I get a weekly update from Christianity today, some years back I subscribed to that, thought,
well I'd just kind of like to keep up with what's in the news from a Christian standpoint,
Christian perspective. This week there was an interesting article that caught my eye,
they posted an article online about the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to be a
Christian. I think if we look around the world today and we think about how difficult it is to
take the name of Christ and claim to be a follower of his, all of us could list off probably a
handful of countries where we would automatically think they've got to be on that list of 50.
It's becoming more and more difficult. It was reporting on, actually they were reporting in
this article on the fact that Open Doors released their latest World Watch list on Wednesday of
this week and they said that 2014 has been the worst persecution of Christians in the modern era.
Now I don't know how they define the modern era. I don't know if that goes back to the horse and
buggy days or the automobile or how far back they go but in the modern era they said 2014 was the
worst year ever. As I said it was not all because of violence against Christians in churches.
Certainly there's been a lot of that. A lot of Christians have been killed, a lot of churches
have been burned. It doesn't mean there's no violence. In fact World Watch monitors as researchers
calculated there were, I think it was, I have the number here, 4,344 Christians killed last year
for faith-based reasons and that's double the amount in 2013 and more than triple the amount
from 2012. So it has escalated incredibly. It's easy to understand why the list is topped by
countries like North Korea, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in that order. It is pretty easy
to understand why those are there. Three of those are Middle Eastern countries which open doors as
Christians have fled from as a result of ISIS. In fact there are only a very small remnant of
Christians left in any of those countries. Iran, Pakistan and Nigeria also made the top 10. What
was a little surprising to the analysts is that Nigeria's population is about 50% Christian
and for them to say that this is one of the top 10 countries where it was most dangerous or you are
most persecuted for being a Christian seemed a little difficult for them to fathom and figure out.
What I read as I read through the article was they finally concluded that it was the brutal
attacks by Poko Haram that pushed it up into the top 10 but there's plenty of other difficulty
in Nigeria as well. What also seemed to surprise the writer for Christianity Day is a conclusion
from open doors that cultural marginalization, it's a big term, but cultural marginalization,
being marginalized because of the culture. That was a main factor in the increase of
persecutions of Christians in 2014. Let me share two short paragraphs with their article and we'll
get on with things. Here's our quote. It says, but it wasn't increased violence that primarily
drove persecution to record levels in 2014 but rather increased cultural marginalization
according to open doors. In other words, the more subtle squeeze dimensions of persecution
that make daily life harder and harder for Christians. A substantial study by the Pew
Research Center found that nearly 75% of the world's population now lives in countries with high
levels of social hostility involving religion. Even Christian majority states are experiencing
unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence, said David Curry, President and
CEO of Open Doors USA. The 2015 world watch list reveals that a staggering number of Christians
are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith. They're being forced
to be more secretive about their faith. I've been thinking a lot in the last couple of weeks
about Mr. Frank's Bible study at Winter Family Weekend which he titled The Destruction of Godliness.
If you didn't tune in on Friday night during Winter Family Weekend for that or didn't watch
the replay, it's posted. I posted it this week along with Mr. Kylo Sermon on the Sermon page of
the member website this week. Mr. Frank's mentioned it in his letter, but I found it very, very
interesting and thought-provoking for me to think about the destruction of godliness in our society
how it is becoming more and more common for people to denigrate anything that has to do
with godliness. It's something that we as Christians face. In watching what's happening
in our own nation, I would contend that cultural marginalization, as Open Doors calls it,
is happening to us right here in our country, in the United States, in our own nation,
on an unprecedented scale. That it's very, very much alive. Things we see as indirect
or things that we see as God's direct revelation in the Bible are being ignored at an increasing rate.
More and more people are ignoring that. And those who are trying to follow biblical guidance
are increasingly ridiculed, labeled as haters, uncaring and bigots. And that doesn't just include
us. I realize there are others. I'll add there are some other conservative Christian groups who
share our views, at least in part, and who are experiencing that same marginalization.
Turn with me to John 15, because Jesus warned that we really shouldn't be surprised at this.
John 15, and of course this was near the time of crucifixion. Jesus knew his time
was limited. In John chapter 15, these were some of the final words that he
spoke or taught to his disciples. At verse 18, I'll pick it up there, John 15 of verse 18,
if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world,
the world would love its own, yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the
world, therefore the world hates you. Therefore the world hates you. Now remember the word
in Greek, the word for hate is missio. It's the same one that's used in Luke chapter 14 of verse
26. I'm not going to turn there, but it's where Jesus Christ said, if you want to be a follower,
if you want to be a disciple of mine, you have to hate your father, mother, brother, sister, wife,
husband, even your own life, or you can't be my disciple. Now we've always explained that by
saying this Greek word missio really is a comparative word. It means love less by comparison.
Doesn't mean we actively have hatred or feelings of ill will toward those people that he listed
or named off in that list, but that by comparison we love them less than we love God. We put God
first in our life and he said unless you do that you can't be my disciple. Now in a sense he's
saying the same thing here, the world loves us less, very much less. We're not the world's best
friends when we believe the Bible, when we follow the Bible, when we try to live by the Bible,
when we look to the Bible for guidance and direction, when we believe it over the prevailing
the prevailing sentiments of our society. We're not the world's best friend. Now we live in one
sense in a very blessed part of the country because in the Bible Belt, as they call this
southern part of the country, we find there are higher percentages of people who have a little
bit more affinity for the Bible. And we find in our community around this part of the state even
that there's a bit of conservatism in Texas and in this part of the country. Let's continue he says
in verse 20, remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master,
if they persecuted me they'll also persecute you. If they kept my word they will keep yours also,
but all these things will do to you for my namesake because they do not know him who sent me.
They do not know him who sent me. Jesus prophesied that his followers would experience persecution.
If we continue with this a little bit further, I guess I'll read as far as verse 24,
he says if I had not come and spoken to them they would have no sin, but now they have no
excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my father also, for if I had not done among them
the works that no one else did they would have no sin, but now they have seen and also hated
both me and my father. Hated, love less. Love less. They love less. And again Jesus prophesied
persecution. The term cultural marginalization is just a fancy way to describe in the 21st century
of being loved less in a sense of persecution, of not looking to us as being a part of society,
marginalizing us if we accept the Bible as God's enduring word. And why is that? It was because
they don't know the Father. He says they don't know the Father. They don't understand that,
it's a whole separate subject, but it's a crucial part of the truth that Jesus taught.
Most of the religious world, even the religious world that calls itself by
Christ's name, don't really understand the Father. They don't understand the Father and the Son.
They're confused about who God the Father is, and therefore they're deceived about who Jesus
Christ is, because he said he and the Father are unified. They're one. We are one. That's the essence
of what Jesus said to Philip in John 14, a chapter earlier where he said, how can you say he shows
the Father? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. In essence, we're the same. We're not
different. It's not the Father in the Old Testament and me in the New Testament at odds with one
another. Most of the world doesn't understand that, even the Christian realm. I'd like to talk today
about the Bible, if you're wondering where this is going. I want to talk about the Bible and why
our approach to the Bible, why accepting what God's word says and living our life,
and forming our opinions, forming our worldview based on God's word, is so important. It's so
crucial. It's very important. As I said, we live in a Bible Belt, and because of that, I think
it's easy sometimes for us to kid ourselves about what's really happening in the rest of the country,
and the country as a whole, because the Bible Belt doesn't control the country.
It really doesn't. I also believe we need to be reminded occasionally about how precious the
written word of God is and how little it is appreciated in our country. This book that God
preserved for us, and he performed some incredible miracles over the centuries to preserve it,
and I'm convinced that he was involved in the preservation of it, not that all of the people
that helped preserve it were called to salvation at this point. I don't think there's any evidence
of that, but God uses all kinds of tools at different times to accomplish His will.
God intervenes in all kinds of lives. He intervened in the life of Nebuchadnezzar. No indication
Nebuchadnezzar was ever going to be converted. In that life, you'll have a chance later,
but he very directly involved himself in Nebuchadnezzar's life.
So let's look at this today. Why it's so important. Why would I say we as true Christians of Christ
are being marginalized when we live in what is still considered a largely Christian nation?
Not entirely, but largely Christian, at least in name. Well, there are a number of reasons,
and if you follow national news, it's pretty easy to recognize some of them. I'll start with one of
the hot topics of our country today. Same-sex marriage. I don't think that's a surprise to
anybody that I would bring that topic up because it's been in the news and continues to be in the
news. There has been a constant push by the gay, lesbian, transgender, all the whatever that is,
a GLBT. I get all the acronyms mixed up, but there has been a constant push toward legalizing
same-sex marriage. And this week, Florida became the 36th state in the U.S. along with the District
of Columbia, where they are legal. Same-sex marriage is now legal in the state of Florida.
Yesterday, I was looking at the news a little bit yesterday, there were there are also reports
about a federal appeals court in New Orleans. That's deep, deep, deep in the Bible Belt,
who is considering hearing arguments about overturning the bans on same-sex marriage
in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Those are very deep Bible Belt states. And this thing,
this federal court is looking at overturning those bans, at least hearing the arguments.
There's not a guarantee they'll overturn it, but they quite possibly could.
Just the idea that deep in the Bible Belt marriage between a man and a woman,
that's been the foundational part of society, and it's been seen as a foundational part of
society. The idea that could be undermined is really shocking. Yesterday, the Supreme Court
decided to take no action on five pending cases from other areas, but it doesn't mean they still
won't hear them during their current term. They could, if they rule like many other federal courts
have done, could possibly end states being able to determine what they want to define as marriage.
The Supreme Court could possibly do that. Now, the proponents of same-sex marriage say,
well, it's a fundamental right of each individual. They deserve to be able to make up their mind
what they want to call a marriage, and the country has to accept it. Kind of get tired
of hearing deserve and write so many times those ideas of rights and what we deserve go
contrary to the Bible, and certainly it does in this situation as well. Opponents have been
arguing that society has a vested interest in marriage. It has a vested interest as a whole,
though they have an interest in it being defined and how it's defined since before the founding
of our nation. That's the way it has been between one man and one woman, and they quote all kinds
of statistics about how much better off children are with an intact nuclear family with a father
and a mother, but that doesn't count. It's people's rights and that you can't discriminate. It's
become something very different than what I believe our founding fathers felt those terms
and those concepts were all about. But most important, what does God say about it? Since many
don't want to accept the words of the Old Testament as the words of Jesus Christ before
he became the Son of God, before he became the Messiah. Let's take a look at the New Testament
statement. Let's look at something he said in Matthew chapter 19. This is review for us, I realize,
but it just shows how very different our perspective is if we focus our perspective and we live by
what the Bible says and we allow that to frame and shape our opinions in society, how different we
are from society as a whole. Matthew chapter 19 of verse 3, the Pharisees came to him testing him,
came to Christ saying, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he
answered and he said, have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and
female? When asked a loaded question about the dissolution of marriage, Jesus Christ took them
back to the beginning, took them back to the Old Testament. He said, haven't you read that? I mean,
you're teachers of the law as Pharisees. Haven't you read that's the way God made it from the very
start? It was God's intent from the very beginning. He made them male and female and said, for this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become
one flesh. So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together,
let not man separate. God's intent from the very beginning, Jesus is saying, go back to the starting
point. What was God's intent from the very beginning? It was man and wife, man and woman.
A man and a woman, a man's to leave his father and mother. It's not to leave his two mothers,
not to leave his two fathers. I mean, isn't it pretty clear he's supposed to leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife? It seems so obvious to us. And his wife, that's a woman.
The nation doesn't even want to look at Christ's statements for guidance on the topic.
They read statements like this and say, well, that was first century. They didn't have homosexuality.
They didn't have same six concepts back then. Oh, yes, they did. Very much alive in the Roman Empire.
It was very much alive. And those who've tried to bring the biblical view into the discussion in
our country are dismissed as irrelevant. That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what the Bible
says. That has no bearing on life in the 21st century. Well, brethren, for us it better have
bearing on life. They have bearing on every part of our life. We've always said that this interaction
was between men and Jesus, the Pharisees, not between women who are asking to put away their
same sex wives. I mean, it's very, very clear. Anthropos men. Anthropos in one sense, you look at
interlinearism, they say that word anthropos can mean self. It can mean man, can mean woman.
But you look at many of the other forms, and the inner linears even say it's the masculine form
for man. And the feminine gunae means woman, especially a wife. So the inner linears are
very clear that he is speaking about man and female wife. Homosexuality, as I said, was common
in the Roman world in the first century. So Jesus and certainly the apostle Paul were well aware
of what was going on in society around them. And Jesus specifically did not endorse it. In fact,
Paul, if we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we see that Paul very, very soundly condemns it.
1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 9. Paul was writing to the church at Corinth, and they were
a part of the Roman Empire. They were a seaport. They were known for all kinds of sexual immorality
in their society. It was a part of their life that people there had grown up with and had witnessed.
We find in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9, as Paul writes to him, he says,
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? No ambiguity. No,
well, you know, maybe God will look at their heart and say, well, their heart's good. They really
were faithful to whoever they were living with. No, he's just very adamant, very direct, very
state, a very, very flat statement. They will not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor theses,
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
They simply are not going to enter the kingdom. Now when he uses the terms homosexual and sodomite,
I don't want to get too graphic in this, but he's really talking about both aspects of a male
homosexual relationship, the more passive one and the more aggressive one. Look those terms up in
commentaries. My margin even makes that denotation. They are very specific terms about homosexual
relations. And he says very specifically, they will not inherit the kingdom. It's similar to what
Paul wrote in Romans 1 when he condemned those in society in the first century who ignored God,
ignored his instructions and decided to, they would decide for themselves what was right, that
they were wise. And he mentions both men and women burning in sexual desire for one another and
in doing what he called chainful acts. This is God's perspective. This is what God has to say
on the topic. Now I will point out the next verse shows that God forgives. When people come to
understand this is wrong, this is not right, and they change, God forgives. Whether you're a thief,
I mean, he didn't list homosexual sins as worse than any of the rest,
all of these he says will keep you out of the kingdom of God. But if you repent,
God forgives and you can be in God's kingdom. It's very clear because he says in verse 11,
that such were some of you, but you're washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in
the name of Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. So forgiveness is possible if you repent,
if you change. It's not that sexual sins are any more evil in that sense than other sins
in terms of life or death or being in God's kingdom or not being forgiven, God can forgive
any sin. He forgave David's sin with bashful. He forgave the murder. He forgave the adultery
because of David's repentance.
We have to repent and change. So far as of today, it is still legal in this country to
read these verses and teach they mean what they say. That this is what God says, this is what
God's word says, and if we want to let God's words, God's Bible, God's instructions frame our
thinking, it is still legal to say this is what our thinking should be if we want to have the mind
of God. But those of us who say so are becoming more and more marginalized in our society and
looked on negatively. And I realize, again, there are people who are in that kind of lifestyle
who can be very nice people. I'm saying they're all evil and horrible people.
But God, just like thieves, those who are drunkards are those who are any of these other
things that he mentions, God wants them to repent and change to give them life in his family.
That's only one topic. There's some others, a couple of others in this week's Christianity
Today, electronic newsletter. This was one that another one that caught my eye. Another way in
which Christians are being marginalized. This one, the title is Bible Citation Cost Atlanta Fire
Chief His Job. I won't read all the details of it. It was a rather involved article. But in 2013,
just to give you the Cliff Note version, Atlantis Fire Chief self-published a Christian book.
Now he is a deacon in one of the megachurches, I think is a Baptist megachurch. And he mentioned
it was a book aimed at men and he mentioned in the book that it was his belief that sex was
designed by God for a man and a woman. I just read in Matthew chapter 19. He was a fire chief,
a 34-year veteran of many fire departments. And as I said, a deacon in a megachurch,
Southern Baptist megachurch. He was suspended for 30 days. And then this week he was fired.
The mayor in talking about his fire chief, that is the fire chief's book, he said, well,
you know, his views or his beliefs on homosexuality are inconsistent with the work of the city.
They don't fit in with what Atlanta needs and wants and is doing according to the Christianity
today article. And these are 21st century examples of how people don't fit in if you follow God's
word. We're becoming more and more marginalized, fringe people in the minds of society.
If we're going to seek godliness, as Mr. Franks described in his Bible study,
our approach has to be a compromise. It cannot be a compromise. It has to be based on the word of
God, not a compromise on it. It has to be based on that. Sometimes we look around and say, well,
we're better than the world around us. We don't look as bad as them. That doesn't say anything.
Do we look like God? Do we look like what God is telling us to do? It's our approach that way.
Here's another article. I won't spend a lot of time on this one, but this article says,
why you don't need to read the whole Bible. I don't want to belittle the lady. She has
some ideas about this. She said, you know, it's the beginning of the year and many people make this
resolution that they want to read the whole Bible through, and then they get to the book of Leviticus
and they fall off the wagon. It's hard to read, and so her approach, any reading of the Bible is
good. I'll give her that. If you can get people to read the book of Psalms, you can get them
to read the Gospels, which is what she recommends. That's good. But I would say, in the Church of
God, we would disagree with that. We would say, no, all of God's word. I mean, turn to First
Timothy. It's second Timothy, chapter three. We would say, we don't want to just read parts of
the Bible. We want to read all of the Bible. It's not just parts that are inspired by God.
Just because some books are maybe a little more difficult to understand,
some of the prophetic books, some of the prophetic statements, maybe we read the big
gaps and think those are roughly boring, but they're there for a reason. God puts things in
his book for a reason, and they can help us track and trace people and nations and groups of people,
and we don't want to ignore things just because they're a little difficult to understand.
Why? Because of what we find in Second Timothy, chapter three. Verse 16 says, all Scripture,
not part, not most, not 90%, but all. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness
that the man of God may be complete. Not incomplete because we only read parts of the
Bible, but complete. We can be the complete package. The man of God can be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work. Most of us who are adults in the church have this
passage committed to memory because we recognize this is a very important passage that tells us
that God's Word, that all of God's Word is inspired. It's his inspired book,
and if we don't understand it, if there's something we don't understand, then we ought to have the
attitude of the Ethiopian eunuch turn with me to Acts chapter eight. You might remember this
passage, I probably will when I turn there and read a little bit, but Philip had been ordained
to deacon several chapters prior to this, and Philip went and began preaching in different areas
about Jesus Christ being the Messiah, and was explaining to many of the Jews of that first
century that Jesus was the one that they had been looking for and that they had killed him,
that they had crucified the Messiah. And as he went from Jerusalem, he was going to some of the
villages of Samaria, it says in verse twenty-five, and an angel of the Lord spoke to him and told
him go down toward Gaza, its desert down there, and as he went he saw this man from Ethiopia.
He was a man of great authority, verse twenty-seven says, and he was sitting in his chariot and he
was reading Isaiah, and the Spirit said to Philip in verse twenty-nine, go near, overtake the chariot,
Philip ran to him and he heard him reading, and the prophet Isaiah, and he said, do you understand
what you're reading? How about them begetts? Do you understand them? Or whatever passage it was
that he was reading actually is in Isaiah. Do you understand it? And he said, well how can I,
unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. Look, I don't understand
this. If you understand it, get up here, help me with this. I want to know what this means.
I mean, that should be our approach. If it's hard to understand, we want to get help. I want to
understand what this part of God's word means. What does it mean for me? How do I apply this to
my life? What do I learn from this? He invited Philip into his chariot to learn. Well, it turned
to Acts chapter seventeen, but the Bereans are praised. They're called more noble for searching
the scriptures daily to understand what the apostles taught was right. So again, there are
many other examples we could bring, we could talk about, but there are different ways in which we
who believe in the Bible and who look to the Bible for our direction, for our guidance in
our everyday life, are being more and more marginalized. I want to go back to 2 Timothy
chapter three. Let's take a little closer look at this passage. Paul was writing to Timothy
about Scripture and how important Scripture is. He was writing to Timothy, and he talked about
the end times being a perilous time. For a second time, I won't read all of the details that he
mentions in the first part of the chapter about perilous times at the end, but after he mentions
those specifics, what people in general would be like, he turns to warning Timothy about false
teachers. He said there could be all kinds of false teachers in the end time as well.
Well, they're going to be very prolific. They may have all kinds of knowledge, ever learning,
as he says in one passage, and never coming to the truth. Always learning lots of knowledge
that they're espousing, but it really isn't truth. It doesn't bring you to God's truth.
He warns about that in the last days. I don't think there's any way Paul could have
anticipated the growth of the Internet, and how that would allow anybody to set themselves up
as an authority on God's word. But he just simply was inspired to say, this is what's going to
happen, and we've seen that happen today. That's exactly what's happened in the approach for many
in these last days. Instead of getting drawn away by those individuals who hold themselves out,
is having great knowledge, here's what Paul advised Timothy. Pick it up in verse 14. He says,
but you, they're going to be evil men, they're going to grow worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived is what he said in verse 13. In contrast to that, he said, don't go that direction,
but you, verse 14, must continue in the things you have learned and been assured of,
knowing from whom you've learned them. And a few verses prior to that, he said,
you followed my life. You know what? You know what I taught you. You know the kind of life I've led.
You've witnessed it. And you know the trouble I've had. I've had all kinds of difficulty,
as a result of living as a follower of Jesus Christ. Even in the first century, he had difficulty
with that. So he's saying, stick with what you know. Stick with what you have learned from me,
whom you've trusted. Continue in those things you've learned and been assured of, knowing from
whom you've learned them. And that from childhood, you've known the Holy Scriptures, which are able
to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul had already
praised Timothy's mother and his grandmother. And he said, they taught you the Scriptures.
They were good examples of looking to God's Word for guidance and direction. They were a good
source of godly information. And he's including himself as a servant of God, whose service to
God's people certainly led to a lot of persecution for Paul. He led a very difficult life because
of his dedication to God's truth. So Paul said to stick with that and with the Holy Scriptures.
He needed those for salvation. He also needed faith in Jesus Christ,
as his Savior, that he was the promised Messiah. In verses 16 and 17, he says,
all Scripture is given by inspiration is profitable for doctrine and reproof, correction,
and instruction, and righteousness. We read these before. Now that we have them in contact,
I want to spend a few more minutes here to focus on what these words mean. What are these words?
Literally, it says, this is all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Literally,
it means God breathed or breathed in by God. It has his mark. It has his imprint.
And what is God's Word good for? What do we find even the less exciting part,
maybe the begatts or whatever we consider less exciting in the Bible? What's it good for?
What do we benefit from that? Well, there are four things that Paul mentions,
which lead to spiritual maturity and the good works, which he mentions in verse 17.
Let's take them one at a time, and I'll try to be relatively quick in covering these.
All Scripture, he said in verse 16, is given inspiration is profitable for, first of all,
doctrine. Doctrine. It's profitable for doctrine. What is doctrine? Turn with me to Romans chapter
15 and verse four. Romans chapter 15 and verse four, the Greek word for doctrine simply means
teaching or instruction. Romans chapter 15 and verse four, it says, for whatever things were
written before, Paul is writing this in the New Testament time. The Old Testament had already
been preserved. That was codified. It was complete. And he says, those things were written before,
were written for our learning. That's the Greek word that is sometimes translated as doctrine.
It's for our learning and for our instruction, for our teaching. That we, through the patience
and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope. So it's to give us hope as well. But it's there
for learning. It's there for teaching. It's there for our instruction. And we're told to learn from
that. Not to experiment in life to see what we believe is good and what's bad. Way too many
people have done that. They've lived their life experimenting with everything they can think of,
including a lot of horrible things. And then they pay the consequences of those things that they
experiment with, which are bad. Much easier, much better in life to avoid the bad things
and not have to suffer the consequences. Ephesians chapter four, Paul indicates that we need to
stick with sound teaching, not to be swept away with clever arguments. He says that's part of why
God has established what he has within his church with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors,
teachers in verse 11. He says all of this is for the edifying of the body of Christ. In verse 14,
that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine
by the trickery of men in their cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth and
love may grow up in all things in them who is ahead Christ. So he's encouraging sticking with
sound doctrine. The Bible should be the basis for everything we believe. Everything involves anything
in our spiritual life. What God and specifically his word the Bible says on a subject is ultimately
the only thing that matters. I mean, I can believe that cursing doesn't really hurt.
Oh, nobody's really hurt by that. I can believe that all I want. Maybe even convince myself it's
okay with God, call myself a Christian, but the third commandment tells us very clearly.
It's not true. It's not God's perspective. It's not what God sees.
So either I believe God and I'll let that form and shape my opinions and my actions
are decided for myself. And that's not gotten mankind very far. Let me look at the second one
real quickly in 2 Timothy 3. I'm going to put something there so I can go back and forth. The
second one that's mentioned is for reproof. Now that one seems a little negative to us,
doesn't it, for reproof. It sounds negative and corrective. It's the way many
Bibles translate the Greek word, but it's not the only place or rather it is the only place
it appears, but it's not the only thing that word means. In fact, it comes from a word that
literally means conviction. Young's literal translation says every writing as God breathed
and profitable for teaching and for conviction. Now there's a whole discussion that goes on about
preference versus conviction. I have a preference for the kind of chocolate I like,
but on occasion I'll eat the other kind of chocolate too.
Some people hate chocolate and I thought, you know, what would you do that for?
Well, it's a preference of mine, but it's not a conviction. On the other hand, I am convicted
of things. I'm convicted of things I read in the Bible. Sabbath is a day God set apart for
worship of Him from the beginning of creation. I'm convicted of that and I live my life based
on that. That's a conviction. My brother and I both played sports in high school and we were
faced with a question of whether we were going to stick with that conviction or not. It's something
we all have to deal with. Sometimes we slip, we make mistakes. Again, God forgives, but ultimately
we had to decide what we're going to do. It came to one point when our high school team was headed
to state championship playoff game. The coach was desperately looking for some way that he could
get special dispensation for that one day, just that one Sabbath. No, it doesn't work that way.
You know, conviction is important. I really like this quote about conviction is something that's
a core belief. And again, we have to be personally convicted of things. I like this quote. It says
a conviction is rooted in the conscience and cannot be changed without changing that which
essentially defines the person. It is so deeply held that it defines the person. That's what a
conviction is. We got a lot of Bible heroes that have all kinds of examples of that in the Bible.
Third point that is mentioned in 2 Timothy 3 is for correction. Now that literally is correction.
Most of us don't like correction. We don't like to be told we're wrong. We like to be told we're
right. And most of the time we like to believe we're right. And most of the time we do believe
we're right whether we are or not, right? But correction is something all of us need. The
word simply means straightening up. That we've bent a little bit one way or the other and we
need to get straightened up. It's all the word correction means. Thayer's Greek lexicon says
it's a restoration to an upright or a right state. A couple of quick proverbs. Proverbs 9 and verse 8.
Proverbs 9 and verse 8 draws a contrast between a wise person and someone who's not.
Proverbs 9 and verse 8 says do not correct a scoffer lest he hate you.
And the contrast to that is this statement. Rebuke a wise man and he'll love you.
Give correction to someone who's a scoffer and they're not gonna like you very much. They're
gonna be pretty negative toward you. But rebuke someone who's wise and he'll say oh I didn't
realize I was off base there. Let me let me straighten up. And they'll appreciate the fact
that you gave them that correction. Wise person loves it. Proverbs 23 and verse 9 he says do not
speak in the hearing of a fool for he will despise the wisdom of your words. Some of the
commentaries were saying this has to do with correcting someone that someone who doesn't
want the correction. You're wasting your breath. If they're not open to it it's not going to help
them. So we need to be people who want to be given direction and we've got to be open to God's
word giving us direction. Last one in 2 Timothy chapter 3 it says it's also for instruction
in righteousness. Instruction in righteousness. Sometimes people think righteousness is boring.
I mean you gotta be godly that's gotta be boring. I want excitement you know. I want to do fun
things in life. Well who says being godly can't be fun. But so many people have that perspective.
How do we help people see that that's not God's perspective? That obeying him doesn't lead to
bad things but it leads to good things. A couple of quick passages Deuteronomy chapter 30. This is
one we probably all again are familiar with. Probably many of us has memorized this. But Deuteronomy
chapter 30 verse 19 even dealing with ancient Israel God made the statement that if you will obey
things will be good. You'll be blessed. That's not boring to be blessed is it? I don't think so.
I think it's wonderful to be blessed. It's exciting to be blessed. Deuteronomy 30 19 and 20. So I call
heaven and earth as witness today against you that I said before you life and death blessing
and cursing therefore choose life. God's not ambivalent. I want you to be blessed. I want you
to choose life that both you and your descendants may live. That you may love the Lord your God.
That you may obey his voice. That you may cling to him for he is your life and the length of your
days and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham Isaac
and Jacob to give to them. God's desire is for us to have a good life. To have an exciting life
and to have life beyond this physical life. A life with blessings and ultimately great blessings.
First Timothy chapter 4 in the New Testament. This verse Mr. Frank's read in talking about
godliness in his Bible study. It kind of poked a little fun at those of us who don't exercise
every day that can't play volleyball or basketball that winter family weekend three days out of the
year and really be in great physical shape. And he's right. You can't do it just then.
This verse 8 says first Timothy chapter 4 verse 8. For bodily exercise profits little
a little or some translations say for a little while. You get off your training routine. You
quit exercising and it kind of disappears in a hurry if you're not careful. But it profits for a
little while. But godliness here in contrast to that godliness is profitable for all things.
Having promised for the life that now is and of that which is to come. It brings blessings now.
It brings peace of mind. It brings blessings from knowing that you're basing your ideas and your
views of life and your worldview on God's views that you're coming in sync with God's thinking.
There's a tremendous peace that comes from knowing that. We'll get tried. We'll get tested on that.
But there's a great peace in knowing that there's a blessing their blessings
now in this life and ultimately for the life to come eternal life. That's a blessing beyond
our ability to understand way beyond what we can understand.
Now I didn't get into the details of how the Bible was preserved and that's a whole
another discussion. But God has preserved his word. He wants this word. He wanted it preserved. He
did not want mankind to be able to stamp it out and I believe he was directly involved in making
sure that it wasn't. It's my personal belief. If you want some details on how we know the Bible
is true there's a whole section on life open truth website if you care to review some of those.
Several articles are devoted to the accuracy of the Bible and things that point out how accurate
it is like archaeology and fulfilled prophecy those are available you can look at. But I hope
I hope at least I've encouraged you today that no matter how marginalized we might feel at times
because our views are not in line with society in general. Well there may be a little bit more
here in the Bible Belt but when we look at the country as a whole our views on many things
are not in line with the country. But I hope I've encouraged you to realize if you base your
views on God's word you are on solid ground. You're on the best footing possible. God wants
his word to be a guide for our daily life. God wants us to stick with that no matter how others
see us. Let's close with Paul's very encouraging words at the end of the resurrection chapter.
You might not think of that as a place to to close when talking about the importance of
looking to the Bible for guidance and direction and sticking with that. But look at the very last
verse after he's talked about the resurrection the incredible incredible future that that first
resurrection has for those who are called at this time and accept that calling as Christians
as first fruits. Verse 58 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the
Lord. Today's English version says your labor will not be without meaning will not be without
meaning. God promises us promises to reward each of us richly for our faithfulness to him and our
belief in him and his word.
