Psalm 16:8; Psalm 119: 97-104
2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
October 20, 2019
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. - Psalm 16:8
Oh, how I love your law!
It is my meditation all day long.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is always with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your decrees are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
I do not turn away from your ordinances,
for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way. - Psalm 119: 97-104
But as for you [Timothy], continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. - 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5
Clemson Football Coach, Dabo Sweeney, was asked this week, “How do you protect your players and program from outside influences? How do you insulate the Clemson football program from all of the outside noise and expectations?”
Dabo’s answer was simple: “The key is living your life from the inside out.”
Dabo went on to say, “Our program blossomed from the inside-out not the outside-in. That means I encourage our team to focus daily on these things: go to work, one day at a time, do your best, be about the right things, and don’t get distracted by the things that do not matter.”
Whether you love or hate Clemson football, there is gospel truth to Dabo’s words.
The Apostle Paul was encouraging Timothy to lead the Ephesus Church from the inside-out too. The life of faith and ministry will always be filled with distractions. Therefore, what mattered most to Paul was for Timothy to be about the right things – the things that he first learned from the sacred writings – God’s playbook.
Paul did not want Timothy to just continue in what he had learned of faith from his grandmother, mother, and Paul’s mentoring. Paul did not want Timothy to just go through the motions of faith. Paul was coaching Timothy to hold fast to God’s Word with all his heart, mind, and strength. God’s Word holds the key to living our best life.
God’s Word is central to the Christian life. Scripture is unparalleled to any other source that may influence our lives.
The Bible is God-breathed having power beyond measure to give us encouragement and steadfast hope (Romans 15:3-4). It teaches us not only the language of faith, but it also has practical applications in the journey of faith. We share this pilgrimage of faith with our spiritual ancestors knowing that no matter how much we miss the mark, God will never leave or forsake us. The journey of faith points to the goal of living like Jesus Christ.
The more we sit in the stories of Scripture, the deeper our personal and communal convictions become about God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
And yet the hardest part of being a student of the Bible is this – to be humble enough for the Word of God to correct, reform, and train us in right relationships with God and one another (individually and communally).
When you and I are reading Scripture, it is really the Holy Spirit whom is reading us. Let that sink in for a moment.
Scripture is a mirror that shows our reflection from the inside out. The Lord does not see as mortals see – you and I look on the outward appearance - but the Lord in God’s Word looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
God’s Word leads us to confess where we have missed the mark of following Jesus’ example. The Bible is not a self-help book of how to improve ourselves. And yet I have to be honest with you – without God’s Word, I don’t like the person I see in the mirror. God’s Word gives my life and yours hope, purpose, and it teaches how to live for God from the inside out.
John Calvin once said that the Bible is like a pair of spectacles. When we read Scripture, we are putting on the spectacles of faith which allow us to see the world and ourselves rightly.
The Word of God is a gift to us. Just as God created humanity to live in relationship with God and one another, we are to live in relationship with God’s Word. And yet there is a crisis of faith today. That crisis is not doctrinal or the decline in church attendance. The crisis is how we live our lives in relation to God’s Word.
George Stroup is the former J.B. Green Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary. He was my theology professor when I attended there. In his book, “Before God,” he says:
For several decades observers of the Christian life have noted the remarkable phenomenon of a growing biblical illiteracy not just in the general public but in churches as well. Protestant Christians who began as “people of the book” and confess the Bible alone as the primary authority of the Christian faith and life have become a people who know less about the Bible.
The larger problem is not just a matter of knowledge; it is that the language of Scripture no longer shapes Christian individuals and churches. They no longer are people whose identities and character are formed and continue to be formed by reading the stories of Scripture….The issue is whether people live their daily lives before God [1].
A U.S. Religious Landscape Study was taken in 2014. It was based on telephone interviews with more than 35,000 Americans from all 50 states. The data revealed that only 35% of adults read Scripture at least once a week; 10% of adults read Scripture once or twice a month; and 45% of adults surveyed seldom or never read Scripture.
Friends, the whole of our lives is lived before the face of God.
If we are not abiding in God’s Word, then we are hiding from the truest revelation of God’s presence.
If we are not abiding in God’s Word on a regular basis then we are missing opportunities that God places before us to discover what the will of God is, to imagine who God is creating us to be, and to discern how God is calling you and I to join the Lord in making a divine difference in the world.
Jesus Christ said to his disciples and says to us today:
“If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31).
“Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:5, 8).
Are you living from the inside out? Are you getting into God’s Word and letting God’s Spirit inscribe it on your heart?
I encourage you to grow and keep growing in the spiritual discipline of abiding in Christ’s word, because we are people of the book.
The Good Book quiets the noise and distractions of life as we keep our focus on God. And God opens our eyes to the things that truly matter in life.
May we keep the Lord always before us, for in doing so we will not be moved (Psalm 16:8).
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
Sources Referenced:
[1] George Stroup, “Before God” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2004), pp. 199, 194.
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