Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, good morning, NBC.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Welcome back to another week in our series, Passing the Faith.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We're looking at Paul's second letter to Timothy.
Pastor Bob Erbig: If you're just joining us, this is the sixth message in our series.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Please join me today in 2 Timothy 2, verses 20 to 26.
Pastor Bob Erbig: 2 Timothy 2, 20 to 26.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And I know that baseball season just started, but it feels like football season outside.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So I'm wondering, do I have any football fans out there today?
Pastor Bob Erbig: All right, a couple.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, last week I was in Kansas City and I took a moment to drive past the Kansas City Chiefs Stadium.
Pastor Bob Erbig: This is Arrowhead or Giha or whatever they're calling it nowadays.
Pastor Bob Erbig: I did not see Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, or Taylor Swift, but the area was cool nonetheless.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, football stadiums, if you can see here, are just enormous.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They accommodate well over 50,000 fans, and there is a disparity between the number of players on the field and the number of spectators in the stands.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It's huge.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now I want you to notice that the players are the ones who work hard, they train, they get dirty during the game.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It is the fans who show up once a week, they eat some overpriced concessions, and they have loud opinions the next day.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The fans don't get dirty, but they still take it personally when their team loses, sometimes going into a deep depression.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The spectator is the person who doesn't play the game but regularly calls the sports talk radio shows like Colin Cowherd to offer their opinions on management decisions because clearly the coach did not know what they were doing.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In fact, an entire hobby has been created for these fans.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Fantasy football.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Any fantasy football people out there?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Yeah, well, it's just that, it's a fantasy.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You don't physically train, you don't get dirty, but you get equally animated over your team.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In fact, I've known people who put money into this hobby, who spend hours on the computer for it and have big opinions over their fantasy teams.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, in between the services, somebody told me we're starting an NBC fantasy football team, so that's fine.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But here's the kicker.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Many people who play fantasy football or attend the sporting event have never actually played the game.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, does that principle apply to any other area of life, including your spiritual life?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Do you know people who have opinions about your family or your school or your organization, but they're not really invested?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, sadly, that can be the case with the church.
Pastor Bob Erbig: There are people that don't have skin in the game, but the question is this who can God use to build his kingdom?
Pastor Bob Erbig: If we're all just opinions and no commitment, that's a barrier to God using us.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, many people will attend a church often for years and they have no trouble sharing their opinions about how it can improve.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But many of those same people will never take the step of growing spiritually and becoming meaningfully engaged in the life of the church body.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So, like the football stadium, there's a lot of spectators cheering and booing, but only a few people who are getting dirty on the field.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Behind the scenes, people are making draft picks, they're on the computer, but never saying, put me in, coach.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now that's the spectators, but let's also talk about the athletes.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Sometimes there's players, there's athletes who are careless.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They're engaged, but they can become reckless with their life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They don't take their role in the body seriously, and they can damage the team.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Consider, as an example, Tiger Woods.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Oh, he's been in the news again recently.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He is involved in yet another car crash in Florida, arrested for another DUI, suspected DUI, and he's announced he's stepping away from golf to focus on his health.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now he doesn't play a team sport, but his reckless choices are harming his effectiveness.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Tiger Woods may be talented, but if you played a team, but if he played a team sport, would you want him on your team?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Through the scriptures, we see that God saves and redeems imperfect people, but Jesus also calls people to leave everything and follow him.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And our personal holiness, our personal sanctification affects our community.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Are we becoming people whom God can use to build his kingdom?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Or are we not taking our faith seriously?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now I would submit that God calls all of us to a third category, that of aspiring spiritual athletes, sold out to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And that's what Paul is teaching in today's passage.
Pastor Bob Erbig: If we want to be used by God, we need to take spiritual training seriously.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And if we're not starting right now, we need to always be ready, kind of like a backup quarterback, to step up when an opportunity arises.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So which category do you fit in?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Are you a spectator?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Are you a careless player, or are you an aspiring athlete?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Take a moment to assess yourself as we begin.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Who does God use to build his kingdom?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Is your engagement in the life of the church real, reckless, or a fantasy?
Pastor Bob Erbig: That's the topic that Paul is addressing in 2 Timothy 2, 20 to 26.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, last week, Pastor Dave spoke about the uh the topic of church unity.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Uh, this week I want to talk about engagement with the church.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That if we're to be a church that passes on the faith to the next generation, we need fewer spectators and more spiritual athletes in the game.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So here is the key question: how do we move from the stadium to the field?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Athletes must commit and train.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In spiritual language, we must grow in our sanctification, becoming more like Jesus.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And in our passage, Paul discusses the sanctified life of a Christian and outlines three concrete steps we can begin to take.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And I'll voice them in a rather pithy way.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Number one, you gotta take a bath.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Number two, you gotta run the race.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And then third, you gotta teach the truth.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So let's pray and then we'll look at each of those.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for my friends who are here this morning, for those that are listening online or maybe later on to this message.
Pastor Bob Erbig: I pray that you would open up the scriptures to us today.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And Lord, may we be humble enough to open our ears and our hearts to hear what you are speaking to us.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Lord, may you may you motivate us, may you draw us closer to yourself that we may more effectively build your kingdom and spread the gospel.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We ask that in Jesus' name.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Amen.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, hopefully, uh all of you bathed relatively recently.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Um, but if somebody starts inching away from you during the message, uh you might want to ask somebody you love for an opinion.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, I'm speaking spiritually, of course, and so is Paul.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Why do we need a spiritual bath?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Paul starts with an illustration in chapter 2, verse 20.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says, This, now, in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now notice that Paul establishes a contrast immediately.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He speaks of gold and silver, wood and clay, honorable, dishonorable actions.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The phrase a great house conveys the idea of wealth, or other translations literally say a wealthy home.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The term was often used as a metaphor to describe a palace because the king lived there.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, spiritually speaking, this phrase functions as a metaphor for God's household, the church.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Did you know that you, as a Christian, have been blessed with a wealth of spiritual blessings in Christ?
Pastor Bob Erbig: You are wealthy, my friends.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul talks about our inheritance now that we are in the family of God.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The spirit of the King of kings resides inside you if you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, Paul now moves into this vessel illustration, or another translation uses the word utensil.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In other words, in this great house there are there are vessels, there are utensils, instruments, tools, maybe a better word, that can be used by the king to accomplish his purposes in his kingdom.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now the image also points to the social reality of Timothy's day because a great house would have ample space to accommodate a large number of similarly wealthy people.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But notice that Paul says this house includes these utensils, these vessels, uh, these tools of varying social strata.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You have gold and silver and wood and clay.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In that cultural context, this communicates the gamut of economic realities.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And the key lesson is this don't be a tool.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, before we move on, what is an example of a dishonorable tool?
Pastor Bob Erbig: I mean, that word dishonorable is in there.
Pastor Bob Erbig: What does that mean?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, let me just let me illustrate it this way.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Consider artificial intelligence, one of the most powerful new tools that's been developed in our generation.
Pastor Bob Erbig: This same technology can be used by a doctor to detect cancer earlier than the human eye could, to develop new medicines, to translate scripture into languages that have never had the Bible.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That can be a vessel of gold.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But that same exact technology, that same model, that same code is being used to generate child exploitation material, to create deep fake videos that destroy reputations, to flood the internet with misinformation.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Same tool, completely dishonorable use.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And that is Paul's point.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The problem isn't whether you are present in the great house of God, the problem is what you're being used for.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Are you being used for honorable purposes, to build up the body, to advance the gospel, to love your neighbor?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Or have you become a vessel of dishonor, present, functional, but aimed at something that can be shameful?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, Paul's final metaphor turns the expectations on their head.
Pastor Bob Erbig: This wide range of people could be living lives of honor or dishonor.
Pastor Bob Erbig: This language indicates that some in the church may not be living honorable lives.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Specifically, Paul is pointing out the difference between himself, Timothy, and the false teachers he's been harping on so often in his letters.
Pastor Bob Erbig: His ministry is with honor, theirs is without honor.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Or put another way, Paul and Timothy are on the field giving it their all.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The false teachers are the opinionated people in the stands preaching a fantasy gospel.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So I'll ask again: who can God use to build his kingdom?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Oh, these questions and application dovetail nicely with Pastor Dave's message from last week, because people with opinions and no skin in the game are the ones that often cause division.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They are in the game only for themselves.
Pastor Bob Erbig: By contrast, it's the players on the field who must work together to accomplish the mission.
Pastor Bob Erbig: If the offensive line doesn't block their opponents, well, the quarterback goes down and is out of the game and is hitting the shower rather early.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But how do we live honorable lives?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Paul continues in verse 21.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says, Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, did you notice the therefore?
Pastor Bob Erbig: What's it therefore?
Pastor Bob Erbig: It points to the game plan for getting out of the stands and onto the field.
Pastor Bob Erbig: See, when an athlete practices or plays in the game, they go hard.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They sweat.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Has anyone, does anybody have an athlete or is an athlete in their family?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Right?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Any athletes out there?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Okay, a few.
Pastor Bob Erbig: A few.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, um, what does the laundry or gym bag smell like of an athlete?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Not something you want to take a whiff of.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It is the smell of commitment and sacrifice.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But they also need to take a bath.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Or a shower, if you like.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You don't want that smell in the bag to linger too long.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And the same is true in our spiritual life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Just because we are Christians does not mean we don't sin.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It does not mean that there are no selfish, uh, there are there are no areas of selfishness and pride that need to be stripped away in our life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Our spiritual muscles need to grow.
Pastor Bob Erbig: For the Christian, ongoing confession and repentance are crucial for growth as a spiritual athlete.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It's not optional.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So when Paul asserts that you must cleanse yourself from what is dishonorable, this is the principle.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It refers both to conduct and doctrine.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And that's an important application to make.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Paul tells us elsewhere that we have to watch our life and our doctrine closely.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That means that our ability to make an impact for the kingdom is not limited to what we believe, it is intrinsically tied to how we live.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So ask yourself, church, does your life match your message?
Pastor Bob Erbig: If you live in such a way that dishonors God before a watching world, the impact of the message may be compromised.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Likewise, if you preach a false gospel, you also cause harm.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So don't be a stinky Christian.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Take a bath.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now let's come back to the image of the backup quarterback for just a moment.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They don't always play the game, but they always have to be ready.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But how do we get ready for the good work that God has for us?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, that final clause in the section shows us how to do that.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We must cleanse ourselves.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And there's tension in that statement.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because you might say, well, doesn't God do the cleansing?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Doesn't he do the saving?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Absolutely.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But also how we live matters.
Pastor Bob Erbig: There is an ongoing work of cleansing that we call sanctification in theological terms.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And I would suggest that the way we prepare for the good work God has for us is that we need to take a bath constantly by confessing our sin and repenting of our sin.
Pastor Bob Erbig: This is what it means to pursue a sanctified life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You grow, becoming clean as you constantly shed the sinful behaviors of your old life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Some Christians make the mistake that thinking that praying a salvation prayer or walking an aisle are the end of their Christian life, that the rest doesn't matter.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And it's not, it's actually the beginning of your Christian life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And so confession and repentance must be a daily practice.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Consider the words of King David in Psalm 139, where he writes, Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there is any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now that's a prayer that we should pray every day when we wake up and every night before we go to sleep.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because as we do, we will more deliberately avoid sinful behavior and trust in Christ for our salvation and repent when we fall short.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Christian, you must return to the cross daily.
Pastor Bob Erbig: If we do, Paul says, God can use us to build his kingdom.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says, the master of the house, that's Jesus, will set you apart as holy and put you to work.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But you have to be ready.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So do you see why living a sanctified life is important?
Pastor Bob Erbig: When the Holy Spirit is working in your heart, it's just a matter of time before you get on the field.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So ask yourself: Am I ready for the good work?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Am I living a life where God can use me?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Friends, I've seen too many people who call themselves Christians over the years get derailed by life choices.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So in college, maybe they they party too much and they make choices they regret.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They get involved in a romantic relationship and take their eyes off Jesus.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That happens so often.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Career advancement took precedence over their family and their spiritual life, and they turned to alcohol.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Friends, in those situations, you might believe all the right things, but your life stinks and you need a bath.
Pastor Bob Erbig: For God to use you, you need to be ready for the work.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Give him your whole heart today.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Take a bath and let the Spirit do His sanctifying work in your life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because once your heart is cleansed, you're ready to run the race.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That's point number two.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Run the race.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now you might be saying that sounds like a counterintuitive path, Pastor Bob.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Why would I take a bath before I run the race?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Although I guess some people do.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Again, confession and repentance are daily activities, and so is the race.
Pastor Bob Erbig: When you're following Jesus, you need to run every day after him.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because when you take time off, your spiritual muscles atrophy and you need to build them back up.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Last week, the Artemis II astronauts came back from a 10-day mission, and I know Pastor Dave mentioned them as well.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But I want to point out that 10 days in space takes a toll on the body.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Without gravity, your muscles weaken because there is no resistance.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So what they did on this trip was they put they put them through a training regimen during the mission to make sure that when they came back to Earth, their muscles would still be strong to resist the gravity.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And the same is true in our spiritual walk.
Pastor Bob Erbig: If you're just kind of floating along in your spiritual life, when the trials come, you might collapse under the gravity of them.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In verse 22, Paul offers now a training program, a training regimen to get us from the stadium to the field.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He writes, So flee, flee, youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the Lord from pure heart.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now notice there's two action words here: there's flee and pursue.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The Greek word for flee is fugo.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It means to get away from that as fast as you can.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Run as fast as you can away from that.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It's actually one of my favorite Greek words to say.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Fugo.
Pastor Bob Erbig: See, it's really fun.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Fugo.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You gotta flee and pursue.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They're fundamentally connected.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Paul is telling us to flee, to get away from our vices and pursue the virtuous life that God calls us to.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But you can't just run away.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We need to replace those bad things with better things.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Let me let me give you an example, what I mean.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Has anybody tried a strict elimination diet?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Okay?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, if you have, you know that often it ends in failure.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Why?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Maybe you cut out the carbs and the sugar, and for the first two weeks, your willpower just carries you along.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It brings you over, but then, then the cravings they return.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They hit you.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And they're powerful.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You can say amen if you know what I'm talking about.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They call with intensity.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They say, It's just a chip.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It's just a cookie.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And before you know it, an entire sleeve of Oreo cookies is gone.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Poof.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Who knows where they went?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Your wife, your spouse asks you, where are the cookies?
Pastor Bob Erbig: I want one.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And you say, Well, the dog ate them.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You see, deprivation without replacement is not sustainable.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You need something better, food with nutrients that that takes away the craving.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So, what do you need to flee right now?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Maybe you check social media first thing in the morning and you need to replace that with Bible reading.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Maybe you're a critical person and you need to replace those critical words with encouraging ones.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Maybe you need to replace anxiety with more prayer.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Replace bad things with better things.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, what does Paul say we are to flee?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Specifically, youthful passions.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It can also be translated as lusts.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, when I say lust, most will assume I'm talking about unholy sexual desires.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And while it's certainly the word certainly does encompass that, the semantic range is wider.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now I'm not going to spend much time on any time on the sexual piece because, fair warning, uh next week, Pastor Dave, that's his job, he's gonna get up here and do an entire sermon on this verse right here, focusing on pornography and sexual temptation.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So we'll pray for Pastor Dave.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But parents, fair disclaimer, use the kids' ministry next week, April the 26th.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But youthful passions also speaks to a broad range of sinful or lustful longings.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Paul uses this word in his famous vice list of Galatians 5, 19 to 21, the works of the flesh.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And he includes both sensual and mental sins such as greed and exceeding desire for controversy and so forth.
Pastor Bob Erbig: In the context of 2 Timothy 2, though, this statement follows verses 14 to 19.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Where Paul addresses, as we learned last week, division in the church.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So the passion he's referencing here most certainly includes unbridled quarreling, which is as deadly as unbridled lust.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You see, in our youth, and those of you that are young out there, you're passionate.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We talk about passion and God's calling and all those good things.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We have energy, right?
Pastor Bob Erbig: When we're young, some of you out there say, Man, I wish I was young again and I had energy.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But we have a lot of opinions at that stage of life that haven't been tempered.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We have a tendency to fight about things that don't really matter.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So, as a follow-up from last week, I will ask, are you somebody who loves to fight and cause controversy?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Paul is speaking to you here.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And he's saying you don't need to stir the pot from a fleshly desire, from a youthful passion.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Instead, what should you pursue?
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says, pursue righteousness and faith and love and peace.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So if you look at that list and ask, Am I pursuing these virtues?
Pastor Bob Erbig: What would your answer be?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Am I pursuing them in my family, in my marriage, at work, at church?
Pastor Bob Erbig: And if you're not, you gotta ask the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, you gotta help me pursue these virtues.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because a quarrelsome spirit can easily slow down your ability to run the race.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, this final clause in the verse also points to a communal aspect of the pursuit.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So you should pursue these virtues with others, it says, who desire a pure heart before the Lord.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You're not running the race alone.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You're not supposed to run the race alone.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But if you give in to youthful passions and you have this quarrelsome spirit, people are gonna abandon you.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, what is it, what does running together look like?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, let me let me give you an illustration.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Recently, I've noticed initiatives among parents to delay giving their child a smartphone.
Pastor Bob Erbig: One of them is called the Wait Until Eighth Pledge.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It's a national movement that encourages parents to commit together to delay giving their child a smartphone until at least eighth grade.
Pastor Bob Erbig: At least.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, parents are concerned rightly that children, especially younger ones, will be exposed to harmful social pressure and damaging content on the internet before they are old enough to be discerning.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So as a community, people are encouraging everyone to wait.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, why?
Pastor Bob Erbig: You say, why?
Pastor Bob Erbig: That seems so stodgy, right?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because you can choose not to give your child a phone individually, but if their best friend has one or their group of friends have has one, they're still gonna be exposed.
Pastor Bob Erbig: See, the point is the only way it works is if the community runs together.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And Paul is applying the same principle here that unless the entire community of faith is running towards these virtues together, one person's youthful passions can slow everybody down.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That's what the writer of Hebrews was talking about in chapter 12, about the cloud of witnesses and running together, throwing off everything that hinders.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So here's the challenge for you this week.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Regarding the smartphone, if you've got a child in elementary or middle school, you can look up this Wait Until Eighth Pledge and talk with some people about it.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because unless the community is doing things together, as Paul describes, people running in the same direction, pursuing the same Jesus, holding the line together, it's easily gonna fall apart, not just with smartphones, but with so many other things.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And if you don't have kids at home, the question is still the same.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Who are you running with?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because according to Paul, it's not optional, it's the point.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So before we move on, it's worth asking, how do you cultivate a pure heart if you're running together with people that do this?
Pastor Bob Erbig: How do you cultivate that?
Pastor Bob Erbig: How do you do this individually and as a church community?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, if you remember in the Beatitudes, Jesus Himself said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall what?
Pastor Bob Erbig: They shall see God, right?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Purity is cleansing language, and it's rooted in baptism.
Pastor Bob Erbig: When you go under the water, you are symbolically dying to your sin and you're being raised to new life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the finished work of Christ on the cross, you are clean.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Not because of your work, but because of Jesus' work.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, at the end of our service today, hang around because we have a baptism.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That every time somebody gets in the tank, what they're saying is, I want to be clean.
Pastor Bob Erbig: I want to follow Jesus with my whole life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: This is my declaration that I want to do that.
Pastor Bob Erbig: I'm dying to my sin and trusting Jesus to raise me from the dead, make me alive.
Pastor Bob Erbig: I'm confessing that I'm trusting him for that.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And if you've not been baptized, we would love to help you take that next step.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Stop by the Welcome Center to receive a packet for more information.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Cultivating a pursuit requires a decision to run after Jesus every day.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Trust him.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because the closer you get to him, the desire for things displeasing to him fades away.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And just don't run alone.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You need to get in a running group who will cheer you on, who will pray for you, who will read scripture with you.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And when you run hard together and the spiritual sweat is strip just dripping off your brow, they're the ones who are gonna tell you to take a bath.
Pastor Bob Erbig: So how do we move from the stadium to the field?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Take a bath, run the race, and then as you train, the final step will just become natural every day.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You gotta now teach the truth.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Teach the truth.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Again, Paul tells us watch our life and our doctrine closely.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That if you don't desire to run after Jesus in your life, you're not gonna care about doctrine.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You're probably gonna twist it to suit your own needs.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But if you are running after Jesus from a pure heart, the truth of the gospel will flow from your speech.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Look at how Paul continues in verse 23.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says, Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You know that they breed quarrels.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now this verse connects back to those youthful passions in verse 22.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That Paul has told Timothy, flee, youthful passion, run after virtue.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But now he outlines the implications of living for the sake of youthful passions.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Again, the word it encompasses that sexual temptation, but this verse makes it clear that it extends to this infighting Paul has been warning against.
Pastor Bob Erbig: These passions breed quarrels.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, some in the church are interested in foolish controversies, controversies that lead to Christians fighting amongst themselves and getting distracted from God's mission.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, in Timothy's day, the church was arguing over topics that had little spiritual benefit.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They only led to social destruction.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Paul says, have nothing to do with them.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He continues by offering Timothy instruction.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Look at verse 24.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says, And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everybody, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
Pastor Bob Erbig: God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now notice again, Paul says, God, God may grant them repentance.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You are not responsible for the result, you are responsible for being faithful.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The harvest belongs to God.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But it's in the midst of the infighting and division that Paul looks at Timothy, at the leader, and says, Timothy, you must lead by example.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Don't start unnecessary problems.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Instead, do something countercultural.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Be kind.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Do you know how hard it is to be kind to your enemies?
Pastor Bob Erbig: See, when somebody comes at you swinging their fists or wagging their tongue, what's your first reaction?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Do you want to give that person a big hug and tell them you love them?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Probably not.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The flesh, it wants to duck and swing back, right?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Your words become reactive and harsh rather than loving.
Pastor Bob Erbig: By a show of hands, how many have reacted ever in a harsh and unloving way at some point in your life?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Yeah, just about everybody.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And the rest of you, well, I'll pray the Spirit will convict you.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now here's the thing.
Pastor Bob Erbig: If you always react this way and you never grow, you're never going to move from the stadium to the field in the Christian life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The reason people stay in the stands is that they don't want to do the hard, heart work of growing in community, of being corrected and humbling themselves before the Lord.
Pastor Bob Erbig: From a worldly perspective, it's much easier to stay up in the stands and offer your unfiltered opinion and say the heck with those people.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But notice that Paul tells Timothy that if you're going to have an impact, if you're going to display the life of Christ and be a servant, you have to be what?
Pastor Bob Erbig: You have to be kind.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And you say, even to the people I don't like?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Yeah.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Even to the people you don't like.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because if you're not, they're not going to listen to your teaching.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You have to patiently endure evil, he says.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Oh man, you say that is that is hard.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You see, your character is on full display, not when things are easy, but when you react to situations in which somebody is unfair to you.
Pastor Bob Erbig: When somebody tears you down in front of others with their words, and you patiently endure that evil and respond, and you correct that person in gentleness, that's showing something about your character.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now you may say, Well, why would I even do this?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Why just not swing back?
Pastor Bob Erbig: It feels so good.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Well, in the last clause, Paul gives the reason.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says it may lead them to repentance.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They may turn from their wicked ways and come back to Jesus or come to Jesus.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Friends, fighting for fighting's sake is not going to win hearts.
Pastor Bob Erbig: What does Paul tell us in Romans 2?
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says it is God's what?
Pastor Bob Erbig: God's kindness that leads us to what?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Repentance.
Pastor Bob Erbig: See, the reason we're not quarrelsome and the reason we endure evil is to see more people come to Jesus, is to see God's people turn back to him.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That's the positive side.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But it's also a warning that if you do not turn to Jesus, there are consequences.
Pastor Bob Erbig: There is judgment.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We need to teach the truth with our lives and our words because some people, some who we love dearly, are trapped.
Pastor Bob Erbig: They're caught.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Look at how Paul finishes in verse 26.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He says, And they may come to their senses and escape the what?
Pastor Bob Erbig: The snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.
Pastor Bob Erbig: That's a sobering verse.
Pastor Bob Erbig: See, this reality should create a healthy fear in our lives.
Pastor Bob Erbig: But if you look at those verses, and I want you to think about right now, think about somebody in your life who embodies that situation here in verse 26.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Has someone you love been ensnared by the devil?
Pastor Bob Erbig: That could be right now, it could have been in the past.
Pastor Bob Erbig: What would it or did it take to bring them to their senses?
Pastor Bob Erbig: To wake them up?
Pastor Bob Erbig: I imagine that kindness and patience had something to do with it.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Again, this is a sobering verse.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It tells us the stakes of our life and doctrine.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You don't want to keep somebody from the Lord due to your selfish living.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And you don't want to keep somebody from the Lord because you are afraid to tell them the truth.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We wage spiritual warfare by boldly proclaiming the truth of the gospel and by patiently waiting for God to melt the hard heart of an individual we love and we care about.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He calls us to partner with him as he saves people by his grace.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And for Christians, living the sanctified life is part of that mission.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We represent Jesus to a watching world.
Pastor Bob Erbig: If we don't, who will?
Pastor Bob Erbig: The stakes are high.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Dead people need to come to life.
Pastor Bob Erbig: People enslaved to sin need to be set free.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And we cannot waste our time screaming our opinions from the stands.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We need to get on the field of battle for the glory of God.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Take a bath, run the race, teach the truth.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Why?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because the stakes are high.
Pastor Bob Erbig: It is spiritual life or death.
Pastor Bob Erbig: I'm going to invite the worship team to come back on stage, and as they do, I want to return to the three groups of people we discussed at the beginning of this message.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Remember the image of the stadium for a moment.
Pastor Bob Erbig: At the beginning, I asked, who does God use to build his kingdom?
Pastor Bob Erbig: And the first category was spectators.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, maybe you're here today and you're a spectator because you're still skeptical about this whole Jesus thing.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And you say, you know, I'm here, I'm in the stands, I'm just going to watch for a bit to see how the game plays out.
Pastor Bob Erbig: I want to see how this church plays the game, right?
Pastor Bob Erbig: You want to see how the people on the field treat each other.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You want to see if Jesus actually makes a difference in our lives.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And I pray that this church, Millington Baptist Church, shows the love of Jesus through our words and actions, not just through our beliefs.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, others out there might be spectators because you're afraid to get on the field.
Pastor Bob Erbig: You've been in other churches, and getting on the field, it gets a little messy, right?
Pastor Bob Erbig: Your uniform might get dirty.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Somebody might commit a personal foul, and you're uncertain if others have your back.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Now, the second category was that of the careless athlete.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Oh, they may be talented, they may be really good at what they do, but they don't take their training seriously.
Pastor Bob Erbig: How they live their life has a serious impact on the community.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And if you're in that category, I would challenge you to recognize your importance and allow Jesus to grow you.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And then finally, of course, there is the aspiring athlete.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And this is where Paul calls all of us to be.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He calls us to get out of the stadium onto the field.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He wants us to follow Jesus with our whole heart.
Pastor Bob Erbig: He wants us to get our uniform a little dirty.
Pastor Bob Erbig: And friends, can I suggest today that getting your uniform dirty is part of following Jesus?
Pastor Bob Erbig: The church is not perfect, but it was God's idea.
Pastor Bob Erbig: The vessels in this great house are sinful and relationships are not always easy, but God calls us to live together as a family on mission, working out our salvation together with fear and trembling, confessing and repenting of our sins often and always asking for forgiveness and trusting God with our very lives.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Because the sanctified life is not easy, but it's worth it because it will bear much fruit for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Amen?
Pastor Bob Erbig: You pray for us.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for my friends who are here today.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Lord, I pray that you would teach us what it means to surrender to you, to give our whole lives to you, to not hold anything back, to grow in our sanctification, to be made more and more into the image of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bob Erbig: Lord, remove those barriers, bring us conviction, and may you get the glory for it.
Pastor Bob Erbig: We give the rest of our time to you in Jesus' name.