Thoughts From 1 Timothy 1 - Day 2

 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 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.  1 Tim. 1:3-7

        Paul sent Timothy to oversee the Church in Ephesus which was being threatened in two ways. First was doctrinally. The early Church was threatened by Satan messing with the essentials of the gospel in order that people could believe but believe the wrong gospel and thus not be redeemed. The essentials are

   1. The deity of Christ

   2. Salvation by grace through faith that is evidenced by obedience

   3. No other means of salvation but Jesus

   4. Resurrection of Christ and the dead

   5. The Bible is the inspired word of God (the Old testament scriptures for Timothy)

These are hills to die on and Paul sent Timothy to make sure that error didn't creep in. Today, Satan uses the same tactics and progressive Christianity includes a number of these errors. Church leaders must be aware of these and discerning and confrontational when exposed to them.

       The second attack to the church was geneologies and I'm not quite sure what that is but the results of it were 5 fold

      1. It caused arguing and quarreling

      2. This caused division - didn't lead to love

      3. Those who knew more than others were prideful

      4. Discussing it didn't go anywhere. Didn't lead to sanctification but was an intellectual exercise only

      5. Took away from faith alone. Wasn't violating the essentials but may have been chipping away.

   What are those things today? End times discussions, modes of baptism, incorporation of Jewish customs into Christianity, Calvinism or Arminianism, KJV only, political party allegiance, cessationism or not, old earth vs. young earth and many others are all areas where some people are much more knowledgeable about than you. As they pontificate it usually leads to pride, division, arguing and frankly usually doesn't increase anyone's faith. Paul told Timothy that this was already happening in the church and nip it in the bud.

    Is your church on the right track?