Internal Great Commission

Here is the sermon transcript revised for grammar, spelling, and punctuation, with paragraph formatting and length preserved:

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Well, the great commission is for those inside the church just as much as outside the church. And I'll hopefully help to identify how that can be and what Paul is bringing to bear on this. But let's read verses 20–26. Paul says, "Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use and some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know that they breed quarrels, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will."

Paul is giving us in this passage three ways that we should understand how people operate within the church and how it is that the great commission can apply to these people. The first one is simply that people can change. People can change, and it is the idea that the Apostle Paul is bringing here. We understand this illustration, right? The vessels, the bowls that are in these large houses. He starts off with vessels of gold and silver, but also wood and clay. Those are for honorable use. Those are for dishonorable use. We can all relate to that. You don't have to have grown up in a mansion to understand that every house, even Buckingham Palace, has trash cans and mop buckets, and also fine china. This is the image. But there is a line that is drawn between those things and what we use them for. This type of vessel, this type of object, is necessary — we need to have it — but it's kind of disgusting. We wouldn't want it brought out when we have guests or whatever. And then there are the other things that we are proud to display, proud to use. They're quite elegant and special to us. This honorable and dishonorable distinction is what Paul is using to draw the line of where people stand in terms of their faithfulness to Scripture, applying it to their lives properly, and living it out with integrity. And then there are those who don't — those who rather reject that and instead go after the things he has talked about in this chapter: the trivialities, the heresies, the things that have no lasting value. We obsess about those. We quarrel about them. We invest our energy and our time into those. These are the individuals in the church that Paul has been identifying.

The point he is making here, though, is that just because you are dishonorable — just because you are engaging in dishonorable beliefs and practices in the church — doesn't mean that has to characterize your life forever. It doesn't mean you are locked into that, that that's how you're branded, that you can never be anything different. You're not stuck in that. Paul is trying to say that once dishonorable doesn't have to mean always dishonorable. There can be a change. There can be a discovery that this vessel you were sticking umbrellas in is actually a Tiffany vase. I heard a comedian, Kevin Nealon, who used to be on SNL many years ago, say in one of his standup bits, "If you ever go to somebody's house to watch movies and they bring you popcorn in a bowl, do you ever wonder if that's also their throw-up bowl? Because it is in our house." The point being, things can change. That's maybe a gross example, but the example holds nonetheless.

Paul says here there are all these vessels, but he says, "If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work." There's not a qualification beside this vessel — "Oh, by the way, just so you know, this used to be an unholy vessel. Now we've decided we're going to use it as one." No, it's right alongside all of the other ones. It's set apart. It's useful to the master of the house. He values it. He uses it. It is something that is now right alongside all of the others being used for honorable, noble, good purposes.

So Paul's point is that we are not supposed to just decide, "Okay, this person is practicing something, they're believing something, so get away. We don't want to have anything to do with you for the rest of our lives. You're dead to us. You're cast away. You're useless. There's no possibility of you ever being redeemed, ever being transformed, ever changing and following the Lord with any integrity or true value." No, Paul's point is the opposite — that we recognize this, but we understand we are still calling these individuals to a righteous life, calling these individuals to a noble, honorable existence within the body of believers. And let's not just assume that those people are other people. Let's not assume that we might not be one of these dishonorable vessels. We should always be willing to examine ourselves and to put our lives, our beliefs, and our practices under the microscope of God's Word to see whether or not we are living in line with His commands. I think it's really easy to just assume, "Oh yeah, Paul's talking about other people. He's not talking about me." Paul very well could be talking about me. There may be things that I need to set aside, things I need to cleanse myself of.

But Paul's point is it can be done — even as faithful, mature believers work to keep these corrupting beliefs and practices from spreading in the church. This is one of the things Paul is calling Timothy to ensure happens in the church, that these things are not allowed to run rampant. But even as work is being done to make sure those beliefs and ideas don't spread, the ultimate goal is for the people spreading those bad beliefs themselves to be convinced of the truth and to be transformed by the Word of God. Is it not? That's what we want to see happen. We should desire the dishonorable to be made honorable.

Now, Paul lays the responsibility in the lap of those engaged in the dishonorable, because he says, "If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable." You and I can't cleanse anyone. We can point them in that direction. We can encourage them. We can try and help them in that. But we can't do it. So how does the cleansing happen? What is required of oneself to be cleansed of this dishonorable stuff?

The first thing is you need humility. Nobody is going to change without humility. If humility is lacking, nobody is going to concede that they're wrong. Nobody is going to concede that they need to amend their ways, that they need to change what they're thinking, believing, or engaging in. Humility has to be a foundational quality fostered in the heart of these individuals. Turn over to James chapter 4. James chapter 4, I want to read verses 6 through 10. James says, "But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you."

The kind of humility we're looking at is one who is willing to draw near to the Lord — not one who is going to stand there and say, "I can do this. I've got it. I'm going to do it on my own. Just go away. I can handle it." No, it starts by recognizing our own feebleness, our own brokenness, and then saying, "I need you, Lord," and running to the Lord for help. You're not going to do that in your pride. Humility is what will draw you to the Lord. And the promise James gives there is that if we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will exalt us. If humility is lacking, we're not going to cleanse ourselves of anything dishonorable.

There also has to be a submission to the Word of God. That submission to Scripture has to be there if we are going to hope to cleanse ourselves. We talk often about the sufficiency of Scripture — that Scripture is sufficient for life and godliness. Paul addresses this in 2 Timothy chapter 3, which we will get to in just a few weeks. 2 Timothy 3:16–17: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." Right there Paul says it can teach, it can reprove, it can even correct. That's what we're aiming at with this idea that Scripture is sufficient. But if we don't recognize alongside the sufficiency of Scripture the authority of Scripture in our lives, the whole idea of sufficiency is kind of a moot point. Because if we say, "Okay, it's sufficient," but we don't recognize that it stands over us and that we have to submit to what it says, then it is practically speaking irrelevant. We can dismiss it and say, "Well, okay, I see that, but I'm going to keep looking for something else — some other solution, some other source of insight. It's sufficient, but maybe there's something else that can supplement it, that can also be okay, that can supersede it."

In our statement of faith, one of the things we have there about what we believe about Scripture is this: we believe that God communicated through the Holy Spirit to men so that Scripture is without error, unfailing, authoritative, and complete. We believe the Bible is the supreme revelation of God's will for mankind and constitutes the only infallible guide for faith and life. We specifically put the word "authoritative" in that statement because we want to be clear that we understand God's Word is above us. We submit to it. It stands in judgment of us. It points us in the direction that we must go. So you must recognize that if you're going to cleanse yourself of what is dishonorable, you have to turn to God's Word and let it be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.

The third thing you have to do is let what you find in God's Word direct change — not only in what you believe, but in what you do. Romans 12:2: Paul says that we are not to be conformed to the image of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Through that renewal of our minds, there is supposed to be more than just a change of understanding. There is also supposed to be a life transformation that takes place. That's why Paul says, if you look back at 2 Timothy chapter 2, that if these individuals cleanse themselves from what is dishonorable, the very last thing he says is that they will be ready for every good work. It's not just a change of thought, but also a change of belief and an eagerness to do what is good and right and honorable. If that's not you, then you need to ask yourself, what critical piece am I missing? Am I not humble? Do I not recognize the Word of God as authoritative? Or perhaps I do, but it's only changing the way I think — I'm not letting that filter down to the way I live.

Pastors and teachers — Paul is encouraging Timothy to understand that they have a responsibility to rightly handle the Word of God and to pass it on to people who will do the same, but they can't change anyone. We have to encourage them to cleanse themselves. It's a responsibility for the individual. But thankfully, there's something called the grace of God — we'll get to that in a little bit — that helps us as well. We're not just doing this on our own. But it can and does happen. People can change. That's good news.

There's some bad news, though, which is why we need to understand that the great commission needs to be applied to the church as well — and that is that people can corrupt as well. It's not all good. There are influences and instances in the church that damage not just the individual who believes or acts a certain way, but that can pervade the church and do great damage to the lives of many people. This isn't the first time in the chapter that this idea has come up. Paul has already told Timothy not to quarrel about words — and why? He says because that ruins the hearers. So when you are getting into these trivial fights about nothing, ignoring the substance of the Word of God, that has an effect on the people who hear it. He also tells Timothy to avoid irreverent babbling because it leads to more and more ungodliness. So Paul has already warned Timothy twice in this chapter about the corrupting influences that can pervade and bring down a local church.

But here he adds two more warnings for the sake of the health of the church. One is to flee youthful passions because they are antithetical to spiritual unity in the church, and the other is to have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies — because, he says, they breed quarrels. So let's look at that first one: youthful passions. Verse 22: "Flee youthful passions." These are desires, cravings, even lusts — especially for something foolish or wicked. They're called youthful passions because they are often characterized by, or characteristic of, young immature people motivated by impulsiveness, lack of self-control, selfishness, pride, and folly. It's the things Solomon pursues in Ecclesiastes — all heat and no gold. If it's a refinery, after it's all poured into the crucible, there's just dross left at the bottom. There's nothing there. These are passions that don't promote true love. They don't promote true peace. They don't promote true faith. They don't promote true righteousness. It's all about me and my current desires, which may change at a moment's notice.

In the story of Augustine's conversion as he recounts it in his Confessions, he was driven by these intense youthful passions. He was specifically inclined toward sexual pleasures and prideful ambition. In fact, he famously prayed to God, "Grant me chastity and self-control, but not yet. I really like what I'm doing. I know it's bad. I know I need to get a hold of it, but man, I'm having a lot of fun. This is really scratching my itch right now, God. So could you just hold off for just a little bit?" And I'm sure — maybe we can relate to a prayer like that. "Lord, I know I've got to change, but could you give me just five more minutes?" He knew it was right, but he delayed obedience because he loved it. Hey, this seems pretty good right now.

One of the things that comes out in Augustine's Confessions, and what is really revealed here in Paul's encouragement to Timothy, is that it's not enough to just fight the temptations, to just try and stand your ground and do battle with them. You've got to run away from them. What does he say? He says, "Flee these youthful passions." Don't just sort of keep them at arm's length or think you have a good handle on them. No — you've got to run away from these things. You've got to put a great distance between you and them. They're so infectious. They're so corrupting. They're so destructive. You have to get rid of them. You have to run away from them. This was really the opposite of what was going on in Augustine's life. He didn't accidentally drift into these things. He chose his friends. He chose his environments. He chose the things that he knew would feed these passions. And so he had to run from them. And this is exactly what Paul tells Timothy: flee youthful passions.

To do that is to abandon the universe of one — the universe where you are at the center and the exclusive ruler of that domain. It is to be led on the paths of righteousness by the Good Shepherd. And as Paul tells Timothy here, it is to join up with other people who are also fleeing those same passions and running toward the things of God. Because what does he say in verse 22? He says, "Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those — beside those, in the company of those, together with those — who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Get with good, solid believers. People who love righteousness. People who love faith — that vertical relationship with God, the first great commandment: love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind; be anchored to that. People who are devoted to love, loving their neighbors as themselves, whose eyes are up and looking outward, not just down, staring at their navel, trying to figure out what they want to do five minutes from now. Find people who love the Lord, who live for Him, and pursue life with those people.

Youthful passions are divisive by design. We have to leave them behind. Leaving them behind encourages and motivates us to pursue true fellowship, to pursue the company of other believers who are going to lift us up, lead us, and help us move toward godliness. In fact, the local church is one of the great resources that God has given us to help us in our sanctification and our pursuit of holy living, and we should not ignore that. Flee these youthful passions.

Paul also addresses these ignorant controversies — have nothing to do with them. "Ignorant" here means uneducated. These may be some of the outworkings of youthful passions. But it's unfortunate that the ignorant, because of the very nature of their ignorance, don't know they're ignorant. So they are often the most dogmatic. They are often the most unyielding. Which is why these controversies lead to arguments, fights, and division in the church. Their ignorance spreads corruption and conflict. They're insistent on being right, and they don't know how wrong they are — because by definition they are ignorant of it. It's a blind spot.

The spiritually mature in the church have to work hard to avoid being drawn into these kinds of fights. It's so easy, you know, when you know someone is wrong and you just want to let them know — but you don't just want to let them know, you want to really let them know. You want to get in there and scrap with them a little bit, go toe-to-toe. And before long, you've been dragged down into this quarrel, this argument, this fight, and now you look just as ignorant as everybody else, because now you're playing at the lowest common denominator. So Paul has told Timothy flat out that the Lord's servants must not be quarrelsome. This cannot be a characteristic of people who are following after Christ and letting everyone know they're a Christian. Paul is emphatic about it. There is no "but they started it." There is no "but you know he's wrong and he knows it — they don't understand what they're talking about." There is none of that. This is how immaturity can ruin a church — when it brings everybody down to this lowest common denominator of foolishness, with everybody acting like a fool. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome. It can't be that way.

There has to be a Christlike alternative. Which leads us to the third point, and really where the whole idea of the great commission in the local church is anchored, in these last three verses. As I was preparing this message, I was feeling a little regretful — I wish I could just preach these three verses as their own sermon. I guess I could have, but I was already too far into it. There is a lot in these last three verses.

But people can carry on. Here is what Paul means by this, and here is what I want you to get from these last three verses. There is a resilience here that the true followers of Christ — these true honorable vessels, the ones who are supposed to be the spiritually mature in the church, the ones who are supposed to be the lights in a dark world, the ones who are supposed to be rising above the immaturity, rising above the youthful passions, rising above the quarrels, the divisions, and the heresies, the ones who are supposed to be transforming the people and the culture of the church — must possess. There has to be a thick-skinned nature to them. You've got to have that rhinoceros hide. It's got to be durable. You've got to be tough.

Even in the face of opposition, even surrounded by immaturity, we have to keep before us who we are serving and what we want to see happen in people's lives. We're not just trying to win arguments. We're not just trying to be right or be shown to be right. We can't be getting defensive and argumentative about spiritual matters, because so often we do that because we forget we're serving the Lord. We just take things personally and we are out there living for ourselves without even realizing it. We take attacks on Christ, on His Word, on the doctrines of Scripture as personal attacks. And so we treat them as personal attacks and we address them on that level. We lose sight of who we're serving and what we are doing.

What does Paul say here in verse 24? Who does he begin by addressing? The Lord's servant. Those who are serving the Lord. Those who belong to the Lord. Those whose lives are obligated to Him, who are duty bound to Him. He is the focus of our lives. He is the director of our lives. He is the one who is appointing for us how we are supposed to live, what we are supposed to do. That's what we have to keep as a reminder to us always, when we're tempted to be brought down into the dirt with some of this stuff. We are serving the Lord, not defending our honor. We can defend the faith. We should counter falsehoods. We should address issues that are degrading to Christ, degrading to His Word, degrading to His church. We can stand up boldly for the truth. We can speak with the force of conviction. But the Lord does not want His servants getting in fights and acting foolishly.

You don't have to raise your hand, but did your mom ever smack you in the grocery store for fighting with your siblings? Did she ever say something like, "Stop it, or you're going to sit in the car"? Okay, I'm not going to say whether mine did or not. But this isn't Paul just saying, "Stop it. Knock it off, you two. Quit fighting." There is a long list of alternative actions Paul gives to Timothy about how the Lord's servants are supposed to behave instead of quarreling. They're supposed to be kind. They're supposed to teach. They're supposed to patiently endure evil. Think about that. And they're supposed to correct with gentleness.

Be kind. That makes me think of Paul in Ephesians 4 — which is written to the same church; Timothy is here in Ephesus — Ephesians 4:32: "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you." Kindness. Right off the bat, that should eliminate the quarreling. But what I love is this next one. After kindness, they're supposed to do what? Be able to teach. Instead of just fighting with people, why don't you try to instruct? Why don't you use the ability to convince people with truth? They may reject your teaching. Paul doesn't say they have to believe it. He doesn't say the clouds have to part and they immediately recognize the wisdom you are imparting to them. They may reject your teaching. They may still try and get you worked up. They may double down on their opposition. They may try and get you canceled. But servants of the Lord would do much better to instruct than to try and intensify the fighting. You need to be able to teach. You need to instruct and impart truth in a way that is winsome, clear, and instructive. That should be the goal.

All the while, patiently enduring evil. Remember in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says, "Do not resist the one who is evil." But what are you supposed to do? "If they slap you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." And Jesus isn't saying you have to be a punching bag and just let somebody pummel you. But the idea is that true servants of the Lord are willing to let go of this sort of tit-for-tat — you do to me, so I do to you, so you do to me, back and forth until you're both on the ground. Even if they do you evil, you can break the cycle. Especially when they use these ad hominem attacks on you because of your faith. Remember Peter and John and their disciples? They were beaten for preaching about Jesus outside the temple, and their response was to go away rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer for His name. They thought it was a privilege to be beaten for preaching Christ outside the temple. That's the model of patiently enduring evil. And to tie in with our discipleship book — this may take some waiting. The word patience does imply some waiting, after all.

And then: correct with gentleness. "A soft answer turns away wrath." That's always a great reminder. All of this is because of the goal. What is the goal? The goal is to see these people's lives changed. We don't get down and start duking it out with them, getting into these fights, these arguments, these quarrels, because the goal is not to win the argument. The goal is to see these people's lives changed. The goal is to see these dishonorable vessels be made honorable. We want to see people restored to fellowship — even saved by the gospel.

That's why Paul brings this: "God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will." You don't know how God is going to use your actions in the lives of these individuals. The call for them is to reform or to be transformed. You might be the one that God uses to help make that happen in their lives. And your goal, your desire, should be to see that happen. Maybe they've said terrible things about you. Maybe they've done evil things. Maybe they have really hurt you. But your desire should be to see their lives be made like Christ, to see God's grace poured out upon them, that God would lead them to repentance, that God might open their blind eyes to see the truth. We are dependent on God's grace for that to happen in anyone's life. But you and I may be an instrument — a vessel, to use the metaphor Paul uses — that God uses to help bring about people's true repentance and life transformation, true salvation.

Maybe we preach the gospel. We proclaim the good news about what God has done for them through His Son Jesus Christ — through His life, through His death, through His resurrection. And we may encourage them to put their trust in that, to rely completely on that to be made right with God. And it could be our lives that they see, which helps them realize what that looks like and the kind of difference it can make in someone's life.

Remember, we began by saying that this is a reminder to us that the great commission isn't just for the people outside the four walls of this church, but even for people inside this church. As we are supposed to go out and make disciples, maybe those disciples need to be made right here. And we are to see that they are baptized and also taught to observe everything that Christ commanded. Maybe those people are sitting right here in this church, and they are under the burden of their youthful passions or even ignorant teachings and beliefs. Maybe they are quarrelsome. Maybe they're arguing about trivial things. Maybe they're drawn in by heresies. And they need us to invest in their lives with a great commission mindset in the same way that we might do that for an unbeliever outside the church. There are people who need to be taught to obey the commandments. There are people who need to be shown what it means to be a servant of Christ, a disciple of His. So we can't get drawn into fights. Instead, we need to be focused on serving the Lord and doing the work He has called us to.

So, here is how I want you to apply this to your life. Number one, I want you to look at yourself. Are you an honorable or dishonorable vessel? Are you the kind of person who is following after God's Word and seeking to be obedient to His will, or are you off doing your own thing? People can change. You can change. Look at yourself. Second, I want you to look out for corrupting influences. Flee the immature things. Flee the ignorant. Be aware of things that might be drawing you away from the truth of God's Word. And lastly, look for the desired outcome. Remember, we are supposed to glorify God with our lives. And one of the clearest ways we do that is by laying aside any hurts or offenses we may have and instead committing to working to see people's lives transformed — to see people learn the truth and be rescued from, as Paul says, the snares of the devil. We should want to see that happen.

Let's pray. Dear Lord, I thank you for the practicality with which Paul speaks to Timothy. Thank you for the way that the words he wrote to him thousands of years ago still have such a huge bearing on the way the church is to function, and how we are supposed to understand our roles within the church — that we are called to be your servants, called to be obedient to you, called to live in a particular way. I ask that you would help us to do that. Help us to be mindful of that. Help us to be willing to be introspective, to look at our own lives, and to consider whether we are in need of some reformation ourselves. And also help us to be willing to lay aside certain offenses and injuries and continue to pursue obedience to you, with the goal of serving you and seeing other people restored and brought into your family. We ask that you would help us to keep this ever at the forefront of our minds, that as we wake up every day we would be reminded of our need to live in such a way. We ask all this in your name. Amen.