Sunday Sermon

Sermon # 1012
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Dr. Ed Pettus

“The God-Breathed Word”

The Bible has a lot to say about the Bible. In our text for this morning, Paul writes: all scripture is inspired by God. Inspired literally means God-breathed, that is, God has breathed life into these words. The Spirit of God is at work in the scripture. When we read, hear, study, teach, preach, meditate, memorize, spend any time in the scripture, God is at work. The wind of God blows through our sacred texts. It is in this holy word where we find a refreshing wind of comfort, sometimes a strong wind of conviction, and other times a wind that sets us sailing in the right direction. God has blown the breath of life into these words.
When I reflect on the God-breathed word, I recall other times when God has breathed life into or onto someone. In Genesis 2:7 God breathed into Adam: “then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being”. Adam had only the form of a human being before God breathed life into him. The other story I remember is in John’s gospel, John 20:21-22 when Jesus breathed on the disciples: “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’”. Jesus breathed the life of the Holy Spirit on the disciples.
What kind of life does God breathe into the word? What does it mean for the Bible to be God-breathed? We live in a world where we speak of words having meaning and power, but we sometimes speak about words being empty and, in one sense, lifeless. We are in that political season when we hear a lot of political rhetoric, especially in ads where promises are made and one opponent uses words to try and persuade us to give a vote one way or another. We are sometimes swayed by words, sometimes disgusted, sometimes frustrated, but we know that the words mean something important. Words have meaning in their context. A word of scripture means much more to us than words from politics or advertisements or news.

Jewish theology taught that the Spirit of God “rested on and in the prophets and spoke through them so that their words did not come from themselves, but from the mouth of God and they spoke and wrote in the Holy Spirit” (Kelly, Linguistic Key to the Greek NT, p. 647). Paul describes these words as words of hope: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
According to the Psalms the word gives life, revives the soul, and it is our delight:

Psalm 19:7-10
(read slowly) The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

Psalm 1:2
Their [the righteous’] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.

Psalm 119 contains 176 verses singing the praises of God’s word.

When Paul wrote to Timothy he encouraged Timothy to continue in the word, a sacred word he had known from childhood and a word that instructs to salvation. No doubt Paul had the Old Testament in mind, but Paul also understood, or at least the church understood that the gospel stories and the early letters of Paul were also God-breathed. Peter understood this in 2 Peter 3:15-16, “our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, 16speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures”. Peter regarded Paul’s writings as scripture!

The scriptures are God-breathed – dangerous sometimes, confusing sometimes, challenging, mysterious, our list could go on. Peter Holmes comments on A.J.Jacobs Book, The Year of Living Biblically, and says: A.J. Jacobs discovered that he could not read the Bible alone. So every day he met with others to discuss its meaning. It drew him into community and into a new way of thinking of others. For the first time he considered the possibility that there is One who created us, and soon he felt a deep connection to the whole human family. It may seem out of season, but it is the word the world needs. By the end, Jacobs referred to himself as a ‘reverent agnostic’ and wrote this: ‘Studying the Bible is not like studying sumo wrestling in Japan. It’s more like wrestling itself. This opponent of mine is sometimes beautiful, sometimes cruel, sometimes ancient, sometimes crazily relevant. I can’t get a handle on it. I’m outmatched” (Jacobs, p. 119). We cannot get a handle on the Word precisely because it is a living word that comes from a living God. As Hebrews 4 says it: “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (4:12). As someone once said the word we read is able to read us!

One of the concerns from Paul is that “the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). The time is here. Such a time has been here since Paul first wrote those words and we know that our culture is filled with teachings that can pull us away from sound doctrine, from God’s word, and lead us to hear what we want to hear. One criticism of the church is that we have lost our confidence in scripture. We no longer trust that it is God-breathed. Perhaps we are so busied by life and modern things that we are apathetic toward the word of God. We are even embarrassed somewhat by what we have in this word! Paul tells Timothy and Paul tells us, no, no, no! Do not be ashamed of this word. Continue to believe. Be persistent. Proclaim the living word by word and deed. Encourage one another with God word.
I think today Paul would warn us not to wonder off by putting more faith in the Oprah book list or even in the latest “new” teaching-self help-pop theology- “what would Jesus do?” -bumper sticker theology that seems to make the best seller Christian book list. I am so weary and leery of the most popular Christian books of the day, because one of the reasons why these books become so popular is that we are looking for something new, even beyond or in place of scripture, and maybe our ears are itching for something to suit our desires. We so quickly move away from the God-breathed word precisely because it is God-breathed, living, active, truthful, able to rebuke. But this God-breathed word is where we truly find life! The Psalmist said: “I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life” (Psalm 119:93). But we are conflicted because we want life and yet we resist this God-breathed word of life because it is easier to find one more book that will give us something else, something different, something we think will satisfy our itching ears.

Paul was afraid Timothy felt the same way, so he wrote this word to encourage Timothy to never ever give up on the inspired word of God. The Message says it this way: “Proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don't ever quit. Just keep it simple. You're going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food - catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They'll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you - keep your eye on what you're doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God's servant”.

There is a lot of spiritual junk food out there; let us stick with a diet of God-breathed words trusting that God is breathing in and through these words of scripture. Let us join Jeremiah who said: “Your words were found and I ate them and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

All I want to do this morning is renew the call in our ears – the call to renew our commitment to the Word of God, to listen to Paul’s word…God’s word, to stay the course of solid teaching that is found in the Bible. Trust this word for your life for this is the God-breathed word of life. Amen.