Series: So You Want to Be the Church?
Intro to 1 Timothy
1 Timothy 1:1-11
Today we are beginning a series over the next 6 weeks through the book of 1 Timothy in an effort to be ever more familiar with the basics of what the Bible has to say about the church. This is important for us to constantly do as a group who gathers at Forest Dale for two reasons. First, we need constant reminders of the purpose of living as a Christian – there are thousands of philosophies and teachings in the world which state they are the best way to live and will direct us in contrary direction than what God’s word says, to keep it straight we have to reiterate it over and over again. Second, we need to be reminded that the reason Jesus has made the church is so that his people would work in unity for his glory. If you believe in God but do not understand why honoring him as a church or living for his glory is of supreme importance then there are large parts of the Bible you either don’t know or have failed to understand. So there is this need to be both refreshed by God’s word and the necessity to learn more in order to live. We are learning God’s word not for the purpose of scholarship but for the reason of discipleship. We are not told to do church or go to church; we are the church and are to be the church when we pray, study, serve, and witness.
So this book of 1 Timothy is all about instructions on being the church – not about religion or worship time, but about much of what the NT says repeatedly - the importance of our individual pursuit of faith and our humble acknowledgement of the lordship of Jesus over everything is the essential point of Christianity and the main goal of the church. While there are many topics covered by this book, my goal in preaching on it is that you would be more familiar with this book after every Sunday and start to see the troubles which the church has been battling for centuries and to make sure you aren’t contributing to the troubles of this church. And also this book shows how to measure your life and to clearly evaluate priorities. This book is commonly referred to as a pastoral epistle meaning it is helpful to know it if you are in ministry or involved in leading people as a pastor or shepherd – and all of you need to know that if you are part of the church you are automatically in ministry and the essence of being a Christian is leading by example people to the person of Jesus Christ. So if you are open to it you are going to learn something important as we study, I know I am going to learn something because God’s word always does that. So let’s begin with the first verses.
I. Background for 1 Timothy.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
A. First who was this man named Timothy? He was an important person in the early church.
1. Proof of that is in how his name appears in 11 of the 27 books of the NT. Part of that reason is because God used the apostle Paul to write a good chunk of the NT and Paul’s work was constantly dependent upon Timothy.
2. He is introduced in Acts 16 when Paul comes to Lystra where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Timothy had a gift for helping churches and guiding groups of people in living for Christ.
*As you look at the NT, particularly the book of Acts you see how Paul operated. Paul’s role was to come into a city, preach about Jesus, help establish the church there and then he would be ready to move to the next city to do it all over again. He was on a mission to spread the message of Jesus to as many people as his travels would permit him to reach. Timothy was apparently better at keeping things going on the local level – in the book of Acts he travels to various places with Paul and is sometimes sent to areas to encourage the new Christians and teaching them the basics of faith. Eventually he is left in Ephesus to work in the church there apparently to straighten things out and this book was sent to him by Paul to help with that goal.
B. In the setting of 1 Timothy, Timothy was given the charge to get things back on track with the church in Ephesus and to correct this false teaching which was throwing the group into confusion and leading them away from the truth about Christ.
1. Apparently some false teacher were becoming a big problem in that church as they were teaching things contrary to what originally told to them about Jesus. 3 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 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.
2. So there were two things going on here which were a problem. First some people were teaching false doctrines. There are a few English translations which differ in how they put this phrase as it applies to our modern language – the NIV says a false doctrine, NASB says “strange doctrine” – which by doctrine he means a set of established beliefs based on truth in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus Christ son of God is part of the doctrine of Christianity – truths which are guiding principles are the doctrines.
a. And some of their leadership was teaching things which were contrary to the teachings of Jesus and understandably the people in the church were being confused and divided. They didn’t have a NT bible to refer to so if a person said it loud enough and long enough people would believe it. Today we have Bible but there are still some distorting the teachings of Jesus and are believed because they have said it loud enough and long enough.
3. Second these leaders were making some trivial things more important than the work of the church. From the text it had something to do with made-up stories and something about focusing on their ancestors or spending their time tracing their genealogies. There probably were discussions which had turned into a distraction and actually became a hindrance to the work of the church.
* Controversies seem to be so much part of our world and culture today. Where people get into arguments or cause division about things which really are irrelevant to the simple truth. I have seen Christians argue over things – like the idea of rapture for instance, this idea that suddenly when Jesus returns everyone will be sucked up into the sky like some giant vacuum. There is one verse in the Bible which mentions people being caught up into the air and from that an entire belief system has begun to develop. It is a distraction and controversy which does not help the church. Satan doesn’t care what the distraction is for God’s people just as long as they are distracted.
For Timothy and the new church struggling with these things were brand new. We know seeing a church struggle with bad doctrine or controversies is rather common today. What they considered brand new we know has happened over and over again among groups of Christians – they start in a church, do really good things, but because of sin and distractions they end up struggling with each other. The kind of seat you sit in becomes the issue rather than who is sitting in the seats you provide. Having a good time becomes more important than sharing the good news of Christ Jesus alive from the dead. Trivial matters can end up impacting the bigger call to work in the kingdom of God. Many years ago I had someone tell me the reason they left the church was because I did not greet them at the door after service – that was a silly reason – but it was compounded by the fact that they would often rush out right after church for the side door when I was standing at the back door! His choice was not based on doctrine or even because I was neglecting the preaching of the Gospel – these kinds of things happen all over the place and the enemy of humanity loves to pull God’s people apart with mindless and pointless matters.
4. And so this book as we go through this book of 1 Timothy we are going to see this is not just a refocusing for Timothy; it is a refocusing of every person in the entire church to make sure they were solidly understanding truth and clearing up the confusion. Over and over again 1 Timothy is going to be pointing out the importance of not just knowing Jesus but about being the body of Christ and being the church who is in the world to give a clear message of hope.
*But above that what Paul’s message to Timothy is about the importance one individual who lives for Jesus and does not compromise in the truth will be a leader whether or not they are in a leadership position. It is that general message like Christ said – “You are the light of the world put on a stool to provide light to the whole house,” that if you are a Christian it means you are automatically becoming a leader because you are the one whom through God has chose to reach the world. To be the church means….
II. Being A Leader Not a Follower
A. In Timothy’s situation the first thing which had to happen is the trustworthy leader needed to be clear on what the issues were.
*This is part of what Paul was doing in writing this letter – now you and I when we write a correspondence or an email or a text message for someone intended it to that person but we don’t necessarily think that they will share it with someone else. That message was meant for them – some of them are confidential, but let’s not fool ourselves shall we? If you send a message or, please let’s be smart here, a picture to someone which might be intended for them you have to understand that even as trust worthy as that person might be that message or picture will be seen by someone else. Paul knew other people would read this letter and he understood the Holy Spirit would use it to speak to more than just one person. So his writing has both a specific reason and general principles for people who believe. It may seem strange to think that we are reading a letter between friends as part of how we become established in our faith but Christianity in its purest form has always been about how life is lived each day with choices to do what is right. And it is about how we treat one another as a group.
1. Look at the next part . 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. The goal of the 10 commandments was to get us to the place – that because we love God we would do what he says even if we are tempted to do the wrong thing.
2. Jesus taught how outward actions weren’t his main goal for his people, He taught It was the lust and the hate and the unforgiveness in our heart and mind which He wanted to be addressed. Our actions are extremely important God’s real pleasure comes in knowing the motivations of our heart.
3. And this is why the false teachers were so dangerous – they weren’t just having trouble with their doctrine, they were adjusting the truths of God to match their own agenda, they were interfering with the faith aspect of the church. And because the people in Ephesus weren’t as established in their faith and didn’t have the written NT in front of them, they were being lead astray. Timothy was going to have to work on getting them back on track, he was going to have to step up.
B. This is why leaders are always to be carefully chosen – because someone with a charismatic ability can lead a lot of people in the wrong way.
1. Because it is so easy to pull people away from the truth than to get them aligned to it.
*I heard it put this way this week – “It takes hundreds of hours to put a building together but only one match to burn it down.” Now that is some profound stuff! You and I know that destruction is so much easier – you don’t even have to be deviously trying and you can still mess things up. Back to chapter 1 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
2. Here are few thoughts on this: It is easier to lead people away from what is right if they are uninformed. So many a fantastic preachers have stood up and stated the most ludicrous idea which informed people kind of say, “hmmf, that’s stupid,” and uniformed people think “is that really what it says?”
*Not long ago actress Gweneth Paltrow started a blog for her to share with other women when she broached the subject of homosexuality and expressed her support for people who are homosexual. She was writing about an Arkansas school board member who stated his adherence to be against homosexuality because of what the Bible said. Here is what she wrote: This member of an Arkansas school board …. maintained that his values pertaining to homosexuality would remain, as he felt homosexuality was condemned in the bible. This concept, while foreign to me, is interesting, as it used to justify so much judgment and separation in our society. When my daughter came home from school one day saying that a classmate had two mommies, my response was, "Two mommies? How lucky is she?!" What does it actually say in the bible that will cause some people to be upset by my line of thinking?” No one has hidden what the Bible says from this uniformed actress, she only need read it and clearly see the prohibition that is there. Uniformed people think it isn’t there and will believe what people tell them is there.
3. Some people follow the most confident sounding person – and also because there are people who have PHDs and doctorates behind their names they are willing to just believe what they are told. This is dangerous and Jesus never told his followers to follow blindly – he chastised the Pharisees because they really didn’t know God’s word even though they claimed to! Their confidence was misplaced.
4. Everyone should try to learn God’s word like they are going to have to lead with it. Everyone is first of all to follow Jesus – if no one else on earth was following Jesus you would still be responsible for following him. When we sing “Where you go I’ll go, where you stay, when you move I’ll move,” the important part of that phrase is the “I”
a. This is why it is important that each person who belongs to Jesus has a grounded knowledge of sound doctrine. What is really interesting if you think about it is how even though we are a couple of thousand years away from the people in Ephesus and Timothy, we still have the same temptations as they did and the same truths to follow as they.
Look at the next part to prove this point. 9 We also know that law[a] is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
*What is interesting is how the translation of “perverts” in this version, the word in Greek meant in that time period to males involved in homosexual acts. This is one of the many places in the Bible that I should send to Ms. Paltrow to teach her daughter Apple and her son Moses. With a name like Moses you really need to know what the Bible says! Now the reason I am kind of harping on the issue of homosexuality is because right now this is the issue of the largest confusion in our modern era for God’s people. This week the state of New York became the 4th state to approve of same sex marriage. This means a huge number of people who think that the government determines what is right now think the definition of marriage can be changed by the vote of a majority in their legislature. Now you can’t get fatty foods in NY city because they are against the law but you can get married to your same sex partner. Really? Fatty foods are wrong? The only reason the news says that the state was able to pass this same sex marriage act was because the churches who were in opposition stopped opposing it because the politicians reassured the clergy would not be forced to accept or allow it into their churches. One of the biggest reason why a growing number of unbelievers think Christians are hateful people – many believe we say homosexuality is wrong because we are homophobic. This is untrue – we are not afraid of homosexuals, Christians hold to God’s truth which says this kind of lifestyle is wrong. If we cannot articulate why God does not permit homosexuality in Christianity then our doctrine is not sound enough. And one of the primary goals of Jesus Christ was to have all of his followers being representatives of his kingdom and leading other people to the truth of his saving grace – and it means we need to know why certain sins are contrary to his truth. In other words to be a Christian is to be a leader. It doesn’t mean to be in charge but to refuse to follow the huge crowd in their march toward destruction on the wide road, instead to lead by example whatever location you now exist in. Quite often being a leader means you simply make the choice to not give up even if you seem to have failed.
III. Faithfulness Means Beginning Again.
A. Returning to the sound doctrine is a cyclical part of following Christ.
1. This is the place to return every time we find ourselves confused or conflicted with a tough decision or a twisted choice that has to be made.
*So much of our life is spent being occupied by things we don’t know. We don’t know the future. We don’t know the full motivation of other people. We don’t know exactly the next time we will have to go to the bathroom! I just know the bathroom break it isn’t supposed to be until I am finished this morning - just to let you know! We don’t know how many days left until Jesus comes or we breathe our last – and many people get caught up in speculation – the perfect example was of this man named Harold Camping – you know the guy who recently predicted Jesus return on May 21 of this year and he has a huge following of people who believed him. Now he has adjusted it to October 21 based on some failed mathematics – and there are people being caught up in this and it is a terrible distraction. Mathew 24 Jesus said 36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father.
2. What is the result of leaders focusing on such controversies? Many are not only lead astray but Christianity itself is mocked as a false faith because of such claims. Doubts also are come now to those who were counting on Mr. Camping’s leadership.
3. The only solution to such things is for people who believe to return to the things which are true and unchanging.
*Or as Martin Luther so aptly put it in his Lectures on Romans, “To progress is always to begin again.” Real spiritual progress, in other words, requires a daily going backwards. Just like if we fail to live up to the commands of God we have to seek forgiveness, repent, and begin again to walk on the right path. This is the fantastic part of God’s grace, how he doesn’t abandon us when we fall – we start again and all the while he never removes our salvation.
