Class Lesson February 3, 2013

Hey Gang,


This week we begin a whole new 4 week series entitled: What Matters Most. This four-week study is based on the five “faithful sayings” in the Pastoral Letters. Nowhere else does Paul use the term faithful saying. In the Pastorals he used it five times. These saying were likely articles of belief deeply cherished and used as confessions in public worship in the early church. They provide clues for what matters most for churches and believers today.

Inherit the Wind - Spencer Tracy

Creation: Genesis or Evolution - Does it matter?

Does God play a role in sports?

Today a new NFL champion will be crowned, and it will be either the Baltimore Ravens or the San Francisco 49ers. And, if you are one of more than a quarter of Americans, you believe that God will actively decide the winner of the game. According to a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute:

• 27% percent of Americans believe that God “plays a role in determining which team wins a sporting event.”
• About 40% of minority Christians and white evangelical Protestants believe God determines outcomes, while only 19% of mainline Protestants do.
• 36% of Americans living in the South agree that God plays a role in sports. However, in perhaps a twist of expectations, 28% of Democrats agree, while only 25% of Republicans think that God plays a role.
• But in addition to God’s overall role in the outcome of games, a majority of all Americans — 53% — believe “God rewards athletes who have faith with good health and success.”

Does this really matter? Maybe it matters, but does it matter most?

Today our opening lesson in this series of “faithful sayings” from the Pastoral Letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus, is about the truth and what matters most.


This week we begin a whole new 4 week series entitled: What Matters Most. This four-week study is based on the five “faithful or trustworthy sayings” in the Pastoral Letters. Nowhere else does Paul use the term a “faithful saying.” In the Pastorals he used it five times. These saying were likely articles of belief deeply cherished and used as confessions in public worship in the early church. They provide clues for what matters most for churches and believers today.



The Pastoral Epistles

The final letters of Paul in the New Testament are called “The Pastoral Epistles.” They are 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. They were addressed to two of Paul’s most trusted helpers. These letters are called “Pastoral” because although addressed to individuals, they are more than personal letters. Paul wrote to these two helpers as men who had a pastor-like relation to the churches. Thus, a variety of topics are found in them. Paul wrote about proclaiming the gospel of grace, defending the faith against false teachings, working with leaders and people in the churches, and living a godly life.



Faithful Sayings

The lessons in this study theme are based on passages that begin with the words this is a faithful saying. The Greek word pistos can be translated faithful or trustworthy. These words are found in 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:11; and Titus 3:8. The amazing thing about these words is that they are found nowhere else in the New Testament. The use of this formula alerts readers that the passage is vitally important to the Christian gospel.

How do you discover what’s real and imagined?

What’s true and what’s false?

Life Goal

Commit to see the truth, tell the truth, and live according to the truth. 

Dave Matthews Band - Funny the Way It Is

Funny the way it is, if you think about it

One kid walks 10 miles to school, another's dropping out

Funny the way it is, not right or wrong

On a soldiers' last breath, his baby's being born

Funny the way it is, not right or wrong

Somebody's broken heart becomes your favorite song

Matthews sings about the Truth of life - Sometimes it's confusing or funny.


You see, the question is not whether we want to know the truth, the question is whether or not we can handle the truth. The hope of this lesson is that you will see it, tell it, and live according to it.

Life Goal

Commit to see the truth, tell the truth, and live according to the truth.

 

Why Study This Lesson

We live in a culture of fuzzy mixtures of truth and error, and watered-down beliefs. Real life is found in distinguishing the truth of the gospel from Satan’s lies. We must develop a faith and a lifestyle that is grounded in the truth. In that way we live out the gospel of grace.



In Paul’s day there were a lot of distracters to the truth of the gospel and he warned Timothy against false teachers and their deceptive ways. He defined the gospel and showed how God saved him. He encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight of faith.

I. REFUSE DISTRACTORS TO TRUTH – 1 TIMOTHY 1:3-7

False Doctrine and Misuse of the Law

3 As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different doctrine 4 or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith. 5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 6 Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.

“Just ignore them and they’ll go away!”

How many times have you heard; “Just ignore them and they’ll go away”? What was the big problem here in Ephesus? Why wouldn’t this work with the teachers in Ephesus?

• May work with bullies but it won’t work with deceivers.

What did Paul want Timothy to do? Why was it so important that Timothy remain in Ephesus?

• Paul came to Ephesus first during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19-21). He returned there on his third missionary journey and ministered in the area for nearly three years (Acts 19, 20). After his first imprisonment in Rome, Paul revisited churches he had previously visited in Asia and Macedonia, including the one in Ephesus. This time he, and his associate Timothy, found widespread false teaching in the Ephesus church. When he left previously, Paul had been concerned about false teachers leading Ephesus away from the truth. He had warned them to be on their guard (Acts 20:17-31).
• The opposing doctrine was empty speculation that strayed from God’s plan in Jesus.

What’s wrong with discussing and debating theological issues? Why did Paul want Timothy to stop it?

• Discussion can lead to truth and to true living. But discussing peripheral points of Scripture and debating theology issues become a problem when they: 1) Distract us from the gospel, 2) Confuse people on foundational truths, and 3) Allow us to make our examination of God’s Word into merely intellectual exercise.
• This had gone beyond being off base intellectually; their lives reflected their error.
• Sometimes phony teaching or fruitless discussion is easy to dismiss. Most of the time it winds its way into the culture. One or two take the bait, and repeat it. As error intertwines with truth, it becomes more difficult to discern.
• We can hear a falsehood, teach one, pay attention to one or speculate upon one. When we begin to act on certain falsehoods we are led to misbehave or hurt someone.
• What else can Christians do? Christians must know what the Bible teaches so they can recognize false teachings. We must know reality so we can recognize fantasy. The Bereans in Acts 17 checked the teachings of Paul and Silas against Scripture for legitimacy – we should do the same.

What are some discussions or arguments that distract from the truth? (Board)

• Does God exist?
• Can God make a rock so big He can’t move it?
• Predestination & Free Will
• Original Sin
• Creationism or It is written so it must be true.
• Evil done in the name of religion
• Hell and who’s going there

“How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” 
(You laugh, but this was a serious debate in the Middle Ages.)

• In modern usage, this question also serves as a metaphor for wasting time debating topics of no practical value.
• It’s a preoccupation with irrelevant details. It references a ridiculous religious controversy of the Middle Ages. What are religious controversies believers get sidetracked with today? What’s the harm in discussing them?
• Some believers focus so much on one narrow area of doctrine and their own interpretation of it that they veer from the central message of Scripture, which is the gospel. They also miss the whole of scripture, the fullness of God’s revelation – foundational truths that will delight their lives and the lives of others. Some believers have been exposed to teachings or practices that distort truth. They’re left confused about why their lives are spinning. Stay grounded by centering life in the gospel. Ask God to expose seemingly harmless behaviors that distract from the truly valuable.

How did Paul teach, was his teachings theoretical or practical? How is truth a practical matter rather than a matter of intellectual or mental ascent? What should be the goal of teaching Scripture?

• Turning aside from truth results in fruitlessness. The supreme command is to show love. Love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10). Jesus summed up the entire Bible with two commands: Love God and one another!
• False teachers in Ephesus created confusion and conflict. Paul taught people to show love to God and to one another (1Cor. 12:31-13:13).
• Teaching Scripture communicates facts. But teaching it must go beyond head knowledge to show how we live out God’s Word in everyday life. The goal of biblical teaching is for people to receive the gift of God’s Son and to be transformed into His image.

What if you had to summarize the entire Bible with one word - what would it be? LOVE





II. STAND ON TRUTH – 1 TIMOTHY 1:12-17

Paul’s Testimony

12 I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry— 13 one who was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate His extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.


Here is where we find Paul’s first “faithful saying” what was it? What trustworthy saying did Paul name that summarizes the gospel here?

• 1 Timothy 1:15 Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them.

Why did Paul consider himself the worst of all sinners? Was he using hyperbole (literary exaggeration), or did he see himself that way?

• Verse 13 describes Paul’s past – blasphemer, persecutor…arrogant man.

What is Paul’s truth here?

• The reality of my sin and God's great mercy. (1 Tim. 1:15-16)
• Paul clearly understood the mission of Jesus Christ -- to save sinners. He also saw his own hopeless condition in sin apart from Christ. Moreover, he realized the awesome mercy that was extended to him, "the chief of sinners." Paul remembered how he had persecuted the church of Jesus Christ, even approving the execution of Christians (Acts 8:1; 22:20). Though the pain of his previous sin was a heavy burden, Paul rejoiced in the greatness of God's mercy toward him. He purposed in his heart to forget that which was past and forgiven and press forward in his ministry (Phil. 3:13-14). Here he notes in this first "faithful saying" that God's mercy was shown to the likes of him to demonstrate the patience of God in withholding divine judgment in order to save sinners. Paul's conversion also provides an example to future believers of the marvelous grace of God.

What should be our truth here?

• For the Christian, the key truth is to remember from whence you came -- so that you can identify with those who need Christ as much as you.
• If Christ came to save sinners – even the worst – why would we still think God could never forgive what we’ve done? How does redemption happen?
• No one could have been more blindly opposed to God and His purposes than Paul before he encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Thinking he was doing God a favor, Paul feverishly worked to stamp out Christianity? Paul was a self-righteous Pharisee.
• No one, no matter how bad, is beyond the reach of God’s redemptive purposes both for salvation and usefulness in the Kingdom.
• The fact that Jesus came to save sinners is a faithful saying.

How has truth been revealed by God?

• Nature (God’s creation)
• Scripture
• Our sense of right and wrong
• Through coming Himself in the person of Jesus Christ

Truth is objective – we can discover and live according to it. We can ignore truth, but we can’t create our own version of it.



Our lesson skipped over verses 9-11 – someone read.

Is homosexuality God’s design?

1 Timothy 1:9-11

9 We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral and homosexuals, for kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 based on the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.



In this passage, homosexuality (sodomites) are listed along with a variety of others who are acting contrary to sound doctrine. God’s design is for a man and a woman to be joined through marriage (Genesis 2:24). This is the only circumstance in which a sexual relationship is permitted in the Bible.


Most homosexuals feel that they have not chosen their sexual orientation. This belief is the basis of the discussion that “homosexuality can’t be wrong.” However, each of us has a “leaning toward” a particular sin. Whether that leaning is toward substance abuse, immorality, or pride, we are responsible for controlling it. The Bible gives clear perspective in God’s love and mercy for those who sin, including those who are homosexual. It cannot be dismissed simply as an alternative lifestyle. If we behave in a way that goes against God’s Word, we sin.


Jesus was clear about what is sin and displeases God and what pleases God. But while on this earth He also loved and cared for sinners without fear or reserve.


What one word would you use to describe how Paul felt about what God had done for him?

• Responses could include thankful, worshipful, amazed, grateful, and responsive. The gospel calls for a personal response. The language of faith is praise to God.

What would you say is the truth we can stand on here in this passage?

• Despite what popular culture might argue people do have definitive truth upon which to stand. Jesus is not subjective. He’s not someone we define; He’s not someone we can declare to be real or not. He’s not open for debate. He is open for discovery.

III. STEER CLEAR OF SHIPWRECKS – 1 TIMOTHY 1:18-20

Engage in Battle

18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by them you may strongly engage in battle, 19 having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have suffered the shipwreck of their faith. 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them, and I have delivered them to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.


GOING DOWN: Picasso said, “When I die, it will be a shipwreck, and as when a huge ship sinks, many people all around will be sucked down with it.”

How were Hymenaeus and Alexander like a shipwreck?

• They threatened to destroy anyone associated with them. Survival guides say for passengers to swim away from a sinking ship to escape from being sucked under.
• Being near some people will pull you under just as certainly.

The world of deep thought is a dark and dangerous place. (Board) They will suck the mind and soul out of your body leaving nothing but a shell of a self who has no joy in life, and waits endlessly for the next installment of a perceived enlightenment.


How can we swim away from people like these? What people might we want to swim toward?



Are you one who sucks people under and takes away their life, or one who nurtures and gives life? What habit in you would God change to make you one who nurtures and gives life?





Paul was always big on building unity (Ephesians 2:3), so why did he want Timothy to go to battle with other Christian teachers? Why not just let everybody teach what he or she wanted to teach?

• The phrase, “strongly engage in battle” shows the serious damage false teaching and false living can cause. It threatens individuals and churches. Paul taught on spiritual battle in Ephesians 6:10-18, where he warned his readers to put on spiritual armor to prepare for Satan’s attacks.
• Paul urged Timothy to contend with the troublemakers, to fight the good fight. The fight was not with the people but with their doctrine! Our struggle is not beat up the lost but to save them through the gospel of Jesus Christ! This means we must not isolate ourselves from those who are different from us - the poorer, and the richer, the socialites and the social outcasts, the sick and the well, those who agree and the antagonistic, the obedient and the rebellious, even the "sinners" (NKJV). The Christian is to make a difference in this world by reaching all people with the good news of forgiveness through Jesus Christ our LORD.
• Shane Windmeyer - Nationally recognized LGBT leader in higher education; bestselling author; executive director, Campus Pride and Dan Cathy – CEO Chick-fil-A. Throughout the conversations Dan expressed a sincere interest in my life, wanting to get to know me on a personal level. He wanted to know about where I grew up, my faith, my family, even my husband, Tommy. In return, I learned about his wife and kids and gained an appreciation for his devout belief in Jesus Christ and his commitment to being "a follower of Christ" more than a "Christian."

How did Paul deal with the two false teachers mentioned? How should the church deal with those both inside and outside its walls whose teaching and behavior contradicts the Bible? How harsh is disassociation? When can you tell it’s time to do that? How do we do that?

• Many believers can name fundamentals of faith and doctrine, but their behavior is selfish and cruel. We show in behavior what we believe.
• Church discipline is delicate but important. Why do churches avoid it rather than implement it? When is it overdone? Underdone?

Indecent Proposal

What matter's most here - the sin or the love?

Based on these passages, what do you think Paul would say is the most important thing you need to know and do? How would he want you to apply it today?

• Love God and love one another - commit to it, tell it, and live according to it.
• Why - Because it's the truth of the gospel. God loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for your sins. There is nothing that you have done that is beyond the love and forgiveness of God. He wants you to know that!  

Prayer of Commitment

Lord, save me from my sins and help me live for You. Amen. 

Be in prayer this week as we begin this new series on what matters most and give some serious thought to what really matters most to you today.


See you on Sunday!


In His Love,


David & Susan