Teaching Matters

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All right. Well, I'm glad you all are here because this is going to be an exciting sermon. Exciting for me because I don't really have any idea how this is going to go. All right. So, and you get to be here for the crash course. Um, doing something a little bit different. Uh, and you'll understand why as we make our way through the sermon. Um, but we're going to be making our way shortly into a series through the book of Second Timothy. And in order to get there, I want to go over some highlights from the letter of First Timothy. They're not necessarily volume 1 and two, but as we get into Second Timothy, we'll see how some of the things that we talk about from First Timothy help us understand what's going on in that letter. So, that's sort of the precursor to this. Um, but there are many special relationships that we see in the Bible. And one that we see a lot in the New Testament is the relationship between the Apostle Paul and Timothy. And it's one that we learn about in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 16. Uh, we're told that Paul and Timothy meet each other in a city called Lystra. And it's there that Paul is introduced to him. Timothy's already a Christian. He's already involved in the church and actually is well regarded by the Christians that are there in that town. And it's there that he and the Apostle Paul begin to strike up a relationship because it's there that Paul decides to take Timothy on as his disciple and that he is going to bring him with him now on his missionary journey. So from Acts 16 and 17, you read a lot about Paul and Silas and they do all sorts of fun things and there's exciting endeavors that they undertake together. There's the Macedonian call where Paul is told by God that he's supposed to go to Macedonia. And so Paul's trying to make his way in one direction in ministry, but God directs him in another. And so he and Silas go to Macedonia. Then they make their way to Philippi where there's this exciting conversion of Lydia and she becomes instrumental in the founding of the church in Philippi. In Philippi, there's that wonderful story of Paul and Silas, and they get thrown in jail because they've been sort of mixing it up with the pagan religion there, and people don't really like it, so they get thrown in jail. There's the earthquake and they somehow convince the prisoners not to leave after this jail is destroyed by this earthquake. And so then there's the amazing conversion of the Philippian jailer where he asks them point blank, "What must I do to be saved?" There's all these amazing gospel responses when Paul and Silas make their way to Thessalonica. But these gospel responses are followed by a mob assault that rises up against not only Paul and Silas but against the man who was hosting them in his home. And then there is in contrast to the individuals who opposed Paul in Thessalonica the warm and welcome response of the Bereans. The Jews in Berea listen to the preaching of the gospel and they test those things according to scripture. And it's in Acts chapter 17 verse 14 that we learn that Timothy has been with Paul and Silas this whole time. He's been there right alongside these two men as they went through these different towns and had these amazing experiences for the gospel that we read about in the book of Acts. He's been there. Maybe he was even in prison with them in Philippi. Luke chooses not to highlight him because he's just this apprentice who's learning the ropes of ministry from Paul and his associate Silas. But he's been there through this whole experience as Paul is teaching him what it means to be a minister of the gospel. And so we read in Acts that Paul leaves Silas and Timothy in Berea and then he sends word for them to rejoin him in Athens. In many of the New Testament letters that Paul wrote, you'll notice at the beginning that he lists Timothy as a co-author of those letters. For example, Second Corinthians begins, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother to the church of God that is at Corinth with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia. The letter of Philippians begins, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and the deacons. The letter to the Colossians begins in a very similar way. Same with First and Second Thessalonians and the letter to Philemon. All of them begin with introductions that this is from Paul and Timothy. So their relationship is obviously a very special one. It is like a spiritual father and a son. It is one of co-laborers doing ministry together. And we even see that it is one full of affection, one of deep friendship. In First Timothy, Paul even writes this letter to Timothy and refers to him as his true child in the faith. So Timothy and Paul's relationship is very unique, very deep, very special, and we see it play out in a ministry context really throughout the New Testament. Very amazing what these two men experienced together and the bond that they shared serving the Lord with their life. As Timothy matures in his faith though, Paul begins to rely on him to expand his ministry impact. So now what Paul could not do on his own he can do now as he goes in one direction and he sends Timothy in another to multiply their ministry effectiveness when Paul can't be present. And one such place that Paul sends Timothy is the city of Ephesus. Now, Ephesus was a very challenging place in which to minister because it was home to this, which is the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, of which there's actually eight, which is kind of a weird thing, isn't it? Um, the worship of Artemis or the equivalent Roman god Diana dominated the culture and the politics of Ephesus. It was the thing in Ephesus. So you can imagine that there would be a lot of social, political, economic pressure on the culture all related to the worship of Artemis. And so for those who were Christians in that context, there would have been huge pressure put on them to drift back into their old beliefs, their old practices, the old familiar ways of life. A huge challenge living for Christ in an environment that is constantly pulling you towards the worship of this completely different deity. In Acts chapter 19, we find out that when Paul entered Ephesus, there's another place where a riot broke out. They want to kill this guy. They want to run him out of town because there were individuals in Ephesus that made their living selling idols of Artemis. That was that people came to Ephesus to worship at this temple. And so what a great opportunity to set up your own little gift shop there selling your idols of Artemis. And so then people would be like, "Oh yeah, I went to Ephesus and check out this idol of Artemis I got while I was there. Yeah, I'm going to put it up in the living room right next to the TV. It's going to be great." Um, so when Paul comes in and he is converting people from the worship of Artemis to the worship of Christ, all of a sudden they see that, well, this guy could potentially ruin our business, ruin our livelihood. If the economy isn't supporting the sale of idols to Artemis anymore, well, then we're going to have to find other jobs, and that's not going to be any good. So they band together and they try and do away with Paul in his preaching. In Acts chapter 20, the next chapter in Luke's account, Paul addresses the elders in the church of Ephesus and his major concern for them. We read in Acts 20 is that they would be on guard for themselves and for the flock because he says after he leaves that fierce wolves are going to enter the church and even rise up from among their midst and they're going to draw people away from the truth. There's going to be this temptation for people who are in the church but in that culture to be drawn back into their old beliefs, their old ways of life. This is not unique to Ephesus. It's an issue that Paul has to address in his letter to the Corinthians. First Corinthians, he talks about meat offered to idols and how that an idol is nothing. So it really doesn't matter whether the meat is offered to idols or not. But what does matter is whether or not that is going to entice people who were saved out of that idolatrous way of living to return to those idolatrous practices. So Paul's first letter to Timothy as he has sent Timothy to Ephesus is really instructions for Timothy how to be effective for service to the church in Ephesus. And many people regard it as sort of an operation manual for church leaders even to this day. So, as we make our way towards Second Timothy, we need to hit some of the points that Paul gives to Timothy in this first letter as he's telling him how to go into Ephesus and work to strengthen the church and support the leadership of the church in that context. So, First Timothy, you can turn over there and I want to look at verses 3-7 of 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1:3-7. And what we're going to see is that Paul's main concern for Timothy is this: that people matter. So what is taught in the church matters. Okay, let's read verse 3 through 7. I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is this: love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. So Paul tells Timothy, "Hey, this is the primary reason why I've sent you there. You need to take care of this. This is very important because if you don't it's going to create all sorts of problems within the church." And really what Paul is saying is Timothy, you need to work hard at this because the reality is that when we mess around with the truth, the church dies. It might not be instantaneous, but altering the truth is going to have a very tangible negative effect on the health and life of the church. Now, it should come as no surprise to you if you are not sort of living under a rock, and I don't think any of you are because you're here today. So, that's a pretty good sign. If you do live under a rock, no offense is meant by that. Okay? But we live in a time when correcting someone about what they believe is not the done thing as it were. It is taboo especially in the domain of religion. It's considered insensitive. It's considered inappropriate. We are taught that all beliefs are equally valid. So we don't ever question or contradict anyone's closely held beliefs. We see this we're reminded of this on a daily basis because to do so we are told is not to debate truth claims but it is actually an attack on those people's identity. What they believe is a part of who they are. And so we are not allowed to ever even have conversations about it. Open dialogue. And this is all thanks to a drift towards strong multiculturalism where offense is treated as harm. So critique or countering religious beliefs is regarded as assault. It's not just even poor taste. You are literally attacking someone when you even attempt to have a conversation about what someone believes. What Paul instructs Timothy here in Ephesus is that it is the exact opposite of that. That to question someone's sincerely held beliefs with the truth is not an attack on them, is not hurtful or hateful but is actually loving. It is an act of kindness to them. To correct them when they are in error is motivated by love. This is what he says when he's telling Timothy in Ephesus to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. What does he say? He says our charge is love that issues from a pure heart. We care about them. We care about the truth and we care about the church. And so we cannot just let people come into the church and just say whatever they want without countering that without providing insight and instruction to them because the truth remains unchanging. That means people are not at liberty to just say whatever they want over and over. The scripture is clear. First of all, there's only one gospel. There's only one message of salvation. You can go all the way back to the clear teaching of Christ when he instructs his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I mean that is tantamount to heresy now in our culture to say that there is exclusively one means of salvation that it is only through faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done for us that there's no other way to God than through him. In Galatians chapter 1, Paul addresses the church there and he comes out swinging. I mean, there's not any sort of cozy, hey guys, how's it going? You know, he just comes right out at them. And he says in verse six, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. But then he says, "Not that there is another one, but there are some of you who want to distort the gospel of Christ." Paul tells the Galatians, "If you distort the gospel of Christ, you ruin it, you break it, you alter it. It's not the true gospel anymore." Scripture is consistent that there's one gospel message. There's one saving message. There's one way to be right with God. There's one way to have atonement for your sins. There's one way to have forgiveness and restoration. There is not a whole bunch of them. And it just depends on whether or not you sincerely believe them or not. That's not the issue. The Bible's also clear that scripture is not culturally relative. Jude addresses this. Jude verse three says, "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you appealing to contend for the faith." And he says this, "That was once for all delivered to the saints." Once for all and done. It isn't that, okay, we need to wait till now it's the Middle Ages and there's a new gospel and now it's the Enlightenment and there's a new gospel and now it's the 21st century and there's a new gospel and you have to just figure that all out based on the cultural context where you're at. No, he says you have to contend for it because there is only one. There's only ever going to be one. It's not going to change. So, you have to stand firm on this. What Paul is suggesting to Timothy is to ignore that responsibility is not loving it. It's not even lazy. It's unkind. It's unkind to let people take the message of God's love displayed for us in his son Christ Jesus and to twist that to any way that they want and to suit any means that they have. Now, Paul loved the Ephesians. He spent three years with them, which is an unusually long time for Paul in his ministry. Some churches he was only there for a few weeks. Many others, he never even got there. He had to write to them letters. Paul loved them. They loved him. In Acts when he's addressing the elders in Ephesus and it comes time for him to leave. He leaves them and everybody's sad. He's sad to leave them. They're sad he's going. He loved this church. But that love for Paul and his love for them is not going to be enough to keep that church safe. Just the kumbaya, hey, we love each other. Let you know I love you, you love me, we spent three years together. That is not going to sustain them against a constant barrage of attacks from the culture enticing them to be drawn away from the teaching of the gospel, from the clear message of salvation. And so Paul has to work with Timothy to keep this church safe from the threats that are attempting to destroy them. And you may notice that these attacks are not attacks against Paul. They're attacks against the teaching of Paul. They're attacks against the gospel. They're attacks against the message of Christ. They are swerving from the truth into vain discussions into pointless and useless conversations. Paul did not want to see this church crumble back into the abyss of this culture of worship of Artemis. So he says to Timothy, you have to go to war when you get to this church because you love these people, because it is a kindness, because you love truth, because you love Christ, because you love the gospel, because you love what God has done for us. You have to go to war with these corrupting influences that threaten the church. You have to do this because really what Paul's telling Timothy is that fighting for the faith is fighting for people's souls. There are souls that are at stake. If you drop down in 1 Timothy chapter 1 to verse 18, he says this, "This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. Among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." Wage the good warfare. Fight the good fight. This is a battle. The enemy is not going to go down without a fight. Satan is not going to go, "Okay, I guess I'll go somewhere else. I guess I'll give in. You know, you guys are just too nice." No. If the church does nothing while the core tenets of the faith are ripped to shreds, an empty church building is going to be the least of our problems. The empty church building is just going to be a result that reminds us that souls are lost and are no longer being reached with the gospel and discipled with the word of God because the church leadership has abandoned its responsibility. Now, maybe you saw in the news that on New Year's Day, early into New Year's, like 12:03 or something. I don't know the exact time, but it was early. There was a historic church in Amsterdam that burned to the ground. It was the Vondelkerk, which was a church built in the late 1800s. It looked like this right here. There it is. Look at that. What a beautiful church. But in the news bulletin about it burning down, there was this little nugget that this was the former Catholic church that later became a cultural and events venue after closing for worship in the 1970s. It wasn't even a church anymore. It was just a building. The religious practice, the worship services, no longer there. Just a community center. That's all it was. The culture had crumbled around it. It had dragged the church with it and it had turned the church into nothing. All that was there was a building. A building that once served a church. And Paul says this in First Timothy as he's addressing this issue that fighting for the faith is really fighting for people's souls that he says that in verse 19 that there are people who have rejected the faith and the good conscience and in doing so he says they have made shipwreck of their souls. That's ultimately the problem that this is a spiritual problem that affects real people. And so to allow the gospel to be twisted, to be turned over, to be corrupted, to be muted, to be diluted, to be changed, has real impact on real lives. One commentator, a man by the name of Walter Liefeld, describes this as a bad mixture of heresy and personal evil because they have abandoned both the faith and good conscience. I'm so amazed today by how many people abandon Christianity not because of the theology, but because of the morality. They don't like the moral standard. And so often throughout history, it comes down to sexual ethics. It comes down to personal pride. It comes down to very basic things. It comes down to you mean I don't get to do whatever I want. What I love about history though, history is so full of examples of individuals who had to fight to maintain faithfulness to orthodox teachings of scripture and that these drifts they fought against, you can see them in both the theological realm and in the practical living realm. People who just like Paul is charging Timothy understood the call that we have to go to war for the faith because literal souls are at stake. For example, Martin Luther, right, he goes to war with the church. He has to contend with the church that the elevation of the pope and church tradition over the word of God is not a good thing. That has to be addressed. And the church didn't like that. They came after him. But he stood strong on that conviction. Charles Spurgeon in his day fought against what he called the downgrade controversy which was a slow drift of the church into theological liberalism. An abandonment of the authority of the word of God, an abandonment of the gospel of justification by faith alone, an abandonment of so much of the core tenets of the church just slowly trickling away because they didn't want to ruffle any feathers. And he had to be the one to stand up and say we are losing our faith and in so doing we are losing souls. Dietrich Bonhoeffer he contended for the faith on the maybe the more practical living realm when he had to counter the notion in Germany that loyalty to the state was not equal to loyalty to God. Those are two different things. St. Augustine had to correct the assertions of Pelagius who said that there was no such thing as original sin, that salvation and righteousness was really just possible through free will alone. You really could work your way to heaven. Augustine had to say, "No, you can't. It is by grace we are saved through faith alone. It is a gift of God alone." Over and over and over again, there have been individuals throughout church history that had to say, "Wait, no, we can't go this way. We can't let the teaching of scripture be twisted. We can't let it be altered. We have to stand firm on the faith and we have to fight for these things." As you read the letter of First Timothy, I would encourage you to do that this week. It's not super long. This issue of departure from the faith comes up over and over and over again many times. And what's so interesting is that there's not one single reason why these individuals are departing from the faith or teaching a different gospel. Some of them are self-deceived. Some of them are misunderstanding things. Others of them are being led away by people who are lying to them and are convincing them of things they themselves know to be untrue. And so the deception and the delusion comes sometimes from within our own minds and our own belief systems and other times it comes from individuals who are attempting to lure us away from the truth. But in every instance Paul addresses it with Timothy, it's always you have to fight for these people's souls. They are being led away. They are shipwrecking their faith. Paul wants Timothy and by virtue of Timothy's instructions, the elders of the church of Ephesus to understand that these individuals have to be regarded as he says in Acts 20 as ravenous wolves that they are not sparing the flock. That's how you have to think about it. And that can be hard because some of these people are going to be very nice. They're going to be very sincere. They're not going to seem like mean people. They're going to be so kind. Many of them, the sad thing is that these wolves themselves are ignorant, deceived, and twisted themselves. It might be hard to fight and protect against the congregation of people who were once in the congregation's midst regarded as allies and friends. That might be really hard. I don't know if you've read Old Yeller or seen the movie, but the end is pretty sad, right? I think that's the first movie I ever cried at when I was a kid. Cried when our teacher read us Where the Red Fern Grows and cried when I watched Old Yeller. Right. But at the end, that's what young Travis had to do. It didn't make it easy, but there was a real danger of not doing that, wasn't there? And that's kind of where Paul is trying to get Timothy to help the elders of the church of Ephesus to realize the same thing. That doesn't matter how nice these people are, doesn't matter what our previous relationships to them are, their teaching is real. So the danger is real. So we have to protect the flock. So this letter to Timothy is first and most importantly about his need to ensure that the leadership of the church was protecting the membership of the church. And they were going to do this by remaining faithful to the truth in their teaching and by guarding the congregation against the spread of deception and destructive teaching. So, if this was for Timothy to the elders, you might be wondering, "So, what about me? I'm not an elder. I'm not a pastor. I'm not Timothy. I'm not Paul. Was there anything for me in this?" Well, I'm glad you asked. Okay, there's a couple things I want you to think about and maybe even do this week. Number one, and this is one I think we all need to do probably on a daily or weekly basis, is be honest with yourself about the pull of culture on your life, especially as it regards to the things that you believed and practiced prior to your salvation. Is the culture drawing you back to those things that are familiar and comfortable to you? You have to be on guard for those temptations. Maybe you need to ask yourself this. What is my temple of Artemis? What is that thing from my past life that really attracts me that seems really bold and beautiful and that I might be without even really realizing it drawn back towards worshiping or living for? Be honest with yourself about the pull of culture. Uh, another thing and this is addressed in the letter of First Timothy is that you and I, everyone who's a part of this church, we have to be very serious about the qualifications of elders. That matters. If the elders are supposed to be shepherds and guardians of the church to lead and protect us, one of the things that Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 3, two of the most important abilities of the elders of the church, they need to be able to teach the truth and refute error. Those get right to the heart of the issue of protecting the church from this type of danger. Another thing I want you to think about, something that you don't have to be an elder to do, is love people enough to care about what they believe. Don't be afraid to have conversations with them. It doesn't have to be right. You just jump in and you're like, "Hey, do you know that what you believe is wrong?" No, it can be a genuine conversation where you ask questions and you listen and you seek to understand them and you share your beliefs in response. But you can be clear that there's only one gospel. There's only one way to be made right with God. There is only one word of God. There's only one revealed word that he has given us. Another thing is then in light of that is you yourself need to be a student of the word of God. There's no other way around it. That yes, people like myself, pastors, teachers, we have a responsibility to help communicate this to you in a way that you understand. But you should never settle for being satisfied with your current level of understanding of the word of God. This is something applies to new believers all the way up to people who have been Christians for decades. The young and the spiritually old. We should never get to the point where we're like, I think I'm okay. I think I've got it all figured out and I'm happy with my level of understanding. If we do believe that God is infinite, then his word is an infinitely deep well of information and truth and knowledge. So that means it's inexhaustible. Be a student of God's word. And then a final application, and there's many more, but just for the sake of this morning, pray for the church. You need to be praying that this congregation and the church around the world is anchored to God and to his word. That that is where we go. That we lift up God. We lift up his word. And so pray, pray, pray, pray, pray because we are so feeble, so frail, so prone to wander, so prone to being led astray. We need God's gracious help in our lives. Let's pray. Dear Lord, I thank you for this letter. I thank you for the relationship that Paul and Timothy shared. I thank you for the relationship that Paul and the Ephesians had. Thank you for this timely reminder that really is it never grows old. We are always needing to be alert for what is being taught and what is threatening to lead people astray from the truth because we do care about the truth but we care about people's souls. We care about people. You care about people. But this is an act of kindness and an act of love to which you have called us. May you make us attentive to your word. May you make us dependent on you. May you give us a love for others that gives us the courage and the spirit to wade into difficult conversations with them, seeking to show compassion by pointing them to the truth. We ask that you would make all of us diligent in this so that together we would be a shining beacon of light and truth in a dark world. We ask this inHere is the revised version with corrections for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. The content, length, and paragraph format remain unchanged:

All right. Well, I'm glad you all are here because this is going to be an exciting sermon. Exciting for me because I don't really have any idea how this is going to go. All right. So, and you get to be here for the crash course. Um, doing something a little bit different. Uh, and you'll understand why as we make our way through the sermon. Um, but we're going to be making our way shortly into a series through the book of Second Timothy. And in order to get there, I want to go over some highlights from the letter of First Timothy. They're not necessarily volume 1 and two, but as we get into Second Timothy, we'll see how some of the things that we talk about from First Timothy help us understand what's going on in that letter. So, that's sort of the precursor to this. Um, but there are many special relationships that we see in the Bible. And one that we see a lot in the New Testament is the relationship between the Apostle Paul and Timothy. And it's one that we learn about in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 16. Uh, we're told that Paul and Timothy meet each other in a city called Lystra. And it's there that Paul is introduced to him. Timothy's already a Christian. He's already involved in the church and actually is well regarded by the Christians that are there in that town. And it's there that he and the Apostle Paul begin to strike up a relationship because it's there that Paul decides to take Timothy on as his disciple and that he is going to bring him with him now on his missionary journey. So from Acts 16 and 17, you read a lot about Paul and Silas and they do all sorts of fun things and there's exciting endeavors that they undertake together. There's the Macedonian call where Paul is told by God that he's supposed to go to Macedonia. And so Paul's trying to make his way in one direction in ministry, but God directs him in another. And so he and Silas go to Macedonia. Then they make their way to Philippi where there's this exciting conversion of Lydia and she becomes instrumental in the founding of the church in Philippi. In Philippi, there's that wonderful story of Paul and Silas, and they get thrown in jail because they've been sort of mixing it up with the pagan religion there, and people don't really like it, so they get thrown in jail. There's the earthquake and they somehow convince the prisoners not to leave after this jail is destroyed by this earthquake. And so then there's the amazing conversion of the Philippian jailer where he asks them point blank, "What must I do to be saved?" There's all these amazing gospel responses when Paul and Silas make their way to Thessalonica. But these gospel responses are followed by a mob assault that rises up against not only Paul and Silas but against the man who was hosting them in his home. And then there is in contrast to the individuals who opposed Paul in Thessalonica the warm and welcome response of the Bereans. The Jews in Berea listen to the preaching of the gospel and they test those things according to scripture. And it's in Acts chapter 17 verse 14 that we learn that Timothy has been with Paul and Silas this whole time. He's been there right alongside these two men as they went through these different towns and had these amazing experiences for the gospel that we read about in the book of Acts. He's been there. Maybe he was even in prison with them in Philippi. Luke chooses not to highlight him because he's just this apprentice who's learning the ropes of ministry from Paul and his associate Silas. But he's been there through this whole experience as Paul is teaching him what it means to be a minister of the gospel. And so we read in Acts that Paul leaves Silas and Timothy in Berea and then he sends word for them to rejoin him in Athens. In many of the New Testament letters that Paul wrote, you'll notice at the beginning that he lists Timothy as a co-author of those letters. For example, Second Corinthians begins, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother to the church of God that is at Corinth with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia. The letter of Philippians begins, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and the deacons. The letter to the Colossians begins in a very similar way. Same with First and Second Thessalonians and the letter to Philemon. All of them begin with introductions that this is from Paul and Timothy. So their relationship is obviously a very special one. It is like a spiritual father and a son. It is one of co-laborers doing ministry together. And we even see that it is one full of affection, one of deep friendship. In First Timothy, Paul even writes this letter to Timothy and refers to him as his true child in the faith. So Timothy and Paul's relationship is very unique, very deep, very special, and we see it play out in a ministry context really throughout the New Testament. Very amazing what these two men experienced together and the bond that they shared serving the Lord with their life. As Timothy matures in his faith though, Paul begins to rely on him to expand his ministry impact. So now what Paul could not do on his own he can do now as he goes in one direction and he sends Timothy in another to multiply their ministry effectiveness when Paul can't be present. And one such place that Paul sends Timothy is the city of Ephesus. Now, Ephesus was a very challenging place in which to minister because it was home to this, which is the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, of which there's actually eight, which is kind of a weird thing, isn't it? Um, the worship of Artemis or the equivalent Roman god Diana dominated the culture and the politics of Ephesus. It was the thing in Ephesus. So you can imagine that there would be a lot of social, political, economic pressure on the culture all related to the worship of Artemis. And so for those who were Christians in that context, there would have been huge pressure put on them to drift back into their old beliefs, their old practices, the old familiar ways of life. A huge challenge living for Christ in an environment that is constantly pulling you towards the worship of this completely different deity. In Acts chapter 19, we find out that when Paul entered Ephesus, there's another place where a riot broke out. They want to kill this guy. They want to run him out of town because there were individuals in Ephesus that made their living selling idols of Artemis. That was that people came to Ephesus to worship at this temple. And so what a great opportunity to set up your own little gift shop there selling your idols of Artemis. And so then people would be like, "Oh yeah, I went to Ephesus and check out this idol of Artemis I got while I was there. Yeah, I'm going to put it up in the living room right next to the TV. It's going to be great." Um, so when Paul comes in and he is converting people from the worship of Artemis to the worship of Christ, all of a sudden they see that, well, this guy could potentially ruin our business, ruin our livelihood. If the economy isn't supporting the sale of idols to Artemis anymore, well, then we're going to have to find other jobs, and that's not going to be any good. So they band together and they try and do away with Paul in his preaching. In Acts chapter 20, the next chapter in Luke's account, Paul addresses the elders in the church of Ephesus and his major concern for them. We read in Acts 20 is that they would be on guard for themselves and for the flock because he says after he leaves that fierce wolves are going to enter the church and even rise up from among their midst and they're going to draw people away from the truth. There's going to be this temptation for people who are in the church but in that culture to be drawn back into their old beliefs, their old ways of life. This is not unique to Ephesus. It's an issue that Paul has to address in his letter to the Corinthians. First Corinthians, he talks about meat offered to idols and how that an idol is nothing. So it really doesn't matter whether the meat is offered to idols or not. But what does matter is whether or not that is going to entice people who were saved out of that idolatrous way of living to return to those idolatrous practices. So Paul's first letter to Timothy as he has sent Timothy to Ephesus is really instructions for Timothy how to be effective for service to the church in Ephesus. And many people regard it as sort of an operation manual for church leaders even to this day. So, as we make our way towards Second Timothy, we need to hit some of the points that Paul gives to Timothy in this first letter as he's telling him how to go into Ephesus and work to strengthen the church and support the leadership of the church in that context. So, First Timothy, you can turn over there and I want to look at verses 3-7 of 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1:3-7. And what we're going to see is that Paul's main concern for Timothy is this: that people matter. So what is taught in the church matters. Okay, let's read verse 3 through 7. I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is this: love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. So Paul tells Timothy, "Hey, this is the primary reason why I've sent you there. You need to take care of this. This is very important because if you don't it's going to create all sorts of problems within the church." And really what Paul is saying is Timothy, you need to work hard at this because the reality is that when we mess around with the truth, the church dies. It might not be instantaneous, but altering the truth is going to have a very tangible negative effect on the health and life of the church. Now, it should come as no surprise to you if you are not sort of living under a rock, and I don't think any of you are because you're here today. So, that's a pretty good sign. If you do live under a rock, no offense is meant by that. Okay? But we live in a time when correcting someone about what they believe is not the done thing as it were. It is taboo especially in the domain of religion. It's considered insensitive. It's considered inappropriate. We are taught that all beliefs are equally valid. So we don't ever question or contradict anyone's closely held beliefs. We see this we're reminded of this on a daily basis because to do so we are told is not to debate truth claims but it is actually an attack on those people's identity. What they believe is a part of who they are. And so we are not allowed to ever even have conversations about it. Open dialogue. And this is all thanks to a drift towards strong multiculturalism where offense is treated as harm. So critique or countering religious beliefs is regarded as assault. It's not just even poor taste. You are literally attacking someone when you even attempt to have a conversation about what someone believes. What Paul instructs Timothy here in Ephesus is that it is the exact opposite of that. That to question someone's sincerely held beliefs with the truth is not an attack on them, is not hurtful or hateful but is actually loving. It is an act of kindness to them. To correct them when they are in error is motivated by love. This is what he says when he's telling Timothy in Ephesus to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. What does he say? He says our charge is love that issues from a pure heart. We care about them. We care about the truth and we care about the church. And so we cannot just let people come into the church and just say whatever they want without countering that without providing insight and instruction to them because the truth remains unchanging. That means people are not at liberty to just say whatever they want over and over. The scripture is clear. First of all, there's only one gospel. There's only one message of salvation. You can go all the way back to the clear teaching of Christ when he instructs his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I mean that is tantamount to heresy now in our culture to say that there is exclusively one means of salvation that it is only through faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done for us that there's no other way to God than through him. In Galatians chapter 1, Paul addresses the church there and he comes out swinging. I mean, there's not any sort of cozy, hey guys, how's it going? You know, he just comes right out at them. And he says in verse six, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. But then he says, "Not that there is another one, but there are some of you who want to distort the gospel of Christ." Paul tells the Galatians, "If you distort the gospel of Christ, you ruin it, you break it, you alter it. It's not the true gospel anymore." Scripture is consistent that there's one gospel message. There's one saving message. There's one way to be right with God. There's one way to have atonement for your sins. There's one way to have forgiveness and restoration. There is not a whole bunch of them. And it just depends on whether or not you sincerely believe them or not. That's not the issue. The Bible's also clear that scripture is not culturally relative. Jude addresses this. Jude verse three says, "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you appealing to contend for the faith." And he says this, "That was once for all delivered to the saints." Once for all and done. It isn't that, okay, we need to wait till now it's the Middle Ages and there's a new gospel and now it's the Enlightenment and there's a new gospel and now it's the 21st century and there's a new gospel and you have to just figure that all out based on the cultural context where you're at. No, he says you have to contend for it because there is only one. There's only ever going to be one. It's not going to change. So, you have to stand firm on this. What Paul is suggesting to Timothy is to ignore that responsibility is not loving it. It's not even lazy. It's unkind. It's unkind to let people take the message of God's love displayed for us in his son Christ Jesus and to twist that to any way that they want and to suit any means that they have. Now, Paul loved the Ephesians. He spent three years with them, which is an unusually long time for Paul in his ministry. Some churches he was only there for a few weeks. Many others, he never even got there. He had to write to them letters. Paul loved them. They loved him. In Acts when he's addressing the elders in Ephesus and it comes time for him to leave. He leaves them and everybody's sad. He's sad to leave them. They're sad he's going. He loved this church. But that love for Paul and his love for them is not going to be enough to keep that church safe. Just the kumbaya, hey, we love each other. Let you know I love you, you love me, we spent three years together. That is not going to sustain them against a constant barrage of attacks from the culture enticing them to be drawn away from the teaching of the gospel, from the clear message of salvation. And so Paul has to work with Timothy to keep this church safe from the threats that are attempting to destroy them. And you may notice that these attacks are not attacks against Paul. They're attacks against the teaching of Paul. They're attacks against the gospel. They're attacks against the message of Christ. They are swerving from the truth into vain discussions into pointless and useless conversations. Paul did not want to see this church crumble back into the abyss of this culture of worship of Artemis. So he says to Timothy, you have to go to war when you get to this church because you love these people, because it is a kindness, because you love truth, because you love Christ, because you love the gospel, because you love what God has done for us. You have to go to war with these corrupting influences that threaten the church. You have to do this because really what Paul's telling Timothy is that fighting for the faith is fighting for people's souls. There are souls that are at stake. If you drop down in 1 Timothy chapter 1 to verse 18, he says this, "This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. Among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." Wage the good warfare. Fight the good fight. This is a battle. The enemy is not going to go down without a fight. Satan is not going to go, "Okay, I guess I'll go somewhere else. I guess I'll give in. You know, you guys are just too nice." No. If the church does nothing while the core tenets of the faith are ripped to shreds, an empty church building is going to be the least of our problems. The empty church building is just going to be a result that reminds us that souls are lost and are no longer being reached with the gospel and discipled with the word of God because the church leadership has abandoned its responsibility. Now, maybe you saw in the news that on New Year's Day, early into New Year's, like 12:03 or something. I don't know the exact time, but it was early. There was a historic church in Amsterdam that burned to the ground. It was the Vondelkerk, which was a church built in the late 1800s. It looked like this right here. There it is. Look at that. What a beautiful church. But in the news bulletin about it burning down, there was this little nugget that this was the former Catholic church that later became a cultural and events venue after closing for worship in the 1970s. It wasn't even a church anymore. It was just a building. The religious practice, the worship services, no longer there. Just a community center. That's all it was. The culture had crumbled around it. It had dragged the church with it and it had turned the church into nothing. All that was there was a building. A building that once served a church. And Paul says this in First Timothy as he's addressing this issue that fighting for the faith is really fighting for people's souls that he says that in verse 19 that there are people who have rejected the faith and the good conscience and in doing so he says they have made shipwreck of their souls. That's ultimately the problem that this is a spiritual problem that affects real people. And so to allow the gospel to be twisted, to be turned over, to be corrupted, to be muted, to be diluted, to be changed, has real impact on real lives. One commentator, a man by the name of Walter Liefeld, describes this as a bad mixture of heresy and personal evil because they have abandoned both the faith and good conscience. I'm so amazed today by how many people abandon Christianity not because of the theology, but because of the morality. They don't like the moral standard. And so often throughout history, it comes down to sexual ethics. It comes down to personal pride. It comes down to very basic things. It comes down to you mean I don't get to do whatever I want. What I love about history though, history is so full of examples of individuals who had to fight to maintain faithfulness to orthodox teachings of scripture and that these drifts they fought against, you can see them in both the theological realm and in the practical living realm. People who just like Paul is charging Timothy understood the call that we have to go to war for the faith because literal souls are at stake. For example, Martin Luther, right, he goes to war with the church. He has to contend with the church that the elevation of the pope and church tradition over the word of God is not a good thing. That has to be addressed. And the church didn't like that. They came after him. But he stood strong on that conviction. Charles Spurgeon in his day fought against what he called the downgrade controversy which was a slow drift of the church into theological liberalism. An abandonment of the authority of the word of God, an abandonment of the gospel of justification by faith alone, an abandonment of so much of the core tenets of the church just slowly trickling away because they didn't want to ruffle any feathers. And he had to be the one to stand up and say we are losing our faith and in so doing we are losing souls. Dietrich Bonhoeffer he contended for the faith on the maybe the more practical living realm when he had to counter the notion in Germany that loyalty to the state was not equal to loyalty to God. Those are two different things. St. Augustine had to correct the assertions of Pelagius who said that there was no such thing as original sin, that salvation and righteousness was really just possible through free will alone. You really could work your way to heaven. Augustine had to say, "No, you can't. It is by grace we are saved through faith alone. It is a gift of God alone." Over and over and over again, there have been individuals throughout church history that had to say, "Wait, no, we can't go this way. We can't let the teaching of scripture be twisted. We can't let it be altered. We have to stand firm on the faith and we have to fight for these things." As you read the letter of First Timothy, I would encourage you to do that this week. It's not super long. This issue of departure from the faith comes up over and over and over again many times. And what's so interesting is that there's not one single reason why these individuals are departing from the faith or teaching a different gospel. Some of them are self-deceived. Some of them are misunderstanding things. Others of them are being led away by people who are lying to them and are convincing them of things they themselves know to be untrue. And so the deception and the delusion comes sometimes from within our own minds and our own belief systems and other times it comes from individuals who are attempting to lure us away from the truth. But in every instance Paul addresses it with Timothy, it's always you have to fight for these people's souls. They are being led away. They are shipwrecking their faith. Paul wants Timothy and by virtue of Timothy's instructions, the elders of the church of Ephesus to understand that these individuals have to be regarded as he says in Acts 20 as ravenous wolves that they are not sparing the flock. That's how you have to think about it. And that can be hard because some of these people are going to be very nice. They're going to be very sincere. They're not going to seem like mean people. They're going to be so kind. Many of them, the sad thing is that these wolves themselves are ignorant, deceived, and twisted themselves. It might be hard to fight and protect against the congregation of people who were once in the congregation's midst regarded as allies and friends. That might be really hard. I don't know if you've read Old Yeller or seen the movie, but the end is pretty sad, right? I think that's the first movie I ever cried at when I was a kid. Cried when our teacher read us Where the Red Fern Grows and cried when I watched Old Yeller. Right. But at the end, that's what young Travis had to do. It didn't make it easy, but there was a real danger of not doing that, wasn't there? And that's kind of where Paul is trying to get Timothy to help the elders of the church of Ephesus to realize the same thing. That doesn't matter how nice these people are, doesn't matter what our previous relationships to them are, their teaching is real. So the danger is real. So we have to protect the flock. So this letter to Timothy is first and most importantly about his need to ensure that the leadership of the church was protecting the membership of the church. And they were going to do this by remaining faithful to the truth in their teaching and by guarding the congregation against the spread of deception and destructive teaching. So, if this was for Timothy to the elders, you might be wondering, "So, what about me? I'm not an elder. I'm not a pastor. I'm not Timothy. I'm not Paul. Was there anything for me in this?" Well, I'm glad you asked. Okay, there's a couple things I want you to think about and maybe even do this week. Number one, and this is one I think we all need to do probably on a daily or weekly basis, is be honest with yourself about the pull of culture on your life, especially as it regards to the things that you believed and practiced prior to your salvation. Is the culture drawing you back to those things that are familiar and comfortable to you? You have to be on guard for those temptations. Maybe you need to ask yourself this. What is my temple of Artemis? What is that thing from my past life that really attracts me that seems really bold and beautiful and that I might be without even really realizing it drawn back towards worshiping or living for? Be honest with yourself about the pull of culture. Uh, another thing and this is addressed in the letter of First Timothy is that you and I, everyone who's a part of this church, we have to be very serious about the qualifications of elders. That matters. If the elders are supposed to be shepherds and guardians of the church to lead and protect us, one of the things that Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 3, two of the most important abilities of the elders of the church, they need to be able to teach the truth and refute error. Those get right to the heart of the issue of protecting the church from this type of danger. Another thing I want you to think about, something that you don't have to be an elder to do, is love people enough to care about what they believe. Don't be afraid to have conversations with them. It doesn't have to be right. You just jump in and you're like, "Hey, do you know that what you believe is wrong?" No, it can be a genuine conversation where you ask questions and you listen and you seek to understand them and you share your beliefs in response. But you can be clear that there's only one gospel. There's only one way to be made right with God. There is only one word of God. There's only one revealed word that he has given us. Another thing is then in light of that is you yourself need to be a student of the word of God. There's no other way around it. That yes, people like myself, pastors, teachers, we have a responsibility to help communicate this to you in a way that you understand. But you should never settle for being satisfied with your current level of understanding of the word of God. This is something applies to new believers all the way up to people who have been Christians for decades. The young and the spiritually old. We should never get to the point where we're like, I think I'm okay. I think I've got it all figured out and I'm happy with my level of understanding. If we do believe that God is infinite, then his word is an infinitely deep well of information and truth and knowledge. So that means it's inexhaustible. Be a student of God's word. And then a final application, and there's many more, but just for the sake of this morning, pray for the church. You need to be praying that this congregation and the church around the world is anchored to God and to his word. That that is where we go. That we lift up God. We lift up his word. And so pray, pray, pray, pray, pray because we are so feeble, so frail, so prone to wander, so prone to being led astray. We need God's gracious help in our lives. Let's pray. Dear Lord, I thank you for this letter. I thank you for the relationship that Paul and Timothy shared. I thank you for the relationship that Paul and the Ephesians had. Thank you for this timely reminder that really is it never grows old. We are always needing to be alert for what is being taught and what is threatening to lead people astray from the truth because we do care about the truth but we care about people's souls. We care about people. You care about people. But this is an act of kindness and an act of love to which you have called us. May you make us attentive to your word. May you make us dependent on you. May you give us a love for others that gives us the courage and the spirit to wade into difficult conversations with them, seeking to show compassion by pointing them to the truth. We ask that you would make all of us diligent in this so that together we would be a shining beacon of light and truth in a dark world. We ask this in