My senior year of high school, I was the editor of the yearbook staff at the prestigious and elite Mulberry High School. The teacher of our class and the yearbook supervisor was Mr. Price. I really liked Mr. Price. In fact, I had him for three classes my senior year. Well, there was a young lady on our yearbook staff who was over the adverting section. I didn’t think that she was doing things quite the way that I wanted them to be done, so I started to micromanage her and pick apart everything she was doing. Well, Mr. Price saw this happening, and he sternly rebuked me, telling me that I should let her do her job. I was ashamed because I looked up to Mr. Price a lot, and I had let him down. I wasn’t doing a good job as the leader of our yearbook staff. Now, as things would turn out, I would later marry that young lady who was over the advertising section, and this past Thursday, we celebrated 21 years of marriage, so it all worked out.
In today’s passage, Paul is going to give some more instructions to Timothy about how he can live an approved and unashamed life. By the power of the Holy Spirit, this is also helpful truth for us. Paul doesn’t want Timothy to end up in a situation like I did, where he was ashamed of the way that he lived and led. Today’s sermon is simply entitled “Approved and Unashamed.”
Let’s look at the passage together, in 2 Timothy 2:14-26.
14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to fight about words. This is useless and leads to the ruin of those who listen. 15 Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. 16 Avoid irreverent and empty speech, since those who engage in it will produce even more godlessness, 17 and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are among them. 18 They have departed from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and are ruining the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, bearing this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.
20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood and clay; some for honorable use and some for dishonorable. 21 So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
22 Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. 24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. 26 Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
Let’s pray together as we journey through this passage.
(prayer)
Ok, we’re going to discover three pursuits that we must chase after so that we are not to be unashamed.
First, . . .
I. Pursue proper teaching.
Paul again warns Timothy to avoid false teaching and empty nonsense.
Look at verse 14: we are not to “fight about words.”
Look at verse 14 (again): “This is useless and leads to the ruin of those who listen.”
Look at verse 16: “Avoid irreverent and empty speech, since those who engage in it will produce even more godlessness.”
Look at verse 17: “their teaching will spread like gangrene.”
Rather than tolerating false teaching, Timothy needs to (look at verse 15) “be diligent to present [him]self to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.”
By the way, those of you who were a part of Awana in the 1980s and 1990s will remember this verse. Awana stands for “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed.” I could sing the theme song, but I’m not going to do so.
Paul wants Timothy to work hard at his responsibility as a teacher of the Word of God so that he need not be ashamed for tolerating false teaching.
By the way, church: this call to pursue proper teaching does not apply only to those who are teachers. All of us followers of Jesus are responsible for being sure that we fill our lives more with proper teaching and less with false teaching.
In fact, Paul makes it clear in verse 14 that this teaching is not only for Timothy. He says, “Remind them of these things.” It’s not just for Timothy; it’s for them; it’s for all of us who have ears to hear.
We ought to pursue proper teaching.
We ought to be careful what we allow to come into our own minds and hearts.
We ought to be careful what we pass on to others.
We ought to be careful not to allow ungodly and unwise influences in our lives.
Again, Paul names some who have departed from the truth, and whose teaching has spread like gangrene or like cancer.
These two whom Paul names are Hymenaeus and Philetus.
Their specific false teaching was that the resurrection of Christians had already taken place (by the way, Paul also addresses this false teaching in 1 Thessalonians 5).
Paul said that this false teaching is not only spreading, but in verse 18, we see that it is “ruining the faith of some.”
Church, we must not tolerate false teaching, and we must not tolerate sinful behavior in our church.
There are people who infiltrate and try to bring nonsense in the church, whether it be false teaching, gossip, or negativity. Usually, everyone knows who these people are. Yet, so often, people just tolerate this evil among the people of God. May it not be true of us.
We must avoid false teaching, and we must pursue proper teaching.
When we pursue proper teaching, it will help us . . .
II. Pursue proper living.
Listen to what Paul says in verse 19. He says, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, bearing this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his.”
Listen, child of God: God knows you, and you are His. Don’t let false teaching distract you. Don’t let senseless talk distract you. Pursue Him because He has pursued you.
When you know God, and you know that He knows you, it should lead to proper godly living in your life.
Listen to what Paul says in the second part of verse 19. He says, “let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.”
Now, this sounds very similar to another verse, doesn’t it?
Romans 10:13 says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If anyone calls upon the name of the Lord, they will be saved. When someone calls upon the name of the Lord and they are saved, they should turn away from wickedness.
This is what we call repentance. To repent literally means to turn or change direction.
When we call upon the name of Jesus and He saves us from our sin, then we begin to pursue proper living; godly living.
Paul goes on in verses 20-21 to discuss certain vessels in a house that are used for honorable use and some that are used for dishonorable use.
Paul makes the point in verse 21 that if Timothy wants to be used by God to do something special, he needs to be sure that he flees that which is dishonorable.
Paul says, “if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
Church, if you want a life that is lived for the glory of God, if you want to thrive in this life, you must turn away from sin and the ways of the world, and you must pursue holiness and the ways of God.
We must pursue proper living.
Paul goes on to say in verse 22, “Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
This is a Bible verse that is worth memorizing. Those who call on the Lord with a pure heart (purified by the blood of Jesus), should turn away from sin, and should pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.
What a good reminder for us. Pursue proper living.
Closely related to this second point is that we should . . .
III. Pursue proper behavior.
Paul gives Timothy some further advice as to how to behave, particularly with his treatment of those caught up in nonsense.
Look at verses 23-26:
23 But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. 24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. 26 Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
Ok, let’s break this down for a second:
First, don’t take part in foolish debates. Paul says to reject that. So, don’t go looking for foolishness, and don’t take part in foolishness.
Second, if you are a servant of Jesus, commit not to quarrel or fight with others. Quarrelsomeness should not be a part of those who are followers of Jesus.
Third, commit to being gentle with others. You will have disagreements from time to time. Rather than be difficult with someone when you disagree, be gentle.
Finally, if you are gentle with others, perhaps they will recognize that they are wrong and will come to their senses, and escape the trap of the devil. In other words, you may actually help bring someone closer to Jesus if you are gentle with them.
So, this is the kind of behavior that we are to pursue as a follower of Jesus: wisdom, truth, gentleness, patience, and godliness (among other traits).
Pursue proper behavior.
Let this bottom line summarize our teaching from this passage:
Bottom Line: Present yourself to God as one who is approved and unashamed.
This bottom line is straight from verse 15: “Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed.”
Diligence implies effort. We must intentionally put forth an effort to present ourselves to God as faithful and unashamed servants.
We can do so, in part, by pursuing proper teaching, pursuing proper living, and pursuing proper behavior.
Challenge yourself this week in this one way:
Weekly Challenge #1 – Seek to develop greater righteousness, faith, love, and peace in your life.
This weekly challenge is taken straight from verse 22: “pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
Will you seek to develop greater godly attributes in your life? Challenge yourself to do so this week.
Those of us who are children of God, we must pursue His ways. Those who are not God’s children, know that God is in the business of pursuing sinners to bring them to salvation.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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