The goal of our instruction is love

John Farley
Pastor Teacher
Sunday,
August 16, 2020

The goal of our instruction is love

1Ti 1:1-5

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope,

2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
NASU

Welcome to the first week of our new series, on the first letter of Paul to Timothy!

Please read through the 1st letter of Timothy 2-3 times in the next week.

1 Corinthians ends in love, and 1 Timothy begins with love.

When we finished 1 Corinthians, Timothy was on his way to Corinth from Ephesus.

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in AD 55, during his third missionary journey, while he was in Ephesus.

By the time Paul writes 1 Timothy, a decade has passed. Paul wrote 1 Timothy in the period between AD 63 and AD 66.

He had been to Jerusalem, arrested and brought to Rome to stand trial. As the book of Acts ends, Paul is a prisoner of the Romans.

But when he writes 1 Timothy, he is not in jail. He is a free man, on his way to Macedonia.

When he earlier wrote 1 Corinthians, he - Paul – was in Ephesus and Timothy was in Macedonia!

These facts, along with several others, point to the conclusion that Paul wrote 1 Timothy after the close of the Acts period.

Apparently his case was dismissed and he had been released.

In any event, 1 Timothy belongs to a set of three letters that have become known as “the pastoral epistles”. The other two are 2 Timothy and Titus.

They are called pastoral epistles because Paul wrote them to individual men who had responsibility to guide, direct, and care for a group of churches.

Paul had three major goals in mind when he wrote 1 Timothy: to encourage Timothy in his duties (combating false teachers was a major one), to instruct him on how to manage and oversee local churches, and to assert Timothy’s authority.

Who was Timothy?

Act 16:1-3
16 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, 2 and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Timothy first met Paul when Paul came to Lystra at the outset of Paul’s second missionary journey.

Timothy must have stood out among the men in Lystra. He was given high marks by the Christians in Lystra and Iconium.

Because of this, Paul added him to his roster to join him in his journeys.

From this point on, Timothy would be working intimately with Paul until Paul’s death.

Timothy became Paul’s top “go-to” guy when Paul needed a special man for a special assignment.

He sent Timothy to several churches as his representative.
Timothy became like a beloved son to Paul. (1Ti 1:18, 6:20; 2Ti 1:2)

Timothy had a Jewish mother who was a Christian. His father was Greek. Nothing further is written about his father.

From 2 Timothy 1 we learn that Timothy was raised by his mother and grandmother, and that his grandmother was also a believer.

2Ti 1:5
5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

Finally, Paul included Timothy in the byline for six letters: 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

Phil 1:1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus,

1Ti 1:1-2
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope,

2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

An apostle : one who is sent on a mission as the authorized representative of the one who sent him – in this case Christ Jesus.

Paul was made an apostle by a command of God the Father.

In verse 1 “the commandment” is a military term.

He is a man under orders.

And he will say the same thing about Timothy.

Both the Father and the Son – Christ Jesus – bestow apostolic authority on Paul.

The word hope is elpis, and unlike our English word means absolute certainty.

Christ is our hope. Our hope of glory. Of eternal life. Of His glorious appearing.

2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

In verse 2 Paul adds “mercy” to his usual prayer of blessing: “grace and peace”.

He adds mercy because he realizes the amount of suffering that Timothy has undergone and will undergo in fulfilling his charge from the Lord.

3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

There is no record in Acts of Timothy being in Ephesus while Paul was in Macedonia.
Paul reminds Timothy that he too is an emissary who is under orders with authority that comes from God.

Those orders were to remain at Ephesus to carry out his mission.

What is his mission? To pass on strict orders to certain men not to teach doctrines which are different from what Paul had taught them.

Paul knew this was going to happen, and he warned the elders of Ephesus about this when he was with them for the final time.

Act 20:28-30
"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Timothy is under compulsion to correct men who are teaching things that deviate from sound doctrine.

Paul expects Timothy to take a hard line with them, holding them to account.

1:3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

We need to hear this warning today. Beware of men who are promoting novel teachings or new emerging revelations.

Verse 4 tells us that these strange doctrines include myths and endless genealogies.

These things do not build up the saints, but instead lead them astray.

They stir up controversies and irrelevant questions in the minds of the hearers.

A passage in Titus shed light on what these myths and genealogies were.

Tit 1:13-14
For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

This comports with Paul’s reference to the Law in verse 7.

So apparently the myths in question were Rabbinical fables and fabrications. They twisted the Old Testament scriptures.

1:4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.

“endless genealogies”. They were vague, rambling, incomprehensible, and raised more questions than they answered.

They were rabbit holes.

They stood in stark contrast to the work of the Lord.

The Greek word for “administration” means a stewardship or a dispensation.

It refers to God’s way of ordering things.

1:4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.

God’s administration operates in the realm of faith rather than speculation.

5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

We who are pastors and teachers need to take this verse to heart.

The aim of our teaching, our ministry is love. Not knowledge. Love.

Here we have another military reference, this time concerning instruction. The goal, the aim, the intended final result - is LOVE.

This harkens back to verse 1 and shows that the fruit of Paul’s apostleship, the goal of his practical teaching, is love.

This is love for one another. The opposite of this love is the strife which is stirred up by the false teachers.

Verse 5 also identifies the source of this love. It is three fold.

It comes out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
In the Bible, the heart refers to the seat of human reflection, decision, and affection.

The opposite of pure is defiled and unbelieving.

A pure heart is an unconflicted heart.
The conscience is the inner judge that accuses us when we have done wrong and approves when we have done right.

The opposite of a clear conscience is a seared or defiled conscience. It calls good evil and evil good.

A sincere faith means a genuine faith, as opposed to a hypocritical or phony faith.

We find the exact opposite of genuine faith in the false teachers. They have turned away from the truth. They are liars who don’t even understand what they are saying, and are ignorant of the matters under discussion.

5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

So here’s how it works:

Proper instruction results in a genuine faith – sound doctrine .
A genuine faith makes the conscience clear and the heart pure.

When you have a pure heart, you have a clear conscience.

When all three are in place, instruction reaches its final goal – LOVE.

 


© Lighthouse Bible Church of South Florida, Inc. / John Farley • lbible.org • All rights reserved.