1 Timothy | Chapter 1 – Scripture Supply

1 Timothy Ch. 1

“Help Wanted, Apply Within”

1:1-2 Introduction:

1. 1:1 The Writer

2. 1:2a The Reader

3. 1:2b The Greeting

1:3-7 Statement of Purpose:

“Love from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith”

Main teaching:

1:1-20 The Church and its message

1:8-11 The message in the past

1:12-17 The message in the present

1:18-20 The message at work

1 Timothy 1:1-2

“Help Wanted, Apply Within”

Introduction

100 years ago on January 20th, 1914 an article appeared in a London newspaper announcing Britain’s Sir Ernest Shackleton’s planned Antarctic expedition, it was accompanied by a “Help Wanted” ad that read: “Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success!” Amazingly thousands of men applied for the opportunity to “boldly go where no other had gone before.” Such has been the case countless times when world exploration offers have been made. Yet, there remains an ongoing “Help Wanted” ad at the door of every church in the world, placed there by none other than Jesus and only a sparse few of His Church have answered.

It might read something like this: “Wanted men and women for the difficult work of helping to build MY church. You will often be misunderstood, even by your coworkers. You will face constant attacks from an invisible enemy. You may never see the results of your labors, and your full reward will not come until after your work is completed. Your work may cost you your home, health, ambitions, and even your life. Please apply within!” Signed, Jesus! Essentially that is what this letter by Paul to his young protégé Timothy is all about. Despite all the demands, Church history is full of men and women who have filled out the application and gone to work reaching the lost world. Timothy was just such a man who took that sign from the church door and got to work at the age of 16 and as Paul took up pen and parchment he was serving at Ephesus. These six chapters follow a very deliberate outline with five specific charges for Timothy about fulfilling the work to which he had applied for. You will find those specific charges at the end of the theme of each of those 5 sections:

1:1-20 The Church and its message: 1:18-20 The message at work

2:1-3:16 The Church and its members: 3:14-16 Proper conduct at Church

4:1-16 The Church and its minister: 4:11-16 Exercises for ministers to stay fit

5:1-25 The Church and its ministry to itself: 5:21-25 Ministry’s do’s and don’ts

6:1-18 The Church and its ministry to the world: 6:20 Guard what was committed to your trust

Vs. 1-2 The writer, reader and greeting

Vs. 1a In this letter introduction we are introduced to three things:

The writer: Paul

The reader: Timothy

The greeting: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord

For Paul to be the writer of this letter requires his release from his Roman imprisonment recorded for us in Acts chapter 28 and his continuation of missionary work. The problem is that we have no complete history of this. We can however use the New Testament for this history after his first imprisonment in Rome. In his letter to the Philippians, he anticipated his release from Rome and it is possible that his Jewish accusers from Jerusalem never made the difficult journey to appear at his trial. Fulfilling his promise to the Philippians Paul sent Timothy to Philippi to tell them of his release while he went to Ephesus, despite his words to the Ephesian Elders at Miletus that he would never see them again.

He no doubt visited other regional churches like Colossi before rejoining Timothy in Ephesus. He then left Timothy in Ephesus while he traveled to Macedonia to strengthen the Churches there but was delayed. That is when he wrote this letter to Timothy around A.D. 62-63 perhaps from Philippi. He later sailed to the Island of Crete where he left Titus to continue the work there while he went on to Corinth where he met up with Apollos and Zenas who were about to go to Crete so Paul wrote a letter to be sent by them to Titus on Crete.

He instructed Titus to join him in Nicopolis after Artemas replaced him. Some believe that it was here that Paul traveled to Spain and perhaps even the British Island with Titus as he had planned while imprisoned in Rome. In an early church history document called “Clement of Rome” the church historian says that before the end of the 1st century,

Paul reached the limits of the West. Paul was most likely in Spain from A.D. 64-66 then returned to Greece then Corinth, Miletus, and Troas where he was arrested. In His 2nd letter to Timothy, he asks him to bring his writing and his coat that was left behind after his arrest in Troas. The burning of Rome at the hand of Cesar Nero in A.D. 64 where he blamed the Christians had made Christianity illegal and he was imprisoned soon after where he wrote his 2nd letter to Timothy in A.D. 67. After his first court trial in which he was condemned and Paul was awaiting execution by beheading when in his 2nd letter to Timothy he urged him to see him before his death.

The three letters of 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus are a radical departure from Paul’s letters as they are all written to people instead of Churches and have become known as pastoral because of the intimate words that he uses in writing them. I said a few weeks back that Christians often fail to recognize the medium that God chooses to use to communicate His truths to His people, personal letters. As such these truths are encased in human love between friends and are extremely relational.

Vs. 1b Elsewhere Paul refers to himself as an apostle “by the will of God” but here he says that he is by the “commandment of God” which is a word that comes from a King thus a royal command. I believe that these were words of great comfort to Paul as there are times when we know that we are operating in the will of God but in so doing we have great adversity and distress and can begin to question if we heard God right. Ah, but when we are doing what God has commanded we expect adversity and aren’t as prone to 2nd guess God’s calling because of adversity.

It is interesting to note the formality of Paul’s introduction as he addresses himself as “an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Oddly, Paul would start this extremely intimate letter to a young man whom he refers to as his son in the faith, this way. It would be similar to my children and grandchildren referring to me as pastor instead of Dad or Gran-pee. It is safe to assume that Paul didn’t need the recognition from Timothy and that Timothy clearly recognized Paul’s God-given authority. What this suggests is that Paul clearly expected that this personal letter would be read by more than his son in the faith and that churches would one day refer to it as profitable for teaching, doctrine, and instruction for all the churches.

He had warned in Acts chapter 20 that after his departure “savage wolves would come into the church not sparing the flock of God”, and this was written before Timothy was left in Ephesus. This first letter to Timothy has a lot to do with the ministry of the Church…its character, nature, and function in the world. Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy centers on the message that the Church is to share. Those two themes go hand in hand as the church must “walk its talk” as the church is not about where they meet but rather the reason for their meeting! We are to be a people who meet for the sole purpose of Jesus sharing His work and life with all!

Vs. 2a It is not surprising that Paul would write this letter to Timothy to encourage him to continue to answer the call and wage the good warfare for the kingdom of God, (1:18). That he would continue establishing people who will carry on the work entrusted to them, as he had been unable to do so while imprisoned:

He encouraged Timothy to maintain his own devotional life so that he would continue to be of use for the Master in chapter 4 verses 12-16.
Finally Paul told Timothy to guard what was committed to his trust.

Timothy had been acquainted with Paul for 20 plus years since Acts 14 when he was around 16 and first met Paul in his home town of Lystra so it’s no wonder that Paul refers to him as his son. These two men had a father-son relationship and Paul carried deeply for Timothy and his situation where he had left him in a great commercial and pleasure resort of the shores of the Mediterranean Sea full of wickedness. When Paul first came to Ephesus the city began to riot because the silver idol trade had been adversely affected because so many of those who had purchased multi breasted silver idols of the Fertility goddess Diana stopped buying trinkets.

Paul calls Timothy a “true son in the faith” as he had demonstrated that belief in the truth is not intellectual agreement but rather obedience to what we hold as truth. The mark of Christian maturity is when a person recognizes that our faith is NOT a pop quiz in which we merely need to answer the question correctly. No, it is a lifestyle of living out what we say we believe! I have found that as a Christian I will be faced with either altering the word to fit my lifestyle or I’ll have to alter my lifestyle to fit the word!

Timothy, Paul declares, was of the latter and thus a “True Son in the faith!” Yet I find it refreshing that even though Paul asserts that character assessment of Timothy he still goes on throughout this letter to write five charges for Timothy to continue to guard what was committed to him! No doubt some of that was because of the continual infiltration of the church by those who were false teachers, something that he alludes to in verse 3-4.

Clearly one of those false teachings had to do with a wrong understanding of the Old Testament Law, verses 7-9. The false teachers were trying to regulate people’s conduct by imposing regulations but were failing to recognize the power of grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in subduing our fallen nature. What the law cannot conquer love can! They can only show the ungodly how powerless they are to curb a sinful lifestyle. The law describes for us how love acts, it doesn’t commit adultery, it doesn’t kill or character associate it’s brother, it doesn’t take what doesn’t belong to it etc. It was love that changed Paul from sinner to saint, not the law as verses 12-15 indicate.

No doubt the closing of the introduction continued to speak to Paul’s heart as he wrote of God’s “grace, mercy and peace” the trifecta continual resources available to each and every believer from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord! If you were to cross reference this greeting with Paul’s other letters you would find that “MERCY” has been added and you will also find it added in his 2nd letter to Timothy as well as his letter to Titus in fact Paul only includes it when writing those three pastoral letters. Mercy is God’s grace distributed for deliverance from adversity and I think every pastor I know loves to know that mercy is available for us.

1 Timothy Ch. 1 (cont.)

“Love from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith”

Vs. 3-4 Billion’s for bobbles

Vs. 5-7 A reason to love God more

Introduction

The 2nd part of a letter, for the purpose of identification, is the statement of purpose or the reason for the letter’s essential writing. In this case, we will find it in Chapter 1 verses 3-7. Five years had elapsed from when Paul had personally warned the Ephesians elders that “Savage wolves” would come in and not spare the flock of God. The first chapter taken as a whole is Paul’s instruction to Timothy of what his work in Ephesus will involve which based upon the content was two things:

Vs. 1-7 Timothy was to stop some false teaching that was going around the Church, which in part centered on the Old Testament law.
Vs. 8-11 Second Timothy was to clearly teach the proper use of the Law of Moses in the Christian life.

This suggests the extreme value Paul and the early Church placed upon teaching in the church. The central task of the pastor is to “feed the sheep” entrusted to the pastor. Jesus didn’t instruct Peter to entertain the sheep or to fleece the flock He told him to feed and tend the flock of God. Paul expected those that were taught to be consistent with apostolic revelation and the words of Jesus. In verse 11 Paul defines this as “the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.” The Church exists to declare the truth and anything that deviates from the truth must not be taught.

Vs. 3-4 Billion’s for bobbles

Vs. 3 Paul employs a military term as “urge” means to give strict orders from a commanding officer and he will use this word 8 times in his two letters to Timothy. Pastors must never forget that we are not hirelings of the church we serve, we are servants under our Master the King of Kings as such we are called to pass on orders to our fellow soldiers. The order was plain “Do not allow others to teach truth apart from the truth that Paul taught.” Thirty two times in these pastoral letters “doctrine, teach, teachers or teacher” appears and it is clear by this that teaching the word of God to the people of God held the primary position within the church.

There are a lot of subjects that may interest us that we can engage in healthy debate but these must not be the subject of our time together. Paul doesn’t call them heretics or blasphemers so that tells me that these were good men who had begun to introduce ideas that were derived from human philosophy and man’s opinions.

In verse 6-7 it seems that at least some of these teachings were centered on wrong interpretations of the Old Testament that included “fables and endless genealogies”, verse 4. There can be differing gifts, subjects and styles among teachers but there must not be differing truths! The Word of God by the Spirit of God is the most powerful weapon the Christian has to correct error and deliver people from bondage to freedom. Timothy was sent by Paul to correct the weakness in the Church at Ephesus in biblical illiteracy! This was to be done two ways:

Opposing the faulty teaching
Pointing out why it was faulty…(fables, genealogies)

Vs. 4 “Fables” is where we get our English word myths from and it means an invention, a fiction or falsehood, something without historical reality. The genealogies that Paul refers to were not just the ones found in our Bibles but ones that had been added onto with additional tales and allegorical interpretations to which Paul calls them endless because they led to no truth or conclusions. These fables didn’t further save grace instead they distracted people from it as people chased after people’s pet fancy and speculations.

A few years back there was the “Bible Code” that interpreted the Old Testament based upon the contention that it contained mathematical formulas that a newly discovered code could be used to unlock with a computer. The formula was said to enable a person to discover biblical prophecies for 3000 years. Dr. Elijahu Rips claimed that “Everything from the Holocaust to Hiroshima, from the moon landing to the collision of a comet with Jupiter” was in these codes. So people went out and bought his book and spent time reading it looking into the codes of past historical events he claimed his code pointed to and no time into applying the truths of the Bible for their own lives.

Notice having said this that Paul uses the word “rather” which is a word that is meant to contrast the things that only lead to disputes with that which would be leading us into “godly edification which is in faith”. Saint’s all teaching should lead us to three things: a greater understanding into the character and nature of God, a greater awareness of who we really are as God sees us and finally we ought to be attuned to how God is moving us closer to Himself and away from our flesh! Far too often the church has spent too much time on topics that trigger the imagination while neglecting the word of God that transforms the heart. The world is in desperate need of people who have had and are continuing to have transformational encounters with the Word of God. There are two truths that are essential for Christians to know and apply:

The end of our former life: This is best seen in Christ’s death for our sin and reminds us that we too have died to our former life. Our natural fallen state no longer has power over us; we have been delivered from its dominance because we have died.
The beginning of our new life: This is best seen in the resurrection of Christ where we live a new empowered victorious life. We also take on a new identity as well as a new sufficiency.

These two truths are the cornerstone of our faith and together make up the New Covenant: Jesus died that we might live; we die that He might live through us! It was this truth that caused Paul to write down in Corinthians, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things become new.” To the Ephesians he wrote to “put off the old man, concerning your former conduct….be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God..”

Finally to the Romans Paul wrote that we are “to consider ourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God.” The teachers Timothy was sent to correct were spending time on teaching that did nothing but cause folks to argue. These false teachers had gone after novelties instead of the meat of the word and the outcome was that the church was becoming less in the areas of “love from a pure heart, love from a good conscience and love from a sincere faith” and more known for giving heed to fables and endless genealogies that only led to disputes and divisions.

Vs. 5-7 A reason to love God more

Vs. 5 It is abundantly clear from this passage that the purpose of the gospel is to alter the way we live, not to provide us with philosophical trivia. It is easier to share with people our view of predestination and free will than it is to share with someone personally how God is causing your life to be more of Him and less of you. That ought to illustrate for us what is the weightier matters and what is mere idle discussions. You can always tell if the word of God is having an effect on you because if it is you will become more compassionate, patient and tenderhearted towards those you are around.

You can’t legislate love, you can’t make people love their enemies … .this is the fundamental fallacy with Islam as a religion: you cannot force someone to love anything by fear and intimidation, they will comply but they will not love! Love is fundamentally a choice that is wooed by love to love as well. Love comes from a dynamic triple inner work:

From the heart: Paul describes that as coming from a “pure heart” The purity of one’s devotion to God will be seen in a person’s love towards others. Love always begins from a pure heart because our action of love comes from His action of love which produced our pure heart.
In the conscience: Paul describes love that comes out of a person’s inner awareness of the quality and character of a person’s own actions and attitude. The word “conscience” appears 6 times in Paul pastoral letters and means to “know with” which refers to the inner judge that accuses us when we have done wrong and approves us when we have done right.
From sincere faith: Literally a faith without hypocrisy, love that comes not out of words but out of action. Finally love from a sincere faith our actions are a constant circle back to His action…we love Him because He first loved us.

Vs. 6-7 Amazingly these false teachers were not folks who had never heard the truth but rather they were people who had received and believed the truth but had since “strayed and turned aside to idle talk”. At times Christians get board of the simplicity of God’s love and chase after the “higher hanging fruit” of speculation and other minor aspects of the bible like how many angles can fit on the head of a pin. These believers had become biblical vagabonds’ wandering around from speculation to human philosophy moving with the popular fads; defending their fanciful position at each turn. You see them today in churches that like bird migration seem to migrate from one church to another following the numbers in search of what’s exciting and entertaining!

The fads don’t have to be false, they just have to excite the flutter of wings for birds of a feather to fly off just to see where the others are flying too. Sometimes a church can be the place where these birds fly too but most of the time they become a tree of empty branches. This sad truth becomes all the more disturbing when this flight pattern is called “church growth” instead of sheep switching pastures. In the landscape of Western Evangelicalism churches are spending more time trying to attract other birds than they are reaching the lost!

Popularity becomes the driving ambition of those that have wandered away from the simplicity of the gospel. They desire to be famous known as “teachers of the law” and soon “ambition and pride” instead of “love and humility” define their character. With regards to truth: A virtuous person may be ignorant, but ignorance is never a virtue. Love of God is not the same as knowledge of God; but if a person loves God knowing little about Him, they will love God more knowing more from knowing more about Him. Every new thing known about God is a new reason for loving Him.

1 Timothy Ch. 1 (cont.)

The Church and its Message

“Laying down the Law”

Vs. 8-9 I’m not okay, and neither are you

Introduction

One of the difficulties of teaching “verse by verse” through the Bible is at times it is very difficult to divide the passage to fit into the time constraints of two services. How much can I cram into the time I have and still give it the importance needed? I had just that dilemma this week and as I was studying the purpose of the 10 commandments in the life of the believer. I decided that it was too important to take verses 8-11 as I had too much material even after editing my notes. Thus we will be looking at this important section for the next two weeks instead of the one that I originally attended. Clearly part of the teaching that was causing disputes was the misunderstanding of the Old Testament Law so in verses 8-11 Paul wants to set the record straight with regards to the place that the Law of Moses has in the Christian life.

Paul is writing and warning Timothy about misdirection in teaching that left unchecked would cause a decline of biblical maturity in believers and through that a decline in the work of Christ in the world. Paul had defined biblical maturity for us in chapter 1 verses 4-5 by revealing to us two important things: What biblical teaching is and What biblical teaching produces:

Vs. 4 What biblical teaching is: That which builds up the individual believer into more and more the image of God by trusting in Him. As I said in my rabbit trail last week it involves two specific teachings best seen in two works of Christ: His death and His resurrection! Biblical teaching must have these two exhortations: Jesus died that we might live, therefore we die to self-centeredness that He may live through us!
Vs. 5 What biblical teaching produces: We will know that is taking place when LOVE is manifested in our lives by way of a threefold manifestation of this LOVE from: A pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith.

I believe that these standards of biblical maturity is how Jesus plans to build His church. Looking at Jesus’ original blueprint when compared to what we now see has been built leads me to SIX conclusions:

Because Jesus’ plan requires for the individual believer to “die daily” to self-centeredness, many in the evangelical world have sought to redefine church maturity based upon things that they can manipulate like “nickels and noses”.
This has led to Church leaders having to redefine success and changed the aim of the great commission in Matthew 28:19 from “making disciples of all nations” to “making decisions of all nations”. No doubt this has happened because in large part the evangelist has found that getting a person to profess Jesus is far easier than getting people to “observe ALL things that Jesus commanded”.
This redefining has left the evangelical church in ruins as our outreach is primarily towards those who are in church just not the same one that we are a part of. It has also made the individual believer more self–centered as Jesus’ transformation of them is not the aim.
Since that is no longer the aim, the reason for attending church had to change from transformation to information at best or entertainment at worst!
This in turn has produced a church that has become a band of spectators instead of participants that like the old “Burger King” ad are coming to church to “have it their way” instead of “being transformed” into folks who desire that their lives would be all about Jesus’ having His way in us! The individual believer “goes to church” instead of realizing that they “are the church”!
Finally of even greater concern is the obvious idolatry of this kind of redefinition of church; since the mission of Christ has been changed, so too has the focus of the Church as the “Church” is on the throne instead of “Jesus”. This is seen when people identify more with the church they attend, servant they listen to or denomination they belong too. The focus is all about getting people more dependent upon the church instead of closer to Jesus. The church’s main focus has become their own relevance and becomes all about creating a mission statement and programs that get people to “Go to church” instead of fulfilling the great commission of Matthew 28 of the Church going to the world and making disciples!

The obvious question is: “What does this have to do with some in the church of Ephesus where Timothy was pastoring emphasizing the Old Testament Law of Moses through its teaching in the church?” The answer to that question is Paul’s subject in these verses before us. The Law of Moses as a basis of right standing before God takes the emphasis off of internal personal transformation and on external compliance as the basis of our right standing before God. And that external compliance is subjective as we are free to define it one way for us and another way for someone else!

The Church and individual believer then becomes all about “DOING RIGHT” instead of the work of Christ in causing them to “BE RIGHT”. The Church ends up looking like the description that Paul gave Timothy in his 2nd letter in chapter 3, verse 5 where he said that they “have a form of godliness, but deny its power”. That apparently was the problem with the church at Ephesus and the reason why he sent Timothy to correct the condition. Paul makes four statements about the Law of Moses in verses 8-11, the first two we will deal with today and the following two next week.

Vs. 8 “The law is good if one uses it lawfully”.
Vs. 9a “The law is not made for the righteous person”.
Vs. 9b-10 “The law is for the ungodly and insubordinate”.
Vs. 11 “The law is according to the glorious gospel”.

Vs. 8-9 I’m not okay, and neither are you

Vs. 8 First: “The law is good if one uses it lawfully”. This immediately does two things:

First, it does away with the thoughts of some Christians that as believers we are completely delivered from anything to do with the Law of Moses or the 10 commandments.
Second, it clarifies the problem with the Law of Moses as being that people don’t use it “lawfully”.

The reason why the Law of Moses is good is because God himself gave it. Neither Moses nor Charlton Heston wrote them, they were twice written by the hand of God. As you study those commandments you realize that they reflect the character of God as well as His ideal of how His creation of mankind should behave in His creation. They represent God’s righteous demands for all human behavior.

Paul’s words that he wrote to the Romans years earlier in chapter 7 verse 6 where he said that the Christian has been “delivered from the Law” does not mean that the Law has no use in the Christian life as Jesus indicated in His sermon of the Mount that “He had not come to abolish the law…but to fulfill it.” The problem with the Law has nothing to do with the Law and everything to do with what it has to work with…you and me. And as it relates to Paul’s words to Timothy its misuse! The person has no right to complain to the computer manufacturer that their computer is not functioning properly when they are not using it for its proper use and instead are using it as a garbage disposal!

Vs. 9a Second: “The law is not made for the righteous person”. Here Paul defines for us the proper use of the Law of Moses by saying that “it is not made for the righteous person”. Its usefulness has to do with the “unrighteous person” which he will outline in three pairs of two groups for which the Law of Moses is useful also in verse 9:

“The lawless and insubordinate”
“The ungodly and for sinners”
“The unholy and profane”

In Paul’s threefold pairs he clearly wants Timothy and us to understand that the law still has a lawful usefulness in the Christian’s life but that usefulness has nothing to do with “making a Christian right before God”. Trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross is the only thing that can make a person right with God. That is exactly what Paul had written to the Romans years earlier in chapter 8 verse 3 what he said, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.”

The Law of Moses has a righteous standard that insists that humanity lives in accordance with that standard so that humanity can function up to the full potential of His design. When we fail to live up to our Makers design we “miss His mark” which is the meaning of the word “sinners”. When we “miss the mark” we simply receive Jesus’ finished work on our behalf and instantly become those who have been made right because of Jesus’ work. That is what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in his 2nd letter saying, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” We are no longer under the Law of Moses as a basis of winning approval from God because He has made us acceptable in the beloved! Contrary to the popular philosophy of today; “I’m not okay, and neither are you!” We are both in desperate need of a savior. The basic use of the law is to restrain wickedness!

1 Timothy Ch. 1 (cont.)

The Church and its message

“Laying down the Law (Part 2)”

Vs. 9b-10 Being transformed from what I was to what He is

Vs. 11 In accordance to the glorious gospel

Introduction

Last week we started examining the purpose of the 10 commandments in the life of the believer. Paul had already said in verse 4 that this teaching was causing disputes but he had also warned Timothy about the misdirection this teaching left that would cause a decline of biblical maturity in believers. The Law of Moses took the emphasis off of personal transformation and on external compliance as the basis of our right standing before God. Left undealt with would cause the Church to end up looking like the description that Paul gave Timothy in his 2nd letter in chapter 3, verse 5 where he said that they “have a form of godliness, but deny its power”. Paul made four statements about the Law of Moses in verses 8-11, the first two we saw last week and we take up the next two today.

Vs. 8 “The law is good if one uses it lawfully”.
Vs. 9a “The law is not made for the righteous person”.
Vs. 9b-10 “The law is for the ungodly and insubordinate”.
Vs. 11 “The law is according to the glorious gospel”.

Vs. 9b-10 Being transformed from what I was to what He is

Vs. 9b-10 Third: “The law is for the ungodly and insubordinate”: The law according to Paul is for two distinct groups the first of which Paul lists in three pairs of two groups mentioned above who the Law of Moses is useful for:

“The lawless and insubordinate”
“The ungodly and for sinners”
“The unholy and profane”

The first thing to note is that in each of these pairs they describe not what a person DOES but rather what a person IS! These pairs describe attitudes and outlook on life or a person’s nature…in simple the unregenerate. I suppose that reading this list could cause a person to feel either superior to someone else or inferior depending on their condition but the truth is every person starts out in life as these three categories, as none righteous no not one!

The 2nd group is described starting with the words “For murders” in verse 9 and ending with the words in verse 10 “anything that is contrary to sound doctrine”. This group is the opposite as the above group as it has everything to do with what a person does. Paul lists 4 categories of who the law is for based upon what they do:

Murders: Of fathers and murders of mothers and manslayers
Fornicators: Sexual immoral people heterosexual as well as homosexual
Kidnapers: Liars, and perjurers…those that lie
Any other thing: Contrary to sound doctrine

Simply put the law is made for the fallen nature also known as the flesh whether that is active in the unbeliever or in the believer!

The Law of Moses reveals three things:

It reveals the only acceptable standard of behavior before God, both in outward actions as well as inward thoughts.
The 10 commandments put everyone under the same standard. According to Romans 5:20 the Law of Moses caused us to recognize sin more. Paul writes, “The law entered that the offense might abound”. He also explains this in Romans 7:7 saying “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet.” Many people believe that the 10 commandments are given to help them stop sinning. But in reality the 10 commandments are given to cause each of us to realize that there is no sin insignificant and that God does not keep two sets of books: Yours and all those whose sins you judge as intolerable. You know where some folks have prejudices and we have convictions, some have a bad temper but we have righteous indignation, some gossip why we are just sharing our opinions … .for prayer of course!
The Law of Moses demands the same punishment for all those that break the standard and eventually our death. The Law shows no mercy, it lets no one off the hook, it sets up the same standard as Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-2 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged…” Soon we discover that we are hopelessly and helplessly lost! We are broken and cannot do right because we are self-centered beings. The law becomes our custodian, our prison guard as we are bound in our own filth and corruption longing to be set free from the prison bars of our life. What we believed was freedom we came to realize is our capture and we long for the freedom that only our Savior Jesus can bring.

It is easy to understand why those who don’t know Jesus need Jesus but what about those of us who act at times as if we don’t know Jesus? Well the Law of Moses reminds us that we are in constant need to be restored. The Law reminds us of the same three things:

It helps us define sin

It applies the same standard of righteousness

It points out the foolishness of thinking that we can achieve righteousness any other way than trusting in Jesus

There is however one thing that the Law of Moses can no longer do to us believers that it still does to unbelievers: The Law of Moses can no longer insist on punishment as Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8 verse 1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Because of Jesus, God is our Father not our executioner.

Vs. 11 In accordance to the glorious gospel

Vs. 11 Fourth: “The law is according to the glorious gospel”: Paul finishes the four truths about the Law of Moses by applying it within the confines of the “glorious gospel”. And that brings up four points:

We must recognize that as believers in Christ we can never attempt to apply the Law of Moses to correct our lawlessness and make us righteous. We cannot try harder next time because our self effort will have no ability to make us righteous as we have already been made righteous in Christ. If trying harder worked then we are saying that we can be made right by our works instead of by grace. Instead what we do is recognize that based upon the Law we have moved from His righteousness to our own and repent and accept His righteousness which is only by faith.
The only form of discipline in accordance with the Law of Moses is found in Jesus’ words in Matthew 18. There we follow the threefold process of discipline upon a believer. The purpose of this is so that the unrepented professing believer will:

Recognize what they are missing in fellowship with God.
Realize that they are not true believers.
There is no penance, no sanction, no punishment, instead just a continual attempt to reach them for Christ as you would an unbeliever.

We are NOT to impose standards upon our fellow believers that God does not, they are our brothers and sisters, we are not their Lords. Legalism always tries to set up a series of rules for other people, telling them what they have to do. Laws and rules are necessary for life, but they do NOT change a heart! And until a heart is changed no amount of rules will have any lasting effect upon a life.
Only by bringing people who are redeemed back to who they now are in Christ can the Spirit of God effect transforming change. Rules and regulations define social morality but do nothing to help personal morality. A law may prevent me from:

Stealing from my neighbor but does nothing to prevent me from coveting his possessions.
A law can discourage me from leaving my wife and my children, but it can’t stop me from making their life a living hell.
A law can inhibit me from killing my enemy, but it can do nothing in keeping me from hating him and making him feel my hate.

The law can within limits regulate my behavior but it cannot:

Cleanse my mind
Purify my heart
Alter the poison of my worst intentions, only Jesus can do that!

The Law of Moses can drive us to a fresh revelation of our need for His love and that is what it was designed to do all along!

1 Timothy Ch. 1 (cont.)

The Church and its Message

“From Blasphemer to Believer”

Vs. 12-13 Before and after

Vs. 14-15 Happy to be lost

Vs. 16-17 Praise for God’s patience \

Introduction

Paul knew that instruction on the use of the 10 Commandments in the Christian life was not enough, he needed a personal example of its proper use. But where could he find just such an example? He needs look no further than the mirror and who better to be that example than one who prior to knowing Jesus was the greatest miss user of the law known. Paul writes about his own conversion some 6 times in the New Testament not because he thought highly of himself but because he thought highly of the Lord who had saved a wretch like him. What a stark contrast to the 1967 New York Times bestseller that remained on that list for 20 years. Its title and content obviously appealed to the populace at large. The title of this book by Thomas A Harris MD was “I’m OK, You’re OK” and became the bible for the popular “self-esteem” movement. Reading the section before us would completely contradict this very popular notion as a basis of self-esteem instead Paul’s title would have been “I’m not OK, and neither are you”!

Vs. 12-13 Before and after

Vs.12 Timothy’s work was no small task:

Rome under Nero had begun to crack down upon those idolaters who refused to worship Caesar as God.
In Ephesus years earlier there had already been a riot caused in the name of Christ because so many people had abandoned the worship of Diana for Christ and there is little doubt that they didn’t have good feelings towards this so-called sect.
The Jews also were not in favor of Christianity largely because they felt that it was a threat to their way of life.
Then within the church there were those who were influenced by the above and kept wanting to tweak the message to accommodate others.

No wonder Paul had to keep on encouraging Timothy to do the work God had called him too as he faced so much opposition.

Paul tells Timothy when you are experiencing doubt due to opposition to, “Thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” It was God’s enabling that sustained Paul and caused him to stick at the task in spite of extreme opposition. Timothy had experienced firsthand how Paul had been treated upon his evangelistic outreaches. There was no positive media campaign, no launch luncheon hosted by the important business and political figures of the city. No, Paul was greeted by hostel crowds of folks that were committed to killing him. What powered Paul on was the love of the truth that since God had transformed him,

He could transform anyone! Timothy’s home town of Lystra was an example of the Lord strengthening Paul as he and Barnabas went into the city and at first were well received then the crowds turned on them and took Paul outside the city and stoned Paul until they believed he was dead; the church prayed over Paul and he went back into the same city and continued teaching about Jesus. That is one of the invisible realities of the truth of the gospel… “Compelling evidence that those who carried the truth about Jesus were so convinced of the reality of Jesus life and work that they risked everything for no earthly reward or benefit”.

Of further encouragement to Timothy was that the “Lord counted him faithful, putting him into the ministry”. That realization puts the responsibility of success fully upon the Lord and not upon Paul. God in spite of his personal failures called Paul into His service. The interesting truth is that based upon Paul’s testimony in verse 13 is that it is often the negative destructive aspects to our life that God uses.

Vs. 13 Paul’s own testimony of the gospel is that he “was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…” The 10 commandments hadn’t changed him, the basis of his transformation was Jesus. In fact as a young man he was blinded by the Law and failed to understand that what he was using to hound others should have been hounding him. How incredible is the gospel that in spite of confessing that he was a “blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent man” that he had “obtained mercy”.

Vs. 14-15 Happy to be lost

Vs. 14 As another example of the superiority of the gospel to the 10 commandments Paul offers up the “exceedingly abundant grace and love he encountered in Jesus Christ.” In Paul’s letter to the Romans (5:5) he wrote that “where sin did abound, grace did much more abound!” The law pointed out that sin did abound but it offered no solution; it only directed him towards Christ. Paul expounds on three things that Jesus gave him that the Law never did:

Grace: No greater comparison between what the work of the 10 commandments and the work of the gospel can be found as the Law demands justice for those actions whereas the gospel through faith in Christ enables a person to not only “NOT get what they deserve, which is the definition for mercy but “get what they don’t deserve, which the definition of grace” because Jesus has received upon Himself what the Law demanded. Paul describes this grace with two very descriptive words “exceedingly abundant” which tells me that even though his debt was great the supply was far beyond his need.
Faith: Jesus provided “FAITH” which is best defined as the “ability to see things realistically, the way they really are”. Jesus gives every believer the ability to see and experience LIFE as it really is. This reality isn’t pessimistic in fact it is the opposite as it is extremely positive as we are more than conquerors in Christ.
Love: Finally where the 10 commandments offer judgment Jesus offers LOVE. Not just of Him but because of Him for others as well. We are no longer into comparing ourselves with others, we are into compassion. Our obedience isn’t to appease Jesus, instead we desire to obey because the Love of Christ constrains us and enables us to say no to ungodliness.

Vs. 15 Too further illustrate the superiority of the Gospel verses the Law of Moses of the 10 Commandments Paul again uses himself as the example. This example is to look not at the before and after picture alone but rather to understand the difference in the aim of the Law of Moses versus the Gospel.

The aim of the Gospel is: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief”!
The aim of the 10 Commandments is to: “Reveal that we are sinners in need of being saved”!

Paul employs a Jewish way of expressing himself that was meant to call attention to what he was about to say much in the same way that Jesus did when he would say “Truly, truly, I say to you…” it was their way of say, “All right now pay attention, this is very important!” Five times in Paul’s two letters to Timothy he uses this same way of getting Timothy’s attention. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Many people miss understand the purpose of Jesus’ first coming: “Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. The difficulty is not in His coming but rather that those that He is seeking to save don’t want to admit that they are lost sinners. Some folks just believe that they are not in need of being saved but Jesus puts everybody in spite of education, environment and religious expression or the lack thereof in the same boat which is sinking! Fallen humanity becomes obsessed with casting their fellow ship mates overboard instead of realizing they are in the very same boat!

Furthermore Jesus’ coming is more than just recognizing our ONE TIME need to be saved as Paul is very careful to say: “Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” The important revelation with regards to Paul’s need to be saved is not at one time he saw himself as the worst sinner he had ever had the displeasure of knowing. No, the amazing truth is the use of the words “I AM” which tells us that Paul wasn’t looking backwards at his past life but viewing himself in his present condition and he still found that he was the worst sinner he had ever met and was in just as much a need to be saved NOW as he was prior to his relationship with Christ. This two word phrase must be placed in the context of his other letters where he wrote in:

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God”?
Second Corinthians 5:17: “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come”?

Paul had not forgotten his transformation, neither is this some humble exaggeration. Paul meant every word as he was thinking in terms of still having to deal with his own flesh that needs to be crucified with Christ, to be recognized as dead. This old nature of ours still gives us fits and Paul found that dealing with him was a full time job. Our areas of weakness can return to us in an instant no matter how long we have been a follower of Jesus, how much of the Bible we have memorized or how much time we have in prayer! After 30 plus years of walking with Jesus, 26 years of studying His word I still remain my biggest prayer request!

Vs. 16-17 Praise for God’s patience

Vs. 16 Having made his confession about his present and continual need for Christ Paul makes yet another startling claim for the superiority of the Gospel when compared to the Law of Moses as he says; “for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long-suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.” God looks for not the best candidate but the person in the greatest need, the proudest person, and the fellow that was voted “least likely to ever become a follower of Christ.” The reason for this is that God can use that person to be an example to others who were voted “least likely to ever become a follower of Christ.”

Much can be said of the mercy of God, the Love of God but have you considered the “patience of God”? God’s transformation of our nature must have “patience” at the beginning as He knows how many times we will fail and we will need to fall afresh upon His grace and mercy to restore us. Timothy may have been pondering his own failure when facing such opposition and Paul’s words would have come as a glass of water to a parched man. We know this to be the context as the words “for this reason” speak of the present and continual need of Christ that Paul daily realized.

Vs. 17 Having written out the superior benefits of the gospel in continual transformation Paul can’t contain himself and breaks forth in spontaneous praise!

1 Timothy ch. 1

The Church and its message

“A good conscience not a bad memory”

Vs. 18 Two important truths

Vs. 19a Two weapons that win

Vs. 19b-20 Two examples

Introduction

The charge that Paul writes to Timothy about is the same one he mentioned in verse 3 that he does not allow folks to major in minors. He has made his case clear that only the gospel has the ability to transform a heart and to continue to do so. Since we were created to have fellowship with the living God and that His goal is our growth more and more into the image of His Son, anything that doesn’t lead to that aim is a colossal waste of time! But what are the biggest enemies we face? In this section Paul mentions them and surprisingly they deal with faith and a good conscience. Some say that, “The key to a good conscience is a bad memory.” But a good conscience is best defined as “the inner voice which warns us that somebody may be looking.” The truth is bad doctrine usually starts with bad conduct.

Vs. 18 Two important truths

Vs.18 This verse offers two important truths for every Christian:

Who has called us: Like a general to his younger officers Paul commits this fight into the hands of his commanders who will entrust it to their men. Casting vision is a key ingredient to waging war. Timothy’s commission came from multiple words from God and since He was confident of His choice then nothing should be able to dislodge this confidence. Every person I know will face situations and circumstances in this life that will cause us to lose confidence in God’s direction for our life…confidence will not be regained my a mere pep talk from your fellow sojourners but it will be regained when you spend time with the commander and chief who called you to service!
What we have been called too: It is equally important not only that you know who called you but also to what you have been called to as Paul summarizes not only this letter but the Christian life when he writes: “That by them you may wage the good warfare.” Saint’s the fundamental truth about the Christian life is that it is essentially a battle! There have been many disillusioned Christian because once they gave their heart to Christ they were of the understanding that life was going to be easy from here on out…only to soon come to the realization that life on many fronts has become far more difficult.

We are battling ourselves…in ways that we never knew of prior to faith in Christ
We are battling satan and a world system under his control….that we once were allegiance with
We may be battling those friends, family and co-workers who suddenly find us not practicing their lifestyle
We may be battling our former religious practice that we now find contrary to our new faith

There is something missing in this admonishment: Missing is any statement or assurance of survival or option given Timothy by which he may escape the battle. I believe that Paul means to explain to Timothy that the battle that we are engaged in is not one where the victory is based upon our “survival”. The victory is gained not by our survival but rather by God’s truth being on display…we are not the end goal, His life transforming truth is! The greatest example of this is to be found in Jesus who did not hide away in some unreachable palace but dealt with life on the battlefield of the open square, among people who hated Him dealing with all the dangers of everyday life that in the end cost Him His earthly life.

And I remind you that it was in His death that victory was won not in the preservation of His earthly life! We are called to “wage the good warfare” and the proof that we have is not our survival but rather it is to be found in our death to self! We are to live as one author put it, redemptively! But we must realize that with warfare we have an enemy and in fact we Christians have three. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians made it plain in chapter 6 verse 12 that people are not one of the three as we are told that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood..”. Instead we have three steady foes that will not stop in their attempt to cause us not to die to self:

The World: The world is the philosophy that continues to insist that “I” am all that really matters. It insists that “My” pleasure is all that is important and that I must give in to the pursuit that is all about “Me” and my happiness. After all I “deserve” the best and I must take my happiness and pleasure now no matter how temporary it might be.
The fallen flesh of our old nature: This is the part of our old nature and is dedicated to “self” living and loving, it loves anything illegal, immoral and fattening. There is a little poem that expresses the attitude of this fallen flesh: I had a little party this afternoon, it was very small, just three guests invited in all; Me, Myself and I! It was Me who ate all the sandwiches, and Myself who drank up all the tea, ah but it was I who ate the pie and passed the cake to Me who ate it too!
The devil: Paul warned of him in Ephesians 6:11 saying that we need to be on guard against the “wiles of the devil”. He will be using the above two enemies we face to cause us to be our former self, while the “New You” will want to live like Jesus, the devil will be pulling you back. That is “waging the good warfare” that he has admonished Timothy to be engaged in.

Paul dos not encourage Timothy the way in which I would have thought he would, as he does not say the following truths:

1 John 4:4: He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world
1 Peter 1:5: We are kept by the power of God through faith
Jude 24: He is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before His presence in glory

Instead Paul simply reminds Timothy of his love for him as he calls him his son, then reminds him of God’s precious promises that called him into ministry. Love is such a stronger motivator of truth than merely hearing truthful words!

Vs. 19a Two weapons that win

Vs.19a Paul anticipates that Timothy may have wanted more than motivation, he would want some weapons in which to defeat these three and Paul supplies two that many a Christian have according to Paul have cast aside causing them to be shipwrecked.

Having faith: Paul reminds Timothy of the weapon of trusting in what God’s word has promised! That is all faith is…TRUST! And the truth about trust is we all have it the question is: What is our trust IN? Paul tells Timothy to defeat the three great enemies that we need; we will need to trust only in God’s word! We are often defeated because we don’t trust God’s word. Instead we trust the lies and false promises of the world system, flesh and the devil. Those three are always going to get you to go after things quickly before you stop to assess the consequences.

They also over emphasize the temporary pleasure while not mentioning the long term destruction and cost involved in the pursuit of pleasure. This was the attack that the devil successfully launched at Adam and Eve as he got them to distrust God’s provision saying that God was withholding something that was essential and that if they trusted him they would see. So through every day we are faced with believing the lies we trust in the truth of God’s word.

A good conscience: Many people have a misunderstanding as to what a “good conscience” is, they associate it with feeling and emotions. They have slogans and ads that say, “If it feels good do it!” But a “good conscience” has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with ACTIONS! We know right from wrong not of feelings but rather of actions. A “good conscience” is what happens when we act towards God’s word and reject the lies of the threefold enemy. A good conscience is also what convicts us when we have to trust a lie instead of the truth which will result in our agreeing with God about our misplaced trust as we turn back to trusting and acting on His word instead of a lie. A “good conscience” is like a gyroscope for our heart which resists any tendency to deflect it and it will warn us that what we are contemplating to trust in and act on is contrary to truth and it will cause us to get off course.

These two weapons work in conjunction with each other and Paul wrote of the impact of these two weapons in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 when he said, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” These are the two great weapons at our disposal to defeat our enemies:

To know what is right: Trust in God’s word above anything and anyone else
By the power of God to act upon it: Act upon the truth no matter what

Vs. 19b-20 Two examples

Vs. 19b-20 Paul mentions two men who rejected trusting and obeying the truth and have become stranded and alone away from truth. Hymenaeus and Alexander were not men who didn’t know nor hadn’t obeyed the truth for at one time they were. No, they were men who stopped doing so and had become lost! In Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy he wrote that Hymenaeus taught that the resurrection of the believers in Christ had already happened which caused some to walk away from Jesus. Hymenaeus didn’t start by teaching falsely, he started much more subtly than this as he just chose not to practice the truth in some area of his life. Paul also warns of Alexander in his 2nd letter to Timothy saying that he did much harm and that they needed to be aware of him. Their departure from truth was not a sudden compulsive act but rather a slow abandonment, a course of spiritual deterioration that has taken a great deal of time.

It may seem to some that Paul’s words that he “delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme” to be quite vindictive but that is not the case. Paul knew Satan, he would lie and lure away a believer from truth then abuse him, and seek to destroy him. Delivering a person over is hopefully causing a person to realize what they have abandoned in Christ, the love and joy that came from obedience to the truth. They will tire of the slop of pigs that Satan offers and return to the abundance of food at the banquet table of our Father the King of Kings! Oh dear saints, it need not come to this … .we can know what is right now and we have the power in Christ to act upon what is right…so will we choose to do so?