SCRIPTURE: HEARING FROM GOD
Isaiah 55: 6-11
2 Timothy 3: 14-17

           Stories—they have the capacity to educate us, to entertain us, to evoke from us a wide range of emotions, to transport us to another time and place. There are an innumerable number of stories—stories from history, stories from our lives, stories conjured up in someone’s imagination. Of all the stories that have been told since the dawn of time, though, none is more important than the story of God that is found in Scripture. No other story can do what the story of God can do—transform lives and speak more fully God’s grace to us and to the world. No amount of education or entertainment can compare to this marvelous story.

           This morning we have the second in our series on the “means of grace”—those ways and practices that allow us to experience God’s grace. Last week, we engaged prayer as the primary mode by which we can experience God’s grace. Today, I invite us to engage Scripture as a way in which God’s grace is made available to us. I want to specifically engage our text from 2 Timothy. The apostle Paul is imprisoned in Rome, likely near the time of his execution. This letter to Timothy is widely considered one of Paul’s final writings, if not the last. He writes this to his young protégé as a way to encourage Timothy. Part of that encouragement includes a discourse on Scripture and its place and purpose in the life of the faithful. It is here that we find just a bit of the grace available to us through God’s word.

           As we look at this passage, we see Paul first indicating that all Scripture is inspired by God. This is a key point. Scripture becomes a means of grace precisely because it is inspired by God. Because Scripture is inspired by God, it has a unique place of authority in and for our lives. If Scripture were not inspired by God, the Bible becomes just a collection of stories and no more authoritative in and for our lives than the latest issue of TIME magazine or The New York Times or The State-Journal Register.

           Continuing to look at Paul’s words, we hear that Scripture is useful, and therefore a means of grace, for teaching and training. In a very real sense, the Bible becomes our textbook. From it, we learn about God. Whether we are reading from Genesis, from the Prophets, from the Gospels, or from Revelation, we are able to learn about God. In fact, an appropriate subtitle for the Bible might be, “Everything you ever wanted to know about God”. From Scripture, we learn of God’s love, of God’s plan for the world, of God’s anger toward sin. It’s all in there!

           Just as the Bible teaches us about God, it also serves as a training or field manual for those who would be faithful. God does not simply command our obedience in following God’s ways and then leave us to our own devices. Rather, through grace, God has provided a Word to train us in what it means to be faithful and obedient to God’s way.

           Part of this teaching and training involves something that, by human standards, is mostly thought of as negative. Paul tells Timothy that Scripture is also useful to rebuke—to scold or hold accountable—and to correct. Now, does anyone like to be scolded or corrected? I didn’t think so. It damages our ego and the human drive for satisfaction. Yet, in a way that only God can, God takes what we consider negative and turns it into an act of grace. You see, one of God’s desires for human beings is for our return to our original state; namely, a full, perfect relationship with God. That state was fractured by sin. God’s desire for us, though, will not permit God to turn a blind eye to or ignore it when God’s people do something contrary to God’s will. God is not a God of “do whatever you want”! Instead, God is a God of “this is my way” and God will not let us wander down the wrong path without letting us know what God’s ways are! Perhaps it would be helpful to imagine a parent disciplining or correcting a child. Although there are a few unfortunate exceptions, parental discipline is not done to be mean to the child (I’m sure the child(ren) might say otherwise!). Instead, the discipline is done to teach the child a lesson about right and wrong, what is acceptable and not. In the same way, God seeks to correct us when we go astray.

           Reading on in our focal passage, we see that another role of Scripture, another way in Scripture speaks God’s grace, is through equipping and preparing the people of God “for every good work”. God has a mission and a purpose for God’s people—individuals and the church—whether we choose to embrace that purpose or not. That purpose is quite simply this: to proclaim the story of God through our life, our words, and our deeds. Scripture gives us what we need to fulfill the mission. It might be confidence and encouragement to continue living our mission in the face of difficult times. It might be hope when things seem hopeless or “not worth it”. It might be simply providing a foundation for why we do what we do. Scripture is our equipment for living a life of faith. A football player would not think of taking the field without their equipment. Why would a person of faith dare to attempt to fulfill their mission from God without being equipped by and with Scripture?

           These are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the grace of God available through Scripture. There is untold grace that God seeks to speak through the pages and the stories of Scripture. However, this grace is only accessible to us if we open ourselves to the Scriptures! In other words, we miss out on that grace if don’t open the Bible and actually read it! By all accounts, the Bible is the all-time number one bestseller. It has been said, though, that the Bible most likely the most-owned but least read book ever. A few years back, a Gallup poll was conducted of those who identified themselves as professing Christians. This poll sought to examine the frequency in which professing Christians read/studied the Bible. The results of this poll are both startling and heartbreaking. It found that just over 50% of those surveyed read “occasionally”. Of the remaining 40-45%, only about 15% read the Bible daily. Fifteen percent! This means that around 30% of professing Christians read the Bible less than “occasionally”—read into this NEVER. That is a whole lot of dusty Bibles left on the bookshelf, the coffee table, the nightstand, etc. That is a whole lot of grace left unexperienced.

           God yearns to speak grace to us, to reveal to us the mysteries of God, to transform every life and make it whole and complete. Here is the question though: Knowing that God speaks grace to us through Scripture, will we receive that grace or will we refuse it and leave it to collect dust on the table? AMEN.

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