8. 1Tim. 1.3-11 Gospel WarningPt1

1Ti 1:3-11 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.

The last time we looked at this text we focused on the right use of the law for the Christian. Though keeping of the moral law does not justify us before God as no one will be justified by the works of the Law. It is the same moral law that once written on the tablets of stone has now been written on our hearts in fulfillment of the promise God made in the New Covenant. Therefore, those who are in Christ Jesus delight in the Law of God in our inner being. Though the Law has been written upon the heart of every believer we are no longer under its legal demands for perfect obedience or its just condemnation because Jesus Christ the righteous has accomplished it for us. Does this mean we are free to sin and live in any way we choose? No!

When we looked at Romans 3:19-26 We saw that that we are justified by faith alone, in Christ alone. We are the ‘just’ mentioned in verse 9. In His righteousness, we are made righteous as we read in Romans 5. The law for us has been nailed to the cross with Christ as Paul states in Col 2. But being students of the Bible we ask why Paul included the negative (who the law was laid down for), when he was speaking to his son in the faith, Timothy. Let’s look at the context. 1) Timothy was to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine verse 3. 2) Any faith and practice outside the boundary of God’s Law is contrary to sound doctrine, verse 10. You see the connection between doctrine and practice. Doctrine defines our practice. Practice, the daily working out of our faith in how we worship in this church, how live in our families and in our communities is a direct reflection of our doctrine. 3) Paul writes: 1Ti 3:14-15  I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that,  (15)  if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Now we understand why Paul includes who the law was laid down for. It is a warning. As part of this introduction there are some statistics and then study from the Barna group I’d like to share with you this morning. In 2020 70% of Americans identified as Christian. With a population of 330 million people that means the 210 million identify as Christian. This study is from 2016 and it is safe to assume it is either the same or worse than in 2016.

Two-thirds of American adults either believe moral truth is relative to circumstances (44%) or have not given it much thought (21%). About one-third, on the other hand, believes moral truth is absolute (35%). Millennials are more likely than other age cohorts to say moral truth is relative—in fact, half of them say so (51%), compared to 44 percent of Gen-Xers, 41 percent of Boomers and 39 percent of Elders. Among the generations, Boomers are most likely to say moral truth is absolute (42%), while Elders are more likely than other age groups to admit they have never thought about it (28%).

Practicing Christians (59%) are nearly four times more likely than adults with no faith (15%) to believe moral truth is absolute. Those with no faith (61%), meanwhile, are twice as likely as practicing Christians (28%) to say it is relative to circumstances. Americans who adhere to a faith other than Christianity are roughly on par with the national average on this question.

The study further states that Americans are both concerned about the nation’s moral condition and confused about morality itself. As nominally Christian moral norms are discarded what, if anything, is taking their place? Barna’s research reveals the degree to which Americans pledge allegiance to the “morality of self-fulfillment,” a new moral code that, as David Kinnaman, President of Barna argues, has all but replaced Christianity as the culture’s moral norm.

The morality of self-fulfillment can be summed up in six guiding principles.

What the Research Means

“The highest good, according to our society, is ‘finding yourself’ and then living by ‘what’s right for you,'” says David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group in Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme. “There is a tremendous amount of individualism in today’s society, and that’s reflected in the church too. Millions of Christians have grafted New Age dogma onto their spiritual person. When we peel back the layers, we find that many Christians are using the way of Jesus to pursue the way of self. . . . While we wring our hands about secularism spreading through culture, a majority of churchgoing Christians have embraced corrupt, me-centered theology.

“So, there appears to be a dichotomy at work among practicing Christians in America,” Kinnaman continues. “Most believe that the Bible is the source of moral norms that transcend a person’s culture, and that those moral truths are absolute rather than relative to circumstances. Yet, at the same time, solid majorities ascribe to five of the six tenets of the new moral code. Such widespread cognitive dissonance—among both practicing Christians and Americans more generally—is another indicator of the cultural flux Barna has identified through the past two decades. But it also represents an opportunity for leaders and mentors who are prepared to coach people—especially young people—toward deeper wisdom and greater discernment.”

COMPARISON OF PAUL'S DESCRIPTION WITH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

1 Timothy 1:9-10 Ten Commandments Ex 20:1-17

Lawless and disobedient 1. No other gods

Ungodly and sinners 2. No idols

Unholy and profane 3. Not take Lord’s name in vain

--- 4. Keep Sabbath

Strikes/murders of fathers & mothers 5. Honor parents

Murderers 6. No murder

Immoral men, homosexuals 7. No adultery

Kidnappers/slave stealers 8. No stealing

Liars and perjurers 9. No false witness

Whatever else is contrary 10. No coveting

This morning we will begin working our way through this list. It is important to see how Paul’s list corresponds to the 10 Commandments and to draw our practical applications from there.

1. Lawless and disobedient - You shall have no other gods before ME

What does it mean to be lawless and disobedient and how does that correlate to the 1st Law? Lawless does not mean that they were ignorant of the law, rather they knew it and acted contrary to it. It is a refusal to recognize and submit to the law as given by God. It is a willful crossing of the moral line that God has set and established as is His right, based upon His perfect character and nature as God and Creator of all things. A rejection of the Law of God is a rejection of the Law Giver God Himself. When there is a rejection of His law we establish that we are a law unto ourselves. We have made ourselves god. This attitude is refelected in the Barn Group Study. When God gave Moses the law He used the word you. It is a 2nd person singular pronoun indicating our personal responsibility to obedience. When Paul is speaking of lawless and disobedient it is clear that he is speaking of people who have made themselves god in their own sight. But it has broader application. Any deviation from what God expressly says about Himself in His word means that we have set before us a god other than the God of the Bible. Obedience to the Law implies a faith and belief in God. Disobedience is a natural result of lawlessness. If there is a refusal and rejection of God and His law there will certainly be no obedience to it.

Rom 1:21-23  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  (22)  Claiming to be wise, they became fools,  (23)  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

How do we prevent ourselves and our church from sliding into lawlessness and disobedience and violating the first commandment?

1. We must acknowledge Him as God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. To acknowledge in this manner is to own with particular regard. Pro 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  (6)  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

2. We must choose God. Josh 24:16 Choose you this day whom you will serve. A good choice can only be made with knowledge. Knowing His attributes, His majesty, his holiness, rich in mercy, and faithful in promise. The Psalmist says… O taste and see that the Lord is good.

3. We must reverence Him. The seraphim in heaven who stood before God covered their faces, Moses bowed down low to worship, Elijah wrapped himself in his clock when coming before Him. What is the attitude of our hearts when we approach God in our private devotions, or family devotions, and our worship at church and the daily living of our life in the world?

4.We must fear God. To always have him before us. Psa 16:8  I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.. He who fears the Lord knows that He watches what we are doing with eyes that never slumber nor sleep.

5. We must trust Him. There is no other we can trust. Men will let us down, there is nothing and no one who orders the universe and ordains all things except the Lord. This does not mean there will not be times of struggle, or times even when we are anxious but it the continual casting ourselves upon in the midst of it all. Just as the father of the demon possessed boy told Jesus, Lord I believe, help my unbelief’, we can like wise say Lord I trust You help me to trust You.

2. Ungodly and sinners – Exo 20:4-6  “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  (5)  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,  (6)  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Ungodliness means a lack of interest in the things of God and a behavior consistent with such an attitude. It pertains to violating the norms of a right relationship with God. Sinners is in reference to someone who is by nature continually missing the mark of obedience to God’s commands. One of the characteristics of the ungodly and sinner is that they do not worship God as He has prescribed in His word. The first two commands, at face value, appear the same but the first commandment tells us that we are to have no other gods but God. He is to be the exclusive object of our worship, the ultimate object of our love and desire. The second commandment is similar and tells us that we are not to worship God according to our own conception of God, what the Bible calls idolatry. We must worship God according to who he is and not according to what we want him to be. In other words, do not worship false gods, and do not worship God falsely.

The warning is this. We are not free to order our worship of God apart from how it is prescribed in His word. Modern worship has less to do with magnifying God and more to do with our own self satisfaction. Worship has become for many a laser light show with a performance worthy of a rock concert. Worship is not about us. If it is we have supplanted to true God for the worship of an idol. How do we avoid the sin of idolatry.

1. We must first be focused on the first commandment if we are to have any hope in obeying the second. It must be our single-minded passion to have no other Gods before us. Our desires, or comforts, all those things that we hold most dear must always come second place. Then it will not be what we would like as the primary motivation of worship. It is not what will draw the biggest crowd as though the circus has come into town. Rather we will gather for the reverential, right worship of the Triune God.

2. We must search and study carefully the Scripture those essential elements that God requires for His right worship. While the Scripture gives latitude in the types of hymns and songs we sing they must be theologically rich in truth to engage our minds and our hearts rather than just exciting our emotions.

3. We must prepare ourselves for the worship of God. Sunday we bring acceptable offerings of our prayers and praise through Jesus Christ. We cannot do so if we neglect preparing our hearts with the daily reading of Scripture and prayer. Do we come prepared and ready with our lamps full of oil and wicks trimmed to meet with the Bridegroom of the church?

May God help us in walking carefully before Him in reference and fear. Amen