Whose Knowledge is it and What is the Power For?

​What has dominated your thoughts today?
Remnants of yesterday’s Facebook news feed?
Worries about tomorrows forecasts?
Take care which source you go to, to feed your mind.

Your heart uses what you take in to motivate your actions for the day or the next week or longer.

Read to learn. Read to enlighten. Read to inform. Read to entertain.
Read to inspire. Read to transform. Read to grow.

In a perfect world we would have no problem finding resources for all these idealistic reading goals. But we are not living in a perfect world.

What we do find in this sin-stained creation is a host of misinformation sources, sham reports, and fake news. They claim to have the true story but none can truly deliver.

There is only one source that offers us the Truth about ourselves and what’s going on in this world.

Cover to cover, God’s Word is complete Truth. It reveals mankind’s history from the very beginning when everything (including mankind) was blessed by God as being good. But, this blessedness wouldn’t last. Adam and Eve’s terrible rebellion against God’s Word resulted in mankind being barred from entering that beautiful place of fellowship with God on their own. It would take the Grace of God to make a way back into His presence for them and all the generations who would follow. God made a promise that the Seed of the woman would fatally wound the Serpent who deceived her.

This brief paragraph is a summary of Genesis chapters 1-3. In these first three chapters of the Bible we see that God creates with His Word, He is pleased to make good things, He deeply loves mankind, His holiness requires perfection, He is just and gracious when we royally mess up, and He will make a way for us to come back to Him, through Grace.

It’s this sure foundation we need to build upon.

Two things we need to understand are 1) God is Good, Holy, Just, and Gracious, and 2) that sin (or rebellion against God’s Word), corrupts every aspect of life. These points are essential to understanding our environment and ourselves.

You’ve heard it said, “Knowledge is power.” But it begs the question, “Whose knowledge is it and what is the power for?”

Proverbs 1:7 tells us “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” If I truly want knowledge my source must be God. This is confirmed in Proverbs 2:6 “For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth {come} knowledge and understanding.”

The Apostle Paul traveled far and wide, over 3 continents, preaching and teaching to the Gentiles about Jesus Christ. He planted churches where The Holy Spirit led and trained up men to pastor the foundling flocks in the way of the Lord. As he traveled, Paul met a young man named Timothy, who had been raised by a believing Jewish mother and grandmother. As Timothy traveled with Paul and his entourage he proved to be a “true child in the Faith,’ a gifted teacher, and an encourager to both Paul and the churches they ministered to.  

This was the verifying of Timothy’s call to church ministry and Paul knew exactly where this young man was needed most.

Ephesus was a large port city of around 220,000-250,000 at this time. The central focus of its citizens was worshiping at the magnificent Temple of Diana (to the Romans) or Artemis (to the Greeks).

The church in Ephesus required a pastor who, above all, held firmly to the Word of God and the faithful teaching of its precepts. The body of Christ located here had to be firmly grounded in Truth so it could withstand the opposing winds of idolatry, Gnosticism, and the pursuit of living in the moment to please oneself.

The Apostle Paul’s directives to Pastor Timothy were as solid and basic as they come. This passage from 2 Timothy doesn’t just apply to a young pastor in 66 AD. It is appropriate for us in 2020.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)

Let’s focus in on these verses to see why God’s inspired Scripture holds us steady in turbulent times.

The first phrase is: all scripture is inspired by God. Think about that. Scripture or God’s Word come from God Himself. Words inspired or breathed into the person who would write them out for you and me to read today. Ancient words as we apply time, yet as pertinent today as the day they were given.

God’s Word is profitable or helpful or serviceable or advantageous for:
Teaching - Instructive of what is right, good
Reproof - Instructive of what is wrong, evil
Correction - Restorative to an upright or right state; improvement.
Training in Righteousness – Supportive of Goodness, Righteousness, Virtue  
Training - by correcting mistakes and curbing passions.
Righteousness – cultivates good in our lives (integrity, virtue, purity of life, uprightness, correctness in thinking, feeling, and acting)

As an object lesson let’s think of riding a bicycle.

We are taught where to sit, what to hold on to, where and how to use our feet. These are good things to do to make the bicycle move and be useful to us.

As we begin to ride it becomes clear that we must find our balance. Pushing down on one pedal too heavily tips us over onto the hard pavement. This is reproof, or what NOT to do.

Teaching and reproof lean heavily on the Law side of God’s Word. Even so, Grace is found in the loving instruction given. To do what is right leads to a pleasant ride. To do wrong leads to scraped knees.

Grace grows stronger as we look at the next benefit of God’s Word – correction.

There’s nothing worse than messing up and falling flat on our faces. That’s why Law and Grace are such a wonderful balance. Law and Grace are present, each doing God’s will for us. Law says we didn’t do what we should have done (we fell of our bike) but what we don’t always acknowledge is that Law wants us to find Grace.

Grace is there to help us up, give us a hug, and binds up our scratches and wounds. Grace offers correction and improvement on our actions. This correction restores us to an upright state (puts us back on our bike) to begin again.

Right on the heels of correction we are given instruction in righteousness. The Holy Spirit, aka Spirit of Grace, seeks to cultivate integrity in how we think, feel, and act. He repeats His instructions and gives that push to get us rolling.

Equipped for EVERY good work. That should increase our confidence as we find ourselves facing new challenges every day.

God calls his disciples to do His will. Good works are an evidence of His calling on our lives.
You see, God doesn’t demand perfection in the outer man; following rules and regulations to appear righteous. God calls us to be perfect in the inner man; allowing The Spirit of Christ to conform us to the image of His son, Jesus Christ.

So then, if knowledge IS power, the greatest power that will keep us strong is found in knowing Jesus Christ.
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“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him {be} the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:17-18 (NASB)

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