1 Timothy 1:1-11

Rachel Workman: ⁵ The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. ⁶ But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions. ⁷ They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don’t know what they are talking about, even though they speak so confidently. Wow have we not seen this in our previous readings. 

⁸ We know that the law is good when used correctly. ⁹ For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. ¹⁰ The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders,^[c] liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching ¹¹ that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. My heart is breaking for those who don't understand what these words mean. Although it's plain English there are those who chose to ignore them. People who claim to know Christ. You can not commit these sins when Christ is in you. Not and feel good about it. So it tells me that Christ is not in them. That is sad. Sad for them and sad for their family. Today more people are choosing homosexuality than ever before. We can turn our backs on it and ignore it if we choose or we can take a different approach and pray for them. They live for the world and what feels good to them. And that applies to every sin listed there. Just look at the news and you'll see something about human trafficking. To me that is the worse kind of evil. I'm sure it's even worse in God's eyes. I shutter to think of the hell that awaits them.

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Krista Cook:  Good stuff!  These words are just as applicable to us today.  If we will stick to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - couldn't more souls be saved instead of confused?

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John Burnett:

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope,

² To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ As I urged you ^[a]upon my departure for Macedonia, ^[b]remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,  Strange doctrines have been a problem for the church since the beginning.  It is so important to know the true gospel and to not attach anything to it. ⁴ nor to ^[c]pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering ^[d]the administration of God which is by faith. ⁵ But the goal of our ^[e]instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  This is extremely hard to do because we are all self-righteous and the first thing out of someone’s mouth now days is, that sure is self-righteous of you.  People are often blinded by their own self-righteousness and can’t see that we are instructing them out of love.  ⁶ For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, ⁷ wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

⁸ But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, ⁹ realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers ^10 [f]and ^[g]immoral men ^[h]and homosexuals ^[i]and kidnappers ^[j]and liars ^[k]and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, ¹¹ according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

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Mike Grimm:  ³ When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth. ⁴ Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God. ⁵ The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. ⁶ But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions. ⁷ They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don’t know what they are talking about, even though they speak so confidently. A preacher once said that “If we spent as much time actually praying as we do talking about praying, we would be amazed what we would see God do in our midst.” He’s probably right, but I want to be careful when talking about prayer and make sure you know that prayer does not change God or get him to change his mind. Prayer does not tell God what he should do, he knows what he should do. Nor should prayer be the tool by which we ask God to validate the decisions we have made and the visions we have that we have developed without his input. Prayer is where we ask God to pour out his grace and his mercy to enable us to do what he has said he wants to do and where we ask him to accomplish what he has promised to do and what he has said he will accomplish. It’s very important to remember to do the work of the ministry through prayer.

⁸ We know that the law is good when used correctly. ⁹ For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. Interesting, I guess that I never thought about this before; that if we lived our lives the way we are supposed to, there would be no need for laws. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. ¹⁰ The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching ¹¹ that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. If you are loving God and loving your neighbor, then you're not condemned by the Law. However, if you are lawless and rebellious, the Law will condemn you.