Love is the Goal

"The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5

When I was younger and in my earliest ministries, I often read the letters Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus. After all, they were young and he was trying to talk to them about serious matters of the faith and encourage them as young leaders to wholeheartedly follow their Lord Jesus Christ in everything. I could identify with these young men and how they were zealous for the Lord and wanted to do whatever was needed to spread the good-news of the Gospel. Nowadays, I identify more with Paul the writer and his passion to share the deeper matters of life and the Christian walk with younger men in the ministry and with us all. We do change our perspectives as we age.

I am still learning so much these days. I am learning about what is effective and meaningful for a younger generation and how we who should be more mature, can talk to them from a perspective of experience and wisdom. In this passage, Paul is urging Timothy about folks in the early church who have gotten off onto tangents and are going on and on about meaningless things. I certainly would warn the young people of today to listen very cautiously to the drivel that batters them all day from countless sources. Just because the teacher or the news or experts or scientists or researchers or the government says something doesn't necessarily mean that it is right or true.

When I was younger we were advised to question everything, probably a little bit unnecessarily at that point in time, but nonetheless, I did. Paul gives Timothy a wonderful tool whereby he can respond to all the "stuff" that one gets barraged with in ministry. The goal of the command to keep the church in order was always to be tempered with the counsel to do it with love, which will come easily as long as you have a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. Hmmmm, purity, goodness and sincerity is a tall descriptive order just as the modifiers in that counsel, but it is possible.

Let's think about what's being modified. Our hearts, which must remain focused on Christ Jesus, our conscience, no games or denial or manipulation and our faith, believing we do everything as unto the Lord. This is good advice in general. Can you imagine in a local church if we thought of every word or deed, (before we spoke or did it) needing to emanate from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith? To me this means that before we open our mouths or do anything we should talk to God and listen to God about our motives, goals, tact and sensitivity. Not to an extreme that would cripple us from getting things done, but at least to the degree that would keep us from being toxic, insensitive, overbearing or difficult to be around or work with. I know what I am talking about here.

Think of it this way. Paul is trying to protect these young Pastors from getting sideways with any of the off-kilter, strong-willed or controlling people in the early church. So, whether you are someone trying to help and do ministry and need to be reminded to be nice at all times; or if you are new and trying to help and do ministry and need to be reminded that people are people and are not nice at all times... Receive the encouragement. In blunt terms, you can help do you part by either 'backing off' a little with the 'my way or the highway' stuff or you can stop overreacting to those who lack tact, sensitivity or team spirit.

Any way you slice it, Paul sees it the way it is and knows Christ's work is most important at all times and should trump all unnecessary brashness or victimization. Being overly difficult or overly sensitive does not help, especially if those two types of folks are somehow working together. Something for all of us to consider. Imagine, in the early church they dealt with 'real people' too. Let's always remember who we serve, why and what we are most importantly trying to do.

In His Spirit,
Pastor Fred

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