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Salt + Light Community is a SOMA church plant in the heart of Fort Worth, TX. Here you’ll find teaching and discussions from our gatherings on Sunday afternoons.
of your sincere faith, a faith that
dwelt first, and your grandmother,
Lois and your mother, Eunice.
And now I'm sure dwells in you as well.
This is the word of Lord.
All right.
As Nicole mentioned, we're
gonna be in first Timothy and
also second Timothy today.
So we're gonna look at the
beginning of two of Paul's letters.
To, uh, one of his mentees, a
church leader named Timothy.
So if you're new here, my name's Ben.
I have the honor of serving as part of
the servant leadership team of salt and
Light, and we are starting into a few
months of looking at these two great
letters, uh, to Timothy from his mentor.
Paul.
And if you're a kiddo in the room
or a kiddo at heart, uh, you're
always welcome to grab these.
They're different every week.
Uh, they help you engage in
different aspects of our gathering,
and every week has a different
and specific activity sheet.
And kids, I'm gonna ask you to
read this part of the sheet at
some point in the next few minutes.
So if you don't have one and want to
go grab one, you're welcome to go.
And get it.
Cool.
Cool.
Look at 'em.
All rush out.
All right.
A couple of did.
Um, okay, so what is the point of church?
What is this thing we're doing Matter for?
What?
What is Christian community called to do?
Um, is it even necessary for other
people to speak into my walk with
Christ, with Jesus, with faith?
You ever wondered anything like that?
I have wondered something like that.
And for 25 years I've been
paid to work in a church.
Um, so I'm assuming all of us at some
point have asked some question like that.
What's the point of this?
Um, what, what's the, the purpose of this?
Some of that.
Uh, it is, it is just fair questions.
We, we want to create a space always
where it is good to ask hard questions.
'cause we believe God has
answers to every hard question.
But some of the reason that maybe you've
asked that question or that other folks
that you know have asked that question
is 'cause church use this in air quotes
that the concept of church has, has
not a great reputation in the eyes.
Of a watching world around us.
Is that fair?
Um, a lot of what people see when they
think of the concept of church, um,
are things like abusive leaders, uh,
folks who have gotten wealthy off of
oppressing the, the folks that they're
supposed to be shepherding toward.
Jesus.
Yes.
Um, taking religion and politicizing
it, twisting, uh, God's word
for their own political gain.
And, and both like national politics, but
also politics just in the sense of, uh, of
governing people and, and getting ahead.
Um, church hurt is a real thing.
There's, there's debates and divisions
over all sorts of secondary theologies and
ethics and ministry philosophies, right?
In fact, you wanna hear a joke?
Here's a joke.
All right.
There was a manship, wrecked
stranded on an island.
Only person who'd ever, ever
inhabited this island's.
Important to remember.
Only person who'd ever
been on this island.
He was there for years.
Think Castaway Kids.
It's a movie that came out
when before you were born.
Um, so I think Castaway only
person ever on this island.
A few years in some rescuers
came and they were amazed at the
life he'd crafted for himself.
So, so they saw four different structures
that he had built, uh, and the rescuers
were walking around the island and
said, what are these structures?
What's this first one?
He says, oh, that's my house.
Great.
Okay.
What's the second one?
That's where I store food.
Okay.
What's the third one?
That's the church I go to.
Okay, what's this fourth one?
And this scowl comes over his face and he
goes, that's the church I used to go to.
But um, you're welcome.
There you go.
It's you chuckle 'cause.
Because there's, there's just that
experience in the wa in the water of kind
of modern western Christianity, right?
Um, there's a 2023 book, uh,
called The Great Det Churching.
There was a study done of here,
this number 40 million young
people, mostly young people.
In the US who disengaged
church over the 25 prior years.
So since about 20, uh, about the
year 2,040 million young people
disengaged church and they're not
rejecting God, they're not hostile
to, to the concept of Christian faith.
They're just illusion di disillusioned.
They're just disillusioned and disengaged
with the construct of organized religion.
Or church.
And there's hope even, even since that
book came out, there's been some studies
that, that say, there's a recent reversal
of that in the us Just this week in USA
today, uh, an article came out about
celebrities who are returning to church
and it doesn't like, oh, cool, there's
celebrities, but, but the, the principle
is that they're finding community there
in a world that puts them on pedestals
and they're finding it to be a safe place
to, to engage and ask questions of truth.
Like, that's good news.
Who cares what status they are?
Uh, in, in the, in the uk,
um, 56% increase of young
people returning to church.
There's hope, and yet church, quote
unquote, the concept of church is a mess.
Fair.
And maybe it's a mess because our,
our kind of modern western take
on what the church is supposed to
be misses God's original intent.
And that's our claim.
That's where we're gonna camp out for
a few weeks this fall, is that the
modern western view of Christianity
and church misses God's original
intent for what this thing is that
we've committed to do together.
Just as a reminder this year, if
you've been with us, uh, we started
in Genesis, walked through a lot
of genesis for a lot of weeks.
We took a break and, and paused
to consider the resurrection.
Uh, we took a break in the summer and,
and looked at different ways to pray
through the Psalms and through it all.
I, I hope you've seen this theme
and we've reminded you a couple
times throughout the year.
We've seen life on Earth as God intended.
That lasted for like a page and a
half year Bibles, and then we see how
sin and brokenness and people mess
up life on earth as God intended.
Hm.
And yet throughout Genesis and
in the Psalms and, and the whole
point of the resurrection is
that God redeems that brokenness.
Is that good news there?
There's a way that God intended everything
is not that way, and yet God has a
redemption story for life on earth.
And I'm hopeful enough, and our
team is hopeful enough to believe
that the same thing is true for
this concept of quote church.
That that church in some very
real ways may have hurt you and
disillusioned you, and if not
you, then neighbors and friends.
Church is is not as God intended,
and yet that same redeemer,
the same, the same restorative
writer of the story is not done.
With the church.
We believe God is on a mission to
redeem his church, the world around us.
Yes, but redeem his church.
So we're gonna spend a couple
months in first and second Timothy,
where, where God, uh, it shows some
of his design for life together.
And that's where we're themeing.
This is life together.
'cause while the church is probably
more than life together, there's
a lot of ways to do life together.
A lot of causes to rally around.
Um, church is more than life together.
It's not less than that.
It's not less than doing life.
Together in Christ at At, at
its core what a church is.
Any church is a simple
group of messy people.
If you're offended by that,
then let's talk afterwards.
But we're all messy people.
Simple group of messy people, but
we call ourselves the people of God,
and we're pursuing Jesus together.
We're pursuing holiness together or
pursuing his mission in the world
by the power of the Spirit together.
And, and so theme by theme, we're gonna
walk through Paul's letters to this
young church leader named Timothy.
We're gonna see what God actually
intended for his first century church
and how that shapes of a, a right
view of a 21st century church as well.
Uh, fair warning this fall may
ruffle some of your feathers.
May feel a little bit counter-cultural
to the world around us, may also
feel counter-cultural to kind of the
church experiences that we've had,
um, especially if you grew up in
kind of the North Texas, uh, church
growth megachurch world around here.
So, um, I wanna pray for
us and then we'll dive in.
So father, would you help us
capture your vision for church?
Um, what do you help us wherever we
are, whether it's a first step toward
life together, whether it's a next
step toward life together, what do you,
what do you meet us and help us each
take a step further in life together.
Um, would you meet us in our
questions and our pushback?
Would you redeem pain?
Would you unite us for your mission in
ministry by the power of your spirit?
I pray this all for your
son's name, for his glory.
Amen.
Amen.
All right, so the theme today, the
first, the first words of first and
second Timothy are themed around truth.
Okay?
They're themed around truth and
by contrast, they're themed around
distortions of truth as well.
Okay?
'cause both things exist
all throughout history.
So the starting point for people to
pursue life together, the starting
point for people to pursue life
together isn't actually people.
That we don't pursue life together
just for each other's sake.
We pursue life together for
something deeper than that
for people to come together.
There's a common cause, a common goal,
whether it's a sports team or a school
or a neighborhood or whatever else.
There's reasons that people
come together, right?
The claim of the church throughout
history and across the world,
the claim of the people of God,
the claim of the body in Christ.
I'll go ahead and run my slides.
Okay, I got it.
But you're awesome.
Um, the claim of of God's people is
that God is the reason we come together.
God is the source of our common goal.
He is our quote unquote, cause I'm using
that term a little bit loosely there.
And if that's true, then God
defines the purpose of the church.
And God is the foundation
of Christian life together.
And so God's truth is the starting point.
And that's exactly where Timothy dives in.
So we're gonna see these four things
about truth today and, and hear me
on this, all four of these combined
to be a vital foundation for the
church pursuing life together.
Um, truth comes from God.
Truth is both t taught and caught.
It's cute 'cause it rhymes.
Truth shapes our whole lives toward God.
It's not just a mental thing.
And then finally, truth glorifies Jesus.
And I want to caution us as Paul does
to Timothy, if if something you hear
or something that that is supposed
to be true doesn't do all four of
those things, it might not be actual
truth, it might be a distortion.
Cool.
All right, so jumping right in.
Truth comes from God.
All right, so, so Nicole read
essentially the opening salutations
of two letters, Paul to Timothy, uh,
and, and both drip with a God focus,
which is the theme of both letters.
Again, truth doesn't start
with us, it starts with God.
So again, the first verses of both
of these letters say this, Paul,
he's introducing himself as the
author, an apostle of Christ Jesus.
By command of God our savior.
And of Christ Jesus, our hope, God,
our savior, Christ Jesus, our hope,
to Timothy, my true child in the
faith, grace and mercy, and peace
from God, the Father, and Christ our
Lord, uh Christ, Jesus, our Lord.
And then very similar
verses, tricked to Nicole.
It's always a goal Paul, an apostle
of Christ Jesus, by the will of
God according to the promise of
life that is in Christ Jesus.
To Timothy, my beloved child.
Grace, mercy and peace from God the
Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Alright, very similar,
very similar openings.
But what Paul's saying in both of his
letters to Timothy and to the church
at Ephesus and to the church today, is
that it's God who made Paul an apostle.
It was God's command.
God's promise Paul's not
writing just on his own.
It was the will of God that led
him to this and it's God's truth.
That leads to these three things.
He says in both letters,
grace and mercy and peace.
And if you care, the word
for grace is, is cous.
The word for for mercy
is from the, the Hebrew.
It's Sid, it's ever everlasting.
Love and peace is this concept, which
I know you've heard of is shalom.
So where does true peace come from?
It only comes from God and his truth.
Where does true, true, and abundant?
Mercy come from.
It comes from God.
Where?
Where does grace come from?
We're not gonna give grace
unless we first received grace.
It all starts with God.
It all starts with God.
Truth comes from God, and
then Paul wastes no time.
In his first letter charging Timothy to
distinguish between God's truth and every
other form of quote unquote truth or
false truth or distortions of the truth.
So the next verse is in one Timothy one,
Paul writes, as I urged you, when I was
going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus.
Why for this purpose so that
you may charge certain persons
not to teach any other doctrine?
Nor to devote themselves to
myths and endless genealogies,
which promote speculation rather
than the stewardship from God.
That is by faith.
Now it's important to pause
'cause these are ancient words,
2000 years old, give or take.
But every generation of humanity
and in every corner of the world,
there are distortions of God's truth.
So Paul's writing to a culture
with specific distortions, and yet,
because we believe that God's word
is living and active, there's a
caution here for us today as well.
Sometimes those distorted truths
are overt like cults, like outright
heresy, like folks who make the news.
But a lot of times the the
distortions of truth are very subtle.
It's almost like the same enemy who
met Adam and Eve in the garden and
and just started to ask questions.
Is God really who he says he is?
Is God's way really the best way,
still still does the same thing in
different ways in our lives and in
our minds today, and so rampant in
our culture, even from folks who
claim to be Christ followers would be
a truth, quote unquote, a distorted
truth, a false truth of self gain.
Or prosperity.
We take God's truth and we use
it as a weapon for personal gain,
personal power, personal oppression.
This is the foundation of, of slavery in
the, in the British and and US history.
A second subtle distortion is
legalism that adds, works to
God's truth and demands that you.
Act and do and earn, and this kind
of, that just cheapens the very grace
that Paul opened his letters with.
On the other side of legalism is,
is what we might call license, which
is to say, do anything 'cause God
loves you and it subtracts truth.
It removes truth in order to justify
sin, and it cheapens holiness.
Um, there's a story of a, of an actor
who used to go, uh, into hotel rooms
where, where the Gideons had left Bibles.
I don't know if they still do this, but
Gideons left Bibles and would tear out
the pages of the commands he didn't like.
And we kind of chuckle at that and be
like, well, that doesn't change anything.
But in some ways we all do that with
some hard verses or we question and
go, man, I wish that wasn't in there.
Right?
It's a subtle form of license.
It's the same question that.
The enemy asked in, in Eden, is
God really good if he says this?
Does God really want what's best for you?
If he's gonna be such a killjoy,
or there's a subtle false truth of
relativism, which mixes Christian truth
with other values and other beliefs,
whether it's religious or political,
or worldview, ideology or this kind of
stuff, and just, it just, it cheapens the
cross of Christ by reducing Christianity
to a set of values and actions.
Our faith is not a faith
of values and actions.
It's a, it's a, it's a faith
of sacrificial relationship.
Is this fair?
The, the point I'm trying to make is
that different doctrines the same thing.
Paul is guarding Timothy against
different doctrines exist in small
ways all the time, and they're found
in pulpits and on podcasts and in pews.
From local pastors, from national voices,
from everyday Christians, from you and me.
All of us have some sort of distorted
view of truth, and if we can just
admit that none of us are perfect and
none of us have it all figured out,
like that gives us a freedom and a
right starting point to go, great.
Let's pursue truth together.
Then I need you to point out my blind
spots and you need me to point out yours.
In first century Ephesus, this
different doctrine took two forms
and we read it a minute ago.
There's myths and endless genealogies.
There's still a lot of people crafting
a lot of myths around the Bible today.
Um, anytime we shape our beliefs
around some experience, some something
that I discovered, something that I
thought, something that I determined
to be true, and then I shape a
theology around that, that's dangerous.
I, one pastor who told me one time,
he said, if any kind of theological
discussion that I get into.
Starts with, well, I had a
friend who told me blank.
Or because I had a sister, I believe
this, or because I have a brother
who walked through such and such.
We don't want to minimize
pain and suffering.
And, but at the same time,
that is the wrong starting
point for forming a theology.
It's a wrong starting point for
forming what you believe about God.
Or anyone who builds a theology around
a denomination or one specific voice,
rather than considering all of the voices
that are out there or a politician.
There's dangerous myths that surround
this and can be packaged in Christian
boxes and given as if it's God's truth.
Church, please be careful.
Please be careful.
There's myths out there.
There's also echoes of endless
genealogies out there today.
So at the time, um, people would,
would fill in the gaps of, of quote
unquote missing pieces from the Bible.
So they would take, uh,
what God had written and go,
there's missing pieces here.
We'll just insert our own views in here.
Um, that is also dangerous
to be clear, and yet there's
echoes of that today as well.
Preachers and authors and podcasters
go beyond the biblical text.
And beyond kind of historically
accepted literature, and they'll fill
in blanks or they'll twist ancient near
Eastern culture to shape some sort of
theology or practice around here's,
here's where we're landing y'all.
If some leader claims some new
doctrine and it's based on some
obscurity or something that's not in
the Bible, but they pieced together
from other pieces and that kind of
stuff, please at least be cautious.
If not, run away.
And to be clear, like I love that
there's so many resources available.
I love the Bible project.
I love reading Christian
commentators both for Sunday prep
and also for personal devotions.
I'm a huge nerd like that.
I support blogs and podcasts and
multiple voices to help shape
and grow our belief in our hol.
All of that stuff is good,
but none of that stuff is God
at at best.
And our team holds to this, and
everyone who ever preaches anywhere
on a Sunday must hold to this.
We are at best imperfect
commentators on God's perfect word.
Anyone who writes a book is, at
best, an imperfect commentator
on God's perfect word.
Anyone who has a podcast is at
best, an imperfect commentator.
On God's perfect word,
weigh everything versus God's
actual truth, rather than reversing
it and weighing God's truth
against what your favorite person,
podcaster, preacher pastor says.
You know, that sounds hard.
That's, that's the posture
that Paul takes toward Timothy.
He goes, hi, I'm Paul.
And then immediately jumps in and
goes, watch out for false doctrine.
And so I want us to feel that urgency
because if we get the foundation of
Christian community wrong, if we get the
foundation of life together wrong, then
every metaphor you've ever heard about
a house on a bad foundation plays out.
This matters.
For everything else, we'll
talk about this fall.
And it matters because every human
on earth, whether you follow Jesus
or not, has some wrong view of God.
Every one of us have some
distorted view of God and truth.
Everyone is distorted.
Every Christian is called
to pursue God's truth.
We were saying, and, and will hold to
this fact that, that that God's truth
is the foundation for our life together.
But again, while books and podcasts
and blogs and sermons, they're helpful.
God's design for his church is to
pursue truth together, not in isolation
with your earbuds in as the exclusive
form of it, not just me talking to you
or Nicole talking to you, or someone
else talking to you on a Sunday.
God's design is for.
For us to pursue truth together,
to teach and to correct and to ask
questions and to push each other toward
Jesus in the context of community.
And that's the second thing that, that
Paul talks about, uh, as he references
truth, is that it is both taught.
And caught.
So Jesus, before Paul wrote this,
rejected the Pharisees who were
like the famous teachers of his day.
He rejected 'em because they
claimed to teach God's truth,
but instead led people astray.
So theological knowledge.
But nothing more.
There are more than enough false teachers
today who ruined their own lives and
doctrines and let others astray for us
to be cautious of celebrity pastors,
celebrity teachers, celebrity preachers.
But that's not just in Jesus' time.
And today.
That was happening in first
century Ephesus as well.
Here's what Paul tells Timothy.
Certain persons by swerving from
these, from swerving, from God's
truth, have wandered away into vain.
Discussion desiring to be teachers of
the law without understanding either
what they are saying or the things about
which they make confident assertions.
I love that Paul's being
a little sarcastic here.
He is saying they're so confident, they
have no idea what they're talking about.
Okay.
Why pursue truth in the
context of community?
Because no Christian teacher is right,
and this has been true throughout
the New Testament throughout history.
John writes beloved to not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits
to see whether they come from God.
For many false prophets have
gone out into the world.
Jesus tells his followers,
beware of false prophets who
come to you in sheep's clothing.
They look good.
They look humble.
They look well educated, but
inwardly, they're ravenous wolves.
You'll recognize them by their fruits.
And Peter, Jesus' apostle
says, false prophets.
Arose among the people just as there
will be false teachers among you who will
secretly bring in destructive heresies.
Jesus cautioned
against false truth.
There's plenty of examples today to
caution against false truth, and Paul
cautions Timothy against false truth.
Earth, but by contrast.
And if you have your Bibles jump over to
second Timothy, even as Paul cautions.
Against false truth
prominent teachers, he celebrates,
and this is important, he celebrates
the quiet, faithful relational
instruction that Timothy had received.
So he is contrasting the big flashy
teaching to the quiet faithful.
Relational instruction that Timothy
had received says, I'm reminded
of your sincere faith, all that
other stuff that's not sincere.
I'm reminded of your sincere faith of
faith that first welt in your grandmother,
Lois and your mother, Eunice, and now.
I am sure dwells in you.
What is Sincere Faith Church?
It, it's certainly, it's certainly
not less than a right belief.
It's not less than a right theology.
In fact in Acts two, and when Luke
is describing the early church,
he talks about the community being
devoted to the Apostles teaching.
So it's not, it's not less than that.
It's not moving away from truth.
Again, if we're gonna be founded on
something, we have to know truth.
But in both Acts two and in
Timothy's upbringing, faith is
not merely about head knowledge.
It's not just taught, it's modeled.
It's lived out how?
Because Timothy grew up with
his grandmother and his mother.
Who modeled what a
faithful life looked like.
Paul calls Timothy his
true child in the faith.
He calls him his son.
He's not his literal biological son,
but there's this relationship implied.
Timothy walked with Paul for years
and saw what truth looked like.
In a heart, soul, mind,
and strength kind of way.
In a head knowledge, but also like a
heart and hands focused kind of way.
What is, what does truth do?
It's, it's, it's the
apprenticeship kind of picture.
I.
That Timothy got to witness in
his mother and his grandmother and
in Paul over years that the head
knowledge changes the rest of you.
And it led to what Paul
celebrates as a sincere faith
in Acts two, the church members
devoted themselves not just to the
apostles teaching, but also to what?
To, to the fellowship.
They grew in Christ together.
Is this making sense?
This is what Paul's talking about.
So hear me, and this may offend
you, but I'm okay with that.
Every single person who's part of salt
and light, whether they're in your DNA,
whether they're sitting next to you
today, whether God hasn't brought them
into our church family yet everyone
who's part of salt and light is better
at you, is better than you, excuse
me, at some aspect of following Jesus.
Everyone's better at you at something.
You offended by that.
And also, if you're offended by that,
you're better than everyone else
at some aspect of following Jesus.
So there you go.
Everybody needs what you have been
gifted from God for to help shape
them into the image of Christ.
And you need what others have
been gifted by God for to shape
you into the image of Christ.
We need each other, both for right
doctrine, but also to see how that
doctrine shapes our holy lives.
So one of salt and lights values if
you haven't been, uh, walking with
us for very long, um, or you haven't
looked at our stellar new website.
Thank you Brandon and some others.
And one of our values is that everyone
is discipled and everyone is discipling.
That's one of the things
we wanna pursue together.
Everyone is being discipled
and everyone is discipling.
That is to say we all have a role
to play in each other's lives.
We all have a role to play in
each other's spiritual growth.
We all have a role to play in our
pursuit of God's truth together.
That's why we so highly value DNA groups.
That's one of the reasons we so highly
value DNA groups is 'cause we believe
that yes, in we come together like
this, we're gonna worship in some
ways, we're gonna teach in some ways.
We also value simple gatherings.
We'll come back to that later this fall.
But this is not sufficient because
there's the getting into the head,
heart, and hands of your life.
That can't happen in a room like this.
This, this space is helpful for
some forms of discipleship, but
not all forms of discipleship.
And so if you're being discipled and
discipling that pursuit of community,
even if it's hard, even if you're
worn out at the end of the day,
really matters.
Part of the heart of.
I'm starting this little church in
the midst of COVID, which is a really
weird time to start a church, um,
was to create a safe place for folks
who are skeptical of God and Jesus
and church and the things God claims.
Um, and to be a safe place for folks who
are seeking God and Jesus and church and
safe places and uh, and are finding in it.
And we want to be a place
to, to ask questions.
We wanna be a place to create
space that engages God honestly.
Um, there's no question
that's off the table.
And there's a world out there that
says, just believe what I say.
And go with that again, man.
Be cautious of that.
If we can't allow space for asking
questions, then we might not have the
sincere faith that comes from testing and
asking and discussing and wrestling and
that kind of stuff that the sincere faith
that, that Paul commends Timothy for.
That's part of why I love that.
We're doing Alpha.
We have 25 people signed up for Alpha
that'll start tomorrow night in this room.
That's great.
Some folks from within Salt and Light,
some folks from without salt and light
asking questions, having that space
to pursue God's truth together, truth
is the foundation for life together.
And truth happens, truth is,
is is embraced more and more
in the context of community.
It's taught and caught.
In fact.
In fact, think about this before
we move on to the next point.
Um, who in your own faith journey?
Have been the most influential people
and we all probably have a few, maybe
one who's been the most influential
and, and then I would, I would
second that question, follow up that
question by saying how many of those
influential people were influential
because they were on a stage or a
podcast teaching you versus on a sofa.
In relationship with you.
And I'm not trying to, it doesn't
have to be all one or the other.
Like again, what we're, we believe in
what we're doing 'cause we're doing it.
But just as you think of the most
influential people do, they come from
a stage teaching or they come from
a sofa walking with you and stuff.
Truth is both taught and caught.
Relationships and life
together are so vital.
And that leads to this brief third
reality of pursuing truth together,
and we've already dabbled in it, so
I won't dwell here long, but, but
truth, if it's God's truth, it's going
to shape your whole life toward God.
There's one form of distorted teaching
at Ephesus that is still there today that
uses the scriptures in their case, the
Old Testament law for us, both the old
and New Testament uses the scriptures as a
source of legalistic judgment over people.
Legalistic judgment now is, is
God's law helpful and useful
in the first century and today?
Yes, it is.
It's confusing at times, but
God's word is God's truth.
God's word is useful.
But both then and today, people will use
it as a weapon to condemn people rather
than what it should be, which is kind of
guardrails to keep us on the right path.
So Paul defines the right
use of the Old Testament law.
He says, we know the law is good if
one handles it, uses it lawfully.
Understanding this, the law was not laid
down for the just okay, not just not
to condemn the folks who are trying.
To pursue Jesus, but rather the law is
for the lawless and the disobedient for
the ungodly, for the sinners, for the
unholy and the profane, for those who
strike their mothers and fathers, and
for murderers and the sexually immoral,
and those who practice homosexuality
and enslavers and liars and perjurers,
and whatever else is contrary to
sound doctrine, in accordance with the
gospel of the glory of the blessed God.
With which I've been entrusted.
That's a lot of words.
As I, as I read through this, I,
I, I was reminded, I spent my,
my teen years in church circles.
I grew up in a religious home, but I'm
sure I'm the only one who ever did this.
Especially in the context of dating
relationships, I would question the
boundaries of said dating relationships by
asking the question, how far is too far?
Kids don't do that.
How far is too far?
That's the wrong question.
The question as it relates to
relationship boundaries is not
how close can I get to sin?
Without crossing over that line.
But the right question for any
age and any issue is how closely
can I walk to God and his truth?
If the law is the, the broad parameters,
what ours is, not to try to walk around
the fringe, just tiptoe across, you
know, no, ours is to, to, to run from
the parameters and run toward God.
Everyone's imperfect,
but how near can we aim?
To the bullseye of truth and
life and practice and faith.
That's what Paul's saying.
The Old Testament law
had a similar purpose.
It's, it's God's standard of truth,
but his primary purpose is to call
back those who've gone out of bounds,
those who have gone too far, the law
and the 10 Commandments, which is
part of what he's referencing here.
It's not a, it's not a weapon
to throw at people to condemn.
It's,
it's not a weapon to throw at those
who are striving toward godliness.
God's law is an invitation back
to see how God defines truth,
whose lives are way off the mark.
The Bible is God's truth.
As followers of Jesus, we believe that.
In every authentic version of faith in
every setting, throughout history and
across the world, Christians believe that
God's Bible is God's truth, and God's
Bible defines God's way of living for God.
That's the right use of the law, and
it's the reason that Paul charges
Timothy and the church at Ephesus and
every Christian and the church in Fort
Worth and us to pursue God's truth.
There's one aim of pursuing God's truth.
Kids, I told you I was gonna
have you read part of your sheet.
What's the aim of pursuing God's truth?
What's it say?
Who wants to read it out loud?
You can just shout it out.
You don't have to raise their hands.
That's not school.
What's it say?
Our teaching aims at love that comes from
a clean heart, a good and honest face.
There you go.
Well done.
The aim of our charge is love.
That comes from a pure heart and a
good consensus and of sincere faith,
A good conscience and a sincere faith.
What's the goal of truth?
It's love.
What is God?
What does God's truth embodied lead to?
Again, it's not just head knowledge.
The, the Bible elsewhere will tell us
that knowledge by itself puffs up and
makes one prideful and arrogant, God's
truth shapes our entire life toward God.
What does God's truth lead to?
Increasing love, increasing
purity, or clean hardness like
an increasingly clean conscience.
An increasingly sincere faith.
Jesus, his own brother, James
echoes this when he says, be doers
of the word, not hearers only.
'cause then you deceive yourself.
Here's, here's the point.
Some of the smartest Christian
people, some of the most well-educated
Christian people are some of
the meanest people in the world.
That's, that's not how God
intended his truth to be used is
to belittle and demean and accuse.
There are people who wear crosses and have
tattoos and spout off Christian slogans
and talk about church and faith and pray
in public who also back stab and oppress.
And pursue all forms of hypocrisy.
Jesus claimed that to be true
of the Pharisees so often and
also of everyday Christians.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord,
Lord, he says, will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but the one who does
the will of my Father in heaven.
Truth cannot stop at shaping
some theology and belief.
The truth has to move past
our head into our hearts and
influence our hands and our lives.
That's still true of some
leaders, some educated Christians
in Timothy's Day and today.
If God's truth only adds
knowledge and doesn't change our
lives, it is utterly distorted.
Truth shapes our whole life
toward God and through that lens.
As we wrap up, why does
Paul say our aim is love?
Because as John will remind us most
overtly in scriptures, anyone who does
not love does not know God because why?
God is love.
The aim of our truth is love.
Because the more truth we know, the more
loving we become, the more we're like
God, not in the sense of becoming a God.
But in the sense of being Christlike,
in the sense of looking more and
more like our Lord Jesus, Jesus took
a humble posture as he displayed
and declared God's truth on earth.
Only Jesus was a hundred percent pure
and heart and sinless and conscience.
Back to the, the verses that we read
at the very beginning, only Jesus
embodied true grace and mercy and
peace, Caris and hesed, and shalom.
In a way that perfectly reflected God.
Again, back to Paul's opening lines of
both letters, only God is our savior
and hope, and Jesus is our only hope of,
of the promise being fulfilled and the
the life that you live being changed.
And so the last reality that we see
of God's truth, that is untrue of
any other false truth or distorted
truth, or my truth or anything
else, is that truth points to Jesus.
Us.
If it's true truth, it's
going to glorify Jesus.
We get to sit here and confess before God
and others that we are not fully perfect.
We're not fully sinless.
All of us have some sort of distortion.
When we think about God.
We will always somehow lack
grace and mercy and peace.
We will always have some sort of
competing interest in some other truth
that distorts our worldview in life.
That is, that is true of all of us.
And that's another reason why we need
to pursue truth in community and wrestle
with godliness with the help of others.
It's also why we celebrate
Jesus's death and resurrection.
So we take communion and one of the
many things that we were reminded
of is Jesus's perfect life and his
perfect dwelling on truth, which is
in contrast with our imperfect lives
and our imperfect pursuits of truth.
But here's the good news Church, even
in our distortions, even in our falling
short of our not being perfect, of all the
things that we know are true of us, Jesus
gave his perfect life so that God could
bring us home and help us experience the
only eternal and good and right truth.
God is our only savior.
As Paul says in his opening
line, Jesus is our only hope.
And God doesn't just save
our soul for eternity.
He does do that, but he saves our
heart and mind and strength as well.
From all falsehood.
And all distraction.
And all distortion.
And since we approach the table, we
do so remembering that Jesus is the
very embodiment of God's truth, and
he entered this world of distortion
and falsity, and he entered your
life of distortion and falsehood.
And he lived out God's truth and
he died to prove God is true.
And he rose to display God's
truth and he sends a spirit to
help us believe God's truth.
'cause it's hard sometimes, and
that's part of what we celebrate and
proclaim as true every time we receive
the blood and the body of Jesus.