Alva Review-Courier -

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 …. I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4:1b-2 [NIV]).

As Paul sees the end of his life and ministry approaching, he charges his young protégé, Timothy, with continuing the important work to which he’s been called, using this famous statement on the nature of Scripture. I’ve usually taken this as a call for Timothy to lean heavily on the Bible for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in his ministry. The Bible is the source for eternal truth and should absolutely be the basis of any and all Christian ministry. However, I don’t think this is Paul’s primary point here.

To get at Paul’s intentions, let’s back up and read the two previous verses:

“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” (2 Timothy 3:14-15 [NIV]).

Heading into verse 16, Paul reminds Timothy of the role Scripture has played in his life, making Timothy wise for salvation. You see, Paul isn’t just instructing Timothy in how Scripture is useful in dealing with others but reminding Timothy of the usefulness of Scripture in Timothy’s own life. Paul goes on to charge Timothy with preaching the word, but this is only after he reminds Timothy to let the Holy Scriptures do their continuing work in his own life.

So, what am I getting at for the majority of you who are not pastors and who feel no calling to preach the word? I have two major takeaways. First, allow the Scriptures to do their work on you before attempting to use them to speak into the lives of others. Second, if the Scriptures aren’t convicting you, you probably need to reconsider your expectations.

A trap I find myself falling into when encountering the Bible is always wanting to immediately apply the lessons of Scripture to other people. In my years as a children’s pastor, I established a rule that we talk about ourselves in discussion time and not about kids at school. It was stunning how many kids at school struggled with honesty compared to the kids in my children’s church who were universally never even tempted to lie.

In ministry to adults, I’ve found the same tendency to hold true. We’re often very quick to recognize how others could benefit from the rebukes and corrections of Scripture but are completely oblivious to – or are experts at dismissing – how they intersect with our own lives. I think this is especially evident in our knee-jerk response of holding unbelievers accountable for keeping the Scriptures.

I don’t have space to develop this point as fully as I’d like, but the books of the Bible (especially the ones with the most corrections and rebukes) were profoundly written to be read, heard, and applied by God’s people. The Torah was Israel’s lawbook, the prophets prophesied to the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the Gospels were written for use in the churches, and the Epistles were mostly written to specific congregations. If the point was to correct and rebuke the outside world, God sure picked a funny way to do it.

This leads into my second point. Teaching, rebuking, correcting and training are all words that involve change. Yes, at the moment of salvation, God does a miraculous transforming work in our lives and frees us from our bondage to sin. Even with this initial transformation, though, it is essential that we approach the word of God with the utmost humility, expecting the Spirit of God to change us through our encounter. In my denomination, we put special emphasis on all transformation and growth being the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, accomplished exclusively by the Spirit’s power and our acceptance.

Encouragement is important, and Paul includes it as the final point in his charge for Timothy’s ministry. But if we’re only reading the Bible to be encouraged in our present understandings and behaviors, if we don’t allow ourselves to be rebuked, if we immediately deflect to others, we’re cutting ourselves off from being thoroughly equipped for every good work.