St. Aidan’s Sermons – Winnipeg, Manitoba – The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, October 23, 2011
19th Sunday after Pentecost; 8:30 Holy Communion; 10:00 a.m. Baptism & Holy Communion,
Christian Leadership #4:
“A Christian Leader…Steers a Straight Course”
2 Timothy 2:14-3:9
Opening Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you came to bring us grace and truth; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to know how to steer a straight course through all the obstacles to embracing that truth and embodying that grace, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Introduction
Last week, in our sermon series from Paul’s second letter to his young disciple Timothy, we saw that “A Christian Leader…Is Called to Hard Work.” This week we look at what that hard work involves – “A Christian Leader…Steers a Straight Course.” We will look first at what obstacles Timothy had to face as a pastor, then at the advice Paul gives on how to deal with the obstacles.
Now, you may wonder how relevant all this is to you if you are not a full-time pastor in charge of a congregation. Well, first, in light of my retirement in a few weeks, you are going to be looking for a new rector. You need to know what qualities you need in a new leader. And so, at the end of each section, I will note, as I have done in the previous sermons, some points to ponder in your search – these are not only for those with the direct responsibility of making the selection but to all members of the congregation because, as the letter shows us, you each have role in preparing for and receiving your leaders. Second, although this advice from Paul to Timothy is with reference to his being in charge of a congregation, all Christians have the task of steering a straight course through the obstacles we face day by day as we seek to live out the new life God has given us and make a difference for him.
The Obstacles to Be Faced
So what were the challenges facing Timothy which were endangering the life and health of the church through which he was to steer a straight course? Paul highlights three: an argumentative spirit, wrong teaching and unholy living.
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“Argumentative spirit”: Three times in this passage Paul refers to problems caused by what I would call an “argumentative spirit”: “quarrelling about words” (2 Timothy 2:14); “godless chatter” (verse 16); “foolish and stupid arguments” (verse 23). Now words are important, but playing with words, arguing for argument’s sake and unhealthy speculation have been the pitfall for many a Christian leader and enthusiastic believer. Because we take words seriously we can be mistaken that all discussion about words is useful. It is not. Many discussions are fuelled more by the need to be right than to uphold what is right.
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Wrong teaching: The second challenge facing Timothy is what arises from fruitless speculation: wrong teaching. Paul gives an example here. Referring to two church leaders, Hymenaeus and Philetus, he says, “They say that the resurrection has already taken place” (verse 18). In common with pagan thought of the day, these teachers in the church had difficultly with the Biblical stress on the goodness of the physical creation and the concept of our being resurrected with renewed but physical bodies. So they “adjusted” the message and taught that we have already been “spiritually” resurrected and that was all that mattered. This teaching led people to focus on a more personal and “spiritualized” faith that didn’t impact the world around them and a wrong view of their physical bodies. At first, this negativity towards the physical led to excesses in disciplining the body and then, when that proved too difficult, to excesses in wrong behaviour – after all, if the physical isn’t important, then it doesn’t matter what I do with my body!
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Unholy living: The fact that wrong teaching leads to wrong behaviour brings us to the third obstacle Timothy had to face – unholy living. This can be seen in personal conduct and abuse of others. In chapter 3, Paul says: “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4). This is not a pleasant list – and all these issues are still with us. We might think of gangs and inner-city crime but these attitudes and behaviours are just as common and even more so in the boardrooms of our world and the lives of the rich and famous and – if we are honest – we can see echoes of these traits in ourselves. What’s more, Paul goes on to say that this ungodliness leads to abuse of the vulnerable: “They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” (verses 6-7). Please don’t get distracted by this description as being anti-women – keep in mind the main bad characters in this letter so far have all been men and Paul is not saying all women are like this! The point is that wrong teaching fuels our sinful tendencies and leads us to take advantage of those who can be easily misled.
Now, you might say, “Yes, the world is in a terrible mess – that description is so accurate.” But Paul is not describing the world – he is describing the church! He describes these people as “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (verse 5). The false teachers are not outside the fellowship they are within it. The same is true today. We can immediately think of more liberal-minded folk and their propagation of ungodly lifestyles but those of us who are conservative need to watch our tendency to privatise our faith, focussing on a consumer-oriented religion (what we can get out of it) that does not impact our own materialism and the injustices in society. Paul’s warning is clear “Their teaching will spread like gangrene…they destroy the faith of some” (2Timothy:17). These are the obstacles to be faced.
Point to Ponder:
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Ensure your leader has his or her eyes open with respect to the obstacles to be faced in ministry – leaders need to have a realistic view of the insidious nature of wrong teaching and its results within the church
How to Face the Obstacles
Well, having listed the obstacles, we now look at to how to face them. We will begin by looking at teaching the truth and then the specifics of how to deal with, first, wrong beliefs and, then, wrong actions.
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Teaching the truth: The overall answer of how to face the obstacles is found in the core verse of today’s reading: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Tom Wright translates this as “Carve out a straight path for the word of truth.” Steering a straight course requires, above all, teaching the truth. Paul tells Timothy, “Keep reminding God’s people of these things” (2 Timothy 2:14). Timothy’s opponents are spoken of as “opposing the truth” (2 Timothy 3:8). This truth Timothy is to teach and remind people of comes from the Scriptures as we will see in more detail when we come to next week’s sermon.
Before we leave this section, though, we note that Paul refers to “rightly handling the word of truth” – there is a wrong way – it is possible to misuse Scripture to our own ends so be wary; just because someone uses the Bible (liberal or conservative) does not mean they are automatically teaching the truth. After all, the devil used scripture with Jesus in the temptations! Our teaching must be in accord with the whole of Scripture and the wider teaching of the church. Paul also speaks of “not being ashamed”; we spoke of shame in earlier sermons. Here we could see the shame that can come from accusations of “literalist,” “fundamentalist,” “being old fashioned,” etc. These are attempts to derail us by attacking who we are rather than what we teach. In order to respond to false teaching in the right way, which we shall look at in a moment, we need to first address the issue of dealing with shame.
How do we not take things personally and end up responding in inappropriate ways? We are to remember “God’s solid foundation” (verse 19) in our lives. We remember the truth about ourselves: Paul says, “The Lord knows those who are his” (verse 19) – we have been chosen by him, we are beloved of God. Then, Paul describes us as “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord…” (verse 19) – we have ratified God’s choice of us by our choice of him. Our security is to rest in our status as God’s children, whom he has died for and whom he has cleansed from sin. Knowing who we are in Christ is the foundation from where we can move on to dealing with wrong beliefs and wrong actions in the right way.
Points to Ponder:
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Look for a leader who “correctly handles the word of truth” – who is grounded in the Scriptures and orthodox belief and teaches the same.
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Look for a leader who is secure in who they are in Christ and so does not need to react defensively to those who disagree.
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Dealing with wrong beliefs: In dealing with wrong beliefs Paul has two pieces of advice: avoid quarrelling and practice kindness.
a. Avoid quarrelling: First, Paul is clear about not getting entangled in pointless arguments and wasting time in unhelpful discussion: “Warn them…against quarrelling about words” (verse 14); “Avoid godless chatter” (verse 16); “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments” (verse 23). In other words, when dealing with those opposing the truth, don’t stoop to their level! This is not to avoid theological discussion but to discern when to speak out and how to engage with untruth. Don’t automatically jump in – be discerning! Paul’s rule of thumb is “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome” (verse 24).
b. Practice kindness: This leads us to our attitudes towards and treatment of those who are in error. “And the Lord’s servant must…be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (verses 24-26). This is earth-shattering and if this advice had been followed in church disputes down through the centuries we would not have the divisions we have today with over 22,000 Christian denominations in the world! One of the best examples I know of how this was not done occurred to one of our former primates. He told me that the leader of one of the conservative bodies in the church used to send him letters that were so full of anger and hatred towards him that he eventually refused to open them and dropped them straight into the waste basket. I have seen so many people turned away from Biblical faith by the actions and attitudes of so-called conservative Christians. It is said that liberals don’t create liberals – evangelicals do! Paul’s advice is to teach the truth in such a way that people are not alienated by our actions and attitudes. Those of us who teach the truth must do so without resentment, and with patience and gentleness. In dealing with opponents our aim must not be to win arguments but that they may be led to a “knowledge of the truth…come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil.”
Point to Ponder:
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Look for a leader who is able to balance avoidance of error with kindly correction – a faithful leader shuns an “argumentative spirit.”
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Dealing with wrong actions: In dealing with wrong actions, Paul’s counsel is again two-fold – avoid evil and pursue holiness.
a. Avoid evil: When it comes to wrong actions, Paul is unequivocally clear: we are to avoid evil. First, don’t be linked with those whose lifestyle is contrary to God’s will. “Have nothing to do with such people” (2 Timothy 3:5). This is not contradicting his advice to be gracious to opponents but we are not to involve such people in leadership nor to associate with them in such a way that you lose your awareness of the deceitfulness of evil. When Jesus welcomed tax collectors and prostitutes he didn’t frequent brothels or wink at extortion.
Second we are to avoid evil in our personal lives: “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness” (verse 19). “Flee the evil desires of youth” (verse 22). Immediately we think of the temptation to sexual misconduct and anger or bitterness – we are to run away from these and other things that would demean and imprison us. Paul shows us there is a choice to be made: “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for disposal of refuse. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work” (verses 20-21). We can choose to be, as Tom Wright says, “the old rag you use to mop the floor, the shovel you use to tidy up after your dog” or we can honour ourselves and God by choosing to be the people he has designed us to be.
b. Pursue Holiness: This leads to Paul’s advice to “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (verse 22). “Holiness is not in the first place about moral character” it is a life of goodness which comes out of a dynamic relationship with God through Christ – “those who call on the Lord.” We live out what God has put in. It is first of all being someone for God rather than doing things for God. Os Guinness records a sad comment from a Japanese businessman to a visiting Australian, “Whenever I meet a Buddhist leader, I meet a holy man. Whenever I meet a Christian leader, I meet a manager.” What Paul urged on Timothy is to be the kind of person, that when others meet him, they will know that “he stands for another world, a different set of values that is strangely compelling.” These values are to be reflected in the holiness of his personal life and in his relationships with others. It is this holiness to which all followers of Jesus are called as we seek to make a difference for him.
Points to Ponder:
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Look for a leader who avoids evil in his or her personal life and that of the congregation.
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Look for a leader who pursues holiness – a life which reflects God’s goodness and purity present within.
This is the Christian leader who, in his or her teaching and living, steers a straight course.
