Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I had coffee with Chris Peppler on Wednesday.

He mentioned that he is writing a series about “The church Jesus would attend.”

I presume that part of his motivation is that we tend to use a host of unbiblical criteria for choosing a church.

Play the “Church Hunters (Episode 2)” video clip.

This is funny because it’s hits so close to home.

This morning I want to use to provide part of the answer to the question, “What is a good church?”

The opening words of are, “The Spirit clearly says that in the later times ...” and ends with the statement “if you point these things out you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus.”

Taking seriously that we are living in “the later times”—the biblical definition of this would be the entire period between Jesus’s first and second comings—what constitutes a good minister of Christ Jesus and what constitutes a good church?

1 Timothy is a personal letter written by Paul to his spiritual son and protege Timothy.

Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to sort out some serious problems in the church.

He wrote this letter to his protege to provide guidance for the task (and probably also to provide apostolic authority for Timothy’s decisions and actions, lest someone say to him, “Jesus I know and I know Paul, but who are you?”)

In his advice to Timothy, Paul identifies two characteristics of the later times.

In the light of those characters, we can identify two essential characteristics of a good pastor and a good church.

So we shall start with two characteristics of the later times and then identify two characteristics of a good church.

Reality 1: The later times will be characterised by apostasy.

Where did the Spirit clearly speak about the later times?

As one who received great revelations, Paul may be alluding to something that the Spirit had revealed to him personally.

However, it is more likely that he is drawing on what the Spirit said in Scripture and especially through Jesus Christ.

If we bear in mind that “the later times” covers the entire period between Jesus’s first and second comings, then it follows that when we want to know what God has said we start with Jesus.

The NT itself tells us this.

So what did Jesus say about the later times?

What did Jesus say about the later times that would have informed Paul’s warning here?

Matthew

Matthew 24:12-13

In Jesus’s words, we see some of the characteristics of the later times.

There will be inviting deception.

There will be intensive persecution.

There will be increasing wickedness.

There will be widespread apostasy.

The same characteristics of the later times are echoed in other NT passages.

There will be widespread apostasy.

Here we see the godlessness that will characterise the later times.

Paul continues by pointing to false teachers and deception that preys on weak Christians.

2 Timothy 3:6

The combination of godlessness, persecution, and deception leads to apostasy.

In Jesus’s words, “The love of most will grow cold.”

In Paul’s words, “some will abandon the faith.”

Does this mean that we can lose our salvation?

I am so glad you asked this question.

This is one of the age-old theological debates.

A face-value reading of our passage (along with dozens of others) should lead us to believe that we can abandon our faith and be lost.

Christian scholars who disagree believe that those who depart from the faith were never real believers; they only appeared to be believers.

What it boils down to is that someone who serves Jesus for a while and then falls away from grace is lost.

We can argue about whether they were pseudo believers or true believers who lost their salvation—but it amounts to the same thing.

Let’s remind ourselves of Jesus’s words about this.

Decide whether or not to answer this question.

Matthew 24:10

Perhaps highlight that from a human point of view, yes.

Parable of the sower.

Those who persevere to the end will be saved.

Perhaps I should answer this question pragmatically with a ja/nee approach.

So the later times will be characterised by apostasy.

Reality 2: The later times will be characterised by heresy.

Characteristic 2: Heresy

The second characteristic that Paul menions in is heresy.

In this case, the heresy is the cause of some people abandoning the faith.

Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

Where do false teachings originate?

Characteristic 2: Heresy

Some false teachings are of purely human origin.

We are finite and fallen, so our thoughts are often darkened.

Other false teachings are spawned by demons to deceive the nations and the people of God.

This is what Paul tells us in .

The errors Timothy must confront come from “deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”

We find similar ideas in many other NT warnings, such as , , and .

In reality, I suspect that every false teaching originates from a combination of human and demonic forces.

The devil both sows deception and exploits our fininiteness and our sinfulness.

Do you see here that “deceptive philosophy … depends on human tradition and … spiritual forces”?

What exactly where these demonic doctrines that were causing some to abandon the faith?

I am glad you asked.

Paul mentions two heresies in our passage.

Heresy 1: They forbid marriage

Why would the false teachers forbid marriage?

There was an emerging philosophy by some in the first century that viewed the spirit as good and the body as bad.

One response to this belief was to starve the body of its apetites, such as as sex.

We see this idea in .

The Corinthians wrote to Paul arguing that married couples should abstain from intimacy and unmarried people should abstain from marriage.

Paul wrote back.

If he were British, his answer would have been: “Poppycock!”

Lea and Griffin say that “The heretics who supported these views probably felt that abstinence from marriage was the means to a higher degree of holiness.

They placed the celibate life on a higher spiritual level than the married life.”

The heretics who supported these views probably felt that abstinence from marriage was the means to a higher degree of holiness.

They placed the celibate life on a higher spiritual level than the married life.

The answer I have given looks at the question, “Why would they forbid marriage” from a natural point of view.

However, we must ask the question again and answer it from a spiritual point of view.

If the source of these dangerous doctrines is demonic, as Paul claims, then we must ask the deeper question:

Why would deceiving spirits forbid marriage?

“Why?” indeed!

Let us note with interest that the enemy always has plans to undermine God’s institution of marriage—a covenant before God between one man and one woman with the intent to raise godly children.

The nature of the attack on marriage varies, but the enemy’s priority of destroying godly marriages is one of his default strategies.

Heresy 2: They forbid foods

Heresy 2: They forbid foods

In the NT, conflict over food laws often points to Jewish influences.

If harmful teachings about abstaining from marriage and from certain foods were the false teachings confronting Timothy in Ephesus in AD 64, what are some of the ones confronting us today?

I am so glad you asked this question.

Since we live in a global village in which we are exposed to every belief imaginable, there are many threats to biblical faith.

I cannot attempt to name them, but I can list a few examples in no particular order.

The “Jewish Roots Movement” enslaves Christians to OT laws.