Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. - Pastor

The eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost - October 7, 2001

Lessons: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; 2 Tim. 1:1-14; Luke 17: 5-10

"A Pattern of Sound Teaching"

Introduction:

Good nutrition is a good idea: You are what you eat-

I) Paul's Fatherly Advice

Paul's Second Letter to Timothy- his seminary training- older Paul, getting close to his execution time.

Begins by claiming his authority; the by celebrating and reviewing Timothy's heritage and pedigree.

Makes a pun on Timothy's name- 'God Fearer' [7] For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

He encourages Timothy to be a strong witness, even as Paul himself faces death. Then comes the passage we're highlighting today:

2 Tim. 1:13-14 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. [14] Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

II) Good Advice in a day of 'Itching Ears'

At the end of this letter, Paul will tell Timothy: (2 Tim. 4:3-4) For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. [4] They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

These words are so very true today, more than perhaps at any time in the history of the Christian church! Groups take the Word of God and twist it, trim it, de-mythologize it and warp its message today as never before! From the 'Jesus Seminar' voting on what he said, to the radical feminist theologians, to the liberation theologians, to the various cults- all of these destroy the truth of God's Word by walking away from central truths.

Almost as dangerous are the many groups of Christians, who out of ignorance teach doctrine which is neither biblical nor healthy for human beings. We are surrounded by biblical illiteracy, and any length of time spent listening to some of the TV and radio evangelists will yield some very strange non-biblical teachings. I'm not up here to attack other Christians, but when the preachers show not even the most basic knowledge of Scripture, based on knowing the original languages and wrestling with the texts, the church and its members end up sick

The danger here is the 'Mr. Potatohead god' syndrome we've talked about a couple times- build an imaginary god, based on a couple verses here, a couple there- then you don't have to deal with the real God. You can 'tame' him, remake him after your own image- a god who is nice; a god who is all love, and anything goes; a god who doesn't draw us into a loving, life-changing relationship, but instead one who fits our imagination, our needs, our politics, our morals and demands nothing from us. We pick and choose what kind of god we want- sort of a Mr. Potatohead god.

The way we learn Biblical teaching; the way we wrestle with Scripture, and learn good biblical teaching makes a difference in what we believe and how we live. If we live with an imaginary, Mr. Potatohead god, we end up far away from the loving freedom of the Gospel.

When the German church in the late 1800's became convinced that the Bible had no authority, they developed a Mr. Potatohead version of Christianity. They took the Word and removed everything supernatural, looked only at its human side, and dismissed anything that didn't fit with the philosophical wisdom of the day. They made it into a nice book about being loving and doing good. Jesus became a nice religious leader, if he existed at all!

How easily the Church was then co-opted by a man named Adolph Hitler. If the Church could pick and choose what parts of Scripture were to be listened to, then the Church could be useful to the state. Pretty soon the Bible had been re-written and Hitler proposed 'German Christianity'-- which supported his war, his hate and killing the Jews. The Mr. Potatohead god grew a funny little mustache!

III) A Pattern of Balance

A few months ago, I gave a sermon on the balance of the Gospel. To illustrate that I nailed a bunch of 2x4's up here. They illustrated balance between several opposites. Sound teaching always hits a point of balance. It balances both head and heart. It effects both my love of God and my love of neighbor. It calls the church to proclamation and works of mercy. It creates faith and works. Sound teaching balances world missions and home outreach. It nurtures the individual and builds up the body. It doesn't go off the deep end anywhere; it boldly goes to strong and balanced ministry.

That balance is one of the foremost goals of St. Paul's ministry. This past week I received a phone call from someone thanking me for the solid, balanced Bible teaching their family received here at St. Paul's. As my Scandinavian bone took over, I turned the compliment away. But it really meant something to me. I could have died right then a happy man. I strive week by week to give you a balanced, thoughtful, well-reasoned, orthodox interpretation of where I think the center of these text lies. I try to find the center of the text for us here, right now, and faithfully interpret it in our context. Maybe it's not flashy; maybe you don't get hot-and-cold-running-shivers; but I do hope it takes that little piece of Scripture and stands it up before you in such a way that you have to deal with it. I hope it looks you in the eye; more than that, I hope it squares itself up in front of you, grabs you and makes you wrestle with it. (That's what God did to Jacob in Gen. 32- that's a text coming up- couple weeks.) When we encounter God's Word, we come away changed.

For our text today, the payoff is this: if we imagine we can stay balanced as Christians, without being charged and challenged by the Word, we're like a child's top. It stands up fine as long as it has outside energy. When it runs down, it falls. That's why we need to be renewed by God's Word, by sound Bible teaching. That's what Adult Sunday School is for, like the book study today. That's what the Women's Wednesday meetings are about. That's what the Men's Bible Study is for. That's one part of WELCA meetings; that's what our kids' Sunday School is for; and our Young Adults House Church; that's what Confirmation class is for; that's what our Wednesday night and Thursday night Youth Groups are for. That's what the Bible study Agnes Anderson and Troy are doing at 2700 Park is about. That's what Troy's class, the excellent, in-depth Bible doctrine class is about. All of this is here to energize you. You are what you eat! Conversely, if you don't eat, you die!

If you think you can get by on feeling, or old experiences or the fact of what you were, or your family name- none of that is worth anything. Christians are people who wrestle with God's Word. We are people of head and heart. There is a truth content in our faith, without which we have little else. Christianity is not a religious system, nor is it a moral system- it's a living relationship with Jesus Christ; and the main way in which he communicates with us is through his Word.

Hear Paul's challenge again: What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. [14] Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

I challenge you to be renewed by becoming active in one of these feeding, nurturing times. You need it. God will meet you there. Amen.

October 7, 2001-Pentecost 18

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. How long, O LORD, must I call for help,

but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright--but the righteous will live by his faith--

2 Tim. 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Luke 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "