Rightly Handling the Word of Truth

 

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes about false teachers (2:14-3:9), calling them irreverent babblers, ungodly, comparing their influence to gangrene (2:16-17). 2 Timothy 3:1-9 is especially excoriating of such people and those who follow them. It stands as a sober warning to us as we see false teachers influencing believers today.

Paul’s counsel to Timothy will stand us in good stead as we face the challenge of false prophets, and those who ‘swerve from the truth’:

‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.’ 2 Timothy 2:15

Let Me Entertain You

What standard are you using to judge the trustworthiness of what you are hearing, seeing, being taught? For many today entertainment is the measure of a good church service. Comfortable chairs, sometimes theatre seating, have turned congregations into audiences. Stages have replaced pulpits, turning pastors into turns; a song, a dance, and a word of testimony.

In some places worship leaders have replaced preachers, mediocre music replaced the great anthems of the faith, pop Christianity replaced the message of sin and repentance. Leonard Ravenhill famously said, ‘I often preach in a church once.’ This is because a call to repentance is not nearly as popular as a call to ‘worship,’ to coin a phrase, an invitation to Move into a Time of Nonsense. (a great little book from Nick Page)

Checking up on the Preacher

Someone asked an Evangelical why he carried a Bible to church. ‘Are you checking up on the preacher?’ was the question. The short answer is, yes! We read along with the preacher for a number of reasons. It helps the message go in when we read as well as hear, it helps with comprehension to do both, but it also helps us judge what we are being told against what we know is true. Isn’t that what we do every day, in a variety of settings, judge what we hear against what we know and understand?

If the sermon raises a question we can articulate that question biblically. If the sermon brings something we must learn we can see the context in which we might have misunderstood something. If error is being brought we are charged, as was Timothy, to take responsibility for the truth.

Is the sermon grounded in Scripture? Too often a Bible text is used as no more than a jumping off point for personal anecdotes, narrative passing itself off as a sermon. A good sermon brings a point from the Bible and sticks to it. A good preacher reads the word and gives the sense of it.

Preach the Word

An example of this can be found in Nehemiah 8:

‘And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and woman and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uruah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pediah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam, on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered,’Amen, amen,’ lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodia, Maasaeiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.’ Nehemiah 8:1-8

Note the highlighted elements of the passage:

• Ezra the priest brought Scripture

• Ezra read from the Scripture

• All the people were attentive to the Scripture

• Ezra stood on a platform made for the purpose of reading the Scripture (the first pulpit mentioned in the Bible)

• When the Scripture was opened the people stood. What do you think was their attitude to God’s word?

• The people bowed and worshipped God in the context of hearing and understanding Scripture

• Those responsible gave the sense of the Scripture so the people understood the reading.

Whether in a sermon, in a lesson, a small group discussion, or an informal conversation about the things of God, we are to read/cite the word and bring or come to an understanding of the sense of the biblical text. Nehemiah gives us the standard, Paul gives us the reason when he describes as 'sacred' the writings he urged Timothy to remember and to faithfully preach 2 Timothy 3:15; 4:1

Obey the Word

Jesus, as he met the disciples before his ascension, charged them:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Matthew 28:19-20

Just as Ezra had read and brought the sense of the Law of Moses to the people, so now the disciples were charged to bring the word of Jesus, the message of salvation, with its meaning, and teach people to obey it. As Paul wrote:

‘How then will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ Romans 10:14,15

‘Preach’ here is the Greek kērussō which can mean preach, tell, publish, proclaim, teach. Whatever the circumstances, ‘in season or out of season,’ God’s word is brought, its sense and meaning explained, otherwise how are the people to understand it as good news? How are they to believe it if they don't hear?

Let us, therefore, forsake the vanity of the crowd and their false teachings, and turn back to the word delivered to us from the beginning - Polycarp