The Goal of Our Instruction
1 Timothy 1:1-7 (5)
January 17, 2016
As you know we are in the middle of our annual “Missions Month”
We are making a conscious effort to sort of re-focus ourselves
On our purpose and calling here in this world.
Last week we talked about the importance of proclaiming Christ.
We heard Paul plead with Timothy to avoid worldly and empty chatter
And to guard that precious treasure of the gospel.
We looked at some of the sermons of the apostles
So that we might get a better feel for exactly what they were proclaiming
And their messages were extremely similar.
You can sum up their subject with one word: CHRIST
They preached Jesus.
The Resurrection of Jesus
The Reign of Jesus
The Requirement of Jesus
Their focus was not on the sinner and his specific circumstance.
Their focus was on Christ and what He required.
And with this message these men literally turned the world upside down.
This morning I want to go a little further in our missions month emphasis.
I would basically begin by asking the question:
Why preaching Christ or proclaiming the gospel is so important?
(especially as it compares to preaching other good information)
We could certainly just answer, “Because the Bible says so”
The fact that we are commanded to preach the gospel should probably be enough.
But I am aware that most people are more pragmatic than that.
Most people like to know why we are called to do a specific thing.
So this morning let’s get a little more specific and honest.
The reason we preach the gospel
Is because only the gospel accomplishes our goal.
Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
• Only the gospel reveals how sinful man can achieve the righteousness of God.
• Only the gospel produces genuine salvation.
Now think about that when you read other popular mission verses.
Consider this one:
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
You’ve certainly heard of that one.
It’s called “The Great Commission”
What is the goal there?
It’s pretty clear, it is to “make disciples”
The question has to be then: What exactly is a true disciple?
• How do we know what a true disciple is?
• How do you we know if we are making them?
• How do I know if I even am one?
A little insight into that is given just in what Jesus said here.
• Jesus said to baptize them “in the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.”
That would indicate that the person repented of their sin and placed their faith in Christ and evidenced both by their obedience in baptism.
• Jesus also said to teach them “all that I commanded you”
Which indicates that a disciple is what? OBEDIENT
But this morning I want to take focus on this a little bit more.
I want to know what a true disciple is
And I want to know how to make one.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
We definitely must be careful how we build.
The last thing we want to do is spend all of our time and all of our resources making false disciples.
It would be a tragedy of enormous proportion
To spend our lives in ministry only to see it all burned up at the judgment
And us only being saved “yet so as through fire”
IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO MAKE DISCIPLES.
AND HERE IS WHAT I HOPE YOU SEE THIS MORNING.
That the type of disciple that Jesus wanted us to make
Can only be produced one way.
The type of disciple Jesus called for is absolutely impossible to make by any type of human ingenuity or human effort.
• It is not a disciple that can be created through better education.
• It is not a disciple that can be made through therapy.
• It is not a disciple that can be made through counseling or manipulation.
The type of disciple that Jesus wanted was one only found on the other side of absolute regeneration and rebirth.
The type of disciple that Jesus required
Is beyond anything you can produce by any tool that you possess
Except the tool that is the gospel.
This morning we are returning to the book of 1 Timothy.
I gave you the backdrop to this book last week.
To give you the quick version, you know that some of the teachers in Ephesus had gone astray and were teaching “strange doctrines”
• They were caught up in “myths” and “endless genealogies”
• They were talking about things that Paul called “fruitless discussion”
But the real problem was what Paul mentioned in verses 3-4
“As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.”
The teaching of these Ephesian teachers was accomplishing something to be certain, but it wasn’t accomplishing the real goal.
It wasn’t furthering “the administration of God”
That is to say it wasn’t growing the kingdom.
Put another way, IT WASN’T MAKING DISCIPLES
• Was it making the church bigger? Possibly
• Was it making the church wealthier? Could be
• Was it making the church more relevant? I wouldn’t be surprised
BUT IT WAS NOT MAKING TRUE DISCIPLES
AND THUS IT WAS MISSING THE WHOLE POINT
And that is what Paul reminds Timothy of in verse 5.
(and this is the verse I want to dwell on for a moment)
Let’s look at it closely and see if we can’t
Draw our minds back to the main thing.
(5) “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
That is a simple verse with some profound information.
What is it that we are trying to produce?
This last Wednesday night I was able to speak to the youth (which I love to do) and was able to remind them that while we love them, friendship is not the goal.
We don’t just want to hang around them.
And incidentally that goes for everyone in here as well.
My dad used to set in his booth at Canton and call people in by saying, “Step right in to our little non-profit organization where we don’t want to make money we just want to make friends.”
If you knew my dad, you knew that was a lie.
He didn’t want any friends.
He wanted my mother all the time and half of his grandkids half of the time.
Well look I should be honest about the purpose of the church as well.
I’m happy to call you all friends, but friendship is not the goal.
Just like I told the youth Wednesday night,
We’re trying to produce Christ in you.
We’re trying to make you more like Jesus.
We are trying to make disciples.
THERE IS A GOAL TO WHAT WE ARE DOING.
What is “the goal of our instruction”? “LOVE”
Now I want to tap the brakes here for just a moment
And ask you not to just blow past this word too quickly.
We are often tempted to read that God wants us to “love” and say,
“Check, I have love for all sorts of people and things.”
Let me help you understand what Paul is talking about here.
There are three Greek words that are commonly translated “love”
• One is AROS – it’s the passionate, romantic type of love “I luv her momma”
• One is PHILEO – it’s what we call brotherly love “luv you man”
• And then there is AGAPE which is unconditional love.
John MacArthur wrote, “Agape is the love of choice, of will. It involves self-denial and self-sacrifice to benefit others.”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1 Timothy, Moody Press, Chicago, Ill, 1995] pg. 18)
Agape love is the love that will sacrifice for someone else.
It is NOT that sensual emotion that sacrifices other people for you to get what you want.
Using other people to gratify your own desires is not agape love.
We are talking about a choice to put others before yourself.
Romans 13:8-10 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
And Paul says that is “the goal of our instruction”
If you want to get more specific, listen to what Jesus said:
Matthew 22:35-40 “One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
The two greatest commandments: Love God & Love your neighbor
Incidentally there is no greater mark of a genuine disciple than this.
John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
1 John 4:20-21 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”
And that is really the tip of the iceberg, but you get the point.
We are trying to produce people
Who love God more than they love this world,
More than they love their sin, more than they love anything else,
And people who will put the needs of others before their own.
“the goal of our instruction is love”
ANYTHING SHORT OF THIS IS NOT A TRUE DISCIPLE.
And because this is such an important issue,
Paul is going to take it a little bit further.
It’s not just love, it’s love from a specific type of person.
Pay attention, this is the goal.
#1 LOVE FROM A PURE HEART
1 Timothy 1:5a
The Bible is clear about the natural heart of man.
God saw it early on
Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Through Jeremiah God reiterated it again:
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”
The point is that since the fall the heart of man is deceptive and evil.
It is not pure; it is not holy; it is not clean
The natural heart of man most certainly DOES NOT
Love God or its neighbor in a self-sacrificing way.
There is no capacity for agape love in the evil human heart.
So, the goal of our instruction is to create “a pure heart”
That can and will love God in a sacrificial manner.
Now, this desire is for a pure heart is not new.
It is often revealed even in the Old Testament.
Psalms 24:3-4 “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.”
After David’s affair with Bathsheba, he prayed:
Psalms 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalms 73:1 “Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!”
Men understood the need for a pure or clean heart before God.
And according to Paul, this is what we are trying to produce.
We are trying to take a person with a wicked and evil heart
With no capacity to love God or man in a self-sacrificing way
And see them transformed into a person who can love God like that.
That’s the goal.
• It is not to make people smarter
• It is not to get people to attend more regularly
• It is not to motivate people to give more money
• It is not to convince people to be more religious
“the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart”
THE QUESTION IS: How do we make a disciple like that?
Obviously you see the difficulty.
Changing the heart is beyond human ability.
Religion has gotten good at changing people’s habits,
But changing people’s hearts is really asking for a lot.
It is reminiscent of the Sermon on the Mount
When Jesus rattled off those “You have heard…but I say” sermons.
• We can keep people from murder, but how do we keep them from anger?
• We can keep people from adultery, but how do we keep them from lust?
We might be able to change the habit, but how do we change the heart?
Well there is only one way for an impure heart to be made pure,
And that is through the work of the Holy Spirit.
We don’t have time to go there,
But take a close look at Romans 7 and 8.
In Romans 7 you have the lament of a person who knows their sin is bad, but they can’t seem to stop it.
Romans 7:18-19 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”
This man tries, but fails continually.
What is the answer?
Romans 7:24-25 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
Why Jesus?
Because according to Romans 8,
• Jesus came and condemned sin in the flesh,
• Filled His followers with the Holy Spirit
• And it is the Holy Spirit who then actually regenerates their heart and makes them clean.
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Only the heart that has been renewed by the indwelling Holy Spirit can be a pure heart.
And this event only occurs when people hear the gospel and believe it.
Titus 3:5-6 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”
So listen to me very closely here.
OUR GOAL IS NOT TO MAKE PEOPLE WHO KNOW SIN IS BAD,
BUT WHO CAN’T SEEM TO DEFEAT IT.
• We do that when we preach law but not the gospel.
• We do that when we preach morality, but not redemption.
• We do that when we preach condemnation, but not regeneration.
OUR GOAL IS NOT TO MAKE PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING TO BE RELIGIOUS IN SPITE OF THEIR IMPURE HEART.
Our goal is to take the gospel and proclaim it so faithfully
That it actually leads men to faith in Christ
Which allows the Holy Spirit to move in and regenerate their fallen heart into a pure heart that can genuinely love God.
Those who are religious or moral or educated,
But who do not love God with a pure heart are not genuine believers.
And we have no interest in making false converts.
A true disciple loves with a pure heart and that is what we are trying to produce.
#2 LOVE FROM A GOOD CONSCIENCE
1 Timothy 1:5b
Here we see the second attribute and that is “a good conscience”
Surely you are aware of what the “conscience” does.
The conscience is that inward moral compass you have inside of you.
We are all born with it.
It is not the Holy Spirit, but it is a sort of guide.
And it is the work of the conscience to produce guilt
When you do the things that you know to be wrong.
Romans 2:14-15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”
So in one sense the conscience does work similar to the Holy Spirit in that when you do the things you know to be wrong, you feel guilty about it.
The main difference between your conscience and the Holy Spirit is that
Unlike the Holy Spirit your conscience can become corrupted and defiled.
BUT THE MAIN POINT IS THAT
THE GUILTY CONSCIENCE IS THE RESULT OF THE IMPURE HEART
If your heart is pure, then your conscience doesn’t get offended.
But if your heart is impure, then your conscience makes you feel guilty.
You can hide your iniquity from everyone around you
So you don’t receive human judgment, but your conscience knows better.
AND SO WHEN YOUR HEART IS IMPURE OR UNCLEAN
THEN YOUR CONSCIENCE IS OFFENDED.
Paul said our goal is to produce people with “a pure heart”
Whose “conscience” is “good” or clear or satisfied
• This would be a person who is not harboring secret sin in their life.
• This would be a person who is not secretly engaged in hidden sin.
This is a person whose heart has been made pure through the work of the Holy Spirit, who loves God genuinely,
And as a result does not feel guilt about the way they live.
Paul was this type of person
Acts 23:1 “Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”
AND THAT IS WHAT WE SEEK TO PRODUCE.
Churches can be very good at holding up a moral standard over people
And really condemning people for violating that moral standard.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT:
This just teaches powerless sinners to be secret about their sins.
THE RESULT IS:
Religious people with an impure heart and a guilty conscience
Who are incapable of loving God the way He requires.
That is not the goal.
“the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience”
Our goal is to produce redeemed people who have been set free from sin,
Who have had their hearts washed clean and their consciences also.
And this only happens through the preaching of the gospel.
• Only the gospel leads men to faith in Christ.
• And only Christ performs that type of cleansing.
WE ARE OUT TO MAKE REAL DISCIPLES.
Those with a pure heart…Those with a good conscience
#3 LOVE FROM A SINCERE FAITH
1 Timothy 1:5c
And this may be the most telling of all.
Do you know why churches are filled with religious people who have a guilty conscience?
• Because those religious people have an impure heart.
Do you know why so many religious people in the church have an impure heart?
• It is because they have an insincere faith.
That is to say, their faith isn’t real.
The word “sincere” here is ANUPOKRITOS
It is the negative form of the word HUPOKRITOS
A HUPOKRITOS was a specific type of person in the New Testament.
You know many of them. You pay money to watch them.
Today we call them actors.
In the New Testament a person who performed on a stage
Was called a HUPOKRITOS.
That word is translated in your Bible as “hypocrite”
Jesus warned us about them didn’t He?
Luke 12:1 “Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”
Paul said here that we are not trying to produce Pharisees.
We are trying to produce those with an un-hypocritical faith.
“the goal of our instruction is love from…a sincere faith”
The Bible is full of people who demonstrated a less than genuine faith.
Jesus encountered them all the time.
John 2:23-25 “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”
John 5:38-42 “You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. “I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.”
John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
The interesting fact about that group is by the end of the chapter
Jesus says this to them:
John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
John 8:47 “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
They were coming to Jesus for the wrong reasons.
• Maybe they wanted to be healed…
• Maybe they wanted bread…
• Maybe they wanted a king to defeat Rome…
WHAT THEY DIDN’T WANT was freedom from sin,
Because when Jesus said “the truth will make you free” THEY BALKED.
John 8:33-34 “They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”
They weren’t interested in freedom from sin.
They wanted to keep their sin while reaping the blessings of God.
That is an insincere faith and that is NOT what we are trying to produce.
Our goal is to make genuine disciples.
People who want freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.
Our goal is to make people who exercise genuine faith in Christ.
• Faith that results in redemption and regeneration.
• Faith that results in a pure heart which leads to a good conscience.
• Faith that allows the person to be freed from bondage to the flesh and able to sacrifice that flesh and love God fully.
THAT IS WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO PRODUCE.
How do we make that type of disciple?
And again the answer is by preaching the gospel.
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
This is why Paul is so adamant that we cling to the gospel.
Romans 1:13-17 “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.””
Only the gospel has the power to lead sinful man with an impure and a defiled conscience to faith in Christ and regeneration.
This is why Paul told Timothy to be faithful in preaching:
1 Timothy 4:16 “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
If you want a positive example, look at the Thessalonian church.
(A church in the middle of extreme persecution)
1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 “We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13-14 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,”
And you get the point.
The type of disciple Jesus wanted us to make
Was one who loved God
With a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
And there is no amount of human ingenuity
Nor religious program that can produce that.
The only thing that produces a true disciple is the message of the gospel.
“it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”
So if you are serious about fulfilling the great commission
To go and make disciples
Then I implore you to be faithful in proclaiming the gospel.
