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This sermon was preached by Tim Simmonds at the Fallowfield site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 31st January 2021.

BIBLE VERSES

This sermon was based on 2 Timothy 2 :14-26.

Dealing With False Teachers

14Keep 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. 15Do 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. 16Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. 19Nevertheless, 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.”

20In 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. 21Those 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.

22Flee 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. 23Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

KEY POINTS

Impacting Lives

• We have an effect, whether we realise it or not, on the world around us. Family, work colleagues, friends even in the supermarket and with our neighbours. We don’t float through the world in isolation, we bounce off others and cause an impact. We need to ask ourselves “what impact do I have on people around me?” More deeply – is it a kingdom impact?
• To realise we have an impact on people around us is a vital part of faith and maturity. Paul wants Timothy to consider his impact on the world around him. He is most likely a church leader and evangelist, he has a position of influence and authority. He can set the tone, culture and atmosphere of the church and he represents the church to the world.
• Many of us have positions like that.  We can set the tone, culture, atmosphere of our family or work place. You, on your street, in your office, in your class room, in a social group.They are all places to consider the impact you have. This is about Kingdom impact, how do we advance the kingdom?

Speech

• When considering our impact what we talk about matters. It’s important to know when to talk as well as what to say! Paul says – rightly handle the word of truth. We are to present ourselves as those approved with no shame. We have a great opportunity,  as believers to hand truth to people.
• We can wrongly handle this truth. Paul gives a few hints.

1) Don’t quarrel – It does no good and ruins the hearers. Paul is referring to arguments about fine points of theology, the sort of argument where no-one changes their mind. In those moments churches turn in on themselves, forgetting that the world needs to hear the word of truth, the good news of Jesus.

2) Avoid “Irreverent babble” – Talking a lot but saying nothing good or helpful e.g speculation, gossip, conspiracy. Paul says it spreads like gangrene, a disease that rots the flesh. This sort of talk can destroy a church, it rots the body and it turns people away from the church.

• We have a great opportunity to speak truth. We get to be God’s people, we get to represent him. We get to be different to the world around us with our words and actions. We have impact – the posts we put on social media – the whatsapp messages we forward – the conversations that we have – they all matter – they all have an impact. What impact do your words have?

 Understanding Your Gifting

• It is easy to rule ourselves out, especially in evangelism/mission. We often just compare ourselves to other more successful evangelists  – every conversation they have they manage to turn it to Jesus!
• I wonder if Timothy had a similar problem, he thought he needed to be like Paul. He looked at him and saw “gold and silver”, he looked at himself as “wood and clay”. Paul says to him that it doesn’t matter, be cleansed. I think means live for God, worship him. Then your gifting and skills become useful to God.
• Find the things that you are good at and that you can do. The areas where your gifts can be used.

Behaviour

• Finally Paul explains the importance of behaviour. Flee from youthful passions, often we make this about lust or partying too much. That’s not what Paul means, in context it is clearly about how we use our gifts, how we talk and how we behave. Youthful passion is to run after quarrels, to get caught up in foolish controversies which only creates division. Rather we should pursue faith, love, righteousness and peace.
• We put our trust in God, not in our ability to argue. We trust God when people believe different things to us. Paul gives four ways to behave – Kindness – able to teach – patient endurance – correct with gentleness. Then it is all about what God does, grants repentance, brings people to their senses, frees from the devil. God does the work not us – he uses our words, gifting and behaviour.
• The world is going through a huge cultural shift, one that we barely even understand. It has exposed deep inequality, abuse, greed as well as the human desire for hope and goodness. The world needs believers in Jesus to take Pauls call seriously, to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace!
• Believers need to realise the impact they have on the world. We need to hear Pauls call to his young friend – Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
  What’s your impact?

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