Okay, so I want you to grab a Bible again, and we're going to pray in groups at the end,
because then I think we can pick up some things to be praying for our church, as well as praying
for one another. And we're going to be thinking this evening about being a church that is centered
on the gospel. And so I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy. We're going to start
in 1 Timothy this evening. I'm going to give you a page number when I get there.
1 Timothy is page 1191. 1191. Not quite as pleasing as 345, but 1191. Let me pray for us as we come and
look at God's word. Lord God, we want to ask now for your help. We recognize that we're tired, probably,
from the things that are going on today. We've got other things on our mind, perhaps, but we want to
quieten our hearts before you to listen carefully to what you say in your word. And we want to ask
that you might help us. And that as we ask you to help us, we pray that might be a blessing to our
church, as we think about what it means to be centered on the gospel. In Jesus name. Amen.
So you might remember, because David left off last week, saying what our values are as a church,
values that we haven't dreamt up and made up ourselves, but things which we have seen in
God's word together. And we are thinking about over these Sunday evenings. So you get a point for each
one that you can remember. Okay. Yes. Center in the gospel. Yeah. That's cheating because it was a,
yes, you're gospel-ly centered, because we had LYs at the end of them, didn't we? Okay. So that's one.
Sorry. Prayerfully dependent. Yes. We're dependent on the Lord for everything.
Yeah. Locally rooted. So we're in this community reaching these people at this time with the gospel.
This is where we are. Yeah. You know, you've got to go early because it gets harder and harder as it
goes on. Yeah. There are seven, right? Six. Six. Lovingly diverse. This is great.
Yeah. Lovingly diverse. Yeah. So we are from a range of different backgrounds and places and ages.
And that is one of the ways we bring glory to God by our difference, yet united in Christ. Yeah.
Thank you. Yeah. We've done prayerfully dependent. Yeah. Yeah. Prayerfully dependent,
gospelly centered, locally rooted. Diversity. Yeah. We've done that one. Yeah.
Sorry.
Servantly led. Servantly led. Yes. So servantly led. So this idea that how the church is led matters,
that the leaders are serving you guys as we, it's all member ministry. It's not, it's not
ministry belonging to a few. It's ministry belonging to all of us.
Kingdom minded. Yeah. So we are, sorry, kingdomly, I can't bring myself to say that. Kingdomly minded,
right? So we are not just concerned about ourselves, but we're concerned about the kingdom of God. We're
concerned about training, sending workers. We're concerned to pray for other nations. We're concerned
about the work of the gospel, not just here, but down the road. Okay. So those are the things that we
are concerned about. And those are our values as a church. And we are working through them on Sunday
evenings. And so this evening we're doing gospel centered. And I want us just to spend a little bit of time in
1 Timothy and Titus. And what I want to do is just read a passage to you. And then I'm just going to work
through it really briefly, pointing out how the passage works. And then we're going to talk about the
implications of all this together. So pick it up in verse 3 of 1 Timothy chapter 1.
Paul writing to Timothy, he says this,
As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus, so that you may command certain people not to
teach false doctrines any longer, or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote
controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work, which is by faith. The goal of this command
is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith. Some have departed
from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know
what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it
properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous, but for lawbreakers and rebels,
the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers,
for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders,
liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel
concerning the glory of the blessed God which he entrusted to me. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who
has given me strength that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service, even though I was
once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance
and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love that
are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am the worst, but for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me,
the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who
would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Now just work through it with me and let me try
and point out how the passage works. Timothy, verse 3, is in Ephesus, right? So he has been commissioned
by Paul to stay behind in Ephesus to sort out what seems to be false teaching, that he may command
certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer, verse 3. It seems that there are people,
verse 4, who are in or around the church who are giving their time to all sorts of crazy different
things. Myths, endless genealogies, promoting controversial speculations rather than advancing
God's work which is by faith. So they're not promoting faith in verse 4, faith which would lead to love
in verse 5, but instead verse 6 is meaningless talk. Now this is I think where it gets even more
interesting. In verse 7 it turns out that these false teachers whom Timothy is to oppose are wannabe
teachers of the law, not as in the Jewish teachers of the law, but as in Bible preachers, preaching the
Old Testament which are the scriptures of the early church. But verse 7, despite the fact that they're
teaching the Bible, they're not teaching the truth. They want to be teachers of the law but they don't know
what they're talking about or what they say confidently affirm. They're ignorant and they're
teaching falsehoods. Now just pause here. We understand what's going on don't we, right? So
Timothy is sorting out false teachers in Ephesus, false teachers who turn out to be Bible teachers,
teaching what is not true. So it's important isn't it? And we know this, don't we? That
not everybody who opens a Bible is going to tell you the truth. The Jehovah's Witness who you meet
on your doorstep or at the street corner will tell you that they're going to explain the Bible to you
and they're not going to tell you the truth. The devil tempts Jesus by opening a Bible and quoting
the Bible at him. False teachers are mugging off the church in Ephesus with open Bibles. They sound
theological but they don't know what they're talking about. So the question then becomes how do you spot
that, right? How do you spot that kind of false teaching? How do you know whether the person who's
opening the Bible to you is telling you the truth or not? Well here comes verse 8. Look down at verse 8.
The law or the scriptures is good for you but only if you use it properly. Literally the word there is
lawfully. So the law is only useful if it's used lawfully. If the law, the scriptures are used
unlawfully, illegally, they are not good for you. So what does it mean to use the Bible in a lawful way?
Well verse 9, the lawful use of the scriptures is to apply it not as a means of righteousness for the smug
but as a means of grace for the lawbreaker and the rebel. In other words, you can tell if someone is
preaching the Bible lawfully or preaching the Bible Bible-ly because we like adding wise to the end of
everything because it's not good news for people who think they're already okay with God but it's
good news for people who know they're rebels against God. The people listed in verse 9 and 10.
So if your message is good news for people who are lawbreakers and rebels, ungodly and sinful,
unholy, irreligious, murderers of their mothers and fathers, sexually immoral, practicing homosexuality,
slave traders even, liars and perjurers, if it's good news for them then you know that you're preaching
the gospel, you're using the Bible lawfully. Paul then goes on to give an example. What does this
look like when the Bible is used like that? And he gives himself as an example, doesn't he, in verses 11
to 16. Saying that I am this great example of someone who was persecuting the church, someone who
was evil and wicked and yet who was saved and transformed by the gospel. And in the center of
that kind of personal testimony he comes up with verse 15, a trustworthy saying. Seems as if the early
church had a number of trustworthy sayings which were summaries of the gospel that they used in church
life. And this is the trustworthy saying. It's on the wall behind me. Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners. And Paul adds, of whom I am the worst.
So that's Paul in 1 Timothy telling Timothy to put right the false teachers by making sure that the people who
open the Bible are teaching it lawfully by being centered on this gospel message about Christ coming to save
sinners, sinners, even people like Paul. We're going to come and apply it in a moment. Any questions from
1 Timothy 1? Are you all with me? Yeah? Okay. I got a couple of nods from young people so I'm going to take
those. Right. Okay. Titus chapter 3. Turn over a couple of pages to Titus.
So Titus chapter 3 and verse 1. Okay. So similar situation, not Ephesus but Crete this time. And
Titus has been left behind there to put in order. So if you look at chapter 1 verse 5, to put in order
what was left unfinished. I think it's literally out of order. So he's like he's putting straight
things that are not yet quite finished. And it seems to be the thing that's not finished quite yet in Crete
is the need for elders. Elders in the churches in order to lead. So elders in every town.
Interesting, not an elder in each town, but elders in every town. Now listen to how he then expands on this in
chapter 3 verses 1 to 11. Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient,
to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be
gentle towards everyone. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all
kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous
things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal
by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things so that those who have trusted
in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable
for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law,
because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second
time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful,
and they are self-condemned. Now notice that there is another gospel summary at the same sort of sense
as in 1 Timothy. Here he says this is a trustworthy saying, I think pointing backwards to the trustworthy
saying, which comes about the kindness and love of God our Savior appearing, verse 4, saving us not by
the good things that we do, but by his mercy. Mercy seen in this washing of rebirth, so being born again
by the Spirit of God, verse 5, the Spirit whom he pours out generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Having been justified, declared not guilty by his grace, we become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
That's a trustworthy saying, says Paul. And so having shown that trustworthy saying, he then says in verse 8,
that ministry looks like emphasizing these things, stressing these things. This gospel message, this trustworthy
saying is what you need to stress, verse 8. So it's not just that you need to touch upon this, or it's not just that you
you at least need to cover this in your teaching program in the church, Titus, is that the emphasis
of church ministry is this trustworthy saying, this message of the gospel. This is presumably then is what
the elders in every town are to be emphasizing to their churches, because this is what ministry looks like.
Why should that gospel message be the emphasis of the ministry in the church? Well, because this will do
people good, right? It will mean that they be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good, excellent,
and profitable. It mean that they will avoid these, again, controversies about genealogies, which are
unprofitable and useless, and it will help them build unity, because they will be building on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and not on these divisions. It's interesting, isn't it? If you look back at chapter 2, verse 11,
we're told that the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say
no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this
present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a people that
are his very own eager to do what is good. What trains us in those verses for living a Christian life?
What people need is not seminars on each individual area, an ethical question that they're facing.
Those might be helpful, but actually it is the teaching of the gospel which trains people to
live a Christian life. The gospel, teaching the gospel, which is, again, summarized, isn't it?
The one who gave himself to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a people
that are his own. That trains people. Knowing that gospel trains people to say no to ungodliness,
and to live upright, self-controlled lives in the present age. So ministry, says Paul to Titus,
is the emphasis of the gospel. Just like in 1 Timothy, ministry is emphasizing the gospel. The
lawful use of the law is bringing out the gospel from it. Okay, so that's a summary of those passages.
Any questions about what those passages mean, or are you all with me?
Good. Yeah? Okay, great. No questions. That's amazing. I can only assume that you're all much
sharper than I am. Right. What I wanted to do then is just put it together for a moment.
Paul seems to be saying something like this, and I think I've put this on the next slide,
so hopefully it'll come up. I'm trying to summarize what gospel-centeredness means.
There is a message of good news for sinners, a message of mercy, new birth, justification,
and eternal hope. Trying to pull out these things in Titus. A message not centered on our works,
but on Christ's works. And that message is the emphasis of the scriptures, 1 Timothy,
and therefore the emphasis of ministry in the church. I think that's what we're trying to say.
Yeah? So it's not trying to say...
Let me... Am I going to go there, or are we going to talk about that in a minute? No. Well, yeah,
let me say this. We're not trying to say, let's kind of boil down what everybody agrees on. Right?
You know this idea of lowest common denominator unity? So the idea that, okay, let's write a list
of everything we believe and cross out all the things that we disagree on, and then whatever we're left
with, that will be what we build our unity on. It's not that, is it? These are the high truths of the
Christian gospel. These are the central truths of the scriptures from beginning to end. And these are
so great, and so majestic, and so glorious, and taught from the beginning to the end of the Bible,
that the point of ministry and church life is that we emphasize these together, and that draws us to
one another. So I want you to write out, or think out, together in groups twos, threes, fours,
something like that. What are the implications of that, then, for us as a church together? What does it
mean for us to live this out in our church life? So what will that mean? Maybe you want to pick a
particular area of church life, so you want to, maybe you're in on the Sunday school rota, or you're
on the welcome rota, or you're doing groups during the week, or your youth group, or whatever. What
would it look like to have the emphasis of the ministry of the church based on this message of the
gospel? Okay, have a think about that. In some ways, there are no wrong answers, and we're going to
discuss them together as we come back. So speak to the person next to you, and have a think on that.
Okay, sorry to interrupt your conversations, but let's feedback. So if this is the message at the
center of church life, then what's that going to mean for different areas of church activity?
Does anyone want to help us out with what you were talking about in your group?
No? Okay.
My wife told me that I'm not a lot of the state, she said, so I'm a fan of that.
Okay. You did that beautifully, Clifford, yes.
She said, I'm not a lot of the cause on you, so she said the messenger who's standing in the
public was the moment message, but I'm getting the message to us.
Yes, absolutely. Yeah, it's really, really important that the person who is preaching
knows this message and speaks it clearly. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
I think you can say, can't you, that until the person preaching has preached the gospel,
they haven't really understood the passage. If this is, if we're not,
this idea of being gospel-centered is basically the same as being Bible-centered, isn't it? But we,
it's not quite enough to say we're Bible-centered, because lots of people say they're Bible-centered,
don't they? We want to be gospel-centered, because we believe the Bible says the gospel, right? So,
and until the person preaching has shown you how the message of the passage that they are teaching
shows us and teaches us the glory of Christ in the gospel, they've not yet preached, right?
Yeah? Great. Hilda, that was really helpful. Thank you.
Anything else?
I think what you're saying here as well, I must think about this idea of realizing how simple we are,
practicing and all of that, it's an element on repentance and all of this.
Yes.
I think there's a risk for us staying there, this realization, and always like right now,
how simple we are, just realizing. It's a thing that we love to put out there sometimes
to show how humble we are and so on. I think the idea of who we use, who we use mercy for life,
there is this thing about joy. I think joy needs to get on at the beginning.
There's something about it.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's so helpful.
The gospel is not about how bad we are. The gospel is about how loved we are in Christ,
even though we're bad. Yeah. And again, so it's fair to say too, isn't it, that if you come to a
gathering of the church and you're just made to feel bad, I mean, actually Christians quite like that
because it kind of, you know, we sort of like that kind of thing, don't we? Or certain Christians do.
We've not really understood the gospel either, have we? We need to go, like, as wicked as I am,
I am loved. That's the amazement of Paul in 1 Timothy, isn't it? I was the chief of sinners,
and he loved me? And so the kind of wonder of that in the gospel. Yeah, that's really helpful.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yes. Yes. So Romans 15 verse 7. I don't like the NIV translation of this particularly, but
it's because I think literally the way there is welcome. So Romans 15 verse 7, welcome one another
then, just as Christ welcomed you in order to bring praise to God. Yeah, there should be a friendliness
to our church life, to our church welcome. Christ welcomed us into his family, undeserving sinners.
He loved us and now calls us brothers and sisters, and that should be the welcome that we extend
to others. Yeah. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Yeah. Great. Anything else?
Yeah.
I'm going to say something.
Thank you.
Yes, I'm in Paris.
Yes. Yes. So there's an unchangingness, isn't there, to this. Lots of things about our church
might change. Lots of things about our church have changed over the last few weeks, haven't
they? But this will not change because this is an unchanging message at the center of the
scriptures. Yeah, that's really helpful. Thank you.
Yeah.
Anybody else?
Anderson, what were Ray and Jeff saying at the back? Anything interesting?
Don't worry. We don't want to back them out on anything. Yeah.
Anything from you guys?
Okay, what do you do?
Who do you do what you do what you do what you do what you do what you do what you do what
Okay, go on.
what do you do what do you do what do you do what do you do what do you do what do you
Yes.
who may at times doubt their mercy,
doubt their salvation,
and is coming back and saying,
yes, we are sinful,
and yes, we do fall down.
But can you look at the mercy of Jesus
and look at his love
and look at what he did?
That is our justification on the cross.
And look towards heaven because it's coming.
So it's not just preaching the sinners outside,
but preaching the sinners all about sin.
Yes, great, great.
Yeah, thanks, Liz.
It means that we've always got something to say
that's true and helpful,
whether you're not yet a Christian
or whether you've been a Christian for years,
because this message is what helps us
in whatever situation we're facing.
So you might think,
oh, they're a church member.
I know they're going through a difficult situation.
I don't really know much about it.
How can I pray for them?
You can pray a gospel-shaped prayer for them,
and it will be a real blessing and a real help
because this is always good news, isn't it?
I think also that implies, isn't it,
that the gospel is...
So although you can summarize the gospel
in a simple way,
the message of the gospel
is incredibly broad in all its implications.
So the message of the gospel
is not just for us to talk about
as we gather as a church.
It's for you on Monday morning at work, right?
It changes the way you do that.
It affects how you relate as a family.
It affects how you think about your life choices
and what you want to do.
So the gospel is incredibly broad
in all of its implications,
and we need to be thinking about that as a church
and working that out together.
It's brilliantly liberating
for the ministry of the church
that we equip one another for the Christian life
by teaching the gospel
because there are so many different situations
faced in a really diverse church, aren't there,
that we just can't...
We simply can't address them all.
But we will equip you for the Christian life
by teaching the gospel
because of the breadth of the gospel.
Yeah.
Yes, yes.
Yeah, there's one God and one gospel.
Yeah, yeah.
The other thing that I wanted to say,
and I'll finish with this
and then we're going to pray in groups.
I think the implication of this is
that churches should provide room
for disagreement on secondary issues as well.
If we think that at the center of the scriptures
is the message of the gospel,
which is summarized in these trustworthy sayings
and is the teaching from the beginning
to the end of the scriptures,
there will be things
that are not as important as this, right?
If the scriptures are sufficient
to teach us the gospel,
that means that what these scriptures emphasize
is also what we emphasize
and what these scriptures
don't spend very much time on,
we also don't want to spend all of our time on.
So if something is really important to you personally
as a Christian
and either you can't find it in the Bible
or it's not there very much,
you've probably got that thing out of proportion, right?
Because actually the emphasis of the scriptures
is part of the inspiration of the scriptures.
And so we should allow ourselves room for disagreement
on things that the Bible doesn't emphasize.
I think, I think I, in a way,
the sort of primary and secondary issue thing
is maybe not as helpful
as the emphasis, de-emphasize thing.
So the things that are really emphasized in the Bible,
we should really emphasize
and the things that are not so emphasized,
we should not, let's emphasize
and say that we provide breadth
for one another in that way.
Great.
Heavenly Father, we want to pray
and ask that you might help us as a church
to keep this great news of the gospel
right at the center of our church life.
We thank you this is not something
that we've made up or dreamt up ourselves,
but this is the consistent teaching
and message of your word.
Thank you that we've not learned it
by working it out,
but you have opened our eyes
to its truth by your spirit.
Thank you that this message of the gospel
is good news for everyone who will listen.
Thank you that it continues to be good news
for people like us
who have come to trust in you
yet still struggle in so many different ways.
Lord, we pray that you would help us
to be increasingly shaped
by this good news of grace
in every area of our lives.
We want to pray that it would seep out of us
in conversations with one another.
We want to pray that it would shape the way
that we welcome one another at church.
We want to pray that it would shape the way
that we pray for each other.
So Lord, we pray for those in our church family
in particular need.
We thank you that no matter how old we are
or however far through the journey of this life
we are, that we can say through the gospel
that our best years are still ahead of us
because we still await this great glory.
So Lord, we pray and ask for your blessing
and your help in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thanks, everybody.
Amen.