The Aim of Our Charge Is Love

In one paragraph

This sermon worked through 1 Timothy 1:3-20, tracing Paul's charge to Timothy to guard the gospel in Ephesus against teachers who were distorting it. Pastor Carl used Paul's own testimony as the hinge of the passage, showing that the gospel of grace is the only answer to the sin the law exposes. The aim of it all, he kept returning to, is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere...

Read together

1. 1 Timothy 1:17 quoted as the verse ringing in the preacher's head before the opening song
2. 1 Timothy 1:3-5 the charge to Timothy to remain at Ephesus and oppose false doctrine, identified as the opening of the thought unit
3. 1 Timothy 1:6-7 certain persons swerving from sincere faith into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law
4. 1 Timothy 1:8-11 the law is good if used lawfully, listing types of sinners in order corresponding to the Ten Commandments
5. 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Paul's personal testimony of receiving mercy as a former blasphemer and persecutor, leading into doxology
6. 1 Timothy 1:18-20 the charge to Timothy repeated, waging the good warfare, and Hymenaeus and Alexander handed over to Satan
7. Acts 20:17-38 Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, warning of fierce wolves to come
8. Philippians 4:13 referenced as the basis for saying one can do all things through Christ who strengthens, tied to Paul's thanksgiving in 1 Timothy
9. Galatians 5:19-23 works of the flesh listed alongside the fruit of the Spirit to show the breadth of sin
10. 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved
11. James 3:1 not many should be teachers because teachers incur a harsher judgment
12. Ephesians 6:11 quoted in the benediction, put on the full armor of God to stand against the devil's schemes

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl described the aim of the charge in 1 Timothy as love issuing from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. What is the difference between a faith that is sincere and one that is simply habitual, and how would you know the difference in your own life?
2. Paul warned the Ephesian elders that after he left, fierce wolves would rise up from among their own number to draw disciples away with twisted teaching. What does that warning suggest about how seriously we should take what is taught in a church, and what responsibility does that place on ordinary members of a congregation?
3. The sermon described the law as good because it reveals our sin and our need for a savior, and then worked through a long list of sins drawn from several New Testament passages. Were there things on that list that surprised you, or that you tend to overlook compared to others? Why do you think that is?
4. Paul called himself the foremost of sinners even decades after his conversion, and said God saved him specifically so that his example would give hope to anyone who thought they were too far gone. Who in your life might need to hear that story, and what holds you back from telling them?
5. The sermon ended with Paul handing Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan because they were willfully persisting in what they knew to be wrong. How do you hold together the call to love everyone with the reality that there is a line that sometimes has to be drawn?