1 Timothy 1:18-19 18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.
It is amazing how some people will believe just about anything they hear on the news. It is as if “news” bypassed the rational brain and went straight to the feet and hands, or maybe directly to the mouth. I think as a culture we have lost the ability to discover truth. We no longer understand logic and its application.
What this means in everyday life is enormous. We see it in the sacred reliance on a mask to save us from COVID. But all you have to do is look at the masks being worn, the thin pieces of cloth with holes and gaps much larger than a virus, and you would know that masks as they are being worn now won’t prevent anything. It is political theater!
Now for those of you who haven’t deleted this email after the last paragraph and are still reading, I have some news for you. There is hope. There are solid truths upon which you can build your life, even in this time of uncertainty.
Paul knew this when he wrote this letter to his young protege. Paul had commanded Timothy to confront false teachers, those who were spreading lies about the Gospel. They were changing the message of the Gospel by shifting from the central truth about Jesus to other things.
These false teachers were adding elements to the Gospel that invalidated their own teaching. These added elements just drew people away from the central truths of the Gospel. People would get involved in these extra elements and drift away from the Truth.
Paul reinforces Timothy’s work by reminding him of the prophecies about him that were spoken in the past. The LORD had spoken about Timothy’s role and ministry. Timothy had responded to the direct word, and had carried out his mission with fidelity.
Paul wants Timothy to remember. Remembering has kept him moving in the right direction without being sidetracked.
And it is this that worries me most about the Western Church; we are getting sidetracked. We are focusing on everything except our central mission, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We have solutions that drift away from the Gospel. We lose focus. We are too driven by shiny objects, successful programs, the latest techniques.
But the Gospel is about the reality of Jesus and what He did, and then the walking out of that faith in daily life. The essentials of the faith have not changed. But is seems that we are no longer focusing on the essentials, thus we see the shipwreck of so many people’s faith.
That is because their faith wasn’t anchored in Jesus, but in programs and techniques. Jesus is the central issue of the Gospel, not racial reconciliation, economic justice, or LGBT recognition and rights. If we get it right with Jesus, these other things will find their proper place. But if we neglect the centrality of Jesus, we are doomed to sinking just off shore.
The Arnold Journey 