Today we are looking at the last chapter that Paul ever wrote, and writing what we might call his own epitaph. An epitaph is a statement written about a person who has died, which often says something about the person’s legacy. You know, important people, such as President’s, are always concerned about their legacy, what history will say about them. I think it’s indicative of their own sense of self importance that they are so concerned about it that they build libraries in their own honor to try to mold people’s opinion.

So an epitaph is written on a tombstone. Not to be too cavalier about the subject, but after all , epitaphs are a kind of morose subject matter, there used to be a company called Tombstone Pizza that had commercials that ran on TV. And the one I remember was a guy on a horse with a noose around his neck, about to be hanged, and they asked him, what do you want on your tombstone. And he suddenly gets a pleased look on his face and says, “Pepperoni and cheese!” That would be a pretty interesting epitaph to have on your gravestone.

But to consider your own epitaph or legacy is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be a good thing if it causes you to examine how you live, and what impact or lack of one you have had on the world. In studying for this sermon I googled some of the most famous epitaphs to try to get some serious background information on this subject, and found some of them really interesting.

The one I liked the best is one I’m tempted to use on my own tombstone, which was, “I told you I was sick.” According to my wife I am a chronic hypochondriac, but one day she’s going to realize that there was something wrong with me all along. But there were others in that list that were interesting as well. An atheist had written on his tombstone in a cemetery in Thurston, Maryland, “Here lies an atheist. All dressed up and no place to go.” I have a feeling he did in fact go somewhere he didn’t want to believe existed. Another one I liked was by a guy named Johnny Yeast. His said, “Here lies Johnny Yeast, pardon me for not rising.” And one more which I thought was pretty cool is found in Tombstone, Arizona, in a graveyard for gunfighters near the infamous Ok Corral. It says, “Here lies Lester Moore. Four slugs from a 44, no Les, no more.”

Now as Paul concludes this letter, he writes what might be considered his own epitaph. He knows that he is not going to leave prison alive. He is about to die by execution. In those days, execution for a Roman citizen was by beheading. That is a pretty awful thing to contemplate, especially when it is your own head that is destined to be on the chopping block. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to think about those last minutes.

But much to his credit, Paul doesn’t seem to dwell much on his physical death. He has said elsewhere that for him to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord, and that was very much better. He has said for me to live and to die is gain. So the means of his death, the pain of his death, doesn’t seem to be on his mind at all. He seems to see death as merely a vehicle to take him from one place to another. He says in vs 6 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”

That word for departure is from the Greek word “analysis” which reads like our word analysis, but actually comes from the idea of loosening from moorings prior to setting sail. That’s kind of a neat way of thinking about death, isn’t it? Just pushing off from the dock, dropping all the lines, and setting sail for a new horizon, another shore.

Paul says the time of his departure is at hand, his time has come to cast off. And he is ready to go. All that awaits is the moment that the Lord says, “it’s time.” Paul isn’t waiting on the courts, or on Nero, he is waiting on the Lord. Our time’s are in His hand. It says in Psalm 139, “And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”

Isn’t it interesting to think about the fact that most of the Lord’s greatest servants in the New Testament died by execution or torture? John the Baptist was beheaded and his head put on a platter at the whim of an adulterous woman. Peter was hung upside down on a cross. Timothy was, according to tradition, stoned to death. Stephen was also stoned to death, while Paul, or Saul as he was then known, held the coats of those who threw the stones. James was thrown from the temple wall to his death. This idea that 21st century Christians have that God owes them a calamity free existence or a illness free existence just doesn’t have any basis in scripture. When God is finished with His servants, He takes them home, and rather than always sending a fiery chariot, sometimes He uses what seems to us as the most inglorious methods possible.

But Paul’s time of departure has come, and he is ready for it. His bags are packed and he is waiting and ready to go to be with the Lord. He isn’t afraid of death, even death by beheading, because he knows it is merely a vehicle to something much better. He wrote in 2 Cor. 4:17 “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”

In fact, he looks at his imminent death as the last sacrificial act of a life dedicated to sacrificial service to the Lord. He says, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering.” According to the law in Numbers 15, when a lamb was sacrificed on the altar in a burnt offering, a drink offering of wine was poured out beside the altar. It was the final act of the sacrificial ceremony and Paul said it pictured the final pouring out of his life on the sacrificial altar of his service to God. His entire life had been a living sacrifice as he describes in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.”

It is only by faith that a life so lived can be spoken of as a sacrifice of service, and when your time comes to die, that you can see it as Paul saw his final moments, a final act of sacrifice to the Lord. Paul is ready to go, ready to depart, because as he says in vs 7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

An unbeliever, looking at how Paul’s life ended in prison, and the ignominy of being beheaded, alone among his enemies, they might hardly see a life worth boasting about. But Paul is boasting in the Lord, not in his flesh. He says, I have fought the noble fight. That’s what it really means, the noble fight. He is making the ultimate sacrifice for a noble cause, dying in service to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is giving up his life for the kingdom of God. We honor men and women in America who gave their life in service to their country. There should be no greater honor given than to those who laid down their lives in battle so that others may be free. Jesus said, “There is no greater love than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends.”

Paul loved the Lord, and gladly gave his life in service to the Lord, even unto death. And he considered it a privilege to fight the noble fight. To be counted as worthy for service. And what a fight it had been; a fight against Satan and his horde, against the principalities and powers in the spiritual realm, the world forces of this present darkness, against Jewish and Gentile vice and violence, against Judaism amongst the church, against fanaticism, against contention, strife, jealousy, false reports, lies and slander about him, against Gnosticism, against false teachers in sheep’s clothing, and their false doctrines. And last but not least, against his own flesh and the sin that so easily besets us all.

The life of a Christian is not a life called to leisure, to Sunday school picnics, to lazy days in the sunshine with fair winds and following seas. The Christian’s life is a call to battle, a noble battle. Such battles require great sacrifice, but the battle is a noble cause, the very highest calling and privilege, and one to which Paul devoted his life without regret. Now that’s a thought that is worthy of an epitaph, to have lived a life without regret. I can assure you that if you live your life according to the standards of the world, to try to achieve some sort of acclaim or fortune, at the end of your life the only thing you will have to take with you when you depart this life will be regret. But a life lived for the Lord can be a life without regret.

Paul said in Phl. 3:7-14 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained [it] or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of [it] yet; but one thing [I do:] forgetting what [lies] behind and reaching forward to what [lies] ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That’s how to live and die without regret.

Paul said, not only has he fought the noble fight, but he has finished the course. Other translations say he has finished the race. Paul changes metaphors here from a battle to a race. He fully accomplished the ministry that the Lord had called him to. Paul was a man with one holy passion, that was to run the race to which he had been called, to run well, and finish well. So many Christians don’t seem to finish the race. Paul rebuked the Galatians for that in Gal. 5:7 saying, “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?”

This race that we have been called to run is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires endurance and perseverance to finish the race. To continue to the end. Paul said in 1Co 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only] one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then [do it] to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

So Paul says he ran the race and finished the course. That’s an example for us, that we continue, we persevere, we endure to the end. That we do not fall short of our goal. And the goal is not “he who dies with the most toys wins” or “he who dies with the biggest estate wins” but he who gives it all up, counting it all as loss, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Not only did Paul fight the noble fight and finish the race, but he says he kept the faith. It’s the idea of keeping the true doctrine. Not deviating from the faith once delivered to the saints. Not falling into the trap of false teaching, of being deceived, the trap of another gospel in order to scratch the itching ears of those who would rather believe a lie. Keeping the faith is difficult today in an ecclesiastical field that is sown with tares among the wheat. It’s a battle between the truth and the lie. Because the devil is a deceiver and a liar and his strategy against the church is to tell a lie that looks like the truth, but will lead you into a false doctrine, or even better, a false sense of salvation. So to keep the faith requires discernment, wisdom, studying the word to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, and in so doing, being reliant upon the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth.

Another application that is included in keeping the faith is similar to what was indicated in running the race. And that is keeping the faith, being faithful, till the end. Being found faithful when your time comes to depart. Being found faithful in the little things. Paul said in 1Cor. 4:2 “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” A steward is a man who was put in charge of his master’s goods while he went away to a far country. And when the master returned, he calls the stewards together to give an account of what they did with his goods. Jesus told that parable to illustrate many things, not the least of which was being found faithful when the Master returns. As I said when talking about the race, a lot of Christians start out running well but at the end of the race they are no where to be found.

Paul was found faithful when he was called to stand before his master. And for those who fought the noble fight, who finish the race, who kept the faith and are found faithful, Paul says that there will be a reward. In vs 8 he says, “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Paul says, in the future… that is in of itself an expression of faith. For a man condemned to die in a few days or weeks to talk about his future is an expression of faith. It reminds me of the faith of the thief on the cross. Jesus said to him that today he would be with Him in Paradise. But the thief was dying on a cross as a convicted criminal. What cause was there for believing that he was saved on that cross? The answer is found in what that man said to Jesus as he was hanging there. He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” That was an expression of faith, faith that Jesus was the Messiah, that He would rise from the grave, and that His kingdom was an everlasting kingdom, the kingdom of God. That’s a lot of faith crammed in a very small sentence. And Paul said in Romans 1:17, “the just shall live by faith.” Salvation is by faith, and that thief found salvation through faith in Christ.

Paul’s faith is assured that he has a future even though from an earthly point of view he was at the end of his rope. And in that future he is assured that God has laid up for him a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day. What is Paul talking about? First of all, he is speaking of that day, that is the day of Christ’s appearing, the day when God will judge the living and the dead, the day of judgment. That’s why Paul refers in this context to the Lord as the righteous Judge. Jesus came to earth the first time to save. But the next time Jesus comes, He comes in judgment.

At that judgment, Paul says the Lord will give him a crown of righteousness. This wreath or crown is the victor’s crown, the crown that Jesus Himself has earned for us that believe in Him. As the hymn we sing says, “Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.” It’s the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is our wreath, our crown, that He gives to those who believe in Him as their Savior.

As 2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” We are given the righteousness of Christ in exchange for our sins, which He paid for on the cross through His death. Are we then not to be judged for our good works, our works of righteousness? Yes, there is a reward for works of righteousness. But the crown or wreath that Paul is claiming here is the crown of the righteousness which is given to all who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is the crown that is everlasting life with the Lord. There are also crowns (plural) which we will receive for our stewardship. As Jesus said in the parable, “‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.”

But it’s evident from the context of the judgment that Paul is speaking of the last day, the reward at the judgment will be the crown of the righteousness that qualifies us for entry into the kingdom of heaven. In another parable, Jesus likened it to the wedding garment that all who entered into the wedding feast must wear for entrance. Without the righteousness of Jesus Christ, applied to our account, we have no basis for entrance into eternal life.

That is why Paul says it is not only going to be given to him, but to all who have loved His appearing. That’s a reference to the second coming of Christ. Note the word love, not fear is used here, because perfect love casts out fear. Of all the indications that one loves the Lord, the eager anticipation of the Lord’s return is one of the best assurances that they do in fact love the Lord, for such a person is thinking not only of himself and his own glory but also the Lord and HIs vindication.

Are you looking forward with anticipation for the Lord’s return? Unfortunately I don’t think that’s as universal of an attitude as we might think in the church. If you’re like most of us, we really are more enamored with this life than we are excited about the next one. As Paul says in the next section, Demas has deserted me, having loved this present world. I would say that suggests a current problem with the church, and perhaps a reason that we cannot say with Paul that we have confidence about our departure.

I would urge you to remember the line from the old spiritual which says,” this world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.” Let us present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

What will your epitaph be when you finish this race which we call life? I hope that you will make it your ambition to be found faithful when you are called home. I hope that you will fight the noble fight for the kingdom of heaven, that you may know that in the future there is laid up for you the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to you on that day; and not only to you, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Last week we studied a rather grim message that Paul gave Timothy regarding the last days. And as a reminder, the last days is a phrase that refers to the time period between Christ’s first appearing and His second coming. It is sometimes called the church age, which is the age Timothy was living in, and which we are living in. Obviously, we are living in the latter days of the last days, but we don’t know how much longer there is until Christ comes back.

But I say it was a grim message because Paul said there would be perilous seasons which would come in this church age. I suggested it was kind of like hurricane season which comes every year, which sometimes can be extremely damaging and dangerous. And Paul explains that the danger to the church was there would be seasons where apostasy would run rampant in the church, when false teachers would prevail in the pulpits of churches, when people would be duped by a form of religion but without the power of the Holy Spirit to change their hearts from being dead in their trespasses to being made alive in Christ.

These perilous seasons would be dangerous because there would be a powerful spirt of deception upon the church which would take people captive to damning theology. Instead of the gospel freeing them from the hold of sin, this false gospel would actually give them a false sense of security, deceiving them by means of false signs and wonders. Paul gave an example of the sort of deception that would be fostered on the church by the example of Jannes and Jambres, the Egyptian magicians that were able to duplicate a lot of the miracles that Moses did, and their deception resulted in the damnation of the Egyptians. Paul says similar deceptions of signs and wonders would be characteristic of the perilous times in the church.

He goes on to say in the passage we are looking at today, which is a continuation of his warning to Timothy, in vs 13 that “… evil men and impostors will proceed [from bad] to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” As the church age progresses, so will the intensity of these perilous times. Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse. That means the deceptions will go from bad, which it was in Paul’s day, to worse, which I think it is in our day. An imposter is someone who pretends to be someone else. The Bible says that the devil is an expert imposter, masquerading as an angel of light, when he is actually the prince of darkness. And he is the puppet master behind the false teachers that will proliferate as the church age comes to it’s consummation.

Now if Paul stopped there, then it would be a grim message indeed. But Paul gives a counter strategy to the church so that they might survive the perilous times. Not only will the true church survive, but they can even thrive in perilous times. You know, the reality is that the church thrives in times of persecution. When the church declines it is usually in a time of peace and prosperity. But when persecution arises, the church gets stronger. Tertullian, one of the early church fathers living around 200 AD is credited to have said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” It is when the world is antagonistic towards the church that the battle lines are more clearly drawn, and the truth stands out more clearly than the deception, but when the world and the church lie down in the same bed then it produces adultery with the world and the apostasy that brings destruction.

But in this last section and continuing in the first part of the next chapter, Paul gives us a strategy for surviving the perilous times which come upon the church, and not just surviving, but thriving. But for the sake of brevity, I am not going to really expound much more than this chapter, and wait on the part found in chapter 4, which we will address next week, God willing.

The first principle of the strategy for surviving perilous times might be summarized by the idea of discipleship. The concept of becoming a disciple is something that seems to have fallen by the wayside in modern evangelicalism. But back in the beginning of the church, before even they were called by the name “Christians”, the concept that Jesus taught was to become His disciple. What does it mean to become a disciple? It means to be a follower of Christ, one who receives and believes the teaching of Christ, who patterns himself after the behavior and actions of Christ. And by extension, it meant after Christ’s death and resurrection that one would follow an apostle, follow their teaching, their pattern of life.

And so we find that principle of being a disciple given here by Paul as part of his strategy for surviving the perilous times. He says in vs 10 “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, [and] sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium [and] at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!”

The significance of what he says is you followed me. Timothy was a disciple of Paul. Timothy literally followed Paul in his missionary journeys as he planted churches in the Gentile regions. In the great commission in Matthew 28:19, Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” The mandate is to make disciples, followers of the apostle’s doctrine, followers of the apostle’s teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance persecutions and sufferings.

The life of discipleship is much more than simply profession of faith and then continuing to live as you always have lived but with the exception of an hour or so a week spent in church. Being a disciple is a new life, one that is characterized by service to the Lord, by obedience to the word, by a sacrificial love for others, and love for God. It’s a life that perseveres when it seems that there is not always evidence to support our faith. It’s a life that endures suffering for the sake of Christ, that endures persecution for the sake of the gospel.

It’s interesting to notice that Paul says Timothy followed his purpose. What was the purpose of the apostle? It was to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, to the people who had not heard the truth. Paul’s purpose was to share the gospel, to win souls for the kingdom of heaven. That’s the reason God left him on the earth after his conversion. And that’s the reason we are left on the earth. Our purpose, our mission is to go make disciples of all the nations. Make disciples of our loved ones, our families, our friends, our neighbors, our community. That’s the purpose that God has for us that are saved.

It’s also important to notice that Timothy followed the apostles teaching. Teaching is doctrine. And the doctrine taught by the apostles is the doctrine which the church is to hold fast to, to listen to, and to obey. Paul refers to it as sound doctrine in his previous letter to Timothy. He says in 1Tim. 4:6 “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, [constantly] nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.” Part of discipleship is following sound doctrine. There is a lot of deviant, deceitful doctrine that is being taught in the church today, which is a hallmark of the perilous times of the last days. We need to be like the Berean’s, who studied the word daily to see if the things being taught to them by Paul was correct. Sound doctrine has it’s basis in the words of scripture. And we need to ask the Lord for discernment so that we can check the doctrine coming from our pulpits with the scripture, so that we may know the truth. But being under the teaching of sound doctrine is a vital part of discipleship. You cannot be a disciple and not be under the preaching of sound doctrine.

So being a disciple is a complete life of devotion to the Lord. It’s living a life that is conformed to sound doctrine, that exhibits godly conduct, that fulfills the purpose which we have been given, that perseveres in faith, that has patience and love for others, and which does not waver in persecution and suffering. It’s not just a matter of making a profession of faith and then coming to church once in a blue moon. But it’s a life that is patterned after Christ and the apostles. Walking in the footsteps of Jesus is discipleship. When you are walking in the footsteps of Jesus in your day to day life, then you will be preserved from the perilous times which are coming upon the church in the last days.

The apostle Peter said in 1Peter 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” That’s our purpose, to follow in the steps of Christ, doing what He did, living as He lived, even to the point of suffering as He suffered for the sake of the gospel. You might not be called upon to suffer on a cross, but you are told to take up your cross and follow Christ. That means dying to self, dying to self gratification, and living for the Lord.

Paul says that suffering is a part of discipleship, in vs. 12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” That’s a sobering statement. All who follow Christ, all who desire to live godly lives, will be persecuted. Not maybe will be, but will be. Persecution may not always be physical, but it will come in attacks from the enemy, ridicule from the world, difficulty in the work environment and antagonism from your own family. I will tell you something that wasn’t true 50 years ago. And that is that there are very few occupations that you can be involved in today in this culture that are not in some way or another hostile to Christianity. You’re probably going to have to make a decision in your job in some way, some day soon, where you will be forced to cave into the demands of the culture, or stand up for your convictions and your faith and bear the consequences of possibly being censured, or forced to take sensitivity training, or even fired for your faith. But that day is already here for many careers and occupations. The same is true for colleges and universities. They are hostile to Christianity. If you are a Christian in a secular college today you will either have to cave in to the pressure, or risk being ostracized and perhaps cancelled because of your faith. I hope that when that day comes, you will not waver in your faith.

So discipleship is the first way to survive in perilous times. The second principle is to walk in the truth. Paul speaks of walking in the truth as continuing. To be a disciple, to be follower, means to continue to follow, to continue to walk in the truth. He says in vs 14 “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned [them,] and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

This continuing in the apostle’s doctrine is the emphasis that Paul is making as a strategy for survival. The life of the disciple is not start and stop, take a break for a while. The life of a disciple is continuing to follow, continuing to fellowship, continuing to learn. The preaching of the word is one of the primary ways in which we learn the truth, and then we continue to apply ourselves to that truth. Timothy knew that apostle intimately. He knew that he could trust his word, trust his message as the truth of God. It was the same truth that his mother Lois and grandmother Eunice had taught him.

You know the truth of God is self validating. As you learn the truth, and apply the truth, it becomes more and more evident that it is the truth. When you first come to Christ and you are converted, the Bible is something which you have to believe by faith. There isn’t a lot of support from the world that the Bible is God’s word, that it is truth. But as you believe it by faith, and start to apply it to your life, the truth is manifested as being true in your life. That’s why Jesus said, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth of God’s word is believed by faith, but it is validated in application.

I believe that if you are going to be a disciple, then you are going to want to be in a Bible preaching church every time the door is open. You cannot walk in the truth, you will not continue in the truth, if you forsake the assembling of yourselves together. The word of God is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. And when you start skipping church, skipping Bible study, you’re going to find that you are going to be wandering and straying from the path of following Jesus. Your attendance to church is a like a spiritual thermometer that everyone can see. When you are absent more than present, its evident that your love for God has grown cold. When you are eager to hear the word, then its evident that your faith is hot.

Another important principle to notice here in this passage is one that parents should take note of. And that is Timothy was taught the Bible from childhood. The word Paul uses which is translated childhood literally means infancy. The sacred writings is a reference to the Old Testament. That was all that they had available at that time, for the most part. But his mother and grandmother instilled the scriptures into him from infancy, and throughout his childhood. The best insurance you have as a parent that your kids will turn out all right is to raise them in the church, and teach them the scriptures from a very young age.

I find it ironic that Christian parents seem to leave Christian education up to their child to decide if they want to participate. They don’t leave it up to the child to see if he wants to go to school, or to decide what he wants to eat, or whether or not to wash up and brush his teeth. But yet they leave the most important aspect of life, a person’s spiritual health, up to the child to decide if they want to come to church or not. No, start their education as an infant and continue with it until they reach the age where they no longer are under your roof.

Notice Paul said the scriptures were able to give Timothy the wisdom that lead to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Faith is founded upon truth, it’s founded upon the scripture, it’s founded upon the promises of God. Faith is not a feeling, it’s not conjuring up some emotion, faith is not imagining something really hard and trying to visualize it. Faith is believing what there may not seem to be any evidence for, but which you are convinced is true. And the word teaches that salvation is from the Lord Jesus Christ who died in your place, to take away your sins, and give you new life through Him.

So the other aspect of continuing in the truth is to walk according to the word of God. Paul gives a tremendous statement about the authorship and authority and sufficiency of the scriptures that everyone should take the time to study and even memorize as the definitive statement about the scripture.

He says in vs 16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” There are so many vital principles that are contained in this verse. But first of all notice that he establishes the authority of scripture. All scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, even though it was not all written at this time in history, all scripture, is inspired by God.

What does inspired mean? Literally, the word mean’s “God breathed.” That refers to the divine breath, the Spirit of God. The human authors were guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. I’m not going to try to take the time today to give an apologetic about the scriptures which we have in our Bibles. That is a study that would take far more time than what we have today. But I will emphasize what I said earlier, that the truth is self validating. God’s word attests to it’s own authenticity.

God used human authors to write the words that God breathed into their minds. The individuality of the human author is not override, but instead incorporates their own personality, their education, their style and language. Peter spoke of inspiration this way in 2 Peter 1:21 “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” God spoke through men by the Holy Spirit. That’s inspiration.

So all scripture is authored by the Holy Spirit, and it is authoritative because it is the word of God. God spoke as men were moved by the Holy Spirit. It’s God’s word, thus it is truth, it is reliable, it is authoritative. Jesus said in Matt. 4:4, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”

And all scripture is profitable. It is profitable to the disciple who submits to it’s teaching. The Bible is instructions from heaven to earth. It’s God’s instructions and principles which are given to man so that he might know how to live and how to live more abundantly. Timothy was able by the wisdom of the word to gain the knowledge of salvation. And so are we. The scriptures are God’s will for mankind revealed. It is the truth of God revealed to us so that we might walk in the light of God.

Paul says the scriptures are profitable for reproof. I said the other night when we were studying the Psalms, that though David asked that God would not rebuke him, he undoubtedly needed to be rebuked. The word of God rebukes us when we need to be rebuked. It corrects us, corrects our thinking, aligns our minds with God’s minds, our attitudes with God’s attitudes, our desires with God’s desires. To be reproofed is to be turned back from a false way.

And the word of God is profitable for training in righteousness. Training is an integral part of discipleship. That’s why we walk in the steps of Jesus, so that we might be trained how to walk. And in the same way, the word of God teaches us how to walk, how to we are to conduct ourselves, how to be godly, how to be righteous. When we read and study the word, it trains our minds which then trains our bodies. Psalm 119 says, “your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

Finally, the word of God is sufficient. Do you want to be a disciple? Do you want to follow the example of Christ and the apostles? The word of God is able to supply all that you need to know in order to be a disciple. Paul says the word is sufficient so that the man of God is adequate, and equipped for every good work. All the things we have been purposed to do, we are able to do as we walk according to the word of God. It’s able to strengthen our faith. It’s able to give us sufficient knowledge that we can share the gospel. It’s able to equip us with the tools we need to fight the good fight of faith in the midst of persecution and sufferings. It’s sufficient for everything that we need. It’s like a manual for discipleship which covers every thing that we need. It’s sufficient to help us survive in the perilous times that come upon the church, when false teachers prevail and the world ridicules and the enemy attacks.

When we read the gospels we see that Jesus Himself relied upon the scriptures, even quoting the scripture repeatedly to combat Satan’s attempts to tempt Him in the wilderness. The word of God was sufficient for Jesus, and it will be sufficient for us as we go through the perilous times of the last days which lie ahead. Paul gives us the certain hope that if we are disciples who continue in the sound doctrine and practice of our faith as exemplified by the apostles, as we walk according to the word of God, we will not be overcome by the world, or by the perilous times ahead, but that we will prevail by the power of the Spirit and the word of God.

Listen, the strategy for avoiding the pitfalls of the perilous times ahead is to draw near to God and He will draw near to you. As we stay close to the Lord and follow Him, stay in the word and submit to it’s teaching, then you will be preserved from the deception and destruction that comes in the last days.

As a surfer, I look forward to hurricane season with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. Hurricane season can bring epic waves to the East Coast, which are for the most part much better than the normal summer fare. But at the same time, those hurricanes are best enjoyed when they are hundreds of miles offshore. When they get close to land, or make landfall, they can be extremely dangerous. We are now in hurricane season, and the waves we have this morning are the result of Hurricane Earl which is churning away somewhere off the coast of Greenland this morning, after having moved up the US east coast over the last few days.

From a boating perspective, hurricane season is a perilous season. These powerful storms pose a serious threat to shipping and fishing vessels at sea. The apostle Paul was no stranger to severe storms while at sea. He said in 2 Cor. 11:25 that he was shipwrecked three times. One of those events we read about in Acts 27, where he and his shipmates were in the midst of a severe storm for 14 days and eventually had to abandon ship and swim ashore on an island. So Paul was very familiar with the season in which the storms were known to be severe on the sea. So here in 2 Timothy 3, it’s very interesting to note that Paul uses this expression of a perilous season in his letter to Timothy to describe what he calls the last days.

Notice vs 1, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.” That reads in the NASB a little more tame than how it was originally written. More literally, he means “perilous seasons.” It’s not the word “chronos” which indicates time, but “kairos” which indicates a season, a period of time. So during the last days, there will be periods or seasons which are particularly perilous, or even extremely perilous.

But the real difficulty in this verse is the phrase “in the last days.” Many people suppose that is a reference to the time directly before the second coming of Christ. But if you study the scriptures to see how this phrase is used in other places, it becomes clear that it cannot mean that. If that were so, it would be pointless for Paul to tell Timothy to avoid these people who characterized the perilous season of the last days, when the second coming has not yet come some 2000 years later.

There are many other references in scripture where this phrase is used, but the most significant one might be found in Acts 2:17, when Peter quotes from Joel 2:28, where God says, “‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS, THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND.” Peter goes on to say that this prophecy was being fulfilled in that day, on the day of Pentecost. The best understanding then of the phrase the last days is to say that it is a time period that began at Christ’s first coming, and continues until His second coming. It is called by some the church age. And so as you consider the persecutions and afflictions of the church throughout the last 2000 years, it is evident that there have been perilous seasons which have come and gone. But these perilous seasons will become worse and worse as time goes on, culminating in a severe climax of wickedness in the last hours before Christ’s return.

Certainly, Paul and Timothy were living in a perilous season. They were experiencing persecutions and even executions for their faith. Paul would soon be martyred after writing this letter. In another couple of dozen years, Timothy would be stoned to death for his faith. I would suggest that we that are in the church are entering into a perilous season as well in our lifetimes, and possibly becoming even worse in our children’s lifetimes. When you look at the state of the world, t’s hard not to imagine that we are in the last hours of the last days, but it’s possible that our season will come and go and there may still be some time before Christ’s appearing. We do not know the day or the hour. But we know that perilous seasons will come as a result of ever increasing wickedness, until one day, God will say “Enough! It is time!” And Christ will come in the clouds with millions of His angels in power and in glory to execute God’s wrath and judgment upon the world.

It is the people of the earth who are living during these grievous seasons who are the cause of all the grief. Paul gives a long list of the characteristics of these sinful people. I’m reminded in Psalm 5:5 which we studied last Wednesday evening, that the Psalmist David said, “God hates those who do iniquity.” And he gives a description of boastful, proud, lying, deceiving people as examples of those that God hates. In Romans 1:28-31 there is another list which is very similar to the one here in 2 Timothy. It says in Rom 1:28-32 “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; [they are] gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

Now let’s read Paul’s list he gives here to Timothy and notice the similarities. Vs 2, “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

Now I don’t want to get bogged down in defining all of those types of sinful behaviors. I think that this list can be summarized as “lovers of self,” “lovers of money,” and “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” They have no spiritual quotient at all in their lives. They don’t love God, nor love his people. Though they may profess to do both, their actions betray them. And about these sort of people, Paul says “avoid such men as these.” It’s not just males, but females, all people who embody such characteristics, we are told to avoid. To turn away from. The point is, don’t fellowship with such people. Don’t hang out with such people. Don’t try to be friends with such people. Because their actions will rub off on you. They will influence you to follow them into wickedness, just as Eve influenced Adam to follow her into sin.

What becomes more apparent though as Paul continues in this letter, is that these people he is describing are not necessarily pagans, but people in the church. Particularly church leaders seem to be indicated here as a part of this group. The list we read in Romans was describing people who had rejected God wholeheartedly, they didn’t even try to pretend to be Christians. But these people Paul describes, though they have many of the same characteristics of the pagans, are actually according to vs 5, claiming a form of godliness, or you might say, claiming a form of religion. They claim to be godly, to be Christian, to be a part of the church.

Now when we understand that he is talking about so called Christians in the church, and we are to avoid such men as these, then that is a very shocking statement. Of course, we know that we are warned in scripture by the apostles and by Christ, that false teachers will come in to the church who are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing. We are warned that the false doctrines that they teach are actually the doctrines of demons. We are warned that they will lead many people astray, and destroy the faith of many. But it’s still shocking to realize that they are in the church, masquerading as Christians, and we are told to avoid fellowship with such people.

Jesus gave a parable about the wheat and the tares, which I’m sure you are all familiar with. There is a long time in the process of the planting and sowing and maturing of the wheat, when the tares look like the wheat. Jesus said the devil comes in the darkness and sows tares amongst the wheat. The only way to be sure which is which is to wait for the harvest, when the fruit will make it known which are tares and which are wheat. That’s a picture of the church, tares are sown amongst the wheat. And the fruit which shows the difference is either their righteous behavior or their wicked behavior. That’s why Paul gives us this list of the behavior of these people. Their actions show that they are not converted. They may hold to a form of religion but their actions show that they are unregenerate.

Now those false teachers, Paul says, in particular take advantage of those in the church who are weak. Vs6 “For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

A lot of people see some sort of male chauvinistic bent that they think Paul has against women in this statement. So it’s tempting to try to mitigate the effect of Paul’s words here which on the surface seem to be an indictment against women. But actually, I don’t think that Paul was a male chauvinist at all. I think he writes by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So either you are going to believe that the Holy Spirit is a male chauvinist, or you don’t believe that the scriptures are inspired.

The best way to understand it, is to realize that in the church in Paul’s day, and in the church in our day, there were some women who are gullible, who were vulnerable to deceiving spirits, who are weighed down by sins that they have not repented of, nor have they been delivered from. And these false prophets, these wolves in sheep’s clothing have targeted these women. It’s like the way a wolf works in the wild. They go after the weaker sheep, the straying sheep, the ones that have wandered from the herd. Those are the targets of the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

And I would suggest that Paul’s indictment is not so much against the women, even though they are burdened with sins. His indictment is directed towards the false prophets who prey on these gullible women. These women who are looking for spiritual validation without repentance are easy prey for these false prophets. These women are not led by the Spirit, they are led by their impulses and they are taken captive by these false doctrines that promise spiritual validation, but actually produce more ungodliness and are held captive by the false doctrines. As a result, Paul says these women are always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now that is not an indictment against all women. There are women who are strong in the faith, who are knowledgeable of the scriptures. In a previous passage, Paul praises Timothy’s mother and grandmother who raised Timothy in the scriptures and imparted to him the knowledge which leads to salvation. So in the church are many women who live chaste and holy lives. Women that are examples to the younger women. But there are some weak women who are especially vulnerable to the false teachers. These women were home when their husbands were working, and the false teachers knowing they were vulnerable, preyed upon them and targeted them.

I think we see that happen today a lot of times by the use of television. There are some people who mean well, who have good intentions perhaps, who go to some of these so called Christian television broadcasting stations, and they listen to false prophets who tell them what they want to hear. They tell them that they don’t need to repent of sin. I could name names this morning, but I don’t want to give these false prophets any more notoriety than they already have. But I warn you that a lot of the characters who are televised on these Christian TV stations are wolves in sheep’s clothing, that come right into the homes of the unsuspecting and take them captive by deceit. And of course, they try to take their money as well, to fund their lavish lifestyles and private planes and luxury homes. A more primitive version of that was happening in Paul’s day. But it’s still happening in our day and it’s perhaps more prevalent than we realize.

To further describe and warn against these false teachers in the church, Paul gives an historical illustration. He says in vs8 “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these [men] also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.”

The first question we must ask of course, is who is Jannes and Jambres? Well, this is the only place in scripture that they are mentioned by name. But whoever they were they opposed Moses. The answer is found in Jewish rabbinical tradition, which Paul and presumably Timothy were familiar with. That tradition states that Jannes and Jambres were the magicians of special arts who were called up by Pharaoh to counter the miracles that Moses did. When Moses turned the staff into a snake, Jannes and Jambres turned their staffs into snakes. Moses snake ate their snake, but still, they performed mighty miracles by some power other than the power of God. And they were able to duplicate to some degree most of the miracles that Moses did.

Now that is a significant characteristic that Paul is pointing out about these false prophets. Some of them may possess miraculous powers. I believe that a lot of the so called miracles that are being done today in the church at large are not true miracles at all. I know of one such false prophet in particular who admitted that he studied and practiced hypnosis before he supposedly became a Christian. I think a lot of these faith healers are practicing something like that. They seem to always heal a disease that can’t really be quantified by actually seeing the problem. Something a like a pain in someone’s back, or headaches or something that they are supposedly healed from, whereas the poor paralyzed guy in the wheelchair usually leaves the service still in the wheelchair. Those types of false prophets are just charlatans, snake handlers, what I call fake healers.

But what Paul indicates is that some false prophets do possess some spiritual powers. But the spirit that they are of is not of God. It’s demonic. I think there are some preachers or evangelists active today that may fit that category as well. But most of them I think are charlatans. It’s mostly smoke and mirrors, the power of suggestion, perhaps hypnosis. But there are deceiving spirits in the church, and we are told in John to test the spirits. 1John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” That’s why we need the gift of discernment. To distinguish between truth and error. The point that should be clear though, is just because there is some seeming miracle, some power demonstrated in the church, that is not a reason to believe that they are of God. Don’t be deceived by demonstrations of some spiritual power into believing or accepting false teachers who actually oppose the truth.

Paul says, just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regards to the faith. The bottom line, that means these men are not saved. They have a form of religion but they denied the power thereof. They have depraved minds, that means they are unconverted. Oh, they seem to have a power, they claim it’s power from God, but their power is not from God, its’ demonic. Listen, demonic power is real. Demons can make a man superhumanly powerful. Demons can cause physical things to do things that are unnatural. But greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.

What is important to take away from this is that we are warned that these demonically powered false prophets are in the church, taking captive people who are easily duped, who are gullible, who are living in sin and looking for an answer that doesn’t require repentance from sin. And we are told to avoid such people. To recognize that they are not teachers of the truth of the gospel, but are actually opposed to the truth. And we must practice discernment to know the difference.

But though Jannes and Jambres at first were able to match Moses miracle for miracle, there came a point when their limit was reached and they were not able to duplicate Moses’ miracles. At that point they had to reluctantly concede that what Moses had done was the power of God. In the same way Paul says the false prophets of his day will fall short and be revealed for who they are. We can assume that the same will be true today about the false prophets that we see on television and so forth. One day their true nature will be revealed and they will be put to shame. That revelation may come in their lifetime, and from time to time we hear about some famous televangelist who comes to public shame because their depravity becomes known. But if not in their lifetime, it will certainly come on the last day, at the judgment seat of Christ, when Jesus said “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (Matt. 7:22,23)

There is the message of great hope in the midst of this great deception that is perpetrated on the church — the spirit of the false prophet will not prevail against the truth of Jesus Christ. The spirit of the last days to deceive is not stronger than the power of Jesus to save. The tremendous truth is that we don’t have to be held captive by the spirit of the world; but by the truth of the gospel we can be set free from the captivity of sin and the condemnation of death and receive life from the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the previous section which we looked at last week, Paul said in his admonition to Timothy that he was to be like a strong warrior, that he should be unafraid of making the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the gospel. As a warrior for the kingdom of God, he should not shrink back from affliction, persecution or even death, because of the eternal glory that awaited him.

Today in this next passage, Paul changes analogies, saying that Timothy needed to be a workman that was not ashamed. And he uses yet another analogy, he was to be a useful vessel as opposed to a worthless vessel.

Paul is writing to Timothy, who was a sort of assistant apostle to the apostle Paul, and Timothy was to teach these principles to the local pastors of Ephesus and the surrounding region. But though it is written to pastors, it is by extension, given as well to the congregation. Because whatever standard the Lord sets for the pastor is given so that the pastor can be an example to the flock. Paul said to Timothy, “Be an example to the believers in word and conduct.” The apostle Paul said concerning himself that, “You are to follow me as I follow Christ.” So, when we talk about the standard that God has established for the pastor, we should understand that he should be the example for all the church to follow.

In this passage, Paul talks about a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed. That’s in contrast to other church leaders such as Hymenaeus and Philetus who will be ashamed when they face the judgment. And notice in verse 14 you see the word “useless.” And in verse 21 you see the word “useful.” There’s a contrast in this text about being useless or being useful as a good faithful workman, or one that is shameful. Anyone who serves the Lord Jesus Christ I think would desire to be useful, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed.

What does it mean to be useful? Verse 21 says, “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master prepared for every good work. The word “vessel” is a household container. It refers to a pot, or a cup, a serving dish, a serving bowl. The master of the house has certain vessels that are honorable. On the other hand, there are some other vessels. They are dishonorable. Verse 20 says, “In a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.”

Paul is giving us a picture, I believe of the church. And the Master here, in this large house, which is the church, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And within the church there are contrasting vessels that serve the congregation. Some of them are honorable. They are made of precious metals; they’re clean; they’re useful for every purpose.

There are others that would never be for proper food service, that are not for any clean usage. The honorable vessels are made of gold and silver. The dishonorable vessels are made of wood and earthenware, pottery. The contrast is deliberately extreme; the honorable vessels in the house were what you served the food on, and the dishonorable vessels are what you took the waste out in.

What does it mean to be a useful vessel? What is it to be a gold and silver serving dish, to serve people the bread of life? Well, if you go back to verse 21, it says there are three things that describe the useful vessel. First of all, it is sanctified. Secondly, the Master employs it for His good purposes. And thirdly, it is prepared for good works.

Now let’s go back to verse 20 and look at the analogy. A large house – this pictures the church. There are valuable, honorable vessels that are used to serve the food, but there are also the vessels which have become corrupted and are only good for common use. That this house is the church can be drawn from verse 19, where it says, “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands.” Most all commentators think that phrase “the firm foundation of God” refers to the church. In 1 Tim.3:15 the church is called by Paul the pillar and foundation of the truth.

So, Paul gives here seven characteristics of an honorable vessel, or of an unashamed workman. And this is what we should all desire to be; unashamed, a vessel for honor, which is useful to the Lord. So seven characteristics are given here. The first one will take longer to get through, but the rest will go pretty quickly.

Number one thing that is necessary to being an unashamed workman, or honorable vessel is Biblical fidelity. Back in verse 14 we read this, “Remind them of these things” – things concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ – “and solemnly charge them in the presence of God.”

“Solemnly charge them in the presence of God” – that is to say you have an accountability to God; you are visible to God. It should be a sobering thing to realize God is watching you. And what is the charge? In chapter 4 vs 2, he states that charge to pastors in a positive sense, to preach the word of God, the truth of God. Paul charges them in the negative sense here, “Not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.” The word “ruin,” by the way, here is the Greek word katastrophē. It is catastrophic; it is devastating; it is destructive.

What does it mean wrangling about words? To wrangle is to wrestle, it’s an argument on the strength of human wisdom, philosophy, human reason from the viewpoint of the world. The argument of the church which uses the reasoning of the world has an outcome which is always catastrophic. In contrast to that, Paul says you should accurately handle the word of truth.

Verse 15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” Forget about wrangling with words of human wisdom. Instead accurately handle the Word of Truth. Paul says “Be diligent” – spoudazō in the Greek – it means to give maximum effort. The King James said, “Study to show yourself approved”. That may not be the best translation, but I do think it is applicable because if you’re going to handle accurately the word of God you must be careful to study the word. To compare scripture with scripture. To meditate on the word. We are instructed in the scriptures to meditate on the word. Paul said back in verse 7, “Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” Think on the word, meditate on it so that we interpret it and apply it correctly.

The idea presented here is not just to be a student, but to apply what you have learned and become expert in it. It’s a picture of a master workman who has perfected his craft. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed.”

Be diligent to perfect your workmanship. What is the work? It is accurately handling the Word of truth.For a pastor especially your craft is expounding the word of God. It’s understanding correctly what the Holy Spirit is indicating in His word. You know, the idea that some pastors seem to have is that they can improve upon the gospel. Really, that must be what they think because they use the word hardly at all, or at the best, they use it as a springboard to go off down some rabbit trail of their own making. But the word of God is what is powerful. The truth of God’s word is what is able to pierce the heart.

Heb 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” To borrow a phrase from Shakespeare, man’s words are “much ado about nothing.” But the word of God is able to convict, to cleanse, and to give the knowledge that leads to salvation. And so the pastor should be diligent in his study and faithful in his use of the word of God if he is to be effective and be approved by God.

You know, my goal is not to win your approval with my witticisms and articulation and oratory skills. I gave up trying to be an entertainer years ago, realizing that not only was it beyond my ability, but it was not a worthwhile goal. My goal is to win the approval of the Lord God as a faithful messenger of what He has already said in His word.

And so Paul repeats that idea verse 16 again, because we need to hear it again. “But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it leads to further ungodliness, and that kind of talk spreads like gangrene.” Worldly wisdom, twisting doctrine to be acceptable to the world, using philosophy to try to minister instead of the truth of God only leads to further ungodliness. That kind of talk, that kind of sermon, doesn’t produce sanctification, it doesn’t produce more Christlikeness in the hearer, it produces more worldliness. Worldliness is the opposite of godliness. If you preach the philosophy, the reasoning of the world, then don’t be surprised to find it produces more worldliness. It cannot produce godliness. You must teach the word of God if you expect the outcome to be godliness. If you teach the world’s doctrines, then ungodliness spreads like gangrene. In other words, it corrupts more and more until it destroys the whole body.

Paul then gives a human illustration of this type of worldly preaching, “Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus” – these were two pastors who had turned from faithfully preaching the word, and had developed a dialogue with the world, they bought into the lies of Satan. They went so far astray from the truth, that they were saying that the resurrection had already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. We’re not sure what that false doctrine entailed, but it was probably a spiritualization of the resurrection, no longer believing in a bodily resurrection. The result though was catastrophic, it upset, or better overthrew, or destroyed the faith of some of the church.

This kind of false wisdom is the opposite of the true ministers of Christ. Because verse 19 says, “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” So the firm foundation is the church, and God knows those who are truly His church, because they abstain from wickedness. This idea Paul is speaking of is borrowed from Numbers 16, which is about Korah’s rebellion and God’s judgment. Back in Numbers 16, judgment from God fell on those men who had rebelled against Moses’ leadership. And God’s judgment will again fall on those who rebel against His word. But God knows those who are true, faithful workmen. God knows His true and faithful ministers because they are faithful to the word, and it’s evident because they abstain from wickedness. Good behavior is always the product of good theology, but wickedness is the product of worldly philosophy masquerading as theology.

So, the call to be a vessel unto honor – useful to the Master, prepared for every good work, a workman that is unashamed – is then a call to biblical truth. And right alongside that, number two, it is a call to a pure fellowship. Verse 21 “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”

The things he should cleanse himself from are the dishonorable things, the common things, the unholy things, the world’s philosophy, the carnal knowledge that spreads like gangrene and causes the faith of men and women to be destroyed. In the rebellion of Korah the Lord told the Israelites to separate themselves from the wicked lest they too be destroyed. Look back at vs 20, “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.” So there is pure fellowship which is honorable, godly, and useful for every good work. And there is dishonorable fellowship, which is hallmarked by ungodliness and false doctrine. And they are both found in the church at large.

Jesus gave a parable about a mustard bush which is often misinterpreted, in my opinion. In Mat 13:31-32 it says Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all [other] seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.”

The problem with most interpretations is that they confuse two different sayings about mustard seeds. In one, Jesus compares faith to the size of a mustard seed. But in this case, Jesus teaches that this mustard seed grows into something abnormal. It should produce a bush, but it produces a tree which is bigger than all the other plants, so that the birds come and nest in it’s branches. In a previous parable about the sower, Jesus likened the birds of the air to the devil and his angels. So if we are to understand this correctly, it would seem that Jesus was saying the church universal was going to grow, but the growth was going to be abnormally large and would actually give refuge to the devil and his angels, which are the ministers of false doctrine.

I think that ties in with what Paul is saying here. In a large house, God’s church, there are honorable and dishonorable vessels. The dishonorable vessels are those pastors, those teachers that have adulterated or even abandoned the truth of God’s word for the sake of the world’s acceptance and approval. But they are not approved by God. Some of you folks visiting here today are perhaps attending churches back home that have abandoned the truth of God’s word. The pastor is teaching an adulterated version of the gospel which has been sanctified by the culture of the world, rather than sanctified by the Word of God. You do not know what spirit you are partaking of. I would suggest that unless you want to become corrupted like them, and be cut off, then you get out of those churches, stop supporting those churches for the sake of fellowship with the world, and find a church where you can have pure fellowship in the truth.

The third thing Paul says is this, “If you want to be a useful vessel, if you want to be an honorable vessel, you must have not only a biblical fidelity and pure fellowship, but thirdly, a clean heart. Verse 22, “Now flee from youthful lusts.” That’s the negative. The positive is, “Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

Youthful lusts are not the sole property of the youth. Old people can have youthful lusts as well. Older people are just people that haven’t learned lessons that they should have learned in their youth. Lusts include all the things of this world that are in opposition to the truth of God. The desire for physical gratification, or sexual gratification, or financial gratification that the devil tells you can be found outside of the bounds that God has established for them. God gave us sex, He gives man the ability to make money, He blesses the work of our hands, He gives us things which we can enjoy. But to lust is to want more than what God has given, and use ungodly means to get such things.

Paul says run from such things. These lusts of the world are so destructive, we should run from them, the way Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife. Don’t dare try to have God and have the world as well. Run away from the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the world. But there are things we should run to, and that is righteousness, faith, love and peace. If we pursue those things, we will have a pure heart, a clean heart.

He says we should pursue righteousness. That means doing right according to God’s standards. Righteousness means living in harmony with God’s Law, living in obedience to His Word. The second thing we pursue is faith. Faith is trusting that God’s way is best. It’s being faithful to God. It’s being a faithful steward of what God has entrusted you with. The third thing to pursue is love, a sacrificial love for others. 1 Cor. 13 says “Love is patient, love is kind [and] is not jealous; love does not brag [and] is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong [suffered,] does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” That’s agape love. Peace means that they have made peace with God and man. They are no longer rebellious, no longer enemies of God.

And notice what he says at the end of the verse, “With all those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” That’s speaking of salvation. To call upon the Lord is to call upon Him for forgiveness, for life, for mercy, for grace, for His Spirit. David called upon the Lord in Psalm 51: “Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” Those who have called on Him pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.

Number four, if you would be an unashamed workman, a vessel fit for the Master’s use, you must have a discerning mind. And here he comes right back to the same issue again, verse 23, “Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.” Foolish and ignorant speculations is a description of the wisdom of the world.

1Co 1:21, 25 says “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not [come to] know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. … 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” The foolish and ignorant speculations of false teaching, and worldly wisdom cannot produce godliness or a pure heart, but it will produce quarreling, squabbling, an impure heart, a deceived mind. Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit. That is the job of the Holy Spirit, to give us discernment to distinguish between truth and error. So we should pray for discernment that we may not be deceived as we study the word and fellowship in the church.

Number five, if you want to be a useful vessel, honorable, you must be characterized by a manner that is not combative or argumentative. Vs 24, ““The Lord’s bond servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged.” Foolish and ignorant speculations produce quarrels, arguments, contention. But the useful vessel, the unashamed workman must not be quarrelsome. I don’t preach the word of God to try to cause dissension or an argument, or to try to pick a fight with people. I preach the word of God to take fighting off the table. I am not the one saying a certain thing is a sin, or that we should run from certain things, or avoid certain types of people. If the Bible says it, then the Lord is saying it. Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger. I’m going to say what God says. I’m not making this up on my own. If you don’t like the message, your complaint shouldn’t be with me, it’s with God.

Number six is a humble spirit. Vs 25 says “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.” The Biblical definition of gentleness is not weakness, but meekness. Meekness is power under control. It was a word used in talking about training horses. The tremendous power of the horse that is under the control of it’s rider is said to be gentled. So it should be with us. Our message should be under the control of the Lord and given in the spirit of humility.

Humility is essential to have as you try to correct those that are in opposition to the truth. We don’t have some air of supereriority as if we earned our salvation through our piety or by our works. We are sinners saved by grace, by God’s mercy. That understanding is the basis for our humility in dealing with those who are not saved. But for the grace of God, there would I be. That’s an attitude of humility, having the heart of a servant, being concerned for other’s needs.

And then finally, number seven, seems almost counterintuitive. if you want to be a vessel unto honor, you must have a confrontive will. If you go back to verse 25, “With humility correcting those who are in opposition” – you’ve got to be willing to correct. Go over to chapter 4, verse 2, he says it again, “Reprove, rebuke, exhort.” First Timothy 3 says that the Word give by inspiration of God is profitable for instruction and correction.

Being humble, being gentle, being loving, doesn’t mean that you don’t tell the truth in regards to sin and rebellion against God. But rather we speak the truth in love. If we didn’t love you, we wouldn’t tell you the truth about sin and the wrath of God against sin. But because we love you, we must tell you the truth. But thank God the truth is an antidote to sin. The truth of the gospel is that the righteousness that is required comes through faith in Christ Jesus as a gift of God to the person who recognizes their need of it, who recognizes that they are lost, they are a sinner without hope. To that one who looks to Christ, God gives the gift of righteousness.

But it could also be applied to a believer who has fallen into some false doctrine, or some sin, and needs to be confronted with the truth so that by that truth he can come back to his senses, escape the snare of the Devil where he’s been held captive. But it doesn’t happen without confrontation.

By the way, verse 26, it says, “May come to their senses.” He uses a verb ananēphō which means to return from drunkenness, to sober up. It’s used only here in the New Testament. There’s all kinds of lies floating out around there, the lies of Satan filtered into Christianity by the dialogue that the church always wants to have with the culture. These false teachers numb the conscience, deceive the mind, paralyze the will, and cause some believers to fall into a spiritual drunkenness from which they need to be delivered because it is a snare of the Devil. And the devil tries to hold them captive, as long as he can, and render them useless. So, we need to deliver them by a confrontive will. So we are to be compassionate, a loving, and humble, yes, but we don’t back off when it comes to truth.

So you want to be an honorable vessel, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, you want to be a useful servant to the Lord? Then you need Biblical fidelity, you need pure fellowship, a clean heart, a discerning mind, a gentle manner, a humble spirit, and a confrontive will. I pray that’s your desire and the desire of all who truly know the Lord and are called to His service.

I have read many commentaries, and listened to very many sermons by preachers who for the most part I admire, who seem to deride Timothy as a weak man, a timid man, a fearful man.  And they say such things with such certainty and conviction, that I suppose I have been prone to almost believe them.  I say almost, because I don’t really believe them.  They say that poor Timmy was young and timid and being fearful and shy had caused him to have poor digestion and a continually upset stomach.

I said in our previous study I am not going to be surprised to find out when we get to heaven that Timothy was none of those things.  First of all, he wasn’t some timid teenager at the time of this writing.  Most Bible scholars agree that Timothy was about 32 years of age when Paul wrote this letter.  About the same age Jesus was at the height of His ministry.

If I had to paint a picture of Timothy, I would probably paint a picture of a big strapping, burly looking fellow with a long full  red beard, and very muscular.  He was probably very athletic, because Paul constantly uses metaphors of athletes and boxers and wrestlers and soldiers and farmers as the means by which to illustrate Biblical truths to him.  And I’m sure it was because those were the types of men that Timothy probably could identify with.

What these uber critical Bible teachers and preachers are missing here is the fact that Timothy was in a fight for his life.  He was in a fight for the extinction of the gospel.  Paul, his mentor and spiritual father, his erstwhile traveling companion whom he had traveled in dangerous conditions with all over the Roman Empire, was in prison again, rotting in a Roman dungeon awaiting his execution. And Timothy knew that the same fate more than likely awaited him.  I don’t think Timothy was scared to die, he might have been more inclined to take up arms and fight his way out of the persecution that had arisen against Christians. But Paul is writing to tell him not to fight with sword and spear, but to fight with spiritual means, and be wiling to suffer and even die for the gospel, which though it might appear to be defeat to the world will actually accomplish greater progress for the kingdom of God.

 I have to admit I get a little miffed at these preachers and commentators, even though I admire most of them on a certain  level.  But I’m a little irritated because they speak condescendingly about Timothy as some sort of sissy, as they write from the air conditioned comfort of their office in their multimillion dollar church building, sitting at their leather executive chair – arm chair warriors for Christ as they sip their Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte with their little pinkie sticking out.  And yet they have the nerve to denigrate someone like Timothy as being so timid and fearful that he gets an upset stomach. Meanwhile, you have to wonder how much suffering they have done lately for the gospel in comparison.

So Paul is not writing to a weakling, timid Timothy who needs to man up and stop sucking his thumb.  No!  Paul is writing to a hero of the faith, a man who had probably already risked his life more times than we can imagine. Most of the trials that Paul lists in 2 Corinthians could also be attributed to Timothy.  In 2 Corinithians Paul gives greetings from himself and Timothy in the introduction.  So we can assume that Timothy was with Paul for a lot of the trials listed in chapter 11:25-28 where Paul says, “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;  on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”  

Those are the sort of things Timothy had experienced as well as he traveled with Paul on his missionary journeys.  So Timothy was no timid weakling. He was a warrior for the kingdom of God in every since of the word.  But what Paul is now counseling him about is that he should not fear dying for the gospel.  Timothy would in fact one day die as a martyr.  But until that day came, he should be confident that his life is hid in Christ, and the Lord was his defender and shield. 

I’ve often said, that there is no safer place than to be in the center of God’s will.  And there is no more dangerous place than to be out of God’s will. If you are a man or woman of God and you are living for the Lord and working for His kingdom, then you are bulletproof until the day you finish the job which God has called you to do.  When he is finished with you, then he may take your life, but until He decides to do so, nothing can hurt you. And what Timothy needs to be reminded of is that losing his life is part of the plan. But it’s not defeat, it’s victory.

So then Paul encourages Timothy to not fear what man can do, not fear what Satan might do, but bravely fight the good fight until death. The kind of courage that Paul is speaking of reminds me of the type of courage that was the hallmark of a Cheyenne military society that was in existence in the mid nineteenth century.  This particular military society was known as the Dog Soldiers.  In battle, these warriors would dismount and stake themselves to the ground by means of a sash tied around their body.  And from that position, which they were unable to leave, they would fight to either their death or victory. But whether or not they survived the battle was not really their goal, they were more concerned with whether or not they fought a good fight, fought with courage.

To encourage Timothy then in this fight to the death, Paul tells him to remember Jesus. Vs8, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel.”Now how’s that for a battle cry?  Back in the days after the fall of the Alamo, where every man defending that fort died in battle, the Texans used it as a battle cry in their fight with Mexico.  Their battle cry which roused Texans to victory was “remember the Alamo!”  

Paul says, “remember Jesus!” That battle cry should stir our heart as well.  There are some important doctrinal truths that we should understand are enshrined in that cry.  First he says Remember Jesus Christ. That’s not to say that Timothy was in danger of forgetting about Jesus. By no means.  But rather to keep certain characteristics of Jesus foremost in his mind, as an example, which Timothy is to follow.

Notice he says remember Jesus Christ, that’s Jesus the Messiah.  Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One from God, the One promised in the OT who would crush Satan’s head, who would rule with a rod of iron, who would defeat all His enemies.

Secondly, he says “risen from the dead.” That fact should give great comfort and courage to Timothy, that as Christ rose from the dead, so we will be raised from the dead. 1Cor. 15:20-23 “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.  For since by a man [came] death, by a man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.” So first of all Jesus submitted Himself to death on a cross,  and then as Christ was raised from the dead, so we will be raised.

But I would like to explain that this verse is saying the body will be raised.  In the interim between death, or what is referred to as sleep for the Christian, the spirit of the man in Christ is alive. Jesus told the story of Lazarus and the rich man and they were taken to Paradise and Hades respectfully to await the resurrection. But they were alive in the interim.  Peter spoke of that interim stage in regards to Christ saying in 1Peter 3:18-19 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, [the] just for [the] unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits [now] in prison.” So as Christ was alive in the Spirit in death, so are we that believe in Him.

You know, there is no more fierce warrior than the one who does not fear death. For those who would believe in Him, Jesus said, “He who lives and believes in Me will never die.  Do you believe this?”  I ask you today two questions.  Do you believe in Christ? And secondly, do you believe that you will never die?  Or do you live in constant fear of death? I suggest to you that if you truly believed you will never die, then you would live differently than you do. Though this body may pass away, our soul and spirit will live forever. Those who have been born again in their spirit receive the life of Christ, which is eternal life, that they might never die and not fear death.

The next characteristic of Christ that Timothy should remember is that He is “the descendent of David.” At first that may seem a little out of place.  But this fact that Jesus is the descendent of David teaches us a couple of important doctrines.  First, it is a reference to the fact that Jesus was not some mythical figure, but an actual man, a descendant of the royal line of David. But being a descendant of David is necessary if He is the Messiah, the Anointed One from God, the One who will rule over the earth with a rod of iron. It means He is fully man and fully God.

But I think even more to Paul’s point is the inference that as King David was the representative of Israel so Jesus is the representative of the church.  What great feat was David known for?  Everyone knows that David killed Goliath the giant. What we need to understand from that is that David was a type of Jesus Christ.  When Goliath issued his challenge, it was that one man from each nation would come out and engage in battle, and the victor from that fight would win the battle for the nation.  David slew Goliath and in effect won the victory for his nation  over the Philistines.

So when we consider that Christ is the descendent of David, we should understand that He is our representative, who fought the battle against sin, and the world and death and Hades, and He defeated all his foes.  His resurrection was proof that He had overcome the devil and the world, and taken the keys of death and Hell. And in turn, our victory over sin and death was accomplished through Him.  Once again, Timothy might draw courage from remembering the battle which Jesus accomplished through His death, and that He arose from the grave victorious.

Now that is the gospel, the good news.  That Jesus Christ our substitute, paid our penalty for sin by His death on the cross, and by His stripes we are healed, by His death we are given life.  Timothy should be emboldened to give up his life if necessary for that same gospel, that others might be saved from death and given life.

Paul says in vs 9, that because of that gospel, he too is suffering.  He says, “for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal.”  Jesus was tried as a criminal.  And Paul was suffering as a criminal. Timothy would perhaps suffer as a criminal. I think the day is coming, when Christians here in America will suffer as a criminal.  If you believe and proclaim the true gospel of Jesus Christ, it will be considered hate speech.  It already is being outlawed on social media.  And I can imagine that in the not too distant future it won’t be that inconceivable that you can be arrested for speaking the truth of God’s word.

But though Paul, or Timothy or one day even we might be arrested and held in prison for the gospel, Paul says that the gospel is not imprisoned.  Vs 9, “but the word of God is not imprisoned.”  At that very moment, Paul was in prison writing the word of God in the letter to Timothy.  That letter was delivered to Timothy, and read in the churches, and it continues to be proclaimed to this day, 2000 years later.

Satan’s attempts to silence the gospel, to destroy the word of God have never been successful, and they never will be successful. As 1 Peter 1:25 states, “the word of Lord endures forever.” Martin Luther wrote a hymn of which the last stanza says, “The Word of God will never yield, to any creature living, He stands with us upon the field, His grace and Spirit giving.  Take they child and wife, goods, name, fame and life, though all this be done, yet have they nothing won, the kingdom still remaineth.” They burned at the stake William Tyndale for translating the Bible into English, and yet the torch that man lit by his sacrifice has become a fire that has engulfed the entire world. The gospel is not imprisoned.

This triumph of the gospel causes Paul to continue with these courageous words in vs 10 “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus [and] with [it] eternal glory.”  Since the gospel will triumph, Paul endures all trials and persecutions, even to death. Though he is on death row, he is confident of victory, and whatever sufferings he has to endure he knows are only temporary and cannot compare to the glory that awaits him.

His sufferings he endures for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also my obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it, eternal glory.”  Paul is willing to lay down his life for the sake of others, that they may be saved.  That is love.  We often wonder about how to understand the command that Jesus gave concerning our responsibility to love one another, even to love our enemies.  Jesus said “no greater love has any man but this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  That is love, to sacrifice your life so that others may live.  To disregard the desires and pleasures of life for yourself in order to share the gospel with others, so that they might be saved is the essence of fulfilling the command to love one another.

And that salvation produces what Paul refers to as eternal glory.  There is so much that could be said about that, but at the very least, it is a reference to eternal life.  Once again, Paul is emphasizing the eternal life that we have in Christ, as a reminder to Timothy to be courageous in the face of persecution and possible death.

A few moments ago I quoted part of a hymn that was written by Martin Luther.  I’ve often been tempted to learn how to play it on the guitar and then teach it to the church.  But it is not an easy hymn to play.  However, what it does well is teach sound doctrine.  That’s why we sing songs, not just to give praise to God as if God is just sitting in heaven wringing his hands, wishing we would praise Him.  We do praise Him in song, but just as importantly, we remind ourselves of the doctrines of our faith, and in song we confess our faith before men.  In past times, and I suppose even in the Armed Services today, there were battle songs that were sung to lift the men’s morale and encourage them in their duty.

Perhaps to achieve a similar result is why we sing Christian songs today. Or at least, it should be the reason we sing.  Hymns are a way to teach doctrine, and to assure our hearts of certain truths, and the recitation of those truths should encourage and strengthen our faith, and give us courage to face the battle.  The Psalms which we read on Sunday morning, and which we are also studying at this time on Wednesday evenings are examples of what hymns should be.

So Paul quotes what many Bible scholars believe is a popular hymn of the early church as a means to remind Timothy of certain truths, and to strengthen his faith to endure the trials that he must go through. Some have even called it a martyrs hymn.  It’s probably not the entire hymn, but a portion of it.  That hymn then is found in vs11, “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;  If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;  If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

The phrase, “it is a trustworthy statement” may not be part of the hymn, but rather Paul is saying that this statement of the hymn is trustworthy, or reliable. He says it is trustworthy. Trust is a significant thing.  If you trust someone, or something, then you are willing to bet your life on it.  And I think that is what Paul is indicating here.  That here are some truths that you can bank on, that you can trust with your life.

The first line is “For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him.”  This is the underlying theme of the whole passage; this idea of facing death without fear, knowing that the life we have with the Lord is eternal, it will never die.

But it has an even deeper meaning than that. It also is talking about our salvation.  If we died with Christ, speaks of when He as our representative man died in our place, we that trust in Him for salvation also died with Him.  We died to the old man, and we are raised up spiritually to live for  Him.  We see that illustrated in baptism.  I often say when I dip the person under the water, “buried with Christ in the likeness of His death,” and then when I raise them up from the water, I say “raised with Him in the likeness of His resurrection.”  That’s a picture of what happens when we are saved.  We die with Christ to sin, die to the old man, and are raised with him in newness of life in the likeness of His resurrection.

Rom 6:4-11 says, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with [Him] in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be [in the likeness] of His resurrection,  knowing this, that our old self was crucified with [Him,] in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;  for he who has died is freed from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,  knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

That statement then should give Timothy and us the courage to face death.  But it also gives us the assurance that we have the power over sin, and the power to live the life that we have been given in Christ. 

The next statement is “if we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” If we endure the trials here on earth in the flesh, if we endure persecutions and afflictions, even if necessary unto death, then we will receive a reward in heaven.  We who are servants here will be kings with Him there.  I don’t know exactly how we will reign, or over whom we will reign, but we shall receive a crown, an inheritance, which the Lord compares with reigning as kings.  Peter calls it a royal priesthood. One thing is for sure, the promise is trustworthy that if we endure trials here on earth for the kingdom of God, then we will reign with Christ when His kingdom is consummated.

The third stanza says, “I we deny Him, He will also deny us.” How do we deny Christ? The foremost reason would be they deny Jesus the rightful place as Lord of their lives.  They deny that He is the Savior of the world, the Messiah sent from God.  They deny that He is God incarnate, and that He died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead and now sits at the Father’s right hand.  They deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  The cry of the Israelites at His first coming was, “we will not have this man rule over us.”  That is to deny Christ.  Jesus said it plainly: “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33). There is a fate worse than earthly persecution.  And that is to find yourself at the judgment seat of God, and Jesus says, “depart from Me, I never knew you.”

The last stanza says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” 

If we are faithless… what does that mean?  I don’t know that it speaks of a lack of faith, because no man can be saved without faith in Christ.  It may refer to the temporary lack of faith in the face of persecution that Peter fell victim to when he denied the Lord.  Did Peter lose his salvation that night around the fire of the soldiers who had arrested Jesus?  He certainly denied knowing Jesus, and he cursed to add assurance to his claim.  

But I don’t think the Bible teaches that Peter lost his salvation.  I think it’s obvious that Peter was saved, and his conviction afterwards is evidence of that.  But what is important is that Christ did not prove faithless when Peter had a failing of faith.  Jesus prophesied in Luke 22:31-34 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded [permission] to sift you like wheat;  but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”  And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”  

We are told that after Peter’s denial, after Christ’s resurrection, the Lord sought out Peter and restored him, and gave him the ministry to feed His sheep, and tend His lambs.  The Lord is faithful. Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord understands our weaknesses.  He loves us with an everlasting love.  I think another illustration of the faithfulness of the Lord is the story of the prodigal son.  We all know the story.  A son told his father that he wanted his inheritance and his father gave it to him.  But the son went to a far away country and spent his money foolishly on wild living. But soon he found himself with no money left, and took a job tending pigs that he might eat the pods that were their food. At some point he came to his senses, and realized that even a hired servant fared better in his father’s house than he was doing.  And so he decided to come home and ask his father to make him as one of the hired servants.  But when he was still a long ways off from home, his father looked down the road and saw him walking a long way off.  And the father hitched up his skirts and started running down the road, and when he got to his son, he embraced him, pig smell and all, and took him home and cleaned him up and restored him to his rightful place in the home.  That’s a picture of a faithful God who cannot deny Himself.  He cannot deny that this is His son. He cannot deny His love for His son. And so He will do whatever it takes to restore those who may have fallen, those who have drifted away, those who think they no longer want to be under the care of their father.  Yet the faithfulness of God never fails. The Lord will restore the lost sheep, the wandering lamb who fell into sin.  Because the lamb belongs to Him.

There is an old hymn that we used to sing in church when I was a boy.  I haven’t heard it for years.  And I will close with this;

1 I’ve wandered far away from God, Now I’m coming home; 

The paths of sin too long I’ve trod, Lord, I’m coming home.

Refrain: Coming home, coming home, Nevermore to roam, 

Open wide Thine arms of love, Lord, I’m coming home.

2 I’ve wasted many precious years, Now I’m coming home; 

I now repent with bitter tears, Lord, I’m coming home. [Refrain] 

3 I’ve tired of sin and straying, Lord, Now I’m coming home; 

I’ll trust Thy love, believe Thy word, Lord, I’m coming home. [Refrain] 

4 My soul is sick, my heart is sore, Now I’m coming home; 

My strength renew, my hope restore, Lord, I’m coming home. [Refrain]

If that song describes you today, I hope that you will come home to Christ today.  He is waiting, and He is willing to restore you, to strengthen you, and give you hope.  

If we have been born of God, or what is commonly referred to as born again, then we have become the children of God. Paul addresses such a person here, speaking in an immediate context to Timothy, his child in the faith, and calling him a man of God. That’s a reference to the spiritual maturity that is expected and desired once a person has become born again as a child of God; they are matured into a man or woman of God.

Timothy has become a man of God, and he is a man of God in a deeper sense, as a spokesman of God, in the same vein as Moses was called a man of God, or Elisha was called a man of God. Timothy is a minister of the gospel as a sort of deputy apostle. He is acting on behalf of the apostle Paul in setting up and establishing the churches in the region of Ephesus and selecting and instructing the pastors of those churches. That was the role of an apostle. They were the foundation of the church.

And so in the immediate context Paul is writing to Timothy as a man of God in the position of a deputy apostle. But I believe it is entirely appropriate for us to see ourselves that are saved and mature in our faith as also men or women of God, and apply the same instructions that were given to Timothy to ourselves. We may not have the same role as Timothy, but we all are given a role as ministers, and we are even called priests of God. Not all of us are called to be a pastor of a church, perhaps, but we are commissioned to be an ambassador of the gospel, going into our world to proclaim the gospel.

That role as a minister that we are given is described and prescribed for us by the apostle Peter, saying in 1Peter 2:9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR [God’s] OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” That is our ministry, our priestly duty, to proclaim Christ, and to testify of the truth of the gospel.

So rather than interpreting this passage today as only relating to pastors, or just to men such as Timothy, we can reliably apply it to everyone that has come out from the darkness of sin and ignorance into the light of the truth of the gospel. The man or woman of God is then instructed by Paul in this passage to conform to the doctrine of godliness, and to accomplish that to do four things; what they are to flee from, what they are to follow after, what they are to fight for, and what they are to be faithful to.

Paul begins by saying what the man of God should flee from. Vs 11 “But flee from these things, you man of God….” Now to find out what things he should flee from, we must go back to the preceding verses. First we must flee from a different doctrine, not conforming to the doctrine of godliness. This doctrine or teaching we should flee from is not sound. It has no basis in scripture. This is simply the doctrine of worldliness. It’s mixing a little scripture with a lot of man’s wisdom and a mind set on the world. It’s what he says later in vs 5 as a depraved mind and deprived of the truth. That’s a worldly mind. It’s a doctrine that is not derived from the truth, but deprived of the truth. You know, it doesn’t take much error to make what may have elements of truth, to not be the truth anymore. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. So doctrinal purity, doctrinal truth is essential, and that man who eschews the truth of God for the truth according to man, is not wise. We should flee that sort of doctrine.

Paul went on to say that sort of false doctrine produces bad attributes. And those bad attributes are “he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”

So bad doctrine produces conceit, and that conceit, that self interest, selfish concern, results in a lack of understanding of sound doctrine. Instead they question the words of scripture to contrive a doctrine that appeals to their lusts of the flesh. And such conceit produces selfishness that is evidenced by strife, envy, evil suspicions. They want what seems best for themselves, to the point of disregarding the needs of others.

And that conceited attitude thinks that they can use the gospel, or their Christianity, to get more of the riches of this world. Paul goes on to talk about the love of money being a root of evil, and some longing for it have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves many griefs. So Paul says flee from such things. As mature men and women of God, we should flee those types of desires, flee the lusts of the flesh, flee the self conceit that produces such selfish, hateful behavior.

Instead, Paul says what the man of God should follow after, or pursue after. He gives us a list of different kind of behavior characterized by “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.” This is the exact opposite of the conceited, self interested behavior they should flee from. This is selflessness, dying to the lusts of the world, and pursuing godliness, being of the same mind set as God.

That’s what Phl 2:3-8 talks about; “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not [merely] look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

That’s what we should follow after, the same attributes that Christ exhibited as an example for us, that we might follow in his footsteps. Peter said in 1Peter 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” So as Christ was exemplary in these things, so we should pursue righteousness, be godly, or holy in our behavior, in our speech, remain faithful, love others with a sacrificial love, love them enough to share the gospel with them, to serve them.

And that faith and love will be characterized by perseverance. Perseverance in this sense I think is speaking of endurance. Endurance is an undervalued virtue in the church today. But endurance is sometimes all we can do when we go through various trials. Our faith is sometimes stretched to the breaking point. It seems like everything is going wrong, that the devil is winning on every front. When we go through trials like that, James said, we should consider it as joy, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, or perseverance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” Endurance is a character trait of the spiritually mature man or woman of God. I can assure you that endurance or perseverance is not always fun, but James says we should count it as joy. We endure it as a trial, but we count it as joy. It is something that may bring weeping may last through the long night of suffering, but a shout of joy in the morning when we see Jesus.

So we have seen what we should flee from, what we should follow after, and then Paul says what we should fight for. Vs12 “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Bible scholars tell us that the Greek word in the original text is one that means contest, and the anguish and conflict that is concerned with it. So from that, they surmise that what Paul has in mind here is not a race, which is a commonly used metaphor of Paul, but more likely a boxing match.

It’s kind of funny to think of faith as a fight isn’t it? But it really is. We are constantly in a conflict with lies, with doubt, with fear, with attacks of the devil, with heartaches, with disappointments. It’s a real struggle to maintain faith, to persevere in faith in the midst of such attacks. In this first letter to Timothy Paul is out of prison. But in his second letter he is in prison, and I think it’s obvious to Paul that he isn’t getting out of there alive. And so he writes to Timothy near the end of that letter, in 2Tim. 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” I put that verse on my dad’s gravestone. He was a minister of the gospel, who to some degree might have not looked like a winner from the world’s perspective, but from God’s perspective, he had fought the good fight, he had kept the faith, and there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness which the Lord will award to him.

But notice in that verse Paul likens the fight to finishing the course. Paul had finished the course that God had called him to run. He finished his ministry. And he says he has kept the faith. That’s a reference to endurance, to perseverance. He kept the faith in spite of many attacks against him from all quarters. Faith is a race, an endurance race. But it’s also a battle. Its a battle against the lusts of the flesh, against the desires of this world, and against the lies of the devil.

We should remember though that according to 2Cor. 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” Our faith is the victory over our enemies. We fight the lie of Satan and the world with the truth of the scripture.

That’s why Paul joins that statement with another which says, lay hold of the eternal life to which you are called. Faith is believing, and believing is receiving. Eternal life, new life in Christ, is not something only available in the future, but right now. The idea is that Timothy is to grab hold of it and hang on to it. Possess the life of Christ now. Because as you are confident that you have eternal life now, you can proceed to serve the Lord without fear. Our life belongs to the Lord. He gives it, He will protect it, and He will not take it away until we have finished our course.

There is another aspect of laying hold of eternal life. Paul says Timothy “made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” There doesn’t seem to be a consensus of opinion by Bible scholars on what he means by saying the good confession. But if you notice in the next verse, he says “Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.” So whatever the good confession is, both Timothy and Christ seem to have made it.

I think it can only be one thing for Timothy. I think it is confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. Paul says in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” This was written at a time when Rome was trying to force people to say “Caesar is lord,” and they did so under penalty of death. So to publicly confess Jesus as Lord was to deny Caesar, and to put yourself at risk of death.

But we know that confession is also making the point that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One from God, the Savior of the world. It’s also understood that the Messiah was to be the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. And furthermore, it should be understood that to confess Jesus as Lord is to confess Him as YOUR Lord, your Sovereign, your Master. Thus your life belongs to Him. He controls your destiny. Timothy more than likely at his baptism publicly confessed Jesus as Lord in the presence of many witnesses, thus proclaiming his salvation and obtaining eternal life. And that faith is the victory over sin and death.

So we are to flee some things, follow after other things, fight the good fight, and then finally, Paul says what we are to be faithful to. Vs 13 “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time–He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”

Now there is a lot that is said there, but the primary point he makes is that we are to be faithful to keep the commandment. Now that sounds way too legalistic for most of us, so we better look at the original language and see what we might find that is more palatable for us. And we find in so doing that sixty nine times out of 71 it is translated as commandment. The other two are precepts. So that’s really not much help to us.

But what is helpful is the definition provided, which is, “an order, command, charge, precept, injunction , that which is prescribed to one by reason of his office, a prescribed rule in accordance with which a thing is done , a precept relating to lineage, of the Mosaic precept concerning the priesthood.” So what we might deduce is that the commandment might be understood to be a commission that was given to Timothy. It encompassed all that Timothy had been commanded to do in regards to his ministry and the governance of the churches under his care.

Now we too have been given orders, a commission, a commandment to proclaim the gospel to every living creature, to go into all the world with the gospel, to start in the realm of our family, then our neighborhood, then community, and then to the farthest reaches of the world. This is our ministry that we have all be commissioned to do. One of the other metaphors that Paul likes to use is that of the military. And he often likens the good fight of faith to being a good soldier of Jesus Christ. So this commission is our orders, what we are tasked to do as the church of Jesus Christ. Our ministry is to win souls. To proclaim the truth which is able to save souls.

Notice though that Paul uses especially strong words to convey the seriousness and urgency of this commission. He says I charge you in the presence of God. That’s like the phrase we hear sometimes used: “As God is my witness!” But Paul uses this for great effect, to show the seriousness of the charge he is giving Timothy, that it is not just coming from Paul, but from God Himself. So we should have a reverance, a holy fear of God that gives us motivation to do what He has charged us to do, and there is the added assurance that Paul gives which is that God gives live to all things. So though this commission may cause us to go through danger, our lives are watched over by God, and He will preserve us as we are keeping His charge.

And to that witness of God, Paul adds the witness of Jesus, saying, “and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.” Now we talked about Timothy’s confession, which resulted in his salvation and obtaining eternal life. What confession did Jesus make before Pilate? I believe it is a reference to the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus as recorded in John 18, where it says,

Vs. 33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say [correctly] that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

So the good confession that Jesus made is similar to the good confession that Timothy made, which is that Jesus is Lord, King of kings, that He is the Messiah that came into the world, born of man, but preexisting with God. Jesus said my kingdom is not of this realm, but I am a King, and for this I have been born, and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. So there is a lot that is contained in the confession that Jesus gave Pilate. But it is the truth of God which we must believe if we are to be saved. Pilate did not believe the truth. His answer was “what is truth?” He tried to find a way to not commit one way or another. But in the end, his refusal to believe in Jesus Christ, caused him to side with those who would kill Jesus.

There is no neutral position in regards to Christ. A lot of people today want to think that they can have a little bit of Christianity and be ok. That they can mix the wisdom of the world and a little bit of Christianity together and they can have the best of both worlds. They can have the world’s riches, and yet still gain heaven in eternity. But the fact is that believing in Jesus Christ as Lord is not a 50/50 position. If Jesus is Lord, then He must be King, and if He is King, then to Him be all honor and eternal dominion.

Our worship of Jesus Christ as King then means that we offer up our selves as a living sacrifice, dying to the world and the lusts of this world that have controlled us and held us captive, so that through faith in Christ we might receive forgiveness of our sins, and be credited with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, so that we might receive new life, even everlasting life, which we now live as a citizen of the kingdom of God in submission to His will and His purpose.

That is salvation. It’s not sugar coated. It’s not if you come to Jesus all your wildest dreams will come true. Or you can live your best life now and get heaven to boot. But salvation requires full obeisance, honor and submission to Christ our King, and in exchange for renouncing our sinful life, and the passing, temporary pleasures of this world, He will give us forgiveness and HIs righteousness, and a life that is everlasting, and a crown which He will award to us on that day when He establishes His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I hope that you will lay hold of that truth, and confess Jesus as your Lord and King, that you might receive that life from God.

I assume that you are here this morning because you want to worship the Lord. Jesus said, God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. He said in another place, speaking to the Father, Jesus said your word is truth.

So one of the primary ways we worship the Lord is to study His word. But according to the apostle James, we are not to be merely hearers of the word, but doers of the word. So to obey the word is worship. In the earliest mention of worship, we find that Abraham took Isaac to offer him on an altar to God, and Abraham said, the lad and I will go worship. So to sacrifice is worship. Samuel said to disobedient Saul, when he had claimed he saved the best of the animals in order to sacrifice to God, Samuel said, “to obey is better than sacrifice.”

I say all that to make the point that if you’re here this morning to worship the Lord, then one of the primary ways you do that is through hearing the preaching of the word, and then being obedient to it. And God has ordained preaching as the means by which his word is proclaimed. And to that end, God has ordained pastors to preach and teach His word.

We get this word pastor from the word in the Greek which means shepherd. And we find it used to describe the elders of the churches. For instance, in Acts 20:28 Paul is speaking to the elders of the church in Ephesus. He had called together the elders of the various churches and he said, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

So Paul calls together the elders, used in vs 17, and then in vs 28 calls them overseers, which is also translated as bishops, and then calls them shepherds, which is the word from which we get pastor. That shows that all those titles are synonymous, and interchangeable. It’s a mistake to make more out of one title than another, because it’s evident from just that one passage that all those titles are interchangeable. And it’s verified in other passages as well.

Now back in chapter 3, Paul laid out the qualifications for a pastor. And I don’t have time to review all of that this morning. That message is available on our website and YouTube if you want to see what he said regarding their qualifications. Today, in our ongoing study of 1 Timothy, we are looking at the section where Paul deals with how pastors are to function in the church.

And particularly, he deals with three areas in regards to the function of pastors, or elders. Those areas I have boiled down to three words, which may serve as an outline that might help us navigate through this section of scripture. The first point is compensation, secondly, accusation, and third, ordination. Now those are rather broad points, but I hope they will serve to help us as we study this letter about how the church is to be conducted.

So Paul begins with the broad concept of compensation for pastors or elders. He says in vs 17 “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

Now most commentators introduce this subject by drawing a corollary between the widows mentioned in vs 3, and the elders, both of which we are told to honor. In regards to widows, Paul said that the church was to honor them. These were women who had lost their husbands, had no family or visible means of support, and had devoted themselves to serve the Lord in the church. Now I preached a message about that last week which I don’t want to have to repeat here. But suffice it to say that to honor those widows indicated that the church was to provide for their financial needs. That was more or less a unique situation in the early church that we do not have as much call for today. That was due to the culture which had no safety net for widows who did not have someone to take them under their support. Today most people have access to government subsides and housing and food, if they don’t have insurance that takes care of their needs, and so we don’t have much call for the church to support widows.

But the point was that the church was to honor widows. Now in vs17, regarding elders of the church, he says they are to be given double honor. I used to think that indicated that a pastor was entitled to make twice what a normal person in a regular job would make. I might wish that were true, but upon further study I don’t believe that is what Paul is saying here.

Double honor is simply a way of referring back to the honor that is given to widows, which refers to compensation to meet their financial needs, and then additional honor that should be given due to the pastor’s position as the messenger of the Lord. In other words, they are to give him honor because of his position as the spokesman for the Lord. As he is faithful in preaching the word, they are to give him the honor due, to respect his word, to listen and to obey it. That obedience to the word of the Lord is what Paul is referring to when he says the elder who rules well. That’s what a shepherd is responsible for as he is shepherding the flock. He rules well according to the chief shepherd’s command, and the flock needs to respond accordingly. Ruling well doesn’t necessarily mean cracking the whip, but it does mean making sure that the flock stays on course, that they are protected from wolves, and which is spiritually healthy and maturing as they should.

Another confusing point to be clarified is the way he says, “ especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” Some have said this indicates that there must be a plurality of elders in the church, and some preach, and some merely lead. I don’t happen to agree with that view. I think that the scripture indicates all elders are to be preachers and teachers. For instance, Titus 1:7 says, “For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” So he is able to exhort sound doctrine. That is preaching.

And in 1 Tim.3:2 and 2 Timothy 2:24 we are told that an elder/overseer, pastor must be “apt to teach.” So I don’t think there is an imperative here that we are to have elders in the church who are not preachers/teachers of the word. The last thing we want in a church is someone who is merely an administrator. Who applies standard business practices to the church. The church is not a business, its not an organization. It’s an organism, a body, the body of Christ and it lives by the word of Christ, not by the best business practices, even though that may sound logical to some people.

But the main emphasis that Paul gives here is that of compensation in regards to financial compensation. That follows in line with the honor given to widows. And the same would be true of pastors. As they are devoted to the ministry of the church, the word, and to prayer, they are reliant upon the church for their financial needs. So Paul says we are to give them honor financially.

Now we know that is what he is referring to, because he includes two scriptures as illustrative of that principle. The first is a quote from Duet. 25, in which he says, “”YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING.” Paul uses a quote which was originally referring to God’s care of oxen, as a metaphor for God’s care of pastors. The ox would be tied to a millstone and would pull or push the millstone around and around which ground the grain. And God wanted the Israelites to leave the ox unmuzzled, so that he might eat from the grain he was milling in order to sustain his strength.

That’s the principle involved in the pastor’s compensation. He is to make his living from the work which he is doing. He gets his sustenance from his work. He uses that same scripture to establish that principle again in 1Cor. 9:9-11 “For it is written in the Law of Moses, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher [to thresh] in hope of sharing [the crops.] If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?” And then in vs 14, Paul clarifies that principle by saying, “So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.”

Now here in 1 Timothy 5, Paul also quotes from Luke’s gospel chapter 10 vs 7, saying, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” That’s actually a quote from Jesus, which makes the gospel of Luke the equivalent of Old Testament scriptures. And by the way, Paul’s writings are referred to as scripture by none other than Peter, who says in 2Peter 3:15-16 “and regard the patience of our Lord [as] salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all [his] letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as [they do] also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” So Peter refers to Paul’s letters as scripture.

But it’s interesting that Paul uses Jesus’s words to validate the preachers labor as hard work. And it is work. And if you do it well, it is hard work to study, to spend time working through the scriptures so that you can be a workman that needs not to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. If you buy your messages online from some pastor’s resource website, then perhaps it’s not as hard as it should be. But nevertheless, in the Lord’s view, preaching and teaching is honorable work, and they will give an account for what they have said and done.

So then Heb 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit [to them,] for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” Those that rule well by preaching and teaching give them double honor. Give them the compensation due to their position, and obey them as they are being truthful and faithful to the word of Christ. And God will hold them accountable for their work.

Now on to the next point, which is accusation. Still speaking of elders/pastors/overseers/bishops, Paul says in vs 19-20 “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful [of sinning.]”

Actually, this is still a reference to the honor that is due to pastors. There should not be allowed in the church any unsubstantiated accusations against the pastor. A pastor’s reputation can easily be besmirched by someone who has an axe to grind. So such accusations are not to be. Only when such accusations are accompanied by two or three witnesses is there to be any credence given to them. Many pastor’s have been ruined in their ministry by someone who is upset at the church for some reason, and starts to spread rumors that could not stand up in the light of day. But enough damage can be done whispering behind closed doors to ruin a pastor, and ultimately destroy the church.

So Paul sets a high bar for accusations. But in reality, Jesus set the same high standard in Matthew 18 for all church discipline. The Old Testament gave the same standard for accusations of any Israelite. I was watching something online a few days ago where they are having an inquisition regarding a certain political figure. And just when we thought it was finally over, they called another day of hearing because of what they called “new evidence.” It turns out that the new evidence was actually not eye witness evidence at all, but merely hear say. But irregardless, they got the effect that they wanted, which was to further impugn the character of that political figure. Now that may be par for the course in politics, but that is not the way the church is to operate. There must be 2 or 3 witnesses to the accuasation.

But if there are the proper witnesses, and the accusation is found to have merit, the pastor is in some sin, then Paul says, “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful [of sinning.]”. Notice that he says those who continue in sin. That’s an important principle in regards to church discipline. The goal is not to kick people out of the church that are sinning, but to rebuke them, to correct them, to instruct them in righteousness so that they might repent and do what is right. The goal is repentance and restoration. But in the case of a pastor, it is possible to become disqualified as a pastor because of your sin, even if you repent of it. I’m not sure I can easily delineate that line that cannot be crossed, but I would say that if you go back to chapter 3 and look at the qualifications that are required for a pastor, and then see if there can be sin in regards to those qualifications and yet still be qualified. For instance, if the pastor leaves his wife and runs off with another woman there is really no way that he can be qualified anymore as being a one woman man. He doesn’t qualify anymore. And it’s not a matter of whether or not the church forgives him, or even that God forgives him, but it’s a matter of him no longer being of a reputation that can be trusted in that respect and so he is disqualified.

But having said all that, Paul wants to make sure that there is no witch-hunt that is carried out by the church just because of petty disagreements or personality conflicts. So he says, vs21 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of [His] chosen angels, to maintain these [principles] without bias, doing nothing in a [spirit of] partiality.” In other words, this is not to become a political witch-hunt just because you don’t like a pastor’s personality, or you think you can find a more agreeable, personable pastor that you will like better. Such accusations are serious business and God will judge those who do so.

That leaves us the final principle that Paul discusses, which we will call ordination. Too much is made sometimes of the ordination of a pastor. I’m not saying it should not be done, but I am saying that ordination is simply the human confirmation of what God has already done. God calls and gifts a pastor. The church ordains him as a means of joining in agreement with God, and it’s signified by the laying on of hands.

But to that point, Paul says in vs22 “Do not lay hands upon anyone [too] hastily and thereby share [responsibility for] the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.” In other words, don’t gloss over the qualifications for a pastor without serious consideration. Otherwise, if you ordain them prematurely, you can end up participating in their sin. You have given them the blessing of the church, as if they have been vetted and confirmed that they are trustworthy and without reproach, when in fact they are not. And so as they continue in their sins, they end up doing much damage in the church, and you are at least partly responsible for it because you helped them obtain that platform.

It also speaks to the principle laid out in the qualifications, which is they should not be a novice. That may refer to youth, or a young age, or it may refer to a new convert. Either way, the warning is to keep yourself free from sin by not sanctioning such a person who may still be in their sins. Don’t lay hands on them too quickly. Take time to watch such a person to see if their talk matches their walk.

Now that admonition to keep himself pure leads to another remark which is personal in regards to Timothy. If you remember, one of the qualifications stressed often in regards to pastors is that they are not to be addicted to wine, or a drinker of much wine. But now Paul says especially to Timothy in vs 23, “No longer drink water [exclusively,] but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.”

One of the biggest health risks in that country at that time was dysentery. Drinking the water in some countries even today can result in what we call Montezuma’s revenge. And so this admonition to drink a little wine may have been at least partially in respect to that. But it’s also possible that Timothy had a weak stomach. I can attest to that as something that I’ve had problems with over the years. Believe it or not, I actually have a six pack under this bulge. It’s just not visible because of bloating. I’m kidding of course. I don’t have a six pack. But I do have problems with bloating. Everything seems to hurt my stomach. My wife can eat anything and not ever be bothered. I on the other hand, seem to have problems with everything.

But I’m in good company. Timothy had frequent ailments, presumably of the stomach. So the popular medicine for that in Paul’s day was a little wine. Not a lot of wine, but a little wine. And so to counter act the possible criticism that Timothy might get as a result of a pastor drinking a little wine, Paul gives him permission, or instruction to drink a little wine for his stomach and frequent ailments.

But it’s important to note that wine for Timothy was medicine for his stomach and not a beverage to catch a buzz from. Today we have a lot more effective alternatives than wine for stomach ailments. I personally would never drink wine for my stomach or for any other reason, unless I were on a desert island and had nothing else to use. But with a Walgreens on every other corner, I don’t need to take a chance on compromising my reputation, nor tempting myself to drink more than I should. I think it’s better for a pastor not to drink at all.

But drinking wine or not drinking was something that was easily ascertained when they were considering a man to ordination. Being a drinker is something that is usually not easily hidden. It’s usually pretty obvious if you watch someone for a while.

And Paul wants them to consider that in regards to a possible candidate for ordination as a pastor, some sins are more evident than others. But all sin is a problem, and a possible means of disqualification. So he says in vs 24 “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their [sins] follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed.”

I’ve quoted this verse often in the years past, especially in regards to self righteous individuals who may not have a lot of outward problems with sin and are especially critical of those who do. Some sins, like drunkenness for instance, are pretty obvious sins. They go before a man. You can see the town drunk a long ways off coming down the sidewalk and you know right away that there is a problem there. You quickly cross over to the other side of the road.

But the person who has a secret life of sin that he keeps hidden on his computer, or behind closed doors, such a person’s sins follow after. It may take time for those sins to become evident. That kind of person can escape criticism because on the surface everything looks ok. There is no immediate evidence of sin in their life. But in one way or another, either sooner or later, perhaps not until the judgment day, but one day their secret sins will become evident. Paul is giving a warning here about such people, and that is another reason to not lay hands suddenly upon anyone. Give time for their life to become evident.

In the same way, a person’s good deeds become evident over time. Anyone can put on a front for a day or two to make a good impression, but it’s another thing to live with someone for a while. That’s when the true character of someone becomes evident.

And while that is written in regards to candidates for pastors, it certainly is applicable also to any Christian. Jesus said, by their fruits you shall know them. If you have been saved, cleansed from sin, having received Christ’s righteousness, then the fruit of the Spirit will be a life that is not marked by sin, but rather by good deeds. Not a couple of good deeds here or there which are done for show, but then fade away quickly when no one’s watching anymore. But true conversion means a complete change, albeit a continual change, in which we are being conformed to the image of Christ on daily basis.

I want to urge you to ask yourself this morning if you have ever been converted. Not just trying to turn over a new leaf. Not just trying to be a better person. But recognizing your sinfulness, repenting of it, and asking the Lord to be changed, converted, delivered from sin and given the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is conversion, that is salvation, and it is free and accessible to everyone who comes to Christ in faith and repentance. And only as we have been converted are we able to live a life that is righteous. I pray that if upon examination you know that you have not been converted, then today would be the day that you call upon the Lord to save you and remake you. Don’t put it off.