Sola Scriptura
Sola Scriptura • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsWhen I wholly follow God's Word, I am made Holy.
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ME
ME
Every summer, from the time I was 10 years old until I was 19, I worked on construction crews framing houses all over Wilson County, TN.
There were days I hated that job, like when it was 120 degrees on the subfloor of a house, or when I had to tote stacks of wood through mud all day.
But I learned how to work hard and never be afraid of getting dirty.
The first few years, I was on my dad’s framing crew.
My dad was a pretty big guy, so you wouldn’t ever find him on a roof.
He was on the ground as the sawman.
And I was his gofer.
I would go for this and go for that so dad wouldn’t have to bend over and pick it up!
There wasn’t a piece of wood on a job site that I didn’t pick up.
One thing I always remember about working with Dad is that he used a lot of patterns when he cut wood.
Patterns were a piece of wood that was cut and used to mark other pieces so they would be cut to that same length.
Floor joists had a pattern.
Liners for the doorways had a pattern.
*Rafter pic*
Rafters for the roof had a pattern that included something called a “birdsmouth” so it could rest on and be nailed to the top plate of the wall.
I asked Dad one day why he used patterns all the time.
“So we don’t get off and all the pieces end up the wrong length.”
You see, tape measures are great, but I’ve discovered that if I try to measure the same thing over and over again marking off different pieces of wood, I can get off bc of human error.
But when I use a pattern, I don’t get off and all the pieces end up the right length.
WE
WE
*Title Slide*
In life, we’ve all had times where we’ve just gotten off.
We’ve gotten in the habit of doing unhealthy things, physically and spiritually.
Pavlok.com lists a few bad habits people get into:
Swearing
Trichotillomania- hair pulling
Picking Your Nose
Smoking Cigarettes
Biting Fingernails
Drinking Coffee
Drinking Tea
Hair picking
Watching Reality Television
Eating Fast Food
Drinking Alcohol
Emotional Shopping
Spending On Credit Cards
Facebook
Twitter
Eating Candy
Eating White Sugar
Eating Chocolate
Drinking Soda/Pop
*Title Slide*
Bad habits lead to bad weeks, months, and eventually bad lives.
Whether it’s at work or with family, when we get off in life- it isn’t an accident.
We can try to play like:
“oops, I don’t know how I got into this terrible relationship!”
or
“I was just walking along and punched that guy in the face and I had NO IDEA how it happened!”
No, in these situations, we decided one day to make a poor choice… maybe it was small… but it led to another poor choice which led to another and another until we’re in an absolute mess.
Now let’s zoom out a little:
When there’s a lot of people making a lot of bad choices all across society, we end up with a culture that’s in an absolute mess.
In the year 2022, that’s precisely where we are.
The United States of America was founded on Biblical principles, God’s Word was honored, and the vast majority of families were part of a local church.
Society was by no means perfect, with things like the evils of slavery and later segregation, and people were a little better at living fake lives and hiding their sins to avoid shame.
But as a Christian nation, everyone knew there was a standard: The Bible, the Holy Word of God.
There was a respect and reverence for God Almighty and His Word.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Many people in America lived godly lives because they allowed the living Word to penetrate them and the Holy Spirit convicted them of sin in their lives, and so we had a culture that wasn’t perfect, but honored God.
*Title Slide*
Fast forward to today:
According to Barna.com, in 2021:
Just over one-third of U.S. adults (34%) read the Bible once a week or more, while half (50%) read the Bible less than twice a year (including “never”). In between these two extremes, we find those who read the Bible more than twice a year, but not on a weekly basis (16%). Overall, one in six U.S. adults (16%) reads the Bible most days during the week, up from 12 percent in 2020.
Half of the US- around 168,000,000 people- read the Bible only once a year or not at all.
Without the standard of the God’s Word in our culture, today...
-People try to find their identities in their sexuality rather than in Christ
-Students are gunned down in local schools on a regular basis
-There are currently an estimated 200,000-300,000 sex slaves within our country
What about Good Church-going people? They read the Bible, right?
*Great Commission Pie Chart*
When asked if they had “heard of the Great Commission,” half of U.S. churchgoers (51%) say they do not know this term.
Only 17% of churchgoers know what they should be doing as a Christian...
Now, this is a problem for a lot of reasons, and it shows how little most Christians dig into the Word of God.
*Title Slide*
And all throughout Church History, when the common people don’t read the Bible, corrupt people in church leadership begin to rise up and convince people of outright lies.
For instance, in the Middle Ages the church had a little thing called an “Indulgence.”
An ‘indulgence’ was part of the medieval Christian church, and a significant trigger to the Protestant Reformation. Basically, by purchasing an indulgence, an individual could reduce the length and severity of punishment that heaven would require as payment for their sins, or so the church claimed. Buy an indulgence for a loved one, and they would go to heaven and not burn in hell. Buy an indulgence for yourself, and you needn't worry about that pesky affair you'd been having.
If this sounds like cash or good deeds for less pain, that is exactly what it was. To many holy people like German friar Martin Luther (1483–1546), this was against the teachings of the founder Jesus (4 BCE–33 CE), against the idea of the church, and against the point of seeking forgiveness and redemption. At the time Luther acted against indulgences, he was not alone in seeking change. Within a few years, European Christianity split apart during the revolution of the "Reformation."
How could the church get duped into this sort of thing?
Didn’t they read about Peter and John talking to Simon the Sorceror?
Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
Nope, they didn’t read this because the Bible wasn’t allowed to be read by the common folks.
Only the Priests could do that.
And many of those priests began to spew out lies and tried to put a God stamp of approval on it.
Fast Forward to today.
Churchgoers are allowed to read the Bible where we live, but many choose not to.
And some Pastors- who are supposed to be Shepherds protecting God’s Church- are beginning to deceive people in the church… saying wrong is right and right is wrong and sin is ok.
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
Most Pastors I have encountered are faithful to God’s Word and don’t try to deceive people.
Our District Superintendent, many Nazarene Pastors from our state and Pastors from others denominations all across the country are a part of something called “The Holiness Partnership,”
*Who We are slide*
The Holiness Partnership is a Christian organization in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. Our mission is to re-discover the vision and understanding of Biblical Christianity, re-emphasize the Biblical doctrines of the Holiness church, re-invigorate the local church for mission and evangelism, and re-capture fidelity to Biblical truth.
*Title Slide*
Around 500 years the Protestant Reformation happened.
Martin Luther, along with others, were tired of church leadership spitting out lies that had nothing to do with God’s Word.
The Reformers said that Scripture should govern church interpretation and traditions as the foundation of theology and the norm of norms, the source and standard for all theological reflection. In other words, the ultimate authority for theological discussion is the Scriptures. This pushed the Reformers to reject several theological doctrines of the Catholic Church at the time, such as the sale of indulgences
Sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”): placing ultimate theological authority in the Bible alone.
BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY
In a world that is tearing apart at the seams, with some leaders ignoring God’s clear and living Word, this is what the church of Jesus Christ must get back to:
Reading the Word.
Asking the Lord to give us insight into what it means.
And living like this Jesus we read about in the Bible.
GOD
GOD
Sitting in a Roman prison near the end of his life, the Apostle Paul wrote to His son in the faith Timothy that there would be evil in the last days:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
This description is eerily similar to the culture we live in today.
But how does one live as a Christ-follower in the midst of so much evil?
Well, Paul gave Timothy instructions that we can apply to our lives today:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
THE WORD MAKES US WISE
THE WORD MAKES US WISE
This wisdom has a specific goal: the primary purpose of Scripture is to point the way to salvation.
Early Christians interpreted the entire Old Testament with Christ in mind. They believed the OT prepared for and spoke about the coming Messiah and the salvation he would bring.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
All of Scripture points us to Christ making the way for salvation, from Genesis to the Revelation of John.
Timothy was raised by a faithful mother and grandmother (2 Tim 1:5). These two women planted seeds that would one day bear fruit in Timothy’s life as long as he continued in this same faith.
It was the glory of the Jews that their children from their earliest days were trained in the law. They claimed that their children learned the law even from their swaddling clothes and drank it in with their mother's milk. They claimed that the law was so imprinted on the heart and mind of a Jewish child that he would sooner forget his own name than he would forget it. So from his earliest childhood Timothy had known the sacred writings. We must remember that the scripture of which Paul is writing is the Old Testament; as yet the New Testament had not come into being. If what be claims for scripture is true of the Old Testament, how much truer it is of the still more precious words of the New.
-William Barclay
The formative years in children’s lives can lay a foundation and set a trajectory that can sustain them through the trials of life.
Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Parents, this is why it’s so important to model Biblical Christianity for your kids.
Kids are like sponges- they will take in the good, bad and ugly!
What are you pouring into their lives?
Do they know the truth of God’s Word and see it lived out in your life?
Maybe your a youth leader like me and you’ve got “youth group kids” who don’t have a godly example in the home but love coming to this church because they feel welcome here.
You have an opportunity to pour the wisdom of the Word into their lives!
Ain’t nothing better than that!
Kids have a lot of junk being thrown at them in 2022… they need parents and leaders who will guide them in the truth.
The Word Trains Us For Good Works
The Word Trains Us For Good Works
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
There are a lot of days I don’t feel like going to the gym and working out.
It’s painful every day- so why do it?
First off, my heart is healthy which gives me a better chance to live longer so maybe I can be around for my grandkids one day.
Second, I’m stronger and more flexible so it makes other every day tasks easier...
Like moving stuff around the house or… bending over to pick something up off the ground without grunting, cracking and popping all over!
In the same way, God’s Word gets our souls and minds in shape to go out and get something good done!
This is amazing! In a world full of bad things, we spread the goodness of God one kind word, one prayer, and one person pointed to Jesus Christ at a time.
The power of Scripture becomes evident when it is allowed to become the rule for faith and conduct. The Bible is a source for defense against heresy. But it is also a resource for offense by strengthening us as believers to live out our sa lvation.
The study of the Scriptures must never be selfish, never simply for the good of a man's own soul. Any conversion which makes a man think of nothing but the fact that he has been saved is no true conversion. He must study the Scriptures to make himself useful to God and to his fellow-men. No man is saved unless he is on fire to save his fellow-men.
-William Barclay
The Bible is the Sovereign exhalings of a holy God.
This Holy God sent His son to bleed the ground red as he died so that we might be saved from an eternity in hell.
Christ cares deeply about each and every human on the planet, and calls us to do the same:
In Luke a teacher of the law comes up to Jesus and asks how he can get eternal life, so Jesus asks him what the law “OT” says:
The man answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.” Also, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Now, I know we talked a little about how crazy the world is right now… and so sometimes Christians can get into the habit of wanting to put our heads in the sand and just get away from culture.
But when Jesus talked about loving our neighbors, He wasn’t just referring to people who are exactly like us or those we are comfortable around.
And we can’t love our neighbors if we never interact with them.
Check out the prayer that Jesus prayed for His disciples the night before He was crucified:
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
WHEN I WHOLLY FOLLOW GOD’S WORD, I AM MADE HOLY.
WHEN I WHOLLY FOLLOW GOD’S WORD, I AM MADE HOLY.
And being Holy involves living like Jesus and shining the light of Christ in all those dark places of society.
It ain’t comfortable, but it’s what Christ-followers are called to do.
YOU
YOU
*Forest pic*
One dark night in a forest in Sicily a bandit held up a traveling book salesman at the point of a revolver. He was ordered to light a bonfire and burn his books. He lit the fire, and then he asked if he might read a little from each book before he dropped it in the flames. He read the twenty-third psalm from one; the story of the Good Samaritan from another; from another the Sermon on the Mount; from another 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. At the end of each reading, the bandit said: "That's a good book; we won't burn that one; give it to me." In the end not a book was burned; the bandit left the salesman and went off into the darkness with the books. Years later that same bandit turned up again. This time he was a Christian minister, and it was to the reading of the books that he attributed his change.
God speaks through His Word to change lives.
Have you allowed Him to change yours?
Romans 1:16 (NIV)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes:
*Title Slide*
If you’re already saved:
Are you allowing God’s Word to change you and grow you every day?
You know for that to happen, you should be reading it.. like everyday!
Mind-blowing right?
You can grab a paper Bible, read a handful of chapters each day and in a year you can read the entire thing!
Or you can download the YouVersion Bible app, where there’s dozens of translations and languages, and Bible reading plans with short devotionals on numerous topics.. you can even have a friend join you in reading a plan together. You can even listen to a reading of the Bible in your car on the way to work!
I read “Bible in One Year” plan with Pastor Nicky Gumbel.
There’s lots of ways to get into the Word… but However you do it, just do it!
There is power behind the truth of this Word.
Power to save.
Power to Sanctify.
Power to change the world.
WE
WE
A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain, “Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.”
”I have a better idea,” replied Twain. “You could stay in Boston and keep them.”
As Christians, reading the Bible is important for us.
What’s even more important is allowing God’s Word to get into us.
For Christ to make a difference in the way we walk, talk and live out our lives in Christ.
We can go on Mission Trips (which I do), and talk about doing big things for God, but we must be living like Christ in the midst of the people around us everyday who desperately need to see Him.
So may we leave this place, get into the Word, and get the Word out into the streets so that lives and our communities will be changed forever.