Young Timothy had a tough job. In the church at Ephesus
where he served as pastor, there were a number of challenging issues that could
overwhelm a seasoned pastor. For this young man, it was almost too much. His
health was being affected because the stress was so great. Let me let you in on
something. The greatest stress in a pastor’s life is not facing up to the
persecution and ridicule that comes from outside of the church. Pastors take
that in stride because, once again, lost people act like lost people because
they are lost. No, the greatest pressure and often the strongest attacks come
from within the church. Timothy’s problems were false doctrines that had to be
dealt with, issues with public worship, and lack of mature Christian
leadership. As we come to these in this letter, we will look closely at each
one.
The main reason Paul left Timothy in Ephesus was to address
the false doctrines being taught in the church. In Acts 20, Paul had warned the
Ephesians that some of their own people would try to lead them astray. Later in
this chapter of 1 Timothy, he named two of them. Life in Ephesus was hard
enough for Christians because of all the occultic practices that flourished
there; how could they possibly defend against heresy coming from inside the
church, too? Paul knew it was going to happen and that it had happened, so Paul
urged Timothy to charge these false teachers not to teach false doctrines. The
word “charge” literally means to give stern orders with full authority. In
other words, they were to cease and desist immediately. Perhaps some of his
Sunday School teachers had stepped outside of the approved curriculum and
started teaching their own belief. They were teaching things like fables and
endless genealogies – idle talk and legalism. Yes, the legalists were back
trying to lead others astray. The problem was that they didn’t even understand
the law they were trying to teach.
These fable to which Paul referred were false tales and
speculative ideas that refuted the teachings of Paul. Perhaps they were
fictional distortions of the Old Testament stories from creation forward.
Genealogies could have been efforts by these “Jewish” teachers to trace their
heritage back to the Patriarchs. Whatever they were, they were a waste of time
and energy that shifted the focus away from what is important – God’s Word!
Have you ever been part of a Bible Study where one or two
people dominated the discussion? You end up talking about anything and
everything but the Word? That’s what was happening and Paul had
commanded/authorized Timothy to put a stop to it because all these activities
do is stir up arguments and prevent godly teaching. When the devil wants to get into a church, he doesn't confront them directly. He doesn't say that "God is dead" or that "Jesus didn't really die." He sends in his minions to simply waste time, and my friends, we don't have any time to waste. We must be about the Father's business of teaching the Word! We must never allow anything to prevent that.
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