November the
18th, 1916, saw one of the bloodiest battles during the First World
War. A short five-month battle where the British and French empires fought the
German Empire, causing the death of 1 200 000 soldiers on both sides of the
conflict, of which 58 000 British soldiers lost their lives on the first day
alone, July 1st. 100 years later, we remember the 38 million
casualties who either lost their lives or were declared MIA during WW1.
Following the atrocities of this conflict that involved a large portion of the
world’s countries, it was believed to be one of the darkest moments in human
history. That was, until September the 1st 1939, when the Allied
Forces declared war upon Nazi Germany. A war that caused nearly 85 million
deaths, instigated by a misinterpretation of some religious concept; ethnic
cleansing of the Jewish people.
The Second
World War is now, one of the most deadly and bloodiest battles in modern human
history in terms of casualties and it is quite right that we should continue to
remember the sacrifices of the men and women who chose to give up everything
for a peaceful future.
As you may
or may not know, this past week has been anti-bullying week. I have had the
pleasure of delivering assemblies to all year groups in the academy about the
misery that comes with bullying, having been seriously bullied as a child,
myself. The statistics are horrifying to say the least. 1.5 million children
were bullied last year alone in the UK, 150 000 of them were bullied every day
and 33% of the them resulted in having suicidal thoughts, with a smaller
percentage actually doing it. As horrifying as these statistics are, are they
really that surprising? Do they not reflect human history going back as far as
Cain and Able in Genesis 4? One person believes they are superior to another and
stamps on them, sometimes leading to the death of that other person, or in the
case of the Second World War, the superior complex of one person led to the
deaths of 85 million others.
Paul, in his
second letter to Timothy is quite clear that all Christians must understand
that irrespective of the almost universal rejection of God’s ways we must
continue to be faithful to what the Gospel is about. If you turn with me to the
passage, 2 Timothy 3:1-9, you will see there are four sections we can briefly
explore:
1: The cause
of the turmoil of these last days (vv1-2a)
2: The moral
conduct of the evil (vv2-4)
3: The
religious observance of the evil (v5)
4: The
evangelism of the evil (vv6-9)
The cause
of the turmoil of these last days (vv1-2a)
Verse 1
Paul starts
this paragraph with a stark reminder of where we are, or rather when we are.
These are the last days, so called because they are the times between the first
and second coming of the Jesus Christ. Paul wants Timothy to know that this is
the time when things will undoubtedly get worse. Christians were already being
persecuted by Nero and other leaders, but for Timothy and those he is pastor to
in Ephesus, Paul wants them to be ready.
1 Timothy
4:1-5
Here,
Timothy has already been told to prepare for those who will abandon the faith
in favour of false teachings, and they themselves will start preaching these
falsities; forbidding marriage, control over diets, etc., etc. Paul wants
Timothy to stay strong against this inevitable outcome of human desire to be
their own god. And in our first verse tonight, Paul reminds Timothy that things
will only get worse.
As you are
aware, the world sits on a precipice of terrorism. British citizens are
considered high targets for the IS and other Muslim Extremist Groups. Christians worldwide are being persecuted for
their faith, imprisoned or killed just for what they believe. British soldiers
are still being killed on foreign soil because of this extremist behaviour; an
almost attempt at ethnic cleansing of Christians, if you will. Even Muslims who
are of no connection to the extremist groups are being targeted for their
beliefs. Suicide bombers or shooters around the globe targeting unsuspecting
people just to make a point. Cyber-attacks from across the globe, with the
intent of stealing sensitive information from governments for sinister reasons.
Citizens in Russia fearing for their lives because their government believes
the US are about to conduct an all-out nuclear strike for their part in the
Syrian war. By all indications, the world has gone mad.
But we must
be under no illusion there is only one sinister figure behind all this evil we
see, behind the bullies, behind the false teachings, behind self-centred
desires, behind the world’s atrocities, the genocides, the so-called ethnic
cleansings and 2 Timothy 2:26 identifies who that figure is: the devil!
In the grand
scheme of things, these evil uprisings are just a passing phase, however, for
us who are still here they will come and go. With the advent of new, more
sophisticated technology and more heightened intelligence the uprisings will
increase in frequency the closer we get to Christ’s return. Only then will they
stop.
Remember
what Jesus said in Matthew 24:7-9 about the end of the age? Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All
these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be
persecuted and put to death and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
We must
understand, it is because of man’s love for themselves, their self-centredness
that these things will always happen. As long as men and women can make a
choice, the Devil will appear to have the upper hand.
And so,
before we proceed further, we must be clear on this:
We live in
perilous times as foretold by Jesus himself. These terrible times are the result of evil people who love themselves
and so, we must be prepared.
The moral
conduct of the evil (vv2-4)
Paul writes
a list of 18 characteristics of these evil doers and it forms a chiastic
pattern.
The
fundamental problem of people who turn from God and conduct evil is that their
love is directed self-ward as opposed to God-ward. Instead of being first and
foremost lovers of God, they are
first and foremost, lovers of self,
lovers of money (v2) and lovers of
pleasure (v4).
Paul goes
onto name the following words: boastful,
proud, abusive (v2) and they reflect an enlarged meaning of self-love.
People who love themselves best are boastful
of what they do, self-proud to the
point of being arrogant and abusive
because inevitably those who have an exaggerated opinion of themselves look
down with contempt upon others and speak evil of or do evil to them. The linked
words in verse 4 are treacherous, a
word reserved for Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus; rash or reckless, entirely thoughtless in word and deed and
completely self-centred; conceited
they have an over-inflated self-importance.
The next
group of words in the chiastic structure starting in v2 reflect how the
behaviour of the evil man or woman negates the goodness of God’s common grace; disobedience to parents, ungratefulness, unholy, without love and unforgiving and the words linked to
these at the end of verse 3: without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of good. These people who turn from God,
turn away from the gifts of common grace that he bestows upon us.
This leaves
the final central word which ties all the 17 other phrases together; the word slanderous in verse three. The Latin for
this word is diaboloi which has been
taken from the Greek word diabolos
meaning devil. Although, Paul is not
necessarily referring to the Devil
here, it serves as a stark reminder to us that the Devil, the Slanderer, the
Prince of Lies is central to all that is evil. That in these last days, the
birthing pains are the Devil’s ploy to turn as many humans away from God as
possible. It will become increasingly easier for the Devil to persuade men and
women to become devilish people that is, people of selfish desires and
self-importance without a care in the world or for their eternal soul.
In an age
where internet pornography, gambling, films of sexual immorality, social media
and the like are considered excellent forms of entertainment. In a time when
people must consider the future and stock pile possessions and finances or the
workaholic who believes success is achieving that company promotion. When it
has become socially and legally acceptable to water-down God’s law and
scriptures, leading to Christian business owners being sued for refusing to
publicise same-sex marriage, Christian student unions and youth programs being
scrutinised for extremism, government policies that mean schools no longer need
to have collective worship or even RE lessons or even the Word of God being
removed from legal court rooms for fear of insulting other religions. It has
never been easier to fall into the trap of Satan’s slanderous and evil ways.
The answer
is the gospel! Only the gospel can bring a radical and sufficient solution to
this deep-rooted problem. Only the gospel promises a new birth or a new
creation. Only Christ, through his death and resurrection can turn you inside
out; from self to unself, a real reorientation of mind and conduct and which
makes us fundamentally God-centred and not self-centred.
The
religious observance of the evil (v5)
We are told
to avoid those who appear to be
godly, but deny God’s power. They claim to be Christians of high moral
standing, yet teach falsities. Their message may initially be Bible-centred,
but they include small subtle differences which negate the Gospel. Perhaps they
are the ones who slowly introduce traditions or rituals within the church, or
encourage their members to wear a certain style of clothing, or eat a
particular type of food or prevent them from drinking a certain type of drink.
Whatever changes they introduce, however innocent and safe they appear, if they
are not in the Word of God, then they are not
the Word of God. They are false teachings and as such cannot and will not allow
you to walk with Christ. They prevent the very nature of a God-centred
fellowship and encourage the very evil self-centred relationship instigated by
Satan, himself.
True
religion combines form and power. It is not external form without power, nor is
it an emphasis of moral power without external forms. It combines them. It
fosters worship which is essentially ‘spiritual’, arising from the heart but
which expresses itself through public, corporate services, and which also
issues in moral behaviour.
If it did
not combine both external form and internal spirituality, the whole process
would be valueless and an abomination to our Lord.
Please note
here, Paul is not advocating that we cease all contact with these type of
people, to do so would be a travesty and go against everything Christ stood
for. Even Jesus was the friend of publicans and sinners. Rather, Paul is saying
we must be on our guard against these Religious sinners who are wolves in
sheep’s clothing. Be firm in the scriptures, never deviate from them and focus
always on God.
The
evangelism of the evil (vv6-9)
As if having
people in your church, perhaps sit next to you week in week out who profess to
be Christians, yet lead a life that is described in the verses 2-4 isn’t bad
enough, Paul goes on to say that these people will openly evangelise their
beliefs to the point where others will start to accept their message over and
above the Scriptures. They may not be doing so maliciously, you must
understand, they could be doing it in all innocence, well in their mind at
least, but if they are saying things or doing things that are not part of God’s
word, they are not living God’s word. Therefore, you must not conform to their
way.
That being
said, there are some who are going
out of their way to ensure their false teachings are spread. They prey on the
‘weak’, the new Christian, a newcomer to the church or perhaps someone who doesn’t
read their Bible regularly. They will be a good speaker, will have a way with
words, they will have the skill of a door-to-door salesman, persuasion through
well-planted words. They will form cliques in churches; small groups of people
who exclude others for one reason or another, and sometimes when these cliques
have been well-established the members don’t even realise they are excluding
others until it is too late. The members of these groups may not even realise
they are living false gospel teachings. They may be reading the bible and
delving into the word, but are the actions of the groups really God-centred? Do
they really live all of the gospel?
This is not
a new thing. Even Article 26 of the 39 Articles of Religion established in 1571
by the Church of England states: Although
in the visible church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the
evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet
forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do
minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in
hearing the Word of God, and in the receiving the Sacraments.
My friends,
to think that evil cannot enter the Church is naïve. Where ever men and women
join together, so Satan can also, even in the worship of God our Father. As
article 26 states, forasmuch as they do
not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, as long as Christ is the
focus, as long as everything we do is Christ-centred, for Christ’s sake and not
for self-glorification, the Gospel has purpose in our lives. At that very
moment we start changing it, even by a little, we negate the gospel and Christ
would have died for nothing, Galatians 2:21.
So what do
we make of all this?
We know that
Satan is at the heart of all the evil in the world. We know that men and women
will conform to this world by being persuaded by the Devil. We know that Satan
will infiltrate our ranks within the Church, he will try and change what we
believe, he will try and persuade us like he did Eve in Eden. He will conquer
through division within our churches. He will stop at nothing to win you and
your focus away from God. He already has a strong hold on our society, he has
created a so-called permissive society, which genially tolerates every
conceivable deviation from Christian standards of righteousness and truth and
he has made a start in our church too.
So what are
we going to do about it?
2 Timothy
3:10-15
Stand firm
in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
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