Reading: I Timothy chapter 1
Spotlight: I Timothy 1:3-8

Am I a false teacher?

Like many others who preach the word and work to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ, I don’t often ponder the idea that in pursuing such a pure goal one could have motives any other than obedience to Christ and laboring for His kingdom purposes. Like many others when I read a text like this about false teachers, I immediately think of people I know who may qualify or at least struggle in some of these areas outlined by Paul. I don’t often come to the conclusion that I might be guilty of being a false teacher. But this morning when I read this passage of scripture, I suddenly felt convicted.
In verse 3 Paul gives Timothy a very specific mandate for his ministry, “command certain men to teach false doctrines any longer.” As someone confident in their own knowledge of the word, I think I would enjoy being put in a position of using Christ’s word to denounce false doctrines. Then Paul goes on in verses 4-7 to give further detail into what qualifies as false teachings. He starts with myths and endless genealogies. Genealogies were family tree records or descent lines. I imagine that these teachers spent a lot of time trying to justify themselves by their lineage. When Jesus, in John 8:38 tells the Pharisees that they do what they’ve heard from their father, they quickly replied, “Abraham is our father.” They justified themselves by their lineage. Although what Jesus was telling them was that in reality, Satan was their father. Paul then explains why to avoid such debates, “These promote controversies.” As believers, we should avoid controversies as much as we can, not just for ourselves but for the sake of the church. We should be known by our love, not by how well we can argue someone else’s doctrine with our biblical knowledge. Paul only cared about promoting the gospel, about communicating the love of Christ. In Philippians 1:18 Paul says, “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
In verse 5 Paul reminds us of what the true motive for any preaching should be, “to share the love of Christ”. On the many occasions that I have found myself in a debate with another believer about some controversial point of doctrine, the one thing that is always definitely absent is love. I have to have to ask myself, “Am I doing this out of a pure heart or a good conscience or a sincere faith? Or is my motive self promotion?”
Continuing to read this text, I found myself lingering over verse 6 for a while. The question raised in my heart is, “What exactly qualifies as ‘meaningless talk.’” It is a broad term, open to a lot of interpretation. Let’s compare it with some other terms used by Paul in his writings. In Ephesians 5:4 Paul says, “…nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking…” Here is another broad undefined term, “foolish talk.” In Ephesians 5:6 we find even another one, “Empty words.” So let’s put them all together and see if we get a better picture of what Paul is trying to say; meaningless talk, foolish talk, empty words. I think what Paul is trying to say is that we as believers should carefully count every word that comes out of our mouths. James gives a 12 verse dissertation (James chapter 3) on how difficult and necessary it is to tame the tongue. James 3:2 says, “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. This fascinates me because it is basically saying, If you can win the battle for control over your mouth, you’ll be in victory over your whole body. There is something tied into our tongues that effects every area of struggle in our lives. Fascinating!
In closing, let’s look back at our text in I Timothy 1:7. For me this was the part that really brought the conviction of the Holy Spirit. “They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.” Ouch! How many times have I, out of a desire to be a “recognized man of spiritual authority” touted some doctrine that I barely understood and maybe even just recently heard about. I think there have been many times where I have ‘confidently affirmed’ something that I really had no deep revelation of. One preaching policy that I have adopted is to make sure that I spend enough time on a passage of scripture to get a true revelation of it, to digest it, to pray it, to see it come alive in my spirit and to acquire a testimony of the promise fulfilled so that I can bear witness to it in my own life. Then the Lord will give me the anointing to preach it with power. I challenge you to do the same whether you’re preaching from the pulpit or in every day life by the actions of your Christian witness. It comes down to verse 8 in our text today. “We know the law is good if one uses it properly.” Let’s labor in humility and love to be good stewards of God’s word, of the law and the promises and to preach from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith, avoiding controversies.

How to Pray this Scripture:

Dear Lord Jesus, I pray that I would labor in love to avoid controversies, or strange doctrines. I pray that, by faith, I would labor for the work of God, that I would obey His command of love. I pray that I would always examine the motives in my heart and preach from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. I pray that I would not let my heart wander from these things. I pray that I would avoid meaningless talk and keep my tongue in check. I pray that I would always pursue obedience, submission and live a life according to your truths before I ever attempt to preach them to others. God, your law is good and I pray that I would always use it properly. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Additional Scriptures:

Matthew 7:15
Matthew 15:2-4
Ephesians 5:3-7
Romans 14:19
James 3:2

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