Worshiping a Sovereign Lord: A Response to One of Jon's Sermons, "Abide"

I should note right now that this is not a rebuke, a refutation, or any kind of response like that, nor is it an addendum, because honestly I agreed with everything Pastor Jon had to say and I think he said everything there was to say.

Anyway, I literally just finished listening to this sermon, mainly because two weeks ago my wife said it was really good and I should listen to it. After hearing her description (which involved the words "You can't be part of five Bible studies because that's just dumb and you can't apply all that to your life, etc..."), I wondered if it was subtly her trying to get me to listen because I needed to learn something. I also worried that the sermon would go to the other extreme of no Bible study at all because it's a waste of time. Thankfully it didn't do that. It turned out to be a very practical sermon about how the Bible is meant to save and to equip us with what we need to be on mission (a term I hear all the time used in many different ways that probably aren't all correct).

My regular readers (a rare bunch indeed) will know that I love the Bible and that I talk about Bible study a lot. They may recall my many posts about reading the Bible, studying the Bible, and even the Bible studies I've written out on this blog. But I can't help but feel like I may have neglected a few things, or that perhaps when Jon talked about people going to too many Bible studies, someone (my wife maybe) may have thought of me. (Although to be honest, I have yet to actually find even one decent Bible study in Thurston County to go to that fits with my school schedule, and I certainly would not go to five.)

The reason I talk so much about Bible study is because no one actually reads their Bible anymore. You have no idea (well, you might actually) how many Christians I know who have Bibles and never open them except on Sunday. I'm not angry about it, just sad.

Why is this even an issue? Why do I care so much? Jon mentioned a verse, one of my favorites, 2 Timothy 3:16-17: "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 competent, equipped for every good work." (If that sounds different than what Jon said, it's because I'm using the English Standard Version of the Bible and I'm pretty sure he uses the NIV). I'd personally never thought about the fact that the training and reproof and whatnot aren't the point. They are the means through which we are equipped to do the good work of spreading the Gospel. So it follows that, if we don't read the Bible, we aren't taught, reproved, corrected and trained to do the work. We are supposed to do it of course. But the Bible is God's means to teach us how. It's how He corrects and reproves us so that we can not only say we are Christians, but actually live out a Spirit-filled life. That life is the evidence to people that there is something that has changed us, a reason for our hope and joy. God uses the Bible to convict us of sin so that we will avoid sin in our lives. Avoiding those sins shows that there's something different about you. The Bible is how we know what needs to be done for people to be saved!

Another reason I talk so much about Bible study is because without the Bible, Christians are weak. So many Christians are spiritual infants although they've been saved for years. They are deceived by false teachers, "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:14), and long for spiritual milk rather than real, solid food (Heb. 5:12-14). In a world full of deception and lies, where even the church itself is full of false doctrines and teachings that are un-Godly and un-Biblical, we need to be strong. We need to be able to distinguish good from evil. We need powers of discernment. That's actually why I started reading. I don't want to be deceived. I want to teach my wife and kids so that they aren't deceived either. When we aren't deceived, we're more effective in evangelism in my opinion. There's a such thing as just reading and not being effective, but to be more effective, we need to know the Bible.

But what about those who use the Bible to advance bad things, like killing God? Jon mentioned that too. That's why we need good Bible teachers, which are a tragic rarity in the world now. Even Timothy had a teacher (2 Tim 3:14). I'd personally recommend John MacArthur or John Piper. I'd also recommend Jon Needham (clearly all the good pastors are named John in some spelling or another), although since everyone who reads this probably already goes to Coram Deo, you already probably listen to him. You don't need to listen to all of them, mind you. But if you have no idea where to find good teaching, those are good, Godly people who you really can't go wrong with. And obviously just listening to sermons is not being on mission (again with the Jon reference). But it is good to have a good, Biblical, Godly teacher to go to.

So yeah. I just really wanted to write a response to that sermon. Again, I'm not trying to add anything to it, because frankly it's spot on. I just wanted to share my view, and why I care so much that people actually read the Word of God and grow and become effective. And it's not that I am (oh no I am not). I'm growing too. I'm still learning how to talk about Jesus and salvation to people. But if I want to be able to speak the Word of God into people's lives, I'd better know it, right?