“Avoiding Spiritual Shipwreck”
(1 Timothy 1:18-20)
Series: Reality Check: Keeping it Real at FBC
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church Henderson KY
(8-31-08) (AM)
- Take God’s Word and open to 1 Timothy, chapter one.
We have just begun a new series of messages from 1 Timothy entitled, “Reality Check.” Just as you check out the performance of a car by popping the hood and taking a look inside, we’re “popping the hood of our church” and looking inside because 1 Timothy is something of a “church administration handbook” that helps us make sure we’re doing what we should be doing here at First Baptist and that everything is running properly.
We’re looking at the last part of chapter one this morning. You’ll recall that 1 Timothy was written by the Apostle Paul around AD 64. Paul is writing to Timothy about how to deal with some problems there at the church in Ephesus. He’s been talking about some teachers there at the church that Timothy needs to deal with. They’re teaching things that are leading people away from the Gospel and Paul is telling Timothy to deal with these folks. This is the point to which Paul returns here in the last few verses of chapter one as he encourages Timothy to keep working there at the church.
- Stand for prayer.
18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,
20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
- Pray.
Introduction:
I want to speak to you this morning on the topic, “Avoiding Spiritual Shipwreck.” That title comes right out of the text there in verse 19. Paul says some have rejected their conscience and have suffered a shipwreck of their faith. A picture comes to mind of a ship at sea that crashes and sinks to the bottom. I was thinking about that this week and I thought about the Titanic and other ships that are remembered today not so much because of the way they began their voyage, but because of the way they ended. Many ships are known to us today only because they suffered shipwreck.
Paul uses that imagery and he applies it to the Christian life and he says there are some people who are known to us today not because of how they began their Christian journey, but because of how they ended; they suffered shipwreck, and he mentions two by name there in verse 20: Hymenaeus and Alexander. However these guys started off in their spiritual journey, they are remembered for how they ended: spiritual shipwreck.
I thought of our study this evening when we look at that classic text in 2 Samuel 18, reading about the end of Absalom’s journey. This prideful self-centered man gets his head caught in a tree and he’s dangling there for a short time before being brutally killed. However well he started, he ended his journey in spiritual shipwreck.
God designed us to sail the sea of life and equips us to weather the storms that we face. I listened to a great speech this week from a political leader who used this same imagery to describe journeying through life’s great challenges. She said, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not why the ship is built.” That’s true. Applied to the Christian life, we might say, “God didn’t design us to sit in the safe harbor of a church sanctuary. He designed us to get out there and sail the seas for his glory.” And the God who built us to sail the sea of life equips us to face every challenge so that we may avoid spiritual shipwreck.
So the text here is about how you and I can avoid spiritual shipwreck. As we live out the Christian faith, sailing the often tumultuous and stormy waters of life, there are some things we can do to keep us from avoiding spiritual shipwreck. Let me give you these action points that surface from the text. Number one, we must remember to:
I. Keep Battling [18]
The Christian life is not a breeze, it’s a battle. Amen?! How many of you agree that living the Christian life is a battle? Me, too. Some times the battle involves our own warring against sin.
Like the guy who prayed, “Lord, so far today I’ve done pretty well. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy or grumpy or selfish or prideful, but in a few moments, God, I’m going to get out of my bed this morning and then I’ll really need Your help!” Look at verse 18:
18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
“Wage the good warfare.” That is, “fight the good fight.” What is the good warfare or the good fight? It is living out the Christian life. It is sailing the difficult and stormy seas of the Christian life. It is a battle. Paul is using military language here.
The word “charge” there is a military command and then Paul talks about “waging the good warfare.” It’s literally, “War the good warfare.” The Greek word translated “wage” there is strateu’o, from which we get our English “strategy.” It is a military term picturing a soldier’s strategic battling as he engages the enemy. The next word stratei’a, refers to a military campaign, not just a quick skirmish, but a long, protracted battling that goes on and on.
That’s the Christian life. It’s not a quick skirmish, it’s a campaign. The mission is not accomplished until we are at home with the Lord. We battle, we struggle, we face set backs, but we keep on going by God’s grace, sailing the sea of life for His glory.
So when Paul talks about “waging the good warfare” he’s not talking about warring with literal weaponry like grenades, guns, and weapons of mass destruction. Nor does he suggest that the enemy is a human being. Remember what he says in Ephesians 6? When Paul talks about “putting on the whole armor of God” he is speaking in reference to our battling the enemy. He says in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” He reminds us that it is not man who is our enemy. He says in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
It’s not man who is the enemy. Husbands, it’s not your wife who is the enemy! Wives, it’s not your husband. Young people, it’s not that bully at school who is the enemy. It’s not that teacher. It’s not that co-worker. It’s not that job. It’s not that illness. It’s not that relationship. Our battle is not physical. Our battle is spiritual.
Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
Pray, “God give me the wisdom to see that these challenges I face are spiritual, in nature. Rebuke the Evil One who comes against me and give me the wisdom to draw close to You and rely upon You as You equip me to fight the good fight and grow spiritually during this time of difficulty.”
There’s a word of encouragement in this charge of Paul’s. He says there in verse 18 that he is giving this command “according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them” you may wage the good warfare. What Paul is saying is, “Timothy, do you remember when you were called into this ministry of service? Do you remember how some of the folks back there in Lystra spoke of your being uniquely gifted to serve in the way you’re serving? Do you remember their encouraging words? Well, remember them especially during the difficult times because it is ‘by them’ that you will wage the good warfare.”
That’s one of the things that gets pastors through difficult periods of ministry. The pastor remembers that God has called him to this task and he is encouraged to move ahead. Similarly, every Christian can be encouraged that the God who called us to our salvation is the same God who promises to help us live out our salvation. He says, for example, in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always.” So be encouraged that God is with you as you battle the enemy.
Some Christians get involved in a spiritual battle of some kind and they run away. The military calls that “Going AWOL, absent without leave.” Somebody gets his feelings hurt or somebody suffers a spiritual setback and throws her hands up and says, “I give up” or, “I’m leaving the church.” Listen: God didn’t design us to give up. Keep battling. Keep moving forward. Trust in God to guide you, to navigate you through life’s storms and keep sailing for his glory. Don’t give up! Persevere. Charles Spurgeon said that it was by perseverance that the snail made it to Noah’s ark. Keep going! Keep battling!
II. Keep Believing [19]
Not only must we keep battling, but we must keep believing. Verse 19 says “having” faith and a good conscience. “Having” is a present active participle which connotes continual activity. So it’s not that we just “believe” once the Christian faith and we’ve got it. No, we must “continually believe.” We must work at it. We must keep believing. There are two sub-points here. First, to keep believing you must:
A) Live your Convictions (19a)
19 having faith
The idea here is “holding to” or “clinging to” the faith; that is the content of the Gospel, the body of truth, a set of convictions. Keep believing and living out your convictions. Do not swerve from them. Live your convictions. Here’s the other sub-point:
B) Listen to your Conscience (19b)
and a good conscience,
Your conscience is not your feelings. Your feelings can be manipulated one way or the other. Your conscience is a gift from God. It is God’s guiding you successfully for His glory.
John MacArthur says, “A good conscience serves as the rudder that steers the believer through the rocks and reefs of sin and error.”
Wouldn’t it be great if God just sort of preached to you on the inside? I’ve shared with you before how I love my GPS. This voice just tells me which direction to go: “Take next right. Turn left. Make a U-Turn.” Well, that’s a bit like your conscience is. It is God’s preacher on the inside. He will always direct you in a way that is in harmony with His printed Word, the Bible. If you want to avoid spiritual shipwreck, listen to your conscience.
So when you’re thinking about that questionable activity and you start mulling it over in your mind, listen to your conscience, it’s God’s preacher inside you saying, “Watch it! Don’t do that! This way out!”
When you are thinking about flirting with that person, it is your conscience, God’s preacher on the inside, who shouts to you, “Don’t do that! Watch it! This way out!”
When you’re allowing your anger to get the best of you or that private struggle rears its ugly head, listen to your conscience, listen to the voice of God’s preacher on the inside, telling you, “No! Stop!”
And sometimes God’s preacher on the inside is saying, “Go! Share your faith with that person! Teach that class. Give that tithe.” Listen to your good conscience. That’s God’s way of navigating us through the difficulties of life.
Paul goes on to say that some people have rejected their good conscience. That takes us to our third action point this morning. Keep battling, keep believing, and number three:
III. Keep Behaving [19c-20]
What does Paul say about these folks who have rejected their conscience? The last part of verse 19 there:
which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,
Some who rejected their good conscience, some who did not listen to their good conscience, who “tuned-out” God’s preacher on the inside, did what they wanted to do instead of what God wanted them to do. And what was the result? “Concerning the faith they have suffered shipwreck.” They have shipwrecked their faith. It’s like that GPS I mentioned. Sometimes I get tired of listening to the voice telling me where to go. I get tired of hearing her tell me: “Make a U-Turn…Recalculating,” and so forth. So I just shut her off! And do you know what invariably happens? I get lost! Paul says some who did not listen to their conscience, who “tuned-out” God’s preacher on the inside, they “shut off the GPS navigation system within them” and suffered shipwreck of their faith.
They deliberately violated their consciences, their navigation systems, and they consequently crashed into an iceberg and sank their ship.
That’s what happens to you and me when we stop listening to our good conscience. We no longer sail correctly. We start to sail off course and we face the real possibility of spiritual shipwreck. Paul mentions two people to whom this had happened:
20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
We don’t know exactly who these two are and exactly what they did. Their names are mentioned elsewhere, but we really don’t know if they are the same persons. What we do know is that Hymenaeus and Alexander started sailing the Christian journey and at some point later veered off course. Because they stopped listening to their good conscience, because they seared their conscience in disobedience, they sailed off course, sailing into the waters of sin and error.
Paul says that because they did this, he “delivered them to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” Paul is speaking here to the matter of church discipline. As an apostle, Paul had done what he instructs the church to do in 1 and 2 Corinthians. He had Hymenaeus and Alexander removed from the church membership because of their persistent sin. They were “delivered to Satan,” that is, to Satan’s realm, outside the church. And for what reason? “That they may learn not to blaspheme.”
Church discipline, properly administered, is remedial in nature. It is done with a view towards loving correction and restoration.
Why does a schoolteacher discipline a rebellious student? He or she disciplines that student, in part, because without discipline that student will be a distraction to others in the class and bring other students down with him.
Matthew 18 provides the steps that Christians are to take in bringing loving correction to erring members. It begins with approaching an offending brother or sister in private, one on one. If the person does not repent, then Jesus says we’re to take with us one or two others. If the person still does not repent, then the matter goes before the church. If the person is still not willing to repent, then Jesus says to treat that person as “a heathen,” as an unbeliever. They are removed from the church and the church prays for the person to repent and return that he or she may be restored. So church discipline is done with a view towards loving correction and restoration.
How do we avoid spiritual shipwreck? Keep battling, keep believing, keep behaving.
- Stand for prayer.
Before we pray, consider these pastoral words of warning by preacher Geoff Thomas on this passage of Scripture. He says:
Geoff Thomas, “The land is filled with people who both in their youth and when they were first married held to the faith. But then they got involved in their careers, and began to prosper. Husband and wife are both working. There were school fees, and a mortgage to pay off. There were certain standards to maintain, and the pressures of work. Both were so busy and hardly seeing one another or the children, and Sunday was their free day. So they started to miss services and miss their Bible reading, and they let go of their faith, and today they are nowhere. The world is full of people who have fallen in the fight of faith because they didn’t hold on. Do not think that that cannot happen to you when it has happened to people far better than you.”
- Pray.
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