1 Timothy 6:2b-11a
Exposition of 1 Timothy • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsTimothy is charged with holding the line against false teaching and false teachers
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
-Invite to Turn 1 Timothy 6:3
(Begin reading: last sentence of verse 2)
The last time we were here:
Read and studied:
The last (and perhaps most controversial) of Paul’s:
Long list of miscellaneous instructions...
…given to ensure proper order and function in the church.
We pick back up this evening...
…with the instruction...
…that follows, these instructions!
It begins in the last sentence of verse 2.
Let’s read it together.
Paul charges Timothy (personally) to:
1 Timothy 6:2–11 (ESV)
...Teach and urge these things.
3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
Pray
4 minutes
Paul begins this new section of his letter to Timothy...
...with two simple commands:
1 Timothy 6:2 (ESV)
...Teach and urge these things.
-We’ve seen this same doubling down on instructions by Paul...
…many times throughout the letter:
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
Command and teach these things.
The most recent time had been in the middle of that long treatise...
…on the proper treatment of widows.
He had paused and interjected:
Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.
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After that, he gave commands:
Duty of Men to provide for their families
Criteria for the financial support of widows by the church.
Duty of Women to provide for the practical needs of their own widowed relatives
Then he moved to:
Instructions for the proper support of ministers
Instructions on how to deal with:
Accusations against a minister, and/or
Ministers who persist in sin
Some Miscellaneous, personal exhortations for Timothy
Then he concluded with:
Instructions for the proper treatment of MASTERS...
…by Christian slaves!
-And at the end of all that, he charges Timothy to:
“Teach” all of this to the church
But not only to give them the instruction...
…but also to “urge” them to obey it!
-I am finding that this is where the minister is met with the most resistance.
The indicative is often well-received...
(except in the case if pet doctrines)...
…but the imperative often causes the gnashing of teeth.
But this text reminds us keenly:
…that faithful ministry requires BOTH!
Philip Ryken observes about verse 2:
This is a good, short summary of the work of a gospel minister.
First and foremost, a pastor is a teacher. He expounds the Word of God, which is the only remedy for false doctrine.
But then he explains that:
To “urge” is “to appeal to those who are also being taught to apply the teaching to their lives.” Therefore, a good preacher exhorts as well as explains. - Philip Ryken
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(4 minutes, 8 total)
-In fact, what will soon be clear from the verses that follow, is...
…that their MUST be an equal emphasis placed upon:
Orthodoxy (right teaching)
Orthopraxy (right living)
Look at verse 3
Paul says:
1 Timothy 6:3–4 (ESV)
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing...
So, notice first off...
...the intended contrast with the positive command in verse 2.
That whole phrase...
“teaches a different doctrine”
…is one long, compound word in the original.
It’s basically the word for “teach” from verse 2...
…with the word “heteros” prefixed to it.
From its English use, we’re familiar its meaning:
“other” or “another”
(i.e., “different”)
(e.g., homo = same; hetero = the other of the two)
So Paul is drawing a very clear line in the sand for Timothy:
ANY other form, or
ANY variation of...
The instruction he had received from him...
Any instruction or exhortation to the church...
...that stands in variance with what he wrote:
…is to be considered heterodoxy...
(i.e., “a different doctrine”)
He says, that his words (Paul’s words), are:
“sound words”
(i.e., “healthy,”)
-He also (boldly, but accurately) declares that...
…his words (Paul’s words) are equivalent to:
“words of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
-This reminds us of the:
Function of an Apostle
Nature of Apostolic authority
They spoke:
On Christ’s behalf
With Christ’s authority!
They were his royal emissaries!
That’s how they laid the foundation...
…upon which the church is being built...
…into a “holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:20-21)
Through the laying of this foundation that we refer to as:
“The Apostolic Deposit of Truth”
You see, this body of truth is in its own category
It can’t be:
Added to,
Subtracted from,
Modified by...
…anyone to whom Christ has not given that express permission and authority to do so...
…and has not evidenced that with the presence of Apostolic-grade-miracles!
Hence, the warning in verse 3 is, that to...
Despise, ignore, or distort...
Paul’s words....
…is to rebel against Christ himself!
The Apostle John put it like this:
We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
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Now, remember what some of those words have been in this epistle:
Calling out of fornicators and homosexuals as “contrary to sound doctrine”
Instructions for:
Modest dress
Self-controlled living
Instructions regarding the proper role of women in the church
Qualifications delimiting those who can be pastors
Qualifications delimiting those who can be deacons
And… that long list of commands that I rattled off to you before!
All of this… All of it...
…is in that category of the:
“sound (healthy) words of . . . Christ”
And all of it (Paul goes on to tell us in verse 3)...
…constitutes the:
“teaching that accords with godliness!”
J.J. Van Oosterzee wrote on this verse:
The words of the Lord are spoken of as wholesome, in contrast with the diseased character of the false doctrines (comp. νοσῶν, ver. 4);
and the truth of the gospel is here named as according to godliness (κατ̓ εὐσεβ.), to show the indivisible unity between Christian truth and morality - J.J. Van Oosterzee
W. E. Vine put it like this:
The effects in life and conduct are the test of the soundness of the teaching.
The doctrine of Scripture is always practical, it never consists of merely theological tenets, it is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness”;
it furnishes the man of God “unto every good work.” - W.E. Vine
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(9 minutes, 17 total)
So, given all of that...
…Paul says that whoever does not align himself...
...with the apostolic teaching...
…does so, because he is (as he says in verse 4):
“puffed up with conceit”
And because he:
“understands nothing.”
-Now, that first description...
“puffed up with conceit”
…is also one word in the original.
We’ve seen it used before:
Paul had said that an overseer:
1 Timothy 3:6 (ESV)
...must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Do you remember what it means?
W.E. Vine says that the word:
primarily denoted to wrap in smoke;
hence it became used metaphorically of being puffed up or beclouded with pride.
Just as smoke blinds the eyes, so pride blinds the spiritual sight as to the will of God, and leads one to act in opposition to Him. - W.E. Vine
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So, Paul is asserting, that...
…whoever rejects and opposes the teachings of scripture...
…does so, because they are blinded by their pride.
The result is (ironically), that those who tend to profess to know so much, actually...
“understand nothing.”
The problem, then, is ultimately moral...
…NOT intellectual!
And the way Paul goes on to describe the reject-er of God’s Word...
…firmly reinforces this humbling assertion.
(3 minutes, 20 total)
Look at the second sentence in verse 4:
1 Timothy 6:4 (ESV)
...He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words...
Paul says that these false-teachers, who...
…have NO longing or desire...
...for sound and healthy doctrines...
…are not, yet, without appetites!
He says they have deep cravings:
for controversy
for “word-fighting” (more literal rendering)
He says:
This characterizes those who REJECT the:
Supremacy,
Sufficiency...
Of God’s Word!
Brethren, shall we, who hold so tenaciously to the primacy of scripture...
…be thus characterized ourselves?
MAY IT NEVER BE!
Qualifier:
We NEVER capitulate to false doctrine for the sake of unity!
We oppose them fervently!
But, we must oppose them in a way that...
...takes Paul’s litany of warnings into serious consideration.
He warned repeatedly:
Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.
But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,
knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
-And so we’re clear about the commitment to truth:
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
Oh, brethren, we must be diligent to conform our ENTIRE lives...
…to the teachings of scripture.
Where it befits our personalities...
and where it stands in contrast!
The REFORMED Expository Commentary observes here:
There is a certain kind of churchman who enjoys a good fight.
He (I say “he” because this mentality seems especially prevalent among men) is argumentative.
He majors on minors. The more speculative the doctrine, the more tenaciously he debates for it.
He not only splits hairs, but he tries to do so with a chainsaw.
In the end he robs himself of the truth.
This means that part of being a good theologian is knowing when not to fight - Reformed Expository Commentary
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(6 minutes, 26 total)
Now, look at the last part of verse 4.
Paul tells us the fruit that is produced...
…by these unhealthy cravings:
1 Timothy 6:4 (ESV)
...He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
and constant friction...
Paul says that this un-biblical thirst for:
quarrels and controversy...
…gives birth to some very ugly children:
Envy:
Being jealous and covetous toward someone else
Dissension:
Contention
Strife
Slander: (Literally: “Blasphemy”)
Speaking evil of others
Evil Suspicions:
Wicked Opinions
Assuming the Worst!
Constant Friction: (in relationships)
(No need to further define that one)
This is the fruit borne by those who:
Set aside the clear teachings of Scripture...
Thirst for controversy!
-Paul would later write to Timothy again...
…and warn him about such people:
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
-He similarly warned (in the same letter):
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Don’t miss the emphasis!
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
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This is the same description of...
a false teacher...
a false professor...
…that we see in verse 5.
(4 minutes, 30 total)
Paul says that these attributes are produced among:
1 Timothy 6:5 (ESV)
...people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth,...
Then he throws something new into the discussion...
...Something that seems to come out of nowhere.
-He says that these depraved and deprived folks:
1 Timothy 6:5 (ESV)
...imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
In other words, they see the Christian Faith...
…as a way to make money!
-Brethren, there are two CONSISTENT attributes of false teachers:
Sensuality (moral decadence)
Greed!
Eventually, they both manifest themselves in the life of a false teacher.
Peter, pulled no punches when describing them:
2 Peter 2:1–22 (ESV)
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,
suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.
They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm . . .
For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption...
-Take heed to that warning, brethren
Godliness:
(i.e., religious devotion)
(i.e., religious observances)
(i.e., religious activities)...
…are NOT to be regarded as a means of profiteering!
Guard against that in your pulpits.
Guard against that in your own hearts!
-Look at verse 6.
Paul gives the antidote to this great malady of greed:
1 Timothy 6:6–8 (ESV)
But godliness with contentment is great gain,
for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
That’s the antidote:
(Contentment)
Being satisfied with:
What God has ALREADY provided for you
The God who has provided it.
You have Him, Christian!
What more do you need?
He is your inheritance, Levite!
Is he not enough?
Is he not enough?
He is enough
He’s all we need
He’s all we have!
(6 minutes, 36 total)