I timothy Sermon #3

I Timothy Sermon #3

Turn with me again tonight to I Timothy, Chapter 1

So far, we have covered Timothy the person and the pastor – ministerial sketch – biography of his life

We have seen the theme and purpose of the book in 1:3-4 and 3:14-15

To shepherd believers’ conduct through preaching/sound doctrine
I have entitled tonight’s message “No Other Doctrine”

I Timothy 1:3-4

Let us stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word

I Timothy 1:3-4

Let us pray

You may be seated.

No Other Doctrine
Let’s first tonight look at how this chapter divides and then move out from there.
Order of Chapter 1
Vs. 1-2 Salutation – the greeting and the closing of letter – good idea

The supreme joy for any parent is to see their child grow into a mature, well-developed

adult.

For that they pray, labor, and hope. The same is true in the spiritual realm.

There is no greater joy for a spiritual parent than to beget a true child in the faith and

lead him to maturity in Christ.

Paul desired, as every Christian should, to reproduce – lead people to Christ and then to Christlikeness – Christlike living.
Vs. 3-4 Repetition of the charge to Timothy – refute variant teaching
Vs. 5 Now, (explain something) the goal of the charge (commandment)

– accomplish

Notice in vs. 18 – same word again – occurs three times in this chapter
I Timothy 4:11; 6:13

Vs. 18-20

So in vs. 5-20 Paul gives us the reasons for the charge

The reasons for keeping this charge as the ultimate goal!

Here is what will happen if he keeps the charge:

1. 
   Vs. 5 – Genuine/pure faith/good conscience – a clean heart
   
2. 
   Consequence of not keeping it
   

This consequence is illustrated by two men – Hymaneus and Alexander – vs. 19-20 – shipwreck

Let us jump right in tonight!

What is the church’s response to unbiblical teaching?

How does the pastor respond to variant teaching of the Bible?

Whether it be another church, TV/radio, book, someone inside the church

How do we respond?

Now, in verses 3-4, we can see what Timothy was facing.

You’ll notice that Paul names three things that Timothy was going to have to deal with in the church at Ephesus:

#1 – (vs. 3d) Teach no other doctrine – notice those last four words of vs. 3 – teach no other doctrine
That is one Greek word – hetera didascleo

English word – Heteradox – different belief, opinion

Hetera means “different”

Paul says I want you, Timothy, to charge these people not to teach different (heteras) doctrines.

Heteras doctrine is not necessarily false doctrine. It can be.
There is another word used in the New Testament

Pseudo doctrine – false doctrine – it is antagonistic to the truth

But heteras doctrine – could be speculative teaching.

Areas that we are not sure of – so instead of getting sound solid preaching and teaching

Then in vs. 4, there are two other things that Timothy had to deal with – fables and genealogies – now, what are those?

Fables – fabulous teachings (stories) call the hagadoth – narrations – narrative stories

Mystical interpretations – legends – about Biblical characters not found in Scripture
Genealogies are something else – they don’t mean very much today

But if we grew up in a country where the family in which you were born determined your future, then genealogies would be very important

In England – still important – dukes, barons, king, or queen

To the Jews – genealogies are important – #1, they were used for identification

Peter, the son of Jonas

Saul, the son of Kish

So they tied a person into a family and they are also used for qualification purposes!

1. 
   You could not be certain things without a certain heritage – priest, king, Levite – certain blood line
   
2. 
   For land purposes – kept within the family – your genealogy was title to the land
   

So, the genealogies were very important
Nothing wrong with genealogies, but had a wrong emphasis (heteras doctrine)

This is what Timothy had to deal with.

And these new doctrines were leading people astray.

The false teachers were raising questions, not answering them – vs. 4

What is the pastoral response to this heteras teaching?

First of all, the pastoral response was to refuse its teaching in the assembly

Paul said – Timothy, you must put a stop to it.

To refuse the preaching and teaching of anything that undermines the major emphasis of the Scripture

Do you realize how important it is for church leadership to refuse any variant teaching?
Dr. Dino, Kent Hovind – conspiracy theories of the 911 attacks

We have to be very careful in who we have come and preach here

The pastors/the shepherds must be concerned about any unscriptural teaching.

That is why God has a teaching pastor in the assembly

In the Pastoral Epistles, there are at least 20 different passages in these 13 chapters that warn Timothy and Titus about false teaching in the church.
Let me show you.
Look at 1:3-4

1:18-20

4:1-3

4:7

6:2e, 3-4

6:20

Six times Paul warns Timothy and tells Timothy he is responsible for what happens in

that church.

Now, charge these people not to teach these things.
This becomes a very important task for the Pastor.

Who is it that should recognize and refute false teaching?

The elders of the church

The pastors of the church

The church needs a man who has studied and given his life to the Word and to healthy teaching and that man provides for the people of God, safety.

He is a shepherd for them – he has the background, the study to see these types of things coming.

This kind of leadership is desperately needed in our local churches today
So, the first response is to refuse this kind of teaching

Now, that’s a tough job – because there is an abundance of teachings in this country of which a lot of these teachings are wrapped in truth.

Overall, are churches in America on the uphill or on the downhill?

Downhill – no one disputes this

The great pastors in England knew it when it was true in their land and now it has run its

course.

Charles Spurgeon had to withdraw his membership because of compromise.
Folks, we are at war against the trends that are a threat to Biblical Christianity

The problem is that most Christians don’t even recognize these trends, undercurrents

They start out so subtle and minute.
Folks, it is dangerous to move away from the historic positions of Biblical Christianity

And, once a church/denomination gets on the downward slope and that momentum

begins – once the slide begins, recovery is highly unusual.

Recovery only takes place when Christians or churches return wholeheartedly to God

through revival

Now, some are knowingly sliding!

Others are unconsciously slipping – and they often awake to find it’s too late to recover the denomination/the church – too late to recover their family
This often leaves people with a decision regarding their church of whether to jump off the sinking ship or to try to bail water; and when your children are at stake, it makes the decision ever more crucial.

Many who have stayed in such churches would say by historical means, it was futile to stay – while those who left wonder what might have happened if we stayed a little longer.

But by and large, those on sinking ships don’t know they’re sinking.
If the bus is headed in a certain direction and attempts are made to leadership to turn it

around, to no avail – the question is when am I going to get off the bus?

Many of our mainline denominations have been infiltrated with all kinds of false teaching.

Liberalism and New Age positive thinking have had a field day – which in turn a large

portion of denominations and churches have ended and have never recovered.

And, in trying to recover, churches grab onto quick fix-its, schemes, methodology that will bring about the desired result

So methodology has changed to meet the needs of modern man and in time,

methodology/humanism becomes the theology – replacing the Biblical

philosophy of the local church
In the guise of making Christianity more digestible to the world, the business methods of

churches turn into a theology – a set of doctrines for the modern church

And if this is unchecked, it will reap a horrible harvest – a loss of Bible philosophy
Folks, this business/humanistic approach is straightforward

It’s not hidden – it’s encouraged, promoted and trumpeted to you that unless you come

around, you’re done as a church – you’re finished.

The church is a business – we need a crowd – we need people

Now, how is the world attracting them? – Let’s use the same techniques
So instead of being Gospel spreaders, the churches become business marketeers

And if we want to survive as a church, it calls for extreme change in the church

John MacArthur quoting George Barna (pollster)

The goal of the church is to make both the producer and the consumer satisfied.

A pastor of a semi-solid church – everybody knows in this room

He went and visited three growing churches in Reno County

He was going to implement – what have you learned? Meet needs, energy

He implemented it.

The prevailing idea is that anything that stresses the church attendee needs to be stripped – preaching on sin, repentance, hell, social issues

Preaching overall is not pleasing to the sinner, so it needs to be shortened and gutted

and positioned so as not to offend

Too many churches/Christians are focusing on polls and data and trends and embracing any successful church builder to the extent that they have lost Bible integrity.

When the Scriptures are not used in developing the goals of the local church—what are we doing?

What has happened is the church has swallowed humanistic teaching and thinking and

is sliding fast downhill

So, what we end up with is water-downed Bible, church, religion, that is palatable to all!

These are the philosophies that drive churches today
In analyzing today’s contemporary, user-friendly churches (“Packed, but still empty,” World Magazine, Aug. 20), Gene Edward Veith succinctly describes our own observation of the church-growth movement: dilution of doctrine for the sake of growth and “unity.”
Because of the goals, data, false thinking and teaching – it alters the message.

And when the message is altered oftentimes the souls of men are unaltered as well.

We are living in a time when Christianity is on a downward spiral
The young pastor, Timothy, being discipled by Paul had encountered difficulty in

Ephesus

He was assigned there by Paul

So Paul desiring to help Timothy – to strengthen his hand – to give divine counsel and

leadership – to maximize his ministry – wrote I and II Timothy to him

And what we have is a ministry philosophy for the local church

Paul said, Timothy,

Correct those teaching false doctrines and call them to the Biblical standard

#2 – Fight for divine truth

#3 – Pray for the lost and train the men to do the same

#4 – Call the women to fulfill their God-given roles of submission and raise up Godly

children

#5 – Carefully select spiritual leaders

#6 – Stay in the Word, avoiding foolish tangents

Timothy, have a (#7) good command of the Word and boldly teach it and model it in your living

#8 – Publicly expound the Word of God

These are the things that make up a Biblically-centered ministry – these are the ingredients.

These cannot harmonize with the business theories used in churches today

Should our ministry philosophy be drawn from the Bible or what is going on in the

church culture?

Most philosophy is from marketing techniques, business management, psychology and

other likeminded sources

Some evangelical leaders try to mesh the world’s ways by paralleling or attaching them to a Scripture verse
II Timothy 4:2

Then he adds this warning – vs. 3-4

They want God and the Bible so long as it does not cause any interruption in their

lifestyle.

Give a religion that allows people to be comfortable in their skin and we have seen the

people will respond in large masses

Folks, there is no part of the New Testament that says give the people what they want – take a poll and then become it

The Bible does not worry about how people may respond to a Biblical message only

that we give it.

It is about commitment, not success

It is not about size; it is not about facilities

These are not standards of the Bible

I Timothy 1:3

Teach sound doctrine – Timothy, be faithful

Paul would want Christians in churches today to hear and heed this same message.
If the spiritual leaders of this church are faithful to the tasks God has given us, then His people and work will prosper and His name will be glorified.
Let us stand for closing invitation.