20a) 1 Timothy Sermon - Confronting Sin
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
We come today to the last major section of the letter from Paul to his young friend and fellow minister Timothy. In this final section Paul commands Timothy to address sin in the church and points out a list of specific behaviors and actions that have come to be found in the church.
We turn to our text today and we our text this morning.
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.
This seems to be a fairly straight forward passage and can be glossed over if we are not careful to see what Paul was teaching Timothy. If we turn back to our passage last week Paul we see that Paul has instructed Timothy
In the last chapter, we saw that Timothy was to train in godliness, be an example to the believers, and to devote himself to the public reading of the word, exhortation and teaching.
13 Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. 14 Don’t neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. 15 Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
He is to be a herald of the the words of God. Of the word, of the truth and he is to pay attention to his life and teaching and he is to be seen as one who is progressing in his walk with God.
He is supposed to lead in his ministry by bringing forth the words of God, the truth. He is to Pay close attention to his own life as it grows in the word and his teaching so that it does not deviate from the word.
Does this seem like a big jump in Paul’s thought process? Did he just completely change topics? The answer is no. This is actually a seamless transition from preaching the word to confronting sin.
True biblical preaching must confront sin. This is not something that comes from the preacher himself. There is nothing in him or his abilities that Paul is calling out here. It is just the simple principle that
The Word of God Confronts Sin
Preaching Will Confront Sin
Preaching Will Confront Sin
The only way that a preacher can preach in a way that does not address sin is if they are not teaching the truth, teaching the bible. Only what aligns with God is truth and anything that does not align with God is false. What aligns with God is godly and what does not is sin.
If we look back to the the church in Ephesus. It has allowed sin to creep into the church and create issues among the body.
Paul warned them many years before to be on guard and to be alert.
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.
As he met with his friends, disciples and fellow church leaders he warned them to pay attention and to be alert to the danger that will be coming.
Fellow Christians will fall into the trap of the enemy that entices them to be puffed up and filled with pride when people are drawn to their teachings and their ideas. The have a conversation about these new ideas and they are applauded by their new revelation and insight. The people will exalt them even though they have turned from the sound teaching of God.
Throughout the entire letter to Timothy it is the fight for the truth. He is to deal with the false teachers and their false doctrine and the sin that comes from following these false doctrines. So he it to preach and in doing so he will also be one who is correcting.
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
That threat of people rising up in the church in the flock that will distort the truth and lure other believers to follow them. New ideas, new revelation, better interpretations.
But Timothy as a leader is to focus on
2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
The preaching of the word of God publicly and privately will correct, rebuke and encourage the hearers of the word.
Confronting Sin
Confronting Sin
A church that is not actively confronting sin with fall into all sorts of trouble and conflict. I think most people in churches would agree with this in theory but get really uncomfortable with it in practice. Many have been hurt in the past when they were confronted with their sin. Others were humiliated and ridiculed like they were the only sinner in the world. Others have seen unloving and unbiblical church discipline conducted.
All of this leads to being far from comfortable dealing with our sin and being in close enough community that we know the sin that our brothers and sisters struggle in.
A majority of the remaining letter will be instruction on confronting sin. So how is he instructed to do this.
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.
Paul tells him that he is to not rebuke but exhort fellow believers. He uses the image of a family to bring to light how he is to accomplish this.
But it there a contradiction between 2 Tim 4:2 that we already read and this verse?
2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
How can Timothy Preach the word and be ready to rebuke but also be commanded to not rebuke fellow believers. Paul uses two different Greek words here.
Both words have the same prefix epi meaning to put on or over. We use this prefix today in words like epitaph: an inscription on a tombstone or epidermis which our skin on the outside of us. Both words used by Paul are used as putting on or over something.
The difference is in the root. In our verse the root is “strike” which is only used in this one place in the bible. It bring the image of any angry verbal “strike” a condemnation.
It is very close to the word that Paul uses to describe the appropriate demeanor of church Elders and is translated as bully, or a cruel and brutal person.
3 not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy.
The second word which is common in the bible has a root of honor, value or price. It is the word used when Jesus would rebuke the winds, demons and even when he rebuked Peter
33 But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”
Paul is not contradicting himself here. There are time to rebuke people but Paul is instructing Timothy to encourage or exhort those he is correcting. This word means to come along side someone and to urge or implore them. To guide instead of bash. To encourage instead of belittle.
The the prefix on this word is para, which is where we get para-medic.
The word for encourage has the same prefix and root of the word that John uses to describe the Holy Spirit as a helper.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.
and it is the word translated as advocate or intercessor for Jesus.
1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.
Paul is pointing Timothy to see his ministry in the light of the example of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus who never compromised the truth with people but came along side of people and shown the truth to them to respond too.
He was to have the heart of Christ in mind as he went into the church and corrected sin.
I once new a pastor that firmly believed in a season of his ministry that not only was he called as a pastor to point out other peoples sin but he was required to do so. The result many times was not encouraging but came across as a bully. It created conflict and animosity. The hard part is many times he was correct in his estimation but his delivery was much closer to a strike and a blow that a urging and encouragement.
The way the NASB translates this verse seems to align more with the Greek than many of the other translation that I looked at.
1 Timothy 5:1 (NASB)
1 Do not sharply rebuke ..., but rather appeal ...
He is to not be a violent bully but to approach them like he would his family. By this image Paul leaves no one out and uses the family relationships to help him by reinforcing cultural forms of respect and honor.
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.
Correct with Respect
Correct with Respect
The culture of family has changed much from the Jewish culture to today. Today the typical family unit is far from the culture of Timothy’s time. Paul instructs him to treat all older men and women as he would his own father and mother.
In that time both in the Jewish and Greek cultures older men were to be treated with great respect. For the Jews the foundation of this was the 5th commandment.
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
This played a great role in the culture of the Jewish family. Respect was extremely important and the scriptures reinforced this.
Lev 19
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3 “Each of you is to respect his mother and father. ... 32 “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. ... 37 Keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.”
God says because I am holy you to are to be holy and the very first think he commands is to respect mother and father. Keep these. God specifically commands the people to give honor to those that are old. These are ways to demonstrate holiness like God is Holy.
31 Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the ways of righteousness.
29 The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair.
These are the positive commands but what if this did not happen. The punishment of a crime many times reveals the severity of the behavior.
In the next chapter of Exodus after the 5th commandment is given there is this warning
17 “Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.
And Moses writes before the Israelites go into the promised land. Or what about a stubborn or rebellious son.
18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn’t listen to them even after they discipline him, 19 his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. 20 They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
Let that sink in for a minute. The Jewish community valued the older generations and the fathers and mothers with such great respect and honor that a rebellious son’s behavior s defined as evil and the community was to purge him from the community.
We are shocked by that. We look at and go how cruel and inappropriate. We would could never be so evil to do such a thing. The killings would never end. What a mirror to how much sin is allowed to exist in the community of God. It wasn’t that this would happen all the time it was that God's holiness and instruction was so honored that one would not dare be disrespectful to their parents.
We live in a time where there is no fear of punishment. There are no consequences that invoke fear in those that would sin against other people. and we are so far gone from the standard’s of God that even those who profess to believe in the word of God as truth will call what the bible calls evil good and good evil.
Would parents raise their children differently if trained rebellion could lead to the death of their child. Would a child have a different attitude if there were different punishments?
The reason this is important is that we do not picture in our minds what Timothy is seeing in his. How careful would you approach your mother and father if they were in sin and in the wrong? You would approach with great care and wisdom. You would appeal to them not violently or angerly or in a harsh fashion because that would be ungodly.
He is to approach those that are older that him in the church will correction that comes with great respect and honor.
His appointment and calling to not give him freedom to be arrogant, unloving, or disrespectful to the older members of the church even in the correction of sin.
Correct in Humility
Correct in Humility
For those in the church that required correction he was to treat them as brothers and sisters. In homes that have great respect for parents there will be a common respect among siblings.
Though he was to be respects as an older man, he was not to correct sin from that superiority. He was to come to them with humility like Christ and walk with them and appeal to them, strengthen them and lift them up. To treat them as equals in the family.
There was to be love and respect between brothers and sisters in biological families as well as spiritual families.
17 “Do not harbor hatred against your brother. Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him. 18 Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
Love was to be the central part of the the family and the household of God.
1 Let brotherly love continue.
He was not to be overbearing and harsh with those that were younger than himself. He was to treat them with respect and love while he was correcting their sin. This removes the pride that can seep into a leaders heart when he is shepherding those that may be younger than himself.
10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.
Paul has left no one out he is to appeal to everyone in a way that is not prideful or harsh. However he adds one extra clarification to how Timothy was to correct younger women.
2 older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters with all purity.
He says he is to appeal to them with all purity.
This is the second time that Paul has specifically used this Greek word. In verse 4:12 where he was to set and example to the believers in his purity.
There are a couple of point that can be made here.
The first is that he must not neglect young women out of fear. Timothy is to appeal to and correct the sin of even younger women in the church. He must be an example of purity but that does not exempt him from correcting the sin. He cannot turn a blind eye in the name of purity. There is almost a morbid fear of the potential accusation that many church leaders all but refuse to speak to younger women in the fear they will be accused of immorality.
With false accusations that are launched at church leaders it can be devastating to a pastor or church leader if a young women makes an accusation. So many choose to refrain from interacting at all with them and assign them and delegate their care to those that are not responsible to watch out for their souls
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Timothy must not forget they are part of the flock and under his watch.
The second is that he must not lead young women into sin. The bible speaks much of the sins of sexual immorality and the consequences of it on the leader and the church. That is one of the reasons for such a high standard for church elders. He must be beyond reproach. That means if an accusation in made that it would not be found to be true for him. This year alone we have seen highly respected pastors and christian leaders who have used their positions of authority and acclaim to lead women that are under their watch into sin.
He must be wise and careful in how he confronts sin with younger women. There are many ways to do this. like having their wife aware and involved in the council, or raising women to participate in conversations about sin. Being careful on being transparent and refrain from behaviors that could lead to temptation for the church leader.
Third he must be very wise when confronting the sins of moral impurity. That he may not fall into any temptation or snare of the devil as he tries to do the right thing but puts himself at risk.
The elders of the church must be especially careful and discerning when it comes to how they appeal to the women that are under their watch. Just in this letter alone Paul brings up purity multiple times in different ways including the qualifications of overseers of the church.
This is an issue that is growing today. Pastors are not confronting sin will younger women with all purity they are instead leading them into sin. One study found that 40% of pastors admit to having and extramarital affair after entering the ministry many times with someone from their church and only 27% of pastors believe that and affair would permanently disqualify a man from church leadership.
What does this mean? We live a culture and time that is so far away from the standard from Timothy’s time let alone God’s holy standard, that we struggle to see what Paul is calling him too. He says it this way in 2 Timothy
24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.
Timothy is to confront the sin in the church and for much of the rest of the letter he will instruct him on different areas that are in need of correction. Without correction evil will grow and the church will become more and more corrupted and further and further from God.
But God’s word teaches that there are many reasons to confront sin. For we want to be aligned with God, we want his blessing and his hand on our lives. We want to please the father, and sin always brings consequence.
But the bible teaches that there are many blessings when sin is corrected.
Blessings of Confronting Sin
Blessings of Confronting Sin
In Job correction brings happiness.
17 See how happy is the person whom God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.
In proverbs corrective discipline is the way to life.
23 For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.
Correction brings understanding and insight.
32 Anyone who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever listens to correction acquires good sense.
Correction brings knowledge.
25 Strike a mocker, and the inexperienced learn a lesson; rebuke the discerning, and he gains knowledge.
and Wisdom
31 One who listens to life-giving rebukes will be at home among the wise.
it lift up and brings honor
18 Poverty and disgrace come to those who ignore discipline, but the one who accepts correction will be honored.
Timothy is to be an example to the church and his example to be a staple in the family of God.
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Timothy as a leader of the church is being called out and encouraged to step to the front and confront the sin that has developed in the church unchecked. He is to do this in a loving and encouraging way. And God gives all of us great instruction on how we are to confront sin among each other and even in our own families.
Is our correction lifting up or is it harsh and violent? Is it loving? Or is it done in anger?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Such a light hearted topic to start out the new year. But one that has great consequences if the church and leaders do not take this seriously. It is a call to the church from God to be Holy for I am Holy. Do not conform to the ways of this world.
God has not changed or his standards for his people.
When we look at the words of the prophets in the old testament and the words of the new testament writers, we see that a large portion of the teaching is correction of sin inside the community of God’s people.
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
We should come to the word of God with the same heart as that of the Bereans
11 The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
We should come to the word expecting to hear from God and we should not be surprised when we are confronted by it, when our sin is revealed and that we are appealed to and encouraged to repent and turn from our sinful behavior.
When we look back at history it is when the church drifts from the word that sin starts to become acceptable inside the community. And the people turn from God. Every revival, reformation, awakening has been when God’s people come back to the scriptures, read them, search them, and then through the work of the Holy Spirit they are changed by them.
It does not matter what the acceptable standard is in the country we live in, or in the contemporary church. What matters is God’s standard for holiness.
This is to what we are looking to and when we are conformed to it we will not look like the world but we will look like Jesus. Revealing him to a fallen and broken world in need of a savior.
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
5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.
