15e) Faith and Purity
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
We are going to continue in verse 12 of the fourth chapter of 1st Timothy today. Feel free to turn there while we take a short look at the whole of chapter 4. Paul is encouraging Timothy to lead the church against the false teachers and the effects of those teachers.
He instructed Timothy that there will be those that will depart from the faith by following and devoting themselves to the deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. That they come to follow the lies of false teachers and the commit their lives to them.
The false teachers are convincing people of things like that marriage is forbidden and that they are to abstain from food that God has created to be recieved with thanksgiving by those who know the truth.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.
There is a battle for the truth and the truth of God’s word is the standard for which they are to determine what is good or not.
He then instructs Timothy to be a good servant, to be found useful to God, he will have to confront these teachings as he has been trained in the words of faith and of good doctrine.
For the remainder of this chapter he will give Timothy instruction on what he needs to be and do in order to lead the Church well.
He is to train himself in godliness. He to have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. He is to continue to toil and strive in the ministry.
He is to command these things to the people of the church.
The last couple of weeks we have been looking at the example that he is supposed to set.
12 Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
We saw that Timothy is to live as an example of one who is growing into the image of Christ as he is the perfect example that believers are to follow. There is proper speech and conduct and we saw that both our words and our actions come from the overflow of what is stored up in our hearts.
45 A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
The third area he is to be an example in, is of his love for God and his love for his neighbor. The greatest commandments of love the lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind.
To love God is to follow his commands
John 14:15, 21
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands. ... 21 The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”
We are to be a people that express our love for God by being obedient to the Father. God is completely good and it is good for us to follow in his ways.
When we live out out those commands will be loving to our neighbors.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.
We will see them with compassion and we will care for and share with one another as a community of believers.
16 Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.
To love God is to dig in his word to find what his will is for your life by following his commands and instructions. When you do this a person’s speech and conduct will change as well as their faith and purity.
This is where we will pick up today.
12 Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
There is a theme through this chapter of pointing Timothy back to the centrality of God’s word in his work and in his life and in his ministry. What Paul is telling Timothy is to be a man that is living out the word of God in his life. Though the work of the Holy Spirit in his life and the next one that he should be an example of is his faith.
Example of Faith
Example of Faith
As a leader, his faith must be an example for others to follow. This goes two ways his faith and trust in the Lord and the promises of the the Lord. As well as being a faithful and trustworthy servant to the church.
He is to trust the lord and not rely on himself
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
To trust with all of your heart. Who here struggles to trust? Have you ever struggled to go onto a ride at Silverwood or another amusement park. Why won’t you just jump on it and go? In some way your do not trust the ride. Who here has ever had their trust betrayed? Isn’t it hard to believe in people again.
We are to trust God with all of our heart as he has always proved to be faithful to his word and his promises. We are to know God so that we will know the way to go.
1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. 3 For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. 4 Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.
Timothy is to commit his life to the ways of God
5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act, 6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday.
To fully commit to his way of doing things. His way of living. He is proven faithful and also provides for his people.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart celebrates, and I give thanks to him with my song.
When times are hard or things are not going our way it can be hard to trust in what the Lord is doing. Timothy is in a church that is having chaotic, self centered worship. There are people who are teaching others who have no idea what they are talking about. There are others that are creating false doctrines to pad their own pockets and to take advantage of those who will follow their lies.
Based on some of the latest news this may seem pretty relevant today.
Timothy’s church doesn’t sound like a great place to be. Timothy may even be thinking about throwing in the towel. What would a pastor do today in this situation. The church seems to be falling apart there is disorder and disunity and what does Paul tell him to do. To trust in the Lord to use you gift and equip and build up the church.
Stick it out. Fight the fight. Be an example of a man who trusts more in the work of God than what is right in front of him. He is to be steadfast in his faith in the Lord.
4 I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love for all the saints and the faith that you have in the Lord Jesus.
In being an example of one who is faithful to God, he must also be a man who is faithful to the church. He must be found to be trustworthy in his leadership and service to the church.
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
It is required that stewards be found faithful. Faithfulness is used to describe many of God’s servants. Moses is described as faithful.
5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.
Many of the letters to the churches refer to men who are faithful and they were to be trusted in their testimonies and teachings as they went from one christian community to another. This was a powerful testament of the character of a person. They were being sent with messages hundreds of miles to give the message that they have been given.
We see at one time Timothy was sent to the church in Corinth
17 This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
There are many other instances of people being called faithful servants. This is something Timothy was to be an example of a servant the lives in a way that he would receive the praise of the master.
23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’
Oh the stain of broken trust. In our home I don’t think there is much that has a larger consequence and impact than broken trust. In a matter of minutes years of trust can be broken. But it must be rebuilt by both parties as we are called to be unified. Timothy is in a church of unfaithful people and he is told to stay and correct. Equip the church. We cannot let broken trust fester in the body of believers. we must come together and rebuild that trust.
If we let it fester is will root itself in the heart and have lasting consequences. Deacon story
In the church all broken trust should be attempted to be rebuilt, with forgiveness and love. But when it comes to the Pastors and Elders of a church there are acts of unfaithfulness that disqualify them from being church leaders ever again. There are still brothers in christ and servants of the church but they remove themselves from being qualified by proving they are unfaithful especially in the realm of unfaithfulness to their wife.
There is a growing trend that men who prove to be unfaithful are secretly counselled for a period of weeks or months and then put back into the positions of leadership. I believe that practice goes against the requirement that overseers be beyond reproach and it ties into the next area that Timothy is to be an example in his purity.
Example of Purity
Example of Purity
The last area of his life that he is to be an example in is that of purity. The specific Greek word that Paul uses here is only found in the new testament in one other place and that is in the next chapter
1 Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters with all purity.
The word was typically used to describe moral purity specifically in the area of sexuality. As with the qualifications for overseers in chapter 3 we find that Timothy is to be an example of moral purity. In his second letter to Timothy he will write
22 Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
and
3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.
Paul may have used this specific word related to sexual purity because it may have been an issue in the early church as it is today. This seems to be the most devastating moral failure to a family and to a church. It is not uncommon to hear of a pastor or ministry leader that has fallen from this type of purity and there are long reaching consequences.
Even though Paul hones in on this specific element of purity, it doesn’t exclude a whole life of purity. The root word for this word is the word that is translated as Holy. From this root word we get the Greek words that translate into holy one, sanctify, sanctification, pure, innocent, purify, holiness, purity, purification and others.
When Peter writes,
15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
He is stating that we are to be pure like God is pure. In all of our conduct our lives are to align with the righteousness of God. Timothy is to be an example of being Holy as God is Holy. This is not something to scoff at as we are chosen and called to this.
4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.
God says in 1 Peter that we are being built into a holy priesthood, and a holy nation. (1 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 2:9)
We are members of God's household and being built into a holy temple.
19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.
We are no longer on the outside, we have been made into fellow citizens with the saints. Saints comes from the same root word that we get holy. It means holy one. So when Paul says that
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,
To equip the saints means to equip the holy ones. Those that God has made holy through his work.
22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—
Colossians 3:12–13 (CSB)
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, ...
Timothy like all believers are to be growing in his purity and holiness. Though we will never be fully pure until we are glorified in heaven, we are to strive and drive towards being holy and pure. As we grow in our likeness of Jesus who is the physical representation of the father who is worshiped day and night.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.
In the Scriptures we see that the Father is Holy, his angels are holy, the scriptures, the prophets, and the covenant are all holy. The things of God are holy and set apart for God to use as he pleases. Timothy is to be an example of a pure and holy man before the church he leads.
How is Timothy to accomplish this great task of being an example and leading the church though the challenges they face. He is to pay attention to the word.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This is the same encouragement for us today. We are to be a faithful people. Faithful to God and faithful to each other. We should be able to put our burdens into each others hands and know that they are handled with love and care.
Even if we have come to be a sceptical society. Which I believe we have? Who here can trust what they see and hear now? AI and other things have been giving false narratives for a long time. But in the church we should be a place of trust and unity. Working through the times where trust is broken as Christ is bigger than our situations.
We are to encourage each other to be holy as God is holy. To be pure, to grow in his likeness, little by little day by day. We should look different from the world. Doing the things and living in a way that is pleasing to God.
Timothy was to set and example for the church in his speech, conduct, love for God and his neighbor, his faith and his purity. All believers set an example for those who follow us. Our children, and family members, our co workers and the other people around us. So what example are we giving. Is it one that point to God or does it point to our own personal desires?
Let us be a holy People. Let us be pleasing to God. Let us set the example as well.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Communion
Warning
Children, Lost, Sin
19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Prayer
Song
Closing
Blessing/Benediction
Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.