By Brother R. Michel Lankford
Most believers are familiar with the Scripture 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which reads as it is written:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
These verses are often used (and quite correctly) to illustrate the importance of basing our beliefs and decisions about God, and the decisions about how we are going to live squarely upon the Scriptures. However, what we forget is that these two critical verses are at the end of the letter the apostle Paul was writing under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to a younger pastor Timothy. What I'd like to do is make some key bullet points that will help us not only remember this verse, but that we would also remember it in the context which the apostle Paul wrote it by highlighting the chapter in which those verses are contained. 1. While under the anointing of God, Paul describes for younger pastor Timothy the great perversion and falling away from God which will pollute man's belief systems in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1-9).
a. People will be lovers of themselves more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-2)
b. People will also love only themselves and their money (3:1–2a).
c. They will be proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy (3:2b).
d. They will be without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, and brutal (3:3).
e. They will be treacherous and will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (3:4).
f. They will have a form of godliness but will deny its power (3:5).[1]
2. The apostle Paul gives two examples are simply depraved men and women to illustrate this falling away that will occur (2 Timothy 3:6-9).
3. The apostle Paul then offers the cure and a preventative to apostasy (2 Timothy 3:10-17)
a. Actively and forcibly turn away from those who choose turn away from God (2 Timothy 3:5).
b. He tells Timothy to be faithful and to continue in the work of the ministry which God has called him, and to remember Paul's example (2 Timothy 3:10-11).
c. He reminds Timothy not to expect popularity. People who truly love God, who truly love the Messiah and who truly desire to live a life that God considers righteous will not be loved by the sinful world, or by the religiously sinful who have a form of godliness, but they deny His power and authority by the way that they choose to live (2 Timothy 3:5, 12; cf. John 3:19-21; John 15:18-19; James 4:4; Galatians 1:10; 1 John 2:15).
d. He reminds Timothy that the deception and the world is not going to get better, it's only going to get worse (2 Timothy 3:13). The implication there is that he should be prepared and not to expect the ways of the world to lead him into truth, nor shall you expect the ways of the world to be supportive, while he seeks to walk in the Truth.
e. Paul reminds Timothy to remain in and stay true to the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:14-17). Paul reminds Timothy that the time of his childhood he learned the Scriptures that were able to make it more unto salvation through Jesus the Messiah (2 Timothy 3:15).
4. Facts, Thoughts and Questions to Consider:
a. Fact: Paul instructed Timothy (and by extension all of the rest of us) to continue in the sacred writings which Timothy had learned as a child, and which are able to make him wise unto salvation. At the time that Paul wrote those words to Timothy there was NO New Testament. So when Paul wrote to Timothy and told him to continue in the sacred writings, he was telling Timothy to continue in following the instructions found in the books of Genesis to Malachi. Don't miss that because it is the truth.
b. Fact: the books of Genesis to Malachi (a.k.a. the Old Testament) make up 66% of the Sacred Writings. The Writings of the so-called New Testament make up about 34%
c. Fact: About 10% of the so-called New Testament is a direct quotation Old Testament verses. The percentage is even greater if you include New Testament passages which contain inferences and alliteration which points to Old Testament ideas but are not direct quotations.
d. Fact: I had been in traditional organized Christianity more than a quarter of a century. In time I have heard countless pastors complain about how unreceptive people are getting toward the gospel and how hard it is to get people in the church "To get discipled and get involved." Ostensibly pastors who are complaining about people not getting involved are usually referring to those people which they wish would get more involved in furthering the particular ministry which that particular pastor is promoting at the time.
e. Fact: The vast majority of modern Christianity teaches that because we are “under God's grace,” then it is not as important to learn and follow the instructions of the so-called Old Testament. So essentially what modern Christian theologians are doing is teaching people to diminish and sometimes even ignore almost 76% of Holy Scripture.
f. Fact: Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) specifically said that, "Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES the will of the Father in heaven will enter.”(See Matthew 7:21-23). He also said that in order to make successful disciples we must teach people how to obey EVERYTHING which Jesus Christ commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). That clearly does not happen either.
g. Questions: Is it possible to be thoroughly equipped for every good work when churches ignore or choose diminish or discount more than 76% of God's instructions for living? In so doing, how likely is it that we have truly done the will of God? In light of Matthew 7:21-23, how safe are we in doing that ... REALLY?
It's Food for Thought
[1] Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (2 Ti 3:1–17). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
No comments:
Post a Comment