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Sunday, 21 February 2010 - What's this Godliness? 1 Timothy 4: 1 - 16.

Today we go on looking into Paul's first letter to Timothy - and we're now up to chapter four. It begins on page 1192 in the church Bibles. And while you're finding it, let me just very briefly refresh your memory about the letter in general and the reason it was written.

We know that Timothy was in Ephesus. We're not sure when, or where from, Paul wrote to him - but we can say that he wrote to both Timothy and Titus at around the same time as they both faced the same problem: false teaching inside churches. This would have been a particular problem at Ephesus because the church there is thought to have been scattered throughout the area in what we'd call today 'house churches' - each having its own leadership team, and therefore its own teachers. They'd have been semi-independent congregations quite like many churches in this country today. Which is why - last time we looked at this letter - Phil took us through Paul's instructions about setting up good, sound church leadership.

But what was the false teaching - and how was it to be dealt with. Well by now you should have found 1 Timothy Ch.4 - so lets read it.

Before we get into the detail - just a couple of general things - and the first you've hear me say before - and will no doubt hear me say again. With the NT books that are letters, we are reading somebody else's mail - and particularly with 1 Timothy - we don't know that much about the background. However - we do know that Paul warns the Ephesian elders as he leaves them in Acts 20:30 that from within there own ranks would come people who would distort the truth and draw disciples away to follow themselves.

The other general comment is that this is not a 'stand alone' chapter. (Which is why I do hope you've had time to read the whole letter at one sitting.) Because Paul's referred to the problem before in this letter. In fact - it's in his opening words after the greeting in Ch.1:3 & 4. "As I urged you", he says to Timothy, "when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work - which is by faith." He picks it up again at 1:7 - and when we get to 6:3 we'll find he returns to it. But you also need to realise that everything Paul says in this letter is linked - and in some way is there to address and combat the problem of false teaching.

But what was the problem? What was this false teaching that Paul was so concerned about?

Now if you're at all familiar with Paul's writings you'll know that he has a very precis, logical, combative style when dealing with error. But not in this letter! Here we have the effects and symptoms of the false teaching, plus a couple of illustrations of behaviour associated with it - the forbidding of marriage and of eating certain foods. But there's no single, overarching heresy spoken against as in some of his other letters. Just reference to a mixture of myths and superstitions. Or as a couple of commentator have said - there "doesn't seem to have been any one, well-thought -out, cohesive system of false belief", just a collection of "floating speculations and vague theories".

Some suggest the false teaching was based on Jewish genealogies in the apocryphal writings. And some might be based (like the 'no marriage' idea) on an assumption that the resurrection was in the past - and as Jesus said there's no marriage in heaven - let's forbid marriage. (By the way, this has nothing to do with later celibacy regulations in the Catholic church.) Other teachings might just be linked to the beginnings of the false knowledge cult that was to plague the early church some centuries later - but we don't know.

One thing both Paul and the false teachers did agreed on was that they all considered themselves living in the end times (as pointed to in v.1). We get the impression that the first generation church expected Jesus to return very quickly - but as it's turned out - we're still living in the end times today.

So why was Paul so very concerned about this mishmash of myth and superstition? Because - of the effect of the false teachings on the life of the church. It was sucking out its vitality and wasting its purpose. It was promoting lies (and Paul seems to be saying - intentionally so - calling the proponents "hypocritical lies" in v.2). It was killing the church from the inside. And it was doing Satan's work for him - because in v.1 Paul identifies the myths and superstitions as "deceiving spirits and things taught by demons".

Not for nothing does Paul write directly to this church in his Ephesians letter saying - "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil". Paul goes on to say we need to put on the whole armour of God for protection against these attacks. But if you go on a holiday to Turkey (today's location of Ephesus) you'll find tourist shops selling bracelets or necklaces with an eye symbol on them that harks right back to Paul's day - a day when magic was the norm - and when such amulets where supposed to protect from the evil eye. And it hasn't stayed as ancient history. The posh hotel that I stayed in last November had this one fixed over a staff doorway. So it's still a currently believed myth in modern day Turkey.

This then was the culture surrounding this church - and it was getting into the church. In the UK of course it might be a belief in the power of crystals - or pyramids - or some other New Age myth. But it doesn't have to be weird to be false and dangerous. It might be a respectable, long-held falsehood.

The picture on the left [on the screen in the church] is a Rubens - and it hangs in the Hague. It's The Assumption of Mary. The item on the right is a Coptic icon. Both depict Mary bodily ascending into heaven. This myth started life around the fourth century and developed over the years in both Catholicism and Orthodoxy. But it was only on 01 November 1950 (would you believe) that Pope Pius XII wrote it into Western Catholic dogma. And even though in 1989, Catholic commentator Eamon Duffy wrote in his book 'What Catholics Believe about Mary' - that there clearly is no historical evidence whatsoever for this - his comment is unlikely to make that much of an impact to this myth. And I've seen massive churches on Malta built to celebrate this very myth.

But false teaching does not have to be so openly displayed, or even written down. It can be underhand and insidious and spread on the quiet. In my early twenties I got involved with a Christian telephone ministry based in Harrow. At the time I remember I actually felt uncomfortable in my spirit while there. But because I was young - I thought it was me not being 'spiritual enough' in the presence of these super Christians. But after a while it came out that the person running the group - effectively it’s 'elder' - was privately giving immoral sexual advise to different people working in the ministry. Supposedly 'words from the Lor'’, that were not from God at all. The telephone minister folded, and a lot of sincere Christians got hurt.

And it's because of the harm that false teaching causes the church - that Paul is so forceful in these letters against it. In his two letters to Timothy, Paul lists the harmful characteristics of the false teachings they faced: the adverse undercurrents of behaviour that comes into the church with them.

[I not going to vocalise the references on the screen - just what Paul says - but they'll be on the website later if you want them.]

Paul says the false teaching is -
* "unholy chatter, meaningless talk and full of falsely professed knowledge." [1 Tim 1:6; 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 2:16]
* "it promotes envy, strife, suspicion, and constant friction... and it steals the truth and uses religion for financial gain" [1 Tim 6:4 & 5]
* "it brings empty, harmful and useless quarrelling, particularly about words" [2 Tim 2:14, 27]
* "it has the appearance of Godliness but denies the power" [2 Tim 3:5]

and finally, the effect of it is that
* "it eats away like gangrene." [2 Tim 2:17]

OK - they're drawn from both of Paul's letters to Timothy - but the theme is the same - the effect of all those ill defined myths and superstition facing this Ephesian group of churches. But both these letters to Timothy are in our Bible - and they're there to show us - in the 21st century - what wrongly held beliefs can do to a church - even our church - in this day and age.

But enough of the problem - what about the solution.

Wel,l about the matter of forbidding certain food, Paul gives Timothy a fairly simple answer based around the idea of saying grace before meals. You've thanked God for it. Eat it! And I do wonder if we take thanking God for our food seriously enough. Something happened while I was in Tanzania that made a lasting impression on me. A lady brought me a cup of tea. But before she gave it to me - she turned off their TV - and then she gave thanks to God for my cup of tea as though it was a banquet. Maybe our African brothers and sisters can teach us something about thankfulness here.

Moving on - and of course this letter's written personally to Timothy - so Paul's instructions are couched around Timothy's personal experience and Paul's knowledge of where he's at. Now I'm going to be jumping about a bit - but Paul really wants Timothy to hear that age is not a problem when God has gifted you to do a work. In v.12 he tells Timothy not to be intimidated because he's young. Actually - he was probably 30 to 40 years old - so it was being considered culturally young for the role of leadership that was his criticisers' problem. They'd have been older.

Today we can find lots of things to use as excuses if we want to reject someone's message. Yes - they're too young to tell me what's right. Or perhaps in this day and age - they're too old and past it! Or they've got the wrong ethic background - the wrong marital status - or the wrong education. But do you know where God's recruiting some of His most effective evangelists at the moment - in UK prisons! We can read the Bible and think we understand it - but then ignore the fact that the Kingdom of God is a bottom up kingdom - not a top down one. (Read Jesus parables again.)

So don't neglect your gift - Paul says to Timothy - and God also says to us. Each of us. Individually. And to the 'do not neglect' - Paul adds some very practical advise. And it's all about training.

Some false teachings going the rounds had a dualistic view of body and spirit. This produced an asceticism, where godliness was only to do with the spirit - and you made your body behave with vigorous self-denial - or physical training. Wrong says Paul. And as well as that - there was also an emphasis on physical prowess in the Greco-Roman world - so not much has changed there then! But Paul says - physical training is of some value - but it's spiritual training that is good for all your life. Paul's argument in v.8 is quite simple. All the physical training in the world is only valuable for this life - the here and now - but spiritual training is good for both the here and now and for eternity. And it’s not limited by declining health and growing old.

There's a lot of good advise out there at the moment about us needing to take more exercise. It's good for our bodily health. And I have to say - I've been going to the Fitness Zone about once a week for the past year - and I feel much better for it. But it's not the be all and end all. And the sad commentary on our culture is that it espouses health promoting activity for this life - but has lost sight of the health promoting activity that's good for this life and the next. And sadly, some Christians have bought into this.

But Paul says to Timothy - you've got to point out this error to the congregations at Ephesus. And the means of doing this are.... and then tells him three things he needs to do. And the first is - the public reading of Scripture.

Now the emphases on the public bit was more important in their day than ours - at least today in this country. Phil pointed out a fortnight ago that there would have been a limited number of literate people in the church - as well as a very limited number of copies of the text. Of course in some parts of the world the proliferation of Bibles in the local language isn't the same as we enjoy today. Not so long ago in some countries where the church was under persecution, people wrote down the Bible as it was read at dictation speed over the radio. They then passed around these hand written Bibles.

But I suspect most of us have the Bible in more than one version in our own home. So how often do we read it? It was also a couple of weeks ago that Ann testified to the benefit of just sitting down and reading through the Bible - letting it do what I've heard called - "the washing of the "Word". After all - it's more important to listen to what Scripture says than what's said about it. That's why Paul puts it first.

Why is the Bible so important? Well in 2 Timothy, 3:16 - Paul tells Timothy why. "All scripture is God-breathed" says Paul, "and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." It's not our own ideas that matter - our logic - our preconceptions - it's God's instructions that matter. Which is why we in this church are working through the ten commandments from the OT this year - because they're the basis for a lot of the other detailed things that God says about the way we should live. And of course the Bible is the only place where you will find the evidence about God’s free gift of salvation - God reaching out to us - rather than us striving to reach out to put ourselves right with a distant God.

Which is why Paul's second instruction to Timothy is a about preaching. Now in both Paul's letter to the Romans and these letters to Timothy there's a question about the exact nature of the distinction Paul was making between preaching and teaching. They're certainly not distinctly different. But most people accept that peaching is the work of an Evangelist and is the proclaiming of God’s salvation outside the church as well as inside it. (Teaching we'll look at in a minute.)

Evangelism is the calling of some, but is the responsibility of all Christians. And you'll know if you've met some one called to be evangelist. I once went out with one. She was employed by a missionary society to proclaim Jesus to a particular section of society. But she actually felt she was a fraud being paid to do something that she just loved to do. And although she didn't usually fulfil her role by standing up on a platform as I am today - she was a through and through evangelist all the same.

Whether Timothy was a evangelist is debatable. In 2 Tim 4:5 Paul tells Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist". Sometimes - even when it is not our calling - that's what God tells us to do as well. I would say I'm more a Bible teacher than an evangelist, but I know at times I've often done the work of an evangelist. And that's something we all do when we do what somebody likened to being "one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread". When we tell someone - however we do it - that there is salvation found in no-one else but Jesus - we are at that moment being an evangelist. But there's a serious question for us to face in our free and easy society. Why is it the 'persecuted church' consistently does it in the face of threat - imprisonment - and even death for doing it - and we find it so hard?

And the third thing Timothy's told to devote himself to is teaching. As I said just now - there's considerable overlap between preaching and teaching. But teaching is more about explaining what the Christian faith is all about to people who already believe. Delving into the truth with people in the face of doubt and misunderstanding - and arguing the truth in the face of false teaching. Making the truth plain to the church. And in a very real sense - putting the Sword of the Spirit in their hand for battle.

Donald Guthrie (a one time quite well known Bible scholar) has said, "The minister of the gospel has the responsibility to lay before his people positive answers to negative doctrines". He's also said that "the best way to refute error is the positive presentation of truth" - then adds - "it's a principle that the church in every age constantly need to learn". Which is why of course we in this church - year in and year out - attempt to systematically work thought a wide range of Biblical based teaching.

I said I was going to be jumping about a bit - so I now want to look at what Paul says is the trustworthy saying deserving full acceptance in vs.9 & 10. The thing Paul says he "labours and strives" for - words which have the Greek background of an athlete straining towards a gold medal. And this is "....that we have put our hope in the living God".

You see, you can know your Bible cover to cover and be able to talk about it till the cows come home - but if you don't know - have not experienced - and are not in a relationship with the living God - you're going to hell. Full stop.

I heard someone say the other day they knew someone who'd been on seven Alpha courses in three different churches. They must know Nicki Gumble's illustrations backwards. But knowing the facts does not equal faith. Life-changing commitment to the fact that Jesus died in your place on that cross equals faith - and nothing short of that will do. And the reading of Scripture - the preaching of it - the teaching from it - are all to do with making know this one and only living God in whom we trust.

This is the antidote to those myths and old wives tales of v.7. Knowing God, and growing to know the living God better. Knowing the God who wants everybody to be saved. Knowing the God of John 3:16. Knowing the Jesus of John 14:6. Somebody’s said in relation to doorstep conversations with JWs - "People who have a testimony have nothing to fear from those who only have an argument". And if you have come into a relationship with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus on your behalf - you have a testimony. And if you haven't - you only have information.

And if I'm sounding a bit like an evangelist at the moment - that’s because I'm doing the work of one.

But because I am a Bible teacher - I'm afraid I can't just walk away from the difficult second half of v.10. It's a verse Universalists - those who believe that God's going to allow everybody into Heaven whether they follow Him or not - latch on to. What Paul was actually driving at in the way he's worded this verse nobody's really seems sure about - except - that it can't be that everybody's going to be saved irrespective. And we can be sure of that - on the basis of everything else that Paul (and all the other NT writers) consistently say about faith and God's saving grace. What logically he may be driving at is the same as the 'who-so-ever may' message of John 3:16.

Going on - we don't really know what Timothy's particular gift was - but Paul is insistent in v.14 that he doesn't neglect it. It was a gift the church recognised - that God confirmed through prophecy - and to the use of which Timothy was formally commissioned by the ceremonial laying on of hands.

Now you may not have had your gift so formally recognised - but if God has called you and equipped you in some way - He will make you be aware of it. And one commentator's said - that with a gift comes the responsibility to use it! And it you don't - that doesn't just affect you - but the whole church.

Then Paul goes on to say in vs.15 & 16 - Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

So what were the things that Timothy was being told to preserve in? Well we need to go back to v.12 to where Timothy is told to "set an example in - speech - life - love - faith - and purity". He was in effect being told that he should not give anyone the excuse to be able to say "I can;t hear what your saying, because your life shouts louder than your words". Or as Francis of Assisi is reported to have said some 800 years ago - "It's no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."

I know it's not a Christian example - but something happened in my early working life that I remember because of it's impact on me. In those days everybody in a more senior position was treated with respect and you never called them by their first name - and other such deferences. Well, at one of my first Christmases at work (in the days when alcohol was allowed in the offices for parties) I saw one of these more senior engineers making an ass of himself around some of the girls from the typing pool. Naively I suppose, I was a bit shocked - but I was also never able to view him with the same respect again.

At around the same time one of the songs we used to sing in church youth circles had the line - "they are watching you, the things that you do". It was all about our witness to the watching world. Our culture's now moved on - and sadly - things that shocked in my youth don't now - but it's still true that what you do - good and bad - will affect others as they try to work out how real your faith is. And it's also still true that one slip can ruin a lifetime of proper behaviour in the eyes of others - however unfair this may be. Which is why Timothy is told to - "be diligent" - in v.15 - and to "watch his life and doctrine" - and then "persevere" in putting the right things into practice in v.16. Doctrine - as well as life - because if you believe the wrong things they will lead you to living the wrong way.

So the underlying message of this book - and particularly chapter four - is - get to know the truth - then live it out.

Granville Richards