In my previous post, I described the secretive nature of false teachers. I concluded by asking how you equip yourself and your church so that you aren’t lured away by their deceptive ploys. I want to answer that question by framing it with Paul’s exhortation to Timothy from 1 Tim. 4:16 - “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

(In reverse order) Notice, first, that Paul says to “keep a close watch…on the teaching.” Unfortunately, when you ask many Christians, “What is the gospel?”, you receive a piecemealed answer. There is a little truth here and a little truth there but often no coherent framework or biblical story line that summarizes the good news. For example, we are told Jesus died on the cross for sins but there is no explanation of sin or its penalty. If there is, it’s often limited to whether or not we’ve obeyed a moral law. I could go on with examples. Nonetheless, this type of limited understanding and presentation is problematic, and here’s why.

Think of your understanding of the gospel as a sieve. The tighter meshed it is the better it is for sifting out impurities. The wider the mesh the more impurities will fall through. Thus, a piecemealed understanding of the gospel is like a sieve with a minimal number of crossed wires and a weak frame. It’s not going to do alot of good in sorting out what is true from what is false, especially when fallacies come cleverly disguised. Our lives should be spent adding to and tightening the mesh. But many of us don’t even have a sturdy frame. And for the sake of space, let me give you the one Greg mentioned Sunday: God, man, Christ, response. Learn to summarize, present, and assess the gospel with those markers. (Here is a nice summary.)

Second, Paul instructs Timothy to watch his life. In all honesty, right doctrine isn’t half as difficult as right living. As we, however, examine Scripture we find over and over again that right belief is always coupled with right living. The latter always indicates and reinforces the validity of the former. In a few verses prior, Paul said, “(T)rain yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance…Command and teach these things…set the example” (vv. 7-9, 11-12). Later on he wrote, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (1 Tim. 6:11). Whereas if you read about false teachers, you’ll find, though not always, their identity is manifested by their ungodly behavior (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

To conclude, what’s at stake if we and our churches don’t watch our lives and doctrine? What’s on the line if we are enticed and lured by well-marketed and well-packaged false gospels? Our eternal lives. Notice the end of verse 16. “Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Jesus illustrated it this way: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:19-20).

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