WWUTT 681 Avoiding Quarrels About Words?

Avoiding Quarrels About Words in 2 Timothy 2

Paul told Timothy, charge the church before God, not to quarrel about words, which does no good but only ruins the hearers. Are you convicted yet? We're supposed to speak grace to our neighbor when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .tt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the book of 2 Timothy. Still in Chapter 2, today we're going to move into the section covering verses 14 -19. The Apostle Paul writes, remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good but only ruins the hearers.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal, the Lord knows those who are his.

And let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. So Paul once again, in verse 14, telling Timothy to remind them of these things. And this is pretty common of the letters that Paul has written to Timothy.

In the previous letter, in 1 Timothy 4, verse 11, he says, command and teach these things. Chapter 6, verse 2, teach and urge these things. He would say it over and over again. I've told you this. Teach it.

I'm not just telling it to you for your edification, although it certainly edifies you. But as Timothy was sent to Ephesus to pastor a church there, he's telling Timothy, tell others about this stuff.

And so likewise, as we've been reading through these letters, 1 and 2 Timothy, it has certainly been edifying to you. It has been convicting to your spirit. There are aspects of this word that have cut you to the heart.

And you realize there are things about your behavior or your attitude that you need to change. Maybe there are things about your faith that became more solid and concrete as you heard the words read and taught.

So likewise, you need to do this with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. It's not just knowledge that you store up for yourself. But as we grow in our understanding of God's word, we become a benefit to others, to our other brothers and sisters in Christ who are likewise growing, growing in sanctification.

If you are part of a church body, which you should be, then you are growing together with that group of believers. And all of you together, hearing the pastor teach from the pulpit, you're growing in the same word, in knowledge, in truth, in your maturity in the faith, so that you may encourage and admonish each other.

And as Paul also put it to the Romans in Romans chapter 15, that those who are strong, who are mature, have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves but for the benefit of our neighbor, to build them up.

So as you are being built up in the faith, you also are encouraged and admonished to build one another up in the faith, your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Paul has told these things to Timothy, but it's not like this is some secret knowledge.

Timothy, it's left only to you. This is just an exchange between an apostle and a pastor. All right. This isn't meant for anybody else. No, the stuff he's telling Timothy, he's supposed to teach others, remind them of these things and charge them before God.

Because remember, everything that we are commanded from the word of God, we hear this in the very presence of God. God sees and knows all. So he knows if your heart is convicted to follow it and obey it, or he knows if your heart is rebellious and deciding to go your own way.

There's nothing that you can hide from God. So you could show on the outside. Yeah. Hey, this is great. Amen. Praise the Lord. But then on the inside, you have no intention of following it whatsoever.

As Paul put to the Colossians, Colossians chapter three, starting in verse nine, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Again, God sees and knows all. You cannot lie to God because he knows your heart and he knows your intentions. Therefore, don't lie to one another either. Let the person that they see be the sincere person that you are from the heart.

And that doesn't mean, well, hey, if you're a jerk in your heart, then you need to be a jerk to other people openly. No, that is certainly not what I am saying at all. But if you say with your mouth, amen, praise God, let it be so.

I'm going to do what the Lord says, then from your heart, believe that that's true and follow it. Don't say it in the presence of your brothers and sisters in Christ, as though to impress them that they might think that you are some holy person.

But then in some deep, dark corner of your mind or in the deep recesses of your basement away from people where they can't even see what it is that you're doing, you behave and act in a way that is completely contrary from the person that you presented in Bible study or in church or with your other brothers and sisters in the Lord.

It is important that we be reminded that we cannot be fake before God. Therefore, we should not be fake with one another. We need this reminder that what we have been charged from the word of God, we have been charged before God and God sees and knows all.

So he knows whether in your heart you have been convicted to truly follow what has been said or not. So be sincere from the heart. God has said it. Let it be so. I'm going to do it and hold your brothers and sisters in the Lord accountable as well.

Remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words. So that's the next part. Remind them of these things, charge them before God. And then specifically, what is it that Paul is telling Timothy that he is to charge his hearers with before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.

Charge them before God not to quarrel about words again, because God knows and sees all as we read in Psalm 139, verse four, even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together.

And at the end of Psalm 139, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. If you knew that somebody was recording every word that you said to play it back for you later and hold you accountable to the things that you have uttered, would that change the way that you speak?

Would it change the way that you talk to your spouse and to your children? Would it change the way that you respond to that customer service rep on the phone for the company that you feel like is overcharging you something and you're taking your frustration or you, let me say, you have that inclination in your heart to want to take your frustrations out on the customer service rep that you're talking to, who really has nothing to do with you being overcharged for that thing, but boy, you just feel like you need to give this guy a what for, right?

But if you knew that your words were being recorded and those things would be used against you, wouldn't that affect the way that you talk to other people? Would it affect the way that you speak even when you're by yourself?

Do you talk to yourself? I do. In fact, I'm talking to myself right now because I'm sitting in a basement speaking to a microphone with nobody in front of me. And granted, this is going to be broadcast via podcast, but still my computer could goof up and make me mad and a word flies out of my mouth and nobody's going to hear it because I can just go back and delete the audio.

But if I knew that somebody was recording everything that I said and I would be accountable for all the words that I said, would that not affect the way that I say certain things? Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 12 verse 36, I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak for by your words, you will be justified and by your words, you will be condemned.

But you know, even telling a person that everything that you say and do is being recorded and you're going to be held accountable for the things that you say and do. Sometimes even saying that to people is not enough to convict them to be careful with the words that they say.

All you have to do is look at social media and see that that's true, because once a person says something on Facebook or says something on Twitter, there it is. It's in front of everybody. And sure, they can go back and delete tweets or Facebook comments or whatever.

But most people aren't doing that. Most people aren't trying to clear the library of things that they said. There is a plethora of words and comments that they have made on the computer for the last several years.

And anybody can go to that database and access and and see what it is that you've said and present you with. Look, you said this and you're going to be held accountable for these words that you say, whether they came out of your mouth or you type them on a computer screen.

Jesus is saying here on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word. Verse thirty seven four. By your words, you will be justified and by your words, you will be condemned since what comes out of your mouth is reflection of what is in your heart.

And that was also previously stated in verse thirty four. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So whatever is in your heart, that's what comes out of your mouth. So you will be judged by the things that came out of your mouth because it is a reflection of what is in your heart.

And nobody really says anything without thinking about it. I know sometimes we make that comment. Well, I said something without thinking. I didn't think about it first. Maybe you didn't think about it enough, but you did think about it before it came out of your mouth.

Everybody does. Nobody speaks without thinking. And so you've had a moment. There has been a distance of time from between your heart to your head, to your mouth that you could have stopped the thing that you said, but you didn't say it.

It was the will and the desire of your heart to say the thing that came out of your mouth. And what came out was a reflection of what is in your heart. So it's really absurd whenever somebody says something that they get in trouble for and they they will say something like, well, that's not what I meant.

No, it is what you meant. It's exactly what you meant. Now, sure, people can slip up and you can say the word that you didn't actually mean to say. Sometimes you didn't mean to say it, but you ended up saying the truth of what was actually in your heart.

Anyway, hopefully I'm not getting too confusing here. Point being that what comes out of your mouth is a reflection of what is in your heart. So you need to be extra careful with what it is that you say.

Once again, David writing in Psalm 139, search me and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. In another psalm, it's actually just a couple of psalms later, Psalm 141.

David writes, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. And what a humble request that is. You know what? I'm just I'm just not trustworthy enough to keep control over my own tongue, to keep a watch over my own words.

Because God, I submit this to you and please keep a watch over my mouth. Now, how do we succeed at that? If we ask God that he would work even in our tongues to speak words that would only be pleasing to God, how do we accomplish that request?

We submit our minds to the word of God. God will indeed honor a request such as that, but it's got to be more than just asking God for it. If it is truly that is the desire of your heart to do the will of God, which you are asking God for, then you will apply to your heart and mind the word of God.

So what is coming out of your mouth are words that are in line with God's word that are honorable and pleasing to the things according to what God has said. Go all the way back to the beginning of the Psalms.

Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night.

You ask God control my tongue and then apply to your mind and heart the words of God. What do you think the result of that is going to be? Well, the psalmist even tells us going on Psalm 1 3, he's like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither in all that he does.

He prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. But the Lord knows the way of the righteous, the way of the wicked shall perish.

So commit yourself fully unto God. When we are commanded to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Don't you believe that your tongue is included in that list? Love the Lord, your God, with everything that you are, except your tongue.

You can say whatever it is that you want. No, of course not. If you are to love God with everything that you are, you must submit even your tongue to honor the Lord. Paul said in Romans 12 1, in view of the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto the Lord.

And this is your spiritual act of worship. The tongue is part of the body. In fact, James says in James 3 6, the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell.

How important is it then that we submit even our tongues unto God so that we may speak righteousness instead of speaking wickedness? We must realize that before God, every word that we say, we will have to give an account for.

And that hopefully, hopefully talking about that is convicting your heart and you realize that you need to be more careful with what you say. Remind them of these things. Remind them of the truth of God's word.

We speak truth. That's what we as followers of God have been called to speak, to speak the truth. And as Paul will go on to say to Timothy here, even in chapter two, he says that the Lord's servant must correct opponents with gentleness.

Verse 25, God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. We've read multiple times in Ephesians chapter four, we are to speak the truth in love. Paul says in second Corinthians chapter four, that we don't practice cunning.

We don't tamper with God's word, but we speak the truth. Chapter six, verse seven, we speak the truth, which is the power of God. We know that Jesus said in John 14, six, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the father, but by me. So when we are communicating the word of Christ, we speak truth. And we're supposed to do this in a manner of gentleness with the intention of love, to encourage one another, to speak the ministry of reconciliation.

As Paul also talks about in second Corinthians, we're not to quarrel about words. Do not quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. And boy, that's difficult in a social media setting because it's almost like all of social media.

It's a great big quarrel over words. I have a general rule that I follow when it comes to responding to somebody through social media or even by email. When somebody sends an angry email to when we understand the text at gmail .com and I'm responding to that email, I have a general rule that I follow.

I respond twice. And if it's clear that they're not going to change their mind on those things at all, it doesn't matter what kinds of arguments come up in that third email that, boy, I really think that I could respond to this and I can nail these arguments into the ground.

I respond two times so that I do not further this quarrel over words. But I respond gently and truthfully and calmly and don't let it go off track. If we continue to drag out certain things over and over and over again, then it just becomes a quarrel over words.

So there's the initial response of the first email. I'll give that response. Then they'll respond again. No, you're wrong. And here's why. I'll respond one more time doing this in gentleness. And if they still continue to be rude or push an issue or want to quarrel over words, I don't respond anymore.

And I got that idea, honestly, from Titus chapter three, where Paul says, respond to a divisive person once, respond to them a second time, and after that have nothing to do with them. You can be sure that such a person is warped and sinful.

He is self condemned. I won't say that's the case with every person who disagrees with you, but it's it's just the principle that is applied in that particular verse is a principle that I apply to responding to people online or through email.

Use that however it benefits you. Maybe that's a good principle for you to apply as well. And I apply it in some sense, even a personal interactions. And of course, the way that that passage is to be applied, what we read about in Titus three is the way that we engage disciplinary matters in the church, following also the instructions that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 18.

The Bible gives us guidelines on how we are to speak and interact with one another with our words so that we will not lose control of our tongues and fall into those quarrels over words which only ruins the hearers.

We're not supposed to speak in such a way that ruins one another. But rather, here's what Paul says in Ephesians four twenty nine, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

That's how we're supposed to talk with one another, not falling into quarrels over words, but speaking with one another for the purpose of building each other up, that it may give grace to those who hear.

And we'll pick up there tomorrow in this study of Second Timothy, chapter two. Let's pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for the grace that you showed to us, for with our mouths we have blasphemed your name.

We have taken the very breath that you gave us for life. And instead of giving you glory with that breath, we blasphemed you and exalted ourselves instead. And yet you showed grace and kindness to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, even for sins such as these, the words that we have spoken for which we deserve death.

We have received the mercy of God and through the righteousness that we've been clothed with in Christ. Let us speak words of righteousness, words that bless you the way that we bless our neighbors for their edification, to build one another up, not tear each other down with our words.

Help us, give us wisdom to know how to avoid quarrels over words, which only ruins the hearers. And instead, let us speak kindness with our neighbors, that we may build them up with our words, that we may give grace to those who hear.

Thank you for your word, which continues to build us up every time we read it. Forgive us our sins and lead us in righteousness for your name's sake. It's in the name of Christ we pray, amen.

Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.