees about what is or isn’t a sin. The Scriptures are useful for teaching and rebuking, for convicting the sinner of sin!
So, what do we do? Go to Bible because it is “God breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking…” Luther spent his time exploring that cave. He saw the ugliness of his sin. People were telling him different things to make up for that sin. So, he became a monk. He would spend hours in confession. He even went so far as too physically punish himself for his sins. People were essentially telling him that you need to be more holy, and by doing that they were essentially saying you need Jesus less and less. What did he need, what do we need, as we explore the cave of God’s Word?
The more you explore the cave, the more you realize that it is not that you need Jesus less and less in your life, but the opposite. You need Jesus more and more. God’s Word is not only useful for teaching and rebuking, but it is also useful for correcting. The law rebukes and convicts us of sin but the gospel restores and brings us back! As we explore the cave, we see how desperately we need Jesus, who died in our place, who gives us his righteousness, his forgiveness, who turns us away from our sin and to our Savior and puts us on the right track.
It’s not like once Scripture rebukes and corrects us we are done with it. But as we explore those caves more and more, and we see how God’s Word teaches, rebukes, corrects, but we also see how it useful for “…training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work.” Our lives are a constant battle. We battle against temptation; we battle against our sinful nature that constant tug to try to get us to go against God and his Word. But it is God’s Word that trains us to battle those things that try to separate us from Him and his Word. As we read through Scriptures, it encourages us, shows us, trains us how to live our lives. But we follow what God’s Word says, not to obtain a righteousness on our own, but because Jesus has given us his righteousness on the cross. Our motivation to be, “well equipped for every good work” is not to become holy, but out of thanks to the One who made us holy by nailing our sin on the cross and giving us his righteousness.
God’s Word is “useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work.” God has prepared each of you for every good work. Every time you resist temptation, that is good work. As you pray for others, that is a good work. As you faithfully work at your jobs, that is a good work done out of love your Savior. As you serve as a mother, a father, a friend a neighbor, that service done with a heart of faith is a good work. God has equipped you to do those things. He has equipped you with his Word.
I think one of the amazing things about Christianity, isn’t just that God has given us his Word, but he has surrounded us with a family of believers, to explore those caves together. Paul is writing to Timothy who was a serving as a pastor to encourage him to remain in God’s Word. His grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and his mentor Paul taught him God’s Word. Think about that. Timothy gathered around God’s word with other people. As they gathered around God’s Word, what is Scripture useful for? “Teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness…”
We not only have the privilege of studying God’s Word on own, but we are to gather around the Word! As we open and study that Word with others, what is Scripture going to do for us “Teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness…” As we sit with our family in Christ and study God’s Word as we worship or go to Bible study what is it going to do for us? “Teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness…” As we share God’s Word with other, and people share God’s Word with us, what is happening? We are being “equipped for every good work.” We need those people in our lives to share God’s Word with us, but we also need to be those people who share God’s Word with others. That is one of the reasons why we gather together and worship, so that we can put this into practice. That is why we have family devotions to encourage one another. That is why we delve deeper with fellow believers in Bible study.
My family in Christ, continue to Gather around God’s Word because really what is the church without God’s Word? The focus of the Reformation was back to God’s Word. As you hear and learn God’s Word it convicts us of sin and points us to forgiveness won by Christ. It gives us the motivation to open and learn, and the motivation to live godly lives. Let us continue to gather around the word Amen.