Ancient Beauty

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God.

Well, good morning everyone. It is good to be here with you all. Those of you who might not know me, my name is Jonathan, privilege of being one of the pastors here. This morning we are actually beginning a new sermon series. It'll take us through the summer months, and we're looking at a series called Ancient Beauty in a Modern World. The goal of our series — what we're gonna be looking at each week — is a different sort of question or topic in our world, and asking how does the Bible deal with this. What I want us to see all throughout is not only that the Bible does have answers to the complexities of our modern world, but actually the answers the Bible has are far more beautiful than anything else. In fact, the Bible's answers are wonderful and beautiful, captivating in our day.

If this is your first time in church — if this is your first time ever — you might be wondering about what we're doing. One of the things that we do every single week is that we actually take our Bible, open it up somewhere, read it, try and understand it, actually figure out what it's saying, and then apply it to ourselves. That's really the goal of what we are doing as we meet together. But it's a reasonable question to ask: why? Why do we do that? Why is that our practice?

Let's be honest, this is not exactly the newest book in the world. The newest part of our Bible is almost 2000 years old. This is something that seems by all rights to be well outdated. We live in a day and age where things move fast. You have a phone that's 3–5 years old and that thing is already outdated. Everything goes so quickly these days. I don't know how many of you have ever looked up the news from a month ago — no one, right? Why would you look up news from a month ago? We live moment by moment, second by second. If the news is already a few hours old, that's already outdated. Things are changing fast, and then we come to church and say, pick up your Bible, it's 2000 years old. That seems a little different, doesn't it? It's reasonable to ask the question, why are we looking at this book that is so incredibly old?

But I think what we find is that when we do so, we begin to realize something. Yeah, a lot does change in our world, and yet not as much as we think. In fact, Ecclesiastes chapter one says:

What has been is what will be. What has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which is said, see, this is new? It's already been in the ages before us.

In classic Ecclesiastes somewhat depressed style, there's nothing new under the sun. Everything's old, it's all happened before. And certainly we could say, well, there are some new things — we do have cell phones, the internet, and AI. Those are kind of new, aren't they? And yet what we find over and over again as we read our Bibles is that while our technology might be a little different, we ourselves don't change nearly so much. The goal of this series is to look at how the Bible talks about all of these different modern ideas and things that we deal with, and really the Bible has not only answers but beautiful ones at that.

Throughout this series we're gonna look at — next week — how did we even get this book? Where did it even come from? It is old, so how did we get it? Can we even trust anything that's written in it? We're gonna look at what do we do with AI — does that change how we think about ourselves as human beings? I want to look at how do you actually go to work, 9 to 5, spending most of our days working thousands and thousands of hours throughout our lives — what do we do with that time? We're gonna look at how the Bible addresses things like mental health. How do we deal with anxiety or depression? Is there any hope for those things? We're gonna deal with how the Bible goes through the nuance of gender or even marriage relationships, navigating the political landscape of our world — how do we do those things as believers? Is there any hope? Does the Bible have wisdom for our day? And again and again we are going to see — actually yes, and so much hope for our world.

My goal is that we would spend this summer not only reminding ourselves of the truth of the Bible, but reminding ourselves of its goodness, of how God has called us to Himself and the grace that he has for today's world. It is a joy to be able to walk through the beauty of God's word.

This morning we're gonna start by asking the question, how does the Bible actually speak to us today? If you've been in church for a while, your answer might be, well of course it does. But again, this is a very old book. How do we actually apply this ancient book into our day? So if you have a Bible with you, I'll invite you to open to the book of 2 Timothy. We're gonna look at 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 this morning — just two short verses that really give us a foundation for how we understand what the Bible is. Our tradition is to stand as we read God's word. If you're able to, would you stand with me?

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. — 2 Timothy 3:16–17

You may be seated. Short and sweet. Now, for some of you, this is actually a bit of a well-known passage. It's become somewhat famous in our Bibles to help give us a foundation for how do we think about the Bible, how do we think about scripture — and for good reason. But so often when it comes to more famous or well-known scripture passages, that familiarity comes at the expense of understanding why it's even there.

This is a letter that was written by the apostle Paul. Paul is writing a letter to his student Timothy — in fact, it's the second letter he writes to Timothy that we have in our Bibles. In it Paul is telling Timothy to keep on going. Paul and Timothy had spent a lot of time together at this point in their lives. They traveled together, they were missionaries together. Paul had been training up and teaching Timothy, and then finally he had actually sent Timothy off: "Timothy, you're gonna go off on your own now. You're gonna be a pastor over in the city called Ephesus." Paul essentially leaves him there and says, keep going. Paul continues to travel, and by this time he's been arrested. He's been arrested a lot of times if you read the book of Acts, but this is the last time. Paul recognizes he is going to die — he doesn't get out of this one. In fact, he's going to be executed for preaching the gospel.

So Paul is now writing to Timothy and saying, here are really my final instructions for you. Continue on in the faith, continue on in the ministry. And how is Timothy to do that? He says, go back to the scriptures. He's going to remind him: this is what you have been taught since you were a young child — remind yourself of them. In fact, after this passage he'll tell him to keep preaching it, to put it before the church over and over again. But right in the middle, he gives us the reason why. Why is it so important for Timothy to hold on to the scriptures? Paul says it's because these scriptures are from God Himself, they are useful and profitable for his life, that he would be complete and lacking in nothing. That's what I want us to see. Can this ancient book actually make a difference in our lives? As we come to realize this is God's eternal word, profitable for us and beautiful to us — let's look at that.

Let's start here at the beginning with God's eternal word. Look back at verse 16 with me. He says, "All scripture is breathed out by God." Here is our rock-bottom foundation for what we understand the Bible to be — the Bible is God's word. In fact, some of you might know that Paul here actually makes up a word. He takes two Greek words and just smashes them together: God-breathed. He just puts them together and says that's what scripture is. It's God-breathed — Him exhaling, the same way that he breathed life into Adam and Eve. So He breathes out scripture, inspired by God. Really what he's telling Timothy is: when you pick up the scriptures, what you're reading is really God's words. The source — where do these words actually come from? They come from God Himself.

In fact, Paul says it's all scripture, all of it. Now some of you might look at that and go, wait a minute, he's still writing the Bible. Very clearly here he has in mind the Old Testament primarily for Timothy, but I'm gonna argue it applies to the New Testament as well — come back next week, that's what we'll talk about. But for right now, the Bible is from God, at least that's what it's claiming to be. And you might say, well, every religion claims that their holy book is from God, and that's true to some degree. But we also need to recognize how very unique the Bible is even amongst the religious texts of the world.

Every other religious book has really been written down by just one person — one person who claims to have heard something from God or an angel and then wrote it down. The Bible, however, is different. There are about 40 different authors written over about 1500 years — people of different social and economic classes, under different empires, speaking different languages, and yet all of them agreeing. I don't think I could get 40 people in Chilliwack today to agree on something, let alone from across the pages of history. And yet that is exactly what we find in our Bibles. There is a consistency — why? Because ultimately God Himself is the author. There is one author, God, who speaks in these pages.

Why does that matter for us? Why does it matter that God spoke this? Well, certainly if God spoke we should care about it. But it also means that the eternal God is the one who wrote it. God, who already knew the future when he spoke 2000 years ago, knew what today would be like. He knew each and every one of us. He knew what our lives would look like. And so when God spoke, he did so in such a way that actually it matters for our life today.

I don't know how many of you, maybe during school, have ever written a letter to your future self. I remember when I was in middle school our teacher made us write a letter to our future self, and she actually kept our letters all the way until we graduated and gave them to us in grade 12. It was very fascinating to look back — here's a letter I wrote as a grade 7 or 8 kid. It was almost like a letter from a stranger. I recognize some of it, but I was a different person in grade 12 than I was in grade 7. We change all the time. Sometimes we almost expect when we come to the Bible that it's like a letter to yourself — sure God wrote it 2000 years ago, but God certainly isn't the same now as he was then. And yet actually that's exactly what God is like. Numbers chapter 23 says:

God is not a man that he should lie or the son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?

Actually, the whole point is God is not like us, changing all the time. He doesn't lie. He doesn't change. God is eternally perfect from beginning to end. And so if these words are God's, that means he has not changed his mind. Things haven't developed in a way that he didn't foresee. God Himself spoke — that means these are not outdated. These are timeless words for us today. In fact, listen to the way James puts it:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. — James 1

James says not only does God not change — he uses the image of a candle flickering and shadows dancing on the wall and says, well, that's not what God is like. He does not change. We are the ones who change. When we read God's word, it's not God changing — it's us. We are transformed into a new creation through what God is doing in his word. God does not change. He is not fickle. When we encounter it, it is we who are left changed. So why read an ancient book? Because God is the one who spoke. He has not changed his mind. Rather, it changes us. In fact, Hebrews 4 says:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God's word actually does cut to the heart, doesn't it? Modern life certainly does look very different than the first century, but we as people haven't changed. God's word still pierces straight to our heart, cuts to us, transforms who we are, because in the Bible, as we read his word, we actually encounter the words of an eternal God. Why read it 2000 years later? Because God's word is still good.

In fact, look back now at verse 16 in our passage. It says, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." The Bible is not simply just God's word — that would be reason enough — but in fact it is profitable for us, that is, useful and beneficial. God's word is true, useful, and beneficial for all people for all time. Consider just how incredible a statement like that truly is.

I can say something that is true for all time — "the sky is big." That is true no matter what, that will always be true. But is it useful? No. I could say something useful to you — "Thursday is garbage day" — that's useful for some of you. That is true and useful, but not for everyone, not for all time. But God's word is not only true and useful, but a blessing to all people for all time. Paul says it is profitable. Now we should ask, profitable for what? We're not talking about business here, we're not talking about money. This is a spiritual benefit that he has in mind. Paul tells us four things the Bible is profitable for: teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness.

The Bible does teach us things, and reproof — that is correcting our misunderstandings. These first two really have to do with the more mental side of things: our misunderstanding of who God is, maybe our sinful patterns of thinking. The second two — correction and training in righteousness — have much more to do with how we actually act, how we put into practice what we have been taught. Two positive, two negative. The Bible both shows us what God is like and corrects our misunderstandings. The Bible corrects our sinful actions and shows us how to live righteously.

But here is often where it gets tricky. We're fine to say the Bible tells us some things about God, but as soon as the Bible is now going to tell us how we are supposed to live — well, now it gets more difficult. Really? Is the Bible gonna teach me how to live today? And yet this is what the Bible tells us. Paul writes in Philippians 4:

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the peace of God will be with you.

The Bible is not just a book of theoretical ideas or religious thoughts. It is very much meant to be put into practice in our lives. But how do we do that? Let's take a very simple example. 2 Corinthians chapter 13 says:

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Now I've been in church today and no one has greeted me with a holy kiss. What's going on? I thought we were gonna follow it. OK, please don't — just to be clear. But why not? Is it just that that's kind of weird and we're like, we're not gonna do the weird stuff in the Bible? Actually, if that's our standard, we'll find ourselves getting caught quite a lot. Let's be honest, there are plenty of cultures even today around the world where greeting someone with a kiss on the cheek is totally normal. So what's going on? Are we supposed to? How do we decide — well, this we follow and this we don't? Is it just a coin toss?

Well, again, remember — these are God's words. God actually wrote this to us knowing we would be here in North America 2000 years later and actually has something for us to understand. So don't just write it off and say, "I don't know, that's old, that's weird, ignore that." No — actually understand what is God trying to communicate to us. What is God teaching us? Look at the context. Just back up two more verses. Paul writes:

Finally, brothers, rejoice, aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

What is this actually about? This isn't a text on the importance of kissing in church — praise God. It's about the importance of what it looks like to live in peace with one another. It's about the importance of restoring broken relationships, comforting and caring for one another so that we can welcome one another warmly into the family of God. You read the rest of the book and you're gonna see that is Paul's point all throughout the entire book. There were problems in this church and he's calling them to reconcile.

So how do we apply that into our lives? It means that when you come to church, if there is someone that you have some kind of disagreement with, you need to go and work it out. Restore that relationship, because we actually value unity and peace in the body of Christ — those are values we care about — so that we can welcome one another genuinely and warmly. Absolutely we need to apply this into our lives. You see, under that very thin veneer of the cultural expression is that eternal principle God has for us. And if you're ever reading your Bible and you're confused, thinking, "I don't know how do I know I came to the right conclusion?" — start reading other places. Nowhere in the Bible is any one major doctrine only talked about once. Look and see — does the Bible repeat itself? It does, over and over again. The Bible is trying to make these things clear for us. That's why when we're preaching there are texts up behind me — I'm trying to tie it together so that we can live it out.

Now, there's so much more to talk about in terms of applying God's word — that was scratching part of the surface. But we need to recognize this is God's word, it does apply to our lives today. Why would we read the Bible? Because it matters for us, it shows us how to live, and in it we will find a greater gain than anything else in the entire world. Paul says it is profitable, beneficial to us. What is that benefit? Philippians chapter 3, Paul writes:

Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

The greatest gain, the greatest profitability that we will find when it comes to the word of God is that we shall come to know and love and trust Jesus Christ. This is the greatest gain that anyone shall have in their entire life, and it is found in the pages of the word of God, given for us so that we would know Him, that we would love him and trust him with all that we have. Paul says it is worth giving up everything in your life simply to know Christ.

This is our ultimate goal. It's why we open our Bibles every Sunday. It's why every sermon is pointing us to see Jesus. It's why I want you to open your Bibles every day — get your Bible open so that you can see and delight more in Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters as much as this one thing. You can be the most successful businessman on the planet and yet still lose your soul. You can be the most famous person on Earth, millions of followers, have your name etched into the landscape of the culture, and it means nothing when you stand before God. But God wrote this book so that we would come to know what Jesus has done for us — that we would not only see the great problem of our life, that is our sin before a holy and perfect God, but we would see the beautiful solution that is given to us in Jesus.

Jesus came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross to pay for our sins, and rose again three days later so anyone who would believe in him would have eternal life. God wrote an entire book just to explain that one thing to us over and over. You can summarize the entire Bible in a sentence and yet spend your entire life diving deeper and deeper into what God has for us. God wrote this book to show us the beauty of who he is, of the deep and serious problem of our sin, and the wonderful solution that is found in Jesus Christ. At the cross we see God's love and justice, mercy and grace perfectly displayed for all who would believe. We have a hope for the future because of Jesus, because we know him. There is no greater gain in all of the world than to know Jesus Christ as our savior. No matter where you go, God has something for us and it is good. In fact, Deuteronomy reminds us:

Keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord which I am commanding you today for your good.

Ultimately God has given us his word not so that we would follow some weird archaic law, but that we would actually know God and that would be the greatest benefit for us. To know Jesus and place our trust in him is the greatest thing that we shall do, the greatest blessing we shall ever receive. The greatest joy of our lives is to know and follow him. God gave us his word that we might have the joy of knowing Jesus as our savior. God's word is eternal, it is profitable, and it is beautiful.

In one sense I think we've seen that over and over again, but look back just one last time at our passage, verse 17. God has given us his word that "the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." The promise of the word of God is that when you have been taught, reproved, corrected, and trained by it, we would actually be complete, whole, not lacking anything. In fact, some of your translations might even say "perfect" — not that we will be perfect on this side of heaven, but rather what it means is that the Bible, the word of God, actually has everything that we shall need for this life. It is sufficient for all that God has called us to do. All the good works that he has prepared for us, the Bible equips us with all that we need. For all the trials of life we will find he is faithful to give us all that we might need. So this is what I mean when I say it is beautiful — the Bible contains the most captivating and desirable promises for our lives.

I think sometimes, especially for us who've grown up in church reading the Bible, we almost become numb to how amazing the promises of God truly are. Listen to Jesus speaking to his disciples:

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.

Jesus is promising that for all who trust in him and follow after him, there is unending love and joy for our life that is being poured out. In fact, it's such an incredible promise that even as Christians we struggle to comprehend what it would actually look like to experience the fullness of the joy and love of God Himself. How much would that transform our lives as we fill ourselves with his promises. In contrast, the bleak outlook of this world, the depressing news, and even just the mindless distractions are so paltry next to the promise of genuine, real joy.

God has promised for all who follow after him — or listen to Isaiah:

Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

How different would our life be if we remembered every single day that actually God is with us. How unafraid would we feel knowing that our Heavenly Father watches over us, that he gives us strength each and every moment to follow after his commands. How different would our life be? Or again, listen to Philippians:

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God promises for those who place their faith in Jesus that he himself will guard us with peace. In a world of anxiety and fear we can rest in God's promises. And hear me — that's just a handful of the ocean that God has in his word of promises for those who follow after him. Please understand that the beauty of what God has revealed is the beauty of knowing God and being with him. God is able to help us live in such a way that reflects his character and his goodness — that's what he's equipped us to do. Again, this is not to earn God's grace but to rest in the grace that God has given to us in Jesus. 2 Corinthians says:

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

God has promised so much that the grace will abound in our lives. The beauty of the word of God is that it shows us the beauty of our God that we can show to others. So why should we care about this ancient book? It's because God wrote it knowing we would be here today. He wrote it so that we might know and experience salvation in Jesus Christ, so that we can actually follow him, so that we can rest in his promises for our lives, that we can experience the beauty of knowing him — his joy, his peace, his love, his strength in our lives. The truth of God's ancient word is incomparably beautiful in the modern world. So let us with joy dive into the beauty of God's word today.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you that you have not left us on our own, but that you have spoken into our world that we would know you more, that we would see and behold all that Jesus has done, that we would delight in your beauty. Father, I pray — would you be transforming our hearts that we would learn to love you more as we see you in your word, as we come to understand more of what you have done. Lord, I pray, transform our lives. May we be different people having read and studied your word, that we would reflect your goodness. Father, I pray, do this work in our hearts for your glory. We ask all this in your name. Amen.