“All Scripture is inspired of God and profitable…” (2 Timothy 3:16).

In previous articles for this website, we have stressed the importance of pastors and teachers feeding their people a steady diet of healthy doctrinal teachings.  IScripture calls it “sound doctrine.”

This cannot be overemphasized. The Apostle Paul said, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another….” (Colossians 3:16).

Paul speaks of being “constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following” (I Timothy 4:6).

Teaching sound doctrine is a big deal for all believers.

Clearly, that refers to teaching the Bible with a thorough understanding of what that means, where each doctrine fits, how to live its teachings, and so forth.

But there is one huge thing more, without which simply teaching sound doctrine is not enough.

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“All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable….” (Second Timothy 3:16)

We pastors love the Word of God.  We read it, study it, devote our lives to learning and teaching and preaching its riches.  It is our sole authority for what we believe and teach.

And yet.

We sometimes do things that undermine the confidence of our congregations in God’s Word.  By our (perhaps) well-intentioned attempts to communicate what we have learned and believe, we may actually do more harm than good. The result of that is to discourage God’s people from reading it on their own and feeding their souls upon its nourishment.  And when we do that, we are betraying them, dishonoring the Lord, and playing right into the hands of the enemy.

Here are 10 ways we sabotage the confidence of our people in Holy Scripture…

1) The pastor stands to preach without reading Scripture at all.

He says by his omission that Scripture doesn’t matter, that what counts is what he has to say.

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“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

THEREFORE.

When you see that word in Scripture, you ask “What is it there for?”  The usual answer means on the basis of all that has gone before, what is the conclusion.

For instance, in chapter one, but particularly toward the end of the chapter–some have deserted Paul, and only Onesiphorus had sought him out–Paul calls for Timothy and through him the rest of the body of Christ to deepen their resolve to serve Christ.

–-Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  I confess not to know what this means.  It’s one of those wonderful spiritualities that we toss around which sounds great, makes excellent material for hymns and uplifting choruses, but doesn’t actually tell us anything. Or, let me rephrase that: After all our singing it and quoting it, we still have difficulty getting a handle on what exactly it means.

I know some of what the “grace that is in Christ Jesus” means.  John said the Law came by Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). He said Jesus was “full of grace and truth” (1:14).  In short, Jesus was all love, pure love,  love throughout, from top to bottom, from the outermost to the innermost. He was solidly love.  After all, “God is love.”

So, how can we “be strong” in that grace?  I can devote myself to Him, constantly draw near to Him, sit at His feet as Mary did and worship Him, and obey His teachings. Is that what this means? Or, is Paul saying: “Now that you are living in the grace of Jesus, stand up tall and be strong”? Be courageous, outspoken, bold, faithful.

Or, is it all of the above?

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