The Man of God

Jody and Chad this morning from 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 11. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 11. And let's be reminded that this is a good word for all of us this morning. If you're in leadership of any kind or if you're just a Christian. Paul comes to this point, and he's in something of a summing up.

of all that he's telling young Pastor Timothy to do. And oh my goodness, there was a lot to do. And so he comes to this concluding element of the letter he writes to Timothy. If you don't know the background, Timothy has been appointed by the Apostle Paul. to oversee the church at Ephesus.

And Timothy hadn't been at the church is not that old. They haven't been at it very long, and there's a lot of things to deal with and clean up. And one of the things that Paul just redundantly, if that's a proper way to say it, addresses to Timothy is, To watch out, be careful, remove, stand against false teachers. False teachers. There's the true man of God, but there's the false man of God.

And evidently... As it is in our age, and it's true in every age, one of the elders' chief responsibilities is to guard, Paul says this to Titus, guard sound doctrine. Be careful. There are charlatans, there are deceivers, there are counterfeiters who parade as men of God, and they want to creep into your church and get a following. And if they can't run you off, they'll at least split off a group and go do their own thing somewhere.

And they're full of false doctrine and false truth. Dr. Seal, they camouflage it good. They use a lot of our terms. but they're not in it with the right motives.

Certainly not with the ultimately speaking right doctrine.

So he comes to 6-11. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 11. And he says this to Timothy, again, sort of in a concluding exhortation. But flee these things, you man of God. and pursue righteousness.

Godliness Faith Love. Perseverance and Gentleness. A man who oversees or leads in the church must be a man of God. Timothy? Flee the things I've been talking about that are true of the false teacher.

The person who's in it for the wrong motives. And you, Timothy, be what you are. Be a man of God.

So we have this contrast, just as there is the True Christ. The Bible tells us there is the Antichrist. The false Christ. And the false Christ, the antichrist spirit, the Bible said, is in the world today.

So, in like manner, there's the true man of God who is of the spirit of the true Christ. And then there are those who are false men of God. Turn on your phone, turn on the internet, turn on the TV, and there's a lot of them on there. Quite honestly, I sometimes don't know. Where a guy's just loose and weak and unsound.

Or maybe he's just completely of Satan. You know, Satan does disguise himself as an angel. of light. Looks good. That's why I think the great need, the great need in the church today is.

Discernment. I almost want to, I almost get nauseated when I hear a Christian say, Well, I like this church because da-da-da-da. It makes me feel. What does it matter what you like? It's Christ's church.

It must be a church that he likes. Then you learn to like what he likes, and you'll both like it. Amen. But these guys are real good at manipulating emotions. They're the false teacher.

But the contrast here is: but Timothy, Paul, is saying, you're the man of God, you're the true article. You're the real deal, Timothy.

So, be what you are and keep on pressing on.

So, for these two brothers this morning, take in these exhortations. As the men of God who's being put in this. Role of overseeing the church. The true man of God, you see, is the man who has experienced the new birth. He's truly regenerate of the Holy Spirit.

He's not just gone through some motions or raised his hand in vacation Bible school and did what the other kids did. or just shallowly in the strength of his flesh repeated a prayer. Called a salvation prayer, which we see no example of that exemplified in the New Testament. No wonder our Baptist churches are full of people who are unsaved. They've gone through some motions.

Maybe well-intending people led them through those motions. But there's no scriptural foundation. The true man of God must be truly regenerate of the Holy Spirit, coming to true faith in Christ. And so, because of that supernatural change of God in that man's heart, he now has new motives. He's a man who is out for the praise of God.

He's out to bring other men, other people, under the power of God. And he wants it all to be to the prophet. of God's church. and God's work in the world. His motive is to glorify and praise God.

He wants to see other people come under the true power of God and be God's children. And he wants it all to be to the good of God's church.

So now, first of all, that's just something of an introduction. But first of all, he says, now, Timothy, there's some things you must flee.

So when you come to 1 Timothy 6, verse 11, and he says, but flee these things, he's referring back to things he previously mentioned.

Now, in a general summary, he's referring back to flee the things that mark a false teacher. Flee those things which are characteristic of A fake. Man of God. You've probably heard the phrase fake news. Have you ever heard that?

Well, there's fake preachers and there's fake men of God that Paul's warned Timothy about over and over.

So flee the things that characterize that kind of a guy, and you be the true man of God.

So he says, first of all, flee. And if you look at the immediate context in verse 10, and this is a primary and foundational motive of the false man of God. Verse 10. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. At the end of the day, the false man of God Is in it for what he can gain, and primarily what he can gain financially.

He said, Timothy, don't make that your modus operandi. You see, the false teacher's modus operandi is he's looking for the praise of men for himself. He's looking to have power over me and himself. And he's looking to profit from those men. financially for himself.

That's his primary motivation.

Now, let's be balanced. We know the Bible very thoroughly teaches that men of God are to be supported financially. even generously As Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5, 17 and 18, The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor. Every scholar I know says that includes financial compensation. A double honor.

But especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

So that's a true motivation. Paul said in Corinthians that the man of God should labor like a farmer or a husbandman or a soldier. And if he labors, he hopes to get some support out of that. He said, It's right for a man of God to do that. But that's not his primary motivation.

A man of God's got to be willing, if it costs him everything, he'll stay true to God's calling. I've said it many times. God may do it next week. Who knows? But if all I have is a ditch to live in, if there's one other person nearby, I've got a purpose.

I can either evangelize them or help them grow in Christ. It's a great way to live. It's kind of like you can't lose.

Now I'm not looking for any ditches, all right? But I'm convinced the Apostle Paul wasn't looking for Roman jail cells either. But if it's God's will, that's what you do. Amen? The same Paul that spent some time in the jail cell spent the time at wealthy Philemon's house.

Spent some time in wealthy Lydia's house.

So he enjoyed that when it was God's will, but he enjoyed the dungeon. Maybe that's a wrong word, but he was willing to endure the dungeon when that was God's calling, too. Can I get amen there? The point is, that's not your goal. While the people of God should make it their goal to be generous to the men of God, that cannot be his goal.

God help the pastor who's in it for financial gain. And God help the churches who have faithful pastors. who are not faithful and generous. Scripture teaches both. But the the the false men of God was after things because of his motivation being the love of money.

But the man of God must flee these things.

Now sometimes God gives a man popularity and praise, but that's not what he started out for. For example, Timothy himself, according to Acts 16, 2, was well spoken of. He had the praise of the people in Lystra in Iconium, which was his hometown area.

So while these may happen, and I've often said that Those pastors who get a prominent standing outside of their own local church. They must not use their local church as a platform to get the popularity. They must faithfully pastor their local church, and if that spreads abroad to others, fine. If it does not, fine. God doesn't call a man to be the pastor of the world.

He calls a man to be the pastor of a specific flock. God forbid that I prostitute you that I might have an itinerant or international ministry. Our ministry has always been: let's build a true local church and see if people are interested in learning about it. Amen. I think that's the right way to approach that.

So again, the true man of God versus the fake man of God is the true man of God is out for the praise of men. The fake man of God, or rather, the false man of God is out for the praise of men. The true man of God wants praise to God. The false man of God wants power over men. The true man of God wants to see men under God's power.

Let me just stop right there and say something. It is a joy going on 45 years of pastoring in the same place to have a great army of people who serve God, not out of coercion by me, but because you love God yourselves. You're not going to hold up. Carrying the weight of trying to keep get carnal and unsaved Baptists to serve the Lord. You better hope that they plug into God themselves.

And they're burning his fuel, following their pastor, of course, but they're doing it under the power of God. The false man of God wants the praise of men. He wants power over men. He wants profit from men. But he says, Timothy, verse 11 again, you man of God.

You should be about the praise coming to God, and you should be about bringing people under the power of God, and you should be about bringing profit. our advancement to God's church and God's work.

So flee those things like the love of money. And many other things, of course. If we went back through 1 Timothy, we could list a lot of specific things. Time doesn't allow that. But secondly, there's some things he must honorably pursue.

I call it honorable fruit. Honorable fruit that he must pursue. The first one I want to mention here is righteousness. Look at our text. And you flee certain things, but you're the man of God, so pursue.

Let's just list them all right quick: righteousness, godliness. And I'm going to skip faith and love for now, perseverance and gentleness. Because while faith and love could be listed among these several virtues mentioned here in the balance of systematic understanding of faith and love, they're more of a foundation the others come out of. And we'll talk about that in just a moment. But first of all, he says, pursue righteousness.

For Jody and Brother Chad here, that's something we all have got to keep striving for. Righteousness. 2 Timothy 2.22 says, Now flee youthful lust and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Now the word righteousness here is not referring to our standing. Of righteousness.

Now, the New Testament teaches that often, that in Christ Jesus we have the position, the Christ merit, of standing righteous before a holy God. That's a wonderful doctrine and a wonderful truth. That's not the context here. Context here means your actual, the pragmatic, the practical way you live your life. You're to live out a righteous life.

I've wrestled with that word righteous. It has some dynamic meaning to it. And just how can you define righteousness? I think this is the best. Balanced, simple definition I've ever come across, at least from a biblical understanding of the word righteousness.

Righteousness means You're striving to conduct yourself according to God's justice with everything and every person in your life. In every dealing, in every interaction. You want to honor God's justice or what God says is true and right. And that conduct. Whether it's raising your children or dealing with a neighbor or working with an employee or dealing with someone you're in conflict with, you say, okay, what would God have me do?

Righteousness is doing what God's justice would dictate me to do in every situation.

So Brother Chad, Brother Jody, we got to be marked as men. Describe that kind of righteousness. Both of these men are very successful businessmen. And there should be time when people look at the way you run your business and say, that's weird. And you, in your heart, you don't need to rebuke everybody that says stuff like that to you, but sometimes in your heart, you need to say, No, that's righteous, and you don't understand that, so I want to mention it.

We've had a businessman in our church years ago who had a significant financial loss due to the wrongdoing. of a fellow employee But he chose in righteousness to overlook it. and not cause conflict in the church. That's the kind. I'm not saying that's God's will every time.

There's a place for coming to elders and negotiating things and solving things. Certainly, the Bible teaches that. But righteousness means what does God want me to do? That's what I want to do. Pursue.

Righteousness. Now, the next word he mentions here is godliness. Godliness, you might call it the twin of righteousness. But they're not identical twins. A good way to understand godliness simply is.

God like. Or to be godlike in the way we approach things and the way we do things. I take God's view of the world. I take God's view of the family and the home. I take God's view of the church.

I'm not looking for fanciful, creative nuances and new ideas about these things. I'm going to go to God's Word and find out what is God's mind on these things. And that's what I want to pursue. In other words. Our motives must be godly and our service must be godly.

Now A key thought here when you think about righteousness and godliness and how akin they are to one another is this. For the glory of God. Let me put it this way: I'm glory of God focused in my motives. I'm the service of God centered in my actions. That's walking in righteousness.

And in godliness.

Now, the third word I want to pick out here, I want to skip down to the word perseverance. Perseverance. You know what that means? Don't quit.

Sometimes you wonder, well, it didn't seem to do any good, or it doesn't seem to be getting us ahead, or whatever that may mean. You don't have any option, huh? I tease David Young a lot about this, and you know David, you know, and David stirs the pot. You know that, don't you? Brother David, he's stirring.

Matter of fact, he's stirring the pot when he walks into the room. Just to have fun, and that's why he's so much fun to be around. And uh about every week that he's been here for all these years. He said, I tell you what, I quit. And he doesn't mean that.

He's just stirring the pot. And I say, well, that's interesting because you know what? You can't stop what you didn't start. Did God put you here? Then hush.

And get over it. And as elders, sometimes you've got to hush and get over it. There are people who are difficult. People that are challenged. God's got some sheep that are peculiar.

But we don't quit. You know why? The glory of God's on my church. Ched and Jody, we might one day be here by ourselves. Our wives may be in heaven already.

Children may do something else. We don't know. We might, but we'll still have the church. And we get to heaven, you know what we're going to have? The church.

It it surpasses time and goes into eternity.

So we can't quit. You don't quit. You don't give up. Perseverance is, I keep on, keeping on. I was reminded, it's in my notes here of.

How many decades ago, when we as a church unanimously affirmed a vision statement for this church? This was thirty-five years ago maybe? Off a little more. And that vision statement is: we wanted to strive to be a biblical church that God might use as a model for others. Because I was so burdened as a young pastor that I didn't have a lot of encouragement.

To be thoroughly biblical. What I was always encouraged to do was: no, do what works, do what's successful, do what draws a big crowd. And I thought, I don't think I can do that. What's biblical? And I thought, maybe it would be great if we could.

We're never going to arrive. We're always going to be repenting and growing. But if we can build a sound church, God might use us to then encourage and help others to build a Bible-saturated, glory of God-focused, Christ-honoring church. And I'm telling you, that took some perseverance because Chad and Jody, to a great degree, and these two men, and so many of you, have persevered with me in this. And through that perseverance, to me, we came to the final structural piece of the puzzle.

When God put together the Pastoral Training Institute, that was the final piece of the puzzle that. We needed to. Maybe do all of these things that we had a vision of doing years and years and years ago. But to get there took perseverance. When things get tough in a church.

When there's challenges in the church. Maybe a troublemaker in a church. Praise God for 20 years now. We haven't had any of that. We've had sweet, blessed unity for right at two decades now.

I like this part of it. But it took perseverance to get here, amen? When things get tough, you don't go running off to fun church. You don't go running off to entertainment events on Sunday morning, church. You persevere.

You don't quit. Well, well, we're just changing churches. No, you didn't change churches. You quit. You quit fighting for the truth.

You quit fighting for what's real and did what was easy. Can I just lay this out here? Just for the men. This isn't for you ladies. Just for the men, all right?

A lot of what's going on out there today in congregations. Is there building something of a religious thing Calling it a church. That's designed. To amuse foolish children Silly women and accommodate effeminate men. Nothing manly about it.

It's a bunch of mushy, nonsense, emotionally based, sentimental garbage. Made for foolish children, silly women. and weak effeminate men. What's my point, brothers, is we don't quit in trying to stay on track. Persevere in what's right, persevere in what's true, persevere in what's biblical.

What honors and glorifies God I tell our Church planners. And by the way, Brother Steve McAllister, as I speak this morning, is in Detroit, Michigan. He's in Detroit, Michigan. Helping one of our grandchildren. We sent Josh Tencordo and Becky, his wife, to Pittsburgh to plant a church.

They're running about two hundred now. God's blessing. They're a partner with us. And they sent out a dear man and his family to Detroit, Michigan, to plant a church there. And they're ordaining elders today.

So while we're ordaining elders here, they're ordaining elders in our grandchild. A church planned in Detroit, Michigan. Isn't that kind of cool? You're going to run into people one day in heaven and say, Who are you?

Well, I'm so-and-so.

Well, where'd you live? Detroit. And we had a part in that. That's wonderful stuff. Persevere.

Don't quit.

Don't quit.

Don't quit.

The question is: is it right?

Well, if it's right, then I'm not quitting. Doesn't matter how I feel. I'm not going to function like a silly, effeminate man. I'm going to do what the Word of God says, and like Paul told the Corinthians, act like men. There's a guy I see online sometimes.

He's a preacher. I don't agree with all that he says or does, but he said we live in a generation that's greatly overmothered and underfathered. Overmothered and underfathered. You know what? Overmothered and underfathered produces effeminate boys.

We got our quota on that. Amen? All right. Chasing rabbits. Don't need to do too much of that.

Righteousness, godliness, perseverance. And then gentleness. Notice the balance. Gentleness. This is the only time this word gentleness appears in the New Testament.

The idea of suffering, I understand, is connected with this. And I thought about that for a while, and I thought, is it not true that when you suffer for doing what's right? Being righteous, brothers. Following the book. And that causes people to...

criticize, whatever it might be. When you suffer for doing what's right, it builds gentleness in your soul. You see, the saint, the true believer, when he suffers for the truth and what's right. It builds gentleness in him. The worldly, when he suffers, it builds bitterness in him.

So this gentleness generally is grown through doing what's right when it's difficult to do what's right. I'm not talking about fatalistic depression. We come into this world, God saves us, His Spirit enters our hearts, we begin to understand the Word of God, we see our own sin, our own depravity, our own weakness, and know that Jesus saved us anyway. And we think how our God has dealt with us in gentleness. How I need to walk in that gentleness.

Galatians 6:1, Paul speaks of this very principle to those brethren. He said, Brethren, if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted.

So, as much as possible, Brother Chad, Brother Jody, any of us in leadership, moms, dads. As much as possible, minister in gentleness. Finless.

Now there is a balance to that because Leading up to here, and in this second letter to Timothy, he's going to have some bold, strong commands to Timothy to deal with troublemakers and deal with false teachers. And there with them. Tough. With manly toughness.

Sometimes that has to happen. But overall, as much as we can, let's be gentle. I don't know if I should say this.

So I don't want to embarrass anyone.

So I'm not going to say it. For example, notice the bold firmness as Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy 4, verse 2. Timothy, because you know, Timothy was a little timid. Timothy was probably more cut out as like an associate pastor, perhaps. Just he was glad being behind the scenes, but Paul puts him out here in the front.

So Paul says, preach the word. There's a boldness in that. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. And remember when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, who were full of themselves and full of pride, had lots of sin and compromise?

And at one point, Paul says, Am I going to have to come and bring a rod? When I come to you. Metaphorically speaking, I don't think he showed up with an actual wooden stick, but he may have. I don't know. What I'm saying, there's a time for bold, firm leadership, but overall, we should strive toward gentleness, if at all possible.

So If we have gospel humility, we will look. For a gentle avenue First. But we'll bear the rod if we need to. There's something that comes upon me sometimes when I see.

Some sort of manipulative scheme going on to kind of misguide some of the sheep. There's something that comes on me that wants me to get the shepherd's crook and go after that wolf. And that should be in all of us. But as much as we can. First, lead with gentleness.

Well, let's go to Romans 3. Totally, some things he must flee, and secondly, some honorable fruit he must look for, but now some honorable roots. These could be fruits too, and we'll point that out as we go along, but In the balance of New Testament instruction, faith and love are very foundational for the other virtues. Very foundation.

So I'm referring to them at this point as roots. Roots.

Now I don't think it's possible to have some hard and fast separation here between faith and love and then righteousness, godliness, perseverance, and gentleness. But I want to approach it this way. But I want to go to 1 Timothy 6:20 to set this up, and we'll be through in just a moment. In 1 Timothy 6, 20. Again, summarizing things, he says, Oh, Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.

Literally, the Greek there that's translated entrusted in the New American Standard means deposited. Timothy, something outside of you has deposited something in you.

Now it's your job, Timothy, to cultivate that and grow in it. And what are two key things that are deposited into you when you're born again? Faith and love. Your faith didn't come out of you. Your faith is a gift from God.

Well, how does that work, Pastor? I don't know. By grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:8:9, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves.

What's not of yourself? The grace, the faith, Grace and faith. I think it's all of it. I mean, you'll never convince God, you certainly won't convince me either, that one day there was just such virtue in you that when you heard the gospel, you were so good and virtuous, you chose to have faith in Jesus. No, you don't have that goodness in you.

We don't naturally have that kind of virtue in our flesh. God deposited that there.

So these things came to us from God. It's kind of like when the Bible says you're a saint, you're a holy one. You didn't start becoming holy, God put you in the standing of holiness. He gave you that status through the merits of his Son, Jesus Christ, on your behalf. And now you stand as a holy one.

Timothy didn't save himself. He didn't convict himself. He didn't regenerate his own spirit. He didn't birth himself into the kingdom of God. God did that.

And now he stands as one who has faith. In Jesus Christ. It's the gift of God. You could say these two roots, I'm referring to them as the faith and love, are the twin towers. of our Christian profession.

Everyone, absolutely, everyone who repents and places their faith in Christ becomes a child of God and they are saved. But in back of it all is the sovereign hand of God. Timothy's faith. was a gift. But now listen to me He's told to pursue faith.

Now look. He's not to pursue faith to find it. He's to pursue faith, to follow it. Do you get that? You're not trying to find faith.

It found you, so to speak. But now that it's in you, there's a component in our. Intentional sanctification and discipleship, where we want to grow in faith and live out faith. And for Chad and Brother Joe, do you know what that simply means? Faith.

It's what we do. Love It's why we do. Faith is what we do.

So, in other words, as an elder in the church, or for any Christian, your faith looks at this book and says, I have confidence in this. over everything else.

So he's telling Timothy, keep being that way, Timothy. You man of God, Timothy, you're not like the false teacher who will spin and twist and leave out the Bible when it works to his advantage. No, you're going to go to the book and place faith in the book, and that's what we're going to do. And if we perish, we perish. If we sink, we sink.

God, if you don't bless our stand on this word, our church will fail. I've been that way for 40 years. That's faith. Faith is what we do.

We do what the book says. I have confidence.

Something happened in me. Forty-six or so years ago. Where I began to open this book and it became alive to me. It was self-authenticating to me. I believed it and based my life on it, and it hasn't failed me yet.

And as elders in the church, we have to be men who pursue to grow in that. Because Chad and Jody, you're going to be like Jeff. There's gonna be times when you're gonna say, Does that really mean that? I mean, do we really do that? And you think, wait a minute.

Shake myself by the nap of the neck. No, that's that's what we do. Timothy, men of God, keep pursuing that. Pursuing faith.

Well It means I love Christ. I desire to honor his wisdom revealed in his word. And as I Walk in that faith. You know what I do? These other virtues we've already talked about.

I walk in righteousness. I walk in godliness. I walk in perseverance. I walk in gentleness out of my faith. in this book.

Love That's the second one, the second root. that the others pretty much depend upon. The first of the spiritual gift list in Galatians 522. It's love, joy, then peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. But the first one's love.

Also to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 13, 13, but now... Faith, hope, love abide these three, but the greatest of these is Loathe. It's foundational.

Now this is the The love that God's put in our hearts at our conversion and that He's grown in our lives under the Word of God. This is the kind of love that only Christians can know and express. This love is not the product of the natural man. It's also the gift. Contained in the new birth.

Romans 5:5 reminds us that hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The love of God's been poured out into us. And so that's why we do. What we do. A love for God.

A love for his church. I didn't grow up with a love for God. I certainly didn't love his church. Driving my car through Columbia, Tennessee, as a college freshman at Middle Tennessee State University, I turned on the radio. I heard a Presbyterian preacher.

He shared a simple gospel message, and I was saved. It was like magic. And I started attending churches. I went to a Methodist church, I went to a Church of Christ church. I went to a Baptist church.

I went to all kinds of churches. And one of the first things I thought was. Have these people experienced what I've experienced? And there were some sweet and godly people in all of those places. There were a whole lot of things going on that just didn't look like they had experienced what I had experienced.

And kind of I wrote an article for a graduate school journal years ago, and they said, kind of put your testimony in there, and I entitle it, Born to Reform. Because I mean, the very first few months of my Christian experience, I thought, man, the church is going to have to change. There's something about this isn't right. Lord, I did not know what I was getting into.

Now, I really believe that. You've been a Baptist a long time, been to typical Baptist business meetings, all the stuff. I actually believed that As a college sophomore, That if I go into a Baptist church and follow the Bible, they will all love me. They'll just be so excited and happy. And it didn't work out that way.

But my point is, where did I get the love for the word and a love for God's church to be pleasing to him, to be around? God put that in there. Timothy, trust what's been deposited in you.

So, Jody and Chad, we've got to keep cultivating a love for the church. If it's not what it ought to be, ask God to help you. God, give me more love for the church. And more love for you. I can say this.

I love Jesus more today than I have ever loved him. And I've always loved him. Because he's so fascinating. You can't study as much as you've allowed me to study and not increasingly just be in awe of him. The wonder of it all.

So, the Holy Spirit, who's given to us. When we have the new birth, when we're truly saved and come to faith in Christ, is the agent who pours out the love of God within our hearts.

So Paul says, men of God, Timothy, men of God. Keep pursuing that love that's in you. Keep cultivating it. Keep growing it. Keep walking in it.

Keep pursuing the faith that's in you. Faith is... What we do according to the word. And remember, love is why we do it. God's love for us, of course, is included in this.

God's love through us to others, primarily those we've covenant together in our local church. You can't love every Christian you meet everywhere with all the love of Christ, but you can hone it down to your local church and to your small group and think, I can handle loving these 12 here. That's why we structure the way we structure, because it's impossible. You can love your wife and children, but you can't love all the families in your neighborhood the same way you love them. That's why God gave us local churches.

Because we can live out practically the love we're supposed to have for one another. if we're well ordered in our local church lives. But this kind of love that God has for us, this love He put in us for Himself, this love He put in us for His church, this identifies us as the child of God. Or as a child of God, Jesus said, All men will know you're my disciples, not because of your theology. as important as that is.

He said, All men will know you're my disciples by the love you have one for another, for other Christians, i.e., for the church. That marks you. as a true child of God.

So we must embrace this love, we must pursue this love, and when we do, along with Pursuing faith. then righteousness, godliness, perseverance, and gentleness will mark our lives and will be on the increase.

So Paul says to Timothy, man of God. Keep pursuing righteousness, keep pursuing godliness, keep pursuing perseverance, keep pursuing gentleness. and the foundations of faith and love. That makes you radically different from the Fake teacher. The Fosse.

Later. Because Timothy? There's a lot of those out there. But that's not who you are. Ched and Jody, Jeff Knobblett and all of our elders, let's be marked by that.

Let's end that way. May people say, well, he didn't arrive, but he was still pursuing righteousness. Repeating when he went wrong. He was still pursuing godliness. He was still pursuing gentleness.

He was still persevering. Up sometimes, down sometimes, but he didn't quit. And all because God gave him that faith. That love in his heart. God's Church said.

Amen. Yeah.