Cultivating Integrity with Bryan Stupar

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Right teaching with right living will rightly reflect the grace and beauty of Jesus.

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: But conversely, the same is true as well. Wrong teaching with any form of combination of wrong living.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So in other words you can be have very solid Bible teaching down and hermeneutics down

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and good expositional teaching down and be a very gifted charismatic preacher

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: but not be living the gospel rightly or well.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And therefore that brings about a distortion of Jesus.

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, welcome to the Expositors Collective Podcast, episode 342.

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host Mike Neglia.

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_01]: The voice you heard is our guest for this week, Bryan Stupar is the pastor of Calvary San Luis Obispo in the Central Coast of California.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And this is a great stirring message that he gave in August of 2023 at one of our in-person preaching training events.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And we put a lot of effort and a lot of work into biblical study, inductive Bible study, organizing thoughts, presenting it well.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's important to us at Expositors Collective that we don't just give tips and tricks or secrets to communicate well

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: without also addressing the heart and the character of the person doing the teaching and preaching.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Because it's possible to say all the right things up front but then have a life that's in disarray

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: or that is actually dishonoring to Jesus himself.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: With our words, we say the right things but our hearts can be far from him.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: This is Bryan Stupar encouraging us, challenging us and inviting us into a life of integrity.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I was in the room when this happened and there was kind of just a special moment

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01]: that took place when Bryan spoke these words to us.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I know that most of you listen to this on your headphones through a podcast app.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you know? We also have a YouTube channel as well.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And over there, there are sometimes there's short clips, short shareable clips from podcast episodes.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes we put the whole episode out on YouTube.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's a high quality, high definition video of this session.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And you can find that over there on the YouTube channel as well.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And guys, Bryan Stupar is a high quality, high definition man.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: So you're going to go check it out on YouTube over there.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we're coming up on the Uganda trip and there certainly is still time for you to sponsor an exposer.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to let you hear from Pastor Zeddy Muzungu as well as Bryan Kelly.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And they're going to explain how you can sponsor an exposer

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: and you can help a church leader in the rural regions of Uganda to come into the capital city

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: and be encouraged in their personal study and public proclamation of God's word.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, here's Pastor Zeddy and then you'll hear Bryan afterwards.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Pastor Zeddy is my name. I do pastor Kavitha for Kampala.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_03]: And we're trying to get over 200 pastors to come to Kampala.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_03]: It's in the middle of the city. So some are going to be traveling from way out of the country.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_03]: So we're asking you guys to get involved in some way.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_04]: We need your help to help these pastors get into the conference.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_04]: The conference is free of charge.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_04]: We want to provide it free of charge for those who can't attend.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_04]: However, some of these pastors are coming from remote areas.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_04]: They need to cover the cost of transportation, food and lodging while they're there.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_04]: That's going to cost about $100 per pastor.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_04]: So if you can help us sponsor a pastor to get to the conference, we'd really appreciate it.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_04]: You can do so at the expositor's collective website.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I want to begin this morning just by talking a little bit about when I was a young pastor.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember having this moment.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I was wrestling through my insecurities, my inexperience, really trying to find my voice

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: while at the same time trying to hold on to deeply honoring Jesus

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and living a lifestyle that would portray his goodness no matter what.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I was going through a series of actually, ironically, expositional teaching series

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: that was super in-depth.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: It was back then they were on cassette.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So some of you might remember those little things, cassettes.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember actually rather than having this moment of feeling encouraged

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and like lifted up and edified though there were moments of that

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: for the most part I felt just extremely discouraged

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: because I felt like the guy that was teaching it was so far advanced,

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: so far beyond me, so more capable.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And obviously I was working through the reality that that guy had two decades,

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: if not three decades more on me.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I was 23 years old when I first planted our church up in San Luis Obispo.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Anybody know where San Luis Obispo is at?

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, good job.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I remember just feeling a sense of like, man, I'm never going to arrive.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm never going to find my voice.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm never going to be able to get this down right and well

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and living with that reality of my inexperience and all that.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: It was in that moment I really sense that the Holy Spirit just kind of like prompted

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_00]: that passage in my heart in 1 Timothy chapter four.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you guys want, you can turn there as well.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: 1 Timothy chapter four, I'm going to kind of look at various parts of chapter four.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of all important for what we're going to be talking about here this morning.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: But specifically chapter four verse 12 where Paul actually exhorts.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's 12 maybe four somewhere around there.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: My notes are probably a little bit discombobulated, but he specifically says this.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Let no one despise your youth, but set an example in speech and conduct and love and faith and impurity.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to read that again.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Let no one despise your youth, but set an example in speech and love and conduct and faith and impurity.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And what really spoke to my heart in that moment was the reality that even though I might not be advanced

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: in terms of my technique of studying scripture, being able to apply it, being able to teach it

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: even though I might be kind of within this process of learning to discover my voice

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and learning to hone this craft and learning to be able to develop this muscle of teaching

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and analyzing and thinking and carefully praying through passages of scripture

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and learning how to apply that and then craft the sermon and all this other type of stuff

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that we're learning, which is all really good and important for our development and our growth.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: What this passage really spoke to my heart on is that what I can do is I can set an example

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: in my speech, in my conduct, in my love and faith and impurity.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Now I think it's important to kind of pause real quick and take a look at a little bit of the back story

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: of what Paul, and who Paul is writing to.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's writing to you guys I'm sure are familiar.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Timothy was kind of like his padwan and his little disciple Lee, the one that he was training up

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and raising up to essentially pastor churches and take over a lot of the ministry that Paul himself was part of.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I like to think of this way. I kind of have some bullet points on the slide.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: So number one is 1 Timothy chapter 2, 2 through 3 kind of describes that he was going around

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: forming these faithful communities that were devoted to Jesus.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: That was Paul's heartbeat. He went around planting churches.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: But what Paul also recognized that if he was going to put Timothy in charge of pastoring these

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: required sometimes to have to correct bad teaching or misinformation.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And we see chapter 5 verses 11 through 12. He kind of goes into some of that and impacts that.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And then finally he kind of finishes this whole little segment here in chapter 5.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: He tells Timothy fight the good fight, but prior to that he spends time in chapter 4,

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: which is what I want to take a look at real briefly here,

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: is to keep a close watch on your personal life and your teaching to put it another way.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: His whole exhortation to Timothy is make sure that you have this idea of cultivating

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: virtue in your life while simultaneously being able to faithfully proclaim the word of God

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and pastor people and do all these things that we've been talking about.

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Because like at the end of the day, you are going to be opening your mouth

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and opening your Bible to communicate on any level, whether it be a five-year-old

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_00]: or a prison ministry or just have a little local Bible study at the coffee shop.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is that you're doing, there is an element of shepherding and pastoring that has evolved.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_00]: You're not just transferring information or depositing facts into someone else's life.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: You're opening the words of life, just as we've heard over the past few days.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: That does involve some degree of processing that information

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and then becoming people that are shaped and remade by the life of Jesus.

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to think of 1 Timothy in kind of a bigger context,

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_00]: you can even lump 2 Timothy into this as well.

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I think Paul was really trying to coach Timothy in this idea of recognizing that right teaching with right living

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: will rightly reflect the grace and beauty of Jesus.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But conversely, the same mystery as well.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Wrong teaching with any form of combination of wrong living.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So in other words you can be, have very solid Bible teaching down

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and hermeneutics down and good expositional teaching down

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and be a very gifted charismatic preacher, but not be living the gospel rightly or well.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And therefore that brings about a distortion of Jesus.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Same way you could also be like, hey, I'm living in certain elements of my life that look like Jesus,

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_00]: caring for the poor, loving the marginalized, being someone that is a servant to all.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But your doctrine is not on.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: It's false. It's off.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It's there's distortions about how you see Jesus and how you communicate Jesus.

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And all of that is we bring some degree of distortion to who Jesus is.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_00]: So Paul knew that it was possible.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is where I think kind of gets to where I want to look at here this morning.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Paul knew that it was possible to basically lose oneself or lose one's sense of God's given identity to them

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: or personal virtue in the pursuit of doing good.

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So he's exhorting Timothy like, hey, make sure that you don't lose touch with these realities of good virtue.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Because it's very possible, Timothy, I think Paul would say that by standing up for righteousness,

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_00]: by conveying the gospel accurately, by rebuking those that are going different ways than what I have set forth.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: It's possible for you, Timothy, to become a cantankerous, angry distortion of the love of God.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to ask for a quick show of hands.

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you have had some mentor in your life, spiritual leader in the upstream of your life

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: that has failed or has had some form of scandal that has left you grieved in your soul,

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe scandalized, maybe even brought you to the edge of even questioning your very faith?

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Anybody? Raise your hands. My hands are raised. Multiple times my hand is raised.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen it on repeat too many times that I even care to talk about.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still honestly like working through the trauma of some of them because it's mind numbing.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think it's important for us to even pause and reflect upon the reality

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00]: that all of us can potentially go down this path.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: All of us can lose ourselves in this pursuit of goodness.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of sort of the narrative of every hero movie, right?

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean even Star Wars, right? Darth Vader.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Started out not as Darth Vader. Started out as a guy that was kind of like fighting

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of for the, I guess, good side but eventually drifted over to the dark side.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of hero movies are kind of like this.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: The question that kind of rises at some point like, are they good? Are they bad?

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Well actually what seems to be happening is they are losing themselves in the pursuit

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_00]: of righteousness or pursuit of justice.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And as a result of that, they are taking upon themselves the instruments,

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_00]: instruments of darkness and those instruments of darkness are consuming them

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and distorting them and destroying them.

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_00]: It's very possible in our pursuit of wanting to effectively

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and faithfully teach the Bible on whatever level.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: From the smallest to pastoring churches or mega churches, whatever it is that you do

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: to lose yourself.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think what Paul wants to bring to the uppermost awareness

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: is that this matters because how Jesus has portrayed matters.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Paul's heartbeat.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Paul had a very deeply Christ centered hermeneutic at the center of everything he did.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It's interwoven throughout all of his writings and it's written throughout this book.

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So in the context of this, I want to jump right into this,

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_00]: that Paul begins to exhort Timothy to really keep this close watch upon himself

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and there's three things that I think Paul would remind Timothy

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and then obviously consequently us as we are eavesdropping, if you would, upon this letter.

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_00]: This is not a letter written to us per se, it was written to Timothy,

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: but we get the benefit from it which is awesome.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_00]: The whole Bible is like that by the way. I don't know if you knew that,

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: that most of these books were written to other people.

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: We get to read that, we get to think about that, we get to process that.

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: We also get the benefit from that.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00]: But primarily this was written to Timothy that lived in an actual time in age

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and faced actual challenges in different people and so on and so forth.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And Paul's exhortation is threefold in this context.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to look at number one, Paul wants to urge Timothy to guard himself.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So we are to guard yourself as he's writing Timothy number one from drift.

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Number one from drift. Take a look at chapter four verse one.

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_00]: He says the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_00]: or drift from the faith. Hello. Have you guys seen that?

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Right? By the way, this, you know, the latter times phrase,

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to get into an unpacking of all this, but this has been going on for quite some time.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Like this whole drift thing has been happening since day one.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And yes, we see it today but it's not novel. It's been going on for a long time.

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Timothy faced this and what I think Paul's exhortation to him is

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_00]: guard yourself from drift by way of, first Timothy chapter four verse six,

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_00]: so skipping on down by putting these things before the brothers

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_00]: that will be a good servant of Christ Jesus before being or being trained.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Some of your translations actually might use the word nourish,

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00]: skip on down a little bit further is going to use the same word trained.

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So the English in some of your translations might ESV says trained in both of them,

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's actually different Greek word. This particular word that's used here

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_00]: refers to nourish nourish in the words of faith and of good doctrine.

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So let me read this again. Putting these things before your brothers,

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll be a good servant of Christ Jesus. How many of you guys want to be a good servant of Christ Jesus?

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I do. Man, it'd be a horrible thing to get to the end of my life and mean not be a good servant

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00]: to hear the words, hey, you're a great Bible teacher, which by the way, I don't think I am,

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: but you lost yourself in the midst of that.

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to be a good servant. I think we all want to be a good servant.

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_00]: We really want to be good servants of Christ Jesus.

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And here's Paul's way of saying that putting these things before the brothers,

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_00]: these things in the gospel, these things of keeping Christ centered,

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_00]: central to all things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus being nourished

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_00]: in the words of life and of the good doctrine or good teaching.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Later on, Paul would write in 1 Timothy chapter one or just say earlier in this entire book,

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: he's 1 Timothy chapter one verses five through seven.

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: He alludes to the fact that there was this issue that was going on, which he references here.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_00]: He says the aim of our charge is love. It's important to know that Paul frames everything

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_00]: within the context of what he's doing, these churches that he's planting,

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_00]: these churches that he's raising up leaders like Timothy to lead in the context.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_00]: He's literally framing all this.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I would describe that as virtue becoming a virtuous person.

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture speaks a lot about virtue and what it looks like to embody virtue.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Why? Because we care about how we virtue signal or signal our goodness.

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_00]: No, because Jesus is good and virtuous.

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And he rightly reflects Yahweh God and everything that he did.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And because we love Jesus, we want to be like Jesus.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to just talk about Jesus.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to just speak right truths about Jesus, though that's important.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_00]: We want to rightly reflect the one who we love because he rightly reflects Yahweh who loves us.

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And then he goes on to say in verse six certain persons having swerved from these things,

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_00]: they have wandered into vain discussion.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Verse seven, here's a little bit of a warning.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_00]: They desire to be teachers of the law without understanding.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a reference a lot of scholars believe later on in Second Timothy,

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_00]: he describes her homogenes and philetus.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's some discussion as to like exactly who these people are.

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_00]: But bottom line is they seem to be people that Paul's referencing,

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: calling them out by name to this young protege saying, hey, be aware of these guys.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: You know who these guys are.

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: You know that they're gifted teachers.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They're able to do stuff in terms of unpacking the law and communicate things about the Torah and whatnot.

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: But the point of the matter is something about them,

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: he says that they have wandered away and then he goes on to say in vain discussion

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and they want to be teachers, they want to be known and they want to be recognized.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_00]: But their heart, the very core of their heart has drifted from love, love for God, love for others,

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: love for the lost, drifted.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Number two is Paul would urge Timothy to guard himself and for us to guard ourselves from deceitful narratives.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Take a look at verse one chapter four verse one, the little segment to the right.

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_00]: He says devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So his whole point seems to be that what's going on here is that it's not just bad teaching.

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_00]: It's devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So something's going on within the midst of Paul's church that he's caring for vicariously through Timothy

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_00]: that has to do with like bad, not just bad doctrine, but there's some form of deceitful narrative that's at play.

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And what Paul wants to do is he wants to bring him back.

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So he is in essence saying guard yourself from deceitful narratives by way of take a look at verse seven,

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_00]: having chapter four verse seven, having nothing to do with irrelevant or silly myths.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's something to be found and I like to think of it this way.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it possible to become so focused on the Bible that you treat the Bible like a hobby?

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: But the Christian life and the lifestyle as sort of tangential or marginal.

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you could do it if you want.

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It's hardcore.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in the context where I was surrounded by people that really truly love scriptures,

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: love the Bible.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think it wasn't until years later I began to realize it's like they're hobbyist Christians.

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_00]: They love the Bible like it's a really amazing hobby.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You know these people, right?

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Some of these people that have certain hobbies,

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_00]: they can tell you everything about certain unique factoids because they're hobbyists.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible can become like that and there's this incongruity between their life,

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_00]: how they live, how they act, how they treat others, how they treat their spouse,

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_00]: how they treat their children, how they are interacting with the community around them

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00]: or how they act as followers of Jesus or rightly reflect him

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and their ability to not only consume biblical content but also at the same time convey biblical content.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think this sometimes leads us to these deceitful narratives that are going on.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So we can have these deceitful narratives by way of lies that we believe,

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_00]: either about ourselves or about others, about God, misinformation, getting caught up in self-pity.

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_00]: These are things, narcissistic tendencies.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_00]: All of this can sometimes have, will always have a massive impact upon how we think about God

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and how we ultimately live our lives.

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I also think about social media.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Social media is a narrative generator.

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of times you tend to think of social media as being benign,

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_00]: not impacting on your soul.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: It's totally, that's a myth.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It's totally impacting upon us.

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm not saying avoid it.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just saying don't be foolish.

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Use it if you feel like that's where God wants you to be.

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_00]: If that's the marketplace of the world, if that's the spot, God says be a part of that.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, don't be naive to the shaping factors that it generates certain narratives about you,

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_00]: about the world, about how we are to view God.

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think Paul is saying be aware of these types of things, be aware of these deceitful narratives

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_00]: that will distort our view of God and as it distorts our view of God or even distort our view of ourselves,

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_00]: then that will distort how we live our lives.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Radically, I said this to our church all the time, like if you had a view of God

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_00]: that he is this very angry, frustrated landlord and you are a squatter on his property.

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_00]: What type of a relationship would you have with landlord God?

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Not very good.

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_00]: You'd be running from him, dodging him.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: It's the very opposite of what Jesus portrays about Yahweh.

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But that's a distortion.

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a deceitful narrative.

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And lastly, guard yourself from desensitization.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Take a look at verse two.

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_00]: He says whose consciences are seared as with a hot eye.

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_00]: The word that's used there is like burned.

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The concept there is like branding.

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_00]: You guys all familiar with the idea of branding, putting something on some as a form of property.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But the way it does that is it kills living flesh or living tissue

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_00]: so that it's no longer capable or able to actually feeling anything or sensing anything.

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Jump on down as he's urging to guard himself from desensitization by way of verses seven through ten.

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Training yourself for Godliness.

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: He goes on to say we all know that bodily training does some good

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_00]: but Godliness is of value in every way as it holds the promise for the present and for life, for those to come.

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So it would seem as if Paul's invitation to Timothy is be aware of those whose conscience are seared.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's a subtle hint of like you yourself, Timothy,

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_00]: be aware that your conscience does not find itself getting seared.

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And the way that you do that is by combat that is or undo that is by way of training yourself.

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the word training that basically involves bodily exercise, involves discipline

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and how we think about our lives and what we do in terms of interaction.

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, say this before I think worthy of saying this.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_00]: We are not saved by our works.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_00]: It's very clear like we're saved by grace alone.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_00]: However, those who follow Jesus also realize we are called to follow Jesus

[00:24:52] [SPEAKER_00]: means there are decisions, daily decisions you and I make to follow Jesus.

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Daily decisions to prioritize Christ as being central in our lives.

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: That involves our actions, our activities, the disciplines, how we think about our day

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and how we think about our weeks and our lives in general.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And yet it's very easy for us to be shaped by all sorts of other factors within our culture around us.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And as a result of that, we are oftentimes finding ourselves dealing with numbness,

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER_00]: being unable to feel, lacking awe.

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Another word for this is boredom.

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And these practices are intended to break us out of these habits of boredom.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this seems kind of shocking because you can be someone that's studying the Bible over and over and over again

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and it just becomes like routine textbook.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you're just looking, searching for sermons.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And especially for those that have done it for quite some time,

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: it's very easy to just kind of get locked into certain rhythms or habits or systems

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and you lose a sense of awe and amazement of Jesus.

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a tragedy.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And in conclusion, there is a Christian philosopher, a guy by the name of Peter Krief.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: He is a brilliant writer, brilliant speaker.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_00]: He's from a Catholic tradition, so I don't necessarily obviously agree with everything,

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but you can search him out on YouTube.

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_00]: He's got amazing YouTube videos to watch and he's just a fantastic thinker.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: He has this teaching series or this book even from all of that that is called Jesus Shock

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and within that his whole idea that he's trying to convey or paradigm is trying to push forth

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: is that as a culture, we have lost Jesus Shock.

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Like we're not amazed in awe of Jesus and something happens to our soul when that takes place.

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And in our boredom, we find ourselves turning to other things.

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: We find ourselves longing for other things to somehow shock us to make us feel that we're actually alive.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the shocking reality in our culture that we find ourselves.

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_00]: He goes on to say this, our culture has filled our heads but emptied our hearts,

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_00]: stuffed our wallets but starved our wonder.

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_00]: It has fed our thirst for facts but not meaning or mystery.

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Everything smaller than heaven bores us because only heaven is bigger than our hearts.

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_00]: He goes on to say we sin for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love that we sense.

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_00]: He saved us for no other reason but an incomprehensible excess of love for us.

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think Paul's invitation to Timothy is, son, don't lose yourself.

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't lose your sense of identity that God has given to you.

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't lose contact with a life of virtue, of goodness because what you teach about God,

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_00]: what you believe about God needs to correspond with how we live with God.

[00:28:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, it's very easy for any of us and this terrifies me to be really frankly,

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been doing ministry for three decades plus.

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It terrifies me that I could end up radically misrepresenting Jesus in my life

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_00]: by one or several bad decisions away.

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_00]: That terrifies me.

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't live in fear as a result of that but what it does,

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_00]: it drives me back to the heart of this God who has excess of love

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and say I want to be saturated and shaped and remade and framed around all of this

[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_00]: so much so that when I have opportunities to open my mouth and talk about you,

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to misrepresent you by what I say or by how I live.

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And I can only do that by way of the power and the strength that he gives.

[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And Paul, I think was driven consistently by this vision of this radical love of God

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_00]: that was revealed through Jesus.

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the invitation for us to be shaped by that vision

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_00]: of radical, excessive, beautiful, life-changing beauty

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_00]: that we become not just communicators but livers.

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_00]: People that live this message that we seek to speak forth

[00:29:33] [SPEAKER_00]: as clearly and as accurately and as beautifully as we can.

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Alright, hey thanks for listening or thanks for watching if you're over there on YouTube.

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_01]: We want to help you grow in your personal study and public proclamation of God's word

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_01]: but of course we're not just here about tips and tricks.

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_01]: We want your character to live in submission to and to be honoring

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_01]: of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't want to just preach the right things

[00:30:07] [SPEAKER_01]: but we also want to be living in the right way.

[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_01]: So, thankful for Brian's guidance, reminding us of these truths.

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Well I hope that this episode and all that we do helps you grow in your personal study

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_01]: and public proclamation of God's word.

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_01]: See you next Tuesday.

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER_02]: you