Keeping on the Narrow

Being deceived

I think most of us probably think that we are pretty good at not being deceived. Let’s take to some of the scams that go around. I’m sure that many of you have had Microsoft call up after becoming concerned that your computer has been hacked. Hopefully you’re all clued in enough to know that Microsoft don’t actually work like that. Unfortunately to an unsuspecting person, they can sound convincing - but let’s assume for the moment that you’ve got that one covered. The problem then can come that our radars are so highly tuned that we look on everything with suspicion. The problem that results is that we are still deceived, it’s just that we are now deceived into thinking something is bad, when in fact it is good. My personal opinion, is that this is what we’ve seen with the anti-vaccination movement.

Actually, I think this anti-vaccination movement is a great case in point. You see, those in the movement (and perhaps there are some of you here might be in agreement) say that the one being deceived is the one who vaccinates their child. Which shows how hard this is, you see, just being in the majority doesn’t make you automatically right.

So how can we keep ourselves from being deceived?

Well, today, I might not be able to help you avoid being deceived in all areas of life, but as we come to our passage in 1 Timothy, what I want to show you is how Paul can give us some tips on how to avoid the great spiritual deception.

Context

So let’s get the context.

If you’ve been with us for the last month or so, we’ve been going through this letter written by Paul, and addressed to a timid, frail young man in Timothy who has been placed in Ephesus to look after the church there.

Right from the get go of the letter, we see Paul’s concern that certain people are spreading false doctrine. Paul is well aware of the danger of this. The danger is that this is more than just individual expressions of faith coming out. This is instead people altering the fundamentals of the gospel - that is, the good news that Jesus has come and allowed us to be right with God again and all we have to do is accept the gift given to us.

But they are altering it by adding new requirements. Once we add to it, it is no longer about accepting the free gift, because it ceases to be a free gift. This changes everything - and Paul is right in being concerned.

In the first chapter, Paul urges Timothy to stand up, but I could imagine Timothy getting to this point in the letter, being fired up and ready to do it, but if the letter ended there, he (along with us) would have been left wondering, but how do I do that.

After all, I could well imagine if Timothy just went up to them and said - “you’re being deceived!”, they would probably turn around and say - “no, you’re the one being deceived!”

Thankfully, Paul keeps the letter going and so we get a better idea of how to handle this.

In the second chapter, Paul paints the picture of how the church should act, and gives some practical advice of how to achieve this.

In the third chapter we see further practical advice which will help achieve the goal of keeping the church from being deceived, namely, by choosing carefully who your leaders are. We looked at this last week when Paul describes what a leader with church oversight should be like, and what the people helping should be like.

As we then move into the fourth chapter, which is what we will do now, we will see that Paul gives some further instruction which will make it easier to keep on track.

So let’s jump into the passage...

Setting the scene

Last week, I finished off at verse 13 of chapter 3, and so, as we move into verse 14 we see Paul spelling out the reason that he is giving the instructions that he does.

The specific reason is that Paul is concerned he may be delayed in visiting them personally, and so wants to make sure things are still in order, even without him there.

Now in these three verses that end chapter 3, we get a picture of what is motivating Paul. I want to suggest that essentially it boils down to Paul beginning to grasp the beauty of what has been given to us by God.

Even in verse 15, he describes the church in three different ways, each of which begin to show the beauty of what it is.

Firstly

Firstly, he describes the church as God’s household. He then calls it the church of the living God. And finally the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Sometimes we can mistakenly think of the church as a man-made institution - but it is anything but. Certainly it contains humans, which results of course in a less than perfect expression of what it should be - but at it’s root, as Paul’s third description indicates, we get the pillar and foundation of the truth which we so desperately need.

This springs Paul into a little hymn or saying (we’re not really sure the origin), that begins to picture the mystery which the church is fully immersed in.

These three verses to end chapter 3, should begin to motivate us to really cling to the church which is thoroughly tied to what God is doing.

How deception happens

But then, as we move into chapter 4, this high exalted picture of what God has (and is) doing is abruptly altered with something which much rather pretend wasn’t there.

A moment ago I alluded to the fact the church is perfect because it is full of fallible people. Well, the first two verses give us a good insight into this.

It starts with the words, “The Spirit clearly says...” - it might sound redundant because we know all Scripture is inspired by God, but in the context it would appear that Paul has been given specific insight into this matter by the Holy Spirit.

Paul then makes a reference to the later times. Now a little note of warning. Today you might hear talk about the last days with reference to the period in the lead up to Christ’s return. If you look at how the bible uses the term however, what you find is that the last days usually refers to the entire time between the first and second comings of Christ. Therefore, when Paul was writing, he’s already in the last times, just as we are now.

Being led astray by demons

But with that clarification, we then see the Spirit-made prediction that some will abandon the faith. As the verse continues, we start to see what is behind these people who are leaving the faith, namely the deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Now this is something very important for us to remember.

Unfortunately even as Christians we can so easily be ignorant about the demonic activity that is happening around us.

Part of the reason for that is because it is just so hard for us to get our heads around. Now, if you read through the Bible you’ll notice a few things. Firstly, spiritual activity of both the angelic and demonic kind are a very much a reality that is always present. However we only ever get glimpses into this world, such as the verses that we’re looking at now.

Two extremes

While I acknowledge that sometimes people can get carried away and see the demonic in everything to the point that they lose sight of the reality in front of them, for the majority of Christians however, I suggest the greater danger is not understanding this spiritual reality.

In fact I suggest that part of the devil’s strategy is to downplay this reality to the point that we are completely unaware of what is going on.

I want to suggest that

The inner workings

What I love about this passage is that verse 2 actually gives us a little glimpse into the inner working of what is going on here.

You see, from verse 1 we know that the deception is happening through the demonic activity, but verse 2 suggests that the demons are using people that Paul describes as hypocritical liars.

You see, while it might be demonic activity, there is a human agent to this - and unfortunately the devil can often have easy access to people more often than we realise.

Now, just to be clear, I’m not talking about demon possession. Demon possession is real, but as I understand this term, this is when a demon will completely take over a person. More often however, we see demons influencing people who have let their guard down.

Seared with a hot iron

The second half of verse 2 then paints another alarming picture.

It tells us of these hypocritical liars that their consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

Now what does that mean? Well probably the image that first comes to mind is the branding iron and so you could well imagine the devil with his branding iron making his mark on the conscience of individuals.

Many commentators take this view, however there is also another reading of this. You see the phrase “have been seared as with a hot iron, is actually one word, and at the root of that one word is the Greek word ‘kausteriazo’ which is actually where the English word cauterize comes from.

Now in case you’re wondering, what the word cauterize mean - it’s usually used in a medical sense, meaning to burn the skin in order to stop bleeding or prevent infection. In fact, more broadly, and this is indeed what the Greek word means, if you cauterize something you make it insensitive or calloused.

So in this sense, what we’re seeing in verse 2 is the demons numbing the minds of certain people, and it’s not hard to see how they can then easily become a tool for them.

I don’t think this will come as a huge shock when you think about it, because we see how people can become so desensitized by the truth. Once you become desensitized, it becomes easy to do all manner of things.

Understanding how it works

So the first point that I want to make today, is that as we aim to put up our guard against being deceived, become aware of the way that the devil works.

Be aware that he is trying to number your mind about the truth.

The Prism of Creation

But while this might be alarming, there is hope and Paul helps us combat this.

In verses 3 to 5, we’re going to see a prism with which to view the world.

The false teaching

But first, in verse 3, Paul alerts us to two specific false teaching. It’s helpful that he does this because up to this point he has basically just referred to false teaching in very general terms.

So, the first false teaching is a prohibition against marriage. And the second is abstaining from certain foods.

Now when you think about this, this essentially gets to the heart of the two most basic appetites of the human body, namely sex and hunger.

You see, the prohibition of marriage boils down to sex being bad. There was a view point back then, which has lasted throughout the years that sex is a carnal thing and best avoided.

Regarding food, of course, you can’t go without, but again, it is of this world and therefore we should avoid certain food to prevent us being polluted more than we should.

Now we might not state it quite like this, but so often we look at the world with great disdain. Often there is good reason for thinking as much, but it can easily think that the only way to God is by avoiding the world.

The prism

Now helpfully, Paul doesn’t just say their crazy and wrong - instead he provides Timothy with a prism in which he can view not just these matters, but many others as well.

The prism to view this, is essentially a creation prism. What God has created is good, and is there to be enjoyed.

In relation to the two basic appetites of humans this also applies.

God made sex and it is something to be enjoyed. God also gave us many wonderful and yummy foods and it’s not there to look at - he also wants us to enjoy that as well.

The caveat

But while sex and food is both good and meant to be enjoyed, they can both be abused. Sex outside the bounds which God created it becomes a thing of huge damage.

Likewise, food taken to excess becomes gluttony and can also take away from the goodness of it.

Paul provides the correction here for us. When receive the good things of God, give thanksgiving and consecrate it to God.

This is why we as Christians it is good practice to start your meal with words of grace, and to enjoy sex after consecrating yourself before God in marriage.

Thinking more broadly

But I want to suggest that this prism can be used more widely then just sex and food.

This prism can actually be used beyond just sex and food. There are all manner of things God has given us, such as various gifts, various resources around us, even our knowledge.

We need to look at all these things through the prism of the fact that they are part of God’s creation, and that if we receive them with thanksgiving then they are good and to be enjoyed - not abused but enjoyed.

Now I recognise that for many matters there is a layer of complexity which it will seem like I’ll gloss over, but I’ll get to it shortly, but take gifts God’s given us.

The lesson

So the lesson here, is that as we try to avoid being deceived, look through the prism of God’s good creation. The only way that can be done effectively, however is by seeing creation through the Bible so we can know the way in which creation should be viewed.

The Gymnasium

Now, this prism is all well and good, but as I just alluded, it needs work and this is the advice we can get from verses 6 to 10.

You see, Paul is urging Timothy to be nourished in the truth. It is only as he nourishes himself in this way that he will be able to avoid the godless myths and old wives tales that he talks about in verse 7.

It is verse 8 where he really gets to the crux of the matter. Now before I read that, you’ll see in verse 9, we get the third of the “this is a trustworthy saying...”

We previously seen these in chapters 1 and 3. This time however, it’s unclear whether the trustworthy saying refers to the verse before or after, and unfortunately the Greek grammar doesn’t help us much. However it is generally assumed that the trustworthy saying is verse 8.

So let me read that to you now.

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

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.

The idea that Paul is getting at is that we know how to train ourselves physically, but why are we so slow in spiritual training.

In verse 7 it says to train yourself to be godly. That word “train” in Greek is the word “gymnazo”, which is where we get our word for gymnasium.

And I just love this image - take yourself to the spiritual gymnasium, where you can work out your spiritual life.

What does that mean in real terms? Well, it means delving into God’s word. It means meditating on it.

That word from verse 6 really nails it - be nourished on the truths of it.

I believe bible study really is the gymnasium of the soul. Whether that’s a bible study group, or private study, you just need to get into the word.

The lesson

As we invest in godliness in this way, this will be one huge step to avoid the deceptions - the numbing of the mind of the devils scheming.

Use what God has given you

The final point I want to derive from the passage comes from verses 11 to 16.

Here Paul starts throwing lots of advice at Timothy.

He tells him - don’t stand back because you’re young.

Devote yourself to public reading.

Don’t neglect your gifts.

Be diligent.

Watch your life and doctrine.

And finally - persevere.

There’s obviously a lot we could explore there, but I want to boil it down to the fact that Paul just wants Timothy to use what God has given him.

Particularly verse 14 spells that out - “do not neglect your gift, which was given you through the prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you”.

You see, so often I think the errors we find ourselves in, is the errors caused by trying to be someone we’re not.

God has made you the person he wants you to be, and you’ll go a long way in avoiding the deception of the devil just by realising that that person is good.

Sure you’ve got flaws - we’re not proud of them, because it is the effects of sin in our lives, but behind that sin is a perfect creation of God.

Timothy could had much to worry about, in particular, he was likely much younger than the people he was trying to correct, and in that culture that meant a lot.

Paul said, don’t let that be a worry - God knew what he was doing when he chose you.

When that voice in side of you says that you’re not good enough - confront it as a lie of the devil - you are good enough because God made you!

Conclusion

As good as we think we are at not being deceived, if we let our guard down even for a minute we can be in danger of being led astray.

Yet for as dangerous as it is, we don’t need to be frightened.

So the advice I want you to take home from this passage today is:

Firstly - be aware of the schemes of the evil one.

Secondly - look at the world through the prism of God’s good creation

Thirdly - invest in godliness by spending time in God’s word

And finally - use the gifts God’s given you, knowing that you are a special creation of Gods.

Let’s pray...