1 Timothy 1:1-11
Notes
Transcript
1 Timothy 1:1-11
1 Timothy 1:1-11
This morning we begin a new book and it is a bit of a transition for us. We have gone from covering several letters that the Apostle Paul had written to the churches and now we are moving to a series of letters written to people. 1 Timothy is one of what they call the pastoral epistles, along with 2 Timothy and the book of Titus. And you may be wondering how then they apply to you if you’re not a pastor and you’re pretty sure you will never be one.
To that I’ll say that for much of my life I never expected that God would use me in this way, but He seems to be doing so now. I’ll also say that without an understanding of how this all is supposed to work, doing this church thing, without a biblical standard. We can stray far away from the mark.
You guys know that a couple of weeks ago Nicole and I attended a conference near Cape Canaveral, Florida. We had a day to ourselves after the conference and decided to go to the Kennedy Space Center. In their "Race to the Moon" section the speaker talked about first attempts to send unmanned spacecraft to the moon and how even with using timing accurate to one thousandth of a second, a small miscalculation of a slide rule, resulted in missing the target by several thousands of miles. Without studying God’s standard of the biblical purpose, structure, and mission and function of the church, over time and distance we can also miss the mark by a great distance.
Also, this is applicable for any of you that want to serve in a leadership role inside and outside of the church frankly, even in your own homes. Children’s ministry, our Growth Groups, there really is tons and tons of application that we will look at as we go through this letter. So if you’re not a pastor, you don’t have to check out or skip church for the next couple of weeks, or months, however long this book takes us.
If I had to identify a theme to the book of 1 Timothy, I would say that the context emphasizes matters of church doctrine, church leadership, and church administration. Which is really convenient for me because the class I am taking right now in my theology program is ecclesiology, the study of the church. So hopefully, this will help me with that, and that will help me and us with this. It is almost like God planned it.
Concerning a theme for you note takers, Paul himself tells us directly in the 3rd chapter as he writes:
14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly;
15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Simplified a little bit...
A bit of context, it says according to tradition as some scholars have questioned the authorship of Paul, but since the Bible itself says it in the first verse of this letter, that is good enough for me.
Maps don’t always transfer well to slides, but we’ll try this and then I’ll give you a bit of a timeline. Hopefully you can see here that Macedonia is located at the very top of our map. We will here that name in a few minutes. Then dropping down a bit on the left we have Thessalonica, our last letter we studied and to the right Philippi, the letter that Pastor Jim has been working through, and the last remaining highlighted black box there says Ephesus. That is the church here that we are studying. Paul is writing to young Pastor Timothy who he left there, sorta bailed so he could go to Macedonia.
Our timeline looks like this...
A general outline for the letter looks like this…I may give you more detailed ones as we proceed through the chapters if they prove to be helpful, but generally speaking
So lets pray and then we will look at this greeting…Father, law enforcement community Chief Greeley’s family and Captain Hardwick’s family
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,
Now those are some credentials! An apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus, who is our hope. That first verse tells us our author, but it also show us that the intent of this letter was that it would be read by the church, not just a personal letter to Timothy. Now in the second verse he addresses Timothy but also tells us something about him. 1 Tim 1:2
2 To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
Identifying Timothy as a true son in the faith doesn’t just speak to the credibility of Timothy, it also tells us about his relationship with him. It is clear that Paul really thought of him as a son in the faith. It is very likely that Timothy got saved, along with his mother Eunice when Paul visited their city Lystra on his first missionary journey. In his letter to the Philippians Paul says about Timothy in his explanation on why he was sending him there... "For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. 21 For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel." - Philippians 2:20-22 NKJV
It is only in the pastoral epistles that Paul departs from his traditional greeting of Grace and Peace and adds mercy here. Why?
So we will see in our next verse that is why Paul left Timothy to minister to this church in Ephesus.. 1 Tim 1:3
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
I will come back to the last of that verse in just a second, but I’ve said the church of Ephesus quite a few times now this morning, but other than my repetitions, does that sound familiar to some of you?
It was a famous spot in secular history as it was the capital city of the Roman providence of Asia. So it was the place were the Great temple of Artemas was, also known as the Temple of Diana when was where prostitutes were used as a part of the worship, it was also so large that it was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Spiritually speaking…Ephesus was the place that Paul found some of John the Baptist’s disciples and noticed something missing in them and asked, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said we never heard of such a thing, Paul explained to them, baptized them in the name of Jesus, laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them.
Ephesus was the place that Apollos came was was preaching and teaching, but again something was missing and Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and ministered to him teaching him more accurately the way of God.
It is probably best known as one of the churches that Jesus addresses in the last book of our Bibles, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus famously said, you have left your first love… You can look it up in Revelation chapter 2, but Jesus says I see your work, you guys have worked hard, you’ve persevered, you’ve been patient, you’ve kept out false doctrine, but you’ve been busy about the wrong stuff, your heart has drifted and you need to repent and turn back to the simplicity of the things you did in the very beginning, like just reading the Word and praying, or else I’m leaving. He says I’ll remove your lampstand, meaning their light and His presence among them. If they want to stay busy and have a social club they can, but if they want Jesus to be the center of it, that have to repent and get back to the simplicity of loving Him. So that is Ephesus.
Now, Timothy remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. This is not an encouragement to Timothy to encourage others to try to cut back on the false teachings. The word charge is a military command. Paul is saying, Little Brother, it is time to step up and set a standard, the one that I taught when I was there. The words of Jesus and the Old Testament Scriptures, Sound Doctrine, no other doctrine. AND not just no other doctrine, but verse 4
4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
Now, don’t over focus on the fables and the whobegats, or endless genealogies. The whobegats...So and so, begat his son, who begat his son, who begat so and so and so on. Some read this and try so hard to identify what the fables and endless genealogies where and what was being taught, what were the herasies and the false doctrines that they completely miss that that was just an example of a bigger picture…if we keep going and look at verses 6 & 7 we see there was more to the story. 1 Tim 1:6-7
6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
So understand, I know I skipped a verse, I’ll come back to it, but there is a point here…Paul exhorts Timothy to charge this church to stop it. To charge this church to stick to sound doctrine when they gather together. So understand that this wasn’t just a bunch of heresies and false teaching that were being spread around, there was some of that, there always is where God is really working, Satan tries to establish a work there too. But this was idle talk about worthless things. Let me give you some examples of idle talk in church....man, I want to, I really, really want to because I have wasted so much time when I have gathered to talk about the things of God, to learn about the things of God, listening to endless fables and idol talk about worthless things.
I know you thought I was going to say politics, I’m not going to say it, but I’m glad you thought it. But there are all kinds of things that come up seemingly in cycles as people find some obscure Old Testament verse, about feasts, or the passover, or the Sabbath. Jesus is our Sabbath rest gang. But it can be about diet, everybody’s got to follow the Daniel diet. So on and so forth, some discovery that is now the deeper thing. Or somebody reads Leviticus and now everyone who is a Christian has to have their tattoos removed…they isolate one verse, the verse before that one says..."27 'You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard." - Leviticus 19:27 NKJV
I can see that we have some real rebels among us this morning…Does that mean the law means nothing to us. No, of course not. The law shows us the righteousness of God, it reveals the Character of God. Hey!
Actually, I will give an example just to show you that it isn’t always evil things. It not always false teachings, just wasting time on the lesser things, not keeping the main thing the main thing. Do you know were this can happen? In our growth groups, its easy for it to happen in our Growth Groups. I really, really try to respect the time of the people that are in our Growth Group. I know that for most of us... time is our most precious commodity.
So when you’ve sat through a sermon taking notes on the material, and then you’ve taken more of your time to sit down in a quite place, with your bible and notebook, and really think through your answers and write them down as you meditate upon it and prepare yourself to discuss it with other brothers and sisters. Willing to take a risk of being real, being transparent. Being willing to share your discoveries in the Word and learn from the others in the group. When we gather, those are the things that I want to be discussing.
It is really, really easy for one or two, maybe three people to take the discussion away from the things the Holy Spirit has directed us in, the sermon and the questions for discussion on that sermon, to these lesser things or deeper discoveries, and what can that do? It either allows for a discussion of two to three, while the others sit there uncomfortably silent thinking this was another waste of their time, or ....verse 4 1 Tim 1:4
4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
It causes disputes, arguments LISTEN! RATHER THAN GODLY EDIFICATION which is in faith. What should be happening there? Godly edification, building each other up, what can happen instead? Stupid disputes and arguments about things that are no more than a distraction to begin with. I’ve talked to some of your Group leaders about redirecting those discussions. It doesn’t have to be harsh, it can be, but it doesn’t have to be. Kidding! It can be as simple as a leader saying here’s what I found…and direct it back to the question at hand. Or addressing it directly. Guys, gals, that sounds like an interesting topic maybe you can dig into later, but lets use this time to focus on the things that we have gathered for.
Almost always that completely takes care of it. Every once in awhile…you run into what he talks about in verses 1 Tim 1:6-7
6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
That insist on staying on idle talk, desiring themselves to be teachers, listen…understanding neither what they say nor the things that they affirm. They want to sound smart about this aberrant thing that doesn’t matter, but in reality they are just Confidently Ignorant. That’s a nice way to put it. Actually, I shared this with Pastor Jim a while back…actually, he’s not here this morning…He skipped church to go to Vegas, said it was a work thing. Actually it was a work thing that’s how rumors start. He’s not here so I can blame this on him. Have you all heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect?
Dunning-Kruger effect that is supposed to be funny, but it nails what Paul is describing for us here. So when we gather for worship, and instruction, if its Men’s breakfast, the ladies study, our teaching when where in here and someone want to talk to you then, or a sideline in Growth Group, bring it back to sound doctrine so these times will edify, or build up the church. Like I said, almost always people, you people receive it well. It is almost always, yeah, my bad, or oh sorry, no problem and things quickly get back on track. In almost 12 years of doing this here now I would guess that there have only been two or maybe three times that Nicole has had to physically put a sock in someones mouth to stop it, and two of those were in children’s ministry. Not true, not true…But if you see her name on the schedule, you might want to volunteer to cover for her, just sayin. (I need a ride home.)
Let’s see verse, what did I skip, verse 5. 1 Tim 1:5
5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
The Word for love here is agape, the same word that you hear read at weddings and that is a perfect example of what Paul is talking about. IF you would like, flip over to the “Love Chapter” 1 Cor 13 and read with me…agh, let’s see here, verse 4 1 Cor 13:4-7
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails…this should be the result of sound doctrine....If we have not love....look at verse 1 with me 1 Cor 13:1
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
I am just an irritating noise....so this passage in 1 Timothy is a practice tool that you can you to help you discern good Bible teaching from bad bible teaching or Sound Doctrine from idol talk, time wasted on the lesser things or what some call the deeper things or the secret things…I give you a verse to take people to that try to pull that on you. If you’re not in a Growth Group its Deuteronomy 29:29
But lets go through this together and point out how to recognize when the train is going off the tracks vs. sound Doctrine. 1 Tim 1:4
4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies. So How do we recognize dangerous teaching?
#1 It is not stuff that we can clearly see and understand in the Word so it directs us towards…
#1 Speculations
4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
which causes disputes…rather than godly edification...
so #2 is Controversy
Recognizing Dangerous Teaching:
1.) Speculations
2.) Controversy
So at the end of verse 4 we also have an identifier there…1 Tim 1:4
4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
Disputes Rather than godly edification…so we have
How to Recognize Sound Doctrine:
1.) It should edify or build us up!
So if you come in here week after week and you aren’t being built up and encouraged in your faith, you can come to me and say, hey Bri, I think something’s off on your teaching man. I’m never being edified, and I’d have to take a look at that. Verse 5, lets see what we can find… 1 Tim 1:5
5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
How to Recognize Sound Doctrine:
1.) It should edify or build us up!
2.) It should produce or result in agape love.
3.) Focused primarily on purity (Character), a good conscience (Obedience), and sincere faith (Trusting God).
Verses 6-7 again… 1 Tim 1:6-7
6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
Recognizing Dangerous Teaching:
1.) Speculations
2.) Controversy
3.) Confident Ignorance (Dunning-Kruger effect).
Verse 8 1 Tim 1:8
8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,
SO again, it is not that the law is bad, but it can be used in the wrong way. It’s good if it is used lawfully or in the right way. Some look at the law as a list of do’s and don’ts and if I do enough do, and limit my don’ts I’ll make it into Heaven. What’s the problem with that? It’s not true.
Well if I follow more rules, two steps forward, one step back, like the law is a Stairway to Heaven, but in reality trying to get there like that is more like a Highway to Hell. Romans 3:20 tells us
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
So we should look at that, or look at the law like a measuring stick, and examine how we measure up against the whole thing! The problem though, is that rather than look at the law as a measuring stick to see how we measure up, most people want to take it and compare how we measure up to other people, and that isn’t how it works.
Galatians tells us cursed is the one that fails to keep all things written in the law. AND that is impossible. So we had better not be putting our faith in our own works, but rather in Jesus who was the only one to ever fulfill the law. Lets look at the rest of our section…1 Tim 1:9-11
9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
So the law was not made for a righteous person, but for this horrible list of sinners. Why? The law is not for us. It’s not for the Christian, you were made righteous in Christ the moment you were saved! Yet for everyone on this list the law should do two things.
For the Lawless the Law Should:
1.) Expose our sin.
2.) Cause us to recognize our need for a Savior.
So again does that mean the Old Testament doesn’t apply to us? Well in a sense, we are not under the law, but... you Christian are under a higher law…under the New Covenant....Jesus said you have heard it said…thou shall not murder, but I tell you whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. you have heard it said...You shall not commit adultery. “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart....we are under a higher law. We are to follow Jesus. Follow 1 Tim 1:11
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
The glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. That gang is a good stopping point. So we have identified some ways to recognize Sound Doctrine, right? It should
How to Recognize Sound Doctrine:
1.) It should edify or build us up!
2.) It should produce or result in agape love.
3.) Focused primarily on purity (Character), a good conscience (Obedience), and sincere faith (Trusting God).
In contrast dangerous teaching...
Recognizing Dangerous Teaching:
1.) Speculations
2.) Controversy
3.) Confident Ignorance (Dunning-Kruger effect).
So when we read our Bibles we shouldn’t be looking into the speculations, the secret things, nor really should we be reading just to fill our heads with it gaining in knowledge without love making us confidently ignorant.
But when we read our Bibles we should
READ IT TO FIND OUT...
What God is like
How should I be living
What does He desire from me?
How can I build others up?
What do I need to know to produce agape love?
Read the rest of chapter 1 for next week, read chapter 2 as well we might get through it, but probably not, I don’t know yet. Grace, Mercy, and Peace!