Brookfield Church of Christ
Sept 8, 2019 Sun am 2 Tim 2:14-15
Are We Looking for Automatic Obedience?

“Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me'” (Luke 9:23).


IN OUR EFFORT TO LIVE IN CONSISTENT OBEDIENCE TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, WE SOMETIMES TRY TO MAKE IT EASIER THAN IT CAN EVER BE IN THIS LIFE. We suppose there must exist some state of holiness where right conduct has become automatic. Yet no such state exists. As G. Campbell Morgan cleverly put it, “Holiness is not inability to sin, but ability not to sin.” Obedience is never anything less than a choice on our part, and we may as well face the fact that the choice will sometimes be very hard.

There are certainly means by which we can minimize the number of hard moments that come our way. It would be foolish not to do all we can to establish godly habits and patterns of obedience in our lives. When we do this, we gain the advantage of a momentum that is going in the right direction. But there will be a certain number of hard moments that still have to be faced, and it’s precisely in these moments that we find out how much commitment to God we really have. If we only obey when the momentum is favorable, what kind of commitment is that?

We shouldn’t be so foolish as to underestimate the devil’s diligence. If we ever did get to the point where we could turn back the common temptations with relative ease, our adversary would simply up the ante and hit us with harder choices. Until we’re on the other side and out of his reach, the Evil One is not going to give up on us. It’s naive to look for some stage up ahead where saying no to him will have become so easy as to be automatic.

Modern avionics are such that today’s aircraft will, for all practical purposes, fly themselves. In the spiritual realm, however, there is no such thing as an autopilot that will take the hard work out of decision-making. Obedience will always require moment-by-moment choices. Even those who live a long time and make much spiritual progress face this reality: there is never anything more than a decision standing between us and disobedience.

  • Gary Henry
Are You Approved?
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      • 2 Timothy 2.14-15NIV2011

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    2 Timothy 2:14–15 ESV
    14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
    Thesis:
    Those who are approved of God are willing to work; study and be set apart. Are You Approved?
    Introduction:
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    The Approved are Willing to Study/ Do Their Best

    2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
    15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
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    The sense of the worker here in the Greek is:
    The sense of the worker here in the Greek is:
    one who works at a specific occupation
    specifically for pay
    1 Timothy 4:12–16 ESV
    12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
    1 Tim 4:12-
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    The Approved are Willing to Study/ Do Their Best

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    The KJV translates “Study”, many other versions translate “Do Your Best” because the sense of the Greek word here is:
    is to be eager
    to have or show keen interest
    intense desire
    impatient expectancy
    2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
    15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
    2 Tim
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    2 Peter 1:10–11 ESV
    10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
    2 pet 1:10-11
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    The Approved are Willing to Work

    2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
    15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
    ​
    The sense of the worker here in the Greek is:
    one who works at a specific occupation
    specifically for pay
    1 Timothy 4:12–16 ESV
    12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
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    The Approved are Willing to Rightly Divide

    2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
    15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
    2 Timothy 2:5 ESV
    5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
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    2 tim 2
    The sense of the Greek to rightly handling”, is:
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    to analyze correctly
    to cut straight
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    2 Corinthians 4:1–6 ESV
    1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
    2 cor 4:1-
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    Conclusion:
    2 Corinthians 10:17–18 ESV
    17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
    2 cor
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    God’s Plan of Salvation

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    Romans 10:17 ESV
    17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
    lk
    Luke 16:29–31 ESV
    29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
    John 3:16 ESV
    16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
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    Acts 17:30 ESV
    30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
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    Romans 10:10 ESV
    10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
    Mark 16:15–16 ESV
    15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
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    Mark 16:15 ESV
    15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
    2 Timothy 4:6–8 ESV
    6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
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      • 2 Timothy 2:14–15NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 2:15NIV2011

      • 2 Peter 1:10–11NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 2:15NIV2011

      • 1 Timothy 4:12–16NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 2:15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:1–6NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 10:17–18NIV2011

      • Romans 10:17NIV2011

      • Luke 16:29–31NIV2011

      • John 3:16NIV2011

      • Acts 17:30NIV2011

      • Romans 10:10NIV2011

      • Mark 16:15–16NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 4:6–8NIV2011

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Brookfield Church of Christ
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