Born To Reign Sermon

Born to Reign: The Word That Makes You Who You Are

There is something remarkable about the letter Paul wrote to Timothy. He was not writing to a king on a throne or a general commanding armies. He was writing to a young man who was tired, who was facing pressure from every side, who was tempted to soften the message or step back from the calling. And into that moment of weariness and uncertainty, Paul does not send encouragement that sounds like a pep talk. He sends something better. He sends the Word of God about the Word of God. He reminds Timothy of what Scripture is, what Scripture does, and what Scripture demands of the person who stands to preach it.

That is the heart of what we are looking at today. God did not save you simply to survive. He did not call you simply to endure. He called you to reign in life through Jesus Christ, and the instrument He uses to make that happen is His Word. The Scripture that was breathed out by God is the very thing that shapes you, equips you, and sends you forward with purpose. You were born again for something. And that something begins with this Book.

Let us look carefully at what Paul actually says.

Second Timothy 3:14-15 reads, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

Paul is writing to a man who has been surrounded by the Word since he was a child. His grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice had planted it in him. And Paul's instruction is not complicated. He says, continue. Stay with what you know. Do not drift. Do not trade the ancient truth for whatever is new and fashionable and loud. The sacred Scriptures have been with you since the beginning, and they are able to give you wisdom for salvation. Not wisdom for success. Not wisdom for comfort. Wisdom for salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus.

That phrase is the anchor of the whole passage. The Scripture does not save you by itself. It points you to the One who saves. The Bible is not the object of your faith. It is the instrument through which you come to know the object of your faith, Jesus Christ. Every page of this Book, from Genesis to Revelation, is moving toward Him. The law reveals your need. The prophets announce His coming. The Gospels show His face. The epistles explain His work. The Revelation declares His final victory. You cannot read this Book honestly and miss Jesus. He is on every page.

Now Paul continues in verses 16 and 17, and this is where the power of the passage opens up. "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

All Scripture is inspired by God. The word Paul uses is the word we translate as God-breathed. This is not a metaphor for human inspiration the way we might say a poet was inspired by a sunset. This is a claim about origin. The Scripture came from the mouth of God. He breathed it out. And because it came from Him, it carries His authority, His power, and His sufficiency for every situation you will ever face.

Notice what Paul says it is profitable for. Teaching. That means it tells you what is true. Rebuking. That means it tells you when you are wrong. Correcting. That means it shows you how to get back on the right path. And training in righteousness. That means it builds the habits and the character and the instincts of a person who walks with God.

That is a complete program. There is nothing missing from it. You do not need to supplement the Scripture with human wisdom to become who God made you to be. You need to stay in it, believe it, let it do its work in you, and trust that the God who breathed it out is the same God who will use it to complete you.

The word complete in verse 17 is important. It means fully furnished, thoroughly equipped, lacking nothing essential for the task. God is not trying to produce in you a partial person, a halfway disciple, a believer who is strong in some areas and helpless in others. He is working through His Word to make you complete. To equip you for every good work. Not some good works. Every good work He has prepared for you to walk in.

That is the birthright of every person who is born again. You were born to reign in this life not through power or position or personal achievement, but through the transforming work of God's Word doing in you what only God can do.

Now Paul moves into chapter 4, and the tone shifts. He has been talking about the nature of Scripture. Now he turns to the charge that flows from it.

Second Timothy 4:1-2 says, "I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching."

Paul does not say preach a word. He does not say preach a message that connects with the culture. He says preach the Word. The definite article matters. There is one Word that has the authority and the power and the sufficiency to do what needs to be done in a human heart. And the preacher's job, the teacher's job, the parent's job, the believer's job, is to stay with that Word and trust it to do what God says it will do.

Be ready in season and out of season. That phrase is worth sitting with. It means there will be times when the Word is welcome and times when it is not. There will be seasons when people are hungry for truth and seasons when they would rather hear something easier. Paul is saying, preach it anyway. Do not adjust the message to match the mood. Do not soften the rebuke when it is needed. Do not withhold the encouragement when it is deserved. Be ready. Stay ready.

Verses 3 through 5 explain why this charge is so urgent. "For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

Paul is not describing some distant future. He is describing a tendency that lives in every generation, including ours. People will always prefer a message that confirms what they already believe over a message that challenges them to change. They will always be drawn to a teacher who makes them feel good over a teacher who makes them feel convicted. That is not a modern problem. That is a human problem. And the answer to it is not a more clever strategy. The answer is faithful proclamation of the Word of God.

Notice that Paul's instruction to Timothy in the face of this pressure is not to become more entertaining or more culturally sophisticated. It is to exercise self-control, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill his ministry. In other words, stay the course. Do not be moved by what is popular. Be moved by what is true.

Here is the word for every person in this room today. You do not need a different Bible to live a different life. You need to go deeper into the one you have. The Word that is able to give you wisdom for salvation is also able to give you wisdom for marriage, for parenting, for grief, for failure, for fear, for the moments when you do not know what to do next. It is sufficient. It is complete. It is God-breathed, and it is alive.

If you are here today and you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Scripture has been pointing to this moment your entire life. Every sermon you have ever heard, every verse you have ever read, every moment of conviction you have ever felt, it has all been moving you toward this. The Word of God is able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Not through your effort. Not through your goodness. Through faith in Him. He died for your sin. He rose from the dead. He is alive right now. And He is calling you to come.

If you are a believer who has grown cold or drifted from the Word, Paul's instruction to Timothy is your instruction today. Continue. Stay with what you have learned and firmly believed. Get back into the Scripture. Let it teach you, rebuke you, correct you, and train you. It will do what it promises to do. God does not breathe out empty words.

And if you are someone who is tired of carrying the weight of a calling that feels too heavy, hear this. Paul did not tell Timothy to be stronger. He told him to be faithful. You do not have to manufacture the results. You do not have to make the Word work. You just have to preach it, teach it, live it, and trust the God who breathed it out to do what only He can do.

You were born again to reign in this life. Not to be defeated by your circumstances, not to be shaped by the culture around you, but to be shaped by the living Word of the living God. That Word is complete. That Word is sufficient. And that Word, when it takes root in a life, produces exactly what God intends.

Stay in it. Trust it. Preach it. And watch what God does.

Sources Consulted

Akin, Daniel L., David L. Allen, and Ned L. Mathews, editors. Text-Driven Preaching: God's Word at the Heart of Every Sermon. B&H Academic, 2010.

Lea, Thomas D., and Hayne P. Griffin Jr. 1, 2 Timothy, Titus. The New American Commentary, vol. 34. Broadman and Holman, 1992.

Mounce, William D. Pastoral Epistles. Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 46. Thomas Nelson, 2000.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. The New American Commentary, vol. 37. Broadman and Holman, 2003.

Stott, John R. W. Guard the Gospel: The Message of 2 Timothy. InterVarsity Press, 1973.

Towner, Philip H. The Letters to Timothy and Titus. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 2006.