Let the Scripture Teach You

Our church is reading the Bible this year in order to understand the whole Story of the Bible.  It is my hope that our church, and all who might follow along online, get a firm grasp of the unified story of the Bible.  My heart for believers and for their families is that they are firmly grounded in Scripture for the glory of God.

When Paul wrote to Timothy in his second letter he soon faced his own execution.  The letter is full of Fatherly advice for his young - but obviously loved Son in the faith who was to carry on after Paul was gone.  You might read it as a “Last will and Testament”.  He challenges Timothy on multiple levels, but none more importantly on his concern that Timothy immerse himself in the word of God and teach it soundly to his congregation of believers.

Here is a passage that of which the last two verses are in chapter 3, and the next 4 verses begin chapter 4.  Together they read:

2 Timothy 3:16-17
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.  

( 4:1-4 )
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.

Of supreme importance to the Apostle was that Timothy would understand the priority of the Scripture.  The Scripture is not words written by humans that God authenticated; but rather it is words God “breathed” into human authors, and he superintended over the writing to make sure they say exactly what God wanted to convey.

As we saw in Genesis this last week it is always the enemy’s hope that those who are believers would doubt God’s word.  When Adam and Eve were told that they could have any tree in the garden except the one, the enemy attacks God.

Genesis 3:1
¹  Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Their response was to let the doubt in their mind take over and become truth – even though it was a lie.  It should not surprise us to see people who do not believe attack the Bible.  Since the Bible is inspired (2 Tim. 3 above), it is also profitable for:

Teaching:  What to believe, what not to believe...How to live, how not to live.  It involves both belief and behavior.  We don’t read Scripture to win arguments, but to know God and know how to live for God.  We can learn from Scripture.  We don’t read to “get something”, but to learn...to think, to reason, to understand.

Someone, a long time ago told me that when you read the Bible, ask yourself some questions:

• Does the passage say something about the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit?
• Is there a command to be obeyed?
• Is there a promise to be trusted for?
• Is there a warning to be aware of?

All Scripture will ultimately lead you back to Jesus.  If you want some help in reading the Scripture, please let me know, I’d love to help you see the beauty and grandeur of this Book that tells God’s story.  Watch this video for some of the overall structure of the Word of God - the bible.