Word of Salvation – January 2025

 

Behaviour and Sound Gospel Doctrine

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on 1Timothy 1:8-11

Reading: Romans 3:9-24, 1Timothy 1

Singing:        BoW 465 – My hope is built on nothing less.
BoW 1a – Blessed is the man
BoW 497 – Christ is the world’s true light

 

Theme: The right use of the law – against behaviour that is contrary to the doctrines of the gospel of Christ.

Introd:            Paul was a teacher of the Word of God and of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Timothy was his apprentice…. and in these two letters Paul is mentoring Timothy.
Timothy too is a teacher of the Word of God and of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul’s concern is that Timothy does that faithfully… and that he does it well.
Because false and misleading teachers have always been a problem.

Some time ago I had a sleepless early morning so I watched Kenneth Copeland on TV.
He was teaching that God wants us to be wealthy.
He said that we have a right to claim money and material things as God’s children.
He stated: We ought to get up every morning and say:  “Money come to me!”
That is a perversion of the Bible’s teaching about God’s provisions.
It is false teaching that misleads people… that may even shatter someone’s faith.
Jesus nowhere promises that all His followers will be materially rich.

Or I think of the day when I had two false teachers come to the door with ‘Watchtower’ literature.
They actually asked me to buy some of their teachings.
Their teaching includes a denial of the Trinity.
And a refusal to accept that Jesus is fully one with the Father.

Well, where Timothy lived in Ephesus there were false teachers too.
Teaching that totally missed the boat… that focused on myths and genealogies.
These false teachers wanted to teach the law but they mishandled the Word of God.
Paul says in verse 7: They don’t know what they are talking about.

So Paul is helping Timothy to make sure he gets it right.

A]        THE LAW AS A RESTRAINT AGAINST WICKEDNESS.

1. In our text Paul talks about the law.

He says: We (that is we Christians) we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

Why does Paul say that?  I can think of two possibilities.

OTOH those false teachers in Ephesus may have played down the law.
That’s a mistake people have made repeatedly.
I’ve had people tell me that the Ten Commandments are no longer for us today.
They were only for the people of Israel… today we just live by the law of love.

Another possibility is that these false teachers put too much emphasis on the law.
Like the Pharisees – acting as if we are saved by our law keeping.
So maybe others overreacted by saying:  Away with the law!
We are no longer under law but under grace.

Paul says that the remedy is not to throw out the law but to teach it’s correct place.

He says: We know the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

And then he adds: The law is not laid down for the just (righteous) but for the lawless and disobedient.

Here we need to keep in mind that the law of God serves a number of purposes.
Scripture shows us three ways in which God’s law operates in people’s lives.
So we need to listen carefully to understand which use of the law Paul is talking about.
Here I want to draw you attention to two things that Paul says.

2. First Paul literally talks about laying down the law but that this is not done for good people.

Good people don’t need to have the law laid down for them…. wicked people do.

Think for example of our road rules.
You don’t have to lay down the rules for the careful and courteous driver.
The driver who doesn’t speed and who always gives way – in a sense – doesn’t need the law.
It’s the lead-footed speedster who needs the law.
It’s the selfish road-hog who needs to have the law laid down to him.
So Paul says the law isn’t laid down for good people.

Notice secondly, that Paul doesn’t actually say ‘good people’ – he says: the just… the righteous.
That’s the Bible’s way of talking about “Godly” people.
It’s what Christians are called in the NT – the righteous, the just.
The law is not laid down for the righteous.

Does that mean then that those who say the Ten Commandments are not for us Christians, are right?
No..!  Because Scripture shows that God’s law functions in three ways.
First – the law is like a mirror – it shows up our sinfulness and our need for the Saviour.
In that sense the law always serves to remind us of our need for the gospel.

There is also the third use of the law… like a road map… it shows us the way to go.
In that sense even the good and courteous driver still needs guidance.
It’s from the map that he learns directions… the correct turns to take.
So we need the guidance of God’s law to deal with ethical issues that confront us.
For example we’ll reflect on the command not to murder to to think about euthanasia.

But there is also what we call ‘the second use’ – it is also like a brake restraining sin (or like a bridle).

The law with its penalties and judgments is laid down to put a halt to sin… to put the brake on sin.

3. In that sense law is not needed by those who live godly lives – they have been changed and renewed.

In this sense the law is laid down for the unrighteous and for rebels.

Just to make sure we get the picture Paul makes a whole list of sins.

It’s a rather terrible picture of their society back in those days of Timothy and the early church.
Sometimes we think we live in terrible times.
Murder and violence on our streets… graft and corruption in high places…
Some might even wish they could live in NT times when things were (supposedly) much better.

But look at the catalogue of sins from Paul’s days – in verse 9.
Unholy and irreligious… those who strike their fathers and mothers… murderers.
The list continues in verse 10: The sexually immoral  and those practicing homosexuality.
Slave traders… liars and perjurers.
That’s quite a picture of a corrupt and broken society… with its lawbreakers and rebels.
Here Paul is showing that the early Christians too lived in a moral wilderness.

But notice something about this list – it closely parallels the order of the Ten Commandments.
The apostle begins with some general character traits of these lawbreakers and rebels.
They are ungodly… and sinful.
But in that word ungodly there is a hint of the first commandment about serving God alone.
They are unholy and irreligious
They don’t care about God’s holy name… or the worship that is part of true religion.

Then: striking fathers or mothers… a failure to honour father and mother (the 5th command).
Murder is breaking the 6th commandment, not to kill.
Adultery and homosexuality break the 7th commandment… and slave traders the eighth.
Liars and perjurers break the 9th command: You shall not give false testimony..!
Paul is showing us their social problems were due to a failure to live by God’s moral law.

B]        IT BINDS BEHAVIOUR TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.

1. Here then is a list that shows that wickedness in society is lawlessness.

The breakdown of morals in society goes against God’s law spelled out in the Ten Commandments.

But this list of Paul’s is not exhaustive.
Paul only mentions some of the most glaring examples.
There are many, many other ways in which the lawless break God’s law.

So Paul kind of sums it all up by adding: “…and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.”

That’s a telling thing to say and we need to pause and think about that.
Notice: Paul links law to ‘doctrine’.
To many Christians that is something that doesn’t fit.
Paul is talking about ethics… about behaviour… morals… the breaking of God’s law.
What’s that got to do with doctrine…?

Doctrine is often taken today as hair-splitting arguments about minor points of Christian teaching.
Doctrine is what the church teaches about the Trinity… that God is One and yet Three persons.
Doctrine is what the church teaches about election and the covenant.
And we do often disagree over lots of finer points of doctrine.
So in some circles doctrine has become a dirty word.

But now look at the way Paul links what he has been saying about behaviour to ‘doctrine’.
Doctrine is really just another word for the content of what the church teaches.  It’s teaching..!
And Paul says that there is behaviour that is contrary to sound doctrine.
IOW doctrine also has to do with behaviour and morals… with ethics.

The immorality of the world around us is contrary to the doctrine we hold to.

Adultery, and homosexuality, murder and perjury… they clash with sound teaching.

2. You see, Paul doesn’t just tie this in with doctrine… he ties it in with sound doctrine.

The word actually has the idea of being healthy.

There is doctrine that is healthy… that is good for you… and for the church’s well-being.

But there is also unsound doctrine… or, if you like, doctrine that is sick.
No doubt Paul was thinking here of those false teachers at Ephesus.
Those teachers who got caught up in myths and endless genealogies.
All that speculative stuff was unhealthy for the church.

And it was unhealthy because ultimately it didn’t change people.
It created a lot of interest and a lot of debate… it got people wound up.
But that false teaching made no impact on people’s daily lives.
The liar remained a liar… the adulterer an adulterer… the pervert a pervert.
It didn’t challenge the homosexual about his lifestyle.
It allowed the ungodly to remain ungodly.

In contrast Paul is showing that upholding God’s law is part of Christian teaching.

More than that it is healthy Christian teaching.

Because when the law is laid down to the unrighteous, things begin to happen.
Sin is restrained… the brake is put on wickedness.
By the grace of God it may even go beyond just acting as a restraint.
Maybe someone will even be convicted of sin and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.

So Paul is showing us that the church needs to uphold the law of God.

It is part of sound teaching to lay down the law to lawbreakers and rebels.

We need to say: This is God’s will:  You shall not steal… you shall not commit adultery…!

But the sad reality is that in many churches the law of God is no longer taught.

3. In practice of course it is easy to forget that doctrine includes behaviour.

Hypocrisy has always been a big problem in the Christian church.
I can think of Christian leaders who were big on judging the sins of others.
Until the scandal in their own life became public and brought about their ruin.
Now, okay, we still need to extend forgiveness to people like that.
But it highlights that people don’t always see doctrine as including our behaviour.

Sometimes the church as a whole forgot this… as at the time of the crusades.
When so-called Christian soldiers looted and killed – supposedly – for the cause of Christ.
Or sould I mention Christian anti-abortionists in the US…?
They have justified violence… they have bombed abortion clinics.

We must never separate our lifestyle from our beliefs… our behaviour from our doctrine
otherwise hypocrisy flourishes.

Paul reminds us that you cannot have sound doctrine together with law breaking.

It is false teaching to suggest you can claim to believe in God and yet do unholy things.

In this respect it seems to me that other religions have this to an even worse degree.

You may recall the murder of Aussie missionary, Graham Staines, and his two young boys in India.
Burnt to death in their car where they slept during a campout.
It was done in the name of the Hindu faith and to further the  cause of Hinduism.

A Muslim once spoke about Muslims who totally separate beliefs from behaviour. He put it like this:
“We purify ourselves with water while we contemplate adultery.
We go to the mosque to pray and as we do we think of how best to cheat our neighbours.
We give alms at the door and go back to the shops to rob,
We read the Koran and go out to commit unmentionable sins.
We fast and go on pilgrimage and yet we lie and kill.”

Paul shows that for the Christian obedience to the law is always a part of sound doctrine.

C]        IS PART OF THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

1. But there is another link that Paul makes.

Paul never talks about behaviour as an end in itself.

For Paul the bottom line is always the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So Paul develops another link in the chain.  Behaviour that is good accords with sound doctrine.
But that sound doctrine -which includes the law – is according to Gospel of Christ.
So behaviour is now linked to the Gospel.

Many years ago an older colleague now gone to glory challenged me.
He said, John, we should always bring everything back to the gospel of Christ.
He added:  I’ll go so far as to say that there is not a thing in life that we can’t link to the gospel.
The more I have thought about that the more I am convinced he was right.
The gospel is a glorious gospel because it is all about the doing, the dying and victory of Jesus.
Because of that Jesus Christ has been appointed as Lord of all of life.
The Bible teaches that in Him all things hold together.
So there is not a thing in life that cannot be linked back to the gospel.

And is that not exactly what Paul is doing here?

He is dealing with lawbreakers and rebels… the ungodly and sinful.
But he points out that this behaviour is contrary to sound teaching.
He then specifically adds that this sound teaching is in accordance with the Gospel.

2. It is wonderfully encouraging that Paul makes this link to the gospel.

We sometimes talk about the situation in our society as if it was hopeless.
Rebellion against authority is growing in our schools.
Kids as young as 11 and 12 are now getting into hard drugs and crime.
Even in sport corruption is coming out as a common thing.

So we throw up our hands and say that it’s a hopeless mess.
But you see it isn’t… not if all this is tied in to the gospel of Christ.
Because the gospel is about Jesus changing and renewing people.

Here we should notice two things Paul says about that gospel.

First he says that it is the gospel of our blessed God.
It is not Paul’s gospel… and it is not our gospel… it is God’s gospel.
It is the good news that our blessed God planned and put into effect through His Son.

What does that mean in practice.
It means that if it is true… that behaviour is linked in with the gospel….
If it is so… that the gospel holds out real hope for turning people into law abiding citizens…
The in must be God Himself who will do it… He must change people.
Because the gospel is God’s gospel.

I recall once reading of a revival in a major town somewhere in South America.
As a result the brothels closed and prostitutes became unemployed.
Out of their two dozen pubs only four still remained open for business.

We need a revival in our land… we need an awakening in our nation.
But because the gospel is God’s gospel we need to pray that He will do it.

3. Secondly Paul adds that this gospel was entrusted to him, Paul.

Paul of course – in these letters – is now also entrusting it to Timothy.

And Paul challenges Timothy to. In turn, entrust it to other faithful teachers.

So it’s true that the gospel is God’s gospel…
only He can change people through the message of Christ.

But Paul now shows that we have a role.
We are to be salt and light that changes our society.
We are to let that gospel light shine in our neighbourhoods.
So… we not only pray to God for an awakening in our nation.
We also work for it by pointing people to Jesus.
That’s why some of us teach Scripture in schools. Other do Prison Mentoring with Crossroads.

As we do that we have this assurance…
That as we bring the gospel of Jesus Christ lives will be changed.
People will be delivered from being law-breakers and rebels.
It’s wonderful when folk come to belong to the righteous who serve God from the heart.

Paul’s world changed as the gospel light shone in pagan darkness.

Our society too can change.
But then it needs to hear again the law of God.
And that law of God will then bring conviction of sin.
It will show people their need of the Saviour.
In this way they will by God’s grace be converted and share one day in that new life in glory.
The life where we will all perfectly keep the law of God forever and ever.

Amen