{"id":4688,"date":"2024-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/october-4\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T07:54:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T12:54:54","slug":"october-4","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/reading-plan\/october-4\/","title":{"rendered":"October 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insight from 1 Timothy 1:<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, Paul is dealing with a church in trouble. Trouble, of course, comes in many shapes and sizes. The type Paul found himself consistently dealing with, and perhaps the most dangerous type there is, was brought by false teachers. This is particularly dangerous because it can set in motion generations of false teaching within the church and ultimately results in the collapse of the local church. Paul had already written letters to the Galatians and the Colossians regarding this very issue. These churches had been overrun by false teachers, whose false doctrines were confusing and weakening the saints.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ephesus, which had once been a healthy church, was now in a similar situation. Immature leadership in the church only exacerbated the problem. The church simply had no defense against the false teachers \u2013 some of whom had come from outside the church, and some who had risen from within.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul, however, was not defenseless. He couldn\u2019t go to Ephesus and deal with the situation in person. But, as he did in other cases, he sent a trusted helper to deal with the problem. In this case, he sent Timothy. But that is not all he sent. He also sent a letter to Timothy containing detailed instructions about how to deal with the situation in Ephesus. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Kelby, <\/span>The Household of God: A Study of 1 Timothy<\/span><\/i>, 26.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insight from 1 Timothy 1:<\/span><\/p>\n

Love is always the necessary proof that we have encountered God. The whole law is fulfilled in the command to love (Rom 13:8\u201310; Gal 5:14; cf. Matt 22:34\u201340), yet those who desired to be teachers of the law (1 Tim 1:7) never arrived at its ultimate purpose. <\/span><\/p>\n

Look with me at 1 Timothy 6:4\u20135. Here we read that the false teacher \u201chas an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.\u201d The false teaching never creates real love. How do people subdued by selfishness enter into the messy world of loving the broken, caring for the poor, adopting the orphaned? How do those overpowered by prejudice cross the tracks or the ocean to minister to those different than themselves? How do we for whom pride prevails take on the role of the servant, leading like Jesus did on the day he washed the disciples’ feet? It is only by the power of the singular gospel! <\/span><\/p>\n

In the journey of life, we only arrive at love on the path of the apostles’ teaching. As it says in 1:14, love is a fruit of being \u201cin Christ.\u201d No other path makes people loving. \u201cThe aim of the charge is love\u201d (1:5). Paul\u2019s vision was that Timothy would be driven by love and that his teaching and preaching would bear the fruit of love in the lives of his hearers. . . . That armies of men would rise up out of their passivity or aggression and begin listening to their wives, serving their kids, and showing that God, not themselves, is seated on the throne of their hearts. That women everywhere would begin to respect their husbands rather than harbor bitterness toward them or gossip about them. That young and old alike would not only see needs but be willing to give of themselves to meet them\u2013\u2013to give their time, their talents, their treasures in the strength that God would supply. Love is the Christian faith in action. Love is the mark of a transformed life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jason DeRouchie, A Pastoral Charge: A Sermon From 1 Timothy 1:3\u20137<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4688","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}