Latest / Chapel Talks / How to Use God-Breathed Scripture in Ministry (Part 2) | 2 Timothy 3:10–17 | Thomas Renz

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How to Use God-Breathed Scripture in Ministry (Part 2) | 2 Timothy 3:10–17 | Thomas Renz · Chapel Talks

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  Last week, we took the early church as our example.
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  They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching
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  and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and
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  to prayer. And we reflected together what it
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  means for us as a college community to participate
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  in the church being one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.
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  Meeting one another, first of all, as brothers
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  and sisters in Christ and supporting one another.
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  meeting in prayer and praise to express our faith
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  and dependence on God and so live in the holiness
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  that is Christ's. To remember that we are part
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  of a church that spans the ages and the globe,
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  having the church all over the world in mind,
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  the persecuted church, the missionary church,
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  the church in the past and the church to come,
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  and all the different expressions of church.
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  longing for that wholeness of the church. And
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  then, of course, being devoted to the Scriptures,
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  the apostles' teaching, including what we hear
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  from Paul into Timothy about the Scriptures,
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  which by now include 2 Timothy and other of Paul's
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  writings as well. So if we had four adjectives.
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  Last week, this week, we have four nouns in the
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  Greek and in the ESV, changed into verbs in the
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  NIV, doesn't matter much. But four, to talk about
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  the usefulness of Scripture, I want to focus
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  on 2 Timothy 3, 16. A well -known verse, often
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  used in doctrinal discussions, and rightly so,
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  but it is not actually a verse that is, first
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  of all, about Scripture, about the nature of
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  Scripture. It doesn't talk about Scripture being
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  revelation, being reliable, trustworthy, which,
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  of course, we read about all over the Bible.
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  This is not actually a verse about what Scripture
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  is. It's a verse about how Timothy will make
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  good use of Scripture. And the terms that I used
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  here are specifically about ministering Scripture
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  to others, which is why revelation and faith
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  and so on are not terms that are used, although
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  Scripture is, of course, useful for revelation.
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  It reveals to us who God is. It is very useful
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  for believing. It's the thing we should believe
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  in. But these are not the terms used because
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  it's about Timothy's ministry to others. And
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  I was wondering, as I reflected further on that,
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  whether it is quite specifically whether those
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  four nouns are chosen really because of the specific
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  circumstances in Ephesus with Paul about to die
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  and passing on his role to Timothy. But then
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  I observed that I think Timothy's context is
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  quite similar to our own. And those four terms
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  are inspired, I think, by what Jesus says about
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  the role of the Holy Spirit. In John 16. And
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  therefore, I reckon that those four nouns are
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  not just specifically for Timothy's situation.
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  Of course, in other contexts, if we talk about
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  the usefulness of Scripture, we might choose
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  three, five different terms, and that would still
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  be true. But I think those four are important
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  and a good list to have even for us today. How
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  is Scripture profitable, useful? in our ministry
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  to ourselves, in ministering Scripture to ourselves
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  and to others. First, we are told that all Scripture
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  is God -breathed. That seems to be a phrase that
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  Paul created. God -breathed, not strictly speaking
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  inspired Scripture, but expired Scripture. And
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  we could move from there doctrinally to the truthfulness,
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  reliability of Scripture, which is all perfectly
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  true. But I think the reason that Paul talks
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  about Scripture being God -breathed here is twofold.
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  One is there is no such thing as God -breathed
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  gobbledygook. That wouldn't really help us, would
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  it, if God breathed out gobbledygook? It would
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  be inerrant gobbledygook, presumably. But what's
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  the use of that? No, because God is who he is,
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  a loving God who wants to communicate with us.
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  What is God -breathed is not going to be gobbledygook.
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  It's going to be useful as well as being truthful
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  and reliable. It can only be useful by being
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  truthful and reliable. But it's the usefulness
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  that is the focus here. And I think Paul is alluding
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  to God -breathing his word on other occasions.
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  Genesis 2, he breathes into Adam, which the Greek
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  translates as Anthropos. which the ESV translates
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  here as man of God and the NIV as servant of
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  God. So we have that same term, breath, God,
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  man, anthropos, human being, whatever you translate
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  it in this verse. God breathes life into human
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  being. So scripture being God breathed suggests
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  that scripture is a means of making us fully
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  alive as human beings. If we want to be a human
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  being fully alive, fully in the potential of
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  God's design for human beings, we need Scripture.
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  The other allusion then would be to Ezekiel 37,
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  where the dead bones are receiving the breath
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  of God and come to life again. So that even after
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  sin, there is the fullness of life through God's
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  Spirit, through God -breathed Scripture. Because
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  God -breathed Scripture is useful, first of all,
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  for teaching. I find that really quite encouraging,
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  that the first word being used here is teaching.
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  It's not that Scripture is kind of useful for
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  an inspired thought for the day, and then, yes,
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  if you are particularly intellectually inclined,
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  you might want to spend more time studying it
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  and teaching it and so on. No, the first thing
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  that's said about the usefulness of Scripture
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  is for teaching. Before we get to instruction,
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  I thought, why not instruction first? Torah,
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  the Hebrew term, is instruction. Is there no
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  Greek equivalent? Well, there is. It's coming
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  up later on. Training could be to say there's
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  instruction. There are other terms for that.
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  But Paul doesn't speak about instruction because
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  it's not about obedience, first of all, and about
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  this is what you do, but teaching, which implies
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  learning, which implies understanding. God wants
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  us to understand. And so what we do as theological
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  students is a jolly good thing, not some sort
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  of specialist thing that is slightly embarrassing
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  because Scripture is really for other things.
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  No, Scripture is there for teaching, for understanding,
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  for learning. What are we to learn? What are
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  we to teach? Well, these terms are actually quite
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  important in the pastorals. The first chapter
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  of this letter to Timothy 1 .11, a teacher. And
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  of this gospel, I was appointed a herald and
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  an apostle and a teacher. So what does he teach?
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  He teaches the gospel. The gospel that he proclaims
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  and of which he is an apostle. Same in 3 .10,
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  the beginning of our reading today. You, however,
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  know all about my teaching. First thing he says.
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  Then my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience,
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  love, endurance. My teaching. What's my teaching?
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  Is that what you are meant to learn? 1 Timothy
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  2, 7. I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying. And
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  a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
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  Paul took pride in being a teacher. A teacher
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  of the gospel. And so he entrusts Timothy to
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  find other people, many witnesses, to entrust
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  to them reliable people who are qualified to
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  teach others. Paul is really into teaching because
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  he knows that God wants us to understand, not
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  just to blindly follow and be obedient, but to
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  understand him and his purposes, his agenda.
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  What is the teaching? It's the teaching. through
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  which we are saved. 1 Timothy 4 .16 Watch your
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  life and doctrine closely. The NIV translates
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  the word teaching, sometimes instruction, sometimes
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  teaching, sometimes doctrine. It's the same word
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  here in the Greek. Watch your life and teaching
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  closely. Persevere in them, because if you do,
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  you will save both yourself and your hearers.
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  It's the teaching by which we are saved. So I
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  think we don't go far wrong in thinking that
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  the teaching is primarily what, in fact, verse
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  15, immediately preceding our verse 16, talks
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  about. Timothy having known the scriptures, which
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  are able to make you wise for salvation through
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  faith in Jesus Christ. The teaching is for wisdom,
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  for salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ.
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  So there's the encouragement and challenge for
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  us, the encouragement that teaching, working
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  hard with your minds on intellectual understanding
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  is a good thing. That's what Scripture is there
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  for. We're not abusing Scripture by being academic
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  about it. That's what Scripture is there for.
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  But a warning as well, make sure that a teaching
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  is always aimed at wisdom for salvation through
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  faith in Jesus Christ. The second thing is reproof
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  or rebuking in the NIV. It's not the thing that
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  I would have thought of as the second thing to
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  say. Scripture is useful for teaching and application.
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  We want to hear and learn Scripture and then
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  we want to apply it. And of course, reproof,
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  rebuking is one form of application. But why
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  highlight this? Why having this very broad term
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  teaching and then going to a quite narrow application
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  point, rebuke? Again, it may be the context,
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  but I do think there's something about Scripture
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  that remains permanently true. It needs to rebuke
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  us. It needs to reprove our false. thinking our
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  false attitudes because without that we are not
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  going to learn to be trained in righteousness
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  does this mean we are looking out to be constantly
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  told off and put down no i don't think so i do
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  think that we may need to learn the habit of
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  when we ask about how does this apply to me that
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  the first question should maybe be how does this
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  rebuke me How does this correct my thinking?
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  How does it challenge my attitude? But not in
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  a being told off and put down sort of way. Satan,
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  of course, has no interest in Scripture being
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  useful and profitable for us. And one of his
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  strategies is to turn teaching into speculation,
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  get us sidetracked with speculation about myths
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  and genealogies and so on, for salvation through
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  faith in Jesus Christ. And the other strategy
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  is to turn rebuke into a satanic accusation that
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  condemns us and diminishes us as persons. So
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  he twists it for us. And that's maybe an area
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  where we need one another to hear and receive
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  rebuke in the context of God -breathed grace.
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  then we have a divine rebuke rather than a satanic
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  accusation. Our temptation will be when Scripture
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  points us to some sin in our life, some false
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  thinking, to either quickly move on, suppress
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  the thought, or to wallow into it and accuse
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  ourselves and allow Satan to get hold of the
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  Scripture and beat us up with it. And both, of
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  course, is wrong. God's rebuke is necessary for
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  our salvation, not for our condemnation. It is
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  part of the wisdom of teaching faith in Jesus
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  Christ. And that's where sometimes confessing
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  sin to one another can be a real help. As evangelical
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  Protestants, we know that we don't need to confess
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  sin to one another and need a clergy person for
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  that necessarily. We can do that by finding just
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  whatever mature Christian believer. But we should
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  remember that this can be a helpful way because
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  it drags sin out of the darkness into the light.
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  It makes it much harder to just move on. So it
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  prevents the suppression by bringing it and expressing,
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  vocalizing the sin in the presence of someone
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  else. And if that someone else is a mature Christian,
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  then the sin will be verbalized in the context
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  of grace. That fellow Christian will remind us.
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  of the forgiveness of sins, so that this sin
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  is not for our condemnation and accusation, doesn't
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  become satanic, but is a gospel rebuke. And sometimes
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  we need that confession, not just for the sins
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  that we all know are obvious to us, our sins,
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  but sometimes, as Isaiah 64 puts us, all our
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  worthy deeds, all our good things, we sometimes
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  need to... bring to God as well in humility and
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  recognize we don't have really anything to bring,
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  but by the grace of God, that's part of being
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  rebuked, not thinking we've got anything to offer
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  to God. So teaching and rebuke. Rebuke needs
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  naturally into correction, setting straight,
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  or maybe as some commentators have observed,
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  at least since the Middle Ages, There may be
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  a movement from belief, teaching truth, rebuking
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  falsehood, to behavior, correcting false behavior,
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  training in good behavior. Whether we have this
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  movement or not, there certainly is an overall
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  movement of thinking to action, correcting the
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  thinkings first, which will correct the action.
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  And I think it is significant that those two
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  negative terms Reproof and correction, or rebuking
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  and correcting in the NRV, are surrounded by
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  the two positive terms, teaching and training.
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  In fact, rebuking, correcting, and training are
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  all wisdom terms, which reminds us that these
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  good works, being equipped for every good work,
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  is not about fulfilling the law. It's not about
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  being obedient to the law. It's about wisdom.
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  Our salvation takes shape in being liberated
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  to be the kind of people that God has designed
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  us to be. We don't want to do good works in order
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  to impress God or others. But because God has
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  liberated us by his grace from our sin, from
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  our self -centeredness, we can look out for others
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  and do them good. Because God has showered so
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  many gifts on us and is so generous to us. hold
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  on tightly to what we have, but can give to others.
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  So it's the gospel that liberates us to good
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  work, that makes us thoroughly equipped, or as
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  the ESV has it, that the man of God, everyone
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  who belongs to God, may be complete. Think again
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  of Adam. The complete human being is the one
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  that's fully equipped for every good work by
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  the gospel. by the grace of God. Now, this is
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  not an accidental sequence, but quite deliberate.
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  We also see in 2 Timothy 4 .2 where Timothy is
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  told to preach, or actually it's a more general
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  term, proclaim. So don't let this hold you back
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  in terms of thinking who's allowed to preach
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  when it's proclaiming, which we are all called
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  to do in some contexts. Proclaim the word. Correct,
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  rebuke, and encourage, or more literally, rebuke,
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  correct, and encourage, because the word order
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  is the same as here. The NIV slightly messes
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  it up, unfortunately. So first, the correcting
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  and rebuking, but the aim of that is the encouragement
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  and encourage. With great patience, every patience,
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  and careful instruction is the teaching word
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  again. which now has the final word. It's the
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  overarching word. What does teaching look like?
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  What does it look like for us to teach one another?
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  Not just to sit in a classroom and receive something
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  from the lecturer or receive something from reading,
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  but what does it mean for us to minister Scripture
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  in ways that teach one another? It means to rebuke,
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  correct, and encourage training in righteousness.
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  This is how we can help. And support one another.
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  This is how we live the unity of the body of
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  Christ. The holiness of the body of Christ. This
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  is how we grow into greater catholicity. As we
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  hear other voices rebuking us. Seeing our blind
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  spots that we can't see because of our tradition.
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  And the way our corner of the Christian world
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  has shaped us in particular ways. And this is
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  how we remain firmly rooted and grounded on the
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  apostolic foundations. relate for us in the Scriptures.
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  Amen.