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Back to the Series  Essentials of the Church

This morning we’re beginning a new series of messages from Paul’s first letter to Timothy - a series of messages focused on the theme:  “Essentials of the Church.”   I invite you to turn with me to 1 Timothy - which if you’re using the Bible under the chair in front of you is on page 162.

Think with me about essentials.  If your house was on fire and you knew that everyone had gotten out safely what would you grab on the way out?  Think about all the stuff in your house - where you live.  What one item in your house is so valuable that you’d by pass a whole lot of other stuff just to make sure that one item survived the fire?

Merced is a broken city.  What I mean by that is that - looking around Merced - there are lot of broken people.  Broken homes.  Broken families.  Broken down people - struggling - wounded - angry - bitter - hopeless - who’ve turned to a number of different ways of trying to cope with their brokenness - drugs - sex - gangs - alcohol.  Are we tracking?

In reality there are broken down people right here in the church.

Jesus is the only One who can heal that brokenness.  That’s where we fit into this city.  The bottom line of why we’re here - the mission of the Church is to take the Gospel into the world - into the place were we live life.

“Leading people into a relationship with Jesus Christ and equipping them to serve God.”  Maybe a simpler version of that is simply “leading people to Jesus.”  Leading the people around us to Jesus.  To His love.  To His salvation.  To His forgiveness and healing.  

What becomes difficult is the question of “how?”  If you’ve been around the church for any number of years you’ve probably run into at least a few ideas - maybe in a book - or a seminar - or some Sunday School series - some latest insight as to what’s essential if the church is going to fulfill our mission - why God has us here.

And yet with all of our knowledge and wealth and experience - the church in America is failing in her mission.  The church doesn’t run counter culture - it follows culture.  Rather than infecting culture, the church is infested by culture.  In many ways the church in America has marginalized itself because we’re not following Jesus.

The church in America today is in serious trouble is because the church in America is focused on itself and not God.  We’ve replaced serving Jesus with serving ourselves.  Commitment is convenient.  Worship is optional.  Sacrifice is subjective.  Attendance is an alternative.  Study is selective.  Prayer is not a priority.  And if it is, its about us not God.

Merced is broken.  So is the church.  If we continue to live status quo Christianity - to pursue life as the Body of Christ - complacently doing the same thing - we can never be the church - the congregation - that God intends for us to be. 

That’s why this study is so important.  Giving our hearts - our lives - ton what’s essential if we’re to be the church God has created us to be.

1 Timothy 1 - starting at verse 1:  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope.  To Timothy, my true child in the faith:  Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let’s pause and grab some background.

Timothy is Paul’s “true child in the faith” which means that Paul probably led Timothy to faith in Jesus as the Christ.  We know that Timothy was a young man - “young” probably meaning in his 30’s - Timothy was a young man who traveled with Paul - served with Paul - was discipled by Paul - was with Paul the first time Paul was thrown in jail.  There’s a tight relationship between the two.

From about 52 to 55 AD Paul had served with the church in Ephesus.  Ephesus being in western Anatolia - the Roman province of Asia - what is now western Turkey.  When Paul was engaged in ministry elsewhere Paul had instructed Timothy to remain in Ephesus to serve the church there.

From about 60 to 62 AD Paul was in prison in Rome.  In 62 he’s released - travels probably to Spain to evangelize there.  At some point he arrives back in Macedonia - north of Greece - which is where he writes this letter to Timothy - who’s in Ephesus.  Then in 64 Paul is imprisoned again in Rome and is executed by Nero in 67 AD.

That’s a lot of background.

The point is that Paul is writing to Timothy who’s serving with the church in Ephesus.  Paul is very familiar with Ephesus - a city that’s broken in every way that Merced is and then some.  As Paul deeply cares for Timothy and the believers in Ephesus - and the not-yet-believers in Ephesus.  Paul is writing this letter to Timothy and the church - to focus them on what’s essential to be focused on if they’re going to be effective as the church that God will use in Ephesus.  The essentials of the Church that we need to give our lives to if we’re going to be the congregation that God intends for us to be here in the greater Merced metroplex.

Put slightly different.   Imagine the church as wheel.  The essentials are spokes.  Emphasize the wrong essentials - remove some essentials - wimp out on some essentials - get complacent about an essential - and the wheel - the church - gets stuck - or comes apart - people get hurt - wounded.  The church becomes a place of frustration and defeat - limping along - maintaining the status quo - rather than a community of life and joy and victory - penetrating into the community with Gospel.  The church stops rolling forward - fails at her mission.  People die in sin - condemned - without Jesus.  Are we together?

Paul’s first essential - what we want to focus on this morning - is The Essential Of Love.  Let’s say that together, “The essential of love.”

1 Timothy 1 - verse 3 - Paul writing to Timothy:  As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.

Let’s pause and understand what Paul is writing about - what Paul is exposing is The ongoing Discussion that was raging in the church.  Let’s try that together, “The discussion.”

In the church there were “certain men” - probably wanna be leaders - who were teaching “strange doctrines.”  “Strange doctrines” is one compound Greek word made up of two Greek words stuck together.  “Eteros” - meaning “the other” and “didiskalia” meaning what’s being taught.

In other words, imagine a pair of shoes - a right shoe and a left shoe.  They look a lot alike - same style - same color - same material.  But one curves right and one curves left.  One is right - sound doctrine - teaching.  The other isn’t.  The best lie is the one - what?  Closest to the truth.  These “strange doctrines” sounded so close to the truth.  But when we get down and look at them close up they’re very different.

Some of the leaders in the Ephesian church - these “certain men” - had spiritualized the Old Testament in much the same way that people today will claim that the Old Testament is a collection of stories - not actual historical people and events.  They said - there’s some historical accuracy.  But, we can’t take all that literally.  They said that the Old Testament is mainly a collection of “myths” - stories that represent the spiritual aspirations of the Jews.  What the Jews longed for - idealized - in their relationship with God.

Then they added to the these myths “endless genealogies.”

Imagine a pool of water smooth as glass.  Throw a small stone into the center of the pool and waves - rings - start moving outward - emanations -  generations - each one moving farther from the center.  The idea is that the center - where the rock hit - is pure - is holy - without sin - the divine origin of all things.  Call that center god - or divine perfection - or divine purity - or nirvana if you want - Shakari.  The farther a ring gets away from the center the more distorted - the more impure - the more distorted by sin it is.

We’re out here on the outermost ring - sinful - so far away from the divine that we can’t even see the beginning of the place where you can begin to see the beginning of the place where we could begin to glimpse the purely divine.  Somehow we have to get rid of sin and get back through those generations - or rings - to the point of our spiritual origin.  

The technical name for this teaching is “gnosticism.”  Comes from a Greek word “gnosis” - which basically means “knowledge.”  The way to get back to the center - to that divine purity - is through “knowing” the hidden spiritual things of the universe so that we can live a purer life.

Today we know “gnoticism” as elements of Eastern Mysticism - reincarnation - trying to improve ourselves as we pass through different lifetimes - or Mormonism - or Masonry - with their secret rites - or the First Church of Christ, Scientist.  Some secret knowledge that we need to understand and some work that we have to do in order to become more like a god - or whatever that divinity is out there. 

Grab this:  these “certain men” - wanna be leaders in the church - were teaching that the Old Testament was a collection of stories - that Jesus Christ - who was Himself closer to the divine - more enlightened - like a Buddha - all that is useful to guide us to higher knowledge - to lead us backwards through the emanations towards our goal of sinless perfection - divine purity.  Are we together?

Now, when we compare Jesus to Buddha its easy us for us to say, “That’s nuts.”  But remember, we’re comparing the left shoe with the right. 

In the way the teaching was being presented in the church in Ephesus it did sound kind of like what the Apostles were teaching - the other shoe.  Putting off the flesh - with all of its sin.  Being one with God - the Father.  Jesus who points the way - who gives us life.  Becoming more holy.  Living in obedience to God.

But Paul is pointing to men within the church who were teaching something completely different than the Gospel.  Rather than these men helping to move the church forward in what was essential to their faith - essential to fulfilling their mission as the church - the church was being caught up - distracted - by endless - hurtful - destructive - fruitless discussions - about these teachings.

Creekside has a tremendous history of being a Bible teaching - Bible believing - congregation.  In seems like most of us can discuss the basics of our faith - citing chapter and verse - arguing against heresy and the cults.  For the most part identifying the right shoe from the left.  And yet, we need to be so careful that we don’t mistake the huddle for the game.  That we don’t get so caught up in what we’re learning or debating that we lose sight of what God has called us here for in the first place.

Paul says, “Timothy, instruct them - literally command them - order them - to stop teaching these strange doctrines.”  All that discussion is distracting the church away from what’s essential.

Skip with me down to verse 6.  We’ll come back to verse 5 shortly.  But we there’s more here that we need to see first about this ongoing discussion.  Verse 6:  For some men, straying from these things - what is essential - what we’re coming back to in verse 5 - Some men, straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

On October 21st of last year air traffic controllers lost contact with Northwest Airline’s flight 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis.  For 1 hour and 18 minutes air traffic control tried desperately to contact the flight.  By time air traffic control managed to regain contact - flight 188 with 147 passengers and 5 crew had overshot the Minneapolis airport by some 150 miles.

The pilot and co-pilot were both experienced fliers with 20,000 and 11,000 hours of flight time under their belt.  The pilots - who said that they were not tired at the time - had no record of accidents, incidents, violations, or medical problems.  The pilots told investigators that - flying at 37,000 feet on autopilot - they were engaged in “a concentrated period of discussion” about airline policy and “lost track of time.”  Even though they both heard the radio they weren’t monitoring the airplane or calls from air traffic control.

These “certain men” have strayed off course.  The course wasn’t corrected.  Something’s wrong with their internal - spiritual -  guidance system.

Why have they strayed?  Did you see that?  They want to be known as teachers of the Law.  Their desire is to be known as men whose teaching and opinions people should respect.  All this teaching and debate isn’t about moving people farther along with God - fulfilling the mission of the church.  Its about them.  Their reputation.  Their egos.

Have you come across people - maybe we’ve even done this ourselves - people who are trying to be something they’re not - because deep down inside we know we’re inadequate - we’re lacking what it takes?  There’s an emptiness inside that we try cover with an image we’d like other people to see.  These men are feeding their emptiness off the debate.

Outwardly they’ve themselves have become lost in worthless discussions - making confident - bold - assertions - declarations - about truths they don’t understand.  Internally - for their own lives - they’ve never come face to face with the reality - the truth - of what they’re trying to teach.

Verse 8 - here’s the reality - verse 8:  But we know that the Law - what these men wanted to be teachers of - the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully - if one teaches and understands it the way God intended - the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully - and here’s how - realizing - knowing - the fact that law is not made for a righteous person - its not for those who are already in a right relationship with God - but for those who are lawless and rebellious - who know God’s law and choose to live in disobedience to it - for the ungodly and sinners - those without reverence for God - the unrepentant - for the unholy and profane - those actively working against God - who ridicule God - for those who kill their fathers or mothers - who dishonor their parents - for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers - quite a list.  In case Paul has left out any - Paul adds, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching - all of which is not - according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

The whole point of the law is to show us our need for God - for God’s grace - for God’s mercy - for God’s forgiveness.  That we can’t achieve holiness - reach to God - on our own.   The law should point out sin and point us to the Gospel.  We desperately need God’s salvation and restoration poured out for us on the cross through Jesus.  That truth of salvation and life - God’s declaration of our adequacy at the core of who we are - our value to Him - that truth these “certain men” had never come to understand - to embrace - for themselves.

These men were teaching about the Law - God and His holiness - how we’re to come to holiness before God.  But they’d missed the point.  They were taking this standard of God’s holiness - the Law - and trying - through myths and genealogies and emanations and eliminating the sins of the flesh - keeping the commandments and rituals of the law - that somehow by their own works and effort they were to achieve this divine holiness.

The goal of what they were teaching - what they were leading the church off on a tangent with - endless fruitless discussion - the goal of all that was themselves - trying to live Godly by their own strength and efforts.

Let’s go back to verse 5.  Our Goal.  Let’s say that together, “Our goal.”  The essential we need to give our lives to - verse 5:  But the goal of our instruction - the aim of what Paul and the Apostles are teaching - what Timothy’s teaching in Ephesus is to produce - the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Let’s unpack that goal.  There are three parts.

First:  “love from a pure heart”   Love is the Greek word “agape.”  Have you heard that word before?  Deep affection.  Charitable.  Benevolent. Unselfish commitment love.  The kind of love that sent Jesus to the cross.  “God demonstrates His own love - “agape” - same word - God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners - rebelling against God - unlovable - Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)

“Pure” is not what we can do for ourselves - wandering back through emanations.  Pure is the Greek word “katheros” - where we get our English word?  Catharsis - purified.  Made clean.  God scrubbing out our hearts so that there’s nothing left in there of sin - or nothing left even desiring evil.  God bringing us to a place of innocence - guiltlessness.  As if we’ve never stained ourselves with the corruption and self-centered - self-destructive - sin of this world.

That’s where our heart needs to be - the core of who we are - cleaned of all self-serving desire - freed to be an unclogged by sin - conduit of God’s love to those around us who are so desperate to know God’s love.

Second:  “a good conscience.”  “Good” meaning honorable - excellent - upright.

“Conscience” is another one of those Greek words that’s two words stuck together to make one word.  “Soon” - meaning “with.”  And “eido” - meaning to examine - to perceive.  What - after we’ve examined a situation - what we perceive to be the right course of action.

Our conscience is suppose to tell us what’s morally good and morally bad - prompting us to do what’s good - what’s honorable - excellent - upright.  Right?  But our consciences are seared by sin.  Our compass gets stuck on “bad.”  So we need to let God reset our internal compass.

The “with” part needs to be all about God.  Our perceiving “with” God’s perception of what’s going on in our lives what’s the right thing to do.  A good conscience is one that troubles us - judges and accuses us - when we do anything outside obedience to the will of God. 

Third:  “a sincere faith.”  The word sincere in Greek literally means “without hypocrisy.”  A hypocrite - in the origin of the word - was an actor.  Someone who got up on the stage and pretended to be someone else.  A sincere faith isn’t a faked faith.  Its genuine.  The real deal.  No reservations.  What you see is what you get.  Nothing held back - open - honest - trust in God. 

Do you see what Paul is getting at here?  Faith - trusting in God with all that we are - should open us up to God directing our conscience - living in obedience to God’s will - so that what results is a life that’s totally surrendered - totally in love with God and others.  The essential of love. 

The goal of our instruction - love from a pure heart - the good conscience - the sincere faith - only comes as we acknowledge our sin and throw ourselves on the grace of God offered through Jesus Christ.  Everything else that entangles us - wounds us - keeps us from joy and victory - distracts us from fulfilling God’s ministry in and through us - as people - as a church - comes as we focus on ourselves - when we refuse to get past our own appetites - our own issues - our own pride - our own goals.

In thinking all this through for our lives today - there are two thoughts of application I’d like to share.

First:  The Law Is Good.  Let’s say that together, “The law is good.”  God’s law is good if we use it the way God intended - showing us our need for God - showing us God’s grace applied to our lives.

Often - in talking about Law and grace - we talk about a courtroom scene.  A man is brought before the judge - guilty of breaking the law - condemned without hope of pardon.  The judge’s son comes and offers to pay the penalty for the prisoner - offers to take his punishment.  The prisoner is then set free before the law.  It’s a great illustration of what Jesus has done for us on the cross - setting us free from condemnation and the penalty for our sin.

The struggle is that we understand this intellectually.  But practically - we have hard time living by grace - living the way God intended.

Dr. Harry Ironside - a great pastor and Bible teacher of the last century - shares about a conference speaker who was coming by train from Flagstaff, Arizona to Oakland.  The speaker was talking to a group of youth about law and grace.

He said this, “I came here from Flagstaff on the train, and we stopped over for several hours in Barstow.  There in the station’s waiting room I noticed signs on the walls which said, ‘Do Not Spit On The Floor.’  That was the rule there.  I looked down on the floor, and observed that nobody had paid any attention to the law.  But when we go here to Oakland I was invited to stay in a lovely, Christian home.  As we sat in the living room I looked around and noticed pretty pictures on the walls, but no signs which said, ‘Do Not Spit On The Floor.’  I got down on my hands and knees and felt the rug and, you know, nobody had spit on the floor.  In Barstow it was law but in the home in which I’m staying its grace.” (1)

When we believe - not just understand - but believe with a sincere faith - that we live under grace.  When we see ourselves as God sees us - forgiven - restored - accepted - the past washed in the blood of Jesus - our actions will change.

Drawing closer to Jesus, the issues of our heart that we’re once so important begin to fade.  Attitudes and sins just don’t have the same meaning.  The TV programs and movies and music and stuff we put in our minds.  The words we speak.  The attitudes we harbor.  Our thoughts towards others.  The addictions we allow ourselves.  They’re no longer acceptable.  Our conscience begins to reorientate to what’s good.

We don’t need to wallow in sin or prop ourselves up with pride.  We don’t need to condemn others with criticism.  But, we’re freed to love with a pure heart even those who criticize us.   Freed to go on living in the life that God offers to each one who will come to Jesus as the means of their salvation.

Application thought number two:  Our need to Live The Essential Of Love.  Let’s say that together, “Our need to live the essential of love.” 

Paul - when he writes about “certain men” is not commissioning us to go out and hunt down and kill heretics.  The mission of the church is take the Gospel into the world - the greater Merced metroplex - even beginning within the community of the Church.  These “certain men” were in the church - leaders - teachers - men who were respected.  But, they’d strayed from the truth of the Gospel.  They’d missed the point.  They needed to know Jesus.

Paul is encouraging us to become conduits of God’s love flowing through us to others.  That’s really hard.  Let’s be honest.  We all have room for growth here.  As individuals in the church it becomes easy for us to share with others of like mind - to share with others about the spiritual shortcomings of those who “just don’t get it.”  Especially when those “others” criticize and speak against us because we, “just don’t get it.” 

Its easier for us to huddle with people of like mind on Sunday after worship rather than allowing God to push us out of our comfort zone to connect with people we don’t really know.  Its a stretch for us - not the first thing on our minds - to invite people we don’t really know to be a part of what we’re a part of.  To see what God is doing around here - the events and ministries - as opportunities to include and involve and invite others to join with us - even doing whatever it takes to make sure that they get here.  To focus outward rather than inward - church as usual - comfortable - complacently doing the same thing and expecting different results.

In 1 Corinthians 6 - the Apostle Paul goes down a list of sinners similar to the one he has here in 1 Timothy.  He concludes the list with these words, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)

“Such were some of us” - sinners - by God’s grace - saved.  Merced is broken.  Will we love Merced - will we love each other - as God has loved us?

____________________

1. J. Vernon McGee, Through The Bible Commentary, vol. 5, pg. 433

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.