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"The
Dangers Of Neglect" • 4.10.16 • Calvary
Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- As we survey the contents of the first
chapter, I'd like to draw your attention to what we have learned thus far.
- First, the letter that exists before us was
written by the "Decree of God."
Paul was an Apostle, an Ambassador of Jesus Christ by the command of God. He
writes now from that office.
- Second, the letter was necessary because of a
"Deviation of The Congregation."
We learn from verses 3-11 that some
teachers within the church had begun to teach other doctrines.
- These doctrines were esoteric and mysterious,
focused on subjective and speculative minutae, issuing in disputes and endless.
idle talk.
- When they did approach the law, they
confidently misapplied it, missing it's point all together!
- This brings us to our third consideration and
that is the "Demonstration of The
Gospel's Potency." (v.12-17)
Paul's testimony before Christ was rife with disqualifying qualities.
- He had followed the law with all of his might
and the fruit of his efforts issued in him becoming a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man! Thankfully,
God's grace was exceeding abundant!
- In verse 15,
Paul exclaims, "This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am the chief."
- The focus of other methods and teachings had
created disputes and divisions within the church. The gospel brought dignity
and produced doxology in the life of a former enemy of God!
- Men had sought to enthrone themselves as God
and Paul says there is only One eternal, immortal, invisible God. Men sought to
promote their wisdom. Only God is wise!
- Men sought to receive honor and glory, but
only God is due that position in the church!
- This brings us to our passage today and our
fourth consideration. Paul has written what he has written because of it's
necessity.
- We might view teaching discrepancies and
error with a casual or even careless attitude. Perhaps Timothy was guilty of
this or was tempted to inaction for another reason.
- If Timothy were to choose not to act, what
would be the consequence? What would it matter?
- The Apostle Paul is about to warn Timothy
about the "Danger Of Neglect."
Verse 18.
Text
• I Timothy
1:18-19a : "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the
prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good
warfare, having
faith and a good conscience," : This
"charge," or "command" committed to Timothy hearkens back
to verse 3.
- As we've noted, Timothy was to command some
not to teach "other doctrine." The church is to remain focused upon
the gospel and he was to enforce that.
- Paul is not reinforcing his vision or
rehearsing his job description to Timothy. Rather, Paul is setting this before
him because of what had been prophecied about him.
- One commentator suggested that an appropriate
translation would be, "The prophecies that led up to this point."
- Usually when one sees the word
"prophecy," there can be a tendency to be confused. On the one hand,
Prophets had the privilege of seeing something happen that was future to them.
- More often than not, however, the Old Testament
Prophets came with authoritative instructions for the people of God to
understand and obey.
- In the early church, especially before the
canon of scripture was established, spiritual gifts employed by church members
reigned as the source of church governance.
- Recall to mind what Paul wrote to the church
of Corinth regarding the order of gifting.
• I
Corinthians 12:28 : "And
God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations,
varieties of tongues." : Men with Prophetic
ministries played a significant role in the development of the church and her
leadership.
- Turn to
Ephesians 4. In this epistle
written to the church that Timothy was serving, Paul writes instructing them as
to the purpose of these offices.
•
Ephesians 4:11-16 : "And He Himself gave some to be
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for
the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of
the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love,
may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined
and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective
working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the
edifying of itself in love." : Notice
the flow of positive purposes. They were to equip,
unify and built up the body toward the fullness of Christ.
- Note also the "negative goals." God
set up these offices within the church to combat immaturity, to keep them from
destabilizing and to educate them out of their gullibility!
- At some point in time, this group of people,
prophets in the church, prophecied over Timothy.
- They prayed and the Lord gave them a word
which gave Timothy an authoritative sense of direction for his life. Why does
Paul call this to his mind?
- To the Apostle, this activity within the
church rivaled his own call from God on the road to Damascus! The two events
carried the same weight!
- Any minister will tell you that a healthy
reminder of God's call will bring both comfort and the courage to continue.
Maybe Timothy was allowing the battle to overwhelm him.
- Perhaps he concerned himself more with the
daunting challenge of apostasy, more than than the amazing power of Him who had
called him, His church confirming it.
- Timothy's job was to exercise his authority
in light of this truth! "God called me to do this. I have to be
responsible to live out that calling!"
- You and I may not have personal prophecies
per se. There are those who have the ability to take God's Word today and speak
it directly into our lives.
- But aside from that experientially,
understand that God's prophetic word assigns us responsibility. If we are an
employer, there are verses which govern our actions at work.
- If we are a husband or a wife, a Father or a
Mother, a son or daughter, God's word is our point of reference in each of
those callings. Timothy's call informed his actions.
- He knew then, from what had been prophecied,
that he was to wage a good warfare. Timothy was not to be contentious in just
any battle. He was to fight for the honor of God!
- Remember that Paul was imprisoned at this
time and must have taken note of the Roman centurions that were his daily
companions.
- He saw their diligence and their commitment
and it rang true that these characteristics were necessary for Timothy to hear
as they were crucial to his success as he remained!
- Timothy was much more than a leader of men
for the purposes of men, ie. Kingdoms and governments. Timothy was a leader of
God's men, for God's Kingdom and purposes!
- How was he to wage the proper warfare? He needed
to fight from faith and from a good conscience. Faith first in the Lord Jesus.
Faith in the gospel of the Savior.
- One might even see here a reference to the
shield of faith from Ephesians 6:16.
- He would reveal this by quenching the
alternative teachings of the day. We might also say that Timothy was to fight
from the faith that issued from his being appointed by God.
- If God calls, He equips! Timothy and you and
I, need to remember that our service to the Lord is accompanied with God's
power to perform it!
- Paul had just said this in verse 12. It was Christ who enabled the
Apostle and put him into the ministry! This was true for Timothy as well!
- Note also that he was to fight from a good
functioning conscience. The word speaks to a "joint knowledge."
- The definition defines it as "an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting
as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior."
- For a believer, the conscience is governed by
God's Word and the presence of His Holy Spirit. We then know what we are to
know in tandem with what God reveals to us in His Word.
- That is how our conscience should function. I
should ask myself, "Have I performed my duty in such a way as to please
Him fully?" Why is this of vital importance?
- If faith refers to my past and present
condition, then my conscience refers to my future activities! A good
functioning conscience will affirm my heart before the Lord.
- It's possible that Timothy was going to have
to imitate some of Paul's behaviors which would have felt extreme. He had to
know that he was in the right to perform them.
- A conflicted solidier is soon a dead soldier.
Conviction in any given battle is key to victory!
- I pray that you have a clear conscience
before the Lord, that you walk before Him but there were some in Timothy's
church that couldn't say the same. Verse 19b.
• I Timothy
1:19b-20 : "which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered
shipwreck, of whom
are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not
to blaspheme." : There were some who had
rejected, pushed aside, cast away the faith and a good conscience.
- These men are akin to the soldiers who went
into battle, but foolishly opted to rid themselves of their weaponry!
-
They had refused to attend to the demands of the faith. How had they
done this? They were turning to
fables and genealogies!
- In the process, they were searing their own
consciences by refusing to respond to the Holy Spirit's conviction to exalt
Christ and reject sinful, Christless dogmas.
- They knew that their faith in Christ had not
come through these alternate subjects. They sensed the Holy Spirit's grief at
their attention leaving Christ.
- You know that they felt the heaviness of
God's displeasure as they found themselves squabbling with brothers over
unanswerable dilemmas! It led them to disaster. Listen to the NLT.
• I Timothy
1:19b (NLT) : "For
some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their
faith has been shipwrecked."
- Hymenaus and Alexander had run aground. If
they ignored God's message and His Spirit, how could they move? Their faith was
like a mighty ship saddled in the sand, stuck in the ground!
- I wonder how many shipwrecked believers there
are, especially in this age of selective scripture authority, where professing
believers tailor make their own brand of Christianity!
- It would be wrong to think that these men
were ruined permanently, as there is always hope while men remain alive and
conscious of God's call to return.
- But their present state, as with the state of
those who throw off God's Word today, is one of present ruin and loss. How many
Christians are in a state of stunted development today?
- We aren't quite sure of who Alexander is,
whether he was the famous Ephesian coppersmith or if he was the man who
attempted to rise to Christianity's defense in Acts 19:33.
- Timothy and the church knew who he was.
Hymenaus on the other hand, has a bit more scripture to help define him. Turn
over to II Timothy 2. Listen to
Paul's instruction in verse 16.
• II
Timothy 2:16-18 : "But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to
more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and
Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the
resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation
of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and, 'Let
everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'" : Hymenaus and those like him had suffered shipwreck because they
had come to believe that the resurrection of the saints had come to pass.
- As the Apostle predicted, their message
spread like cancer and soon, Hymenaus had a willing partner in crime in
Alexander forming the "some" group that Paul referred to earlier.
- At some point, Paul made a decision to
deliver them over to Satan. We have seen this phrase before in the First Corinthian letter. It appears to be a euphemism for
excommunication.
- In the case of the Corinthian man, he had
carried on an affair with his step mother which necessitated his removal from
the church.
- The church tolerated it for a time until Paul
spoke up! They were to banish him. (I
Corinthians 5:1-5) That same action seems to have been necessary in this
case.
- Hymenaus and Alexander were banished from the
church. Understand two things here. First, these are extreme measures and are
certainly not done without great concern and previous warning.
- Nobody simply sins and gets kicked out. There
are admonitions, warnings, meetings and times of urgent begging before there is
a decision to ask someone to leave a church.
- Most today find no problem in simply leaving
a church and finding a new seat to sit in in another part of the Kingdom! Those
who do miss the point, as their sin follows them there.
- The purpose of excommunication however is not
to permanently remove a person, but to seek their correction! Paul did this in
order that they may learn not to blaspheme!
- As extreme and as difficult as it was for
Paul to exert his authority this way, it was done with a view to their reform. I Corinthians 5:5 says the same thing.
• I
Corinthians 5:5 : "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,
that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." : Both parties share the same issue. Their reliance upon their
flesh was drowning them!
- You might wonder why these men had to be put
out of the church. In order to consider that, consider first the danger to the
unoffending members of the church.
- Paul states in the Corinthian and Galatian
letter that a "little leaven leavens the whole lump!" (1 Corinthians 5:6, Galatians 5:9)
- The Corinthians were gloating and the
Galatians tolerated doctrinal error in their midst! The Ephesian church was in
danger of doing the same thing!
- One might be tempted to offer the thought of
the mutual good that could be gained by remaining together, but the truth is
quite the opposite.
- There is always a greater danger in
wickedness spreading, than there is in righteousness prevailing! The toleration
of sin within a community of believers cannot be tolerated.
- But aside from the inherant threat to the
church at large, setting a person who willfully sins against the Lord outside
of the church is truly for their own benefit.
- If you are living in blatant sin and the
church treats you as though you are not, we are guilty of providing you with a
comfort that you are not supposed to have.
- Think about it: All week, the Holy Spirit is
working your conscience over, not letting you rest because your sin grieves
Him. Then you come to church and the people of God welcome you?
- The church exists to agree with God about
sin! In good conscience, if a person is aware of a sin, they must lovingly
confront that and call that person to repentance!
- The church is a community that has been
delivered from Satan. What if it wasn't an option?
- The person who was flirting with their own
sin could then be exposed to the full ramifications of their decision.
- Do they want to remain under the careful,
watchful eye of the church elders or do they think that they will fare better
under the governance of Satan?
- The prayer and hope will always be that that
person comes to the end of their sinful ways.
- Maybe a little time under Satan's rule and
they will come to their senses and forego the sin that they so loved and
embrace truly the One that so loves them in Christ Jesus!
Conclusion
- As we close,
let us remember that if there is a call from God, there is power to live in it.
Fight the good fight! Feed your faith and guard your conscience!
- If you are a
Hymenaus or Alexander, understand that what you believe and what you focus upon
spiritually, may potentially ruin you, but it doesn't have to.
- Jesus Christ
came into this world to rescue sinners. Turn yourself to Him and He will rescue
you too!
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