Transcript

What is the best advice you have ever received from someone? One Christian author I read offered a word of wisdom when he wrote, “Learn to apologize first, and then do it often.”[1]

Wise words indeed.

Children can come up with some pretty good advice from time to time—rather insightful too. Like the little girl who said, “If you want a kitten, start out by asking your parents for a horse.” That is pretty clever. A little boy said, “Don’t ever eat anything that is bigger than your head.” I can only wonder how he learned that! Another little girl wrote, “If you get a bad haircut, just wear a hat.” That is pretty good advice. One more: a five-year-old boy wrote, “It’s okay to eat a whole cake if it’s your birthday.”

I think I will try that one myself, if I can get away with it.

An older adult offered this advice: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” In other words, you ought to listen and learn from others. The well-known nineteenth-century author and pastor Charles Spurgeon once said, “The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted.”[2]

Well, as we set sail one final time into Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he is giving Timothy some wise advice. These are inspired words of wisdom for all of us today.

The first advice Paul offers to Timothy is this: mind your motives. He begins by speaking again about false teachers—apparently, there were plenty of them:

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. (1 Timothy 6:3-4)

These false teachers were teaching a “different doctrine,” one that did not correspond to the words of Jesus Christ. Paul refers to the “sound words” of Jesus. The Greek word for “sound” gives us our word hygiene. The Lord’s words are spiritually healthy.

In verses 4-5, Paul has some pretty frank language about a person who teaches false doctrine.

He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction … imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

Such teachers promote the idea that if you are godly, you are going to get rich—you will have great gain. To this day, false teachers are motivated by pride and greed. They do not care about what their teaching does to their followers as long as they can fill up their own pockets. False teachers might talk about God, but it is not long before they are talking about you sending them money.

I heard one man say God told him to ask his followers to send in $54,000 dollars, because his private helicopter needed new blades and that is how much it was going to cost. Well, I would not send him a nickel, and he can take the bus as far as I am concerned.

Timothy is reminded what true gain is in verse 6, where Paul says there is “great gain in godliness with contentment.” And Paul contrasts contentment with greed. He writes in verse 9 about “those who desire to be rich.” They are never content, no matter how much money they accumulate. Paul warns that they are going to “fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”

The warning here could not be much stronger, and Paul sums it up with these familiar words:

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (verse 10)

Money is not the root of evil; the love of money is the root of evil. So, what motivates you today, beloved? What do you love?

The next word of wisdom from God’s Spirit through the apostle Paul is this: watch your walk. He tells Timothy, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (verse 11). These are Christlike virtues with eternal value.[3]

This pursuit for godly virtues is not easy. In fact, Paul calls it here in verse 12, “the good fight of the faith.” The Greek wording comes from athletic contests and pictures the agonizing effort to win the competition. What does this fight involve? Paul says it involves taking “hold of . . . eternal life.”

This doesn’t mean that eternal life is a prize you work hard to earn. It is not a prize at the end of life, because you already have it. You just need to take hold of it and live it out in daily life.

In Timothy’s case, Paul writes about his good confession in Christ that he had made “in the presence of many witnesses” (verse 12). More than likely, this was Timothy’s profession of faith at his public baptism—something I hope you have done. Baptism was never intended to be something your parents do for you. In the New Testament, it is always something you do to profess your faith in Christ, just like Timothy, in the presence of many witnesses.

In verses 13-14, Paul gives Timothy a charge to “keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach.” The commandment refers to all that Paul has been teaching in this letter. And this is a good reminder, beloved, that God’s Word is not a collection of suggestions but commands. We are to apply these principles to life.

Paul reminds Timothy in verse 13 of the Lord Jesus’ testimony, when He made “the good confession” before Pontius Pilate.

He then adds another incentive for watching the way we walk through life—namely, Jesus Christ’s soon appearing to rapture the church. Paul describes it in verse 14 as “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God the Father will eventually fully reveal the glory of His Son. Verses 15-16 more than likely refer to that moment when the Lord returns with us, following the tribulation, to set up His kingdom on earth. Paul describes that moment when the glory of Christ is finally revealed to the world when He appears as “the King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

Now Paul has one more word of wisdom for us: manage your ministry. He has just warned Timothy about the love of money; now in verse 17 he tells Timothy to instruct those who are rich not to “set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.”

Beloved, there is nothing wrong with money itself. The problem is that money is temporary and uncertain; but ministry has eternal value. Money can pile up in bank accounts and trust funds, but Paul already reminded us back in verse 7 that “we brought nothing into this world” and we are going to leave all we have behind.  

That is why Paul reminds Timothy here that part of his pastoral ministry is to remind the wealthy to “be rich in good works . . . generous and ready to share” (verse 18).

The apostle uses a banking term in verse 20, as he closes this letter by writing, “Guard the deposit entrusted to you.” He is urging Timothy to cling to what has been entrusted to him, and the context indicates he is talking about the sound doctrine that is continually under attack. He is saying, “Do not waver from the truth. Do not waste your time with ‘irreverent babble and contradictions,’ just silly talk that will not hold up under inspection.”

So here are Paul’s words of wisdom for Timothy, and you and me today: manage your ministry and invest in people; watch carefully your godly walk, and mind your motives so that your life brings glory of God.