With school starting up this week, I have been reflecting on my schooling. I vividly remember the classes, the lessons, the friends, the laughter, and the teachers. While I had many good teachers, there was one that stood out among the rest. Perhaps the most influential teacher I ever had was my AP English 3 teacher, Mr. Werts. I owe him a lot.
Mr. Werts taught me how to read a book. No, it did not take me until my junior year of high school to learn how to read, but it did take me that long to truly engage with a book. As I think about him now, there is one quote that still rings in my head: “As a good reader, you should treat every word, in every book, as if the author placed that word on purpose.” A few years later, I would find myself on a remote island off the coast of Washington about to dedicate 7 days to reading through the Gospel of Mark with 40 other new believers. Little did I know, Mr. Werts’s lessons would resurface all the way out here. But instead of those words being centered around Hemingway, Fitzgerald, or Salinger, they were all about God, the Author of all things.
Unbeknownst to me, I was seconds away from the life-altering truth that God placed every word in the Bible, in its place, on purpose. At the opening of the week, a teacher read 2 Timothy 3:14-17, taught a short lesson, prayed, and released us for lunch, but I was frozen. I read the passage again and my eyes fixated on one phrase, “All Scripture is breathed out by God,” (v16). I skipped lunch to read the passage over and over again. My life would never be the same.
Look at this passage for a moment with me:
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:14-17
In 2 Timothy, Paul writes to his young protege from prison knowing that his death is near. The heartfelt encouragement, charging language, and passionate tone of 1 Timothy have all been replaced with simple statements and urgent solemnity. Near the end of the letter, Paul uses the small amount of time he has left to tell Timothy that the rest of his life should be marked by one thing - continuing to believe in the perfect and complete Word of God. Paul gives out 4 reasons for why a lifetime of reading, studying, and clinging to Scripture are important for believers.
My life can never be the same again. Upon taking each word seriously, it becomes abundantly clear that God’s Spirit-inspired and completely perfect Word is what I have always longed for and never found. It has the wisdom and power to bring me to my knees before Christ, it will grow me like nothing else on earth, and it will transform me into the man God always designed me to be. No wonder these are Paul’s last words to Timothy.
At Mosaic, not only do we heed Paul’s words, we have centered all of our life and ministry around them. We read, pray, sing, study, and cling to Scripture in every ministry environment. The Word of God is so core to the DNA of Mosaic that each Fall and Spring we set aside 10-weeks to do a church-wide Bible Study in a book of the Bible. We do this because we believe in the power of the word to change the lives of the men, women, and children of our church for the better.
As you look at the Fall, I want you to consider joining us as we study the glorious Book of Hebrews. We are utterly convinced that your active participation in Men’s || Women’s || Student’s Bible Study will fundamentally change your life. We have this confidence because God tells us that his design for humanity’s flourishing is rooted in our dependency on, nearness to, and hope in His sacred writings (Psalm 1, Psalm 19, Jeremiah 17:7-8, etc.).
Brothers and sisters, we say this each week at Mosaic, but it bears repeating. This Bible is the Word of the Lord and we thank Him for it because He lovingly gave it to us and does not leave us in silence. Come study it with us and find yourself in awe of Him.
For His Glory and our good,
Finn Foster
