Have you ever put a puzzle together? If
you’re a child of the 90’s or later you’re probably wondering I mean by a “puzzle”.
If you’re like me and you grew up in the 80’s, then you probably are young
enough (ahem) to remember doing puzzles at one time or another in your life.
For me it was during the holidays when the family got together, or on summer
vacations with my grandparents. (Why my grandparents thought they could get my
younger brother and I to sit still with two senior citizens for an hour and
match tiny pieces of paper together I’ll never know). Nonetheless they
succeeded in teaching us something about the art of puzzle making. One of the
things we learned is you should always find the edge pieces first. These are
the pieces which have at least one straight side. One way or another these
pieces will build the frame of the puzzle you’re making. Once you have a frame
for your puzzle then you can begin to fill it in with the actual body, (or innards as they say in the South), of
the puzzle. I won’t include a picture of innards here. You’re welcome.
Where am I going with this? Good question. We've been trying to determine God’s purpose for, and desired product of the
church. Unfortunately we can’t turn to the book of 2nd Opinions,
chapter 5, verse 52 and get our answer.
To answer our question we have to…wait for it…put the puzzle pieces together.
Once we have the frame we can begin to fill in the innards of our study of the
purpose and product of the church.
So far we have looked at Jesus’ words to
the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. These words were technically the last
instructions of Christ directed to the churches.
From those articles we saw several characteristics which Jesus desired in the
church.
1.
Love
and Life – The Lord Jesus desires the church love him and each other fervently.
He is not a big fan of apathy. This is in line with the greatest commandments:
Love the Lord with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself,
(Matthew 22:37-40).
2.
Righteousness
in thought and in action – Jesus hates immoral behavior and bad doctrine. What
is notable is how the two are often interconnected. An immoral lifestyle seeks
doctrine to support its actions and believing lies will ultimately lead to
immoral behavior.
3.
Endurance
and Holding Fast – All of the churches were called to some form of endurance:
to hold fast, to be faithful, or to persevere. All of the churches were called
to overcome, with the promise of reward to those who endured to the end. Jesus
desires his church endure hardship, hold fast to faith in him and to the
gospel, and to be faithful until the end.
So far we have some puzzle pieces we can
work with. Are we finished? No. Is this a sum total of the New Testament’s
words on the purpose of the church? Hardly, but it is a starting point from
which to go further. Was that an incredibly long introduction
to this article? Yep. But hey, we got to review where we’d been and I got to
use the word “innards” at least four times. Plus we are all caught up and ready
to move on. Woo-hoo!
Today we’re going to look at some of
Paul’s words to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 1. Why is this
important? I’m glad you asked. 1st and 2nd Timothy, as
well as the letter to Titus, were letters Paul wrote to leaders of churches.
They are called the Pastoral Epistles. Paul wrote these letters to Timothy and
Titus, as his physical representatives in Ephesus and Crete, to tell them how
to lead and guide the churches. Because of the context in which they were
written these letters have greater significance to our discussion. Unlike other
letters in the New Testament Paul was not just writing to correct a particular
doctrinal or behavioral issue, he was directing Timothy and Titus how to lead
and care for the churches.
Let’s look at 1st Timothy,
chapter one and see if we can’t find any other pieces to our puzzle. As always,
please read along in your own Bible.
“As
I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to spread false teachings, nor to
occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. Such things promote useless speculations rather than God's redemptive plan that operates by faith. But the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.” (1
Timothy 1:3-5, NET Bible).
There were false teachers in Ephesus who were promoting myth and speculation. These ideas were not based on Biblical revelation in the Old Testament or the teachings of the apostles. Instead they were the mulling over of ideas or stories outside of the revealed Word. The problem with this sort of thing is: a) It wasn't based on revealed truth and b) it was taking the focus away from "God's redemptive plan, which is by faith", that is, the salvation offered by God for sinners through faith in Jesus Christ. The focus of the church should be the revealed truth of God in his Word and the gospel of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for the salvation of men. The minds of the believers in Ephesus were very important to Paul and so he
tells Timothy to make sure truth is being proclaimed and the gospel was central.
Paul now describes the goal of his
ministry.
“The
aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience
and a sincere faith,” (verse 5). These are the core goals of Paul’s
ministry to the church and he desires Timothy pursue these characteristics in
Ephesus. Let’s look at the innards
of love, conscience, and faith.
 |
| Okay, I couldn't resist a picture of innards. |
Paul desired his ministry to produce love
from a pure heart. What does that mean? Answer: Love which is uncorrupted, free
from selfish desires or ambition. Paul told the Philippians “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
but in humility count others more significant than yourselves,” (Phil.
2:3). He told the Colossians “Above all
these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony,”
(Col. 3:14). To the Ephesians he said, “And
walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant
offering and sacrifice to God,” (Eph. 5:2). Love was a recurring theme for
Paul. His aim was to produce selfless and pure love among the churches. This
same desire is seen in Jesus. He said the greatest commandment was
to love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. The second greatest commandment
was to love your neighbor as yourself, (Matt. 22:37-39). Jesus also criticized
several of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 for their lack of love,
particularly towards God, (see prior articles to make sure I’m not lying). Love
to God and to others was foundational to Paul and to Jesus. Paul wanted Timothy’s ministry
to the Ephesians to produce this love among the believers.
So what is “a good conscience”. Do you
remember watching the movie Pinocchio
as a kid?
For those of you whose grew up in a cave, Pinocchio was a little wooden puppet
who magically becomes a real boy, (sort of), and he is given a little cricket,
(Jiminy), to watch over him and tell him right from wrong.
Jiminy Cricket was supposed to act as Pinocchio’s conscience. Your
conscience, according to Mr. Webster, is “the part of the mind that makes you
aware of your actions as being either morally right or wrong.”
In Pinocchio’s case, he had a cricket.
You and I have that little voice which tells us not to cheat on our taxes, run
the red light, or mouth off to our boss when they tell us we’re morons.
So we all know what a conscience is,
right? One of the goals of Paul’s ministry was to produce a “good conscience.”
So what’s that? A good conscience is one free from shame, guilt, or
embarrassment. When you have a good conscience you have lived a life of moral
purity and excellence. Paul desired the Christians in Ephesus to live morally and blamelessly. The same was true for other churches Paul ministered too, (Col. 3:5-6; Eph. 4:17-24; Gal. 5:16). Righteousness in actions, speech, and
behavior is the aim of God. This is also seen in Jesus’ words to the
churches in Revelation. He called them to depart from impurity and warned them
of the consequences of immorality. Timothy was called to produce and promote
righteousness and a clear conscience within the church.
“A sincere faith” - this seems like an obvious statement like "delicious bacon" or "truck-driving rednecks". We all know bacon is delicious and rednecks drive trucks. In the same manner, faith should be sincere, genuine, and without hypocrisy. A person should trust and walk with Christ with full devotion. For whatever reason, due to the context of the false teachers, Paul felt the need to specify the need for a sincere faith. Perhaps the false teachers were producing hypocritical or heartless faith. Who knows? Either way he wanted his ministry, and thereby Timothy's, to produce sincerity of belief. Nobody likes hypocrites, (except in the hypocrites club where all are welcome). Jesus especially didn't like hypocrites. He spent a whole chapter in Matthew 23 going off on the hypocritical Pharisees. Jesus desires honesty and sincerity in those who follow him. Remember, "Would that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm...I will spit you out of my mouth," (Rev. 3:15-16). The Lord desires a heartfelt faith without pretension. The church should produce this sort of faith in his members.
Takeaways regarding the Purpose of the
Church
God's truth and the gospel of Jesus - are these central in your church? Are they central in your own walk and faith? They certainly were central to Paul. His letters are full of references to God's salvation and his Word. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek...as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith," (Romans 1:16-17). "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her," (Eph. 5:25). "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy," (Tit. 3:5). "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth," (2 Tim. 2:15). "Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching," (1 Tim. 4:13). We also see this was important to Jesus. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations...teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you," (Matt. 28:19-20). Are the Word of God and the salvation of Jesus Christ central in your church?
What you
believe is important. What a
person believes about God, man, sex, relationships, money, and morality will
have a direct impact on how a person lives their life. Paul wanted to preserve
truth in the minds, and therefore the hearts, of the Christians in Ephesus. We
see also how rejecting “faith and a good conscience” led to the shipwreck of
the faith of some of the men of Ephesus, (1 Tim. 1:18-20). Consistently in the New Testament
Epistles the authors, (Peter, Paul, and Mary John, etc), write to
correct false beliefs or misunderstandings of the people. Why? Because they
knew a wrong belief would lead to wrong actions and corrupted faith. What does
this have to do with the purpose and product of the church? I think we can make
the case that one of the purposes of the church is to produce and preserve
right belief among Christians. We can do all sorts of nice things within the
church. We can serve others, give to the needy, have emotional worship
services, build big buildings, and have great childcare, but all of that doesn't matter a hill of beans, (to quote Mr. Bogart), if we are not part of a
community which teaches what is true. Jesus prayed in John 17, “Sanctify them
in your truth, your word is truth,” (John 17:17). One of the church’s purposes
is to do help answer the prayer of Christ.
How you act
is important. When my
wife and I take our kids out to eat we always give them “the talk”. (If you’re
a parent then you know where this is going). “The talk” consists of telling
them what sort of behavior we want and what sort of behavior will get them
thrown in the dungeon underneath our house.
We tell them we want to get “5 Stars”. 5 Star behavior means they say “yes ma’am”
and “no sir”. It also means they don’t throw spaghetti at one another, scream
at each other, or take fish out of the fish tank in the lobby of the
restaurant. Basically they are not to embarrass my wife in I or any way because
we are insecure people and want others to think we are good parents. We also don't want to get asked to leave Chili's by the manager.
God desires “5
Star” behavior in the church,
only more along the lines of sexual purity, honorable speech, kindness to one
another, giving, serving, and an unsoiled mind. One of the purposes of the
church and church leaders is to promote and produce moral righteousness and
holiness within the body of Christ. We can do (fill in the blank) at our church
very well and have a good time doing it, but if our church isn’t producing
goodness and morality distinct from the world we’re living in then we are not
living up to God’s ideal for the church.
So, have we found all the puzzle pieces for the purpose and product of the church? No, but I think we're getting close. Next time we'll look at Jesus' closing charges to the apostles and see if they provide the final edge pieces to our study. Once we have the edges then we can begin to discuss...wait for it...the innards.
Stay tuned.
