All right we begin, I Timothy for
Beginners, this is lesson number two in that series, the title of this lesson,
Paul's Charge to Timothy. We're going to begin in the area of actually
begin chapter 1 verses 1 to 11. So we've already reviewed the background
of Paul's first letter to Timothy, little review for you here, Timothy is
a young preacher, he's working in the church at Ephesus, the church there seems
to be embroiled in controversy with various teachers promoting Gnostic ideas.
Gnostic from the root word gnosis refered to the mixing of existing ideas from
philosophy and pagan mysticism, Judaism and Christianity all mixed together to
create a new and as some were promoting a superior form of doctrine, a kind of a
new super gospel that was being promoted at that church. And so Paul writes to
Timothy with a mix of encouragement and challenge and teaching in order to help
him confront the false teachers and also to organize the church in a godly way to
prepare it for service and promote peaceful harmony. So today we're going to
begin looking at the letter itself, gave you a lot of background
information last time. We begin with 1:1-2,
now when we look at our original outline of the book we see that the first
section is the short greeting in verses 1 and 2 and I read this, "Paul, an
apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and
of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord."
So in the first verse Paul introduces himself as an Apostle
of Jesus, in the circle of 12 by the command of both God and Jesus. The
idea here is that he is not as some sort of self-appointed apostle, he's not some
sort of self-appointed teacher, as the teachers who were in Ephesus the ones
causing the problems he's a legitimate teacher, legitimately called by
God, equal to the other Apostles. This of course establishes his authority
and the authority of his teachings and the source of his authority in teaching
comes from Jesus comes from God as did the authority of the other Apostles. Now
very early in the letter he introduces the idea that Christ is our hope,
worthy of our trust. Again, as opposed to trusting in some sort of special
knowledge or secret knowledge or these new teachers. So this is, it's
not just what he's saying it's right from the start he's addressing
what's going on there in Ephesus. He is a teacher that has authority,
authority of Christ, therefore his teachings also have authority not from
himself but authority from Christ. Now in verse 2 he establishes the credibility
and integrity of Timothy, the recipient of the letter whom Paul blesses. Now the
idea of a true child not only denotes their closeness but also the fact that
Timothy was trusted to represent Paul in spiritual matters; my true child, my
official child the one that I have confidence in. And so the blessing that
he gives includes: grace which means favor or good things, good things like
past forgiveness and future hope of heaven; he mentions mercy, pity, help,
compassion; and peace, harmony between God and man and also between man
and man. So with his opening lines Paul first of all declares his own authority,
the authority of inspiration from God, he confirms Timothy's charge to teach, I
sent you there to teach you need to teach, and he also offers a blessing on
the evangelist who has a pretty tough job ahead of him. And we need to
realize that this letter has the same charge to modern-day preachers today, has
the same authority for the church we are reading Paul's words but if we're
reading Paul's words were reading the words of Christ who inspired him through
the Holy Spirit, and also has the ability to instruct and correct and build us
up as well we read this as preachers today we also need the
encouragement and the confidence to teach with authority the things that are
written in God's Word. So in the next section Paul is going to talk about
himself and Timothy before going on to give instructions about the church in
general. So Paul's charge to Timothy, now Paul turns now to address Timothy
directly and to charge him meaning to challenge him concerning the carrying
out of his ministry especially as it concerns what's going on in the book of
Ephesus. So let's read verse 3 he says, "As I urged you upon my departure for
Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to
teach strange doctrines." So Timothy is reminded of his original charge or his
marching orders and that was to instruct certain men not to teach
other doctrines. When he says other doctrines it's other doctrines or rather
doctrines other than what he himself has been taught, what Timothy has been taught
by Paul the gospel and all the teaching that stems from the gospel, you
instruct men not to teach other things other than that no variation of
of that particular teaching. We know that some the Gnostic teachers were straying
away from the teachings of Christ and the Apostles and Timothy was to rebuke
them to admonish them not to do this. Now that wasn't his only job of course he
had to preach and teach and encourage the church there and so and so forth but
Paul is kind of zeroing in on this particular issue at the beginning of his
letter. In verse 4 he says, "nor to pay attention to myths and endless
genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the
administration of God which is by faith." So he gives a brief description of the
type of teaching not to listen to and he reminds Timothy that godly teaching is
restricted to matters that develop faith and knowledge of God's Word. What kind of
things does he mean here about myths and endless genealogies? Well
Jewish myths that were not part of the scripture, speculation regarding
genealogies found in Gnostic genealogical tables okay. These things
do not produce the things that are mentioned in the following verse and
let's read the following verse he says, "But the goal of our instruction is love
from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." And so
let's back up a little bit, he's saying look tell them not to teach things other
than the gospel and what stems from the gospel, and then he names a few
things Jewish myths and other Gnostic ideas that were
floating about there tell them to not to pay attention to those things because
those type of teachings do not promote the key objective of Christian teaching
and what is that? Well then he says exactly the goal of our
instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience
and a sincere faith. So the acid test for teachers teaching true and godly
doctrine is the development of love as a direct result of that teaching.
The fruit of proper teaching from true teachers, Paul says, will be A) a pure
heart, in other words a clear mind and a clean mind and a clean heart no
confusion no wavering no doubt a good conscience in other words if you are
taught properly in the gospel your conscience is clear you understand that
or the student understands that the their sins have been forgiven and they
have a security in Christ and they have a sure hope of heaven so a
good conscience and a good conscience because as Christians we are
living a righteous life not a perfect life. You know the old saying, I'm not a
perfect husband but I'm a faithful one well I'm not a perfect Christian but
I am a faithful one, I strive for perfection I strive to please God I
strive to resist the temptation I continue believing each day that the
blood of Christ washes me clean and makes me acceptable before God so
therefore I have a good conscience, you know a good conscience isn't just I have a
good conscience because I never do anything wrong no good conscience is
there because we know that even in the places where we fail as John says if we
confess our sins Jesus is righteous to forgive us our sins okay.
And then he says a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. A solid
faith, a faith that has assurance, a faith that's knowledgeable, I
know why I have a clear conscience I know why I have assure hope in heaven,
I know how to have a pure heart I know the things that I need to do and I also
know what to do when I fail. So these are the things that are created by the
teaching of the gospel by the teaching of the words of Christ. Debates, pride,
division these are not the fruit of solid teaching from approved teachers. In
verse 6 he goes on to say, "For some men, straying from these things, have turned
aside to fruitless discussion," So some teachers who are on the right path have
been distracted, Paul says, and they're caught up in the false teaching. He says
they have turned aside means they have become apostate having left the Christ
centered cross center teaching of the Apostles in order to champion this new
knowledge which Paul says is simply a waste of time. Why is it a waste of time?
Because it doesn't produce the pure heart, the clear conscience, the
solid faith and hope, it doesn't produce those things so it's a waste of time no
matter what else it produces it doesn't produce that. Verse 7 he says, "wanting to
be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are
saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions." So we read
this and it seems that their desire, their these these teachers here Gnostic
teachers, seems that their desire was to become something other than Christ-like.
The teachings of Christ are there to make all of us disciples more
Christ-like and he's saying here that these people here these
teachers this was not their desire to become more Christ-like, he mentions they
want to be teachers of the Law refers to rabbis of the Jewish religion they want
to become like Christian rabbis teaching the Law.
They wanted to assume this position within the church, they wanted to create
this role of authority for themselves within the church. Teachers of
the Law were not the same as Judaizers remember or the circumcision party who
taught that you had to become a Jew and therefore be circumcised before you
could become a Christian. So this is this was another problem that was
taking place in other places and of course this isn't true right we don't
have to be circumcised in order to become Christians, Matthew 28,
Mark 16 tells us tha, and Acts 2 tells us that we need to believe in
Jesus, repent of our sins, be baptized this is the process in becoming a
Christian. And so teachers of the law were men who were using aesthetic
practices within the law, in other words food laws and marriage
laws and they were mixing these with Gnostic mystery
teachings in order to create as I mentioned before a new doctrine over
which they became the new teachers the new rabbis if you wish the arbitrator's
the new Christian rabbi. So not only were they creating a different
gospel a different doctrine but they were also creating a new position for
themselves within the church a position of authority a position to undermine the
authority of the Apostles undermined the authority of God's Word
undermined the authority of the evangelists that Paul had sent to work
with the church there in Ephesus. In verse 8 he says, "But we know that the Law
is good, if one uses it lawfully." And so Paul explains in this verse that the law
was given for specific purposes and it could be used incorrectly as was the
case in the Galatian church for example and as is the case here. The
Jewish Gnostic teachers had formulated a new and a better doctrine which was
foreign to Christian teaching. So part of their teaching involved the
Law of Moses by trying to bind certain elements of the Law okay and part of the
Gnostic teaching on to the consciences of the brethren they were using the Law
incorrectly. Remember the people at Ephesus they were Christians already
saved, already forgiven, and so these teachers were kind of combining various
elements of different Jewish religion, Gnostic ideas, mystery
religious ideas they're mixing all this together to create a new religion a new
gospel and they were in charge and they were the ones who were the authoritative
teachers and many of the things in this "new super gospel" were placing
burdens on Christians, things they had to do, things they had to abstain from in
order to be considered faithful in order to be considered true if you wish. So Paul is saying these people here these
teachers they're using the Law they want to be "teachers of the Law" you
want to be rabbis, but they don't even know how to use the Law, they don't
understand what the proper usage of the Law is. And so in verse 9a he says,
"realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person," So he goes on to
explain some of the correct uses for the Law. When we're talking about the Law
we're talking about the Ten Commandments and all the ordinances contained in the
Old Testament. So he said these people want to use the Law and be experts in
the Law and they want to bind things of the Law on you but they don't even
understand what the purpose of the Law is and so in these verses here
he talks about the correct uses of the Law: first to reveal the nature of
sin, that's a proper use of the Law, Romans 3:20 and 7:7. The Law is there
to show you where you are mistaken, show you where you are sinful, to show
where you fall short, that's the purpose of the Law; like a mirror to be able to
see yourself properly, to be able to judge your conduct and your
intentions and thus that's what the Law is there for. Secondly, to reveal the
punishment for sin, in Romans 6:23 'the wage of sin is death' the Law
is there also to show you what the consequences are for breaking the Law,
for disobeying the Law, that's another purpose of the Law. And thirdly, the Law
reveals God's justice, God's justice is if you sin you die but if you
obey the Law you live, in Romans 6:23 the entire verse says 'the wage of sin is
death but he says the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.' So
the Law also reveals God's justice and how it can be fulfilled.
However, the Law was never given so that a person could justify himself before
God, that wasn't the purpose that the Law was given. It was designed to show us
how we needed forgiveness and mercy, not as a measuring stick for our
righteousness. That's how they were using it as a measuring stick for
righteousness; and they weren't even using it they weren't even using
the whole law but they were using parts of the law to say okay now if you obey
this if you follow this you know you'll be righteous you'll be saved
you'll be pleasing to God. So let's read the complete verse now it says, "but for
those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy
and profane, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers and
immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers." So
remember in the previous verses said the Law wasn't given for us
to become righteous here the Law is for sinful
people and he mentions some. He shows that the Law is not directed at
those who are saved, Christians are under the principle of grace not the principle
of law; under grace God forgives our sins over and over again and He bears with
our weaknesses and He promises to transform us into perfect spiritual
beings at the resurrection and He asks that we trust in Christ and we remain
faithful, those are the conditions under grace. Under the Law if
you sin once you're condemned, anything less than perfection is unacceptable, you
are saved and receive glory only if you do not sin and he mentions the types of
sins and sinners that are subject to the Law. Paul therefore emphasizes the fact
that Christians are not under law because the Law is designed for godless,
unrepentant, ignorant sinners then as well as now. And so Paul goes on to
give examples of these type of people which the Law will judge, and just give a
list here he mentions those who are lawless those who know the Law
but act without concern for it, pagans without knowledge as well, the
disobedient, rebellious individuals, spoiled, undisciplined, those who refuse
to obey the Law, ungodly, those who are irreverent and impious without respect
for spiritual things, sinners is a reference to those who are wicked evil
immoral, unholy in other words totally devoted to the world they're unholy
there's nothing holy about their thought nothing holy about their goals nothing
holy about their spirits everything is focused on the world they are unholy,
profane those who ridicule spiritual or holy, some people don't care about
holy things some people have no holy things in their lives some
people make reference holy things but only to ridicule those
things, murderers of parents well it's pretty that self-explanatory isn't it,
man slayers in other words people who are aggressive and violent unkind
oppressors, immoral persons here immoral sexually fornication in all kinds of
sexual sins, sodomites, homosexuals translated in English homosexual but the
Bible has no word for homosexual the Bible doesn't even consider that such a
thing can exist that someone is a homosexual so there
were homosexuals at that time but the Bible does not designate that activity
with a name and so usually it simply describes the actions a man who
sleeps with men as men sleep with women okay so it describes the
action of homosexuals these are also condemned under the Law, kidnappers
in those days slave traders, liars in other words hypocrites those who are
dishonest, and perjurers being false with the intent to injure someone else not
keeping vows not keeping promises. Now this is not a complete list of sins but
rather a representation of the kinds of people and sins that the Law will reveal,
condemn and judge, and then punish. So he's saying hey the Law isn't for those
who are saved they're under grace, no the Law is going to be
used for those who are not saved, for those who have rejected the gospel it'll be
used to reveal their sins to reveal their punishment and condemnation, that's
what the Law is for. In verse 10b and 11 he says, "and whatever else is contrary to
sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I
have been entrusted." So Paul completes this part by saying that
aside from this list of sins God will punish those who teach anything
else other than the gospel given by Christ and taught by the Apostles. And so
the point he makes here at the end is that any system of philosophy or
religion which promotes another way to come into communion with God other than
salvation obtained through faith in Jesus Christ, anyone else that promotes
something other than that will be judged and condemned and punished under the Law
as something sinful. So you can add, in other words, you can add to lawlessness
and homosexuals and violence and liars that you can add to that list those who
teach something other than the gospel those people will be judged by the Law.
And so Paul establishes early on in his charge to Timothy that only the gospel
given by God to Christ and then to the Apostles is valid teaching, only the
gospel is valid teaching. By extension this does two things: one, it
establishes Timothy and his teachings as legitimately coming from God because
Timothy was teaching the proper gospel; and two, it condemns the teachings
and teachers of this new Gnostic gospel this new super gospel,
Paul says no this is unacceptable this teaching is
unacceptable and will be judged and punished as well. All right we'll
stop here is a good stopping point as far as our survey of the
text itself a couple of lessons that we can draw just from this opening section
here in Timothy. First lesson: nothing changes, nothing changes. 2000 years
later the sins are exactly the same, that list that I just read those
are today sins aren't think people don't people lie and don't people have illicit
sexual activity you know they're today's sins and
punishment is exactly the same people will be judged by the Law
condemned according to the Law. And of course the way of salvation is exactly
the same and there continues to be all kinds of ways and solutions for
man's sins that keep God and the cross of Christ out of that solution. So
2000 years ago it was the Gnostic teachers that said this is the way to
live, today we have all kinds of philosophies all kinds of ideas that
give us the way to live as a matter of fact today the ideas are more in
taking God out of the equation we don't need God we take God doesn't exist we
take Him out of the equations this is how you should live. So nothing
changes, the sins are the same there's still an effort to find another way to
live another way to be pleasing another way to find God other than the gospel of
Jesus Christ nothing changes even today. Second thing second lesson: the gospel
is our only response as far as we're concerned. Paul in the book of
Romans 1:16 said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God
unto salvation." So there are many young Timothys today who are nervous and
insecure in their faith thinking they are no match for the slick atheists of
our time or the apologists who embrace a universal spirituality with no reference
to Christ, people say well I'm not religious I'm a spiritual person
I embrace all spirituality and all religions and they're all the
same in the end they all bring you to God, yeah that sounds good and soothing
but that's not true according to God's Word. These people who are out
there teaching these things are out there today again as they were back then,
so nothing new here nothing changed since the beginning the same cast of
sinners and unbelievers and religious teachers who promised heaven
without the cross of Christ and who leave the ignorance into greater
darkness. So we don't need to prove anything to atheists or disprove
anything to those who have another religion our task like Timothy is to
simply proclaim the gospel and announce that forgiveness of sin is available
and live our lives in such a way that demonstrates that we actually believe
what we preach. The temptation to outsmart or out debate atheists or to
deconstruct everyone else's ideas about religion or spirituality, this is the
devil's way of immobilizing us with the fear and ridicule of others and
self-doubt. Jesus didn't say to the Apostles go into all the world and
deconstruct every false religion that's out there, He didn't say go
into the world and debate every atheist and demonstrate every atheist
thinking is improper, He didn't say that He said go into all the world
and do what? Proclaim the gospel we're proclaimers, we proclaim and an easy way
to remember this we proclaim and to those who accept the gospel we then
explain in detail. So we've been sent to proclaim and explain our faith not other
people's ideas about religion. Paul wasn't ashamed because he knew that the
gospel message itself had the innate power to reach everyone from the pious
Jew to the most worldly Gentile the message of the gospel resonated with all
kinds of people. So if as Christians we have only one response to questions and
challenges and ridicule and that is the simple message of the gospel proclaimed
in love, if we have answered with this we have fulfilled our own charge given to
us by Christ to preach the gospel to all nations. I don't have to
explain your religion to you my only task is proclaim the gospel to
you and explain that if you have questions okay. So this is a good spot to
stop we'll continue with our study of a Timothy next, week thank you
very much for your attention.
