Truth and Practical Life #2

Watch the commercials for any sporting event and what it drives people to do. Come out of that lazy, rebellious lifestyle and into the productive living of a child of God. This is the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello again, I'm Bill Wright. Today, as Don wraps up his series called In Defense of Truth, he'll be taking a final look at the scourge of false teaching, as well as the need for sound doctrine in the life of every single Christian. Right now, Don's going to take a quick look back at 1 Timothy, so turn there and let's join our teacher for today's study as he continues in his ministry of teaching God's people God's Word from the Truth Pulpit. Sound doctrine should continually occupy the thoughts of men who are in leadership.

That is the responsibility. And this can't just be, beloved. You know, you get into these things and you just start to, it all just starts to come out.

You know, you poke a hole and it just starts to all, it just all starts to leak out. This is not a passing matter. This is not something that we do for a while as a passing interest, like some ladies take up quilting for a while and then set it aside and don't go back to it. This isn't a hobby.

This isn't a weekend retreat. This is what godly men give their lives to, even if they have so-called secular employment. The passion, the priority of their life is to know the truth, to grow in it and to grow in obedience to it and to lead others in it as well. Speak the things that are fitting for sound doctrine. He says to Titus, we never outgrow this.

We never move beyond it. For spiritual leaders, this is why we exist, is to uphold the word of God. That has consequences. You know, it has consequences for a pastor. It means that a pastor has to make preparation and teaching the priority of his life. The priority of his life. I remember years ago, back in my prior ministry, it has nothing to do with anyone here.

I think I've mentioned this a time or two. There was a man in my ministry, it was about my age, and his demand on me, his desire for me, was that I would be available for him whenever he wanted to call, whenever he wanted to meet, whenever he wanted a hamburger with me, I needed to drop what I was doing and go out with him at his bidding. And some pastors, you know, I think some pastors maybe live that way. But that's not the biblical pattern.

That's not the way that it works, beloved. The pastor has to make his preparation and his commitment to doctrine, commitment to biblical truth, the priority of his life. But go back to 1 Timothy again, as these pastoral, different pastoral epistles help us to understand what Paul is saying to us. 1 Timothy chapter 4 in verse 14. Actually, go back to verse 13, 1 Timothy 4, 13 through 16. Paul tells Timothy, until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

Take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things. For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. Paul takes Timothy by the cheeks and says, Timothy, pay attention.

Here is your priority in life. Pay attention to your teaching. You have responsibility for your own soul, and you have responsibility for the souls of those that listen to you. And you need to teach them rightly about the nature of salvation for their eternal good. Beloved, this is a big, thick book that is not mastered on the sidelines. It's not mastered in an occasional devotional reading with your daily devotional at the side. This takes pain.

This takes labor over years. And this is what Paul is saying to the men who would rise up after him. Pay attention to your teaching because there's a lot that rides on it. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2.

Come out and be separate. Be distinct in your priorities. Be done with lesser things is the command to those in church leadership. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Accurately handling the word of truth.

But avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness. And then, as we've referred to often in recent weeks, chapter 4 of 2 Timothy. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Why? Why is it so important? Why must the man of God be absorbed in these things himself?

Why must he have a clear commitment to them in his life priorities and what he gives his time and his lips to? It's because there is a subversive element that is continually at work trying to erode the foundation of biblical truth, of the foundation of the church. Verse 3, and the problem is found frankly in the pews. The problem is often found in the pews. Verse 3, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

Who's the they? The people that come for teaching. They don't want sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. You know, if I were sitting in a pew right now instead of in the pulpit, you know, I often speak of the terror that I feel when something strikes me as I'm preaching. Well, I hope that there's a sense of fear and terror that strikes you in the pew, recognizing that the pew is often driving and providing a counter influence that is not in accordance with sound doctrine, that's not in accordance with sound teaching.

You wouldn't want to be a part of that, would you? That's undermining the work of the Word of God because of the demands that you make on a pulpit, that it teach what you want to hear? I have people that tell me that, here's what you need to teach on. They want to dictate to the pulpit from their carnality what the church ought to teach. They want teaching in accordance with their own desires. Beloved, that's not biblical, that's deeply sinful, and it results in people turning away from the truth so that they can have myths that make them comfortable. We need men who want to be elders whether they have the title or not, men who are devoted to truth whether they have the title or not, whether they have a platform to teach or not. That's what we need, that's what every church needs, is men like that. And those of you that are on that path, I thank God for you. Just keep doing what you're doing and let the Lord work out the timing of what opportunities are for you.

Settle it in your heart that you're going to set your heart in this direction. Then verse 5, you see the call on spiritual leadership, but you, there's the contrast again. The world is like this, carnal people in the pew are like this, but you Timothy, here's what you do, you be sober in all things. You endure hardship, you do the work of an evangelist, you fulfill your ministry.

Why? For Paul, I'm already being poured out. I'm about to go, the end of my life has come Timothy, and now the responsibility devolves upon you to take up this responsibility and be faithful to it for the purposes of Christ, for the purposes of the Word, and for the good of the people of God that he redeemed to be a possession for his own good name.

High, lofty things that we're seeing here from the Word of God. Now listen, beloved, that kind of teaching ministry doesn't just happen. This is not something that a man can put together in a couple of hours on a Saturday evening and then come and step and deliver the Word of God clearly and with authority and with accuracy.

It doesn't work like that. It requires the man to give his time and focused attention to it over the course of life. Listen, listen, a biblical pastor gladly serves his people, gladly enters into their sorrows, their joys, biblical elders. I'm not just limiting it to the office of the teaching pastor here. He gladly does that. But do you see that a biblical pastor, a biblical elder cannot let his social calendar, as good as it might be in and of itself, he cannot let a social calendar compromise his primary duty to study and teach? He can't do that.

He can't do that. He has to give his attention to these things, be absorbed in them, so that progress would be evident to all. A local congregation, a church congregation that affirms that priority for their pastor, I'm speaking beyond Truth Community Church here in this moment, a congregation that affirms that priority for its teaching pastor and respects his study time is a church that receives the long-term benefit of it in return. Let's go to the second point here today and realize the emphasis on good deeds, on good deeds.

You have a good distinction. Titus' ministry is to emphasize good deeds. One of the things that you see about the culture in which Titus was ministering is that it was very much like our culture today.

He was ministering in a culture that was deceitful, lazy, and rebellious. Look at chapter 1, verse 10. He says, there are many rebellious men, Titus chapter 1, verse 10. There are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, verse 11, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, Paul's going to quote a secular poet of the time, one of themselves, a prophet of their own. This is one of their own people says this about them. He says, cretins are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. That's our culture.

Watch the commercials for any sporting event and what it drives people to do, what it calls people to do. Well, the church in the first century was born into that culture, and the people needed to grow in that. They needed to grow in lifestyle, come out of that lazy, rebellious lifestyle, and into the productive living of a child of God. And so Paul tells Timothy what it is that he is to speak. He assigns to him the content of his teaching. Verse 1, you speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. You see, beloved, and a lot of people don't have the patience for this, but they pay a long-term price for their rejection of it. God uses sound doctrine to cause believers to grow in grace.

We'll see this more in a moment. Paul explains what he means by the things which are fitting. This is really important for what's going to come in future weeks here from our pulpit, really, really important to understand. Paul says, you speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine, and then he goes and he tells them, you speak to these various categories of people within the church, the men, the women, and the children, and you give them these specific instructions.

That, what follows, are the things that are fitting for sound doctrine. And it's amazing in that lazy, evil culture how much Paul emphasizes that there are to be good deeds brought forth by men and women in the church. Look at the emphasis on good deeds quickly in verse 7, chapter 2, verse 7.

In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds. Verse 14, Christ gave himself to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. Chapter 3, verse 1, remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed. Verse 8, this is a trustworthy statement. I want you to speak confidently about it so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. Verse 14, at the end of the letter, our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs so that they will not be unfruitful. We'll look at this more in detail in coming weeks, but what I want you to see is that there is a very practical element to what Paul is saying. There are deeds that are good, qualitatively righteous, and there's everything else.

There's that which is lazy and rebellious and a waste of time. Titus, you come and you teach them how they are to live, and you speak and exhort with all authority, let no one disregard you. This isn't optional teaching, beloved. This is not optional in the eyes of God, and it is so important that it is emphasized repeatedly in the context. And as I like to say, it's not complicated. Good deeds are not complicated in the body of Christ.

It's as simple as this. See a need, meet a need. See a need, meet a need. Beloved, you do not need a spiritual gifts test to be useful to people, and those kinds of tests not only are a waste of time, they are counterproductive. They teach people to say, this is my gift, I don't do the other stuff.

That's wrong. If you see a need which is in your capacity to meet, you don't need to ask, well, am I gifted for that or not? If you have the ability to meet it, meet it. Accept it as a providential opportunity from the Lord.

I'll say this other thing as well, and this needs to be emphasized too. You don't need a spiritual gifts test to be useful to people. You don't. Just be sensitive and available and a servant.

That will take you a very long way. But what you do need to do, you do need to set aside with concern over the perceived wrongs that someone else has done to you. You need to set that aside and not be preoccupied with an unforgiving, bitter spirit that so and so did this to me and just start to separate and draw back, and oh, there's an exit behind me, I'm going to turn out and go. That's not biblical living. That's not biblical thinking. That's not being engaged in good deeds.

The word for that is selfish and bitter and resentful. You see, biblical ministry transforms you and makes you productive. Here's a little test you can give yourself. You want to know how you can know if you're responding to a biblical ministry?

Not whether you're under one, whether you're responding to one. You'll know that you're responding to a biblical ministry when you find yourself saying, my life is changing. Something's happening to me. There's a different power that's at work in my heart, and my affections and my desires are changing, and the things that I used to love I no longer care about, and the things that I used to ignore, those are the things that I find pleasure and joy in. That's when you know you're responding to a biblical ministry. You say, my life is changing, because you find yourself developing a course of pursuing the good deeds that God performed and put into your life. But what you must understand, beloved, is that that kind of biblical change in your life doesn't just happen in a vacuum. In a biblical change, good deeds come from a different source.

They come from another source. What you live is a reflection of what you believe. Not what you say you believe, not your affirmation of our confession of faith. What you really believe is shown in the way that you really live on a day-to-day basis.

We live what we truly believe, not what we say we believe. That leads us into our third and final point about good doctrine. Good doctrine. Seen a good distinction, good deeds, and now we're going to see good doctrine. Let me introduce this point with a brief quote from John MacArthur's book, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness.

He says this on page eight. He says, I have often defended the notion that doctrine is inherently practical. What we believe determines how we think, how we behave, and how we respond to life's trials. Abstract beliefs never remain abstract.

They inevitably manifest themselves in behavior. A right belief system therefore lies at the foundation of all truly righteous conduct. Good deeds flow from good doctrine, not the other way around. Look at verse one with me again, chapter two, verse one. Paul says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you could equally say, God says, as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

That word sound has the idea of being healthy. Titus must teach things that promote healthy spiritual life. And it is easy, beloved, especially in the foolish rebellion against God's order for men and women in the church that is so prevalent in other circles and just focus on the roles for men and women that are outlined in chapter two. They're there, but it's easy to miss what they stand upon. It's easy to miss how central doctrine is to this entire chapter two.

I want to show you this just very briefly. Chapter two, verse two, older men are to be sound in faith. Verse three, older women are to be, end of the verse, teaching what is good. Verse five, the young women are to live this way so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Verse seven, in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity and doctrine. Verse 10, slaves, employees are to live this way, end of the verse, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

Verse 11, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and on it goes. Six times in those brief 11 verses, you see an emphasis on doctrine, on teaching, on instruction. The word of God is central to these biblical roles that we're going to be considering. That's why it's so important that it be taught properly and accurately and that the man of God give himself to get it right, to cut it straight so that it lines up with the way it is to be.

And so it is important for you to read scripture on your own. It is important for you to be at your church consistently so that you could participate in this biblical priority of emphasizing good doctrine that Paul calls upon all of the church to devote itself to. Sound doctrine builds healthy lives that bring glory to God. We're going to continue to teach sound doctrine and ask God to bless it to our souls and to the glory of Christ. That's Don Green bringing our time to a close today here on The Truth Pulpit. Well, Don, as you bring this series to a close, it's so vitally important for our listeners to know that bad doctrine and false teaching are nothing to be trifled with, and that, in fact, we're told in scripture to get as far away from false teachers as possible.

Isn't that right? You know, Bill, in my mind, the challenge is this. The danger is real, but it is also subtle. Jude, in his short epistle near the end of the Bible, speaks about how false teachers creep in unnoticed.

You don't even recognize they're there until the damage has started to manifest itself. Well, my friend, our desire at The Truth Pulpit is to help you discern what is real from scripture and to follow Christ. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your prayers, and we'll see you again next time on this broadcast that seeks to honor the Word of God as we teach God's people God's Word. Thanks, Don. And friend, if you'd like to find out more about this ministry, please visit thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Well, that's all the time we have for today. I'm Bill Wright. Join us again next time here on The Truth Pulpit.