Author: Richard Bargas

Pastor Like Paul, part 3

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“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,”–2 Timothy‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We have been learning what it means to follow a good leader, and how to be a good leader ourselves. We are doing this by reading Paul’s last letter to his spiritual child, Timothy, who was a pastor in Ephesus.

The Christian faith depends upon not only faithful discipleship, but on faithful disciples who continue in the pattern they have received. In their last two posts in this series we looked at 3 ways we need to follow the good Christian leader:

  1. Follow the Same Doctrine

  2. Follow the Same Conduct

  3. Follow the Same Purpose

You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.

4. Follow with the Same Faithfulness

Faith Defined

The Greek word pistos refers not just to the content of our faith, but it also can be rendered “faithfulness.”

Faith, in general, means to believe in something, to have confidence and trust in something or someone, but Hebrews 11:1 defines it more accurately. It says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV)

Faith Lived Out

It is important to note that this definition of faith comes at the head of a whole chapter of earthly struggles that God’s people overcame in the strength of the Lord. Hebrews 11 shows us that biblical faith is not a painless faith, it is not an easy faith. To believe is only part of it. But faith runs deep and it trust God even in the hardest and darkest times.

Think about what Paul is going through at the time he penned these words to Timothy. He is facing certain death and his life up to this point has been hard. Read with me 2 Cor 6:4-10 to remember what Paul suffered for Christ: “but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” (2 Corinthians 6:4–10, ESV)

Do you see how faith looks when it is lived out? Paul wants Timothy to have this sort of faith. Surely he had seen the suffering and hatred he faced. Paul’s teaching, conduct and aim in life had led to this sort of treatment for him, and it would surely lead to this in Timothy’s life as well. And will have this response if we follow the model Christ laid out for us as well.

Timothy seemed to have struggled with wavering faith that resulted in fear and shame at times.

  • “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,” (2 Timothy 1:7–8, ESV)
  • which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.” (2 Timothy 1:12, ESV)
  • “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains,” (2 Timothy 1:16, ESV)
  • “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.” (2 Timothy 2:15, ESV)

Timothy needed to learn that “the promises of God are true and reliable.” We need that lesson too.

Belief Must Lead to Trust and Hope

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Portrait of John Calvin

“The power of God, the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, and so on, are spiritual things which the eye cannot see. When they are recounted to us it is not enough to believe that they are true, unless from this belief we derive motives for trust and hope, so that we not only think of God as almighty but also acknowledge him as the one who supports us with his power, and so that we receive the Holy Spirit not only in our mind’s eye but in his power.”–John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: Calvin’s Own ‘Essentials’ Edition, Kindle Loc. 3894.

So Easily Distracted from Jesus

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The issue of distracted driving has become a big issue in our day. Most often we see this when people are engaged in text messaging or talking on their phone while they are driving. A person can get so distracted with their phones that they forget that they are in a car going down the freeway at 70 mph or more. The consequences are often disastrous.

This can happen in our everyday life in a less spectacular but more damaging way. It happens when Christians get so wrapped up in worldly cares that they don’t pay attention to the spiritual needs that are around them

In Matthew 16:5-12 Jesus, sitting in a boat with his disciples, sought to warn them about the “leaven” of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. These religious leaders were legalists (Pharisees) and liberals (Sadducees)–two extreme errors that his disciples needed to avoid.

But instead of understanding that Jesus was speaking about spiritual things, the mention of leaven made them think about bread, and the fact that none of them had thought to bring bread on their trip. Frustrated, Jesus pointed them to the fact that he was not speaking about bread, for the clear and simple fact was that if they were in want of bread, he had proven over and over that he could miraculously provide for them the needed food.

There are some important lessons to learn from Jesus and his disciples about the reality of daily spiritual distractions that we encounter:

Three Consequences of Christians who get so wrapped up in worldly things that we don’t become properly engaged in heavenly things.

1. We run to others and not to Jesus (verses 7-8)

First,  the disciples turned to each other for bread. This is a natural response for an unbeliever who feels he has no one else to turn to because he is separated from God. But we are children of God and are no longer enemies of God. As God’s children the first person that we should run to in our need is to our heavenly Father. For a Christian who is living life not by sight and not by faith, the distance they feel between themselves and God may lead them to find their needs fulfilled in others first. We can be like a child who is estranged from her father. She may have very real needs, but because the relationship is distant and not as it should be, whether by sin or mere neglect, this child would rather seek out help from friends and even strangers before a loving parent who would readily help.

Friends,Jesus is right there in the boat! But they turn to one another. Jesus is as close as a prayer! His Spirit is within you! But when we become so overwhelmed in the things of this world, we can turn to worldly solutions and those around us before we turn to God.

2. We forget how dependent we are on God (verses 9-10)

Jesus reminded the disciples how he had provided for the crowds of 5,000 and then 4,000. The point that they should have grasped was one that we often forget. Everything we have comes from the good hand of God, and when we are in need He is the One who provides. This means that we receive not only food, but clothing, jobs, children and grandchildren, friends and homes, even the rain and the sun. The very oxygen that fills this room and fills your lungs came from God.

I am saying this because sometimes we can think in such worldly terms that we see the “extras” in life, the pleasures and blessings in life, as a gift from God, but the mundane and everyday things we regard as somehow our own doing. But we are fully dependent upon God for everything, even life itself. We can forget this when we are wrapped up in the humdrum day to day matters of life. We fail to look into the face of Jesus and thank him for things like dirty laundry, which fills our laundry hamper, remembering that those children who make all that laundry are a gift from God that so many long to have and cannot. Or we fail to thank Jesus for that unfair supervisor who makes you work overtime. We fail to see that so many people would love to have that job so they could feed their family and pay their bills.

Isn’t it easy to get distracted from Christ? We run to others when the Lord is there for us if we would just ask. And how often do we forget how dependent we are upon him and how good he has already been to us?

3. Finally, we get so wrapped up in worldly things when We forsake the lessons of Jesus for everyday troubles (verses 11-12).

Jesus was warning his beloved disciples about a very real danger—false teachers! But all they were thinking about was who forgot to bring lunch!Does this remind you of Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus? Martha also was too weighed down with worldly things. She was so wrapped up in preparing a meal that she failed to engage in heavenly conversations, choosing kitchen duty over a Bible study with Jesus!

This isn’t to say that we need to take care of meal preparations and oil changes. But the urgent things of the here and now, and worse, the frivolous and wasteful things of this world, can crowd out and take away from the time and importance of those spiritual lessons that God wants to teach us.

But that is being penny wise and pound foolish because we eventually reap what we sow! We might enjoy that TV show of football game on Wednesday night instead of coming to Bible study but our souls will be poorer for it. We might get a little bit more sleep on Sunday morning by skipping church or coming late, but our souls are drying up and leaving us open as prey for the enemy. We may choose “family time” over serving the Lord and others, but in the end, can we blame our children for growing up without a love for the Lord and his people? What shall we do then?

The disciples were so earthly minded that they were no heavenly good. Their interests were stuck in this world and not in God’s kingdom.Our world offers so many resources outside of God. But for a Christian, God is the only resource we ever need. Run to him. The conversation that the disciples had in that boat was a conversation that is totally natural for any person on earth to have. BUT Jesus was sitting next to them. Jesus had fed them. Jesus was seeking to teach them. We need to make sure that we don’t carry on like everything is normal. God is with us. Nothing will ever be “normal” again, praise God!

Here is a fountain filled with blood: use it, saint, use it.

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C. H. Spurgeon.jpg

“A very present help.” — Psalm 46:1

Covenant blessings are not meant to be looked at only, but to be appropriated. Even our Lord Jesus is given to us for our present use. Believer, thou dost not make use of Christ as thou oughtest to do. When thou art in trouble, why dost thou not tell him all thy grief? Has he not a sympathizing heart, and can he not comfort and relieve thee? No, thou art going about to all thy friends, save thy best Friend, and telling thy tale everywhere except into the bosom of thy Lord. Art thou burdened with this day’s sins? Here is a fountain filled with blood: use it, saint, use it. Has a sense of guilt returned upon thee? The pardoning grace of Jesus may be proved again and again. Come to him at once for cleansing. Dost thou deplore thy weakness? He is thy strength: why not lean upon him? Dost thou feel naked? Come hither, soul; put on the robe of Jesus’ righteousness. Stand not looking at it, but wear it. Strip off thine own righteousness, and thine own fears too: put on the fair white linen, for it was meant to wear. Dost thou feel thyself sick? Pull the night-bell of prayer, and call up the Beloved Physician! He will give the cordial that will revive thee. Thou art poor, but then thou hast “a kinsman, a mighty man of wealth.” What! wilt thou not go to him, and ask him to give thee of his abundance, when he has given thee this promise, that thou shalt be joint heir with him, and has made over all that he is and all that he has to be thine? There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for his people to make a show-thing of him, and not to use him. He loves to be employed by us. The more burdens we put on his shoulders, the more precious will he be to us.

“Let us be simple with him, then,

Not backward, stiff, or cold,

As though our Bethlehem could be

What Sinai was of old.”

—Morning and Evening, May 3, Evening

Pastor like Paul, part 1

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“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.”

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3:10-11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

New York Magazine ran an article in January this year entitled “Yet Another Person Listens to GPS App and Drives Car Into Lake.” The story reads:

“A driver in Vermont steered his car right into Lake Champlain on Friday. The driver says he was using navigation app Waze, which apparently insisted that driving into the lake was the right way to go. “The app directed the drivers to turn onto the boat launch near the Coast Guard station,” the Burlington Free Press reports. “By the time they realized what was happening, the car had slid 100 feet onto the lake. The three people in the car managed to climb out.” Another passenger in the car described conditions as “dark and foggy.” The car remained at the bottom of the lake before it could be retrieved by divers. A Google spokesperson said that it would be “impossible to comment here without seeing the user’s driving file,” and that the company hadn’t “received permission to do so.” She also reminded people that while using Waze, they should still “use all environmental information available to them to make the best decisions as they drive.” As in, if it looks like a lake and quacks like a lake, don’t drive into it because it’s a lake. The unnamed driver certainly isn’t the first person to blindly follow technology to a watery end. In June 2017, there was a guy who drove into a lake in Massachusetts and blamed his GPS. He’s joined by a woman in Ontario who similarly navigated into a pond and … blamed her GPS.”[1]

The first nine verses of 2 Timothy 3 contain a detailed description of false teachers who seek to lead people astray spiritually. The warnings signs are there and we need to be vigilant. But now in the next two verses, Paul is going to turn things around and point to a positive example–himself. Paul is a faithful leader, one who will assure that Timothy is on the right path.

This call by Paul to Timothy to continue to follow his example acts as a strong counteraction against the false teachers from vv. 1-9. The activities of the deceivers are to be replaced by the continue example of timothy as he followed the Apostle Paul.

The verb “followed” (‘fully known” in KJV) means to give careful attention to something, “to conform to someone’s belief or practice by paying special attention, to follow faithfully, follow as a rule.” [2]

We are going to begin seeing how Timothy had been doing this with the Apostle Paul. Paul had been ministering for years, but there was a need for Timothy to continue to be faithful to practice what had been modelled for him so that he would be able to set an example for those who would follow him in the Church because Christian faith depends upon not only faithful discipleship, but on faithful disciples who continue in the pattern they have received.

1. Follow the Same Doctrine

The word here is “teaching” meaning that Timothy was well aware of the content of Paul’s doctrine. This teaching is the basis of everything else that will follow.

Everyone has doctrine, and the content of that doctrine affects one’s conduct, aim in life, faith, patience love, steadfastness and how they handle persecutions and suffering. Paul knows that if Timothy, or anyone veers from biblical doctrine in even a small way that this could lead to a massive shift in everything else.

Not long ago I read the sermon by the famous liberal pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick, entitled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” Fosdick, like many theological liberals, didn’t think that doctrine was a bid deal—as long as we can all just love one another and get along. Now remember, this was preached back in 1922, and yet it sounds like many liberal theologians today.

Read what he said in that sermon about those who would do what Paul said to Timothy, and guard the trust of doctrine:

“It is interesting to note where the Fundamentalists are driving in their stakes to mark out the deadline of doctrine around the church, across which no one is to pass except on terms of agreement. They insist that we must all believe in the historicity of certain special miracles, preeminently the virgin birth of our Lord; that we must believe in a special theory of inspiration…; that we must believe in a special theory of the Atonement—that the blood of our Lord, shed in a substitutionary death, placates an alienated Deity and makes possible welcome for the returning sinner; and that we must believe in the second coming of our Lord upon the clouds of heaven to set up a millennium here, as the only way in which God can bring history to a worthy [finale]. Such are some of the stakes which are being driven to mark a deadline of doctrine around the church…. It was a wise liberal, the most adventurous man of his day—Paul the Apostle—who said, “Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up.” [3]

To Fosdick, and those like him, correct doctrine cannot be known and it is unbelievable and unacceptable for anyone to fight for such things as the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the inerrancy of Scripture, miracles and the physical return of Christ. To him, love trumps everything else. Since Fosdick called the Apostle Paul a “wise liberal” like himself, let’s test that and see what Paul actually wrote about doctrine:

  • “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” (Romans 16:17, ESV). Paul is warning the church in Rome that there are divisive men who want to argue—not about the truth, but cause division and obstacles to the doctrine already received by the church at large. They want to bring change to doctrine—it is not doctrine dividing here, it is heresy that is bringing division! Must a Christian sit back and do nothing while the truth is attacked? We must be on guard, Paul warned!
  • When addressing those who were immature in the faith, Paul wrote, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:14, ESV). What tosses the immature around? It is the changing of doctrine that Paul warns against. It throws the spiritual children of the church to the ground hoping to drag them away into the surf to drown them. It is human schemes and craftiness that wants to sound like reasonable dialogue and Christian love, but it is destruction masked as love.
  • “As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,” (1 Timothy 1:3, ESV). When Paul was made aware of false teachings in the Ephesus, he didn’t call Timothy to get along with them because they simply had a difference of opinion. He didn’t say, sit down and get to know them. Paul, the supposedly wise liberal called upon Timothy to rebuke them and command them to stop teaching this “different doctrine.”

You see, Paul was not a theological liberal! He was a fundamentalist—he held to the doctrine as delivered to him by Jesus Christ himself. He believed it all, every word!

And this doctrine he had taught in every church, synagogue, marketplace and home he could. And that was what Paul told Timothy to do himself. “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” (1 Timothy 4:13, ESV)

Paul’s ministry was a Christ-centered ministry because it was a Bible-centered ministry. Liberalism wants to put a wedge between people and the Bible because the devil knows that if people are taught the Bible they will be taught about Christ.

Paul told Timothy—you know that as you followed me, that I have taught the Bible—I read it, I explain it, I apply it. Do the same. His word to Timothy is his word to us as well. Read it, explain it, apply it.

[1] http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/01/waze-app-directs-driver-to-drive-car-into-lake-champlain.html

[2] BDAG, parakoloutheo.

[3] http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5070/