The Wonderful Word| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on  February 21st, 2016. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

How many of us would like to bring glory to God? As followers of Christ, we want to please him- not for approval. He accepts us and our sins are nailed to the cross. We are not trying to improve our standing in any way. The objective is in Matthew 5:16- “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”. 

We have been uniquely selected to glorify God. It is a great privilege. In the catwalks of the world, there are all these models who model different creations. If they display the outfits of a famous house, they call them supermodels. Out there, there are a lot of women who want to be super models. God has chosen you to be a super model for him.

Ephesians 3:10 “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”

Q. How can we produce these good deeds?

2 Timothy 3: 10- 17 “ You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,  persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 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. 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.” 

From whom did Timothy learn the word of God? His Mother and grandmother! Acts 16:1 says that Timothy’s mother was a believer and his dad was Greek, unbeliever. 2 Tim 1:5- “I am 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.”

Families pass on a lot of things to children, hair, nose, etc. But one thing parents must be careful to pass on to our children is the life-giving gospel. Timothy from an early age had access to the scriptures.

We are very careful not to accept or eat any food from strangers. But what about spiritual food? We take it gladly from different sources. One test is- you know those from whom you’ve learnt it. When you receive something from someone, ask what is this person like, what is their life?

The next thing is, a lot of religions saying their book is God’s word. But only the Bible is the infallible, inerrant word of God. Apart from the word, we will not be saved.

1.     God is glorified in our salvation. We were saved because we heard the word of God and changed our hatred of God into love of God. Salvation can only come through the word of God. If a person who did not know Christ came to you and asked you, how can I be saved, would you be able to explain it to them? We have the gospel! We must be able to explain it to them and lead them to Jesus. It’s like a doctor who developed a cure for cancer. But if he can’t administer it, it is useless. We’ve got the cure for eternal damnation.

2.     The words in the Bible are the very words of God. They are inspired by God. It has life-transforming power. Use the word when you speak to people and pray for people. If it is written in the Bible, it is true. Our understanding might be faulty, but the Bible is true.

3.     We want to produce good deeds for glorifying God. From 2 Tim 3:16 we see that we need to engage in God’s word, with the spirit of God, which teaches, rebukes and trains us and thoroughly prepares us for every good work.

a.     Teaching and rebuking relate to our conduct. Teaching is the whole content of the word of God. Paul publicly reached and went from house to house teaching the word of God. The Bible is so simple that a child in Sunday school can understand it, but it is so deep that the great theologians can’t figure it out.

b.     Rebuking- shows us where we are wrong. As we read the word, the Holy Spirit will convict us of things that are wrong. Col 3: 5 “ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander,and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Paul is writing to believers. The Holy spirit will convict us of these things. Hebrews- the word can go so deep within us that it judges not only our actions, but our thoughts, even our attitudes.

c.     Corrects- the word straightens us out, puts us together.

d.     Training- as we look to the word, God shows us the right way to live. This is the word to teach a child. We don’t get it right at first. The most common sin in India is coming late- IST. It takes years to change it. That’s the training. The end result is that we will be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Are you willing to put on those good deeds in order to glorify him?

Engage with God’s word regularly. Here is 5 ways to do it:

1.     Hear the word. Today we can hear the word on the internet at any place

2.     Read the word. Have a Bible reading plan. It is God breathed.

3.     Studying the word. What does it mean?

4.     Memorising the word. Can you recite anything other than John 3:16? We need to store the word within us.

5.     Meditating on the word. Thinking about it. How does it apply to me?

As we do these things, God will transform us and equip us for every good deed.  

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.