Vessels for Honor, Part 3
Notes
Transcript
We are in 2 Timothy 2 this morning. Today we want to finish looking at how we can be vessels of honor.
Paul used this imagery in 2 timothy 2.
In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use.
Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Vessels of honor. That is what we all want to be.
To be a vessel of honor, prepared to do any good work for our Master.
What will it take to be a vessel of honor.
Well, let’s finish going through this chapter of 2 Timothy and see.
Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
The first thing that it will take to be a vessel of honor, ready to do any good work is to have the right focus.
Proper Focus
Proper Focus
We have spent a lot of time on this as we went over the earlier part of the chapter. The Focus needs to be on Jesus, resurrected; descended from David!
Why speak of it again. Because Paul came back to it yet again here in verse 14!! If he keeps coming back to this same topic, it might be important!!
He spoke of the gospel in 2 Timothy 1:9-10. He spoke of it again in 2 Timothy 2:1, speaking of being strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He spoke of it again 2 Timothy 2:8, and yet again in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 in the form of the hymn. Now He says in 2 Timothy 2:14, to keep reminding the church of these things!
Do you think this might be important? It is crucial to the Christian life!!
Jesus is our Hope! He needs to be our focus. His resurrection changes everything!
On what are you and I focused?
Today’s devotion on our Faithlife community is about this.
“Christians have a poor self-image simply because they are thinking and looking upon the condemned and crucified first-Adam life within, instead of being occupied with their glorified Last-Adam life above. “Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory.”
What does that mean?
We spend too much time focused on who we were, instead of who we are.
Before we were saved, we were…
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men
nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Too many of us focus on the past, and who we were. As we do that, we continue to act out of the old nature.
Example of College Student: speaker said I am homosexual, and Christian.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
The resurrection changes everything!! We are now a new creation in Christ! I am no longer what I was. I am in Christ! The resurrected Christ, the resurrected life I have in Christ has to be my focus!! As I focus on the resurrected Christ, I will imitate Him, not my old life.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
As we consider Him, and who He is, who He is given us the power to be, who He is making us to be, we will live resurrected lives.
With this focus, we will be vessels worthy of honorable use by the Master.
Where is your focus?
Where is your focus?
Do you want to be a vessel worthy of honorable use by the Master? Keep your focus on Him. Forsake the past. Forsake who you were. You are a new creation in Christ! Don’t let the old be your focus. Don’t let those old nature cravings and desires be the focus.
What you aim for you will hit.
Keep your focus on Christ!
The next thing that we need in order to be vessels worthy of honorable us is this:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Be disciplined in handling the Word of God
Be disciplined in handling the Word of God
The first think I want to point out here is the expression, “Do your best.”
This expression is found in 1 Peter 5. Look at that with me quickly.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
Do your Best / Make every effort
Do your Best / Make every effort
The expression in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do you best,” is translated, “Make every effort,” in 2 Peter 1:5.
To be disciplined in handling the word of God will require effort. It requires discipline.
Are we giving the time we need to read, study and know the word of God?
There are so many things in our lives to distract us. Books. Movies. Video Games. Activities. Hobbies. You name it, and it will draw us away from spending time in the Word of God!
If we want to be vessels worthy of honorable use by the Father, we need to make the effort to be in the word of God! If we are not in it, how could we possibly keep the right focus?
It is going to take effort; every effort! We need to do our best to be handling the word of God.
The next thing we need to do is to make sure we handle it correctly.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Correctly Handle
Correctly Handle
Do not remove or ignore the parts you do not like.
Do not replace the truth of the Word with your thoughts and ideas.
Start by reading it.
Memorize it.
Meditate on it.
Study it.
Know it.
How will we do it correctly?
Pray
Read it in context of the passage
Read in the context of all the whole
Read in the historical context
Consider the grammar/clauses/phrases
Look up key words/concepts
Find related verses
What did this mean to the original audience?
What is the application?
Share what you learn
We need to correctly handle the Word of Truth to keep the proper focus, and to keep from the errors of false teachers.
Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.
Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
Avoid Error
Avoid Error
In this day, in our culture, there is a lot of mis-proclaiming of the gospel. There are many that want to talk about Jesus, but they want to focus on Jesus as the God who loves. Jesus, the good example for us to follow. Jesus the social justice warrior who honored women, who stood up for the oppressed. But when they do this, they move away from the scriptures, and speak mostly of what “I think...” They deny the Old Testament. They say God does not have wrath. They deny the miraculous things God has done in Creating the world in six days, the healings, the coming of God the Son in the flesh, the death and the resurrection. To them, the miraculous does not make sense, because they do not truly believe what God has said. They are more interested in their ideas about God, than what God has revealed.I believe this is what Paul says is the wrong focus. This is godless chatter. This is the quarreling about words which is of no value and only ruins those who listen. These are the things Paul tells Timothy is the wrong focus. The wrong discipline. These teachings which are just quarrelling about words, and the teachers own thoughts are the wrong focus. It is true that Jesus loves. It is true that Jesus honored those who were typically dishonored in the culture. It is true that Jesus worked to help the oppressed. But what is the real message of the gospel? What is the key that we need to proclaim? Jesus Christ, resurrected and descended from David.In order to be able to avoid those wrong teachings, and quarreling about words, we need to correctly handle the word of truth. We need to be diligent.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Next, we need discipline in this...
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
Be disciplined in living the Word of God
Be disciplined in living the Word of God
This is pretty direct instruction. We need not only know the Word of God, we need to live it.
We need to flee the evil desires of youth. Evil desires. What are they? They are the desires of our old nature, the nature we had before we were saved. All of those evil desires are still in us, and as Paul wrote to the Galatians, they are waging war against the Spirit. Our old nature, our old desires want to take us captive to do those things again.
It may be days, it may be months, it may be years since we have given into those old desires, but they are still there.
As the Lord warned Cain,
but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Those old desires, the sin that is still within us until the day that Christ gives us a new body, are crouching, waiting for the moment to strike.
We need to be on guard. We need to flee!!
What are those evil desires?
Paul speaks of some who do not flee in the next part of this letter to Timothy.
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—
having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Where are you and I on this list? Which of these desire, these evil desires are a part of our past, our old nature?
Lovers of self? Self-centeredness is the term we use today. Number 1 problem in my marriage is… Lover of self. I want what I want, when I want it.
Lovers of money? What would you get if you won the lottery? What would you get if you had more money?
Boastful?
Proud? Independent. You cannot tell me what to do.
Later in this list, Conceited.
Abusive. We tear people down with our words. Some do it physically. Either way, we abuse others to get what we want.
Disobedient. Going back to the pride, and desire for independence.
Lack of personal responsibility
Victim mentality
Assertion of Rights and Independence
Manipulative
This is a common theme in scripture. How do we avoid this wickedness, these old evil desires from taking us?
Making every effort, doing our best to correctly handle the Word of God.
The Word of God will show us our evil desires and behaviors. The Word of God will show us the attitudes of our hearts.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
James spoke about this in His letter as well.
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror
and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Do not look into the word, and then walk away forgetting what the Word told you about yourself. We need the focus on the true gospel, and the discipline to properly handle the word of God and to live it out.
Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
Proper focus: Jesus The Resurrected Hope
Proper discipline: Make every effort, Correctly handle the word, and live the word.