Three weeks ago we were staying in the Swiss Alps in the beautiful mountain village of Bettmeralp. The Sunday was the day of the Aletsch Half Marathon. Two and a half thousand runners came from all over the world to take part. The start line beside the village cable car station was at 6400 feet above sea level. The competitors then raced, not on smooth roads but over narrow and rough mountain tracks. The path goes up and down a lot but generally climbing because the race finishes at the top at the Bettmerhorn cable car at an altitude of 8,700 feet. Over the course of the race the runners have not only run more than 13 miles but they have also climbed an extra 2,300 feet. The day was baking hot. But more than that, as you go higher in the mountains the air gets thinner. So at the finish line there is only three quarters the amount of air that there is at ground level. Up that high even just walking it is noticeably harder to breathe. The winner finished the race in 1 hour 36 minutes and 59 seconds. That was an average of each mile in just seven and a half minutes. Those athletes were truly amazing!

Watching the runners reminded me of my own experiences of competitive running at school half a century ago. Every few weeks our games afternoon took the form of a cross-country run. Every year the school used to set aside a whole day to a cross-country running competition called “The Gatley.” For the first four years absolutely everybody had to take part – and I did not do very well. But in the sixth form people chose whether to take part, and I did. In my second to last outing I came a respectable 56th out of a couple of hundred runners. In my last run I came 25th against a field which included a number of county-level runners, athletes and other players of different sports. What I remember most about competing in the Gatley was how totally exhausting it was to run three and half miles in 20-something minutes! Winning wasn’t ever a possibility for me – the challenge was simply to finish the course!

Which brings us to these words the apostle Paul wrote with the end of his life fast approaching.

2 Timothy 4 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

“I have finished the race”. We have looked before at different pictures Paul used of the Christian life: the soldier serving his commanding officer, the hard-working farmer anticipating the harvest, and the athlete who competing in the games. We read in 2 Timothy 2:5
2 Timothy 2:5 … anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.

Here at the end of this letter Paul returns to this picture of the Christian life as a race to be run but he had used the metaphor in other places as well.

Acts 20 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

This picture of a race is an inspiration to all of us in our Christian lives.

Winning the race requires COMMITMENT

You may find it hard to believe, but there was a time in my life when I was a bit sporty. My chosen sport was not tennis but the national sport of Canada, lacrosse, which is known as the fastest sport on two feet. It is a field sport played with sticks a bit like hockey throwing a sort of cricket ball in the air between players. Just about the only rule in men’s lacrosse is that you aren’t allowed to hit your opponent if he hasn’t got the ball. I had the joy of representing my university at lacrosse. That meant much more than just turning up and playing a match on a Saturday afternoon. For a start, away matches were anywhere across the bottom half of England, from Birmingham and Nottingham to Oxford and parts of South London so it sometimes took up 8 or ten hours to travel, play and come home again. Then there was 3 hours training on the pitch on Wednesday afternoon, an hour practising skills on the field on Tuesday lunch hour and an hour of circuit fitness training in the gym on Thursday lunchtime. That made anywhere between 9 and 15 hours a week – just to play a match for 80 minutes. 9 to15 hours a week to fit in between lectures and laboratory work and tutorials and study. Winning requires commitment, dedication and training00!

1 Corinthians 9 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

I’m no casual jogger – I’m no shadow boxer. Paul was in the race to win the prize and so he went into strict training. He wasn’t just trying to win some sporting competition – what he was doing was of eternal importance. And he uses that picture of a race to encourage all believers to work hard in their Christian faith.

Paul says the same to the Philippians

Philippians 3 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

Forgetting what is behind and straining towards the goal to win the prize. Somebody once asked Bill Shankley the football manager whether he thought football was a matter of life and death? “Oh no”, he replied, “It’s much more important than that!” Winning the race of life requires commitment and dedication!
Winning the race requires FOCUS

Philippians 3:15 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.

Writer to Hebrews

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus gives us our example. We need to stay focussed, keeping our eyes fixed on the finishing line

The snow covered the ground where three lads were playing. A man came along and said to them, “Would you like to try a race and the winner receive a prize?” The boys agreed and the man told them that his race was to be different. “I will go to the other side of the field,” he said, “and when I give you the signal, you will start to run. The one whose footsteps are the straightest in the snow will be the winner.”
The race commenced and the first boy kept looking at his feet to see if his steps were straight. The second lad kept looking at his companions to see what they were doing; But the third boy just ran on with his eyes steadfastly fixed on the man on the other side of the field. Of course the third boy was the winner, because his footsteps were straight in the snow. He had kept his eyes on the goal ahead of him. Too many Christians have their eyes fixed on themselves, or on other Christians. Many get distracted into looking at the distractions of the world or the flesh or the devil. Instead we should keep our eyes fixed on Jesus! And on the crown of righteousness which wwaiting for us when the race is over.

We need to throw off all the weights which might slow us down. There is a story about the army of Alexander the Great as was advancing on Persia. At one critical point, the troops were about to be defeated. The soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous campaigns that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat. Alexander immediately commanded that all the spoils be thrown into a heap and burned. The men complained bitterly but soon came to see the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, “It was as if wings had been given to them—they walked lightly again.” Victory was assured.

Jesus calls us to look beyond the struggles of this world to the joys of the next! We should be storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not chasing after prizes on earth. I am reminded of the true story of Eric Liddell presented in the film Chariots of Fire. When it came to competing in the 1924 Olympics, he refused to run on a Sunday. Liddell put serving God before winning Olympic medals. But what are OUR priorities? We must make sure we are aiming to win God’s prize! We’re not just doing the kind of spiritual jogging which lets us slow down to a stroll or even hop on a bus home when we get a bit tired. We have to keep our focus in order to take first prize.

Here was Paul’s testimony.
2 Timothy 4 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Paul himself fought the good fight. And he urged Timothy to do the same.

1 Timothy 1 18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.

1 Timothy 6 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses

We should be aiming to fight the good fight. To finish the race. We need commitment, we need focus and then
Winning the prize requires PERSEVERANCE

because the Christian life isn’t a sprint but a marathon!

When I was about 15 I ran the 1500 metres for the first time representing my form. I was on the track against the best middle distance runner in our school. He was actually county champion. I easily kept up with him for the first lap. I even managed to stay with him for the second lap. During the third lap I began to get tired and by the end of the third lap I was absolutely exhausted. He ran on and won of course. Going into the last lap I just collapsed in a heap on the floor and never finished the race!

Paul says, “I have finished the race.” And that is what counts. There is the old saying, “it isn’t the winning that matters, all that counts is taking part.” But that is not what Paul says. What he says is that he has finished the race. Victory is not about coming first, but about getting to the finishing line without running out of steam or giving up half way or getting distracted. “I have finished the race.” High in the Alps there is a monument raised in honor of a faithful guide who perished while ascending a peak to rescue a stranded tourist. Inscribed on that memorial stone are these words: HE DIED CLIMBING. A maturing, growing Christian should have the same kind of attitude, right up to the end of life. God gives us this wonderful promise.

2 Timothy 4 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

We have this glorious promise of eternity with God. But a verse of an old spiritual reminds us of an important truth. The song is “I gotta home in gloryland which outshines the sun.” The verse goes “If you will not bear the cross you can’t wear the crown, Way beyond the blue!” God calls us to look beyond the struggles of this life to the glory which is waiting for us, and for ALL who finish the race, who fight the good fight, who keep the faith. The race may be difficult and painful – but the prize will be worth it.

The Tour De France is perhaps the most gruelling of all bicycle races. An article in National Geographic once called it “An Annual Madness.” The race covers about 2000 miles, including some of France’s most difficult, mountainous terrain. Eating and drinking is done on the run. And there are extremes of heat and cold. Some riders train for the event by riding more than 20,000 miles a year. But what kind of prize makes people endure so much hardship and pain! £10,000? £100,000? No. It’s just a special winner’s jersey. What then motivates the contestants? “Why, to sweep through the Arc de Triomphe on the last day. To be able to say you finished the Tour de France.”

For us as Christians the prize awaiting us when we finish the race is so much more glorious, more wonderful, more totally undeserved. God will give us the crown of righteousness – the crown of life.

You may have heard about the evangelist Tom Rees – the English Billy Graham. Back iin the 1950s and 1960s Tom Rees filled the Albert Hall more than 50 times with his “Get Right with God” rallies. He led an evangelistic “Mission to Britain” where he preached within 50 miles of every person in Britain. Throughout his life Tom Rees committed verses of Scripture to memory until he could recite the whole of the New Testament by heart. The last book he had to learn was 2 Timothy. And he never finished it. On the very day he died Tom Rees had just learned this verse, which gives us our encouragement, our motivation and our inspiration::

2 Timothy 4 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness.

The Pastoral Letters were written to instruct and encourage Timothy and Titus as leaders of prominent churches. They teach us about the qualities required for Christian leadership and the tasks of ministers and they teach us all about how to live the Christian life. But these were also very personal letters from Paul to two of his close friends. They paint us a powerful picture of Paul himself and of the many things he suffered for the sake of the gospel. At the same time they contain Paul’s testimonies of the ways God had sustained him through all his struggles, which can inspire and sustain us when we go through times of trouble.
PAUL’S STRUGGLES
The Christian life is a battle
1 Timothy 1 18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience,
1 Timothy 6 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
As Paul sensed that his life in this world is coming to an end he wrote this.
2 Timothy 4 6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

The Christian life is a battle – we must fight the good fight of the faith.
There will be suffering
Paul mentions suffering five times in the four chapters of 2 Timothy
2 Timothy 3 10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.
Timothy certainly did know all about Paul’s sufferings. On their first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas had planted a church in Lystra and we can deduce that Timothy was one of their early converts. By the time that Paul and Silas went back to visit that church in Acts 16, Timothy was highly respected by the believers there. Timothy even went to the lengths of being circumcised so that he could join Paul and Silas on their missionary journeys. So he was with Paul in Corinth and in Ephesus. Timothy had witnessed first hand all the opposition and persecution that Paul had experienced, and possibly even shared in some of it.
Paul reminds Timothy of the painful reality which some Christians have had to face in every age.
2 Timothy 3 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
We see in the news every day how evildoers and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. At the same time opposition to Christian things is increasing. Paul knew the truth of this in his own experience.
2 Timothy 1 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am.
Christians will experience persecution. These words are not just for missionaries and ministers and church leaders. If we want to follow Jesus all Christians must face the possibility of opposition and suffering.
There are a number of places where Paul encourages Timothy to join him in suffering for Christ.
2 Timothy 1 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
2 Timothy 2 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

Paul had experienced opposition and persecution
He mentions particular people by name.
2 Timothy 4 14 Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. 15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
Paul could have been referring to the person who stirred up the mob against him in Ephesus. He also mentions Hymenaeus and a different Alexander who had shipwrecked their faith. The book of Acts and letters like 2 Corinthians mention lots of other occasions where Paul had faced fierce opposition as well.
As he was writing, Paul was in prison for his faith
2 Timothy 1 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner.
2 Timothy 2 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Paul was happy to suffer and even to be in prison, because his sufferings led to other people coming to know Christ and be saved.
Paul knew what it was to be abandoned
2 Timothy 1 15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
2 Timothy 4 16 At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.
Everyone deserted me!
2 Timothy 4 9 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me.
All these verses speak to me about a deep sadness in Paul’s life. So many of the people he was close to, people who he had worked with and had relied on, had not been there for him when he most needed their help. Some like Crescens and Titus had been continuing in the Lord’s work in other places. Others like Phygelus and Hermogenes seemed to have abandoned their faith. One seems particularly tragic. 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Paul had passed on greetings from Demas in the letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, where Paul described him as a fellow-worker. Now we read that Demas “left him in the lurch” because he loved the world too much. At the time Paul was writing, only doctor Luke who wrote his Gospel and Acts, was still with Paul. Paul, like Jesus, knew what it felt like to be abandoned. Following Jesus and proclaiming the gospel will sometimes bring suffering and persecution and even imprisonment and desertion. But in all of this, Paul then shares his testimonies of
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
2 Timothy 3 10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
Here was Paul’s testimony through everything that he had suffered. He had experienced opposition and persecution and been imprisoned for his faith. But through it all, God had rescued him. When even his friends had deserted him, God had not abandoned him. Every time God had saved him.
2 Timothy 4 16 At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.
God had been with Paul in all his times of trouble. What a wonderful testimony! God stood at my side. God gave me strength. So we do not need to be afraid about what we might have to endure as followers of Jesus. Paul’s encouragement to Timothy also encourages, even if we are called to suffer for Christ.
2 Timothy 1 6 … fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Whatever we may face as we are following Jesus, the Holy Spirit who lives inside every Christian will give us all the power, all the love and all the self-control we need to remain faithful to God.
Since God had rescued him in the past, Paul was totally confident that God would always save him in the future too.
1 Timothy 4:17… And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lord will rescue me. The road may be bumpy and there may even be lions on the road. Life may be filled will storms, but God promises to bring us all safely to our ultimate destination, our heavenly home. God will rescue us too.
Paul uses another trustworthy saying to encourage Timothy. Here he is probably quoting the words of an early Christian hymn which sustained the first Christians in the days before the New Testament was written.
2 Timothy 2 11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

Here is an encourage to persevere in our faith, however difficult that might be. We have shared in Christ’s death, so we also share in His resurrection life. More than that, if we persevere in enduring suffering we will indeed reign with Him in glory forever. There is a solemn warning not to give up. “If we disown him he will also disown us.” This saying is only quoting the words of Jesus himself.
Matthew 10 32 ‘Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
Here is a warning to persevere, but it is followed by a reassuring promise. Even if Christians do lose faith in the face of opposition and persecution,
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Christ’s faithfulness to us is not dependent on our faithfulness to him, or we would all be lost. God is faithful and trustworthy – that is his divine character. He will always remain faithful to us. Even if we give up on God he will never give up on us! So Paul testifies that
God will never let us down!
2 Timothy 1 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
Here is one of the most encouraging and inspiring verses in the whole of the Bible. I am ashamed to say I have never preached on it but at least we can think about it today. We may know it better from the old King James Version or from the chorus of the great hymn we just sang.
2 Timothy 1:12 “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (King James Version)
Paul was not ashamed of suffering or being in prison because of Christ,
“for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.” (New Living Translation)
Paul had so many experiences of God’s provision and God’s grace and God rescuing him. God had stood by him no matter what. So Paul was sure, he was certain, he was absolutely convinced, he was totally persuaded that God would take care both of him and also of all that he had entrusted to God. “I know the one in whom I trust.” We also know the one we have put our trust in. We also have received the amazing grace of God.
2 Timothy 1:9 … This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
We know the one we have put our trust in. Jesus has died for our sins. We share in his resurrection life and his immortality. We have received the love of God which never lets us go. God will always be faithful. Whatever we may face in this life, we can put our trust in God. Suffering, opposition, imprisonment, abandonment – God will never let us go. God is not just able, he is much, much, more than able take care of us and keep us safe.
The story goes that years ago an ambassador was looking for a new car. He sent off to all the major manufacturers, Jaguar, Bentley, Daimler asking for the specifications of their top models. The other makes replied with all sorts of details: top speed, brake horsepower, miles per gallon, time to 60 mph, sound system and so on. Rolls Royce sent back a message with just one word on it. “Adequate”. For all of our situations the overflowing grace of God is much more than just adequate! God is more than able!
2 Timothy 1:12 “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (KJV)

People sometimes ask, do Baptists pray for the Queen and for her Government? After all we are not the state church, the Church of England. We stand in the tradition of non-conformists and dissenters who at times were even persecuted by the state church. The answer is that, of course, Baptists pray for the Queen and for the Royal Family, and for the Government. Because the Bible tells all Christians to do so. As we celebrate Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee it is no coincidence that we find ourselves in Paul’s letters to Timothy and come to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1.
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority,
First of all – above all things. I wonder if we would have guessed what Paul considered should come first of all, above all things. Even if we had thought that prayer would be the most important thing for Christians to do, it might not even have occurred to us who Paul would ask us to pray for first, above all. “For kings and all those in authority.” The topic is so important that he uses four different words for our prayers – petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving. It isn’t easy to unravel the differences between those kinds of praying. The New Living Translation does well when it says, I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. In other words, there should be lots and lots of prayers, for all people and particularly “for kings and all those in authority.”
There are a number of reasons why this instruction might surprise us when we think of when Paul was writing, during the years when the church was experiencing brutal persecution under the Roman Empire at the direction of Emperor Nero. Christians were being crucified and used as human torches. Yet Paul still urges Christians to pray for kings, including the Emperor, and for the ruling authorities. In fact, the New Testament consistently urged the first Christians to submit to the ruling authorities even when those rulers were opposed to the Christian faith.
Titus 3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.
Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
We should all submit to the governing authorities because we recognise that God has allowed them to be in control. In the current situation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it may be difficult to believe that God is allowing President Putin to be in control of Russia. But the Bible still insists that God is on the throne, and any authorities which exist have been put in place by God. That kind of respect for governing authorities was commanded in the Old Testament.
Exodus 22 28 “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
Proverbs 24:21 Fear the LORD and the king, my son,
Jesus himself had taught his disciples
Matthew 22:21 … “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
So Paul wrote, Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities,
At roughly the same time, Peter also wrote to Christians enduring the same fierce persecution under Emperor Nero.
1 Peter 2 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
Despite all the sufferings of persecution, Peter and Paul both urged Christians to submit to the governing authorities, recognising that they have been put in place by God. God has appointed governments to protect the people and to punish wrongdoing. “Governors … are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.” It is also the responsibility of governments to promote the welfare of everybody especially the poor and the weak and the needy. In return it is our Christian responsibility to be good citizens and this applies just as much whether the government is moral or immoral, God fearing or atheistic. So Romans 13:7 tells us that we should pay our taxes. “Give to everyone what you owe them: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.” Some governments are good, some are bad, some are ugly, but however oppressive the government may be, the instructions to Christians are the same.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, … Show proper respect to everyone … fear God, honor the king.
Christians should be good citizens. We should always keep on praying for our government with petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving.
Paul gives Timothy two important reasons why we should be praying for kings and governments. Firstly,
that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Saviour,
When government is good, ordinary people may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness. So we should keep on praying that God will lead and help kings and rulers to be good and wise rulers and governments to be good and just and compassionate governments. We need justice to protect people who are weak and marginalised. And we need compassion to help the poor and needy. With good government everybody can live peaceful, quiet, holy and godly lives. Our nation’s leaders need all the help they can get to govern wisely and justly, so we should be praying for them.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth carries a great weight of many responsibilities and she has always given an inspiring example of sacrificial service and deep personal faith. We should be praying for the Queen and for the Royal Family. We will also be praying especially for Charles as he will one day be our King.
We should also be praying for our government, for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and for the Cabinet, for Keir Starmer and the Opposition, and for all MPs including Vicky Ford, our Conservative MP for Chelmsford. Of course, if we want to pray properly for our government we are going to need to know their names.
It is only right that Christians pray for God’s blessing on the country we live in.
Jeremiah 29 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’
We pray so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
Message: “The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.”
But then Paul goes on to give us a second reason why we should pray for kings and those in authority.
3 This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
The second reason we pray for kings and all those in authority is because God wants them to be saved. Kings and Queens and rulers and governments and MPs need to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth just as much as anybody else. This is the gospel Paul proclaimed.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
Jesus died to pay the penalty for sin, to bring us back to God. Jesus is the only mediator between human beings and the God who created us all. Jesus is the only way to God. We all need Jesus, from the least to the greatest. Kings and Queens and Rulers and Governors and MPs don’t have any special access to God just because they hold important positions in society. They need Jesus to save them as much as anybody else. Indeed they face particular temptations and challenges because of their positions. It may be harder for them to acknowledge that they need a Saviour. So we need to pray for them, that they will be saved.
We praise God for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s deep faith in God.
‘…billions of people now follow his [Christ’s] teaching and find in him the guiding light for their lives. I am one of them because Christ’s example helps me see the value of doing small things with great love, whoever does them and whatever they themselves believe.’ (2016)
Her Majesty has openly acknowledged Jesus as Saviour.
“Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.” (2011)
When we are praying for our Royal Family and for our Government we should be praying that they will all be saved. Indeed, the best way for us to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee will be to spend some time praying for Her Majesty and for the Royal Family. Honour the Queen.
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority,

Paul’s two letters to Timothy include a number of instructions. Some are obviously meant to apply to all Christians. Some instructions are personal just for Timothy. Some parts are obviously directed especially to ministers and church leaders who are responsible for teaching the church and standing up to false teaching and false teachers.
Devote yourself … to preaching and to teaching. (1 Timothy 4:13)
2 Timothy 2. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Those instructions were particularly important for Timothy and by extension for all ministers and church leaders today. But then Paul has a number of pieces of valuable advice which are surely relevant for all Christians as we seek to serve and glorify God. When we looked at what Paul says about the qualifications required by Christian leaders, we saw that it was all about character. Being like Christ is not just for leaders but for every Christian. So here is the most important advice Paul gives to Timothy.
1 Timothy 4:7 …. train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Train yourself to be godly. We should train ourselves for a holy life. Keep yourself in training for godliness.
J.B. Phillips Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.
Train yourself to be godly
8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
In our first sermon I said that the trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance is the one that follows which talks about God who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe. That sounds more like the kind of trustworthy saying the Early Church might have passed around. But it could actually be referring to the previous verse. The saying to be believed and trusted and accepted by everyone could indeed be that godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. That is just as true and just as important.
Physical fitness only lasts for this life. Godliness brings blessings in this life plus all the glorious promises of the life to come.
Message Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart.
J.B. Phillips Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.
Train yourself to be godly. Across these two letters we can find a number of pictures for living the Christian life which illustrate this idea of getting fit for godly living. We saw the first three in our reading today in 2 Timothy 2
2 Timothy 2 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.
The first picture is of a soldier. Living the Christian life is like being a soldier in a battle. We need the same singleness of purpose as a soldier.
2 Timothy 2 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
The Christian life is indeed a spiritual battle.
1 Timothy 6 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
We should all fight the good fight of the faith.
1 Timothy 1:18 you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience,
Approaching the end of his life, Paul wrote,
2 Timothy 4 6 … I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight,
The Christian life is a spiritual battle and we should all show as much commitment to following and serving Jesus as soldiers do to obeying their commanding officers.
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, Christians should not let lesser things get in the way of following and serving Jesus.
The second picture is of an athlete. Living the Christian life is also like being an athlete. We need dedication and intense preparation and we need to stick to the rules.
2 Timothy 2 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.
RICHARD BAXTER It is a most lamentable thing to see how most people spend their time and their energy for trifles, while God is cast aside. He who is all seems to them as nothing, and that which is nothing seems to them as good as all. It is lamentable indeed, knowing that God has set mankind in such a race where heaven or hell is their certain end, that they should sit down and loiter, or run after the childish toys of the world, forgetting the prize they should run for. Were it but possible for one of us to see this business as the all-seeing God does, and see what most men and women in the world are interested in and what they are doing every day, it would be the saddest sight imaginable. Oh, how we should marvel at their madness and lament their self-delusion!
2 Timothy 4 7 … I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
We will come back again to this picture of the Christian life as a race in the last sermon in this series.
The third picture Paul uses for ministry and for living the Christian life is a bit unexpected.
2 Timothy 2 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.
We should be like farmers. The thing with farming is that all the hard work comes first in the ploughing and the sowing and the watering. The harvest doesn’t come until much later. The challenge is for Christians to persevere in their faith just as a farmer must do. We need to work hard in this life for the future reward of a heavenly harvest.
1 Timothy 4 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Soldiers, athletes and farmers all need determination, hard work and perseverance. Then we find a one more striking metaphor for serving God and living the Christian life later in the chapter.
2 Timothy 2 20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
We should see compare our lives to vessels or utensils in a great house, which serve different functions. This is a call to holiness. We need to purify ourselves if we want God to use us for his special purposes. God deserves the finest spotless china, not a stained plastic cup. We need to set ourselves apart to be holy and to be useful so that we will be suitably prepared for any good works God calls us to.
The Message “In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.”
It all boils down to how much we want God to be able to use us in his service for his glory. Become the kind of container God can use. Training in godliness. Soldiers, athletes, farmers, vessels for noble purposes. But all of this sounds very challenging. We are all only human. How can we possibly accomplish such things for God?
Paul gives Timothy the secret of serving God
2 Timothy 1 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
The work of the Holy Spirit was especially important to Timothy in his ministry.
2 Timothy 1 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
At the same time every Christian needs the help of the Holy Spirit to serve and glorify God. We all need to fan into flame the spiritual gifts God has given each of us to enable us to serve him.
7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of POWER. We need to consciously open our lives to the awesome power of Almighty God! We need to invite God to work miracles in our lives. Our God is a supernatural God! So often we only expect Him to work in “natural” ways. God is able, and indeed God longs `to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.’ (Ephesians 3:20).
`He longs to do much more than our faith has yet allowed,
To thrill us and surprise us with His sovereign power.’
God wants to fill each of us afresh so that we experience more of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of power.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of LOVE. We need to open our lives to the love which the Holy Spirit brings. To allow the Holy Spirit to give us a fresh experience, maybe an absolutely overwhelming experience of just how much God loves us. And at the same time God will help us to love other Christians in the same way as God has loved us and at the same time to love our neighbours. God wants to fill each of us afresh so that we experience more of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Love.
The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of SELF-CONTROL. We need to allow God to break into our lives and make us holy – to set us free from all with the sins which keep us away from God. By itself our human efforts in repentance will not set us free from sin. We need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the power of Christ which saves from the gutter-most to the uttermost! God wants to fill each of us afresh with the Spirit of Self-control.
Not every Christian is called to be a minister or a leader in the church. But God calls every Christian to live a godly life, full of good works. We all need to train ourselves to be godly – but we can’t do this in our own strength. We all need power and love and self-control. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to approach our Christian lives like single-minded soldiers and dedicated athletes, but we can’t serve God in our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to be like hardworking farmers and we need to cleanse ourselves to be utensils God can use for his special purpose. But for all these things we need the strength of the Holy Spirit. These are the challenges and the adventures of living the Christian life.
2 Timothy 1 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

There is a verse from the Bible which most people know. Or at least they think they know it. Complete this well known phrase or saying. “Something … is the root of all evil.” “Something … is the root of all evil.” Many people think the Bible says, “Money is the root of all evil.” In fact it doesn’t. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 10 actually says something much more profound. It is “the love of money” which is the root of all kinds of evil. This is an important message for our materialistic world. We should be on our guard, because the love of money can lead to all kinds of evil. Let’s put that verse into its context and see how Paul gets to that familiar saying.
He is talking about the dangers of false teaching and false teachers. He describes them as
1 Timothy 6 5 …. people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
While he is thinking about the contrast between true godliness and financial gain Paul goes on to say this.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
What is important is not getting rich or being rich. What really matters in life is to be godly and to be content. Godliness with contentment is great gain.
Godliness, piety and true religion, means having the appropriate reverence for God. Godliness means living a God-like life. The Good News Translation says, Religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have.
J.B.Phillips put it, There is a real profit, of course, but it comes only to those who live contentedly as God would have them live.
Being content with what we have is one aspect of a godly life.
7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
We should be content with what we have. But it isn’t always easy to be content with what we have. I recognize that for some people the problem is they really don’t have enough. They don’t have enough food on the table or enough money to pay the bills. It cannot be easy to be content in that situation. But that isn’t the problem which the majority of people in this country face. Instead, the challenge for very many people is that enough is never enough. We live in a society which is driven by materialism and consumerism. The world around us tells us we are “born to shop.” “Tesco, ergo sum.” “I shop, therefore I am.” From the moment we are born we are told that we don’t only need money and possessions to survive, but we also need lots of money and lots of possessions to have any possibility of being happy. Success is measured by how much stuff a person has. And popularity rests on having lots and lots of stuff. This materialism is driven by the false god of consumerism with its twin mantras of freedom of choice and satisfaction guaranteed. Films and television fill our heads with images of wealth and prosperity which are out of the reach of most ordinary people. The lavish lifestyles of the rich and famous keep people worshipping the false god of celebrity. Above all we are surrounded everywhere on screens and billboards and shop windows with the hidden persuaders of the advertising industry. This was all summed up very nicely in a promotional slogan for Braintree Shopping Village back when it was called Freeport. “Ours is a shallow meaningless consumer society where we are defined by our possessions. Enjoy!”
Against all the pressures of the world around, the Bible says “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
In the face of the world around telling us that enough is never enough, Paul says 8 … if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
This was not just some optimistic ideal. Paul is simply encouraging others to discover for themselves the secret of contentment which he himself had learned. He wrote to the Philippians,
Philippians 4 11 … I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Content whatever the circumstances – in need or in plenty, well fed or hungry, Paul was content because he had learned to depend on God’s strength and not on his own resources.
6 … godliness with contentment is great gain.
The alternative to being content with what we have is to keep on chasing after more, and Paul warns us that never ends well.
9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
It is not just the desire for riches which is the trap, but all the stupid and destructive passions which follow on.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
It is not money itself which is evil, but the love of money which is dangerous. People who set their hearts on being wealthy open themselves up to all sorts of temptations.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
I am sure we all know people who have got carried away with chasing after wealth and possessions. Some of them have even abandoned their faith. Like in Jesus’s parable of the sower and the seed which fell into different kinds of soils,
Matthew 13 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Another word for the love of money of course is greed. We live in a world which thinks “greed is good.” In the film Wall Street, Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko put it like this.
“Greed — for lack of a better word — is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind.”
More than 30 years on from that film, our Western world is built more and more on that gigantic lie that Greed is Good. The truth is entirely the opposite. The Bible tells us what we know deep in our hearts. Greed is not good. Greed breeds injustice and self-centredness and self-satisfaction. Greed is very bad. And greed is just another word for coveting other people’s stuff. The Tenth Commandment says, “Do not covet.”
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
“Do not covet.” Craving, hankering after, longing for other people’s stuff, simply means an illegitimate desire for something which belongs to somebody else. Greed is a root of all kinds of evil. Longing after wealth and possessions distracts people from longing after God. Jesus warned about the dangers of greed.
Luke 12 15 Then (Jesus) said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
The Message: “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”
Greed is not good – greed is bad. Greed is a root of all kinds of evil.
Colossians 3 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Greed is idol worship. Money is one of the false gods of this generation. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount,
24 ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Money is a false god and greed is actually worshipping an idol. When people chase after money and put their trust in money then they are worshipping wealth and possessions instead of worshipping the one true Living God. The problem is that when someone is serving the false God of Money and greed becomes their driving force, then other things like honesty and integrity go out of the window as well and all kinds of evil usually follow.
Martin Luther commented on this passage – “Take a look at your own heart, and you will soon find out what has stuck to it and where your treasure is. It is easy to determine whether hearing the Word of God, living according to it, and achieving such a life gives you as much enjoyment and calls forth as much diligence from you as does accumulating and saving money and property.”
These are challenging questions. What gives us the most satisfaction and enjoyment? Which gets the most effort and concentration? Living our Christian lives? Or gaining money and possessions? Do we have hold of our money or does our money have a hold on us?
This is why Paul warns Timothy,
10 … the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. …..
We have already seen that the love of money was a great temptation in the church at Ephesus where Timothy was the leader and in his qualifications for leaders Paul says that an overseer should be (1 Timothy 33) not a lover of money and deacons should be (1 Timothy 3 8) not pursuing dishonest gain.
In his warning against false teachers, Paul wrote to Titus
Titus 1 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. After some personal advice for Timothy which we will look at another day, Paul returns to this theme with some instructions, not so much for people who want to be rich but for Christians who already were rich. And before we say to ourselves, this doesn’t apply to us, remember that in comparison with billions of people around the world, everybody in England is very rich.
1 Timothy 6 17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
One of the problems with being rich is that people can be tempted to put their trust in their wealth and in their possessions instead of putting their trust in God. They can end up relying on their money instead of relying on God.
The Bible does not say that Christians are not allowed to be wealthy. There was a rich young man who came to Jesus and asked him “what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
Matthew 19 21 Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’
Indeed, Jesus also said,
Luke 14 33 … those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Different groups of Christians have obeyed this command over the centuries. Think of St Francis of Assisi, who was rich but gave all his wealth away. Many other groups of monks and nuns like Mother Teresa of Calcutta have given up all earthly possessions to take vows of poverty. But there were rich people in the New Testament who followed Jesus but who definitely did not renounce their wealth, as far as we know. Joseph of Arimathea, who donated his own tomb for Jesus’s burial. Barnabas, son of encouragement, sold one of his fields, but not all of his fields, and gave the money to the apostles. Lydia hosted the very first church in Europe in her home. She clearly did not give her house away, and nor did other believers we read about in Paul’s letters, because house churches met there. And then there are those Christians who supported Paul financially in his work or gave to the poor fund for the needy saints in Jerusalem.
I don’t believe that the Bible teaches that all Christians are commanded to give away all their money and possessions. Across Matthew, Mark and Luke, one in six verses is concerned with how we deal with money and possessions. 16 of Christ’s parables are concerned with how we use our money. All of that teaching would be irrelevant if we all just gave everything away. The Bible teaches us how to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us.
The Bible does not say that Christians are not allowed to be wealthy, but it does say that whether we are rich or whether we are poor we must all use what we have been given for God’s purposes and for his glory. We must be responsible stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Paul is echoing the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 6 19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
We should be not be aiming to be rich in material things, but instead aiming to be spiritually rich. It was again Martin Luther who said that a person must go through three conversions: the conversion of the head, in our thinking; the conversion of the heart in our emotions, and the conversion of the pocketbook, the purse, the wallet. People who are rich, and that includes all of us, need to hear Paul’s instructions.
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
Do we give as generously as we could? As former US president and Christian Jimmy Carter memorably said “When it comes to giving, some people will stop at nothing.”
Jesus himself said, Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The great preacher Graham Scroggie said: there are two ways in which a Christian may view money. We can ask, “How much of my money shall I use for God?” Or we can ask, “How much of God’s money shall I use for myself?”
Godliness with contentment is great gain. We should resist all the temptations of greed. Christians should be putting aside treasures in heaven, not treasures on earth, rich in good deeds, generous and willing to share. We must always be on our guard. Because the love of money really is a root of all kinds of evil.

“Here is a trustworthy saying.” In our first sermon from 1 Timothy we looked at two of the trustworthy sayings in circulation around the Early Church which the apostle Paul says are worthy of full acceptance. Both of those concerned salvation. With each Paul said, This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed. (Good News Bible) There is no doubt about this at all, and Christians should remember it. (J.B. Phillips) You can count on this. Take it to heart. (Message)
This morning we move on to consider the third trustworthy saying Paul reminds Timothy about. What would you imagine it will be about? A saying about the righteousness and faithfulness of God perhaps? Or about the resurrection of Jesus? Or about the call to holy living or to love one another? Paul majors on all of these themes in many other places. But no. Instead, the third trustworthy saying he quotes in 1 Timothy is quite unexpected – although its theme is surely an important reason why the pastoral letters are included in the Canon of Scripture.
Here is a trustworthy saying: whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

Paul is talking about leadership in the church.
He begins by talking about an Overseer, an episcopos. The King James Bible and the New Revised Standard Version translate that title as Bishop. The Good News Translation and the New Living Translation say “church leader”. The Contemporary English Version says “church officials.” Different denominations understand that office in different ways but most churches would agree that “Overseers” probably refers to people who are set apart to serve the church in some way. Baptists and free churches would think it applies to Ministers and Pastors.
In verse 8 Paul goes on to talk about Deacons. The Good News Translation says “Church Helpers” and other versions go with the more literal “Servants in the Church.” These people seem to be other leaders who work in the church alongside the Overseers and they give us the biblical pattern for Deacons in Baptist churches. The fact is that we don’t really know very much about the difference between the jobs Overseers and Deacons did in the Early Church. Different denominations interpret the roles to fit in with the patterns of leadership they have in their churches today. The Bible says relatively little about the skills required to be an Overseer or a Deacon. What the Bible makes very clear is that leadership isn’t about skills. Leadership is all about character. Paul says that being an overseer is a noble task. And then he says,
2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

They must be “above reproach,” without fault, blameless, “such a good man that no one can rightly criticize him”. They must be faithful in marriage. Sexual purity is essential. They must be temperate, self-controlled, respectable and honest. They should be hospitable and they should be able to teach. Here is the only skill which is required of Overseers and is not mentioned for Deacons. They must be good teachers. We will come back to the issue of teaching in a few minutes.
An Overseer must be 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
Drunkenness disqualifies a person from Christian leadership. So does violence or being argumentative. A patient and gentle temperament is essential. And they must not be “a lover of money.” As we saw last week, greed and pursuit of financial gain was warning signs of a false teacher.
The family life of an Overseer sets an important example to the church and to the world.
4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
What Paul says next is important, in a world which often makes the mistake of giving people responsibility before they are ready for it.
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
And again Paul points out that church leaders are often the public face of the church.
7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

The great fourth century preacher John Chrysostom said this. “The minister’s shortcoming simply cannot be concealed. Even the most trivial soon get known…However trifling their offenses, these little things seem great to others, since everyone measures sin, not by the size of the offense, but by the standing of the sinner.”

For Overseers, Ministers and Pastors, it’s all about character! I once wrote an article which was published in the Baptist Times and in it I said, “There are no other jobs where skills, training and experience count for so little and character counts for everything. Robert Murray McCheyne wrote to a new minister: “In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.””
Prince Charles once described his duties as Prince of Wales like this. “More than anything else, it is a way of life. It’s more than a job. It’s a complete, 24-hour-a-day business, really.” And the same would be true of the work being a Minister.
Paul’s qualifications for Overseers are all about character. And he goes on to say much the same about Deacons, other people who hold positions of leadership in the church.
8 In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
Again, not pursuing dishonest gain. I am sad to see too many celebrity preachers and evangelists who disqualify themselves from any leadership in the church by their pursuit of money.

The primary responsibility of teaching and standing up to false teaching and false teachers rests with the Overseers. But Deacons are also expected to stand firm for the true faith.
9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
The same standards of purity are also expected of Deacons.
12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
It is for the church to discern whether a person is fit to serve the church as a leader.
10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

Whether as Overseers, Ministers, or as Deacons, what matters above all is character. Paul says exactly the same things in Titus chapter 1. And here in 1 Timothy Paul twice calls on Timothy himself to set a good example to other leaders and to the whole church.
1 Timothy 4 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity
1 Timothy 4 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
In the sixth century Gregory the Great said this. “He who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to exemplify the highest things.”
You may well point out that everything we are saying this morning about Christ-like character should surely apply to every Christian. None of us can use the excuse that God only sets those standards for leaders and they don’t matter for the rest of the church. Every Christian ought to demonstrate those qualities of character, but they should be especially evident in the lives of Christian leaders.
When a church is appointing Deacons, and especially when a church is calling a minister, character is what counts! That vital truth often gets lost when people are going through the process of applying to be trained as a minister. It is often neglected in the processes of ministerial formation and it is also overlooked in the patterns of Continuing Ministerial Development which are required of all new Baptist ministers nowadays. Too often churches only look for the skills and forget about Christlike character. A popular tool for reviewing the effectiveness of ministry lists the following 14, yes 14 skills, which Baptist ministers are expected to exercise. Preaching; Working ecumenically; Information Technology skills; Training others; Written communication; Research; Evangelism; Church planting; Developing plans and policies; Working alone; Leading a team; Working as a team member; Pastoral care; Mediation. And all of this must be worked out in the brave new world of charity law, health and safety legislation, child protection and equality regulations. With so many and varied skills required, so many different and demanding activities expected, leading a church often seems to be much more like running a small business than being a Christian minister as pastors and priests used to be for the first 19 centuries of the life of the church.
In fact the Bible only lays one principal responsibility on Overseers and that is they must be good teachers and guard the gospel against false teaching and false teachers.
As we saw in Titus 1 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Titus 1 actually uses another title for leaders in the church. Titus 1 5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless,
We read in Acts 14:23 that Paul and Barnabas had appointed Elders to lead the churches they had planted in cities like Lystra and Iconium. Elder is the title given to the leaders of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20.
Acts 20 17 From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him.
But in his speech to those Elders, Paul says this.
Acts 20 28 Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.

So Paul uses the titles Elder and Overseer pretty much interchangeably for the positions which we would call Ministers or Pastors. And 1 Peter makes the same link between being an Elder and exercising oversight.
1 Peter 5:1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

Paul uses the title of Elder in 1 Timothy 5 and he says one further significant thing about about them.
1 Timothy 5 17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his wages.’
We shouldn’t necessarily interpret these verses to mean that Elders were all full-time employees of churches. But Paul did expect that preachers and teachers were entitled to some financial reward.
The pattern of a priesthood which was set apart to serve God full-time and was supported by the people of God comes from the Levites in the Old Testament. But there were certainly some leaders in the Early Church who were entirely supported by the church, particularly those dedicated to preaching and teaching. We see that pattern in the apostles in Jerusalem. In Acts 6 they delegated the task of distributing food to the Christian widows to seven people who were known to be full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. Some people see that as the pattern we have for Deacons leading Baptist churches. The apostles said, Acts 6:3 “… We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
We find the principle that teachers should receive some support in other places too.
Galatians 6 6 … the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.
1 Corinthians 9 13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
Paul is keen to point out that he himself never exercised his rights to material and financial support from the Corinthians. But the principle is there in a number of places including,
1 Timothy 5 17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
We will come back to look at what being a minister and leading the church at Ephesus meant for Timothy next week. Summing up from today, Christian leadership is all about character. The only task particularly associated with Overseers or Elders is to teach the Word of God and to stand up to false teaching and false teachers. And my understanding from the Bible is that it is perfectly acceptable for teachers and preachers to be supported by other Christians in order to exercise their ministries. But then, after 35 years as a minister, I would say that, wouldn’t I?
1 Timothy 3:1 Here is a trustworthy saying: whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

We are all growing older all the time. “Today is the oldest you’ve ever been, and the youngest you’ll ever be again.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)
“Growing older” affects everybody in at least four ways. Biologically, our bodies, health and senses can deteriorate. Psychologically, our mental capacity can be affected. Socially, many people interact less well with other people. Functionally, our activities and ability to cope independently can be restricted.
There are some good things about growing older. You get better at using what you have learned – this is called crystallised intelligence. Most people become nicer – more happy, less grumpy, less angry, getting on better with other people. As their circumstances change, for example when there are fewer family responsibilities or when they give up work, many people feel less stressed or under pressure. As long as folk pace themselves they can remain productive. Many find that they enjoy their own company more as they get older, although they have more family and friends who they miss because they are no longer there.
Within most of our lifetimes more than a quarter of the UK population will be over 65. On average older people they have enough money but a significant proportion do live in poverty. In the workplace a third of workers are over 50, more in public services and as keyworkers. Many 50+s are very active providing unpaid care, or volunteering, with 65-74s the most active in volunteering. Over 50s account for more than half of consumer spending.
But then growing older has its down sides. Our bodies do change. In general people are physically less strong, with less stamina. They tend to experience problems with their health more often, and for some this may affect their minds and their memory. Many people find that they become more anxious and fearful, often because they feel less confident about being able to cope with changing circumstances or unexpected events. This problem can grow if they do have an accident like a fall, or an injury or an illness. Many people in later years find their lives overshadowed by grief, not only for the friends they have lost but also anticipatory grief for their own deaths.
In modern Western societies for many older people the situation is complicated by many people living much longer and by many families being fragmented. More older people are living alone and facing problems alone nowadays. Many older people are living in poverty, many are suffering from loneliness and some end up struggling with depression.
When it comes to growing older, the Bible has one consistent message. Older people should be respected and honoured, valued and cared for.
This is the Fifth Commandment Exodus 20 12 ‘Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Leviticus 19 32 ‘ “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.
Proverbs talks about the respect children should show for their parents.
Proverbs 1 8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 9 They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
Proverbs 30 17 ‘The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.
Jesus himself quoted the Fifth Commandment
Matthew 15 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
That second quotation comes from Leviticus.
Leviticus 20 9 ‘ “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.
The Bible commands honours older people. In contrast to the Bible’s view, society today often fails to show appropriate respect for older people. On the contrary, there is often prejudice and discrimination against older people. This issue is labelled “Ageism” – the stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination against people on the basis of their age. It is a widespread and damaging problem which has harmful effects on older adults and on society as a whole. Structural and institutional ageism can be manifested in many forms. You can find ageism in the workplace, in patterns of promotion and in recruitment processes. Ageism can operate in access to health services and care provision. There are ageist stereotypes in TV and advertising and in the marketing of products. Ageism pits age groups against each other and reduces people to stereotypes. In particular, it is appallingly ageist, inaccurate and unjust to represent later life as a time of frailty and inevitable decline. Ageism is bad for individuals and bad for society. It divides the generations. Ageism means that some people limit themselves in how much they can enjoy their longer lives and the activities they do. At the same time economies and labour markets often fail to realise the full potential of older workers and of consumers.
Christians and churches should take a stand against all forms of ageism. We should speak of an OLDER person or of OLDER people, and NOT say OLD person or OLD people or Old Age Pensioners (OAP) or “the Elderly”. We need to avoid metaphors that present older age as some kind of problem or crisis. We should firmly reject ideas that an ageing population is some kind of Grey tsunami or Silver tsunami, or a demographic cliff or a demographic timebomb. These wrong ideas all portray older age and the ‘baby boomer’ generation as a growing burden on society. This is unfair, untrue, and damaging to relationships between the generations.
Oprah Winfrey said this. “We live in a youth-obsessed culture that is constantly trying to tell us that if we are not young, and we’re not glowing, and we’re not hot, that we don’t matter. I refuse to let a system or a culture or a distorted view of reality tell me that I don’t matter. I know that only by owning who and what you are can you start to step into the fullness of life. Every year should be teaching us all something valuable. Whether you get the lesson is really up to you.”
There are systemic problems with the ways our society views growing old and the way we treat older people. These affect the attitudes of younger people but they can also damage the self-esteem and self-worth of people as they grow older.
Archbishop Rowan Williams observed, “Quite a lot of our contemporary culture is actually shot through with a resentment of limits and the passage of time, anger at what we can’t do, fear or even disgust at growing old.”
Christians and churches should stand out as different by showing older people the love and respect which the Bible commands. We should stand alongside and stand up for older people. We live in a society which is marginalising older people more and more. We must be careful that we do not fall into the same trap within the church.
It will be good to ask ourselves what more we as a church could be doing to support older people. Part of that could well be to do with helping folk as they are struggling through grief. Another part could be to explore ways in which we could support folk who are working hard caring for older relatives and friends. Both individually and as a church, we must aim to help older people to maintain their independence, and demonstrate that they are very much valued, e.g. by involving and consulting them in everything. We must be sensitive as we introduce changes, both because older friends can often find change more difficult than younger people and also because change can imply criticism which we would never actually intend of “the way things used to be.”
In the Bible, older people are respected simply because they are older. “The Elders” led both community and church, usually simply because they were old! In contras ,“ageism” in our culture means that older people with their wisdom and experience are not always valued as they once were. I came across a quote which struck a chord with me. “Growing old is when you know all the answers but nobody asks you the questions.”
The Bible sees things quite differently.
Job 12 12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
It is sad to see so many examples when society and even the church hands too much responsibility on to young people too early, and things usually don’t end well.
I came across a fascinating story in the Book of 1 Kings which deserves a sermon of its own, but I will just have to summarise it tonight. When King Solomon died his two sons fought over his Kingdom, Rehaboam and Jereboam. The people were complaining and we read,
1 Kings 12 6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.
7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “Tell these people who have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter’—tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

So we read, 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men.

And things went downhill from then on. The lesson is transparent. Young people ignore the wisdom of their elders to everybody’s peril. And that can be just as true in the life of the church as it is throughout society.

The church as the family of God should be supporting older people in any ways we can, not only spiritually but in practical ways as well. In many places the Old Testament commands the people of God to give support to three particular groups of people, to widows, to orphans and to refugees. Our reading in 1 Timothy 5 give us an example of a “Widows List” of people being supported financially by the church.
1 Timothy 5 3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. … 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
From here and also from Acts 6, it is clear that from the very earliest days churches put systems in place to help those in need. But no church would have had a bottomless purse. So it is interesting that Paul also gives a list of criteria which should be used to decide whether a widow should be added to the Widows List
9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

In Paul’s instructions, not all widows would be entitled to be supported by the church, but only those who are living out their Christian calling through love and good deeds. The widow’s list was only for those who had no other means of support. In 1 Timothy 5 Paul lays out the responsibility children and grandchildren have in caring for their own family.
4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. … . 7 Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

In Scripture the primary responsibility for providing for people as they grew older lay with their family. Their children and grandchildren would give them a home, provide their food and take care of any medical needs they had. For most families this was the pattern in Britain even into the 20rh century and still is in many cultures around the world today, especially in rural communities. For us, different factors have eroded this tradition over the last few generations. Among other things, city life is different from rural life. People very often move long distances from their parents for education or to find work. Life expectancy is much longer nowadays. Families tend to have far fewer children and both parents often have demanding jobs. So how should we apply to our lives today the things Paul says about children and grandchildren taking care of their parents as they get older?
Many of us have had to worth these questions through for ourselves, balancing responsibilities to our own children and our work with supporting parents who, unlike in Bible times, may be living hundreds or even thousands of miles away. The reality is that there are very many people who would be able to take care of the practical daily needs of an elderly person. Only their children and grandchildren can share memories with them. So unless children or grandchildren are in a position to give up their jobs to become carers, I believe that it can be appropriate and even wise to turn to the Welfare State and to Care Homes to provide for our parents’ practical needs. Personally I will not be looking to my own children to invite me to live with them or to take care of me if that should ever become necessary.
As far as the church supporting older people is concerned, churches must struggle to find a balance between two very important needs, pastoral care and evangelism.
As we grow older, we all face the prospect of dying.
“To me, growing old is great. It’s the very best thing – considering the alternative.” – Michael Caine
Churches are called to demonstrate Christian love and community in offering pastoral care, practical care and support to older people, especially to “the household of faith”. But there is also the challenge which is often neglected to present the gospel to people, to help them prepare to face death and judgement before it is too late.

ADVICE FOR US ALL AS WE GROW OLDER
There are all kinds of myths about “how to age successfully.” It is often not the case that how a person experiences the advancing years is a matter of the individual’s choice or a consequence of their actions. How a person ages is often more a product of their environments than of their personal choices. Recognising that, there are still some words of helpful advice we can give as we all grow older.,
“Keep on taking exercise.”
“Keep up with the tech.”
“Keep on learning new things.”
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever.” – Walt Disney
“You’re never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
We are never too old to do, by God’s grace, what God calls us to do. Abraham was 75 years old when God called him to leave his home and set out in faith on a journey where he wasn’t even told the destination. Moses was 80 years old when God called him to lead his chosen people out of slavery in Egypt and 120 years old by the time he had led the people through the wilderness to stand on the border of the promised land. Who knows what God may call us to do in our later years. Retirement may bring challenges, but it also brings new opportunities.
And as we become less active physically, we may have more time to pray and to meditate and to learn from the Bible. When we are not in a position to attempt so many great things for God, we can still seek to draw near to God. We can still aspire to grow in grace and in wisdom and in character and strive to become more like Jesus. Billy Graham said, “When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice. Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
May God give us all the grace to press on to see him more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly day by day.

There is one major theme which we find not only in the Pastoral letters of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, but in all of Paul’s letters and also in the letters by Peter and John. It is condemnation of false teachings and false teachers.
1 Timothy 1 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer
Paul gives a warning which could so easily have been written for today.
2 Timothy 4 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

New Living Translation. The time will come when people will not listen to the truth. They will look for teachers who will tell them only what they want to hear.
Today’s world is being shaped and perhaps even dominated by the internet and social media. Whatever a person wants to believe, they can find websites and blogs that teach it. They can find groups on Facebook and Twitter who have the same views as they do. And the algorithms that control search engines like Google and the social media platforms will make sure that people are pointed to the kind of material they want to read and not exposed to anything which might make them reconsider their views. So people’s understandings are shaped, and at times we should say being manipulated, by influencers who have no particular expertise in what they are talking about, but just have lots of followers. It was obvious that was happening in the responses some people made to the Covid pandemic. But the same thing is happening today in debates over Christian ethics and even over fundamental Christian beliefs. Christians and whole denominations are abandoning sound doctrine
1 Timothy 1:6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
Whenever we read Christian blogs or listen to podcasts, we should bear in mind that most information there is not fact-checked by anybody. In conversations on social media unless the author is a personal friend we can’t be sure how reliable or trustworthy anything they say might be. It might not even be the person whose name we recognize actually writing. We should be on our guard because sadly too often they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
A century ago Marvin Vincent wrote,. “In periods of unsettled faith, skepticism, and mere curious speculation in matters of religion, teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt. The demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shape their own preachers. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf-maker is readily found.”
So what do the Pastoral Letters teach us about how to recognize and respond to false teaching and false teachers.

TWO WAYS to recognize false teachers
1. Because their teaching is wrong
Sometimes ministers and churches need to take a stand against false doctrines.
1 Timothy 1 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer
It today’s world we are expected to say that even if we disagree with somebody, they are just mistaken. Paul views false teaching much more seriously than that,
1 Timothy 4 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

For Paul, false teaching comes from the powers of evil.
2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
One aspect of false teaching Paul is challenging here, and also in Colossians and 1 Corinthians, was the way some false teachers imposed rules and regulations on Christians. Other false teachers, who John also challenged in his letters, insisted that they had some special knowledge of spiritual things which was hidden from ordinary Christians. So learn this special knowledge you had to follow those teachers.
1 Timothy 6 20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.
People who are taken in by false teaching are not just making a mistake. They are actually abandoning the Christian faith. Then there were more specific false doctrines which Paul calls out, and he wasn’t afraid to name names either.
2 Timothy 216 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.
Again, false teaching isn’t something trivial. It can destroy people’s faith. So sometimes false teachers could be recognized because what they were teaching was obviously, or very subtly, wrong. But Paul points to another way to recognize false teachers.

2. Because their behaviour is wrong

“By their fruits will you know them,” Jesus said when he talked about false prophets and false teachers.
Sometimes it was obvious that the false teachers were just bringing division to the church.
1 Timothy 6:2 … These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions
2 Timothy 2 14 Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarrelling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
Some false teachers just want to stir up trouble. These controversies lead to all kinds of problems including 1 Timothy 6 5 …. constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
There is another obvious red flag we see with false teachers. They are only in it for the money. We have seen this kind of greed time and time again in the rise of the false gospel of health wealth and prosperity. Sometimes the wrong behaviour is not in the area of money, but in the realms of sex or of the abuse of power.
2 Timothy 3 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.
Our generation has seen too many scandals in the personal lives of celebrity preachers and evangelists.
We can recognize false teachers because their have departed from sound doctrine and because their behaviour is inconsistent with God’s truth. So what does Paul say Timothy should do about false teaching. Again, two things.

How to deal with false teaching
1. Challenge the false teaching and correct the errors
This is the responsibility of all leaders in the church.
Titus 1 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Refuting, rebuking and correcting those who oppose sound doctrine by showing them where they are wrong.
1 Timothy 4 6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
Preachers have a solemn responsibility before God to teach the truth and to challenge errors. This should begin with a gentle rebuke.
2 Timothy 2 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
Ministers who contend for the truth of the Bible and defend traditional understandings of Christian morality are not doing that to score points or to win debates. All we ever long for is that those who are leading the church astray will come to repentance and escape the devil’s trap.
2 Timothy 4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
In today’s post-modern post-truth world it isn’t fashionable to correct and rebuke false teaching. When Christians do so we are accused of being bigots, or dinosaurs. Political correctness tells us that everybody is entitled to their own opinion and that all opinions are equally valid. That is a lie. Wrong doesn’t become right just because lots of people believe it. Ministers and churches have a solemn responsibility to discern truth from error, to preach the truth and challenge and correct and rebuke the errors. But if the false teachers do not return to the truth, Paul has clear instructions.

2. If the false teachers do not repent, throw them out
Titus 1 10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
They must be silenced! The damage which false teaching and false teachers do to Christians and to the church is too serious to be ignored.
Titus 3 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.
Have nothing to do with them. There are similar warnings elsewhere.
2 Timothy 3 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
What to do with false teachers? Chuck them out. Paul commands the same approach in other letters, in 1 Corinthians and
Romans 16 17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.
Paul instructs his apprentices to challenge and condemn false teachings and false teachers. Faithful ministers of God should stick to the truth they have received and believed.
1 Timothy 6 20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.
2 Timothy 2 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
2 Timothy 2 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
One comment in passing. My understanding is that when we do reach what we consider to be the correct understanding of a Bible passage or on an issue in theology or ethics it is entirely appropriate to be “tentatively definite”. I picked up this phrase in a postgraduate seminar with the inspiring New Testament scholar Kenneth Bailey. This means we are allowed to defend vigorously our own interpretation in debate. We are expected to do so if the matter has significant implications for belief or Christian living. We should not be silenced by political correctness. Yet at the same time we are obliged always to remain tentative in recognising that we may be mistaken and others may have grasped a truth which we have yet to see. I am tentatively definite with regard to my current understandings of particular matters of theology and morality. What I am definitely definite on is that such issues are not just matters of opinion but matters of truth and error.
False teaching and false teachers have been threats to Christians and churches for two thousand years. In my judgment the problems have just been multiplying over my lifetime. Some people have been teaching that Jesus Christ is not the only way to God and all religions are the same. That is wrong – Jesus is the only way to salvation. Others are claiming that everybody will be saved whether they believe in Jesus or not. That is also wrong – the Bible makes clear in so many places that only those who put their trust in Jesus will be saved. There has been a concerted attack on the Christian understanding of marriage by lawmakers, driven by the secular media. So the issue of same sex marriage has now become the battleground for biblical Christianity dividing churches and denominations. Some people will tell you, “it’s just a matter of interpretation.” I believe that is wrong. The real issue is whether Christians are prepared to accept the authority of the Bible even when it stands in opposition to the opinions of a society which is moving further and further away from God.
Even in the middle of the last 20th Century A.W.Tozer wrote this.
“We have gotten accustomed to the blurred puffs of gray fog that pass for doctrine in churches and expect nothing better. From some previously unimpeachable sources are now coming vague statements consisting of a milky admixture of Scripture, science, and human sentiment that is true to none of its ingredients because each one works to cancel the others out.
Little by little Christians these days are being brainwashed. One evidence is that increasing numbers of them are becoming ashamed to be found unequivocally on the side of truth. They say they believe, but their beliefs have been so diluted as to be impossible of clear definition. Moral power has always accompanied definite beliefs. Great saints have always been dogmatic. We need a return to a gentle dogmatism that smiles while it stands stubborn and firm on the Word of God that lives and abides forever.”
Everything Tozer wrote then is even more true today. Paul’s warnings about false teaching and false teachers are more important than ever.
2 TIMOTHY 1 13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

One thing which leaps off the page as you read this letter by the apostle Paul to his former apprentice Timothy are the three times where he uses a particular phrase: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Most people agree that Paul didn’t make these sayings up himself. Most scholars think that these are actually quotations of “trustworthy sayings” or “faithful sayings” which were in circulation in the early church and indeed were at the heart of the faith of the first Christians in the days while the New Testament Gospels and letters were still being written.
This morning we will look at the first two of these trustworthy sayings, which are on the same theme of salvation. And we begin with one of the most wonderful verses in the whole of the Bible.
1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
Jesus came to bring God’s salvation. And since all have sinned and fallen short of God, we ALL need Jesus to save us. There hasn’t been a single human being born apart from Jesus Christ Himself who has NOT needed saving! Jesus mission was to save people. But Paul was always acutely aware that the mercy of God had stretched down to save not only sinners in general but him in particular – the chief of sinners!
1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
We should never lose sight of the fact that Jesus came to save sinners – and that includes you and me! Even you and me! The whole of our lives should be motivated by gratitude to God that he loves not only sinners in general, but me in particular. We sometimes use prayers of confession to remind us that we are sinners – like the prayer from the Anglican book of Common Prayer which goes like this.
“ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father,
We have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep:
We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts: We have offended against your holy laws: We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But You, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders”
I heard about one man who whenever he prayed that prayer would say under his breath, “I am an offender but I’m not miserable.” We live in a selfish age, and we are often absorbed in ourselves. We offer a prayer of confession like this and are tempted to evaluate the prayer against our own assumptions about ourselves and about God. But prayers like this help us to turn away from self and turn towards Christ. Without Him we will never be anything other than ‘miserable offenders’. If we forget that we are lost forever without God’s mercy and forgiveness, then we are indeed lost forever.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And this saying has something else to say to us. Because it reminds us that although we are all sinners, Paul reminds us that Christ came to save even the worst of sinners. We all need saving, and God saves even us, but there may be people who are even worse than us and they need saving too!
1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Paul was a blasphemer and persecutor of the church – he needed saving and God saved him. If God grace could save a sinner like Paul, God can save sinners like you and me. But more than that. God cares about SINNERS. We sometimes think that heaven is going to be full of the kind of people we like to think we are like. Genuine, kind, gentle respectable people who God is happy to welcome into His Kingdom. This saying reminds us that as well as people like us, heaven will be just as full of the worst of sinners.
1 Corinthians 6 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
God cares about all kinds of people and God saves all kinds of people. Not just nice respectable people. When Jesus had dinner with the tax collector Zacchaeus, Jesus said to him, Luke 19 9 … ‘Today salvation has come to this house … 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’
Parable of the lost sheep = Luke 15 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.
Jesus even called a notorious tax collector to be one of his 12 apostles.
Matthew 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. 13 But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’
There are many many sinners even in respectable Chelmsford. Hard people. Rebellious people. Violent and adulterous people. Drunkards and swindlers. Maybe some who have run as far away from God as the apostle Paul had. There are many such people in our town. They may cross our paths – although we may spend most of our lives hoping they won’t. But these are the sinners Christ came to die for – just as much as Christ came to die for us. These are the sinners who are lost without Christ. We need to take the love of God to people like that. Because Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
So on to Paul’s second trustworthy saying about salvation.
1 Timothy 4 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe.
The 1984 NIV makes clear that the trustworthy saying is what follows in verse 10 rather than the verse before.
4:9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10 (and for this we labour and strive), that
we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe.
Although it may seem like a subtle point, I prefer the alternative translation used by the New Living Translation and others, which say that God is the Saviour particularly of all believers. Because it is specifically believers who God saves.
This second trustworthy saying about salvation raises an important question for us. Did Paul believe that everybody would be saved? In what sense is God the Saviour of all people? There are other verses as well in 1 Timothy which might imply that all people would be saved.
1 Timothy 2 3 This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
Paul says here that Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all people. God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. That is what God wants. That is God’s wish. Indeed, if God were to command it, then that would be what would happen. If God were to command it, then everybody WOULD be saved. But there are so many places elsewhere in the Bible which teach us that God has not so commanded. Instead, it is clear that salvation is God’s gift which is available to all and offered to all – but not accepted by all. Elsewhere in Paul’s letters it is indisputable that God’s gift of salvation has to be received by personal faith in Jesus Christ, e.g. in Romans 1.
Romans 1 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’
Paul spells this out in Romans 10
Romans 10 9 if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
This is the truth which not only the apostle Paul but all the first Christians proclaimed. The people who believe that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead are those who are justified – brought into a right relationship with God. It is the people who confess “Jesus is Lord” who are saved. It is the people who call upon the name of the Lord who are saved – and only those people who have put their trust in Christ to be their saviour.
So when we read verses in 1 Timothy that God wants everybody to be saved and that God is the saviour of all people, there is certainly a superficial contrast between what it says about salvation here and what the rest of Paul’s letters say, and indeed what the rest of the New Testament says. Some people see that difference as proof that Paul himself did not write 1 Timothy. Other people think that because the letters to Timothy were written at the end of Paul’s life that maybe Paul mellowed as the years went by and even changed his mind about who would be saved. I disagree with those ideas. I do think that Paul himself wrote 1Timothy. And I think here Paul still believed what he always believed and taught – that only those people who believe in Christ will be saved. Why else would Paul be so concerned to defend the truth of the gospel? Paul would not have endured so much opposition and suffering for the sake of the gospel, if he had believed that it actually doesn’t matter what people believe and that God will save everybody in the end anyway, whether they want to be saved or not.
So what then does Paul mean when he writes,
we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and particularly of those who believe.
Paul is saying that God is potentially the Saviour of all people. But in actuality God is only the saviour of those people who believe. God’s wish that everybody would be saved but that wish is only realised in those who put their trust in Jesus. It is only those people like Paul and his readers who have put their hope in the Living God who will be saved, not all people. This is the trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance. This really matters, which is why Paul goes on in verse 11 to insist, 11 Command and teach these things.
If we still have any doubt about whether Paul thought everybody would be saved, we can go back to the first trustworthy saying he quotes in chapter 1.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
Paul’s own life was an example of the difference that God’s grace can make for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Paul knew that he himself had only received eternal life because he had put his trust in Jesus. The offer of salvation is there for all people. But only those who believe in Jesus will receive God’s gift. The idea that everybody will be saved is popular. But that idea is mistaken and indeed dangerous. It gives people false hopes. This is why we need to proclaim the gospel of salvation boldly – especially to the worst of sinners! We long that all people will put their trust in Jesus and be saved.
So here we have two trustworthy sayings, worthy of full acceptance. Different translations bring out the full force of these truths which the Early Church believed and which Paul is passing on. This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed. (Good News Bible) There is no doubt about this at all, and Christians should remember it. (J.B. Phillips) You can count on this. Take it to heart. (Message)
1 Timothy 4:10 We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and particularly of those who believe.
And even more wonderful, 1 Timothy 1:15 This is indeed a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

General Introduction
The apostle Paul wrote a number of letters which appear in the New Testament. Some were addressed to churches and others were written to named individuals. Over the next couple of months we are going to look at Paul’s letters to two of his associates. Together these are known as the Pastoral Letters. They aren’t particularly manuals on pastoral matters but they are Paul’s instructions to his apprentices. Some scholars think that these letters were written much later by other people using Paul’s name. I am content with the view of the Early Church that the apostle Paul himself wrote them, close to the end of his life in the second half of the 60s AD. Next week we will move on to the first letter to Timothy but today we are going to start with the letter to Titus, a Greek Christian who Paul had left in charge of all the churches on Crete.

BIBLE READING Titus 2:11-15, 3:1-8

We can find the heart of Paul’s letter to Titus in chapter 2 verse 8.
I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
Paul wants Christians to live upright, holy and godly lives, devoted to doing good. Paul mentions what is good no less than 8 times in this short letter. God has saved all of us in order that we should do good. Doing what is good has at least two aspects. Doing good means doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong, living upright lives. And it also means doing good deeds, works of righteousness.
In most of his letters Paul roots his ethical teaching in theology, and the letter to Titus is no exception. At the end of chapter 2 in verses 11 to 14, which we just read, Paul explains why Christians should always do whatever is good. Paul says that these elements should be at the heart of Titus’s teaching to his churches.
2 11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Paul begins by reminding us of the amazing grace of God and the wonderful salvation we have received.
Titus 2 11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
It is by grace we are saved through faith. In chapter 3 Paul spells out how God’s grace works for our salvation. He begins where we all begin, cut off from God by our sin.
Titus 3 3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
That is how all people naturally live. The Message puts it this way.
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.
Paul had already talked in chapter 1 about how far people who don’t know God are away from God.
Titus 1 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

From birth, every one of us was living like that. But then Jesus saved us from ourselves!
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
It is by God’s grace we are saved. Not on the basis of any good works we might have done. They could never compensate for all our sins which separate us from God and only bring us judgment and death. We are saved by God’s mercy, saved by grace alone through faith alone.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
So we are saved when God washes all our sins away and we are born again and renewed. God the Holy Spirit brings God’s life into our lives.
7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
We are put right with God by his grace, justified, making things “just as if I’d” never sinned. And so we become God’s heirs, with the happy certainty of eternal life.
3 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
Paul is reminding Titus, and us all, of God’s grace because God wants us to devote ourselves to doing what is good. God saves us because he wants us to enjoy a personal relationship with him. But God also wants us to do good. We said this a few weeks ago when we looked at the parable of the separation of the sheep from the goats. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. But saving faith is never alone – it is always demonstrated in good deeds. God’s grace calls us to live lives which are pleasing to God.
Back to Titus 2 12 It (God’s grace) teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
The new life we should live will have two aspects – the negative and the positive.
12 It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions,
Message We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life.
The Bible calls all believers to repent – to say no to sin and yes to God. Repentance has a positive side.
and (God’s grace teaches us) to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
That word self-control appears no less than five times in this short letter. Self-control is the ability to show restraint over one’s impulses, urges, emotions and desires. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God’s Holy Spirit gives us power, love and self-control. Self-control is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Our lives should also be upright and righteous. And we should be godly, showing appropriate respect and reverence for God.
In these few verses Paul has listed a handful of motives for living this new and very different kind of life, devoted to doing what is good. Firstly, we are grateful for God’s grace which has saved us. Secondly, we want to obey God’s commands. But also, thirdly, we are living in the light of eternity. We are waiting for Jesus to return.
We live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
Like the good and faithful servant and like the wise virgins in Jesus’s parables, we live our lives in the light of the one certain event in future history – Jesus our Saviour is coming back in glory!
And we have a fourth motive for living self-controlled, upright and godly lives, full of good deeds. Because that is the purpose and destiny for which Jesus has saved us. He is
our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
God did not just save us from sin and wickedness. Jesus gave up his life to purify us, so that we could become God’s very own people, belonging to him. Our proper response is not only to do good deeds but to be eager at all times to do what is good!
As if four reasons weren’t enough, we just read a fifth in chapter 3 verse 8.
These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
We devote ourselves to doing what is good and to doing good deeds because in themselves these things are excellent and profitable. With all these motives, in the rest of this letter, Paul spells out what this kind of righteous and upright life should look like in practice. Titus himself should lead by example.
Titus 2 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
A church leader teaches as much by their example as by their words. They must be beyond reproach. Paul says much more about the qualities and qualifications appropriate for church leaders in Titus chapter 1 but we will look at that important topic in more detail when we come to it in 1 Timothy. For today we will jump to chapter 2 where Paul tells Titus what to teach as he gives instructions for different groups of people.
Titus 2 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
There are parallel instructions for older women.
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

When they live like that the older women can then teach the next generation.
4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

How we behave affects not only our reputation but the reputation of the gospel and of God’s truth. There is just one overarching instruction for young men.

6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.

Self-control. Next Paul goes on to some instructions for how Christian slaves should behave.

9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive.
Again Paul is concerned with witness – how Christians behave inevitably reflects on Jesus our Saviour. Going into chapter 3 there are some more concrete examples of how Christians should live.
Titus 3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle towards everyone.
We must be ready to do whatever is good, peace-loving, considerate and gentle. Paul emphasises how important living it is for every Christian to live this new life to the full.
Titus 3:8 And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.
Christians should love what is good. We should teach what is good. We should do what is good and our lives should be filled with good deeds. So the letter ends where we began and Paul hammers his message home like this.
Titus 3 14 Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.
God calls us to devote ourselves to doing what is good.

Again, as we saw three weeks ago, doing what is good is often very practical. Providing for urgent needs – being productive. John Wesley’s Rule for Christian Living said., “DO all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can!”

We should be devoted to doing what is good. And we do all this in response to the exhortation which sums up the gospel and the call to holy living.
2:11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.