Sermon: Training in Righteousness

Date Preached: Sunday October 21st 2007

Bible Reference: 2 Timothy 3: 14-14:5

Here’s Paul writing to Timothy: “Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed…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.”

Is it just me, or is there something about the Bible readings we’ve had recently that seem to be hitting me right between the eyes? I’ve talked to a few folks recently who seem to be getting the sense that God really is speaking ‘through his Word’ – but I wonder if we’re listening?

It has to be said that many people who open the Bible at random have an experience rather like the woman in Oxford mentioned by Bishop Tom Wright:

“To begin with it looks like a jumble of old bits and pieces of writing, a rag-bag of poetry, history, folk tales, ethical instruction, and some strange stories about some even stranger people. Reading it can seem, at least to begin with, like wandering through old courtyards where somebody once lived a long time ago. But then, just when you’re tempted to put the whole thing aside as interesting perhaps, but not really relevant, you sense movement and life. Something is stirring here. There’s an energy, as though someone’s left a light on or music playing in the old building. Maybe it’s inhabited after all. It seems to have life. A breath even.”

Well the early Christians believed the scriptures were alive because God had breathed them. This is the word that’s translated here as ‘inspired’. But what does this mean? – and what is Paul actually saying to his young apprentice?

Inspired? We sometimes speak of artists, composers and musicians as inspired, don’t we? It was an inspired performance we say whether at a concert or a rugby match. Andrew Sheridan had an inspired performance at prop for England against the Wallabies in the quarter-final they weren’t expected to win. What we mean is something out of the ordinary (which to be honest this England team has been…) Or, we mean that we felt inspired by something that lifted our spirits. The trouble with this meaning is that it doesn’t begin to get anywhere near what Paul and other Christian writers mean when they talk about Scripture being “inspired”.

Okay, so let’s try another. When people talk about a poet being inspired they sometimes mean that the poet’s own mind kind of went into neutral and some other force or spiritual source poured the words in from somewhere else. If you’ve been watching ‘Heroes’ on TV the artist Isaac Mendez paints comic book scenes that predict the future – but he can only do it when he’s in some kind of drug-induced trance. Some Christians have imagined that when people talk of the Bible being ‘inspired’, this is the sort of thing they mean.: that Jeremiah or Paul and the others function like God’s word processor or dictating machine.

But this surely can’t be right either can it? Jeremiah and Paul to name just two, give plenty of evidence that their own personalities, struggles and sheer individual circumstances affected deeply the way they saw and said things – and we’ve been seeing with our bible study on Ephesians how important it is to understand Paul to get a sense of what he’s actually saying. So the inspiration of the Bible didn’t flatten individual styles and points of view, it actually emphasized them.

 Hmm. Let’s try one more. Many people who insist that the Bible was and is ‘inspired’ presume that they know in advance what that would mean in terms of the Bible’s own content. They presume that it means that the Bible is going to support their particular type of theology. Again and again this has been proved wrong. It’s precisely because the Bible is inspired that we’re set free from the prison of any human system of thinking – and prejudice – and are free to discover God’s perspective on life that the Scriptures invite us to share.

So once we set these misunderstandings aside, we can begin to think in amazingly rich and different patterns. Things we haven’t seen before – ways of understanding ourselves - other people - God - and the world we’re in. We begin to ‘get’ what it means to be truly human as God intended – rescued, saved from the downward pull of sin; things that do us harm – and transformed by God’s forgiving grace so that we become part of his new creation. If we let scripture have its way with us (rather than the other way around – quoting it willy-nilly for our own ends), all this wonderful new stuff is within reach – why? – because it not only unveils the living God we know in Jesus Christ, but also – as we read and ponder it – it works this knowledge of God and his order of things deep into our consciousness and even our subconscious – by story, poetry, symbol, history, theology and instruction.

Paul spells it out – it’s useful for teaching – well naturally – but also rebuke(?) – that’s a bit different. What it means is that as we read scripture it will from time to time inform us in no uncertain terms that something we’ve been doing is simply out of line with God’s will. Sometimes that’s going to lie plainly on the surface of the text; other times as we read or remember a passage, we’ll begin to hear the voice of God gently, or perhaps not so gently, telling us that this story or bit applies to this area of our lives, or perhaps that one. And when that happens – as it may often do for those who read the Bible prayerfully – we do well to pay attention. And this negative possibility is quickly balanced by the positive: reading the Bible as if it is God-breathed will transform us – will improve us – in the sense that we make improvements to our homes – or our neighbourhoods.

And it will train us in righteousness – that combination of goodness and justice – that behaviour that God longs to see in us and in all his children. The aim is not to squash us into an unnatural shape or to make us clones – but to help people who profess to belong to God to become complete, richly human beings – reflecting God’s image in all its technicolour variety and splendour.

As the apprentice, Timothy has the opportunity to watch Paul close up and to see what he’s gone through and how he’s carried on faithfully through it all. Life will never be easy for those who live and preach the gospel. But with scripture in their hearts and heads they will not only be able to hold onto the faith, but to grow and teach others. Timothy’s job is to keep going with the task of preaching faithfully from the scriptures whether the moment seems propitious – favourable – or not. Sometimes I look at our lectionary readings and think – oh no, not that one – because I’m challenged just the same – and I spend most of the week preparing and mulling this over before delivering it – twice on a Sunday.

Sometimes it’s difficult. You have to force the words out. At other times (thank the Lord) it’s different – the words flow easily and preparation isn’t a problem. There are many different reasons for this: political pressure from outside or inside the community, the right or wrong spiritual atmosphere (and the extent to which you guys pray for me as I prepare each week - and I need all the help I can get – honest). Maybe there’s unresolved conflict within the congregation – yep it happens. And how easy it is then for the preacher to back off; to hold off from leading the congregation into further truth and insight. You know what that’s sounds like – the homily I think you call it – where you get fobbed off with a few scattered, random reflections – with what Tom Wright calls “the shoulder-shrugging comment that nobody like to listen to sermons these days anyway, so it’s not really worth it.” (and yeah I know some of you think I go on a bit – but you should try the hour long sermon churches – hey count yourself lucky!)

Paul of course would have none of that with Timothy – “keep going” he says, “whether the time feels right or not” – and Timothy, who was young, and perhaps a little shy and anxious – just like me – okay maybe not. But whatever, he undoubtedly needed the advice. We probably all know people who inflict their own personality and opinions on everyone they meet, in a brash and bullying way. Some Christians, sadly, are very much like that – justifying their attitudes and behaviour by quoting texts like this.

This is how Bishop Tom Wright says it: “Perhaps the best rule of thumb is that, if you feel a pressure to tone down or trim down your message, you probably need Paul’s advice to Timothy, whereas if you find yourself eager to get out there and bash people over the head with the Bible, it may just be that you’re using your faith as an excuse to indulge your own aggression.

But the teacher or preacher’s task isn’t to lay down the law. He or she is to make things clear ‘with all patience and explanation” – and forgive me when I don’t do that sufficiently, I do know how important it is..

So did you catch the end of the reading? Paul gives Timothy a warning, which explains why he has to go on with his patient teaching. Quite soon, people within the Christian community won’t want the kind of teaching which will make and keep them healthy and strong. Like people being instructed by their doctors to follow a particular diet, they’ll discover that half of their favourite foods are not on it, and so will look for different doctors who will advise them to eat and drink what they like. “We’re all right as we are” they’ll say – “we don’t need to learn anything more – and we don’t need to change our behaviour or do different things – and we certainly don’t want to hear all that old stuff about Jesus in the gospels – because there are all sorts of different new angles and takes on spiritual things that make it a lot easier”.

“Timothy – don’t be surprised when you hear it – get on with it – it’s your calling - keep your balance – it may be painful at times, but you didn’t sign on for an easy life. Go on announcing Jesus as Lord and King – keep on bringing people to Christ. It isn’t about what the world would regard as success, but about loyalty and perseverance.” (As I said – right between the eyes!!)

In the scriptures lie the green pastures of the soul – but do we honestly spend enough time reading them ourselves? We fall in love with God as his Spirit uses these amazing promises and seals them in our hearts.  Amen