SERMON: THE WAY OF LOVE

4 February 2018

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to 1 Timothy 1:1-7

1 Timothy 1:1-7 New International Version (NIV)

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

            -- I just started reading a new book yesterday called “The Island of Lost Maps” -- it’s a true story about Gilbert Bland, who was finally arrested in the 1990s and convicted of stealing numerous historical maps from libraries, universities, and archives

            -- as the author searches for the motives behind Bland’s thefts, he points out that historically, maps were extremely important -- they were treasured by kings and kingdoms because the wealth and power of nations rose and fell based on the maps and the secrets they controlled

            -- in the 1400 and 1500s, Portugal was a major world power because it possessed secret nautical maps showing various routes to India, Brazil, and other exotic ports of call -- no other nation could trade in these areas because they did not have the maps showing them the way -- and Portugal became rich and prosperous and powerful -- and other nations were forced to submit to Portugal if they wanted access to the spices and goods and fabrics from these exotic lands

            -- as a result, other nations, including the Netherlands, employed professional thieves and spies to infiltrate the Portugal government and sailing communities in an attempt to steal the maps, thus allowing them to begin trading with India and other countries on their own, apart from Portugal -- when caught, these spies and thieves were executed by the Portuguese to keep the secrets intact, but eventually the maps were obtained and smuggled back to Amsterdam, which led to the rise of the Dutch East India Company and allowed Holland to overcome Portugal and become the new world power in trade and shipping until the mid-18th century

            -- until I picked up this book, I had no idea of the historical importance of maps -- especially in regards to world power and wealth -- even today, maps are important -- as one person commented, if you possess a map and a compass -- if you know true north -- you can find your location anyplace on this planet -- you know where you are -- you know where you are going -- and you know how to get there

            -- this passage in 1 Timothy is about finding your way to the truth of the gospel message -- despite the Apostle Paul having spent more time in Ephesus than in any other city during his missionary trips, the church at Ephesus had lost their way

            -- being one of the largest and most powerful cities along the Mediterranean Sea and located on the route from Jerusalem to Rome, Ephesus was constantly visited by various other missionaries and Christian teachers -- the problem, though, was that the messages taught by these visiting missionaries and teachers did not always conform to the truth of the gospel or the orthodox doctrine of the fledgling Christian church

            -- false teachings arose and were taught in the church at Ephesus -- Paul writes that men were teaching false doctrines in the church -- they were devoting themselves to myths and endless genealogies, promoting controversy and confusion

            -- the thing to remember is that the intentions of these teachers were not necessarily wrong -- most of them were not intentionally misleading the people -- Paul says in verse 7 that these men want to be teachers of the law -- which is a good thing -- but they don’t know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm

            -- because of their ignorance -- because of their lack of knowledge of the truth of the gospel, these men taught that which was not true -- and even went a step further by countering and discounting the commands and previous teachings of Paul and of Apollos and other true teachers -- as a result, these visitors were confusing the church and leading them astray -- the people had lost true north -- they had lost Christ -- they had lost their way

            -- so, Paul sent Timothy to the church to serve as their pastor -- to be their guide on the path to Christ -- to be their compass and to give them the map that would lead them on their way in the Kingdom of Heaven

            -- that map is found in 1 Timothy 1:5:  “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

            -- this morning, I want us to look at this map to Christ together, because it still holds true to this day -- by following this map and by keeping the Holy Spirit as our compass, we can confidently move forward in our Christian lives, knowing that we are heading in the right direction

            -- so, let’s look together at this verse and see what we can learn about finding our way with Christ

II.  Scripture Lesson (1 Timothy 1:5)

            -- the first thing we notice in this verse is the motive behind Paul’s command -- Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus with specific instructions -- in verse 2, he tells Timothy to stay there so that he might command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer

            -- the motive -- the reason -- behind this command of Paul was love -- the word Paul uses here in this verse is agape -- unconditional love -- the love of God -- the love that is pure and perfect and holy -- the love that puts others before self

            -- love is the universe that defines the Christian life -- all we are and all we do as Christians should be based on the agape love of Christ

            -- in the Upper Room on the night that He was betrayed, Jesus told His disciples in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: love one another -- as I have loved you, so you must love one another -- by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”

            -- Paul’s command to Timothy in regards to these false teachers was a reflection of Christ’s command to us -- Paul was telling Timothy to love these men back into the faith -- to guide them back to the truth through love -- to speak the truth to them in love

            -- the love of Christ was the mirror by which these men’s words and actions were to be measured

            -- in other epistles, Paul takes a more harsh stand against false teachers and false teachings -- but we don’t see that here in this passage -- I think Paul recognized that these men did not have evil intentions -- they were trying to do the right thing -- but, they had just lost their way -- they did not know what they were talking about -- so, rather than commanding Timothy to harshly rebuke them for their actions, Paul tells Timothy to direct them through love -- to guide them back to the truth -- to show them the error of their ways

            -- we need to keep this instruction firmly in our own minds -- too often in the church today, we see Christians bitterly opposed to other Christians because of doctrinal differences -- we see Christians attacking others because they have believed a false truth

            -- if these Christians are teaching from error, then our goal should be to lovingly confront them with the truth and show them the error of their ways -- to love them back into orthodoxy -- to love them back into the truth of the Kingdom -- not to accept or condone false teachings, but to separate the teaching from the teacher -- and to love them back into the church

            -- that is the counsel Paul is giving Timothy here -- and we need to remember that when we are confronted with false teachings in the church, too

            -- Paul goes on to say that this agape love which defines our Christian lives comes from three locations -- the first is a pure heart

            -- purity of heart comes from salvation -- it is the result of grace -- it is a gift of God -- it is not something we can do on our own -- it is not something that we earn by good works -- a pure heart is given by God through the justifying grace of the cross

            -- in Psalm 51:10, David cries out,, “Create in me a pure heart, O God” -- and in Ezekiel 36:26 God tells us, “I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you; I will remove from your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh”

            -- a pure heart comes from experiencing and knowing the love of Christ -- it is the result of repentance and redemption -- it is what makes us a new creation

            -- a pure heart leads us in obedience to God’s commands -- a pure heart reflects our relationship with God -- a pure heart guides us and directs our path

            -- it has been said that every journey begins with a single step -- every journey with God begins with a pure heart -- it is the starting place on our map to God’s Kingdom

            -- the next location of agape love Paul mentions in verse 5 is a good conscience

            -- a pure heart is an internal transformation -- it changes our motives -- it changes what drives us and motivates us in our daily lives -- our conscience takes the next step by affecting our external behaviors

            -- as we are led by a pure heart, our conscience directs us and guides us down the path we should follow -- our conscience is the “God-created, self-judging faculty of human beings”¹

            -- when we are faced with a choice in life -- when we are faced with a decision as to which way to go or what to do -- our conscience leads us to choose the correct path

            -- it does more than just warn us that we have sinned and are going astray -- a good conscience is like a compass that points out the way we should go -- before we take a misstep -- before we choose a wrong path -- our conscience should alert us and help us choose the right way to go -- and, if we do start down the wrong path, our conscience is a check that alerts us of our error and leads us back to the truth -- back to Christ

            -- the third location on our map of God’s agape love is sincere faith

            -- faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” -- sincere faith means that we trust God with all our hearts -- that we are sure of His goodness and His love -- that we trust Him where He leads, knowing that He only has our best in mind

            -- to walk in sincere faith means we give God our lives and hold nothing back -- we rely on Him and follow Jesus as our example

            -- sincere faith does not mean we walk blindly, but that we walk in the light of God’s love -- following our conscience and the Holy Spirit’s leading -- and living with pure hearts and pure minds, cleansed by the atoning grace of Christ

            -- sincere faith means truly living out God’s word in our lives -- obeying His commands and following His path, regardless of what others might say -- sincere faith means staying true to the course laid out before us and trusting that our destination is secure

III.  Closing

            -- in John Bunyan’s story, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” the main character Christian is on a journey to the Celestial City -- although voices try to lead him off his past, he makes his way to the Cross, where his burdens finally roll away and are seen no more

            -- he continues on the Holy Way beyond the Cross by going through the narrow gate -- there he is joined by two other travelers who are trying to get to the Celestial City without first visiting the Cross or by going through the narrow gate

            -- as he tries to convince them of the error of their ways, their path leads to the foot of Difficulty Hill, where three paths join and they must make a choice -- one path goes straight up the steep slope of the hill -- the other two paths follow level ground around the right and the left sides of the hill

            -- Christian’s conscience tells him the right path is the more difficult one -- straight up the hill -- his two companions argue against him, telling him he would be foolish to choose a hard path when there are two other paths more easily traveled -- in the end, Christian follows his heart and his conscience, trusting in his belief that this is the true road to the Celestial City

            -- just like Christian in Bunyan’s story, we are on a journey to the Celestial City -- we are on a journey with Christ to our eternal kingdom -- and just like Christian, we are constantly confronted with conflicting choices -- other paths and other roads appear along the way -- other voices urge us to leave the path we are on and to follow them along easier ways

            -- how do we know where to go?  -- how do we know when we are going the right way or not?

            -- those were the questions that were plaguing the Ephesians -- the false teachers and false voices were urging them to follow down another path, and they didn’t know what to do

            -- so, Paul commanded Timothy -- out of love -- to show the Ephesians the right way to go -- to give them a map to follow, so that even if Paul and Timothy were not there, they would not falter or be foolishly tricked into leaving the way of God

            -- our journey to God follows a path -- it begins with a pure heart -- it continues with a good conscience -- and it is empowered through a sincere faith

            -- trust in your conscience and in the leading of the Holy Spirit -- don’t listen to the competing voices -- don’t follow every teaching that comes your way -- but, test them through the Spirit -- confirm them through the word of God -- and follow your heart to Jesus

            -- this is the way of love -- this is the way to heaven

            -- let us pray

[Ron Teed, “The Goal is Love, http://www.villagechurchofwheaton.org/docs/sermon2009-06-07.pdf]