Introduction
This morning
we begin a series on 1 Timothy. Let’s plunge
right in (read 1:1-3). Some background
information will be helpful.
As you can see, the letter is from
Paul, one of the key leaders of the early Christian movement. After planting churches all over the north
Mediterranean Basin (MAP), he was unjustly imprisoned for several years. After being acquitted and released, Paul started
more new churches and visited existing ones.
He wrote 1 Timothy during this period.
Then Paul was arrested again and executed around 64/65 AD.
The leadership of the church in
Ephesus (MAP), which Paul had started earlier, had been penetrated by false
teachers. Paul had predicted this in his
last meeting with these elders (read Acts 20:29,30). This had seriously damaged the whole church
culture.
After his release, Paul re-visited
Ephesus and (evidently) removed the heretical elders. He left his colleague Timothy there to
replace them with solid elders, and to restore a healthy church culture. In addition to these daunting challenges,
Timothy also had significant personal challenges (his youth in an old-honoring
culture; his chronic physical infirmities; his timid personality tendencies).
So Paul writes this letter to remind
Timothy of key requisites of healthy church life (read 3:14,15 – NASB). Before we go any farther, I want to speak to
two mind-sets that could prevent you from profiting from this series.
You may be thinking: “This would be
important if I were an influential member (leader, teacher, etc.) – but I’m
not, so it’s not very relevant to me.”
But remember – we are all influencing others in our church. We all impact a portion of the household of
God, so how we conduct ourselves in the household of God matters.
You may be tempted to go through
this material focusing on how others in the church should improve in these
areas for your benefit (consumer mentality).
That’s not what 3:15 says! Instead,
we should take in this series asking ourselves: “How can I conduct myself in a
way that contributes to a healthy church culture?”
The first
priority Paul addresses is the teaching ministry of the church (read 1:3-7). He is saying what someone once told me about
Bible teaching: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” As you can see, Paul’s instruction contains
both positive and negative material concerning this priority. Let’s begin with the
positive . . .
Focus on 2 teaching
themes
A church’s
teaching ministry should cover many areas (both theological and practical; EXAMPLES)
– but it must have a center of gravity, an axis around which all instruction
revolves, a foundation on which all instruction is based. Paul describes this teaching axis/foundation
as having 2 foci:
First, it should “further the
administration of God which is by faith” (1:4b). This phrase can also be translated “God’s
provision which is (received) by faith” (NASB margin) or “God’s redemptive plan
that operates by faith” (NET).
This provision or redemptive plan is
what Paul often calls “the gospel” – the good news that God has provided the
way of salvation from our sins and His judgment through Jesus’ death and resurrection. This salvation involves not only deliverance
from sin’s penalty, but also from sin’s power and (ultimately) from sin’s
presence. It also involves being adopted
into God’s family, having access to God being given God’s Spirit, etc. You can see why Paul calls this provision
“the unfathomable riches of Christ” (read Eph. 3:8).
This salvation is a free gift to us
because Jesus paid the full price of our sins.
God’s one condition is that we receive this salvation by faith, by
humbly entrusting ourselves to Jesus to deliver us (Eph. 2:8,9). This faith is a one-time decision to be
delivered from sin’s penalty and be guaranteed of eternal life, and an ongoing
faith to be progressively delivered from sin’s power and enjoy the abundant
life of a love-relationship with Jesus.
So the teaching of the church should
center around the gospel. Church
teachers should labor to feature this, expound this, and connect all other
teaching to it (as Paul did in his letters to the Ephesians and other
churches).
Secondly, it should lead people into
lives of genuine love – love for God, one another, and those who don’t know God
(1:5). This is the “goal” of our
teaching on the gospel. God lavishes His
love on us through Jesus so that He
may transform us into people who love like He loves. This love is not an emotion or superficial
niceness; it is practical, serving, and sacrificial love that emerges from an inner
life that is being transformed and motivated by God’s love:
“A pure heart” – an honest desire to
follow God and put God first (based on trust that God’s will is good,
well-pleasing and perfect) vs. using God as Genie, guilt-motivated duty, etc.
“A good conscience” – sensitivity
and responsiveness to God’s personal moral guidance (because we trust His
goodness and wisdom) vs. moral controversy with God,
justification/rationalization of rebelling against His moral will (more on this
later).
“A sincere faith” – an
unhypocritical trust in/dependence on God vs. God-talk, external box-checking, self-sufficiency,
etc.
This is what
pleases God – seeing His children growing in their trust in His love and increasingly
giving His love back to Him and to others.
This is what the watching world needs to see – people who genuinely love
one another and those in their communities, and who give the credit to God’s
life-changing love for them.
These two
foci are dynamically related (“SPIRITUAL RESPIRATION”). The more we “inhale” God’s love by faith, the
more motivated we are to “exhale” His love away to others. The more we choose by faith to give His love
to others, the more this increases our appreciation of and dependence on His
love.
This two-fold
teaching focus is what Paul calls (throughout the Pastoral Epistles) “sound (hugiaino) doctrine” (see 1:10,11) –
hygienic teaching, teaching that produces health in those who receive it. This is what we were created by God for – to
receive His love and to give His love away to Him and others – and we flourish
only as we embrace this teaching and allow God to lead us ever further down
this path. The church in Ephesus was
suffering ill spiritual health because its teachers had strayed from this teaching
focus into something else. This is why
Paul reminds Timothy of his other, negative teaching responsibility . . .
Oppose 2
kinds of destructive teaching
Negatively,
the church’s teaching ministry is to resist and oppose all teaching that
contradicts sound doctrine (1:3,4a,6).
Paul repeats this responsibility later in the letter (read 6:20,21). There are two kinds of such teaching:
When we think of going astray from
the gospel, we usually think of overt heresy – denial of essential Christian
doctrines (e.g., salvation by works; denial of Jesus’ deity & uniqueness;
universalism; etc.). That is evidently
what three former Ephesians elders embraced and taught (read
1 Tim. 1:19b,20; 2 Tim. 2:17,18). Church leaders and teachers must discern
heresies, remove false teachers, and warn the flock.
But this is by no means the only way
of deviating. More common is churches going
off on biblical “tangents.” A tangent in
geometry is a line that touches a circle or curve at one point, but moves away
from the circle (DIAGRAM). A
doctrinal tangent is any biblical teaching
emphasis that moves the center of gravity away from “sound doctrine.”
The Ephesian doctrinal tangent
included an emphasis on genealogies (more spiritual to be Jewish?), myths
(about Jesus’ youth?), dietary restrictions (4:3), and some kind of prosperity
doctrine (6:4). Does any of this sound
familiar?
21st century American
evangelicalism is rife with doctrinal tangents.
Listen to what one church leader says on this: “What might take the
place of the gospel in our sermons and books and . . . home
Bible studies and, above all, in our hearts? A number of things, conceivably. An introspective absorption with recovery from
past emotional traumas, for example. Or
a passionate devotion to the pro-life cause. Or a confident manipulation of modern
managerial techniques. Or a drive toward
church growth and ‘success.’ Or a deep
concern for the institution of the family. Or a fascination with the more unusual gifts
of the Spirit. Or a clever appeal to
consumerism by offering a sort of cost-free Christianity Lite . . .
Or a determination to take America back to its Christian roots through
political power. Or a warm affirmation
of self-esteem. The evangelical (church),
stripped of the gospel, might fix upon any or several of such concerns to
define itself and derive energy for its mission. In other words, evangelicals could marginalize
or even lose the gospel and still potter on their way, perhaps even oblivious
to their loss.” Does this sound
familiar? What else could we add? (end-times position & speculation;
Calvinism-Arminianism; church government; etc.)
Why would a church go astray by
following doctrinal tangents? There are
many possible reasons (OPTIONAL):
It may be because we are simply not being
nourished enough by the gospel, so we become vulnerable to pseudo-spiritual nourishment. Sometimes this is because the leadership
doesn’t provide this; sometimes it is because members don’t want it. Biblical tangents are spiritual “junk food” –
addictive and subject to the “law of diminishing returns” – so Christians who
start down this path tend to migrate from tangent to tangent.
It may be because we lack the joy
that comes from grace-motivated self-giving love (including evangelism), so we
succumb to the counterfeit joy of advancing other less-important causes (e.g.,
inordinate passion for political causes).
It may be because we want to find a
biblical justification for our own lusts (e.g., “prosperity gospel” teachers
& recipients).
It may be because we want to focus
more on “felt needs,” (e.g., topical series/books only), rather than let the
Bible define and address our needs.
It may be because we want to forge an
identity as an expert in a particular area (e.g., evangelism, end-times,
apologetics, etc.) – so we harp on this inordinately and over-critique others
who don’t agree with us.
Conclusion
SUMMARIZE: This is the first way we
can all contribute to a healthy church culture!
NEXT WEEK: 1 Tim. 1:7-17 - “Using the Law Lawfully”
SUMMARIZE >> QUESTIONS &
COMMENTS