Sunday’s Sermons

Text: 1^st Timothy 6:3-5                                                      6/8/08 a.m.

Thesis: A rejection of the gospel is the product of pride.

 

Intro: I have found it necessary to constantly tell myself to listen to the words of Christ…Remember what Jesus taught…Love my God and my neighbor passionately and sacrificially…Think about the gospel and stop going where you are going.

Anytime we stop listening to God’s Christ-centered forgiveness-giving hope-bearing message we are headed for trouble.

Our passage this morning, 1^st Timothy 6:2-5 is God’s warning; this is what happens when you stop listening to Christ.

1^st Timothy 6:2-5 gives us a character sketch of the person who has stopped listening to Christ and following sound doctrine.

The moral of the passage? Listen to Jesus. Believe Him, trust Him, and follow Him.

Read 1^st Timothy 6:2b-5

 

I) Mambrino Baptist Church must be a people who believe, teach, and follow the words of Christ.

a)      Timothy’s calling was to teach sound doctrine and encourage the church to follow sound doctrine.

i)        Paul tells Timothy, “teach and urge these things.”

ii)      Teach widows how to be widows. Teach the church how to care for their families and widows who have no families.

iii)    Teach the church to care for their pastors. Teach the people to exalt God and his glorious name in all they do; especially by persevering through difficulty.

iv)    It is essential that the church be taught the gospel. This teaching must be thorough and intentional.

v)      An individual, a family, a church will never do hard things unless they are taught deep things.

vi)    Getting the gospel right leads to getting life right. When you get the gospel wrong you will get life wrong.

vii)  So like it or not theology drives practice; people and situations do not cause you to act the way you do. 

viii)            The way we think about Jesus causes you to act the way you do.

ix)    So, it is the job of the elders in the church to teach what is right and work alongside people to ensure they implement what is taught.

x)      It’s not enough just to teach what is right. The leadership must also personally urge each member to live what is right.

xi)    Now what we must understand is that there have been those in the church who teach what is wrong and persuade people to do what is wrong.

xii)  Read verse 3

xiii)            When it comes to the gospel diversity is not good. When it comes to biblical truth tolerance is a deadly.

xiv)            Timothy was teaching what was right. He was teaching what would bring eternal life and peace that passes understanding.

xv)  Timothy was in agreement with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

xvi)            And our Lord’s words are healthy words. When we eat healthy foods it makes us physically healthy.

xvii)          When we believe healthy doctrine it makes us spiritually healthy.

xviii)        And when you have a spiritually healthy soul you’ll live a godly life.

xix)            Biblical doctrine, a robust and joyful understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ, is always right in line with godliness.

xx)  I desperately want you to understand that right living is a product of right thinking and right thinking is a product of right doctrine.

xxi)            If our doctrine is wrong our thinking will be wrong and what we do will be wrong. Bless our hearts.

xxii)          And if that’s not hard enough, there are even people in the church who will try to steer us wrong.

xxiii)        Some will teach different doctrines that do not agree with the life giving words of Christ.

xxiv)        Some will teach ideas that produce sinfulness instead of godliness. And they will do it inside the church.

xxv)          We’re not talking about those wiley ole atheistic college professors who are condemned for ruining the faith of so many of our young people.

xxvi)        We’re talking about those pastors, deacons, and Sunday School teachers whose lack of concern for biblical doctrine and godly living set up our young people for failure.

xxvii)      If Mambrino Baptist Church is going to fulfill the Great Commission, if we are going to bear fruit in its season, we must believe, teach, and follow what Jesus commanded.

xxviii)    So, what the Apostle Paul does in verse 4 is give us a helpful character sketch of the type of person who does not believe, teach, and follow what Jesus taught.

xxix)        This is helpful because we are not given the specifics of this different doctrine what we are given is a list of things different doctrine produces.

xxx)          So, if you run across someone who possesses these qualities you will know there is a problem somewhere with that person’s understanding of the words of Christ.

xxxi)        This gives us our second principle from the text:

II) Controversy in the church is often caused by greed

Here are the characteristics of those greedy controversy-causing people in the church

a)      They are puffed up with conceit and understand nothing.

i)        Growing in godliness has everything to do with a growing knowledge of Christ that produces humility.

ii)      What happens is wrong doctrine leads to pride. The more a person knows the more prideful that person will become unless he’s grounded in Christ.

iii)    Every Christian should want to know more so that we can worship God more passionately and serve others more faithfully.

iv)    In essence we should strive to understand Christ’s words correctly because we are painfully aware of how much of our thinking is incorrect. We need change.

v)      This puffed up person who understands nothing strives to store away more facts because he is painfully aware of how incorrect everyone else is. They need to change.

vi)    The prideful person has no comprehension of how wrong he is but is convinced he has everything right.

vii)  He knows a lot of facts but understands nothing. He can tell you everything the bible says about finances while his finances are in a shamble.

viii)            He can tell you everything the bible says about being happily married while his marriage is all bitterness.

ix)    Because he has dismissed the commands of Christ and because his teaching is not in accordance with godliness you know somewhere he’s holding onto error.

x)      He’s a know-it-all who knows nothing. Here’s the next characteristic of those who do not agree with the gospel

b)      They are driven by controversy

i)        He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words.

ii)      The words of Jesus make you healthy but this guy is just sick.  There is a healthy desire in the life of every believer to defend the gospel against error.

iii)    That is a good and necessary thing in the church. But there is also an unhealthy craving for controversy that is a destructive thing in the church.

iv)    What this mean is there are some people who aren’t happy unless they stir up some type of argument or create some type of upheaval.

v)      We’re talking about the self-proclaimed devil’s advocates out there who love to stand up and prove to everyone how right they are and how wrong everyone else is.

vi)    This person loves to fight about words. There is a time when we must fight about words. We must fight for justification by grace through faith.

vii)  We must fight for regenerate church membership.

viii)            We must fight for the exclusivity of the gospel, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and the inerrancy of Scripture.

ix)    But here’s the difference; we must never love to fight. We don’t go looking for fights but we don’t run from them either.

x)      The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about proving people wrong. The gospel of Jesus Christ is all about humbling ourselves to the point of death in order to bring Christ-centered biblical change.

xi)    The guy who loves to start fights by throwing out little one-liners or by turning what you said back on you is a person who doesn’t understand the gospel.

xii)  Oh but there’s more

c)      This type of person brings out the worst in everyone

i)        This unhealthy craving for a fight leads to envy, dissension, slander, and evil suspicions.

ii)      Any time there is a verbal bout between two champions there is always a winner and a loser.

iii)    In all honesty if the fight is this unbiblical quarrel over words then everybody loses. You may defeat your opponent but you probably caused the name of God and the teaching to be reviled in the process.

iv)    The right thing way to handle controversy is to sacrifice personal rights and humbly uphold the words of Christ.

v)      But when we don’t have our eyes locked on honoring Christ and doing good what we’ll do is verbally go for the jugular and this always produces envy.

vi)    That person now hates your guts because you have something they don’t have. You have a big “W” and they have a big “L”.

vii)  You won, they lost, and they hate you for it. Now there is envy and envy naturally leads to strife or dissension.

viii)            It is impossible to be kind and lovingly serve someone you envy. All you will do is fume and plot ways to get back at them. You may not be able to beat them in an argument but you’ll get them another way.

ix)    This is why in relationships one person says things that hurt while another person does things that hurt.

x)      Because the words of Christ have been rejected an unhealthy quarrel has occurred. Someone lost and was hurt in the process.

xi)    Now he/she is out for revenge. Strife, or difficulty, now comes from every corner.

xii)  The next step is slander. The word is literally blasphemy. But this isn’t talking bad about God it’s talking bad about another person.

xiii)            You lost an argument so you’re bucking everything that person is trying to do and you’re running them down behind their back.

xiv)            You talk to everyone but the person you have a problem with. Families do it, churches do it, cliques do it, committees do it, and church staff members do it.

xv)  Everyone who does not hold fast to the healthy words of Christ will sooner or later start talking bad about the other person.

xvi)            Christ always calls us to give sacrificially so biblical change can be had.

xvii)          But instead of dealing with the problem we create more problems with the demeaning things we say about each other.

xviii)        Let’s be honest, when we do this we are not acting like Christians and we’re poisoning other people’s minds.

xix)            And slander leads to evil suspicions. You talk bad enough about someone for long enough and you’ll convince yourself and others to think everything is bad.

xx)  When you’re asking questions like, “what did he really mean by that,” or making some sweeping judgment based on body language or eye contact then you need to be aware that you’re in the red zone of evil suspicions.

xxi)            No good deed can be considered good. No compliment can be considered pure. Everything must be questioned and everyone is guilty until proven innocent.

xxii)          This person understands nothing about the reconciling redeeming grace of Jesus Christ.

xxiii)        When a marriage, family, or church functions like that it’s just making and drinking it’s own poison.

d)     It will produce friction

i)        There will be constant friction. This type of person is like a carrier of ringworms.

ii)      The more you rub against them the more infected you become by them.

iii)    These people are like dull drill bits; all that do is spin, smoke, and burn you when you get near by.

iv)    Let’s be honest this type of person is depraved in mind so they will produce constant problems among people depraved in mind.

v)      Until there is change nothing but bad will be produced.

vi)    To be depraved means to be corrupt. Think of a slice of sandwich bread. If there is a little mold on it I pull that part off and eat the bread.

vii)  That bread is not depraved or corrupt. Depraved or corrupt bread is bread where every nook and cranny inside and out is covered in mold.

viii)            This controversy loving person is depraved in mind.

ix)    He’s in the church and he’s a leader, she’s in the church and she’s a leader, but their minds are filled with dangerous thoughts.

x)      This is because they are deprived of the truth. The truth of the gospel has been robbed from them.

xi)    They don’t get it. They just don’t grasp what Jesus is all about. And how do we know they don’t get it?

xii)  Even though they may say the right words the way they live their lives proves they don’t get it.

xiii)            Here is the final and most devastating critique that could be leveled against this type of person in the church

e)      All of this conflict and controversy is because of greed.

i)        Read verses 4&5

ii)      This person is trying to be godly. They are trying to do the right thing but not for the right reasons.

iii)    They don’t love God. They are not in awe of the fact that Christ’s work on the cross was totally undeserved.

iv)    There is no sense of serving others so that God would be glorified and the gospel would go forward.

v)      They think jumping through the God hoops will make them rich.

vi)    They want something and can’t have it so they are convinced if they join God’s team they’ll finally get what they want.

vii)  The health-wealth gospel is heresy. As we will see next week the gain a lot of people seek from godliness is financial gain.

viii)            Now here’s where we find out if we understand the words of Christ or not.

ix)    The health-wealth gospel is clearly wrong. The teaching that Jesus wants everyone to be wealthy and healthy if you will only believe enough is not true.

x)      But will we respond by quarreling over words or will we respond by inviting that person into our homes not to argue but to love and serve them?

xi)    Talk about what is true but do not invite them into your home for the purpose of setting them straight. Invite them into your home for the purpose of showing them the glorious life changing power of the words of Christ.

xii)  We have not been entrusted with the gospel so that we can prove everyone wrong.

xiii)            We have been entrusted with the gospel so we can be ambassadors of Christ joyfully proclaiming the forgiveness of sin and everlasting hope.

xiv)            So we need to ask these questions: Do I have a reputation for fighting about words or do I have a reputation for serving and joyfully proclaiming Christ?

xv)  Do my family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors know me by what I stand against or by what I stand for?

xvi)            Do people think of me as hard and merciless or do people think of me as strong, biblical, and full of grace?

xvii)          I stand this morning to tell you that the gospel of Christ is here for your health and for your good.

xviii)        Christ will give you abundant and everlasting life.

xix)            Christ will remake you into a man, woman, boy, or girl who experiences lasting joy while giving sacrificially.

xx)  Christ will wipe away your sin and guilt and use you to bring that good news to others.

xxi)            Will you submit to Christ? Will you repent of your sins, put your faith in Christ, and be saved?

xxii)          Will you join us as we learn sound doctrine, agree with the words of Christ, and hold fast to teaching that produces godliness?

xxiii)        Will you live joyfully for the good of others? Let’s pray God does this in our lives.