A Word in Season: Cutting it Straight (2 Timothy 2:15)

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If you are a member of a true and healthy church, and I hope that you are or sincerely desire to be, then it is quite likely that you have in that congregation a man who gives himself to the preaching and the teaching of the word of the living

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God, an under -shepherd of the sheep, laboring on behalf of Jesus Christ for the health and well -being and soul of the whole congregation.

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If that's the case and you have such a man, then the chances are that today he is laboring diligently to present himself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

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Perhaps it's a general preparation, or perhaps he has specifically in mind the upcoming

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Lord's Day or some other teaching or preaching opportunity beforehand, but he is there, he is wrestling with his

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Bible, he is wrestling in prayer and with all the helps and tools that are at his disposal, however many or few they may be, with all the gifts that God has given him naturally, with all the insight that he craves spiritually, to present himself approved to God, to honour the

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Lord who has called him into this work, to obtain God's commendation for work well and faithfully done.

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He wants to be a worker who does not need to be ashamed, whose laziness or carelessness or thoughtlessness isn't going to be shown up, not because he is potentially worried about being embarrassed, not because he is obsessed with his reputation, but because he knows he is handling the word of life and bringing it to bear upon souls that will never die.

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And so he wants to be rightly dividing the word of truth. And if you value your soul, that's how you'll be concerned for and praying for such a man, that you'll be asking that by God's grace, in terms of both the gifts that he's bestowed and the help that by his spirit he always gives to those who look to him, that this man of God will be able to rightly divide the word of truth, that he'll understand it in its particular elements, in its force at every and any particular point, that when he divides it, he'll divide it carefully and accurately, that he'll see both the whole and the parts, that he will deal faithfully with every word and with every phrase, that he'll appreciate the meaning and the force of those things, that as he prepares to bring that word to bear upon the souls of other men and women made in the image of God, that he'll be understanding your particular circumstances, your particular needs, that he'll be faithful in bringing that word to bear upon people who are not converted, that if that's you perhaps, that you will understand that you are truly a sinner before God in all his holiness, that he won't allow you to rest in your sins or to shrug off the realities of your accountability to God, that he will faithfully expose your need and faithfully hold out the remedy of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, that with regard to the sheep of Christ's flock, that there may be some who are stronger or weaker in various graces, who need particular instruction and in comfort and encouragement, who need to be built up in their most holy faith.

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His flock may be relatively small or it might be very large. In each case, he's going to have to work out how to bring the word of God to bear sensitively and wisely in a congregation where everybody knows one another or to do so in a larger environment where at times he may feel like he's drawing his bow at a venture.

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But he is laboring because he knows that he is God's man doing

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God's work to bring God's people to himself and to keep them near to God.

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And I would urge you, pray for that man or those men if there's more than one of them in the place where God has put you.

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Pray that they may be diligent, that they might use all the means at their disposal, that they might take all the time that they need, that they'd be able to turn away from the distractions and diversions that might so easily entangle them as they try and go about this work.

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Pray that when you sit under the word of God, you will hear from a man who does not need to be ashamed, who has rightly divided the word of truth, the word of God.