We’re closing out 1 Timothy with some echoes of recent themes.

After yet another call to teach for godliness, we have this:

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6.6 – 10, ESV)

I don’t write this stuff…I just report it! Just as I did with this blog: More?

I think we have to work at decluttering our lives. Here’s a verse from 1 John that we’ll get to soon:

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3.2, 3, ESV, emphasis mine)

1 Timothy 6 begins the way 1 Timothy 1 begins, with a call to “teach according to godliness.”

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (1 Timothy 6.3 – 5, ESV)

If we’re not teaching according to godliness, what’s the point? Moreover, what’s the alternative? Controversy and quarrels which produce:

• Envy
• Dissension
• Slander
• Evil suspicions
• Constant friction

There are two other themes in chapter six which reinforce recent blogs, so stay tuned. But this issue of teaching for controversy instead of for love and godliness must have been a pervasive problem in Ephesus, where Timothy was. Paul closes the letter with one last appeal:

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you. (1 Timothy 6.20, 21, ESV)

We wrote yesterday on Paul’s emphasis on work in 1 Timothy 4.10 – 16. It’s not hard to see the theme continuing even though he’s on an entirely different subject in 1 Timothy 5: What kind of widows should the church support? In addition to an age requirement, what should Timothy be looking for? It’s surprising when you think about it:

Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. (1 Timothy 5.9 – 10, ESV)

In short, she has a reputation for good works:

• She has brought up children
• She has shown hospitality
• She has washed the feet of the saints (a serving mentality)
• She has cared for the afflicted
• (To summarize), she has devoted herself to “every good work.”

Work makes the world, well, work! Paid and unpaid. Believers are to be leading the way. As always, do it, teach it.

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2.3 – 5, ESV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2.10, ESV)

This section of 1 Timothy 4 struck me in light of thinking about many people I know and know about who are averse to working for one reason or another. I know a young man, for example, who is being treated for various mental issues (without success, I think) who can’t stay in college and can’t hold a job (according to him). Anyway, here’s what Paul told Timothy:

For to this end we toil and strive... Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have…Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4.10 – 16, ESV)

Let’s bullet out the action words:

• Toil
• Strive
• Set an example
  • Speech
  • Conduct
  • Love
  • Faith
  • Purity
• Devote yourself
  • To reading scripture
  • To exhortation 
  • To teaching
• Don’t neglect your gifts
  • Practice
  • Immerse yourself in them
• Keep a close watch on yourself and the teaching
• Persist

Sounds like work to me! Paul did not say to Timothy, “God loves you just the way you are,” even though that’s true. What Paul said to Timothy was, “I’m working very hard, and I expect you to work hard too!”

More on this tomorrow:

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15.10, ESV)

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thessalonians 3.7 – 12, ESV)

This jumps out at me every time I read it, in part because my prayer life is weak:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way… I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; (1 Timothy 2.1, 2, 8, ESV)

I’ve written before about the importance of praying for “all those in high positions:” government officials, clerical leaders, and business leaders. And we have no choice but to include those people in our prayers.

But this time, what struck me was what is going on in my own little neighborhood. There are 20 houses on our street, and there are:

• A family where a 21-year-old son has serious issues
• A lady about our age who has had two medical emergencies in the past few months
• A widow friend who has started a new arthritis medication whose side effects may be worse than the disease
• A pair of large, noisy dogs the family is trying to re-home, so far without success
• An emergency call to the home of the oldest people on our street.

I don’t need to follow all the ins and outs of the daily news to have things to pray about!

…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6.18, ESV)

We leave 2 Corinthians and start 1 Timothy, the next book in our New Testament Reading Program. The letter from Paul to Pastor Timothy starts with a bang:

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1.3 – 5, ESV)

Timothy’s purpose at Ephesus:

• Charge “certain persons” – local teachers…
  • NOT to teach any different teaching
  • NOT to devote themselves to “myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations”
• The objective?
  • Love 
    • from a pure heart
    • Good conscience
    • Sincere faith

The alternative is “vain discussion.”

Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Timothy 1.6, 7, ESV)

I can’t tell you how many men’s Bible studies I’ve dropped in on and discovered, within one minute at most, that they are precisely about “vain discussion.” Debating fine points of doctrine, talking about different radio preachers they listen to, or otherwise finding ways NOT to put what they’re reading into practice.

It’s always the same. People want the authority and mystique that comes from being a teacher. They want secret knowledge, previously unknown. They want to “discuss” the Bible but they don’t want to put the Bible into practice. They don’t want the simplicity of teaching real truth that leads to love.

The bottom line is a life of love. How quickly we leave that! Jesus was clear:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13.34, 35, NIV)

I’m grateful to Dr. David Jordan-Irwin, pastor of Monument Community Presbyterian Church, for passing along this story, which he says is taken from Lectio 365.

At her coronation the Queen of England was presented with a Bible as these extraordinary words rang out in Westminster Abbey, and around the world:

“We present you with this book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is wisdom, this is the royal law, these are the lively oracles of God.” 

She was wearing, at the time, a priceless golden crown adorned with 2,901 precious stones, she was sitting upon a throne in a thousand-year-old vaulted abbey, and yet, God’s Word was recognized as “the most valuable thing that this world affords.” from Lectio 365

⁷  The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
⁸  the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
⁹  the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
¹⁰  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold… (Psalm 19.7 – 10, ESV)

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a year, you know that I always write about Sputnik Day, in memory of the first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. This blog, from 2019, highlights the importance of technology to solve problems.

However, this year, it seems appropriate NOT to honor the Russians who are waging an unprovoked land-grab war on Ukraine, reminding us that technology can be used for good or ill.

As of this writing, the Ukrainians are still fighting back, and lately, they have been succeeding. Bless ’em.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24.6, 7, NIV)

We end our time in 2 Corinthians with this meditation from the next to last chapter:

Paul’s philosophy of life and ministry:

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? (2 Corinthians 12.14 – 18, ESV)

“I seek not what is yours, but you.” That’s a good word and a rebuke to, for example, televangelists who do want what is mine. “I will gladly spend and be spent for your souls.”

Instead, we were gentle among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. (1 Thessalonians 2.7, 8, NIV)

2 Corinthians is a difficult book to read in many ways. It’s not as tightly organized as most of Paul’s other letters. It’s deeply personal, somewhat emotional. He was “competing” for the Corinthians’ respect after other, so-called, apostles tried to steal their loyalty. He lists his “credentials” in chapter 11. I offer them with little comment other than, “Do you really want to be in full-time ministry?”

• Are they Hebrews? So am I. 
• Are they Israelites? So am I. 
• Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.  
• Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—
  • with far greater labors, 
  • far more imprisonments, 
  • with countless beatings, and often near death.  
  • Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.  
  • Three times I was beaten with rods. 
  • Once I was stoned. 
  • Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;  
  • on frequent journeys, 
  • In danger…
    • from rivers, 
    • from robbers, 
    • from my own people, 
    • from Gentiles, 
    • in the city, 
    • in the wilderness, 
    • at sea, 
    • from false brothers;  
  • in toil and hardship, 
  • through many a sleepless night, 
  • in hunger and thirst, 
  • often without food, 
  • in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11.22 – 27, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

What a list!

In danger from three kinds of people:

• Jews
• Gentiles
• False brothers

I have fought the good fight… (2 Timothy 4.7)