Sermon Transcript — December 14, 2002
Another thing I've come to realize by living in the state of Texas is that they have a different kind of religion in Texas than you do in most other states of the US. They worship football. Some of you who have lived there know what I'm talking about. As a matter of fact, if you have cable TV and you watch ESPN, they have been advertising a special that is going to be shown - I think it's tomorrow night — called "The Junction Boys" and that's where Bear Bryant had his start with Texas A&M many, many years ago. Football is something that you are surrounded with in the state of Texas not just a few months out of the year but twelve months out of the year.
How many of you, in that respect, are football fans? You can admit it. I know the Cincinnati Bengals are down the road, but you can admit it. And as such, most of you probably being from Northern Kentucky or from the state of Ohio, do any of you have an opinion as to whether the Cincinnati Bengals will be in the Super Bowl this year? Any of you have an opinion about that? Well, again, some of you don't have an opinion about that. I would assume that many of you would have an opinion about that subject, you know, right now based on the facts as they are with the Cincinnati Bengals it's mathematically impossible — I hope all of you know that — it's mathematically impossible for the Bengals to make it to the Super Bowl. Presently the Cincinnati Bengals are 1 in 12. They have lost their last five games in a row. They are 0 and 6 in their division. Some of you are probably thinking, boy he is really ragging on our local team. Well, I'm from Dallas and their record isn't a whole lot better right now unfortunately. And actually, I'm not focusing on the Bengals for any particular reason — they've had their heyday in years past with Boomer Esiason and they are hopefully looking forward to that in the future.
But I did ask all of you if you had an opinion about it. Some of you who may be football fans maybe had a strong opinion about it when I asked the question, can they make it in the Super Bowl. Some of you even chuckled about it because of a presumption, evidently, of your understanding of the facts regarding the Bengals.
You know, we have opinions about a lot of things, but when you have facts involved with an opinion it usually becomes an irrefutable conviction. Of course, we as human beings, have beliefs about all kinds of things. One of the things about being in the Church of God that we are never at a loss for is that people will have beliefs and opinions about things.
Now, people have beliefs about such things as mundane as a sports team as I commented on a few moments ago. People have opinions about whether eating green leafy vegetables is good for you. People have beliefs about whether watching too much television is detrimental to a child. And, of course, people have beliefs about whether there are absolutes in the world that we live in today. We live in a culture, particularly in the Western society where values have clearly changed over the last several decades so much so that what people are convicted about has changed dramatically. Just a couple of days ago at the beginning of the regional pastors' conference Mr. Holladay shared with all of us a book he had just read which was based upon very recent research by the Bonner Research Group — it was a poll that was taken amongst several thousand Americans regarding the subject of values, the basic subject. But in it, it was very interesting to see what people view as important. The core values that most Americans reflect today — and I'm not commenting on these as being positive or negative. Some of these things that are core values in America we would relate to and agree with. I want you to listen to this comparison. And I would like you to consider the differences between these three lists that I am going to read.
The core values, which means the most important values of most Americans today: convenience, belonging, comfort, happiness, independence, having options, diversity, inclusion. A good number of those we would probably relate to, but understand that these are the most important core values for most Americans. Secondary values in America today: compassion, team work, volunteerism, risk taking, change and wealth. Abandoned values — and, again, we are talking on a whole here, not that they are abandoned by all Americans, but those things that are no longer core values of a majority of Americans: discernment, absolute morality, conformity, tradition, submission to authority, sacrifice and respect. Those values are not recognized by most Americans as being at the core of what's really important to them in life.
Now what does all of that show? Well it does show amongst other things that in America and probably many western nations, people are not really convicted about those things that relate to absolutes. It's just a fact that I didn't need to cite that for us to really understand it. I think many of us do realize that. And it also speaks to the fact that people make decisions far more on how they feel about things rather than what they've proven.
But we, as Christians, all claim to be convicted about our beliefs. But just what does the word, being convicted, really mean? Now, to some ex-cons it means something totally different than it would to us, and yet the word comes from the same origin. I'd like you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 if you would. In 1 Cor. chapter 2 the Apostle Paul talked about, with the brethren in Corinth, about the subject of the understanding that they as God's people had.
1 Cor 2 — and this is just after Paul had addressed the subject of one's calling, but in chapter 2 beginning in verse 7 he said,
1 Cor. 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory,
Verse 8 - which none of the princes of the world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Verse 9 - But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him."
Verse 10 - But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
Verse 11 - For what man knows the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God.
We are taught from the very earliest of days that God begins working with us as we become a part of the church of God that the spirit of God is something that is really necessary for us to understand the depth of God's word and the depth of God's law. And we all continue if faith, baptized or not as much as there are some young people and others who may not have made that commitment yet, but clearly believe that the spirit of God is working with many, not all of them. But we continue in faith assuming that the holy spirit — one way or another — will be the catalyst for us understanding deep things of God. But is that all there is to the issue — of just having the holy spirit and by that by what we read here in 1 Cor. 2 that God will enable us to understand the deep things of God? Do we rely upon God to grant us that understanding or do we rely upon the spirit of God to actually lead us to truth because there is, as we will read in a few moments, there's the words of Jesus Christ that seem to indicate the spirit of God would actually lead us to truth.
I'd like you to turn to John 16. We'll be reading through some of these words in a few months as we keep the Passover. You'll recognize these words that we're going to read here because we know that this was the account where Jesus Christ was trying to help His disciples understand that He was leaving them and that they weren't going to be left alone, they would be left with something that would help them. And this entity, this thing that would help them was actually the very power and spirit of God.
ut for the most part, they were ignorant of what this spirit was and how it would be of help.
Notice in John chapter 16 and verse 7 — Christ said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter... as Christ referred to it ...will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.
Verse 8 - "And when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
And then in verse 13 - "Howbeit, when He... or you could render this 'it' ...the Spirit of truth, has come, It will guide you into all truth... And so here Jesus Christ was telling His disciples that the spirit of God will, as a person can guide you, guide you into all truth. Now we know that in speaking, Jesus Christ would often use terminology that would enable the masses at sometimes but more importantly, His disciples, to understand what He was getting at. Now we know that the spirit of God is not a being, it is not a person as so many millions of people on this planet presume and believe, and yet we find here that the spirit of God is stated as a teacher, as an individual would guide you, that ...it will guide you into all truth. for He... or It ...will not speak of itself, but whatsoever It shall hear that shall It speak; and will show you things to come.
Now remember, this is John writing this, this is John's account. We know at the end of the life of the Apostle John that he actually was given the ability through the vision that he saw on the Isle of Patmos to understand or to have revealed to him the future. We know that in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1 that God through Jesus Christ, of course, revealed to John things that would shortly come to pass and this was all revealed for the servants of God.
But nonetheless we find here that Christ told his disciples that the spirit of God would show you things, it would teach you things, it would lead you to an understanding.
But, again, I ask the question — is that all there is for us to be converted, to really repent, to receive the spirit of God, and just wait for the spirit of God to guide us into all truth? What responsibility do we have for the establishing of our own personal convictions? It is a very important issue for us to understand at a time like this — I don't mean just in the church, but I'm talking about in the history of the whole plan of God. At the beginning of the sermon I didn't ask any of you if you had a deep conviction about whether or not the Cincinnati Bengals would be in the Super Bowl. Although I could safely say that those of you who are following the record of that team as well as, by the way, the Dallas Cowboys who are mathematically out of it as well, you know those things and you know they are based on the fact that it is impossible for that to take place. And in a sense you would have a conviction about it.
In the remaining time this afternoon, brethren, I would like to discuss the subject of how our convictions are established —I'm not going to talk about how our opinions are established, we probably don't have time for that and that varies so greatly — but how true convictions are established and the part that our efforts play in that because it is a very important process.
Well, what's the difference between an opinion and a conviction? What's the difference between an opinion and a conviction? Well an opinion is defined as a personal belief that is not necessarily founded on proof or certainty. Now there are many opinions that I have some of which I probably feel very strongly about and yet, in some cases, as I think about some of those opinions I can't absolutely prove them and we probably are all the same. There are some opinions that I have that I think I can prove because, you know, an opinion can be a conviction as well.
But a conviction, as contrasted to just an opinion — there are a number of definitions. It's kind of interesting. The word conviction has many different meanings but it all comes back to the same root word, the same fundamental principle.
Definition #1 of conviction: the judgment of a jury or judge that a person is guilty of a crime as charged; the state of being found or proven guilty. So, that's the definition of conviction that we don't ever want to hear as it relates to us as individuals.
Definition #2 of conviction: the state of being convinced; strong persuasion or belief, especially the state of being convicted of sin or by one's conscience.
You know, linked with the definition of the word conviction is having proven something. Now as I'm using these two words 'opinion' and 'conviction' there are probably some of you in the audience thinking, "Well, listen. I know people who are convicted about things that I know that they can't prove. They know we live in a world where millions of people are convicted about issues of life that even religion — that many of us probably believe — they can't really prove, but we know they are convicted about it. Well, the interesting thing about personal convictions, whatever the subject is, they need to be proven strong enough so that it's proven to you and then it can become a conviction proven to you. Opinion is what seems to make sense. Conviction is based upon fact, is fact to the person that holds that conviction.
And from the very earliest days of God's church, we always taught the necessity of proving what we believe. I hearken back to the days when I was a very young boy in the church — I'm probably speaking something that many of you heard and recall, maybe even repeated — of the importance of proving what we're taught. You know, all of us had a clear responsibility in the matter of doctrinal change or doctrines and proving them, and while while we might take someone's word in proving it, God expects you to know why you believe and practice what you do. That has become abundantly clear to us in the last seven or eight years — probably we focused on this subject a bit more than we had in our previous twenty or thirty years in the church. I know, surely I have.
I'd like you to turn to Proverbs chapter 18 and we wouldn't normally link this proverb to this subject of one's deep convictions about God's word, I really think it speaks to a responsibility that all of us share — each and every one of us.
Proverbs 18:13 — God said, He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is a folly and shame unto him.
I want you to think about this principle and try to link it to the subject of what you've proven and what you believe. I want you to think about occasions in your life or your experience, even, in the church when you know of individuals that you thought understood certain things and then maybe were taught something else and how this principle might apply. Or how it might have applied to your life or my life in times past.
God says, He that answers a matter... he that responds — let's take a little poetic license here — he that responds to a matter ...before he hears it, it is a folly and shame unto him.
Sometimes people can make decisions based upon things that sound good on the surface. I'm talking about doctrine here. I'm not talking about other issues. I'm talking about fundamental doctrine as it relates to what all of us believe. And we've probably all heard of occasions, heard of individuals, maybe we ourselves have all, to some degree or another, made mistakes or cautioned ourselves as we saw a particular doctrinal teaching, fundamental teaching of the church, begun to be explained a little bit differently.
He that answers a matter before he hears it... he that responds to and concludes a matter, before he proves it God says ...is a folly and shame unto him.
We find that in the New Testament church there were a number of occasions, as sad as they might have been, where people no doubt reflected this principle in their lives and found themselves going in a different direction, doctrinally, than Jesus Christ and the foundational apostles originally taught because they responded to things — talking here about doctrine — that they hadn't proven.
You know, in Section 2.12 — it's the only time I'm going to quote a bylaw today only as it relates to what we, as an organized group of God's people, United Church of God, believe. We know that one of the Fundamental Beliefs has to do with this book that all of us have in our lap today — it's the Word of God. And in that Fundamental Belief it states that "scripture is inspired in thought and word, infallible in the original writings; it is the supreme and final authority in faith and in life; and is the foundation of all truth."
Some of you who may be here at this building for the first time may not have noticed that there is a very beautiful, large rock or stone out in the front of the Home Office. I think it was last year's ABC class that donated the plaque that is on that rock which states that the Word of God is the foundation of knowledge. I think the church has understood that for 2,000 years. In this modern era of God's church, we've understood that that is fundamental to our belief and our actions and our decisions realizing that the Word of God is the foundation of all truth. So we can see it's a clear teaching of the church that the entirety of the Bible, the Old and New Testaments compose the final say on any doctrinal matter. And I have come to see that more, again, in the last seven or eight years than I had in the previous thirty in my experience in the church. And it's a reassuring thing, indeed, to see and to know that we have an effort made in the church today to be sure that what we teach and what we believe is based upon scripture.
Sometimes it takes a little longer to come to consensus on those things, but it is a beautiful thing to see. When the United Church of God first began — to, in a sense, regroup under that umbrella seven and a half years ago — we didn't have a whole lot in writing that claimed what we believe other than this very basic thing called God's Word because there are millions of interpretations of what this means and until we got it down in writing (and this may have happened to you — it sure happened to me) people assumed all kinds of things about what we believed or what I believed. And only as time went on could we show: this is what we believe, At least, this is what the church that you are a part of, the organized group of God's people that you are a part of, believes.
You know, many people have asked me over the years, probably asked you the same question, what formed your beliefs and convictions? What was it in your life that formed those beliefs and convictions? I've thought about that a lot having started attend church at almost age 13 many, many years ago. I can tell you that I had beliefs at age 13 that I don't have today probably because of the way I was brought up which was not within the church of God at that point and time. But like most of you, my convictions have been formed through experience and, hopefully, through a study of this over a period of 38 years to what they are today. And they should either be reestablished or changed or grow from time to time based upon what I've studied and proven out of the scriptures.
But I'd like to historically take a look out of the scriptures about a few active examples of God's people studying the Word of God and see what the Bible has to say about it. You know, studying the Bible can seem to be a kind of passive subject and we've been encouraged to do this for years — study the word of God. There are a number of people who have gone through the Ambassador Bible Center and some 40 or 50 that will in the weeks ahead. Many of you men who are here are the instructors. And what a wonderful privilege it is. And we've been told and encouraged to study the word of God for decades. But I'd like to take a look at what the scripture has to say about God's people and what they have done in terms of studying God's word.
I'd like to turn to Acts 17. I think that there are just a few examples here in the New Testament that I find quite inspiring and really quite telling about what God's people did and what the apostles of Jesus Christ taught about the importance of not just having the word of God but doing something with it.
In Acts 17 and verse l0 this is the very well known example of the Bereans. As a matter of fact, there are whole churches out in mainstream Christianity that will attach the name Bereans to their church because they want to send this message that they are very well studied people. But what does the scripture say historically in Acts 17 about the Bereans? Let's take a look here.
Acts 17:10 - And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
Verse 11 - These were more noble than those in Thessalonica... So we have a little bit of a value judgment being made here by the author — which was Luke — about these Bereans which were a bit more noble than those in Thessalonica, talking about the brethren. What was more noble about them? How had they raised the bar, in a sense, in terms of what they were doing? He explains the answer to this: ...in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. See, Luke here actually explains why these people were more noble because — and it's really not just one thing. It wasn't: well, they studied their Bible. There's a little bit more to it here. It says, ... they received the word with all readiness of mind... Now the Greek that is word here is PROTHUMIA — probably not one that you've necessarily looked up of recent date. But it doesn't just mean that they blindly accepted what was said. On the other hand — it's used five other times in the New Testament — it means being ready and willing to be taught. It's what it means. And you can look at the other five occasions in the New Testament where PROTHUMIA is used. It means ready and willing to be taught. Luke, of course, here was making a statement about the willingness of these people in Berea, maybe not every last person, but as a whole they were willing to be taught. Sometimes people in education may think, well, you know, it's important to be willing to be taught, but you don't just want to blindly accept things which, of course, is true. It's not what was stated about these people, but they did have a very open and willing mind to be taught. ... and searched the scriptures daily... they made a pretty steady habit of searching the scriptures ...whether those things were so. In other words, they were proving and establishing themselves in understanding.
Verse 12 - Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
Verse 13 - But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.
Due to the results of this response and willingness to be taught many of them believed. Now we can only assume that what Luke was referring to here is the spiritual definition of what it means in the New Testament to be a believer. Many of these people were converted. But it is just interesting to note that Luke said that these people had a very noble response to this. They just didn't accept things, they proved whether or not it was so.
Now one of the things that we deal with in the Church of God is the issue of us being brought up in the faith. As I said, I was 12 years old when my father first started attending church. I was brought up as a Catholic so this was just a little bit different from what I was used to. A little bit different. And, you know, I accepted some things — some things I didn't accept initially. I resisted probably like a lot of young people would at that point and time. I resisted the issues that related to the Sabbath. Holy Days weren't so bad - you got out of school. See. But you calculate what you accept and don't accept. But what I did just seemed to fit my goals and what seemed to work out for an 11, 12, 13, 14-year-old young man. You grow up in the church — and again, as I said, I had some unlearning to do. In one sense, I'm kind of glad that there was something to compare what I was being taught with. But we live in a time in the church when so many of us, and a number of people here have grown up in the church have had to varying degrees parents who have taught them about God's way of life. They have attended services. And now, second generation Christians have grandchildren now in the church. You know, we've got third and fourth and even fifth generation Christians. And this whole subject of one's conviction has become a bit more of a challenge to some simply because I can sit around and be taught things as I was from age birth to twelve and assume that what I was taught in this other denomination was true. Later on I began to realizing because I was given permission to finally study the Bible, which in my former affiliation (talking about the way I was brought up) somebody else was to interpret it for us. It was a little bit different and I began realizing that — with some resistance — that in order for me to not keep the Sabbath I had to disprove much of it out of the word of God. And I would guess that I am not alone in this room of people who started studying God's word because we were trying to get permission to do things. Come to find out, the conclusions they came to were a little bit different from what they started out to be.
Now, in Acts 17:10 notice that these peoples searched the scriptures to prove what they were taught. The only scriptures they could have been searching at this point was the Pentetuch, the Torah, the Old Testament. There was not any of the New Testament - as it was eventually canonized - available to them. So understand that these are people that were brought into Christianity, brought into the New Covenant understanding of the law of God, based upon their searching of the scriptures and they only part of which we have today. Interesting to note that, historically.
Now in the book of Timothy I'd like to turn to 2 Timothy 2. In turning to 2 Timothy 2 we'll read a couple of verses out of Timothy. It's important to remind ourselves that Paul was writing to a young minister and much of what is written in 1st and 2nd Timothy, one could construe it was written to Timothy because of his role in the church, and yet, it was applicable to the whole church.
2 Timothy 2:14 - Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit... Here's the portion of 2 Timothy chapter 2 where it's clear that this is an elder, senior minister giving advice and direction and help to this younger minister and how he can better teach, guide and direct God's people. ... but to the subverting of the hearers.
Verse 15 - Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
So here we find that when you are teaching out of the word of God, you have the responsibility of studying it so as not to apologize for what you understand and to rightly divide, to rightly cut, to rightly discern what is in the Bible. But it takes studying it. It takes studying it.
In 1 Thessalonians (remember, this was the group that Luke was comparing the Bereans to — let's not forget that.) 1 Thes. 5:20 — this is the section of 1 Thes. Chapter 5 where it just looks like there is a list of one-liners for a Christian to do and not do: Quench not the holy Spirit. But notice in verse 20:
1 Thes. 5:20 - Despise not prophesyings. Some of you, I'm sure, have a different, more modern translation of 1 Thes. 5 and verse 20. It may not use that word, prophesyings, but what is Paul really talking about here? Is he saying, Don't despise people who predict future events? Is that what he said? Well, the word, prophesying here, is the same Greek word that is used for inspired preaching throughout the New Testament. He's telling God's people, Don't despise inspired preaching. Don't look down upon it. In other words, embrace it. Value it. But, he said,
Verse 21 - But, he said, ...Prove all things and hold fast that which is good. In other words, don't despise being taught. You remember the comparison that was made back in Acts 17 with the Bereans. They were more noble because they had a ready mind, they wanted to be taught — not to just blindly accept things — they wanted to be taught. There was a desire to learn and here he tells the Thessalonicans, don't despise inspired preaching. Now that doesn't take the responsibility off the preacher to do the best that he can do in presenting material in an interesting and relevant way. Surely we have that responsibility in the church. But he did admonish — this is what I want to focus on — to prove all things and to hold fast to those things that are good. Now he's implying very clearly the importance of seeing what we believe in the scripture, of proving it out of the scripture. And for those of you who are younger, that means what your parents have taught you. And there aren't too many young people in church — I'm talking about teenagers, probably — that can't give you a pretty good outline of what the Plan of God is, the Holy Days, and maybe that's true with some of us adults. But how many of us can explain why we believe what we do? Why we believe. You know, there's that generic why we do a lot of things — I've used it for 50 years. Any of you know what that reason is for why we do a lot of things in life? It's one word. Anyone? Because! A real deep reason for doing things! I've quoted it for years when I was a kid and I've actually done it a few times sense. We do things, and some will ask why and we will just say, "Well, because." And then you get the follow-up question, "Because why?" I'm sure some of you have heard that one before. I've used it and I've heard it. Good question! Why do you believe what you do? Well God expects us to prove it. He expects us to prove it.
1 Corinthians chapter 13 — Paul made the statement and he was comparing what life was like for him as a young Jewish boy vs. what it was like when he was older. And he did draw the distinction in the way that he thought and what he focused on. Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 13 — again, we've all heard this many times.
1 Cor. 13:11 - When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
You know, I've read through this scripture so many times and I cannot say that I've really done that. In my experience in life, it's not quite that easy that all of a sudden at age 21, boom, all the childish things were put away. I've done some pretty childish things in the last year — not that they are necessarily wrong, but, I mean, maturity doesn't quite come the moment you turn a certain age, does it? Paul wasn't necessarily saying that, but as he got older, he began to think a little bit differently, he began taking on responsibility for what he did. You know, you can — you can tell people when you are 6, 7, 8 years old, well, why do you go to church on Saturday? You can get away with saying, Well, because. And if they say, Because why? Because my mom and dad do. When you get a bit older, that really doesn't wash, does it? It really doesn't fly. And God, of course, wants all of us as we grow older to be sure we understand why we do what we do. And we need to — as we get older — to expect more from ourselves. That may be older in years, but I think more importantly, older in maturity and older in our conversion. I, like probably all of you or many of you, were forced to ask myself some specific questions about why I do what I do, why I live what I do and believe what I do seven, eight, nine years ago. I never would have guessed the reason why I had to revisit that, but I have thanked God many times for having to do it despite some of the difficulties that we've all faced in the process of really learning to appreciate why I believe what I do. And I know I'm not alone in saying that.
But what does the New Testament state about the purpose of scripture? I'd like to turn to Romans 15. These are very basic scriptures, I know, I want to just focus them on this one principle of proving what we believe. Notice what Paul told the church at Rome. Again, to me it's very telling what the Apostle Paul advised the church about the scriptures and their purpose, we're talking about the New Testament church of God as opposed to the old covenant Jews, as it were. Notice what he cited here.
Romans 15:4 - For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
So there was hope that God's people in the New Testament church can have based upon an assurance that they got by what they read and understood out of the scriptures.
Now what is involved in the comfort that one gets from the scriptures? I get comfort from, you know, blankets that we have at home. The way the weather has been here in southern Ohio the last several weeks, we had snow up until a couple of days ago. I'm sure some of you cranked up your wood stoves and fire places and kind of liked in the evening to get close to it, maybe get a comforter, maybe get a book, get some tea and your dog at your feet. Fire in the fireplace, mood music — actually makes me want to go home right now.
Although it's not quite that cool, we do have a fireplace in Texas and we use it every time we can. Any time it gets below about 80 we put it on.
But you know, we get comfort from a lot of things, but how is it that you get comfort from the scriptures? Think about it. Now, I would dare say that most of you probably could respond to that pretty quickly. Well, I get comfort from the scriptures not because of how they wrap around my body when I'm cold. It has to do with understanding. It has to do with what you believe based upon what the scripture says. Now, a little more specific way, in 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul discussed with Timothy in a little bit more detail the purpose and function of the holy scripture. Now he is telling Timothy not to start doing something, but to continue to do something here.
2 Timothy 3:14 - But continue you in the things which you hast learned and have been assured of... you've not just learned them, but you have been assured of them. It is interesting that this is the only time that the Greek word that is used here for 'assured' is in all of the New Testament. What does that mean? I don't know. But in trying to find out how that word was used elsewhere I had a little bit of a problem, because it is used here, at least in the New Testament, just to mean 'assured of', 'reassured'. And, of course, that is where the word 'sure', being sure about something, comes from.
Notice who is talking to whom here — Paul to Timothy - knowing of whom you have learned them;
Verse 15 - And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures... very revealing and telling here that Timothy, early in his life had been taught the scriptures which resulted in him understanding and being assured of things. ... which are able to make you wise unto salvation... Remember the Bereans were ready to learn, they studied to see if these things were so and many of them became believers. Here you find, of course, Paul acknowledging to Timothy that an understanding of the holy scriptures can enable a person to be ...wise... or have understanding ...unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Verse 16 - All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Verse 17 - That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
From a child, we see here that Timothy was taught, he understood, not doubt he asked questions, no doubt he wanted to learn. Now we know that doctrine has to do with teaching. The Greek word that is used for 'doctrine' fundamentally means just 'teaching'. 'Reproof' has to do with refuting false teaching. 'Correction' means guidance or relates as to how a person mends their way of living. And 'instruction in righteousness' just has to do with the moral disciplines that are laid out in the scripture which, we know, all of which are connected to the Law of God.
But, you know, the scripture doesn't carry any of these purposes that are mentioned here in 2 Timothy without using it, studying it and knowing it. Without using it, without studying it, without understanding it and knowing it.
I'd like to turn to yet another scripture in 1 Peter 3. This is one of the scriptures that thirty five years ago, anyway, was a part of a long list that made its way through many of the congregations in the church of God as a memory scripture, this one here. Maybe some of you recall it, probably know it quite well. But I think it's good to consider what Peter said to the church in 1 Peter 3 in the context and in the light of what we've talked about the last 40 minutes or so.
Notice verse 15 of 1 Pet. 3 - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear.
Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer.
Now this is the scripture where people, remember, well, be ready to give an answer. I know that one. Some of you probably could turn there — okay, I know this one — I've heard this before.
But what was Peter referring to and why did he admonish the church to be ready to do that? Now the Greek word that is used here for 'answer' is APOLOGIA. From that word, of course, comes our English word, apology, which has a connotation of you're kind of sorry for what you've done or what you think. And yet, in the world of theology and Christianity, in scholarly subjects as it relates to Christianity, apologetics takes a totally different meaning. It really has to do with the defense of what you believe. In order to defend what you believe you have to understand it. I wouldn't have used this example five or six years ago, but probably more and more of us are conversant on the Internet. And if you type in not 'apology', but 'apologetics' on a web browser and push the 'go' button, you will have in front of you a cornucopia of websites that talk about the apologetics of any number of Christian denominations for what they believe. There are websites of different denominations that are totally dedicated to the apologetics of creation as opposed to evolution.
So what Peter was telling the churches, he didn't say to just be ready to give any answer, but he's really talking about being ready to defend what you believe. Now, again, the word 'defend' makes us feel like we're being attacked. It is true that if you are attacked you may have to defend yourself in some way. But taking it out of the arena of being attacked, defend simply means to explain because the context of 1 Peter 3: ... sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to... defend ...to every man that asks you a reason of the hope... I mean, how many of us have been asked by people why you believe what you do? Now there may be some people who have questioned the sanity of us because of what we believe and teach. I don't mean that so much as people who do want to understand why. And for you and I to give the kind of answer that Peter is talking about it requires us to know why we believe what we do. And, of course, that's not going to happen with any of us unless we study, unless we think about whether what we believe about the Sabbath day is an opinion or whether it's a conviction. People usually don't give their lives for opinions. But history has borne out that there are many people who have given their lives because of what they are convicted about. Even in Luke 14, Jesus Christ told the would be, soon to be disciples (two disciples of Jesus Christ) that you can't follow Christ unless you're willing to give up or at least to turn your back on — to love less by comparison one's own family and their own life, ultimately. It really boils down to conviction. You know, I've sat in front of probably a few hundred people over the last many years in talking about baptism. And when I come to Luke 14 and explain it — I've read it hundreds and hundreds of times. Probably many of the ministers in this room can almost site verbatim those eight or ten verses, you know, from verse 25 on to, I think. verse 33 is where it ends. And yes, to me it is some of the most important words of Christ because it really demands conviction. And conviction demands understanding. I don't mean to be able to be a New Testament scholar, but we are talking about having conviction about what we believe. If I'm not convicted about something, I don't lose the relationship I have with my wife on something I'm not really convicted about — or a family, or a job. And yet, there are many of God's people who have been willing to draw a line because of what they believe and what they are convicted about personally which may have resulted in the loss — at least temporal loss of family, friends and a job or a career. We don't apologize for what we believe, but we should be able to defend it. And that was the admonition that Peter gave to the church.
One of the hallmarks of the church of God and this has been through the mouth of not only Mr. Herbert Armstrong but from many of the ministers over the decades that people have been fundamentally told, don't believe what I'm telling you. You prove it out of the Bible. You prove what I have been saying is really true.
We live in the Christian world of doctrinal duplicity, I mean, in the broad spectrum of mainstream Christianity. This really is a fundamental hallmark of the church of God of really laying it back on a person's doorstep and letting them prove whether or not what you are reading to them, what you are explaining to them is really true. I've never seen it fail that if God is really calling an individual that when they take that challenge — not that you're ignoring them, not that you don't want to explain it to them — that God has not led them through making the effort in proving. Do any of you have in your history or know of some close friend that started off trying to disprove some component of the truth of God and, by an effort to disprove it maybe early in life, came to understand it and believe it? Any of you? The fact is, there are a number of people in the church that started off that way. Usually it's people who came into the church without having a history in the church because you have something to compare it to. It's quite a contrast. But all of us need to be sure that we prove. And we, as parents, need to have the courage to try to help our children as they grow up to prove what they believe. You know, the older I've gotten, the more I realize that when your children grow older, sometimes they do things because you want them to. They want to please you, which is a wonderful thing. But, you know, when you are dealing with this subject it needs to go beyond that. Far beyond that simply because Jesus Christ said sometimes people even within families may not — people may not be consistent because it's an individual thing in terms of conviction. None of us today are probably amazed as much as we may have been over the last several years of people that we thought were convicted about things, but evidently some were not about fundamental truths of God. But we, as God's people need to prepare — as parents and we ourselves — to prove what we believe. To prove it. Now what you act upon —how you live your life today — should be based upon what you've proven, what you're convicted about. You can't teach conviction. You can teach knowledge - head knowledge. And there are a number of people in this room who have been blessed with — and it is a profound privilege to be able to have individuals who do understand, who know and can rightly divide the word of truth — to teach you about the basic truths of God here at ABC, the privilege that I had thirty years ago at Ambassador College. But, you know, you can't teach conviction. It's one thing that the history of the church has taught: you can teach the knowledge but you can't teach conviction.
I have to admit that in my own life the convictions that I have about what I believe have had less to do with the amount of time I spent in a classroom — even when I was at Ambassador College — and more to do with the effort I made or the failure at times that I experienced because of my own decisions of living what I was taught. Some of my convictions — they are based upon big mistakes I made or ignoring what I was taught. It had to do with realizing the value, the real value of the word of God.
1 Peter 1 - I have just a couple more scriptures. 1 Peter chapter 1 is another one of those scriptures on the list of memory scriptures, but I think is very instructive in this regard because it really speaks to what I went through with my own personal life. Some of this was because of shortcomings and mistakes that I made over the years. But for all of us, as Peter says, it's something that is very, very important.
1 Pet. 1:7 - That the trial... the Greek word, DOKIMOS which means to test or to really experience. The test or experience ...of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Here you find another one of those ethereal statements in the New Testament, in the word of God, that talks about something that is more precious than gold — something that few of us have and the few that do, don't have a whole lot. My sun total of gold that I own, I think this is true, there may be a couple of other items — is this little ring. My wife gave it to me 28 _ years ago. It's important to me, not because — it's only 10 carat for those of you who understand carats. It's pretty hard. The soft gold is the more expensive gold. But the value in this has less to do with the gold in it and more to do with what it symbolizes in my life. It's a physical symbol. I don't have much gold and silver — a little bit like, probably, most here. But it's amazing how, in the scripture, when God tells us, "What I'm about to tell you, what I've taught you, is more precious, is more valuable than gold or silver." You can put any number of other things there. And what Peter's telling the church here is that the trial or the experience - the testing of your faith is more valuable than the things that you own. It's more valuable than that. It's one of the difficult ones to wrap our brain around in the teachings of the New Testament, and that is to consider trials as a good, fun thing. The scripture doesn't say it is fun, but God talks about the value of it. The value of it.
Now what we are finding out here as we go through the New Testament is that not only should we study, not only should we have convictions, sometimes God in His mercy and in His love gives us a very valuable thing. And that is the opportunity, through experience, to test whether or not we really are convicted about what we thought we believed or that we had an opinion about.
I talked with a gentleman two months ago that had been a part of the church at one time and, because of doctrinal confusion of the church, departed from keeping the Sabbath day, ended up going to a church on Sunday, another church altogether, ended up keeping Easter, Christmas, a number of the annual holidays that we know have no basis in fact in the scripture and Christianity at all. And this individual, about a year ago — all I can really say is that the light bulb began to go on. He began to realize that what he was doing just was not producing positive fruits, not only in his personal life, but in his understanding of life itself. And he began to revisit, out of the scripture, he began to revisit some of the things he was taught earlier. He is now attending the church as we understand it and know it today — and he's attending with us in Dallas. You know, he is very self-conscious about what he went through and I can understand that. But I met with him a couple of weeks back and, like I said, he was very self-conscious about it. But I told him, you know, what you went through, for you, in the last year and a half, it was difficult. He is pretty strong in what he believes now. He studied. He got his Bible back open. What he did 30 years ago, he had to start over. I said, "It's really just another example — in your case, you've been able to understand what you believe. You are more convicted about it in a manner that most of us wouldn't choose." But it was through the experience and that he may have temporarily have failed some things. Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we go a wrong direction. But it isn't over yet. God allows us in our own personal lives to experience things that can give us an opportunity to see whether or not we are convicted about something — whether or not it is a belief or just an opinion. Peter tells us that that is a very precious thing. It's an individual decision for us all. All of us will have our faith tried. Convictions will be manifest based upon what we do with what we learned. That's true on a personal basis in our behavior and it's true with doctrinal issues that are fundamental beliefs.
Notice in 1 Corinthians 3. Again, we don't normally read this verse as it relates to one's personal convictions and doctrine and how we understand the word of God and live it, but, nonetheless, I think it underscores the principle.
1 Cor. 3:13 - Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try even every man's work of what sort it is.
Now, of course, Paul was referring to the work of other ministers at that point in time, but this is a fundamental truth about all of us. Every individual's work will be made manifest and, as he says here, he uses this metaphor of being revealed by fire, by trial, by test. It means that we should live our lives based upon what we have proven and what we believe and to do anything other than that will not serve us. It's vital that we are sure about what we believe and that we have proven it. Now I think the statement about proving it to yourself is a true statement. Have any of you ever tried to prove what you believe to someone else and failed? I have. Now I'd like to blame all that failure on the fact that they're just ignorant. I have to believe that over the years sometimes I wasn't able to prove something because my ability to explain it wasn't what it should have been. But I also believe, and the scripture does bear this out, that sometimes you can defend and you can understand, and you can't prove it to others. But we were told, and I think there is truth, that we've got to prove it to ourselves, but we nonetheless must prove it out of this (the Bible) and compare it to our personal life. You know, we live in a time, we live in a world and a time that our beliefs can be spurned and challenged. They have and they will be. And we must not neglect that fact. When we are around each other, which is a priceless blessing, basically the issue of what we believe and having to defend it amongst ourselves is a relative non-issue. I say 'relative' simply because there may be times when even within the church there is some question or debate about a particular point of doctrine. I understand that. But basically we don't go around worrying about what's going to be brought up by another church member and having to defend it. There's a comfort of knowing that we are with others of like mind. As a matter of fact, we use that phrase of how wonderful it is to be fellowshipping with brethren of like mind. What a priceless privilege it really is. That we shouldn't forget in all that that we live in a world that doesn't believe the way that we do. Not that we have to have a confrontational view of them. But we live in a world that is going to challenge what we believe. We live in a society that simply does not basically reflect the values that the word of God does. And it's changing. You don't have to be from a totally different generation — 20 or 30 years removed — to see how the values in Western society are changing almost on a biannual basis. We need to be sure, brethren, that we have our convictions based upon a foundation of proof and that all of the teaching that we get, whether it be at Bible study, whether it be at Sabbath services, whether it be reading articles out of the publications that we have or attending a class at ABC. Wonderful knowledge is one thing. Being able to truly be convicted about it is yet another and we need to be sure that we have convictions based upon the foundation of the word of God. Remember this, brethren, what you believe and what you live — what you and I live in our Christian life — should be based upon what we have proven.
I'd like you to turn in conclusion to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4. If you turn there you probably recall this is a very unique time in the history of the church, really a very unique time in the history of mankind when you consider what took place. What was discussed in Matthew chapter 4 and this was the temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan the Devil. But notice here because Jesus Christ, in this, made a statement that has rung true for centuries.
Matt. 4:1 - Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Verse 2 - And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he had hungered.
Verse 3 - And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
But Jesus Christ made a statement after that that, while it did relate obviously to the situation at hand, has really bounced around in the minds of God's people and been quoted many times. Notice.
Verse 4 - And he answered and he said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live.
Now we deeply believe that, but let us add, brethren, that people will only live what they are truly convicted about.