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Bible
Reading Notes from Christ Church Greenbank Day
1 Read:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 Paul
writes to his ‘dear son’ Timothy with instructions from one church leader to
another – and as a father to a son in the Lord.
Paul knows that his time left on earth is limited, and in one of his last
letters, he exhorts Timothy to stay true to the gospel, and keep working as a
workman approved by God (2:15). Here
in chapter 3, we read of Paul’s last charge to Timothy, which can be
summarised in this way: live a godly life by continuing in what you have heard
from God’s word. So
here in verses 16 and 17, Paul reminds Timothy of what he knows.
He reminds him of the universal scope and application of scripture –
every part of the bible (all scripture) can be used in all sorts of ways
(teaching, training etc.) to equip people for doing the things, the good works,
that God has prepared in advance for us to so.
Why does Paul make this universal claim for scripture?
Because it is ‘God-breathed’. Now
it is traditional and right to talk here about inspiration – how God inspired
every human author of the bible to write what God wanted him to write, so that
as Paul writes to Timothy, he is also writing to all Christians down the ages,
including us. However, we need to
be careful of that word ‘inspiartion’ – we often thing of it as a moment
of genius that floats in from somewhere – and inspired pass in football, ball
in cricket or comment in conversation. But
God is more careful than that! He
breathes out his word, through human authors – they write in their way, but
they write God’s words – for us to listen to and obey. And
so – if this is truly God’s word – and it is – and is breathed out by
God – what is our response going to be? We
need to take these words seriously. We
need therefore to take God’s word seriously – more than that, we need to
follow God’s word. We cannot have
the bible as a guide book, just to be consulted if we don’t think we know the
way – or as one of a number of things we might find useful when making
decisions – the bible is God’s word, and the Holy Spirit works through
God’s word to show us what it means, and what we need to do with what God has
breathed out for us. So
today, ask yourself: What
does it mean to say that all scripture is God-breathed? Is
there an area of my life where I don’t listen to God’s word?
How am I going to change that? And
give thanks to God for the priceless gift of his word Activity
for Families with Children A
few ideas on how to share what you have learned about God’s word with your
children. Starter:
get a small mirror and get everyone round the table to breathe on it.
What happens? The mirror
steams up with the water droplets from our breath! Although we can’t normally
see our breath, we can on a mirror, or outside on a cold day – and we know
that we breathe out. The
bible talks about God breathing out his word.
We breathe out air and water droplets – God has breathed out his word,
the bible. God has breathed out the
bible for us to see – and read – and understand.
Read
2 Timothy 3:16 What
is the bible useful for? Whose
wrote the bible? Why
do we need to read our bibles? Read:
The bible is useful for teaching us
about what God wants us to do and be. It
is God’s word that he breathed out – he wrote it.
We need to read it because it comes from God, and it’s useful for us. Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help me to understand what the bible says and help me to do
what is says.
Amen.
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Last updated: September 27, 2007. We aim to update this site weekly.
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