Graham continued his series on Timothy this morning concentrating on 1 Timothy 1:9-11.

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False Teachers and Their Character
1 Timothy 1:1-11

1) “Command certain men”

What right has anyone in the church to command, or for another to submit? This is an exceptional situation so does not encourages bullying leadership a churches, but it does show that the church is a place of truth and order. This is an issue that would not need teaching to the Jewish Christians, as they would know about the rebellion of Korah, Dathan.

Paul has already begun his letter to Timothy by emphasising that he himself is under authority.

2) Myths and False teaching

Myths (1:4; Titus 1:14). The term “myth” is often used to refer to a story which is untrue. Academics use of the term does not generally refer to whether a story is truth or not. Unbelievers will use the word “myth” to refer to sacred stories of the various faiths. In a very broad sense, “myth” can refer to any traditional story.

Yes, but a myth is not the truth, and the gospel is the truth! The gospel is not a myth, it is the “power of God for salvation” (I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Romans 1:16) and our faith does not rest on myths.”Endless genealogies”

The false teaching:
False doctrine, (1:3; 6:3). It is false, not true, not the real thing. Why settle for the counterfeit when the real treasure is available. Grace is better! When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians he majored, not on the false teachings, but on truth. He described their pressures as the attacks of dark forces. Here though he deals with false teaching they were subject to.

What if I claimed a new revelation of God given to me in a day-time visitation, like the founder of the Mormons, or in a dream, like the founder of Islam? You would have to decide if you believed me.

For a Christian it is a different process of thinking entirely. A Christian trusts in the words of Jesus because his words were validated by his miracles and his resurrection from the dead. And we know that the records are trustworthy. We find that the transformed life Jesus offered is real once we have experienced it for ourselves. A changed life is not the evidence. It is the a changed life in accordance with the teachings of Jesus, the one who is trustworthy because of his miracles and resurrected life.

I met a church leader last week. Just as I was looking at his face trying to remember where I had seen him before he said, “Hello Graham. The last time I heard you preach, you preached…” He then recounted the main points of a sermon from my Ezra series. He went on to say the state he was in at the time and that God spoke to him clearly then, through my preaching, in a powerful way. That word to him then had been like the turning of a rudder on a ship, it give him direction and revelation about his situation in a way that could not have been due to me, but only due to God. And then he said, “And another thing. It was thoroughly biblical!”

That final comment was the one that pleased me, gave me a sense of achievement. I want the scriptures to speak. My duty is to allow God to speak through his word. False teachers want themselves to be heard. They don’t want the glory to go to God, they want to get it for themselves. Over the years I think I have seen a principle at work, that he or she who sets themselves up as an object of idolatry will become entangled in the dynamic of idolatry and will themselves become the slaves of idolatry. They end up worshipping the false gods of the misuse of drugs, sex, money, possessions, etc.

3) False teachers and their character
Regarding the Christians is Ephesus and false teaching, where was their discernment? Where was the, “I feel uneasy about that”?

It is a year since a Christian leader in Florida, USA was discovered to have been a fraud all along. While portraying himself as one thing, he was betraying his wife and his followers by having had a sexual affair with a member of his staff all summer long. Why did more Christians not feel uneasy? He claimed he talked to the dead and to angels who visited him and who gave him new teachings. This example should help us to understand why in Ephesus false teachers were tolerated. The might have been nice people, they might have sincere.

Wanting to be teachers of the law. “Teachers”. Is there a need for status in the heart of these false teachers? See 3 John and the mention of Diotraphes a false leader, in also in Asia. Does this give us some insights into the pitfalls? The need to control. Preventing the group from hearing ideas from outside. The leaders position becoming more important than the people served or the greater purposes of God.

“Law”. Stressing the Old Testament law gives ample opportunity to be measured alongside other believers rather than the standard God has for the individual. This legalism was a forsaking the gospel of grace.

A list of sins is given in verses 9 and 10. This is a list of rather extreme sins including murder, adultery and slavery. Is the extreme list used to show that the law is needed not just for the wicked, or for all lest they become wicked? The law exposes the flaw in human nature, but is not the means of salvation.

See verse 10 in various translations:

for adulterers and perverts – New International Version
for them that defile themselves with mankind – AV/KJV
for sodomites – NKJV
who practice homosexuality – New Living Translation
those practising homosexuality – Today’s New International Version

Literally – “men that lie with men”

Has God said anything about homosexuality elsewhere in the Bible?

In the Old Testament

One of the first encounters with homosexuality in the Bible is in the Old Testament and the story of Sodom. Note the subject matter. It is actually Lot who is portrayed as being not all he should have been. The story does not say the men of Sodom were homosexuals or that they were judged for Homosexuality.

The next encounter is Leviticus chap 18, 20. The passages have a clear message, men are not to practice with men acts that that they might do with a women. Some Christians may like these passages when speaking to homosexuals but at the same time forgetting the context. These texts are sandwiched between laws that are not considered valid any longer such as breeding of domestic animals and the wearing of garments made from mixtures of linen and wool.

In the New Testament

Using the accepted method of viewing the OT through the NT we come to the letter of Paul to the Christians in Rome chapter 1. Paul tells us we know the truth, God has not withheld the truth, but has shown every person His truth in their innermost being. God will not deal kindly with those who distort and hinder the truth. He tells us that mankind is without excuse. Mankind knew God, but rejected Him. He tells us that mankind left the “natural” and sought the “unnatural”.

What is normal or natural? The bible sets out its case in the first scene with Adam and Eve. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife”. This is described as a “one flesh” relationship. This is later refered to by Jesus when he said (Matt 19:4-6) “He who made them from the beginning made them male and female”. Paul picks up this message (Eph 5:31) later and claims that the union of male and female is a drama. This drama is ideally designed to display, in some small way, the union of Jesus Christ with his followers, the church.

When Paul wrote in Romans that it is not natural for men to burn with lust for another, or for women to use each other sexually, there can be no doubt that he is talking about sexuality and sexual relationships of the same sex. It is not a modern invention. There are no new sex acts for our age.

Non-Christians take a different view to Christians because they are free to follow conscience alone, while Christians are not. This mention of the subject in Paul’s letter to Timothy leaves us to come to a conclusion about what is the teaching of scripture and the way of God. This is not my teaching, this is what the book says, you must deal with this yourself.

I wonder how long it will be before it will be unlawful in this country to say even these things.

[Referred here to current issues pertaining to this subject from the Christian Institute website. Details as foot of these notes]

Conclusion
The importance of being people of the holy scriptures and not the standards of society. If Christians followed the standards of society they would not have stopped the trans-atlantic slave trade, and the list would go on.

Ways to study the Bible. Read it, a little often is better than much rarely. Bible reading notes are good but ensure they add information, historical, geographical and biblical, so the scriptures are understandable to you. It is the word of God that must speak not the ideas of a human being.

Details from Christian Institute:

A Christian registrar who has been demoted because of her beliefs about marriage will today face a grievance interview. Theresa Davies is the second registrar at Islington Council to be disciplined for asking to be exempt from registering same-sex civil partnerships. The Council gave her an ultimatum of demotion to an entry-level post or dismissal.
She will today [16/9/09] be interviewed as part of the internal grievance procedure.
Miss Davies’ case echoes that of fellow registrar Lillian Ladele who was bullied and threatened with the sack by the same council after she asked to be exempted from registering same-sex unions.
An Employment Tribunal upheld Miss Ladele’s claim of religious discrimination last year, but the ruling has since been overturned at an Employment Appeals Tribunal and Miss Ladele is now seeking a further appeal.
In June Miss Davies wrote to the House of Lords calling on them to protect her freedom of conscience.

http://www.christian.org.uk/news/christian-interviewed-over-marriage-stance/

The Government has been defeated in the House of Lords over its attempt to repeal a free speech protection from a sexual orientation ‘hatred’ law. Peers voted by 186 to 133 to keep the protection in place. The matter will be passed back to the House of Commons where MPs voted for repeal.
The protection makes clear that criticising homosexual conduct or encouraging people to refrain from such conduct is not, in itself, a crime.

http://www.christian.org.uk/news/20090709/lords-back-free-speech-shield-in-gay-hate-law/

The Government says its new Equality Bill will force churches to accept practising homosexuals or transsexuals in youth worker posts and other similar roles. Equalities minister Maria Eagle said religious believers should push ‘gay rights’ in their communities, but in the meantime the state would do it.

http://www.christian.org.uk/news/20090520/government-to-force-gay-youth-workers-on-church/