1 Timothy 4:1-5- Shipwrecked faith

“Shipwrecked faith”

1 Timothy 4:1-5

Leviticus 11:1-8

On a ship, there are many tools that are used to help guide the ship where it is going.

Before satellite navigation, sailors used the stars as their guide, they used these things called paper maps, and now they use satellite images of maps which are beamed to the computer screens on the ships.

They even have up to date satellite images of the impending weather, so they are able to steer around potential dangerous conditions.

There are many tools at a ships disposal and yet ultimately a ship is guided by the instructions of the captain of the ship.

It is the captain who gives the orders for the direction of the ship and it is the sailors and hand decks who put an enormous amount of trust in their captain.

A good captain feels responsible for all the souls on his vessel and so directs the ship accordingly.

A bad captain takes no responsibility for the souls on his ship and so has the potential to direct the ship in a wreck less manner.

And if a captain is directing his ship in a direction which doesn’t match the satellite images, or the weather updates, then an experienced sailor who could be guided by the stars and images, would be rightly be concerned about the trustworthiness of his captain. The captain may say one thing and yet the satellite images may say another.

If an experienced sailor sees his captain taking his crew on a course that the other tools don’t suggest, then he should be worried.

Whereas an inexperienced sailor would perhaps not even be worried, because they wouldn’t know any better- they would just be following the word of the captain.

As we come to this passage in 1 Timothy, by the way a letter that was written for us, not just the church at Ephesus in the first century, we are going to have a look at how we by the grace of God can avoid making a ship wreck of our faith.

Paul had already told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18-20, that some people in the church who had started strong in the faith, had held on to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus had ended up making a shipwreck on their faith. These people had followed the teachings of their captains, Hymenaes and Alexander, and had by following the course they had set, been blown off the course of the gospel, the path which is narrow, and sadly, they had made a ship wreck of their faith.

These false teachers has deviated from the true map- the scriptures- and had made a shipwreck of their own faith and those who had followed them.

No wonder, Paul charged pastor Timothy with not only silencing these false teachers, by naming and shaming them, but Paul also charged Timothy with handing them over to satan: which means calling them out as non-believers and making it clear to all, that these teachers are not steering the gospel ship, but they are steering a ship to hell.

False teaching and false teachers are so dangerous because they may start with the gospel of Jesus, but then they add or take away things from the gospel which in the end is no gospel at all. And it is this one degree of separation which is the difference between reaching the destination of heaven and not reaching the destination of heaven.

We know the gospel is all about Jesus- as Paul said in 1 Timothy, Jesus came to save sinners- and this is a free gift of salvation as Paul also tells us in Ephesians chapter 2.

And so false teachers may start with this wonderful truth of the gospel, - that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, but then they will start adding or taking things from this glorious gospel, and as they do, it becomes no gospel at all- it becomes a ship on the ocean to hell.

And so some false teachers would teach, yes we are saved by grace, but, but, but, but….we are also saved by our good works, and so not only do you have to have faith in Jesus, but you must be circumcised……that’s false…….not only do you have to have faith in Jesus, but you must attend church every week……….that’s not true…….not only do you have to have faith in Jesus, but you must take mass every week…..that is not true.

We are not saved by works, the good works we do are just evidence of the salvation that Jesus already brought us at the cross.

We are not saved by the gospel and following the confessions of the Westminster confession of faith- that is not true. We are not saved by the gospel and following the teachings of Joseph Smith- that simply isn’t true.

We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Full stop. period.

Now, you may be wondering, why did these false teachers, drift away from the teachings of the gospel?

Well, 1 Timothy 4:1-2 gives us an answer.

Look at verse 1and 2 with me:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared

These false teachers drift away from the teaching of the gospel because they have been influenced by the lies of the devil.

False teaching, is not just some woopsie, some funny mistake, but false teaching is all part of this spiritual battle that we are in, according to Ephesians 6. Which tells us we are not fighting flesh and blood, but we are fighting against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, we are fighting against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

One of the most effective tools the devil uses to drive people off course in the hope they make a ship wreck of their faith, is to make us question the trust worthiness of God’s word.

If you think I am being a little dramatic about this spiritual battle, just listen to this conversation that Jesus had with a group of Jews from John 8:44

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 

These Jews were peddling the lie that Jesus was not the promised Messiah and so Jesus called them out. He told them they were doing the work of their father the devil, who is the father of lies.

And so friends, when false teachers, tell lies about Jesus-they are doing the work of the devil.

Now we know that these false teachers are under the influence of the devil, we can now understand why these false teachers peddle lies.

Look at verse 2 again with me.

through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared

These false teachers, have had their consciences seared, which means they no longer care for the souls on their ship. They don’t care about saving souls and why, because the devil doesn’t care about saving souls, in fact he is hell bent on making people’s lives a shipwreck- that is the illogical reasoning of evil.

The thief came to steal and destroy, there is no logic in it.

These false teachers make shipwrecks of people’s lives and yet in the end they also make shipwrecks of their own lives.

These false teachers may have believed the lies of the devil that they will find satisfaction in making money and being popular, but in the end they too are just lost souls, shipwrecked in hell.

Now there are a few false teachings which are prominent in the church today which are causing lives to be shipwrecked, but before we look at today’s false teaching let us look at the false teaching that was prominent in the first century in Ephesus.

Look at verse 3 with me: These false teachers

 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

The first lie that these teachers were peddling was that you should not get married.

They forbid marriage!

And why did they forbid marriage?- probably out of a false sense of piety.

They were teaching that marriage was bad because it distracted you from the work of God. Perhaps they considered sex was evil and so they forbid marriage because it would lead to this evil of sex.

These false teachers were spreading lies.

Friends, God created marriage, God created sex and he declared it good.

Marriage is never forbidden between one man and woman for life. Marriage is good, this is how God created us.

Even the idea that priests or pastors, should not marry out of a sense of duty to God is a lie. In 1 Timothy 3, it appears that the apostle Paul believed it was better for a shepherd to be married, so they could manage their own household in order to manage god’s household. To insist a pastor must not be married is a lie and it is potentially dangerous.

The second lie that was being taught in Ephesus, was that you had to abstain from certain foods.

The Jews and Seventh day Adventist still believe in these lies today. They believe that you must abstain from certain foods, if you want to be part of God’s family.

And if we just read the Old Testament, without reading it through the lens of the New Testament, you can understand why the Jews and the seventh day Adventist avoid eating certain foods.

Look at Leviticus 11:4

Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.

At that time in history, God told his people, who were the chosen nation of Israel not to eat certain food. God declared certain food unclean to eat- so in this case, a camel was declared unclean by God and so it was forbidden to eat.

God chose the nations of Israel out of all the nations of earth to be his people and so one way in which they displayed there belonging to God, was to not eat all the foods that all the other nations ate.  This was one way in which God’s people showed they were not like the pagan nations.

And so, if you like the Jews and the seventh day Adventists, don’t believe that Jesus is who he said he was I AM – God himself, then you would be stuck on that forbidden law, however, if you do trust that Jesus is who he said he was, you would believe that God’s people are not just one nation, but God’s people are in all nations, across the whole world and are those who trust in Jesus and so we are no longer forbidden to eat certain foods- but all foods are kosher- all foods are good to eat.

We are set apart through our faith in Jesus, not by the food we eat.

Acts 10 records a time when God spoke to the apostle Peter and let him know that no foods are now forbidden to eat, because now the people of God are both Jews and gentiles through the person of Jesus.

Look at Acts 10:9-16 with me:

9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour[b] to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners (four corners represents all the animals on the earth) upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

For us today as Christians in the 21st Century, we may look upon these issues from the first century and think well der……isn’t that obvious, of course we can eat all foods, of course marriage is good, of course we don’t need to be circumcised to belong to God’s family, but these things are only obvious now because people like Peter and Paul fought for the truth of the gospel. Even when they faced immense pressure from both within and from outside, they held on to the truth of the gospel and we are benefitting from that today.

Now what do I think is one of the great dangers for the church today?

What is our main fight today?

Well, I am no prophet, but here is my two cents worth.

I think the greatest lie that circulates the church today, because it circulates our world today is this:

Love doesn’t offend.

Love doesn’t offend.

That simply isn’t true- Love will at times offend you and that is a good thing, because when love offends, if offends out of a desire for you not to make a shipwreck of your faith.

Now I can understand why we are cautious in not wanting to offend people. There have been church leaders, who have deliberately offended and caused shipwrecks, there has been aggressive language used, and lots of hurt has been unnecessarily caused…………… and yet as so often happens, the pendulum has swung so far to the other end, that people are just scared to speak the truth in love anymore.

And so many false teachers would peddle a teaching of love when it is not love at all, and as false teachers peddle this idea of love, they are leading souls to hell.

Sadly our Presbyterian Denomination is peddling this false teaching of love in the hope that they would not offend people. At the last state assembly that we held in Sydney, after 3 days of debating, we decided we would not discuss the word of God when it came to the role of men and women in church, because “out of love” we didn’t want to offend anyone. Which at it’s core, is peddling the lie that God’s word – the bible is not loving, not caring and so we shouldn’t talk about it.

What a lie we have believed.

God’s word is good and pleasant and loving, and part of that love means that it is also offensive.

The gospel should offend us, because at the root of the gospel is that Jesus came to save sinners of whom I am the worst. Notice that the apostle Paul never cried that God didn’t love him, never cried that he was offended and so Jesus should have kept quiet, NO out of love, Jesus offended Paul’s ego and saved him.

And so friends, out of love, I want to challenge you with these words from verses 4 and 5 today.

Look at 1 Timothy 4:4-5 with me:

4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Friends God made everything, and he labelled it good.

However, we can either use those created things for good or for evil.

And so I want to encourage you today to think how you are using and being thankful for the things that God has given you.

Are you thankful for your marriage?

Are you thankful for your family?

Are you thankful for your church?

How are using the material things God has given you?

Are you using them for the Glory of God?

Are there things in your life, which you know, you are not devoting to the Glory of God?

Are there things in your life, which you need to deliberately and intentionally use for His Glory and not your own?

Let us pray.