Luke 18:1-8 & II Tim. 3:14 - 4:5
Movement One:
We all know that for us to build
something we have to have material to work with. In ancient times, stones were used a lot in
building. The pyramids were made of
stones carried great distances. Today,
concrete blocks are still used I building.
It is the same as we think about building faith. In our scriptures for today, we find some
building blocks of faith. We want to
grow in faith, we can use these building blocks. Look with me as we find them
today.
Movement Two:
In our text for II Timothy, Paul is
giving Timothy some instruction on how to endure in his faith and to continue
serving God after he is gone. Paul says
in the scripture just following our text for today, AI
am already being poured out.@ Paul expected that his life would soon end.
Paul first says, Acontinue in what you have learned and
firmly believed, know from whom you have learned it.@ (The first building block is Apeople/positive
influence.@ Place on
Screen!) Timothy had been taught and influenced first from his mother and
grandmother in Lystra and later by Paul himself. People are an important first building block
of faith. People usually come to faith
because someone has given them a Bible, invited them to church, told them that
God is important in their lives, or taught them about God. We all have our stories! Some of us were taught in early Sunday School
or Vacation Bible Schools. Some were
taught by our parents. Others were
influenced by a Christian friend to come to church and are getting that
teaching now! Nevertheless, for most of
us, our first experience with God is passed on to us by a person of faith. I have a grandmother who I can remember
telling me about Jesus and writing messages on back of gifts she gave me about
Jesus. I can remember very early on watching
my mom kneel by the side of the bed to say her prayers before going to
bed. I can remember my dad faithfully
witnessing to people by inviting them to church. I had an uncle who was one of my earlier
Sunday school teachers. I have another
uncle who gathered me in and told me how proud he was of me when I decided to
make a profession of faith. I have many
pastors who shared the word in preaching.
For most of us, these are our first exposures to faith! Who can we be that first building block for?
Paul then lifts up the importance
of the Sacred writings and says, AAll
scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, ...., so
that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good
work.@ (Our
second building block is AScripture.@ Place on screen!) For them the Sacred writings or scriptures
were not as neatly packed as they are for us.
The Bible as we know it was not yet Canonized. The Sacred writings would have been many of
what we know as Old Testament books (esp. Isaiah, Psalms, and the first five
books “the pentatuch”), and perhaps some of the New Testament letters that were
circulating around were beginning to be revered with a special place in
teaching God=s
word. It was somewhat subjective! Nonetheless, Paul directs Timothy to the
importance of the Sacred Writings to his faith walk. He impresses upon him the importance of
Scripture for faith development and so that we won=t
be mislead.
It is important to realize today
that just because someone professes to be Bible believing or to be teaching the
Bible it doesn=t mean
they are always right! Just because
someone quotes this scripture to you and says, Aall
scripture is inspired by God,@
and then shows you a scripture to support one of their doctrines or beliefs
doesn=t mean
they have interpreted it right! When we
say God speaks or breaths through the scriptures, we are speaking
Metaphorically of how God speaks through people as they write. We believe that through the scriptures we can
come to know God! We believe that we can
come to understand God=s
Word! We believe we can come to
understand God=s
grace! Does that mean that what the
people write will be unaffected by their own biases and culture? No! We
have to take the Bible as a whole, and we have to understand the context in
which it was written. Paul understood
this time was coming, he says there will come a time when people will not put
up with sound doctrine and they will find teachers who will teach them what
they want to hear. That day has come
today. Sometimes the word is so
cluttered with dos and don=ts
that we can=t hardly
see the Gospel and the grace of God who wants to take us as we are and give us
new start! Study so that you may be
proficient and equipped for every good work!
Interpreting scripture is not
always easy! All people pick and choose
the scriptures to support what they want to believe; they may not admit to it,
but they do! John Wesley realized that
so he gave us a tool we call the Quadrilateral to help us interpret
scripture. Quadrilateral: Scripture,
Tradition, Reason, and Experience. This
is all about searching for what God is saying to us today. For John Wesley, Scripture was primary; he
was said to be a man of one book! What
do we do though when scriptures seem to say one think one place and another in
another place or when what we are looking at is not addressed? Or what if what one of the writers says does
not seem to fit what we understand from the rest of the scriptures? We then look at Tradition. Tradition is what the early church believed
about things. Some of the traditions are
the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, and other early church writings. This is where we get many of our beliefs
about God, Jesus, and the Spirit spelled out.
It isn’t just any tradition. It
isn’t recent tradition such as we’ve never done it that way before. What if these don’t give us a full
understanding? What about women in
ministry? The scriptures kind of give
mixed signals here. One place it says a
bishop should be a man of one wife, but yet, there were women who seemed to be
very active in the early church.
Traditionally, women have not been priests! The next tool that Wesley gives us is
Reason. God is a reasonable God! Does it seem reasonable that God would lay it
on a woman’s heart to serve and not be willing for her to do so? Does it seem reasonable that God would gift
women for service and not allow them to do so?
Does it seem reasonable that God would exclude more than half of the
population of the world from spreading the gospel. Doesn’t seem reasonable to me! The third tool of the quadrilateral is Experience. This is not just any experience; it is experience with God. God has used many women in my life to help me
grow in faith. John Wesley’s own mother
was very influential in his life of faith.
So considering all of this, the passage about a bishop being a man of
one wife must be meaning something cultural or maybe it is against
polygamy? Anyway, I think God wills for
women to be able to be in the ministry.
This is a tool for finding God’s will today. Again, Scripture is primary. Scripture is our second building block of
faith. Study the scriptures. Use the Quadrilateral to help interpret scriptures
when the scriptures seem to conflict or not answer your question. But as far as faith, the scriptures give us
all we need to find faith in Christ.
They give us all we need to find a God who loves us and wants a
relationship with us!
Jesus gives us a third building
block in our text from Luke today. (The
third block is Aprayer.@ place on screen) Jesus lifts up persistent prayer and faith
that it makes a difference! We need to
pray in our every day lives! We need to
be praying for our church and God=s
ministry among us! Jesus lifts up
praying until we get our answer! We can
and all must do that! There are eternal
consequences! A lot is at stake here!
Movement three:
Then do something with what we=ve built! Paul told Timothy to Aproclaim
the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable;
convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.@
It is important for us as
individuals and as a church to provide these buildings blocks: Apeople/positive influence,@ Ascripture,@ and Aprayer.@
Are we doing it? Maybe you just
want to come and seek a closer walk with God today as we encounter Christ at
the table?
Maybe you are here and you have
been influenced by someone, began to be exposed to the Bible, or prayer and
have never really made a profession of faith and would like to start a journey
with God today by professing Christ, I invite you to come as well as we
encounter Christ at the table, and if you do, let me know so I can help you
with your new walk in Christ! Amen!
Prayer
of Confession
Service
of Communion
