Guarding the Gospel

1 Timothy 1:1–20 NASB95

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

Intro:

Background: We begin a new series this morning that I am calling, “For the Sake of the Church.” Over the next several weeks, we will explore three NT books - 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. These are known to many as the “pastoral epistles” because they are addresses specifically to Timothy and Titus, two young pastors whom the Apostle Paul discipled. These young men were not pastors like you might be thinking. They were more like itinerant problem-solvers. Their role was to address challenges that came about within the churches. They oversaw and helped guide the churches. In fact, they would often appoint elders and help train men who would lead the churches.

While this letter is addressed to Timothy, it is written to be heard by the church as a whole… partly so they would acknowledge Timothy’s role as assigned by the apostle Paul. The intent is that as Timothy went about his responsibilities, he would be received by the church as one with authority. After all, Paul was the church planting missionary- commissioned by Jesus Christ. Timothy was not as big of a name, so Paul wrote a letter that allowed the church to see Tinothy’s legitimacy as he took on the challenging role of Guarding the Gospel.

Some time ago, I managed a hotel in Sylva. If you’ve ever had to manage employees, you know that sometimes you struggle getting the results you need… especially if your employees have been there longer or are older, etc. This was the case with my housekeeping manager… she was promoted from within and now oversaw the people she had worked alongside for years. Seeing her as a friend, the housekeepers slacked off in their duties, refusing to do the job right. So, one day I had a meeting with her - within ear-shot of the housekeeping staff by which I gave her the authority to enforce our policy… to report to me the inspections and disciplinary actions taken. It was only then that the housekeepers took seriously the instructions of their manager.

So, as we dig into our study today, we will find that Paul’s command to Timothy for the sake of the church is to Guard the Gospel. He does this by identifying the threat of the church, uncovering the treasure of the church, and encouraging the the battle for the church.

The Threat to the Church (3-11)

We can summarize this threat as “untruth” or “False teaching”.

Anytime we accept untruth, we deny God’s character and glory.

While we don’t have the specifics of the untruths in Ephesus, we can know what was going on. (Read 3-7)

Discuss: What threats were facing the church in Ephesus? How can we identify threats in the church today?

Paul uses three terms to illustrate what was taking place:

Men were teaching “Strange Doctrines”

This simply means they were teaching things that were contrary to the truth of God’s Word. They taught a different gospel, a different Jesus. Some ideas might be:

that men are basically good

we can attain salvation through works

that the main purpose of life is self-fulfillment

denial of a resurrection, etc.

Strange doctrines is a broad category, but we can understand that- after all, because truth exists, it is more narrow of an answer than all of the wrong answers. (2+2=4… which means that every other number is wrong!)

This is still a present threat in the church. People are teaching strange doctrines that deny God’s power, like the Big Bang Theory and evolution, the denial of God’s design for the human body, etc.

People entertained Myths & Endless Genealogies

We might put myths in the category of multiple gods- the supposing that Jesus is one of many gods. Or that Jesus became a god… these were understood to be false, and distractions from the Gospel.

ILL- In many of the ancient tales, people would tell stories of a god who came to earth to establish a city or to marry a human woman and establish a deified family. We can see much of this in Greek Mythology.

Today, people still get sucked into these things.. I’m surprised sometimes when people inside the church propose that we become angels when we die or that a loved one might be reincarnated as a butterfly. There are people who call themselves Christians who teach that if certain works are accomplished, then you can become a god.... these are myths that must be rejected.

Endless (Lit. Exhausting) genealogies infers that they are so convoluted that you couldn’t possibly follow them… in order to be accepted into a certain role or group. This boils down to power and elitism.

In fact, Alexander the Great cooked up a crazy genealogy that "proved” him to be a descendent of Achilles on his mother’s side.

We actually saw this within the Catholic Church as people would claim the genealogy of Peter to be considered for Pope.

All of these things are contrary to the Gospel, which expresses that God’s plan for salvation is through faith alone. The Gospel- indeed the riches of the Kingdom of God are not only for a certain people group. For God desires that ALL would come to repentance and would trust in Him for eternal life!

Paul says that these only cause for speculation and fruitless discussion (4b, 6b). They do not advance the kingdom of God.

Here’s the bottom line, the threat that Paul addresses here is that within the church, there are people who teach and assert confidently, but they have no understanding. They have missed the point… they have lost the Gospel. They are teaching the law out of context and without proper understanding.

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Don’t Lose the Bible in Church!

During the reign of King Josiah, who lived seven centuries before Christ, the law had become hopelessly mixed up with common opinions. Idolatry was flourishing; contempt for theology was common. There was little or no resistance to moral erosion. Josiah, who was made king at age eight, was worried. He desired to be a good king and he was. He wanted to lead his people out of darkness. He turned to the Temple for help. The results were disappointing. The Word of the Lord could not be found! A renovating program on the Temple was started. At last the high priest, Hilkiah, said to Shaphan, his secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 22:8).

Paul was warning Timothy and us by extension, don’t lose the Bible in church!

The Treasure of the Church (12-17)

As Paul continues on, it seems, on the surface, that he has digressed or has shifted the conversation; But if we look closely, we can see that Paul is actually contrasting the threat of untruth with the glorious Gospel. And the treasure of the church is that God would entrust His church with it.

How else can one describe the gospel except through thanksgiving and praise?!

What we see is Paul’s testimony of the Gospel in his life; Not only what God has saved him from, but what God has saved him to!

Discuss: What is your Gospel testimony? How do you see the treasure of the Gospel that you have been entrusted with?

Listen to v. 12.

Paul’s gratitude goes beyond his salvation experience to the absolute wonder that God would put him into service for the Kingdom.

And, do you recognize who Paul was? Paul, the pharisee who abused and persecuted Christians up until he came face to face with Jesus? Paul, who had blood on his hands- imagine the guilt and shame he experienced. How on earth could God look upon a man who was guilty of this kind of rebellion and sin and not only rescue him from the damnation he deserved, but would commission him to take the message of the Gospel to the world.

Hey listen, God didn’t choose Paul because Paul deserved it, He chose Paul because He is God!!!

And do you know how many churches were planted through Paul’s missionary journeys? (at least 14…) Can you fathom the impact of his testimony across the world and throughout history? Do you realize that God used Paul to pen over half of the NT? God used Paul- the blatant abuser of Christians to be His instrument to share the message of redemption he once condemned.

And listen to Paul’s statement: “Christ came to save sinners, of which I am foremost of all”

What a treasure the church has! The Gospel of Jesus Christ! The world is FULL of sinners and Christ came to save them!

And look further, Paul says that if God can save me, he can save anyone! Paul believed himself to be one whom God would have used the extent of His patience to save so that you and I would understand that we are not too far lost for God to save!

Hey, I want to tell you something this morning, there is no amount of sin in your life too great for God to forgive. There is no amount of guilt that you can have that would surpass the price that God paid in Christ! And I am telling you that God not only wants to save you this morning, He wants to use you in His kingdom, right here, right now, in the midst of 2020- God can use you in ways that you could never imagine!! Paul is proof. Even as he wrote this letter, he had no idea that God would use it for over 2000 years!

Oh what a treasure we the church have in that we have been entrusted with the Gospel if Jesus Christ.

What will we do with this treasure? Will we bury it in the ground as servant did in the parable of the talents (Mat. 25:14-30)? Or will we be faithful stewards?

Paul commands for Timothy to guard the gospel and in doing so encourages Timothy to action. We see that this is indeed:

The Battle for the Church(18-20)

Paul is restating his command to Timothy to circumvent the false teaching and other distractions from the Gospel. And the way Paul describes this is as a battle- He says to Timothy, “Fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience...”

Let’s take a minute to discern what this looks like.

Ephesus was a major port city… the church there would have been like an island in the midst of pagan beliefs. Ephesus was home to the temple of Artemis (Diana) - one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Idolatry, synchronism, sexual perversion… there were a number of temptations for these folks. Pressure to accept the false worship or sexual ideologies was immense.

I can imagine business owners and other wealthy and influential people who wanted to distort the Gospel for the sake of their personal comforts and pleasures. How intimidating is it for a young Christian to be able to rebuke and lovingly, yet boldly correct their thinking and practices?

Yet, Paul tells Timothy to fight the good fight. Hang in there, Timothy- I know it’s a tough battle, but it is worth it. The Gospel, that great treasure is worth guarding! Remember when you received the Holy Spirit and the mercy of Christ! This is a faith that you must maintain.

It’s interesting that Paul uses the image of a shipwreck to describe those who had rejected the call of guarding the Gospel- just a small hole in the ship will cause BIG problems if not corrected!!

This is true in the church. Timothy was charged with correcting the issues; the false teaching, the wrong assumptions, the distractions. All it takes is a single compromise in our faith and before we know it, our faith is useless. If we accept an untruth, or we abandon the authority and truth of God’s Word, we are sunk.

Discuss: What are the dangers of inaction in regards to the church? What does it look like to “fight the good fight”?

Today, I want to plead with you, my fellow Christians, to Guard the Gospel. Recognize the threat of untruth, uncover the treasure of your testimony in Christ, and Fight the good fight.

Let’s pray.