1st Timothy 1:18-20; 2:1-15

1^st Timothy 1:18-20; 2:1-15

“This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

The Pastoral Epistles Are Exhortations Given To The Local Churches Through Timothy and Titus By Paul

“We came as far as verse 18 in our entering into this first letter to Timothy. Timothy and Titus, the Pastoral Epistles again, Pastoral in the sense of their care for local congregations, not Pastoral in the sense of that they per se were the pastor of the congregation, they [i.e. Timothy and Titus] were more overseers of local congregations on behalf of Paul, agents of Paul to speak to local churches and to help bring order there. Timothy is still in Ephesus as Paul writes to him. And again, as Paul left much earlier than this, in Acts 20, knowing there would be trouble in Ephesus, called the elders of Ephesus to meet him at Miletus. He exhorted them, said, ‘You know, my manner of life among you publicly, house to house, how I taught you the whole counsel of God,’---one of the reasons we go [teaching by these “connective expository sermons”] from Genesis to Revelation. But mentioning, that he ceased not to warn them over a period of years, ‘that after his departure grievous wolves would come in, not sparing the flock, and that men would arise out of your own midst, leading disciples after themselves instead of after Christ.’ Timothy, somewhere under 40 years of age, Paul tells him, ‘Let no man despise your youth,’ again that word “youth” used up until your 40^th year in that culture. Timothy was probably between 35 and 40 years of age, young as an elder, an elder in that culture, spoken of not just as a leader in the Church, but an elder [ie somebody over 40]. But Timothy, certainly the one who had spent more time with Paul than anyone but Luke, is given these exhortations now in regards to the local church. He says in verse 3 of chapter 1, “I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,” and Paul then talks about those doctrines, the problem of false teaching, the problem of immorality, he deals with that in the first chapter. Verse 5, ‘now the end, the goal, the aim of all of this is charity, love [God’s agape-love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith that is un-hypocritical.’

Timothy’s Ordination---About Ordination and Christian Leadership

Now as he moves through this chapter and he comes to verse 18, that’s where we left off, he says, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; holding faith and a good conscience;” (verse 18-19a) He just said that over in verse 5, ‘Now the goal is love out of a pure heart, and a good conscious, and faith un-hypocritical.’ So he says, ‘Now Timothy, according to the charge I’ve now committed to you, I’ve given you a military charge, an oversight, a stewardship, spiritual, and it is in relationship to a good conscience and faith. And those things are necessary for you to be in the battle, Timothy, that you will be in, and to fight a good warfare.’ “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;” (verse 18) Now we’re not certain whether this is something that happened at the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, we’ll hear about that in 2^nd Timothy, as they laid hands on Timothy to ordain Timothy. Ordination, is not something that is bequeathed by an educational institution, not New Testament ordination. You can go to a Bible school or to a seminary and receive a degree. You can be a seminary professor that is helping to preserve orthodoxy. That is vastly different than God’s ordination as apostle, prophet, evangelist or teaching pastor, the grace given to the Church and gifts that are appointed by Almighty God. Ah, seminary Bible training may be a part and parcel of that, but that is not God’s ordination. When we lay hands on someone, a pastor, and recognize they’re called to ministry, that’s all we’re doing. (When we lay hands on someone, we’re transferring germsJ) What we’re doing is we’re concurring with the fact that we see God’s ordination on the life of that individual. Someone comes to us and says, ‘Hey, we started a Bible study, it’s growing,’ I think of a pastor, we say ‘Well when you have 80, 100 adults coming in regular attendance, call us. We’ll come and we’ll see what God’s doing. We’ll see how real it is.’ And when we see that God has laid his hands on you and ordained you to ministry, then we will confirm that. We will pray, and concur, and recognize that, and sometimes in that process, as you’re praying, asking God to release the gifts to the fullest degree, praying for that person, the impartation is something that God has done, recognition is something that happens when the presbytery recognizes that. Now, possibly when they laid hands on Timothy there were prophetic words that came forth about his call. Or possibly this is something that happened between Paul’s first and second missionary journey, we’re not given the details. He comes back to that area of Lystra, Acts 16, verses 1-3, and says ‘Behold, there was a young man there named Timothy, that all of the saints recommended to Paul.’ So possibly in the church there, in that area, there had already been some prophetic word about Timothy, and the fact that God had a specific call on his life, to oversee the Church, to assist Paul.

And Paul in either case is saying to him, ‘This charge I’m committing unto you, son Timothy, and it is according to those things that were spoken, that were spoken conferring and confirming the call that God has on your life, that according to those things, that you war a good warfare. That you enter in to this place of ministry, holding, embracing, not releasing faith and a good conscience.’ Now, there are some things to take note of here. First of all, if you’re entering into ministry, you’re entering into warfare. [Yup, first thing I discovered. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/memphisbelle.htm] Welcome to the war. Because if you’re going to stand up for Christ, certainly if God’s people recognize a call on your life, the enemy also recognizes the same thing, and you are a target, to a degree. Now I believe that’s under God’s governance, it’s not like you’re thrown out to the wolves, hung out to dry. No, God has the enemy on a leash, and there will be a certain amount of warfare that will be part of God’s molding process. Not making you moldy, but molding you into the man of God that he wants you to be. And I believe that God is willing to make young men old fast, because there’s not a lot of time left right now, if you’re willing to get into the cooker. There is warfare. And it’s interesting to see, it’s relative to faith and a good conscience. It’s not relative to so much of the other things that we make it out to be. Because Satan knows the centrality of faith in our lives. You know, I don’t know about you, I got saved in 1972, and I took a spiritual journey. I first got saved, and all I knew was that Jesus loved me. That was enough to drive everybody out of their minds. I had a lot of other things completely wrong. I was learning the difference between an Epistle and an apostle, I had no idea. But as time goes on, and you start to hear of this doctrine, and that position, and this experience and that experience, and being slain in the spirit, [btw, which pastor Joe is totally against, he’s talking about how a new-believer will hear all these false doctrines, put forth by those holding every whim of iffy doctrines and teachings, who try to influence new-believers in Christ.] holy laughter, barking, roaring, you know, rolling in the aisles, then going to the more stoic side of the Church [Body of Christ] who say ‘If you speak in tongues, you’ve got a demon.,’ or ‘If you don’t speak in tongues, you’re not saved,’ all of these excesses, welcome to the family of God, it’s the best dysfunctional family going, and you become a member of it. And you enter into that world, and you go on a journey, ‘Well, maybe this is more spiritual, I’m kinda of a b-scale Christian instead of an a-scale Christian because I don’t do this, and if I do this I’ll be more spiritual, and maybe I need to go here and experience this, maybe somebody needs to put their hand on my forehead and knock me down, what is that anyhow? What does that mean, and why does that guy swing a sports jacket around in the air and knock everybody down?’ You know, you go through this journey. [ditto, been there. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/author.htm] And I don’t know about you, but somehow for me, it was refreshing to come back to the cross, and to realize that the first thing that I encountered, the grace and the love of Jesus Christ, is also the most profound and deepest mystery that I will ever encounter. The disciples said to Jesus ‘How do we work the works of God?’ and he said, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.’ He said that John [the Baptist] was the greatest prophet born of women, and yet it said John did no sign, couldn’t speak in tongues, didn’t do any miracles, didn’t prophesy. His testimony was, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world,’ and the fact that he could point his finger and say “that’s the one,” made him the greatest prophet that ever lived, of the Old Testament prophets, from Samuel to John it says. Entering into ministry, one of the things that we need to embrace and never let go of, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the power of that and what it means [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm]. Because we start to think, ‘Well, Jesus and…’ Yea, ‘Jesus and prosperity, Jesus and healing, Jesus and this, Jesus and that,’ We come to realize you can’t preach a prosperity gospel where people are poor, or a health gospel to sick people. You can preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the true Gospel, to the rich man, to the poor man, to the sick man, to the healthy man, any person in any culture in any country in the world, you can preach that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, he is the way for man to be saved, and the only Mediator between God and man. And if you will turn to him in repentance, and ask forgiveness, you will have eternal life. That can be preached anywhere, to anyone. And it is the faith. Fight a good warfare, hold on to faith, and a good conscience, let those who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity [which gets us into the whole subject of Law & Grace, and spiritual growth. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm for more on that. But that doesn’t start until you have asked Jesus into your life, which involves knowing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that’s the starting point]. If we’re living in sin, living in compromise, we shouldn’t be in leadership. You’re conscience shouldn’t be condemning you all day, because of sin in your life or compromise. Hold onto faith and a good conscience.

What Is Spiritual Shipwreck?

“holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (verses 19-20) ‘which some having put away’ and that means ‘violently to cast aside,’ And those at Ephesus would understand well shipwreck, it was an idiom there for something that was ruined or wrecked, because Ephesus was one of the larger, it had access to one of the larger seaports in that world, culture. These two persons had cast aside their conscience, cast aside conviction, cast aside that inward compass of right and wrong that they had from the Holy Spirit, and had made shipwreck of their faith, and were spreading that to others. He says “of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander;” now anybody named Hymenaeus is a troublemaker, you just know that, his named was probably Howmeanheis. “Hymenaeus and Alexander” we don’t know if this is a specific Alexander from Acts 19 of Ephesus or Alexander the coppersmith. It seems the way he’s named in Ephesus, they understood which Alexander this was. Either way, it’s interesting to see what Hymenaeus and Alexander were up to, Hymenaeus we’re going to read about in 2^nd Timothy, who was saying that there was no resurrection, or that the resurrection was already past, that what he was teaching was heretical, departing from “the faith that was once delivered to the saints.” “of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (verse 20) That sounds like a bummer. Now, if you’re a visitor here tonight you’re thinking ‘Ah, I knew it, my kid got involved in this group, this is trouble.’ Look, I didn’t write this, Paul did. And he says ‘these two men’ because they were ruining God’s flock, ruining the faith, blaspheming, being injurious. I mean, a surgeon, his responsibility if he finds cancerous cells in the body, to preserve life, his job is to excise that, to remove it, to cut it out, in order to preserve life. [My sister had a cancerous vertebra, the surgeon had to remove it, before it spread. He was successful, and she is still alive, cancer-free. Good analogy. This surgeon just happens to volunteer at Tenwek, small world (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/samaritan_purse.htm)] And there are times, for the sake of the greater whole, when someone, who is deliberately willfully sinning, beginning to infect others, not willing to listen to the leadership of the church, doctrinally, morally---and there’s times probably two or three times a year where the pastors here have to make that decision---and we put someone out of the church. We ask them to leave and not to fellowship here. If we hear they’re fellowshipping somewhere else we’ll contact that pastor and say ‘Please, they’re under church disciple, don’t let them fellowship there, here are the reasons why.’ If we have someone come here and say they were thrown out of another church for sin, we’ll say to them ‘You worship here with us, but you go back and make that right first. Because if they put you out, we’ll talk to them and if we find out it’s reasonable, it’s Biblical, you need to make that right.’ The part of it of being bound over to Satan, is, I’m not sure exactly what that means. Certainly being put out of the fellowship of the church is being put back under the prince of the power of the air, the prince of this world, where we all had our, it says in Ephesians, where we all had our lifestyle, the way we lived before we came to Christ, we were without direction, we were children of disobedience, we were children of wrath by nature. Certainly then, to put someone out of the fellowship of the saints is not punitive, it isn’t to punish them, it says there’s a reason, “that they may learn not to blaspheme.” It’s not punishment, it’s corrective. And you put someone out and hope that then they’re going to realize the seriousness of what they’re doing. And then when they return in repentance and say not just “I’m sorry,” but “forgive me, what I did was wrong.” ‘I’ve asked forgiveness of God, I want to ask forgiveness now of the leaders of the church, I want to be re-instated, and won’t do that.’ Paul here, is mentioning to Timothy, this is a measure that he had to take. In the first chapter he talks about moral issues and doctrinal issues. And sometimes for either one of those issues we may have to ask someone to step out of the church, not to fellowship here, not to fellowship in the church until that is repented of on their part, and they come and ask forgiveness. It’s our delight, and it’s always a means to an end and not and end in itself, to re-instate them. 1^st Corinthians chapter 5, there was a man in there in moral sin. Paul put him out of the church, for the destruction of the flesh, it says, bound him over to Satan there. And in the second epistle he said ‘receive him back again, now that he’s repented, he’s broken, he’s had enough of the world, of the devil, receive him back.’ So, interesting verse here, Paul giving Timothy this charge, he ends the first chapter, tells him to fight a good warfare, to embrace, and to hold, and to guard faith and a good conscience. Those who have put those things away, made shipwreck of the faith, these men have become blasphemous in their position, Paul names them. ‘Well I thought it’s not right to name someone, you shouldn’t name somebody, you shouldn’t just go public and name somebody.’ Well Paul didn’t know that. He wrote before everybody was as smart as we are. “whom I have delivered unto Satan,” there’s a reason, there’s a purpose, “that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

1^st Timothy 2:1-15

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

Prayer In General, And Men Leading In Public Prayer

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all,” now he’s going to enter into here order in the Church, he’s going to talk about public prayer, the scope of that prayer, the reasons for it, the provision of it, and then the role of men and women in that situation. And again, I didn’t write this, I’m just exegeting it, we’ll go through it quickly. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority;” the reason “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” (verses 1-3) So, moving from Hymenaeus and Alexander, Paul says ‘Look, first of all,’ and “I exhort” is ‘I beseech’ is the word, he’s saying ‘Look, this is important, this is what I’m begging you, this certainly should be part of church-life, and that is that there should first of all be prayers,’ and he names four different forms here. “Supplications,” first of all. Then just the word “prayers.” Then “intercessions”, and then “giving of thanks, to be made for all men,” anthropas, “for kings, and for all that are in authority…” He doesn’t just say ‘for saved leaders,’ he doesn’t say just for ‘saved rulers,’ he said “for all those that are in authority.” We should pray, and we do, for our President, the Bible says that, whatever political party he’s from, whether he’s saved or unsaved, we should pray for our President, for our leaders, our governor, our mayor, civil servants, we’re exhorted to do that. Paul was praying for Caesar [and that was Caesar Nero, an insane and evil Caesar], he was praying under a godless society and rule, and he exhorts them, ‘first of all, this should happen, there should be supplications,’ that’s just the word that means “requests.” That we should be free in public worship to make requests, and certainly we do that. We make requests, as we’re gathered, ‘Lord, we request for you to be in our midst, we want to experience your presence, Lord fill us with your Spirit, Lord give wisdom to our leaders, give us an opportunity to share the mystery of Christ,’ we make requests, ‘Give us wisdom when we receive the offering, that we might be able to use this to further the Gospel,’ certainly when the musicians lead there are times when they are making requests, nothing wrong with that. Some say ‘Oh you don’t need to ask God, because he knows,’ no, no, Paul says supplications should be made, publicly [in church, when it gathers], part of public worship. Then “prayers,” and that’s just the specific word that means to address God only. That word is not used anywhere in the New Testament of anything else but “prayer to God.” Supplications are certainly part of that requesting. But this speaks of a reverence, it speaks of looking to God, praying. “Intercessions,” ah, interesting word. We think of intercessors praying on the behalf of others, praying for others, interceding, standing in the gap, we think much in those terms, certainly it has that idea. It speaks often of the proper way to approach a king, the root of the word. We only find the word twice in the New Testament. And we hear much [within the Body of Christ] ‘Oh, I’m an intercessor,’ and believe me, I appreciate intercessors, people that feel they’re called to prayer, and I always hope that there’s a bunch of them that feel called to pray for me, and my wife, and my children, and the staff here in the church. And if you do that, keep up the good work, it makes a huge difference. The only other place we find that word is in chapter 4, it talks about ‘the Spirit is speaking expressly of problems that will be in the last days, forbidding to marry and so forth, speaking lies and hypocrisy [sounds like talking about the false prophet], ah, commanding to abstain from foods which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them that believe and know the truth, for every creature of God is good (verse 4), nothing to be refused if it’s received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word and by intercession,’ by prayer, the only other time in the New Testament the word is used. So, for one, it says we should intercede in regards to our rulers, our leaders, and the other time is you should intercede over your food before you put it in your mouth. We hear about strontium-90, we hear about all the pollutants, and the need to take antioxidants and all this stuff, well Paul says one thing you could do and you should do when you say grace, you should intercede, ‘Lord, bless this food, I’m not sure of everything it’s made of, I’m not sure it was made at Dupont or whether it grew somewhere, but whatever’s in it Lord, strengthen my physical frame that I might serve you Lord, bless it, sanctify it, and let it do what it would never do without your blessing as I put this in my mouth.’ I’m not sure you can do that with ice-cream, chocolate and brownies and stuff or not, but we should always do that in faith. [Comment: the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God believe that the Mosaic food laws of Leviticus 11 are still in full force, and that they were written as health laws. Dr. Paul Dudley White lived next door to me while I was growing up, the famous cardiac specialist and surgeon, and he was always quoting Leviticus saying “Don’t eat the fat,” as a veiled way of saying ‘Don’t eat pork,’ which is invisibly laced with fat inside all its muscle fibers. Recently shellfish have been found to have a neurotoxin that can damage kidneys, even at low levels (see http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/02/07/safe-levels-neurotoxin-found-in-seafood-may-cause-kidney-damage/) There’s been cancer twice in my family, and with each person the doctor gave a “do not eat” list, which included many items found in Leviticus 11, pork, shellfish, etc. Apparently these laws were not intended to be just ceremonial, but they appear to be health laws given to Israel by the Creator of all life-forms. There could be something to these laws, which have been long disregarded by Mainstream Christianity, simply because they are part of God’s Torah Law and the Old Testament. It’s your health, the choice is yours J] So, public worship, there should be supplications, prayers, intercessions, all in the context certainly of giving of thanks, eucharisto, where we get the Lord’s supper, the Eucharist, giving thanks should always be, and certainly our song-service, praising the Lord, we thank the Lord constantly for his blessing, for a place to worship, those things are to be part of public worship. Doing it ‘for kings/queens, Presidents, Prime Ministers, so forth,’ “and for all that are in authority;” and he gives us the reason, and this tells us something very important, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (verse 2) Paul is saying he actually believes that ‘prayer offered to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ can alter human government and natural law.’ We protest, we get involved in social things, I’m not saying we should do that, we have to be salt and light. Light is not heard, it’s seen. Salt is tasted. But I wonder, if we had set aside a day a week for the last year to fast and to pray, what different things we might see. If I would do that in my own life in relation with Christ, how different my life might be. [see, http://www.unityinchrist.com/prayer/mueller.htm] Paul is saying that requests before God, prayers offered to God, intercessions, interceding, praying, we should be praying for our President every day. I can’t imagine the weight that’s on his shoulders, right or wrong, whether we agree, we don’t agree. You know, I don’t want to hear what Hollywood says, as far as I know, there’s nobody from the CIA, the NSA, you know, the military briefing those people, you know. I am hoping that the people making the decisions are the informed people, but we need to pray [this is just after 9/11, maybe at the time of either Gulf War I or Gulf War II], not belittle, not tear down. We don’t have to agree, this is America, we’re free, but we should pray, that’s what Paul says, we should pray. And in praying, believe, that if God hears his people, and we know in the Old Testament, ‘If my people, who are called by my name, and humble themselves,’ we know the passages, ‘that he would heal our land,’ that we should pray, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty”, that we can live in this nation with dignity, with faith, as Christians, to live with integrity, and to share what we believe, we should pray. A couple of our guys were just down in the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, and President Bush came and spoke. And they said to President Bush, ‘This is the first time in over a decade that a President has been here with us.’ I was so encouraged to hear the things that he had to say, challenging the National Religious Broadcasters, “This is not a job for you, it is a great commission, to spread the Good News of our Lord. Don’t let government interfere with your prophetic call.” [President George W. Bush] I love to hear that kind of stuff from a President. We should pray for him, that God might give us a window, an open door to share the mystery of Christ, that we might see a revival. Because his judgment is coming. Billy Graham said years ago, “If God doesn’t judge America, he owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.” We have sown to the wind, we will reap the whirlwind as a nation. Not the Church, as a nation. But we have great opportunity to pray. Paul says, in the midst of Rome, that they should pray, “that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” (verse 3) (“God our Saviour points to Christ’s deity.) Prayer effects human government and natural law, he said it should be part of what we believe, what we practice. And secondly we should know this, when we gather, when we pray for our government, when we pray for our nation, we should know that God is pleased. We are obeying his Word, and it is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour. When he hears us doing that in faith, lifting the name of Jesus before his throne, in regards to these things, it is good, it’s acceptable before him. “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (verse 4) We read in 2^nd Peter [3:9], we read in Ezekiel that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. And he challenges in two places Ezekiel, 2^nd Peter, ‘Do I take any pleasure in this, no, that God wishes all men to be saved,’ that that’s his heart’s desire. He says that you and I as Christians should be supplicating, we should be interceding, we should praying, giving thanks, we should be before God, that he might put his hand on our church, on our congregation, on our leaders, on our nation, that we might lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness, sobriety, that that’s good and it’s acceptable, because it’s his will that all men should come to a knowledge of the truth, a saving knowledge. And if God shows his blessing towards this nation because people are repenting and asking forgiveness, and fasting, and seeking him, then God may give us an open door, because that’s his very heart. That’s what it says…[tape switchover, some text lost]…but there can’t be anyone else like him, or he wouldn’t be God. There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, one mediator, one person that stands between, a representative that represents both “the man”, interesting, anthropas, Christ Jesus, the man, Christ Jesus, the one who came in human flesh so that he could understand all of our frailties. You know, Job in his sufferings said, ‘Oh that there was an umpire, a kinsman, that there was someone who could put out his hand, and touch me in my suffering, and put out his other hand and touch God in his holiness, and stand between us, and understand us both, and represent us one to another, I wish that there was that One,’ Job said. And Timothy says ‘There is One, there’s one God and there’s one mediator between God and man, the Man, Christ Jesus, the one who came in human flesh, was tempted in every way, as we are, who died for our sins, and took our place,’ it’s going to say that in the next verse. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (verses 5-6) “Who gave himself,” willingly gave himself “a ransom” antilutron, lutron is the payment paid for a slave in the market, anti the prefix means instead of, and it says Jesus Christ gave himself “in the place of”, as the payment of our slavery to redeem us. Jesus Christ gave himself “in the place of, instead of.” He went into death for us, he went into God’s wrath for us, he went into suffering for us, he died in our place, that we might live. “who gave himself a ransom for all” and Paul says “to be testified in due time.” The idea is, ‘it was to then be made public,’ “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” (verse 7) Paul says, ‘that’s the mission of my life.’ You know, we should be praying, seeking God, as a church, as individuals, for leaders, for rulers, for our nation, that God would forestall his judgment, that he would be gracious, and extend to us a season of revival, that we might live here for a season, with godliness and sobriety and peace, with the freedom to share the Good News with a lost nation. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who doesn’t want to see anyone lost. There is one God, and that’s what he’s like, he doesn’t want to see anyone lost. And there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself willingly, in place of the sinner, the worse scoundrel you know, the person who drives you out of your mind, the person at work or in your family, the person you think is just, ‘This is the un-savable one, this is the antichrist, I know it.’ Jesus gave himself in the place of that one. Look, you’re here, so anybody can get saved. I’m here, anybody can get saved. He “gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher,” one who makes proclamation, “and an apostle,” a sent one, one to put things in order, “(I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles” the nations “in faith and verity.” (verses 6-7)

Leading Of Public Worship, Prayer, By The Men

Now he steps back into the order of the Church again, he talks about the role of men and women, and I’m glad I’ve cut myself down to twenty minutes, because I can race through this, and you can talk to the Holy Spirit about it all week [he’s trying to avoid getting verbally beat up by all the women in the congregation J]. Verse 8, he says, “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” Definite article, “The men”, and he’s shortened it from anthropas to indicate gender. When in verses 1, 4 and 5, when he says man or men, it’s anthropas, anthropology is the study of mankind, it’s mankind, or human-kind. When he gets to this verse, and again in verse 12, he indicates gender in the grammar, and he begins to make a distinction between the role of men and women in public worship. “I will”, and this is not like “I exhort”, which was “I beseech”. When he comes down here in verse 8 and says “I will” he’s exerting his “will”, it’s a very strong word, and he’s talking to Timothy about, remember in chapter 3, “knowing how to behave himself in the house of God”, “I will therefore that men” the males “pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” (verse 8) There is the consistent leading of pubic worship by the men of the church, the ones that God has called to that position. “lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting”, now again, he’s qualifying things. Lifting up holy hands speaks of, you know we fold our hands when we pray, that’s Indo-Germanic, that’s probably four or five hundred years old, that custom, it had the idea of ceasing from our own labour, to be still and know that he’s God when it was first introduced. Now we do it so that our kids don’t fidget when they pray…Jesus prayed sometimes with his eyes lifted to heaven, sometimes on his knees, sometimes weeping. The position of the heart is indicated by the “holy hands”, whether we pray with our hands lifted to God in submission, surrender, requesting, or whether we pray with our hands folded, whether we pray on our knees, or standing, looking into the sky with our eyes open, our eyes closed, the idea is an attitude of heart more than position of the physical skeletal structure, obviously. Because, first of all, he says “lifting up holy hands,” so in your relationship with God, you’re going to be in some position leading worship, leading prayer in the church, taking the offering, making the announcements, in leading public worship in one way or another your relationship with the Lord needs to be right. It is hypocrisy to stand in front of God’s people with deliberate sin and rebellion in your life, whether you’re a worship leader, a song leader, or a musician, someone talking the offering. First of all your relationship with the Lord has to be right. I know that you want, whoever is up here, to be someone whose not a hypocrite, whose relationship with the Lord is current, and active and real and honest. So first of all, holy hands, and then “without wrath and doubting,” is man-ward. You know, you can’t be somebody whose just strangled somebody before they come up here, ‘…God smite them…,’ how can you be representing the One who gave himself a ransom for sinners, when there’s wrath? And doubting is the idea of disputings, you know, because then you’re tempted to pray to the person instead of God, ‘Lord, and you know what it’s like when your people refuse to give,’ and you know, none of that is supposed to be taking place. You’re not supposed to be bad-mouthing people. You know there are some people, you know, as soon as they hear something, there are people about whom you say ‘Don’t tell them, if they ask, don’t tell them,’ because you know that to them telling a secret is telling one person at a time. There are some people, as soon as they hear something, you see it, their weakness, their flaw is this. It’s not supposed to be. If someone comes to one of the pastors, the elders in confidence to share something, it has to remain in confidence. It isn’t our position to go [and tell others], it should not be happening. It happens enough without help. So first of all, those men that are leading in one way or another, they should be right in their relationship with God, they should be right in their relationship with their fellow man, without wrath, without disputing and wrangling, lifting up holy hands, leading in prayer.

Church Order For Women

Dress For Women

Now I’ll read this in the King James and then bail myself out. “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;” it’s not saying ‘the uglier the better,’ believe me, we’ll talk about this. “but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” (verses 9-10) So, ah, let me read it again [laughter]. “In like manner also,” the idea is, ‘In like manner, the women in the church maintain a right relationship with God and with the church, humans,’ “that women adorn themselves in modest apparel,” You know what that means. It’s not modest according to the standard of MTV, it’s modest according to the standard of the Holy Ghost. You know/should know. If we have a young lady in our school who dresses seductively, and we have to ask for the parents to come in, and the mom comes in and she’s dressed as seductively as the daughter, we immediately ‘Well there’s no sense in having this conversation,’ [laughter] There’s a balance between trying to look your best, and we should do that, there’s no promotion of being sloppy here, that’s not what this is saying. You know, we have wigs, and glass eyes, and false teeth, there’s not excuse. I’ll just be humorous, that way I’ll just cruise through this, you know, even an old barn looks good with a fresh coat of paint, there’s no reason…but there’s a line you can cross, I mean, you want to look great, and there’s a line you can cross to seductive, to where your brothers in Christ don’t need to entertain, and shouldn’t, but don’t need help, from the way that you dress, where a husband doesn’t need to be jealous because of the way someone else is looking at you, or your future husband doesn’t need to be looking at you simply for the reason that you’re parading yourself, that’s not the reason you want him anyhow. Because if that’s the reason he wants you, that’s the reason he’s going to want somebody else along the line. So, Ephesus, there’s culturally temple prostitutes, Ephesus is a culture where women dressed seductively, women that didn’t know Christ. Ephesus evidently had a problem, it says, with, some of the women would take a lot of time to fix their hair, and when it says “gold”, it doesn’t just mean like a barrette, it means gold dust, gold ornaments actually placed in the hair that would sparkle, would draw attention. It says that ‘they shouldn’t be adoring themselves to draw attention in the wrong way. That their attractiveness should be with modest apparel.’ “Shamefacedness” has the idea of just modesty, again, sobriety. The idea is communicated throughout, not “with broided hair, gold”, this is not a prohibition, it’s warning against extremes, and Paul is saying that the leading of the Spirit should make these things plain. What women should adorn themselves with is that “which becometh women professing godliness, with good works.” That there’s a respect in the way that you carry yourself. You know, there can be a lack of respect if you look terrible and don’t take care of yourself, that’s not respect. But carry yourself with self-respect, respect towards God, respect towards others. And part of your adornment is not just the way you look, but it’s what you do, good works, serving, caring for the Body of Christ. And if there’s genuine serving and caring, then there’s no seducing that bride of the Lord Jesus. So, I’ve warn that out, obviously I didn’t get through this very quickly at all. If you don’t agree, “Let the women learn in silence with all subjection.” (verse 11) We can just end there [loud laughter]. Look, I didn’t write this, I’m just trying to, you know, soften it as we go through it, I mean, we live in this culture, women’s lib, and everybody has their rights, you know, and men and husbands are made fun of with cartoons and TV shows, I mean there’s, God has higher things for us.

“Let The Women Learn In Silence”---What Does That Mean?

So “let the women learn in silence with all subjection.” This is not a new idea that he’s writing to Timothy about. Silence doesn’t mean that you sit here like this. [laughter] You know, to your husband, ‘No, get me outa here, I’m gonna explode, I’m ready to talk,’ ah, if you study the word, if you get out your Strong’s Concordance, the number’s 12 something, 1250 something, I forget, it’s translated “peaceably” in places, “let the women learn in a peaceable way.” The root of it, interestingly, has the idea of staying in your seat. I’m not sure what kind of problem they had in Ephesus, whether it was a musical chairs thing, or ladies just jumping up in the middle of services, saying ‘I don’t agree with that! You’re a nut if you’re trying to teach us that!’ Please don’t do that here, it just, we’ll talk privately afterwards. John Wesley’s wife used to come, when John Wesley preached, and she used to stand up and say ‘You hypocrite!!! You preach the Gospel, you’re a rotten husband, you’re…’ they used to have to drag her out all the time. [And God used John Wesley in preaching the Gospel to start up a whole revival, which became the Methodist movement, and eventually became the denomination by that name. He wrote whole works and commentaries, was very Holy Spirit inspired, but he was “blessed,” as he put it, with this unconverted wife, who used to keep him on his knees (that’s why he said she was a blessing J)] That’s why he was probably an Arminianist, he didn’t want to spend eternity with her [laughter]. This is just a joke, come on, we’re winding things up here. Billy Sunday’s wife would sometimes pull him down, when she thought he was going too long, she’d go up and get ahold of him, she was bigger than him, and just pull him down, and the sermon was over. “Let the women learn in a peaceable manner with all subjection” this word “subjection” is the same word used in Ephesians 5:21 and 22 where it says ‘Let the wives be in submission to their husbands’ it’s the same exact word there. So, it’s an attitude that it’s speaking of.

Paul’s Teaching About Women And Leadership

“And I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (verse 12) “the man, the male” is the very specific word now. “but to be peaceable” again, to be settled. Now this is not talking about teaching school, this is not talking about teaching Sunday school [or Sabbath school], children, this is not talking about women not being allowed to teach women. We come to Titus, the aged women teaching the younger women to love their husbands, to keep their homes, to take care of the children, and so forth. This is not talking about women instructing privately. Timothy was instructed by his mother and his grandmother, as a young adult man, growing. When you go to the Book of Acts, in chapter 18 you hear of Aquilla and Priscilla, husband and wife instructing Apollos, privately, in a more perfect way. It has nothing to do with the fact that a woman can’t talk to a man privately, and say, ‘I’ve observed this, I think this,’ it has nothing to do with a woman not having an ability to perceive spiritual things. Phillip had four daughters that were prophetesses. It’s talking about the governmental roles in the Church. Paul in Ephesians 4 says that God has given grace to the Church in four offices, the apostle, prophet, the evangelist, and the teaching pastor, that last, there’s a Granville-Sharps rule there in the last two phrases of one gift. [ie in Ephesians 4:11 it says “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers;” that means where it says “pastors and teachers”, by this Granville-Sharps rule, it really means and should be translated as “teaching pastors.” That’s what Pastor Joe is trying to say.] It’s not a five-fold ministry there, it’s four, apostle, prophet, evangelist, the pastor, the elder. And as we get to chapter 3 he’s going to outline those requirements for an elder [ie. for a teaching-pastor]. That the governmental leadership in the Church is to fall to the men. ‘Well I know women in the ministry,’ I know, I know, I’m telling you what Paul said. I think there are times around the world, because the men wouldn’t get up and do something, God has used a great woman. I think there are women, I think Maggie Thatcher was one of the strongest leaders in the world when she was there, more of a man than some of the men in other countries, believe me. Jean Kirkpatrick has got more fiber than a lot of men I see around these days. I mean, it doesn’t say that a woman can’t be a queen, a president, that she can’t rule a nation. It’s talking about spiritual-governmental decisions and leading in the Church [Body of Christ], that in that environment Paul says “I suffer not a woman to teach” in regards to instructing publicly over the Church, “nor to usurp authority over the man,” the male “but to be in silence.”

It All Goes Back To Eden

First reason, “For Adam was first formed, then Eve.” (verse 13) There is an order, the Kingdom of God is an order, it’s not a democracy. God’s order, he made Adam first. Eve then was not created from nothing, she was created from Adam’s side, God said ‘I will make him a helper that is suitable for him.’ She was made to be his helper, there was an order there in Creation. What he’s saying is, Then God saw from the beginning a different role for the man, and a different role for the woman,’ both spiritual, different roles. “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (verse 14) Now it doesn’t say he was innocent, it just says he wasn’t deceived. “but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” That’s what it says. Satan comes to Eve, Eve sins with her eyes closed, Adam sins with his eyes wide-open. Both sinned. The woman was deceived. The Serpent comes, whatever form the enemy Satan came in, ‘Hath not God said?’ She said, ‘Well yeah,’ ‘Not supposed to eat it? Not supposed to touch it?’ God didn’t say that, he just said ‘Don’t eat it.’ Garden of Eden, how massive was it? Thousands of acres, beautiful. He said to Adam, ‘One tree, out of thousands of trees, one tree, don’t want you to eat of it.’ Adam said ‘where is it? Just so I recognize it…’ ‘It’s in the midst of the garden. The day you eat thereof you shall surely die.’ Evidently when Eve talked to Adam he said ‘One tree.’ She said ‘Where is it?’ He said ‘There’ She said ‘Alright, we can’t eat it. Can we look at it? ‘You can look at it if you want, but look at the other trees.’ ‘Can we touch it?’ ‘Don’t touch it, don’t eat it, don’t touch it.’ So by the time Satan’s there with her she’s saying ‘We’re not supposed to supposed to eat it, we’re not supposed to touch it, we’re not supposed to…’ Eve, deceived by Satan, sins with her eyes closed, was deceived. Adam ate the fruit of that tree in rebellion to God, he sins willingly. Eve was deceived, Adam rebelled. Both sinned, the fall. Problem, Eve took the role of leading, Adam followed. And again he sinned willingly. I like to try to see something positive there, that Christ came and laid down his life for his Bride, are there types and shadows there? The Bible doesn’t give us the freedom to do that. I like to see them, but Eve was deceived. Spiritually, she was deceived by Satan. Adam was not deceived. He sinned willingly. Paul’s making a point in regards to spiritual things, he wants the leaders in the Church to be the men, because God has an order that he’s established. (I don’t know what the heck I’m doing here [he laughs].) I’m really, I spent some time looking at this and taking it apart, I am doing my best, and I’m just being as honest as I can, and I know that’s just what you want me to be, as honest as I can. So that when we come to the last verse, it’s the most difficult verse in the Pastoral Epistles, so if you read six different commentaries you’ll get six different opinions, I’ll give you a seventh, and you can pray about it.

“Notwithstanding She Shall Be Saved In Childbearing”---What’s That Supposed To Mean?

“Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (verse 15) What in the world is he talking about? OK, “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing,” is it saying because that God said to Eve, after the fall, that before the fall she was to be Adam’s helper, help-meet, suitable partner and helper. That’s paradise, that’s perfection before the fall. After the fall, you know, God says to the devil, ‘because you’ve done this…and to man, because you’ve done this, you’re going to work by the sweat of your brow, thorns and thistles the earth is going to bring forth, you’re going to eek your living out of the ground,’ and he says to the woman, ‘in sorrow and suffering you will bring forth children, your desire will be to rule over your husband, but he will rule over you.’ Is it saying, that if she continues in faith and sobriety, that her contractions won’t be so hard? [he laughs] Ask any Christian woman here who has had a baby. I don’t think so. Is it saying, she’s saved in childbearing? That there’s some redemptive quality to having babies? Well none of the men would be saved then. You want to get saved? Have a child. And right when you’re in transition, and the contractions are the worst, think to yourself ‘I wouldn’t want to suffer for eternity, Lord Jesus save me!’ It’s not saying that. I’ll tell you what I think it’s saying. Then we’ll say Amen and sing a happy song. [laughter] Our word “saved” there, ah, quite often has the idea of “preserved”, it can be “delivered.” I think it’s saying that the preservation of the woman, her flock, her congregation are those little ones that she so often has the authority to instruct, to lead, to set the tone of their lives, “that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” And that as Timothy was raised by his mother and grandmother, as Susanna Wesley invested into nineteen children, nine of them died, but John and Charles Wesley, so instructed in the Scripture that the ministry of Susanna Wesley is still touching the world today. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/wesley.htm (I would say presently more through John’s commentaries than the Methodist denomination that exists at present, but certainly whilst it was vibrantly alive spiritually this was very true. But like all of the older denominations that have come from genuine spiritual revivals, it has likewise cooled spiritually. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/IntroChurchHistory.htm)] Some of the greatest hymns we’ve ever heard have come through her ministry to Charles. I know it’s not saying ladies, that you get saved, born-again, by having kids. I know it’s not saying that if you continue in sobriety and so forth, you won’t have any pain when you have kids, because my wife’s pretty sober, and she has faith, and she definitely has charity, and I watched her scream all four times, so, ah. I think it’s saying that the preservation, the legacy, the character of the woman is not preserved the way the legacy of Spurgeon, or Moody, or someone who has touched the congregation has been preserved. But rather it’s in the raising of children, that is where she raises the next prophet, the next pastor, the next apostle. That is where, if she continues in faith and sobriety and holiness and charity, if her walk matches her talk, that she in fact infuses into the next generation, she is preserved, replicated, duplicated in childbearing---if there’s a continuance in a godly lifestyle that is in keeping with her profession.

In Summary

Now, next week we move on to “This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop [pastor-teacher, elder]” there was no break when Paul wrote this, so he moves now onto the office of the men in the Church, and it’s interesting to read through there and look at those qualifications. This is Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in regards to order in the Church. First his charge to Timothy, ‘War a good warfare. Hold onto faith in a good conscience. Those that are derelict, that are infecting the Church, that are injurious to the Bride of Christ can be put out. I exhort first of all, when you gather, that there should be offered to the Lord, requests, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving, particularly for your leaders, your civil leaders, kings, presidents, rulers, that God might hear those prayers and effect human government where you live, so that you might live quiet peaceable lives in sobriety, in faith, that you might infect the culture that you’re in for the cause of Christ. Because this is good and pleasing to God, it’s not his will that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth, that there is one God’ this is the knowledge of the truth, ‘and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who willingly gave himself to be a ransom for all who would believe, and that to be proclaimed at the right time,’ and Paul’s saying, ‘and now it’s the right time, I’m called to be a preacher, apostle, a representative of this truth to a lost world, to the nations, to the Gentiles. I will therefore that when the Church gathers, the men, in a right relationship with God, and with a right relationship with each other, that they lift up their prayers, with holy hands, right attitude, they lead. That the women, are not seductive, are not worldly, not drawing attention to themselves, but are characterized by godliness and sobriety, and good works.’ That’s all good stuff, ‘that there shouldn’t be wrangling doctrinally, and a woman shouldn’t be asserting herself over the God-given leaders in that church, but in a peaceable attitude, they should be learning to be part of what God is doing, not usurping authority in a position that God hasn’t given, but remembering there’s order, there’s been order from the beginning, and the Kingdom is not a democracy, it’s an order. There’s to be order with the children in the home,’ there’s nowhere in Scripture that says they can be disrespectful to parents, they can do whatever they want to do. There’s nowhere in Scripture that says that employees can be disrespectful to employers and do whatever they want to them. There’s nowhere in Scripture that says that we live under a government, and we should do whatever we want, and cause revolution. No, it says the powers that be are ordained of God, there’s order, and that that is to be reflected in Church, it’s to be reflected in the relationship between the men and the women in the Church, because if we switch that order, it is destructive in marriages, it is destructive in the home, and it was right from the first marriage. And that the preservation of woman-kind, and I know, we have a lot of single gals here, a lot of moms who long to have children who are infertile, I understand that. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t have spiritual children, it doesn’t mean, you know, every single woman in this church, every woman in this church who can’t conceive, when you’re around my kids, I want you to be communicating values that will set the course of their lives towards godliness and sobriety, towards being separate in this world. So it doesn’t mean that there’s not a reproduction in passing along a legacy. It differs from mine as pastor, in the order that God has for the Church. I encourage you to read ahead. Next week we will move into the role of leaders in the Church, what God requires. It is very interesting to look at it and see where his emphasis is, and where his emphasis is not. And we’ll move on to deacons and so forth. So, ordering of the Church…[transcript of 1^st Timothy 1:18-20 and 2:1-15 given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]