SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: June 22, 2006
Date Preached: June 25, 2006
Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Idolatry in the Church
Sermon Title: Character DOES Matter!
Sermon Text: 2 Tim 2:20-26 don’t read until after intro…
Introduction:
Over the past few weeks we have been camped out in 2 Timothy and we have been looking at how we have fell into bowing to idols here in our fellowship…idols that come from this world and what it deems to be right and good.
This morning I want us to continue to look at idolatry in the church and how we can overcome it in Christ and how we as a fellowship can be the LIGHT we are called to be… in this world of darkness!
Have you ever heard, “…it doesn’t matter WHO you are as long as you can get the job done…”? Many in our world today hold this statement as absolute truth. This is called pragmatism.
Many of us remember the presidential races of ‘92 and ‘96 and how ‘character’ was brought into play in the political battleground.
Now regardless of whom you voted for then, some very important issues were brought up… and even today these issues are still with us…The main issue I am speaking about is that Character DOES matter.
I can remember those who said that character should NOT be a deciding factor in electing a leader… because regardless of character it was the political leadership that matters the most.
The other side argued that the political leadership could not lead us where we needed to go… if the character of the person was faulty…
Still today there are those who believe that as long as you can get the job done… it really doesn’t matter what kind of character you have…
But I want to make it clear that this issue is not just in the political arena… it actually is embedded all throughout our society, in fact just recently I read a quote by a newspaper columnist…
QUOTE: Sydney J. Harris of the Chicago Sun Times said, “…since most of us would rather be admired for WHAT WE DO rather than WHO WE ARE, we are normally willing to sacrifice character for conduct and integrity for achievement…”
And for the most part… throughout our society… and sadly enough even in our churches… we truly believe that if the job can get done… what does it matter what kind of person we are…
And in truth this is nothing more than the sin of pride and self-edification! We want people to SEE what we have done… we want approval for our accomplishment. Our good works then become a self-centered, selfish, lust for self-glory!
And I have to say that in our country we find this to be the case time after time… outside the church, but sadly inside the church as well… We are bowing to the idol of self centered immorality and indifference to God’s way.
And I really find that quite confusing because our Founding Fathers believed in God’s way… and they based our country and system of Government on God, His laws and His character…
Why do you think that the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights have survived for so long? Why do you think theyhave influenced the world as they have? It is because God was the foundation of these documents! And with God as a foundation we cannot be wrong!
I want to make this point very clear… God’s Word tells us that CHARACTER DOES MATTER… And when we serve God, it is NOT enough to get the job done, but we must get the job done as God desires us to get it done… in His plan… in His way… according to His guidance and His character!
What we do is very important, but we must understand that WHO we are is so much MORE important. There are words that describe what a person of good moral character are…
• Person of honesty
• Person who tells the truth
• Person with honor
• Person on whom you can rely
• Person who is real and authentic
• Person with a good reputation
In our passage this morning we find Paul relating to Timothy how important character and morality is in his work and in his walk with Christ… it is not enough to DO the work of Christ but we must also LIVE the life of Christ in our hearts and actions…
For us to live the life of character that reflects Christ, we must have a heart of character that is filled with Christ… in other words, who we are on the inside is vital to what we do on the outside…
God uses honorable vessels for honorable purposes… and in our passage this morning this is what Paul is instructing Timothy about… on how to become an instrument for honorable and noble purposes within the kingdom… or in other words how to become an honorable vessel for Christ!
Let’s go to God’s Word and read what Paul has to say… please turn in your bibles to 2 Tim 2:20-26 or you can view this on the screen…
2 Tim 2:20-26 (HCSB)
20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver bowls, but also those of wood and earthenware, some for special use, some for ordinary.
21 So if anyone purifies himself from these things, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
22 Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
23 But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels.
24 The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient,
25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance to know the truth.
26 Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him to do his will.
Now in looking at this passage, we can gather 3 teachings from Paul to Timothy on Character, the first is how can we become a believer of character… a noble and honorable servant of Christ…
1. The Making of an Honorable, Noble believer (v.20-21)
When we look at v.20 it may seem a bit confusing at first, but when we put it in light of the teachings of Jesus and the parable of the wheat and the tares… it comes into focus for us.
What Paul is illustrating here is a large house there are vessels of noble use and there are vessels of ignoble use... Paul speaks of the earthen and wood vessels that are for the ordinary uses around the house such as garbage disposal or the carrying out of human waste…things of dishonorable use!
And Paul also describes vessels of gold and silver that were used for honorable things such as feeding the family and entertaining/ educating the family…
What Paul is illustrating here is the church as a whole… we are God’s household and we have to understand that in our house are vessels of both noble and ignoble function!
Or in other words, in our church we have TRUE believers in our midst and we also have those in our midst who believe and teach a false truth…
There are many people in this world who simply refuse to come to church because they say, “Church is filled with hypocrites…” and to a certain extent they are right! The church IS filled with hypocrites, so don’t be too surprised about this news…”
But when people say they don’t want to go to church because of the hypocrites it is like saying, “…I don’t want to go to the hospital because of all the sick people there…” What a lot of people fail to recognize is that the church is here for the hypocrite, just as the hospital is there for the sick person.
The church exists so that the hypocrite can come and be made whole in Christ… so that the ignoble can be made noble…so that those with low or NO character can be made into people with godly character!
People we are ALWAYS going to have hypocrites in the church, but we must remember that it is our duty to reach out to them and help them to see Christ and turn to Him for repentance, forgiveness and salvation!
So what Paul is saying is that there are going to be hypocrites, false teachers and unbelievers that fellowship with those who truly believe.
But Paul addresses how they can become noble vessels for Christ in v.21. He says, “…So if anyone PURIFIES HIMSELF from these things…” that he can go from being a vessel with NO honor to a vessel of honor in the church…What Paul IS saying here is that to become a noble and honorable vessel for God’s kingdom, we must cleanse our lives!
In other words, what Paul is saying is that for you to be an honorable and noble vessel for God, it is not about WHAT you do, but it is all about WHO you are!
But this goes against the worldly wisdom of our day…because the world tells us that it is what you DO that determines who you are! But that is not what God’s Word shares with us…
In Eph 2:8-10 we find Paul saying, “…For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation—created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them…”
Paul is saying that salvation and cleansing can only come from God above… and that it is NOT our works that make us good, but it is through the Grace of God that we become good and holy vessels…
I want us to be clear and fully understand that Paul is NOT saying that we can make the choice to be good OR make the change on our own! But that it can only come from God…
Actually, Paul teaches all throughout his writings that it is God who has to change us… we cannot change ourselves…
The cleansing that Paul is speaking about in v.20 is a cleansing from false teachers and false doctrines and from the idolatry the world pulls us and beckons us to bow our knee at…
This cleansing is a turning away from the things of this world and turning to the person of Jesus Christ who died for our sin and provided us an opportunity to have a relationship with the Creator God of the universe…
I want you to understand that this passage was directed at Timothy and his walk and those he pastured… but it is definitely applicable to us today as well…
To be the honorable vessels God wants us to be… for us to be the vessels of noble character and mission that God wants us to be… we must first turn to Him and allow Him to cleanse us…
We cannot cleanse ourselves, but we have to make the choice to turn to God for the cleansing. He is calling us… He is drawing us… will you turn to Him today and allow Him to cleanse you and make you into the vessel He wants you to be?
But becoming a vessel of noble character is not the only teaching Paul gives here in this passage. Let’s look at v.22 and our 2nd point this morning…
2. The Maintaining of an Honorable, Noble believer (v.22-23)
Here we find Paul progressing in his teaching as he goes from the making of an honorable and noble believer into the maintaining of an honorable and noble believer. Paul tells Timothy…
“…Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels…”
Here Paul tells Timothy to FLEE from youthful passions… Now for many that translates to sexual or sensual desires of lust and illicit behavior… but that is NOT what Paul is speaking about in this particular instance…
I do want you to understand that there is NO better advice for a believer than for him or her to run away from the sensual and sexual passions of our selfish nature!.
But I want to point out something here that many tend to overlook! What youthful desires or passions do you see Paul describing to Timothy? In the Greek language this phrase simply reads, “…and flee youthful desires…”
In looking at the context of what Paul is saying, what we see him describing is a youthful tendency to be quick with your tongue and slow with your mind, not something sexual or sensual…
Basically what Paul is warning Timothy against in this passage is for him to be careful that he did not put his mouth in motion when his brain was not in gear!
For the believer to do this… It can be a devastating thing, and what Paul is really saying here is that Timothy needed to not allow his youthful emotions and temperament to control who he was!
If you want to be the honorable and noble servant of God that He has called you to be…if you want to maintain the Christ-like life that God has called you to… Paul tells us that we must FLEE from these things…
The Greek word used for our English word ‘flee’ is the Greek word pheugo “feugw” and it means…
• to flee away, seek safety by flight
• to flee (to shun or avoid by flight) something abhorrent, especially our vices…
• to be saved by flight, to escape safely out of danger…
• to vanish
So we should get the picture that Paul is painting here… if we are to maintain the Christ-like lifestyle that God has called us into… then we are going to have to seek out safety in Christ by turning away from the evils of this world and the evils of our own heart!
But here is where Paul was such a great teacher and Christian mentor for 1000’s of people… Paul doesn’t simply say FLEE… but Paul goes onto teach what we should STAY in order to maintain our Christ-like lifestyle!
Look at v.22 and see that Paul says to flee but he also tells the believer…
• to PERSUE righteousness… which is doing the right things at the right times and for the right reasons…
• to PERSUE faith… which means that first we must have a faith in God for salvation and then faith in God to lead, guide and direct our every step in this life…
• to PURSUE love… the love of God and the love of people. Jesus gave us the commandment to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body, and we also called to love our neighbor as ourselves. This speaks to ALL believers that we are to love God and love people!
• to PURSUE peace…we are to seek unity, tranquility and harmony in the body of Christ. Sometimes we fail, but sometimes we succeed, but when we rely on God’s pwr and wisdom, the peace that results from that is beyond anything we can understand!
And we are to do these things along with other believers who are seeking to live the Christ-like life as well. So Paul not only places an emphasis on the individual believer here…he also emphasizes the need for Christian fellowship and the corporate worship arena!
As an individual believer we FLEE what is evil and we pursue what is Godly…
As a body of believers we FLEE what is evil and we pursue what is Godly…
When we break down the Christian life, it is not that complicated, but finally this morning I want us to look at…
3. The Ministry of an Honorable, Noble believer (v.23-26)
23 But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels.
24 The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient,
25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance to know the truth.
26 Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him to do his will.
Here we find Paul beginning his instruction on the ministry of an honorable and noble believer by telling them to NOT be argumentative in their attitude and approach to each other.
We are going to disagree simply because we are different, but we can disagree and we can STILL get along and be honorable and noble to each other…We need to remember that God has called us to share HIS love, not to get across OUR point!
But instead of being argumentative, Paul calls the believers to have a shepherding attitude toward each other…and he lists 4 very positive injunctions that we can apply to our walk so that we can show that shepherding attitude toward our brothers in Christ and to the world around us…
Look at v. 24 to find the first thing Paul shares… and that is “be gentle to everyone…” Paul does not say that we have to bend over backward and compromise on what God’s Word has to say… but he DOES say that we must be gentle or kind to everyone… again we must remember we are the representative of God’s love here in this world…
2nd Paul says that we are to be, “…able to teach…” this is because teaching is essential to growth in the kingdom. Paul was not simply speaking of becoming a teacher in a classroom setting, but a teacher in life.
Believe it or not, you are a teacher to SOMEONE… Someone is looking at you and your life and they are ‘learning’ how to walk with Christ… or they are learning how NOT to walk with Christ… you should be a good teacher!
The 3rd thing Paul reveals to the believer is that they are called to be PATIENT! This is a difficult thing to do… and we must understand that patience comes only thru trial and difficultly. We develop patience by leaning on God… we need to TEACH that patience to those younger in the faith…
Finally we can see that Paul teaches us to instruct our OPPONENTS with gentleness or kindness…why, so God can speak to their hearts!
We do not need to approach the lost or those opposing us with clever put downs or insults… but we must approach them with gentle correction. Paul describes this in Eph 4:15 when he tells the Ephesian church… “to speak the truth in love…”
Speaking the truth in love and not in sarcasm brings God’s LOVE to the forefront and this is the wise thing for the believer to do… it is the love of God we need to share with the world.
There is a certain power in the life that refuses to lower itself to arguing and is gentle with all those who oppose it… it is the power of Christ!
Conclusion:
The final sentence in our passage this morning expresses the noble hope of a noble instrument in God’s Kingdom, “…Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him to do his will…”
Why are we called to live with honor and to be noble in our walk with Christ… so that those around us may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap…
So that those around us would be awakened to the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin in their lives, and they would submit to that conviction and surrender their hearts and minds to Christ and be saved!
Ours is a duty of salvation! We are NOT here to judge! We are not here to show people God’s wrath… He will do that in due time… We are here to be a reflection of God’s love and to bring many to know Him as Savior!
Are you living the life God has called you to live? Does your character match your words… Does your life match your claims?
If you are talking the talk… are you walking the walk?
This morning I am going to open up this altar for those here who know Christ but have NOT been living as they should be living… I open it so that you would come and make things right with God!
Come as Bro Jerry comes to sing our hymn of invitation… let’s all stand!
