Introduction: How to read the bible.
I have a friend in Chicago that I met a number of years ago at a men’s bible study. We had met for the first time and were trying to decide how we were going to study the bible. Someone suggested that we read a passage of scripture and then discuss it. Jeff said something that surprised me: He said that he had already read through the bible once, and didn’t see any need to read through it again. After, he had figured out all the important stuff, so why bother reading it again?
I’ve thought about the statement off and on over the years. It’s a good question, why should I read the bible?
What I want to do this morning is to pose a series of questions that I think rise out of our text for today, and try to find some answers to why Jeff, why I, why we should read the bible.

A. First Question: Why do we need to read the bible?
Paul’s answer is at the end of Chapter 3, and to the point.
17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be equipped for every good work (NRSV).
17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work (NLT).
1. We read scripture because we need to be equipped and prepared to do every good work.
When Paul refers to “good work,” he is not talking about becoming a Christian, but what happens after you become a Christian. Look at what he wrote to the Church at Colossae:
''Col. 1:21f - … you were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.
James has the same thought in mind when he wrote:
James 1:22 - But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

2. “To Prepare” and “equip” means to be capable of meeting all demands put on us as a Christian. Reading the Scriptures will teach us, so that we have the resources and the ability to always do the right thing, to be prepared and equipped to do good works. // Why do I need to read the bible? In order to be equipped and prepared to do good work.

B. Question #2 - WHY do I need to be equipped?

1. I’m supposed to be equipped to do good works. Okay, why? What is going on that requires me to be equipped?
Every winter in the U.S. doctors urge people to get Flu shots. If I asked them why I need a flu shot, they wouldn’t tell me that it is because business is slow, and the doctors can always use the extra income. No, it is to help prepare me against the outbreak of flu that always occurs every winter.
This is the principle that Paul is sharing with Timothy. Get ready beforehand, so that you will always be prepared to do the right thing when the opportunity arises.

2. So I need to be prepared and equipped beforehand. Why? What is going on?
We have to go back to the beginning of Chapter three to find the answer to that question.
You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. (2 Tim.3.1)
It is because of the world we live in.
Notice what Paul says about is the world in which we live. Paul tells Timothy that we are living in the “last days.”

3. The last days? Are we talking about the return of Christ? No, this is more than the time immediately before the return of Christ.
Heb 1:2 - 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.
The writer sees that the Last Days as having something to do with the first appearance of Jesus Christ and his becoming flesh and blood.
Peter starts with a quote from Joel ch. 2 about what will happen in the last days. Envision this scene, people are walking around in the Temple courtyard and suddenly a group of these people start acting and talking in a strange way. Their assumption is that they are drunk. Peter responds to them:
15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
“What you see…” refers to the pouring out of the Spirit going on around them, which was a direct result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Peter says that these last days are here now, right now, going on around him. This is what Joes was talking about, but not all of it is happening now.
If the last days started when Peter was around, then we can assume we live in the last days now.
The last days refers to the time between the resurrection of Christ and his return at the end of the age. Paul says that the last days are TERRIBLE times. It is a time of great stress and danger. (N.B. - Don’t confuse this with the Day of the Lord)
Sound familiar?

5. Not only do we live in the last days, but this world is full of people who are the by-products of these stressful, dangerous days.
Vs 2-5 tell us quite a bit about these people. In fact, Paul gives a list of 18 different characteristics of these people of the “last days”
2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power.
The word “love” is used to describe them (five times), but it isn’t meant to be a complement.'' · lovers of pleasure -
· They don’t love God
· lovers of themselves
· lovers of money (v 2).
· They do not love doing good
Are we beginning to see a pattern here?

7. The summary of what these people are like is found in vss 4 and 5:
Vs 4 - lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; lovers of hedoné, cf our word hedonism
Vs 5 - having a form of godliness but denying its power.

8. These people have all the outside trappings, but the insides are rotten.
Jesus told some of religious people of his day that they had a form of godliness, but they were like a cup that was clean on the outside, but dirty on the inside,
Matt 23:26 - You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.
Again, they are like a tomb that is nicely decorated and cleaned up, painted, something out of better homes and gardens, but are full of old dried out bones.
Matt 23: 27 - “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. 28 So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
So Paul shows Timothy the answer why we need to be equipped and prepared:
Because of the world we live in.

6. Now that Timothy knows the problem, Paul wants to make sure that Timothy is not caught up in these last times and overwhelmed. The world of the “Last Days” is like a rip tide. A rip tide is one that flows back out to sea from the shore, and can actually catch swimmers and surfers in it and pull them so far out that they tire out trying to get back to the beach and often drown.
This is the way the world is, says Paul. Sin is like a rip tide that catches us and pulls us away from Christ, if we are not careful.

C. Question #3 -How does the bible help to equip us to live in this world and to prepare us for good works?

1. How does the bible equip us to live in this world and to prepare us for good works?

2. It would help if we knew what should look like to be equipped for good works.
The best way to help people know what something looks like is to show them a picture.
Paul gives Timothy a picture of what it looks like to be prepared and equipped: The example of his own life!

3. The first part of vs 10 tells about the character of Paul’s life:
“Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,…” (2 Tim. 3:10)
But then he shows Timothy how this preparation worked out in real life:
“…my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.”
Clement, who was bishop of Rome thirty years after Paul’s death, writes about Paul’s life:
“… seven times he was in bonds, he was exiled, he was stoned, he was a herald both in the East and in the West, …he taught righteousness to all the world, and when he had reached the limits of the West [i.e., Spain] he gave his testimony before the rulers, and thus passed from the world and was taken up into the Holy Place,-the greatest example of endurance. (1 Clem. 5:5-7).

4. This didn’t happen because Paul tried real hard on his own, nor is it a Deus ex machina, where God dropped out of the ceiling and rescued Paul, then goes back to heaven. This happened because Paul was always obedient, continually preparing himself to do good work.
Paul has shown Timothy that his life has purpose, endurance, patience, love and power.
He also showed him that, despite all the persecution and suffering he’s gone through, the Lord delivered him from it all.
Paul wants Timothy to be able to say the same thing about his own life, that he is equipped and prepared to do every good work that Christ has prepared for him.

5. And this is why scripture is important, why it is necessary ingredient that we need for us to be equipped and prepared. Notice what he tells Timothy in vs14 and 15:
V14 - But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.
Paul encourages Timothy to continue to trust the scriptures. The best reason why he knows that they are true is because of the people who taught him: (explicate)
His grandmother
His Mother
Paul
He can trust the scriptures because Timothy has seen the examples of their lives.

3. Discussion: Notice what Paul is saying:
v15 - You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
Salvation isn’t just becoming a Christian, but it is the journey of faith that we are on, that starts with trusting in Christ as our savior.

4. First, what is scripture?
It is God breathed.
This text is usually used in a discussion about inerrancy or infallibility of scripture. But this misses the point about the effectiveness and purpose of the word of God.
The key passage to understand 2 Tim 3:16 is ISA. 55'
Isa 55: 10 - For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

2. It is by his Holy Spirit, through Scripture, that we can meet God, where we can encounter the living God, and through the scriptures that the Holy Spirit shows God purpose in us and through us to equip and prepare us for every good work.

3. Useful for teaching. Paul uses the word “useful” several times, and interestingly they are used in discussions about physical exercise.

4. Like physical exercise, we need spiritual exercise to stay in shape.
Continual training in exercise will not only build you up, but is will show up in your life.

Story of Jeff and the bible, Part 2.
I spoke to my friend Jeff recently and asked him about his statement. He said he doesn’t remember the incident, but it does sound like something he would say. He told me that after that incident, he returned to reading scripture, and discovered that the more he read it, the deeper he found it. He also said that he started memorizing scripture. He always was amazed when he would be in a situation, a verse of scripture would pop into his mind that pertained to the situation at hand.

5. Let me give you my version of this passage.
All scripture is inspired by God and is; useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Tim. 3:16)
a. Useful for teaching. - Scripture will show you the path for our journey with Christ. Scripture is like a map. Maps will give you a sense of direction and major points on your journey.

b. for reproof - Scripture can show you when you get off that path. The word rebuke has the idea of exposing or show us our errors and mistakes.

c. for correcting - It will show us how to get back on the path towards God.

d. for training in righteousness - It shows us how to stay on the path. The word has the idea of discipline, of training children by putting them through a series of exercises.

6. This is not just something we are doing on our own. It isn’t our strength and desire to see that this happens. That would be like grabbing your shoe laces and lifting yourself up in the air. It won’t happen.
Here is Paul’s take on it:
Phil 2:13 - For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Phil 1:6 - And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
This is God’s work, but we need to cooperate.

Why should we read the bible? (review)

1. In order to be equipped and prepared to do good work.
2. Because we live in the “last days.”
3. God through his Spirit is calling us to live our lives, obedient to Christ, prepared to do good.

We are called on a journey by God. Scripture is our guide to finding that path and staying on it. It is the resource that will guide us to God through the Holy Spirit in order to be equipped and prepared.

Conclusion: HOW do we read the bible? (see S.O.A.P. handout)