The Joy of Study

Introduction

I invite your attention to 2 Timothy chapter 2 Timothy 2. I’m going to read, beginning in verse 14. I want to set this up this morning rather quickly, actually. I know we’re on somewhat of a time regulation until things get warm. And so I was going to narrow this down from like an hour and 10 minutes to like 45. So we’ll be good. I want to remind you of a sermon a little while ago on the discipline of study. We talked about a lot of different aspects to this, and I want to build on that a little bit this morning. And so mainly, I don’t want to do a long review. I just want to kind of jog your memory. We talked about the ideas about study.

We talked about things like simple reading and deep reading and reading other books about the Bible and spiritual things and kind of having habits and patterns that help us as we grow, as we are building our knowledge, our understanding of scripture. And so really I want us to think about that as we’re beginning this morning, because what I want to get into in this idea of the joy of study is sort of a subset of that. Really obviously by the wording itself, pushing toward the reward. What comes when we actually do good study and the feeling that comes from that, even that’s what joy is partially about. We enjoy this process. It’s hard, it’s difficult, but at the end of it, we’ve gotten something out of it, and we’ve gained something, and we feel really good when we’ve done it well.

It’s a little bit like writing. The saying always goes, no one likes to write, everyone likes to have written. That process is not super fun. And those of you who’ve done it, you understand this. It’s laborious, it takes a lot of work, but when you finish, you can look back proudly at what you’ve accomplished. And I want you to go into this with that sort of mindset as we’re thinking about the joy that comes from good study. And Paul had some things to say to Timothy about that. Timothy being a minister, working with others, training others in the word and the knowledge of Scripture. He’s encouraging him in this process. So beginning in verse 14, this is 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 14, it says, remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good but only ruins the hearers.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth, but avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hermenius and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some, but God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal. The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.

This idea of avoiding things that are babbling that are not important that lead to more ungodliness, but to actually focus on good, solid study. Obviously, super important for Timothy and what he’s doing. But also, if you move up a little bit in the text, the beginning of chapter 2, he tells him to take the things that he’s received from him, right, in the presence of many witnesses and trust to faithful men. So it’s not just that Timothy has this knowledge, he’s also supposed to take what he’s learned, and he’s supposed to then help others learn. Paul talks about this in Ephesians 4 with the words equip. We’re going to be equipping people for the work of ministry. So it’s not just the elders or the deacons or the evangelists.

They’re not the ones to be equipped, and that’s it. It’s everyone. That’s the goal. The goal of what evangelists and what teachers and what event preachers do is to equip everyone for work. That’s really the ultimate end of this. And that’s what Timothy is doing. And Paul’s encouraging him along the way. And so I want to talk about this idea of study and the importance of it. The study process, I think the songs we just sang really spoke to this really well, demands extreme humility. And I want us to understand that we’re going to talk more about the word this morning. But in places like Psalm 19, it’s also the reality of observing the world. There are truths in the world around us. We can look around and we see truth.

We understand God is creator, and the heavens declare the glory of God. And so Psalm 19 starts with the truth and the reality of the world and also the word. They’re both in there in Psalm 19. And so truth is within scripture, but it’s also just within our experience of the world and the realities around us. And so be a student of the word, but also be a student of the world. Be a student of people. All of these things matter in terms of understanding the realities that we live in, the culture that we live in, the context in which we dwell. All of this matters. Be a lifelong student. And when we do that, great joy will come from that. We have to do it with humility.

It means our own biases, maybe errors of the past. I think many of us, if we’re old enough, have had that experience where we believed something or we thought something. And through further study, we realize we didn’t have it quite right. And so we have to allow ourselves to be challenged. Truth seeking is not afraid of being challenged. It’s not afraid of dialogue. If I’m seeking truth, I’m not afraid to alter my beliefs. And if I do, I’ve not been proven wrong. I have found truth. And truth prevails. And that’s what actually matters. If I refuse to allow this process, which is often very tempting, I’m seeking validation, not truth. And so validation is really afraid of questioning. It’s afraid of challenging, validation seeking fears dialogue.

Have you ever had that feeling? You have you believe something, but you don’t really want to talk to people about it because you don’t want to be proven wrong. I feel that a lot with politics. I’m no expert in politics. but that’s right. And so I have beliefs and thoughts about that, and you know, I don’t really want to get into it because I probably don’t know the whole story, and I don’t really need to get into everything, and someone’s gonna prove me wrong, and that’s not gonna be fun, right? So I think we’ve all felt both of these, right? A true desire for truth and what that looks like, and then also we don’t really want to. We kind of want to just believe what we want to believe and not really be challenged.

But I want us to understand that joy and delight come from pursuing truth honestly, and not just mere validation seeking. I want to just point our attention, and we’re gonna come back to this text later. I used it last week as well. It’s just such a great text. In Psalm 1. In Psalm 1, last time with the story of Lot, I kind of focused on this one section about him sitting in the gate. Right? And the psalmist begins this idea of this blessed man, he’s not one who is among sinners and among the wicked. He doesn’t make his life among them. And that was part of Lot’s problem, as we talked about last week. Lot was a righteous man in and of himself, but he just got him in the got himself in the middle of unrighteous people, and that was problematic.

But notice we didn’t talk much about verse 2, but notice where this goes.

And on his law he meditates day and night. That is a recipe for study. That’s the idea there.

1. Do Your Best

We live in the world and we can’t go out of the world. And so we’re going to be among people who are not righteous. That’s just going to happen. But our delight should not be in all of that. Our delight should be in the things of God. Digging in and meditating and thinking about good, godly, righteous things that are true, things that are accurate. This is the sort of thing that the psalmist is talking about here. That is his true delight and his joy. And so I want to talk about a few principles this morning that relate to this. First of all, if we look at the words of Paul and 2 Timothy 2, I want us to see just some small words here that carry a lot of weight and a lot of meaning.

And some of this relates to Psalm 1, if you keep reading as well. But notice the wording in verse 15. I want to just slow down and take it kind of phrase by phrase for at least a second here. He starts with do your best. Do your best. That’s a great short phrase. You know, when I go to scripture, when I’m looking for answers, I should do my best. This is not something to be taken casually. It’s not something to be done halfway. You know, I get a phrase here or there and say, okay, you know, I’ve formed my beliefs now. No, I mean, I think we would all admit that would be a haphazard way to go about this. I should do my best. And the point of this is that then what I’m doing is tested against what is true and right.

And I’m forming good thoughts and ideas so I can present myself to God as one approved. That means one who has been tested. So I’m allowing my thoughts and my beliefs to be tested and tried and then come through the fire and see what remains. That’s doing my best.

What if we did that for our employers? You know, we’re in a project and they’re asking us lots of questions, and well, I looked into that a little. Well, a little? I mean, are you are you certain this is where we should go? This is what we should do, this is the path we should take. Well, I think. I looked into it a little bit. Is that what they want to hear? Is that doing my best? Of course not. And so we understand this in terms of things in life. If we tell our kids, you know, to do take out the trash or to clean the room or whatever it is, and we’ve laid some expectations, and they kind of haphazardly go through and trash bags are left all around.

2. A Worker Who Has No Need to Be Ashamed

Not that my kids would ever do anything like that. But that’s not doing your best, is it? And we understand that. But sometimes we’ll justify it. Well, you know, I didn’t get the trash bag all the way out there because of this or because of that, or we begin to make up justifications to back up why we did something halfway and not all the way. But here’s the next phrase I want us to understand in this text. Do your best, he says, to present yourself to God. A worker who has no need to be ashamed. Now, I want to make a distinction here. I’m about to do something in a minute, and I just want this to be clear. Sometimes we make mistakes and we make them honestly.

And that’s just part of life. That’s part of growth. That’s actually part of study. That’s something that happens along the way. And so this is why we need humility, and we have to be willing to admit that. But the goal is that we can present something to God, that we handle the word of God rightly and accurately in such a way that we aren’t ashamed by the things that we’ve come up with. He tells Titus to do this in a way that is, you cannot be criticized. Right? You know, don’t use bad logic and bad arguments that then somebody can come in and make look silly because you didn’t do a good job and you did it halfway. Right? So do this in a way and be a worker who does not need to be ashamed.

Right? So in our homes, whatever it is that our task is, someone comes in behind us and they look at what we did. Hopefully, we’ve done it in a way that they don’t cock their head to the side and say, what is happening here?

And if we truly value scripture, we will do the same with scripture. If we truly value the word of God, we will do the same thing with the word of God. Where we are working and we are forming beliefs and ideas that don’t get the halfway headcock and say, what? Where did this come from? We’ve actually been diligent, that we have worked hard, that we’re presenting something that is truthful and right, that we do not need to be ashamed about how we’ve handled the word of truth. And so let me just say we need to be careful with our claims. He talks about some people here in this text. One reason I wanted to read beyond this is because we see this happening, right? They’re claiming the resurrection has already happened.

There’s sometimes even in our modern world that people push this belief. Not extremely popular, but it’s out there. But Hermanius and Philetus are teaching things that are not true, they’re swerving from the truth, they’re upsetting the faith of some, even though the faith and the truth remain steadfast, as the next verse goes on to say, by saying things that were just not accurate. And Paul’s warning Timothy about this be careful with the claims that we make. We hear a lot of ideas. But we better make sure we’ve done our due diligence, that we’ve studied and we’ve done our best before we start making claims about the things that we believe. Whether it’s about scripture or ancient culture, and especially Facebook memes. Look, if I see another post about AOC being worth 29 million dollars, I’m going to delete you off of my friends’ list.

It’s just not true. And yet it just keeps getting said over and over and over again by people I’m friends with on Facebook. Right? No investigating, no looking into what was actually accurate, just share. It’s a problem in our culture. Check sources. When we’re actually doing academic work, check primary sources. Make sure the text really proves what you claim it proves when we’re looking at scripture. Let me give an example of this. You may have heard this before, probably you have. Pretty popular idea from Acts 16 that the women there are going to a place of prayer, right? And it’s maybe you’ve heard this before. Well, it’s not a synagogue. You know, because you can’t have a synagogue unless you have ten men, a quorum.

So this is an example of something that has spread that’s actually not true. And I bring it up because it doesn’t really matter all that much, but it’s just a reality. And there’s things like this that are spread around based on false information and misusing ancient sources and things like that. Just, and it’s done by F. F. Bruce, who is a highly regarded scholar. So there’s another lesson in here with this. Even people who are highly regarded scholars be really careful. And you check their sources. You go look and you check the primary source they’re using. So here’s here’s what happens. Let me show you this. I’m gonna read this to you. So F. F. Barus in his work, he quotes the first part of a document called Aboth.

It’s a Mishnaic document. You don’t have to know what that means, it doesn’t matter. But it’s from the second century AD. So, well after the time of Christ as well. And so there’s this rabbi from 135 to 170 who says, When ten sit together and occupy themselves with Torah, the Shekinah, or the glory of God, abides among them. God’s presence. As it is said, God stands in the congregation of God. Psalm 82 1. So F. F. Bruce stops there and he makes this point about you have to have a quorum of ten people to have a synagogue. And so in Philippi, there’s no synagogue. It’s called a Pursuhe, which is a place of prayer, and it’s not really a synagogue. Now, interestingly, lexically, that’s also an error.

Prosuhe is a building, it is often, it is called a synagogue all throughout ancient texts. So there’s lots of problems with this argument, both on the lexical side and on the historical side, but it’s something that just continued to be perpetuated erroneously, because someone said it. Right? And then the sources were not checked. But I’m going to read the rest of what’s here, and then you see if this rabbi is making the point F. F. Bruce makes with that you have to have ten men. Okay? So he goes on. As it is said, so how do we know that the same is true even of five? As it is said, this band of his he has established on earth, Amos 9.6. How do we know that the same is true even of three?

As it is said, in the midst of the judges, he judges, Psalm 82 1. How do we know that the same is true even of two? As it is said, then they fear the Lord, spoke one another, well spoke one with another, and the Lord hearkened and heard, Malachi 3.16. How do we know that the same is true even of one? As it is said, in every place where I cause my name to be mentioned, I will come unto you and bless you. Exodus 20, 21. This is why we check primary sources and we do good study and good research. Because S.F.’s Bruce, if you can see that, he only quoted what’s in orange, and then he made a erroneous argument that has now lasted for years and years and years.

3. Approach This With a Humble Mindset

When the actual point being made is that God is among you even if you’re by yourself. That’s the point. And so I just want us to understand that even the joy that comes from that kind of discovery. Now let me back up and just say, let’s also have a lot of grace. It’s very easy to take something like that and run with it and not realize a mistake has been made. And it takes a lot of work to unravel those sorts of things sometimes, especially once they’re out there. And so there’s a number of these types of things that people have claimed or have said that we may have come across. And I also, there’s things I have said and mentioned that have been erroneous. Here’s one that I’ve said when I first started preaching.

You know, that Luke 6 is the Sermon on the Plain, and that’s different than the Sermon on the Mountain Matthew. Only later, and I’m not alone in this, there’s many people who have thought this, Daniel Wallace wrote a book called Exegetical Fallacies. And he talks about in that book that actually that word there plain is about a flat place on top of a mountain. They don’t have to be the same, a separate event. It’s just they’re describing it differently. Humility.

Important as we read and study to approach this with a humble mindset. I would say, good students. What they learn in this process, as they are enjoying the process of learning the bits and pieces that they learn along the way, what they also learn is there’s a lot more they don’t know than what they do know. That’s just a reality of good study. As we dig in and we start working through the text, there’s just, I wish I knew so much more of what’s in scripture. I wish I understood the connections better than I understand them. And this is what should drive us and give us desire to seek for truth. And there’s times we need to validate the things that we believe or double check the things we’ve thought of before.

That’s all good and well, but there’s so much more out there. There’s so much more in Scripture that we need to be digging into and learning, and the joy that comes from that is immense. And it’s something really that to some extent all of us need to be participating in. Don’t listen to somebody else. Don’t listen to just me and take what I say. You got to go learn it for yourself. And there’s so many great resources out there to do that. Don’t just listen to the elders or to people who teach classes. This is just a prodding to then go research and study the book and get a deeper understanding and enjoy that process for yourself as you go through this process of learning and discovery.

4. As Much About the Journey as the Destination

This is what it’s all about. Which leads me then to this next thought. And that is with study, it is as much about the journey as it is about the destination. You will learn so many things you never even imagined you would learn. If you are willing to dig in and do good study. If you’re willing to be a student of the world and a student of the word, God created all of it. Notice the ending of Psalm 19. He’s talked about the testimony of the world and then the testimony of the word. And this is how he finishes it in Psalm 19 and verse 14. Let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. The psalmist is after truth.

He wants to speak words of truth. He wants to notice things of truth. He wants to take them in and meditate on them continually. So that is part of his essence and who he is, so that he is acceptable. This is the same thought that Paul gives Timothy. Right? Present yourselves to God, a worker who needs not be ashamed. This is the idea of handling the word of God accurately so that you are approved in his sight. That’s the concept in Romans 12 as well. What we continue to work through and test the things that we believe to see if they are in alignment with the will of God. It’s a continual lifelong process. And it’s about this journey along the way as we learn. Richard Foster makes this statement.

All too often people rush to the application stage and bypass the interpretation stage. They want to know what it means for them before they know what it means. When we study a book of the Bible, we are seeking the intent of the author. We are determined to hear what he is saying, not what we want him to say. We are willing to pay the price of barren day after barren day until the meaning is clear. This process revolutionizes our lives. That second to last sentence is so powerful. What he’s saying is, are you willing to do the work to day after day end up empty? You haven’t found what you were looking for. You’re digging in, you’re looking for answers, but day after day you still don’t have the answer.

Are you willing to put in that kind of work so that eventually, one day, as you’re working and studying, you receive some kind of answer, and it is deep and it is real and it is valuable, it’s not just on the surface, it’s not just something easy and simple, it’s something meaningful, something transformative. Are we willing to put in that kind of work? That’s what he’s asking. And there’s a place for finding God’s word for you today, you know, devotional. There’s good in that. I think that’s an appropriate part of maybe the habitual type study that we do. You know, maybe the calendar that you flip every day that has a verse on it. There’s there’s value in that, but it does not replace actual study of God’s word, where you go through the barrenness of the desert day after day looking for life until one day you find it.

And when you do, it brings you immense joy. Some of you in your professional lives do lots of research. You know what this feels like. You know, you work and you work and you work and you’re looking for answers, and you do the research and you finally get through it. How does that feel at the end? That’s what I’m trying to help us understand. It’s meaningful, it’s substantive. It’s not just looking for a quick answer for right now. It’s something that can revolutionize your life. That’s the point Foster is trying to get us to understand. The Bereans understood this. You know the passage in Acts 17. The apostle Paul is speaking to them. I mean, he clearly has the power of the Holy Spirit. This guy works miracles.

He raises people from the dead. He heals people. And they don’t just take Paul’s word for it. They search the scriptures daily. They examine the things that he’s saying to see if what Paul is saying is actually true. The psalmist that we talked about earlier, the blessed man, whose delight is in the law of the Lord, he meditates day and night. This is a part of his regular life. It is steady, it is frequent. And so the idea here is that we are a lifelong learner. We don’t have the high school mentality. You know, we’re just looking for answers to the test. That’s not what we’re after here. We are looking and seeking for truth. We want to be a lifelong learner. We want to have this desire for truth, whatever it is in the world or in the word, Psalm 19.

5. Security and Fruitfulness, Like a Tree

We’re not just out to prove ourselves right, to justify the things that we believe. That’s not the goal. The goal is to seek God’s truth, God’s reality. Try to see things from God’s perspective, which is what books like Revelation are about, and books like Ecclesiastes, is we have our perspective as humans that is often flawed, and we’re seeking to get the perspective of God. And so these inspired writers, they help us with that process, particularly in the wisdom literature, but also in other places like Revelation and the Meyer prophets. And this is what I want us to conclude with this morning, and that is the idea that those who truly delight in God’s word, who seek truth, and that’s what they’re after, they have security and fruitfulness, and they are full of life.

Back to Psalm 1. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. And all that he does, he prospers. There’s joy and firmness and confidence that comes through humble delight in the word of God and in diligent study. It makes you like a tree. That’s what he’s saying. What does he mean by that? I mean, we see this tree that’s towering up above us, maybe. Well, what is actually the substance of that tree? It’s the roots that go equally down or spread out, they give firmness and confidence that tree can weather the storms that come. And so good study brings depth. It brings stronger roots. Paul talks about this in Colossians chapter 2, being rooted in him.

Right? Not buying into the empty philosophies of the world and traditions of men, but we are rooted in Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 2, 6 through 8.

6. Joy in Transformation and Communion With God

In transformation. Joy comes through the changes that happen in our life when we go through this process. Can we not look back and enjoy where we have come compared to where we were years ago? And many of you who’ve been through this process and you’ve studied and you’ve worked and now you see where you are today. There’s joy in that, and appropriately so. We realize we’re not where we were 10 years ago or 15 years ago. We have worked and we have meditated and we have studied, and so now we are like this tree that’s been digging roots deeper and deeper and deeper and becoming more firm. And we see how it’s changing our life. And there is joy in communion with God. A deep relationship with him.

This blessed man is one whose life is full. His leaf does not wither. He’s not falling apart. He’s prospering in the things that he’s doing. And through his meditation and through the things that he’s about and the things he delights in, he is growing closer to his creator day by day. I didn’t plan this at all, but we just read from John 15, and I wanted to turn your attention to there as we closed this morning. John 15, you already read the early part of that text. But I want you to see beginning about verse 9. John keeps saying things about abiding, right? He’s quoting Jesus, he’s saying, Abide in me, and I will abide in you. This is that communion, that closeness that comes when we understand that he is the truth and we are the branches.

We attach ourselves to him. He is the source of life. This is what it says in verse 9: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I’ve spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. The source of true joy and peace, even happiness in this life. Happiness is fleeting to some extent, but I think God wants us to be happy at times. Ecclesiastes talks about that. It’s not everything. But man, the true source of happiness is being connected to God. Realizing He is our source, and we’re looking to Him for answers, that He is the source of truth and being committed to that reality, and being committed to finding Him through the things that I’m doing and doing them well, doing my best, presenting myself to Him in a way that is approved, in which I don’t have to be ashamed.

Conclusion

Because I’ve done it the right way. And I’ve found true answers. And when I do that, I am abiding in Him. Doesn’t mean I don’t ever come up with something that’s wrong that has to be changed. No, that’s part of the process. But my desire is to follow Him and to do things in His way, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes. That’s the commitment. That’s what we should be after. Looking for true transformation, seeking for truth, not validation. And that is my encouragement this morning for all of us. That we find this sense of joy that comes through a deep study of God’s word and desiring the truth that he offers for us there. Could be this morning that you realize your need for God, and you realize Jesus Christ is the answer.

He came and gave his life for all of us. And that apart from the vine, you can do nothing. That’s what Jesus says. Maybe you realize this morning, you’ve been trying to do it yourself, and it just doesn’t work. And you finally realize that. Those of us who are following Jesus this morning, we realize that. We realize we can’t do it ourselves. And that’s why we claim the name of Jesus. He’s the answer. Maybe you’ve realized that this morning. If so, we want to welcome you. We want you to be baptized into Jesus Christ. Join yourself to him and become a new person. Get rid of the old person and begin crafting your life after him and the things that he has said and seeking him and everything that you do and all you do in word and deed, do it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Can we help you do that this morning? Why don’t you come as we stand and we sing together?