Don't Take the Bait | Doug Sauder | 2 Timothy 2

Good morning, Calvary. Can we stand to our feet and just thank the Lord for all that He is doing and how He is working in our church? Let's lift our voices, let's praise our King Jesus for the joy that we have in Him today and forever. ♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ This is the day You made ♪ ♪ So I'll rejoice and be glad, rejoice and be glad in Him ♪ ♪ And this is where I believe ♪ ♪ That You are more than enough, more than enough for me ♪ Yes, you are, Lord. ♪ Yes, You are faithful to Your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong when I am weak ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in Your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ I owe my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is, hear me say ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, Jesus, come what may ♪ ♪ Jesus, come what may ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise ♪ ♪ Yes, You are faithful to Your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong when I am weak ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in Your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪

♪ I owe my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is, hear me say ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Yes it is, yes it is, I've got the joy, the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ Let it rise up like a river ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ And let it pour out with no limit ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ And let it rise up like a river ♪ ♪ And overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ And let it pour out with no limit ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is, oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is, hear me say, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ And all that is, oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is, hear me say, oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is, hear me say, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ And all that is, oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ This is the day that the Lord has made. We're going to rejoice and be glad in it. We're going to celebrate church, all that God is doing. And today we get to celebrate baby dedication with two of our leaders here, Davi and Malo, and their little baby girl, Mia. And so we're going to celebrate. Celebrate this moment of dedication if you're a family friends come take pictures like this is like a beautiful living room a living room moment

Davi tell us about your family So my name is Davi. Yes, this is my wife Malu. This is our sweet baby Mia Her name literally means mine and from the beginning since we found out we were expecting our prayer has been Lord May she very soon know that she is yours And so it's been a prayer we've been praying over her something We've been asking the Lord that not only we would call her ours our sweet baby girl But that she would know that there's a father who calls her mine Comes out of the verse in Isaiah. I've called you by name. You are mine Mia Yes And so we're gonna pray for you for Mia for your family and also know that the Davi and Malu they lead our high school Ministry on the other side of this wall They're discipling the next generation of leaders And so we also want to pray and thank them for their service to this church to our young people And we're gonna ask you to extend a hand as we pray this prayer of dedication over baby Mia Father we come to you in Jesus name. We celebrate what it means to be part of a family And we thank you for Davi and Malu and their investment in so many of the young students and young leaders here at this church and God we pray for baby Mia as she grows up that you would pour your grace into her life that she would know Jesus that she Belongs to you that she would come to know you at a very young age and that you would give Davi and Malu just wisdom to raise her in your ways that she would become a woman of courage That she would fight for justice. She was she would love mercy She would have a heart to share the greatest message that she could ever learn that Jesus can't came to be her Savior Savior of the world and so Jesus we dedicate her today knowing that she belongs to you We commit her path to you and we pray as a church that we would come alongside this family pray for them serve them love them Support them as they raise their daughter And we pray all this in the name of Jesus Amen, amen Congratulations guys We love you. Let's give it up in this family one more time and let's continue with this heart of worship as we worship our Savior together

Amen Let's sing this together Falling down We'll believe we'll sing the song of ages to the lamb Your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name Stands above them all All homes and dominions all powers and positions your name Stands above them All creation You are lifted Oh Forever Oh ♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ God of all forms and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ God of all forms and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all and the angels cry ♪ ♪ Holy, all creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, you are lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Hear your people sing ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of kings ♪

♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ You will always be holy, holy forever ♪ Come on, let me celebrate you. As we continue in worship, I wanna read Psalm 147 for us. It's this beautiful invitation to praise, but also a reminder of why we praise. It says this, praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God. How pleasant and fitting to praise Him. And as I was reading and meditating this verse this past week, I feel like the Lord highlighted the word fitting to me. And I feel like He gave me this picture that I think all of us can relate to. We all have that jacket or that shirt that when we put it on, it fits just right. And I feel like the Lord reminded me that it's the same thing with praise. It's fitting, it fits just right because it's what we were made to do. Praise realigns us, praise gives us vision. Praise helps us to be kingdom-minded. Praise softens us and convicts us. It encourages us, it gives us hope. And the longer that we walk with Jesus, the longer that we experience resurrection life, grumbling, complaining, being quick to argue, anger, all of those things aren't fitting anymore. But what fits is a garment of praise.

And so today that's our invitation, church. As we continue to sing, we're gonna cast our mind to Calvary. We're gonna remind our hearts of the thing that is most fitting, the most worthy of praise. It's Jesus, what He did on the cross, the sacrifice that He made for us. So let's do what we were created to do, church. ♪ I cast my mind to Calvary ♪ ♪ Where Jesus bled and died for me ♪ ♪ I see His wounds, His hands, His feet ♪ ♪ My Savior on the cursed tree ♪ We remember your sacrifice today, Lord. ♪ His body bound and drenched in blood ♪ ♪ And tears they laid Him down in Joseph's tomb ♪ ♪ The entrance sealed by heavy stone ♪ ♪ Messiah still and all alone ♪ And this is our response to what he's done. Let's sing it together. ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ This is where we get to celebrate. ♪ And on that morn I break of dawn ♪ ♪ The Son of Heaven rose again ♪ ♪ Oh, trample down, lift your sting ♪ ♪ The angels roar for Christ the King ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪

♪ Oh, praise his name forevermore ♪ ♪ Forevermore, in the haste we will sing of His grace ♪ ♪ Oh, praise our joy, oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God ♪ This is what we get to look forward to. ♪ Now we stand in robes of white ♪ ♪ The blazing sun shall pierce the night ♪ ♪ And I will rise among the saints ♪ ♪ My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face ♪ We sing this. ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise his name forevermore ♪ ♪ Forevermore, in the haste we will sing of His grace ♪ ♪ Oh, praise our joy, oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise his name forevermore ♪ ♪ Forevermore, in the haste we will sing of His grace ♪ ♪ Oh, praise our joy, oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise our joy, oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God ♪ Thank you, God. As we close in prayer together today, we're gonna do it a little bit differently. I wanna ask you to turn your attention to the screens. We're actually gonna read a prayer out loud together. And my encouragement to you isn't just to repeat these words, but to make them personal today, to make them truly the prayer of your heart. So let's ask this together of our heavenly Father. Let's read this out loud together. Heavenly Father, we agree with your word.

It is fitting to praise you. So we respond with more than words. We respond with surrender. We yield again our attention, our will, and our ways. As we open your word, align our hearts with yours. Let resurrection life form your heart within us. Speak, Lord. We are listening. Amen. Amen. You can go ahead and have a seat. Have you ever fallen for a trap? Ever taken the bait? Maybe you're at a job and you're one of the only Christians, and there's a couple people that sort of antagonize you. And maybe this week they, in a public way, sort of mocked you, sort of belittled you. And everyone's looking at you, and your face gets hot, and your stomach starts to churn. And what comes out of you is what you might call a combination of defensiveness, and anger, and emotion, and passion, that all leads to this deep feeling of regret. I can't believe. Steve, I reacted that way. I can't believe I fell for that. I can't believe I took the bait. Maybe for you, it's not a work situation. Maybe it's a home situation. Your husband, your wife, your boyfriend,

your girlfriend, your roommate, and you're tired and there's tension, and there's something you wanna say, and there's something or someone in the back of your head saying, don't say it, this is not the right time. Don't do it, don't say it, but you can't help yourself, and you say it. And all of a sudden, pfft. Pfft. And you just shake your head, what? Why did I do that? Why did I, why did I take the bait? Why did I fall into that trap? You see, the reason we fall into traps and the reason we take the bait is because we're human. If you're human, raise your hand. This is gonna happen, right? Controversy, conflict, argument, and this is the part of the letter that we're in from Paul to Timothy. Timothy is in over his head. Pastor in the church in Ephesus, and there's conflict, there's argument, there's controversy, there's all these traps. There's bait everywhere, and Paul's gonna say to Timothy, Timothy, don't take the bait. Keep a calm demeanor and don't get distracted in a thousand different ways. It's not good just to stuff your emotions and wait for them to explode,

and it's not good to give full vent to your anger, but to think about what's being said to you and how you can thoughtfully respond. And this has so much application in our life today. 2,000 years later, we're gonna find so much application. How do we not overreact in certain moments? How do we not ignore certain things? How do we deal with controversy? And the best way to do this is to look at Jesus, because Jesus was constantly being approached because people wanted to trap him with his own words. They wanted him to pick a side so they could say, he's with us or maybe he's against us. They would approach him and say, well, should we pay taxes to Rome or not? Pick a side, Jesus. Are you on this side of the divorce issue or on this side of the divorce issue? What about heaven? What about the law? And everyone's waiting for Jesus' response. Is he going to take the bait? Here's what you need to know about Jesus. Jesus never took the bait. Jesus never fell for the trap. And that should make us curious as followers of Jesus, how did he do it? You see, Jesus was asked in the Gospels a total of 183 questions. Many of these questions were traps.

And Jesus only answered three of those questions directly. Interesting. He most frequently responded to a trap or tricky question with a question of his own. Jesus asked 300 questions in the Gospels. What is Jesus doing? He's drawing out the question behind the question. And he gives us as his followers this simple instruction about the way that we perceive the conflicts and controversies that are trying to trap us in all these conversations. He says this in Luke chapter eight. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore, consider carefully how you listen. Now look at that. There's something so fascinating about it. Jesus is saying there's hidden agendas and motives behind many conversations that happen. They seem disclosed and hidden. Therefore, consider carefully how you listen. Not what you listen, how you listen, which means there's ways to listen and ask God, give me wisdom and discernment. This question that's being asked, is it a trap? Is it something that I should answer? Or should I ask a clarifying question to see the question behind the question to unearth the motive or agenda that's behind that person

so I don't get caught into the trap? And so as the people of God, 2,000 years later, we can learn a lot from just modeling this way of Jesus, considering carefully how you listen. So if you're a note taker, just write this down. Before we talk about how we wade into controversy, we wanna consider carefully how we listen. You don't have to answer every question that's asked of you like Jesus, listen and ask for wisdom to reveal the motives of the question. Now, what we're about to read in these next few verses is gonna be kind of buckle your seatbelt stuff. If you came here today, you're like, I wanna just feel good and hopeful and happy. I just wanna say today is not that day. This is Paul's last letter. And this week and next week, you're gonna hear him use words that are not in the Bible. Words like, I'm warning you, I'm commanding you, I'm telling you to flee from this and pursue that and avoid this and tell them that. There's a lot of fatherly tone in this section to Timothy because Timothy's in a place where people aren't acting like Christians. And frankly, Paul is saying to Timothy, tell them to act like a Christian. It's time to grow up. And so this is one of those moments. Again, here at Calvary, we go through the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

We don't skip the hard parts. So are you guys seated? Is your seatbelt on? Are you ready? Okay, here we go. Here's what Paul says to Timothy. So keep reminding, verse 14, God's people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words. It is of no value and only ruins those who listen. And 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. And avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some. You can feel the tone already. Paul's like, I wanna keep on reminding of the important things. What were the important things? That Jesus is the Christ, that he was raised from the dead, that he's the answer to all the promises and prophecies of God,

that he has come to bring salvation. And this is all good news. Last week. So think like a good soldier. Don't get involved in civilian affairs. Don't get involved in all the drama. Think like an athlete. You're gonna participate by the rules. You can win the prize. Think like a farmer. You're gonna do the right thing over and over, even if no one says great job. And eventually you'll experience the harvest. He's trying to produce in Timothy a mindset of keeping the main thing the main thing and not quitting. And so he says, Timothy, don't get distracted. Don't take the bait. You have a job to do. So warn and instruct. Don't get involved in foolish and stupid arguments. We're gonna see him say that in a little bit because the church is not a debate club. How many of you know the church is not a debate club? The church is not a social club or a place where you go to grow wealthy. It's not the recruiting arm of a political party. The church is the household of God. It's the family of God. It's the people of God, invited to the table of God.

And anybody and everyone has been invited. And so he's reminding Timothy, all these controversies and quarrels around the table of God, it makes no sense at all. And people who love to quarrel about words, verse 14, quarrel about words. What was that about? Like in the early church, imagine quarreling about words like Gentile. You Gentile. That word had all this emotional weight to it. Pharisee. Those words don't mean a lot to us today, but other words do. People will want to characterize whole groups of people based on a script they've been given. Oh, that person is a Zionist or they're a MAGA person or they're woke or they're this. And the script that we've been given by a group, well, there's the temptation to go, well, all those people are like that. And I'm gonna tell you what you think and why you're wrong. And I'm gonna judge you because we're gonna quarrel about what that word actually means. And it creates all this division and argument that creates something less than what God has ultimately created in his family. Paul's like, don't fall for the trap. Don't get stuck in all these arguments because those who listen and indulge, verse 16,

will become more and more ungodly. Go down that rabbit hole and watch what happens to your soul as you begin to judge more and more people and argue over all these petty little things. And every once in a while, people will come with a sort of pious little nitpicking, like, I had a guy approach me a couple of years ago and he's like, you know, Doug, you guys, you guys baptized wrong. Tell me more. Well, you baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and the book of Acts says that you should baptize in the name of Jesus. Huh. And you know, the most important thing about baptism is actually letting the person up out of the water. That's the most important thing. So remember, if you're gonna remember anything, make sure you bring them back up, right? He didn't think that was funny, but you know, I was just trying to make light. Listen, you can nitpick anything you want. You can pull out certain verses of the Bible to justify any position you want to. The Bible does say that we should baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And it says that we baptize with the early... baptized in the name of Jesus. So if you wanna cover it all in the baptism prayer,

go for it, but I don't think God is so concerned about every little word as much as the heart that says, God, I'm ready to give my life to you, right? So when we start characterizing people and labeling people, that Calvinist, that Armenian, that person, that group of people, those people that we create division within the church and those who go down that rabbit hole become more and more ungodly because they love people less. And Jesus was, again, constantly being brought into these conflicts. Are you for Rome or for Jerusalem? Are you for the conservative side or are you for the liberal side? Here's how you see the law, this way or this way. Whose side are you on? And Jesus' response was so standard. He would say, it is written. What a great response. I mean, even in the wilderness, being tempted by the devil, at his weakest, most vulnerable point, three times Satan comes to him with some temptations, taking the scripture out of context, and all three times Jesus wrote, it is written. If you wanna know how to address controversy and not take the bait, not only do you need to consider how you listen, but number two, you wanna consider scripture in every controversy.

How do I let this become the filter to the question and the filter to my response if every time I'm asked about a controversy, I can think about the question behind the question? Just take a breath. And then if I can think, well, what does God's word actually say about this? Well, then I'll avoid, in many ways, those traps. And Paul says to Timothy, present yourself. Do your best to present yourself to God, verse 15, as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, who correctly handles the word of truth. Present yourself to the people? No. Timothy, present yourself to God. What does that look like? Well, it looks like before you get out there to talk to all the people, you get in here all by yourself and you open God's word. And this doesn't just apply to the pastor of the church, it applies to the person who leads a group, the person who's investing in other people, that before you teach others God's word, you get quiet. And you say, God, before I tell people what this says, can you tell me what it says for me? And let me just sit and let the weight of your word and your great love reshape my heart so that when I go out there into the chaos, there's not resentment or anger or fear or insecurity, but a deep confidence because I've spent time with you.

Timothy, in all the chaos all around you, be sure to present yourself to God. And so I was reading through Psalm 119 yesterday and just thinking about the power of God's word. How it enlightened your eyes, how it gives you joy, how the word of God can be your counselor. And there was this beautiful sense of peace after I read that it just sort of brought my heart to life. And God wants that for all of us because all of us have controversy or contention or difficulty all around us all the time and we wanna be sure we present ourselves to God. And Jesus would say about this, he would say, you know, anyone who teaches God's word, it's like a person who has a house and in their house, there's a storage area. In that storage area, they bring up treasures, both old and new, which means you could be a Christian for 20, 30, 40 years and you could read a passage and go, you know what? 25 years ago, that verse jumped off the page and God gave me a revelation. That's an old treasure. God might call you to bring that to someone today in a conversation or a new treasure. You could have read the same verse of the Bible a thousand times and on time number 1001, it jumps off the page and now you have something new to share to someone and this is what happens when you present yourself to God.

Before you come out in public, you spend time in private because this is our daily bread, right church? This is the one way to ground yourself in a world that seems to have gone crazy. Consider scripture in every controversy. Now, he says, you wanna be a person who correctly handles or rightly divides the word of truth. And that means that there's an incorrect way to handle God's word. You can use it not as a sword of the spirit, but as a sword of your own using for your own benefit. The idea that you would take certain text or verses out of context to use for yourself. Like the Bible is sort of like a religious flea market where you find verses that you like to help you, like I'll give you an example. Like some people, they wanna use the Bible because they wanna be rich or popular because if they're honest, they're chasing something that they haven't gotten yet. And so it's very easy to pull out scriptures. Deuteronomy 28, you will loan to many nations but you'll be a debtor to none. You'll be the head and you won't be the tail. And as you give, God will give back to you shaken, pressed out and overflowing. And if you sow seeds, God will refill those seeds in your hand and so I can say to you, you know, God wants the best for you. So if you give to me, God will give you 10 times,

20 times, 30 times. And while you're struggling to pay your rent, I'll be in my private jet and that will serve me very well. Be careful. Be careful to pull out certain texts and making them about you and what God could do for you, what the Bible can do for you. You should do that with a great sense of fear and trembling. And so I shared this a couple months ago. I think it's worth repeating because when I first saw it, it sort of stuck. Anytime we try to take a text, a part of the scripture out of its own context, we're left with a con. So don't be the type of person who takes certain verses to build your case for something that you want for yourself. That is not rightly dividing the word of truth, but people do it all the time. Paul says to me, no, rightly divide the word of truth. Don't use it to support an agenda. Again, here's a simple one. How do you take the word of God out of context? So how many of you guys know that Psalm 14.1 says there is no God? All right, so, we're wasting our time. So we'll see you guys later. If there's no God, what are we wasting our time doing? And sometimes people will do that. They'll try to like stump you or trick you or trap you.

Don't fall for the bait. Just open the Bible and say, oh, wait, wait, but the rest of the verse says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Ah, okay. Again, this may seem trite or funny, but there are real world examples of how people have done this through the history of Christianity, and I'm gonna show you one. Seven years ago, I went to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., and we could see all these manuscripts and how we got our Bibles. It's the most fascinating thing. If you have a heart for history and archeology and you wanna see the validity of the Bible, go to the Museum of the Bible. It's fascinating. One of the exhibits that I spent the most time at with my wife, Suzanne, was on the bottom floor. There was what is called the Slave Bible. Printed in Britain in the 1800s, it was meant to educate and convert slaves, to tell them that they needed to know Jesus, but we don't necessarily want them to be free, and so almost 50% of that Bible has gone. The book of Exodus about freeing slaves, gone. What Jesus said about freeing the oppressed, gone. The book of Philemon about a slave owner giving freedom to his runaway slave, gone.

And it's sort of jolting to look at a Bible that people edited because their cultural moment forced them to do one of two things. Either I let God's word and the weight of it rest on my behavior, my attitudes, and my actions, and change me, or I change the Bible. And they chose to change the Bible. And we look at that and we're like, what kind of ignorant people are they? But how is that happening today? Think with me. Is your seatbelt buckled? To think that only happened back then, that those people back then just didn't get it, how could they be so naive, is to be naive. And so it was happening. In the early church with Paul and Timothy, it was happening in the 1800s, and it's happening today. And we wanna be thoughtful, how are those things happening today? So just give you maybe an example. We live in a world filled with conspiracy theories and fake news, and often Christians will go down, again, all these little pathways based on what this person said, or what about the pandemic I heard, or what about the election I heard, what about the war I heard, you know, with this agenda, with this I heard. And what does the Bible say about that?

Well, I don't know if you know this or not, but conspiracy theories have been around for a really long time. And 2,700 years ago, Isaiah wrote this about the conspiracy. theories of the day. Do not call everything this people calls a conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy. He is the one you are to fear. He is the one you are to dread." What does Isaiah say? All that stuff you want other Christians to know about because you just read it over here. They got to know. They got to know. It dominates your thoughts and minds. You want to convince people. It's creating contention and argument in your own family, with your friend groups, and it's becoming this huge distraction for the gospel. And Isaiah says, don't call everything conspiracy. Let the weight of God's word rest on you. If you are afraid, or angry, or suspicious, or you divide the world into these groups of people who get your conspiracy and people who don't, whatever that is, then you've disregarded the weight of God's word. God's not worried about whatever this conspiracy may or may not be. He's on the throne. He's in control. We should fear Him and honor Him and live out our lives with this sense of trust in His sovereignty. And so don't get distracted. Don't take the bait. Don't fall into the trap. Keep the main thing, the main thing, because verse 16, the warning, those who indulge in these type of things will grow more and more ungodly. I've never met a person who had their pet agenda that was super divisive within the family of God grow more loving and more kind and more like Jesus, precisely the opposite. Those people don't get it. Come with me. We're the ones who understand the sense of pride and superiority that can happen when people are on your side, rooted likely in a deep insecurity in their own relationship with God. We need to be thoughtful about this and not look back and think about those people. Again, the Bible is a mirror for our soul, and we want to let the weight of His Word fall on us. Are you still buckled? Your seatbelts still buckled? You're still good? Okay, good, good. Those who indulge in this become more and more ungodly. And He names two of the men. I mean, imagine being named in one of Paul's letters, Hymenaeus and Philetus. Hymenaeus was mentioned in Paul's first letter to Timothy as a man that, a leader in the church that Paul had turned over to Satan because he was blaspheming. And now he's saying the resurrection

hasn't taken place. And we don't know exactly what he was denying, whether he denied Jesus' resurrection or he denied the fact that we will be resurrected. But this false doctor in Paul says is spreading like gangrene, like cancer. It's going through the entire church because this is a man of influence who has gotten people on his side, and now he's creating all of this argument and contention and controversy. And the question, I think, for us is, how do we make sure that doesn't happen in a church like ours in 2026? And so one of the things that we want to be committed to as leaders is to help disciple our church to understand how do we weigh different doctrines? How do we understand the essential nature of certain doctrines? Like Paul says in the previous part of this letter, it's about the resurrection of Jesus. It's about who He is and what He does to save people like me and like you. It's not about all these other little petty things. And so as you take our classes, like our Connect class and our Essentials class, you'll begin to see things like this. These sort of rings of concentric circles to say there are certain essential doctrines at the center of who we are. It's this white hot DNA of the gospel and what Christians have believed for 2,000 years. And we want to live this and live it out. The second ring is our covenantal relationship. Here's what it means to be part of this church family. Here's what it means to be in relationship with each other and a commitment to a certain way of being, a certain way of living, so that if you're a leader here, you can't go on some tirade in the parking lot and curse someone out and then go teach a Bible study. It's not going to work like that. No, no, no. You are held accountable for your actions here because your character matters. It's not just how smart you are. It's does your life reflect Jesus? And then this whole other ring what the Bible describes as these non-essential or disputable matters that most Christians spend the most time arguing about. You know, today I can tell you the most honest, you know, evaluation of the different things that Christians argue about today have nothing to do with theology. It's almost all ideology. It's almost all the sway of what we're getting on these phones all the time in whatever echo chamber we're in. And so as you go to these classes and we invite you to come and ask your questions and open your Bible and let Scripture be the reference frame for how do I address this issue? How do I understand this issue? And you'll see a simple picture like this. These are some of the non-essential, disputable doctrines that Christians will disagree on. And honestly, there are agree to disagree issues because the Bible doesn't have a clear statement about these

things. And so as a Christian, I just want to say as a follower of Jesus, keep the main thing, the main thing. because as we agree on the essentials of the Christian faith, we let all the smaller, petty things we disagree on fade away, and the thing that characterizes us most as a church is the way that we love each other, right? So, and this means we wanna create in this church critical minds, not critical spirits. You see, we live in a world that celebrates the critical spirit. It's the one-line tweet that puts someone down, and everyone in the tribe goes, that was amazing. It hasn't convinced anyone, it just puts someone down. But a critical mind says, let me think about this issue, and let me open my Bible, and let me have a convicted response that sounds like a loving response, and let me not fall for the bait, let me represent Jesus. Well, and that's one of the reasons why we're so passionate about raising the next generation, because the temptation for them is to watch what goes on here and go, oh, that's what it means to be a Christian. No, no, this is what it means to be a Christian, and we wanna be rooted in God's word. And so, verse 10, Paul, continue, I'm sorry, verse 19, Paul continues. Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription.

The Lord knows those who are his, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn from wickedness. In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some are for special purposes, and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the master, and prepared to do any good work. People often ask, hey, Doug, is that person a Christian? Hey, how do you know, is this person a Christian? And my honorary father says, hey, that's not my job. I wasn't given that job to decide who's a Christian, who's not, but I can tell you, in the book of 2 Timothy, God's not confused at all. God knows those who are his and those who are not. No one's fooling God, no one's tricking God, even if they trick everybody else, because God sees everything about you and every other person. And so, the idea that God sees in a way that you don't see, that God is right in a way that you're not right, is actually very freeing. It doesn't feel freeing at first, because we always wanna know the right answer, we always wanna be right, but part of understanding how to not fall for the trap is just to have the sense of humility.

You can write that on this simple idea. Consider yielding your right to be right. You don't have to be right about everything. So, we're gonna practice that right now. I'm gonna say something I want you to say after me, ready? I don't know. Some of you haven't said that in a long time. Because as a Christian, you thought, I have to have an answer for everything. We should become familiar with that statement. I don't know. There are certain things that we don't know that only God knows. And check this out. Paul, in this last letter, admits one of his biggest mistakes. At the very end, he says about this young man, Mark, that he'd given up on. This young man, Mark, who he said, leave him, he's too weak, he can't be a leader in the church. It even caused a division between him and his best friend, Barnabas. And they separated because of this. One of the last sentences that Paul ever wrote was, hey, and bring Mark, he's valuable to the ministry. It's like his way to say, I've been wrong for a decade, I misjudged that person. You're gonna misjudge people, and so am I. And so when you say, I don't know, then maybe another thing you'd say is when you're wrong.

Say this, I was wrong. Doesn't just flow from the lips, does it? Everyone say this after me, I was wrong. I was wrong. Let me ask you a question, are you wrong every day? Yes. In something you say, in something you do? What if you said, I was wrong every day? Whoa, okay, too far. No, it's an idea, like I'm, there's a God, and I'm not God. And I'm gonna misjudge things I read and see, I'm gonna say the wrong thing, I'm gonna do the wrong thing, and part of this idea of I wanna repent every day, I'm just gonna yield this thing in my head that says I have to be right about everything, and I'm gonna say, I don't know, and I'm gonna say, I was wrong, and then if you wanna go really big. And this can be hard for some of us. I'm sorry. Two people said it. Great. I'm sorry. 10 people said it, okay. Repeat after me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There we go, okay. So now, what if you said that every day?

How would that cut through some of the controversy and division and conflict in your job? You know, it's very disarming for a person to say, oh man, I'm really sorry. I misjudged you. I said something that wasn't true. I made an assessment with not all the information. I just want, you know, I was wrong, and I'm sorry. Wow. That's not weakness. That's actually a strength that draws people to go, whoa, I wanna know more. How do you have that ability to say that? Because I could never say that in front of all my peers. That's the power of humility. Consider yielding your right to be right. Paul says, God knows those who are his. There's a sovereignty in him that we don't have in ourselves. And in verse 19, he references this line for line quote that comes out of the book of Numbers. The Lord knows those who are his, most scholars say. It's a reference to Numbers chapter 16 and a rebellion led by a man named Korah. Korah was an elder, a leading man in the community. He organized 250 people to rebel against Moses. And here was the way that he positioned his conflict. Why does Moses get to be the leader over all the people? Doesn't God speak to us too? And that sounds really spiritual, and it sounds correct,

but inside of Korah's heart was an attitude of rebellion and pride, and I don't want Moses to be telling me what to do. And God saw all of that. You know, sometimes people can appear very spiritual, but if there's a hidden agenda in them that you can't see, God can see it very clearly. And God is not mocked, and God is not fooled. A man will reap what he sows, and God will be a God of justice. And so we don't see all those things, and we don't know all those things, but we can trust that God does, and God sees right through those things. And then Paul says, the church is a great house. It's the house of the living God. And some of us in God's house are these vessels of honor, gold and silver. Like, think about fine china that's filled with good drink and good food where people are fed and nourished. And some people in God's house are vessels of dishonor. Think of like a garbage can or a toilet. Ooh, and this is a reference that's made, not just here, but in Romans chapter nine. And he says, the difference between the fine china and the garbage can is that the fine china, the person says, I'm gonna cleanse myself from all this junk, and I wanna be a vessel surrendered and useful to God.

God, use me. God, refine me. God, take that thing in me that always wants to be right and fill it with love for other people. I wanna be sanctified, cleansed, set apart for your purpose. But there are people in God's house that are vessels of dishonor. They sow division, they sow discord. Hymenaeus was one, Philetus was one. There are people here that are vessels of dishonor, and sometimes you don't even know it. I was having a conversation a couple weeks ago with a guy, and he was sowing all this discord all over the place and didn't see it. And had a chance to say, hey, when you say this and when you do this, here's the result with this person or that group or this person, that group, and now all this mistrust and suspicion. Oh, I didn't mean to do that. Oh, perfect, you didn't mean it, that's great. Then you can repent and you can go talk to those people and you can recharacterize what you said and how you said it, and it's a chance to cleanse yourself. And think about, yeah, I did say that, and I can see how that would create mistrust and suspicion. And if that's you, you have a chance to repent, a chance to not add to contention or deception or division or to feel outrage or a sense of spiritual superiority that's us against them, and you can be a vessel cleansed and prepared for the master for every good work.

And then Paul closes this section with a lot of one-word imperatives. Again, flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness and faith and love and peace along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart and don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but 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 the knowledge of the truth, and they will come to their senses. an escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. Five or six times in this very short run, don't fall into the trap, don't quarrel, don't argue, don't be involved in contention, don't get resentful, don't descend to that level of someone's accusation or acrimony, but always be kind, always be gentle, think like Jesus. And this last phrase, consider your tone. The way you speak matters, because if you're a Christian, you represent Jesus. And I wanna say that again. The way you speak matters, because you're not just speaking for yourself, you're speaking for Jesus. And so sometimes we can get confused,

and we just say the thing that's the truth. But we don't say it in a way that's filled with the love of Jesus. We just say it. You need to repent, you need to change. Turn or burn. And it might be true, but it's disconnected from the love that motivates that conversation. And so Paul's saying to Timothy, flee youthful lust, pride that has a certain type of tone, or overconfidence in, I'm right and you're wrong, and I want this to be an acknowledgement that I'm right and you're wrong. Sometimes it's not at all about God's word, it's about us when we feel good about ourselves, to be on the winning side, to mask that insecurity that's inside of us. But that doesn't mean we shy away from the truth. No. Often when we're called to confront someone who's living a life away from the commands of God, we have to say the hard thing. Like, hey, I know you've been a Christian for a couple of years, and I know right now you're living with your girlfriend and you're not married, and here's what the Bible says about that. So I wanna encourage you to repent, to move out, to go through some premarital counseling so you can get married in a way

that honors the covenant nature of marriage and honors God and lives out the testimony that God has called us to. And sometimes with that specific charge to someone within entreating them to repent, you'll get a response back that sounds something like this. Doug, the Bible says, do not judge or you too will be judged. Don't judge, you'll be judged. What is that? That's taking a verse of the Bible to justify your sinful behavior, to avoid the need to repent. And so as Christians, we can sometimes get stuck with that, like, oh man, did I judge him? Listen, did Jesus tell people in his day that they were living apart from God, needed to change and repent? Yes, did Jesus judge the behavior and thoughts of other people when he was on earth? The answer is yes. You see, the best way to interpret the Scripture is to keep on reading. So for that person, hey, let's open up that verse, let's read it together. Do not judge or you too will be judged. Let's look at the next verse. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. This isn't saying we never tell someone they need to change.

It says we don't hold other people to a standard that we're not gonna live up to ourselves. And so this doesn't mean we shy away, but it also doesn't mean we say to the guy that's living in a lifestyle that's sexually immoral in some way, hey, you're living this immoral lifestyle. We have our private porn issue that we haven't repented of. Let's not be that person. Because by that same measure, we will also be judged. And so Jesus says, so before you take the speck out of your brother's eye, get the big plank out of your own eye, sit in the presence of God. And we get to do this today in communion. God, if there's anything in me, before I tell anyone else, let me flee unrighteousness in my own body, in my own mind, in my own heart, before I ever approach someone else. And this is what Paul says to Timothy. You have to have these difficult conversations, but you wanna have them with the right heart and in the right tone. So pursue righteousness, love, faith, and peace. How do you live in peace when there's controversy all around you? Here's what Paul says. If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. There's a lot of caveats here.

If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, it takes two. Live at peace with all people, people in your house. people in your workplace, all those people out there. Now, when controversy arises, there's something to know. When people approach you, you just want to drag him down into debate. Well, George Bernard Shaw said it this way, never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it. Don't fall for the trap. Some people want to get you to lose your temper. Some people want to drag you into this dispute that lasts hours and hours and hours of your time and drains you of energy and love. Do not fall for that trap. Do not take the bait. But verse 24, be kind to everyone. Because Jesus said, my Father is kind even to the wicked and the ungrateful. So be kind to wicked people. Be kind to ungrateful people. And Jesus said, you will be like your Father in heaven. And able to teach, in verse 25, gently instructing and hope because you want the best for other people and not resentful, not impatient or annoyed. What's wrong with that person? No, people can tell you love them with your expression, your countenance, your face, the way your eyes look. If your eyes show contempt or disgust for that person,

people can see that a mile away. But if your eyes show love and compassion, I want this for you, we want the best for you. Here's what Jesus can do for you. In the hope they will repent and escape the trap of the devil. People can tell in your tone and your countenance whether you really care or not. And one of the saddest realities of our cultural moment is that we're being taught that we can express conviction of God's word without the kind character of Christ. And these two things are being disconnected. That tone doesn't really matter, that it's not about love, it's just about the truth. And Jesus never connected his message from his character. In fact, the only autobiographical statement Jesus ever made about himself, he says, you know, I am gentle and humble in heart. Those are the only two words Jesus used to describe himself, the character of his heart. I am gentle and humble in heart now. I know some people are thinking, but wait a second, Jesus threw over tables, he made whips, he called people vipers and snakes. So, like, I'm not really tracking with you here. Okay, that's great, you're thinking, that's good, critical mind. So, now, whose tables did Jesus overthrow? Was it the prostitutes and the tax collectors, or was it the people who were religiously self-righteous

who thought they were superior and looked down on people? The most scathing indictments that Jesus ever shared from his mouth, you can read Matthew chapter 23, it's an entire chapter of scathing indictments, not to the sinners who were so pagan and broken, but to the people who looked good, who had it all together, who knew all the Bible verses, but inside, didn't love the people around them, had disconnected their message from the love of God. And so, as Christians, we have to be thoughtful as we take time and communicate when we examine our heart. Is there a lack of love for any person in my life, or any group of people in my life, and what's driving, what's feeding them? I wanna be a person who's kind to everyone, able to teach, gently instruct, in the hope they can come to know Jesus. Colossians four, let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. And the question for us is, is that true of me? Are my words seasoned with salt and with grace, expressing conviction, this is the truth, with a sense of kindness and love with everyone I talk to? And one of the greatest challenges in the moment that we live in, the cultural moment we live in, is this. It's the way we can sort of disconnect our own selves from what we write and post online. It's like we put it in this little chatter, we do this, and it feels like it's not connected to us.

And this week I was, or a couple weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast of a young man I'll call Ricky, and he was asking, how do I deal with my Uncle Billy? Because my Uncle Billy's that guy at every Thanksgiving dinner, and every moment we're together, and the things he posts online, and it's just, it's hurting everyone around him, and he doesn't even know it. So he was encouraged to write this letter to his Uncle Billy. Uncle Billy. You think that you're following the way of Jesus, that you're defending the faith, that you're standing up for righteousness, but in the way that you do it, with the words that you use and the spirit that you communicate, you are not inhabited by the spirit that Jesus talked about. I'm not talking about expressing deep convictions and engaging on important issues with courage and clarity, but Uncle Billy, you have become addicted to outrage. Your habits of viewing and scrolling are feeding the toxicity that is in you, and you don't even notice. You rant about people you disagree with, you distort their positions to make them sound worse. You desire to believe bad things about people that you disagree with, and when you hear these bad things,

you spread them and exaggerate them. You don't just disagree with positions, you impugn motives on people you don't even know. The Bible says that love is kind, but Uncle Billy, you are not kind. The Bible says love does not dishonor others, but you do it with glee. You mock, you ridicule, you belittle, you condemn, and you are hurting members of your own family and friends. People don't want to be around you, and worst of all, you are discrediting the gospel. Jesus said, love your enemy, that you might be children of your heavenly father, but you despise your enemy. You act as if you ever listened to your enemy, that the world would collapse, but Uncle Billy, you have so much more to offer the world than anger. All of us know an Uncle Billy, and maybe one of the questions you have is, hey, hey, Doug, can I have that? I want to send it to my Uncle Billy. That's not the most important question. You know what the most important question is? Am I Uncle Billy? Is there an Uncle Billy in me? Because there's a little Uncle Billy in all of us, that person that we're commanded to love and forgive that we haven't, that we can't, that group of people that gets under our skin because of the positions they hold,

the things they believe, the way they live, and the gospel calls us to love them in Jesus' name, to love them with His love, not to argue with them or put them down or shame them or get our tribe to clap when we win the argument with them. Listen, online rants don't change anyone's mind. They just fuel self-righteousness and superiority, and that brings us as Christians to this communion table. You see Paul saying to Timothy, to Timothy, hey, you're in a church and a world that's filled with controversy and arguments and conflict and strife, and the more people get involved in that, the more ungodly they become, and there's a way to realign, and it's to remember the gospel, that Jesus came for us when we were a mess, and Jesus calls us to go after people in their mess, to love deeply, to be characterized by our love and kindness for people, to speak the truth into those situations, and so we're gonna take a moment and posture our heart to receive communion. If you came here today and you did not receive your communion elements, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand. We'll provide them for you, and I wanna say to those people here who are not Christians, you've not given your life to Jesus,

this is not something for you to take. This is not just a religious routine where you sort of check a box and say, okay, I'm good with God. By taking this bread and taking this cup, you're saying, I've given my life to Jesus in surrender. I've repented of my sins. I've invited his presence to come into my life, and I've decided to make him the leader of my life, and so if you haven't done that, I just wanna say this, that God is only a prayer away, that if today you wanna repent of your sins, that you acknowledge there's a lot going on inside, acknowledge that there's that feeling of separation from God and distance from God, and you need forgiveness. You can, in your seat right now, just pray, God, I need you in my life. Forgive my sins, come into my life. I wanna repent, change the way I think, and live in a completely new way. I wanna live for you. I wanna be a vessel of honor, clean and cleansed for your purposes. If you prayed that prayer, then you can join us in communion as this has become real for you. And so what we're gonna do, we're just gonna take some time to reflect, just 60 seconds, and I want you to scroll through your mind,

like is there something in me that needs to change? I need to repent. I need to say, God, I was wrong. I'm sorry, forgive me. Because he wants to cleanse you. In a moment, in an instant, he can cleanse you as you confess your sin. Is there a person that I need to forgive, a group of people that I look down on? God, give me your love for them in this moment. of cleaning house, He can cleanse us to be more like Him. And as you go through that process, and God brings conviction, well then we're gonna sing a few songs over you, and it'll be just our way to respond, and then we'll come back, and we'll take the bread and the cup together. So let's take that time now and examine our hearts in the presence of God. Come on. Oh, take the bread of life, broken for all my sin. Your body crucified to make me whole again. I will recall the cup poured out in sacrifice to drink the sinner's end for your new covenant. Hallelujah, I'll live my life in remembrance. Hallelujah, your promise I won't forget. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

And all precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. I know some of you feel the weight of a world that's a mess. And some of you, in your own life, like, I'm a mess. And the beautiful thing about this moment is Jesus entered a world that was a mess. And in the moment that he celebrated the first communion, well, everything was a mess. The disciples were doubting and fearful and betraying and denying. And the religious leaders were lying and deceiving. And the Roman Empire was doing what it did, using sheer power to do whatever it wanted. And he knew, as an innocent man, he would be crucified and killed in a brutal way, in one of the most horrific moments in human history. And it was in that moment he stepped up at a table and he said, This is my body, and it's given. For you, let's eat together and remember our Savior's sacrifice. In that same way, he took the cup. He knew what was coming. He knew he would shed his blood for our sins so that we could experience forgiveness. And so he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. It's given for you every time you drink it. Remember me. Let's remember our Savior Jesus together. Church, let's stand together. Everyone take a deep breath. You know, it's been said that the world drinks to forget, but Christians, we drink to remember. We remember who Jesus is. We remember the way that he loved us. So this week as you leave, remember, don't take the bait. Don't fall into the trap. Let's be gentle and humble in heart. Let's speak the truth in love because we know a trap is waiting in the parking lot, at your job, in your family. Don't fall into the trap. Love like Jesus and watch him use your life as a vessel of honor in the week to come. Can we give him praise for who he is and what he's done? If you need a prayer for any reason at all, the prayer counselors are here. If you've made that decision to follow Jesus, we would love to talk to you. And we'd love to see you on Tuesday night for prayer. Go into the lobby, say hi to someone you don't know, and God bless you. We'll see you soon.