Sunday Sermon: 02.04.2018: I Timothy 1:18-20
Introduction: Having now come to the moment of critical mass in the story of the five missionaries to the Auca Indians, I am amazed at the level of planning and supply that they have entered into for their mission launch into Palm Beach. …Over and over they evaluated their plans, coordinated their individual responsibilities and thought deeply about the execution.
TITLE: The Right tool for the job
BIG: AS A DISCIPLE, We have the right tools for the campaign
We have an investment
We have a charge that was placed upon us on the day of our salvation. That is certainly true of Timothy, if we consider all that accompanied his entrance into the kingdom of God. The term “command entrusted” means placed beside and refers to food being set out on the table. Used of Jesus in Luke 23:46 as he committed his Spirit back to God. That which had been laid out before him in his salvation was more than adequate for the task. The task laid before him was to wage a good warfare: His warfare is really a longer range campaign. William Barclay writes,
It is not a battle that we are summoned, it is to a campaign. Life is one long campaign, a service from which there is no release, not a short, sharp struggle after which a man can lay aside his arms and Rest In Peace.
Think about the investment you have from Christ. What does the table that is your life look like? The table that was Timothy’s life was never meant to be merely a private affair.
We have a responsibility
Timothy’s responsibility is two-fold:
- Hold faith: Holding the faith: Never losing sight of the spiritually centered life of faith; sincere, authentic, and a dependent upon the body of truth that has been committed to our lives. (1:5; 3:9)
- Holding a good conscious: Behavior consistent with the doctrine we testify to believe.
Why?
Some have put away a good conscious. They have destroyed their conscious though bad behavior. They have pulled up their anchor, gone adrift, and given way to Apostasy. The word picture is that of a ship, like that in Acts 27:40-41. The anchor is lifted and given to the wind. In doing so, they have shattered their lives on the rocks of error. The word is “broken in pieces”… One man writes,
They had rejected the guidance of conscious. They had allowed their own desires to speak with more persuasiveness than the voice of God
These two, Hymenaeus and Alexander: Hymenaeus, likely abounded the doctrine surrounding the resurrection (II Tim.2:18), and Alexander, like was the man who did Paul harm in Ephesus (II Tim. 4:14)
Paul’s answer is a radical one: They have been handed over to Satan, excommunicated from the assembly and delivered back into the realm of Satan, in hopes that the move would be corrective. Sin in the assembly is not to be handled lightly, but with a tough love that says, in your present condition, you cannot continue to practice your twisted view of right in this place. And I would suggest that once they removed them, they left them alone, and no longer treated them as members but as unrepentant sinners in need of repentance.
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Bible Study: I Samuel and David
I Samuel 21-22
01.31.2018 Wednesday
Getting started: When we last left our hero, our hero has staved off 3 advances of Saul’s guard: What should we take from this? For starters, we might assume that no matter the number, when the Lord is on our side, we have the majority. I’m thinking of Lincoln’s great question before his cabinet, in which the majority voted against him, but in the end, the Lincoln’s plan was to be adopted anyway. Here is a question for all of us? Why did David run to Nob? Was he afraid that the protection he enjoyed in the company of the prophets would end, wear thin, or collapse?
When the pressure gets turned up in our lives, how do we respond? What is our natural tendency? I note at least 3 here:
- First we run. We run for the safety of somewhere else. We run to escape the pressure, to elude our difficulties, or just to alleviate the pain of our present situation. That’s what David did. He escaped the safety of the school of the prophets and sought sanctuary in the church (tabernacle).
- Secondly, we lie. David is on the run, and he encounters, the priest at Nob, who immediately wonders what’s going on? Why is David alone, why not an entourage, why not protection for David? Notice his questions: Why are you alone? What is no one with you? His answers are lies, made up, fabricated and only plausible if you suggest the bigger picture with God sending David on his mission…
David has his own questions and they all amount to survival: What do you have on hand? What is under your control? Weaponry?
From the priest? Are you clean (ceremonially)? Well… yea, their clothes are clean. The priest is willing to set aside the issue of the sacredness of the bread for survival supersedes ceremonial ( See Jesus in the NT). Consider David’s state of mind during much of this ordeal: ( Ps. 56; 53; and 34).
3. And lastly we react. Having lost his friend and his support, he does what many of us do, we react. The problem with reaction is that it relies on the circumstances of the moment to dictate the path of the future, rather than the wisdom that belongs only to God. That’s a slope that works against the brakes once we have a full head of steam. On the run, where does David now go? To Gath, yep, the place where he killed Goliath… No one will recognize him there, right. Wrong… and it is here where David loses his self-respect. I love what Swindoll writes here:
David had a position and he lost it. He had a wife and he lost her. He had a wise counselor, and he lost him. He had a friend, and he lost him. He had self-respect and and he lost it. Not unlike Job, it hit him with such back-to-back force, his head must have spun for hours.
And, that’s where we will leave David, on the run, and in a cave…
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01.27.2018
Tuning up our worship
Text: I Timothy 1:12-17
The other day, I viewed a clip from the Price is right, in which the star is congratulating a contestant for choosing a price closest to the actual retail price of the item, thereby moving to the next round on the Price is Right. Upon reaching the platform, the woman promptly grabs Carey around the neck, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor. Before the mishap is over he nearly falls off the stage into the waiting hands of a stage hand who was watching it all. Years ago, a very pregnant Debbie slipped on the ice outside our basement apartment and almost casually rolled like the children’s toy of the day, Mrs. Weebles, whereupon the slogan “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down,” have always made us smile. Think about all the things we slip on– I merely want to suggest the Apostle Paul found himself sliding into worship through nothing less than praise.
WE WORSHIP BEST WHEN WE PRAISE WELL:
Here is praise that is driven by the purest of motives. All that talk about righteousness and a pure conscious, drove Paul to consider his past. His was a wicked past complete with a violent strain of hatred for believers. He was the ugliest of all men, couched in the self-righteous pride of intellectual superiority. He should have received judgment by instead was shown mercy. In truth, he stood in the front of the line for sinners but somehow, in grace he became part of God’s family.
And then, he anticipates his potential. Wait a minute, his ignorance and unbelief brought him no closer to Christ, but it stood behind the moronic nature of his actions. In exchanging his own righteousness for that of Christ, He could now achieve in Christ what was never possible in his own strength. The patience of Jesus demonstrated in his new walk, brings a greater recognition of his own sinfulness (1:15-16), as the Holy Spirit continues to sanctify and separate Paul closer to himself. One man writes,
So through Christ, whose sinless life and perfect sacrifice answered for our sin and self distanced relationship, two things occurred: not only do we have an opportunity to be forgiven and born again into eternal life, but we also have been invited into and continue in a relationship with the almighty God.
Are you getting this? We worship best when we praise well.
And nowhere is that more profound than in verse 17, where Paul slips into a “praise chorus.” When He confronts his Holy Benefactor, he falls into an all consuming adoration of God and his majesty (17). Look at the specifics. Nowhere else in the Scriptures does Paul ever use the term, “King Eternal.” In Jewish circles, it means “King of the ages… It the simplified Jewish view of the world, “From the age that is to the age to come.” Off of his lips, comes truth: Immortal (Romans 1:23), Invisible (Col.1:15), The only God (John 5:44). It’s the stuff of Glory and honor, and Paul has slipped away from his topic and into the unbridled praise of his heaven ing Father. Jack Hayford writes,
Worship is something that yearns in your heart for more of God, that transforms your being through his work.” The weight of his glory, exalted in worshipping the Father, and magnifying his son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, impacts, reshapes, and alters our character and conduct. It liberates, releases, and loosens us from the hold of sin and self and unleashes the ministry-life of Jesus Christ to course through our daily lives (59).
So then, what kind of worship does God desire from us? He is not looking for something brilliant, just broken (Ps. 51:17)
Try this on for size:
- In Christ, our dark past has a brighter future
- In Christ, our potential is redeemed from our past
- In Christ, our worship is rooted in a broken heart
Enough said.
MJC
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01.17.18— 1 Samuel 19
When we sin habitually, we encourage the support of Satan in our lives.
So how do we capture the higher ground?
Extend trust carefully! I Samuel 19
David knew he could trust Jonathan completely, and Jonathon understood the future of David’s ministry (18:4;23:17)).
Continue to serve faithfully!
Amidst the instability of Saul, David continued to serve the king ( as before).
Live realistically (19:8-24)
David though serving is nevertheless not surprised by Saul’s actions. Sinning continually and deeply only invites the devil into our proceedings. Even Michal understands the capability of her father.
Wait patiently (19:18-24)
The wheels of Justice often grind slowly but perpetually!
David must wait, but with godly company, he’s in good shape… Just wait, David, look at this!
What we’re seeing is David’s reaction to pressure.
Having had as his intention the destruction of David, Saul has been frustrated by Jonathon, Michal, Samuel and God himself.
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DAVID’S WORLD OF INTRIGUE : Text: I Samuel 18
David’s victory over Goliath represented a major turning point in his life! Would he succumb to the same kind of pride that consumed Saul?
What David has going for him?
Remarkable trait to love his enemies while yet remaining committed to the course of action. That remains in effect throughout his fugitive years.
The central truth: if the king of Israel showed himself powerless before Philistines, only rescued by shepherd boy, how much more is this the mark of rejection to be observed.
28:13: The fear that Saul feels toward David is the realization that the Lord had departed from him!
Why then did David stay on even after the spear incident?
The reality that Saul’s fits of madness were just that, temporary and short lived, but maybe more significant is the confidence that kept David from forsaking his place of service in which the Lord had placed him, without any act of his own
There is a direct confrontation
The spear says that I will react in anger and kill you now, When we give ourselves over to the flesh, our pride takes over and we are now captive to our emotions and feelings! When we are at odds with God, we fear (struggle) more with what others are doing. Hence Saul’s behavior toward David
There is an indirect confrontation
What Saul could not do himself, he looks for The Philistines to do
As the proverb observes,
Oh, the wicked web we weave when we practice to deceive.
Saul’s deceptions are not limited to his own interactions, or that if his military, but involve his daughters as well. And It always fails— David’s prowess only grows. Hated by Saul by loved by the people.
If you were to graph the equation, it might look like:
As David’s stock rises, so does Saul’s fear!
Discussion
MJC