Formed By The Word
INTRODUCTION
Intro
Welcome
Series Set up
If you were with us last week, you might remember that we’re in a sermon series that is covering the Pillars and Values that King’s Cross is founded on. Last week we covered the first and most important value which is the Gospel. The Gospel is what informs and guides everything that we do here as a church. We are a people that are centered on Jesus and His Gospel.
The second value is Formation. What we mean when we say formation is becoming more like Jesus. At King’s Cross we take our call of discipleship to Jesus very seriously
Tension
Now, here’s the thing, becoming like Jesus doesn’t just happen by accident. It requires intention.
Christian Pastor and Author, John Mark Comer, writes in his book “Practicing the Way” that: “For those of us who desire to follow Jesus, here is the reality we must turn and face: If we’re not being intentionally formed by Jesus Himself, then it’s highly likely we are being unintentionally formed by someone or something else.
What Comer is arguing for here and in his book on Christian living is that we are all being formed into something or someone.
The question isn’t “are you being formed”, the question is “what is forming you?” What is shaping and molding you as a human? What kind of person are you becoming?
There are serious voices like politics, the news, culture, education, ideologies like secularism, peers, family members, social media that all tell you who you should be and what you should do.
The problem for you as disciples of Jesus is that many of those voices are counter-formative in you becoming like Jesus.
Because the way of Jesus is at odds with the ways of our world and our culture and as you aim to be like Jesus, those voices are trying to make you less like Jesus.
But on the other side, many of us have come to faith in Jesus already being formed into the ways of the world and we’re trying to counter-form those influences so that we could become more like Jesus.
This is a real struggle. But Jesus does offer us something that allows us to combat the voices that seek to counter-form us and help us become more like Him. One of the primary ways that Jesus makes us more like Him is through the reading of God’s Word: The Bible.
There is a reason why here at King’s Cross we stand when we read God’s word. There’s a reason why we take the time every Sunday to read, understand, and apply God’s Word to our lives. There’ a reason why after the preaching we take time to respond to what Jesus has said to us either through song or prayer. It’s because Jesus is speaking to us through His word and as Jesus speaks to us, He’s intentionally forming us.
What we as disciples of Jesus need is to hear the words of our Savior and have it be poured over our lives and hearts and we need it to silence all the other competing voices.
Question
The question that is on the table for us this morning is: "How does God’s word make us more like Jesus? How can God’s word combat the voices that seek to counter-form us so that Jesus could make us more like Him?
EXPOSITION
Passage Set Up
Let’s turn back to our text for this morning.
We’re going to be in a letter called 2 Timothy and it’s written by the Apostle Paul. 2 Timothy is part of a collection of letters that biblical scholars call the Pastoral Epistles.
Paul writes this letter to his spiritual son, Timothy, while he’s in jail in Rome and he writes it with great urgency because Paul knows that his death is quickly approaching. He knows that he doesn’t have much time left in this world so he’s giving Timothy final instructions.
He’s like, “You won’t have me for much longer so please take what I’m going to say here very seriously.”
The reason why Paul writes 1 and 2 Timothy is because there are false teachers present at the church in Ephesus, which is the church that Timothy is pastoring and these false teachers are trying to counter form the Ephesian church. Through false teaching, they’re trying to make the Ephesian church less like Jesus. Let’s see how Paul instructs Timothy here.
God’s Word Directs Us To Jesus (3v14-15)
Explanation
Read v14-15
V14
Paul begins by contrasting Timothy and the false teachers. The false teachers have abandoned God’s Word and so Paul tells Timothy that he needs to continue in the “Holy Scriptures”, which is the Bible; the Word of God.
The reason why Paul is giving Timothy this instruction is because in order for Timothy to combat against these counterformative voices present in his community, he must continue in the word of God.
What does it mean to continue in the word of God?
“continue” = meno
It means to remain and abide. To dwell. To live.
Jesus uses this same word in John 15 when He tells His disciples that they are to remain and abide in Him so that they would experience life.
By Paul using the imagery of abiding and rootedness, he’s telling Timothy that in the same way that the disciples were rooted and close to Jesus, they are to be rooted and close to the Word of God. Why?
V15
Paul says at the end of v15, that the Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. What that means is that the Bible is meant to point you to Jesus.
Every single verse from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is meant to point you to Jesus so that you can know Him and be in relationship with Him and experience the life of Jesus.
For Timothy, the Holy Scriptures was just the OT at that point because the NT wasn’t finished being written and compiled so all those crazy parts in the OT or all the parts that we skip over like the genealogies or consider boring like the laws and the building of the temple, it’s all meant to point Christians to Jesus.
Luke 24v27: And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself
Jesus is telling them that the Bible is about me. The Bible is about Jesus.
God’s Word Directs us To Jesus.
Bridge The Text
I think this is where we often struggle with reading our Bibles. Do you know why it is that we read it? It’s really easy to make the Bible about what it’s not. It’s not a book on how to be a better person. It’s not a book of do’s and do not’s. It’s not a book on how to have an easier life. It’s not a book on philosophy. It’s not a book on science. And if no one has ever told you, the Bible isn’t about you. It’s about Jesus and how He’s come to bring you from death to life.
This is why Paul tells Timothy to not be like the false teachers and to stick to the Scriptures because the Bible will direct you to life. How? By helping direct you to Jesus.
That means that every time we open up God’s word and read it, and meditate on it, and obey it, and abide in it, we will experience the life of Jesus.
I had someone share in our community group that they saw a major shift in their life when they started reading the Bible daily. They noticed that they were less moody but when they stopped reading the Bible for a few days, that anger started to come back. Why do you think that is, church? It’s because when we read God’s word we’re abiding in the life of Jesus because the Bible is about Jesus.
If we want the life of Jesus, we must be rooted in the Words of Jesus.
Becoming more like Jesus actually requires you to know the life of Jesus and to abide in the life of Jesus. The way that Jesus would teach His disciples would be to invite them into an intimate relationship where they would walk with Him, and be with Him, and to have complete access to His life. Jesus is doing this very same thing with you because if His word directs you to Him, it means you get to see His life and abide in His life.
God’s Word tell us who Jesus is and how we can become more like Him. It tells us about the fullness of the life of Jesus and how we can have that in Him.
Some of you might be saying, but how can I see Jesus and His life in the places of the Bible that don’t explicitly mention Jesus?
This is something that I really wrestled with, especially when reading the OT. I learned this Bible reading tip through Pastor Tim Keller, who recently went to be with the Lord. No other pastor living or not has had a greater impact on my relationship with Jesus because He helped me see Jesus in all of the Scriptures. Here’s a question you can ask yourself every time you read your bibles “how does this text point me to Jesus and His Gospel?”
Examples from Tim Keller
In Genesis, Adam is the first man that brought sin into this world but Jesus is the true and better Adam because through Jesus sin is taken out from this world.
Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.
Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.
Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.
Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.
Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.
Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread. The Bible’s really not about you—it’s about Him.”
I promise you, that if can see the connection between your Bible reading and Jesus not only will your love for Jesus grow but you will also experience the life that Jesus offers you that much more.
Transition: Paul wants Timothy to fix his eyes on Jesus but he also wants him to understand that God’s word has the power to change him.
God’s Word Changes How We Live (3v16-17)
Explanation
Read v16-17
V16
In verse 16, Paul is giving Timothy two more reasons as to why he should stay rooted in God’s word.
“All Scripture is God-breathed”
All scripture for Timothy would have only been the OT because the NT wasn’t finished and compiled yet. But for us today, this is everything from Genesis to Revelation.
God-breathed = theopneustos.
Many English translations write this at “inspired by God”. That’s true. Theology scholars write it that way because all of scripture is inspired by God meaning that God is the divine author and that He uses human authors to write the Scriptures by the power of His Holy Spirit.
But when scholars translate it in that way, we lose the visual that Paul was originally giving Timothy.
Theopneustos is meant to help Timothy to envision that all of the bible comes directly from the mouth of God. When you speak, breath comes out and this is why the NIV translates it in this way. Now, why is that important?
Timothy would have thought about Genesis. How did God create the universe? He spoke and it was made. When the world was without form, Genesis 1v2, how did it take form? God spoke. God breathed.
What Paul wants you, me and Timothy to see is that the word of God has the power to create and form. It has the power to change you and transform you.
This is why we have so many times in our gathering where we either have God’s word read over us or we engage in God’s word together. We yearn to hear the voice of God and He speaks to us through His Word.
All Scripture is “useful”….so that the servant of God may be equipped.
4 verbs attached to righteousness. Paul is talking about the way of Jesus.
1 John 2v2 calls Jesus the Righteous One meaning that Jesus walks in righteousness.
And the Scriptures are useful to help the Christian to live in righteousness.
And then Paul says that the word of God “thoroughly equips” us for every good work.
It means you’re fitted for righteousness.
Much like a football player is fitted with a helmet and pads to play the game or a diver is fitted with goggles and an oxygen tank to dive, the Christian is fitted to be like Jesus and live like Jesus by the word of God.
Paul is making it clear to Timothy that God’s word has the power to make Him more and more like Jesus. It has the power to help Timothy be with Jesus, be like Jesus, and do what Jesus does.
Here’s the caveat, Paul is telling Timothy that he must do more than just get back to the word, but that he’s got to submit himself to the word of God
Paul uses 4 verbs in verse 16 when describing the usefulness of the Bible. It’s useful for teaching. Rebuking, Correcting. Training. Do you know what all those verbs require of us? Submission. We cannot be taught, rebuked, corrected, and trained to be like Jesus if we do not submit to God’s word.
It does not matter that you do a bible in a year reading plan. It doesn’t matter if you read and memorize a systematic theology book. It doesn’t matter if you can parse the Greek and Hebrew. It really doesn’t matter if you went to bible college or went to seminary. None of those things matter if, you do not listen and obey God’s word
We’ve got to understand that disciples of Jesus don’t live for themselves anymore. They’re meant to live for Jesus and be with Jesus. And the Bible is meant to equip us and change how we live.
Think about how crazy that is, that every time we open up God’s word it can actually change how we live.
Some of you struggle with being like Jesus. You deal with pride, ungratefulness, lying tongue, greedy, heart, unforgiveness. But let me ask, what does your bible look like? Does it look like it just came out of the box or are the papers tattered by the oil from your fingers and the tears of your prayers before God?
Charles Spurgeon once said that “A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't”
Because it changes you and your life to reflect the life of Jesus.
God’s Word has the power to change how we live.
Bridge the Text
But God’s word does require obedience.
We’ve allowed for a culture to develop in the Western church where we make it possible and even attractive to stay infantile in your faith with Jesus. Like people genuinely believe that they can follow Jesus and have their lives look the same as they did before the professed faith in Jesus.
I’m not advocating for behavior modification. My concern is that you would live your life in such a way that places you outside of the life of Jesus. I’m not talking about salvation. I’m talking about the fullness of life that God offers His people in this world today. Where you can experience the joy, peace, hope and love of Jesus on the daily. Where you can walk in the power of God and bring redemption wherever you are because the Spirit of God resides in you.
We miss out on that when we live a life that is opposed to what God says in His Word.
There’s a whole vibrant world that God wants you to live in and experience and He’s given you His Word to prepare you and direct you to a full life with Jesus.
Will you let God’s word shape you? Will you submit to it even if it’s challenging to you? Will you let God’s word be breathed over your very soul so that God would bring more of the life of Jesus into your life?
Transition: Not only can God’s word change your life, but it can also change your heart.
God’s Word Reorients Your Heart (4v1-4)
Explanation
Read v1-4.
V1
Paul is winding up to give his final instruction to Timothy. It’s almost like we’re getting Paul’s last words on his death bed. There’s a heaviness and gravitas that is meant to be picked up on here.
He gives Timothy a charge, which is a passionate and emphatic encouragement. It’s almost like saying if you do nothing else, DO THIS.
V2
You might be reading this and be tempted to check out because Paul is calling Timothy to preach the word. And you might be like, well that’s not me!
But here’s the thing, while originally Paul’s charge to Timothy is to preach the word, there’s actually a corporate charge that Paul is giving to us as a church.
Paul tells Timothy everything in v2 in order to protect the church at Ephesus. “Timothy, you have a responsibility to care for your people and you must direct them to God’s word so that they can see Jesus.”
What that means for us is that each of us as a follower of Jesus and as people who call King’s Cross home, we are responsible to protect the church by directing one another to God’s Word. Why?
V3-4
What Paul is saying here is that from his time until Christ comes again, there will be people who will not put up with sound doctrine. That means they will not allow correct teaching to be heard. And do you know what people Paul is talking about?
Paul is talking about Christians.
Paul is trying to help Timothy care for people who have turned their hearts away from Jesus.
“driven by their own desires”
“Gather teachers that tell them what they want to hear”
Turn their ears away from truth and turn to myths
This is what we see even in our churches today.
Syncretism: refers to the blending or merging of Christian beliefs and practices with elements from other religions, philosophies, or cultural traditions, often in ways that compromise or distort core Christian doctrines.
Witchcraft
Christian Nationalism
Prosperity Gospel
Progressive Christianity
New Age Spirituality
This is a matter of the heart and he’s telling Timothy how to win their hearts back to Jesus.
How can a person who’s turned their hearts from Jesus be drawn back?
Speak the truth of God’s word to people’s hearts. We’re not about behavior modification; we’re about heart transformation. God’s word is the only thing powerful enough to confront our hearts
Hebrews 4v12: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
You can’t reason someone back to Jesus because following Jesus is always first a matter of the heart. And so you need something that can get past our defenses and pierce our hearts so that we can see the beauty of Jesus again.
This will happen to our church at some point. Some of us will try to walk away or live a double life and Paul says, go after them and remind them of what God says in His word. Direct them to Jesus. Give them Jesus.
Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings.” - James K.A Smith “You Are What You Love”
Jesus works through His Word to protects His church by reorienting the hearts of His people towards Him and in doing that, He changes their hearts.
God’s Word has the power to reorient our hearts.
Bridge the Text
There are people who we deeply love and they’re followers of Jesus but they’re choosing to live a life of disobedience and under the guise of “peace” we choose to be silent. But let me remind you that if you are a disciple of Jesus, you have been called to help bring our family home. This is what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 5 when he says that we have the ministry of reconciliation.
If we choose to be silent to those who need to hear the voice of Jesus through His word, we hurt our community. This is what happens to Ephesus.
Rev 2v1-5: “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
John writes to the very same church Timothy is pastoring. He says that the church is doing all the right Christian things, but that they’ve left their first love. Their actions say they’re Christians, but their hearts show another. How does this happen? Because it seems that the community at Ephesus didn’t keep directing their people to Jesus through the Word.
We often act like the greatest threat to the church are people outside of the church, but Paul is saying that the greatest threat to the church can often be Christians. Christians who stay silent when truth needs to be heart or Christians who try to keep people from hearing God’s word.
So you and I have a responsibility to protect fellow brothers and sisters in the faith by faithfully directing people to Jesus through word.
Let’s make this practical
How do y’all know I’m being a good pastor. Is it by the way I preach? Is it the way I dress? Is it the way I lead? Is it based on your opinion?
There are texts in the Bible that literally tell you if I’m being a clown or not. And you know what you’re supposed to do if I’m acting foolish? KICK ME OUT.
Because if you don’t, my sins and foolishness will turn people’s hearts away from Jesus.
May we be a people who never shy away from sharing and proclaiming God’s word because it has the power to change people’s hearts.
PRESENT MAIN IDEA
Paul has shown Timothy that God’s word has the power to change the way we live and even change our hearts because it directs us to Jesus. Can you see the value of reading God’s word? Can you see how powerful God’s breathed out word has when it comes over us?
How does God’s word make you more like Jesus? What this text has shown us is that God’s word can make us more like Jesus because God’s Word roots us and forms us in Jesus. As you abide in God’s word, you become more like Jesus.
GOSPEL TRANSFORMATION
This is more than just about getting your daily bible reading done. This is about having an encounter with Jesus.
We often read so that we could have knowledge. Have possession of something. But that is foreign to our relationship with God’s word and with Jesus. God’s word is provided to us so that we would know Jesus and be in relationship with Him.
This is convicting for me as a pastor because it’s easy for my time with the Bible to be primarily about preparing a sermon for this community every Sunday. It is easy to make this book a tool of productivity instead of a place of encounter with Jesus.
John 1v1-5: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Jesus is the word of life that forms new life in us. This is what makes God’s word so powerful and beautiful. They’re more than just words on a page. They are God’s word of life for us.
Notice, Jesus is the Word of God meaning Jesus is God’s word directed towards us. Jesus is the message of salvation and life and hope that God has spoken and every time we open God’s word, that message is spoken afresh to us.
Jesus meets with us through His word. That’s why Paul tells Timothy to stay rooted in the word of God. He’s telling Timothy that if you want to stay in the life of Jesus and you want to hear the voice of Jesus, and become more like Jesus, you’ve gotta remain in His word.
How would your time in God’s word change if you knew that the living Jesus was speaking to you every time you opened up your Bible?
CONCLUSION/APPLYING THE MAIN IDEA (NOW WHAT?)
My hope for us today is that we leave this place with a desire to have our bibles tattered up because we’ve been moved to spend more time with Jesus through His word. May we see the value of God’s word.
Application 1
Parents, let me just encourage you and say that the Word of God is the greatest thing you can offer your kids, but only if you help them see Jesus. Memorizing the 10 commandments and teaching them a few bible verses may help them be a better person, but seeing Jesus and knowing Jesus, that’s what saves them. Help your kid see Jesus in the Bible. If they see you value God’s word, they will grow up more likely to value it.
Application 2
Perhaps there’s someone here who has a loved one that is straying from Jesus and you haven’t known what to say to them. I pray that you would be filled with loving boldness and that all arrogance would be removed from your heart so that you can share God’s word and help direct them to Jesus. Your goal is not to change their behavior, but help draw them to Jesus.
Application 3
Finally, get in God’s word. I find that the best way to do this is to have a daily reading plan so you’re not having to figure it out and read God’s word in community. Read it together and ask how Jesus is revealing Himself to you through the word. How is He challenging you or encouraging you or teaching you something fresh? You’ll be an encouragement to your brother and sister in the faith.
May we be a people who love God’s word and be committed to being formed by God’s Word. Let’s pray
SPIRITUAL FORMATION PRACTICE (POST SERMON)
Prayer for loving God’s word
Prayer for power to release something that has held them back from Jesus
Prayer for salvation. If you want the life of Jesus, you don’t have to wait to read God’s word. You can have his life today.
Prayer for healing. If God’s word was ever used against you to hurt you, ask for healing.
