Yearly Archives: 2017
God Is Watching – 1 Timothy 6:13-16
Summary:
The “charge” Paul is telling Timothy to keep is to “fight the good fight of the faith” (v.12). He reminded Timothy he professed he’d keep it “before many witnesses,” and now he reminds him God is watching to see if he’ll keep it too.
Knowing Timothy probably feared he might be killed for keeping Paul’s commandment, Paul reminds him that God “quickeneth all things.” But “all things” would include the living as well, who need quickening if they live in sin (Rom.8:11,13). Sin mortifies spiritual life to where it needs to wake up and rise from the “dead” (Eph.5:14), but fear can do the same thing (Ps. 119:25). The psalmist knew that quickening in such cases is done with the Word (cf.John6: 63). This quickening by the Word helped the psalmist keep God’s commandment (119:88), and being quickened by the Word could help Timothy keep His commandment as well.
Paul also reminded Timothy that the Lord Jesus Christ was watching him, the Lord who confessed a good confession before Pilate. The first thing the Lord confessed before Pilate was that He was Israel’s king (Mt.27:11). Paul cites this to remind Timothy that He was his king as well, and that he should keep His King’s commandment. The Lord said this to Pilate, who served the Roman emperor, and the emperors were known to kill rival kings (Mt.2:16). So Timothy could also learn from the Lord’s example to tell the truth even if it cost him his life. The Lord also confessed that His kingdom was not “now” of this world, so His servants wouldn’t fight to protect Him (Jo.18:35,36), teaching Timothy to similarly fight to keep the truth alive, not to fight to keep himself alive. The Lord also confessed He had been born to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37), reminding Timothy that he had been born again to bear witness to the truth. That was the Lord’s purpose in life. He fulfilled it, and now He’s watching to see if we’ll fulfill it.
Paul tells Timothy to keep the commandment “without spot,” i.e., flawlessly (Num.28:3 cf. I Pe.1:19). We can’t, every once in a while we’re going to drop the ball, but that should be our goal. You see, while not all spots are leprosy, all leprosy starts out as a spot (Lev.13:1,8). And not everyone who drops the ball about keeping the commandment to fight the good fight of the faith ends up in apostasy, but every apostate started down the road of apostasy by dropping the ball once. You might compare it to how Paul said to “pray without ceasing” (I Thes. 5:17) but the Lord ceased praying (Luke 11:1). It means never quit coming to God in prayer. And similarly, keeping Paul’s commandment without spot means to never stop fighting the good fight of the faith. If you drop the ball, pick it up and keep on running! That’s what it means to keep it “unrebukeable.” You don’t rebuke a man for dropping the ball once, but you rebuke him for quitting.
At the second coming, Christ will show He’s the only “Potentate,” meaning He’s more potent than the kings who will oppose Him in that day (Dan.2:44). The Greek word is dynastes, and dynasties are a succession of kings. The king of Babylon left his kingdom to the Medes when he died, who left theirs to the Greeks, who left theirs to the Romans, but Christ won’t leave His to others because He “only hath immortality” (v.16). Every other man on earth is capable of dying, but not the Lord (Rom. 6:9). But at the Rapture, He plans to give us immortality (ICor. 15:53).
The Christ “whom no man hath seen” is the Christ of judgment. John saw Him in a vision as one shining as the sun in his strength (Rev.1:12-17). Doesn’t that sound like One who dwells in the light that “no man can approach unto”? Can you approach the sun? Many people saw the Lord in humility, but no one has seen Him in judgment-yet!
Does “whom no man can see” mean no one will see the Lord when He comes in judgment? Only in the Exodus 33:20 sense; that is, no one can see Him in judgment and live. Remember, it says of Antichrist, “whom the Lord…shall destroy with the brightness of His coming” (ITh.2:8). Antichrist and all the people allied with him will try to approach the One who dwells in the light whom no man can approach unto, and it won’t end well for them. In the meantime, Christ is worthy to receive honor and power everlastingly (v.16) because He was slain for us (Rev.5:12).
A Pauline Doxology!
A doxology is an expression of praise to God that is sometimes sung as a short hymn. Perhaps the most famous doxology is the Latin hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo, which is Latin for “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14). When I was a boy, I sang this doxology as part of a Christmas music program at my public school. To help us remember how to pronounce the title, my music teacher said, “If someone were throwing egg shells at you, you would naturally cry out, ‘Egg Shells Cease!’” Now that’s the sign of a good teacher. She helped me remember how to pronounce a Latin phrase fifty years later!
After confessing to being the chief of sinners (I Tim. 1:15) and discussing the “mercy” and “longsuffering” that the Lord exhibited in saving him (v. 16), the Apostle Paul naturally broke out in a doxology all his own!
“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (I Timothy 1:17).
In the context, “the King” here must be the “Him” of the previous verse, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is described as “eternal” (cf. Micah 5:2) and “immortal,” a word which means to be incapable of dying. Of course! “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more!” (Rom. 6:9). The Lord wasn’t “invisible” when He was here on earth, but now in Heaven He is invisible in the same sense as God the Father, who said, “there shall no man see Me, and live” (Ex. 33:20). But that doesn’t mean our blessed Savior will be invisible to us when we get to Heaven, for in that day we will have “put on immortality” (I Cor. 15:53,54), and you will be able to gaze into the Savior’s face to your heart’s content. He is also “only wise” (cf. Jude 1:25), but not in the sense that the Father is not also “only wise” (Rom. 16:27), but only in the sense that He is the only wise God among the other “gods” mentioned in Scripture (I Cor. 8:5).
When Paul draws this doxology to a close by insisting that to Him “be honour and glory for ever and ever,” this brings us full circle back to the reason the apostle began praising God in the first place, for “worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive… honour, and glory” (Rev. 5:12). All of the Lord’s other attributes are wonderful, but this is the crown jewel of this and every other doxology.
If you are looking forward to joining the choir who are singing that doxology, don’t overlook that they are singing it to “a Lamb as it had been slain” (v. 6). This indicates that the Lord still bears the open wounds He invited Thomas to touch (John 20:27), wounds He will bear for all eternity so we never forget the price He paid for our redemption. It is wonderful to sing of gazing into the face of the Lord, but it takes our breath away to remember that His face will still be “marred more than any man” (Isa. 52:14). As Isaac Watts wrote, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
How Long is Long?
Speaking of his salvation, the Apostle Paul said,
“Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” (I Timothy 1:16).
But if the word “longsuffering” means to suffer long with someone, how can Paul say that Christ showed forth “all longsuffering” to him? As Saul of Tarsus, he didn’t join the rebellion against God until Acts 7:58, less than a year before he was saved. God certainly hadn’t suffered with Paul for very long!
But in saving Saul, the Lord didn’t just show longsuffering to him alone, He showed it to all mankind. In the past, “the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah” (I Peter 3:20), but it only waited 120 years (Gen. 6:3). After God judged mankind with the flood, He started all over again with Noah, the father of all nations (Gen. 10:1-32). God endured those nations for 200 years, showing more longsuffering. But when they built a tower in rebellion against Him, He saved Abraham, and made his seed His favored nation, putting up with them for 1500 years. Even more longsuffering!
After God sent His only begotten Son to His favored nation and they crucified Him and stoned His prophet, you would think that God’s longsuffering would have been exhausted. You would think God would have given up on mankind and judged us with the worst judgment the world had ever seen, the Great Tribulation (Mt. 24:21). Instead He saved Saul of Tarsus, the leader of the world’s rebellion against God, to show forth all longsuffering. Paul’s salvation was the culmination of all the longsuffering God had shown in all human history. It was one small step of longsuffering for a man, one giant leap of longsuffering for mankind.
But God did not show forth this longsuffering merely as the culmination of all His longsuffering in the past. He also showed it forth “for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” in the future, and the longsuffering the Lord showed Paul is the same longsuffering He has shown to mankind ever since.
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that…” (Titus 3:3,4).
After that, what? After that you’d think the wrath of God would fall on us, just as you would have thought it would have fallen on the world when they stoned Stephen. Instead we read, “after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared” (v. 4)—and it’s still appearing some 2,000 years later! Now that’s “all long-suffering!”
Have you believed on Him to life everlasting? The Lord Jesus died to pay for your sins and rose again (I Corinthians 15:3,4), and all He asks is that you believe He died to pay for your sins. Why not “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” right now “and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Romans 13 and 14
The Art of Christian Self Defense – 1 Timothy 6:11-12
Summary:
The “things” Paul tells Timothy to “flee” (v.11) are the things he just mentioned, the desire to be rich and the love of money (v.9,10). Timothy was a “man of God” like Moses (Deut.33:1) but even men of God weren’t perfect (IKi.13:26) and had to be told what to do, as here.
To “flee” means to run from danger, so these things must be as dangerous as fornication, which Paul also says to flee (ICor.6:18). No one thinks a rabbit is a coward for running from a wolf, since he is not equipped to deal with it, and no one should think Joseph a coward for running from fornication (Gen.39:7-12). Idolatry, which is covetousness (Col.3:5) must be just as dangerous if we are told to flee it (ICor.10:14). We aren’t equipped to deal with these things and must flee them.
Since Paul says to flee the profit of money and follow these other things instead, in that context he is saying to flee the profit of money and follow things that will profit you eternally. So lets focus on the profit of these things.
“Righteousness” is doing right, like helping the poor (IICor. 9:9). That kind of righteousness endures forever, unlike the profit of riches (ITim.6:7). “Godliness” is also something you can take with you (ITim.4:8). Since Timothy already had saving “faith,” the word faith here must refer to the profit of faithfulness (Pr.28:20). “Abound” is the verb form of “abundance,” a word used mostly in Scripture to describe Solomon’s abundance. But not even Solomon could take his riches with him—but a faithful man could, and still can.
Paul also says to flee the profit of money and follow “love,” another thing that profits eternally (Col.2:2). There is also eternal profit in “patience” (Ps.37:7) if you wait for the Lord. “Meekness” means not easily provoked and there was profit for it under the kingdom program (Mt. 5:5), for if you gained the world you gained everything in it. And there must be eternal profit in it for us as well if Paul tells us to follow it.
Now that you know what to flee and follow, you’re ready to fight (ITim.6:12) against those who teach error. If you’ll do these things, you’ll “lay hold on eternal life.” Some teach that this means the way to be saved is to flee bad things, follow good things and fight the fight of faith, and can quote Isaiah 56:1,2 to prove it. But while it is good to define Scripture by comparing Scripture, you have to be careful when comparing prophetic Scripture with mystery Scripture. So what does it mean to lay hold on eternal life?
First, you need to know it is possible to lay hold on some-thing you already own (Mt.12:11). A sheep in a pit is still yours, but it can’t benefit you until you lay hold on it. When you fall in the pit of sin, salvation is still yours, but you can’t benefit from it until you lay hold on it by fleeing bad things, following good things and fighting the fight of the faith. But if you do, you’ll “live” (Ro.8:13), really live, live it up, spiritually speaking. Why wait until the next life to enjoy your eternal life when you can lay hold on it now? If you live in sin you’ll continue to live in eternal life, but you’ll just be eeking out a living, and God wants so much more for you.He doesn’t want you to just survive the Christian life, he wants you to thrive and live it to the fullest.
Did you notice that this is what you are called to? (ITim. 6:12). God didn’t call you to desire to be rich and love money, you were doing that just fine before He saved you!
If you’re not fleeing, following and fighting, don’t be wondering why all things don’t work together for good (Rom.8:28), for God’s purpose for you is to flee, follow and fight, and He called you according to that purpose.
If you need help in doing these things, notice Paul reminded Timothy he had professed a good profession before many witnesses at his ordination (6:12). He reminds him of this because he knows Timothy will feel spiritual pressure to live up to the profession he made at that time that he would flee, follow and fight. You may not be ordained, but if you start telling people you’re saved, you too will feel the pressure of living up to your profession. This is the reason many Christians remain silent about being saved, they don’t want that pressure.
Who’d Christ Come to Save?
Years ago, a brokerage firm known as E. F. Hutton aired a TV commercial that featured two people talking about financial investing in the midst of a crowded room. When one said to the other, “Well, my broker is E. F. Hutton, and E. F. Hutton says…,” all the people around them hushed their conversations, and leaned toward them so as not to miss out on E. F. Hutton’s advice. I thought of this recently when I read I Timothy 1:15:
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…”
Imagine you’re not saved, and you’re hearing that verse read in church. If the pastor paused at the word “save” to turn the page, I daresay you’d lean forward in your seat in eagerness so as not to miss out on hearing who Christ had come to save. How thankful you would be when you heard He came to save sinners, for if you are honest you have to admit that you are among the “all” who “have sinned” (Rom. 3:23).
But the news would not have been as good for you had you been a Gentile reading the Bible before the inclusion of Paul’s epistles. When the angel told Joseph that his wife Mary would bear a son, he added, “He shall save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21), and the Lord’s people were Jews. Aren’t you glad the Apostle Paul later made it clear that Christ came to save sinners, whether they be Jew or Gentile?
When Paul says that this saying is “worthy of all acceptation,” he means there is no part of it that is not worthy for you to believe and accept. That’s not true of all old sayings! They say there is nothing certain in this world except death and taxes, but that saying is not worthy of all of your acceptation if you are saved. There will always be taxes, but your death is anything but sure since the Rapture might come in your lifetime! We Christians aren’t looking for the undertaker, we’re looking for the Uppertaker (Tit. 2:13).
But if you’re not saved, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” is a saying that is worthy of all your acceptation! Christ did come into the world, and He came to save sinners like you. If the greatest need of men were education, God would have sent us a teacher. If our greatest need were money, He would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need were philosophy, He would have sent us a philosopher. But our greatest need was salvation, so He sent us a Savior who died for our sins and rose again (I Cor. 15:3,4). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Is Christ Your King?
Most Christians would answer this question with a resounding yes, but most grace believers would respond with an emphatic no. They know that the people of Israel lived in a kingdom (I Sam. 24:20), and they know that the Lord was born “King of the Jews” (Mt. 2:2) and will one day rule over them in the kingdom of heaven on earth. They rightly reason that a kingdom is ruled by a king, but that believers today are members of “the Body of Christ” (I Cor. 12:27), and a body is ruled by a head. Since Christ is our Head (Eph. 4:15), it is easy to see why some say He is not our King.
But the same apostle who tells us we are members of Christ’s Body also tells us that “the Father…hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:12,13). Paul is speaking here of God’s overall kingdom of the saved of all ages, but any kingdom, by definition, is governed by a king.
There are, of course, some dispensational differences. A kingdom has to be governed by law, so God gave Israel a law, a law that said that if your neighbor is hungry you should feed him (Deut. 15:8). But bodies aren’t governed by a law, they are governed by love. When your stomach is hungry, your head doesn’t need a law to tell you to feed it. You feed it because “no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it” (Eph. 5:29). In a kingdom, you have to have laws that say things like “thou shalt not kill,” and “thou shalt not steal,” so God gave the kingdom of Israel a law that said things like that. But our apostle says that laws like “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal” are “briefly comprehended in this… Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself…” (Rom. 13:9,10). So after telling the Galatians that we are not under the law but under grace, Paul told them, “by love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). Under grace, we don’t kill or steal from one another because we love one another! But what would happen in the kingdom of Chicago if the mayor announced that he was suspending all laws, and from now on everyone should just love one another? It wouldn’t take long for people to realize that love works well when it comes to governing a body, but a kingdom needs laws!
But despite these dispensational differences, Christ is still the king of the overall kingdom of which we are a part. Someday He will “sit upon the throne of His glory” in the kingdom of heaven on earth (Mt. 25:31). In the meantime, does He sit on the throne of your heart? Why not choose to give “the King” the “honour and glory” He deserves (I Tim. 1:17) by choosing to obey Him.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
God’s Peculiar People Zealous of Good Works
Supposing That Gain Is Godliness – 1 Timothy 6:5-10
Summary:
It was the Jews who supposed “that gain is godliness” (6:5) since under the Law God blessed them with gain if they were godly (Deut.28:1-11). But while that was once the truth of God, men who taught that to Gentiles were “destitute of the truth.” Paul calls that thinking “perverse disputings” because the law was now a perversion of the truth. The legalizers in Galatia perverted the gospel (Gal.1:7).
It was no longer true that gain was godliness, but it was now true that godliness is gain (v.6). It gains the profit of a rich and satisfying life in this life and rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (ITim.4:8).
“Contentment” (v.6) means not wanting more (Lu.3:14). Being content with your wages makes it easier to obey Hebrews 13:5a. If you’re not content with what you have, you won’t find life satisfying because you’ll always want more, and that will affect your rewards in the next life. But if you’re not content, you can learn to be (Phil.3:11). Paul learned by being “instructed” (v.12) that if Christ couldn’t leave him he should be content (cf. Heb.13:5b). You can lose riches (Pr.23:5), so you shouldn’t be content in them.
If you’re thinking it was easy for a great apostle to learn to be content, remember he was profiting financially above many in his day (Gal.1:13,14) but walked away from it. If he could learn contentment, you can. We’re entering into the biggest merchandising season of the year, but the merchandise of wisdom is better than that of silver (Pr.3: 15). The sales of “durable goods” goes up and down, but “durable riches and righteousness” is something of “sub-stance” (Pr.8:12-21). Silver and gold are good sources of gain, but if you want to talk about “great gain” (6:6) you have to stop talking money and start talking godliness.
It’s still true that you can’t take it with you (6:7 cf. Ps.49:16,17). This is “a sore evil” to the unsaved (Eccl.5:15,16), for it means they have “labored for the wind.” You feel the wind a few seconds and it is gone. That’s what life is compared to eternity. So you have to ask yourself, when you die, will you be leaving your treasures or going to them (Mt. 6:20). Of course, if you had riches and lost them, bless the Lord like Job (Job 1:20,21).
You should be content with food and clothing (6:8) because they aren’t guaranteed in the dispensation of grace. Jacob could bank on it after he pitched a deal with God (Gen.28: 20,21) and God honored it (48:15), but He won’t honor it today. After what God did for you at Calvary, you it be easy to be content with no more than food and clothing. By the way, God made the same agreement with Israel (Deut.8:3,4), but your clothes wear out and you have to buy food, so you should be content if you have them. Also by the way, housing isn’t part of contentment. Abraham lived in tents (Heb.11:8) and some lived in caves (Heb.11:38).
There’s nothing wrong with being rich, but those who “desire” to be rich fall into temptation (6:9), the temptation to steal (Pr.28:20). And they fall into “a snare,” something that looks like it will be for your “welfare” (Ps.69:22), but ends up being against your welfare. Like riches. This desire can “drown” men (6:9). People say, “But I only want to be a little rich,” but you can drown in a bathtub as well as in an ocean. Judas drowned in 30 pieces of silver.
The Bible doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil, as the world criticizes it for saying, it says the love of money is the root of all evil (6:10). The world then says the love of money isn’t the root of rape, etc., but when Lucifer wanted to be like the most High (Is.14:14) it meant he wanted to possess heaven and earth (Gen.14:19,22) and all therein (Deut.10:14) including all the money, lands and possessions. And his love of money was the root of all evil.
And it still is. Paul says some coveted after it in the minis-try and “erred from the faith.” Men who corrupt God’s Word for gain, as Satan did in Eden to gain the world, teach all kinds of evil things that lead to all kinds of evil.
The unseen rulers who pierced the Lord thought they were gaining the world, but “pierced themselves through with many sorrows” instead (6:10), as do all false teachers since.
