“The Goal of Our Instruction”
1 Timothy 1:1-7
January 3, 2010
Tonight we begin a new study and one of my absolute favorites.
This was actually the first book I ever preached through,
But one I am excited about studying more and preaching again.
Before we get into our first text I want to show you the main point
In order to help you grasp the individual truths.
From our introductory reading, you are aware of much of the point.
When Paul left Macedonia, he left Timothy behind
To finish straightening out the church at Ephesus.
And this letter is written to encourage Timothy in completing that task.
It is most noteworthy to point out that 2 Timothy is written
To encourage Timothy as the task has been so difficult
That he is contemplating giving up.
And so we are aware that Timothy has been given
A large and difficult task by the apostle Paul.
And to really summarize that task,
We might say that it was to “Restore Truth & Godliness”.
Paul mentions “godliness” 9 times in this letter
Both for Timothy and for those he leads.
Listen to what Paul tells Timothy
1 Timothy 1:18-20 “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”
1 Timothy 6:11-12 “But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
But it isn’t just godliness for Timothy,
It is for all and especially those who lead.
He was to outline godliness for the churches leaders.
1 Timothy 3:1-3 “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.”
And he was to hold those leaders accountable.
1 Timothy 5:19-20 “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.”
PAUL WANTS THE CHURCH TO ACT LIKE THE CHURCH
1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
You can see that Paul wants the church to display godliness
Because we are the pillar and support of the truth.
We must live it so that we can preach it.
And so this letter is all about “doing church”
And even more specifically the role that the church has
In supporting the truth of God.
Timothy was to bring about this change by preaching the truth.
Look at the many references:
1:3 4:6 4:11 4:13 4:16 5:7 6:2 6:17 6:20-21
Timothy was called to turn Ephesus into a church
Concerned with the truth.
He was to make her “the pillar and support of the truth.”
And that is why I love this book so much.
It is practical, it is pointed, it is very much essential.
Tonight we begin by studying the first 7 verses.
There are 4 things I want you to see:
#1 THE GREETING
1 Timothy 1:1-2
I always find it significant to not allow us to overlook
The greeting that Paul gives when writing one of these letters.
For in the greeting comes the authoritative punch
That is necessary to our understanding.
“Paul, and apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope.”
Very simply what is occurring there is that
Paul is flexing his authoritative muscle.
This letter is not suggestion,
Nor is it based upon his own personal expertise.
• Paul was an apostle, a “sent one”.
• He was entrusted with the truth and commanded to preach it.
• He was commanded to do so by Jesus Himself.
As an apostle he had authority to command in Jesus name.
That is why we listen to what he had to say to Timothy.
It is also worthy to recognize that Paul
Refers to God as “our Savior” and to Christ Jesus as “our hope”.
This reveals to us the reason why Paul was commissioned.
He was commanded to preach to bring those two glorious truths to light.
He was called upon to preach salvation to the lost and hope to the defeated.
He was commanded to take the gospel to the world.
And then comes the greeting.
(2) “To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And you are also familiar with who Timothy is.
Acts 16:1-3 “Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”
Timothy was from Galatia,
That region of intense legalism and severe persecution.
Those brethren were under constant attack,
Paul himself was stoned in Lystra,
Yet it was those faithful brethren who commended this disciple.
And that also explains why Paul circumcised Timothy.
They would never even get a chance to preach to the Jews in that area
If Timothy were not circumcised and so Paul removed the stumbling block.
Here Paul calls him, “my true child in the faith”
And so we see his tremendous love and admiration of Timothy.
1 Corinthians 4:17 “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.”
1 Thessalonians 3:2 “and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith,”
And so we know that Timothy is a very important person to Paul
And one that Paul is very fond of.
And in order to fulfill his mission Paul wishes him “grace, mercy and peace”
That is the greeting, now lets move on.
The greeting
#2 THE COMMAND
1 Timothy 1:3-4
Paul wastes no time in giving Timothy his marching orders.
“As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus…”
When Paul left the church at Ephesus he specifically told Timothy
To stay there and finish the work that he started.
Now, some time later, Paul is reiterating that command.
The command is still to stay.
WHAT TASK?
“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.”
If you want to summarize the point it was this.
You have a few teachers there who are fascinated
By things that don’t matter, and as a result
They are neglecting the truth of God. Tell them to stop it.
Some were teaching “strange doctrines”
HETERODIDASKALEIN
It is a compound word that Paul himself may have originated.
HETEROS – strange or different
DIDASKALEIN – to teach
These men were teaching different doctrines, or strange doctrines.
It might have been outright heresy,
At the very least it was weird and unimportant.
I’ll never forget the Sunday Carrie came out of her Sunday School class at Crawford to tell me that the entire lesson had centered around whether or not Adam had a belly button.
And the same was going on at Ephesus.
This is also why Paul concluded the letter with this statement:
1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”
And let me just say men do this.
Pastor’s Conference:
“If you’re one of those preachers who has grown your church
From 200 down to 100 then you need to move out of your momma’s basement and kiss a girl for once.”
The aim was to be funny, the aim was to be amusing.
That is not what the pulpit is for.
Paul told Timothy to command them to stop.
“nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation”
It is not exactly known what they were teaching
Other than somehow your lineage was important,
Most likely promoting hereditary class and clout.
It could have been that men were exalting themselves
Based on their linking back to an Old Testament patriarch or prophet.
Such information is long, tedious, and absolutely useless.
1 Timothy 4:7 “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;”
And they were devoting themselves to this
“rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.”
Instead of preaching the truth of God and calling men to faith in Him,
They were spending their time focusing on things of no importance.
He had to remain on at Ephesus until those men
Either ceased to teach or changed their curriculum.
The pulpit has never been a place for speculation, or comedy, or anything other than the truth of God.
When a church loses that, she has absolutely nothing.
SHE IS USELESS
Remember New Year’s Eve?
2 Timothy 2:14-23 “Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.”
The strange doctrines were of no benefit to the church
And Timothy had to get them stopped.
The Greeting
The Command
#3 THE REMINDER
1 Timothy 1:5
And just to make sure Timothy knew
What they were supposed to be teaching Paul clarifies it.
“But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
And what a wonderful truth for every teacher or preacher to learn.
WHY DO WE PREACH?
• To get more numbers?
• To build bigger buildings?
• To grow our resume and become famous?
NO NO NO
TO CAUSE YOU TO LOVE GOD.
To love Him with a “pure heart”
To love Him with a “good conscience”
To love Him with a “sincere faith”
As we talked about this morning.
The greatest command is that you love God with all that you have.
The reason we preach
Is to motivate people to that type of relationship.
We preach so people will love God with all their heart.
• We don’t want to make me smarter…
• We don’t want to entertain men…
• We don’t want to moralize men…
• We don’t want to fill their lives with “How to’s” regarding life’s troubles…
We want men to love God.
And therefore we preach God’s word
For it is the only thing that can formulate such a response.
Romans 1:16 “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.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13 “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.”
The Ephesian teachers were fascinating men, and entertaining men,
And even causing them to think deeply and speculate,
But they were not causing men to love God more
And therefore their teaching had to be changed.
Never forget the purpose and aim of preaching.
The Greeting
The Command
The Reminder
#4 THE THREAT
1 Timothy 1:6-7
And here Paul reveals why these false teachers are so dangerous.
“For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion,”
This is a clear indicator that they are false teachers.
Their discussion is “fruitless”
Jesus said:
Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
The fruit spoken of there and here is not the fruit of the Spirit.
It is referring to the type of converts they produce.
And the focus is not so much on quantity, but quality.
True teachers produce true disciples.
False teachers cannot produce true disciples.
And that is what is going on at Ephesus.
Because teachers have been allowed to stray from the truth
And focus on any and every other little non-essential,
The church at Ephesus was not producing true converts.
That is why Paul will tell Timothy:
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.”
Paul knew that because the truth wasn’t being preached at Corinth
That many of the converts at Corinth were not real.
Timothy had to preach truth and godliness in order to push through the misconceptions and lead people to real and genuine salvation.
THE THREAT AT EPHESUS WAS A THREAT AGAINST SALVATION
Without the accurate presentation of the gospel,
Salvation could not truly occur.
Romans 10:14 “ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
A preacher can never assume that those he preaches to are truly saved.
A church has to be thorough.
CAN YOU SEE HOW SERIOUS A THREAT THIS WAS AT EPHESUS?
Something had to be done.
Doctrine had to be corrected.
Paul goes on to talk about these false teachers
(7) “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.”
These false teachers had a deadly combination
• AMBITION – “wanting to be teachers of the Law”
• IGNORANCE – “even though they do not understand”
• CONFIDENCE – “they make confident assertions”
They want the title of teacher,
But they have no clue what the true gospel is,
Yet that doesn’t stop them
From claiming to be an authority on the matter.
It screams what Jesus taught the disciples about the Pharisees
Matthew 15:14 “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
So it was at Ephesus.
There was a threat of bad doctrine penetrating the church,
And it was causing the gospel to be ignored
And the listeners to be deceived.
Timothy had to make sure this stopped.
He had to make sure that the teaching at Ephesus
Was producing Godliness.
And so be reminded that we are the church.
We are called to preach truth to turn men’s lives from sin to godliness.
If we fail to do that we miss our purpose.
1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
