We move into Paul’s letter to Titus, which echoes the same themes as 1 and 2 Timothy, and it’s all pretty clear. I like the bang-bang opening:

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness… (Titus 1.1, NIV)

It’s always “truth that leads to godliness.” There is no commendation in scripture for merely studying or teaching “truth.” Jesus was clear on that in his parable on the wise and foolish builders.

The same is true for the people who deliver the teaching. Almost ALL the emphasis is on character and lifestyle, not, as we sometimes value today, a potential pastor’s education. (Jesus himself wouldn’t qualify for some advertised pastoral positions.)

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is 

• above reproach, 
• the husband of one wife, 
• and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. 
• He must not be 
  • arrogant or 
  • quick-tempered or a 
  • drunkard or 
  • violent or 
  • greedy for gain, but 
• hospitable, 
• a lover of good, 
• self-controlled, 
• upright, 
• holy, and 
• disciplined.  
• He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1.5 – 9, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

There’s more, but I think I’ll save it for another day…

This falls under the heading of “You can’t make this stuff up!” and is a follow-on to the blog I wrote about the redundant signs on the fly-fishing building – “people don’t read ’em anyway.” There’s a covered bridge in Illinois, clearly marked “No trucks or buses” and clearance 8′ 6″…but 42 trucks or buses have run into it over the past two years. The trucks lose:

The signs are clear, but people attempt to drive trucks through it anyway…

You can see a news report or read the Wall Street Journal article about it.

Why do people ignore warnings? It’s been suggested that drivers are too busy looking at their GPS instructions on their phones to actually watch the road. But it’s bigger than that, isn’t it? Doesn’t it go all the way back to Genesis?

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” …So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 2.15 – 17…3.6, NKJV)

As a famous comedian once summarized:

God said, “Don’t eat the forbidden fruit.” And they said, “Where is it?!”

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14.12, ESV)

We closed yesterday’s blog on Scary Times with the question: what shall we do? Actually, Paul tells Timothy exactly what to do. Maybe we should listen in:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

• preach the word;
• be ready in season and out of season;
• reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching…
• always be sober-minded,
• endure suffering,
• do the work of an evangelist,
• fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4.1, 2, 5, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

I strongly believe that the last command applies to us all, even if some of the earlier commands more directly apply to Timothy as a pastor. Please click the link. All we can do, even when the culture appears to be going to hell in a handbasket, is the work God has given us to do right where we are.

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)

I’m indebted to June who drew my attention to this paragraph. It sounds like a modern-day description of the United States, not something written in the Bible nearly 2,000 years ago:

Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people. (2 Timothy 3.1 – 5, MSG)

Shall I bullet it out so we don’t miss it?

Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be

• self-absorbed,
• money-hungry,
• self-promoting,
• stuck-up,
• profane,
• contemptuous of parents,
• crude,
• coarse,
• dog-eat-dog,
• unbending,
• slanderers,
• impulsively wild,
• savage, cynical,
• treacherous,
• ruthless,
• bloated windbags,
• addicted to lust, and
• allergic to God.

“As the end approaches…” The end of what? The age? Or just the U.S.?

What to do? Hard to say, but as a minimum, let’s all:

• Pray the big picture: (1 Timothy 2.1, 2)
• Live on mission in our corner: (2 Timothy 2.1, 2 – Be strong…pass it along)

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. (Philippians 2.14 – 16, NIV)

Continuing with our 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Program, we enter 2 Timothy and before long, we come upon one of my life verses, learned from The Navigators:

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.1, 2, NIV)

For the first time, I noticed the opening two words, “You then…” Then what? What came before?

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (2 Timothy 1.13, 14, NIV)

What you heard from me:

• Keep it
• Guard it

How?

• Be strong (“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus…”)
• Pass it along (“Entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”)

I think I’ve found a new mantra:

Be strong…pass it along

Paul echoes another theme from earlier in the letter: live intentionally:

But as for you, O man of God, 

• Flee these things. 
• Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.  
• Fight the good fight of the faith. 
• Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to 
• Keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Timothy 6.11 – 14, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

Flee, pursue, fight, take hold, keep… Pay attention to how you live. Twice recently I left the Denver Airport for Colorado Springs via Pena Blvd and I-225. Everything is well-marked but there is A LOT of room for error at the transition. One could end up on I-70…or Peoria Street. I make it a point to fully focus, just like I did coming out of the Atlanta Airport headed for Montgomery, Alabama. There were about five turns, everyone counter-intuitive. Pay attention! Or, as Jesus said more than once, WATCH.

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12.15, NIV)

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray… (Luke 21.34 – 36, NIV)

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)