Useful or Not Useful?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Put the 2 Timothy screen up at the beginning of the introduction
How’d you do? (Referring to reading 2 Timothy)
You Are What You...
You Are What You...
Heirloom-quality items are not designed for one-time use
Pouring off hot fat to dispose of it - what do you use to hold the fat?
Your great-grandmother’s porcelain gravy boat?
tin can out of the recycling bin?
Why? WAIT FOR ANSWERS Because we’re going to throw it away
Discipleship moves us toward heirloom-quality lives
Holiness v. Hospital - James, I’ve heard you say that this is a hospital for the sick, not a museum of the saints
That’s right, this doesn’t make that false
Medicine moves us towards health
Exercise moves us towards health (feelings that I shouldn’t be at the gym)
Puzzle with a missing piece
Discipleship is always moving us towards heirloom-quality lives, but our starting points are never the same
Holiness (Christ-likeness) is a goal of discipleship
Items become useful when they are used for their intended purposes
Oven does an awful job of cleaning the laundry, but it can make a good pie
The radio is way too small and bumpy as a workbench, but it can play good music
Sure, my chair can work to fold a couple of pieces of laundry, but then it gets too crowded, but at the end of a long day, it does a bang-up job of being comfortable
God created us holy, and God created the world holy, and restoring that holiness is an outworking of Jesus’ work on the cross—salvation
Okay, you’ve got me, I understand that I’m to be making progress, so how do I do it? Paul has a few suggestions that might land close to home
Holy Contents
Holy Contents
Reveal pride, cheap thrills, and becoming argumentative slowly
Flee pride, cheap thrills, and becoming argumentative
Paul warns us against some specific sins
Evil desires of youth
lust
binging
reckless pursuit of physical things or desires
cheap thrills
Becoming argumentative
Needing to be right
In becoming adults, we can set our own agenda and become inflexible to others
Being a third child, I wanted to win at Trivial Pursuit (and more); Jesus has taught me to be content in him
Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (and those who pursue those things as well)
Need to see the One who is righteous, faithful, loving, and peaceful
God reveals these traits of his to us in Scripture - what does it look like? When you look intently into the Scriptures, Jesus becomes more real than you can ever believe (not general impressions)
God reveals these traits of his to us in Scripture - what does it look like? When you look intently into the Scriptures, Jesus becomes more real than you can ever believe (not general impressions)
After seeing these traits, ask, “is what I’m doing righteous? faithful? loving? peaceful?
Posting on-line
How do I refer to people I don’t like when they’re not there?
What is my goal in engaging this person or problem?
We see how this plays out in other people (pursue the faithful, don’t avoid the hypocrites)
Teach gently
It should be no surprise that we are to communicate the faith in a way that reflects our commitment to righteousness, faith, love, and peace
We don’t want to cover our message in mud, much like covering the coin I showed to the kids in mud