Fully polished

made with Proclaim

Malcolm Lithgow

Renew Discipleship Gold Coast

The Journey • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago • Presented 5 years ago • 36:24

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Scipture is an amazing thing. But what's it really for? Is it encouragement, general guidelines, beautiful literature to be enjoyed, a user manual, or what? In his second letter to Timothy, Paul explains in a famously succinct way precisely where Scripture came from and what it is good for. And we see that brought to life in Joseph and Mary's encounter with the devout Simeon at the Temple. How can we share the joy that Simeon takes in recognising his place in the great story? That's what this year is all about. So let's roll up our sleeves and get started! (Note, The Bible Project's Jewish Meditation Literature video has been removed from this recording for copyright purposes.)

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Transformers

Does anyone know what a transformer is?

No, not this...

But this. This transformer takes 24 Volt electricity and transforms it into 12 Volt electricity. The toy transformers transform themselves into something else, but real transformers change something else into something new.

What other things transform stuff?

What does this transform? I’ll give you a clue: it transforms a lump of something into something you can eat or drink from.

Yes, it’s a potter’s wheel, which transforms clay into pots.

And what about this?

Yes, these are measuring spoons, which can be used in the transformation of flour, sugar, eggs, etc. into something like this cake.

Now here’s a harder one. Anyone recognise this? Any adults?

This is a machining tool, which is used in a CNC machine to create metal parts. Notice how in this picture the block of metal has been carved away into a wheel. Lots of quality metal objects are made this way. My brother-in-law has one of these in his back shed—he’s a fitter and turner and he uses his machine to make parts for all sorts of machinery.

What do you think it is that transforms us into people who are like Jesus?

That’s right, it’s Scripture. But it takes time. Let’s watch a video that explains how the Scriptures slowly transform us.

[Watch Bible Project video on Jewish meditation literature.]

Kids Church

Understanding 2 Tim 3:16-17

Now, let’s work through 2 Timothy 2:16 and 17. This is a single sentence, and yet is it incredibly packed with meaning. In fact, this verse gives us a good summary of what Scripture is, where it comes from, what it does to us, and how it does it. So it’s a good place to start our journey through the Bible over the coming year.

So let’s dive in.

God breathed

The ESV version of verse 16 starts with the words, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.”

The Christian idea of Scripture is unique. Paul uses a unique word here that literally means “God-breathed.” The first point to note is that God is the origin of Scripture. But the Bible has a diversity of styles which match the authors’ cultural backgrounds. So it wasn’t simply dictated. Peter gives us a glimpse of how God breathed out Scripture:

2 Peter 1:20–21 ESV

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Peter explains that “men spoke,” but that they spoke “from God,” and that they did that while “they were carried along by the Spirit.” God used the words of the authors to communicate his word. This reveals to us something of the character of the Christian God: he values his children and their creativity, and yet he is so sovereign that he can use their own free choice of words to communicate precisely what he wants. This is a much bigger God than any other!

Profitable for teaching

Because all Scripture comes from God it is genuinely useful. Imagine that you just got a wonderful new Miele coffee machine, and the whole church was coming around to check it out.

What would be more useful to you, given the mysterious buttons on this device:

This?

Or this?

Obviously you would want the manual from Miele, who made the coffee machine, right? A Lego instruction manual, as interesting as it might be isn’t going to be much use.

Now, the Bible isn’t an instruction manual, it’s so much more than that. But just like an instruction manual, a guide for life is not much use if its written by someone who has no real insight into life, or if it’s just guessing. Other religious texts, and human science of course, all come from a human perspective, and so they inevitably make huge mistakes about this world of which we still know so little.

The Bible isn’t like that. In fact, the word used here for “teaching” is sometimes translated as “doctrines.” The Bible has lots to say about the world, about how it works, what is good, what is evil. And because it comes from the one who made the world, it gets it all correct, and so it is genuinely useful in transforming us into people who live the way we were built to live. Just as a complex cake recipe needs to be followed if you want to get a great result, or a good coffee only comes from using the machine properly, so we only really live well when we live properly, according to God’s instructions.

For reproof

Scripture is also useful for reproof, or rebuke. The word Paul uses here means that Scripture shows us our sin and so calls us to repentance. It can do this because it’s true, because it reflects a true understanding of reality. It’s important to recognise that the truths that Scripture teach are God’s truths, not ours. If we just take our own truths out of Scripture then we are like someone who looks in the harsh objectivity of a mirror and walks away with a messy face, as James says:

James 1:23–25 ESV

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

During my first year in Japan I worked with a pretty Japanese girl who flirted with me. She wasn’t a Christian, though, and I was very much aware of Paul’s advice:

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

I wrestled with that Scripture day after day as I walked home from work. I was lonely and yearned for friendship, and more, but I knew that God was warning me and asking me to choose him. Years later I wrestled with the same scripture when I was offered the opportunity to partner with some coworkers in a new enterprise.

This process is a bit like the CNC milling process, cutting away the material to create something useful. For me, in both cases, I fought with God’s word, because it wasn’t what I wanted, but God cut away that wrong desire. Because God’s word is true, because it’s independent of us as humans, because it comes from a higher source than us, we will sometimes find ourselves in conflict with it. In those times, let it correct us, let it point out how our desires are misdirected, let it lead us to repentance.

For straightening out

If we let God’s word lead us, it will make us the right shape. That’s what the word Paul uses here means: to straighten out. When we’ve turned away (repented) from our harmful desires we can focus on what is good, not only for us, but for those around us. We’re like clay on a potter’s wheel, being moulded into the correct shape. Paul talks about this in

Philippians 3:12–16 ESV

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Notice that this is not something that we get done before we die—it is a process that we continue in throughout our lives. It’s incremental. We figure one thing out at a time. As Paul says, “only let us hold true to what we have attained.” We grow, step by step.

For discipling

All Scripture is useful for discipling in righteousness, that’s what “training” means here. I’m reminded of the image or Psalm 1, which we saw in the video. When we meditate on Scripture it gives us life and fruit. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, with twenty-two stanzas, one for each letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza celebrates God’s word, or his law as it is often called in the Old Testament. For example, stanza 17 celebrates the way God’s word transforms us, if we let it:

Psalm 119:129–130 ESV

129 Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. 130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

The result?

And what is the result of these processes? God’s word has given us truths about the world and ourselves, it has pointed out what we’re getting wrong and then helped us get straight, and it has trained us up. What is the fruit of this process?

To quote from my bogan translation, the result is a person who is “fully polished:” a person of God who is wise—who knows how to live well—and is therefore ready to go out into the world doing good, doing what God made them to do. Remember that James talks about this sort of person in

James 1:25 ESV

25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

God doesn’t give us the Scripture to fill our heads with useful knowledge or Bible trivia. No, he gives us his word to transform us into little Christs who go around making little bits of heaven in this messed up world! Scripture changes us, it makes us who we were made to be.

Just a reminder: this is actually our first value as a church: Biblical Discipleship!

Examples?

Now let’s hear from you. What parts of the Bible have spoken into your life?

Let’s finish with an example from the Bible, a story that is often skipped over, the story of Simeon, the prophet who finds Jesus in the temple when Mary and Joseph bring him in for his dedication to God on the fortieth day after his birth. Let’s just read the story:

Luke 2:25–35 ESV

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” 33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

This is a beautiful story. Here is a man who was “righteous and devout,” and because of his faithfulness and his sensitivity to God’s Holy Spirit, he gets the chance to encounter the Messiah, not only of his own people, Israel, but also of the world. The praise that he pours out is full of echoes of the Scriptures that he loved, and he is able to encourage and prepare Mary, who undoubtedly passed some of this on to Jesus. And notice how this affects Simeon himself: he is able to die in peace, he has seen God at work.

That is the fruit of a life lived in the light of God’s word—purpose, power, and peace.

Encouragement

As I finish, I want to offer a word of encouragement. We are still works in progress. We’re on our way to becoming fully polished. But even while we’re still in the shop, so to speak, we can still be doing good. If anyone feels that Scripture is prompting them to repent, or is puzzled about some teaching, come and talk with us. We don’t do this on our own—Christ gave us brothers and sisters to encourage and support one another. And that’s what we’ll be doing this year, as we work through the Scriptures, understanding its teaching, embracing its rebukes, benefiting from its correction, and sitting under its training as we look forward to being fully polished, ready to do God’s good work in the world.