The Deal of A Lifetime
The Church: Standards and Leadership • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 38:03
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Good morning church. I’m excited for our passage this morning because it’s a fun one. For those of you who are just joining us, we are in our 1 Timothy series titled The Church: Standards and Leadership. We have covered some principles for how to order ourselves as the church of God, and now, reaching chapter 4, Paul issues a warning. A warning to the Corinthian church and to Timothy, but also a warning for all Christians in all times. It’s one of those passages that when you read it, yellow flashing lights should go off in your mind. But before we find out what that warning is, let me ask you one simple question:
Will you be willing to give all that you have for the deal of a lifetime? What is this deal, you might say? It’s simple really: you sign over everything you have to me, and I will give you anything that you ever wanted or could dream of. You can have power, wealth, prestige, that new home you always wanted. That romantic interest you always dreamed of. No consequences to your actions and behaviors. It truly is the deal of a lifetime. So whatdaya say, whattdaya say? Do we have a deal? (pause)
I would hope that, if a salesman like this came to your door and asked you this question, the response would be an absolute and resounding no. That you would see through the guise of the enemy, dressed up and made presentable, to pull you away from what you do have right now: which is a rich inheritance in Christ Jesus, eternal life with him, an abiding presence with God through the Spirit. I would hope that the answer would be an obvious No! Absolutely no! And yet, for some, even though they have heard the gospel of Christ and first moved toward him, would be willing to give up their rich inheritance for the deal of a lifetime: a lifetime lived according to the way they want to live and not “constrained” by the laws of God.
But what they don’t realize is that at the end of the day, they’ve been swindled. That they traded the most valuable thing that ever came into their possession for fool’s gold. The deal of a lifetime turns out to be worthless, like sand that falls through your fingers. The freedom they had in Christ is traded away to the fine print of the document they signed, a life of slavery under a harsh and terrible ruler. Rather than the easy yoke of Christ, there is the harsh bondage of legalism and principles, of disorder and discord.
Brothers and sisters, are those on our very street who have been conned into giving away their life savings by Satan the salesman. But Paul is head of the neighborhood watch and is now issuing you a warning of this salesman who going around. It’s an old trick, played out in a new disguise. And this is the warning for us, today, as believers: that if we aren’t careful, we can buy into the lies of Satan and forsake the rich inheritance we have in Christ. If you aren’t careful to guard against the tactics of the enemy, you may just find yourself in the same boat as your unfortunate neighbors. That if we don’t hold to the doctrine of the gospel of Christ, we forfeit salvation.
Let’s go ahead and read our passage, and I’ll pray, and we’ll jump right in. So if you’ll follow along with me, 1 Timothy 4:1-6:
1 Timothy 4:1-6
1 Timothy 4:1-6
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
Let’s Pray
(Pray)
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
The Spirit expressly says- this is God directly speaking: it could be Paul quoting the Spirit speaking through Jesus when Jesus was alive, or it could have been the Spirit speaking through the church, or it could have been the Spirit speaking directly through Paul … I would say in response to all of those proposals, yes … Christ did speak this message, the church did universally agree on it, and Paul’s words were inspired by the Spirit and were recorded as scripture … Paul is just trying to show the weight of the words here, the gravitas, as you might say, of the situation.
- that in later times
Don’t let this phrase distract you. Some might read this and immediately jump to the conclusion that it’s talking about the end times, but these are two very different and distinct phrases. What he’s referring to is the present age: the church age. How do we know that? Well, Paul also uses ‘later times’ in his second letter to Timothy to refer to the current situation in the church, that’s indicator number one. Secondly, even if you read the text woodenly, times that he is speaking to are occuring later than his current writing of those words, so it becomes a present reality for the church of Ephesus, which is why Paul gives specific prescriptions for their problems, which we’ll get to in the next few verses.
- some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons -
Some will hear the gospel of Christ, and may seem like they are in the faith for a short time, but will not last because they buy into other desires, other visions. Sound familiar? Jesus taught us about these kinds of people in the parable of the sower:
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
We know that there will be signs of reception of the gospel and of faith in some at first. But the ones who do not persist are the ones who “fall away”. They fall away either by not having a firm root in times of persecution, or by what our passage is about, settling for another desire: for something else to fill the appetite besides God’s provision in Christ and instruction in the Scriptures.
And so, Paul tells us that Satan will lead some out of the faith so that they will no longer worship God. The gospel is planted, but the good truth, the good doctrine, is plucked away, dried up, or choked out so that no life remains.
This shouldn’t be new news to us; Satan leads humans astray. He has been trying to do this from the very beginning. And how does he do it? By promising the deal of a lifetime. By giving a promise and by changing small parts of the truth so that it becomes a lie and that humans buy into this lie and are led to not worship God anymore. Do you remember his lie to Eve?
“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat the fruit of the tree your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Satan promises a reward for humans, power, knowledge. He appeals to your individual desires for gain, for greed, for more than what you have now. He promises immediate results. And he’s only refined his skill as time goes on.
There’s a reason why we are so drawn to click-bait material online. It’s because there’s a formula behind every title, every picture. The title usually gives a number, followed by an adjective, followed by a promise of a solution to something you perceive as a problem. For example: “10 surprising headlines of clickbait headlines that actually work” - Oh, I didn’t even realize there were clickbait headlines that didn’t work … now I have to hear the solution! Or “Eight simple steps to shed pandemic pounds.” Oh great, now I feel terrible about myself because now I see myself as fat, and I need a solution, and this result is promising because it’s structured and will help me get to where I want to be.
See how that thinking works? How it’s a trap? It’s the same formula Satan uses:
Satan’s Formula:
Satan’s Formula:
Guilt Trip
Fake Promise
Increased Burden of Law
Eve, shouldn’t you be more wise and knowledgeable than you already are?
If you eat of the fruit of the tree, then you will get that knowledge and be like God!
And what was the result? The burden of the law: the burden of the curse. When God’s creation order was compromised, rules and regulations increased in order to contain what was not right. It’s like if you’re in a boat that has sprung a leak, and you stick your finger out to plug up the hole. That plug is the law - an instruction on how to contain the damage that has been done so that no more damage can occur. But then as sin increases, so do the holes in your boat, until you get to a point where all of your fingers and toes are held up, you’ve used up all of your chewing gum, and there are so many leaks that it becomes impossible to keep the boat afloat, and the water keeps pouring in and gushing in.
The Law doesn’t solve sin
The Law doesn’t solve sin
That’s what adding more laws are like in response to your sin: it’s never a permanent solution. It was never meant to be a permanent solution, just a measure to contain the effects of sin. Which is why the law is still applicable to us - because we still live in a sinful world and deal with sin on a daily basis. Remember, Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it.
But the point is, as sin increases, so do laws and attempts to try to stem the tide of sin. And even as those laws are put into effect on the human life, the pressure of sin, the pressure of water makes another breach to the point where the law, and any law, becomes overbearing, and the human can no longer handle any more laws. Their boat fills with the waters of sin, and their vessel capsizes.
Christ is Necessary
Christ is Necessary
And this is why Jesus Christ is so necessary. The laws given to Moses and the Jews were never meant to solve the issue of sin: they were merely a means of keeping it at bay so God’s people could be a holy nation. But as Israel’s sin increased, so did their need for laws. By the time of the first century A.D., you have so many unnecessary laws and regulations in the Jews that it was overwhelming for anyone attempting to find salvation in God. And so God sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to take care of the problem of sin.
It’s why the Christian’s boat is able to float rather than sink. By Christ’s protective coating over the boat, no more water slips in. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the law. He lived the perfect human life, and found the only solution to the problem of sin. And so, those holes in the boat are sealed, and the vessel is saved with you who are aboard.
Now, this protective layer is indestructible. Those who coat their boat with it will be safe. Jesus says “No one can snatch them out of my hand.” But imagine if someone said to themself “I want Christ and I want sin.” In order to have sin, they would need to not have that indestructible protective layer. So maybe they splash that layer on a bit, rather than covering their entire vessel, so that when they are out on the water they can drill a hole into the vessel to touch the water of sin. The thing is, you can’t have both sin and Christ.
You can’t have both sin and Christ.
You can’t have both sin and Christ.
You can’t reach in to the pickle jar to grab the pickle and still pull your hand out. Either you let go of the pickle and pull your hand out, or you lose your hand to the pickling liquid in the jar. Either you have the full indestructible and protective layer of Christ, or you do not. There is no halfway. There is no compromise.
And Satan knows that. The spiritual enemies of God know that. And so they try to deceive people before the full coat of Christ is applied to the boat. They do this by using the humans who are already on their side. read verse 2:
through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
This is a different group of humans than the ones mentioned in verse 1. These are false teachers whose consciences have been seared. The word ‘seared here is more likely to be read as ‘branded’. Like when cattle are branded. It signifies a point of identity. Their minds have been given up to corruption, as Paul writes in Romans 1, to the point where they are only identified by their devotion to the deception and not to truth. If they encountered the truth, they would not recognize it anymore. Their identity, their brand, is that of the adversary to God.
Satan corrupts humans to the point that they forfeit their conscience: that they become so accustomed to doing what’s wrong and to disregarding God’s natural law that it no longer becomes an infraction in their mind. The word “Seared” is better translated as the word “branded”. It expresses a type of identity, an affiliation. So what do these humans, devoted to Satan, do?
who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. They increase laws and rules and regulations. Why? Because they don’t have the indestructible protective layer of Christ. While dependence on Christ’s fulfillment of the law results in a floating boat, Satan’s corruption leads to further slavery to laws and rules.
So what does Paul say to Timothy? The same thing he says to the Galatians:
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
The church is not subject to bondage, but to freedom in Christ.
And how does Paul make his claim? By appealing to God’s original order in creation, before there was sin, before there were laws and provisions. It’s the boat in which you float. In a world without sin, our boat would never spring a leak. Our lives and how we live in this world would glide over the waters of sin and death. It’s the order to which Christians are restored once they have Christ as their protective sealant. So Paul says:
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
Christians are to see what God has made as good, and to receive it that way. We shouldn’t go about hating the boat that we are in, but realizing that it is helpful to us, that it directs our attention to bring God glory. The two examples that Paul speaks to, marriage and food, are both incredible blessings from God!
Think of how beautiful marriage is. (elaborate)
Think of how great of a blessing food is. (elaborate)
And everything created by God is good.
for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
This doesn’t mean that prayer has some mystical power. We already know from the previous verse that everything created by God is good … What Paul is expressing here, and what I believe is lost in translation from Greek to our English versions, is that we are to find everything as God created for it to be through his Word (the Bible), and we recognize God’s blessing of it through our prayer- in our thanksgiving to him.
Only through Christ do you have an unsinkable, imperishable protection for your ship so it can float and navigate the waters of death.
And if you hear that knocking on your door from a salesman that tries to convince you to not apply Christ’s protective layer all the way, to not hope in the gospel of Christ until the end of your life, and promises a deal of a lifetime, I hope that you slam the door in the face of the adversary and cling close to the gospel of Christ. For there is only one thing greater than the laws of men to regulate against sin, and that one thing is a person: the person of Christ.
Application
Application
1. Be Branded by the Gospel of Christ
1. Be Branded by the Gospel of Christ
Live to Christ, not to the laws of men
What patterns in your life, or the church’s life, have become so regimented that they hinder the work of the gospel?
2. Resist the Evil One
2. Resist the Evil One
Know the Word
Pray for Wisdom
Practice Good Doctrine
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
3. Win Souls for Christ
3. Win Souls for Christ
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Conclusion
Conclusion
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
May you be faithful stewards of Christ and his doctrine to the end.