Sermon Tone Analysis

- Confronting False Teaching

: Paul instructing Timothy on dealing with false teachings.

(CJB)

1 The Spirit expressly states that in the acharit-hayamim some people will apostatize from the faith by paying attention to deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

2 Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron.

3 They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth.

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

5 because the word of God and prayer make it holy.

6 If you present all this to the brothers, you will be serving the Messiah Yeshua well; it will show that you have digested the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have followed.

7 But refuse godless bubbe-meises, and exercise yourself in godliness.

: Apostasy in the final days.

(CJB)

1 The Spirit expressly states that in the acharit-hayamim some people will apostatize from the faith by paying attention to deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

1 The Holy Spirit expressly states in a prophecy, possibly that of Ac 20:28–31, which Sha’ul specifically directed to the believers in Ephesus, where Timothy was.

In the acharit-hayamim.

The End Times are already here (1C 10:11N).

So we need not say that people will apostatize from the faith only in the future (as at 2 Th 2:3)—they are doing it already.

(CJB)

28 “Watch out for yourselves, and for all the flock in which the Ruach HaKodesh has placed you as leaders, to shepherd God’s Messianic community, which he won for himself at the cost of his own Son’s blood.

29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you; and they won’t spare the flock.

30 Even from among your own number, men will arise and teach perversions of the truth, in order to drag away the talmidim after themselves.

31 So stay alert!

Remember that for three years, night and day, with tears in my eyes, I never stopped warning you!

What kinds of deceiving spirits and things taught by demons are they paying attention to? (On the reality of demons, see Mt 4:24N.)

For the moment, confining ourselves only to religions, we may note:

(1) Eastern religions (and Western adaptations thereof), with their sub-biblical, impersonal concept of God and their tendency to depreciate the importance of human history and thus of human life.

(2) The older sub-Christian cults, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Christian Science and Unitarianism, all of which present an inadequate picture of Yeshua the Messiah.

(3) Non-Messianic Judaism, insofar as it denies the divine origin of the New Covenant and the Messiahship of Yeshua and stands in the way of Jews who affirm them.

(4) Secularism, humanism, atheism and agnosticism.

(5) Liberal Christianity, which, though using the Bible, denies fundamental biblical truths, and, most insidiously of all,

(6) Religion which passes itself off as affirming the Bible but in practice proves itself otherwise by its deeds.

Outside the realm of what should be called religion we see people turning to:

(7) Drugs, drink, illicit sex, pursuit of riches (see 6:7) and other self-centered activities.

(8) Various ideological movements without overt religious content that can capture a person as religion does; politics and environmentalism can function in this way, though they need not do so.

(9) The occult, including astrology, parapsychology, kabbalah (the occult tradition within Judaism).

Why do people turn to these substitutes for the truth and fail to see the Good News as good?

Here are some of the most common reasons, along with the remedies:

(1) Having a false conception of God, of Yeshua and of what the Bible says.

Often people who have never read the Bible as adults or have never read the New Testament have very strong opinions anyway.

The solution is to read the Bible openmindedly, praying that God will reveal what is true.

(2) Being engaged in sin which one refuses to give up.

The solution is to get one’s priorities straight.

Is it more important to continue the sin and go to eternal destruction, or to turn to God for forgiveness and receive assurance of everlasting life?

(3) Fear, for example, of being rejected by one’s friends and community if one professes faith in Yeshua, or of poverty, or of having to live a “life that isn’t fun.”

The remedy is to trust that God is in control and will open a life more fulfilling than one could ever have dreamed of, even if aspects of these fears prove well-grounded.

Everything works for the good of those who trust God (Ro 8:28).

: Hypocrisy of Liars

(CJB)

2 Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron.

These false teachers are referred to at Ac 20:28–31; 2 Th 2:6; 2 Ke 3:1–3a&N; 1 Yn 2:18–23, 4:1–6; 2 Yn 7.

Consciences, like every other component of human nature, can be ruined.

Kleptomaniacs and pathological liars are examples of people whose consciences don’t function properly.

Do those who habitually cheat on their taxes, or make under-the-table payments for favors, have seared consciences?

Yes, if they have no awareness of the wrongness of what they are doing, or if they are convinced that they are an exception to the rule.

But “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

We must examine the sensitivity of our own consciences, so that we may “go and sin no more” (Yn 8:8, 11, KJV).

: Marriage, Food and Bubbe-Meises

(CJB)

3 They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth.

3 They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth.

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

3 They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth.

5 because the word of God and prayer make it holy.

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

6 If you present all this to the brothers, you will be serving the Messiah Yeshua well; it will show that you have digested the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have followed.

7 But refuse godless bubbe-meises, and exercise yourself in godliness.

5 because the word of God and prayer make it holy.

1 Timothy 4:4

3a They forbid marriage and require abstinence from various foods.

Sha’ul favors self-discipline for the sake of the Kingdom of God (1C 9:24–27), but not asceticism.

His own attitude toward marriage (1C 7:1–40) and eating (Ro 14:5–6, 14–17, 20; 1C 8:8, 13; 10:23–11:1; Co 2:16–23) is eminently sensible, avoiding both self-indulgence and self-denial.

He evaluates these behaviors in terms of how they affect others and how they express commitment to Yeshua the Messiah.

Abstinence from foods does not mean observing kashrut, although the false teachers probably did incorporate elements of the Jewish dietary laws into their ascetic practices.

See Ro 14:1N.

Also compare Genesis 9:3–4.

(CJB)

1 Now to deal with the questions you wrote about: “Is it good for a man to keep away from women?”

2 Well, because of the danger of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

3 The husband should give his wife what she is entitled to in the marriage relationship, and the wife should do the same for her husband.

4 The wife is not in charge of her own body, but her husband is; likewise, the husband is not in charge of his own body, but his wife is.

5 Do not deprive each other, except for a limited time, by mutual agreement, and then only so as to have extra time for prayer; but afterwards, come together again.

Otherwise, because of your lack of self-control, you may succumb to the Adversary’s temptation.

6 I am giving you this as a suggestion, not as a command.

7 Actually, I wish everyone were like me; but each has his own gift from God, one this, another that.

8 Now to the single people and the widows I say that it is fine if they remain unmarried like me;

9 but if they can’t exercise self-control, they should get married; because it is better to get married than to keep burning with sexual desire.

In Jewish tradition there are blessings said at a wedding ceremony, and grace is both before and after meals.

The b˒rakhah before meals (Mt 14:19N) is short; afterwards, on a full stomach, one can be thankful at greater length for what one has just eaten.

The first b˒rakhah after the meal is:

“Blessed are you, Adonai our God, king of the universe, who feeds the whole world with your goodness, grace, loving-kindness and mercy.

You give food to everything that lives, because your lovingkindness endures forever.

In your great goodness, we have never lacked food.

For your great name’s sake, may we never lack it ever, since you nourish, sustain and do good to all and provide food for all the creatures you created.

Blessed are you, Adonai, giver of food to all.”

The second b˒rakhot includes thanks for the productive Land of Israel, the covenant and the Torah, and quotes the Scriptural basis for these blessings, “And you will eat and be satisfied, and you will bless Adonai your God for the good land which he has given you” (Deuteronomy 8:10).

Subsequent b˒rakhot include prayers for the restoration of Jerusalem, the return of the Jewish people to the Land, and the coming of the Messiah.

Abstinence from foods does not mean observing kashrut, although the false teachers probably did incorporate elements of the Jewish dietary laws into their ascetic practices.

See Ro 14:1N.

Also compare Genesis 9:3–4.

: Everything created by God is good