Love and Guard the Gospel.

If you have your bibles turn with me to 1 TIMOTHY. Pray with me…

I have titled the series we are in as God’s playbook for the Church. I really thought and prayed for what book to preached through next, and the Lord time and time again brought me back to these 3 short letters. These letters are known as the pastoral epistles. And for where we are at as a church, I think we need to rediscover together what God wants the church to look like, and these three books show us what we should be as a church.

A church is more than just gathering on the Lord’s day. Its more than just business meetings even thought we have one today, its more then who is on what committee, and who is serving in the children’s and youth areas on Sundays and Wednesday nights even though that is important its a place that Jesus bought with his very blood, so we should as the body of Christ function in such a way that gives him honor and glory.

Listen to just the first two verses.

1 Timothy 1:1–2 ESV

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

This book was written in the mid Ad 60’s. It was written by the Apostle Paul, who has the authority to say what he is going to say in this letter, we are going to run into some teachings that hopefully this church goes with and believes already, but largely outside of this place many go against Paul’s words in these few letters. There is some speculation though I believe it has no credibility that Paul even though he said is the author of these books did not write them, Many say this because these letters are unlike many of his writings which has caused some people to question the teaching in them, because they are unique.

Now what we are going to see Paul write in this letter which we will get into more into a moment is false teaching, and how to identify it, how to address it and how to correct it. The bible is full of combating false teaching, and we should know how to deal with those who go outside of scripture.

This letter is written to identify leaders in the church specially pastors, and deacons, and to also help the order of how churches should handle things, including passing the torch to the next generation. How to handle those in the community in and outside of the body of Christ.

it was written not to any church, but specifically to Timothy, now Timothy could have been pastoring this Church at Ephesus, we are not really sure, but what we can gather is he had a important role at the church there.

Now Ephesus was a hot bed of a variety of lifestyles, gods, beliefs and so on. Specifically in Ephesus the temple of Artemis was there. The temple of Artemis was one of the 7 wonders of the world. Some historians say it was the most impressive building among men. Artemis was a greek goddess of chastity, hunting, and the moon. She was one of the most interesting and some believed one of the most powerful of all the gods during that time.

And this is where Timothy finds himself taking care of this church. Now Timothy had become sort of a child to Paul, the text alludes us to him being a true child in the faith. This was someone who he poured into over and over again, and who had become an intrusted man to Paul we even saw that when we studied through the book of Philippians.

Now we today are going to be covering verses 3-11 and after that really brief introduction The message is titled this morning…

Love and Guard the Gospel.

Let me read this text to you, and we will dive into it…

1 Timothy 1:3–11 ESV

3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. 8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

What I want you to see as our main idea today is this…

Christians love and guard the gospel because they have been changed by Jesus Christ.

The greatest Christians in the world are not those who have Phds, MDIVs though those guys are usually really cool from what I have heard and observed, they are people who see just how great Jesus is, and have been changed by him from the inside out.

And Paul is one of those men, and he wants his child in the faith to make sure this church is following the way of God.

Verses 5 and verse 11 really influenced my thinking when it comes to the main idea this morning…

In verse 5. Paul is charging timothy with this goal that is rooted in love. And if you look at the greek the love you see here is a love you all should know well its an agape love. Paul actually uses this kind of love 71 times in his writings.

And I love how it defines love its three fold. Its love that comes from a pure heart. This pure heart comes from Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:8 ESV

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The only way to have that pure heart is through a realationship with Jesus Christ. He comes into our heart cleanses us from our unrighteousness. And shifts our heart to love rightly. We need him to make it pure, because in us is a vile sinful heart.

You see that this love comes from a good conscience. If you were with us on Wednesdays nights last June I focused on the human Conscience after reading a great book by Kevin DeYoung more information about that book is on our website if you want to read more about it the human Conscience, but one of his main points for the book was a Christian Conscience works two ways..

One it is to be a prosecuting attorney to convict us of sin when we violate God’s law. Two the conscience is also a defense attorney. It defends us as we seek to do what is right.

And that is what Paul is talking about here in this charge to love, and what flows from a heart of love.

Paul wants Timothy to seek to do what is right for this church he is over.

Finally it says to love to have a sincere faith. I love how one man summed this up.. The goal of the Pauline and apostolic instruction is not merely “love,” however understood, but specifically the love by personal trust in the God who came so that believers might receive and express his love. Such trust is what Paul means by “a sincere faith.”

Romans describes this kind of love in action..

Romans 13:8–10 ESV

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

This is the kind of Love we need if we are going to guard the gospel. This is the kind of love that was entrusted to Paul. This is why he takes this charge so seriously that he had been entrusted with. Because of this love he has for Jesus Christ. And he wants this kind of love to be passed down from generation to generation.

So with this main idea is mind we can see what Paul wants this love and guarding of the gospel to go against and to go for!

two points today…

Guarding the gospel out of love means handling the word of God correctly.

So the foundation is love, and a charge, and so Paul tells Timothy remain in Ephesus. ( So that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.

Paul wants the church to have pure doctrine. I want this church to have pure doctrine. Pure doctrine comes from a right understanding of his word and what love really is.

Interesting enough this week I am in a Bluey Christian meme group on facebook, and a conversion in this group breaks out between Mormons, and evangelicals about who is saved, what is right doctrine, and people get heated on the internet, and I see this one meme that says love > theology. And interestingly enough it ties into the message today, because Theology defines what love is never forget that which is a misunderstanding by so many.

Now the doctrine that may have been preached is not known to us, but they were clearly teaching against the word of God, and what Paul had taught them.

In Gal 1:6-8 Paul warns people who do such a thing..

Galatians 1:6–8 ESV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Paul takes doctrine seriously and so should we. This false teaching Paul is exposing in the text is myths and endless genealogies.

For us this may seem odd. But for the Jews there were some extra biblical sources that would often dominate their teachings. As well as for the greeks they had all these myths about Gods.

These myths are false. They are like the stories we read about in Roman and Greek history, these myths also brought about these false beliefs into the church that were not being taught by any of the apostles.

There is a warning to us to not bring anything from the culture into the church where it gets in the way of teaching pure doctrine.

When it comes to genealogies though Judaism had this fascination with them. We even get bored when we read through many of them in the scriptures but the Jews like to take them quite seriously. For the Jews what sort of bloodline you came from mattered. Where you from his family or from this tribe did you have this birth rite or that birth rite, and these teachers would often make much more of it than it should be.

Even scholars would say these teachers of the law would place special emphasis on these things elevating them to an improper place.. Paul is clear in the text that what they are teaching promotes speculations, but the doctrine we teach gives the truth.

I came across this years ago when I began to disciple men that many people have this fascination with how the world is going to end, because all the scripture teaches us with great clarity is that Jesus is coming back, there is going to be a new heaven, new earth. but so many would spend hours upon hours studying end times theology, but they did not know what the trinity is, or basic christian doctrine, God gives us time to learn about him and if we are not careful we can become not so good stewards of what God wants us to know…

Listen to one man… In modern-day terms, it would be like imagining what aliens from other galaxies or zombies might mean for everyday life and redemption. The concern of the gospel and its servants like Paul and Timothy is not fantasy but rather “God’s work” God has given ample knowledge of this redemption in Scripture and in history; it does not require intuitive divination or mystical imagination to discern.

Those mans words are facts because so many people act like there is this great mystery that we can’t figure out unless we go beyond the word of God, and any teacher who says you can’t find the giver of life and what he wants for you in this book is not loving, and he is not guarding the truth that was given to him.

Paul says that certain persons who are swerving from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and sincere faith have turned away from the truth. In fact all they are preaching Paul says is vain discussion. Or idol talk.. Which is when someone just talks forever, and leads down a path that no end.

We know from the bible there is a major point, and we will see that next week in the text that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

Every time i preach i try to give you a point from the text so you don’t walk away saying did he just talk for 30 min about nothing. Paul says these teachers are just wasting the peoples time. Even though they desire to be teachers of the law.

These teachers of law Paul says don’t even know what they are teaching. Image me getting up here and say Im going to preach the word of God, but i dont know anything about doctrine, the bible or preaching, careful now because some may say that is the case. But these teachers did not really know the law.

Jesus talks about these people Paul is describing in the text in John 5:39-47

John 5:39–47 ESV

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

The word of God is meant to bring others to come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God the savior of the world. And that they need that very savior. Any teacher or believer that sways from that does not truly love or guard the gospel.

Paul here does not want to say the law is bad, but the teachers who did not how to teach the law who use it for gain and to promote a different kind of salvation other than grace.

He says the law is good. Romans 7:7

Romans 7:7 (ESV)

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.

One scholar would even go on to say.. Paul’s concern is that the OT “be used in ways that conform to its nature and purpose. It is not the basis for speculation (1:4) or for salvation (Rom 3:20).”“The Law is abused when I assign to the Law more than it can accomplish. Good works are necessary and the Law must be kept, but the Law does not justify.

To correctly understand the word of God you have to know that all of us fall short of what the law teaches us, and in us is no righteousness that can save us.

Guarding the gospel out of love means handling the word of God correctly.

Second point this morning.

Guarding the gospel out of love means living by godly standards.

So Paul says who the gospel is for, this is much like our text in Romans last week.

When you read that list you may think to yourself this sounds similar to something I may not be able to place it well Paul I believe is having the 10 commandments in mind here. Showing the standards to which we ought to live, really reminding Timothy and us that there is a standard that even these false teachers cannot live up to. It is possible that these false teachers were not even calling out sin. And Paul is throwing the hammer down here in these few verses saying we all all guilty of sin.

Fallen people don’t live as though there is Gods law. These are people who have no biblical standard what so ever, these are people who go against the word of God. These are ungodly people who lead themselves down a path of unrighteousness.

And Paul says how this is fleshed out. These people strike their mothers and fathers. ( They go against the 5th commandment. Which is to honor their parents )

They are murders ( 6th commandment ) I would add those who murder inside the womb as well.

They are sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, ( 7th commandment ) ( This is any realationship outside of the parameters of a biblical marriage ( one man one women )

they are enslavers (8th commandment ) During that time people stole people to enslave them especially young children during that time, the world today has so many people who are human trafficed as well, we had the horrible slavery in this country, and many other countries as well.

liars, perjurers ( 9th commandment ) Non truth tellers, which is what these false teachers were

But Paul knowing how legalist the world is, and showing Timothy how to handle and live out the word properly adds to the very end of verse 10. Whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.

This word sound doctrine is only found in this book, and its used in such a way to describe being healthy. So Paul saying to Timothy whatever is unhealthy to the church get rid of it.

One man made this fantastic list describing what this looks like.

(1) What is contrary to the Old Testament law is also contrary to Christian doctrine.

(2) True doctrine is called “sound” or healthy. This word is a medical term.

(3) The sound doctrine in turn “conforms to the glorious gospel.” The first teaching that the non-Christians heard through the preaching of the gospel and the subsequent instruction they received through the teaching of doctrine were consistent with each other.

(4) This gospel comes from the “blessed God.” This emphasizes both its truth and its immense importance.

(5) That gospel was entrusted to Paul, a fact that expresses both Paul’s authority and his responsibility in communicating it.

Don’t go against the word of the Holy God, who sent his son to die for our sins…

So how do we close out todays message....

Words from one of my favorite pastors John Piper sounds good to me.. Listen carefully what he has to say… But for the righteous – for people who have come to Christ for justification and come to Christ for the inner spiritual power to love, this role of the law is past. From now on, the place where we seek the power to love is not the law of commandments but the gospel of Christ.

I think we see this powerfully in verses 10b-11. Notice how Paul sums up all that the law must be against and restrain: "whatever is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God." So where does behavior come from that is not "contrary to sound teaching," and is "in accord with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God?" Answer: it comes from that gospel. It comes from the clean heart and the good conscience and the sincere faith that this gospel calls into being. The law does not produce a life of love that accords with the gospel. The gospel produces a life of love that accords with the gospel.

Justification by faith alone apart from works of the law, and sanctification by faith through the power of the Spirit – these produce a life of love that accords with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. And woe to those who try to fix your personality or your marriage or your children or your finances or your vocation or your church or your mission or your commitment to justice, but do not understand this gospel dynamic, and turn counsel in to new law.

Friends the law will never save you, legalism will never save you only Jesus can. And the gospel is good news because it speaks of the one who stepped into his own creation lived a sinless perfect life, dying on the cross, rising from the dead so all those who believe in him can have life.

Friends do you know him, if you dont today repent of your sins trust in Christ and never be the same again. Let us be people who Love and Guard the gospel with all we have!

Let us pray.