“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” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Now that we have been looking at this verse for several days, you should have these verses memorized by now! Actually, this really would be another very good verse to memorize.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching and rebuking.

Ok. What did you think when you saw rebuking?

Under most circumstances this would be a really bad word. No one likes being rebuked.

“I REBUKE YOU!!!”

Just looking at that sentence makes me cringe.

But there are times when a rebuke is absolutely necessary. There are times when a rebuke is a tremendous gift and an act of grace.

• Don’t go down that path. That pathway leads to death.
• Get your head out of the clouds. It doesn’t matter how he makes you feel. You are married and you are a mother. Act like it. This will ruin you and your family if you keep messing around!

When our selfish actions will result in devastating consequences, a good rebuke is a gift and an act of grace. If you are lucky enough to have someone who loves you enough to take the risk to rebuke you in such circumstances count yourself blessed!

Here’s the thing. Because we are sinners, and repeat sinners at that, when we open ourselves to the truth and the teaching of God’s word, it will rebuke us. We are sinners, after all.

But this rebuke is a gift and an act of grace. The rebuke of God saves us and those we love from heartache.

Open yourself to the truth revealed in scripture. Let God’s word tell you what you need to work on and what you need to change. You and all those around you will be better for it.

“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” (2 Timothy 3:16).

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching…

There are four things that God’s word is useful for. The first of which is teaching.

God’s word teaches us the truth. God’s word teaches us the truth about why we exist, who we are, who’s we are, our ultimate purpose.

You see, truth matters. Knowing the truth matters.

One of the greatest fallacies of the post-modern world is that all opinions matter.

I have heart disease. Thus far in my life, I have had a quadruple bypass surgery, have had over a dozen angioplasty and angiogram procedures, and currently sixteen stents in my heart.

When it comes to advice regarding the treatment of my heart disease, do I give same weight to the advice of some guy I come across the internet or YouTube as to the heart surgeon who has studied all his/her adult life about heart disease? It would be ludicrous to give the same weight for the opinion of some random guy or even a doctor who hasn’t specialized in heart disease as I do with the heart surgeon.

Some opinions matter absolutely more than others. Not all opinions are of the same value.

When it comes to looking at the world around us, who we are, why we are here, and what we were created for, the ultimate and the only truth for the disciple is the God-breathed scriptures. God’s word is the standard and the ruler by which we measure all things else. When we give other things the same weight as God’s word, you will be forever confused about reality and truth.

All Scripture is God-breathed and the first thing it is useful for is right teaching.

God’s word is indispensable for the follower of Christ.

“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” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

These two verses contain great truths about God’s word. We will be spending several days unpacking this verse together to learn together to glean truths about the relationship between God’s word and the follower of Christ.

As we have been talking about the last several days, God’s word is indispensable to the Christian. It is impossible to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus, without knowing what God’s word says. How will you know who or how to follow if you don’t know who Jesus or God is? God’s word is indispensable to the Christian.

The first thing we are told about God’s word is that it is God-breathed.

What does that mean?

The Greek word is a compound word of God and breath. This was a way of saying that these words are inspired by God.

Check this out. When the Bible speaks, it’s God speaking. That’s what it means to be God-breathed.

The breath of God has theological significance: Go back to Genesis and the creation of Adam and Eve. God formed and shaped the man out of the ground, but the man did not come alive until…until what? Until God breathed on the man.

God’s breath is God’s Spirit. God’s breath is the Spirit of life. Nothing has life – a life that never dies, a life that never decays, a life that is abundant – without God’s Spirit.

“All Scripture is God-breathed…”

• When the Bible speaks, God speaks
• The word of God is the Spirit of God that gives life

God’s word is indispensable to the disciple of Christ.