Latest / Scripture Central / #44 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Oct 23 - Oct 29) 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon

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#44 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Oct 23 - Oct 29) 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon · Scripture Central

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  Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Come
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  Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler presented by Scripture
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  Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
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  videos, so if you want to see the visuals, we invite you to
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  find us on YouTube. Thanks for listening and enjoy.
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  I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler. This is Scripture Central's
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  come, follow Me insights today. First and second Timothy, Titus
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  and Philemon SO4 epistles and we're going to cover, obviously
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  these epistles in their order. They they are in the Bible based
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  on their order of size, the length, and the shortest being
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  That last one, Philemon will cover that last.
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  But let me just say upfront, if you're only going to watch a
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  part of this episode, don't don't miss the part on Philemon.
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  He is. He always gets skipped.
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  And I'll just be honest with you.
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  He's my second favorite overlooked book of the
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  overlooked books in scripture. My my favorite of all is Hosea
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  and my second favorite is Philemon.
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  It is loaded with incredible principles that often just get
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  skipped over because it's so short and and it's sometimes
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  hard to make sense of. So be sure to to stick with
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  this. Let's jump in first with the the
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  first Epistle to Timothy from Paul.
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  This one it it is so beautiful as you get this this mentor Paul
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  teaching Timothy principles of appropriate leadership and
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  administration of the church. As Paul is again in prison, he's
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  spent lots of time behind bars or on house arrest.
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  He has left Timothy in charge of the the administration and the
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  leadership of the church in Ephesus, a pretty big assignment
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  for a fairly young man, apparently based on what we're
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  going to read in Second Timothy. And so it's as if Timothy has
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  been appointed to be something like we would maybe today call a
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  stake president who's going to be calling bishops who's going
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  to be administering the the affairs of the church in
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  Ephesus. And so it's kind of a a little
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  handbook of instructions for Timothy in that setting I.
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  Remember in the Greco Roman world, Ephesus was this very
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  cosmopolitan place, lots of Pagan gods.
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  There's lots of licentiousness going on and there seems to be
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  quite a bit of disharmony going on in the ward and in the
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  community and ephesus of the Christians and that people are
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  struggling to know. How they should be living.
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  Or perhaps they have been ignoring the counsel they'd
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  originally received from Paul. So Paul is going to give
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  principled instruction for how to deal with that, as well as
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  from his cultural context. He's going to give some advice
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  that Timothy should apply given the cultural context.
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  One of the things Paul wants to do is he wants the Christians to
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  live in peace and harmony within the Greco Roman world and not to
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  create problems. And that being the case.
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  Sometimes his advice fits really well in his ancient environment
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  and in our cultures today, we might see that some of the
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  advice may not fit perfectly. Principles are true, right?
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  Live in harmony with people, be kind to one another.
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  Those principles are everlasting.
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  But sometimes the contextual application may change, so we
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  always want to keep that in mind as we're looking at these
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  passages. Look for the principles, but
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  make sure to be clear about the different cultural context and
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  how some things may not apply in the same way in our day.
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  It's very helpful. So after he he gives his typical
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  initial few verses to this epistle, stating that he's an
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  apostle of Jesus Christ and giving his nod to the Godhead.
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  Then you come to verse three, as I besought thee to abide still
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  at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest
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  charge some, that they teach no other doctrine.
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  Because there's this, keep in mind in that Greco Roman's Greco
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  Roman world. They love philosophy.
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  They love sitting around and listening to tales and what is
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  your view and what is your perspective and and
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  philosophizing, debating, debating back and forth.
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  Look at verse four. Neither.
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  Give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister
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  questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith.
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  So do so a couple of things. Here, let's look back at this
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  word fables. The word is mythos, these myths,
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  Greek mythology, it it's alive and well and it has been for 400
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  years in this, in this region of the world.
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  And so it's the the roots run pretty deep when it comes to
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  their their telling and retelling and interpreting and
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  reinterpreting of these stories and trying to find meaning.
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  But you'll notice most of the time those discussions don't
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  lead to edification or the word way he words it here godly
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  edifying. They just lead to they they just
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  minister to more questions. So stop and think about this for
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  a minute. If you ask the wrong questions,
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  you're going to end up getting the wrong answers.
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  Even even if it's the right answer to the question that was
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  asked, it's still going to be wrong because we were asking the
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  wrong questions. It's not going to lead to godly
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  edifying. So it's fascinating that that if
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  you analyze when we get in debates or doctrinal disputes or
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  at disagreements of any kind, usually if you peel back enough
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  layers, there's probably a whole bunch of pride involved on both
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  sides, usually. And it's probably because we're
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  focused on the wrong things. We're not focused on godly
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  edifying kinds of questions. We're probably focused on
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  philosophical debates of who's right and whose opinion is more
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  accurate than somebody else's, and so we're going to forever be
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  debating back and forth and never arriving at something
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  that's going to help us now. Second thing, endless
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  genealogies. You'll notice within those myths
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  and fables, and within the pantheon of gods and goddesses
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  in the Greco Roman world, there are so many complicated
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  genealogy charts of who belongs to who.
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  That's in the in the Gentile side.
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  You've also got endless genealogies in the Jewish
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  Christian side where they will spend lots of time, and rightly
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  so, paying attention to their to their family history.
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  And some would look at us today as members of the church and
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  say, well, you're getting caught up in endless genealogies, you
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  have family history centers all over the world and you you spend
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  all this time looking to your to your genealogy.
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  Can you see a huge difference between what they're doing with
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  it and what the Lord is having us do with family history?
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  Think of the experience with John the Baptist baptizing at
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  the River Jordan. And remember, the Pharisees came
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  down and they're kind of looking down their nose at these people
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  who are being baptized by John and saying, well, we don't need
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  that because we have Abraham for our father.
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  And they've they've got their genealogy pedigree chart
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  memorized and they can say, see, we're good because of because of
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  who our ancestors are. Yeah, it's almost if as if we're
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  doing genealogy to prove that we are awesome versus becoming
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  awesome by doing your genealogy. See, that's that's exactly
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  right. The point is, if we're not
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  careful, we'll do our genealogy to try to get something from our
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  ancestors. And I think that's what's going
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  on here. It's to show pre eminence, It's
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  to show dominance. Well, who was your grandpa?
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  My grandpa was so and so and he was really important and so it
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  somehow it it fuels pride. It it it makes me puffed up.
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  It makes me somehow as if I'm better than you because of
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  something my grandpa did compared to what your grandpa's
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  did. That it it's twisted.
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  Now think about this. Why do we spend so much time
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  doing genealogical research, family history work, trying to
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  learn the stories of our of our ancestors and what they went
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  through? Is it to get something from
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  them? Is it to build up our our pride?
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  Or are we doing genealogy work? Do do we have so many people
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  across the world spending so many hours devoted to to finding
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  out the names and the dates and the places and the events and
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  the stories of these people so that we can then go to the
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  temples of our God and give something to them?
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  Which directions are the arrows pointing in our genealogical
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  work? Because it's been my experience
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  to watch people doing family history and temple work as a
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  Christ like extension of God's love for all of his children,
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  both living and dead. Those who have passed on need
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  some things, and so isn't it fascinating when you don't have
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  to bifurcate or separate these efforts and you can say wow, by
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  turning the hearts of the children to the fathers, it also
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  turns the hearts of the fathers to the children.
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  We need them just as much as they need us, and we work
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  together on both sides of the veil to gather Israel in these,
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  this great latter day effort that was reserved for our time.
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  No other dispensation was given this responsibility to do this
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  kind of work for that many people through all the other
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  past dispensations. It's just beautiful to see how
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  God is accelerating His work, performing incredible miracles
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  in this in this effort helping us to become more like Him as
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  He's helping them also to become more like Him in the process.
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  And Paul makes this clear in verse five.
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  He says now the end of the commandment, or meaning the
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  purpose or the rationale for the commandment is charity out of a
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  pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith.
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  Unfeigned. So you can imagine.
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  Paul has heard that sometimes in the ward meetings, people are
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  debating things that are kind of meaningless or are of less
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  importance than charity and faith and feigned.
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  And so he's saying, listen, spend your time in things that
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  really matter. Ask questions of consequence
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  that will drive more of God's love into people's lives.
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  It's powerful. And for those of you who have
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  spent significant time in charitable ways, doing family
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  history and temple work, you have felt that spirit of Elijah.
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  And it is so tangible. And it it catches a hold of you
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  at times so powerfully, so profoundly, that it is
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  undeniable. And it's it's this power from
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  not just from heaven, but from the other side of the veil,
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  where these people become more real to you.
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  And and the charity, this pure heart, this pure intent, it
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  grows, and it decreases the pride, but it increases your
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  appreciation for God and for these people.
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  And remember, Alma five, one of the questions that he asks so
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  profoundly of the the people there in Zarahemla when he's
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  trying to set the church in order, is have you sufficiently
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  retained in remembrance the captivity of your father's?
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  Have you? Do you not just know their name,
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  not just know where they were born?
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  But have you retained what their story is, what what their
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  struggles in life were and how good God was to them, how much
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  He delivered them? Because if you can see it there,
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  there, you're going to be able to see now reflected in your own
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  life, how God is doing the same thing in in your world, in your
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  day. It's such a it's it's a powerful
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  reminder for our to check our motives for why we're doing what
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  we're doing and how we do then. Which now brings us to verse 6
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  through 9 which is this fascinating discussion here
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  about the law. Why do we have the law?
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  He he's describing to Timothy that this idea of commandments
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  and obligations within the covenant context.
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  So he says, from which some having swerved have turned aside
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  unto vain Janglings. That's a great a great phrase.
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  I challenge you to use vain Janglings in a sentence today
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  turned aside unto vain Janglings.
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  The footnote says missed the mark is the swerving and the
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  vain janglings are vain. Idol, fruitless discussion,
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  these philosophical debates of the 1st century in Ephesus.
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  He's like you. You can argue all day long, all
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  year long, and be none the wiser, desiring to be teachers
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  of the law, understanding neither what they say nor
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  whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good
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  if a man use it lawfully. This is so interesting that we
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  often pit Paul against the law of Moses as if he just hated the
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  law of Moses. Now sometimes he spoke in stark
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  terms to make it clear the liberty we have in Jesus from
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  the expectations. Of the ancient Mosaic law.
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  But here he is showing a much more nuance and a fuller view of
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  how God operates. That God does provide law, and
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  it is good, which is, which is a beautiful thing to remember that
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  whenever you see him speaking so openly against an overemphasis
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  of the law, it's to places like Galatia, to the epistles of the
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  Galatians or the Romans, to specific groups of Judaizers or
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  people who are emphasizing over emphasizing a reliance upon the
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  law in order for the law to save them.
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  So he's pushing back on that. Timothy is not a Judaizer.
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  Timothy is not somebody who's preaching that, oh, the Law of
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  Moses is going to save me. So you see a different tone.
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  You see a different focus or emphasis.
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  He's giving training. It's it's as if Paul the apostle
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  takes under his wing this state president and says, OK, here's
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  what you're going to have to watch for in your flock and in
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  your flock. The lie is good if a man use it
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  lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is
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  not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
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  disobedient, for the ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and
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  profane, for murders of fathers and murders of mothers, for man
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  slayers. It.
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  It's this idea of the law is given because we don't know how
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  to control our behavior. So God gives us laws, and that's
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  a good thing. In fact, the law, if you take
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  just the straight law of Moses and lived it perfect to the best
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  of your ability, that would help terrible people become good,
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  honorable people. It wouldn't save them because
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  Christ is the Savior, not the law.
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  But it's it's not a bad thing for them to keep the law.
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  It makes bad men good. Which now brings us to verse 12.
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  I think Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that.
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  He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
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  Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious.
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  But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief.
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  So Paul is now going into this autobiographical reflective
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  moment with Timothy to say wow Amazing Grace that saved a
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  Wretch like me. It is basically what he's he's
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  portraying here is I didn't deserve this.
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  I was terrible and and even takes it one step further, he
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  says, verse 14 The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with
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  faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
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  And then listen to this. This is a faithful saying, and
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  worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
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  to save sinners of whom I am chief.
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  You you can, you can hear this. Throughout Paul's writings, he
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  has not forgotten the salvation he's received, and he it's been
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  so transformative that it it just permeates all of his
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  writings. That's why you see such a an
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  exceeding emphasis on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ in
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  Paul's writings, because he recognizes how he has been saved
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  and it's super useful. I think Paul would, if you stand
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  here, would hope that all of us would feel that enormous burden
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  that we have from sin lifted off by God's mercy, and let that
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  dominate our thinking the rest of our lives like we see with
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  Paul. It's powerful.
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  Look at verse 16. Howbeit for this 'cause I
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  obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
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  all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter
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  believe on him to everlasting life or to life everlasting.
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  This is a fascinating concept that he's saying, he's using his
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  own story and saying this is used my whole life, me spending
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  so much time teaching and preaching and in prison.
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  But you know what I was before, you know what I was doing before
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  Christ picked me up and shaped me into an instrument to then be
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  used in his hand. And he's saying this is a
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  pattern. Those of you who spend any time
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  doing sewing work or as a seamstress or any kind of of
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  building, blueprinting you, you have all these patterns.
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  What is a pattern? It's you use something that's
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  been done before you. You draw it out.
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  You then use that as your template to replicate and do
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  more. Well, what is Paul asking for?
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  He's asking for more of God's grace that has become embodied
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  in his life and in his existence.
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  To not end with him. It's the beautiful principle of
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  the Christ like attributes of charitable leaders, charitable
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  parents, charitable missionaries, charitable friends
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  that you let you let people see God's goodness in in you.
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  The point being, let your life be a pattern for people to see
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  God's light and goodness shining.
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  We don't generate light and goodness, we reflect it.
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  We grow into it. We become those things following
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  the patterns given to us not just in the scriptures, but with
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  our modern prophets and leaders of the Church, and with wise
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  people in our circle of influence all around us.
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  So to finish off chapter one, he shows an example of of Hymenaeus
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  and Alexander, whom he has delivered unto Satan that they
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  may learn not to blasphemy. It's this idea that there are at
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  times people who refuse to follow the council, who refuse
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  to follow the pattern, who refuse to keep the law as given.
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  And so in this case, it's this, this cutting off.
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  Not because Paul wanted to cut them off, but because they've
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  cut themselves off from the source of light and goodness and
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  truth and love. Which now brings us to Chapter
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  2. So again, what Paul is trying to
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  address to help Timothy create order and stability in the ward
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  or the wards in Ephesus is there's been a lot of disorder,
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  there's been false teachers who've showed up.
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  And they have puffed themselves up.
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  They've been misleading the people with false doctrine, and
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  they've enticed some people to pay them a lot of money.
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  We saw this in the Book of Mormon, where you had false
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  teachers who want to make a lot of money off of what they
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  preached. And it appears that there were
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  certain wealthy women who found themselves very LED astray by
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  these false doctrines. And they decided.
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  Once the false teachers left to get up and to continue to spread
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  this message. And so Paul gives some very
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  targeted advice that in that time and that context made sense
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  for that ward that those women who are standing up and teaching
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  these false doctrines that they learn from the false teachers
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  shouldn't be doing that anymore. And then Paul imposes from the
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  Roman culture, where the man is the head of the household, that
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  the women in those homes. Should let their husband lead
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  forth. OK, that was in order to create
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  cultural conformity and also not have a lot of disunion in the
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  ward. So if Paul was here today, he
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  probably wouldn't use the same specific advice, but he probably
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  would say there's a principle here None of us should be
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  stepping up to preach false doctrine.
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  Women or men. Now again.
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  Back then, 2000 years ago, that specific advice made sense.
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  The principle's still true. Let us never spread deceit.
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  Now he does use an example from the Old Testament.
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  Yeah. In this particular instance,
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  Paul uses an example of Adam and Eve and it can come across as
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  very confusing to some or frustrating.
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  And one of the advantages of living in the latter days with
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  the benefit of profits, sears and revelators on the earth with
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  us is we can look to them to help us interpret what does the
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  Lord want us to know about these situations today.
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  So in this particular instance of of Adam and Eve and questions
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  around the Fall and men's and women's roles, let's see what
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  modern prophets have taught us. It was Eve who first
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  transgressed the limits of Eden in order to initiate the
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  conditions of mortality. Her act, whatever its nature,
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  was formerly A transgression but eternally A glorious necessity
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  to open the doorway toward eternal life.
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  Adam showed his wisdom by doing the same, and thus Eve and Adam
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  fell. That man might be.
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  Some Christians condemn Eve for her act, concluding that she and
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  her daughters are somehow flawed by it, not the Latter Day
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  Saints. Informed by revelation.
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  We celebrate Eve's act and honor her wisdom and courage in the
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  great episode called The Fall. Eve was a heavily blessing in
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  Adam's life. Through her divine nature and
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  spiritual attributes, she inspired Aiden to work in
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  partnership with her to achieve God's plan of happiness for all
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  mankind. The Savior Himself invites all
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  of us, God's children, to come to Him to partake of His
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  goodness, and He denieth none that come unto Him.
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  Therefore, in this context, we are considered equal before Him.
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  When spouses understand and incorporate this principle, they
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  do not position themselves as president or vice president of
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  their family. There is no superiority nor
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  inferiority in the marriage relationship, and neither walks
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  ahead for off or behind the other.
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  They walk side by side as equals the divine of a spring of God.
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  They are equal partners, equal in their potential for spiritual
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  growth and for acquiring knowledge, and so are unified by
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  helping each other. They are equal in their divine
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  destiny. To be exalted together.
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  In fact, men and women cannot be exalted alone.
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  Why then does a daughter of God, in a united and equal
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  relationship, receive the primary responsibility to
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  nourish with the most important nutrient?
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  All must receive a knowledge of truth coming from heaven.
• 26:29
  As nearly as I can see, that has been the Lord's way since
• 26:33
  families were created in this world.
• 26:36
  For instance, it was Eve who received the knowledge that Adam
• 26:41
  needed to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge for
• 26:45
  them to keep all of God's commandments and to form a
• 26:47
  family. I don't know.
• 26:50
  I do not know why it came to Eve first, but Adam and Eve were
• 26:55
  perfectly united when the knowledge was poured out on
• 26:57
  Adam. Women see things differently
• 27:00
  than men do and all. How we need your perspective,
• 27:08
  your nature leads you to think of others first, to consider the
• 27:13
  effect that any course of action will have on others.
• 27:18
  As President Irene pointed out, it was our glorious Mother Eve
• 27:24
  with her far reaching vision of our Heavenly Father's plan, who
• 27:29
  initiated what we call the Fall. Her wise and courageous choice
• 27:36
  and Adam's supporting decision moved God's plan of happiness
• 27:41
  forward. They made it possible for each
• 27:45
  of us to come to earth to receive a body and prove that we
• 27:51
  would choose to stand up for Jesus Christ Now, just as we did
• 27:56
  premortally, let's not overlook the the beautiful blessing we
• 28:03
  have of prophets, Sears, and revelators.
• 28:06
  Which now brings us to Chapter 3, where Paul gives Timothy
• 28:09
  instructions on on the qualifications of a Bishop.
• 28:14
  And you can read those qualifications in verse two
• 28:17
  through seven. I've had the privilege, my
• 28:21
  family, and I'm sure you have, and I'm sure all of you have
• 28:26
  this privilege, of having had so many incredible bishops and
• 28:33
  their families serve us through so many years.
• 28:38
  What an amazing blessing it is, this calling of the bishops and
• 28:43
  who they are. It's fun to to see the different
• 28:47
  descriptors that Paul gives for what qualifies one as a Bishop,
• 28:53
  as he's training Timothy here. So.
• 28:56
  We have to remember again, when Paul shows up in Ephesus, he's
• 29:00
  the person who brings Christianity to that area.
• 29:04
  And it's not like they've had 150 years with church handbooks
• 29:08
  and lots of models and examples for how to run a ward and how to
• 29:12
  do so in a way that's organized, that doesn't lead to deceit and
• 29:16
  people falling away. And so Paul is giving some
• 29:18
  instructions that. So instead of listening to
• 29:20
  deceitful teachers and people in the congregation who've been LED
• 29:24
  away by the deceitful teachers now.
• 29:25
  Preaching whenever they want. Let's have some order and let's
• 29:29
  try this approach where there are leaders who are humble and
• 29:34
  trustworthy and who are going to teach the simple truths of the
• 29:38
  gospel like we heard about in chapter one.
• 29:40
  They're not going to go on and illustrate ideologies or crazy
• 29:43
  fables or myths or stories that don't get them centered on Jesus
• 29:47
  Christ. So Paul, again, one of the
• 29:50
  things he's trying to do is help Timothy create order.
• 29:54
  In the church, so that people are more likely to feel God's
• 29:57
  love. And the most important thing in
• 30:00
  creating that order is, is incidentally mentioned in verse
• 30:04
  15. But if I tarry long that thou
• 30:07
  mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of
• 30:11
  God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and
• 30:17
  ground of the truth. If you look at the Joe Smith
• 30:20
  translation in the back of your Bible before the Bible maps,
• 30:26
  there's an entry there for verse 15, and you'll notice that it
• 30:31
  emphasizes that the pillar and the ground of truth isn't some
• 30:35
  metaphorical object or concept or principle.
• 30:41
  The pillar has a name, and that name is Jesus Christ.
• 30:45
  It's the Lord Himself who is the chief cornerstone, the pillar
• 30:49
  upholding this church, the House of God.
• 30:54
  The this House of order is being described here in verse 15.
• 31:01
  And then in chapter four, he expresses a bunch of ways that
• 31:05
  people can create disorder and walk away from Jesus Christ.
• 31:08
  And if you bring that into the church, community, or even into
• 31:11
  society, it has disastrous consequences.
• 31:15
  And we can look at this list here in Chapter 4 and we can say
• 31:19
  yeah. Fallen human nature is
• 31:21
  unfortunately alive and well, and Paul would probably, if he
• 31:24
  was standing here, say well. I would probably repeat a lot of
• 31:27
  the same things I said in chapter 4.
• 31:29
  You're more likely to have ordered harmony in your church
• 31:33
  and in your community if you voted.
• 31:35
  These things I lay out here in verse chapter four, yeah, so he
• 31:38
  begins in verse one. Now the Spirit speaketh
• 31:40
  expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the
• 31:44
  faith. Now pause right there.
• 31:46
  Most of us in the 21st century reading verse one, we're
• 31:49
  thinking, oh, the latter times. Well, this is the latter times.
• 31:52
  This is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
• 31:57
  So Paul's talking about us. The the reality is is Timothy
• 32:01
  reading this letter is probably not reading the letter thinking
• 32:06
  oh wow, Paul's describing what's going to happen in the world
• 32:10
  2000 years from now. Now it's totally appropriate for
• 32:14
  us to liken all scriptures to us and to see how it informs our
• 32:20
  setting in our world. There's that is beautiful and
• 32:22
  we're going to do that. But first, let's let it reside
• 32:26
  initially in its historical setting where Timothy's getting
• 32:30
  this letter to help him in Ephesus govern the church.
• 32:37
  And it's as if Paul is seeing here he is towards the end of
• 32:41
  his life. Paul is seeing that this isn't
• 32:45
  going to end well for the church.
• 32:47
  The flock is going to have wolves enter in and consume some
• 32:53
  of the work that they've done. He's already seen it.
• 32:55
  He's seen so many fruits of this, of these false ideas
• 32:59
  coming to the church. So he's addressing Timothy in
• 33:04
  his day, which he's saying in the latter times in in these
• 33:10
  days that are coming, they're going to be some who depart from
• 33:14
  the faith. Why?
• 33:15
  Because they give heed to seducing or deceitful spirits
• 33:21
  and doctrines of devils. You'll notice the doctrines that
• 33:25
  pull people away from their the pillar which is Christ, the
• 33:31
  Lord. The things that pull people away
• 33:33
  from that faithful, covenantal connection with Him.
• 33:37
  They're not, they're not distasteful things to the to the
• 33:43
  human ear, they're seducing spirits.
• 33:47
  They're things that part of us want to be true, that there
• 33:52
  there's a part of our being that would love for those things to
• 33:56
  be true and and we become convinced of them.
• 33:59
  Look at the the experience of Korahor in Alma chapter 30 in
• 34:04
  the Book of Mormon. The devil taught him and instead
• 34:08
  of saying, well, this is ridiculous, he taught the things
• 34:12
  so much and had so much success from people following him that
• 34:18
  he says. I verily did believe that they
• 34:20
  were true. Because they were pleasing to
• 34:22
  me. Here's a really mundane example.
• 34:25
  Candy. I don't.
• 34:27
  I've never met anybody who doesn't like candy.
• 34:32
  Does candy give good nutrients to your body?
• 34:36
  Absolutely not. So it's interesting.
• 34:38
  We would all agree that we all like candy, but actually,
• 34:41
  frankly, it's ultimately destructive.
• 34:44
  And it turns out there are ideas out there that on the face of
• 34:47
  it, they taste really good when you first consume it.
• 34:50
  But in the long run, they do damage to your soul and to
• 34:53
  relationships and to society. So it's it's this idea of of
• 34:58
  spiritual candy coming out that it's going to make you feel
• 35:05
  pleasure. You're you're going to like what
• 35:07
  you're hearing or or doing, but it's not going to lead to
• 35:12
  lasting edification or lasting relationships with God or with
• 35:19
  loved ones. Look at verse two.
• 35:21
  Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
• 35:27
  with a hot iron. It's these are the tools of the
• 35:31
  devil, the doctrines of devils and verse 3 forbidding to marry
• 35:38
  and commanding to abstain from meats which God has created to
• 35:42
  be received with Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
• 35:45
  truth. Keep in mind there was a lot of
• 35:47
  debate in the 1st century in the Christian Church around the
• 35:50
  eating of meat and it had very little to do with what our
• 35:53
  debates today are surrounding me.
• 35:55
  It was involving idol worship and the appropriateness of even
• 36:00
  meat eating meat in the 1st place.
• 36:03
  It's fascinating the two things that he mentions here in verse
• 36:06
  verse 3 forbidding to marry. There's this Gnostic tradition
• 36:11
  that that is going to come into full swing in the 2nd century
• 36:15
  and and into the third and even the 4th century.
• 36:19
  This idea that it's all about what you know and the body is,
• 36:25
  is bad and it doesn't matter what you do with your body, it
• 36:28
  just matters what you learn. Gnosis.
• 36:31
  Gnosis. That's where the the term
• 36:33
  gnostic comes from. Actually, our word knowledge or
• 36:37
  knowledge comes from that Greek word that you can even see at
• 36:40
  the the K and the G These are some of the challenges that
• 36:44
  earlier on that Paul's talking to Timothy about, like there's
• 36:47
  deceitful teachers showing up in the congregation teaching these
• 36:50
  messages. And again, you had a few people,
• 36:53
  men and women, who had wealth and time get up and they're
• 36:56
  repeating these deceitful messages.
• 36:58
  And Paul's like, that's not even the gospel.
• 37:01
  Why would you go to church and spend any time on messages that
• 37:05
  are not grounded in truth or revelation but are people's
• 37:08
  personal philosophies? What do we call it, the
• 37:10
  philosophies of men mingle scripture?
• 37:13
  Paul's just trying to disentangle.
• 37:14
  Let's just stay fixated and focused on what we know to be
• 37:17
  true. So Sister Julie B Beck gave a
• 37:22
  talk back in August of 2009 to to religious educators.
• 37:28
  I'll never forget this moment when I was sitting there and she
• 37:32
  said quote Korahor was an Antichrist.
• 37:38
  Antichrist is anti family. Any doctrine or principle our
• 37:44
  youth hear from the world that is anti family is also
• 37:49
  Antichrist. So she does this beautiful
• 37:52
  comparison. And if you stop and think about
• 37:54
  it, family is at the core of our Heavenly Father's plan for the
• 38:01
  eternal happiness and progression of his children.
• 38:06
  So if I'm the devil, I'm going to do everything I can to
• 38:09
  disrupt that teaching of the proper role of family
• 38:15
  relationships in the plan. And so here you get people who
• 38:21
  are coming into this or into these Ephesian congregations and
• 38:25
  forbidding people to marry and forbidding to abstain from me
• 38:29
  that anything to disrupt the flow of God's plan in the lives
• 38:36
  of these people. And by the way, you'll notice
• 38:39
  that there's a difference between somebody who today
• 38:44
  chooses to not get married because the option wasn't
• 38:51
  available to them to get married in the temple or to have that
• 38:55
  kind of relationship versus one who says I I don't want anything
• 39:03
  to do with this. There's a big difference between
• 39:05
  those two groups. Or specifically, that they are
• 39:07
  preaching the doctrine that marriage is forbidden.
• 39:11
  So somebody's preaching that doctrine.
• 39:13
  That is not what? God has made clear in His
• 39:16
  revelations throughout the years exactly, and that's another
• 39:19
  really important point, is the difference between what an
• 39:22
  individual connected with God decides to do or chooses to do
• 39:27
  in their life versus what you're telling other people they can or
• 39:32
  can't do. So with the abstaining from
• 39:36
  meats, you'll notice it's commanding to abstain from
• 39:38
  meats. The the the word commanding is
• 39:42
  added by the King James translators.
• 39:44
  It's in italics, you'll notice. But it follows with the the
• 39:48
  phrase forbidding to marry and to abstain from meats.
• 39:51
  So it's forbidding to abstain from meats is the implication
• 39:54
  here. There's a difference between
• 39:56
  somebody who chooses for their own health and they feel more
• 40:00
  healthy. They feel better about not
• 40:03
  eating meat versus standing up in Sacre meetings saying it is
• 40:07
  not OK for any of you to eat meat.
• 40:10
  That now you've that person has crossed over a different kind of
• 40:14
  a line. So now he he takes it one step
• 40:19
  further. Verse 7 Refuse profane and old
• 40:24
  wives fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
• 40:30
  For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is
• 40:34
  profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that
• 40:36
  now is end of that which is to come, That idea that I could
• 40:41
  spend my entire life building my body, exercising my body, and
• 40:47
  being as physically fit as I possibly can, and to try to stay
• 40:51
  as young and vibrant as possible.
• 40:54
  But at the end he's saying that would profit me little.
• 40:59
  But godliness is profitable unto all things.
• 41:03
  What he's not saying is treat your body with disdain and and
• 41:08
  and don't take care of it. He didn't say that.
• 41:11
  He's just saying some people can get so focused on one thing that
• 41:16
  they lose sight of the the best thing.
• 41:19
  Good, better, best. It's a good thing to take care
• 41:22
  of your body and to exercise and to eat appropriately.
• 41:24
  That is absolutely a good thing. But he's saying it's going to
• 41:30
  profit you little compared to godliness.
• 41:35
  So again, if Paul was standing here, he would not say don't
• 41:37
  take care of your body. But there were people in this
• 41:39
  society who did nothing to take care of the soul.
• 41:43
  There were ward members who just thought, it's all about what I
• 41:46
  do with my body and that will save me.
• 41:49
  And he's trying to correct that and say actually, no, take care
• 41:53
  of the soul, take care of your spirit.
• 41:55
  Again, if you were standing right here, he'd say absolutely
• 41:57
  take care of your body and your spirit.
• 42:00
  So again, he's addressing a very specific issue.
• 42:03
  And so he's. Speaking in a way that provides
• 42:06
  an overcorrection that comes out for us.
• 42:09
  It's like what? Bodies exercise.
• 42:11
  I shouldn't do it. Again, he's trying to address a
• 42:13
  very specific problem, where people were only bodily
• 42:16
  exercising and not paying attention to the things of the
• 42:18
  Spirit. Then, to close chapter four, he
• 42:22
  gives a series of exhortations to Timothy verse 12.
• 42:25
  Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the
• 42:30
  believers in Word, in conversation and charity and
• 42:33
  spirit in faith and purity. You'll notice a couple of
• 42:36
  scriptural examples and historical examples of amazing
• 42:40
  things that have been been done by people who were quite
• 42:43
  frankly, too young to have been able to do those.
• 42:47
  Joseph Smith comes to mind. Samuel the Prophet comes to
• 42:50
  mind. The boy Jesus, at age 12 in the
• 42:53
  temple comes to mind as obviously he's going to be the
• 42:56
  ultimate example of any good principle.
• 42:59
  And so. President Monson quoted this
• 43:02
  scripture almost more than any other scripture, and you might
• 43:05
  remember he was called as a Bishop around age 21.
• 43:08
  He was called as an apostle at age 36.
• 43:10
  And you can it's almost autobiographical for him that he
• 43:13
  felt pretty young to be in these positions.
• 43:16
  And he would often quote this when he would teach others about
• 43:20
  how to mold themselves in leadership roles aligned with
• 43:23
  Jesus Christ. Now he says, verse 14.
• 43:28
  Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by
• 43:31
  prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
• 43:36
  Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them,
• 43:39
  that thy profiting may appear to all.
• 43:42
  You'll notice this concept of It's not you, Timothy, It's not
• 43:48
  about you, it's about God and connecting people with God.
• 43:52
  And the Lord has given you gifts.
• 43:55
  He's placed them in you. Don't pay attention to your age,
• 43:59
  don't pay attention to the physical body perspective.
• 44:03
  Keep your eye focused firmly on the Lord Jesus Christ and what
• 44:08
  He's trying to do, and give yourself over to him to be an
• 44:11
  instrument in His hands. And He will use those gifts that
• 44:14
  He gave you to perform miracles and to perform the the tasks,
• 44:19
  the missions that He had for ordained you to accomplish in
• 44:23
  this life. So Chapter 5, again, imagine
• 44:26
  Timothy as a state president receiving a personalized
• 44:31
  handbook of instructions for how to administer the the church.
• 44:35
  So you have this young, growing ward.
• 44:37
  It's only been around for a couple of years, and you have
• 44:40
  different members with different economic situations and
• 44:42
  different life situations. And Timothy's had questions
• 44:45
  about, well, how do we take care of people who have different
• 44:47
  needs. And Paul gives some instructions
• 44:49
  about well, here's you should be taking care of the widows.
• 44:52
  If there are widows that are out there who are not living gospel
• 44:55
  standards and are misspending money, you probably shouldn't be
• 44:58
  giving them money. Likewise, the men should be
• 45:01
  taking care of their families and doing what they can to
• 45:04
  support their families. So it's very reasonable advice,
• 45:07
  and you will notice today that the Church similarly tries to
• 45:11
  provide support and help for all of us to succeed, and we update
• 45:16
  our policies from time to time based on how people are living
• 45:20
  Gospel principles. And are being aligned to a
• 45:23
  principles of thrift and financial stewardship which now
• 45:27
  brings us on that thrift and financial side in chapter 6.
• 45:32
  It's beautiful, he says he he teaches this principle as well
• 45:36
  as anywhere that I know of in Scripture, starting in verse 7.
• 45:41
  For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can
• 45:45
  carry nothing out. He he's reminding Timothy, when
• 45:49
  you were born, you you brought nothing with you and you're not
• 45:52
  going to carry anything out of this world either.
• 45:56
  And having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
• 46:00
  That is a word that our world does not love nor champion.
• 46:06
  The word content. The world we live in, the the
• 46:10
  worldly part of our society that we live in, is constantly
• 46:16
  driving people to deeper discontent with what I have.
• 46:21
  It's always thinking the grass is greener on the other side.
• 46:24
  It's always it doesn't matter what job I have.
• 46:28
  I need more money. It doesn't matter how many
• 46:31
  possessions I have. I need more toys.
• 46:34
  I need more possessions. I need more land, more property,
• 46:37
  more. I need more, more, more, more,
• 46:39
  more, more. I'm not content with what I
• 46:42
  have. I've got to get more that the
• 46:46
  world has to offer. Now keep that in the context of
• 46:49
  verse seven. I brought nothing into this
• 46:51
  world. I'm going to carry nothing out.
• 46:53
  So that brings us now to verse 9:00 and 10:00.
• 46:57
  But they that will be rich. Notice the word will implies 2
• 47:03
  things in English. It could be future tense, they
• 47:06
  that will be rich, but it can also in English imply those who
• 47:11
  want to be or who desire it's their will to be rich.
• 47:17
  Look at it in that context. Those who want to be rich fall
• 47:22
  into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful
• 47:26
  lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
• 47:30
  Why? For the love of money is the
• 47:34
  root of all evil. Quick clarification here.
• 47:39
  The Greek text for verse 10 does not have a definite article.
• 47:45
  Some of you are wondering what What is the definite article?
• 47:47
  The word the is a definite article.
• 47:50
  So the love of money is the root of all evil.
• 47:57
  Where it's a definite article, it makes it sound like it is the
• 48:02
  one and only. It is the root of
• 48:04
  all-encompassing evil. The reality, without having the
• 48:10
  definite article in the Greek, implies rather that the love of
• 48:15
  money is a root of all evil. And if you look at biblehub.com,
• 48:22
  you can see 3030 or so English translations of the Greek text,
• 48:28
  different versions of the Bible. And you'll notice about half of
• 48:31
  them translated as the root of all evil and the other half
• 48:35
  translated as a root or a source a a a supplying source of all
• 48:41
  evil. Which makes sense because there
• 48:43
  are many people who have sinned grievously in the history of the
• 48:46
  world who did that with no root in money per SE.
• 48:52
  Which now brings us to this question of therefore, how
• 48:58
  should we look at money? I know some very, very, very
• 49:02
  wealthy people, some of the finest people in the world that
• 49:08
  God has entrusted great wealth. But it's fascinating to watch
• 49:14
  how they use that wealth. Not to gratify their own pride,
• 49:19
  not to build up their own Kingdom, not to establish their
• 49:23
  own, their own pre eminence over everybody else.
• 49:27
  But they quietly and powerfully go about using that money to
• 49:32
  build up the Kingdom, to serve the poor, the needy, the
• 49:37
  afflicted, to help with with tithes and offerings and
• 49:42
  building temples and missionary work and all these amazing
• 49:46
  things that could be done for those people.
• 49:49
  Their heart is not set on the money, their heart is on God.
• 49:53
  So God has entrusted them with great amounts of money which now
• 49:57
  is used to build the Kingdom of the world.
• 49:59
  So very important note here in verse 10 the phrase isn't money
• 50:05
  is the root of all evil, it's the love of money.
• 50:10
  So if we seek the money first, that's a problem.
• 50:15
  And he talked about that and that comes up in the Book of
• 50:17
  Mormon 2. Jacob addressed that with his
• 50:19
  people in his speech that he gave them in Jacob chapter 2,
• 50:24
  When he said, But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the
• 50:30
  Kingdom of God. And after you have obtained a
• 50:33
  hope in Christ, ye shall obtain riches if ye seek them, And you
• 50:38
  will seek them for the intent to do good, to clothe the naked, to
• 50:44
  feed the hungry, to liberate the captive and administer relief to
• 50:47
  the sick and the afflicted. I love that principle.
• 50:50
  Money is not evil. The love of money, setting one's
• 50:53
  heart on money and the power and the prestige and the glory that
• 50:59
  it can bring. That's that's the problem that
• 51:03
  that leads to to bad ends. So I work in a Business School.
• 51:08
  We teach students how to be awesome at business, and money
• 51:12
  is the lifeblood of business in the sense that if you don't have
• 51:16
  money, it's a resource, it's a tool, It's really hard to
• 51:19
  operate a business, and one of the core principles we teach to
• 51:23
  students is this very thing. If you are out there seeking to
• 51:27
  solve problems for people, which in my mind any good you do to
• 51:33
  make the world a little bit better in any way is building
• 51:37
  the Kingdom of God like we heard in Jacob.
• 51:39
  So if you're doing any good that builds a Kingdom of God, you're
• 51:43
  doing anything that makes the world a better place.
• 51:46
  People sometimes will pay you for the solutions you bring, and
• 51:49
  that is not a bad thing. So if you solve a lot of
• 51:53
  problems, you might end up. Having a lot of resources and
• 51:57
  wealth. But notice you weren't solving
• 52:00
  problems with the intention of getting resources and wealth.
• 52:03
  Your intention was I want to solve problems for people and I
• 52:07
  teach students. If you are fixated on loving
• 52:10
  your neighbor and trying to solve problems that matter to
• 52:13
  them, the money will take care of itself.
• 52:17
  And it's actually not only money when I listen to Jacob's message
• 52:21
  about riches. It's any form of wealth or tools
• 52:24
  or resources that are given to us that we can use to bless the
• 52:29
  lives of other people. And so, sure, money is one
• 52:33
  thing, but it might be education.
• 52:35
  It might be physical strength. It might be the ability to
• 52:37
  teach, or to share or to comfort.
• 52:40
  It could be any form of tool or resource that you can use to
• 52:44
  uplift other people. And if God has given you an
• 52:46
  abundance or even little, His invitation is to impart what you
• 52:51
  have. To uplift others.
• 52:53
  And in so doing, what do you find?
• 52:55
  Enormous joy. I love that.
• 52:58
  Look at verse 11. But thou, man of God, flee these
• 53:02
  things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
• 53:06
  love, patience, meekness, fight the good fight of faith, lay
• 53:11
  hold on eternal life, remembering that idea that we
• 53:16
  can't take anything, none of our wealth can go with us.
• 53:20
  But all of those memories, all of those relationships, all of
• 53:23
  those Christ like attributes that we've developed, they will
• 53:29
  go with us. So money is one of those means
• 53:33
  that we can use to the end of becoming more like Christ if we
• 53:38
  are charitable in in how we see it, how we use it, and and how
• 53:45
  we don't let it use us. This brings us now to the second
• 53:49
  epistle of Paul the apostle of Timothy, possibly the very last
• 53:56
  thing that he wrote shortly before his death.
• 54:00
  Christian tradition holds that he is killed by Nero and outside
• 54:05
  of Rome at if you if you ever get the chance to go to Rome,
• 54:08
  there's Saint Paul's Outside the Walls that that basilica where
• 54:14
  tradition holds that he was killed by Nero sometime in
• 54:18
  spring of of 68. So here he is somewhere towards
• 54:23
  the the end of his life. He's writing this last letter to
• 54:27
  Timothy and it is just drenched with this kind, loving,
• 54:34
  compassionate apostle speaking words of peace to his young
• 54:40
  friend Timothy. Look at verse 7, for God has not
• 54:45
  given us the spirit of fear. Pause.
• 54:49
  Put it in its context. We love that verse in the 21st
• 54:52
  century, but picturing it coming from Paul, who knows the end is
• 54:58
  near. He spent so much time in prison,
• 55:00
  but this time, and in this letter, he makes it very clear.
• 55:02
  I I think this is it. We're right at the end.
• 55:05
  And he says, God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but of
• 55:10
  power and of love, and of a sound mind.
• 55:15
  He has this incredible self-control.
• 55:17
  And he sees things through this eternal perspective.
• 55:20
  It's powerful. Be not thou therefore ashamed of
• 55:25
  the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou
• 55:29
  partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
• 55:32
  power of God. Apparently some of Paul's
• 55:36
  friends or ward members or people who've been converted to
• 55:40
  the gospel are ashamed of Paul. Like, why would I want to be
• 55:44
  associated with a prisoner? It doesn't help my social status
• 55:49
  in this very competitive Greco Roman society I am in.
• 55:52
  And so some people stayed faithful to Paul.
• 55:54
  But there were a few names mentioned here in this second
• 55:58
  Timothy where he indicates that there have been people who've
• 56:01
  abandoned him, and here he is in his cold cell.
• 56:04
  In fact, at one point Even asked Timothy, please bring my nice
• 56:07
  large, warm coat. It's getting cold in here.
• 56:10
  And so he's been abandoned in many ways, and yet he's not
• 56:14
  ashamed and he doesn't have fear.
• 56:17
  He recognizes that in the end, his treasure is in Jesus Christ
• 56:22
  Christ, who hath saved us and called us within holy calling,
• 56:26
  not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and
• 56:29
  grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
• 56:32
  began. And it's that idea of
• 56:34
  considering the context again. He's cold, he's in prison.
• 56:37
  He knows he's about to die. It's been it's been miserable.
• 56:41
  But he's not miserable because he's not.
• 56:45
  He's not letting the world's dictate how he feels about God,
• 56:52
  how he feels about himself, and how he feels about other people.
• 56:56
  Which now brings us to chapter two.
• 56:59
  Look at verse 3. Thou therefore endure hardness,
• 57:04
  endure this, these difficulties of life, these afflictions,
• 57:09
  these vexations, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
• 57:12
  It's interesting Paul is trying to point out that to be a
• 57:14
  follower of Jesus Christ means that you likely will find
• 57:18
  tension with the world around you.
• 57:20
  And so he uses a number of examples of people who have
• 57:23
  laboured for a greater cause themself.
• 57:26
  He talks about soldiers, he talks about athletes, he talks
• 57:28
  about farmers. Then he calls on the memory of
• 57:31
  what Jesus did. He died for everybody, and even
• 57:33
  Paul himself is willing to suffer on behalf of other people
• 57:39
  that they can have better lives. So what we are learning here is
• 57:44
  that if we choose to follow Jesus Christ, we should not be
• 57:47
  surprised if that creates tension with the world around us
• 57:52
  and we have to be willing to endure.
• 57:56
  Isn't that a powerful example? He's giving this, this idea of
• 57:59
  soldiers, athletes, farmers. None of those people go and
• 58:05
  experience incredible success in an event unless they've worked
• 58:10
  through a long process of preparation and paid the price,
• 58:15
  the toil, the labor, the hard work to get to that event,
• 58:19
  whether it's the athletic event or the winning a a battle, a
• 58:23
  critical part of a war, or collecting a harvest.
• 58:29
  It it's a long process and now tied in with teaching.
• 58:32
  Timothy discipleship is not, it's not an event.
• 58:39
  It it's about a long drawn out process of devoted, consecrated
• 58:46
  dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 58:49
  And there will be tribulation. You're going to get muddy.
• 58:52
  You're going to get sweaty, you're going to be, you're going
• 58:55
  to get sore, you're you're going to get wounded.
• 58:58
  It's going to be painful at times.
• 59:01
  But his his point is don't have your focus beyond that.
• 59:05
  Have your focus be on the Savior and then whatever else happens
• 59:10
  along the way, that's all gain. That's all you're getting
• 59:14
  stronger through those those difficulties.
• 59:17
  So let's jump down to verse 21. If a man therefore purge himself
• 59:21
  from these these bad things that are that are surrounding you,
• 59:27
  and and words and ideas and practices that would destroy
• 59:32
  you. If a man therefore purge himself
• 59:34
  from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet
• 59:40
  for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work
• 59:45
  this idea of becoming a chosen vessel unto the Lord, that
• 59:49
  you've turned your life over to him, and you've let him shape
• 59:53
  you. You've let him sharpen you, and
• 59:56
  you've let him Polish you, whatever analogy you want to use
• 59:59
  to be an instrument in his hands, to be the right shape,
• 1:00:03
  the right feel, to accomplish the Lord's work.
• 1:00:10
  Look at verse 22. Flee also youthful lusts, but
• 1:00:13
  follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that
• 1:00:17
  call on the Lord. Out of a pure heart, jump down
• 1:00:21
  to verse 24 and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be
• 1:00:26
  gentle unto all men apartment to teach patient Have you ever been
• 1:00:33
  in a setting where you felt really justified and really
• 1:00:39
  right in your opinion and the group didn't take your opinion
• 1:00:45
  and run with it? In fact, they might have
• 1:00:48
  actually rejected your opinion, your thoughts, your idea, and
• 1:00:52
  and you you know you were inspired.
• 1:00:54
  It was a good thing. I love what he's teaching.
• 1:00:57
  Timothy here is when you're dealing with people, everybody
• 1:01:00
  has agency, everybody has experience, they all have their
• 1:01:05
  own perspective and sometimes you're going to share ideas.
• 1:01:11
  But instead of striving, instead of telling them how dumb they
• 1:01:14
  are because they don't agree with your own right opinion,
• 1:01:17
  he's saying try to be gentle unto all and you're going to be
• 1:01:24
  apartment to teach and be patient again, don't treat
• 1:01:29
  relationships like events. Treat it like a garden.
• 1:01:34
  That's going to take time. You have to plant seeds.
• 1:01:37
  You have to prepare the soil. You have to weed, you have to
• 1:01:40
  water. You have to add nourishment.
• 1:01:42
  You have to protect it. It takes time, apartment to
• 1:01:46
  teach. That's what you're doing with
• 1:01:48
  your children. That's what you do with church
• 1:01:50
  callings, as leaders, as missionaries, as teachers, you,
• 1:01:53
  you, you keep, you keep working and you're patient.
• 1:01:57
  It's the long game, not the short game.
• 1:02:00
  Don't get frustrated. If you go into your class and
• 1:02:02
  you see a whole bunch of weeds that weren't there last week,
• 1:02:04
  it's OK, Just be patient. Keep working through this
• 1:02:08
  process and in verse 25, he says in meekness.
• 1:02:12
  Instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure
• 1:02:16
  will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
• 1:02:19
  Such a powerful principle for leadership and for parenting
• 1:02:22
  there. So Paul gives additional
• 1:02:24
  warnings to Timothy about things that Timothy should expect in
• 1:02:27
  his latter days. Paul's latter days meaning near
• 1:02:30
  the end of his life that Timothy.
• 1:02:32
  As he grows older he's probably going to see an increase of
• 1:02:35
  challenges and in our latter days that unfortunately our
• 1:02:39
  fallen nature. Is hard to overcome all on our
• 1:02:43
  own when we reject Jesus Christ. There's one here, one verse here
• 1:02:47
  in particular that I find compelling.
• 1:02:49
  It's verse seven, ever learning and never able to come to the
• 1:02:54
  knowledge of the truth. I confess I've had the privilege
• 1:02:58
  of getting access to lots of education, and there was a
• 1:03:03
  moment in my Graduate School time I was walking on the
• 1:03:05
  sidewalk. Overwhelmed with the crush of
• 1:03:08
  information that I was asked to consume and master.
• 1:03:12
  And this phrase just reverberated in my soul.
• 1:03:16
  And I think learning is deeply powerful, very meaningful.
• 1:03:21
  In fact, it's one of the things that I care most about is how do
• 1:03:24
  I learn more to be like God? But the learning we should be
• 1:03:27
  seeking is the learning that endures, the learning that
• 1:03:30
  lasts, God is. A God of truth and knowledge.
• 1:03:34
  And if we want to be like him, we do need to learn all things,
• 1:03:39
  but we should be focused on those things first that matter
• 1:03:42
  most. So it's not terribly unlike
• 1:03:46
  money. If we go into it seeking for the
• 1:03:48
  money for the money's power sake, that's a problem.
• 1:03:53
  But if we go in seeking to glorify God, and we seek first
• 1:03:58
  the Kingdom of God, then money becomes a means to an end of
• 1:04:02
  being able to glorify God. Same thing with learning.
• 1:04:05
  If I go into my education, into my learning experiences in order
• 1:04:09
  to gratify my own pride or puff up my own sense of importance or
• 1:04:14
  my own pre eminence among among whichever group I want to
• 1:04:18
  compare myself to, then that's a problem.
• 1:04:21
  But if I want to glorify God, and because I want to glorify
• 1:04:24
  God, I recognize 01 of the aspects of how I actually love
• 1:04:29
  God is with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, I can
• 1:04:36
  actually devote time to dig deeper into my study.
• 1:04:41
  Not just to the scriptures, but my study of all truth of things
• 1:04:45
  above the heavens, beneath the earth, of history, of languages,
• 1:04:49
  of cultures, of peoples, of all these things, for the intent to
• 1:04:54
  become a more useful instrument in the hands of the Lord to help
• 1:04:57
  build up His Kingdom. To do good.
• 1:04:59
  And actually that was what was so crushing to me is that I had
• 1:05:03
  gone forth to get more learning because I wanted to be a better
• 1:05:07
  instrument to serve people. And I felt that the system that
• 1:05:11
  I was in was requiring that I was being self focused,
• 1:05:14
  consuming for myself and competing with other learners to
• 1:05:18
  prove that I was better than them and I could get the
• 1:05:21
  accolades of the world. I just, I really, really
• 1:05:24
  despised that. I just hated it.
• 1:05:26
  I'm like I just want to gain. In the intent that I can do more
• 1:05:33
  good and not simply prove to other people that I'm some
• 1:05:38
  hotshot or worth something. So.
• 1:05:39
  So look at this contrast from verse seven that Taylor already
• 1:05:43
  read. Ever learning?
• 1:05:46
  Well, what's the solution? President Boyd K Packer on one
• 1:05:49
  occasion talked about reading second Timothy 3.
• 1:05:52
  And he he was pretty discouraged when he read verse one through
• 1:05:55
  5. Seeing all of these descriptive
• 1:05:58
  words about all of the bad things that human beings can do
• 1:06:03
  and and and looking at the world around saying, Yep, Paul nailed
• 1:06:06
  it not just for his own time but for our time as well and it and
• 1:06:10
  it leads to this pretty discouraging downcast feeling.
• 1:06:15
  And his point was, So what is the solution?
• 1:06:20
  And then you look down at this very page and Paul gave the
• 1:06:23
  solution. It's in verse 15 and that from a
• 1:06:27
  child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to
• 1:06:33
  make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
• 1:06:37
  Jesus. Notice verse seven ever learning
• 1:06:39
  compared to verse 15 to be made wise.
• 1:06:43
  I could know an awful lot of information, but if I'm wise, I
• 1:06:49
  don't just know the information. I know why I've sought it.
• 1:06:53
  I know how to apply it. I know to whom I can best apply
• 1:06:57
  it. Wisdom leads to this application
• 1:07:01
  of intelligence that gets me towards salvation through faith,
• 1:07:08
  which is in Christ Jesus. And then he gives this beautiful
• 1:07:13
  description in verse 16. And I'll read the Joseph Smith
• 1:07:15
  translation. And all Scripture given by
• 1:07:18
  inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
• 1:07:24
  correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of
• 1:07:27
  God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,
• 1:07:33
  such a powerful connection with what we're trying to do, all of
• 1:07:39
  us collectively as a church with the Come, Follow Me program, is
• 1:07:43
  to turn to God through a more serious a broader and a deeper
• 1:07:50
  study of His words given to us through the scriptures and
• 1:07:55
  through the words of our living, living prophets.
• 1:07:58
  Now he finishes chapter four with this letter is this
• 1:08:03
  farewell to Timothy. He says that these are powerful
• 1:08:08
  words starting in verse 6. For I am now ready to be offered
• 1:08:14
  and the time of my departure is at hand.
• 1:08:18
  He's not speaking as somebody who's who's caught up in himself
• 1:08:23
  and and overly anxious. He's very serene.
• 1:08:27
  He's he's comfortable in his role now that he knows is going
• 1:08:32
  to be as a martyr for Christ. Verse seven.
• 1:08:35
  I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course.
• 1:08:40
  I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
• 1:08:44
  me a crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the
• 1:08:47
  righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only
• 1:08:51
  back to his pattern idea, but unto all them also that love his
• 1:08:56
  appearing. Now think about who's going to
• 1:08:58
  love his appearing. If I've been doing the works of
• 1:09:01
  of the devil or works of the flesh when he comes, I'm not
• 1:09:06
  going to like that because that interrupts my desires, my
• 1:09:10
  appetites, my passions and my drive to to build up my Kingdom.
• 1:09:16
  But I'm going to love his appearing.
• 1:09:18
  If my whole life has been seeking to focus on him and
• 1:09:23
  asking God what can I do to more fully serve thee, then his
• 1:09:28
  appearing is going to be marvelous.
• 1:09:31
  And then just one other thought. Here, verse 11, he says, only
• 1:09:36
  Luke is with me. Take Mark.
• 1:09:39
  Remember John Mark? He was the companion with Paul
• 1:09:43
  and Barnabas on that very first missionary journey.
• 1:09:45
  Who left? And then Mark is the reason that
• 1:09:49
  Paul and Barnabas broke up. The sharp contention arose
• 1:09:53
  between them over John Mark. Paul apparently didn't love
• 1:09:58
  working with John Mark or that there was a a conflict between
• 1:10:02
  them. And now, right before he dies,
• 1:10:05
  he says, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable
• 1:10:11
  to me for the Ministry. I love that.
• 1:10:16
  I love that here at the end, he's reconciled to somebody who
• 1:10:19
  in the past hadn't necessarily been his favorite missionary
• 1:10:23
  companion. Now we move into this epistle to
• 1:10:27
  Titus. Now Titus is going to be sent by
• 1:10:30
  Paul to manage the church on the island of Crete.
• 1:10:34
  Now it's important to understand a bit about Crete.
• 1:10:37
  In Greek mythology, this is where Zeus was born.
• 1:10:40
  The stories of Zeus were very entertaining to people in the
• 1:10:43
  ancient world, and Zeus was not the kind of person that we would
• 1:10:47
  see as a God of good morals, of chastity, of kindness.
• 1:10:52
  He was a liar, a retrobate, but again, he was very entertaining.
• 1:10:56
  So people love to still tell stories about the God Zeus, who
• 1:10:59
  was born in Crete, and the Cretans developed the people who
• 1:11:03
  lived in Crete. Our reputation for being liars
• 1:11:07
  and unfaithful and many other negative things.
• 1:11:09
  Now likely there were plenty of good people in Crete, but the
• 1:11:13
  larger society saw Crete as the origin of Zeus and the place
• 1:11:19
  where liars were bred, and Paul deals with this effect.
• 1:11:23
  It's very interesting. Notice how when Paul begins in
• 1:11:27
  verse 2. In hope of eternal life, which
• 1:11:30
  God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
• 1:11:35
  So even initially, Paul understands he is trying to help
• 1:11:38
  Titus, and by extension the ward or the ward members in that area
• 1:11:43
  understand that the God they worship is not a God of lies and
• 1:11:48
  deceit and whore mongering. That God himself, the true God,
• 1:11:52
  is one of truth. And so as you read through
• 1:11:55
  Titus, you will see. These expressions of Paul trying
• 1:11:59
  to Orient the Cretan ward members away from the culture
• 1:12:04
  that they have grown up with, of liars and whoredoms and more to
• 1:12:09
  the truth, abandoned what you've grown up with with that culture
• 1:12:13
  and now accept the culture of truth that comes from God
• 1:12:16
  himself. So you might find this, this
• 1:12:20
  epistle from Paul. He's got some strong words for
• 1:12:22
  the people. It's not like he's coming
• 1:12:24
  across. In super kind and in soft words,
• 1:12:28
  he's speaking pretty directly and it gives you a sense for the
• 1:12:32
  the strength of the problem he's trying to address given the
• 1:12:35
  negative culture that the people in The Ward and Crete are
• 1:12:38
  dealing with. And.
• 1:12:38
  And I might add here that if you, if you read Titus and you
• 1:12:42
  feel like Paul's being too heavy-handed or being even rude
• 1:12:47
  at times, keep in mind Paul's not writing this letter to the
• 1:12:52
  Cretans, the to the cretins. He's writing it to Titus, who's
• 1:12:58
  the kind of the stake president once again, because he's going
• 1:13:01
  to talk to him about calling bishops as well.
• 1:13:04
  He's writing it to him on how to deal with better shepherding
• 1:13:09
  these people. And so it's sometimes you'll
• 1:13:13
  speak to leaders differently than you do to the the group of
• 1:13:18
  people that those leaders are overseeing.
• 1:13:22
  So that's an important thing to keep in mind.
• 1:13:24
  Also look at verse 15 in contrast to Zeus as described
• 1:13:29
  here with the way our God is. Look at verse 15.
• 1:13:34
  Under the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are
• 1:13:37
  defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.
• 1:13:39
  But even their mind and conscience is defiled.
• 1:13:41
  They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him,
• 1:13:45
  being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good
• 1:13:48
  work reprobate. Yeah, they're following the
• 1:13:51
  example of Zeus, and Paul is trying to help Titus.
• 1:13:54
  Help the members in that area to give up these habits they've
• 1:13:59
  inherited from their Greek background.
• 1:14:02
  Exactly. So in contrast to to the
• 1:14:05
  patterning my life after Zeus, look at chapter 2, verse 1314,
• 1:14:10
  looking for that blessed hope in the glorious appearing of the
• 1:14:13
  Greek God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us,
• 1:14:18
  that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself
• 1:14:23
  a peculiar people zealous of good works.
• 1:14:28
  Zeus would never have done anything to help the people at
• 1:14:34
  his expense. And on any of the the
• 1:14:37
  mythologies, any of the stories, it was all about him gratifying
• 1:14:41
  his own pride, his own passions, his own desires.
• 1:14:46
  And now you get this 180 degrees opposite the real example of
• 1:14:51
  what a God really is in Christ, who gave himself for us.
• 1:14:57
  So Paul gives some instructions of Titus about how the ward
• 1:15:01
  members or the members of the Christian community in Crete
• 1:15:03
  should act. There's a whole bunch of things
• 1:15:05
  they should avoid which are very common for people to do as they
• 1:15:09
  try to enact the stories of Zeus in their lives.
• 1:15:12
  And Paul lists all these things they shouldn't be doing, and
• 1:15:15
  then he. Turns 180 degrees and says and
• 1:15:18
  in verse 4. But after that the kindness and
• 1:15:22
  love of God, our Savior toward man appeared.
• 1:15:25
  Let's go to verse 8. This is a really important verse
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  because sometimes people want to say Paul is only about grace and
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  faith, which were deeply motivating principles to him.
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  But he understands that both Grace and works.
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  Go together, verse 8. This is a faithful saying.
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  And these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they
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  which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good
• 1:15:51
  works. These things are good and
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  profitable unto men. Again, remember, Paul is not
• 1:16:00
  only trying to create Christians, people who are
• 1:16:02
  followers of God. He's living in a world and
• 1:16:05
  environment and he knows. That good Christians who are
• 1:16:08
  living the gospel will be good members of society.
• 1:16:12
  Society generally is happier, better, more prosperous when
• 1:16:17
  people are living well and not lying, not deceiving, not whore
• 1:16:21
  mongering, not brawling, not drunkards, all the things he
• 1:16:24
  lists. And so he is hopeful that not
• 1:16:27
  only for their own salvation will they be aligned to Jesus in
• 1:16:31
  in their good works. But then in so doing, they will
• 1:16:34
  demonstrate to people and Crete in this Greco Roman environment,
• 1:16:38
  this is really what it means to have a good life and to then
• 1:16:43
  encourage those people to say, huh, wow, I actually could
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  change from all these fables about Zeus, and I can follow
• 1:16:51
  living God and find a life of peace and harmony.
• 1:16:55
  Which now brings us to our final epistle for today, Philemon.
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  Or if you want the the more Greek way of pronouncing that
• 1:17:02
  Philemon, Philemon is this incredible character who happens
• 1:17:10
  to be the Bishop or the leader in Colosse.
• 1:17:15
  You remember the Epistles of the Colossians?
• 1:17:17
  It's in the it's in the region two to three day journey away
• 1:17:20
  from Ephesus and Philemon's, the leader of this small Christian
• 1:17:26
  congregation there in Colosse. Philemon had been taught by Paul
• 1:17:32
  and baptized, and Philemon is a householder, and as a
• 1:17:37
  householder in the 1st century, he has servants.
• 1:17:40
  One of those servants is named Onessimus.
• 1:17:46
  Now Onessimus has done something.
• 1:17:49
  He's either stolen something or done something wrong in the
• 1:17:52
  House of Philemon and he's run away.
• 1:17:56
  He's fled. He has escaped now in the 1st
• 1:18:00
  century. Depending on the the gravity of
• 1:18:03
  the the crime, whatever he had done wrong, he could be killed
• 1:18:09
  or at least imprisoned if he's caught.
• 1:18:14
  The fascinating thing about this story is as he's running away,
• 1:18:17
  Onessimus comes to Paul, finds Paul, and becomes converted by
• 1:18:25
  Paul. And after he's converted, Paul
• 1:18:30
  says I'm sending you back to Philemon, but I'm going to send
• 1:18:36
  you back with a letter of recommendation from me.
• 1:18:39
  Can you picture one SMS saying, ah, I don't want to go back to
• 1:18:44
  Philemon. I was a servant there and I
• 1:18:46
  didn't like and and I'll be in big trouble.
• 1:18:48
  I could be punished. I did bad things and you can
• 1:18:52
  picture now as this middle part of the the epistle unfolds, the
• 1:18:58
  beautiful allegory of the infinite atonement of Jesus
• 1:19:02
  Christ coming into play in this story.
• 1:19:05
  And This is why this book is my favorite of the overlooked books
• 1:19:12
  in the New Testament, because it's so beautifully teaches
• 1:19:16
  these these atonement symbolisms.
• 1:19:20
  And you see in this story, these three characters coming to life
• 1:19:25
  today. Let's start in verse 10, in this
• 1:19:33
  in this epistle, he says, I beseech thee Philemon for my son
• 1:19:39
  Onessimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.
• 1:19:44
  So picture Paul taking a mediator, an intercessor role,
• 1:19:52
  the role that Jesus Christ takes for us, interceding for me, and
• 1:20:00
  you filling the role of Onessimus with God filling the
• 1:20:05
  role of Philemon. Now, no analogy is perfect and
• 1:20:08
  they all breakdown eventually. The fact that Paul taught and
• 1:20:10
  baptized Philemon doesn't fit this analogy.
• 1:20:13
  I get that. But this middle part of the
• 1:20:16
  epistle. Watch the the the letter of
• 1:20:20
  recommendation part. Watch how beautifully this
• 1:20:23
  teaches the principle. Picture instead of Paul talking
• 1:20:27
  to Philemon, picture the Savior speaking to the Lord in behalf
• 1:20:31
  of you and me, saying, I beseech thee for my son.
• 1:20:36
  Fill in the blank with your name or my daughter, Your name, whom
• 1:20:40
  I have begotten in my bonds. It's in his captivity.
• 1:20:46
  It's in his infinite atoning sacrifice that we have become
• 1:20:49
  spiritually begotten sons and daughters unto Christ.
• 1:20:55
  Mosiah chapter 5 verse seven. Ether chapter 3 verse 14 to show
• 1:21:01
  the the role of father the fatherhood of Christ.
• 1:21:07
  Look at verse 11, which in time past was to the unprofitable,
• 1:21:13
  but now profitable to thee and me.
• 1:21:17
  Onessimus has changed. Christ changed you.
• 1:21:21
  He changes me. He makes it so that we can
• 1:21:25
  become more profitable. Whom I have sent again there
• 1:21:29
  Thou therefore receive him, that is mine Own bowels.
• 1:21:34
  I've begotten him. Now receive him.
• 1:21:37
  He's different than when he left.
• 1:21:39
  Jump down to verse 15. But perhaps he therefore
• 1:21:42
  departed for a season that thou shouldest receive him forever.
• 1:21:48
  You and I left heaven. We left the presence of God for
• 1:21:54
  a season that perhaps God could receive us forever.
• 1:22:01
  But when we go back, we don't go back the same way as we left
• 1:22:06
  verse 16. Not now as a servant, but above
• 1:22:10
  a servant, a brother beloved specially to me.
• 1:22:15
  But how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the
• 1:22:18
  Lord. So the analogy breaks down a
• 1:22:20
  little bit here, where he's saying Chaonesmus needs to be
• 1:22:22
  your brother, not your servant, this this brother in Christ, but
• 1:22:27
  in the the atonement overlay symbolism.
• 1:22:31
  It's this idea of us becoming joint heirs with Christ unto
• 1:22:36
  God. So receive him in that context.
• 1:22:40
  Verse 17. If thou count me therefore a
• 1:22:41
  partner, receive him as myself, the Lord saying, Take him as if
• 1:22:47
  he were me, If he hath wronged thee or owes thee ought.
• 1:22:52
  If he owes you anything, put that on mine account.
• 1:22:58
  I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, and I will repay
• 1:23:02
  it. And then the analogy breaks down
• 1:23:04
  as he he goes on to remind Philemon about what Paul has
• 1:23:08
  done for Philemon. But up to that point, notice the
• 1:23:12
  significance as it connects now with Doctrine and Covenant
• 1:23:16
  Section 45. For me, Philemon is the
• 1:23:22
  storyline for the dialogue in Doctrine and Covenant section
• 1:23:27
  45, verse 3 through 5 where we finish.
• 1:23:30
  Here the Lord says, Listen to him who is the advocate with the
• 1:23:36
  Father, who is pleading your cause before him?
• 1:23:40
  Saying, Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who
• 1:23:45
  did no sin, and whom thou was well pleased.
• 1:23:47
  Behold the blood of thy son which was shed, the blood of him
• 1:23:51
  whom thou gave us, that thyself might be glorified.
• 1:23:54
  Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren, that believe on my
• 1:23:59
  name, that they may come unto me, and have everlasting life.
• 1:24:05
  Isn't it great to be in the scriptures and see that even
• 1:24:08
  though these texts were written thousands of years ago, they
• 1:24:11
  still have residents today? That right now in your life,
• 1:24:15
  today, you can say I can apply these principles in my life and
• 1:24:18
  I can see God's love and light unfolding in my own life.
• 1:24:23
  So in closing, it's our prayer. It's our hope for all of us that
• 1:24:29
  we can focus on the long perspective, the eternal
• 1:24:34
  perspective of loving God and loving our neighbors ourself as
• 1:24:39
  we work through the hard struggles and opposition and
• 1:24:43
  trials, as well as the good things on this covenant path to
• 1:24:47
  become more like God and recognize that the Savior has
• 1:24:53
  written us a letter of recommendation.
• 1:24:56
  And he's written it by giving his own life and everything that
• 1:25:02
  he had for our gain, to be able to return into the presence of
• 1:25:09
  God and stand there redeemed on the Savior's merits, mercy and
• 1:25:15
  grace alone. And we leave that with you in
• 1:25:18
  the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
• 1:25:21
  Know that you're loved. And spread light and goodness