Whose example do you follow?

If you have a bible please open it up to 2 Timothy 3. I have titled the message this morning Whose example do you follow?

So far in the book of 2 Timothy we have seen Paul really Pour out his heart to Timothy about staying true to the teachings of the Lord. No matter what the opposition is. While at the same time teaching him how to live out the gospel in his everyday life and ministry.

Today we see really two sets of examples. A Godly example and a worldly example and I throughout the sermon I want to ask you the question whose example do you follow?

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

Christians are to follow the right examples, and avoid the wrong examples.

The text reads as following…

2 Timothy 3:1–13 ESV

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. 10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

As we went through the text there are several things I want you to see. The first is this…

Christians should expect difficulty.

Paul tells Timothy But I want you to understand this… That in the last days there will come times of difficulty. Notice the word but in the beginning of the text we are in today that but is there to indicate a contrast of what Paul was just writing to Timothy.

If you remember back in chapter 2 Paul was telling Timothy have people flee those youthful passions and pursue the right things correct them with gentleness so that they might come to their senses and be saved. But there are going to be people who wont. So you have to expect some sort of pushback from others.

Now in every generation that has ever lived since Jesus time there is always the saying we are living in the last days. This is it Jesus is about to come, and the reality is he is coming, but we have been living in the last days since he left this world physically. The last days the scripture says is the time between Jesus resurrection, and Jesus second coming… So the last two thousand years we have been living in the last days.

And when we read this text you may have been nodding your head in agreement that all things things characterize the world we live in. And Paul is telling Timothy understand that there will be difficulty. If you read acts you see the disciples always had pushback always lived in a dark world we should expect the same thing. Jesus himself said expect that difficulty is going to occur. Jesus himself said in John 15:18 this.

John 15:18 ESV

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

The word difficult does not do it justice when it comes to the english translation either. I want you to hear what one pastor says..

“Difficulty” is a mild translation. The word is used in one other place in the New Testament, namely, Matthew 8:28 in reference to the demoniacs of Gad-ara: “Two demon-possessed men met Jesus, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.” Fierce. That is the word used in 2 Timothy 3:1, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come fierce seasons.”

In other words, the evil will not simply be ugly to watch, and grievous to the godly mind, it will be at times violent, fierce — verbally fierce and physically fierce.

The days we are living in are evil. There is no doubt about, but why is that the case? I think Paul tells us why this is the case in verses 2-5. Jot this down as your second point today…

Christians need to understand the characteristics of the world and of false teachers.

Paul lists out 19 different attributes of people who are not following Christ. One thing I read this week said. Sinful people who live corrupt lives create difficult times.

Another man said something that I feel is very accurate. Everyone worships something or someone, and one’s life is a spillover of that supreme love x2 I am going to read that again because I think that is so Good.

I want you to notice what Paul says. He says for people will be lovers of many things. And going with that quote it seems that the world loves itself and things more than it does who created all things. And when you are the lover of self lover of money, and the lover of pleasure before God what are you going to naturally do? Put those things in the place of God.

It all goes back to the golden rule. That rule we see in the gospels, to which one gospel says… Mark 12:28-31

Mark 12:28–31 ESV

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Love in its proper place defines the believer, but love in the wrong places defines the world.

So when it comes to these three things that the world loves more than God you get 16 characteristics. One scholar says this is narcissism, materialism, and hedonism. I love what other man said. Clearly, when love of God is replaced with other loves, all sorts of vices follow. Truly when you think about it when our love does not first go to the Lord bad worldly things come from it.

When looking at the order of these verses I believe its all intentional starting with the Lovers of self. Now the first fruit of the spirit you should know is Love for others, now when you live in the flesh your primary love is going to be a lover of self. A lover of self is the source of idolatry. In fact I will argue with you today that being a lover of self over all things breeds being proud, and arrogant. It makes you boast or brag in your own doings instead of giving it to God.

It makes you abusive, and the word here for abusive simply means one who is a blasphemer more specifically in this case as one who demeans others. When you love yourself it causes you to be disobedient to your parents. Ultimately its an issue of authority. It causes you to be heartless not loving things in there proper way. It causes you to be unappeasable saying I have to win everything. It says slanderous things. The word here is the same word used of the devil. Its a love that is brutal one that thinks like a beast. It does not love Good. People like this love what they want to love. IT makes one treacherous or a traitor because they love themselves more than God. It makes one Reckless which means they will stop at nothing to do fit into their own agenda. It makes one swollen with conceit. Puffed up. He would desire himself over God and his grace. Finally a lover of self may look the part, may do all the right things, but be dead spiritually.

One man said something good on verse 5. He said. Apart from the gospel, people are just practicing dead religion. No Christ no power. People can go to Church their whole life, have an office in the church, even move their bedroom in the church , but if they do not have Christ, they do not possess spiritual life. That is what happens when you love yourself so much you may appear to even be godly, but be as lost as anyone else.

Going back to the text we see lovers of money. We have already established its ok to have wealth, God may grant you with the most money in the world, but if you love it there lies the problem. I think the word ungrateful ties into the love of money, because at the end of the day if you don’t see everything you have as a gift from the Lord then you will be ungrateful because its never enough.

Finally there is this lovers of pleasure. These are people who would rather love pleasing themselves than pleasing God. I would argue today that the world shouts the idea that we need to be lovers of pleasure, we need to seek out what makes us feel good even if that goes against the word of God. Which is turn makes us UnHoly which goes against everything the Lord calls good, and sacred.

So what is the solution to these things for believers avoid these people, but know how to fight it yourself. How do you fight off the ways of the world.

I think one man I read this week explains it well. He says this… that pastors and I would argue Christians must prepare for three main temptations that plunge leaders and believers into ruin: narcissism, hedonism, and materialism. He said the first temptation is the temptation "to be" (narcissism), the second is the temptation "to feel" (hedonism), and the third is the temptation "to have" (materialism). He said that every moral failure of pastors and i would argue believers is due to one of these three traps. He added that virtually every television commercial is aimed at one of these three temptations. He said he used to ask his kids after each commercial, "Which of the three temptations was that commercial?"

The pastor said that leaders and again I would argue believers must fight these three temptations by pursuing the opposite of each: humility (in contrast to narcissism), integrity (in contrast to hedonism), and generosity (in contrast to materialism). Indeed, we are to be "lovers of God" ultimately. Out of the overflow of love for God, we can live lives of humility, integrity, and generosity. The psalmist expresses the supreme love: "Who do I have in heaven but You? And I desire nothing on earth but You".

Godliness begins with adoration for God. What is your greatest love? When you are satisfied in Him and Him alone, then you will find these godly virtues present in your life.

So Good. Know these ungodly characteristics, but importantly know God. Love him and it will help you fight the desires of the flesh.

Now Paul does not just end with this list that defines the people who will be difficult who be un-Christ like he shows what these people do. He says these people creep into households and capture weak women who are burdened with sins and led astray by various passions. Paul is not saying here that women are weak, he saying that false teachers pray upon the weakness of those who are burdened by their own sins and passions.

If you notice what False teachers like to do they go after weakness they go after desire. So many of those pastors who preach garbage go after carnal means. You see this from cult leaders all the time. They are known for the characteristics I just went through, and they unlike the shepherds who watch their flock go after the weakness of Christs children, and that happens in every generation.

in verse 7 Paul describes what they do they go after people who are always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. Something you need to know as a Christian you will always be learning but you better believe you will come to a place where you know the truth of the gospel you know the word of God enough to not be susceptible to hearing this new thing or that new thing and think ah now i get the gospel now I know what the truth is. You will get to a place where you are not thrown around like every wave you will know Jesus and his word and will deeply rooted.

Paul tells timothy this because there will be people in his day in our day that will pray on weak people who are so caught up with thier own issues that they will believe anything.

finally he gives an example of those people who oppose truth. These men are Jannes and Jambres and all we know about these men come from sources outside of the bible. It is believed these men saw the greatness of God and his miracles in Egypt as magicians of Pharaoh. It is believed that Exodus references these men. In Exodus 7:11-12 we see this event.

Exodus 7:11–12 ESV

11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

Now what Paul is doing here is saying these men who opposed God then are just like the ones who oppose God now. They are corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. And just like the snakes who were swallowed up that did not get far neither will the follow of these teachers these people who are far from God because Gods truth is plain to all. And as we have already seen in this letter and many other letters of the despite the fact that so many are against God and his word. They will not get very far. Because like the snakes who were eating up by Arrons rod. The snake crusher Jesus Christ makes it where the sheep hear his voice no matter the enemies ploy.

So we should in turn not follow the characteristics of these worldly people, but follow Godly examples.

Final point today is this…

Christians are to follow godly examples no matter the cost.

Imagine reading this letter for the first time as young Timothy once did, and he just read all these horrible things about the time he was living in thinking all this is going to happen to me to this generation how can I make it through, and then in verse 10 be reminded that you have been faithful. Friends God cares greatly about our faithfulness. And he gives us godly examples to follow. God has been beating me up the last few weeks with his word in a good way, something I read this week was really good it said.

Every leader should be able to say, follow me as I follow Christ. This is leadership 101. Leadership is not Lordship. Leadership is about following Jesus and inviting others to come along. Paul illustrated this as well as anyone.

In fact Paul gives a new list reminding Timothy that you in this fallin broken world have followed me as I have followed Christ.

He said.. He has followed his teaching. Paul believes with his heart that Timothy followed the apostolic teachings of Paul, and that he is passing them down as we spoke about just a few weeks ago. That Timothy had the right conduct. He lived up to the expectations of what was called for a pastor and a believer of Christ. That he lived out his purpose faithfully depending on God. That he was passionately pastoring this church through the difficult time, that he was loving as Paul loved seeking the interests of others and not himself. That he was steadfast just like Paul enduring all things even the persecutions, and the sufferings like Paul had.

Friends as your pastor those things I want to define me, and you. That we are ones who teach and are taught from the word of God. That are conduct aligns with the scriptures that our purpose is fulfilled in this life that our faith will be so present that no teacher no war no occurrence can sway the faith we have been giving by jesus Christ, and we are people who wait on the Lord loving him and others every second of every day.

Going back to Paul he mentions three different events where he was greatly persecuted. We have been reading through these on Wednesday nights in our study of Acts. But in Antioch The Jews greatly persecuted him. In Iconium some sought to kill him by stoning him, but he escaped, but when he went to Lystra they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city supposing he was dead. Yet every single time the Lord saw him through, he endured because the Lord rescued him. In fact in Acts 14:22

Acts 14:22 ESV

22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

He reminds Timothy he reminds us that if you desire to be a godly person you will be persecuted, and those who are evil like we read about in verse 1-9 they will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Friends to follow Godly examples you need to expect persecution. I really like what one man said. Paul offers no exceptions to "all," but we must be careful not to conclude too quickly that someone not suffering must not be a believer. A Christian's living out a peaceful life indicates one of two things:

They have not experienced persecution yet, but will. We have misunderstood what the Bible means by "persecution." We tend to think of "persecution" solely in terms of intense forms of suffering for the faith.

Yet Christ says that to "revile" or to "utter all kinds of evil against you" fits in the category of "persecution" We see that in Matthew 5:10-12

Matthew 5:10–12 ESV

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Thus persecution does not always involve physical suffering that could lead to death. Persecution involves any form of mistreatment for the sake of the gospel, ranging anywhere from verbal opposition to being arrested to losing all of one's possessions or even to physical suffering and loss of life.

AS we begin to close today I have to ask you who example are you following? Paul’s and Timothy or the world. Better yet are you following the perfect example who is Jesus Christ. Who said. Luke 14:27

Luke 14:27 ESV

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Understand this… Jesus came during difficult times, in a time that describes the verses we covered today, but Jesus did not succumb to any of the unrighteousness of the day rather he avoided it, and because he avoided it following the teachings of the Holy Word of God, as God his conduct was perfect free from sin living out his purpose by faith he lived the life he was called to to the point of death even death on the cross he went there with great faith, and love for you knowing that every hit and foul word going to the cross to die and rise again would pay for your sin, and though his own creation mocked him said horrible things about it, it was the will of God from him to suffer and show us the great love he had went and took the wrath of God making salvation happen for his Children. Don’t you want to follow him who is sitting at the right God rather than following the world whose follow will take them not very far in fact will take them to place where all go who never say Jesus is my Lord I want to follow him for the rest of my days.

So before you leave ask yourselves whose example do I follow? Let us pray.