Articles
Live Your Sermon
The Apostle Paul was a very educated man. He was a very highly respected Roman citizen who spoke several languages. He was a Pharisee, and his studies were under the Jewish chief Gamaliel (one of the best). He is considered the 'Father of the Gentiles'. If you needed somebody with the "qualifications of the day" back in his day, he was it (Acts 22:3, Phil 3:4-6).
So if he were alive today, as far as education and knowledge and prestige, he would be way up on the list. But this Apostle of Christ wrote to a young preacher Timothy, (1 Tim 6:20) with these words, “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,”
Brothers and sisters, what are we listening to today? Is it that stream of "godless chatter and opposing ideas" that is flowing from our so called institutions of higher education. To our elite this is knowledge, by which they direct their lives and affairs. The difference in Paul and those who are revered today for their knowledge and education is that Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to write those words to Timothy, and today's "smart" people are only inspired by man.
If Paul were to write us a letter today, send a text, e-mail us or call us on that thing we carry everywhere, he might say, "guard what has been entrusted to your care Christian, the very words and message of Christ. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge." Same thing he told Timothy.
So what might be involved in us guarding what has been entrusted to our care? In a nutshell,
1) Teaching others the truths of The Gospel
2) Defend it against the non-truths that stand opposed to it
3) Put it into practice
The old saying "I'd rather see a sermon any day than hear one" reminds us people are watching. They have no choice but to compare what they see in us with what the world is falsely telling them, and in order for Christ to win that battle, they need to see that sermon preached in how we live, what we say and what we claim to believe. If we are not defending the words of scripture, nor living them, nobody will be interested in learning, and why would they? If our so-called "christianity" looks no different than the lives of those who reject it, what benefit do they see in claiming it?
