Being Able to Correctly Handle the Gospel! – 2 Timothy 4:1-5
Being Able to Correctly Handle the Gospel! – 2 Timothy 4:1-5
By Pastor Lee Hemen
October 5, 2008 AM
One time talk show host and atheist Bill Maher has made a film called “Religulous” that strenuously aims to mock all religions. His ads on the Internet show three monkeys: one Jewish, one Muslim, and a third monkey Pope. On ABC, Maher related that American historical figures from Lincoln to FDR were a “cavalcade of morons” for having the audacity to speak of God. He claims he isn’t engaged in mockery, that in his film, “we don’t judge. We don’t point fingers. We’re not making anybody feel bad.” Maher’s film however is full of vindictiveness and ends with pictures of exploding nuclear bombs and a chorus of “Road to Nowhere” by the Talking Heads. And, Maher is not trying to make anyone feel bad religion? How should Christians respond to these kinds of attacks on their faith?
Christianity is being ridiculed all across our nation. I believe it is because believers are failing to correctly handle the Gospel message. Christians have acquiesced their faith, thinking that they should not “offend” others by telling them Jesus is the only means of salvation. This is simply absurd. Christians are to stand for the Gospel anywhere and anytime. Timothy was doing the very same thing in that he was becoming fearful of sharing the Gospel. Paul bluntly writes, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge.” What charge was it that Paul urgently thought was so important? Namely, that Timothy would be able to correctly handle the Gospel! Let’s discover out how…
READ: 2 Timothy 4:1-5
The false notion that all religions should all just get along in every way has hog-tied Christianity. Certainly, believers should never belittle another’s faith practice, like a Bill Maher does, but we should stand for our faith when questioned. All religious experience is not the same. The Gospel truth is inclusive for its affect but exclusive in its effect. And, now, there are those who are seriously trying to restrict a church’s right to speak out against any sin. Such as sexuality, immorality, or abortion. Paul tells Timothy that in being able to correctly handle the gospel we have to…
I. Preach the Word! (v. 2)
1. Preaching is not just for pastors! It never has been. In fact, the word for “preaching” is “ke?russo?” and it literally means to publish or to proclaim it like a old time town crier! Timothy was to publically proclaim the gospel and to “be prepared in season and out of season” to do just that! All Christians should be prepared with the gospel message yet few are. Out of selfish fear or a convoluted view of trying not to offend, far too many believers remain silent. Christians should “correct, rebuke and encourage” others with the gospel. The message of Christ has become one of begging and pleading rather than a life-changing eternal truth! Have we forgotten that Paul told Timothy, “Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning!” (1 Timothy 5:20) and that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”? (2 Timothy 3:16) Christians are despised in our day and age because we are so feeble in presenting the gospel. This is why Paul would tell Titus “Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.” (Titus 2:15) As one old preacher said, “When a Christian can’t stand for anything, then people can’t stand them for anything!” Are we to be abrasive? No! Paul told Timothy to share the gospel “with great patience and careful instruction.” Literally with persistent teaching of correct doctrine! Being able to correctly handle the gospel means Christians have to preach the Word!
EXAMPLE: Can you imagine Paul when he had to appear before King Agrippa sharing, “Oh great Agrippa, after Jesus spoke to me on the way to Damascus, I decided to share that however you want to feel about God is good enough for everyone! And so I began to preach this message in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to anyone who wanted to feel good about God! This is why the Jews hate me. I love Jesus and He loves you too just the way you are!” I rather doubt we would have ever heard of the Apostle Paul. Instead, he boldly declared that Jesus told him, “‘I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike…. I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:17-22, 29) Paul knew that being able to correctly handle the gospel means Christians have to preach the Word!
People have always wanted to discover spiritual truth on their own terms. Eve, in the Garden of Eden, sought to find it through taste, touch, and experience. Having to walk with a holy God daily became a personal drag for her. This truism has not changed. Today we discover folks calling themselves “Christian,” when in fact they are trying to desperately discover God on their own terms. We have entered into a time when people think that every spirituality is valid or no spirituality is just as valid. Paul tells Timothy that in being able to correctly handle the gospel means we have to…
II. Understand the ungodly times we live in! (vv. 3-4)
1. It is later than most people think! Why would I say that? Not all spiritual truth is spiritually true! We forget that every day we live brings us closer to the Lord’s return. Paul understood this. He knew that a “time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.” The “sound doctrine” that faith in Christ is the only means of salvation. I believe that the closer we come to Christ’s return the farther away from the truth people desire to go. In fact, they not only head away from God’s truth they will deliberately look for others who are willing to justify their ungodliness! “Instead,” Paul writes, “to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3) Sadly, we find this to be true even within the church itself! We find churches today touting a spirituality that has nothing to do with the gospel and is more in line with a neo-Gnosticism. It has a “form of godliness but [denies] its power.” (2 Timothy 3:5) The church today, in a mad rush to attract the world inside its doors, has become more like the world and less like the holy body of Christ it should be. And because of this many within its walls have turned “their ears away from the truth” and have turned “aside to myths” in order “to suit their own desires.” Christians should never fall for an easy believe-ism or a sugarcoated spirituality. A lot of “doctrine” today is neither spiritually sound nor true and has more to do with how one feels about their faith than what holiness is. In order to be able to handle the gospel correctly, Christians need to understand the ungodly times we live in!
EXAMPLE: There is a popular fictional neo-spiritual book out called “The Shack.” It has become Christian best seller, but what does it truly contain? The book is about a spiritually miserable man named Mack who after his daughter is brutally murdered has to confront three unorthodox characterizations of the Trinity in a shack in the woods where she was killed. USA Today states, that “It slams ‘legalistic’ religions, denominations and doctrines. It barely even mentions the Bible. Instead, Mack’s secrets, lies, pain and fears are swept away in a 48-hour encounter in the woods with a sassy black woman who embodies God the creator. Jesus is portrayed as a big-nosed carpenter in a plaid shirt; the Holy Spirit is an Asian sylph called Sarayu.” In fact, the book contains little Scriptural truth and is more in line with self-cleansing techniques of the neo-paganism. Sadly, too many people forget that it is fiction and equate it with containing spirituality because of its self-cleansing focus. Spiritually motivated truth is not the same as Scriptural truth. The Shack promotes a universalism in that the ungodly can just discover Jesus’ love intrinsically by turning their life over emotionally and they’re on their way to heaven. No need for trusting in Jesus alone for salvation, or that embarrassing thing of admitting to your own ungodliness, or following Him in obedience. Paul would remind us that if we want to be able to handle to the gospel correctly we have to understand the times we live in.
This book “The Shack” represents how people can “turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” It is easy to submit oneself to a personally emotional spiritual experience but harder to face the reality of our own sin-condition, repent of it, and trust in Christ to cleanse us. It is easy for today’s Christian to fall into the trap of feelings over faith because we live in a world that teaches us daily to think that what feels good is correct for our lives. In fact, in our world we are often asked, “How does that make you feel?” rather than, “What is the truth of your situation?” How do we confront something as powerful as this? Paul tells Timothy that in being able to correctly handle the gospel we have to…
III. Keep our Christian wits about us! (v. 5)
1. Drinking from the wrong fountain can muddle your mind! Here’s what I mean: Jesus claimed that He was the only “living water” that a person should drink from. In fact, if one drank from His fountain, you would never need thirst again spiritually. (John 4:10-14) “Keep your head,” literally means to remain sober. Paul was telling Timothy to remain sober about the gospel. Christians are not to drink from other spiritual truths and thereby muddle their minds as to the only spiritual truth, Jesus Christ! (John 14:6) Paul said that Timothy was to keep his head “in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” The same is true for all believers. Whether at work, home, school, or anywhere the believer finds themselves, they are to remain sober about the gospel. In life we all face “hardship” because the world is full of sin, but Christians are to endure knowing that what we believe in is far more important than what this life can toss our way. So much so that all believers should “do the work of an evangelist” and “discharge all the duties of [our] ministry” by telling the gospel to all we meet! Paul told Titus, “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” (Titus 2:7-8) How many Christians regularly can say they have carried out all the duties of being a witness and ministering to others in Christ? In a world that runs after any perceived truth, believers are to correctly handle the gospel by keeping their wits about them!
EXAMPLE: Whether it is confronting ungodliness like Bill Maher’s “Religulous” or realizing false doctrine contained in fictional novels like “The Shack,” Christians are called to handle the gospel correctly. It can be tough not to lose one’s way in a world that psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually pounds at us day after day. Yet, times have not changed much from Paul and Timothy’s day. They lived in a flagrantly paganistic society that did not care at all about Jesus Christ. Truthfully, no one cared because no one had ever heard of Jesus! We forget that there were probably fewer than a few thousand Christians in the known world at the time of Paul writing Timothy. Think about that for a moment and let it sink in. Today we have churches on almost every corner, hundreds of Christian TV programs, movies, and even theme parks! We have churches that vie for everyone’s attention, more for getting folks through the door rather than for reaching people for eternity. You would think in a world where society has been drastically affected by the gospel and that there would be a greater outpouring of the gospel message by its adherents, but there is not. In fact, with all the Christian influence there is, there are fewer folks witnessing and reaching the lost for Christ. Society is growing spiritually darker. In times like these, Paul would say, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:5) Being able to correctly handle the gospel means keeping your Christian wits about you.
Conclusion:
We have leaned three important lessons in being able to correctly handle the gospel: 1) Preach the Word, 2) Understand the ungodly times we live in, and 3) keep you Christian wits about you!
There is a commercial that asks, “What’s in your wallet?” Well, today, I am asking, “Who’s in your wallet?” Today I am issuing a challenge for each of us. List three names on a card that you will pray for regularly to receive Christ. Pray that God will present an opportunity for you to present the gospel to them and that they would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Who will you list and who will you pray for regularly? But more than that, will you witness to them about Jesus? Share the gospel with those you are praying for.
----
This article is copyrighted © 2008 by Lee Hemen and if you desire to use it, print it, or copy it you must do so in its entirety.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
October 5, 2008 AM
One time talk show host and atheist Bill Maher has made a film called “Religulous” that strenuously aims to mock all religions. His ads on the Internet show three monkeys: one Jewish, one Muslim, and a third monkey Pope. On ABC, Maher related that American historical figures from Lincoln to FDR were a “cavalcade of morons” for having the audacity to speak of God. He claims he isn’t engaged in mockery, that in his film, “we don’t judge. We don’t point fingers. We’re not making anybody feel bad.” Maher’s film however is full of vindictiveness and ends with pictures of exploding nuclear bombs and a chorus of “Road to Nowhere” by the Talking Heads. And, Maher is not trying to make anyone feel bad religion? How should Christians respond to these kinds of attacks on their faith?
Christianity is being ridiculed all across our nation. I believe it is because believers are failing to correctly handle the Gospel message. Christians have acquiesced their faith, thinking that they should not “offend” others by telling them Jesus is the only means of salvation. This is simply absurd. Christians are to stand for the Gospel anywhere and anytime. Timothy was doing the very same thing in that he was becoming fearful of sharing the Gospel. Paul bluntly writes, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge.” What charge was it that Paul urgently thought was so important? Namely, that Timothy would be able to correctly handle the Gospel! Let’s discover out how…
READ: 2 Timothy 4:1-5
The false notion that all religions should all just get along in every way has hog-tied Christianity. Certainly, believers should never belittle another’s faith practice, like a Bill Maher does, but we should stand for our faith when questioned. All religious experience is not the same. The Gospel truth is inclusive for its affect but exclusive in its effect. And, now, there are those who are seriously trying to restrict a church’s right to speak out against any sin. Such as sexuality, immorality, or abortion. Paul tells Timothy that in being able to correctly handle the gospel we have to…
I. Preach the Word! (v. 2)
1. Preaching is not just for pastors! It never has been. In fact, the word for “preaching” is “ke?russo?” and it literally means to publish or to proclaim it like a old time town crier! Timothy was to publically proclaim the gospel and to “be prepared in season and out of season” to do just that! All Christians should be prepared with the gospel message yet few are. Out of selfish fear or a convoluted view of trying not to offend, far too many believers remain silent. Christians should “correct, rebuke and encourage” others with the gospel. The message of Christ has become one of begging and pleading rather than a life-changing eternal truth! Have we forgotten that Paul told Timothy, “Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning!” (1 Timothy 5:20) and that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”? (2 Timothy 3:16) Christians are despised in our day and age because we are so feeble in presenting the gospel. This is why Paul would tell Titus “Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.” (Titus 2:15) As one old preacher said, “When a Christian can’t stand for anything, then people can’t stand them for anything!” Are we to be abrasive? No! Paul told Timothy to share the gospel “with great patience and careful instruction.” Literally with persistent teaching of correct doctrine! Being able to correctly handle the gospel means Christians have to preach the Word!
EXAMPLE: Can you imagine Paul when he had to appear before King Agrippa sharing, “Oh great Agrippa, after Jesus spoke to me on the way to Damascus, I decided to share that however you want to feel about God is good enough for everyone! And so I began to preach this message in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to anyone who wanted to feel good about God! This is why the Jews hate me. I love Jesus and He loves you too just the way you are!” I rather doubt we would have ever heard of the Apostle Paul. Instead, he boldly declared that Jesus told him, “‘I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike…. I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:17-22, 29) Paul knew that being able to correctly handle the gospel means Christians have to preach the Word!
People have always wanted to discover spiritual truth on their own terms. Eve, in the Garden of Eden, sought to find it through taste, touch, and experience. Having to walk with a holy God daily became a personal drag for her. This truism has not changed. Today we discover folks calling themselves “Christian,” when in fact they are trying to desperately discover God on their own terms. We have entered into a time when people think that every spirituality is valid or no spirituality is just as valid. Paul tells Timothy that in being able to correctly handle the gospel means we have to…
II. Understand the ungodly times we live in! (vv. 3-4)
1. It is later than most people think! Why would I say that? Not all spiritual truth is spiritually true! We forget that every day we live brings us closer to the Lord’s return. Paul understood this. He knew that a “time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.” The “sound doctrine” that faith in Christ is the only means of salvation. I believe that the closer we come to Christ’s return the farther away from the truth people desire to go. In fact, they not only head away from God’s truth they will deliberately look for others who are willing to justify their ungodliness! “Instead,” Paul writes, “to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3) Sadly, we find this to be true even within the church itself! We find churches today touting a spirituality that has nothing to do with the gospel and is more in line with a neo-Gnosticism. It has a “form of godliness but [denies] its power.” (2 Timothy 3:5) The church today, in a mad rush to attract the world inside its doors, has become more like the world and less like the holy body of Christ it should be. And because of this many within its walls have turned “their ears away from the truth” and have turned “aside to myths” in order “to suit their own desires.” Christians should never fall for an easy believe-ism or a sugarcoated spirituality. A lot of “doctrine” today is neither spiritually sound nor true and has more to do with how one feels about their faith than what holiness is. In order to be able to handle the gospel correctly, Christians need to understand the ungodly times we live in!
EXAMPLE: There is a popular fictional neo-spiritual book out called “The Shack.” It has become Christian best seller, but what does it truly contain? The book is about a spiritually miserable man named Mack who after his daughter is brutally murdered has to confront three unorthodox characterizations of the Trinity in a shack in the woods where she was killed. USA Today states, that “It slams ‘legalistic’ religions, denominations and doctrines. It barely even mentions the Bible. Instead, Mack’s secrets, lies, pain and fears are swept away in a 48-hour encounter in the woods with a sassy black woman who embodies God the creator. Jesus is portrayed as a big-nosed carpenter in a plaid shirt; the Holy Spirit is an Asian sylph called Sarayu.” In fact, the book contains little Scriptural truth and is more in line with self-cleansing techniques of the neo-paganism. Sadly, too many people forget that it is fiction and equate it with containing spirituality because of its self-cleansing focus. Spiritually motivated truth is not the same as Scriptural truth. The Shack promotes a universalism in that the ungodly can just discover Jesus’ love intrinsically by turning their life over emotionally and they’re on their way to heaven. No need for trusting in Jesus alone for salvation, or that embarrassing thing of admitting to your own ungodliness, or following Him in obedience. Paul would remind us that if we want to be able to handle to the gospel correctly we have to understand the times we live in.
This book “The Shack” represents how people can “turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” It is easy to submit oneself to a personally emotional spiritual experience but harder to face the reality of our own sin-condition, repent of it, and trust in Christ to cleanse us. It is easy for today’s Christian to fall into the trap of feelings over faith because we live in a world that teaches us daily to think that what feels good is correct for our lives. In fact, in our world we are often asked, “How does that make you feel?” rather than, “What is the truth of your situation?” How do we confront something as powerful as this? Paul tells Timothy that in being able to correctly handle the gospel we have to…
III. Keep our Christian wits about us! (v. 5)
1. Drinking from the wrong fountain can muddle your mind! Here’s what I mean: Jesus claimed that He was the only “living water” that a person should drink from. In fact, if one drank from His fountain, you would never need thirst again spiritually. (John 4:10-14) “Keep your head,” literally means to remain sober. Paul was telling Timothy to remain sober about the gospel. Christians are not to drink from other spiritual truths and thereby muddle their minds as to the only spiritual truth, Jesus Christ! (John 14:6) Paul said that Timothy was to keep his head “in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” The same is true for all believers. Whether at work, home, school, or anywhere the believer finds themselves, they are to remain sober about the gospel. In life we all face “hardship” because the world is full of sin, but Christians are to endure knowing that what we believe in is far more important than what this life can toss our way. So much so that all believers should “do the work of an evangelist” and “discharge all the duties of [our] ministry” by telling the gospel to all we meet! Paul told Titus, “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” (Titus 2:7-8) How many Christians regularly can say they have carried out all the duties of being a witness and ministering to others in Christ? In a world that runs after any perceived truth, believers are to correctly handle the gospel by keeping their wits about them!
EXAMPLE: Whether it is confronting ungodliness like Bill Maher’s “Religulous” or realizing false doctrine contained in fictional novels like “The Shack,” Christians are called to handle the gospel correctly. It can be tough not to lose one’s way in a world that psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually pounds at us day after day. Yet, times have not changed much from Paul and Timothy’s day. They lived in a flagrantly paganistic society that did not care at all about Jesus Christ. Truthfully, no one cared because no one had ever heard of Jesus! We forget that there were probably fewer than a few thousand Christians in the known world at the time of Paul writing Timothy. Think about that for a moment and let it sink in. Today we have churches on almost every corner, hundreds of Christian TV programs, movies, and even theme parks! We have churches that vie for everyone’s attention, more for getting folks through the door rather than for reaching people for eternity. You would think in a world where society has been drastically affected by the gospel and that there would be a greater outpouring of the gospel message by its adherents, but there is not. In fact, with all the Christian influence there is, there are fewer folks witnessing and reaching the lost for Christ. Society is growing spiritually darker. In times like these, Paul would say, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:5) Being able to correctly handle the gospel means keeping your Christian wits about you.
Conclusion:
We have leaned three important lessons in being able to correctly handle the gospel: 1) Preach the Word, 2) Understand the ungodly times we live in, and 3) keep you Christian wits about you!
There is a commercial that asks, “What’s in your wallet?” Well, today, I am asking, “Who’s in your wallet?” Today I am issuing a challenge for each of us. List three names on a card that you will pray for regularly to receive Christ. Pray that God will present an opportunity for you to present the gospel to them and that they would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Who will you list and who will you pray for regularly? But more than that, will you witness to them about Jesus? Share the gospel with those you are praying for.
----
This article is copyrighted © 2008 by Lee Hemen and if you desire to use it, print it, or copy it you must do so in its entirety.
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