Morning: The sermon, "Don't Shipwreck Your Faith," explored 1 Timothy 1:18-20. Paul reminds us in this passage that if we abandon our faith, we wreck our lives.
If we want to stay afloat, we need to remember what God has said about us. Timothy had a prophetic word to fall back on. Most of us do not, so what do we do. We turn to Scripture. God has many things to say about his children, here are three to consider: you've been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), you've been forgiven (Col. 2:13-14); and you are God's people (1 Pet. 2:9-10).
Remembering what God has said about us gives us the strength to fight the good fight. Paul is urging Timothy to wage war like a good soldier. Like Timothy, we have to hold to faith and a good conscience if we are to fight the good fight. There are at least three implication to holding the faith: we keep our personal commitment to Christ, we trust the gospel message, and we receive the larger biblical witness.
What does Paul mean by "good conscience"? The conscience is the right/wrong detector within a person. It can be corrupted so that it confuses good and bad. A good conscience is one that recognizes what God calls good as good, and what he calls evil as evil. To have a good conscience, we must be biblically informed. How can we truly know good without God teaching us? We need to live morally. Once we know God's standards, we should seek to live them. We need to live transparently. We all fall short of the moral standards of God, but we can find forgiveness and cleanse through confession and repentance. Finally, we need to rest in Christ trusting that his work on the cross is sufficient to cover our sins (see 1 Cor. 4:3-4).
Finally, we need to love those who live as enemies of the cross enough to discipline them. Paul handed Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan in hopes that they would learn not to blaspheme. The expression "handed over to Satan" may mean more than we know, but it most likely includes putting someone out of the church. It means taking away the rights and privileges of membership until such a time they display the fruit of repentance. Paul didn't call them unbelievers. He didn't just hand them over to Satan. No, he handed them over that they might learn not to blaspheme. He wanted them back on the right track, but there was no other way to get their attention.
In the end, we have to contend for the faith. We must labor to build up our most holy faith. We stand guard like good soldiers knowing that the war wages around us. We stand upon the Bible because we are confident that God cannot lie.
Evening: Tonight was movie night.
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