A Sermon on 2 Timothy 4:1-5
This transcript of a sermon on 2 Timothy 4:1-5 has been lightly edited for ease of reading.
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If you have your Bibles, please take them and turn with me to Paul’s second letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 4. Today we will look at verses 1 through 5 of 2 Timothy chapter 4. This sermon will begin to answer the question, Why creeds? Why confessions in the life of the church? And as this is the second sermon in our series on the Apostles’ Creed, and don’t worry, we’ll actually get to the Apostles’ Creed in a couple weeks. We are going to talk a little bit about confessions within the church as well, as we talk about why do we have creeds, why do we have confessions. So this will kind of go between those two different documents.
They are both rooted in the truth of Scripture, and they are both important to the history and to the life of the church. So that’s why we’ll talk about them, creeds and confessions, today.
Please follow along in your Bibles as I read from 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 5.
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge. Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
Let’s pray.
God, you are the source of all light, the source of all truth. And it is by your word that you give light to the soul. We ask today that you would pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding.
And that as we are taught by you in the Holy Scripture, our hearts and minds may be opened to know the things that pertain to life and to holiness. We pray this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Carl Truman says,
“…every church, and indeed every Christian, believes the Bible means something. And what it thinks the Bible means is its creed and confession, whether it chooses to write its beliefs down or not.”
Many churches around the world, even some probably within the communities in which you and I live, many churches today will have ministers or leaders who regularly proclaim some form of the statement, “I have, we have no creed except for the Bible.”
Now, in most cases, this statement comes from good motives. There’s a high view of God’s truth. There’s a high view of God’s Scripture, the words of God recorded for us in the books, the 66 books of the Old and the New Testament.
However, as well intentioned as this statement is, we must ask ourselves if this is a statement that is valid to be used in the church. Is it safe for the church to abandon the historic creeds and confessions that the church has turned to over the centuries? I say it is not.
We are to have a high view of Scripture, and we do have a high view of Scripture at Fairlea Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.
It is also true that no extra biblical document should be placed over and above in authority over Scripture. But we do need creeds and confessions to give us direction in our study of the Scriptures and to set guardrails on our interpretation and application of the words that we read in the Bible.
As we seek to answer the question, why creeds and confessions? We’ll look at Paul’s call to Timothy and to Titus, this call to proclaim and hold the church to sound words or sound doctrine. Then you and I will see that there are actually creedal statements in the Scripture, creedal statements that we can live by today. And we will see some benefits, a handful of benefits that the creeds and confessions give to the church.
PAUL’S CONCERN FOR SOUND DOCTRINE
So first, Paul’s concern for sound doctrine.
First and Second, Timothy and the book of Titus are letters from Paul to pastors in local churches. These letters lay out for Timothy and Titus what Paul feels is important for their ministry. As in Ephesus and on the Isle of Crete, Timothy and Titus are seeking to lead the church.
And these instructions focus on two main areas of church life. First, and we’ll look at this one briefly, is the focus on establishing well-trained, godly leaders within the church – ministers, elders and deacons. In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 2, we find a list of qualifications that these leaders must possess to be considered for leadership within the church.
It would be good for each of us leaders to undertake a study of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 2, whether together or separately as individuals, to make sure that we are at least pursuing those qualifications. This side of heaven, none of us will perfectly exhibit those qualifications, but that is no excuse to set aside growing in those areas. For everyone else within the church, it would be good to look at those qualifications for leadership, because those qualifications for leadership also describe something else within the life of the Christian, which is holiness.
We are called to be holy as God is holy, as Peter quotes from Leviticus 19. And so one or two short lists of what it means to be holy are found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 2. And so Paul first focuses on establishing well-qualified church leaders.
But then the rest of our time today will be focused on Paul’s instructions in this two word phrase that we have in verse three from our passage.
This phrase “sound doctrine” or “sound words.” The word sound in this passage is a word that outside when it’s used outside of the Scriptures means “healthy” or “well.” And when applied to the idea of doctrine, it reminds us that there is healthy doctrine that the church can be built upon, or there is sick doctrine that the church can be built upon.
Timothy and Titus as well have a choice. They can preach and teach the healthy doctrine that Paul calls them to, or they can preach false doctrine. Healthy doctrine is that doctrine that follows or is in line with the Scripture.
And there’s pressure on Timothy. There’s pressure on Titus. There is pressure on every minister today to teach unhealthy doctrine because most people do not want to hear sound doctrine.
People seek out a doctrine that makes them feel good about themselves without the good news of Jesus Christ; it makes them feel good about themselves just the way they are. This issue of sound doctrine is such an issue for Paul that in these three short books, First Timothy, Second Timothy and Titus, the phrase “sound doctrine” shows up seven times in those three short books.
People want a doctrine that says, “You know what, you’re just fine just the way you are. Follow your heart because it will lead you to peace and happiness.”
We say things even within the church. We say things when confronted with the truth of the Scripture. We say things like, “Well, that’s just your truth.” Or maybe we say, “I know that’s what the Bible says, but life’s different now, so I don’t have to live according to that.”
And I’ll tell you the truth. It would be a lot easier to preach words that tickle your ears and offer you false comfort. And when we talk about church growth, we could pack this place out in multiple services every Sunday, if we just compromise here and there in what God says. It would be easy for me to stand up here week after week and say, “God just wants you to have high self-esteem and to follow your heart. So you do you.”
However, God has called us to be a people shaped by sound doctrine. A doctrine that teaches that we are sinners in the sight of God, deserving his just punishment. Yet he has offered us grace and mercy through the work of Jesus Christ.
As we study the sound doctrine of the Scriptures, we are corrected. We are pointed to the areas where we fall short. We are pointed to those areas of harbored pride and harbored pettiness and harbored selfishness that we hold within our hearts of the lust and the gossip and the falsehoods that we want to speak.
We also find comfort in the Scripture. The sound doctrine confronts us in those areas and it points us to the path of godliness, to the path of holiness, so that we might grow more and more like Jesus every single day. Sound doctrine is the guardrail that we have along the path of life.
Once the church begins to ignore sound doctrine for preaching and exchange it for preaching that makes you feel good, the church is in danger of no longer being a church and experiencing God’s eternal disapproval.
So what does this have to do with creeds and confessions? Well, there are two ways to hear sound doctrine. First, when you want to know what God says about a subject, you can open your Bible to Genesis 1.1 and read all the way through to Revelation 22.21, compiling for yourself a list of propositions and verses that go with those propositions that explains what God says about a certain subject.
And it is good on occasion to read through the Scriptures from beginning to end. For a time period, I did that once a year, not to brag, but just to say it’s good to get the sense of the entire picture of Scripture.
But if I want to know what God says about God’s grace. It can be an inefficient way to learn about God’s grace unless we have an aid. And that aid is the extra biblical documents of creeds and confessions.
A quick example of how creeds and confessions have been used throughout the history of the church. The church invites all to come and worship. Yet only some people qualify for church membership. How do we know who qualifies for church membership? The early church in the first through the fourth century asked this very question, and they came up with a set of questions that they wrote down, shared with other churches and asked every new member as they presented themselves for church membership.
They would ask, “Do you believe in God, the Father almighty?” And they would wait for a response. They would ask, “Do you believe that he is the maker of heaven and earth?” They would ask for a response. They would ask, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord?” They would wait for a response.
The set of questions continues to go on through what we now know as the Apostles’ Creed, statement by statement. This set of questions was written down and called the “Rule of Faith.” It helped the churches to understand a minimum level of belief that was required for church membership.
And it wasn’t until late in the 300s that this was written down in statement form in what we know today as the Apostles’ Creed. Creeds and confessions give us summaries of the sound doctrines that is found in Scripture. And these summaries help us to understand and explain what we believe.
ARE CREEDS BIBLICAL?
So we need creeds and confessions to help us understand sound doctrine. But we need to ask the questions, are creeds biblical? Because if they’re not, creeds and confessions are not biblical, then we should not pursue them. But I say they are.
I want us to look at two examples. The first comes from Deuteronomy six beginning in verse four. Moses says to the Israelites,
“Hear, oh Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and of your gates.”
Those first two verses become in the nation of Israel, the statement called the Shema. Shema in Hebrew means “hear.” And this statement begins, Hear, Oh, Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.”
This became a creedal statement for the nation of Israel, reminding them of who God is, what he was like and what was required of them based on who he is.
It includes a summary statement of God’s oneness or the truth that he is the only God. And it goes on to give instructions on how we should live. We should live loving God with absolutely everything that we are and everything that we have. All of our hearts, desires, all of our affections should be pointed to God above, and our earthly affection should pale in comparison.
It goes on to tell us how to live in light of this, not only loving God with our whole heart, but explaining to the next generation, teaching the next generation who God is and what he has done. The creeds and confessions give us the tools to teach the next generation as they are rooted upon Scripture summaries.
In Acts chapter 15, I would encourage you to read that later. The Council of the Apostles and the church leaders sit down to discuss the relationship between law and gospel, the Old Testament ceremonial law and the truth that we have been set apart, circumcised in hearts by Christ and by the blood of Christ and made children of God through the work of the Holy Spirit.
They gave a letter to the churches that explained for them how they could apply the Old Testament law to their lives, what parts apply today and what parts don’t apply. And that became a document that the church passed around in order to help them in the understanding of the law.
There are other examples of these creedal statements, including the summary of Jesus’ life in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 11, and according to Ligon Duncan, the multiple declarations throughout the New Testament that Jesus is Lord. And so, yes, creeds are biblical.
We see examples of them and we see how some of those examples have worked their ways into our own creeds and confessions. So creeds help us understand and learn and teach sound doctrine. Creeds and confessions are biblical.
BENEFITS OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS
So what are some benefits of the creeds and confessions? First, as we’ve already mentioned briefly, creeds and confessions give us sound summaries of what the Bible teaches. Do you want to know what the Bible teaches about itself on the Holy Scriptures? You can turn to the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, and see a summary of the sound doctrine that Scripture teaches about itself. These summaries also help us to explain what we believe.
Creeds and confessions, secondly, the second benefit is they help us teach our children and also those who come into the church from the outside. Carl Truman argues that studying the Shorter Catechism will give you a complete theological education.
Now, notice I said study. Merely reading the Bible or the creedal and confessional statements does not go far enough in giving us the information. A copy of the confession or catechisms with Scripture proofs will lead us to see what the Bible teaches about these various subjects.
Another benefit that comes to us is it teaches us what the important doctrines are. You have in your bulletin, I gave you an insert with the table of contents to the Westminster Confession of Faith. Do you want to know what’s important to the Associate Reform Presbyterian Church as far as theology goes? There’s a list of biblical subjects, theological subjects that we feel are important. Important enough to write down and important enough to ask me to say, “Do I disagree with these or not?” And if I disagree with significant enough numbers of them or with one that is extremely significant, I can be denied access to preach in your pulpit.
These are the doctrines that are important to the church.
Related to this, and this is the fourth, the creeds and confessions actually put boundaries around the authority of church leadership. Can the elders stand up here before you next week and say, “We have passed a decree regarding Fairlea ARP Church that you can only wear fluorescent yellow suits on Sunday morning?” No, they cannot.
That is outside the bounds of their authority. And any church that has that authority over its members is typically called a cult.
However, can the elders confront you over sinful views of marriage? Absolutely. That is well within our confessional documents.
Lastly, creeds and confessions connect us to the historical church. You know, whether it’s in the late fourth century, whether it’s in 325 and 381 when the Nicene Creed came into form, whether it’s 1647 when the Westminster Confession of Faith was finalized, the fact that we have these historical documents reminds us of several things.
First and foremost, the issues that we wrestle with in the church life today are nothing new. The Confession of Faith includes statements that would be scandalous in our world today because there were attacks on marriage even back in the 17th century. There was problems with the civil magistrate and the church’s involvement in politics back in the 17th century.
Back in the 17th century, they didn’t understand the sacraments. And so those things needed to be written down and put there for us. It is a reminder that we are doing nothing new, wrestling with nothing new.
It’s also a reminder that Satan has no new tools in his toolbox. I mentioned the Nicene Creed earlier, begun in 325 A.D., finalized in 381 A.D. The Council of Nicaea came together to discuss whether Jesus was fully and truly God or was he another created being a little bit higher than humans, but not equal to God. And so the Nicene Creed displays for us the theology of the fourth century, showing us that Jesus is fully and truly equal to God. He is the second person in the Trinity.
Why do I bring that up? You more than likely have people who knock upon your door on a regular basis wanting to teach you about a Jesus who is a created being, a little bit higher than humans, but not equal to God. Satan has no new tricks up his sleeves, brothers and sisters, and we’ve been answering that question for 2,000 years.
Creeds and confessions help us to remember our history.
CONCLUSION
So why creeds and confessions? Because they give us biblical, historical summaries of sound doctrine that can be used for worship and instruction. Let me say that again. We have creeds and confessions because they give us biblical, historical summaries of sound doctrine that can be used for worship and instruction.
But there is a danger with creeds and confessions. And I’ve mentioned it briefly already.
But the danger is this. While they are rooted and founded upon Scripture, we can elevate them to a level above Scripture. So we always must remember that the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Apostles’ Creed, whatever other church-rooted confessions there are out there, and we will mention some of them as we go through the Apostles’ Creed, they are human documents. They are not inspired by God.
They have been and can be changed as we have a greater understanding of the truth of the Scripture and we see where the confessions and creeds have maybe gotten it a little bit wrong and need to be tweaked.
But they are nothing more than guardrails to keep us safe as we drive down the road of biblical interpretation and application. They are tools that can be used for evangelism, for discipleship, and they are good for us to study, to read, and to know.
Let us pray.
To the great God and Father above, I do ask that you would take these words today and that by the power of your spirit, you would change lives. So help us, oh Lord, to see your truth as it has been summarized for us in the history of the church and help us to know that you are good and that your truth is recorded for us. We pray this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
As you go about your week, take this blessing upon you.
“The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.”
He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
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