Title:Opposing False Teaching

Text: 1 Timothy 1:3-7

Title:Opposing False Teaching

Truth:False teaching must be opposed by the Christian pastor.

Date/Location: Sunday April 22, 2012 at FBC

Introduction

Paul has an interest to keep his new church plants going. In the environment of the time, that was no small task because of the proliferation of false doctrine promoted by non-Christian teachers. They taught a different doctrine; they promoted myths and genealogies; they were filled with empty talk; they wanted to teach the law but didn’t know what they were talking about; and their teaching produced speculation and strife.

I. Timothy’s Circumstances, v. 3a

A. Ephesus. We do not have any information in the Bible on Paul’s travels after his first Roman imprisonment. 1 Timothy tells us that Paul left Timothy in Ephesus when he went north and west to Macedonia.

1. Paul had traveled to Macedonia before, but not from Ephesus. Rather, he had traveled through Galatia and then on to Macedonia (Acts 16:6-10). That was right at the time he first had picked up Timothy as ministry apprentice.

2. Later, Paul did leave Ephesus for Macedonia (Acts 20:1), but the Bible text there points out that Timothy was traveling with Paul.

3. This means that 1 Timothy must have been written at another time, which we believe was after Paul’s first Roman imprisonment.

B. The first step was for Timothy to remainor stay longer in Ephesus.

1. The problem was serious. All false teaching is very serious. It is not something that we should find humorous, or something that we should take lightly or ignore. False teaching can send people to Hell. False teaching can send believers into years of spiritual rot and depression and trouble. False teaching causes good pastors to have to, in a sense, waste time to deal with it.

In another sense, it is not a waste of time because it always will be present. It is something that we should expect, like weeds in the garden, rust on the car, cancer in the body, and all the other expressions of the curse and human depravity in the world.

2. Timothy could not deal with it remotely. Email may not be sufficient!

3. Timothy could not run from the false teaching or his responsibility to deal with it.

II.The Command to Oppose False Teaching, v. 3b-4

A. To chargemeans to command, give orders, or announce something that must be done. This is a “cease and desist” order. A pastor has that responsibility. This responsibility should not be taken lightly by anyone.

B. Not to “heterodox teach,” that is, not to teach contrary to the standard of instruction that has been given. The word “heterodox” comes from two roots, meaning “another/different belief.” The same word is used in 1 Tim. 6:3(-5) where the motivations of false teachers are given.

1. The word for other is “heteros.” We see the same root in Gal. 1:6-7, in which Paul says,“I marvel that you are turning away…to a different (heteros) gospel, 7which is not another (allos, of the same kind); but there are some who trouble you…”

2. Different compared to what? I take it that a command to forbid heterodox teaching implies that Timothy must make clear the orthodox teaching. Orthodox comes from two roots: “right belief.”

C. Not togive heed to= pay attention, be concerned about.

1. The some who are paying heed to fables and genealogies could be the same some who are teaching wrong stuff. Those same people are the type who pay heed to myths and such. Then they are probably teaching them to others. Whether the people are the same or not, no one whether false teacher or someone sitting in the audience should giving credence to such myths.

2. Myths= tales, stories, legends, and endless genealogies. In light of Titus 1:14, the myths are probably Jewish in nature, collected by the Rabbis in the Talmud or oral tradition.

Application: We also should not pay heed to the false stories, conspiracies, unfounded “news” stories, and such like. Forget wasting time with all that. Live in the realm of hard facts and Bible teaching, and move on. Do not live in the realm of legends, speculations, or trying to discern everyone’s inner motivations.

3. Pointless genealogical information.

The genealogies may have been tied to myths of human origins. They may have been, again, Jewish in nature. The OT genealogies provide fodder for false teachers to add names, to invent stories about people who are otherwise unknown, and to allegorize the meaning of the genealogy, the meanings of the names, etc.

Application: There is an important sense that where you came from doesn’t matter. You are what you are, where you are, etc. Going back to establish your genealogy may be a nice way to spend some leisure time, but it has nothing to do with godly edification.

D. Such teaching gives rise to speculations more than or instead of giving rise to the advance of the work of God. Timothy is to direct the church to avoid the bad teaching and bad results of such teaching so that God’s work will be advanced in the world. Those things stunt the growth of God’s work. They are truly a waste of time.

III.The Purpose of the Command, v. 5

A. When Paul says the purpose of the commandment, he means the command he has just given Timothy about staying in Ephesus to admonish false teachers and those heeding their false words. He does not mean the purpose of the Mosaic Law.

B. Timothy’s method was to oppose false teaching in order to promote love. Timothy was not only to rail against false teaching.

1. Loveis for God and neighbor (Matt. 22:37-40). The outcome of the false teaching was disputes or speculations. The outcome of Timothy’s positive teaching was love. What a vast difference!

2. The message about Jesus tells us that we are sinners in need of a savior. A good deal of our sin is self-love along with lack of love for God and others. Teaching of the Bible should aim to bring people to repentant saving faith, upon which God will produce in them true love for Himself and others.

C. This love has to arise out of or be connected to three things:

1. A pure heart. This is a heart free from moral guilt. It is a heart cleansed by the blood of Jesus, forgiven all sin.

2. A good conscience, which is the inward faculty of distinguishing right from wrong where the conscience can operate properly now that it is informed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not accusing of wrong.

3. A sincere faithis un-hypocritical faith. “Christian” false teachers are promoting themselves as one thing (Christians) when they are really something entirely different (false teachers). True Christian teaching frees a person from hypocrisy because they acknowledge the gospel, that they are sinners in need of God’s grace; they can have a good conscience; they have nothing to hide. This faith and everything attached to it produces a life marked by Christian love (John 13:35).

D. Apart from any of these characteristics, love is not real. If you are teaching some other gospel, there is no way that you can have a pure heart, a good conscience (not good before God), and certainly not sincere faith.

IV.The Reason for the Command, v. 6-7

A. Some have strayedmeans that some have missed the goal of love and have turned their energy to pursue other things, such as being full of idle talk(empty/fruitless words).

I think about that when I hear preaching that is heavy on introduction and history and contemporary relevancy, but light on Bible. Much of that is near to useless.

B. Some want to teach the law but not knowing what they are talking about. They want to be “law teachers.”The law here is the Mosaic Law.

1. Even today there are many Christian teachers (some are not false teachers) who teach the law, but do not understand the first basic thing about it, that it is not the rule of life over any believer today. They miss the big picture! This throws off everything they teach about the law. Some mix law and grace, and grace becomes obscured in the mixture!

2. Why do the false teachers desire this? Perhaps it is their ego. Perhaps it is a desire for money (1 Tim. 6:3-5). Perhaps it is simply that they do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and they want to teach something, anything “religious.”

3. They have not thought through what they are saying to be able to really understand it.The NIV has it right here—the false teachersdo not know what they are talking about. Words come out of their mouths that are divorced from a true understanding in their head.

4. Law-ism always finds some audience.

Conclusion

Opposing false teaching is a big “negative” part of the pastor’s job in the local church. If I have to step in sometime and say something about a teaching, or perhaps some strife that is happening, you know why. It is because false doctrine dishonors God, retards God’s work, and misses God’s purpose of true love being the mark of the local church. MAP

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