Useable. 2 Timothy 2:20-26 Psalm 51:1-12 Adapted from: Useful To The Master Series Contributed by Steve Shepherd @SermonCentral.Com

Audrey Mieir wrote the song, "To Be Used of God": I want the world to know the One who loves them so. It's a longing never yet satisfied. Like a flame burning deep inside. To be used of God, to sing, to speak, to pray; to be used of God to show someone the way. I long so much to feel the touch of His consuming fire; to be used of God is my desire."

Is that your desire today?

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul is continuing to encourage to preach the gospel, like a good soldier for Christ Jesus to endure hardship and not get entangled worldly affairs; especially that he not get caught up in religious myths, speculative genealogies, and various other false teachings being spread by false teachers which rather than benefiting believers were actually leading them away from God.

Paul urges Timothy as he urges us to do our best to become God’s approved worker – one who rightly interprets, rightly teaches the scriptures and thus leads believers to live a life of “love which comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5)

When suddenly Paul shifts away from his instructions about teaching right, to urge that Timothy also be living right. Urging him to pursue personal attributes of righteousness, faith, love, peace, and a pure heart which would make him not only a good teacher but also “useable,” a tool of honor in God’s hands, Paul has him ponder a parable about all the various noble and ignoble utensils that might be found in a large household.

The lesson here is simple and straightforward, So, if we pay attention to it now and work diligently on its application this week, it could have be life changing experience for us. The Bible is not mysterious or hard to understand; some of its simplest lessons are the most profound – and the most difficult for us to follow. So let us together give due diligence to this text so we too can learn how to become instruments of honor in God’s hands; useable. First there is the parable.

In a large house there are utensils

not only of gold and silver

but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some for ordinary Timothy 2:20 1

Applying this metaphor to the church, you should quickly realize that the only “utensils” in God’s house are actually people. Gold and silver being those people who are dedicated and useful to [God], ready for every good work (vs.22). Wood and clay being those people who can, occasionally, if needed, accomplish some singular task for God but little more. According to the need, a toilet bowl plunger may be the right and only tool for a particular job; still you would probably not hold it up for your guests to admire.

The moral of this story is, that while God can find some occasional use for every person, every tool at his disposal – even the ignoble kind – He would rather use those people, who desire a more honorable relationship with Him. So our choice is between being one of those people whom God is proud for the world to see, ready for every good work, or being one of those who, because of their compromised life, spend most of the time in His closet.

It stands to reason that those people who do not cleanse themselves from past sins, who have not sought righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with …. a pure heart (vs. 23)… they will still ultimately fulfill God’s purpose for their life – because if God has a specific will for you in His salvific plan, that will not be thwarted – but they are not going to end up in God’s Hall of Fame.

To my thinking such persons would be like Samson or Judas; both having begun with great potential, but both being self-deluded as to their personal relationship with God, both still fulfilling God’s predestined plan, but both otherwise UNUSABLE.

Which is what King David feared more than anything: that because of his sins against Bathsheba and Uriah, God might now find him unusable. You know the story. David was a “man after God’s own heart.” From his earliest age he sought to honor God with his life. He became king, he brought peace to , he conquered all their enemies, Jerusalem gained fame and wealth as the nations paid homage to King David. He was on the top of the mountain the darling of the nation.

Then one Spring, for whatever reason, when his army went out to fight Israel’s enemies, David remained behind (story: 2 Samuel 11-12). This resulted in him seeing, lusting after, and then committing adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah one of his soldiers off fighting in the war. “Well, no one saw,” David thought, “no harm no foul.” But then Bathsheba becomes pregnant and when David’s scheme to get Uriah to think that hiss wife is carrying his own child fails, he next has Uriah intentionally killed in battle. David then marries Bathsheba – just a good king, taking care of an honorable war widow – and continues acting as if nothing has gone wrong. He thought he had done a pretty good job of damage control, until the prophet Nathan – as directed by

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God – comes to tell David the whole story of his sin, and that there would be consequences.

Have mercy on me, O God …

Do not cast me away

from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Psalm 51

This is the history behind David’s prayer – Psalm 51 – a portion of which we read this morning. When confronted with his sin, David came clean, he confessed, repented and he begged God’s forgiveness.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love … For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

David, the man after God’s own heart, feared that his sin had now made him unuseable. God heard that prayer and He forgave David. God could still use him. David continued as king. But there were consequences. For the rest of his life, David’s throne was no longer secure, there were challengers from within and without his own family. The sins David had committed in secret, his own children repeated in full public view; rape, murder, rebellion. Bathsheba lost the baby and David lost two sons … all because he thought he could get away with a little private sin. Yet David was able, with much struggle, to keep his kingdom into his old age, and Bethsheba’s next child was a boy named Solomon. So even amidst the consequences of our sin, having confessed and come clean, God gives us reasons to hope.

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Thus Paul reminds Timothy of the need to “cleanse ourselves” of previous sin, to flee from present passions, and instead to pursue righteousness. Which are the next three points we will look at --- as we strive to be useable by God.

All who cleanse themselves … will become special utensils .. useful to [God], ready for every good work. Vs. 21

All who cleanse themselves of the things I have mentioned will become special utensils, dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work (vs 21). Becoming useful to God is the best way and the most important way to contribute to society. I’m convinced that the dedicated Christian does the most good in this world!

1. To be useable: WE MUST FIRST BE CLEANSED FROM SIN

Isabella of Spain bragged that she had had only two baths in her life--one when she was born, and the other when she married Ferdinand. They gave her a third when she died.

If this is true, while I am sure that both the layers and changes of clothing along with a lot of perfume helped, still a person wouldn’t have wanted to be around her!

Most people don’t want to be around someone who stinks to high heaven! But there is a worse kind of stink than body odor. It’s the stink of sin! And it can get pretty smelly! Of course, it may be that only God can see it and smell it. But it’s apparently, very offensive to Him! So offensive, in fact, that He won’t trust that person with His wealth, His treasures, and His work!

In 1984, Ted Haggard founded New Life Church in his Colorado Springs basement. By the year 2003, New Life was one of those 10,000 member mega churches with a sprawling campus and nationally televised worship services. As president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted was at the top of the Evangelical mountain sharing space such rarified space with our own Jerry Falwell, , and few others.

But in 2006, Haggard was accused of and eventually confessed that for several years having paid a prostitute for sex and for using crystal meth. He stepped down from his 32 year pastorate at New Life Church and went silent for 3 ½ years.

In 2010, Haggard and his wife Gale came back into public view, announcing that they were going to plant another church but that it wouldn’t be a mega church like New Life. 4

Haggard said he didn’t know how many people would attend his new church, but he said the ordeal he and his wife, Gayle, had gone through has prepared them to help others. Calling himself a repentant sinner and a broken man, Haggard said "I have an incredible heart for broken people … I think we’re qualified to hold people’s hands" in times of trouble.”

As of 2019, St James Church, the new church Ted & Gayle founded together, is still functioning, with one Sunday worship service and not so huge a church campus. Whether God is still using Ted Haggard to preach His gospel and His Word? That’s up to God and it’s also dependent on whether Ted Haggard is truly clean or not.

All who cleanse themselves…will become … useful to [God],

Yes, God can use forgiven sinners, because other than His Son, we are the only type He has to work with; and apparently even formerly fallen great men and women of God who have repented of their sin and turned their life around can still be useable; though perhaps not in the capacity that they were once used before (like David, like Ted Haggard, like Chuck Colson, etc. ).

God can use everyone some way, but apparently we will only become special, honorable, ready for every good work if we are truly clean.

How do we get there? We do what God says to get clean and stay clean.  We confess our sinfulness and ask for cleansing. When was the last time you honestly confessed your sin to God and asked for forgiveness and cleansing. Lord forgive me a sinner and cleanse me from my sin. (Pause)  We repent. We turn away from all sins as much as possible and especially those that formerly has such a strong hold on our lives (Paul says “shun,” run away from those sins that call strongly to you).  We continue to walk with Him as best we can. We pursue righteousness. We stay in His presence as much as possible in order to stay clean and used by Him. And this goes for me as well as thee!

Which brings us to our second point: 2. To be useable: God Expects Those Who Are His to Live Right, to turn away from wickedness, to shun youthful passions.

"Let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness." 2 Timothy 2:19b

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“Calling on the name of the Lord” is professing to have received Christ as Lord and Savior. Profession of Christ as Lord then shows itself to be genuine in our life as we are changed by our growth in faith through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. If you belong to God's family you ought to act like you belong to God's family.

And if we belong to God’s family then we are to the best of our ability to avoid sin, especially those sins to which we are most susceptible. According to a wise saying: "If you don't want fleas don't lay with the dogs. If you don't want to smell like a pig, don't play in the pigpen." This is how AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) works and NA works – those people know that they have a lifelong addiction problem with alcohol, with drugs, from which they will never be completely cured and the best way they can now stay clean is by staying completely away. That’s why some people go to AA meetings 2-3 times a week; when they feel the urge to head to the bar, they head to an AA meeting instead.

3. It is easier to avoid temptation, than it is to resist it, that is why Paul told Timothy to shun, to run away from youthful passions. But you can’t just run away from something without running towards another, that is why to be useable we must also pursue righteousness.

pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart vs. 22

We must run from the bad stuff in life and run to the good stuff, especially, the Lord and the righteousness that can only be found in Him.

We must pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. Though such qualities come from the Lord alone. So how do we do this? We pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace by pursuing Him who produces these in us.

We study God’s Word. We think about it. We absorb it, memorize it, and live by it as best we can. We spend much time in prayer, talking to the Lord. We help and are helped by others believers to grow in our faith. We serve as He served. We live in God’s presence more than ever. That’s the path to right living and being used by God.

So to be useable by God, we must first get clean – get forgiven. Then run from sin, run towards righteousness, 6 and here’s one final point: WE MUST AVOID STUPIDITY

Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. Vs.23

I don’t like foolish and stupid arguments. It is at such times that I become my least nice, least patient. Recreational arguing for argument’s sake may be appropriate for family game night, but it is no way to pursue holiness.

A man was driving down a local street one day and approached a stop sign. After glancing for traffic, he barely slowed down before rolling right through the stop sign. But as luck would have it a policeman was also watching that intersection and had him pulled over within two blocks.

The officer started his usual polite drill: "License, registration and proof of insurance please." But the driver was in a combative mood: "Before I give it to you, tell me what the heck you stopped me for, man."

Watch your tone sir; you ran the stop sign back there!!" replies the officer.

But I slowed down, what the heck is the difference!?!" snapped the driver.

At which point the officer pulled out his night stick and began smashing it loudly on the hood of the man’s car.

Said the Policeman, over the noise: "Now, do you want me to just slow down or stop!!!?”

One thing is sure, you don’t want to argue with a police officer. Generally, that just makes the situation worse instead of better.

But isn’t this true for most arguments? No one ever really wins in an argument and especially, when it comes to stupid arguments. They only make things worse for both parties.

God’s people need to avoid arguing if at all possible. It does little good in this world and God can’t use us if we’re continually argumentative.

That’s why Paul concluded with this advice:

the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness.7 (vs. 24-25). God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth

A horse can’t pull while kicking. This fact we merely mention. And he can’t kick while pulling, Which is our chief contention.

Let’s imitate the good old horse And lead a life that’s fitt