Paul's Pastoral Letters 4

Listen to the Holy Spirit

Genesis 1:26–31 “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.…”

1 Timothy 4:1–8 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

1 Timothy 4:9–16 “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Today we will be looking at chapter 4 in our study of Paul’s pastoral letters. We began this series with Paul stating his credentials then the purpose of his letter’s addressed to Timothy and later to Titus. We learned how Timothy and Titus worked with Paul in his ministry and how Paul is now sending letters of instruction and encouragement to them. Last week Paul listed the qualifications that They should be looking for in leaders of the church.

Paul writes that the Spirit, this not from Paul, but from the Spirit himself, warns that in later times some will abandon the faith and be led astray by deceiving spirits and demons. This sentence tells us that the Holy Spirit will guide, teach, and warn us of things to come. Preparing us to recognize and resist false teaching. Teaching of deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. We think in this day and age that we are beyond belief in demons and demon possession, that demons are not real. That might just be the first example of how we are deceived. These teachings are from hypocritical liars.

John Calvin wrote; “In every age false teachers express man made inventions.”

Paul doesn’t beat around the bush. There were people teaching lies then and there are people teaching lies today. People are turning their backs on Christianity. Life is good and they feel no need for God in their lives. False teaching is all around us leading us away from God. Jesus’ words are recorded in;

Matthew 24:5 “For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.”

So it should not be a surprise that Paul is warning about this. The Apostle John wrote in

1 John 4:1–3 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

We are to test the spirits of those who are preaching. We must not follow without discerning if this teaching is from God. Godly teaching will glorify and acknowledge Jesus as God’s Son and the Savior of the world. By testing the spirit or spirits of a message we can be assured of what is true and false. One example of hypocritical liars would be the Jewish believers who insisted that the gentile believers had to become Jewish proselytes before they could be baptized as Christians. The Jews had not been able to keep the law so it was hypocritical of them to expect the gentiles to do it. A current day example might be the wealthy TV preachers who tell their listeners to give sacrificially and then live in a luxurious life style. Seared with a hot iron. I take this to be that they have convinced themselves that their lies are true to the extent that they believe it themselves. Paul lists the forbidding of marriage as one. We see this in the Roman Catholic church. Their priests and nuns are not allowed to marry. This was not taught until the fourth century. The protestant reformers found no Biblical evidence for this and Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli all were married. Both the Old and New Testaments permit marriage and family. God gave the instruction to be fruitful and multiply in

Genesis 1:27“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

There have been other groups throughout history that have taught this. If celibacy would be strictly followed mankind would end . One example in our own community was the Ephrata Cloister. Some new converts joined the group allowing it to continue for a time. The last member of that group died in 1908.

Another subject of controversy is the restrictions on food.

Genesis 9:3 “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”

There were some who taught that we should not eat at all. Others even today practice different restrictions such as no meat or allow meat other than red meat, or only vegetables. If you follow postings on the internet there are new diet warnings regularly. They sometimes contradict themselves. Remember that God created everything and said that it was good. We should give thanks to God for everything that we eat.

One of the early church fathers; Irenaeus, wrote “Against Heresies” in which he tells of a man who did not bathe and he became so dirty that vermin dropped from him as he walked. His justification was “A clean body necessarily means an unclean soul.”

Beginning in verse 6; Paul lays out for timothy what he should be doing in order to be a good minister of Jesus. and these points are good for leaders today as well;

instruct others or point things out, this is not to order them, but to teach so that others will understand and follow your teaching. Lead rather than attempt to force.

Timothy was well trained by his mother and grandmother before he came under Paul’s teaching. In order to be a teacher one must continue to study and to learn in order to teach others.

Avoid godless myths and old wives tales. We have talked about the old wives tales before so I won’t spend much time on them. Don’t cut a child’s hair before one year of age. Break a mirror and you will have seven years of bad luck. That in itself shows the godlessness of thinking that our actions have power to control God’s world.

Train yourself to be godly. In ancient Greece it was very important to train yourself physically. Paul acknowledges that physical training has merit, but he wants Timothy to train in godliness which is of greater value. Our bodies grow old and weak, but our minds can retain what we have learned and we should be learning things of the Lord.

This training (personal for Timothy) will benefit the one who follows it both in this world and in the world to come.

6. Our hope is in the living God, the Savior of all men. This should be our goal, and the promise of all who believe.

I want to compare verse 6 to verse 11. In verse 6 Paul says to point these things out to be a good minister then in verse 11 he says command and teach. Does this reflect a more serious tone? Or is it related to the importance of more serious instruction as the listeners mature? It would seem that Paul is expecting Timothy to grow in faith and practice, as well as his listeners. All of us are expected to grow in our faith and practice. Especially ministers and teachers.

Paul tells Timothy not to let anyone look down on him because of his youth. This is a concern in the church both then and now. It is sometimes easier to hear from an older, wiser person than a younger one. I found it easier to hear from an older teacher in the past, but that is becoming more difficult as I am becoming one of the older teachers. Paul tells Timothy to overcome this by his example;

1.speech ; how he talks to his listeners, this might include his tone of voice, the way that he presents his teaching, The words themselves, are they familiar? Are they non-combative?

2. In life; How Timothy reacts to others, how he treats them. How he interacts with them in the everyday business of living.

3. In love. How Timothy cares for the people. Only God has perfect love. Timothy needs to show the people that he cares about them and for them. That he wants the best for them and is trying to share God’s word with them.

4. In faith; How better to show the Christian message than to live it, in everyday life. I don’t know how anyone can preach or teach if the don’t believe what they are teaching. I have heard of pastors who don’t believe in the virgin birth or who believe that there are more than one way to heaven. This is against scripture. I heard about a man who decided that being a pastor would be a good job that didn’t require hard or physical labor and paid enough money to live a comfortable life and have the respect of people in the community. To me living a false life would be very difficult and the opposite of what Paul was telling Timothy.

5. In purity; The best example is a life well lived. One that is above reproach. I am so disheartened when I read of a minister of the gospel who is caught in some sexual sin, Adultery, Pornography, sex with a minor, fraud, or theft. It is a problem for the person, It is a let down for the people who care about him or her, and it turns people off from following Jesus.

After stating these points Paul says that he is planning to come to Ephesus again, and for Timothy to ;

practice the public reading of scripture This was important then because most people would not have had copies to read themselves and they might have not been able to read. It is still important today because according to a Pew research study, many professing Christians admit that they don’t read their Bibles during the week. Paul also says to teach and preach.

2. Teach so that it will help listeners to understand what is meant. Share insights and information.

3. Preach, to exhort and encourage listeners to grow in faith.

These three are for the benefit of others. Paul says do not neglect your gift. Timothy had received a prophetic message from the elders. Sometimes in the course of life we tend to have doubts or even forget what God has done for us and neglect practicing our faith. I mentioned not reading our Bibles. Another problem is people becoming so busy that they stop worshiping at church. First it might be just a Sunday now and then, but it seems that the habit to worship soon becomes the habit of not making the effort to go to church. All of us have God given gifts, sometimes we suppress them, sometimes we ignore them.

Paul concludes this chapter by telling Timothy

First, to be diligent, give yourself wholly to these matters, why; so that everyone can see your progress. We are no longer our own. We are a child of God and we should act that way.

Secondly; watch your life and doctrine closely, or carefully, and persevere. Don’t become careless in our lives. Don’t compromise on scripture or be mislead. Don’t give up.

Why? because if you do you will save both yourself and your listeners.

Although this was a message to Timothy, it is just as valid today. It is also important for each one of us who reads it.

Don’t neglect the Word of God, be diligent, and persevere.