Sunday's Message - Grow in the Word

Although it’s not hard to believe that we’ve been called by Christ, actually living that call may be a whole lot more challenging. And so, during the Sundays between the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent, we’ll consider seven ways we can live as followers of Jesus. The topics are listed below. 

• January 16 – Decide to Follow (Mark 1:14-20)
• January 23 – Grow in the Word (2 Timothy 3:10-17)
• January 30 – Pray in Faith (Matthew 6:5-15)
• February 6 – Claim the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26)
• February 13 – Fellowship with Believers (Colossians 3:12-17)
• February 20 – Witness to the World (Matthew 28:16-20)
• February 27 – Minister to Others (1 John 3:15-24)

During this second message, we used 2 Timothy 3:10-17 to discuss how we might grow in the Word. 

You can stream all our services live by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube channel. If you miss one of these messages, you can find a copy and podcast on the Sligo Presbyterian Church: Our Congregation and Community blog (https://thenettransform.blogspot.com/). 

The passage and message are below: 

2 Timothy 3:10-17 [Contemporary English Version]

Timothy, you know what I teach and how I live. You know what I want to do and what I believe. You have seen how patient and loving I am, and how in the past I put up with trouble and suffering in the cities of Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. Yet the Lord rescued me from all those terrible troubles. Anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus and wants to live right will have trouble from others. But evil people who pretend to be what they are not will become worse than ever, as they fool others and are fooled themselves.

Keep on being faithful to what you were taught and to what you believed. After all, you know who taught you these things. Since childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved. Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds.

Grow in the Word 

Now, as it relates to the weather, it sure seems as though an awful lot happened since we started this new sermon series last week. I mean, give me a break, after we started talking about living the call we’ve received as Christians and after we discussed how I think the first step involves deciding to the follow Jesus Christ and after looking at how making that decision demands that we open our minds and leave behind our past and move into our future, I’ll tell you, after doing all that, we got, what, fifteen inches of snow on Sunday and Monday followed by temperatures in the mid-40s on Wednesday and then the thermometer dropped below zero Friday night and Saturday morning. As they say down in South Louisiana, “Pouya.” And I didn’t even mention what happened to the Steelers last Sunday or the Packers last night. Man, the last seven days have been a wild ride. 

But be-that-as-it-may, this morning, we’re going to continue the series we started last week, you know, the one entitled “Living the Call: Seven Ways to Live as Followers of Jesus Christ.” And since, we’ve already talked about how we can start by following Jesus, today we’re moving on to the second thing we can do, namely to grow in the word. In other words, if we’re serious about actually living the call that we’ve received, we need to decide that we really want to grow in our appreciation and understanding and application of God’s Word, you know, the Bible. And based on what I’ve seen, I think that’s a pretty good thing to do, especially since, for a lot of Christians, well, their understanding of the Bible probably peaked at about the same time they stopped going to Sunday School. Now don’t get me wrong, those same believers will say that the Bible is still really important to them, and it is, and that they’ve heard a whole bunch of sermons that started with a Bible passage, and they have, and that they’ll watch any movie or television show based a story from the Bible, and they will. You see, I’m not questioning their sincerity at all. Still, outside of those who read their Bibles with some intensity or who attend a study or a discussion now-or-then, to actually grow in the word, well, that just may not happen, in spite of their best intentions. As Jesus himself said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [Matthew 26:41b, NRSV] Sad, but true.

But you know, even thought that may be the way it is, that really doesn’t change the fact that growing in the Word is actually a crucial part of us living the call. And so that’s what we’re going to talk about for the next ten minutes or so. You see, in the time we have left, we’re going to look at why it’s important for us to grow in our appreciation and understanding and application of the Bible. And then, after we’ve established the “why,” we’re going to shift to the how, in other words, how we might be able to grow in the word. Now that’s the plan.

And I’ll tell you, if we really want to know why doing this is important, man, I think the place to start is with the passage we just read from Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Although I won’t read the whole thing, I do want you to listen to the last four verses, because I think they pretty much cover exactly why we should be looking to grow. Remember, this is what Paul wrote:

Keep on being faithful to what you were taught and to what you believed. After all, you know who taught you these things. Since childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved. Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds. [2 Timothy 3:14-17, CEV]

Now that what Paul said.

And let’s think about what it means. You see, first, I think Paul was telling Timothy that God’s word as taught to him by Paul, man, it should really touch Timothy’s heart. And why shouldn’t it; man, it was rooted in the past, in his past. It was something that he could remember from childhood, for crying-out-loud. But even more than that, it was grounded not only in the reality of God but also Timothy’s own faith in Jesus Christ. And for that reason, it should move him to feel. But it’s importance wasn’t just emotional, because second, it should touch not just his heart but also his head. In other words, since it was “useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live,” [2 Timothy 3:16b, CEV] growing in God’s Word was intellectual; therefore it should also encourage him to think, and that’s also why it’s important. But Paul didn’t stop there, because not only should it touch the heart and the head, growing in the word also involved the hands. As he said, “The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds.” [2 Timothy 3:14-17, CEV] You see, even though the Word should move him to feel and to encourage him to think, it must also challenge Timothy to act, in other words, to take what he felt and what he thought and apply it in the world in which he lived. And so, I believe that Paul told Timothy and is telling us that the Word of God touches our hearts and our heads and our hands, moving us to feel and encouraging us to think and challenging us to act. And I’ll tell you, because this is what it does, that’s why our decision to grow in the Word is really important.

And how can we do it; well, I think that’s directly related to why it’s important. You see, because it involves our emotions, I believe we can grow in the word by, first, loving it. In other words, we can approach the Bible with the same kind of passion felt by the Psalmist. Just listen to what he wrote in the 119th Psalm:

I rely on your laws!

    Don’t take away my chance

    to speak your truth.

I will keep obeying your Law

    forever and ever.

I have gained perfect freedom

    by following your teachings,

and I trust them so much

    that I tell them to kings.

I love your commands!

    They bring me happiness.

I love and respect them

    and will keep them in mind. [Psalm 119:43-48, CEV]

You see, we can love the words that come from God. And although I don’t think you can turn emotions on and off like a facet, I do believe we can strengthen how we feel about God Word by ramping both our desire to grow and the urgency on starting that process as soon as possible. You see, in my opinion, this can strengthen that love we may already feel. And I’ll tell you, I think having this perspective may have strengthen the Psalmist’s love for God’s Word. I mean, just listen to what he wrote a little later in the same psalm:

You have been my teacher,

    and I won’t reject

    your instructions.

Your teachings are sweeter

    than honey.

    They give me understanding

    and make me hate all lies.

Your word is a lamp

that gives light

    wherever I walk.

Your laws are fair,

    and I have given my word

    to respect them all. [Psalm 119:102-106, CEV]

Trust me, since it touches the heart, moving us to feel, we can grow in the word by simply loving it. And that’s the first thing we can do.

And second, I think we can grow in God’s word by learning it. In other words, we can make the effort to actually learn want God is saying to us. Of course, this idea of trying to understand what God wants us to do, well, it’s really not new. I mean, just listen to what it says in the Book of Deuteronomy:

Memorize these laws and think about them. Write down copies and tie them to your wrists and your foreheads to help you obey them. Teach them to your children. Talk about them all the time—whether you’re at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning. Write them on the door frames of your homes and on your town gates. Then you and your descendants will live a long time in the land that the Lord promised your ancestors. Your families will live there as long as the sky is above the earth. [Deuteronomy 11:18-21, CEV]

No, education has always been a part of Christian growth. 

And I’ll tell you, this can apply to us; we can all grow in both our knowledge and understanding by simply setting aside a little time for study, something we can do by ourselves but even better in groups, and setting aside a little time for prayer. And I’ll tell you why the prayer is important. I think it’s really easy to put our trust in someone who just tells us what we want to hear and what we want to believe. Now that’s easy to do, but I believe prayer can help us shift our focus from what we want to what God offers, and I’m talking about a truth so real and powerful that it can challenge some of our assumptions and prejudices. You see, we can grow in the word by simply learning it. And that’s the second thing we can do.

And finally, if we’re serious about growing in God’s Word, we can also decide to live it. And as I’ve said before, this is really where the rubber hits the road. I mean, what we feel and what we think isn’t worth a hill of beans if our emotions and intellect don’t influence what we do. It’s like James wrote in his letter:

Obey God’s message! Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it. If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget. [James 1:22-25, CEV]

I’ll tell you, there’s about two feet that separates our heart and head from our hands, but those twenty-four inches can really make all the difference. And for that reason, I believe we need to actively look for ways to apply God’s word in the world, and I’m talking about the word that we’ve got, not just the world that we might want. In other words, I think it’s important for us to be looking for new ways to share this simple and yet profound message to the world around us: “The time has come! God’s kingdom will soon be here. Turn back to God and believe the good news!” [Mark 1:15b, CEV] And we can share it through the words we use but more importantly, through the compassion and mercy that we show. You see, as both individuals and a community, we can look for how we can apply the word. And then we can follow the advice of Nike and “just do it.” I’m telling you, if we want to grow in the Word, man, we really need to live it. And that’s the third thing we can do.

Well, right now, it’s snowing. And although it’s not suppose to be quite so much, according the source of all truth and I’m talking about The Weather Channel, we can plan on it continuing off-and-on all afternoon. And as to the temperature, again it shouldn’t be as cold this week as it was Saturday morning when I was walking Coco through town. Still, in my book, when the thermometer never breaks freezing, man, that’s pretty cold. What did I call it last week: the dog days of winter. But you know, I don’t think we should allow the weather to distract us from growing in our appreciation and our understanding and our application of the word. You see, since the Word of God touches our hearts, moving us to feel, and our heads, encouraging us to think, and our hands, challenging us to act, I mean, since that’s why growing in the word is important, maybe we can use our time to take the Word of God and to do what we’ve been talking about, namely to love it and to learn it and to live it, something that will help us take another step in living the call