This transcript was generated by whisper.ai. (upbeat music) - Drive Time Devotions is a Saddleback Church podcast. We want to invite you to one of our weekend services. Visit us online at saddleback. com for locations and service times in your area. Please visit us this weekend. - Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and I want to welcome you to the end, the last chapter of our study of First Timothy, chapter six, day one. We've been talking all through this incredible book about how to live a motivated life of faith. And as we come to chapter six, we're going to be looking at how important our material things are and the way that we handle those things in living that life of faith. And also about how important how we handle the truth in handling that life of faith. But before we get to that, in the first couple of verses of chapter six, we're really finishing up what we talked about last week, and that is the way that we relate to each other in the body of Christ. In verses one and two, Paul has some things to say about a specific relationship to each other in the body of Christ that makes some people, makes them scratch their heads 'cause it talks about slavery. And we wonder, what does this mean? Let me read those verses, and then come to what God's word means in these verses. Verses one and two of chapter six. All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered. Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better because those who benefit from their service are believers and dear to them. These are the things you are to teach and urge on them. Now, in finishing this chapter and talking about how we're to relate to one another's believers, these instructions to masters and slaves really make some of us scratch our heads. Let me just say, maybe to clarify this, three truths concerning the Bible's teaching about slavery. First of all, let me say the second thing first that I'm going to get to. The second point is going to be that slavery is condemned in the Bible. So knowing that, having that in mind, the first truth I want to say is that slavery in the Bible is different than the slavery that you and I think about. The slavery that's being talked about here is not an entire race being abducted or being abused. Like Israel in Egypt, the whole nation being taken into slavery, or like Africans being taken to America, an entire group of people, entire race of people, or color of people being taken into slavery. The kind of slavery in the Bible was really more a taking advantage of the poor. People from many, many different backgrounds, they didn't have enough money, they would sell themselves into slavery, and so they would be taken advantage of in that day. So it's a different kind of slavery than we're used to, but even in that, realize that it is condemned in the Bible. We've taken a look earlier in the book of 1 Timothy at the fact that if somebody is a slave, they should look to be set free. You can look in the book of Philemon about the fact that, and see very clearly the fact there that God has a different plan than slavery in mind. The Bible talks to us in Romans and Galatians about the fact that there's neither slave nor free, that God has a new plan for our lives. And even in the Bible, in the Old Testament, where it talks about slavery, it is so different from the kind of slavery that we have in mind. The kind of slavery in the Bible is a very financial transaction. It was supposed to end after a certain number of years, seven in many, many cases. And the idea of a lifetime of slavery or a whole family being taken into slavery is nowhere in the Bible. But even the kind of slavery where somebody would, one person would sell themselves for a life, that is condemned in the Bible. It was to end after a certain period of time. Now, with those things in mind, even though the Bible condemns slavery, there is this third truth that we're facing in these verses. And that is the truth that even though slavery is clearly wrong in the Bible, here are people being told as slaves to serve well instead of to rebel. Why would God say that? Because God knows how he's going to change history, how he's going to change human hearts. In many ways, it's the same principle as with government. In the book of Romans 13, we're told, people in that day and our day also, we're told to serve the government. Well, in the day that this was first written, the government was an evil Roman government who was oppressing Christians. Why would you respect that government in any way? Why wouldn't you do everything that you could to fight against that government? Why? Because God knows that the way to change is not through political rebellion, but through living the example of Christ. Satan would love for your faith to be identified by your spirit of rebellion. Because then it just looks like the rest of the world. Now, we live in a different day today. We live in a democracy, many of us. And so if something is going wrong, we have a responsibility, not just a right, but a responsibility to stand up and say that this is wrong. In that day, they did not live in a democracy. They lived not only in a monarchy, but in what they called a theocracy. Caesar was God to them. So they had no opportunity to come up against that. Paul says, when that happens, what do you do? You serve God and you realize that God's going to take that humble service and he's going to use it to change people's hearts. Maybe for your circumstance with the government, or being in a slavery situation, or maybe with the next person's circumstance. And that's exactly what happened. Slavery was broken in this world because of the truth of God's word and the example of God's people. That's how it was broken. Anyone who thinks any differently hasn't studied history. That is how it is broken. So these are difficult verses to walk through. They depend very much on your circumstance of life, the time of history that you live in. But the principle is still very clear that slavery was different in the Bible, but even that different kind of slavery was condemned, especially for a lifetime in the Bible. And slaves are told to serve well, not because slavery is right, but in order that it might be changed through our example in the life of Christ being shown in this world. Now, with that in mind, Paul turns to some talk about God's truth. To live a motivated life of faith, you need the fuel of God's truth in your life. And that is why false teaching is so dangerous to your life of faith. False teaching appeals to your selfishness instead of telling you God's truth, instead of feeding you God's truth. Listen to what verses three to five have to say about God's truth and false teaching. If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of corrupt mind who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. Now, this is a truth, the truth, about those who teach false truth. And at the end of these verses, in verse five, Paul says they've actually been robbed of the truth. And he says they think that godliness is a means to financial gain. Even in that day, people would go around and they would teach. And at the end of that teaching, they might take up an offering or have people give them money. And if they taught in a way that was very appealing, they might get more money. And so there were people who were trying to teach as Christian teachers, but really, they were just appealing to people's self-interest. And they got more money that way, they got more financial gain that way, but they were false teachers. And Paul writes about those who were false teachers and he says three things about them. First, he says their motivation is pride. That's why they're doing this. They like people to think well of them. They're prideful. They like people to applaud them. Well, who doesn't like people to think well of them? But if that's the reason that I'm teaching, then I'm always going to teach to my pride rather than teaching to the other person's need, teaching to the truth of God. So their motivation is pride and the result's going to be pride. Their understanding, he says, is zero. He says they understand nothing. Now, they may have a lot of knowledge. They may be able to spout a lot of facts and actually be extremely intelligent. Many false teachers are extremely intelligent men and women. That's why they're able to make the false teaching sound so attractive. They're just very intelligent. The thing that's missing is not intelligence, it's wisdom. They don't have wisdom from God because they haven't lived out the life of God. They haven't let the truth of God soak into their lives because it's about them, it's about their pride. The beginning point is pride and so their understanding is zero. And their interest, because their understanding is zero, is controversy. The more controversy they stir up, the more interest they stir up. The more interest they stir up, the more audience they have. The more audience they have, the more money they make. Now, I hate to say this, it does remind me some of some things that go on on radio today, on cable news today. I'm not painting a broad brush of everybody on the radio or cable news, but this doesn't just happen in churches. We can see everywhere that people that promote controversy get a lot of interest and sometimes that promotes them. When we talk about controversy here, how do you know the difference between an honest disagreement and someone with this unhealthy interest in controversy? And you might be asking yourself, who am I to judge whether their interest in controversy is right or wrong? Well, you're not the judge, God is. And so you go back to the beginning of these verses where he says that there is sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. They don't agree with the good thing, sound instruction in our Lord Jesus Christ. How do I know if someone is involved in unhealthy controversies and false teaching? You look at the results, they're full of pride, they love to argue, and so the result is what's talked about here, strife, envy, malicious talk, evil suspicions. When you see that in a church, when you see that in an audience of people listening to somebody, you know that there is pride as the motivation and there's an unhealthy interest in controversy. You can see it from the results. So what are we to do when we hear this kind of teaching, when we're in an audience somewhere? Well, the Bible says here very clearly what we're to do is to avoid it. How do you avoid people who want to argue? Well, you leave, if you're in the audience, you just walk out. I know it's interesting, it's interesting to me too. I want to argue back. You stop talking, you just smile. The Bible says you warn a divisive person once, you can warn them once, but then after that you have nothing to do with them. You realize they're not going to listen. Now, does that sound heartless? It's not, because the truth is by continuing to argue with a false teacher, you're actually meeting their need. They love the argument. It makes them think they're important. If you keep arguing with them, you're actually an enabler of the false teaching rather than someone who is fighting against the false teaching. So what do we focus on instead? We focus on verse three. We focus on sound truth. We focus on godly teaching. God's truth is the only foundation that'll last. And the Bible tells us that the sound, wholesome teachings of Jesus Christ are the foundation for a godly life. Here in chapter six, verse three. In second Timothy 2. 19, the Bible says, "God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone. " That's what I need to live the motivated life of faith. God's truth and a focus on that truth. Let's take a minute to pray. And Lord, as we pray, we remind ourselves that motivation for living the life of faith doesn't come from arguing against false teaching. It comes from living your truth. Help us to know how to warn a divisive person once. Help us to know how to confront false teaching with those who really want to know. But then Lord, also help us to focus on living the truth. Not to get caught up in the lie, but to focus on living the truth. We ask this Jesus in your name. Amen. And we'll see you tomorrow if you talk about verses six to 10 and the value of your valuables.