HOW TO AVOID SHIPWRECKING OUR FAITH
(I Tim. 1:18-20)
INTRODUCTION:
OVERVIEW OF I TIMOTHY 1:1-20
1:1-2 – Overview of Christian Faith based on names for
God and the blessings He bestows on His people.
1:3-4a False teaching in Ephesian Church and how humanistic philosophy effects us today.
1:4b-6 – The goal of the command is love. (Loving God, fellow
Christians, the non-Christian world)
1:7-8 – The law is good if used properly. (The law’s deterrent, punitive and educative purposes)
1:8-11 – “Whatever else …” The Gospel Ethic. (Law-Philia University)
1:11 – “The Blessed God” and our Relationship with Him. (We can fill God’s heart with pain or joy and
happiness)
1:12-16 Why Paul considered himself the worst of sinners.
1:12-16 Conversion of the apostle Paul.
1:12-16 Paul’s call to ministry.
1:17 Paul’s doxology of praise for his conversion.
1:18-20 How to avoid shipwrecking our faith.
NOTE: In Chapter 1 verses 8-17 were a digression from the argument began in verses 3-7. (Show text as follows: (1) Full text of chapter; Full text with digression; Text only of 1:3-7 & 18-20; Finally 1:18-20 alone.
1. PAUL’S GREAT FEAR FOR TIMOTHY
a. What was Paul’s great fear for Timothy?
b. Shipwreck is the opposite of “fight the good fight.”
c. What blasphemy is referred to here? It could have been saying that the resurrection was past.
17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some (II Tim. 2:17-18).
d. “Handed over to Satan” means excluding from the protection of the church.
i. “To be debarred from the Church was to be handed over to that territory which was under the sway of Satan” (W. Barclay, pg. 54).
ii. “Those who are to be delivered to Satan must, therefore, have been in some way under the umbrella of protection provided by the church” (MacArthur, 47).
2 LIVING UP TO OUR POTENTIAL – BE ALL THAT GOD INTENDS YOU TO BE
“… in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you might fight the good fight, …”
What were some of Timothy’s strengths / background that maybe Paul was referring to?
a. His name Timothy means “Honoring God.”
b. He had a godly heritage in his mother and grandmother (II Tim. 1:5).
c. From infancy he knew the Scriptures (II Tim. 3:15).
d. He had a tender heart … tears in II Tim. 1:4 and a sincere faith (II Tim. 1:5).
e. He made a good confession before many witnesses (I Tim. 6:12)
f. He had a ministry gift “… fan the flame of the gift of God” (II Tim. 1:6)
g. He had been given this gift through a prophetic message (I Tim. 4:14) [Read this verse]
h. He had observed the life of Paul (II Tim. 3:10) and been taught by Paul (II Tim. 3:10,14).
i. Preaching and teaching may have been his gifts (I Tim. 4:13-14). Don’t squander your heritage, your training, your gifts. You avoid shipwreck by living up to your potential!
3. HOLDING ON TO “THE FAITH”
a. Several translations read “the faith” and not just “faith” (NKJV, Youngs, HNV, ASV). “Faith” refers to “their faith” and Paul’s use of “the true faith” in 2:7.
b. “The Faith” is the body of truth Christians believe.
What was the body of truth held by the primitive church? Truth held prior to the ministry of Paul? If a person were to write the creed of the early church apart from the NT, what would he write? What did these people believe? We look back to the NT for our “basic beliefs” but there was a body of common beliefs prior to Paul, prior to the NT.
c. I Cor. 15:3-4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
d. The inscription quoted in II Tim. 2:19, “The Lord knows those who are His. Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
e. The Faithful Sayings of Timothy.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst (I Tim. 1:15).
Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task (I Tim. 3:1).
This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come (I Tim. 4:8-9).
Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself (II Tim. 2:11-13).
This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone (Titus 3:8).
f. I Tim. 3:16 – An early hymn or creed of the church: 16Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory (I Tim. 3:16).
g. “Holding” with a tight grip. In Rev. 7:1 four angels hold back the four winds preventing them from blowing on land or sea.
Illustration: Harold Camping. Harold Camping is President and cofounder of Family Stations, Inc., a Christian educational network. He serves full-time as a volunteer. Harold Camping was born in Colorado and moved at an early age to California. He earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (1942).
Harold Camping was raised in the Christian Reformed Church and now attends and serves as Sunday school teacher in the Alameda Bible Fellowship. He and his wife were blessed with seven children and 24 grandchildren. In 1958, he helped found Family Stations and some years later, he gave up a successful construction company, Camping Construction, to devote full time to the Family Radio ministry, which now broadcasts worldwide and has a School of the Bible with an enrollment of over 30,000 students.
He has written a number of books, including Adam When? What God Hath Joined Together, and God’s Magnificent Salvation Plan. Camping has studied the Bible for 40 years. In addition to serving as president and general manager of Family Radio, Mr. Camping participates in the broadcasts by teaching on the Family Bible Study program and as host of the Open Forum On Saturday evening, July 14, a dear lady asked him of Hebrews 10:25 – Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. “Doesn’t this verse teach that we are to assemble together in our churches, assuming that they haven’t become false gospels, right up until the time of Christ’s return?”
“No. If you’ll notice, God does not use the word ‘church’ in that verse. Rather, this verse actually underscores that during the time of the latter rain, when the church has become dead and God has removed its candlestick, we are indeed to continue to gather together, but not in churches. We could be in our homes listening to Family Radio as it brings the latter rain …” etc. etc
4. HOLDING ON TO A GOOD CONSCIENCE
What is your understanding of “conscience?”
Conscience is … an aspect of a human being’s self-awareness. It is a critical inner awareness that bears witness to the norms and values we recognize and apply. … It is an aspect of self-awareness that produces the pain and/or pleasure we “feel” as we reflect on the norms and values we recognize and apply. …. It is an inward capacity humans possess to critique themselves because the Creator provided this process as a means of moral restraint for his creation” (Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Gary T. Meadors).
The Bible speaks of a “good conscience (I Tim. 1:5,19); a “clear conscience” (I Tim. 3:9); a “corrupted conscience” (Titus 1:15) and a “seared conscience” (I Tim. 4:2).
a. A Good Conscience
The goal of the command is love which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience (I Tim. 1:5) … Holding on to faith and a good conscience (I Tim. 1:19).
i. “The conscience does not dictate the content of right or wrong; it merely witnesses to what the value system in a person has determined is right and wrong. In this regard, conscience is not a guide but needs to be guided by a thoroughly and critically developed value system.” (Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Gary T. Meadors).
ii. A good conscience is one that has its value system based on God’s Word. Do we make our value judgments based on the Bible or based on the value system of the world?
iii. A good movie about this is “The Emperor’s Club.”
b. A Clear Conscience
“They must hold the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience” (I Tim. 3:9).
i. You can only let your conscience by your guide when you have a value system based on God’s word. A clear conscience is one that does not nag you.
ii. Ill: I had offended Ibu Solomon on Jln. Purba, a Muslim woman, and how I had such a hard time going back to her and asking forgiveness.
iii. John Stott writes: So if we disregard the voice of conscience, allowing sin to remain unconfessed and unforsaken, our faith will not long survive. Anybody whose conscience has been so manipulated as to be rendered insensitive is in a very dangerous condition, wide open to the deceptions of the devil. See I Tim. 4:1-2.
iv. John Calvin said, “A bad conscience is the mother of all heresies.”
c. A Seared Conscience
“… whose conscience has been seared as with a hot iron” (I Tim. 4:2).
i. When you don’t respond to your value system based on God’s Word, you sear or silence your conscience so that it will no longer shout at you, guide you.
d. A Corrupt Conscience
“In fact both their minds and consciences are corrupted” (Titus 1:15).
i. The Sawi in “Peace Child” in making “deceit” as the highest of virtues.
ii. Quote from “How Shall We Now Live” pg. 188.
e. Cultivating our conscience, developing a Biblical value system.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).
SO WHAT?
1. Do we want to say with Paul “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Tim. 4:7) or do we want to end up shipwrecked as is happening to Harold Camping or did happen to evangelist Charles Templeton?
a. Lee Strobel writes, “Under my arm I carried a copy of Templeton’s latest book, whose title leaves no ambiguity concerning his spiritual perspective. It’s called, FAREWELL TO GOD: MY REASONS FOR REJECTING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. The often-acerbic tome seeks to eviscerate Christian beliefs, attacking them with passion for being “outdated, demonstrably untrue, and often, in their various manifestations, deleterious to individuals and to society.” (Case for Faith, page 12).
b. Read pages 17-18 where Templeton weeps and says “I miss him.”
2. Are we living according to our potential? According to our heritage, gifting, and education? Are we living up to all that God intended us to be?
3. What grip to we have on the basic tenets of the faith? Will we live and die to defend and proclaim these divine doctrines?
4. How would I describe my conscience? Is it good, based on the value system of God’s Word? Is it clear or is something nagging me, something that I need to get straightened out? Is it seared? Have I been silencing my conscience, not willing to go and confess a fault, clear up a problem? Is it corrupted? Am I letting the world’s value system determine my attitude towards my conduct, my actions? Or am in the process of developing a Christian conscience by renewing my mind in God’s Word?