The Harsh Actions of Faith

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

Our world seems to have lost its collective mind over the past few weeks. Watching the news, all we see are fights within our nation over many different topics. If we look at social media, the situation is almost worse as many social media posts rapidly devolve into back and forth battles. The overall conclusion that we can come to is that we, Americans in general, are willing to fight for a lot of things. We are willing to fight for rights we have, rights we used to have, rights we want to have, and rights we don’t think we should have. We will fight over big things like whether or not there should be police forces and over relatively little things, like whether or not we should wear a mask to the grocery store.

Involvement:

We are willing to fight for a lot of things. But are we willing to fight for gospel-truth?

Context:

This evening we are looking at the final verses of the first chapter of Paul’s letter to young Timothy. Timothy, as you know, had been left by Paul to deal with various issues in the church of Ephesus. This letter was to aid Timothy in addressing the issues created by some false teachers in the church, issues that if left unchecked would undermine the gospel itself—the gospel which displays God’s glory, as we saw last week. God had entrusted Paul with this precious gospel, so he insisted that these teachers be stopped. This was a fight that Timothy was to engage in.

Preview:

As we have seen over the past several weeks, we can learn much about maintaining our own ministry focus in our 21st century American church by looking at the focus that Paul prescribed for Timothy. We face many of the same threats to the gospel, threats that require similar attitudes and solutions for dealing with them.

This evening, we are going to see that sometimes the solutions for dealing with threats requires harsh actions, actions which we must undertake as faithful believers. The idea that rings out from these final verses of chapter one is that The battle for gospel-truth may require harsh actions. Not just bold actions. Not just courageous actions. Harsh actions. The battle for gospel-truth may require harsh actions.

Let’s read our three verses for this evening before we begin considering what we can learn from them…<read 1 Tim 1:18–20>.

The battle for gospel-truth may require harsh actions. That is the main idea that rings out of these verses that carry two separate aspects by way of application.

Transition from introduction to body:

The first application that we should notice in these verses is that…

BODY:

I. We must engage in the fight for gospel-truth.

We must engage in the fight. Throughout these verses Paul is invoking military imagery to emphasize the nature of the conflict for gospel-truth.

Illustration

Now, our nation has engaged in many military campaigns over the course of its history. Even over the course of my life there have been several significant military campaigns with fierce battles required to accomplish their goals of preserving our freedom and our ideals as a nation. At the same time, I personally have not engaged in any of those battles. I very much support our military, but I have never served in our military. That means that all I have done is observe these campaigns from afar. I have observed some aspects of them on the nightly news. I have read about them. I have talked with people who were part of them. But I have not engaged in them.

Application

Sometimes, I fear that we can fall into the trap of treating fights for gospel-truth much like I have treated our nation’s military campaigns. We agree that they are important and should be undertaken. But we also agree that they are something that we will entrust to the professionals. We will let the pastors of the land deal with the fight for gospel-truth, the seminary professors or the Bible scholars even. We agree that they are important, but we will observe them from afar.

Such is not a valid idea that we can take away from an honest assessment of the NT, though. As believers, we are called to engage in the fight for gospel-truth; this is a fight that all of us are called to engage in.

Transition:

If that is the case, then what can we learn from Paul’s call to Timothy to fight? Well, there are three things that we can discover that will help us engage in the fight for gospel-truth.

First,…

A. We will need confidence in our calling.

It is difficult to engage in a difficult fight if we are not sure that we should be personally involved. Paul takes care of making sure that Timothy knows that he is to personally be engaged by reminding him of his original call to the ministry. There is some debate over the specific prophecies Paul references in v. 18, but a consideration of verse 14 in chapter 4 seems to suggest that there had been prophetic revelation included with identifying Timothy for full-time ministry, probably much like the church in Antioch received revelation to send Paul and Barnabas on their first journey.

Paul reminds Timothy of this history while also reminding him that he has entrusted the responsibility of engaging in this fight directly to Timothy. The word “entrust” is a financial term, meaning “deposit.” This fight has been deposited by Paul into Timothy’s care and Timothy is called to such ministry. There can be no doubt that Timothy is to engage in this battle.

Application

Now, we might look at this and conclude that the average person among us is off the hook; we don’t have any sort of special revelation calling us to fight for gospel-truth. Yet, that is not the case. Verse 15 of chapter 3 places the ongoing responsibility for maintaining gospel-truth with the church—that is all of us. Now that the NT is finished, we no longer need new special revelation related to specific individuals and circumstances because we have God’s completed revelation. And in that revelation, we are specifically told that this is our fight.

Illustration

To me this knowledge is somewhat like this situation that can occur between two siblings. This is Father’s Day, so let’s imagine that Dad has given an important message to the younger brother. Maybe the message is that the older brother is to come home and mow the grass while the younger one does the edging. The older brother was playing ball with his friends and is not inclined to listen to the younger. Yet, the younger one knows that he has been entrusted with this message that includes making sure that the job is finished; he has been entrusted with a calling by dad. For that reason, he will not back down when the older brother tries to ignore him. He will engage until he accomplishes the mission.

Transition:

We have been entrusted with a special calling. We can have confidence of that because we have the revelation of God that tells us that it is our duty. Thus, we must engage in the fight for gospel-truth.

Secondly,

B. We will need confidence in our armor.

The charge that Paul gives Timothy is to “fight the good fight.” I think that is a bit tame for the language that Paul uses. Paul is using military terms here. I think the ESV and NKJV have a better way of expressing it with the translation, “wage the good warfare,” or even the picturesque expression of the KJV, “mightiest war a good warfare.” This is a battle that Timothy is to engage in.

And since it is a battle, Timothy needs to arm himself properly for it. Paul presents two things that Timothy should consider as the armor that he will need for waging this war: faith and a good conscience. Timothy will not do well unless he has the right armor on, armor in which he has complete confidence.

Illustration

When I was growing up, my dad did a lot of welding. Working with farm machinery, it was not unusual for something to break that would need to be welded back together. I learned pretty quickly that standing too close by when dad was welding could be painful as the sparks that flew were hot! Yet my dad would put on his welding mask and welding gloves and get right in there. He was not concerned about the sparks because he had confidence in his equipment.

Remember young David when he was going to go fight Goliath? King Saul tried to give David his armor, but David refused them because he was not confident in them. Rather, he was confident in his well-used sling and the power of his God.

Application

Timothy needed confidence in his armor: faith and a good conscience. We need confidence in the same armor. Faith is the idea of actively trusting God. Trust in God sounds so easy. Yet, time and again things will happen in our lives when we cannot begin to see how doing what we know God’s word says in this situation could possibly work out. From everything that we see, doing what God advises will be a complete disaster, or at least a very painful experience for us. Faith as part of the armor says that we will do what God has said anyway.

A good conscience means that when we examine ourselves we will accurately conclude that we have been obedient to God. We can compare our lives to God’s word and see that our actions match up…even at 2:00 in the morning when we are laying awake our conscience still assures us that we have been obedient.

Transition:

Faith and a good conscience are the pieces of armor that we need in order to engage in the fight for gospel-truth. We will need confidence in our armor in order to engage in the fight.

Thirdly,

C. We will need concern for our own weakness.

The way that Paul reminds Timothy that some of his opponents have been ensnared by false teaching while also reminding him of the armor that he needs implicitly points out that Timothy also runs the risk of being ensnared. The traps that ensnared others are still present; they could grab him as well. Constant vigilance will be required to keep Timothy from getting caught by those traps, which would cause him to fall in the battle.

Illustration

Grace and I had our kids after the rest of her brothers and sisters had started their family. Before we had kids, we would have family gatherings in which we watched them interact with their kids and I can assure you we had all the answers. We would see one of our nieces or nephews melt down in a temper tantrum and we were confident that such would never happen to us because we would handle things differently. And then we had kids…Katie and Daniel revealed that we were just as vulnerable to melting-down children as our family members.

Application

Spiritually, we need to recognize that we are just as weak as everyone else. How many times have we looked at others falling in some fashion and thought that we would never do that ourselves? Friends, if we do not fall, it is by the grace of God. It certainly is not by our own strength. It is because God has used the armor that He has given us through the strength that He has given us. We need to recognize that we are weak, only God is strong. We desperately need this humbling realization. We will need concern for our own weakness if we are going to engage in the battle for gospel-truth.

Transition:

And engage we must. We must engage in the fight for gospel-truth. To do so we will need confidence in our calling; we will need confidence in our armor; and we will need concern for our own weakness. We need these things because we must engage in a fierce battle. That is the first application that comes from our verses tonight.

Remember our main idea? The battle for gospel-truth may require harsh actions. The battle for gospel-truth may require harsh actions.

There is a second application that comes from our verses. Not only must we engage in the fight for gospel truth, secondly,…

II. We must engage against the enemy of gospel-truth.

We must actually engage the enemy. We must engage against the enemy of gospel-truth.

Illustration

According to 1 Samuel 17, Goliath had challenged the army of Israel for 40 days to come out and fight him. Three of David’s brothers, along with thousands of other Israelites had listened to that challenge for 40 days. I am sure during that time there had been a lot of movement and activity behind the lines of Israel’s army. But David actually went out and engaged Goliath.

We cannot simply scurry around in our Christian bubble and hope that gospel attacks on our church go away. If the truth of the gospel is under attack, we must engage the enemy. Here is where the harsh actions come into play. When we go to war, things can get messy in a hurry. We must take people on directly; that is not pleasant; that is not neat and clean.

Transition:

In the heat of battle, how can we know if we are engaging against the enemy of gospel-truth properly? There are three things that we can discover in these verses which will help us answer that question. First,…

A. We will need concern for pure doctrine.

The reason that we go to battle must be over the purity of doctrine. It is not about personalities. It is not about loyalties to friends. It is about gospel-truth. It is because, as Paul states, rejecting the truth of the gospel brings shipwreck in regard to the faith—faith with the article, “the faith.” Paul is taking about a specific body of doctrine that can be destroyed when pieces of it are abandoned.

What a vivid image Paul creates by stating that corrupt doctrine is the equivalent of a shipwreck. Think about it. Paul knew a thing or two about being shipwrecked. By the time he wrote 2 Corinthians, he was able to write that he had been shipwrecked three times during his travels, one of those times apparently requiring that he cling to a piece of wreckage for a night and a day before he was rescued. Of course, in Acts 27 we learn that on his way to Rome as a prisoner he was shipwrecked again off the island of Malta. That means that by the time he is writing this letter, he has had the personal experience of at least 4 shipwrecks. He knew very well how the power of the sea could destroy the vessels that floated upon them by flinging them against rocks and beating them with waves.

That is the image that he invokes to try to make us see how powerful corrupt teaching is to the gospel. Once we get that message, we understand that we must engage the enemies who are trying to fling it against the rocks of false teaching.

Application

As I have mentioned during the first two weeks of this series, engaging the enemy will require engaging real people. Remember, the context of this engagement is within the local church. That means, if we are called to engage false teaching, it will unfortunately be men or women who we know. They may be people that we have dined with, whom we have had over to our house, whom we have worked beside on workdays. Like Paul, we may be required to name names. But the names we name will be much more familiar to us than Hymenaeus or Alexander…although Alexander is not that uncommon as a name goes. Still, the names that we name will be people that we know, just as Hymenaeus and Alexander were known in the church of Ephesus, possibly even leaders. The only thing that should motivate us enough to go to battle against possible friends is our nonnegotiable love for pure doctrine—our love for gospel truth.

Transition:

We will need concern for pure doctrine as we engage the enemy of gospel-truth. Second,…

B. We will need concern for their restoration.

Notice carefully Paul’s purpose in his actions as given in the last phrase of verse 20, “so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.” The goal of Paul’s actions are remedial, he wants them to learn something while they can, something important, eternally critical even; he want them to come to a proper understanding and to come to repentance while they can. That is the goal.

But what is the action that he had to take to get them there? He “handed them over to Satan.” Here, the phrase is given without any expansion but surely Timothy understood what Paul meant. Paul uses the same expression in 1 Cor 5:5 where he devotes an entire chapter of that letter to instructing the church in Corinth as to how to deal with a blatant, unrepentant sinner who professed to be a Christian and was being treated as a church member by the rest of the church. As I explained when we went through that letter a few years ago, this is the concept that we have come to call church discipline. The final step of which, is excommunication—the revoking of church membership.

Illustration

For that past three Sundays we have had the joy of welcoming new members into our church. We have had people who expressed a desire to join our church and as a congregation we have voted them into membership. In preparation for that vote, in every case I have informed you that I have heard their testimony of salvation, that these men or women know the gospel-truth and have stated their faith in that truth. Part of what we are doing when we add these people into our membership through our vote is that we are affirming their profession of faith. In essence we are telling the world that there might be men and women who claim to be Christians running around, but we don’t know anything about them. If the world wants to know what a Christian looks like, they should look at these men and women; the members of our church have our stamp of approval, our affirmation as a church on their testimony.

On the flip side, what Paul is dealing with here is the removal of that affirmation. He is stating that it doesn’t matter what Hymenaeus and Alexander claim to be, the church in Ephesus does not affirm their profession of faith, as far as we can tell these two member are unbelievers, they certainly are living as such. Furthermore, Paul and the church are also telling Hymenaeus and Alexander as loudly as they can that they should be concerned about their spiritual condition because they appear to be unbelievers who are destined for hell.

Application

The Lord Himself laid out the full process by which we are to deal with sin in the church, the process that we call Church Discipline, in Matt 18. I won’t go into it further this evening, but it ends with the removal of affirmation of that person’s profession of faith by the church and the church ceases watching over that person’s spiritual well-being, the person is turned over to Satan, treated as an unbeliever who lives in Satan’s realm without the mitigating influence of the church.

Doing this is taking harsh action. But we must never loose sight of the reason is a concern for restoration. This is not a vendetta against someone we are angry toward. This is harsh action toward someone we fervently love. We want the person to yield to gospel-truth. We want repentance. We want the person to change his or her thinking so that he or she will begin to help us defend gospel truth.

Transition:

We must engage against the enemy of gospel truth. When we do that, we will need concern for their restoration. And third,

C. We will need confidence in God’s power.

A confidence in God’s power underlies all that Paul writes here. There is no chance that young Timothy, an outsider to the church in Ephesus, could possibly hope to take on these imbedded teachers of false doctrine if he did not have confidence that God’s power was greater. In fact, I am pretty sure that Paul is enough of a realist that he would not ask his young protégé to attempt such a feat unless he also was convinced that the power of God would give Timothy the victory.

Application

As much as we profess our belief in the power of God, we too will need confidence in it if we are to engage the enemies of gospel-truth. The enemies of gospel-truth will normally appear to have the position of power in the conflict. They will appear to be well-ingrained in the power structure of this world. They also normally will be willing to fight in ungodly manners when the battle begins. On paper, if we were to analyze the battle before it begins, entering the battle on the side of gospel-truth will generally look like joining the losing team. We will need confidence in God’s power.

Illustration

We need to remember not only the words of young David, but also the truth that those words conveyed when he faced Goliath, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.” The Lord’s side is the winning side.

Transition from body to conclusion:

We will need confidence in God’s power to engage against the enemy of gospel truth.

We must engage against the enemy of gospel-truth. We will need concern for pure doctrine. We will need concern for their restoration. We will need confidence in God’s power.

CONCLUSION

The battle for gospel-truth may require harsh actions. It is a battle, a battle that requires harsh actions. We must engage in the fight for gospel truth and we must engage against the enemy of gospel truth.

Application

As I mentioned at the outset, we tend to be willing to fight over a lot of things. Are we willing to fight over gospel-truth. This evening we have been confronted with the fact that we are called to battle for gospel-truth. Are you engaged in the fight? Are you engaged against the enemy? Are you fighting for gospel-truth or is all your fight being sucked out of you as you fight for things of such lesser importance in life?

The battle for gospel-truth may require harsh actions. Let’s get enter the battle that we have been called to fight.