There are a couple of factors that motivate me to preach this text on Father’s Day. The first is simply that I haven’t been able to preach for a couple of weeks and as I have longed to do so, my mind has reflected on this charge that I see as the foundation of my calling: to preach the word. The second is that this week I have heard more comments from the media to the effect that Christians are intolerant and bigoted to think that no one can get to heaven apart from believing in Jesus Christ. And as I have heard it, I tremble at the thought that the church would begin to let the world’s expectations and standards affect our preaching of the gospel to the point that we would not preach the gospel at all. I believe this fear is a realistic one that we are already seeing take place in many “evangelical” circles with the preaching of “openness”1 theology and inclusivism (which I will explain later). Therefore, this Father’s Day, I preach with a real sense of urgency, in fear and trembling, praying that the Spirit will give fathers (and everyone else) a deeper passion to find themselves anchored in the Word of God.
The context of the passage which we have read this morning is much like that of our own day. Timothy is pastoring a church in Ephesus where many heresies are arising from false teachers, and Paul is warning him that many more will arise. In fact, he had foreseen this years before as he spoke to all the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28. Therefore, Paul is writing to Timothy to stand for the truth in the midst of falsehood. And because it aligns with our day so much, I believe that as we follow the flow of the text and see Paul’s exhortations to Timothy, we will see that we need to hear and obey the word as well.
Paul writes to Timothy in verses 14-15, “You, however [contrasting him with the false teachers of the day], continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
This is a plea for him to hold on to the truth that he had heard from his childhood when many around him were now teaching something different. And that which he learned was the Scripture. Paul told him to continue in the “sacred writings,” which clearly referred to the Old Testament and to the gospel message which Paul and the others had recorded with the pages of the New Testament as well (for Paul spoke of the salvation through faith in Christ Jesus). In the midst of everyone campaigning for truth that fits the newness of the time, Paul tells Timothy to continue in and hold to the truth of a book which had been around for centuries and recorded the entire history of man.
I fear that in our day, (again, a day when everyone wants to be teaching something new and different) the new and different thing is going to be historic Christianity because so many will turn from wanting to hear the message of the gospel. I’ve heard it over and over again in the media this week. But, brothers and sisters, do not be discouraged. Hold to the truth. As you feel pressure from the culture to hold to something different, anchor yourself deeper in the Word of God. Dig deeper and deeper in the Word, for it is an anchor for our souls, according to Hebrews.
Currently, there is a false teaching going around known as “inclusivism.” It is the belief that though Jesus and his redeeming work on the cross is the only grounds for salvation, an individual does not necessarily have to believe in him in this life to reap the benefits of eternal life that come through his work. In essence, someone could believe in Buddha, or Mohammed, or someone or something else for salvation in this life, and then when they are at the judgment, God will respond, “Jesus is the reason you can be saved, but because you sincerely believed in these other ways as the right way and tried very hard to follow the right path, I am going to credit his work on the cross and in the resurrection to your account. You have eternal life.”
This is heresy. But it’s a subtle heresy isn’t it? And as I hear it, I tremble at the thought that person after person in our churches is not going to have a deep enough knowledge of the truth of Scripture to combat it. Therefore, I beg you to study and know the word of God and the doctrines that it teaches, and hold on to that truth in this day.
But why? I mean, why is this book so important that we need to spend time learning it and holding onto what it says when everyone around seems to disregard it? Paul answers this question in verses 16-17 writing: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
The reason we must hold to Scripture despite what the culture may say is because its words are God’s words. It is “God-breathed.” The men who wrote these words wrote them as inspired by God, and therefore they are his very words. Therefore, because they are the words of the Creator of the whole world, they are always relevant, always true, always applicable, and always needed by the creation itself.
The Scripture and the message of the gospel which it proclaims is the only answer for all the problems of the world. The Scripture alone tells us why men are in the state they are (i.e. killers, adulterers, homosexuals, liars, thieves, etc.). It is because of the fall and the spread of sin from Adam to all of humanity. Yet Scripture alone also deals with this problem as God sent Jesus Christ who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God, poured out his wrath on Christ on the cross, raised him from the dead, and offers eternal life to all who repent and belief on him. In fact, only the God proclaimed in Scripture is capable of pouring forth wrath on his Son, who is the “exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3), because only Scripture sets forth the Triune God who is one and yet exists in three persons. It alone shows us a God who can be both just and the justifier of men.
And when we ask why it is so relevant and so powerful, we need look no further than its author. God is the author of Scripture. It is God’s Word. To the person who doesn’t marvel, long, and prize reading the word of God, I question if he realizes the treasure he holds in his hand.
We need to hold on to what we’ve been taught from our childhood from the Scriptures, and we need to press on to learn more. Our culture may hate it and say they don’t need it, but it is their only hope and ours.
When God gives us a book that is his word to us, to say it is profitable is quite true. It is what we need to be taught, trained, and equipped for good works. It is what we need as we need correcting and rebuking. The man who pours his life into pouring over these pages does not waste a second in so doing, for he recognizes the author and the consequent usefulness, relevance, and impact that it has for us.
How should this truth drive Timothy? How should it drive us? Paul answers in verses 1-2 of chapter 4. He writes, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and dead, and by His appearing and his kingdom: [when someone prefaces something like that, listen] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
We should proclaim this word at all times, when its popular and when it’s not (like our day), with teaching and patience (instructing men in the truth and being patient as we so teach), and with solemnity (realizing the treasure you hold in your hands and the need for others to know and delight in that truth as well).
Paul gives Timothy three reasons in these verses to preach the word (excluding the one that he and I have already mentioned, namely, that God is its author). I will mention these in random order.
1) Men who have come before us have held to Scripture and it has brought salvation to them.
Paul points Timothy to himself, writing: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (4:6-8).
Paul was nearing the end of his life and, with the exception of some personal concerns with which he ends the letter, these were his last words to one he considered his Son, and he wants Timothy to see the impact the message of the Word has had in his life. He knows that he is about to pass on from this life to a life lived more immediately with his Savior and Lord. And since it is Father’s Day, let me speak specifically to fathers. Men, this should motivate you in two ways. First of all, I pray that you are remembering those who came before you teaching you the word of God, and you are burning to face death with the grace that they had found in the Word of God. And secondly, I pray that your heart is burning to be able to say what Paul is saying to his spiritual Son to your own children. Determine today (if you haven’t already) that you’ll be able to say, “Know the Lord in his word even as I have done” to your children as you are nearing your step into eternity.
2) Jesus’ return is imminent.
Paul charged Timothy in the Presence of Jesus, “who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom” (4:1). I am sure that Paul thought that day was close. How much closer are we today to that day when Christ will return to judge all men? Therefore, we need to proclaim the only message of salvation: by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.
3) Men will not tolerate the teaching of this word forever.
It’s not as if the message we preach is going to always be loved by everyone. In fact, we are assured that this is not true. Paul tells Timothy in verses 3-5, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.’
Oh how true I feel this to be in our own day. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for us to proclaim the word of God. Fathers,2 preach the word to your children in season and out of season. Preach with teaching, soberness, and patience. And do it when they tell you they want to hear it and when they tell you they don’t. For only in doing this will it be said of you that you have fulfilled your ministry. Only then will it be said of you that you were a faithful shepherd of your family, preaching, teaching, and loving God’s word over them.
May we all love, know, preach, and pour ourselves into this book that has God as its author. Amen.