2 Timothy
3:14-4:5

Introduction
A classic text for Bible Sunday today:

All scripture is inspired by God and is
useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be
proficient, equipped for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Not sentiments that many in the world would agree with.
Popular estimations of the Bible range from it containing nice morals that
no-one can attain, to it being a bunch of fairy tales, to the extreme position
held by eminent scientists such as Richard Dawkins that its apparently lovely
stories are a justification for violence (as he claims in his new book The God Delusion).

And inevitably these attitudes influence us in the church.
We can find the Bible irrelevant, unbelievable and even abhorrent. Why, then,
on Bible Sunday, should we hold this
collection of ancient writings in high esteem and make it key to the practice
of Christian faith?

1. Because It Is Inspired
‘All scripture is inspired’, says Paul. A strong statement –
but what does he mean? Let’s quickly dismiss the other alternative translation
possible from the Greek of ‘Every inspired scripture’ which might imply that
some scripture is inspired but other parts aren’t. It’s a tempting translation
to cope with the difficult parts of the Bible, but not one Jews like Paul or
Timothy would have recognised. No, he claims that all scripture is inspired.

But in what sense? Is it like saying that Mozart or Bach
were inspired in their composing? Is it like the fundamentalist claim that God
dictated the words of Scripture to the human writers?

There is a better translation in the NIV. It says, ‘All
scripture is God-breathed’, and George Carey has some helpful words on what
‘God-breathed’ means:

‘It comes from the belief that every
human being has his or her lungs inflated by God’s breath at birth, and that at
death one’s breath was given to him. Heroic figures like the prophets were
thought to have been inspired with a fuller burst of divine breath than
ordinary mortals. Logically then, the sacred writings must have received a
special anointing, because they came from men specially inspired by the breath
of God.’

So it’s about the work of God’s breath, God’s Spirit, in the
writers of Scripture. Now that does not mean dictation of Scripture. When the
Holy Spirit is at work you do not become less human, just being a channel for
words, you become more human. God inspires you and you become passionate to put
that into practice. So I think this sits quite well with some of the evangelical
Christian leaders of pre-fundamentalist times such as the hymn writer Philip
Doddridge and the missionary pioneer Henry Martyn, who said that inspiration
was God giving the thoughts, but men giving the words.

In other words, the Holy Spirit is not a dictator, but a
supervisor. Inspiration is preserved, but so too are the different styles of
the human writers. So you get the Gospel writers giving different accounts of
the same incidents, partly because they each have different messages to convey
about them. It’s why some believing scholars say that we don’t have the ipsissima verbi, the authentic words of
Jesus, but we do have the ipsissima vox,
the authentic voice of Jesus in the Scriptures.

And this is slightly different from saying that an artist or
a composer is inspired. They are using the gifts God has given them, for sure,
but not necessarily in terms of communicating something of lasting importance
about God’s supreme final revelation in Christ. For the great goal of
Scripture, according to Jesus himself in John 5:39, is that the Scriptures
point to him. And he comes to fulfil the Old Testament law, according to
Matthew 5:17.

So the Old Testament points to Christ. Parts of the Jewish
ritual law that we don’t keep have found their fulfilment in him, such as the
laws about sacrifices or the dietary laws. It’s OK; you can eat pork for your
Sunday lunch! Others assume a situation different from ours, where there is a
nation recognising the rule of God. We may find relevance in the sections where
the faithful are a small number in a pagan society.

People may argue that Jesus and Paul were just referring to
the Old Testament. But in Paul’s previous letter to Timothy (at 1 Timothy 5:18)
he quotes a portion of Luke’s Gospel (10:7) as Scripture. And 2 Peter 3:16
refers to Paul’s letters as Scripture. So there was an ongoing recognition of
special inspiration. Eventually the Church made a decision on the inspired
writings, but it wasn’t so much the Church passing judgement as seeking to
discern which writings carried the special anointing.

So first of all, we should take the Bible very seriously
because it is inspired. In doing so
we make greater claims for it than we even do for other helpful spiritual
resources such as the traditions of the Church, spiritual experience and human
reason. And our conviction that the Bible is inspired becomes the bedrock for
struggling with the difficult passages in it and also for the other claims that
Paul makes in our text this morning.

 

2. Because It Is Useful
Our children love books. Often, first thing in the morning,
they will want to bring books to us to read to them. Among their many
favourites are the Thomas The Tank Engine books. And if you have read them you
will know that sometimes the highest form of praise that Thomas gets from the
Fat Controller is to be told he is a Really Useful Engine.

Paul makes claims that the Bible is Really Useful: it ‘is
useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness’, he says.

There are many metaphors for the rôle of the Bible in the
Christian life: Augustine called it ‘our letter from home’ and it is sometimes
called God’s love letter. But here Paul sees it more like a tool that God uses.
It is useful, practical.

So it is not to be treated the way I once saw a Muslim
friend treat his mother’s Qu’ran, when he was almost afraid to touch it –
something paralleled in some superstitious distortions of Christianity where
people believe that if you read the Bible your hands and feet will drop off. It
is not to be lauded for the poetry of the Authorised Version – a translation we
now know to be based on less reliable manuscripts than contemporary
translations. It is of practical use, so the habit of some Christians of making
notes in their Bible is not sacrilege as some believe, but a proper application
of treating the Bible as useful.

How is it useful? Paul says it is useful ‘for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness’. We can take those
four words – teaching, reproof, correction and training – in two pairs.

The first two – teaching and reproof – are about our beliefs. The Bible teaches us what is
right and wrong about God, human life, creation and destiny. Get your moorings
right in your beliefs and you have a good foundation for Christian living –
provided you then apply those beliefs. Get the picture of a loving and holy God
supremely revealed in Jesus Christ, who made us in his image and entered on a
rescue project when we turned from him, and who desires to heal all of wounded
creation, and you will have a sound basis for faith. Get this wrong and if you
have a distorted image of God or humanity you will live a shrivelled, fearful
life that accomplishes little. The Bible is God’s instrument to teach us his
truth and preserve us from the practical dangers of wrong belief.

The second two words – correction and training – are about
our behaviour. Our behaviour needs to
be corrected and we need training in the right way to live. The Bible provides
this, too. It does not simply give us a list of rules, though: it shows us how
to live in tune with the Holy Spirit’s desires for life.

One profound example of the difference this makes will soon
be in the public eye. Next March we celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition
of the slave trade in the British Empire. The
name William Wilberforce will therefore be greatly honoured again. Wilberforce
described his calling as for ‘the reformation of manners’, and this is actually
how the New English Bible translates this part of the verse. Correction and
training in righteousness are what Wilberforce called ‘the reformation of
manners’ – and what a reformation he and others achieved. He was treating his
Bible as a useful book in terms of Christian behaviour. Is it any surprise he
was also one of the founders of the Bible
Society?

The inspired Bible, then, is useful – significantly useful
in shaping healthy belief and behaviour. This should be a deep motivation for
engaging with it regularly.

3. Because It Is Fruitful
What is the consequence of Paul’s teaching here? It is ‘so
that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good
work.’ (verse 17).

Do you want to be equipped as a Christian to face the world
with faith and love? Then, says Paul, you need to be someone who drinks deeply
of Scripture. If you do, you will be equipped for Christian discipleship. There
was once a pompous man who introduced himself as a tree expert. Someone
replied, well so is a monkey! Some may study trees, but the monkey lives in
them. So we need to ‘live’ in our Bibles.

Let me therefore make the plea for regular Bible reading.
There are Chinese Christians whose motto is ‘No Bible, no breakfast’. I’m not
going to advocate that as a rule for one and all, worthy as it is to start the
day in tune, because it doesn’t fit everybody’s routines. It certainly wouldn’t
work for us with small children. But just as we make time to eat food, so we
need to make time for spiritual nourishment. Find the right time each day for
you.

You may want to use Bible reading notes, and there are many
to choose from, to fit all sorts of temperaments and abilities. Any Christian
bookshop can show you a wide variety. It’s worth the pilgrimage. I use one designed for Christian
leaders from Scripture Union.
They are helpful in taking you to read parts of the Bible that you might not
choose if just left to your own limited inclinations. My only caution about
Bible reading notes is you need to read the passage for yourself before reading
the notes.

Read the Bible, too, in fellowship with other Christians. So
a Bible study group like the Tuesday morning one here or the others run in
conjunction with St Mary’s is very helpful. It is only a consequence of the
printing press that people read things alone. Throughout most of history the
books of the Bible have been read communally.

And of course remember that if the Bible is inspired, then
look to the Holy Spirit for illumination as you read (which is another reason
for reading it with other Christians – to check out your understanding). For if
the Bible is inspired, then what makes more sense than to rely deliberately on
the one who supervised the human authors? So read prayerfully. And that may
mean reading slowly, meditating on the words, and reflecting on them by chewing
them over in the presence of God.

I am not going to kid you that all this will always make
Bible reading exciting. Sometimes it will feel deadly dull and you may not
receive any earth-shattering revelations. But you are being equipped.

Think of it like this. I have a friend who realised he was
overweight. He decided the solution was to go running first thing every
morning. Most mornings he would wake up and not feel remotely like getting out
from the warm duvet. But his wife would prod him and remind him he needed to,
so he would. He didn’t feel like it, but he has felt progressively better
physically as a result. And I think it’s a little bit like that with our Bible
reading, too. We may not feel motivated. We may find every excuse not to do it.
But unless we build in a disciplined spiritual habit here, we are risking our
spiritual fitness. There is no short cut, no instant solution for spiritual
maturity. It requires discipline. And one of them is a regular, prayerful
engagement with Scripture.

I conclude with this story. During the reign of terror under
Nicolai Ceaucescu in Romania,
frequent raids were carried out on the homes of Christians. One Eastern
Orthodox Christian called Stephen had his house turned over and books, including
an English translation of the Bible, were removed. It was the loss of the Bible
that hurt him most. ‘Without a Bible, you are not a man,’ he said.

Some of us who have the gift of the Bible are in such danger
of neglecting it that we risk not being men – or women – of deep faith. Why
should we be so cavalier?

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Well, the newly-discovered school assembly bug has truly bitten. The assembly at the beginning of September at Little Waltham went well, and I soon went to the Guy Harlings Resource Centre to search for some more. There I discovered what I now regard as a little gem: ‘Stories For Interactive Assemblies’ by Nigel Bishop. Bishop is a primary school head who has retold fifteen of Jesus’ parables in the setting of a primary school. Not only that, there is follow-up material for teachers after each story.

Last week I went back to Little Waltham and told one of his stories. It went down tremendously well with children and staff. They then asked me at short notice to go back yesterday and fill in at their Harvest Festival, because the local vicar and URC ministers have both recently retired. Again, one of Bishop’s retold parables worked wonders.

I happen to differ with Bishop on biblical studies issues about the parables. He takes the standard critical view that parables only make one point, there is no allegory and therefore the couple of times that Jesus explains them are not original to him. I follow Craig Blomberg in his book ‘Interpreting The Parables’ who argues for limited allegory and takes the issue of concealment more seriously, rather than explaining it away on the grounds of inclusiveness.

However, that said, the great thing is that although Bishop is more liberal in his tendencies and I am more conservative in mine it has so far made little or no difference to the power and application of the stories. If you are looking for something new and creative for primary school assemblies I recommend this book highly. Just don’t start using it on my patch in this part of Essex!

Technorati Tags: primary+school, assembly, Little+Waltham, Guy+Harlings, Stories+For+Interactive+Assemblies, Nigel+Bishop, parables, Craig+Blomberg, Interpreting+The+Parables

Novelist Nick Hornby:

I would never attempt to dissuade anyone from reading a book. But
please, if you’re reading a book that’s killing you, put it down and
read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you
weren’t enjoying a television programme.

(Link via kottke.org)

I was reading this thinking it had real parallels for how people experienced church and worship when – blow me down – he links exactly to that experience as a nine-year-old. Do read this – whether your interest is literature and/or religion.

Technorati Tags: Nick+Hornby, reading, worship

All this week at the holiday club I’ve been using material from Celtic Daily Prayer from the Northumbria Community in team prayers each morning. Today I was flicking through other parts of the book and came to the ‘Finan Readings’ for July. Most are based on Henry Drummond‘s nineteenth century book ‘The City Without A Church’ (full text online here). Some of the quotes are startling and read like postmodern emerging church thinking. For example:

John, in his Revelation, holds up to the world the picture of a city without a church as his ideal of the heavenly life. By far the most original thing here is the simple conception of heaven as a city. The idea of religion without a church – ‘I saw no temple therein’ – is anomalous enough; but the association of the blessed life with a city – the one place in the world from which heaven seems most far away – is something wholly new in religious thought. All other heavens have been gardens, dreamlands: passivities, more or less aimless. Even to the majority among ourselves, heaven is a siesta and not a city.

The heaven of Christianity is different from all other heavens, because the religion of Christianity is different from all other religions. Christianity is the religion of cities. It moves among real things. Its sphere is the street, the market-place, the working life of the world.

…

If the future life were to be mainly spent in a temple, the present life might mainly be spent in church.

But if heaven be a city, the life of those who are going there must be a real life. Christ’s gift to us was life: a rich and abundant life. And life is meant for living. An abundant life does not show itself in abundant dreaming, but in abundant living – in abundant living among real and tangible objects and to actual and practical purposes.

…

John saw his city ‘descending out of Heaven’. It was, moreover, no strange apparition, but a city which he knew. The significance of that name has been altered for most of us by religious poetry: we spell it with a capital and speak of the New Jerusalem as a synonym for heaven. Yet why not take it simply as it stands, as a new Jerusalem? Try to restore the natural force of the expression – suppose John to have lived today and to have said, ‘I saw a new London’? Jerusalem was John’s London.

…

In every city throughout the world today, there is a city descending out of heaven from God. Each one of us is daily building up this city – or helping to keep it back.

…

Technorati Tags: Celtic+Daily+Prayer, Northumbria+Community, Henry+Drummond, The+City+Without+A+Church

A Provocative Line or Two:

But trained men’s minds are spread so thin,
They
let all sorts of darkness in;
Whatever light man finds, they doubt
it;
They love not light, just talk about it.

John Masefield (The Everlasting
Mercy)

From the biography of John Henry
Jowett
“We leave our places of worship, and no deep and
inexpressible wonder sits upon our faces. We can sing these lilting melodies,
and when we go out into the street our faces are one with the faces of those who
have left the theater and the music halls. There is nothing about us to suggest
that we have been looking at anything stupendous and overwhelming. Far back in
my boyhood I remember an old saint telling me that after some services he liked
to make his way home alone, by quiet by-ways, so that the hush of the Almighty
might remain on his awed and prostrate soul. That is the element we are losing,
and its loss is one of the measure of our poverty, and the primary secret of
inefficient life and service.” (This said—give or take—a hundred years ago. How
might the man have expressed himself if he had lived today?)

Hat-tip: Gordon MacDonald.

Technorati Tags: John+Masefield, John+Henry+Jowett, Gordon+MacDonald, quote

A Provocative Line or Two:

But trained men’s minds are spread so thin,
They
let all sorts of darkness in;
Whatever light man finds, they doubt
it;
They love not light, just talk about it.

John Masefield (The Everlasting
Mercy)

From the biography of John Henry
Jowett
“We leave our places of worship, and no deep and
inexpressible wonder sits upon our faces. We can sing these lilting melodies,
and when we go out into the street our faces are one with the faces of those who
have left the theater and the music halls. There is nothing about us to suggest
that we have been looking at anything stupendous and overwhelming. Far back in
my boyhood I remember an old saint telling me that after some services he liked
to make his way home alone, by quiet by-ways, so that the hush of the Almighty
might remain on his awed and prostrate soul. That is the element we are losing,
and its loss is one of the measure of our poverty, and the primary secret of
inefficient life and service.” (This said—give or take—a hundred years ago. How
might the man have expressed himself if he had lived today?)

Hat-tip: Gordon MacDonald.

Technorati Tags: John+Masefield, John+Henry+Jowett, Gordon+MacDonald, quote