5/11/25 2 Tim. 3:10-17 “Open the Floodgates!”

08 May 5/11/25 2 Tim. 3:10-17 “Open the Floodgates!”

5/11/25     2 Tim. 3:10-17       “Open the Floodgates!”

I think that just being a preacher, let alone a pastor, is a very challenging position.  A preacher’s job is to take the Scripture message and turn it into a message for today.  This seems pretty easy on the outside.  Now consider that the Scripture message is pretty much the same all the way through the Bible.  The challenge comes when I have to take this same message and reformulate it every week.  Some weeks it is a challenge especially when we have special occasions like Confirmation Sunday and Palm Sunday together.  We are having 2 Sundays where the message is somewhat tailored for our graduates.  And there is today.  I have to try to make another confirmation sermon along with one that goes with Mother’s Day.  I guess that it really is not that hard when you realize that the Bible is tailored for all people.  Well, I dug around a bit and came up with this message based on 2 Timothy.  Let’s see if maybe the message for confirmation is similar to what mothers would want for Mother’s Day.  What I’m really looking for here is a message for everyone.

I want to begin with some history and a little clarification about whether Thomas Jefferson was a Christian or not.  There has been a lot of speculation about this.  He read his Bible but it was his Bible.  He made his Bible by taking other Bibles and cutting out the passages where he was in agreement.  Then he pasted them in a notebook he called, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.”  In other words, he didn’t agree with all the Bible said so he changed it.  Anytime you change the Bible, you are sinning.  If what the Bible said wasn’t reasonable according to Jefferson, it didn’t make it into his book.  He left out the feeding of the 5000, many of the healings and of course, the resurrection.  This makes me think that he was not a Christian.

However, he would be considered a Christian today in many circles.  There was a group in the 1990’s called the ‘Jesus Seminar’ that did the same thing.  They voted on verses to see if they were actually true or made up.  How silly!  How is a ‘vote’ going to determine if something is true or not!  They decided that it was false when Jesus said, “I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life.”  This was too exclusive and people might be offended.  Jesus couldn’t have said this.  They rejected the parable of the sheep and goats because it was too judgmental.  And of course, they rejected the resurrection as being too outlandish.  The only reason I bring this up is because the false theology of these goofballs from the ‘Jesus Seminar’ has become part of many of our mainline churches.  Paul is telling us that all Scripture is God breathed and not up for debate.  It is what it is and we either accept or reject.  Those are our only two options.  We do not have the option of rewriting the Bible!

Today, we are celebrating Mother’s Day along with confirmation at many churches.  Confirmation students have been studying hard to complete their study so they can make the decision to follow Jesus or not. The reason I chose this passage for Mother’s Day is that it tells us how to raise our children.  For some reason, I think that without children, we wouldn’t have Mother’s Day.

So, let’s begin with Mother’s Day.  This scripture is to Timothy who is a young man, very young by our standards.  Paul is the author and he is in prison.  He doesn’t want to leave Timothy without some direction.  We read that Timothy has had some good upbringing.  His mother, Eunice, had raised Timothy in the ways of the Lord.  And now she was reaping the rewards as Timothy will follow Paul into the ministry.

I think that this is what we all want for our children.  Not that they go into ministry so much but rather they follow the ways of the Lord.  We make sure that our children have a chance for a good education.  We try to feed them properly with nutritious foods.  We try to watch so that they have the right friends.  I would bet, if I wasn’t a good Methodist that is, that some of our kids would say we try to help too much.  We would pretty much do anything to help our children have a better life.

So here is my question to the community.  Why don’t you raise your children to know the ways of God?  It has been proven that people raised in the church, that have personal relationships with Jesus will have longer, happier, healthier and wealthier lives.  Your community is like all others in that at least 50% people in any area are unchurched.  We need to be trying to reach out to our neighbors with the love of Jesus Christ.

I think we do a pretty good job in many cases.  Your children seem to know Jesus and that is a good thing.  A few years ago, we had a young man go through confirmation who I had never met before.  He just walked into confirmation and stayed.  It was a joy to have him.  There are others out there that we can invite to various things.  We do a good job but as with any job, we can do better.  What I’m trying to say is that we have to give our children a good solid foundation so they have a chance at a good life.  The only way this happens is through Jesus Christ.  Education, nutrition, social environment are all good things to have but the most important aspect of raising children is in helping them in a relationship with Jesus.  I salute you moms that have done a pretty good job of this.  Now let’s look for other children.

Let’s teach all the people we know about Jesus Christ.  After all, He is the foundation of our faith.  We would have no way for salvation if Jesus hadn’t come along and did what He did.  There is really no dispute that Jesus lived.  He was born and He died.  There is really no sticking point with this.  Where people get all bent out of shape is when we say that Jesus was also God.  Most of the world cannot accept this.  That is the problem.

I try to be a logical man.  If the world that cannot accept Jesus for who He is and what He has done, and then let them show me some evidence that it didn’t happen.  The experts try to tell us that it just couldn’t happen.  It is against the laws of humans.  It doesn’t make sense.  We have to dismiss this because it couldn’t happen according to science.  All these reasons have no proof.  These are just opinions.  As far as I’m concerned there isn’t one shred of evidence contrary to what we know about Jesus.  This is something that we cannot be afraid of knowing.  We are to be telling our children that they can trust Jesus.  What He says is true!  Here’s a little sidebar.  One of the greatest enjoyments I used to get was during children’s time during worship.  These children fold their little hands and genuinely pray to Jesus.  Children are blessed because often times they see and hear Jesus far better than we do.  You have done well teaching them about Jesus if they can pray.

The other part of knowing about Jesus is in knowing the Scriptures.   We have talked plenty about this.  There were thousands of witnesses as to who Jesus was.  There were many writers who wrote this down in our modern Scriptures.  There is much proof and many witnesses.  Here Paul is talking about all Scripture is God breathed.  Critics are quick to point out that we cannot believe the subjects that Jesus doesn’t specifically talk about.  In other words, they want to throw out all the contents of the Bible except the few pages of quotes from Jesus.

Well, there have been experts who have gone through the Bible to find errors from the Christian side of the story.  And they have found errors.  However, the errors are errors of translation.  They have not found any errors that change the meaning of the Bible.  The Bible was written by men who were God inspired.  They wrote in their own way the things that God inspired them to write.  It is enough to say that this is the Word of God.

Paul states the reason to be studying the Scriptures.  He tells us that it is good for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.  Paul is telling young Timothy, who is little more than a child, and us to study and use these readings.  I think this reading is good for young people, mothers and all of us.

You have heard about teaching from the Bible.  Here is a little different angle.  This has been done throughout the centuries but it is a lost art today.  Children were taught to read from the Bible.  It wasn’t just a moral guide for children, it actually helped them to read.  What a novel idea!  Instead, we allow textbook companies and teachers who don’t even believe in Jesus to teach our children.  We have been duped into thinking that we have this great educational system in this country.  How can it be so great if our test scores keep falling and we lag far behind in the sciences and math?  I know some of you think that I’m too simplistic in my thinking because I insist the answer to all our problems is Jesus.  Well, think about it.  We used to have a great educational system before we threw Jesus out of our schools.  Jesus is the answer!

Anyway, I digress.  We can teach with the Bible in all subjects if we want.  We are also to use the Bible for rebuking.  In the time of Paul, the only human law was the brutal Roman law.  They had no morality.  Moral laws came from the Jews and now the Christians had taken it a step farther as the Jews stumbled with their strict legalism.

We have become the same way in this country.  We have laws on top of laws.  We have so many law enforcement people that we can hardly turn around.  All this leads to modern legalism.  If we added another million laws with ten million more officers, they would not make this country any safer or nicer.  There would still be no moral law.  You see if we don’t raise our children in the basics of right and wrong, which come from the Bible, then they will continue to support an immoral society.  That is not what we want.

Also, the rebuking from the Bible is quite often very gentle.  The person who needs rebuking knows they are wrong.  We don’t threaten jail sentences or physical harm.  What can be far worse is to let the Holy Spirit convict you in your subconscious.  I know I have been blamed for things when it was the Holy Spirit who has convicted someone.  I’m only the messenger.  Sometime Biblical rebuking might involve a bit more but if you have been raised in the Bible, there shouldn’t be much problem.

Paul also talks about correcting from a Bible standpoint.  If we rebuke someone, then we have to be able to point to the correct behavior.  This really isn’t too hard.   This is what the 10 Commandments are all about.  Children, you are to honor your parents and parents, you are to honor your children.  Husbands honor your wives and wives honor you husbands.  All good behavior is nicely laid out for us.  Then when we go wrong, we can see how to correct.

And of course, all this trains us up in righteousness.  None of this is so that we can be punished.  God set all these things in motion so that we could have better lives.  A better life begins with the acceptance of Jesus Christ in your heart.  He wants every person to be with Him because He has equipped every person to do His good works.

When you do the good works of Christ, then you will begin to really live.  When you begin to really live, you will find joy.  When you find joy, things go a lot better.  Mothers here today, you have done a fairly good job raising your children.  It is hard to do in a world that only kind of believes in God in a vague sort of way.  If I wore a hat, I would say, “Hats off to you on this Mother’s Day.”  You deserve it.

Young people, graduates, confirmation students, all people, Jesus has put this church and me in front of you to teach you the basics of living according to the Bible.  You can either accept the joy that Jesus has been trying to help you find and have a more joyful life, or you can live in some sort of misery.  This is your choice.  This is the choice that many of us have made and we encourage you to go the way of Jesus.

Jesus loves you, every one of you.  He will never abandon you because you made a mistake.  He will always be there wanting to help.  All you have to do is ask.  Ask and let the floodgate of blessings open up for you.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.