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Rally Day! Why? 18th Sunday after Pentecost, September 14, 2008
Today is Rally Day! It’s a day when we as a church come together and start off the new Sunday School and Adult Discussion year. It’s a time when we gather into God’s house just like we have done all throughout the Summer and submit ourselves to Him and His Law and Mercy. We’ve installed officers, Sunday School teachers, and even handed out Bibles to our fourth graders. Our Confirmation students are all sitting in the pews this morning with their new forms to fill out as part of their Confirmation requirements… how’s that for a subtle reminder? But the questions I have to ask you this morning are, “Why are we doing this?” Why are we even here today? Why do we even exist as a church? For the answers, we’re going to 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16-17. I invite you to take out your Bibles, and you fourth graders who just got your Bibles – there’s no time like the present to open ‘em up and start to read them. 2 Timothy is the 16th book in the New Testament, so the order goes: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – the Gospels that tell us about the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus; Acts – the book that shows the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the new church; then come what are called the Epistles, literally, “letters” that outline for us how we are now to live in light of the Gospel message and the Holy Spirit in our lives. The order of the Epistles are Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, then 1st and 2nd Timothy. Timothy was a young Pastor of a new-found church in Ephesus. He was charged with bringing a group of people who knew somethings about this “Jesus guy” into a deeper understanding and relationship with their Savior. Again, we are going to 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16-17. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. All Scripture is God-breathed. God-breathed. Do you know where the Bible talks the first time about the breath of God? It’s in Genesis. You can write in the margins of your Bible the scripture reference Genesis 2:7 The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The same breath that gave life to Adam, creating human souls, is the same breath that breathed out the scriptures, the very book that some of you are holding in your hands this morning. Why are we here? We are here because we have the breath of God in our hands. We are here because we have the thoughts, the emotions, the instructions for living, and the path to our salvation laid out in simple form right in front of us. Why are we here? Because we are a church that is Biblically based, and “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” If we lose this, if we become a church that picks and chooses what we want to hear from God’s Word, ignoring what we don’t like but latching on to the things we do, then we are no different from the rest of the world. We are no different than any other social organization, and we might as well close our doors and all go home. Let’s take a closer look at these verses from Timothy. You can make a note of these in the margins of your Bibles. Teaching: What we need to know, not just for this life but for the life to come. The old bumper sticker from the 80’s used to say, “Eternity: smoking or non-smoking?” Rebuking: This means convicting someone. God’s Word declares what is right and wrong, and that is where we go to find these things out. It is not up to you or me to decide what is right and wrong based on what we think or what we feel. God has made it clear; the question is whether or not we’ll listen to Him. Correction: This means restoring someone to an upright state with God. How do we know what an upright state is with God, what it means to be in an upright state with Him? It’s in the Scripture, the life-breathed words of God. Training in Righteousness: This means chastisement, discipline, admonition to the end that we are in that upright, righteous state with God. But, if the chastisement, discipline, admonition is not rooted in the Word of God, it’s just one person’s opinion against another and has no basis. Now, why do we want all of this? So that we may be thoroughly equipped to do the work God has already planned for us to do. Know what God’s Word tells us that work is? If you have room left in your margins you can write these references: Matthew 28:19-20, Evangelism: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 1 Peter 3:15, Witnessing: … in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have… Deuteronomy 6:1-3 & 6-9, Passing the teaching to the next generation: These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. … These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Today is Rally Day. It’s a day to formally return to our God and His Word, His house, His ways, His thoughts, His actions as spelled out in His very own God-breathed scriptures. Let’s do that today. Let’s recommit ourselves to our Triune God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God who led Moses and the Israelites through the wilderness; the God who conquered pagan kingdoms and peoples for His own children; the God who came to us in Jesus and gave His own life to take the punishment we deserve; the God who spells out His will for our lives in His Word; and the God who will return to take those repentant sinners who have turned their lives over to Jesus back to Heaven with Him. Let’s return to His Word so we can be taught, rebuked, corrected and trained, so we can go out into the world we are in, to do the work He has given us to do. And let’s start right here, right now – in this place with His Word, and after this time in Sunday School and the Adult Discussion time. Learning, growing, changing. Becoming more and more like the people He wants us to be, to do what He wants us to do. Amen. |
