1 Timothy, Chapter 4

Being A Good Minister’s Discipline

Last week in Chapter 3 we looked at the qualifications for church leadership and their spouses, and talked about how the church is meant to be a family, the household of God, and a cornerstone of the community, and how it should conduct itself as such. In Chapter 4 Paul gets back to talking about false teachings and teachers and how to deal with those things within the church. Let’s get started on those false teachings.

^“1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, ² by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, ³ who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; ⁵ for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

Man, where to start with this section? I’ve been talking about how a lot of what Paul says to Timothy in regards to the church at Ephesus can be directly applied to things we see going on within the church today; and whether I do a particularly good job of it or not, I really do try to stay away from explicitly calling out leftist dogma as being the teaching of “deceitful spirits and demons,” because I really don’t want these writings to be overly political… but when we’ve seen articles from leftist authors that talk about how marriage is a bad thing, we’ve seen examples of extremist anti-meat movements, people and companies pushing artificial/manufactured food-stuffs…it’s hard not to draw those direct parallels with what Paul is talking about here. And where is most of that coming from? Left-leaning groups and organizations, influencers and media personalities. What’s really crazy about it is, for every article some feminist liberal woman writes for the New York Times about how divorcing her husband and abandoning her children was the best decision she ever made, you’ll find just as many articles written by the same author 6-8 months later talking about how miserable they’ve become. The problem is, these people are not seeking Godly sanctification through their marriages and their families. They’re trying to fill a hole in their soul with other people, one that can only be filled by God. So when those other people fail to fill that hole, they jettison that idea and move on to material things and other “comforts.” But those fail to fill it too. So they’re even more unhappy, and even less fulfilled. We glorify God in our relationships and in our families, through our love of our spouse and children. We give God praise and honor in the food we eat, thanking Him for providing for us, making us strong, and giving us another day to worship and praise Him. And modern culture has lost the truth that everything we do, from the families we grow to the very food we eat, is meant to be glorifying to Him! And instead of searching out this truth, those who have made themselves miserable trying to plug that hole with anything and everything other than the One who would fill it, they promote false teachings to try to get everyone else to abandon the way of truth and be equally hollow and unfulfilled as they are. Truly, deeply miserable people don’t want to find a way out of their misery… they want to find a way to bring everyone else in to it with them. Do not be misled by false teachings of the world. In fact…

^“6 In pointing out these things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the good doctrine which you have been following. ⁷ But stay away from worthless stories that are typical of old women. Rather, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; ⁸ for bodily training is just slightly beneficial, but godliness is beneficial for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ⁹ It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. ¹⁰ For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers.”

Paul calls us to be “good servants” and call out these false teachings. Staying away from “worthless stories…of old women” (which I find exceptionally hilarious wording, just because of the number of those New York Times articles I’ve read and seeing the social media postings of the shrews who write them) and disciplining ourselves with discipline, faith, and good doctrine. And Paul gets to the crux of those false teachings, because much like what I was talking about in the last paragraph, they’re just ways to fill a hole, and the solution to that is that “we have set our hope on the living God” and we know that He gives us the promise of a life fulfilled. Of a purpose and a reason. Of satisfactory love through our families, both biological and our Christian family of the church. Which links back to why Chapter 3 is so important in building the foundation of a strong church.

^“11 Prescribe and teach these things. ¹² Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. ¹³ Until I come, give your attention to the public reading, to exhortation, and teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was granted to you through words of prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. ¹⁵ Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. ¹⁶ Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

Finally, this chapter wraps up with Paul giving Timothy encouragement to stand up against false teachings and bad doctrine. He tells him not to let them use his youth against him but to lean in to teaching what is right and good and Godly. To teach in public and make sure everyone in the church knows the truth. To gather the church community together and be strong and faithful and unified in their message. Both for the health of the church, but also for Timothy’s sake. And again, this all goes back to being applicable to the modern church. Too often we see church families get torn apart by bad doctrine or infighting and, rather than come together publicly and get things right and unified, there ends up being schisms that form and everyone comes away worse for it, even those who aren’t involved.

Everything about 1 Timothy has been a lesson that the modern church should be leaning in to and focusing on to combat false doctrine within Christianity, and to combat the attacks from both within and outside the church on who and what Christianity is and stands for.

Next week we talk about honoring and respecting elders. Boy does this younger generation need to hear that lesson… but I’ll save the sermon for next week 😉