Title: SCRIPTURE READING, PREACHING, TEACHING
Focus: The exercise of godliness or spiritual formation includes Scripture reading, preaching and teaching.
Function: To move the people to pay attention to the exercise of godliness, which expresses itself in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.
Recently, my wife and I went back to Holland to visit my parents for a week. During that time we worshiped in the church of my youth, the church where my parents still attend and practice their faith. I looked around and saw a number of familiar faces—but they were all elderly people, some of them were church leaders in my youth. I did not see any of my friends or peers from the early sixties and seventies. They have all left the church and abandoned the Christian faith. They now live thoroughly secular lives.
In the scripture passage from I Timothy 4, we notice that Paul speaks prophetically, saying: “in later times some will abandon the faith….” It seems to me that if we live in these “later times,” then we are seeing not some, but an avalanche of people abandoning the faith. It is true that the Christian church in Africa and Asia has expanded considerably these last 30 years; but it’s equally true that the Christian faith has diminished in the western part of the world, particularly in Europe, and I submit also in America.
It’s true that America is a religious nation, where the Christian faith is still predominant. But it’s also true that the Christian church in North America is in the grips of secularism, individualism and narcissism—which have all led to a decline in vibrant Christianity. Many people are a-drift when it comes to the Christian faith. And some are hooking off.
I’m convinced that many of us here tonight can share similar observations and concerns: Grandparents worry about the faith life of their grown-up kids and grandkids; parents pray hard that their teenage sons and daughters will learn to stand firm in terms of their faith. And many of us recognize the dangers at secular institutions of higher learning—dangers that tempt our young adults to discard the Christian faith and to adopt philosophical notions of secularism. Clearly, our generation is going through challenging times.
This is why I say in light of the scriptures tonight that we must pay attention to the exercise of godliness or spiritual formation. Spiritual formation includes Scripture reading, preaching and teaching, and it expresses itself in our speech, in our lives, in love, in faith and in purity.
As we focus on the exercise or training of godliness, I first would like to lay before us the passage. (I do so with the help of a master teacher, dr. John Stott, who outlines the passage as follows):
In the first part of chapter four, the Apostle Paul writes about the Detection of False Teachings in the Church (vs. 1-10) In verses 1 and 2 Paul refers to the cause of false teachings. Listen: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
False teaching, then, comes from people who are deceived by the father of all lies. False teachers lead people away from the truth. From this we learn that the truth—as embodied in the FAITH, the faith passed on, taught by the apostles and found in the scriptures—matters very much.
A church that pays no attention to her teachings, a church that minimizes the Christian truth, is a church that opens the door for lies and false teachers to lead people astray. Christian truth, as summarized for example, in the Apostles’ Creed, matters. Telling people that they can believe whatever they please about God and the Bible is detrimental to the people, as well as to the Christian faith. Telling people that they can pick and choose from the Bible whatever ethical or moral command suits them and discard the rest as outdated or irrelevant for our times, is a tactic from the father of all lies, not from the Holy Spirit. Pay attention to and embrace the truth!
In verses 3-10, the Apostle Paul makes reference to the tests of false teachers. These teachers say, for example, that marriage must be avoided, because the exercise of sex is base, earthly, worldly. Marriage detracts from higher forms of living called gnosticism, where you minimize the worldly, the earthly, the creatureliness of things, and elevate so-called “secret knowledge and wisdom,” where you emphasize the spiritual, the divine.
Such false teachings undermine God’s creation, and dishonor God the Creator, who has created all things good and for our enjoyment—things for us to honor him. This false teaching, called gnosticism, is still with us today. People who divide life between the spiritual and the physical and emphasize that the spiritual is more praiseworthy than the physical are often tempted to fall into the trap of gnosticism.
Be careful, because the trap is subtle. I grew up with notions that art, dance, playing cards, drinking wine, and sex were to be suspected, avoided if at all possible, since they do not elevate the spiritual—so it was argued at times. My Christian education has helped me, however, to think of these things as gifts from the Creator—gifts (like any other gifts from God) which need to be redeemed in this fallen, sinful world, and which need to be used with discretion and thanksgiving unto God.
Whereas the first part of the passage is all about the Detection of False Teachings in the Church, the second part of chapter four is all about the Commendation of True Teachings in the Church. For example, the Apostle Paul instructs Timothy (and us, as well) to teach or live by example (12); to identify his authority (vs. 13); to exercise his gift (his calling) (vs.14); to show his progress in faith (vs.15); and to be consistent and persevere in faith (vs.16). Such is the passage! Beware of false teachings; commit yourselves to live by the truth, expressed in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.
All of this gets us to the heart of spiritual formation. In verse 7 Paul says: “…train yourself to be godly.” Godliness, said John Calvin, “is the beginning, the middle, and the end of Christian living.” Exercising (for that’s the word Paul uses)—exercising the muscles of faith in the context of daily life is what Christian living and spiritual formation is all about.
In good times, in bad times, in prosperity as well as in affliction, we anchor our hope in God the Creator and Redeemer. We live by the core of the Christian faith: “Christ has died; Christ is risen, Christ will come again,” because that core captures our hope for today and for eternity. As Paul says: “...we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”
Lots of people think of themselves as being spiritual; our post-modern generation is very much into spirituality. But much of that spirituality is self-centered, narcissistic, focused on the pursuit of wealth, health, happiness and pleasure. But so many fail to put their hope (their faith) in the living God, who reveals himself in Jesus Christ and in the scriptures.
However, what needs to be central to the training of godliness or spiritual formation is devotion--devotion to what? Listen: “…devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” Devote—that is, says Paul, “turn your mind to,” “pay attention to,” “give heed,” “follow,” “occupy yourself with,” or “apply yourself to.” The training or exercise of godliness calls for strenuous commitment to the reading of Scriptures, to preaching and to teaching. A fitness center may have 80 different fitness machines. Most of them may be optional for us to use. But when it comes to training in godliness, the reading of Scriptures, and the exposition and teaching of the Scriptures are not optional.
There are many churches today that do not pay attention to the public reading of the Scriptures. The pastor will preach a long sermon; but often the Word of God is not read, or sparsely read in public worship. Paul, however, instructs us to devote ourselves to the public reading of Scriptures. Why?
Faith comes by hearing the Scriptures, read, preached, and taught. The Scriptures are the inspired Word of God; they have a way of getting under our skin; the scriptures have a power that no other written document has—the power to convict us of sin, to raise our hope in Christ, to overcome fear, despair, and hopelessness. The scriptures give us foundations to pin our lives on. The Scriptures read, preached and taught shape us and form our view of life and the future.
Let the Scriptures be read. And trust the Holy Spirit to do his work in our hearts as that Word of God is read. Not only in public worship at church, but also in our homes, in our cottages, in our campers and boats and hide-away places.
Of course, just as Timothy needed to devote himself to reading and preaching and teaching the Scriptures, so his listeners—the Christian community in particular—need to devote themselves to the hearing of the Word preached and taught. The Christian community must devote herself to hearing the Word preached. Whereas preachers have a tremendous responsibility to proclaim God’s Word pointedly and truthfully, so the members of their churches have a responsibility to be formed and shaped and trained in godliness by the preaching.
You need to invest yourself in good preaching; you need to pray for good, powerful preaching; you need to model to your children and grandchildren and to your friends that hearing the Word preached and taught is vitally important for living a godly life. Commitment to preaching and teaching the Scriptures is crucial—for pastors in the pulpit as well as for the people in the pews.
Teaching the Scriptures or receiving instruction from the Scriptures, likewise, is part and parcel of exercising godliness. Do not make biblical instruction optional for your children. Do not dismiss adult Christian instruction as something you don’t need. Young and old alike—we all benefit from exercising the muscles of faith with informed, biblical teaching on a regular basis.
Such devotion to the reading of scriptures, to preaching, and to teaching will lead to godliness that expresses itself in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Go for it. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.