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Watch Your Life and Doctrine 1 Timothy 4:1-16 the Opening Verses About Asceticism

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Watch Your Life and Doctrine 1 Timothy 4:1-16 the Opening Verses About Asceticism Watch Your Life and Doctrine 1 Timothy 4:1-16 The opening verses about asceticism (abstaining from God-given pleasures for religious purposes) in this text made me think of the Amish people. The Amish are known for their extreme separation from the modern world.... The Amish have a tradition called rumspringa, which literally means, “running around.” When an Amish youth turns 16, they are given the freedom and encouragement to go out and investigate all of the forbidden pleasures of the modern world. Here’s how Josh Harris describes rumspringa: It’s a season of doing anything and everything you want with zero rules. During this time—which can last from a few months to several years—all the restrictions of the Amish church are lifted. Teens are free to shop at malls, have sex, wear makeup, play video games, do drugs, use cell phones, dress however they want, and buy and drive cars. But what they seem to enjoy most during rumspringa is gathering at someone’s barn, blasting music, and then drinking themselves into the ground.1 I was shocked when I first heard about this tradition. But I was even more shocked when I learned that 80- 90% of Amish teens return to the Amish church and life after rumspringa.2 Three observations from this story (not a statement about all Amish people) and the biblical text to set up our study. • A life of self-denial and separation can't change the human heart. Only the Gospel does that (Read Col 2:20-23). You might cage the animal of your passions up for a little while, but your heart still wants rumspringa. You can live without cable, a cell phone, or indoor plumbing but that won't make you a Christian. We don't believe in justification by indoor plumbing. • If you are not a Christian, maybe this is a new experience for you. Maybe this is a painful experience for you -- sitting with all these "happy clappy" Christians, but we are glad you're here and want you to know that there are three ways to live, 1 Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters (Colorado Springs, CO: Multonomah, 2010), p. 2. I'm indebted to Josh Wredberg for passing along this illustration. 2 Ibid., p. 3. not two. You can be irreligious, religious, or you can be a new creation. We aren't calling you to religion -- keeping a list of rules, or irreligion, but to Jesus. There's a third way: not going to a temple, saying an incantation, making a sacrifice. It's about Jesus. • A life of asceticism fosters self-righteousness, and lack of assurance and joylessness. None of which are products of heart transformation. • We really need to study the Bible to help us grasp how we should relate to things like food and drink, sex and marriage. People are really confused about these things. One of my favorite phrases is: “Theology leads to biography.” “Your beliefs drive your behavior.” In this passage, we see two competing sets of beliefs, two sets of teachers, and consequently, two different ways to live. Paul concluded chapter 3 saying that the truth is “the pillar and buttress of truth.” Then he stated the central truth the church confesses, namely, the Gospel. Now, Paul opens up chapter 4 by saying that the false teachers deny the truth, and reject the church’s confession.3 Some people in Ephesus were “departing from the faith” (1a) and replacing it with asceticism. The word for “depart” is the word from which we get the word “apostatize.” This is a big deal. Paul says this was predicted by the Spirit in “The last times” – a reference either to something the Spirit showed him (Acts 20:29), or the general teaching of passages like Mark 13:22. The “last days” refer to the days between the ascension and return of Jesus (cf., 2 Tim 3:1). Others were questioning Timothy’s teaching because of his youthfulness. They may not have abandoned the faith, but some were probably considering it, or not taking the young guy seriously. This same thing happens today. The concluding exhortation summarizes the application for Timothy and us: “Watch our life and doctrine closely.” Why? “Because you will save yourself and your hearers.” What you believe, really 3 For more on this text see Christ-Centered Exposition commentary, and chapter 10 of Faithful Preaching matters! How should we watch our life and doctrine closely? THREE EXHORTATIONS #1: REJECT FALSE DOCTRINE (1-5) The problem mentioned here is asceticism, that is, abstaining from various pleasures for some religious goal (contrasted to hedonism, “the pursuit of pleasure,” as illustrated in 2 Timothy 3:1-9). While the Christian is called to abstain from sin, they aren’t called to live as ascetics, who abstain from gifts of God. We're called to rejoice in the goodness of the Creator and his gifts. 1. Asceticism: The Problem (1-3). Here’s the fundamental problem: Ascetics deny God’s good gifts, and they undercut the sufficiency of Christ. The overwhelming attitude of such an approach to religion is self-righteousness. Ascetics are on their own self-salvation project. • Ascetics see everything in creation negatively. And they see Christ as insufficient – they need to somehow add to Jesus’ work through self- denial. • We can’t add to Jesus’ work. And we view creation positively (though we admit it has been affected by the fall. • Spirituality is not kill-joy; it involves true joy. It involves true joy because God is good, and he cares for his creation, and we rejoice in Him; and it involves great joy because Jesus has paid it all. 2. Asceticism: The Origin (1-3). Where does it come from? It has a demonic origin, and gets spread through human wickedness. a. Diabolical in Nature It sounds like the garden, “What’s so bad about self-denial?” “Did God really say this about food and marriage?” • False teachers are under the influence of the devil. Satan is a liar, and a deceiver, and that’s what false teachers do: lie and deceive. • Why is it that intelligent people can join a cult? New Age paganism, Scientology, or Mormonism? It’s not simply the human logic of the teacher. Something more is happening. Satan is a master. Paul told the Galatians they were “bewitched.” • People say, “It feels so good” in certain cults. Satan can make things feel good. Or, “these people are so moral.” That was going on in Ephesus. Satan can use morality. • What would happen if Satan took over a city? (Horton) b. Human instrumentality. Satan uses people. • Look at this phrase: “Hypocritical liars.” Hypocrisy is deliberate pretense. Lying is a deliberate falsehood (Stott, 111). So here is what Paul is saying: They deliberately deceive people, and don’t believe what they are teaching. • How different this is from true Christian teaching. It’s not characterized by hypocritical lying, but authentic truth-telling. • Walter Peyton: Wheaties. "Make sure you’re buying what you’re selling" (Lorits) • Notice this next phrase: “Seared Conscious.” They have no feeling or guilt. Their conscious has been seared with “a hot iron” (NIV). The word “Kausteriazo” only appears here in the NT. It was used for the branding of cattle and slaves. The false teachers were branded by their owner, Satan, and they had no moral feeling left. • Remember Paul said that he handed over Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan. Why? He owned them; they had shipwrecked their faith. 3. Asceticism: The Particulars (1-3). What exactly where they telling people to abstain from? Two basic appetites: hunger and sex. Food and marriage. • The false teachers thought that you were more holy if you were celibate. • What about food? • They may have viewed the Mosaic Law wrongly, calling some food unclean, despite the fact that the Lord told Peter that such a view is unwarranted (Acts 10; cf., Mark 7:21). • Or they could have simply believed that all passions are evil. “The body is a nasty thing” they say. Since you can’t go without food completely, they avoid meat. • So this is the plan for holiness: say no to marriage and meat. No thanks. • This teaching could have also been the result of what we read in 2 Timothy 2:18. Some were teaching that we are already in the resurrected age. We have returned to Eden, and so we shouldn’t eat meat; and since there is no marriage in heaven, then we shouldn’t marry. • People have adopted ascetic lifestyles throughout history, calling it superior virtue: • Qumran community. “rejected pleasures as evil” and “neglected marriage” (Josephus) • Greek Dualism. The Gnostics despised the material creation. • Church Fathers. All sorts of examples. Tertullian regarded virginity is superior to marriage. Some castrated themselves. Some thought sex was only for procreation not pleasure in marriage. Puritans to the rescue! • Most believed this belief dominated Ephesus, more than Paul’s teaching. • While singleness is an option, Paul says that it’s not the general plan. While vegetarianism is an option; it isn’t superior. 4. Asceticism: The Application (4-5) a. Recognize it and reject it. • Don’t trade complete standing in Christ, and the recognition of God’s good gifts for asceticism • Why do people go for it? • Self-salvation plan – default mode of the heart. We want to earn merit before God by making rules. • Religious people often have a tendency to be negative toward material things. • Grace is hard to believe.
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