1 Timothy, Part 1: Fight the Good Fight

We open 1 Timothy with a clear aim: build the kingdom with humble hearts and wise discernment. Paul’s “trustworthy sayings” pull us back to the gospel while his counsel on teaching, prayer, and leadership forms a credible life together.

• why pastoral letters need discernment rather than blanket rules
• the aim of instruction as love from a pure heart and sincere faith
• warnings against myths, speculation, and empty talk
• the law used lawfully leading to the gospel, not pride
• “Christ Jesus came to save sinners” as a center line
• praying for all people and authorities to witness the gospel
• worship without anger, status, or distraction
• leadership character: above reproach, gentle, tested, hospitable
• credibility with outsiders and patience with new leaders
• humility as the engine of kingdom work and daily repentance

Chapters

• 0:22 Season Focus: Building the Kingdom
• 0:45 Why Timothy and Titus Matter
• 1:14 How to Read Pastoral Letters
• 2:23 Discernment: What Applies Today
• 4:20 Reading 1 Timothy 1–3:13
• 6:14 Guarding Against False Teaching
• 7:00 The Law, the Gospel, and Mercy
• 8:14 Prayer, Authority, and Worship
• 9:33 Leadership Qualifications Explained
• 11:08 “Trustworthy Sayings” to Remember
• 12:27 Paul’s Humility and Our Posture
• 13:40 Humility as the Basis for Kingdom Work

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. In this season of the podcast, we've been studying how to build God's kingdom. And we started in the book of Matthew, where Jesus talked a lot about what it takes to pursue the kingdom, to live in the kingdom, to live as a citizen of God's kingdom and what that takes. Really great study through the book of Matthew as we read that. And now we're jumping ahead in the New Testament to a couple of Paul's letters to some young men who he was establishing as leaders of a church to build the kingdom according to the call that they had. And so we're going to be starting today in the book of First Timothy, and from there we'll go on to the letter to Titus, and then we'll wrap up with Paul's second letter to Timothy, which is actually Paul's last letter that we have preserved for us today. So we'll kind of end this section on that. But today it's important to know how to read and understand these letters. You see, in the rest of the New Testament, we have books or letters that are for a more general audience. The Gospels, of course, are intended for the whole world to read. Like this is this is about Jesus. You gotta know, you gotta know the gospel, you gotta know the good news. A lot of the New Testament is Paul's letters to churches. And those were like Colossians was meant for the church in Colossae, and Philippians is meant for the church in Philippi, where Paul was writing to the church on the whole. In fact, likely a network of churches in the region that it was meant to kind of apply to all of them. And we can, for the most part, say, yeah, that also applies to the church today. We can get a lot of how we uh can conduct ourselves as Christians, as the church on the whole, through what we read through Paul's instructions to these churches, thanks to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now, of course, some of those churches had some specific issues, which, hey, if we have the same issue today, we can get instructions on. Sometimes Paul addresses specific issues that may not apply to some of our churches today. That's okay. Um, but these letters specifically to these young men, Timothy and Titus, are not necessarily general for us to apply to all of our church and our Christian living, but specifically addressing some issues that Timothy and Titus were having as they were leading their churches with their specific issues. And so it can be hard to tell sometimes as we read these letters to figure out is Paul talking about a specific issue that Timothy is having that doesn't necessarily apply to anyone else? Uh, is this a generic note that kind of applies to the rest of Christianity and the rest of the church for all of time? Uh, or is he saying something that again is maybe specific to Timothy personally? And like, hey, make sure you bring with me the coat that I left with you last time. Like, I don't know, that doesn't apply to everybody for all time to bring Paul's coat. So it, I mean, that's a little bit of a silly example, but we do see that as we read these, we have to have a little bit of discernment, which frankly, when we read the Bible, shouldn't we be doing that anyway? When we read this, pray, hey God, what applies to me? What do you need me to not just think about but act on today as we read this? So let's go into this with a little bit of discernment, knowing that this isn't necessarily Paul making broad, sweeping statements that should affect how we run as a church body for all of time. Um maybe sometimes there is, maybe sometimes it's specific, and we can still learn the heart behind it, if not necessarily have to follow the word-for-word instruction of it. It can be a little bit tricky, but let's let God's word do what it does and speak for itself, and uh let the Holy Spirit guide us and teach us as we walk through these books together. So this is 1 Timothy. I'm gonna be reading from the beginning of the letter to chapter 3, verse 13. I know it's kind of awkwardly in the middle of a chapter, but if it was up to me where to put the chapter breaks, I would have put it here. So that's what I'm gonna read. The chapter breaks are not inspired by the Holy Spirit, so we can do whatever we want. Uh, this is 1 Timothy 1 through 313 in the New English Translation. From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my genuine child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to spread false teachings, nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. Such things promote useless speculations rather than God's redemptive plan that operates by faith. But the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have strayed from these and turned away to empty discussion. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they're saying or the things they insist on so confidently. But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately, realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their mothers or fathers, for murderers, sexually immoral people, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching. This accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me. I am grateful to the one who has strengthened me, Jesus Christ our Lord, because he considered me faithful in putting me into ministry, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and our Lord's grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them. But here's why I was treated with mercy, so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the eternal King, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. I uh I put this charge before you, Timothy, my child, in keeping with the prophecies once spoken about you, in order that with such encouragement you may fight the good fight. And to do this you must hold firmly to the faith and good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck in regard to the faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. First of all, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Saviour, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Jesus Christ, Himself human, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, revealing God's purpose at His appointed time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth, I'm not lying, and as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. So I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or dispute. Likewise, the women are to dress in suitable apparel with modesty and self-control. Their adornment must not be with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing, but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. A woman must learn quietly with all submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. She must remain quiet. For Adam was formed first and then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, because she was fully deceived, fell into transgression. But she will be delivered through childbearing if she continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control. This saying is trustworthy. If someone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work. The overseer then must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money. He must manage his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his dignity. But if someone doesn't know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the Church of God? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become arrogant and fall into the punishment that the devil will exact. And he must be well thought of by those outside the faith so that he may not fall into disgrace and be caught by the devil's trap. Deacons, likewise, must be dignified, not two faced, not given to excessive drinking, not greedy for gain, holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And these also must be tested first, and then let them serve as deacons if they're found blameless. Likewise also their wives must be dignified, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in every respect. Deacons must be the husbands of one wife, and good managers of their children and of their households, for those who have served well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves, and great boldness in the faith that's in Christ Jesus. And we'll stop there for today. Did you notice Paul said a couple times in this letter, and we're going to continue seeing it in the rest of the letter and in the next letters that he's going to write to these young men, something like, This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance? He's giving these little one-liners of like, hey, you know what? If you remember nothing else, this is true. You gotta hang on to this. And uh these should get our attention as we read these. If they are trustworthy and deserve full acceptance, then we should trust them and fully accept them. One of them, for example, is in uh chapter 1, verse 15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's it. That's a pretty good saying. And did you see how Paul kind of adds on to there, hey, I'm the worst of them. Like I'm the worst of the sinners that Jesus Christ came into the world to save. And this sort of perspective that Paul has, this sort of mentality of I'm the worst of sinners, isn't some sort of like false humility or just like a thing that, I don't know, some preachers will say to make them seem more accessible and down-to-earth. Like, this is actually from Paul's perspective. The way he sees himself, he's not focused on comparing himself to other people. He's focused so much on comparing himself to the holiness of God that he's like, oh my goodness, I sin all the time. I fall short all the time. I'm looking at my life, I'm like, man, I do not add up. I am, I can't imagine anyone else sinning more than I do. As often as I sin as I look at my life compared to the life of Christ and what he's done for me and the holy standard of God. I am the worst sinner that I think has ever been on the planet. And this does foster a genuine humility as we compare ourselves to Christ. And this posture of humility, then, if we can take the same sort of perspective and humility, this is what puts us in position for God to do some amazing things. Do you see yourself as the chief sinner in this world? Like, man, I can't imagine anyone sinning more than I do. It's not to beat ourselves over the head with it and to make ourselves feel bad. It's not about shame. It's about we are so focused on what does God see when he looks at our heart, in our thoughts, in our life, our actions, and do we continually go to him to repent and to continue to make us holy? If so, then we can expect God to do some amazing things in and through us. But it starts with humility. Paul models that for Timothy, and he models that for us today. If you recognize that your great sin required great mercy, then, like Paul says, Christ Jesus can demonstrate his utmost patience as an example for those who are going to believe in him after this, through your life, for their eternal life. That's the basis for building the kingdom, and that's the thinking out loud thought for the day.