First Timothy lesson 18 end 19 begin (Q1)

All right, we are on First Timothy Lesson 19. So we are in Chapter 4. entered a new chapter here. And the lesson is titled chapter 4 verses 1 through 4. Our questions only really deal with verses 1 through 3, but let's read verses 1 through 5 to kind of grab that whole section there. But the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. For it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer."

So this is a change of A little bit of change of content here from what we were dealing with in Chapter 3. And you'll notice verse 1 starts with the word, but. We're going to deal with the contrast in question 2, but I just wanted to set up the context a little bit. Paul uses this contrasting word, but, here at the beginning. So, I think it's just helpful to recall to mind, what was Chapter 3 all about?

We've been in it for a while. We do this study fairly slowly. We don't move fast. But sometimes, you know, our mind is focused on the last, you know, couple of verses of Chapter 3, and we almost forget, like, we're right in the whole context of Chapter 3. What was Paul talking about? What was the, how would you summarize that chapter, the whole chapter, kind of in one, chapter three in one thought? Yeah, it's about the elders and qualifications. Yeah, yeah. That's right, Cheryl. So we have the qualifications of elders and deacons, right? So that's what Chapter 3 is about. And we're just coming off of looking at those requirements.

And then Paul takes the opportunity here to warn us about those who would eagerly seek to fill a power vacuum in a local church. Now, why would I say they seek to fill a power vacuum? Because is there actually a power vacuum in the church? Why or why not? Oh, sorry, JD, you're muted. I saw your lips move. Go for it. Yeah, I was talking to Les. I was just telling her that I never heard the word power vacuum. And I was like, Hmm. Oh, oh, is that? Is that? Is that a new term? Or am I... For me. For you? For us. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Maybe that's a Canadian thing. Maybe communists have to deal with that more than free Americans. No, I just have never heard it. I was like, I got that. So I was talking.

Well, that's, that's interesting. I'll use ASL and I'll just like sign it to her. Um, that's interesting, but, but it's, it's kind of a, a pretty, um, descriptive term, right? When you see a power vacuum, there's people that want to slide into it. So I just, so that kind of opens up. So my question, my question bringing up that term is, is there truly a power vacuum in the local church.

I think this is what is warning against those things. Yeah. The word apostasy comes to mind. Yeah. And the word latter times is also really interesting here. So there's a lot of deep stuff you got to get into here. Yeah, we're going to get into latter times right away here in question one. This is all preamble.

But, you know, it's an interesting thing because who is the head of the church? Christ, right? Christ is the head of the church. But Well, there is or can be, I think, a perceived power vacuum in what is actually a healthy local church, kind of like Holly Hills. And the reason that I think sometimes people perceive a power vacuum is because the elders aren't running around flexing their authority all the time, trying to control people and keep them under their thumb, right? Because Mike and Roger recognize that Christ is the head of this church, not them. and they recognize that the Holy Spirit is the one who's carrying out Christ's work in the body, and so they're relaxed about that. I mean, they will do what they have to do when it has to be done, but Christ is the head and the Holy Spirit is the agent of his work in the church. However, And their primary role is to teach the word of God, right? Not to keep everybody in line, right? Not to exert control over them.

But from a human perspective, I think that that can sometimes look like weak leadership, because it's not what we're used to seeing in terms of like a corporate executive or government, governmental arrangement. And I think that can... that there are people who really love to take positions of power over others if they see the opportunity. So you think of people with big egos and powerful charismatic personalities. Do we see those kinds of leaders in Christendom today? tons of them, right? People with huge personalities, big egos, tons of charisma, and they gravitate towards this kind of perceived power vacuum, right?

And I think these are the kind of people that Paul is warning against in this upcoming passage. There's this verse, 1 Peter chapter 5, where Peter's talking about elders, and he says, in 1 Peter 5 verse 3, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge. Okay, so as an elder, we've just been talking about in chapter 3, there are those who are allotted to your charge, but you're not to lead them as lording it over them. Of course, Like we said, there's a natural tendency of some to want to do that. And that's what Paul, I think, turns to warn against. Any thoughts on that before we look at question one?

I think the local church, like a small place like Holly Hills, is in direct contrast with what you see denominationally and with the bigger churches. Because even the bigger churches, when you talk to guys that are elders in a church like that, they really struggle to exercise the spiritual leadership they're supposed to have. And so their solution are what they call small groups. And so when you start talking about small groups, I think you have to talk about, if you're going to have a small group, all of these gifted people have to be in every group. So a small group is not the answer. I think the size of the church is the problem. I agree.

I mean, essentially what those churches are trying to do is create a bunch of mini churches or, you know, within this mega church, um, you know, and yet still, uh, exercise control over the whole, over all of them, you know, so it's creating more of a business model than a, than a church, you know, um, body.

Um, and, and I mean, there, there, You know, you think of the early church when believers had to meet in homes. Nobody had a huge building. I mean, probably whoever had the biggest house, as we kind of see that in the New Testament, would usually host a group of believers. And then you would have the idea that, you know, the church at Ephesus or wherever, would be sort of composed of all these, you know, different little distinct groups.

And they would, I think, sometimes get together, you know, and fellowship together and so forth. And, you know, I think the church, the local church has seen, you know, different forms over the last 2000 years. And we're not prescribed exactly in the New Testament, exactly how the local church has to be you know, structured in terms of how many people, you know, we have to have, how many people is too much.

There's no law about that, you know, but we, I think we come to kind of see what functions in a healthy way in terms of, you know, you need local level leadership. We don't need to have hierarchical structures. And so, um, so yeah, I think you're right, Mike, like what, what Holly Hills has been for some time or a long time, you know, is, I think, a healthy, healthy model, healthy size. You know, but Yeah, anyway, it's an interesting thing to think about some of that.

And what's important is that we have laid out very clearly you know, these qualifications for leadership. We may not have very clearly laid out, you know, how many people you've got to have and how you've got to meet together and so forth, but we do have qualifications for leaders and we have here a warning against dangerous leadership in a church. All right, let's look at question number one. What is the timeframe discussed in verse one?

So when is this, this that, you know, what Paul's talking about here gonna take place? He's talking about this falling away. Some will fall away from the face, paying attention to deceitful spirits. So what is that timeframe? What is the word? Let's just talk about that. What is the words that are in that text? In verse one there, the spirit explicitly says that what is it someone's gonna say it in later times okay in later times okay Good.

And if you've got King James and maybe a couple of other translations, it says, in the latter times. Okay. Now, I just pulled out three different commentators here. Dave Vernon McGee says that this is, quote, the last days of the church on earth. So he puts this in the future.

Then we have Chester McCauley, he says, in later times, points to the future with respect to Paul's writing. So he says, while false teachers rise at various periods in church history, their presence intensifies as the return of the Lord nears. epochs of false teaching crescendo toward the end of time. So he places this throughout church history, but intensifying toward the end of church history. And then I pulled out Jameson Foster Brown, who said in the latter times, And they define that as in the times following upon the times in which he is now writing, not some remote future, but times immediately subsequent. So there we've got the whole spectrum from future only to kind of throughout, but intensifying to no, this is all times after Paul is writing. up to the end of the church. So, these are all qualified Bible expositors, so why the difference?

Well, the text itself says, later times, Heteros Kairos. Like I said, the King James puts in the definite article, the latter times, but there's no definite article in the Greek there. This is just Heteros Kairos, which just means afterward or that which comes after and Kairos is a measure of time or a portion of time as in contrast to Kronos which would just be time in general. So this is a period of time or a measure of time that comes after.

Well that's pretty You know, that doesn't tell us when this happens, right? Just that it comes after. And so that's why we have this difference in, well, how far after, immediately after, distant future, it doesn't really appear to say, right? So how far in the future is this?

How about somebody look up Acts chapter 20, verses 29 through 30, and someone else look up Hebrews 1, verse one and two. We have someone on each of those. Okay, so I think we get a few hints in Paul's writing that he expected the church to see spiritual apostasy all the way through, not just near the end of the church age. So somebody read out Acts 20, 29 and 30.

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. Thank you. So that is, that's in Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders, right? His kind of final goodbye. And, and, uh, he's, he's laying down a pretty, uh, severe warning here at, you know, um, after my departure, after I leave to me, savage wolves come in among you from, from among you, you know, from within your own, um, uh, group. So Paul's warning these believers about conditions that they should expect.

Not that their great-great-great-great-grandchildren should expect, but that they should expect, right? So it's a passage like that that causes me to think that Paul has something in mind that's beginning now in his time, right? And besides that, if we look at the last 2,000 years of church history, Hasn't it had apostasy all the way through? Right from the early days, right? So if this is an apostasy that only happens at the end, then what's been going on for 2,000 years now, right? Well, what's interesting, Miles, is that most of the epistles that Paul writes are directed at evils that showed up within the church while he was there.

You know, like Galatianism and the rest of it, you know. There is, how do I say this, the opposition to the church started when Satan took the Lord Jesus out in the desert to tempt him. That's where it started. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we are the body of Christ on the face of this planet. I mean, Satan is going to be in hostile opposition against that, right? And he's not just going to decide to begin that, you know, 2000 years.

This is, I think that's really important, Mike, actually, to bring up the fact that this is where the source of this hostility and deception is ultimately coming from. Of course, we're going to get to that, you know, in later questions here. Who are these false teachers and what is behind them?

I was listening to Macaulay on something else this last week and he said, I thought this was really interesting, he said, When the Lord Jesus was baptized and he was witnessed to by the spirit and by the father, both the father, you know, he's my beloved son, and the spirit in the form of the dove, that the devil's whole agenda is to prove that the father's and the spirit's opinion of the Lord Jesus is not true. That's what he's setting out to do. And so that's really what he's after, you know, because temptation's always the same. Did God really say? Yeah. Did he or didn't he? Yeah. He did. Yeah. That's true, that's good.

Miles, the other, you know, some of the references on that verse, 2 Timothy 3.1, all the other rest, I'm just trying to pull up the Greek on it, but it's references to the last time, and not later.

Most of them are in the last times this will happen, and the last times there's three different versus it's pulling up, and the Greek looks like it's different. It is last, not later. So I think later is the distinction. I think maybe the starting point is now, and later, the other being in the end times, it's last.

Yeah, there are, go ahead. But isn't it to reveal the man is sin? Yeah. The ultimate goal of apostasy is to reveal the man of sin. Yeah, that passage or that verse that you're referencing is kind of on the edge of my mind. The man of lawlessness, revealing the man of lawlessness. Yeah, I'm not sure. I'd have to look at that passage to see what exactly is going on there.

But this term, You know, the last days, the last times, the later times, there's a few different Greek words that are used there, but they, of course, you always have to look contextually to figure out what exactly is being talked about. You know, are we talking about, you know, the days after the rapture? Are we talking about the tribulation? Are we talking about something before that?

But someone look, someone read that Hebrews 1, 1 and 2. This is going to help. This is going to help us. Yeah. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, and in these last days has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things through whom he also made the world. Yeah, thanks. So what do you guys think of that?

I think apostasy is going to be increasingly abundant. But I think that the reference going back to Timothy, Paul is latter times. I think there are going to be a lot that will be deceived. even increasingly so in latter times. So I wonder if that's not a progression that ultimately culminates with the other things that we know about what the latter days will bring.

Is that fair to say? I don't know. Yeah, it's interesting. You could also look at James chapter five, verses one through three. You'll see, we won't read that one right now, but you could put that down, and there are a few other references. But what we see as we look at that phrase is it tends to be used in the epistles, is we see that the entire period of time, and like we said, this word refers to a period of time, not just time in general.

The entire period of time from the first coming of Christ all the way until his second coming, his return, can be referred to as the last days or the latter days. So what that means is that we're already in the latter days or the last days. We've been in the last days now for 2,000 years as the church, which is kind of interesting, right? We just don't think that way because we tend to throw around that term as referring to maybe something, a rapture or just after the rapture, just at the very end. But if you think about it in terms of God's calendar for Israel, We're right in between week 69 and week 70. Now, we've been there for 2,000 years of Earth's space-time history, but we're at the end of the road, so to speak. The body of Christ has been built for a long time, but that is really just all part of the historical plan to bring in God's everlasting kingdom on the earth, and right now he's building up the administration of that in the body of Christ, right?

So we are in, I think, the latter times, the last days already, which doesn't mean that we're seeing prophetic events unfold. I mean, sometimes you'll hear that. in the last times and we can see it all happening on you know six o'clock news that's not what we mean and we're not watching you know the tribulation unfold or something that all comes out to the rapture but um but we can already refer to this period of time as as the latter days of the last time because this is the last period of time before that final 70th week and the return of Christ. But with Christ's first coming, everything else is falling like dominoes. We don't know how many dominoes there are in between his first coming and his return, but it's unfolding already, right?

OK, enough said about that. We're like half a verse in. Hopefully you're OK with that. debate a little bit when the last times are, but I think it's fair to say that what Paul is describing in these verses is something that's going on all throughout church history. So let's look at question number two.

This is asking, what is the contrast here between the confession of faith in 3.16 and the false doctrine spoken of in verses 2 through 3 of chapter 4? So at the end of chapter three, this section on qualifications of elders and deacons, we have this single verse and it's a, we call it a confession or a agreed upon statement.

And who is it about? Who is that whole statement about there? The greatest mystery of... Go ahead. It's all about Christ. It's all about Christ, right? He, who was revealed in the flesh, He was vindicated in the Spirit, He was seen by angels, He was... And He was taken up in glory, right? Jesus Christ is the subject of that. of that verse, that whole confession. This is about the person and the work of Jesus Christ, who he is.

So what does that, I just want to tie this in with the rest of chapter three, what does that have to do with being a qualified elder or deacon? Did Paul just kind of slap this verse on at the end as like, well here's a nice little poem to finish this section? Or does it have something to do with being a qualified elder or deacon? Let me just ask it this way. How does the Lord intend for a person to have the qualities described in chapter 3? Comment on that. Can you say that again? Yeah, okay.

So I'm just asking, I want to know how does verse 16, this little thing about Jesus Christ, what does that have to do with being an elder deacon or being qualified to be an elder deacon? And so to kind of lead you where I'm going here, I kind of clarified what is the means by which any believer would ever be qualified or have those kind of qualifications in their life in a genuine way?

There's a clear contrast here between the spirit seen by the Lord, proclaimed among the nations, believed on glory, and then he very clearly contrasts the way that the world will respond to that truth in the future, and ongoing. The word, you know, we talk about latter times, but times mean seasons. So, according to what I read in the Greek. So, there's gonna be seasons of consistent rejection What was vindicated in the spirit and seen by angels and proclaimed among the nations? And the source of that contrast and Voice will be the doctrines of demons And then he goes on to explain how this will continue to happen so Yeah. So we can ask it this way.

Who is the focus in 316? And who is the focus of these false teachers that come along? Who's the focus? Who is the focus? So when we get down to verse 3, what do they advocate? Forbidding of marriage, abstaining from foods, all these things. Who becomes the focus of the Christian life according to these false teachers? Christ is absent, right? There's no, Christ is not in view in the teaching of those legal false teachers, right? It becomes all about me and what I can do and how I can live the Christian life.

So, you know, a drastic difference of focus. It seems like law is the, so a different kind of law Not that which leads you and gives you a mirror to your own sinfulness, but that which you have to follow. Doctrines of demons. I think that the issue here is the mystery of godliness. What is that?

And so the mystery is not a mystery to us, because we recognize that Godliness is the Lord Jesus Christ himself as a man. Yes. So there is a man who was revealed in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up into glory. So there's the ideal man. He's the one.

And anything other than him can be put under the heading of false doctrine, because it's not about him. And what we looked at at the qualifications for elders and deacons and the others is that the issue is the godliness of the person who aspires to the to the office.

Yeah, and how are they going to be godly, right? How in the world is anyone, especially someone like Mike Doyle, how is he ever going to be godly, to be an elder in the church? It is, it's the life of Christ, right? It's only by means of the life of Christ in a person, right? And so I really like that, Mike, that Jesus Christ is godliness.

You know, that's what he's saying there at the end of chapter 3. And then we turn around here and he says all these other guys are going to come in and they're going to start teaching other ways to achieve godliness. And they leave Christ totally out of the picture. It's all about some other standards, some other means, right? Let's see, it's not only true of those that are called to an office. It's true of every believer.

Yeah, that's exactly every single one of us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I just I just wanted to poke fun at you there for a second. Yeah, JD. No, I was just gonna say the opposite is the doctrines of demons. So that's right. We're gonna have to get into that. But seat full spirits and doctrines of demons that attempt to take away the glory of the risen Lord. Yeah, that's true. When you think of what Satan's ultimate scheme is, it is to rob God of the glory that he deserves and to try to receive that to himself. I'm just looking at it from chapter 3 to chapter 4, and we've got to remember this is all one letter. Chapter 3, it's church organization, elders, deacons.

This seems to be speaking more to the body. This is to the body of Christ, rather than to the elders. You now have the organization, you have the men who are qualified, you have deacons that are qualified, elders that are qualified. Now it's saying to the body, watch out for these ugly men. If we set it up with elders and we set it up with deacons, now you, the body, watch out for these others who are going to come in and try and pull you away. So this is speaking to the body now, not necessarily about evil elders or deacons or anything like that. you the body, you have the models, you have elders, you have deacons. Now, body, watch out for these other guys who are going to try and snatch you out of this organized body of people.

Yeah, and it places a responsibility on every believer when you look at it like that, you know, Courtney. I mean, because I kind of had this written down a little bit. I think about sheep a lot, and when we talk about elders, shepherds, and so forth, I mean, People want to have leadership. They gravitate towards a leader. They want to have somebody to follow. That's just our, you know, in our nature.

And that's kind of why I brought up that question at the beginning about, you know, power vacuum. Certain people will try to fill that, and as the body of Christ, as believers, we have this responsibility to be able to identify and distinguish between a wolf in sheep's clothing and a shepherd who is just one of the sheep, right?

I don't know if that's, but yeah, I really, uh, I appreciate that. I think it not only is, you know, power vacuum, I understand that. I mean, I've heard that term and, you know, power vacuum is just, you know, an empty spot that can be filled up with something else. And, and, you know, I think this is not only it. Not like a power vacuum, it could be.

It could be that part that you don't have strong leadership and there's a vacuum and these men are easily snatching around. But I also think it's in a strong body with strong believers. This is the warning that there are people out there who don't want the body to be intact or whatever. So these are warning both in a power vacuum and if you have the strong leadership. He just laid out strong leadership. It's still going to be people who are going to come in and try and snatch you out with doctrines and demons and all of this stuff. Or people who are at the end.

Or inside the body, yeah. It's either a power bank or a strong, strong, the warning is still valid. It's the whole world system. Yeah, yeah. And the reason I brought up that term power vacuum is really because I wanted to draw our attention to the fact that who is it who desires to completely fill any vacuum of power, if we want to use that term, right?

It's Jesus Christ. That is his desires to be all and in all in the church as the head, but also as the life of the entire body. There is no power vacuum. And those who are qualified as elders in the church are those who recognize that Christ already occupies that position of power entirely. And there's no place for human power in the body of Christ. There's just none.

And there are those who will see it because they're looking at it from a purely earthly level, and they'll try to take some of it to themselves. It's really exactly the same thing that happened with Israel when they demanded for themselves a king. They saw this earthly power vacuum, and God said, no, there's never been a power vacuum. You can have a king, but you're rejecting me.

And it's the same thing in the body of Christ. We already have a head. We already have an authority. We don't need to replace that with some other power. But we do need shepherds. We do need those who, under Christ's authority, will guide the flock back to Christ, who he is.

Nowhere over time, but I know I want to add one verse And I just was following through on some of the references here in verse 1 of chapter 4 John 16 13 But when he the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth For he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come.

So, the other cool part of this is that not only are you being transformed to the image of God, or the image of Christ, you also have the Spirit who... so there's a triunity of work that's going on here that the body needs to take... Mind up. Yeah, right and it's really cool. Yeah, so He's gonna speak truth to you, but you're going to get deceitful spirits and you know, we get we get into seared and branding iron and all that stuff here in a little bit, but he'll disclose to you what is to come and He's going to reveal to you truth. He is all about truth and the spirit is all about convicting you and moving you to a place of truth. So I'll just stop there. Would you close us there in prayer, JD? Would you do that? Oh, absolutely.

Father Howie, thank you for the book of 1 Timothy and how Paul disclosed just how deacons and elders work within the body. We're thankful for the words here around just how you've proclaimed and that we are, as believers, prone to potential misleadings, but we're thankful for your spirit. And I just pray that we would be mindful of how you continue to convict and convince us of the truth. And you do that because you love us. And your grace is so wonderful. And it's your name we pray. Amen. Amen.