INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• It is so easy to get off focus in life isn’t it?
• There are times where it can get easy to forget why we do what we do in life.
• Things such as a job. Our jobs which are supposed to help us to provide a living for the family can at some point become our life to the point where we forget our family.
• Possessions can go from something we have to something that has us.
• The person we married and wanted to spend the rest of our lives with becomes just a roommate. We allow little things to tear the relationship apart.
• The same thing can happen with our faith.
• If we are not careful we can forget why we do what we do. Our faith can turn into something that it was never intended to be.
• In the passage we are going to examine together this morning, Paul is writing to the young evangelist Timothy. There were folks who were trying to promote false teachings within the church.
• SLIDE #2
• For context let us look at 1 Timothy 1:3-4
• 1 Timothy 1:3-4(ESV) 3As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship£ from God that is by faith.
• There were people trying to get people to take their focus off what is really important in the life of a Christian. These teachers were coming in trying to get the folks hung up on stuff that was not important.
• In the verse we will examine together this morning, Paul will share with us what is really important along with the boundaries from where it should all flow.
• SLIDE #3
• 1 Timothy 1:5(ESV) 5The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
• Let us begin by exploring…
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
I. What is the main thing?
• As Paul contrasts the teachings of the false teachers verses that of the real ones, Paul explains that the AIM or GOAL of God’s teachings is LOVE!
• I want us to go back to verse 4 from the Message paraphrase; it really encapsulates what is meant by Paul in the original.
• SLIDE #5
• Apparently some people have been introducing fantasy stories and fanciful family trees that digress into silliness instead of pulling the people back into the center, deepening faith and obedience. 1 Timothy 1:4 (TMSG)
• When the passage speaks of the AIM or goal of our instruction (speaking of what Paul taught) he is explaining this issue of love is the proper and expected lifestyle of one who calls themselves a Christian. The AIM, GOAL or END result of the teaching is to help one to get to this end.
• Contrast that to what the false teachers were doing, they were literally trying to drag people off that goal to get them to aim at stuff that was of no importance.
• Real love is doing what is spiritually best for others. By the way, this kind of love is NOT dependant on the object of the love; it is fully dependant on the lover.
• In other words this kind of love is a matter of the will; we can make it happen with the help of the God that we love and who loves us!
• If we think we have the right doctrinal stand of things yet we cannot love those around us, there is something wrong.
• God loved us while we were sinners, Jesus died for us while we were sinners.
• SLIDE #6
• Romans 5:8(ESV) 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• That love He gives to us, we can give to others.
• SLIDE #7
• 1 John 4:7-8(ESV) 7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
• The main thing is love! It is love for God and love for people.
• This love that is to be a result of the teachings must flow from three areas in our lives for it to be real.
• SLIDE #8
Keeping the main thing the main thing requires our love to flow from…
II. A pure heart.
• Those who were trying to introduce false teaching into the mix were trying to get folks to focus on the external or ceremonial purity instead of what was important.
• The Pharisee’s of Jesus day looked good on the outside but were a mess internally.
• SLIDE #9
• Matthew 23:26(ESV) 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
• A pure heart is the ground from which love must grow from.
• In the Bible, the heart represented the mind, thoughts, and moral affections of a person.
• What is a pure heart?
• The word PURE originally simply meant clean as opposed to soiled or dirty.
• Later it came to have certain most suggestive uses.
• It was used of corn that has been winnowed and cleansed of all chaff.
• It was used of an army which had been purified of all cowardly and undisciplined soldiers until there was nothing left but first-class fighting men.
• It was used of something which was without any inferior things added to the mix.
• So, then, a pure heart is a heart whose motives are absolutely pure and absolutely unmixed.
• In the heart of the Christian there is no desire to show how clever he is, no desire to win a purely debating victory, no desire to show up the ignorance of his opponent.
• His only desire is to help and to illumine and to lead nearer to God. The Christian is moved only by love of truth and love for men.
• The pure heart is one who’s motives and affections are noble and unselfish.
• We can go to God to have our heart renewed!
• SLIDE #10
• Psalms 51:10(ESV) 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right£ spirit within me.
• A pure heart will allow us to love even when we receive nothing in return!
Keeping the main thing the main thing requires our love to flow from…
• SLIDE #11
III. A good conscience.
• This is another area from which our love must flow.
• What is a conscience? Technically it is an innate (inborn) faculty which prompts a man to do what he thinks is right and criticizes him when he does what his mind thinks is wrong.
• When our standard of right is violated the conscience produces guilt, shame, doubt, fear, remorse, or despair.
• Some people do good things because of a guilty conscience but doing good is not the norm for them. Loving the hard to love is not something they normally do.
• Timothy was told that God desires Christians to live a lifestyle that is not a result of a guilty conscience.
• A blameless conscience is one free of offense against God and man. This produces peace, confidence, joy, hope, courage, and contentment.
• If you are not experiencing these things, and are experiencing the things from the list of guilt, shame, doubt, etc… then it would seem that God is trying to get your attention!
• When we are immersed into Jesus, we are given a good conscience.
• SLIDE #12
• 1 Peter 3:20-21(ESV) 20because£ they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
• Our conscience can be trained (1 Corinthians 8:7-12), it can be calloused over and hardened.
• SLIDE #13
• 1 Timothy 4:2(ESV) 2through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
• We really have to be careful with our conscience because over time, if we constantly ignore what it is telling us, we will eventually burn it out. Some folks do not want to change or listen to God so they ignore the conscience long enough to eventually dull it, retrain it to the new standard we set of ourselves which leads to eventually killing it.
• A good conscience is guided by God’s Word, the blood of Jesus cleanses the conscience.
• SLIDE #14
• Hebrews 9:14(ESV) 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our£ conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
• We are called to love from a good conscience; we are not called to love driven from guilt and shame.
Keeping the main thing the main thing requires our love to flow from…
• SLIDE #15
IV. A sincere faith.
• A sincere faith is a faith that is real, true; it is literally a faith without hypocrisy.
• A sincere faith is a faith that needs no mask to hide its’ insincerity or inconsistency.
• A person with a sincere faith does not need to put on their “game-face” when they come to church or hang out with other Christians.
• One of the big things that drew me to Jesus was seeing the sincere faith of Robyn’s friends. They were by no means perfect, but you could see their faith was real.
• King David has a great faith even though he was a very flawed individual.
• When David realized he stepped out of line with God, he was quick to get back on track. David did not gloss over his issues by saying he would deal with God later, he repented and cleaned up the problem then and there.
• A sincere faith spring forth from trusting God. Too many times we do not trust that God will help us or that He is powerful enough to change a life.
• A sincere faith is needed if real love is going to happen, a faith that trusts God enough that we will love as He commands us to do!
CONCLUSION
• The whole attitude of a Christian should be love. Our motives should flow from the foundation of a pure heart, good conscience, and a sincere faith.
• To do otherwise puts us is stepping out of line with God.
