Soldiers for Christ: 2 Timothy 2:14-26

he was the one of the greatest preachers of all time he was in this country preaching and he went to a church service and as he walked into the pulpit to the fruit to preach he looked out in the congregation and he saw a gentleman getting comfortable for the sermon you know what i mean he was scrunching down in his seat had his elbow on his knee had gotten his chin rested resting in the palm of his hand, he was getting prepared for a good 30-minute nap.

And as that preacher stood in the pulpit to speak, he did something that woke the man up. And I'll tell you about it in just a minute. But let's review where we have been and where we're going. If we are going to be soldiers for Christ, as Paul tells Timothy, we must have courage. But then secondly, we must train soldiers who are faithful soldiers, who then can train other faithful soldiers.

And one of the key characteristics of the faithful soldier is that he does not get involved in civilian affairs. And the reason he doesn't is because his desire in life is to please his commanding officer. That's King Jesus. I've had some questions about particular activities. Are these activities getting involved in civilian affairs or in the affairs of everyday life?

I would put it to you this way. As we go about our lives, as I said last week, soldiers have basic responsibilities in life. We have families to care for. We need rest. We need recreation, et cetera.

The question you ought to ask yourself if you're concerned about a particular activity, ask the question, does this activity please my commanding officer? If my commanding officer were standing here with me, giving me instructions, would he want me involved in this activity or this particular affair of life? Or would he rather me be focused in some other direction? That's the key. The key is what pleases the commanding officer.

So don't get bogged down in the legalism of each little activity. so much as the big picture. Is my life pleasing the commanding officer and are the particular activities of my life pleasing the commanding officer? Now, today's lesson, we turn to chapter 2 of 2 Timothy. So if you have your Bibles, let's turn there.

And I'm going to read the first seven verses of our passage, and then I'll come back and read the other verses later.

passage there are a lot of question marks about specifically what Paul means and we'll try to answer those as best we can but let's read together first 2nd Timothy chapter 2 beginning at verse 14 keep reminding them of these things warn them before God against quarreling about words. It is of no value and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus who have wandered They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription. The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness. In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some are for noble purposes, and some for ignoble purposes. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, literally it's from these things, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the master, and prepared to do any good work.

Let's pray as we begin. Lord, enlighten our minds as we turn to your word. Help us to think clearly, to think accurately. Help us to understand the teaching of this text. But I pray that as we understand the truth here, that we will take this truth and apply it to our lives.

Help us to be people who desire your word, want to know your word, and want to live by your word. For it is in Christ's name we pray, and for his sake, amen.

In order to understand today's lesson, you have got to understand what was happening in the church at Ephesus. unfortunately paul doesn't give us a lot of details but he gives us enough i think to get a glimpse of what's happening and you have to understand what's going on in order for the passage i think to make sense there was a problem at the church in ephesus we get a glimpse of the problem in first timothy and we get a further explanation about it in second timothy both books written by Paul to Timothy, who was the pastor at the church of Ephesus. The problem was there was heresy in the camp. There was false teaching in the army. There were people who were trying to divert people in the church from the truth.

And this was causing serious problems. And Paul doesn't just talk generally about the problem in 2 Timothy. He names names. He says, you want to know who's causing the problem? There they are, Hymenaeus and Philetus.

If you go and read in 1 Timothy 1, verse 3 and verse 4, Paul explicitly mentions Hymenaeus

and basically says he, I gave you the wrong reference, It's 1 Timothy 1, verse 20. 1 Timothy 1, verse 20. And he says, talking about people who are stirring up heresy in the church, among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. He basically has said, I've done what I can with them. I'm cutting them loose.

And I'm going to let Satan have them.

false teaching has been a serious problem in the church at ephesus the question is i want to focus on what was the false teaching the false teaching that was being spread by hymenaeus and philetus is given to us in verse 18 of our text they say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some.

Let's talk about that for just a moment. They say the resurrection has already taken place. The resurrection that they're talking about is not the resurrection of Christ from the dead. They are talking about another resurrection, the resurrection of the saints when our bodies will one day be raised at Christ's return. It is a central Christian teaching that Christ was resurrected from the dead, but it is also a central Christian teaching that he's coming back.

And when he comes back, there will be another resurrection.

What is the second? First Thessalonians 4, 16. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first

with bodies that are imperishable, immortal, spiritual bodies prepared for heaven. It is a central teaching of the Christian faith, not just that our spirits will be with God forever in heaven. We will have material bodies that will be resurrected.

imperishable to be with the Lord forever. The Apostles' Creed, I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic with the little c church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body. It is a central teaching of the faith. And Hymenaeus and Philetus were going around and saying, well, the resurrection's already happened.

now what exactly were they saying when they said the resurrection has already happened well it may be saying that they were saying in some sense the Lord had already returned and all the believers in the church are going oh no you know he's already come back and I'm still here

that could have been what they were saying or they might have been teaching that there's not really a future bodily resurrection instead they might have been teaching something like at your conversion you were in a sense resurrected and that's the only kind of resurrection there is you were resurrected from an old sinful life to a new life but hey folks there's no future resurrection of the body that might have been what they were teaching but in some sense they were teaching that there was not going to be a resurrection of the body which if you start take this back further they could have been saying that maybe christ either has already returned or maybe he's not going to come back.

We don't know the particulars, okay? All we know, it was something that they were denying related to the resurrection of the body that was going to be one day. Everybody with me on this? Okay. You know, in Corinth, some had preached that there would be no resurrection, and Paul did a lot of dealing with that.

So if you say there's no resurrection, well, then Jesus wasn't even raised. But he was, and since he was, we can be assured we one day will be resurrected. Well, the question we need to ask ourselves, I think, in light of this, and I think this is the question to understand this passage. We've got false teaching related to the resurrection by Hymenaeus and Philetus. The question is, what steps should we take to prevent the spread of cancer in the church?

and the cancer, and Paul's going to actually use a medical term in this passage that is translated gangrene, or it could be translated cancer. He's going to say, how do we prevent the spread of cancer in the church, gangrene in the church? And that's what I want to talk about. Okay? Here's the first answer.

We must accurately teach God's word. We must accurately teach God's word. if we don't want cancer, false teaching, to spread in the church. Paul says in verse 15, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, and who correctly handles the word of truth. I think I left you a little space in your handout because I'm going to say a whole lot about this one sentence, and I didn't give you much on your piece of paper.

So if you want to jot down some notes, do it. a few points fairly emphatically here.

Voltaire, the French philosopher, said, if we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first of all destroy man's belief in the Bible. Voltaire knew that the church stood or fell on the truthfulness of Scripture. If what the Bible says is not true, we might as well pack up and go home.

J.R. Packer says, Our desire for God is directly proportional to our desire for Scripture. If we genuinely want to know God, we will then want to know His Word that teaches us about God and about what is important in life. The psalmist tells us that God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Christ said, If you are truly my disciples, my word and you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free in a nutshell and I hope most in this class already believe this scripture the word of truth is absolutely essential to Christian faith it is the authoritative inerrant word of God

next point still under this accurately teaching the word of God the highest service John Stott says that a person may attain to on earth is to preach the word of God we are all called to be God's ministers but I'm going to stand with Stott on this one the highest service that anyone can attain to is to stand and faithfully preach and teach God's word. How does a pastor be sure that when he has this awesome responsibility, he is doing things in a way that God will approve? You know, Paul says to Timothy, be sure you're a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed. Be one who is approved by God. We want our preachers and teachers to act in such a way that they aren't ashamed before God, but instead God looks down at them and says, keep at it.

You're doing a great job. How does the pastor or teacher get God's approval? Paul tells us the pastor or teacher gets God's approval by accurately handling the word of truth. The old King James said, by rightly dividing the word of truth. The most important single responsibility of any pastor is to accurately and faithfully teach God's Word.

Everything else comes second, I would submit.

It's an awesome responsibility. We translate in English that the pastor is to accurately handle the Word of Truth. The Greek gives a word picture there. And the picture is of cutting a straight path through difficult terrain. That's what a pastor does when he accurately handles the word of truth.

There's difficult terrain ahead for the church. How is the church going to march through this difficult terrain? How is the army going to cross the mountain of difficulty and go through the valley that is so dark? They're going to go through it because the pastor is going to stand up and he's going to cut a straight path for the people. and he cuts the straight path by accurately and correctly teaching God's Word.

He's the one that holds the compass in a sense for the army that's behind him. And he says, we're going to march this way, folks, because God says this is the way we go. You got the picture of accurately handling the Word of truth? This is not something the pastor is to take lightly. Paul says to Timothy, make every effort to present yourself as a workman approved by God.

It's a word, the old King James translated this, study to show yourself approved unto God. Study, if you say make a studied effort, that would capture the sense. But it's the idea that the pastor is to give his maximum effort to cut this straight path for the people that he leads. to be something that the pastor enters into half-heartedly, lukewarmly. He's not to be slovenly about it. He is to go at it with everything he's got. And his making every effort means he has to prepare to preach and teach. And then he has to present his teaching in a clear and accurate way with conviction and passion. Spurgeon, one of the great English preachers of the 1800s says he who has ceased to learn has ceased to preach he who no longer sows in the study will no more reap in the pulpit and if a pastor or teacher is going to be approved by god as one handling accurately the word of truth he's got to be sowing in the study to prepare to reap in the pulpit to teach and to preach billy graham in a 1977 interview with christianity asked this question if you had to live your life over again what would you do differently

this is billy graham's answer one of my great regrets is that i have not studied enough i wish i'd studied more and preached less people have pressured me into speaking to groups when i should have been studying and preparing donald barnhouse billy graham quotes donald barnhouse said that if was coming in three years he would spend two of them studying and one preaching i'm trying to make it up now think by that graham was hitting at this idea of accurately handling the word of truth preachers shouldn't get up and just or teachers should not just get up and give their own opinions their own notions about things they come to declare the truth of god's word and that means they have to be in it. Billy Graham was the founding father of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where I went to seminary. He was the one who brought together two schools, Gordon School of Theology and Gordon Divinity School and Conwell School of Theology. He brought those two schools together to form Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. And as he started that seminary, he gave three principles go by. He was cutting a straight path through difficult terrain. Principle one, the Bible is God's authoritative and inerrant word. Principle two, Jesus Christ is Lord. And principle number three, Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. There is no other. And he said this seminary will keep those three banners waving high. He was cutting a straight path through difficult terrain.

the message of the Bible is a message that has eternal consequences

and if we get that message fuzzy or unclear we've got problems in the body of Christ so it's critical if we're going to deal with heresy in the camp and if we're going to follow a straight path that we have people who accurately handle the word of truth George Whitefield knew that when he and the man sort of in the back got real comfortable, got his knee, his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand. And as Whitfield stepped into the pulpit, he saw that gentleman getting comfortable for his sermon. And Whitfield started sort of quietly. If I had come to speak to you in my own name, you might rest your elbow on your knee and your chin in your hand. But I have come to speak to you today in the name of the Lord God Almighty, and I must, he clapped his hands, and I will, and he stomped his foot, I will be heard.

The gentleman didn't sleep during that sermon. But shouldn't there be that conviction, not only from the pastor when he stands and opens God's word, but shouldn't God's people listen attentively? Because he comes to speak God's truth.

That was a lot for letter A, wasn't it? Letter B.

When there's heresy in the camp, we've got to be careful. We should not let ourselves get sucked into angry, factious quarrels. Paul makes his point abundantly clear.

Verse 14, warn them before God against quarreling about words

and only ruins those who listen. Verse 16, avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. what does Paul mean here Paul's meaning is not that we don't stand for the truth and he's not urging Timothy to not stand for the truth when there's heresy in the camp but what he does want Timothy to understand is that angry factious quarrels rarely solve much and he wants Timothy not to get involved in angry debates that involve verbal quibbling. He wants Timothy instead to shun the godless chatter of the false teachers and not get caught up in angry quarreling and debates.

Have you ever seen anyone get in a debate with someone when they were just upset about the topic? They get sort of red-faced. Their tone of voice gets a little louder. words begin to get a little harsher. Suddenly you're not just talking about the issue and you're starting to attack the person.

Paul is warning about that kind of hot-headedness that can occur when you get into these debates. And he's telling Timothy, don't get involved in hot-headed, quarrelsome, angry debates on these issues with the heretics. There's a sense in which Paul is saying to Timothy, It'd be sort of like a parent who has made instructions clear to a child. If you ever told your child what he or she should or should not do, and suddenly the child wants to debate, and you've given another answer, and they find another word in your instruction that they want to talk about, well, how close is too close? Is this too close?

You said not to touch Tommy. Is this okay? Well, how about this much? How about this much? do you know where I'm coming from and suddenly you're in this sort of quibbling and your temper can easily rise Paul says to Timothy don't even get involved in that just like a parent says to a child you know what I said you know what's right get in line we know the resurrection of the dead has not yet occurred but we do know Christ is returning like that. We're not going to get angry about it. It's just the truth. So don't get sucked into quarrelsome debates. Paul had a reason for this instruction. He knew heated quarrels rarely accomplish anything good. And instead, as he says, you get into these kinds of angry debates, they bring ruin to the listener. You tend to harden people in their positions, don't you if someone has a false view about something and you go and you yell at them about it and scream at them about it do they say oh yes you're right i'm glad you've shown me the light thank you no when you scream and yell at them and get angry with them they harden in their position typically don't they the greek word says when you get into these angry quarrels you cause the listener to enter into a catastrophe so paul says don't don't cause catastrophe among your listeners I've lost my watch.

What time is it, somebody? 10.25, okay. The secondly thing is you just spread ungodliness. The more you get involved in these angry debates, you're just giving a forum to those who are preaching the ungodliness, and their teaching begins to spread, as Paul says, like gangrene. It's just like a cancer, you know, this angry debating.

Have you ever been in a church? Have you ever known about another church that got involved in some angry debate about something and people were really angry about it? In fact, it's just like cancer. Suddenly the whole body gets caught up in it if you just get into this angry, quarrelsome sort of attitude. And it upsets the faith of some.

Paul says we need to trust in God in these situations. One reason we get angry is we care about the truth. And sometimes we get angry at those who are teaching things that are clearly false. And we want to do something about it. We want to be God's instrument of justice.

We want to be His avenging sword. And Paul says, chill. He says in verse 20, verse 19, God's solid foundation stands firm.

sealed with this inscription. The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness. The Lord's firm foundation stands. That is probably a reference either to God's truth. His truth is not going to be upset.

His firm foundation is going to stand no matter what the heretics say. and the firm foundation may also be god's church god's church the gates of hell will not prevail against it so don't get upset that the heretics are going to destroy the church god's firm foundation foundation is going to stand because the lord has put his seal on his foundation and i think the foundation clearly includes the church here and the lord has put his seal on the church and the seal is a sign of ownership and protection. God owns his church and he will protect his church and he will set things right one day. As Paul says, the Lord already knows those who are his and you're going to be able to tell those who are his because those who are his will not get caught up in the false teaching. They're going to follow the truth. They're going to stick with what God has said. They're not going to let the speculations of men take them away from the

Paul quotes in that verse 19 in verse 20 there are two passages of scripture that are quoted and it's not an exact quote it's a reference back to a story in the Old Testament how many of you remember the story of the rebellion of Korah? ok not many let me tell you a quick story Numbers chapter 16 you ought to go read the story

Korah

among the children of Israel. And he got tired of Moses being in charge. So Korah stirs up a rebellion against Moses, brings a couple of people with him, goes to Moses and says, who put you in charge? Moses said, God.

Well, we're all God's children. We've got just as much right to say what we want to say to the children of Israel, to lead the children of Israel. to follow you, Moses. We're going to do our own thing. Because we're just as much God's chosen as you are. Moses said, let's have a test. So the next day, all the people of Israel meet before the tent of meeting. And God says, Moses, step aside. Aaron, step aside. I'm getting ready to wipe them out. And Moses says, no, Lord. They haven't all rebelled against you, just Korah and 250 total people who follow him. God says, you're right. He says, tell the children of Israel to separate themselves from Korah and his followers. So the children of Israel separate.

and Korah and 250

are left separated from the children of Israel. Moses said to them, when the Lord speaks, we will know those who are his and immediately the earth opens up and swallows Korah and the 250. The Lord knows those who are his and those who follow the Lord want to be separated from those who don't follow the Lord.

So, folks, I think Paul is trying to tell us, rest assured, the Lord will take care of things. So we don't need to get angry and be involved in angry quarrels. His firm foundation stands sure.

And one other point before I go to this. Paul has a desire.

I skipped a point. Do you all have a point about being noble vessels? Okay, I did it wrong here.

Paul has a desire that we be noble vessels. This is verses 20 and 21. In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some are for noble purpose and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made wholly useful to the master and prepared to do any good work.

the holy vessels that are gold and silver are those who remain true to the teaching of the faith and remain faithful to the word the wood these are the dishonorable vessels those who get caught up in the false teaching so folks if we want to be useful to the lord ready for his surface we need to be sure that we are those who remain true to the message of the gospel and the message of God, then we are wholly useful to the master prepared for every good work. But if you are out there caught up in false teaching, if you've lost the essence of the message of the gospel and the message of the Bible, you're no good to the Lord. So the gold and silver vessels or the gold and silver instruments are those who remain true to the word of God and the teaching of Christ. Okay. The last point, we should correct those who are in opposition by teaching them in the right 22 through 26 and you follow along. Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels and the Lord's servant must not quarrel. Instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him, he must gently instruct in the hope that they will, that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will escape and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will. So how do we respond to those people who are caught up in the false teaching, who are denying the essential message of the faith? We want to correct them by teaching them in the right way.

We should have first a right attitude in our correction. and this is where Paul, we have probably a misconception about what Paul means when he says flee youthful lust. That's how verse 22 begins. Does everybody see that? Flee youthful lust.

I learned that verse in the Navigators at the Citadel. You know, Citadel, young guys flee youthful lust. Boy, they hammered that one on us. We had to have that verse memorized. They were worried about those Citadel guys with good reason.

And that verse was given to us as one about fleeing sexual lust. And that kind of thing. I don't think that's what Paul means in context here. He's talking about fleeing youthful desires. And you know what sometimes the young want to do when they meet somebody who opposes the things of Christ, if they're really committed to Christ?

It's easy to want to grab God's sword and just bash those people. And he's saying to Timothy, avoid that youthly desire to just go in there and clean up the house. to kick down doors and to be God's avenging arm against those who are teaching falsehood. That's not the way to deal with it. Instead, pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

Take a more positive approach. Be sure that you have the right approach in the correction. You are to instruct with gentleness. You are to be kind to everyone. And patient when wronged.

Even when these false teachers are saying bad things about you, be patient.

This is great instruction for us, I think, for dealing with people who are not Christians or who have different views about the things of the faith. Let's be kind. Let's be patient with them. And let's be gentle. That's not to say there's not a point at which you don't discipline those who are causing dissension in the body of Christ.

The way we try to win someone is by being kind to them, gentle with them, impatient with them. You are a lot more likely to listen to someone who speaks to you quietly and gently, persuasively, but is not in your face shouting at you.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, the Proverbs say. So we need to develop that quality of gentleness. And there's a reason we want to approach these people. Our goal is that they will come to their senses. and that they will repent from their going in the wrong direction and going in the right direction.

Christians really ought to be the most gracious people in the world. We really should be. God has dealt with us so graciously. We ought to be just running over with grace when we go see people and talk with them. We ought to just be brimming over with love.

I know for myself, it's so easy to want to speak the truth, but not to speak the truth in love. And we need to learn to do that. Sometimes when you get through talking with someone about the things of the faith and you got a little red-faced and angry, sit down and pray and ask God to help you next time to do it better in a more calm fashion, more gently. Would be a lot more effective in the long run. Let me go to our lessons for life.

Lesson number one, learn the essential teachings of the Christian faith.

the truth is so that we can know the truth and can discern truth from error. A lot of people ask me, well, what are the essential teachings of the faith? I have given you today a handout that is the Joshua's Way Statement of Faith. It's this one that says our authority and so forth. It is a one-page effort to capture the essentials of what we believe as Christians.

I hope you'll take it and read it. It may be helpful to you. Secondly, I would encourage you to memorize the Apostles' Creed, and that's the other sheet of paper you have. The reason I encourage you to read it is because I think it is a succinct way to know some of the essential teachings of the Christian faith. It's one of the oldest creedal statements in the world.

The creed is no better than if it represents what Scripture teaches, but there are a lot of good things to be learned out of the Apostles' Creed. you to learn it. Thirdly, be more diligent in reading and studying the Bible. You need to be regularly reading your Bible. You ought to have a Bible reading plan. I would suggest that you examine your own beliefs as you read the Joshua's Way Statement of Faith. Do they square with the essential teachings of the Christian faith? Are there places maybe you need to re-examine what you believe about specific issues, I would urge you to conform what you believe to what the Scriptures teach.

Some have rejected Scripture as an authority. I think for those of us who are in Christ, it should be our authority. And if Scripture speaks clearly on an issue, we should conform our beliefs to what it teaches. Fifthly, there are some, even in Christian circles, in quote Christian circles, that disagree with that. But I would argue that's a very important point.

Never forget, without the message of the gospel, Christianity is meaningless. Do not surrender the message of the gospel. The pressure in our culture today, the biggest pressure I would submit right now is that Jesus Christ is not the only way of salvation. That is where we're going to get the greatest pressure. We are getting it and we'll continue to get it. We cannot surrender that article of faith. You surrender that, you might as well, let's close First Baptist and let's quit meeting. Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.

we must lift up his banner

let's practice being gracious and gentle in our conversations and others and let's pray for our pastor and teachers they need our prayers they have an important responsibility