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Show Yourself Approved

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Show Yourself Approved

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Show Yourself Approved

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In 2 Timothy 2:15, was Paul admonishing Timothy to read his Bible, or was he writing of something beyond knowledge accumulation alone?

Sermon Notes

PRESENTER'S NOTES

2 Timothy 2:15

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

STUDY - 4704 spoudazo spoo-dad'-zo from 4710; to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest:--do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study. see GREEK for 4710

Analytical Literal Translation
Be eager [or, diligent] to present yourself approved to God [as] a worker with no need to be ashamed, cutting straight [fig., teaching accurately; or, interpreting correctly] the word of truth.

Paul was admonishing Timothy to represent his office as elder of the church, to diligently work to represent his responsibilities, in this case, specifically by representing accurately the scriptures and the gospel.

Though this passage in 2 Timothy 2:15 is not telling Timothy to read or study his Bible to show himself approved for teaching the word, there does remain a logic that you cannot, as a teacher represent the word without knowing that word.
We also should understand, that though elders of the church must be steadfast representatives of the word it is every member of the body who is responsible for living by that same word. In both cases this requires knowledge of the word of God.

Acts 17:10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Gutenburg’s printing press: 1455

Before this time, it is not likely a follower of Jesus Christ had a copy of any of the Old Testament or New Testament sitting in their living room for daily study.

However, with that fact in mind, Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, that “the gates of hell (or, the grave) shall not prevail against” the church of God.

Here is my point:

The words Paul wrote to Timothy were not about studying his Bible or the scrolls daily. His admonition to this elder of the church was that Timothy practice earnestly, moment by moment, a life and words that properly represented the word of God that he taught; that besides the requirement to preach the word of God, he live moment by moment what he taught.

I have never been a great student of textual study in any subject my entire life. I graduated in the top 5% of my high school of over 900 graduates, but to study words on a page any length of time has always been a great challenge for me.

I do not reveal this quality about myself to present to you some sort of excuse. If we do not take advantage of the access we have to God’s word, we are sitting ducks to any and all false teaching that is going to constantly attempt to work it’s way into our lives. Like the fair-minded people of Berea, we MUST access the word of God as much as it takes to ever and always compare what we are taught with the word of God.

What I do desire to feature, however, with this confession is another just as important way for us to take Paul’s admonition to Timothy personally.

You can become learned on any subject by studying related texts until your eyes become crossed. You can read, reread, then read some more. You can cross reference, word study, apply context and history. You can know all things, but if you don’t do anything with that knowledge, your knowledge in the subject has truly become worthless. This, of course, is not a Kellyism, but it may have already brought something to your own mind that we find in scripture…

1 Corinthians 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Like Paul wrote to Timothy, we must learn to use the knowledge we have to master our behavior, and furthermore, we must practice becoming masters of the thoughts that cause us to HAVE to master our behavior.

REPEAT

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

Mr. Armstrong gave a sermon, February 4, 1984, and it was about unity. In that sermon he discussed the Tree of Life, and I want to quote four paragraphs from that section of the sermon:

   “Now, while I was at camp in Australia, some children ... And they were the children of some of our ministers, or grandchildren. And they were anywhere from 3 or 4, up to 6 or 7 years of age, just children. I am not talking now about the youth, or the campers, or about the others there; but just the children that happened to be there. And they had produced a large chart for me with a drawing of a tree. There was the trunk, and then a lot of bushes around it; and they had the Ten Commandments on the leaves for the Tree of Life.
   “Well, that gave me an idea; so I went a little further in elaborating on it. Now I see at my right is a chart of the Tree of Life and (if you can hear), as I look at it, the root of that tree — from which it gathers all of its life, and everything comes from the root — is GOD. Then the main trunk of the tree is THE SPIRIT OF GOD. And above, on one side, are four main branches off of that trunk. The four main branches are the first four of the Ten Commandments, and they express love toward God. Then there are six other major branches, not quite so large because they are really not as important as those first four; and they denote love toward fellow man, the last six of the Ten Commandments.
   “So from God flows LIFE in the form of the Holy Spirit that is injected into those who take of this tree. And with Life comes the knowledge of the WAY OF LIFE (of good and evil) — love toward God and love toward neighbor. Then the very many other branches are all of the other things that come under love toward God and love toward neighbor. In other words, other ways that you love God and that you love neighbor. Then it comes out to the branches and the final fruit. And the FRUIT borne you'll see is ... Well, I can't read it all from here. But it is LOVE, and JOY, and PEACE, and HAPPINESS, and ACCOMPLISHMENT, UNITY, AND TOGETHERNESS, and ALL of those things are the fruit.”

And, of course, these fruits Mr. Armstrong referred to, he took from Galatians…

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

“Now if Adam had taken of that fruit, he would have taken what came from the ROOT and up through the trunk of the tree. He would have had the Spirit of the LIFE of GOD. He would have done THE WAY OF GOD. And the SPIRIT OF GOD to give him the knowledge of that way; to give him the LOVE to FULFILL THAT WAY; to give him the POWER to live that way and then to produce the fruit of PEACE, and JOY, and HAPPINESS, and of every kind of abundance and everything that mankind could want.”

Those who have come after the printing press have slowly, over time, been given unprecedented access to the word of God, and, now, for this generation, more than any before us. This access is also available to those who would pervert the word of God, so with privilege comes also the responsibility that we not take that access for granted. We must be like the fair-minded people of Berea and check all teachings against the sure, sound word of scripture. With God’s Spirit in us, we cannot fail and will not be deceived.

That said, unless you and I use whatever knowledge we do have in conjunction with His Spirit to bear fruit, we are attached to a tree where we serve no purpose. It doesn’t matter how sturdy we as a branch may be. It does not matter how free of disease our leaves may be, or how green and lush. God is looking for and requires fruit!

How many have gone before us who showed us great knowledge, and, who, I have no doubt, studied vigorously their Bibles daily, who gave sound counsel, who rightly divided the word of truth from the pulpit… and, yet… they have turned away.

The tree looked great! Plenty of knowledge was there. But, when push came to shove, the Spirit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control were not to be found.

I beg that God give me the strength and ability to become a better student of the Bible. In it are the words of life; eternal life. But, I also know that anybody who has the commandments of God and has the knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ has a full plate in front of them to develop the fruits of God’s Spirit.