Today Paul is going to give instructions for how men and women should behave in church assemblies. Paul has taken a lot of criticism in the modern age for some of his views, especially for his views regarding how women are to behave in a church setting. I think we can take his advice and prove that it is not discriminatory toward women. I believe the things he says are still relevant for church worship here in 2019.
First he begins with how men should behave in worship settings. "Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing." (1 Timothy 2:8) It would appear that Paul expects the men of the congregation to be the ones who lead the services. In my Baptist church, although we are quite modern and have a very large youth membership, it is still men who are asked to lead the church in prayer and in various other things. As we've studied before in the writings of both Paul and Peter, when God created the family He chose the man to be the leader of the family. This could be because the man was created (generally speaking) to be more physically able to protect the family from harm. Or this could be, as Paul will point out today, that God created Adam before He created Eve. As the first human being created, the man was the first to receive instructions from God about righteous living and God still expects the man to set the example in the home for righteous living. In religious assemblies, God calls the men to lead the church family and to set godly examples for the church family to follow.
Paul says that the man who is praying in the church should "lift up holy hands without anger". Would it be seemly for a man to lead the congregation in prayer while holding a grudge against his brother or sister in Christ? No, and that's why Paul says men are not to lead prayer if they are harboring an attitude of anger toward someone. The Lord Jesus is in agreement with this, for He said something quite similar to what Paul is saying, "If you are offering a gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24) Our offering or our sacrifice of praise or our prayer is not pleasing to God if we are holding a grudge against someone or if we have wronged someone and are aware of it but have not apologized to them. The Lord may hold off on saying yes to our prayer requests if we haven't repented of wronging someone and if we haven't tried to make things right with them. An example of this comes from the writings of the Apostle Peter, who warns husbands that they must be considerate to their wives and treat them with respect or else their prayers will be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7) If a man is not able to remain at peace with the members of his household, he is not likely to be able to remain at peace with his brothers and sisters in Christ, so he should not lead the congregation in prayer if he is holding onto anger and a resentful attitude.
Likewise, a man should not lead worship if he has an argumentative spirit. Paul says he must lead without disputing. It does not honor the Lord or show love to the church members if one of the leaders is argumentative and irritable.
Now Paul moves on to instructions for how women are to behave in the church setting. He begins with how women should dress for church services. "I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." (1 Timothy 2:9-10) In Paul's day (and in ours) it was probably the women who were more tempted than the men to dress elaborately when going to church. Paul points out that there's a difference between looking our best and trying to upstage others. In our church congregations we have people of various income levels and we don't want anyone to feel unwelcome just because they don't own fancy clothes. We don't want people in the community to think we have a "dress code" that they can't measure up to. We are not to be attending church in order to be admired for our wardrobes. Paul isn't saying we can't own fancy clothes or jewelry; he's simply saying that church isn't the place to show these things off. After all, we are in church to lift up the name of the Lord, not to make a big deal about ourselves. So instead of trying to call attention to ourselves with our wardrobes, we should instead be occupied by performing good works in the church and in the community.
It isn't seemly for the Christian woman to dress provocatively, and this is why Paul says our dress should be modest. It sends the wrong message when we have cleavage hanging out of our tops or when we have too much leg showing. It throws our virtue into question, and the virtue of the Christian woman should never be questionable. Will a godly man be attracted to a woman in provocative clothing? He may not be able to help noticing it, but if he's a godly Christian single man looking for a godly wife, the woman wearing a too-short skirt or a low-cut top is going to give him the wrong impression. She may not actually be a promiscuous woman, but her outfit suggests that she might be. Her outfit suggests that she wants men to stare at her, and a nice man isn't going to be particularly eager to get himself a wife who enjoys causing other men to have lustful thoughts about her.
Next we move on to the controversial part of our passage today. Paul says he doesn't allow women to teach men in the church. In many of our churches today, this is still the rule. My church allows women to teach classes made up of other women, children, or teens. But it doesn't allow women to teach a mixed congregation. It also doesn't allow women to be ordained ministers. Paul states his opinion on the matter like this: "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet." (1 Timothy 2:11-12) The word that has been translated into English as "quiet" is the Greek "hesuchia" which means to be "peaceable, not meddling in the affairs of others, to mind one's own business, to be quiet". So Paul isn't saying that women can't ever open their mouths in church; he's saying that they are to maintain a peaceful attitude in church. They are not to be busybodies at church or gossip or argue. In my own church, and probably in most others, women are allowed to give testimonies and prayer requests.
But although it's permissible for women to participate in various ways in the church, Paul says he doesn't allow them to teach the men. He bases his decision on this: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." (1 Timothy 2:13-14) Adam, of course, was a sinner too. In many ways his sin was worse than that of Eve's, for he was created first and had been instructed by God regarding the fruit they were not to eat. Since Eve was created after Adam, Adam's job was to instruct her regarding what God had said about the fruit. He did follow through on instructing her, for in her conversation with the serpent we see she was clearly aware that she was not to eat the fruit. But Adam did not follow through on his responsibility to protect his wife and to set a godly example for her. The Bible tells us that Adam was with her when she picked the fruit and ate it (Genesis 3:6), but he didn't interfere while the serpent was tempting her. He didn't tell the serpent to shut up, he didn't remind Eve that it was a sin to eat the fruit, he didn't lead Eve away from the temptation, he didn't protest when Eve ate the fruit, and he didn't say no when she offered the fruit to him. He failed utterly in his role as a godly husband and in his responsibility to lead his household, and I think he failed because he wanted to please Eve more than he wanted to please God. The men of our day face the same problem: they often want to please their wives more than they want to please God. After all, it's their wives they have to live with every day, and men don't want conflict in their homes. Men want their homes to be peaceful and happy, and you know the saying that has become popular in our times: "Happy wife, happy life." But men shouldn't have to sacrifice their dignity and their relationship with the Lord in order to keep peace in their homes. That's what Adam did, and he suffered for it----in fact, the whole human race suffered for it.
Because the wife has so much influence on her husband, Paul prefers that women don't have authority over the men in the church (in the form of teaching) because this will translate to the women having authority over their husbands at home. This reverses the roles that God ordained for the home. Men are going to have trouble relating to God in the way they should if they aren't allowed to fulfill the roles that God ordained for them in the home. Why study the Scriptures or develop a close relationship with the Lord if their wives are the spiritual leaders of the home? If their wives take on the role of spiritual leadership, men have little incentive to grow in the Lord because there is not much to prompt them to do what they were meant to do. If their wives insist on being the sole authority when it comes to spiritual matters, the husbands may end up sacrificing their calling in the home just in order to keep the peace. But God has called men to spiritual leadership because they will never be all they can be in the Lord unless they fulfill this role. The man whose spiritual opinions are ignored in the home is going to be discouraged from developing spiritually. He may manage to grow spiritually in spite of this, but he won't be able to worship privately with his wife. He won't be able to encourage her in the faith and be encouraged by her in the faith. They won't be partners in the way God intended them to be. The wife who disrespects her husband is not being the helpmate she was intended to be, and as a result her husband can't be the protector and spiritual leader he was intended to be.
In addition to doing their husbands a disservice, women who won't allow their Christian husbands to have their role as spiritual leader are doing themselves a disservice. Our husbands can be the most powerful sources of spiritual support in our lives. The marriage relationship is the closest relationship we can have with another human being, and that relationship should be one of mutual spiritual nourishment. Nothing in the world makes me love my husband more than to see his head bowed in prayer. Nothing makes me feel more attracted to him than seeing him clap his hands in praise during a church service. What if he felt like he had to sit there in silence, showing no emotion, for fear that I might disapprove? What if he thought he could never say anything about the Lord at home in case I might criticize him? What if he was afraid to discuss the pastor's sermon in the car after the service in case I might angrily disagree with his interpretation of what the pastor said? We'd both be missing out on something important that God doesn't want us to miss. When my husband sets a spiritual example for me, I feel closer to him. When my husband grows in the Lord, I grow in the Lord. If we don't allow our husbands to offer spiritual guidance in the home, we are taking something away from them and from ourselves as well.
In reading today's passage, we must keep in mind that Paul is talking to households where both the husband and the wife are believers. But we can still apply these principles to our lives, and I'm going to give us some examples of that now. Of course a husband can't lead the household spiritually if he is not a believer, but even in those cases the wives are not to harangue the husbands with a list of their shortcomings. The wives are not to self-righteously "preach" to their husbands but are to impress their husbands with their godly living. (See 1 Peter 3:1.) Peter's words show us that many times an unbelieving husband becomes a believer because he sees his wife's love for the Lord and because he experiences his wife's respect for him. In a household where only the husband is a believer, many times the wife comes to the faith because her husband fulfills his calling as the spiritual leader of the home. She is impressed by the godly example he sets for her. She is persuaded to come to Christ because her husband loves her in the way the Lord commands him to love her. (See Ephesians 5:25) So even if your spouse is not a believer, you can follow Paul's instructions, and your obedience to these instructions may lead to miraculous changes in your marriage partner.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Paul's Son In The Faith: A Study Of 1st and 2nd Timothy. Day 6, One Mediator Between God And Man
Paul is going to begin today by reminding us how important it is that we pray for our country's leaders. This is God's will. If we are pleased with the godly performance of our political leaders, we need to pray for them to stand strong in the faith. If we are not pleased with their ungodly performance, we need to pray that they will allow God to change their hearts.
Why are we to pray for everyone, even those we don't approve of? Because Christ died for all. He gave His life for those we approve of and for those we don't. The Lord's will is that everyone would come to repentance and submit their lives to Him. The Lord wants everyone to come to Christ because Christ is the one and only mediator between God and man. Christ is the only one who can make us right with God the Father, for He said Himself: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
"I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people---for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Paul feels that this type of prayer is so important that he lists it first in his instructions to Timothy. It's not as if Paul and Timothy were living under godly political leadership. They were living under the reign of the Emperor Nero, a man whose utter depravity and wickedness would be revealed more and more as time went on. As subjects of the Roman Empire, they were living in a mostly pagan society, not in a society that obeyed the God of Israel. And yet Paul says, "Pray for all those in authority." We aren't only to pray for those in authority who share our values and opinions, but we are to pray also for those who don't. In fact, we should pray all the more for those who don't share our values in the hope that they will come to know the Lord. Paul says we are to be thankful for our leaders. Whether or not we're happy with how elections turn out, we ought to at least be thankful that we live in a free country where we are allowed to cast votes for the politicians of our choice.
We are disobeying God if we refuse to pray for our nation's leaders, for this is His will for us. "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-4) If we want to please God, we have to obey His will, and one of the ways we can obey His will is to pray for those in power. Some of our political leaders are believers and some are not. We should spend time every day praying for those who are not believers so that they will come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. If everyone in power believed in and obeyed the Lord, and if they made all their decisions according to the word of God, the Lord would pour out blessings on our nation that we can't even imagine. He has already blessed us abundantly, but we could have so much more if those in power would bow their knees to Him. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12a)
God wants every person on the face of the earth to come to repentance. He wants everyone to accept and build a relationship with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice Christ made for mankind is the only sacrifice acceptable in the eyes of God. When He shed His blood for us, the Lord Jesus established a new covenant between God and man; therefore, He is the only mediator between God and man. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for all people." (1 Timothy 2:5-6a) We are to pray for all people because Christ gave Himself for all people. He gave Himself just as much for the drunkard lying in the gutter as He did for the president of the United States. He gave Himself just as much for the ordinary citizen as for the person with wealth and fame. No matter who we are and no matter what our background, we all have to come to the Father by the same route: through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all sinners who need a Savior. We are imperfect beings who can't make ourselves perfect. We are lawbreakers who can't possibly keep every point of God's law. We are weak in the flesh and we fail to obey all the commandments. We need someone who can and did do all these things perfectly, and there is only one person who ever did these things perfectly: the holy and spotless Lamb of God who sacrificially shed His blood for us so that through faith in Him we can have redemption.
"This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle---I am telling the truth, I am not lying---and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles." (1 Timothy 2:6b-7) The Messiah, the Promised One, came into the world at the proper time chosen by God. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5) Christ came first to Israel, to God's chosen nation, to redeem those under the law. But He also came to save the Gentiles as promised in the Old Testament. There are many instances of this promise, but the Lord told the prophet Isaiah that He would raise up a man from the line of David, a man in whom the Gentiles would put their hope. (Isaiah 11:10) When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the temple, a man named Simeon who was waiting for the Lord's Messiah recognized Jesus as the One of whom Isaiah spoke and Simeon said while filled with the Holy Spirit, "My eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." (Luke 2:30-32)
Why are we to pray for everyone, even those we don't approve of? Because Christ died for all. He gave His life for those we approve of and for those we don't. The Lord's will is that everyone would come to repentance and submit their lives to Him. The Lord wants everyone to come to Christ because Christ is the one and only mediator between God and man. Christ is the only one who can make us right with God the Father, for He said Himself: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
"I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people---for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Paul feels that this type of prayer is so important that he lists it first in his instructions to Timothy. It's not as if Paul and Timothy were living under godly political leadership. They were living under the reign of the Emperor Nero, a man whose utter depravity and wickedness would be revealed more and more as time went on. As subjects of the Roman Empire, they were living in a mostly pagan society, not in a society that obeyed the God of Israel. And yet Paul says, "Pray for all those in authority." We aren't only to pray for those in authority who share our values and opinions, but we are to pray also for those who don't. In fact, we should pray all the more for those who don't share our values in the hope that they will come to know the Lord. Paul says we are to be thankful for our leaders. Whether or not we're happy with how elections turn out, we ought to at least be thankful that we live in a free country where we are allowed to cast votes for the politicians of our choice.
We are disobeying God if we refuse to pray for our nation's leaders, for this is His will for us. "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-4) If we want to please God, we have to obey His will, and one of the ways we can obey His will is to pray for those in power. Some of our political leaders are believers and some are not. We should spend time every day praying for those who are not believers so that they will come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. If everyone in power believed in and obeyed the Lord, and if they made all their decisions according to the word of God, the Lord would pour out blessings on our nation that we can't even imagine. He has already blessed us abundantly, but we could have so much more if those in power would bow their knees to Him. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12a)
God wants every person on the face of the earth to come to repentance. He wants everyone to accept and build a relationship with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice Christ made for mankind is the only sacrifice acceptable in the eyes of God. When He shed His blood for us, the Lord Jesus established a new covenant between God and man; therefore, He is the only mediator between God and man. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for all people." (1 Timothy 2:5-6a) We are to pray for all people because Christ gave Himself for all people. He gave Himself just as much for the drunkard lying in the gutter as He did for the president of the United States. He gave Himself just as much for the ordinary citizen as for the person with wealth and fame. No matter who we are and no matter what our background, we all have to come to the Father by the same route: through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all sinners who need a Savior. We are imperfect beings who can't make ourselves perfect. We are lawbreakers who can't possibly keep every point of God's law. We are weak in the flesh and we fail to obey all the commandments. We need someone who can and did do all these things perfectly, and there is only one person who ever did these things perfectly: the holy and spotless Lamb of God who sacrificially shed His blood for us so that through faith in Him we can have redemption.
"This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle---I am telling the truth, I am not lying---and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles." (1 Timothy 2:6b-7) The Messiah, the Promised One, came into the world at the proper time chosen by God. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5) Christ came first to Israel, to God's chosen nation, to redeem those under the law. But He also came to save the Gentiles as promised in the Old Testament. There are many instances of this promise, but the Lord told the prophet Isaiah that He would raise up a man from the line of David, a man in whom the Gentiles would put their hope. (Isaiah 11:10) When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the temple, a man named Simeon who was waiting for the Lord's Messiah recognized Jesus as the One of whom Isaiah spoke and Simeon said while filled with the Holy Spirit, "My eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." (Luke 2:30-32)
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Paul's Son In The Faith: A Study Of 1st And 2nd Timothy. Day 5, Fulfill Your Calling
In today's passage Paul is going to remind Timothy of his calling in the Lord. At some point during Paul's friendship with Timothy, it appears that the Lord revealed something to the leaders of the church regarding Timothy's future. Paul will also mention two wicked men who have denied the faith.
"Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith." (1 Timothy 1:18-19) We don't know what prophecies Paul is referring to, but I don't believe he's talking about Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled by Timothy. I think that the Lord probably revealed something to the apostles or elders of the church regarding Timothy. In our day most churches don't seem to place much emphasis on this type of prophetic messages, but the Holy Spirit is still revealing things to the people of the Lord. There have been occasions when He's told me ahead of time about something He's going to do for one of my loved ones, for my church, or for me.
The Lord has commissioned Timothy to do great things, and history tells us that he became the bishop of the large Christian church at Ephesus. Paul reminds Timothy of his commission in order to encourage him so he "may fight the battle well". We all need encouragement from time to time to keep on fighting the battle well.
Paul says that some have not held onto their faith and have not lived in a way that allows them to have a good conscience. He says they've rejected the faith and have "suffered shipwreck". He is going to mention two of these fellows by name, and I think he may be using them as examples in order to say to Timothy, "Don't let this happen to you!".
"Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." (1 Timothy 1:20) In 2 Timothy 2 we will find Paul mentioning Hymenaeus again, saying that he is teaching that the resurrection has already taken place, "destroying the faith of some". We can't know exactly what Hymenaeus was teaching. Some scholars think he was teaching a spiritual resurrection and not a bodily resurrection. Some think he was telling people that the only ones who were going to be resurrected had already been called up to be with Christ. It's hard to say what his particular doctrine was, but it was a dangerous doctrine. It was a doctrine that caused some to have no interest in coming to the faith, and it caused others to lose the faith they already had.
Alexander is probably the same Alexander whom Paul will mention in 2 Timothy 4:14-15, "Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message." (2 Timothy 4:14-15) Is Paul referring to Alexander as a "metalworker" in order to distinguish him from other Alexanders he knows? Or is there something important about the fact that he's a metalworker? I can't help but wonder if Alexander used his skills as a metalworker to fashion idols. If so, that easily explains why he opposed the gospel message. He would have been losing a lot of business if many of his customers converted to Christianity.
Paul says he has delivered these two men to Satan so they will learn not to blaspheme. No one knows what this involved, but he made a similar statement in 1 Corinthians 5:5 about the man in the church who was carrying on an affair with his step-mother. Some scholars believe he's talking about excommunicating church members who are living openly in sin with an unrepentant attitude. By putting such people outside the church, they were removing the protection of the church from them, and perhaps in that sense "handing them over to Satan". But we see from Paul's words in 1st Timothy and in 1st Corinthians that the intention was not to leave the person out in the darkness forever, but to compel the person to repent. Paul wants Hymenaeus and Alexander to repent and learn not to blaspheme. Paul wants the man of Corinth to repent and stop living in sexual immorality. The man of Corinth did repent, and when he did, Paul instructed the Corinthian church to welcome him back as their brother in Christ.
In today's passage we see a man---Timothy---who fulfilled his calling in the Lord. We don't know whether Hymenaeus and Alexander ever repented and answered the call of the Lord or not. I hope so, but if they didn't we don't want to be like them. Paul is saying to us, "Don't let this happen to you! Hold onto your faith. Fight the good fight. Don't stray from sound doctrine. If you hold onto what you know to be true on the authority of God's word, you will be able to stand strong and fulfill your calling in the Lord."
"Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith." (1 Timothy 1:18-19) We don't know what prophecies Paul is referring to, but I don't believe he's talking about Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled by Timothy. I think that the Lord probably revealed something to the apostles or elders of the church regarding Timothy. In our day most churches don't seem to place much emphasis on this type of prophetic messages, but the Holy Spirit is still revealing things to the people of the Lord. There have been occasions when He's told me ahead of time about something He's going to do for one of my loved ones, for my church, or for me.
The Lord has commissioned Timothy to do great things, and history tells us that he became the bishop of the large Christian church at Ephesus. Paul reminds Timothy of his commission in order to encourage him so he "may fight the battle well". We all need encouragement from time to time to keep on fighting the battle well.
Paul says that some have not held onto their faith and have not lived in a way that allows them to have a good conscience. He says they've rejected the faith and have "suffered shipwreck". He is going to mention two of these fellows by name, and I think he may be using them as examples in order to say to Timothy, "Don't let this happen to you!".
"Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." (1 Timothy 1:20) In 2 Timothy 2 we will find Paul mentioning Hymenaeus again, saying that he is teaching that the resurrection has already taken place, "destroying the faith of some". We can't know exactly what Hymenaeus was teaching. Some scholars think he was teaching a spiritual resurrection and not a bodily resurrection. Some think he was telling people that the only ones who were going to be resurrected had already been called up to be with Christ. It's hard to say what his particular doctrine was, but it was a dangerous doctrine. It was a doctrine that caused some to have no interest in coming to the faith, and it caused others to lose the faith they already had.
Alexander is probably the same Alexander whom Paul will mention in 2 Timothy 4:14-15, "Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message." (2 Timothy 4:14-15) Is Paul referring to Alexander as a "metalworker" in order to distinguish him from other Alexanders he knows? Or is there something important about the fact that he's a metalworker? I can't help but wonder if Alexander used his skills as a metalworker to fashion idols. If so, that easily explains why he opposed the gospel message. He would have been losing a lot of business if many of his customers converted to Christianity.
Paul says he has delivered these two men to Satan so they will learn not to blaspheme. No one knows what this involved, but he made a similar statement in 1 Corinthians 5:5 about the man in the church who was carrying on an affair with his step-mother. Some scholars believe he's talking about excommunicating church members who are living openly in sin with an unrepentant attitude. By putting such people outside the church, they were removing the protection of the church from them, and perhaps in that sense "handing them over to Satan". But we see from Paul's words in 1st Timothy and in 1st Corinthians that the intention was not to leave the person out in the darkness forever, but to compel the person to repent. Paul wants Hymenaeus and Alexander to repent and learn not to blaspheme. Paul wants the man of Corinth to repent and stop living in sexual immorality. The man of Corinth did repent, and when he did, Paul instructed the Corinthian church to welcome him back as their brother in Christ.
In today's passage we see a man---Timothy---who fulfilled his calling in the Lord. We don't know whether Hymenaeus and Alexander ever repented and answered the call of the Lord or not. I hope so, but if they didn't we don't want to be like them. Paul is saying to us, "Don't let this happen to you! Hold onto your faith. Fight the good fight. Don't stray from sound doctrine. If you hold onto what you know to be true on the authority of God's word, you will be able to stand strong and fulfill your calling in the Lord."
Monday, March 11, 2019
Paul's Son In The Faith: A Study Of 1st and 2nd Timothy, Day 4, The Mercy Of The Lord
Paul speaks today of the mercy of the Lord---the mercy that saved him when he was at his worst.
"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me trustworthy, appointing me to His service." (1 Timothy 1:12) Paul is thankful to have been called to be a minister for the Lord Jesus. He knows who he used to be. We could all say the same thing, for we used to be a lot of things before we came to Christ, and now that we are in Christ we are called to share the gospel with others. What a high calling this is! What a privilege and honor! As the popular song "He Knows My Name" goes, when the Lord called us to work for Him, He "made something out of nothing".
Paul knows he was "nothing" before he came to Christ. "Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 1:13-14) I think that Bible scholar William Barclay describes this passage beautifully by saying, "It was to Paul an amazing thing, that he, the arch-persecutor, had been chosen as the missionary of Christ. It was not only that Jesus Christ had forgiven him; it was that Christ trusted him. Sometimes we forgive a man who has committed some mistake or been guilty of some sin, but we make it very clear that his past makes it impossible for us to trust him again with any responsibility." Jesus didn't save Paul and say, "Your past disqualifies you to do anything for My kingdom." Instead He said, "Your past has been atoned for by My blood. You are a new man. You are getting a fresh start."
One trick the devil likes to use on us is convincing us that we are disqualified by our past. But on the contrary, Paul once said that people's knowledge of his past and the proof of his dramatic transformation caused them to give glory to the Lord. (Galatians 1:23-24) Rather than disqualifying us for the Lord's service, our past and our dramatic transformation often prove to others that the power of Christ is real.
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners---of whom I am the worst." (1 Timothy 1:15) Was Paul the worst sinner who ever lived? He feels like he was. He was responsible for the beating, imprisonment, and even death of some of the early Christians. He tried (and probably succeeded sometimes) to get people to deny Christ or to stop speaking His name. Paul had some pretty serious charges against him and he admits he was guilty of them. He had no excuse for them. But he names his sins so that we would understand this: None of us is so wicked that Christ can't save us. Christ's purpose in coming into the world was to save sinners. We are sinners and therefore He came for us---for all of us who will accept Him.
Since Christ's purpose in coming into the world was to save sinners, that's exactly what He did. "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:16) Paul assures us, "It's not possible for you to have sinned so much that you can't be saved. If that were true, I wouldn't be saved."
Because Christ loved us so much that He was willing to die for us, and because He succeeded in His purpose on the earth, Paul gives Him thanks. "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17)
"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me trustworthy, appointing me to His service." (1 Timothy 1:12) Paul is thankful to have been called to be a minister for the Lord Jesus. He knows who he used to be. We could all say the same thing, for we used to be a lot of things before we came to Christ, and now that we are in Christ we are called to share the gospel with others. What a high calling this is! What a privilege and honor! As the popular song "He Knows My Name" goes, when the Lord called us to work for Him, He "made something out of nothing".
Paul knows he was "nothing" before he came to Christ. "Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 1:13-14) I think that Bible scholar William Barclay describes this passage beautifully by saying, "It was to Paul an amazing thing, that he, the arch-persecutor, had been chosen as the missionary of Christ. It was not only that Jesus Christ had forgiven him; it was that Christ trusted him. Sometimes we forgive a man who has committed some mistake or been guilty of some sin, but we make it very clear that his past makes it impossible for us to trust him again with any responsibility." Jesus didn't save Paul and say, "Your past disqualifies you to do anything for My kingdom." Instead He said, "Your past has been atoned for by My blood. You are a new man. You are getting a fresh start."
One trick the devil likes to use on us is convincing us that we are disqualified by our past. But on the contrary, Paul once said that people's knowledge of his past and the proof of his dramatic transformation caused them to give glory to the Lord. (Galatians 1:23-24) Rather than disqualifying us for the Lord's service, our past and our dramatic transformation often prove to others that the power of Christ is real.
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners---of whom I am the worst." (1 Timothy 1:15) Was Paul the worst sinner who ever lived? He feels like he was. He was responsible for the beating, imprisonment, and even death of some of the early Christians. He tried (and probably succeeded sometimes) to get people to deny Christ or to stop speaking His name. Paul had some pretty serious charges against him and he admits he was guilty of them. He had no excuse for them. But he names his sins so that we would understand this: None of us is so wicked that Christ can't save us. Christ's purpose in coming into the world was to save sinners. We are sinners and therefore He came for us---for all of us who will accept Him.
Since Christ's purpose in coming into the world was to save sinners, that's exactly what He did. "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:16) Paul assures us, "It's not possible for you to have sinned so much that you can't be saved. If that were true, I wouldn't be saved."
Because Christ loved us so much that He was willing to die for us, and because He succeeded in His purpose on the earth, Paul gives Him thanks. "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17)
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Paul's Son In The Faith: A Study Of 1st And 2nd Timothy. Day 3, The Law And Lawbreakers
In Ephesus, where Timothy would become bishop of the church, all sorts of cultures and religions were present. Many of the citizens of that city converted to Christianity, but they brought a lot of the baggage from their old religions and old lifestyles along with them into the church. Gentiles brought their pagan traditions with them and tried to blend some aspects of their former religions with their new faith in Christ. Jews brought their reverence for the law and for genealogies into the church and were in danger of placing more importance on these things than on faith. In addition, a form of religion called "Gnosticism" was on the rise. Gnosticism was considered outright heresy by the apostles, for it taught that the body and the material world are in a sense not real and that what is done with the body in this world doesn't really matter. This led to a belief that a person could be right in his spirit with God but do anything with his body that he pleased.
Timothy has really got his work cut out for him, but Paul trusts he will be equal to the task. He knows Timothy has the character to perform this job and he knows that God is able to give Timothy the strength he needs to stand against false doctrine.
We concluded yesterday with Paul saying that false doctrine and disputes about matters that don't involve faith are things that don't conform to God's law of love. He said, "The goal of the command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." Today he deplores the fact that there are those who have departed from the law of love and from sound doctrine. "Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm." (1 Timothy 1:6-7) There were people who wanted to teach the law, but they didn't understand the law, so their teachings twisted the law.
"We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious," (1 Timothy 1:8-9a) I'm going to use a modern example here to illustrate Paul's point. I'm not sitting on my couch right now afraid that at any moment the police will show up at my house to arrest me. Why would they, since I'm not breaking any laws? The laws of our land are put in place to protect our citizens: to tell us which behaviors will not be tolerated and to tell us what the consequences of these behaviors will be. The same is true of the law of Moses and of the "law of love" that we are under now that we are in Christ. The law's purpose was to show people where they were going wrong---to let them know their behavior was going to bring them under judgment if they didn't repent. The law was something a person could measure his life against to see where he was coming up short so he could correct his behavior. So this is why Paul says the laws was made for lawbreakers and rebels. Although no one but Jesus Christ ever perfectly kept the Mosaic law, a person could live in an attitude of faith and obedience to God and in that sense be considered righteous at heart. A person like that wants to keep all of God's laws and commandments and a person like that will repent as soon as he realizes he has broken one of them. Paul is talking about the type of people who don't care about keeping God's laws and commandments. This is why he refers to them as "rebels". A rebel not only disrespects the rules but enjoys breaking them.
The law is also "for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers". (1 Timothy 1:9b) Murder wasn't invented in modern times. After all, Cain killed Abel all the way back in Genesis. We see stories in the news about children killing parents or parents killing children, but things like that were happening in Paul's day too. We hear of all types of murders: murders committed during robberies, mass shootings, bombings, murders for hire, murders to get rid of a spouse a person no longer wants, murders to get rid of a baby someone doesn't want, murders as part of a series of serial killings...and we could go on and on. But the spirit of murder has been present on the earth ever since man fell from grace. People were killing people in Paul's day and people are still killing people in our day. There have to be laws against murder and there have to be penalties for it.
Another thing we tend to think we invented in modern times is sex, which is what Paul will speak of next. The Roman Empire, in which Paul and Timothy lived because they were citizens of territories Rome had conquered, had an attitude of "anything goes" when it came to sex. A Roman citizen could marry anyone he pleased, could divorce and remarry as often as he pleased, and be married to as many people at the same time as he pleased. It was well known that many Roman soldiers had wives and children at home but had male servants who traveled with them in the army who were also their lovers. Divorce was such a speedy process that a man or woman could actually marry and divorce several times a year, causing the children to constantly be in a confusing and broken home. Prostitution was legal, they had both male and female prostitutes, and people felt no shame in Roman society for visiting prostitutes. There were even prostitutes available at some of the pagan temples for the purposes of observing rituals of fertility cults. In the Roman Empire, all this and worse was happening, but I won't go into further detail.
Paul says the law is "for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality". (1 Timothy 1:10a) Bear patiently with me here. I'm going to handle the subject of all types of sex outside of marriage as lovingly and compassionately as I can. Sexual immorality is a broad term that means any type of sex other than sex between a husband and wife who are in a monogamous relationship. The union between a husband and wife is the only sexual union we find God blessing in the Scriptures, and this is why Paul says the law's purpose is to show men and women that this is the only type of sexual union they should engage in.
God didn't make the laws regarding sex so that He could hurt us. He made these laws so that He could help us. Premarital sex often leads to unplanned pregnancies, which leads young women (and sometimes also the young men involved) to make hard choices that God never intended them to have to make. They may choose to abort the child and end its life, or they may try to raise the child even though they don't want to and are not capable of doing a good job at it, or they may marry and try to make a family only to divorce shortly thereafter and cause the child to grow up in a broken home.
Adultery is harmful to everyone involved: to the spouses, to the children, to the extended family members, and to the adulterers themselves because they may lose everything they hold dear and they will face the discipline of God for the hurt they've caused. As Solomon said regarding adultery, "Can a man scoop fire into his clothes and not be burned?" (Proverbs 6:27) There's no such thing as committing adultery and getting away with it. Even if the spouses never find out, there are going to be natural repercussions and there are going to be spiritual repercussions. A person who has been unfaithful to his spouse will be aware of this for the rest of his life. Even if he repents and never does it again, he (or she) will always know he broke his marriage vows. Keeping such a secret is going to hurt the wrongdoer; revealing such a secret is going to hurt the one who was wronged. There's really no good solution, and God doesn't want the married person to live his or her life with guilt and regret, so it's best not to make the mistake of adultery in the first place. On top of all this, God sees the sin whether the adulterer is ever caught by his spouse or not. God will bring discipline on the man or woman who is being unfaithful to their spouse. He has to, because He has made laws and they are being broken.
On the subject of homosexuality, I can't help what the Bible says about it. I have friends and acquaintances who are gay and I love them as much as I love my friends and acquaintances who are straight. Jesus does too. Jesus loves every person and He died to save every person who will accept Him as Lord. But there's no question that it's a "hard row to hoe", to use a country saying, to be gay. In most societies throughout history it has not been well-tolerated to be gay. In some eras it simply made a person an outcast; in other eras it brought imprisonment or even death. It hasn't been a peaceful life for most gay or bisexual people and, as the Bible so often reminds us, God wants us to be at peace. Does anyone protest when a man and a woman go to the courthouse or a religious institution to get married to each other? No, because who cares? Does anyone persecute a man and a woman for dating each other, for getting engaged to each other, or for being married to each other? No, because there's no law against such things---not in man's law and not in God's law. So we see that when God tells us what type of sex has His blessing and what types don't have His blessing, He's doing it for our own peace and personal safety.
Paul says the law is "for slave traders and liars and perjurers---and for whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine". (1 Timothy 1:10b) Again we see that the purpose of the law is to shine a light on wrong behavior. Kidnapping people and selling them into slavery was a practice of ancient times and the not-so-ancient times. This is against God's law. So is committing perjury. So is lying.
Which of us has never told a lie? We might have gone down Paul's list and thought we were okay. We might have said, "Well, I've never murdered anybody. I've never had premarital sex, or adulterous sex, or sex with the same sex. I've never been involved in the slavery business. I've never committed perjury in court. I'm in pretty good shape!" Ah, but who has never told a lie? And if we've ever told a lie, we are lawbreakers, and that means we are sinners. And if we are sinners, we need a Savior, the Savior that Paul preaches about when he shares the gospel, "that which conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me." (1 Timothy 1:11)
God made laws. We have all broken one, some, or most of them. That makes us lawbreakers. That means we need a source of redemption outside of ourselves. We need the One who perfectly kept the law, the One who gave Himself for us, the One who rose from the dead. We are lawbreakers who need forgiveness from the Lawgiver. Christ gave His life so we could obtain that forgiveness.
Timothy has really got his work cut out for him, but Paul trusts he will be equal to the task. He knows Timothy has the character to perform this job and he knows that God is able to give Timothy the strength he needs to stand against false doctrine.
We concluded yesterday with Paul saying that false doctrine and disputes about matters that don't involve faith are things that don't conform to God's law of love. He said, "The goal of the command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." Today he deplores the fact that there are those who have departed from the law of love and from sound doctrine. "Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm." (1 Timothy 1:6-7) There were people who wanted to teach the law, but they didn't understand the law, so their teachings twisted the law.
"We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious," (1 Timothy 1:8-9a) I'm going to use a modern example here to illustrate Paul's point. I'm not sitting on my couch right now afraid that at any moment the police will show up at my house to arrest me. Why would they, since I'm not breaking any laws? The laws of our land are put in place to protect our citizens: to tell us which behaviors will not be tolerated and to tell us what the consequences of these behaviors will be. The same is true of the law of Moses and of the "law of love" that we are under now that we are in Christ. The law's purpose was to show people where they were going wrong---to let them know their behavior was going to bring them under judgment if they didn't repent. The law was something a person could measure his life against to see where he was coming up short so he could correct his behavior. So this is why Paul says the laws was made for lawbreakers and rebels. Although no one but Jesus Christ ever perfectly kept the Mosaic law, a person could live in an attitude of faith and obedience to God and in that sense be considered righteous at heart. A person like that wants to keep all of God's laws and commandments and a person like that will repent as soon as he realizes he has broken one of them. Paul is talking about the type of people who don't care about keeping God's laws and commandments. This is why he refers to them as "rebels". A rebel not only disrespects the rules but enjoys breaking them.
The law is also "for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers". (1 Timothy 1:9b) Murder wasn't invented in modern times. After all, Cain killed Abel all the way back in Genesis. We see stories in the news about children killing parents or parents killing children, but things like that were happening in Paul's day too. We hear of all types of murders: murders committed during robberies, mass shootings, bombings, murders for hire, murders to get rid of a spouse a person no longer wants, murders to get rid of a baby someone doesn't want, murders as part of a series of serial killings...and we could go on and on. But the spirit of murder has been present on the earth ever since man fell from grace. People were killing people in Paul's day and people are still killing people in our day. There have to be laws against murder and there have to be penalties for it.
Another thing we tend to think we invented in modern times is sex, which is what Paul will speak of next. The Roman Empire, in which Paul and Timothy lived because they were citizens of territories Rome had conquered, had an attitude of "anything goes" when it came to sex. A Roman citizen could marry anyone he pleased, could divorce and remarry as often as he pleased, and be married to as many people at the same time as he pleased. It was well known that many Roman soldiers had wives and children at home but had male servants who traveled with them in the army who were also their lovers. Divorce was such a speedy process that a man or woman could actually marry and divorce several times a year, causing the children to constantly be in a confusing and broken home. Prostitution was legal, they had both male and female prostitutes, and people felt no shame in Roman society for visiting prostitutes. There were even prostitutes available at some of the pagan temples for the purposes of observing rituals of fertility cults. In the Roman Empire, all this and worse was happening, but I won't go into further detail.
Paul says the law is "for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality". (1 Timothy 1:10a) Bear patiently with me here. I'm going to handle the subject of all types of sex outside of marriage as lovingly and compassionately as I can. Sexual immorality is a broad term that means any type of sex other than sex between a husband and wife who are in a monogamous relationship. The union between a husband and wife is the only sexual union we find God blessing in the Scriptures, and this is why Paul says the law's purpose is to show men and women that this is the only type of sexual union they should engage in.
God didn't make the laws regarding sex so that He could hurt us. He made these laws so that He could help us. Premarital sex often leads to unplanned pregnancies, which leads young women (and sometimes also the young men involved) to make hard choices that God never intended them to have to make. They may choose to abort the child and end its life, or they may try to raise the child even though they don't want to and are not capable of doing a good job at it, or they may marry and try to make a family only to divorce shortly thereafter and cause the child to grow up in a broken home.
Adultery is harmful to everyone involved: to the spouses, to the children, to the extended family members, and to the adulterers themselves because they may lose everything they hold dear and they will face the discipline of God for the hurt they've caused. As Solomon said regarding adultery, "Can a man scoop fire into his clothes and not be burned?" (Proverbs 6:27) There's no such thing as committing adultery and getting away with it. Even if the spouses never find out, there are going to be natural repercussions and there are going to be spiritual repercussions. A person who has been unfaithful to his spouse will be aware of this for the rest of his life. Even if he repents and never does it again, he (or she) will always know he broke his marriage vows. Keeping such a secret is going to hurt the wrongdoer; revealing such a secret is going to hurt the one who was wronged. There's really no good solution, and God doesn't want the married person to live his or her life with guilt and regret, so it's best not to make the mistake of adultery in the first place. On top of all this, God sees the sin whether the adulterer is ever caught by his spouse or not. God will bring discipline on the man or woman who is being unfaithful to their spouse. He has to, because He has made laws and they are being broken.
On the subject of homosexuality, I can't help what the Bible says about it. I have friends and acquaintances who are gay and I love them as much as I love my friends and acquaintances who are straight. Jesus does too. Jesus loves every person and He died to save every person who will accept Him as Lord. But there's no question that it's a "hard row to hoe", to use a country saying, to be gay. In most societies throughout history it has not been well-tolerated to be gay. In some eras it simply made a person an outcast; in other eras it brought imprisonment or even death. It hasn't been a peaceful life for most gay or bisexual people and, as the Bible so often reminds us, God wants us to be at peace. Does anyone protest when a man and a woman go to the courthouse or a religious institution to get married to each other? No, because who cares? Does anyone persecute a man and a woman for dating each other, for getting engaged to each other, or for being married to each other? No, because there's no law against such things---not in man's law and not in God's law. So we see that when God tells us what type of sex has His blessing and what types don't have His blessing, He's doing it for our own peace and personal safety.
Paul says the law is "for slave traders and liars and perjurers---and for whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine". (1 Timothy 1:10b) Again we see that the purpose of the law is to shine a light on wrong behavior. Kidnapping people and selling them into slavery was a practice of ancient times and the not-so-ancient times. This is against God's law. So is committing perjury. So is lying.
Which of us has never told a lie? We might have gone down Paul's list and thought we were okay. We might have said, "Well, I've never murdered anybody. I've never had premarital sex, or adulterous sex, or sex with the same sex. I've never been involved in the slavery business. I've never committed perjury in court. I'm in pretty good shape!" Ah, but who has never told a lie? And if we've ever told a lie, we are lawbreakers, and that means we are sinners. And if we are sinners, we need a Savior, the Savior that Paul preaches about when he shares the gospel, "that which conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me." (1 Timothy 1:11)
God made laws. We have all broken one, some, or most of them. That makes us lawbreakers. That means we need a source of redemption outside of ourselves. We need the One who perfectly kept the law, the One who gave Himself for us, the One who rose from the dead. We are lawbreakers who need forgiveness from the Lawgiver. Christ gave His life so we could obtain that forgiveness.
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Paul's Son In The Faith: A Study Of 1st And Second Timothy. Day 2, How To Handle Disputes In The Church
As soon as people began to share the gospel, false teachers started coming out of the woodwork. There were people who didn't like what the Lord had to say, so they changed His words to suit their own desires. They twisted the word of God in order to justify doing what they wanted to do.
Paul urges Timothy to be brave enough to speak out against false doctrine. Timothy is a young minister and there are people who think they can take advantage of his youth and inexperience. But he is to stand firm on the word of God just as Paul and the other apostles and teachers do.
Performing the office of a church leader is no doubt an intimidating prospect for a young man like Timothy. In standing up to things that were wrong in the church, I'm sure some of the wrongdoers opposed him by saying, "Who do you think you are, young man? Were you a disciple of the Lord Jesus, like Peter and the other apostles? Have you founded and guided a number of churches like Paul has? Do you have years and years of experience on your resume? No? Well, then what gives you the authority and experience to tell us what to do?" This is why Paul will tell him later on in this first letter not to be discouraged by people's attitudes about his youth, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12)
Being young doesn't mean a person can't set a good example. I belong to a church where the youth group regularly sets an example for the rest of us to follow. We have a large amount of young people in our church and they are so in love with Christ that I think they are outdoing the rest of us when it comes to enthusiasm and good works. I wish I'd been like they are when I was their age, but instead I was living apart from the church and the Lord, living in sin, and doing nothing for the kingdom of Christ. I was going with the flow and doing the same things my friends (who were as lost as I was) were doing. So we must never take a condescending or dismissive attitude toward the godly advice of someone who is a young Christian, for it takes courage for them to swim against the stream in a world that constantly flings temptation in their faces. The youth of today have to face things I couldn't have dreamed of when I was their age, so the fact that they are living for the Lord in spite of how easy it would be not to live for Him should tell us that their advice should be taken to heart.
"As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work---which is by faith." (1 Timothy 1:3-4) What's a good way for Satan to keep us from growing in the faith and sharing the gospel? By distracting us. By taking our focus off the things that really matter. So Satan allowed disputes to arise over pagan doctrine that was brought into the church by Gentile converts and over genealogies that were brought into the church by Jewish converts.
We all bring baggage with us when we come into the church, don't we? We all have stuff in our past that comes right along with us, and it's important that we don't allow false beliefs to infiltrate the church. A false belief might not take the form of an outright lie. It might take the form of thinking we need to hold onto guilt over our former way of living after we come to Christ. Or it might be that things of the world that influenced us while we were lost are still influencing our thinking after we are saved. We are all coming from different backgrounds and we were taught things by other people, in both words and actions, that still affect us today. As we grow in the faith we have to learn to let go of anything that doesn't line up with the word of God. We have to learn to disregard whatever we were told about God that doesn't stand up to the character of God which was revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
We are not behaving in a loving attitude toward each other when we engage in disputes. We are to obey God's law when interacting with each other, and that law is the law of love. "The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." (1 Timothy 1:5) Love fulfills the law, as Paul said in his letter to the Romans, because "love does no harm to a neighbor". (Romans 13:10) The Lord Jesus said the same thing when He stated that the two greatest commandments have to do with love: loving God and loving our fellow man. (Matthew 22:36-40) When we take a look at the Ten Commandments, we see that they have to do with how we relate to God and to our fellow man. If we love God, we will stay in right relationship to Him, and if we love our fellow man we will stay in right relationship with him. If we take a look at the Mosaic law, we see that it has to do with how we should interact with God and with how we should treat our fellow man. So love fulfills the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses because love helps us honor God as we should and treat our fellow man as we should.
False doctrine, of course, should be exposed as false doctrine. False teachers shouldn't be allowed to teach in our congregations. But one of the primary problems that faces the churches of today is the tendency of church members to get caught up in minor differences of opinion. I know of one local church that nearly split up over whether or not to purchase a stove for the room where they regularly share meals together. Some of the members thought it was a sin to purchase a stove because the church had never owned one before and had gotten along fine without it. Other members thought it was a practical expenditure of money because it allowed them to cook or reheat things so they wouldn't have to consume lukewarm meals or serve lukewarm meals for a grieving church members following graveside services at the cemetery. I'm not making fun of this church or putting them down; I'm just using them as an example of how something small can quickly turn into a very big deal. Church members got really angry with each other about the stove. A loud argument broke out when they met together to vote on whether or not to purchase it. Did God care whether or not the church bought a stove? I don't see why He would, since it's not a sin to own a stove. But God did care about whether the church members maintained a loving spirit toward each other. You wouldn't think that an issue so small could have caused so much disunity, but this is the type of distraction Satan uses to cause trouble in a church. This is how Satan keeps a church from doing what God has called it to do, and how he breaks up true friendships, and how he causes people in the community to be turned off from the very idea of attending church to hear the gospel.
Let's not give the devil a foothold in our churches or in our relationships with God and with our fellow man. If something is a lie, we must expose it as a lie and put a stop to it. But if something is a minor difference of opinion, we need to love each other and agree to disagree.
Paul urges Timothy to be brave enough to speak out against false doctrine. Timothy is a young minister and there are people who think they can take advantage of his youth and inexperience. But he is to stand firm on the word of God just as Paul and the other apostles and teachers do.
Performing the office of a church leader is no doubt an intimidating prospect for a young man like Timothy. In standing up to things that were wrong in the church, I'm sure some of the wrongdoers opposed him by saying, "Who do you think you are, young man? Were you a disciple of the Lord Jesus, like Peter and the other apostles? Have you founded and guided a number of churches like Paul has? Do you have years and years of experience on your resume? No? Well, then what gives you the authority and experience to tell us what to do?" This is why Paul will tell him later on in this first letter not to be discouraged by people's attitudes about his youth, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12)
Being young doesn't mean a person can't set a good example. I belong to a church where the youth group regularly sets an example for the rest of us to follow. We have a large amount of young people in our church and they are so in love with Christ that I think they are outdoing the rest of us when it comes to enthusiasm and good works. I wish I'd been like they are when I was their age, but instead I was living apart from the church and the Lord, living in sin, and doing nothing for the kingdom of Christ. I was going with the flow and doing the same things my friends (who were as lost as I was) were doing. So we must never take a condescending or dismissive attitude toward the godly advice of someone who is a young Christian, for it takes courage for them to swim against the stream in a world that constantly flings temptation in their faces. The youth of today have to face things I couldn't have dreamed of when I was their age, so the fact that they are living for the Lord in spite of how easy it would be not to live for Him should tell us that their advice should be taken to heart.
"As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work---which is by faith." (1 Timothy 1:3-4) What's a good way for Satan to keep us from growing in the faith and sharing the gospel? By distracting us. By taking our focus off the things that really matter. So Satan allowed disputes to arise over pagan doctrine that was brought into the church by Gentile converts and over genealogies that were brought into the church by Jewish converts.
We all bring baggage with us when we come into the church, don't we? We all have stuff in our past that comes right along with us, and it's important that we don't allow false beliefs to infiltrate the church. A false belief might not take the form of an outright lie. It might take the form of thinking we need to hold onto guilt over our former way of living after we come to Christ. Or it might be that things of the world that influenced us while we were lost are still influencing our thinking after we are saved. We are all coming from different backgrounds and we were taught things by other people, in both words and actions, that still affect us today. As we grow in the faith we have to learn to let go of anything that doesn't line up with the word of God. We have to learn to disregard whatever we were told about God that doesn't stand up to the character of God which was revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
We are not behaving in a loving attitude toward each other when we engage in disputes. We are to obey God's law when interacting with each other, and that law is the law of love. "The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." (1 Timothy 1:5) Love fulfills the law, as Paul said in his letter to the Romans, because "love does no harm to a neighbor". (Romans 13:10) The Lord Jesus said the same thing when He stated that the two greatest commandments have to do with love: loving God and loving our fellow man. (Matthew 22:36-40) When we take a look at the Ten Commandments, we see that they have to do with how we relate to God and to our fellow man. If we love God, we will stay in right relationship to Him, and if we love our fellow man we will stay in right relationship with him. If we take a look at the Mosaic law, we see that it has to do with how we should interact with God and with how we should treat our fellow man. So love fulfills the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses because love helps us honor God as we should and treat our fellow man as we should.
False doctrine, of course, should be exposed as false doctrine. False teachers shouldn't be allowed to teach in our congregations. But one of the primary problems that faces the churches of today is the tendency of church members to get caught up in minor differences of opinion. I know of one local church that nearly split up over whether or not to purchase a stove for the room where they regularly share meals together. Some of the members thought it was a sin to purchase a stove because the church had never owned one before and had gotten along fine without it. Other members thought it was a practical expenditure of money because it allowed them to cook or reheat things so they wouldn't have to consume lukewarm meals or serve lukewarm meals for a grieving church members following graveside services at the cemetery. I'm not making fun of this church or putting them down; I'm just using them as an example of how something small can quickly turn into a very big deal. Church members got really angry with each other about the stove. A loud argument broke out when they met together to vote on whether or not to purchase it. Did God care whether or not the church bought a stove? I don't see why He would, since it's not a sin to own a stove. But God did care about whether the church members maintained a loving spirit toward each other. You wouldn't think that an issue so small could have caused so much disunity, but this is the type of distraction Satan uses to cause trouble in a church. This is how Satan keeps a church from doing what God has called it to do, and how he breaks up true friendships, and how he causes people in the community to be turned off from the very idea of attending church to hear the gospel.
Let's not give the devil a foothold in our churches or in our relationships with God and with our fellow man. If something is a lie, we must expose it as a lie and put a stop to it. But if something is a minor difference of opinion, we need to love each other and agree to disagree.
Friday, March 8, 2019
Paul's Son In The Faith: A Study Of 1st And 2nd Timothy. Day 1, Introduction
Timothy was a citizen of the city of Lystra, the city where Paul was dragged outside the gates, pelted with stones, and left for dead. When Paul stood back up and walked back into the city, this must have made a huge impression on the people living there---and perhaps especially on one young man named Timothy. On Paul's second visit to Lystra, Timothy left everything behind to join Paul and his companions on their missionary journeys.
It's believed Timothy was still quite a young man when he accepted Christ under the preaching of Paul, for Paul refers to him as his "son in the faith". Paul took on a fatherly role in Timothy's life, and this is important because Luke's words in the book of Acts indicate that Timothy's own father was not a believer. Luke says that Timothy's "mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek". (Acts 16:1) If Timothy's father had been a convert either to Judaism or Christianity, I think Luke would have said so since he takes care to tell us that Timothy's mother was a woman of faith. So we see that Timothy didn't have a father who could teach him about the Lord and who could set a godly example for him to follow. We will learn that both Timothy's mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois were God-fearing women who taught him from the Scriptures from the time he was a small child, but he was given no spiritual instruction from his father. He needed a godly father figure in his life and Paul filled that role. Paul, who had no biological children, thought of Timothy as his son. Timothy came to faith in Christ under Paul's preaching and in that sense Paul "begat" him into his new life as a Christian.
Timothy traveled with Paul, transcribed some of Paul's letters for him, worked as a messenger for Paul, and---according to early church tradition---became the bishop of the church at Ephesus. Also according to early church tradition, Timothy was stoned to death at Ephesus in about 97 AD for vocally protesting against an idolatrous festival taking place in the city.
It's interesting to note that Timothy may have become a Christian because he witnessed the miraculous survival (or perhaps resurrection) of Paul following what appeared to be his death by stoning at Lystra, and then Timothy himself died nearly fifty years later by being stoned to death at Ephesus. Timothy's Christian life began due to a stoning and his physical life ended due to a stoning. Paul's courage at Lystra, and in every other city where he was met with persecution and prison and eventually a martyr's death, gave Timothy the courage to face his own martyr's death. Paul was a father to him in the faith, and like any good father he set an example for his son to follow.
Paul did a wonderful job in his role of father to Timothy, and we know this because Timothy did a wonderful job in his role of evangelist and church leader. We will only look today at the opening lines of Paul's first letter to Timothy, and in it we see the familial bond these two men shared. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." (1 Timothy 1:1-2)
In calling Timothy his "true son in the faith", Paul is saying, "You couldn't be more of a son to me if you were my biological child. I couldn't love a biological son more than I love you. As my son, I'm making you my heir. I'm going to instruct you and encourage you in the faith so that after I pass on you will be equipped to continue my work in the Lord." Timothy is heir to Paul's ministry. He is the man Paul trusts to take his place. Just as the prophet Elijah threw his mantle onto Elisha (the man who would be his successor as a prophet to Israel) Paul symbolically throws his mantle onto Timothy to be his successor in the Christian church.
It's believed Timothy was still quite a young man when he accepted Christ under the preaching of Paul, for Paul refers to him as his "son in the faith". Paul took on a fatherly role in Timothy's life, and this is important because Luke's words in the book of Acts indicate that Timothy's own father was not a believer. Luke says that Timothy's "mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek". (Acts 16:1) If Timothy's father had been a convert either to Judaism or Christianity, I think Luke would have said so since he takes care to tell us that Timothy's mother was a woman of faith. So we see that Timothy didn't have a father who could teach him about the Lord and who could set a godly example for him to follow. We will learn that both Timothy's mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois were God-fearing women who taught him from the Scriptures from the time he was a small child, but he was given no spiritual instruction from his father. He needed a godly father figure in his life and Paul filled that role. Paul, who had no biological children, thought of Timothy as his son. Timothy came to faith in Christ under Paul's preaching and in that sense Paul "begat" him into his new life as a Christian.
Timothy traveled with Paul, transcribed some of Paul's letters for him, worked as a messenger for Paul, and---according to early church tradition---became the bishop of the church at Ephesus. Also according to early church tradition, Timothy was stoned to death at Ephesus in about 97 AD for vocally protesting against an idolatrous festival taking place in the city.
It's interesting to note that Timothy may have become a Christian because he witnessed the miraculous survival (or perhaps resurrection) of Paul following what appeared to be his death by stoning at Lystra, and then Timothy himself died nearly fifty years later by being stoned to death at Ephesus. Timothy's Christian life began due to a stoning and his physical life ended due to a stoning. Paul's courage at Lystra, and in every other city where he was met with persecution and prison and eventually a martyr's death, gave Timothy the courage to face his own martyr's death. Paul was a father to him in the faith, and like any good father he set an example for his son to follow.
Paul did a wonderful job in his role of father to Timothy, and we know this because Timothy did a wonderful job in his role of evangelist and church leader. We will only look today at the opening lines of Paul's first letter to Timothy, and in it we see the familial bond these two men shared. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." (1 Timothy 1:1-2)
In calling Timothy his "true son in the faith", Paul is saying, "You couldn't be more of a son to me if you were my biological child. I couldn't love a biological son more than I love you. As my son, I'm making you my heir. I'm going to instruct you and encourage you in the faith so that after I pass on you will be equipped to continue my work in the Lord." Timothy is heir to Paul's ministry. He is the man Paul trusts to take his place. Just as the prophet Elijah threw his mantle onto Elisha (the man who would be his successor as a prophet to Israel) Paul symbolically throws his mantle onto Timothy to be his successor in the Christian church.
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