The Foundation of Following Jesus
Part 4b – Sharing God’s Word
2 Timothy 2:23-26
February 6, 2011
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY'S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Audio of this message can be heard at www.aberdeenwesleyan.org.
Me: You may or not be aware of this, but I get to share God’s Word with people in situations that have nothing to do with church on Sunday.
Sometimes I do it in private conversations, sometimes it’s in e-mails, sometimes it’s on the internet, and sometimes it’s in print, like in the newspaper.
I usually enjoy that, because it shows people that the Bible is relevant to our everyday living in the here and now of the 21st century just like it was as the Scriptures were being written down.
Another thing I come across from time to time is a situation where someone else is sharing God’s Word with someone.
Sometimes it’s great, because they’re using the Bible or that passage in the way it was intended.
But sometimes, it’s a train wreck, and I find myself rolling my eyes. And if I’m rolling my eyes, and I understand where they’re coming from and appreciating their heart in the whole deal, then you can be sure that a person who doesn’t follow Jesus or believe the Scriptures are rolling their eyes and feels they have another excuse to not believe or follow Jesus.
We: Maybe you’ve seen the same thing.
You see God’s Word being mis-used by well meaning people, and it breaks your heart.
Or maybe you’ve been wanting to use God’s Word more, but you’ve never really know how to do that, or wanted some guidelines in how to do that.
Or maybe you’re sitting here today and you’re not even sure you should bring the Bible into the conversation because you’re not sure it’s appropriate or relevant nowadays.
Well, let me assure you – it is relevant. And we’re going to talk about how to make it appropriate.
God/You:
2 Timothy 2:23-26 (p. 843) –
23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
The context of this passage is the presence and influence of false teachers in the church where Timothy was the pastor.
But I think we can pick up some really great principles that can help us as we share the Word of God with those who don’t currently follow Jesus, and who follow false teachings regarding Christ, the Scriptures, or whatever issue they feel the need to address.
Sometimes these things come up in regular conversations with people, and sometimes you come across something in the newspaper or TV or the internet or whatever.
Remember the goal is to win the person, not the argument.
If you win the argument but you’ve driven that person farther from Christ, what have you accomplished except a greater possibility that person may spend eternity in hell because they didn’t want anything to do with Jesus because of the way you duked it out with them?
That’s not something I’d brag too much about.
Five tips for sharing God’s Word with those who don’t love Jesus (yet).
Some of these
1. Pick your fights carefully.
I’m going to camp on this for a little bit, because if you don’t do this, you’re going to have a hard time doing anything I’ll be talking about from God’s Word today.
Verses 23-24 –
Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel…
Not everything is worth fighting over. Not everything is “a hill to die on.”
If you hear or see something you don’t like or don’t agree with, sometimes the best thing for you to do is zip your lip – or your keyboard.
You don’t have to respond to everything you see wrong around you.
Our passage says to avoid stupid and foolish arguments.
What are some examples of foolish and stupid arguments we should avoid?
Well, I’ve found that “stupid” is in the eye of the beholder.
In a church setting, these might be things like the color of the carpet or the chairs, or things like that that have no bearing on the ministry of the church or its mission to help people come to faith in Jesus.
Outside the church it might be someone knocking your favorite movie or political candidate.
Some Christians seem to look for ways to be offended or upset about something so they can let loose with what they think are solid responses, but often what happens for those types of people is that they come across as religious idiots who don’t know how to actually think through something well enough to offer a reasonable response.
Choose some essentials that you will fight for if you have to.
Here are some of mine:
The Bible being the Word of God.
Jesus being the divine Son of God and fully human, born of a virgin, dying and rising again.
Jesus being the only way to heaven.
And various issues regarding homosexual behavior being against Scriptural standards for sex.
I only mention homosexuality because it is at the forefront of current attitudes regarding the truth of Scripture and God’s design for marriage and sex.
And even in these instances I’ve listed, I don’t respond every time I hear or see something I disagree with on these things.
If I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to say something about these things, I do.
You should also choose some things that you will absolutely won’t fight about if you can avoid it.
Here are some things I won’t get all bent out of shape about:
The “best” Bible translation.
Whether men should have long hair and women should have short hair.
“Proper” dress for church.
Whether disco really should have died (yes).
I can discuss any of these things I just mentioned, and I have opinions about them.
But I don’t want to spend the time and energy fighting about them, because none of them are essential to salvation or living for Jesus.
Again, my point is that not everything is worth fighting about.
And Christians who look for reasons to fight need to examine themselves and ask the Holy Spirit to help them overcome that.
Tip number 2 is…
2. Exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.
Verse 24 –
…instead, he must be kind to everyone…
Kindness is part of the fruit of the Spirit, remember?
One of the things that just sticks in my craw is when I read a letter to the editor from someone I know is a professing Christian, and that person uses insults and name-calling to make their point.
That’s not kind. And it’s not godly.
Don’t go into it with a chip on your shoulder.
…not resentful.
If you’re looking to settle some kind of score by using God’s Word to beat someone up, then you’ve got some issues that you need to get with God about.
If you are resentful, then the first issue you need to deal with isn’t that other person, the first issue is YOU – and you’re need to forgive.
Folks, this is God working on your character so that others will be more inclined to listen to you.
But if you’re bitter and resentful, you lose the argument and you lose the person.
Let Jesus shine through your words as you exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life.
The third tip is to…
3. Learn to present your position clearly and calmly.
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct,…
This is also that “able to teach” part of this passage.
One of the essentials in doing this is to take your time to think and pray before responding.
There have been times when I’ve read something in the paper that I knew I had to respond to, but instead of shooting something off to the editor right away, I take days and even weeks to formulate my response.
Why? Because it gives me the chance to re-read the article or whatever to make sure I didn’t misunderstand, and to make sure that my response actually has to do with what was said, not just a generic response.
Not to mention praying about what to say – and not say.
Taking the time to think and pray is what makes the difference between a reaction and a response.
It’s very easy to react – and too many Christians do.
But if you want your position to be honestly considered, then you need to respond, not react.
If you are writing your response, understand that since people can’t hear your tone of voice or see your face, they read those into what they’re reading, just like you do when you’re reading something you disagree with.
Keep that in mind as you’re writing, and you’re much less likely to come across as mean-spirited.
By the way, this assumes that you’ve actually done your homework.
You actually know the issue because you’ve looked into it instead of believing everything that comes into your email inbox.
Folks, I can’t tell you how many times I get things forwarded to me that are panic-filled descriptions about how the atheists are trying to get rid of all references to God on TV or how the new health care bill is just a back door for Muslims to take over the US government, or whatever.
And when you take the time to actually do some digging, you find out that 99% of the time, what you’ve been told about something isn’t entirely accurate.
Know the issue, and more importantly, you need to know what the Scripture REALLY says about it so you don’t come across looking foolish, which brings me to point #4…
4. Be careful when referencing Scripture.
God’s Word is powerful, it’s living and active, and is used by the Holy Spirit to convict people of their need for Jesus and to guide Jesus’ followers to live for Him.
The problem comes when well-meaning believers mis-use the Bible in order to make their point.
I have seen it over and over when someone will quote a Scripture in a conversation or in a letter to the editor, and it is not appropriate for one reason or another.
So let me give you a couple quick suggestions that you can use when quoting Scripture:
• Use a modern translation.
Why? Because none of the people you’d be addressing speak in 17th or 18th century English, and because quoting King James gives the impression to those outside the church that you are stuck in the past.
Now again, I’m not beating up on the King James. I’m simply saying that I don’t believe it’s the best translation to use when discussing things with people not from a church background.
• Not torn out of context.
Some passages, like the one we’re looking at today, have application outside of their original context.
But sometimes well-meaning Christians will use Scriptures that are describing something else entirely, and force it to mean what they think it means in the context of the conversation.
Example: “Whoever is not with me is against me.”
5. Trust God for the results.
Verses 25-26 –
…in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
The idea of all this is to make sure your use of Scripture is accurate and understandable so the Holy Spirit can use it in the life of that other person.
But out of all this I’ve shared with you today, here is what you need to remember the most:
It starts with you.
Your influence in the lives of people begins and ends with what people see of Jesus’ character in you.
Work on your own character – not quarrelsome, not resentful, able to teach in a gentle manner.
Today: ask God to make you the kind of person described in our passage: not quarrelsome, kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
Ask the Holy Spirit to bring His fruit to bear in your life so that people see the truth of your words, but also see Jesus living in you.
Be ready to share Jesus and your own story of how God’s Word has impacted you.
We: Folks, why have I been hammering on this so much these past few weeks?
Why such a focus on the Word of God in our lives?
Because the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God in the lives of His Church so that He can use His Church to change the world with the life-giving message of Jesus.
When the Word of God – the Scriptures – are alive in us, God can use us to bring people to Him as they hear and see the message of Jesus being lived out in our individual lives.
When we are being transformed to be more like Jesus through the Scriptures, we become usable for God to help others be transformed by them as well – both believers and those who don’t yet know Jesus.
If we would take this stuff seriously, then we literally have the opportunity to be used by God to lead hundreds and thousands of people to heaven because they’ve found faith in Jesus.
But it doesn’t start with this building or the Sunday Service.
It starts with you and me, as individuals, living for Jesus by allowing God’s Word to saturate us as we apply them to our everyday situations and circumstance.
And then we as a church can have an even bigger impact on our area for Jesus.
Because when we come together as a people, our impact is greater than when we work just as individuals.
But it starts with you. It starts with me. As we submit to Jesus through the Scriptures.
Please let that be said of you. From this point on. For His glory, and for the sake of His Kingdom.
Let’s pray.
