Avoiding the Un-Winnable Wars

Significant Lessons from Second Letters

Gravity

Ever catch yourself arguing w/ gravity?

No, I don’t weigh that much.

Scales don’t talk, but if they did, they’d probably say, “If you want to weigh what you think you weigh, then move to the moon.”

Get all angry, frustrated, an edge; all b/c I can’t win that argument but I try.

Anybody fallen off a ladder? Kim?

What goes thru your mind as the ladder goes one way and you go another?

This is going to hurt. Expensive.

Expensive.

I’m going to land like a cat!

Gravity is going to win.

A waste of time that will only mess w/ your emotions and maybe mess up your body.

Like arguing w/ a teenager. Remember?

Hormonal. Emotional. Irrational.

“Yes I can stay out as late as I want to.” No, no you can’t.

They make these cases that we know won’t work.

It’s pointless to argue. Experience is a great teacher.

Usually, college, young adulthood they learn they will lose to gravity every time as will lose when they stay out too late, drink too much, and then can’t fulfill responsibilities.

It’s kind of funny we talk about it here, but if you’re in it...

We have some good friends who are in a battle w/ a teenager right now. It’s painful, ridiculously hard, stressful.

It’s an argument nobody is winning right now. The position the parents are in and the position their son has taken is having a devastating affect on the family and their friends.

The house is stressful, nobody would want to be in their house. We pray and support them long-distance.

This never happens in churches. Right!

People get emotional, discussion goes south and no one is going to win.

How can we avoid so many of these arguments, debates that are not winnable, drive ppl apart, away from us, the church, our homes, and away from God?

There’s enough conflict in the world.

The church should be the one place where ppl can go where conflict is resolved and everyone is the better for it.

But, how do we avoid these kinds of unwinnable wars and their devastating consequences?

One very important way Paul addresses in .

Live your life according to the words in the Word; define them accurately, understand them deeply, and apply them appropriately. Eliminate the stress that comes with arguments that cannot be won.

Avoiding unwinnable wars and their devastating consequences

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Word

2 Timothy 2:14–18 NIV

Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.

2 Timothy 2:

Paul often uses a literary tool to help teach his lessons and make his points. We’ve seen it already in this letter.

Groups of 3.

3 Commands

1st: Remind them of these things.

What things?

What he just wrote about. Including, all the things that Jesus taught him in the wilderness that he taught Timothy in the presence of so many witnesses.

Everything! Biblical truth and principles.

Remind them. over and over.

You think maybe at some point the preacher could find something else to talk about.

John MacArther, famous preacher in CA, reached a dilemma in his ministry in the 80s. He’d been at his church for a long time and taught every book in the bible in his sermons.

His dilemma; now what?

He was studying 2 Timothy and God spoke to him from this passage. You’ve taught them, now remind them.

And, he started over.

There’s that memory thing again. A major theme in this letter.

We all have memory problems. And, they are getting worse.

But, we have never been good at remembering all the biblical principles we’ve learned over our adult lives.

Too many, too deep, the nuances change as our lives change. We all constantly need t/b reminded.

And, don’t quarrel over words. Arguments like these are of no value and they ruin ppl. They wreck lives, families, and church.

Words have meaning and it’s important to understand what Paul meant when he used the word in c1. That’s where the work of study comes in.

Words mean things. Words strung together in sentences and paragraphs teach principles that are applicable in both the c.1 and c.21.

Understand the principles and apply them accurately.

So, to the teacher and the students, Paul addressed his 2nd command.

2nd: Do your best...

Effort. Try hard. Work. Study. If we’re too grace oriented we think there is no place for work. We’d be wrong.

“Present yourself.” Just like an accused presents himself to the judge for evaluation. We will be held accountable for what we say and do.

Graciously allowed into heaven. Then, rewarded for our faithful and obedient work. Personal responsibility.

“To be approved.” Someone, God, is evaluating our work. There is a level of competency that God expects of all of us.

Do the work to pass the test and be approved.

What work? The criteria for approval from God is accurately handling the Word of God, the bible. That is, applying it accurately.

It is not enough to only know what it says. Or, even just what it means. It must be applied and our lives must reflect an accurate understanding of the principles in the bible.

“Correctly handle”, literally, cut straight. A phrase used in road construction. Don’t wander aimlessly.

The bible was written to guide us on our journey thru life, beside other believers, to get us where God intends for us to be, our destiny.

God’s Word provides the markers that guide our path.

Isaiah 30:21 NIV

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Generally speaking, the path is straight. Specifically, though, it has turns along the way. But, God is faithful to guide us and as we follow His direction we will live our lives avoiding a lot of unnecessary things that will trip us up.

Some of these things that trip us are addressed in the 3rd command

3rd: Avoid godless chatter.

This is related to both of the first 2 commands. Don’t quarrel about words and know the principles behind the words.

Avoid debates about things that are not in the bible and don’t get caught up arguing about things the bible does not teach.

For instance, I’m going to give you a biblical word and I want you t/b aware of the emotion that immediately arrises w/in you when I say it.

It’s a word that has been argued about, fought over, split churches and families. When this happens, typically, it’s b/c someone taught the principle behind the word inaccurately.

The word: Submit

What emotion did you feel?

And, the first context w/in which the word is used?

Governmental authority. County, state. I guarantee you just about everyone in the room does not want to submit either to the current president or the last president even tho’ the bible says that we should.

Employment. Your current or former boss. The bible says that earthly lines of authority should be followed and obeyed. We should all submit, happily, to the human authorities in our lives.

Okay, marriage. And, I’m sure all of you first thought of that says we should submit to each other.

If you’re typical, your mind immediately went to v.22 says wives submit to your husbands.

Submission. Such a loaded word. And we argue.

Submission is not a position of weakness. In fact, it’s a position of strength. Having ability and reining it in.

It’s Christlike in its fundamental definition. Jesus submitted to earthly authority allowing himself to be crucified.

It is a position we should all take.

Yet, too many teachers inaccurately define the word so too many students misapply the word. And, we fight.

(Stephens College)

When these teachers who, in some cases innocently and inadvertently mislead, it does the opposite of the mission Jesus has assigned us.

Paul says, 2 things happen.

First, the ppl teaching the inaccuracy become more ungodly.

Second, it causes gangrene to spread in the church. Things die. Marriages split. Churches mired in conflict.

We push ppl away from Jesus rather than leading them closer.

The danger of sub-standard teaching causes parts to die and fall off. Like Leprosy. Flesh would die and body parts would literally fall off; fingers, toes, noses.

People leave churches when church members fight and argue over words that miss the principle.

Paul named 2 such ppl, Hymenaeus and Philetus. The bad teaching they offered was not of an issue we face today. So, I’m not going to get into it. But, again, you get the principle.

Don’t teach things that are not in the bible.

The church then was diverse. The ppl didn’t have too many options.

Kind of like Munds Park. If you want to go to church in Munds Park you have 1 option. That leads to a congregation of diverse preferences and a variety of doctrinal distinctives.

When Paul wrote this, it was true in every town. So, there would be Christians and those who wanted to find out more about Christianity but didn’t believe, yet. Former Jews and Non-Jews. PPL who’d been Christians a long time and those who just came to faith. Those who sought a deeper relationship and those who sought a religious experience.

They all had to come together and form a unified group.

Paul used and illustration and described it next.

A Big House

2 Timothy 2:19–21 NIV

Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

God’s house is a big house with many rooms and a lot of ppl.

All these ppl from these diverse backgrounds come together to form this house and it can look as crazy as diverse as we are.

What’s the most important part of any building?

The foundation.

The building is only as strong, level, and stable as its foundation.

Every single local church is built on the foundation of the apostles w/ Jesus as the cornerstone.

It was traditional, legal, and appropriate for the builder/owner to inscribe his name into the blocks of the foundation. Like a brand on cattle. It IDs him.

The seal signified ownership and control.

It was an indication of the quality of craftsmanship, authenticity and integrity of the construction based on the skill and care of the builder and owner.

God’s seal assures us of the permanence of the church, maybe not every local church, but the existence of churches forever.

This, in spite of the occurrence of the occasional bad teacher.

God knows who are truly His. Sometimes the faithful falter. Sometimes, those whose religious experience is based on their religious practice and not a relationship fall away altogether.

Either way, the church will survive.

This is where ppl come if they want to learn about Christianity. So, it makes sense that some won’t stay when they don’t agree w/ or like the teaching; good or bad.

The faithful turn away from wickedness; maybe not perfectly all the time, but as a general rule. While others will turn away from goodness. All from w/in the church building.

Paul’s principle here is that there is room for a diversity of ppl, not all of whom will be believers.

This is the distinction he draws between the articles in the house. Not just what they are made of but what they are used for.

Those of common use are those who don’t believe yet but have come to church to find out what all the fuss is about.

Articles of common use become articles for special purpose once they come to faith and accept Jesus as Savior. God has a special purpose for every member of His family.

Made holy, set apart, different. Useful to God for jobs that He wants each to perform.

Inside the building are ppl who don’t believe yet, those who are young in their faith, and those who are mature in their faith.

Good teaching is important. Bad teaching leads to poor understanding and arguments over individual words versus the principles they teach.

And you can see how detrimental these quarrels would be to such a diverse group.

Paul comes around again w/ 3 more commands to help reinforce what he’s teaching there.

These have to do w/ Lifestyle choices

Lifestyle

2 Timothy 2:22–26 NIV

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

2 Timothy 2:22-

3 commands, and the first 2 are opposites.

1st command: Flee youthful desires.

Run away from attitudes and desires that influenced our rash decisions when we were young.

it’s not exactly clear what Paul is referring to here, but they would be the things that we obsessed over as young ppl that we have discovered as old ppl they aren’t so important.

They controlled us and dictated what we did. We were excessive and rash in our decisions.

I wish everything I’ve been thru happened to me when I was 25 and I knew it all. The older I get the dumber I was.

Grow up! Settle in.

2nd command: Pursue 4 virtues.

Run toward these things. Don’t remain in neutral. Get out of reverse. And go forward toward these things.

Righteousness. A right relationship w/ God. Stay close. Don’t push him away.

Fatih and love. Central to the basic Christian life.

Peace. Quiet composure. When things get stirred up calm them down.

These qualities typify authentic faith. The pursuit of them is standard behavior for believers, those w/ a pure heart that has been cleaned up when God came into you.

3rd command: Avoid foolish and stupid arguments

Frivolous, unskilled, uneducated positions. That is, ppl who fell victim to bad teaching and bought it and now argue for it.

There are beliefs and positions in the church that emotionally charged. It is important to pull as much emotion out of these discussions.

Passion is good. But, when we’re arguing emotionally over words that don’t mean what we think they means it’s, according to Paul, stupid.

Contrast this w/ what he

Rather than getting sucked into these arguments, avoid them by practicing these 3 habits.

First, be kind. Gentle.

Second, when confronted w/ ppl who have been influenced by bad teachers, and in kindness, instruct them correctly.

Third, do not become resentful. No doubt, those who oppose will be critical. Endure them, be tolerant of them, if not their ideas and positions.

It’s so easy to become resentful. But, God would never command the impossible. He commands the hard all the time. So, it is possible to maintain a gentle spirit while helping ppl come to a better understanding of what the bible teaches.

Why? Why be gentle in correction? The goal is always to lead ppl closer to Christ.

If they don’t believe, they won’t be insulted into the heaven.

And, if someone is unknowingly caught in the trap of our Enemy he won’t let them go easily.

Pursue love and peace. Correct ppl gently. Love them out of Satan’s trap and into God’s kingdom.

Bad teaching is dangerous.

Arguing based on inaccurate positions and feelings tear relationships apart.

Good teaching is essential.

Everything in the bible, even the tough passages lead us closer to Christ and each other.

Repentance and restoration are always possible.

Never write someone off as a lost cause.There is always hope and chance a good relationship can be found.

How do we avoid tunwinnable wars and their devastating consequences?

One very important way Paul addresses in .

Live your life according to the words in the Word; define them accurately, understand them deeply, and apply them appropriately. Eliminate the stress that comes with arguments that cannot be won.

Applications

Word

So, Paul says don’t get caught up quarreling about words. Godless chatter. Focus on the principles behind the words that applied in the c.1 and still do in the c.21.

You might be thinking, “Then, just tell us. What are the principles?” Why get caught up on so many words.

That’s what I’m trying to do, but it will take a lifetime of Sundays, and Tuesday afternoons (ladies), Thursday evenings (men), Wednesday evenings (I lead a study), and every other day when you can open your bible on your own.

This is hard work. The basics are fairly simple. But, there is so much more required to live your life and avoid unnecessary fights and arguments.

It’s there and it’s possible. Study hard.

Avoid

The HS will always tell you what you need to avoid. What is it?

What do you need to flee from?

We’re all involved in something, that’s our nature. What is it that is damaging you and the relationships around you.

Ask and God will tell you.

Then, avoid it.

Be kind

Kindness is a fruit of the spirit. It develops as our faith grows and we mature.

Who needs your kindness? Who haven’t you been kind to?

Is there someone, or a situ you’ve become resentful toward. Holding a grudge only hurts the grudge-holder. W/ God’s help, let it go and be kind to the person you’ve been resenting.

Your life will change and you will be less stressed.

How do we avoid the unwinnable wars and their devastating consequences of stupid arguments?

Live your life according to the words in the Word; define them accurately, understand them deeply, and apply them appropriately. Eliminate the stress that comes with arguments that cannot be won.