WOLVES IN SHEPHERD S CLOTHING Part 2 (2 Timothy 2:19-26 January 7, 2007)

Transcription

1 WOLVES IN SHEPHERD S CLOTHING Part 2 (2 Timothy 2:19-26 January 7, 2007) When you read the Pastoral Epistles one of the great themes that emerges is the reality of the threat of wolves in shepherd s clothing. False teachers passing themselves off as true heralds of the Word. They plagued the church in Paul s day and they are here today. Men who have twisted the gospel and managed to do so in such a way that it tickles the ears of the church. The church wants to hear from these men but the truth is this twisted gospel destroys the faith of those who listen. They bring error in and make it sound attractive. Just this week, I read that one of the more popular hymns sung in the churches of the 1920 s was These Things Shall Be written by John Addington Symonds ( ). Here is that hymn: These things shall be! A loftier race Than e er the world hath known, shall rise With flame of freedom in their souls And light of science in their eyes. They shall be gentle, brave and strong Not to shed human blood, but dare All that may plant man s lordship firm On earth and fire and sea and air. 1

2 Nation with nation, land with land Unarmed shall live as comrades free; In every brain and heart shall throb The pulse of one fraternity. New arts shall bloom of loftier mould And mightier music thrill the skies, And every life a song shall be, When all the earth is paradise. These things they are no dream shall be For happier men when we are gone: Those golden days for them shall dawn, Transcending all we gaze upon. Not only is there not one word about God, Jesus, true salvation but the hero is man. Man will become so good that he will do away with war and poverty. Science and man s goodness will turn this world into a paradise. And supposedly this is no dream it is a coming reality. It might be what many would like to hear. But I am sorry, this hymn is nothing but heresy. It promotes the glory of man. Its hope is not Christ but man. It is no more Christian than A Communist Manifesto. And yet, it was introduced into the majority of church hymnals last century and it is still found in many hymnals today. And what of John Symonds himself? He stood vehemently opposed to Christianity. He was a 19 th century humanist and well known homosexual and paedophile. Yet his words were and still are sung in churches. This has always been a great problem. False shepherds keep rising up and bringing error into the churches and there they always seem to find some who listen intently. They are sources of division and great heartache for the true shepherds of the flock. The church in Ephesus where Timothy pastored was under attack from just such a group of false teachers. And many in the church were being influenced by these men. Timothy had been there for around five years and had not managed to remove this cancer. He was feeling that he was a ministry failure. So Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage and guide him. Paul knew that what Timothy was experiencing every pastor experiences. The ministry is tough. The wolves are many. The sheep are difficult. 2

3 And he knows that if Timothy left the wolves would have a field day they would rip that church to shreds. Paul knows that it is men like Timothy faithfully preaching the Word in season and out of season and living godly before them who will protect the saints. So he took up his quill and wrote. Here in verses 14-26, Paul turns from encouraging Timothy to be faithful to reminding him of what a faithful shepherd of the flock of Jesus Christ does when the wolves are at the door. What he has to do to fulfil his ministry. He outlines the three characteristics that will mark any ministry as faithful. Last week we looked at the first characteristic. A true shepherd should: Focus on God s Word You protect the flock by labouring at preaching dividing the Word of truth accurately. Unleash the glory of God s truth. Don t get caught up in word wars focus on the great themes of the Bible Christ, salvation, eternity. This is how you guard the gospel. This is how you protect the flock. The Word feeds and nourishes us. We are to show them the glory of Christ so that anything else seems insipid. But there is a second characteristic of a true shepherd. He should: 3

4 Focus on your ministry Look with me at 2 Timothy 2:19: Nevertheless, God s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his. Timothy was having a bit of an Elijah syndrome I am the only prophet of God left, the only one following God, the false teachers are legion and I have had enough. Timothy was looking at the false shepherds and the problems in the church. What Paul says is Focus on your ministry. Endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5 Here is the problem. The ministry is pretty simple. Love the sheep, feed the sheep, keep the wolves out and leave the results up to God. What God wants from us is faithfulness not results. He will take care of the results. Sometime read what God said when He called Ezekiel to be His prophet. He said: Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you. I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. Ezekiel 2. 4

5 But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, You will surely die, and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself. Ezekiel 3. Great! How would you like that as your charge to the ministry. I am sending you to a people who don t want to hear and won t listen. It will be tough. It will be like living surrounded by briers and thorns and scorpions. You will bash your head against them all your days and they won t listen. Yet, if you don t fulfil this ministry, if you fail to warn them then I will hold you accountable. Read Isaiah or Jeremiah or any of the prophets. This is ministry. It is tough. It can be thankless. But you do it anyway. This is what Paul is reminding Timothy. God calls us to be faithful not have spectacular results. But we are human. We look around us. False shepherds prospering. People not growing. And we despair. And Paul says we have to Focus on our ministry. Make sure we are the men we are called to be and doing the job we were called to do. He reminds us that God will take care of the false shepherds in his time. We just have to be the best shepherds we can be. I sometimes have thoughts like Timothy I watch the Mormons build their multi-million dollar Temple on Kangaroo Point. I watch Hillsong multiply rapidly through teaching the prosperity doctrine. I watch the Catholic Church remain dominant throughout the world. I watch evangelical pastors fall into sexual sin. I watch liberalism swamp the western church. And I wonder what difference I am making and I wonder why the false shepherds seemingly prosper. 5

6 And Paul says don t look at others. God has His shepherds and He knows who they are He has not forgotten them. Our task is to be faithful and to persevere. God s task is to build His church. Look at what Paul says: God s solid foundation stands firm. The solid foundation of the church will be kept firm by God Himself. Remember what Paul said in 1 Timothy 3:15: God s household, the church of the living God, [is] the pillar and foundation of the truth. God preserves His church God has His shepherds and His church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against them. Because the men of God are: Sealed with this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his. This is a quote from one of the most famous events in Jewish history the rebellion of Korah. In Numbers 16 we read of a rebellion led by Korah against Moses and Aaron. Korah and his co-conspirators rounded up 250 of the leaders of Israel and confronted Moses. They wanted to be recognised as leaders alongside Moses and Aaron. Moses was the spokesman of God and Aaron was the High Priest. Korah and the others weren t happy with this arrangement. So what Korah did to challenge Moses and Aaron was to quote the words of God but twist them. He said the whole community is holy quoting Exodus 19:6 and the Lord is among all of us quoting Exodus 29:45. True statements. But what he did was to twist these Scriptures to mean this since we are all holy we are a holy nation and since God dwells among all of us then we shouldn t have special leaders. Anyone can lead. Anyone can be appointed by the people as a leader and reluctantly and humbly I put myself forward for the position of leader. The problem is that is not what those verses meant. Being a holy nation with God in their midst did not mean that anyone could lead the nation and the priesthood. 6

7 It sounded good to some ambitious men and to some who were dissatisfied with Moses and Aaron. But, it was a direct challenge to God. It was by God s explicit command that Moses and Aaron were appointed as leaders. I trust you see what Paul is doing. The false shepherds in Ephesus were just like Korah. They were presenting themselves as leaders of God s people but they were leading them astray by twisting the Word of God. They were challenging the Word of God. And it must have been incredibly discouraging to Moses. 250 leaders sided with Korah. As you read the account it seems most of the people agreed with Korah. But Moses knew he just had to be faithful. What he said to these rebels was this: In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. Numbers 16:5 God knows who are His leaders of the people. He knows who is holy and who is serving Him. What happened was this. In the morning Moses and Aaron stood together and Korah and the leaders of the rebellion stood together and the 250 men who had joined them stood together. The 250 men all put fire in their censer and presented it to God. And God spoke. But He didn t say I am just going to kill the Korah and the 250 He said Moses and Aaron I know you are mine so you move away from the entire assembly. They listened to these men. They wanted them as leaders. I am going to kill them all I am going to destroy the whole nation. Stand back. But Moses and Aaron fell face down and begged God please don t destroy everyone because of this one man s sin. And God relented. He commanded the whole assembly pull back from these wicked men. Don t touch anything belonging to them. And the ground opened up and swallowed Korah and the leaders of the rebellion along with their wives, their children, their households and all of their belongings and then the earth closed back over them. And fire came from God and consumed the 250 leaders who had stood with Korah. And the people were petrified they were afraid God would consume them too. 7

8 Moses commanded that the censers the 250 men held be hammered out and laid over the altar as a reminder that only Aaron and his descendants could make offerings before the Lord a sign not to be like Korah. But what I find most amazing about this whole episode is what happened next. Think about this. The people watched God open the earth to swallow Korah they watched fire consume the 250. They knew God had condemned these false shepherds and vindicated his true shepherds. You would think that they would understand the need to separate themselves from men like Korah and be holy. But the people weren t happy. The very next day the very next day the people grumbled. They had liked what Korah said. They were angry that Korah had been killed. They grumbled about God and His shepherds. So God said Moses, Aaron stand back from these people I am going to kill them. God sends a plague that begins to kill the people. But Moses sends Aaron to fill his censer and intercede for the people. Aaron stands between the living and the dead interceding for the nation and God relents and stops the plague even though many have died. And the Lord said enough of this grumbling about the leaders I appointed. You will have one leader from each of the 12 tribes bring their staff to the Tent of Meeting. I have had enough of men wanting to be the leaders of my people. I will show who my leader is. The man whose staff I cause to sprout He is the one I choose to head the priesthood and no one is to ever challenge that again. And it was Aaron s staff that sprouted. God knows who are His shepherds. Paul chose to reference this episode for three reasons. First, and foremost God knows who the leaders of His people are. Korah had the leaders on his side and pretty much all the people it didn t matter God knew who His shepherds were. God vindicated His men and destroyed the false shepherds. Timothy, God knows you are faithful and He has not forgotten you. You are sealed by Him as one of His men. Stay faithful and God will bless you and the false leaders will be dealt with. Second, God s sheep need their true shepherds. Without Moses and Aaron the whole assembly would have been destroyed. 8

9 Timothy has to persevere, he has to continue to preach the Word and feed the sheep. God has him there for a purpose. Without him there the wolves would rip that church to shreds. Third, God s shepherds are set aside for a task. They are called to that task. Listen again to Numbers 16:5 In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy. Paul picks up on this at the end of verse 19: Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness. The true shepherd turns away from wickedness so that he can be a vessel useful to the Lord. Look at verses 20 and 21: In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Paul uses a metaphor to get his point across. In a large house a wealthy house of the time there were many articles or vessels bowls, cups, buckets. Some are made of gold and silver and used for noble purposes. Fine dishes and bowls and plates and cups to serve fine food to distinguished guests. But some are made of wood and clay and used for ignoble purposes. Buckets and chamber pots. Used for waste and excrement. The large house is of course the church of God and the vessels are those who call themselves shepherds, the leaders, the men of God. The point being that not everyone who calls themself a shepherd is in fact a true shepherd of God. Korah called himself a shepherd of God. Hymenaeus and Philetus called themselves shepherds of God. I did a search and was amazed how many false teachers took the title of shepherd, true shepherd or teacher. These men always have many followers. They seem to prosper. 9

10 But the true men of God are faithful. Ezekiel spent his life preaching and no one listened. But he was a man of God. Timothy and you and I should not be surprised that there are these ignoble vessels that lead many astray in the church. But Timothy and every pastor is to separate from them have nothing to do with their teaching or their lifestyle and dedicate themselves to noble purposes to serving God in every good work. Take our eyes off others and serve God. It won t be easy. We may see little fruit. But God calls us to holiness and faithfulness. He calls us to serve Him with all our heart and soul and mind. We have to Focus on our ministry the work God gave us to do. God is saying Timothy let me worry about the false teachers. I will take care of them. You have sheep to feed. You have a flock to attend to. And I think that God also wanted Timothy to know that he may not be as alone as he thinks. Paul ends this letter by reminding Timothy that there are men and women there in Ephesus who have remained faithful and are in the fight with him. 2 Timothy 4:19-21 Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. There are still faithful men and women those sealed by God who are with you in the fight. The point of these verses is clear. Every pastor, elder, man of God will face wolves. They will gain the ear of many. They will oppose us. But God knows who are His shepherds. We just have to be faithful. This brings us to the third characteristic of a true shepherd. He should: 10

11 Focus on your life Look at verse 22: Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. There is an old truism that every pastor has to learn They won t care how much you know until they know how much you care. This is true not just for the flock but also for the false teachers. One of the most powerful arguments against their teaching is a godly life. Show them the fruit of Christ. I was recently reading the testimony of a man who was raised in a cult. But at university he encountered Christians. Their life was so different to those he grew up with they were such an aroma of Christ he wanted to know why and it led him to Christ. Timothy had to show his life, his character, his godliness to those who opposed him. They had to see what a man of God is. Paul sums this up by saying flee evil desires and follow godly desires. These evil desires of youth are not so much sensual or sexual in nature as the headstrong impetuousness of youth arguments, quarrels and partiality. The actions that can alienate others and stop them listening to the words of truth we have. I am sure you have met men and women who speak the truth but they don t speak the truth in love. It is this love that sweetens the truth. 11

12 Instead, of letting our youthful impetuousness alienate those we want to reach, Timothy and every minister is to pursue righteousness, faith love and peace. He is to show this godly character along with all those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. The true sheep were to live such godly lives that even the wolves would notice. This is very similar to what Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:16: Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Verses 23-24: Don t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. When we are confronted by false teaching our first response is to argue and this can get heated and you can destroy your testimony. I have seen pastors godly men get into some heated arguments. I once sat through a meeting that went for several hours discussing all the views of Sabbath keeping and which ones of them were compatible with the Westminster Confession of faith. That discussion got quite heated. Some of the pastors felt there was only one view of the Sabbath compatible with the Westminster Confession all the way to others who felt there were four compatible views. Words like antinomian and legalist were used. And this was among pastors who would agree on 99.9% of doctrine including every major doctrine concerning Christ and salvation. I read a paper this week in which one man from a Reformed background accused other Reformed pastors of being heretics because they had a different understanding of the biblical covenants. So you can imagine that when you are dealing with false teachers the arguments are heated and intractable. One of my great regrets in life happened when I was still a young Christian. A close friend had gone to England for a year. During that time, I had become a Christian but he had become caught up in a cultish church. Soon after he returned we met. I wanted to share Jesus. He wanted to share his views. 12

13 I think both of us were surprised at what had happened in that year. Anyway to cut a long story short after several meetings he insisted that in all the world and in all history only those who followed his church s teaching and had been baptised by a minister of his church could be saved. At this point the argument got heated. He walked out and said I will never talk to you again. I regret that to this day. I wish I knew more about speaking the truth in love instead of arguing with heat and vehemence. All that does is harden hearts. Paul is not saying don t correct them. Far from it in verse 25 he says correct them gently. He is saying don t get into heated fruitless arguments that destroy your testimony. Instead when you talk to those who oppose you make sure you are kind to them. Treat them with respect and kindness. Make sure you are able to teach them. Make sure you know the truth and that you are able to extol the glories of Christ clearly. Make sure you are not resentful that you don t allow yourself to stop loving. Words are often spoken in haste and with heat. Don t let them overcome your love. Don t become resentful. These false teachers still need Christ. So, verses 25-26: Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. Here is the truth you never argue false teachers into truth. Their only hope is that God might grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth. God has to open their hearts and illuminate their minds. We have to pray for them and gently instruct them. Tell them the truth and ask God to save them. Show them the glory of Christ. Live it before them. Show them what Christ can do in a life. Ask God to bring them to their senses and escape the trap of the devil. He holds them captive and only God can free them. 13

14 This passage focuses on what the man of God has to do the pastor, the elder to stay true to His calling. But in a sense this is a blueprint for faithfulness for every man or woman in Christ. Focus on God s Word Feed on it. Find Christ there. Proclaim the Word. Share the Word. The Word of God is where you find life. Focus on your ministry Don t worry about others worry about the gifts and ministry God gave you. Focus on your life Make sure you are living as a child of God. We need to do this because God calls us to faithfulness. I don t know what will lie ahead. I am sure there will be good days for us and for this church and tough days. But I know God and I know His solid foundation stands firm. He has His men. He builds His church. All He asks of us is faithfulness. And when we are faithful to focus on His Word, our ministry and our lives God can grant repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth. Charles Simeon understood this. In 1782 a godly Bishop appointed him as the minister to Trinity Church in Cambridge. 14

15 He arrived and found that the leaders in the church were cared little for the gospel. The last thing they wanted was a pastor who would preach on Christ and sin. The leaders of the congregation wrote to the Bishop and begged him to appoint someone else. The Bishop refused. So you have a minister who wants to preach the word and a congregation who by and large don t want to hear it. The situation got worse. The Bishop insisted that they allow Simeon to preach on Sunday mornings but in those days, the pews were actually owned by the parishioners. Your family bought the pew there was a door and a lock on the pew and that pew was yours. So these men and women locked the pews and boycotted the church services. And when Simeon spent his own money to buy seating to put up in the aisles, the leaders of the church threw the new seats out. And the congregation had been required to open the church to Simeon Sunday mornings, but they decided this did not required them to allow him to preach on Sunday afternoons and evenings so they locked the doors of the church. They didn t want Charles Simeon and he knew it. Imagine turning up to a church where the pews are locked, where they won t let you put seating in the aisles and the main men and women of the church refuse to come. And perhaps worse they didn t care for the gospel or Christ. I would be tempted to ask the Bishop for a different church. But Charles Simeon knew his task was to be faithful despite the difficulties. And there were still a few true souls in that church and they needed a shepherd and to be fed on the Word. For twelve years Simeon preached and those few faithful sheep came and stood in the aisles to hear the word. Simeon preached the Word. He focussed on his ministry. He lived a godly life before the flock and the whole town. Finally, after twelve years God saw fit to soften the hearts of the church. Our task is to be faithful. To be an instrument for noble purposes useful to God and prepared for any good work. So pray for me. Pray for Dave. Pray for our elders and deacons. Pray for our missionaries. Pray for the young men in our midst heading to ministry. 15

16 Pray for faithfulness to God, His Word and His ministry. 16