The Word of God Our Greatest Treasure

What do you all know about MacGyver? You remember MacGyver? I mean, that was must-see TV in the Sheldon household. Monday nights. Still to this day, I'm not entirely sure what he was or what he was doing. The Phoenix Foundation — I mean, what was that? That's what he worked for. It sounds a little bit like maybe a 55-and-older trailer park in Arizona or something like that. Somehow he was always in the mix, always in trouble but always able to get out because he had one of these, right? A Swiss Army knife. I've never been able to do with my Swiss Army knife what he was doing. I basically can open Amazon boxes with it, you know. But somehow he was able to do amazing things with that Swiss Army knife. Just about any jam he was in, anything he needed to build, he could get it done with the Swiss Army knife.

In our passage we're going to look at this morning, Paul is still talking to Timothy, and he is going to talk to him about the importance of scripture, the Word of God, and almost portraying it to Timothy as if it is like a Swiss Army knife in the hands of MacGyver. It can do for you whatever you need it to do. It is the all-sufficient and authoritative Word of God. And so possessing it gives us an ability to not only face the challenges of life but live life with a purpose and a meaning that God intends for us, and that gives us a sense of fulfillment as we undertake the challenges of living in this world.

Just two verses I want to look at this morning. Whenever the subject of scripture comes up in any sort of discussion — theological discussion or Bible discussion — these two verses are always at the very top of the list for that discussion. Second Timothy, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. And Paul says, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

So let me just remind you — some of you this may be new information, but if you've been with us through this book, this letter to Timothy so far, this will be a reminder. Timothy is a young guy in ministry, probably somewhere in his early 30s. His spiritual mentor, the Apostle Paul, is far away from him and under house arrest, under Roman guards, and has written to him this letter. Timothy is in a church that is unstable. He's facing hostility from some people within the church and facing opposition from the wider culture outside of the church. So there's a lot going on in Timothy's life. Not only that — and this doesn't come up a lot — but think about the lives you and I live, the challenges we face on a daily basis: the sicknesses, the stuff that doesn't go the way we want it to, the unexpected news that we get. The people like Timothy were facing all of that stuff as well, just the regular challenges of life.

And so in the midst of all of that, what resource does Paul suggest to Timothy is going to help him navigate every one of those challenges? It's not a Swiss Army knife. It's the Bible. He says, "Timothy, if you have this, you have what you need to make your way in a way that honors God through all of that. This is the key to all of those issues. This is the most valuable resource you possess, Timothy. If you take this and you use it, it will be the ultimate resource for you. It will help you to confront all of those challenges."

So essentially what I want to consider in these two little verses is that Paul identifies three qualities that scripture possesses that make it the most valuable resource — not only that Timothy had, but that you and I have — because every one of us has a Bible. If you don't, you can get one today. They're in the back; you can take one with you. There are three qualities Timothy is pointed to by Paul when it comes to the Word of God that make it an invaluable resource.

The first one: Paul says the Bible is inspired. The Greek words are two words combined into one that literally mean "God-breathed" or "breathed out by God." That's what inspiration means. Sometimes when we talk about someone being an inspiration, we often mean that we are moved to new levels of action or expression. That's what we mean when we say they inspire us, or we are inspired — we're moved to do things that we wouldn't normally do, to reach new heights. You know, we watched the Olympics, or you watched the Kentucky Derby yesterday. It was pretty exciting. Now, it didn't make me want to go out and ride horses, but some people might. You watch that Kentucky Derby and you might think, "I'm going to get a horse. Let's go ride some horses." Sometimes that's what we think of when we think of being inspired — we get our creative juices flowing or something like that. Our minds and our emotions are excited. But that's not really what the Bible means when it talks about something being inspired, or when it uses that word "inspiration." And so that's why some of your English translations are going to actually say "God-breathed" or "breathed out by God." The idea is this is God-spirited. "Breathed out" means that it is breathed into existence by God himself. It's given life by God.

A great example of this is found all the way back in creation, in Genesis chapter 2, as Moses is recounting for us what happened at the beginning of time with Adam, as God created him. Genesis chapter 2 says that the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature. The idea is that Adam was literally inspired — that God breathed into him the breath of life and he came to life. He became a living creature. How that happens with the Word of God is somewhat of a mystery. There are certain things we know about how God worked in the lives of different authors who wrote out the actual words of scripture. The Bible was written down by humans, but they themselves were inspired by God to write exactly what they needed to write. But the fact that they were inspired by God does not mean that they were mere robots, that God simply possessed them and that they had no autonomy or anything like that. Each biblical writer wrote in such a way that we can see their own unique language and writing style. I mean, without even knowing — if you were a Greek or Hebrew scholar — you could look at the books written by Paul and you could tell from the language that they're not the same author as the ones written by Peter or John. Similarly, in the Old Testament, you can tell things written by Isaiah from things written by Moses by the language they use and the way they phrase things. In some cases, they are literally told by God, "Write down these words." But that's not always the case. Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 21, that no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

There have been some individuals and movements throughout history that have sought to oppose the idea of scripture's inspiration. They say, "No, it's just people. That's all it is — people writing down stuff, and it just happens to work together really well." And certainly, don't even get me started on inerrancy. The idea of divine inspiration and inerrancy, though, can be traced throughout church history all the way back to the Bible itself. In our statement of faith — if you go on the website or you look at our bylaws — we have this statement of faith concerning the scriptures: We believe the 66 books of the Old and New Testament as originally written were God-breathed, both verbally and in every part. We believe God communicated through Spirit-controlled men so that the scriptures are without error, unfailing, authoritative, and complete. We believe the Bible is the supreme revelation of God's will for mankind and constitutes the only infallible guide for faith and life. And we derive that from what we find in scripture, from passages like 2 Timothy chapter 3:16, where Paul specifically says all scripture — not most scriptures, not a big chunk of them, not a vast majority of the scriptures — all scripture is breathed out by God, or is inspired by God. And we can look to so many confessions of faith throughout church history that have been written down, and they all express similar understandings of scripture.

What does that mean for you and I? Well, one of the things it means is this: one of the most common questions asked of pastors and Bible teachers goes something along these lines — "I so desperately want to hear from God. How can I hear from God? How can I hear God's words being delivered to me so that I have a confidence in them?" And the answer the Bible would give is that right here, you can hear from God, because these are the words of God given through his inspiration to us in such a way that they are complete and without error. They don't tell us everything there is to know in the universe, but they tell us everything we need to know. Paul says, "For life and godliness."

There was a song in the late '90s or early 2000s by a woman named Sara Groves. I don't remember the exact words of it, but it was something like this: "I've been every way devotional, every way emotional, trying to hear a word from God. All the while, upon my shelf, my Bible sits all by itself." And so that is so often us. We want to say, "God, would you just speak to me? Would you just speak to me, Lord? I just want to hear what you have to say." That's not unique to us. We see this all throughout scripture. In the book of Job, that's one of Job's frustrations in the middle of all the back and forth between him and his friends. One of the things he expresses is, "If I could just sit with God in the city gate and we could talk face to face, we could figure this all out. If I could just have a word with you, God, if I could just talk to you and you could talk to me, we could probably get this whole thing resolved." We talked about in our class Moses' expression to God: "Hey, I just want to know your ways more, God. Can you teach me more? Can you show me more?" So this isn't new to us, but what we have that Job didn't have and that Moses didn't have is the written Word of God. And so if you want to hear from God, the good news — and Paul is telling Timothy here — is that in the midst of all these challenges, God can actually speak to you and reveal himself to you and guide and direct your life if you invest in his Word. If you seek to know it, if you seek to understand it more deeply, he points out that Timothy has this great advantage: he's been acquainted with the Word of God since he was a child. This is something he's had access to, and that's a great benefit to him, and he continues to benefit by accessing the Word of God. Because it's in these pages that God has spoken to us.

The other thing we see is that when Paul says, "All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," that's encouraging to us, because in these pages this isn't just God's memoirs. This is actually a manual for life — a manual for making your way through this world that is so encumbered by the curse of sin.

Which leads us to the next point Paul makes: not only is scripture inspired, but it is profitable. There is an advantage to you and I in investing time in knowing, understanding, and living according to what we find in the pages of scripture. This isn't just a book of history, even though it contains history. This isn't just a book of poems, even though it contains poetry. This isn't just a book of prophecy, even though it contains prophecy. This isn't just a book of laws and letters, even though it contains those too. This is the Word of God, and it is alive. It is active. It is beneficial for you and I. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 — the writer of Hebrews says this: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." This book can penetrate even to knowing what you think. It understands us because it's written by a God who created everything and who knows all things, and it's written down for us, which means it's communicated to us in a way that we can understand. You know, two computers talking to each other in binary — we really wouldn't benefit a whole lot from that, unless somebody was somehow able to translate all of those ones and zeros. But God communicated to us in a language that we can understand.

And so Paul says it teaches. It's profitable for teaching. Don't be offended — you don't know how to live, and neither do I. But the Bible does. And the Bible is where we learn how we're supposed to live — not the way that we want to, but the way that God wants us to, the way that is most beneficial for us. It's profitable for teaching and for reproof. Don't be offended by this either, but you're wrong about something right now, and you probably don't know it. The Bible tells you the truth about yourself. And I have to say, of the four things Paul lists here — teaching, reproof, correction, training — reproof is probably the hardest one. Not everybody takes correction very well. Not everybody likes to be told they're wrong and that they need to change their ways, that they've done some bad things and need to confess and repent and turn.

There's a great story in Jeremiah about King Jehoiakim. He was king of Judah — not a great guy. And God delivered a prophecy to him through Jeremiah. Jeremiah wrote it down and it was brought to King Jehoiakim. In Jeremiah 36 — I really challenge you to read this little episode — they come to Jehoiakim and they're reading this scroll from Jeremiah about things that Jehoiakim needs to change in his life. And it says that they would read three or four lines and Jehoiakim would just take his knife, cut that section off the scroll, and throw it in the fire. They were just reading it and he was just cutting it and burning it. He didn't want to hear it. And the messengers were pleading with him, "Don't burn the scroll! Don't burn the scroll! These are the words of God to you." He didn't want to hear it. We can sometimes be that way with reproof.

That's in scripture. It can be hard. Teaching, reproof, correction — sometimes we've gone the wrong way, and the Bible can show us how to get back on the way we are supposed to go. We talked in the class about what it means to walk in the ways of the Lord, the way we live our lives, but we don't always do it the way God wants us to. We don't always do it the way we're supposed to. And we need correction. And then finally, training. We don't become mature believers by accident. Think of the Bible like a gym — you can go into its pages and work out, and it will help to mature you and grow you. This is a valuable resource that we have, and it is sufficient for these things.

One of the other things — if you look just to the verses before, where Paul is also talking about scripture — is that it is able to make one wise for salvation. It illuminates for us the way of salvation. It points us to the answers, the solutions to our biggest problems — our separation from God. Remember, God is holy. It means he is perfect in every way possible, and so he has to be separate from sin and wickedness and sinners. This is what happens when men like Isaiah have these opportunities to see visions of the throne room of heaven and the glory of God. What Isaiah sees is that not only is God enthroned in his glory, but surrounding him are cherubim who never cease to declare, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory." They are, in essence, almost like a buffer all around him — sin and sinners cannot approach God. Even Isaiah has to be purified of his sin in Isaiah chapter 6 if he is going to be a messenger of God.

And in scripture, we learn about the work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who took on flesh, who became as we are so that he might be a substitute for us, so that he might suffer and die on the cross, standing in our place and taking our punishment for sin on himself, paying that debt completely in a way that we never could, and who rose from the dead victorious over sin and death — so that all who believe in him, all who trust in that work, will be saved. We find the answers to that. We find that reality explicitly outlined in the pages of scripture. In fact, Paul in Romans chapter 1 helps us to understand that one of the things that is so special about scripture is this: we can look at creation and see the glory of God there. The existence of God is undeniable — everyone can see that. But you cannot be saved just by looking at the stars, just by looking at hummingbirds and butterflies and flowers and trees and rivers and mountains. They can let you know that there is a God out there, but it's in the pages of scripture that we find this deeper revelation, this more specific revelation about who we are in light of who God is, what we need God to do for us, what he has in fact done for us, and what he calls us to do in response — to entrust ourselves to the work of Jesus Christ, to believe in that and that alone for our salvation.

The Word of God is certainly profitable for pastors. It's profitable for people who teach Bible classes and lead small groups and are professors in Bible colleges. But it's useful for every Christian. Don't say, "Well, I'm not a professional. I don't earn my living by studying the Bible or teaching the Bible, so I don't really need to get into the weeds of the Bible. I don't really need to study it. I can just let everybody else know it — that's really all I need." That's not the case. We all benefit from it. We all need it. You remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan and was tempted to turn the rocks into bread? He was fasting, and Jesus' response was what? "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." There is a correlation there — the Word of God is almost like food. It is life-giving nourishment.

Now maybe you've skipped a meal, right? Work was slammed and you had to skip lunch. But probably not many of you have ever said, "I was just so busy I didn't eat all day." And certainly none of you said, "I was just so busy I didn't eat all week." None of you accidentally skipped food for a whole week. I'm going to ask you to raise your hands — how many of you have accidentally skipped reading your Bible for a whole week, or a whole month, or even a whole year? Similarly, let's imagine that instead of having second Sunday lunch, we had lunch every Sunday after church. Nobody here would say, "Well, I don't need to eat this week because I'm going to eat on Sunday." Right? Yet how often do we do that with the Bible? "I don't need to get any food during the week because I'm getting my food on Sunday." That wouldn't make any sense. And yet that's so often what we do. That's so often how we treat it. "I don't really need this on a daily basis because I'm going to get a little nugget on Sunday." Listen to what Paul is saying — this is of great benefit to you. Jesus himself said this is like food. This is like bread. This is life-giving. Don't say, "Well, this is just for pastors. This is just for Timothy. This is just for missionaries and people who are writing Bible studies." No, this is for every one of us. Every one of us has a Bible. Every one of us needs to be digging into it. Do something with it. Study it. Aim to comprehend it. Aim to understand it.

There is so much misuse of scripture because we just kind of pick and choose little verses without ever investing in the context in which those verses were actually written. We want to understand how the original recipients of these poems and prophecies and laws and letters understood them, so that as we digest that, we can then draw implications for our own lives right now. Memorize scripture. In Psalm 119, David says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee." He, being a king, no doubt had easy access to the scrolls, but there was value to him in actually having those words locked in his mind. Meditate on it — or as I like to say, marinate in it. Spend time dwelling on it. Short sections, specific phrasings — really let those infuse your heart and your mind. And I would also encourage you: don't think these are activities you should only be doing by yourself. There is great benefit in studying and memorizing and meditating on scripture alongside other believers as well. There is great profitability in that.

So yes, there is profitability in scripture. Paul is explaining to Timothy what a great resource this is for ministry. But Paul is also clear that there is a direction — there is a goal to that profitability — that God uses his Word to mold us and shape us for a purpose. In other words, God's Word equips us. There is so much confusion in the world — and this isn't a new thing — about the meaning of life, about our purpose in this world, and about how we can have some sort of existential clarity even as the world around us continues to descend toward complete and total brokenness. And I think part of our struggle, part of the reason why throughout history humans have wrestled with this and tried to figure out our purpose on this big blue marble, is that we tend to focus our priorities on things that are often connected to the aspects of life that are most fleeting — things that are not going to last. These are the kinds of things Solomon breaks down in Ecclesiastes.

Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 17, that the man of God may be "complete" — or, as some translations say, "competent." If you think about what it means to be competent at life, to be capable or proficient, you probably think about things like: they're hardworking, they've got a good head on their shoulders, they're financially responsible, they're forward-thinking, they plan for the future. You know, those aren't bad things — they're certainly things we should do if we're going to steward the resources and opportunities that God has blessed us with. But the Bible is not a self-help book for unlocking the secrets to the American dream. It helps us to live for the glory of God in a world full of pain and pressure to abandon him. That is the meaning and purpose for all of our lives — to magnify the glory of God.

That word "equipped" — I love how the King James Version puts it: "thoroughly furnished." You are outfitted. You are properly supplied with the resources at hand. Take a look at this picture. Look at how cool that is. That used to be me — that was my Land Cruiser before I had kids — and I'd go with my friends out in the middle of the desert, miles and miles from any paved roads. And once you got to the roads, you were miles and miles away from any city or even any gas station. And so you had to outfit your vehicle for worst-case scenarios. And that meant more than a Swiss Army knife. You had to have extra cans of gas. You had to have bags of tools. You needed radios. You usually didn't want to go alone, because if you did break down and you didn't have what you needed, you needed to get hauled out of there by somebody. If it was summertime, you needed lots of extra water. If it was in the colder months, you needed fuel and blankets and things like that. You had to have the stuff you needed. You had to be equipped. And that's what Paul is telling Timothy. The real value of scripture is that it equips us. It outfits us. He says, "For every good work."

Remember Jesus' description of the Christian life in the Sermon on the Mount: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. People don't light lamps and put them under baskets, right? But you put them on a stand so they give light to the whole house." And then he says, "In the same way, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." So you see the connection between the Word of God and our purpose. The source of true fulfillment in life is that the Word of God equips us to do the things that allow us to live with the kind of purpose and meaning and fulfillment that God intends — to be conduits of his grace, to shine light on his glory and goodness, to glorify our Father in heaven. It makes us ready for service — service for Christ and his kingdom. In Timothy's immediate circumstances, that means being assured that the Bible provides him with the necessary resources to continue to minister faithfully, even in a very difficult environment, in a church that needs a lot of help.

You are wrong if you think the Bible is just the source material for the dos and don'ts of life. The Bible doesn't just tell you what to do or what not to do. It tells you why, and it tells you what you actually need in order to do — or not do — what it tells you to do. That's what it means to be equipped. Let me give you some examples. It doesn't just give you dos and don'ts; it gives you the reason and the resource.

"Love your enemies." Jesus says it in the Sermon on the Mount. That's the command — love your enemies. And he says, "Pray for those who persecute you." But the reason is "so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good." In other words, the reason is because this is how God operates. God himself loves his enemies. He sent his Son to die for people who were at enmity with him, and so his children should reflect his character. And the resource he gives us is himself. God's love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This is how we know what love is — Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we could go on and on. He doesn't just tell us to do something; he shows us what that looks like, gives us the reason for it, and is himself the resource to be that kind of loving person.

Similarly, a second example: "Be holy." 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 15 and 16: "Be holy." Why? "Because I am holy." God's own character is the standard and the motivation. And the resource that Peter reminds us of in 1 Peter chapter 1 is that we have been ransomed by God and we have been born again. We've been made new. We can be holy because God has made us holy. We have a new nature that makes it possible — not just obligatory.

So what does this mean for us? Why should you care that all scripture is given by God — that it is inspired by God, that it is profitable, and that it equips us for every good thing? You should care because you have been created for a purpose. It's hardwired into your very being. You should care because so often we wonder why it is so hard to find fulfillment and meaning and purpose in life. And we find in the pages of scripture that we are made to glorify God, and that the only pursuit that truly matters is that one. The Bible not only teaches us this, but it helps us in our pursuit of that goal. It doesn't just say, "Well, this is what you're supposed to do — good luck with that. Hope you figure it out." If you want to live life to the fullest, you will cherish God's Word and let it guide you through life.

So what does that look like on Monday morning? It means you opening up your Bible. Pick a book of the Bible. Pick a paragraph in the Bible. Just start somewhere. Read your Bible. And I would encourage you to ask two questions when you read that book, that chapter, even that verse. Ask yourself: What does this tell me about God? And second: How can this help me live for his glory? The Bible — not your education, not your savings, not your connections — is the most valuable resource you have. It's inspired by God, so it carries his authority. It's profitable, so it truly changes you. And it equips you, so you can live the life you were made to live.

Let's pray. Dear Lord, I thank you so much for these two verses — this very short but powerful reminder that Paul gives Timothy. I'm sure that Timothy understood this already. I'm sure that he knew this because he had been taught the scriptures from a very young age. But yet, in the midst of a lot of challenges, a lot of frustration and pain, and maybe even some uncertainty, he needed to be reminded of it. He needed to be reminded that he shouldn't go looking for this kind of help anywhere but in your Word — that what he had in the scriptures is sufficient because it's from you, and it's powerful, and it's accurate, and it's true, and it's able to do what it is intended to do. I ask that you would help us to have that same confidence, that we would be resolved to seek to know you and to understand your will in the pages of your Word. We thank you that you have spoken to us so clearly there, and that it is a resource that we all have access to. To think that we live in a day and age where the Bible is literally on our phones — we have no excuse to neglect it. May you help us to turn to its pages often and may you point us in the direction we are to go. We ask all this in your name. Amen.