Profitable? Synonyms: Beneficial, useful, advantageous, valuable, helpful.
So we can safely say that Paul tells us (although we have already determined this is God speaking through Paul, right?) that inspired Scripture is
advantageous to us for...
valuable to us for....
helpful to us for...
teaching - rebuking - correcting - and training in righteousness.
Two of the four are positive actions -- teaching and training, while the other two are...hmmmm...shall we say a bit on the negative side? How many of us like to rebuke or correct? And of that number, I would say a much lower number like to be on the receiving side of rebuking or correction.
Tonight let's focus on using the Scriptures in order to teach. The most basic and literal example of using the Scriptures to teach was the original public school system of the United States. Until the early 20th century, schools actually used the Holy Bible to teach reading, memorization skills and morality. It was looked upon as a book that taught children how to live and contribute to society. The Bible teaches us everything that we need to know about relational living.
If we believe the Bible is the Word of God, then we have a responsibility to teach those that have been put in a "teachable" position in our lives all of its directives. These would definitely include our children and grandchildren, but may also include other people that for some reason or another have come to look to us for guidance or direction in their lives.
We are told throughout the Bible the importance of teaching God's ways...
"Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children." Deuteronomy 4:10
"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 11:18-19
"Fathers, don't make your children angry. Instead, train them and teach them the ways of the Lord as you raise them." Ephesians 6:4
"He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands." Psalm 78:5-7
The best teaching tool we have ever been given is in the content of the Holy Bible. It contains the words of life that will best direct those whose training has been entrusted to us. You just can't improve upon it. All of God's laws for our lives are good and meant for our best benefit. We need to know them and we need to teach them.
Verse 8 of the same Psalm first quoted above predicts the people who will follow times of not teaching God's Word....
"-- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him." Psalm 78:5-8
Could this be descriptive of the generations that have followed the times since we abandoned using the Bible in our schools, and more importantly, in our homes to teach God's laws? Our society's behavior on moral and criminal levels has declined immensely over the past 100 years....how close a correlation do you think there is between that decline and the decline of the study and teaching of God's Word?
Scripture IS profitable for teaching...why aren't we profiting by it? Instead we turn to every author on the current self-help best-seller list to improve our lives. There are many great authors out there with lots of good advice, but I would say to every Christian, read the Bible first. It should be our first go-to source. It contains the words of God!
The best teaching we can ever give anyone comes from God's Word, how can any human improve upon the knowledge of the all-knowing?
So we can safely say that Paul tells us (although we have already determined this is God speaking through Paul, right?) that inspired Scripture is
beneficial to us for...
useful to us for...advantageous to us for...
valuable to us for....
helpful to us for...
teaching - rebuking - correcting - and training in righteousness.
Two of the four are positive actions -- teaching and training, while the other two are...hmmmm...shall we say a bit on the negative side? How many of us like to rebuke or correct? And of that number, I would say a much lower number like to be on the receiving side of rebuking or correction.
Tonight let's focus on using the Scriptures in order to teach. The most basic and literal example of using the Scriptures to teach was the original public school system of the United States. Until the early 20th century, schools actually used the Holy Bible to teach reading, memorization skills and morality. It was looked upon as a book that taught children how to live and contribute to society. The Bible teaches us everything that we need to know about relational living.
If we believe the Bible is the Word of God, then we have a responsibility to teach those that have been put in a "teachable" position in our lives all of its directives. These would definitely include our children and grandchildren, but may also include other people that for some reason or another have come to look to us for guidance or direction in their lives.
We are told throughout the Bible the importance of teaching God's ways...
"Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children." Deuteronomy 4:10
"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 11:18-19
"Fathers, don't make your children angry. Instead, train them and teach them the ways of the Lord as you raise them." Ephesians 6:4
"He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands." Psalm 78:5-7
The best teaching tool we have ever been given is in the content of the Holy Bible. It contains the words of life that will best direct those whose training has been entrusted to us. You just can't improve upon it. All of God's laws for our lives are good and meant for our best benefit. We need to know them and we need to teach them.
Verse 8 of the same Psalm first quoted above predicts the people who will follow times of not teaching God's Word....
"-- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him." Psalm 78:5-8
Could this be descriptive of the generations that have followed the times since we abandoned using the Bible in our schools, and more importantly, in our homes to teach God's laws? Our society's behavior on moral and criminal levels has declined immensely over the past 100 years....how close a correlation do you think there is between that decline and the decline of the study and teaching of God's Word?
Scripture IS profitable for teaching...why aren't we profiting by it? Instead we turn to every author on the current self-help best-seller list to improve our lives. There are many great authors out there with lots of good advice, but I would say to every Christian, read the Bible first. It should be our first go-to source. It contains the words of God!
The best teaching we can ever give anyone comes from God's Word, how can any human improve upon the knowledge of the all-knowing?
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