Warning Against False Teachers Series

Scripture

Last week we started a new study in the letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus. These three letters are usually called “the Pastoral Epistles” because they were written to pastors about dealing with pastoral matters in their respective churches. As I hope to show you in the coming months, these letters are highly relevant for us today. So I have titled our study of these letters, “Living in God’s Church Today.”

Paul’s First Letter to Timothy contains instructions about a number of issues, including doctrine (1:3-20), public worship (2:1-15), qualifications for church officers (3:1-16), pastoral leadership (4:1-5:2), social responsibilities (5:3-6:2), and material possessions (6:3-21). The key text of Paul’s First Letter to Timothy is 1 Timothy 3:14–15, where he writes, “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”

Last time I mentioned that Paul most likely met Timothy on his second missionary journey in the city of Lystra. Timothy joined Paul for the rest of that journey. In fact, Timothy became a lifelong assistant to Paul. Sometime after his third missionary journey, Paul was placed under house arrest in Rome. Paul was eventually released and perhaps traveled to Spain. He also had Timothy go to Ephesus to deal with problems – primarily false teaching – that had arisen in the church. It was during this time that Paul wrote his First Letter to Timothy.

As Paul begins the body of his First Letter to Timothy, he warns against false teachers in the church at Ephesus.

Let’s read Paul’s warning against false teachers in 1 Timothy 1:3-7:

3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Timothy 1:3-7)

Introduction

Justin Buzzard is founder and pastor of Garden City church. He also writes and blogs. In a 2011 blog post, he wrote:

While I think it is important to be known more for what you are for than what you are against, just a cursory reading of the Bible shows that it also calls us to deal with false teaching. Why? Because false teaching is dangerous and destructive; it hurts people.

About ten years ago I heard Ben Patterson say something that I will never forget. Ben told the story of a retired pastor who began noticing that his former congregation was sliding away from orthodoxy. The pastor saw this as his fault, noting the one thing he thought he did most poorly as a pastor. The pastor stated, in two sentences, his great failure as a pastor: “I always told people what to believe. My great mistake is that I never clearly taught my people what NOT to believe.”

Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus to deal with the false teaching that was creeping into the churches in Ephesus. Although Paul’s First Letter to Timothy is considered as private correspondence, Paul clearly intended the letter to be read to the entire congregation. He wanted them to know that his apostolic authority was behind his charge to Timothy to address pastoral issues in the churches in Ephesus. Paul’s immediate concern in his letter to Timothy was about false teachers.

Lesson

1 Timothy 1:3-7 shows us how to deal with false teachers living in God’s church today.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Do Not Allow Teaching of Any Different Doctrine (1:3-4, 6-7)

2. Do Teach Doctrine That Produces Love (1:5)

I. Do Not Allow Teaching of Any Different Doctrine (1:3-4, 6-7)

The first way of dealing with false teachers in God’s church today is by not allowing teaching of any different doctrine.

Paul begins the body of his First Letter to Timothy with these words in verse 3, “As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.” Paul reminded Timothy of the reason why Paul wanted him to stay in Ephesus, which was to command “certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.” The church in Ephesus had been in existence only about 15 years when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, but there was already “different doctrine” being promoted in the life of the church. Timothy was charged by Paul to stop the spread of wrong doctrine.