{"id":3810,"date":"2018-06-24T12:49:51","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T03:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=3810"},"modified":"2018-06-29T13:00:24","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T04:00:24","slug":"2018-06-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=3810","title":{"rendered":"\uff29Timothy 1:1-7 \u300eKeeping our Focus\u300f2018\/06\/24 David Hawley"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Reading on slide 2-4]
\n1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,<\/strong>
\n2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:<\/strong>
\nGrace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.<\/strong>
\n3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God\u2019s work\u2014which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.<\/strong>
\n\u2003<\/strong>
\nI. Introduction
\n\u2022 [SLIDE 5] Time, location
\no V1 Letter written by Paul
\no Circa 65 AD, Just after Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Philemon; Luke\u2019s Gospel and Acts
\no V2 Written to Timothy, but since the final greeting 6:21 is plural, probably to the church as a whole. So it is not private, but an official letter.
\n\u2022 The summary of the content
\n\u2022 3:14-15 How people should conduct themselves in the church
\n\uf0a7 Teaching, prayer, caring for members in need, leadership, how to relate to money, etc.
\n\u2022 We can learn how to have a healthy church!!
\n\u2022 Breakdown into 6 areas
\n\uf0a7 1:3-20 Doctrine
\n\uf0a7 2:1-15 Public worship
\n\uf0a7 3:1-16 Leadership
\n\uf0a7 4:1-10 Moral instruction, and 4:11-5:2 instructions to leaders
\n\uf0a7 5:3-6:2 Social responsibilities
\n\uf0a7 6:3-21 Attitudes to wealth
\n\u2022 [SLIDE 6] The cast:
\n\u2022 Paul:
\n\uf0a7 A well-educated, rich and powerful Jewish Rabbi
\n\uf0a7 Met Christ, and became an apostle – a messenger of the gospel, esp to gentiles
\n\uf0a7 V1 tells us this: an apostle by the command of God
\n\u2022 Note that God is called Saviour, where we would expect Christ Jesus
\n\u2022 This is a trinitarian understanding, and also that the Father is the ultimate source
\n\u2022 Christ is our hope
\n\u2022 His second coming, and our resurrection is our hope.
\n\u2022 Timothy
\n\uf0a7 One of Paul\u2019s converts
\n\uf0a7 A close fellow-worker with Paul in his missionary work
\n\uf0a7 Mentioned several times in Acts, Romans, I&II Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thess, Philemon, Hebrews, and of course 1&2 Timothy
\n\uf0a7 => in Acts, and in almost all of Paul\u2019s letters
\n\uf0a7 Very close to Paul, like a son.
\n\u2022 The church: Ephesus
\n\uf0a7 <Map>
\n\uf0a7 3rd largest city in Asia Minor, est. pop about 170,000 people, important port city
\n\uf0a7 Hosted the Temple of Artemis, one of 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
\n\uf0a7 For us => Central hub for the regions churches and missionary work. Paul had spent 3 years there.
\n\uf0a7 First mentioned in the list of 7 churches of Asia in Rev 1-2.
\n\u2022 [SLIDE 7] Occasion: We haven\u2019t talked about why Paul wrote the letter yet.
\n\uf0a7 V3 Leaders gone bad
\n\uf0a7 Timothy sent by Paul to get church back on track
\n\uf0a7 So what was Timothy like to be given such a task?
\n\u2022 Probably in his 30s <= young according to the culture
\n\u2022 Sickly
\n\u2022 Shy and timid
\n\uf0a7 What did Timothy have going for him? (Philippians 2:19-22)
\n\u2022 Cared for people
\n\u2022 Dedicated to God\u2019s interests, not his own
\n\u2022 Tested and faithful
\n\u2022 Trained and mentored on Paul\u2019s missionary journeys
\n\uf0a7 So this young timid man was given the great responsibility of fixing the church at Ephesus
\n\u2022 Let\u2019s not despise the small and weak things, because God doesn\u2019t!
\n\u2022 But let us be involved in ministry, and see where God will lead.
\n\u2022 It led Timothy to the Ephesian church to restore it and its leadership
\nII. [SLIDE7 continued] Leaders gone bad (target 10min)
\n\u2022 V4 What were these teachers teaching?
\n\u2022 False doctrines
\n\u2022 Myths
\n\u2022 Useless details
\n\u2022 The result
\n\u2022 Speculation and controversy, endless without possibility of resolution
\n\u2022 God\u2019s work not done
\n\u2022 What is wrong here?
\n\u2022 Attention given to the wrong things
\n\u2022 Attention not given to the right things
\n\u2022 [Slide 8] So what should we teach? A little aside on doctrine
\n\u2022 Levels
\n\u2022 Core \u2013 basic beliefs, that we must agree on
\n\u2022 Convictions \u2013are important for health, so we can argue and separate over
\n\u2022 Opinions \u2013 we must not separate over opinions
\n\u2022 Questions \u2013 things about which there is no clarity
\n\u2022 Core
\n\u2022 Things we must know and believe to be a Christian
\n\u2022 Things that if we know, we must not reject
\n\u2022 Things we may not agree to, but we should believe
\n\u2022 [SLIDE 9] Where should we pay our attention? The core => gospel!
\n\u2022 Remember Romans:
\n\u2022 The gospel: what God has done and promises to do
\n\u2022 Therefore, give yourself to God
\n\u2022 God has given you work to do
\n\u2022 V5 Do it with love
\n\u2022 Here we have:
\n\u2022 A sincere faith: trusting the gospel in a way that changes our thinking and behavior
\n\u2022 A pure heart: we give ourselves to God, and nurture a heart that wants only what God wants, and doesn\u2019t have mixed motives
\n\u2022 A good conscience: acting in obedience
\n\u2022 V5 Growing in love is the goal.
\n\u2022 [Slide 10] What went wrong with the bad teachers?
\n\u2022 V6 And they departed from the above: a sincere faith, a good conscience, a pure heart, and love.
\n\u2022 V7 What do they think of themselves
\n\u2022 They want to be teachers of the law
\n\u2022 They are confident
\n\u2022 But they are talking about things they don\u2019t understand.
\n\u2022 Their talk is meaningless
\n\u2022 How did this happen?
\n\u2022 1:7 Maybe this is part of it: They wanted to be recognized as teachers, without understanding what they are teaching.
\n\uf0a7 Understanding is not simply an intellectual exercise.
\n\uf0a7 A sincere faith goes beyond just textbook knowledge
\n\u2022 Acts 20:30 They wanted a following more than the truth
\n\uf0a7 A desire for status of their own, their own brand
\n\uf0a7 So you invent your own teaching, to differentiate yourself.
\n\uf0a7 Some false, some made up, some irrelevant
\n\uf0a7 In 1 Cor 1:10-13, we read that the church had split into groups following their favorite teacher.
\n\uf0a7 But Paul was not interested in building his own brand, but in promoting Christ.
\n\uf0a7 And he praises Timothy for being the same way.
\n\uf0a7 In some cases, a desire for money.
\n\uf0a7 And remember, Jesus said you cannot love both God and money (Luke 16:13). Love of one drives out love of the other.
\n\uf0a7 There are many who fall into this condition
\n\u2022 V6 The result is they turned away
\n\u2022 from true and useful teaching
\n\u2022 and its goal – love.
\n\u2022 And their listeners, like them, just wasted their time with meaningless talk, and didn\u2019t grow spiritually. In fact, they ruin their faith.<\/p>\n

III. The hope of the resurrection and us
\n\u2022 [SLIDE 11] So what were these false doctrines?
\n\u2022 Well we know this: 2 Tim 2:18 Heresy that the resurrection had already happened.
\n\u2022 Why is it a problem if there is no bodily resurrection ahead of us?
\n\u2022 Our resurrection marks the completion of our salvation.
\n\u2022 We are saved when we believe in Jesus, we are being saved – restored, and we will be saved when Jesus comes to give us new bodies and take us to himself.
\n\u2022 But if the resurrection has already happened, there is nothing ahead to hope for; it doesn\u2019t get any better than this.
\n\u2022 As we read in 1 John 3:2-3, it is the hope of what lies ahead that gives us motivation to be holy like Jesus.
\n\uf0a7 We love a singer\u2019s song, and we try to sound like them.
\n\uf0a7 Even though we know we will never be at that level, our attraction shapes our values and the way we live our lives.
\n\uf0a7 But we will be like Jesus when we see him again.
\n\u2022 If we lose our hope of the resurrection that lies ahead, we lose our motivation to work towards being like Jesus.
\n\u2022 And inevitably, we will lose our faith and fall into immorality.
\nBecause we have no hope.<\/p>\n

IV. [SLIDE 12] What about us?
\n\u2022 We too can fall away, both as individuals and as a body
\n\u2022 When our faith is not sincere, when we do not grasp what God has done for us
\n\u2022 Our hearts are unsatisfied,
\n\u2022 We are tempted to satisfy our needs in other ways => our heart is no longer pure
\n\u2022 We distract ourselves with things that are meaningless or even wrong.
\nWe neglect what we should be doing, because we are separated from God\u2019s life and leadership
\n\u2022 We offend our consciences because we are in conflict inside
\n\u2022 And consequently, we lose our freedom to love, and instead fight and argue
\n\u2022 How can we make sure not to wander away, as individuals and as a church?
\n\u2022 Keep focused and intentional on the main thing
\n\u2022 Always remember the gospel
\n\u2022 Let it change our hearts, so that we want the right things. Struggle with God for it.
\n\u2022 Keep it real.
\n\u2022 Keep a clear conscience: do what we know we should do, stop what we shouldn\u2019t
\n\u2022 Determine to love.
\n\u2022 Faith, a pure heart, and a good conscience will free us to do so.
\n\u2022 But how?
\n\u2022 It is the love of God that is at work within us.
\n\u2022 It is the love of God that sustains us
\n\u2022 It is the hope of God that motivates us
\n\u2022 So let us cling to the love of God shown in the gospel,
\n\u2022 Ask God to teach it to us, so we can believe it sincerely
\n\u2022 Trust God and give ourselves to him, and let him deal with our mixed motives and give us a pure heart
\n\u2022 Keep a good conscience
\n\u2022 Let God teach us how to love
\n\u2022 And let us encourage one another!
\nLet\u2019s pray<\/p>\n

V. Questions
\n1. As a church
\no What are ways that churches and their leaders go off track?
\no Why do you think this happens?
\no What are the consequences?
\no What can we do as a church do to keep the right focus?
\n2. As individual believers
\no What are ways that individual believers go off track?
\no Why do you think this happens?
\no What ways can we make sure that we are personally focusing on the main thing?
\no How can we help each other stay on track?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Reading on slide 2-4] 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message"],"aioseo_notices":[],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p97PsF-Zs","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3846,"url":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=3846","url_meta":{"origin":3810,"position":0},"title":"\uff29\u30c6\u30e2\u30c61:8-17 \u300e\u5f8b\u6cd5\u3092\u6b63\u3057\u304f\u7528\u3044\u308b\u300f 2018\/07\/22 David Hawley","author":"crossroads","date":"2018-07-22","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7xLRLKRJOjU Passage 1 Timothy 1:8\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","block_context":{"text":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","link":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/7xLRLKRJOjU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3252,"url":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=3252","url_meta":{"origin":3810,"position":1},"title":"\u30ed\u30fc\u30de8:31-38 \u300e\u30ed\u30fc\u30de\uff12\uff15 \u795e\u304c\u5473\u65b9\u3067\u3042\u308b\u306a\u3089\u300f David Hawley 2018\/01\/07","author":"crossroads","date":"2018-01-09","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/pdO21fLv2j8 Passage Romans 8:31-3\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","block_context":{"text":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","link":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/pdO21fLv2j8\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3910,"url":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=3910","url_meta":{"origin":3810,"position":2},"title":"\uff29\u30c6\u30e2\u30c61:18-2-7 \u300e\u52c7\u6562\u306a\u6226\u3044\u300f 2018\/08\/26 David Hawley","author":"crossroads","date":"2018-08-26","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ibAm02dpfOE Passage 1 Timothy 1:1\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","block_context":{"text":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","link":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ibAm02dpfOE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3215,"url":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=3215","url_meta":{"origin":3810,"position":3},"title":"\u30ed\u30fc\u30de8:17-25 \u300e\u30ed\u30fc\u30de\uff12\uff13 \u9053\u306e\u884c\u304d\u5148\u300f 2017\/12\/3 David Hawley","author":"crossroads","date":"2017-12-03","format":false,"excerpt":"Passage Romans 8:17-25. Supporting passages Eph 1:\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","block_context":{"text":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","link":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3570,"url":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=3570","url_meta":{"origin":3810,"position":4},"title":"\u30ed\u30fc\u30de14:1-12 \u300e\u30ed\u30fc\u30de\uff13\uff18 The Weak and the Strong\u300f2018\/04\/08 David Hawley","author":"crossroads","date":"2018-04-08","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/zctzMELhxbQ Passage Romans 14:1-1\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","block_context":{"text":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","link":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/zctzMELhxbQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4071,"url":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?p=4071","url_meta":{"origin":3810,"position":5},"title":"1\u30c6\u30e2\u30c63:1-13 \u300e\u4eba\u683c\u306e\u6210\u719f\u3068\u826f\u3044\u8a55\u5224\u300f2018\/11\/25 David Hawley","author":"crossroads","date":"2018-11-25","format":false,"excerpt":"Passage I Timothy 3:1-13 Other passages Ephesians \u2026","rel":"","context":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","block_context":{"text":"\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30fc\u30b8","link":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3811,"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions\/3811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossroads-church.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}