1 Timothy 4:1-5

Introduction

I had the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Istanbul Turkey. While I was there we got to teach English with some of the folks around the Farsi church we were serving with. We went through the Bible and used it to guide the language training. During that training we were going through the book of Acts and I got the utter blessing of helping these men work through Acts 10. In Muslim culture there are many specific foods that are off limits, and one of the meanings behind Acts 10 is that God has made all things clean. And these men struggled because they believed they were learning from a Holy book. Many were already a part of the church. However, culture strongly informs our viewpoints. In Muslim culture it is a great insult to eat certain foods. So for us to teach them about what tue Bible says confused them. In the end, they said, “well maybe it is because they are unhealthy to eat and we need to still avoid it.” I wish back then that I had led them to our passage for the day. but at least they started to think about God giving us every good gift and that there is nothing unclean that God calls clean. our passage today 1 Timothy 4:1-5 and I would love if you turned there with me. It continues the teaching Paul has been giving to Timothy and to the overseers and deacons. He has, as we’ve learned over the past weeks, talked about the role of men and women, watching for false teachers, and last week we talked about the qualifications to join ministry at church. But before we go too much further, let us pray together.

1 Timothy 4 changes the tone of the letter. While there has been some warnings littered throughout the first few chapters, it is here where the letter changes to directly warn Timothy about demonic influences that might come up again him. This five verse aside fits in between gospel messages, last week, the qualities of the overseers and deacons were tagged with the Gospel and directly after this warning, Paul returns to gospel. This would be good to remember, as Paul wanted the Gospel to remain the focus, but this warning was important.

1 Timothy 4:1–2 CSB

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.

Paul points our attention to the Counselor, to the Spirit of Life. Paul here does something interesting because he references a truth in scripture where there is no direct passage of scripture. The translation of the word explicitly means “in Plain language” which is a basic truth that should be understood. Jesus himself taught this same less in Mark 13:22 “For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and will perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” . This idea is carried on in many other places in scripture so let’s walk through this message and see how it is explicitly said. The term In later times are talked about in detail in Daniel, Ezekiel, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and Revelation. This is the great Day of the Lord. When Christ returns, one of the main signs will be false prophets and anti-christ(s). Yes, plural as there are many who act as the forerunners of the anti-christ throughout history. We need to be on guard because 2 Timothy 4:3–4 says, “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. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.” They want to believe these because they sound nice. And in turn as 1 Timothy continues, they pay attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. One of my favorite works by C.S. Lewis is the Screwtape letters. Written as a conversation between two demons, the older is training the younger and he recommends not forcing them into the bigger sins like murder and thievery. he recommends distracting them with little things, distracting them with politics, the news, the radio (this was quite old but you could put tv shows or podcasts into this category). Then the demon continues by saying, “That way, they will lead themselves into their own destruction.” Right now, politics is a huge hot topic that causes so much divide within communities. How much is Satan using this discord to worm his way into our hearts and give us hatred, and dis-contentedness, and distracting us from the things that truly matter! The Gospel being spread to all nations, the love of God entering every humans heart, the salvation of the world!! Paul then continues by giving practical examples of what this deceitful teaching from a hypocrisy of liars is.

1 Timothy 4:3 CSB

They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth.

Now, I might know what you are thinking. When I first read this I said, “Didn’t Paul say to not get married?” but as Jordan preached a few weeks ago. Context matters. Marriage is incredibly important. So when Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:25–28 “Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is faithful. Because of the present distress, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. However, if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.” He is not saying that getting married is forbidden. He is saying that there was enough issues in the Corinthians church that the people should remain as they are until the situation was resolved! Paul himself uses marriage as one of the qualities of a good overseer and deacon. And many other places he writes on how marriage is a good thing. As for Abstinence from foods, this could be fad diets, it could be proclaiming as some in Messianic Judaism believe, that the foods of the old testament that were off limits are still off limits. But, that is not the case for a few reasons. 1st- In the beginning God gave us all things to eat. Genesis 2:16–17 says, “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”” and later after they are clothed from their sin, Genesis 9:3–4 says, “Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.” Literally, we cannot eat still living animals! That was the only stipulation. What about the law? Well, when it was given, many of the rules were based around cleanliness and health. That is where the muslim men I was teaching kind of had it right. We CAN eat these foods, but some of them are not healthy for us. Why was the split hooved animals banned? Because they often got poop in their hooves and would be sick more often than other animals. The law was given for cleansing the people of their sin through the sacrifice, but also to keep them from sin, and dirtiness in the world in a spiritual and a physical sense. So what does the word say about abstinence from certain foods? Acts 10:9–15 says, “The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the roof about noon. He became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth. In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” “No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything impure and ritually unclean.” Again, a second time, the voice said to him, “What God has made clean, do not call impure.””

1 Timothy 4:4 CSB

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

God created everything with a purpose, and this is where a lot of Christians misunderstand the Old Testament. It is not about what we cannot do, but how we can honor God in the things we do. We can honor God by being healthy and treating our bodies like a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), We can honor God by not eating the foods that were separated out for the sacrifices. This however, is no longer because Christ fulfilled the law! We can also honor God by listening to others around us. If they find it offensive, we can step back from ourselves and allow ourselves to love them enough to not eat that food for a while in their presence! Romans 14:15 says, “For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.” It is all about Honoring God, which is why Paul says, “Nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” As long as we give glory back to God, we can eat, we can get married, we can live our lives for him.

1 Timothy 4:5 CSB

since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.

Let us quickly go through all the verses about thanksgiving. Psalm 107:1 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 7:17 “I will thank the Lord for his righteousness; I will sing about the name of the Lord Most High.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6 “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.” Hebrews 13:15 “Therefore, through him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.” 1 Chronicles 16:34 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.” and there are so many more. God has given us so many gifts, and as we will get into next week, one of those gifts is the Gospel. Jesus coming and dying for us. So these things that are here to distract us are of little importance. We should always, always, honor God, give thanks to him, and listen to HIS word first and foremost, knowing that only through HIM can we be saved.

let us pray.