Conserving the Truth

Transcript

Very good morning to you. What a privilege it is to be with you at Praise More Baptist Church and what a joy it's been for my wife Erin and me over the past few days to observe the amazing hospitality in this church. The elders and their wives have done such an incredible job and the members of this church serving so faithfully. I think we've been so impressed with how this church acts as one. So many members but just clubbing together and doing so much to make this conference work.

It was an incredible time and so I'm so thankful for what we've seen and I'm delighted to be with you. As Pastor Matt pointed out and as you can already hear, I do talk funny. And originally we had a plan. Scott who's known me for all these years, he was going to interpret. He was going to stand here and say the words and he was even gonna sign.

But then, Christmas right? So you'll have to do your best this morning. I want to invite you to turn to First Timothy chapter six. First Timothy chapter six. This morning I wanted to bring something as the elders requested, partly from some things that we've written and shared together even through the ministry of G3.

And the text that I think really captures much of that is First Timothy six, the final two verses of this epistle verses 20 and 21. Let's read it and then pray for a moment. First Timothy six, 20. The Word of the Lord says, "O Timothy, God, what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith.

Grace be with you." Amen. Let's pray. Our living God, we pray that you would now allow the Word of God to have free course and be glorified, that you would allow every listener to receive it as it is in truth the Word of God, not the Word of man, the Word which effectually works in those who believe. We pray that you would grant both speaker and listener grace so that we might be servants of the Word and that you would use it to bring change that will please you. Remove the distractions in our hearts.

Grant us the grace to focus together in Jesus name. Amen. Living as we do in South Africa, many thousands of miles away, we look over at the United States often and see it in the news and as we look at it, our view is that the nation appears to be quite polarized, appears to be a divided nation, left versus right, red versus blue, progressive versus conservative. And I wondered this morning where you'd find yourself on that spectrum, if at all, whether you'd accept any of those labels, whether you'd say I'm this or I'm that. But a few years ago, we used one of those labels in a book that Scott kindly published, a book that we called the conservative church.

We use that word that's thrown around today. And a friend I have in ministry said to me, you really shouldn't have called the book the conservative church. So that was a bad title. It communicates all the wrong things, he said. And of course, I partly agree with him.

For many people, the word conservative is a very negative and pleasant word. When they hear the word conservative, images come to their mind of haughty, frowning people. They may even think of that mocking definition that was once given of Puritans, someone who's afraid that somewhere someone may be having fun. To be a conservative in the minds of some people is to be stuck in the past. It's to be in love with nostalgia.

It's looking down your nose at the present. It's not liking new technology, perhaps even frowning at the youth. In some countries, people think of conservative as racist, bigot, chauvinist, selfish capitalist. And so for many people, conservative is a really negative word, freighted down with all kinds of politics. Of course, it wasn't always this way.

It only entered the English language in the 1600s. And back then, it just meant someone who preserved something or keeping something safe. It was only after the French Revolution, as Europe witnessed the destruction of long-standing institutions, that a British writer by the name of Edmund Burke began teaching that society is fragile. It's shaped by generations. And so it should be reformed slowly and reverently, not radically reconstructed.

And soon after him, the word conservative began to be applied to political parties. First in England, where the old Tories called themselves conservatives. And from then on, conservatism began to mean something political. Preserving tradition, valuing institutions that are inherited, distrusting, sweeping ideological change. And by the mid-19th century, conservative meant something like it means today.

Conservative tries to preserve what time has tested, reform slowly, distrust the radical reconstruction of society. And that's all very interesting, but the really important question is to ask, does the Bible require us to be conservatives? Edmund Burke may or may not have been right philosophically, politically, but does inspired scripture teach that Christians should be conservatives? Now what would that even mean? What does it mean to be a conservative Christian?

What does it mean to be in a conservative church? What does that look like? We find part of the answer here at the end of 1st Timothy. Paul writes his first letter to his disciple and protege Timothy. And the best summary of this whole book is found in chapter 3 in verse 15.

If you look back at that verse, it's a summary verse, and there Paul says, "I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." What you have in your hands is a manual for how to do church. This is how to arrange and order the local church. This is the apostolic blueprint for how to do church. And here in his final words, Paul gives Timothy a kind of summary command of the kind of Christian and the kind of pastor he wants Timothy to be. You can sense the emotion in his words as he wants to make these last words count when he uses this expression, "Oh, Timothy." It's in the Greek form, it's brought over into the English in an emotional form of address.

It's like saying, "My dear Timothy," or "Timothy with exclamation marks," and the very last words he chooses are these words, "God, what was committed to your trust." What you have in front of you is a short, simple, and pointed command telling Christians whether they should be conservative or whether they should be progressive or something in between. Here is a Spirit-inspired command that summarizes a huge amount of the Christian faith and practice and of our responsibility as believers. I remind you, of course, this is an epilogue, it's closing words, and so to really understand it, we're going to keep flipping back into the rest of the book so we can understand the sense of those words. These closing words are specifically for Timothy. They're particularly for pastors, but they're generally for all Christians.

We can see in these verses three components of the call to Timothy. You're going to see he's going to give us a command, and he's going to give us the content of what we're supposed to do with that command, and then even a course for us to follow. In these very short lines, we have a great summary both of the Epistle and of the Christian life itself. So look with me firstly at the very beginning of this verse, and we see our first component here, the command, the command to conserve, the command to conserve. We see that in those very first words of verse 20.

"O Timothy, God, what was committed to your trust?" What's the command? What's the imperative? What must you do? God. This is a word used 30 times in the New Testament.

It ranges in meaning from God like a sentinel to observe, to beware, and here in context the idea is look after, be protective, preserve, look out for, or to use another word, conserve. He uses the very same word if you flip over the page to 2nd Timothy 1 verse 14, there you'll see him say, "That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us." Same word. Now, of all the ways that Paul could have ended this epistle, of all the things he could have said last, why this one? Sometimes in ancient times when they were writing on manuscript they would actually have, they'd be running out of space and parchment was expensive and sometimes it was literally a case of running out and now having to say what you're gonna say in the remaining space and maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. Why did he choose these words?

For a moment I imagine Paul leaving Timothy, maybe Paul departing by ship and Timothy's at the dock and as the currents and the winds begin to take the boat out, Paul shouts out one last thing that he knows Timothy will hear and the last thing he says to his Timothy, "God, God what you have, protect it, conserve it." Why does he do that? Notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, "Timothy, reimagine what was committed to your trust." He doesn't say, "Timothy, reinvent what was committed to your trust, renovate what was committed to your trust, revolutionize what was committed to your trust." Paul wants his pastor-disciple to know that he will be faithful if his default posture is conserve. Conserve like a conservationist, like a conservationist conserves nature in the same way protect it, preserve it. Timothy, you're not to add to it, you're not to delete things from it, you're not to modify it, you're not to edit it, nor should you think that this thing that you're supposed to guard is gonna transform itself with every generation.

No, there's something here that is permanent, it's timeless, something here is already complete. Jude says that we should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints and the Christian response to that is protect, preserve, propagate. This is an important distinction. Some people hear the word conserve and they think hoard. To guard, to keep, to conserve is not the same thing as to hoard.

To hoard something, to hide it, is to reserve it for yourself and for yourself alone. But to conserve something is to keep something undamaged so that you can pass it on in its purity, in its undiminished beauty, so that others can receive what you received unaltered. You can see that this is what Paul means by God because of what he says in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 2, if you look over at chapter 2 and verse 2 of the 2nd epistle, 2 Timothy 2 2, he says, "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." You count the generations there? Four. Number one, Paul.

Paul is teaching Timothy, that's two. Timothy is supposed to teach faithful men, that's three. The faithful men are supposed to teach others also, that's four. See Paul was a conservative who preserved and propagated the truth to Timothy. Timothy is to repeat the process of conserving and communicating to faithful men.

And Timothy must train them to be conservatives who preserve and propagate so that the truth doesn't stop with them. So it goes to the next generation. Another implication of this verb, God, preserve, protect, is that there is some danger, isn't there? If somebody said to you, "God this thing, keep it," what's implied is there are threats. There's something that could distort this, break it, corrupt it, or even destroy it.

Throughout 1 Timothy, he names some of those threats. You see back in chapter 1 and verse 4, he begins describing some of the doctrinal threats that come to the faith. He says, "Nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification," which is in the faith. He mentioned several others like in chapter 4 and verse 1, he begins to talk about false doctrines there. The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith-giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

There's a few other places where Paul says, "Look, this faith is under threat." Not only doctrinally but even practically. He's going to describe the way that the faith can be distorted in church. In chapter 2, he's going to describe who should pray, who should preach. In chapter 3, who should lead, who should serve. In chapter 5, even financial matters, caring people in the church, widows, and so on.

What you have is all sorts of ways that the faith can be distorted, can be broken, can be done wrong. Now, what you can tell from all of this is that biblically conservative is not some kind of mere external appearance. Being a conservative, as Paul means it, is not primarily how you dress, how you look on the outside. Being a biblical conservative is not primarily even a mood or temperament or a certain kind of emotional disposition. Being a conservative starts with an action, conserve.

In other words, the noun conservative or the descriptive adjective conservative starts with a verb, the conservative conserves. Now, of course, depending on what you're conserving, that will have effects on your appearance, will have effects on your dress, on your temperament, on your actions, on your speech. Indeed, on your interests, your hobbies, your entertainment, your leisure, your vocation, your finances. Yes, your political views, but it all depends on what you conserve. So that brings us then to that second moment in this text.

The command is to conserve, but look now, secondly, at the content to be conserved. What is the content that we must conserve as Christians? Look at your text again, 6 verse 20. Oh Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, the content to be conserved. Guard what was committed to your trust.

Here's what Timothy, and by extension, you and I must conserve. This is what we must guard. We must guard what was committed to our trust. Those six English words in this translation translate one Greek word, which means property entrusted to another who must care for it, a deposit. This word occurs only in 1st and 2nd Timothy.

You'll see it again in 2nd Timothy 1 and verse 14. He says, "That good thing which was committed to you," same word, "keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us." In fact, Paul uses this even of his own soul. In 2nd Timothy 1 verse 12, he says, "For this reason I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I've believed, and am persuaded that he's able to keep what I've committed to him until that day." I've deposited my very self, Paul says, with the Lord. So what must we conserve?

This word implies, Timothy, you're not the owner of this thing. You're not the inventor of this thing. You're not even the discoverer. You're not responsible to transform it. You don't have to reimagine it.

It's someone else's property, and you must guard it until your watch is over and someone else takes over your watch. So what has been committed to Timothy? What was he entrusted with? Timothy is an under shepherd of God's church. He's been entrusted with God's people, but it's not a daycare.

It's not a social club. What is he supposed to do with God's people? Well, he's a shepherd. He's an overseer. He's an elder, and a Christian pastor has been entrusted with the truth of Christianity and to feed God's people that truth and lead them to observe it and love it.

In other words, if I'm to summarize it, Timothy must transmit 100% pure Christianity. He must receive the whole truth and pass it on. 24 carat Christianity. Unalloyed, undiluted, the original, full, complete, full-orbed Christianity. So what does that entail?

What does it mean if you're gonna pass on, if you're gonna guard and conserve Christianity for somebody else? Well, as we look back into first Timothy, let me show you three parts that we conserve if we're gonna conserve the faith. The first thing we have to conserve is the truth of Christianity, the truth of Christianity. Just a cursory read through first Timothy, and you'll see how often the words doctrine, instruction, teaching, exhorting, commanding, and truth come up. 25 references to doctrine, to teaching, to truth.

You see, the Word of God from cover to cover, rightly harmonized, rightly taught in context, rightly systematized, is what Timothy must conserve. Of course, that begins, as we heard in the Sunday School Hour, with the gospel. Look in one verse 11 of first Timothy, as he describes, this is what's supposed to go out. Verse 1 verse 11, "according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust." 1 verse 15, "this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief." The gospel, the good news. The gospel is the door into the household of faith.

As we said during this conference several times, it's the boundary line of being in Christ or out of Christ. If you don't conserve the truth of the gospel, you have no Christianity. If anyone or if everyone is a Christian, then in fact no one is a Christian. The Christian faith has a boundary line, and we are responsible to preserve that gospel and that boundary line. And that means we have to conserve and preserve all the truths necessary for someone to believe and understand a sound gospel.

It's not just a sinner's prayer, folks. I believe a sinner's prayer is often what the Lord uses to convert and save somebody's heart, but the gospel is more than, "I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins." You need to understand the truths that make sense of those words. Who is Jesus? How did he come? Who is God?

Is he one or three or many? How did Jesus come to the world? Why did he come? How did he live? What is our problem that he died?

What was he doing on the cross? What happened after he died? What will happen in the future if we don't believe in him? What happens after death? All of this is the essential truth, the fundamentals necessary to believe and understand and become a Christian.

We have to conserve that. Beyond the gospel truth, there's a vast body of truth contained in these 66 books that explains God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, mankind, angels, sin, salvation, the church, end times. There's practical truth for all of life. We can call all of this truth, all of this truth about the gospel and the whole counsel of God, we can simply call it orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is what we must preserve and conserve as Christians.

But then there's a second thing that Timothy must conserve, the content of this command to conserve, and that is not just the doctrines but the practices of Christianity, the practices. If you read through this book, you'll notice from chapter 2, Paul tells Timothy how worship and leadership in the church is to be structured. We won't read the verses for the sake of time but if you scan your eye down chapter 2 from verse 8 onwards, you'll see Paul tells Timothy who is supposed to pray publicly, who is not, who is supposed to teach publicly, who is not. Chapter 3 is all about who is supposed to be an elder, overseer, pastor, who is not, who is supposed to be a deacon, how they chosen. Chapter 5 has more information on their support, their dismissal, their selection.

Chapter 4 is very personal about the pastor's life but it's all about his calling which still has to do with the practices. He even gets into the finances of the church, who the church must support, whom it must not. You know what this tells us? There's a right way to do church and a wrong way. It's not as if God gives pastors a lot of colored crayons and a plenty of white paper and says now you make something up beautiful.

You just go ahead and figure it out. No, God gives pastors and therefore churches a blueprint, a manual and he says let all things be done decently and in order. See that you make it according to the pattern that was shown you is what the Lord said to Moses. Now when Paul says God what has been committed to you, he doesn't only mean God the doctrine or the doctrinal statement of the church. Look in chapter 3 in verse 15.

But if I'm delayed I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. Conduct, behavior, practice. There's a right form of Christian worship, of church organization, of polity and of Christian living. And if we call right doctrine orthodoxy we can call this second aspect orthopraxy. Orthopraxy.

There's right doctrine, right beliefs and then there's right practices. And if you're gonna conserve the faith, if you're gonna conserve Christianity and pass it on, you have to conserve what is right in doctrine and what is right in practice. But there's a third thing that we have to conserve found in 1st Timothy. Not only the doctrine, not only the practice, but also and maybe most importantly the loves. The loves of Christianity must be guarded.

Christianity is truth you must know, it's actions you must take. But lying in between that truth and that obedience is what moves you from truth to obedience and it's love. Desires, affections, longings. This is what makes Christianity more than moralism, more than a religion. Ours is a grace-based, spirits empowered work of God that changes the heart and then keeps drawing the heart by faith.

You know Paul says this right up front in 1st Timothy 1 verse 5. Look what he says. Now the purpose of the commandment, which is the revealed Word of God, the whole counsel of God. Now the purpose of the commandment is what? Is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith.

This is the heart of the faith. The first and great commandment is to do what? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The Christian life is about right loves, right desires, right affections. It's for this very reason that Paul even commands the kinds of affections that overseers and deacons should have.

He says they need to be sober-minded. They're supposed to be reverent, he says. He tells Timothy in 1st Timothy 4 verse 12 that Timothy is to be an example of many things but look particularly he says I want you to be an example to the believers in word and conduct but also in love, in spirit and faith. Friends if you take love out of Christianity you may as well have the hard moral law of Islam. You may as well have the scholarly conundrums of Talmudic Judaism.

Take out love, you may as well have the heavy cold obedience of the cultists. Love is the evidence of grace and faith, a changed heart, changed motives and Timothy must guard the loves of Christianity, their priority, even their order as Augustine said the order amorous, their order, their hierarchy, their form, their expression and we can give another name for this. If right doctrine is orthodoxy, if right practice is orthopraxy then right affections is orthopathy. Pathos in Greek loves, affections, emotions, desires, right pathos and what we've just described is a triad teaching, action, affection, belief, practice, love, orthodoxy, orthopraxy, orthopathy, Christian truth, Christian goodness and Christian beauty. As Timothy received that and saw that from the Apostle in those 12 years they were together, now he must guard it.

You see this helps us understand what we mean when we say I'm a conservative. What are you conservative? It's not a mood, it's not a way you dress, it's something you guard. What are you guarding? Sometimes somebody has said to me I'm a progressive and I always ask oh what are you progressing towards?

There's usually a stunned silence at that moment but progressive means you're making progress, you're making movement so I ask them what are you moving towards? If you're a progressive Christianity a fair question is so what about Christianity needs to move and to wear? But a conservative conserves what he's been handed, the once for all delivered completed deposit of Christian doctrine, practice and affection. That's the content of what we conserve. Well this then brings us thirdly to how he's to do it.

What is the course thirdly of conserving? The command is simple, the content we've seen but what is this course? How does he do it? Look at your text again specifically the very first word and then verse the middle of verse 20. God what is being committed to your trust avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.

Grace be with you. God. Again we're at the end of this book so we need to flip back to find out what this guarding looks like and there's both a negative and a positive there's something you do and then something you don't do. There's something you avow and something you avoid. So let's look positively at what does it mean to conserve this doctrine practice and loves of Christianity.

It's all here in 1st Timothy and I think it beautifully follows the model of Ezra the scribe one of my favorite verses in Scripture Ezra 7 verse 10 which says for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. That's a beautiful picture. He sought it did it and he taught it. You're gonna see that right here in 1st Timothy. The first thing you and I need to do if we're gonna conserve the whole faith is we need to learn the faith thoroughly.

We need to learn it. See a few texts with me especially in chapter 4 1st Timothy. Look at verse 15. Meditate on these things give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.

Continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Paul says Timothy learn the faith meditate on it study it give yourself to it you say how long must I study study it he says in verse 15 until it makes a change in your life till your progress is evident to all learn it continue in it take heed to it Timothy must be a lifelong student ever taking in orthodoxy, orthopraxy, orthopathy. All Christians should be lifelong students of God's Word. Eri and I laughed once when someone in church came to us and said you know recently I figured that I pretty much learned all there is to learn in the Christian life until I started listening to these sermons I realized there's more for us. She really thought that she knocked it out.

All Christians should be lifelong students of God's Word. Second Timothy 3 in verse 16 to 17 tells us that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine for a proof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work. Learn the faith. Christians should be studious, thoughtful readers, listeners, people who love wisdom, love knowledge, love truth, desire it above earthly riches.

Learn the faith thoroughly. But secondly like Ezra who first sought then he did the second thing we need to do if we're really going to conserve the faith is we need to live the faith consistently. We learn it and then we live it. Again look in chapter 4 and right after saying meditate in verse chapter 4 verse 15 he says meditate on these things give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. We just read in verse 16 continue in them for in doing this you'll save both yourself and others.

Timothy mustn't only learn the truth he must do it. He must practice it. He must do it until his growth goes public and becomes obvious. Look at chapter 4 and verse 7 reject profane and old wives fables and exercise. This is the Greek word for train.

It's an ancestor of our word gymnasium. Exercise yourself towards godliness. Timothy put it into practice vigorously. Look in 4 in verse 12 he says let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in word in conduct in love in spirits in faith in purity. The Christian faith can never be guarded by those who do not live it out.

The Christian life cannot be properly conserved by those who don't practice it. In fact Christian truth that's not practiced becomes rotten. Christianity is not truth for a filing cabinet. It's not a specimen to be kept in the formaldehyde in a museum. The Christian faith is a way of life.

It's a way. It is a perspective that is passed on from the living to the living. Absorbed by example it is caught as much as it is taught. Live the faith. The third thing that Ezra did, he didn't know any secret.

He didn't only do it but then he taught it. You want to be a real conservative. You learn the faith. You live the faith and then thirdly you lead others in the faith. Look at chapter 4 and verse 6.

4 and verse 6 he says if you instruct the brethren in these things you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ. Nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrines you've carefully followed. 4 and verse 13 till I come give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine. In chapter 6 he likewise says at the end of chapter 6 verse 2 teach and exhort these things. Timothy you must teach your congregation.

As we saw earlier train your leaders. This is why in the second and third centuries the early desert hermits got it so wrong thinking that they were going to conserve Christianity and keep it pure by withdrawing entirely and living in isolation. That never works. To seclude yourself you will never be faithful to the commandment. If you learn the faith for yourself but you pass it on to no one else that's not conservative.

That's just hoarding the faith. But a conservative Christian conserves so as to transmit. He preserves so as to propagate. Some Christians would exponentially increase their experience and knowledge of the Christian faith if they just started teaching it to others. Whether it be a class if your local church trains you for that or asks you to or a small group or even just another believer informally.

You know I've always found with any domain of knowledge it goes in once when you hear or read it. It goes in twice when you start doing it and it goes in three times when you teach someone else. You want the truth to really rest deeply in your heart. Lead others. The chances are you're further ahead than someone in the Christian faith.

You can encourage them. You can lead them on to at least the point you're at. You should have a Paul and you should have a Timothy. So there is how to God what's been entrusted to you. The doctrine, the practices, the affections.

How do we do it? We learn it. We live it and we lead others in it. Take it in. Do it.

Teach it. Paul reminds Timothy though that there's a negative. There's a put on and a put off. There's one essential negative way of guarding the faith and that is avoiding altogether certain things. Look at your text again in 6 and verse 20.

Oh Timothy, God what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. He's used this word for babblings in chapter 1 and verse 9 and 4 verse 7. He's repeated it. What does it mean? Mere speculative ideas, controversial and unprovable notions, marginal interpretations.

We would say conspiracy theories, fringe ideas. Now I understand some conspiracy theories actually come true and not all conspiracy theories but perhaps you'll agree with me that for some reason some Christians are more attracted to the marginal than to the main. They're more interested in the far-flung than in the fundamental. Paul says this is empty chatter. It's devoid of real Christian doctrine that will fortify your soul, console you during suffering, fight your sin, make you more like Christ and make you desire heaven.

Guarding the faith means avoiding detours, rabbit trails, sidetracked that these things bring. That's what that word means and the second phrase there that he uses he says I want you to avoid profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. That means pseudoscience or pseudonknowledge that contradicts the faith. You have plenty of theories out there that are competing with our faith. They're theories and studies and subjects that claim truth.

They claim truth about cosmology, about how the world came to be. They claim truth about history, what took place in the past and how to interpret it. They claim truth about your body, about nutrition, about exercise, about the environment, about education, about economics, about politics. Think of all the ologies in the world. When a word in an English word ends with ology it's using the Greek suffix logos which means word or by implication to think to study.

There's all sorts of studies in the world, all sorts of claims to knowledge. You ever thought about how often in the media when they announce the words scientists say, it's effectively thus saith the authority in our secular world. Now of course the world and the universe is a rich place full of meaning made by our glorious God. And the Bible's not meant to be an exhaustive textbook on every domain of knowledge out there. We're in fact glad for the ologies that discover the world and human nature better, better ways of doing things.

But whenever God's Word does say something about ecology or paleontology or human psychology, what it will say is correct and final because it doesn't breathe out error ever. And therefore the key word here is contradictions. When some theory actively and indubitably contradicts God's Word it's no longer knowledge. It's falsely called knowledge, it's pseudo knowledge. Now Paul says some Christians have gotten swept into one of these fields of pseudo knowledge and have strayed from the faith, professing Christians.

More than one professing Christian thought that he was being intellectually honest by examining everything that contradicts God's Word. And certainly there's a place to carefully scrutinize the claims of unbelievers but when you find yourself being charmed, persuaded, convinced by something that contradicts God's Word you're changing authorities. You're choosing to trust another's intellect over the Word. Paul says you cannot conserve the faith that way Timothy. You will not conserve the faith if you get caught up in that.

Timothy avoid it altogether if you want to guard what has been committed to you. You cannot be a conservative and chase down the rabbit holes of fringe theories and contradictory knowledge. Avoid it Timothy. Positively guard the faith, the whole faith by learning it and living it and leading others in it. Who is sufficient for these things friends?

I'm glad the epistle ends with that beautiful phrase grace be with you. God's enablement, God's love, God's acceptance of us in Christ, God's indwelling spirit, that's how you keep this command. I can't do it. You can't do it on our own. It's enablement by the Spirit of God, by the grace of God.

You know this book was probably written somewhere around 60 AD. In the year 60 AD there were many other religions competing with Christianity. There was a kind of proto-nosticism, there's the worship of Zeus, the worship of Apollo and Diana, plenty of pagan religions, but they're extinct. And here we are in 2026, thousands of miles from Asia Minor, modern day Turkey where this was written. All kinds of ethnicities right now speaking a language which didn't exist when it was written.

Yes I am speaking English. How did that happen? Timothy was a conservative. He conserved the faith and the men he trained were conservatives and they passed it on to conservatives and in the marvelous providence of God across the centuries and across the oceans and across ethnicities and cultures, here we come and in 2026 we have the faith. And so the call is conserve the Christian faith.

All of it. Orthodoxy, orthopraxy, how? Learn it, live it, lead others in it, avoiding all distortions of it. Let's pray. Almighty God we praise you for the simplicity of this command.

Would you help us to understand the stewardship that has been given to us not only to live our own private Christian lives but to conserve it and propagate it to others. Our Lord we pray that you would write these words on our hearts. As we prepare now to give we acknowledge that we are merely returning to you what you've given us. Giving you a token, a mere part of your bounty and saying that you are truly our great provider. So as our hearts reflect you with generosity and cheerfulness and gladness may you be pleased that you firstly have our hearts before you have our substance.

We love you in Jesus name.