Formed in Love

Intro

Let’s pray…

We’re starting a new four-week series today in 1 Timothy where we’ll be looking at some basics of what it means to belong to a church.

There’s two ways we can use the word “church.” One is in a general sense, and refers to all Christians everywhere who believe in Jesus. This is the universal church. Every Christian belongs to the global, universal church.

Scripture also teaches that every Christian ought to belong to a local church, that is, a group of Christians within a specific place, who are accountable to each other, who worship together, and who minister to their community.

In this series, we’ll be looking more at the local church, like this one.

I’ve tried to frame this series under one overarching question, which is, “Why should I belong to a church?” Each week, we’ll be looking at a passage in 1 Timothy to try and give a different answer to that question.

Now, as we jump into this series, I’m aware that everyone here has a different set of experiences and attitude toward the church. Some of us have had years, maybe even decades, of good experiences in different churches. Others of us, maybe most of us, have a strained, if not painful relationship with a church in our past, or just the general idea of the church more broadly.

I’m going to present a postive argument in this series for why it’s important for Christians to belong to a local church. So, I’m not framing this series directly around the challenges or negative experiences we may have had with the church. However, as I was preparing this sermon, I felt compelled to address some of these issues tonight because they’re in the text.

I think you’ll find that addressing our issues with the church will be a helpful orientation to the book of 1 Timothy, because the problems we have in the church today are not unlike those Paul addressed in this letter.

Whatever your issue might be with the church, Scripture likely agrees with you. Yet, Jesus still loves his church.

One of the questions for us as we begin this series is, “So what do we do with that?”

I have in mind tonight two significant ways that belonging to a church can be a challenge for us.

First, the reality of Christian hypocrisy. Some of us, we’ve been a part of churches before, and it felt like nobody wanted to take Jesus seriously, so why bother. Others of us, maybe we look out at the American church and we think that churches, by and large, just care about power and influence. Why would I want to be a part of that?

Second, some of us have been deeply wounded by members or leaders of a church. You know that the calls are coming from inside the house. So for you, there’s a real threat of danger when you think about belonging to a church. And you know you’re not alone. So many people today can report spiritual, emotional, or even physical and sexual abuse at the hands of leaders or members inside a church. So there is a real fear for you about joining a church, because you can’t shake the feeling you’re be hurt again.

I get this. In fact, the person who taught me to love the book of 1 Timothy was also someone who inflicted great spiritual and emotional trauma on me. So every one of these sermons I’m preaching this month means I’m engaging with those wounds in some way again. If this series presses on some sore spots for you, I’m with you in a similar place.

So, if belonging to a church can be a real challenge for us, even painful, why bother? Why should I belong to a church?

Because the church is how we become like Jesus.

This text is instructive for us tonight because, on the one hand, it shows us that a church becomes corrupted if it focuses on anything other than Jesus, and second, that a church focused on Jesus forms us in his love.

A church is corrupted if it focuses on anything other than Jesus.

So let me give you a little background on 1 Timothy.

This is one of three letters that we refer to as the “Epístolas pastorales,” the pastoral epistles. They were written to two young pastors that the Apostle Paul had mentored, Timothy and Titus. Timothy was a pastor in the region known as Ephesus, and Titus was a pastor in the area known as Crete.

The churches in both of these regions were facing similar crises. They had been infiltrated by deceitful, predatory people who were actively trying to manipulate Christians in order to gain more money and power for themselves. Paul, the author of these letters, simply referred to these men as “false teachers.”

So Paul commanded Timothy, and later Titus, to resist these teachers who were corrupting the church. I want us to briefly consider what Paul said was false about these teachers both in their teaching and their motive. I think you’ll quickly see how relevant these words are for us today.

False teaching

Paul repeatedly contrasted false teaching with sound teaching. We’ll see an example of this in a moment. False teaching is anything contrary to Jesus and what he taught. And those contrary ideas are going to corrupt a church.

Let’s look at some of the ways Paul described this false teaching. In verse 4 of chapter 1 he said these teachers were devoted to myths and endless genealogies. These were stories that these teachers told that twisted Biblical teaching with magic and fantasy in order to give themselves the illusion of influence and power. They invented lively stories to try and give themselves influence and power over others. These clever tales were told in such a way that it was difficult for the average person to separate fact from fiction.

Where do we see this today?

Think about what is now commonly being called Christian nationalism. This ideology comes out of a selective interpretation of history and Scripture that paints our country as the ideal Christian nation favored by God.

How about in ethnic identity cults? White power movements? Black Hebrew Israelites? The Nation of Islam?

If you look at any of these movements, they’re going to take elements of Biblical stories and then they weave in their own myths that make it difficult to tell the truth from lies. They do this to make their group look more important and more powerful than everyone else.

These stories are seductive because they give us the illusion of power, even if that power comes at the expense of others.

Paul said in verse 6 and 7 that many of these teachers had turned aside from sound doctrine and given themselves to meaningfuless chatter. They have no idea what they’re talking about, yet they confidently present themselves as authorities you can trust.

Their words are meaningless because there’s no Jesus in it. Confidence and charisma might be impressive, but its no replacement for the value of what is true.

Charisma without Jesus is just a personality cult.

You know, it’s not uncommon today that you could walk into a big church building where you’ll hear a speaker give a really impressive message that makes you feel good. But often, these messages contain very little Bible, and even less of Jesus.

Yet they draw a crowd because they tell us what we want to hear. And there is something attractive to us about feeling like we belong to someone with power and influence.

False motives

Friends, I want you to see that Scripture names these ideologies and cults as false, and not just false, but meaningless.

Yet the problem with false teaching is deeper than this. Its not just that false teaching and teachers are wrong, but they’re dangerous. Listen to how Paul described the motives of False teachers in Chapter 6 of 1 Timothy:

New International Version (2011) Chapter 6

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

Paul wasn’t just concerned about who was right and who was wrong. This isn’t a battle over ideas; it’s a struggle for the soul of the church. Paul said the reason why people want to deviate from Jesus is because they love controversies, they love to fight, they love to stir up conflict, and they love money. And they’ll manipulate anyone they can, even the most vulnerable, to get their way. Look at 2 Timothy 3:6

New International Version (2011) Chapter 3

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires.

In chapters 2 and 5 of first timothy, which are too long to read here, it is clear that these false teachers don’t just target women, but specifically vulnerable widows, to get what they want.

In other words, false teachers aren’t just wrong, but they love to fight, they love power and money, and they’re predatory.

Do you see how relevant this instruction that Paul gave to Timothy 2000 years ago is for us today?

If you’re critical of what you’ve seen or experienced in the church, hear this: Scripture likely agrees with you. Predatory, power-hungry, conflict-obsessed religion has nothing to do with Christianity.

So, what do we do with that? Well, there are some wonderful people in this room who can answer this question better than me. Therapy is important. Getting safe is important. Yes to all the things that are good and wise that we need to take care of ourselves.

Yet there’s more for us here, and its in verse 5.

A Church that is centered on Jesus forms us in his love.

Paul told Timothy to stay and fight for the church. The goal of that charge is love, coming from a pure heart, good conscience, and a sincere faith.

The 4th century African theologian Augustine said this verse summarizes the content of all the Scriptures. If its the summary of the Scriptures, then it also defines the purpose of the church.

The goal for us is that we are formed in Christ’s love. The Church is where we are formed in Christ’s love. If we want to become like Christ, we need to belong to a church.

And so I recognize that some of you might hear those words and think, “That’s impossible.” After what you’ve experienced, asking you to belong to a church is like me telling someone who was ran over by a mac truck to get back out on the road.

It’s appropriate to be cautious. It’s appropriate to take your time. It’s appropriate to observe from the edges to make sure its safe.

But what’s most important, is that you’re around people who are striving to keep Jesus at the center of all things.

Paul, just a few verses after he gave this command to Timothy, he shared his own story of how he encountered Jesus. Look at verses 12-14 of 1 Timothy 1, this is in your guide and on the screen:

1 Timothy 1:12–14 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

Notice how Paul described himself before he met Jesus. He basically called himself a false teacher. (blasphemer, violent) But he was shown mercy, because Jesus poured out abundant grace, faith, and love on him.

Jesus made himself known to Paul, and that transformed his life. So when Paul tells Timothy that the goal of the command is love, this is what he’s pointing to.

What Jesus did for Paul is what we are laboring for in the church. In the midst of all kinds of people making a total disaster of things, we hold fast to Jesus so more and more people would know him and be formed in his love.

This little summary that Paul gave of his own conversion was something that I related to when I became a Christian in my early 20’s. In my late teens and early 20s, I was very hostile toward the Christian faith, toward the church. The truth is before I even graduated high school, I had been deeply wounded by a local church.

My family was loosely involved with a church when I was growing up. We went to service on some Sundays, I was involved with the youth group for a couple of years. I wasn’t devout or anything, you know, but Jesus was cool. The church was alright.

Until it wasnt.

When my parents divorced after sixth grade, the church ghosted my family. When my brother committed suicide the following year, I never heard a word from my youth leaders or the pastors of the church. Within a couple of years, my youth pastor would be fired for accusations of abuse, and another pastor was arrested for being caught in the act of abuse.

And that was enough for me as a sophmore in highschool to say, good riddance, no more of that. I saw Christianity as a waste of time and the church as a threat. I wanted nothing to do with it.

But I had all of this pain in my heart, you know? I was carrying that all on my own. And I was becoming the worst kind of person. I was bitter, sarcastic, cynical. I had a biting sense of humor. I was mean. I was selfish. I was becoming everything I hated, and I didn’t know how to change.

And then, almost as if out of nowhere, Jesus broke into my life. I learned that through his death and resurrection, my nastiness was forgiven. I learned that he weeps with me over what has brought me so much pain. I learned that, over time, he would show me the meaning of safety so that I can heal with his help.

And the strangest thing of all? I soon met some Christians who genuinely loved me. And I found myself loving them, and loving Jesus’ church, the very people who I had written off and considered to be a dangerous waste of time.

You might be here tonight, and there is a burden on your heart and you don’t know what to do with it. You’ve battled addiction for years, and you want to get rid of it, and you don’t know where else to go.

You’ve struggled for years with anger, or impatience, and you know there’s something dark in your heart and you don’t know what to do with that.

You’ve been on your own after the people you loved wounded you and left you behind.

A lot of people will try to sell you something that will work. Some kind of plan, some rules to keep, maybe a movement or brand that you can be a part of to feel strong and powerful.

I don’t have anything to sell you. All I have is Jesus. All we have is Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t sell us an idea or a story, he redeemed our stories when he laid down his life for us.

Jesus doesn’t use his power to force us into anything. He shows us the true meaning of power through his service and sacrifice.

Jesus doesn’t want you to find your hope in a brand, an image, or a charismatic person. He wants to bring you real hope through his resurrection life in you.

If you’re here tonight and you’re not sure what you believe, or you’re carrying a deep burden on your heart, hear this: Jesus is inviting you into his love. You might’ve been hurt by religion before, or disappointed by people who claimed to speak for God, but the real Jesus isn’t like that. He laid down His life so you could know a love that doesn’t leave when things get hard. You don’t have to have it all figured out tonight, I just want for you to be around people who love Jesus. That could be here and if its not here, I would love to help you find that place.

If you consider Hope Church your home, here’s what we need to remember. If Jesus really is at the center of who we are, then love has to be the fruit of everything we do. Haughville doesn’t need us to be clever or impressive. They need us to be like Jesus. So let’s stay close to Him. Let’s guard our hearts against that promises power and feeds our pride. And let’s work together to be a place where the wounded, skeptical, and believing can meet Jesus and be formed in his love.