The Word of God

We're going to read from 2 Peter, chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

! I think in the church Bibles, like the one I have up here, it's 1, 2222.

Page 1, 222.

We're going to read the whole chapter.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness

of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, have received a faith as precious as ours, grace and peace

be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge

of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

Through these, He has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them

you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused

by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge

and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness

and to godliness mutual affection and to mutual affection love.

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective

and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election.

For if you do these things, you will never stumble and you will receive a rich welcome

into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established

in the truth you now have.

I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,

because I know that I will soon put it aside as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

And I will make every effort to see that after my departure, you will always be able to remember

these things.

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord

Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic glory,

saying, this is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable,

and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place,

until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about

by the prophet's own interpretation of things.

For prophecy never had its origin in the human will,

but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along.

By the Holy Spirit.

That's God's Word.

So this series is entitled, Why Bother Coming to Church?

And the title I've got tonight is God's Word.

We're going to look at two passages.

We've looked at 2 Peter there.

We'll look at Ephesians a bit later on as well.

But first, I was wondering if you have thought about the power of words before.

Words can make or break relationships and friendships.

They can build people up or tear them down.

In high school, we studied the play Julius Caesar,

where the character Mark Antony was able to completely reverse

an angry mob's opinion with just a speech,

just a few rhetorical tricks.

The Bible itself starts off showing God's power in his speech,

in that he was able to say,

let there be light, and there was light.

It says he created the world simply by speaking it into existence.

His speech is so powerful that it can make things happen physically.

God still speaks today through the Bible.

And so since this series is on why bother coming to church,

I'm hoping to show you that it's worth coming,

because through church, we can get the full experience of God's Word.

God wants us to experience the power of His Word as a community,

as well as individuals.

So firstly, we'll think about the nature of God's Word,

looking a bit closely at 2 Peter.

What we mean by God's Word, to be clear,

is the Christian Scriptures, the Bible,

composed of all the books in the Old and the New Testament.

What we affirm as Christians is that these books

are fundamentally different in nature

to any other book and any other piece of writing.

In this chapter, 2 Peter tells us why.

Firstly, the Bible is sufficient for salvation.

And secondly, the Bible is spoken by God.

So we look at verses 3 and 4.

It says,

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life

through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

A slightly different translation, it says,

God's divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

When Peter says us there, it's not a sort of general us.

He's talking particularly about the group of people known as the apostles.

They were the people that Jesus taught face to face

and went around the world to spread His teaching.

They received that teaching, that gospel from Jesus,

and Jesus told them all that's required for someone to be saved and to live a godly life.

And this knowledge is what's preserved for us in these written scriptures.

The New Testament comes from the apostles.

It's written by them and it builds on the foundation of the Old Testament.

So the Bible contains everything required to have eternal life in the future

and also to live a godly life now.

As the free church, we adhere to the Westminster Confession,

and there's a good part of that that says,

the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory,

mankind's salvation, faith, and life

is either expressly set down in scripture

or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture.

You might be someone today who wants to know how to live properly.

Maybe you've explored some different philosophies or religion,

and this is the first time in a church.

I'm telling you today that the Bible contains all things

that pertain to life and godliness.

All the answers are found in the Bible.

On the other hand, perhaps you're already a Christian today,

but you're wanting more.

How do I understand God more?

How do I know more about what He wants?

Well, that part of the Confession says that the whole counsel of God,

that's all His commands, all His promises,

all His wisdom for our lives,

is either set down explicitly in scripture

or comes as a logical consequence of what's written.

So there's nothing missing.

All the instruction that God has given you

in how to live a godly life is expressly set down in scripture or implicit.

We might wonder how this is possible.

How can a finite set of words contain all that's required to be saved and to be godly?

And you might notice the repetition in this chapter of the knowledge of God,

the knowledge of Christ.

It says,

He's granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,

in verse 3,

through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence,

the knowledge of Christ.

Through the scriptures,

we come to know Jesus.

In fact,

the scriptures are the supreme way of knowing Jesus.

I've had conversations with people before who might say things like,

I experience God most when I'm doing the things I love,

or when I'm listening to the music I love,

or around the people I love.

Maybe they feel they experience God most when they're on some journey to a different country.

But that fails to recognize that scripture is the primary way in which we know God.

And it makes sense in a way, doesn't it?

If you have a relationship with someone,

a friendship or something romantic,

you get to know them by listening to what they say.

It's true that God gives us wonderful things like friends and music

and a natural world to enjoy.

But saying those things are where you're closest to God is like saying,

I'm closest to my wife when I'm playing on the games console she bought me.

We come to know God more by listening to His words

and speaking back to Him through prayer

and taking them to heart.

The result of this is that we have eternal life.

If you read verse 4, it says,

Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises

so that through them you may participate in the divine nature,

having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

It says that through the scriptures we participate in the divine nature.

I think a lot of the time when we talk about the divine nature,

we're meaning the way God is God and He's different to us.

So we might be confused and think that this means that we're becoming gods

or something like that.

But the rest of scripture makes it clear that that's not what it means.

It doesn't mean we become divine or that we become part of God.

What it means is that ultimately in the end,

the believer in God will share in God's immortality and glory.

The believer will live forever in a new creation without pain, suffering, illness or death

if you hear and do what's written in this book, the Bible.

So the scripture is sufficient to give you a saving knowledge of God

and to enable you to live a godly life now.

Secondly, the thing that makes it unique is that scripture is spoken by God.

If you glance down to verses 19 to 21,

it says,

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable

and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place

until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture

came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things.

For prophecy never had its origin in the human will,

but prophets, though human, spoke from God

as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

What Peter is saying in these verses

is that in the final analysis,

the Bible comes from God.

It is true that there is a great deal of human involvement

in writing the scriptures.

They didn't descend from heaven on golden tablets.

They were written by people.

You can see that when you read it.

Each author has a different style.

They have distinct contributions to the message.

Sometimes they use different sources

and sometimes they borrow words or concepts

from their surrounding cultures.

But as the authors did their writing,

spiritually they were carried along

by the Holy Spirit,

as it says in verse 21.

The Holy Spirit was the Bible's divine editor.

He superintended the gathering,

editing and writing of these books

in such a way that they can be said

to be God's words.

Men spoke from God

as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

In the final analysis,

every word in scripture is there

because God intended it to be there.

Scriptures come from God.

This is a couple of implications for us,

doesn't it?

Firstly, because it comes from God,

it has authority.

It's like receiving a decree from a king.

It comes from the top.

It warrants being taken seriously.

If I went to work one day

and I received an email from the CEO,

the owner of the company,

I'd sit up and pay attention.

Not that I don't usually sit up and pay attention

if anyone from work is watching.

The Bible has authority

in our individual lives.

So we need to take it seriously.

Are we sitting under its instruction

in our personal lives?

Does it impact you beyond Sunday?

Are you making your decisions

with reference to what God has said?

As well as individually,

the Bible has authority

over us as a community,

as a church.

Here's a part from that same confession

I quoted earlier.

It says that the Holy Spirit

speaking through the Bible

is the supreme judge

by which all controversies of religion

are to be determined.

And all decrees of councils,

opinions of ancient writers,

doctrines of men,

and private teaching

are to be examined by them

and in whose sentence

we are to rest.

What that's saying is that

Scripture has the final word.

in all matters of church life.

How do we know

if our church is teaching

the right thing?

We examine it

in light of Scripture.

If a certain issue comes up

and starts to divide people

in the church,

how do we settle it

with reference to Scripture?

Scripture.

The Scripture has authority

because it comes from God.

Secondly,

since the Scripture

has its origin in God,

it has a particular

excellence

or a particular

glory.

Glory.

Peter says in verse 19

that it's like a lamp

shining in a dark place.

Scripture is a good thing.

It's good for our souls.

It reveals God to us.

God who is perfect

without fault,

evil,

or any darkness.

And God says good things

to us

through the Scriptures.

I compared it before

to a decree

given by a king,

but the Scriptures

are also like a love letter.

God says wonderful,

loving,

sweet things

to us

through the Scriptures.

words to be enjoyed,

words to be encouraged by,

words to give you comfort

in times of distress.

What do people do

with love letters?

They enjoy them,

they read them repeatedly,

thinking about the person

on the other end.

The love letter reveals

how much affection

the writer has for you.

The writer pours out

their heart to you

and reveals

their goodness and love.

So it is with the Bible.

They're a sweet thing.

The Bible is God's

love letter to you.

Through it,

God shows His people

that He's good,

that He's glorious,

that He cares for you,

that He loves you,

that He forgives your sins

and can satisfy you

with eternal life.

God's love letter to you

and He loves you.

I sometimes meet people

who feel bad

for not reading

the Bible enough.

Maybe I'm like that sometimes

and I'm sure you are too.

And we sometimes think

the solution is just

to try harder,

just to have a better schedule,

read it more times per day.

I think in those times

we've understood

the authority of the Bible.

We take it seriously

and we feel bad

for not giving it enough time.

But in those times

perhaps it's helpful

to remember its goodness.

If you can grasp

that the Scriptures

are a good thing,

a sweet thing,

a wonderful thing,

a healthy thing,

then perhaps our hearts

will draw us to them.

God's Word is a treat

for the soul,

a loving Word

from a loving God.

So God's Word

is sufficient for salvation,

sufficient for us

to know God

and to live Godly lives.

And the Scriptures

are spoken by God,

meaning they have

a particular authority

in goodness.

We're going to turn now

to our second reading

in Ephesians.

It's Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Let me find the page.

It's page 1175.

1175 in the church Bibles.

Ephesians 4, 11 to 16.

Let me just read that.

So Christ Himself,

after He ascended to heaven,

gave the apostles,

the prophets,

the evangelists,

the pastors,

and the teachers

to equip His people

for works of service

so that the body of Christ

may be built up

until we all reach unity

in the faith

and in the knowledge

of the Son of God

and become mature,

attaining to the whole measure

of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer

be infants

tossed back and forth

by the waves

and blown here and there

by every wind of teaching

and by the cunning

and craftiness of people

in their deceitful schemes.

Instead,

speaking the truth in love,

we will grow

to become in every respect

the mature body of Him

who is the head,

that is Christ.

From Him,

the whole body,

joined and held together

by every supporting ligament,

grows and builds itself up

in love

as each part does its work.

This next heading is

The Power of God's Word

in the Church.

This part of Ephesians

shows that God's program

for how the word works

is through community.

I think some folks might

see the Christian life

as an individual exercise,

something that's just

between you and God.

I've heard a number of times

people saying

you don't need to go to church

to be a Christian.

But the Bible challenges that.

What we see in Ephesians

is that what God is doing

in the world

is building a community

of united,

mature,

and stable believers.

And He does that

through the ministry

of His Word.

Look at verse 11.

Paul is talking about

the gifts

Jesus gives to the church

since He was resurrected

and ascended to heaven.

He gave apostles,

prophets,

evangelists,

shepherds,

and teachers.

Shepherds is just

another word for a pastor.

And it's a surprising idea,

isn't it?

What gifts does God

give to the church?

He gives the church people.

And these particular people

that are talked about

in Ephesians

have something in common.

They're all

scripture people.

They're all word people.

The apostles

and the prophets

wrote the scriptures.

The evangelists,

the shepherds,

or pastors,

and Bible teachers

are people

who expound it

to people.

James and your

other elders

at this church

are gifts from God

to you

to build you up.

This is something

you miss

if you try and do

the Christian life

by yourself.

You'll miss the gift

of other people.

A faithful ministry

by pastors and elders

is a wonderful gift

to a church.

There are people

who we can ask

our questions

to about life,

faith,

and the Bible.

There are people

who can help guard us

from bad teaching.

There are people

who can capably

use the scriptures

to help us

when we're struggling

with life.

All those things

are true.

But in this passage

the big thing

the Bible teachers

are doing

is they're training

and equipping you

in the church.

If we read

verse 12

in a slightly different

translation than ESV

it says

he gave these

scripture people

to equip the saints

for the work

of ministry

for building up

the body of Christ.

It's striking

isn't it

that in this passage

the work of ministry

or service

as it's translated

in the NIV

is done by the saints

which refers

to everyone

in the church.

And this ministry

looks like

speaking God's word

to each other.

If you look

at verse 15

it says

speaking the truth

in love

we're to grow up

in every way

into him

who is the head

into Christ.

The truth

in love

that it's referring

to is primarily

the truth

of the gospel

given to us

in the scriptures.

We can tell

because it's placed

in contrast

to verse 14

where it refers

to the false doctrines

and deceitful schemes

of humans.

There's a lot

of ideas

that go around

in our culture

on the internet

various philosophies

that are wrong

incomplete

and against

the gospel.

We read

from 2 Peter

earlier

and the big problem

that congregation

was facing

was a group

of false teachers

that said

Jesus isn't really

coming back

and that you get

the most out of life

by indulging

every sinful desire.

What that church

needed back then

is the same

as what we need today.

We need to speak

the truth

of the gospel

in love

to each other.

What are we trying

to do as a church

when we have

our small groups

or I think you guys

have student lunches

what are we trying

to do with that?

What are we trying

to do when we meet

each other for coffees?

We're trying to speak

the truth of the gospel

in love to each other.

Reminding each other

about the truth

of the Bible.

Encouraging each other

with different parts

of the gospel

maybe challenging

each other

were required.

Paul is saying

in Ephesians

that the church

grows

when all the members

of the church

are ministering

God's word

to each other.

together.

Now this doesn't mean

that you have to have

all the answers.

It doesn't mean

you have to be a theologian.

It doesn't mean

you can't be

questioning things yourself.

All it means

is that we're willing

to open the Bible

with each other.

That we're willing

to think and speak

about the Bible together.

It could be as simple

as spending a Saturday

morning getting a coffee

with someone

from the church

and reading a chapter

of a Bible book together.

Coming to church services

is an example of that.

The preacher speaks

to you from the front

but after it

when we're all

talking together

we're all encouraging

each other

with God's word.

And what's the result

of this?

God gives the teachers

to equip everyone

in the church

to speak the word

to each other

and the result

is unity,

maturity,

and stability.

Let me just read

some of these

sections of Ephesians again.

So from verse 12

it says that

he gave those people

to equip his people

for works of service

or ministry of the word

so that the body

of Christ

may be built up

until we all reach

unity in the faith

and in the knowledge

of the Son of God

and we become mature

attaining to the whole measure

of the fullness

of Christ.

Then we will no longer

be infants

tossed back and forth

by the waves

and blown here and there

by every wind of teaching

and by the cunning

and craftiness

of people

and their deceitful schemes.

So the picture there

is that God gives

Bible teachers

to the church

and they equip

the people

in the church

to build each other up

using God's words.

In verse 13

it says

that we build

each other up

until we attain

to the unity

of faith.

Paul is clear

earlier

in the letter

to the Ephesians

that unity

in the church

is bought by Jesus.

Jesus achieved

unity for the church

on the cross

in that he reconciled

us to God

and he reconciled

us to each other.

If you read

the rest of the Ephesians

you'll be able

to see that the big

divide

in the Ephesian church

was between

Jewish believers

and Gentile believers.

But Paul is clear

that through Jesus

the two peoples

became one.

Christ himself

is our peace

who has made us

both one

and has broken down

in his flesh

the dividing wall

of hostility

is how he describes

it in chapter 2.

Anything that would

have divided us

before

we became Christians

is abolished.

We all approach

God

as equals

through Jesus Christ.

But through

speaking the gospel

truth to each other

in love

we build each other up.

I think verse 16

is what he's referring to

by the unity

of the faith.

From him

the whole body

joined and held together

by every supporting

ligament

grows and builds

itself up in love

as each part

does its work.

Each bit of those joints

each part of the body

refers to one of us.

Through Christ

we're all part

of one body

and when we minister

God's word

to each other

speaking God's word

praying with each other

we build ourselves up

and the body grows.

Paul uses the word

mature

in verse 13

to refer to someone

who's been transformed

by God's word.

God's word

transforms us

into new people

it renews our minds

changes our affections

and our desires.

It molds us

into people

who reflect

the goodness

wisdom

and love

of Jesus Christ

himself.

Through the word

of God

the body

of Christ

that is each

member of the church

grows

in depth

and maturity

but also results

in the church

growing in number.

I don't know

if you've ever seen

The Da Vinci Code

it's a movie

that came out

a decade or two ago

but in that movie

it's claimed

that the church

created the Bible

for some political agenda

that it was a human

invention.

But the reality

is the other way around.

The reality

is the Bible

created the church.

Some have said

that God's church

is a creation

of God's word.

None of us

would be here

in this building

tonight

if not

for the scriptures.

None of us

would know God

and be saved

if we hadn't

heard and believed.

The scriptures.

I think one application

of that is that

it should give us

great confidence

in the scriptures

when we're trying

to evangelize people.

How does God

grow a believer

to be more mature

through the faithful

teaching of his word?

How does God

grow the numbers

of his church

and bring new people

along

through the faithful

teaching of his word?

We don't need

to be super eloquent

or smart

when we try

to tell people

about Jesus.

We just need

to tell them

what the Bible

says.

Perhaps we could

even ask them

to read the Bible

with us

if they'd be interested

and discuss it

together.

My point is

that you should

have confidence

that there's power

in God's word

to save people.

The other fruit

that Paul mentions

is stability.

How does a church

where each member

builds each other up

with the scriptures

respond to false

teaching

and bad doctrines

and the storms

of culture?

In verse 14

Paul uses a couple

of metaphors

in the same sentence.

Christians built up

by God's word

are no longer children

otherwise they're

no longer easily

persuaded and duped.

Secondly,

they're no longer

tossed to and fro

by the waves

like a ship

in the storm.

We speak God's word

to each other

in the church

it will make us

a stable church.

A church that can

endure divisions

like the church

in Ephesus

in this letter.

And one that can

tackle false teaching

like the church

in 2 Peter.

So why bother

coming to church?

Hopefully you can see

it's through church

that you can get

the full transformative

experience

of the word of God.

God gives teachers

to the church

who are able

to equip the people

in the church

to know God's word.

God's word

that is able

to save you

and enable you

to live a godly life.

scriptures

that come from God

and so have

his authority

and glory

shining through them.

As you come

to church

and live

as a community

rather than

individuals

we build each other

up

with the scriptures.

God will do

his work

through his Holy Spirit

to make you united

mature

and stable.

let's pray.

Father we

thank you

very much

for your word.

Thank you

that it is

sufficient

to save us

and

it gives us

knowledge of you.

Thank you

that it enables us

to live godly lives.

Thank you

also for everyone

who's in this church

Father we thank you

that

church is a community

community

where

we speak

the word

to each other

and build each other

up

in love.

In Jesus name

Amen.