2 Timothy 2:14-26 - Living for God's Glory

Good morning, Church. We're going to read 2 Timothy 2, 14 to 26.

! Dealing with false teachers.

Keep reminding God's people of these things. Warn them before going against correlling about words.

It is no value and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,

a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handle the word of truth.

Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.

Their teaching will spread like a gangrene.

Among them are Imenus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth.

They say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some.

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription,

The Lord knows who I is, and everyone who confess the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.

In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay.

Some are for special purpose and some of common use.

Those who cleanse themselves from the letter will be instruments for special purpose,

made holy, useful for the master, and prepared to do any good work.

Flee the evil desire of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace,

along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments,

because you know they produce quarrels.

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome,

but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

Opponents must be gentle instructed,

in the hope that God will grant them repentance,

leading them to a knowledge of the truth,

and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil,

who has taken them captive to do his evil.

Amen.

Thanks so much, Alexandra.

Do keep the passage open.

If you've not got a Bible, try and shuffle along and find one if you can.

We're going to be working our way through that passage.

If you're here for the first time,

then we have been working our way through the book of 2 Timothy,

and we've arrived at these verses,

so that's why we are in these verses this morning.

Let me pray, ask for the Lord's help as we look at God's word together.

Let me pray.

Father, we do recognise that what we're doing now is a spiritual battle.

To listen to you and ignore the distractions around us and of the world

is more difficult than it should be.

And so, Lord, we pray and ask for your help.

Pray that your Holy Spirit, who inspired these words,

might now be at work in our hearts,

helping us to listen to them and respond in obedience and faith.

Help me to speak truly and carefully

and be at work in all of us, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Now, as you look down at the passage,

I want you to notice that the heart of what's going on here

is there in verse 19.

It's this solid foundation.

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm,

sealed with this inscription,

the Lord knows those who are his,

and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness.

In all probability, those verses are a quote from Numbers chapter 16.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

In Numbers 16, you get the story of the Korahite rebellion.

The Korahite rebellion happened in the wilderness

when the people of Israel are leaving slavery in Egypt

and heading to the promised land,

but are yet to arrive.

They had been promised to enter into a land

flowing with milk and honey,

but instead, they found themselves in the wilderness.

And they were fed up.

And more than just fed up, the Korahites were angry.

Angry specifically with Moses and Aaron,

and angry with them for presuming

that they were the leaders of God's people.

How dare you do this, Moses and Aaron?

Who do you think you are leading the people?

How on earth do you expect us to follow you

when you've not given us anything that we were promised?

We're here in the wilderness.

Where's the land flowing with milk and honey?

And the story ends with a showdown.

God summons the people before him

and brings them in front of the tabernacle.

And Moses asks people to stand away from Korah and his men

and says, right, God is going to judge.

God now is going to answer the Korahites' question.

Who has the right to lead God's people?

And so as they stand back from the Korahites,

the ground literally opens up

and swallows Korah, his men, his family,

and all their possessions and closes up over them.

Buried alive.

It's a dramatic story of God really proving

that Moses and Aaron had the right to lead God's people.

And Paul quotes it here in 2 Timothy 2, verse 19,

2 Timothy 2:19

because he wants to draw two lessons for Timothy

from that story.

Two foundations, he calls them,

sealed with inscriptions.

And they are, look down at verse 19,

number one, the Lord knows those who are his.

And secondly, everyone who confesses the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness.

Just as we start, think about those with me for a moment.

Think about the first one,

the Lord knows those who are his.

This implies, doesn't it, says Paul,

that you and I don't know who belongs to the Lord.

We cannot tell who belongs to God and who does not.

God's people are to a certain degree invisible to us,

but not to God.

They are known to God.

In other words, Paul's point is to Timothy

that the church now, just like Israel then,

is in a sense a mix of people,

a mix of genuine believers,

and people who claim to be believers,

but are not really.

And largely speaking,

that difference is invisible to us.

It's not something that we can see.

Being a Christian,

belonging to God,

is not about external behavior,

but about an internal change of heart.

Being a Christian is about having our hearts changed and transformed,

that we love God and trust him.

And that internal change is not apparent to us.

People don't wear a badge.

You can't see.

So you could claim to be a Christian,

and we wouldn't know whether it was true or not.

But God does, right?

No one fools God.

You might fool a church.

You might fool yourself.

You can never fool God,

because God knows those who are his.

Secondly then,

everyone who confesses the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness.

This is the second foundation,

that the visible sign of invisible change is obedience.

Obedience.

In other words,

while it's impossible for us to see the invisible change in human hearts,

we are able to observe external obedience.

External obedience is not an infallible sign of genuine faith,

but it is a sign of genuine faith.

So if you claim to be a Christian,

but you don't live as one,

you don't obey the Lord,

well, then you're almost certainly not a Christian.

If you call yourself a Christian,

but you have no desire to please God,

to live his way,

to submit to his word,

then in all probability,

you're lying to yourself about being a Christian.

Not, I hasten to add,

not because obedience saves you.

Obedience does not save you,

but obedience is the mark

of having received salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ.

His obedience saves us.

Our obedience is a sign that we have received his salvation.

A desire to follow God and to live his ways

and to please him is a sign of true faith.

It's why if you belong to this church as a church member,

we ask not only do you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ,

but we also look at your life

to see whether you are living in a way that backs that up.

It's why baptism is really the entry point

into the life of the church

because it is a first act of step of obedience

to Jesus' command.

Believe and be baptized, he says.

So there you have it, two foundations.

The Lord knows those who are his.

They're invisible to us.

And everyone who confesses the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness.

Now, what I want you to see this morning

is that really the rest of the passage

works out in the light of those two foundations.

Essentially, the rest of the passages,

you know, if those are the solid truths,

then what should church be like?

You know, what's Timothy's job in church to be

if these are the solid foundations?

How should he go about his ministry

in a visible church,

which is a mix of the genuine and the fake?

Well, basically, Paul says two things,

one before verse 19 and one after,

and each of them have their own illustration.

So the first is about a road builder

and the second is about a housekeeper.

And for the rest of our time,

we're going to talk about road building

and housekeeping, as Paul does here.

So firstly, the road builder, verses 14 to 18.

Look down at verse 15.

This is the instruction that Paul gives to Timothy.

Do your best to present yourself to God

as one approved,

a worker who does not need to be ashamed

and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Here you go.

This is Timothy's task in a mixed church,

in a church of invisible faith,

made visible by external obedience.

What are you to do in that mixed church?

Well, says Paul,

you need to make sure

that you correctly handle the word of truth.

Literally here to guide a straight path,

go in a straight line,

not to cut corners

or to deviate to one side or the other.

Apparently, the word here

is the word from road building,

correctly handling the word of truth

is cutting a straight path,

as in road building.

It's not hard to think, why is it?

If you've been in Britain any length of time

or even in any other country

that was at one point occupied by the Romans,

you will know they love to build

straight roads, right?

Cutting through the countryside

without twisting and turning.

And that, says Paul,

is to be Timothy's approach to the Bible.

Cut a straight line.

Don't twist, don't turn.

Cut a straight line right through it.

Be honest and straightforward

as a Roman road builder

is committed to cutting a straight line

through the countryside.

And in doing that,

Timothy then is to be an approved worker, notice.

Approved, though, notice,

not by the church, but by God.

That is who Timothy is presenting himself to

in verse 15.

That word implies that he is tested or examined.

He is someone who God is holding to account.

And so Timothy, in pleasing God,

can be unashamed if he is not twisting

God's word to his own ends

or seeking to win personal vendettas or arguments,

but clearly working hard to cut a straight road.

I guess it's not really that hard to imagine, is it?

Paul and Timothy in their time together as friends

have probably walked down a lot of Roman roads.

And the difference between an approved worker

and an unapproved worker would have been obvious to them, right?

You can imagine their conversation

as they're walking down the road.

Wow.

Perhaps the guy went on holiday today, right?

Notice the bump and the curve in the road, Timothy?

You know, perhaps the guy, you know, fell asleep.

Perhaps he was drunk,

but he has not cut a straight road.

Timothy, don't be that guy.

Make sure that you work hard.

Study hard.

Train properly for ministry.

Don't cut corners.

Don't make assumptions, Timothy.

Don't rely on chat GPT.

Don't rely on Google searches.

Don't stand there and waffle through your own good ideas.

Don't stand there just relying on your own story

or your own testimony.

Don't rely on telling emotional stories,

but cut a straight road.

Let your teaching of the Bible be on point,

direct, focus, clear.

In the verses that follow,

Paul articulates the distractions

to this kind of straight shooting Bible ministry.

Look down at verse 14.

Quarrels about words.

These seem to be the same

as the foolish and stupid arguments in verse 23.

Silly side pursuits and blind alleys

that Christians love to debate,

but end up nowhere.

More seriously,

there's the godless chatter of verse 16.

Literally, the words there are,

a cacophony of Babel

that leads away from the Lord.

Hymenus and Philetus in verse 18

have said that the resurrection

has already taken place.

It's like an ancient prosperity gospel

that says, hey, you Christian,

you've got everything you're going to get.

It's brilliant now.

You don't need to wait for the glory to come.

Paul says they're wrong.

This is Paul's point, isn't it?

If you know the foundations

that the Lord knows those who are his

and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness,

what are you to do?

What's going to cut through

that dynamic in church life?

What will expose hearts?

What will lead people away from wickedness?

What will demonstrate to people

that they're faking it?

Straight, honest, clear,

to the point Bible ministry

by a teacher who works hard

and seeks the approval of the Lord

and not men.

I want you just to think with me right now.

What is happening right now

as we open the Bible together?

I think the sense of what's going on here

in 2 Timothy 2

is that Paul is suggesting

that this, if you like,

is a moment in front of the tabernacle

with chorus people.

That's what's going on

every time we open God's word, isn't it?

As we open God's word,

this is God cutting through

the fake and the real.

I don't expect the ground to swallow people up.

If the ground opened here,

I would assume it was just the floor failing,

which is maybe not totally unlikely.

But God does expose our hearts

as we open the Bible together.

And I hope you're experiencing that.

You see, we're a mixed bunch, aren't we?

There are people in this room

who love the Lord

and are keen to live for his glory.

And there are people

who know that's not them,

but they are pretending that it is them.

There are people in this room

who know it's not them

and they want to find out more.

And there are people who aren't Christians,

but think they are and are self-deceived.

And like I said before,

no one's wearing a label, are they?

No one comes in with a label.

I am fooling myself this morning.

I want you to think I'm a Christian,

but really I'm not.

I'm only investigating.

No, none of us wear a label

and that's absolutely fine.

But God knows your heart right now,

this morning,

and he's cutting through it with his word

and exposing you.

It's not me, it's him.

And it's not the sort of vague inferences

of God's word about issues

that don't really matter.

No, it's the central message

all the way through the Bible,

the message about salvation in Christ alone,

through faith alone,

to the glory of God alone.

That's what's going on here.

That's what exposes us.

God's word confronts us with our sin.

That the God who made you,

who loves you,

who gives you life and breath

and everything that you enjoy,

that God deserves your worship

and your praise

and your very life.

But you've lived for yourself,

for your own glory and not his.

We all have.

And so we deserve his judgment.

Having received life as a gift

and lived it to ourselves,

our life is now forfeit.

We deserve to die.

But in an act of unfathomable mercy,

God sent his son, Jesus Christ,

God in flesh,

living in perfect worship

and praise of his father,

before dying on a cross in our place,

bearing the punishment that we deserve,

that we might receive resurrection life through him.

It's that message,

which it takes the whole Bible to tell,

that exposes your heart.

I'm a sinner.

Jesus alone can save me.

I need to trust in him.

The truth is,

this exposing work happens whenever the Bible is open.

So perhaps this morning,

you find yourself as being one of those people

who's responsible for perhaps a community group

or for youth ministry

or for Sunday school

or for doing a one-to-one.

Perhaps you've got your own children

that you're trying to teach the Bible.

Maybe you've got grandchildren,

nieces or nephews,

or maybe you're sharing in the preaching ministry

in the life of the church.

Well,

then you need this instruction in verse 15,

don't you?

That you need God's approval,

not other people's.

You know,

if you open the Bible

looking for people's approval,

then what you will do

is you will fall into the godless chatter.

People love godless chatter.

You know,

if you spend hours talking about

who the beast is in Revelation 13,

they'll love to chat about that.

Or worse,

you'll find yourself spreading the gangrene

of telling people what they want to hear,

like Hymenus and Philetus.

You've got everything you want.

Life's going to be brilliant.

Instead, though,

you need to be examined,

tested,

trained,

open to feedback and criticism

so that you're clear

that what you're saying

is what the Bible is saying.

So that as you speak

for the glory of God,

you do it,

not as someone who's just rocked up

and is saying whatever's on their mind

or in some super spiritual way,

speaking as if,

you know,

preparing to preach

or preparing to speak

or preparing to share God's word

takes no preparation at all.

No,

the image of road building

implies sweat,

doesn't it?

Hard work,

graft.

The spirit loves to bless hard work.

I think it's probably worth

us just lingering here

on this for a moment.

I received an email

from a friend this week

who's a retired seminary professor.

He spent his working life

training men and women

for ministry roles

in the life of the church.

We exchange emails

every now and again

as we debate

various different things

and he made this comment.

He said,

just in one line,

he said,

mediocre preaching

is now the rule

and not the exception

in churches in Britain.

In other words,

he said,

the weakness of the church

is not about

the cultural moment

that we live in

but that ministry

in churches

is done by unqualified people

working for the approval

of men and women.

That was his point.

He's not the only one

saying it,

actually.

So what does it look like

to be a church

that bucks that trend

and takes this instruction

in verse 15 seriously?

But I think it means

that one of the things

that we are going

to invest in

as a local church

is training people,

men and women,

to be these approved workers

who work for God's glory

and who are straight-talking

word ministers, right?

You see,

think about what's being said here.

If Paul is right

that in churches

of invisible hearts

where preaching

is the thing

that cuts through it,

God's word cuts through

invisible hearts

that aren't really

exposed to us,

then two things

are true by implication.

One, which we've seen,

is that it's the ministry

of the word

that does the exposing.

You know,

ministry of the word

is like cancer surgery, right?

It's cutting open

and cutting out the bad.

But the second implication

is that it's not just

any old Bible ministry

that does that work.

It's approved by God

straight-shooting Bible ministry

that does this.

And Paul says

that really that kind of ministry

requires examination,

it requires training,

it requires testing.

Which means that if you expect

to be able to teach young people,

to preach,

to lead a Bible study,

and the only training

that you've received

is you've sat in church

and watched someone else

do it for a few years,

that's like someone

turning up and doing

a cancer operation

and says,

well,

I watched it on YouTube.

What?

You've got a scalpel,

you're cutting into them,

what are you doing?

That's it.

It happens in churches

all the time,

doesn't it?

It means that we,

as a church,

need to take care

who we appoint

to be teaching elders,

but also that we need

to be serious

about training others

as well,

ourselves and others.

We need to turn up,

we need to knuckle down,

we need to listen carefully

to feedback,

we need to study hard,

formally and formally.

There's a research group

called the Barna Research Group

that suggested in 2024

that the attrition rate

of pastors leaving

or wanting to leave

their jobs

in independent

evangelical churches

like ours

is 50%.

Like 50%

of men in ministry,

if you ask them

would they like

to quit their job,

would tell you

yes please,

right?

I mean,

that is incredible.

But if you take

into consideration

that and the average age

of people in pastoral ministry,

then churches like ours,

and this was a back

of an envelope

kind of calculation,

I think we probably

need to be training up

somebody every two years

to send them

into pastoral ministry.

Because if we're not

doing that,

we will be running out

of people to do ministry.

In fact,

I think you could make

a good argument

that for a church

like ours in inner London,

you know,

there are twice as many

young people living

in inner London

as there are

in other parts

of the country,

means that we should

be doing more of this

than any other church.

We should do twice

as much of this

because we have

twice the opportunity.

So a church like ours

should invest heavily

its money in providing

training to men and women,

not just for full-time roles,

but for lay roles too.

So that we might serve

God's people for God's glory

and for their good.

And if we won't invest

there as a church,

we can expect to be in a mess

because we're called

to be road builders

in a church where the Lord

knows those who are his.

That's the first illustration,

road builder.

Second illustration,

housekeeper.

Have a look down

at verse 20.

In a large house,

there are articles

not only of gold and silver,

but also of wood and clay.

Some are for special purposes

and some for common use.

Those who cleanse themselves

from the latter

will be instruments

for special purposes,

made holy,

useful to the master

and prepared to do

any good work.

Here the image then

is a grand house

with servants in it.

And the servants

have two kinds of tools

at their disposal.

They have dirty tools

for dirty jobs

and they have special tools

for special jobs.

Dirty tools like hammers,

shovels, clay jars

and the like

and clean tools

for fancy jobs

like silver service implements,

golden candelabras,

goblets and the like.

And the point is this,

right?

Be like the gold

and silver tools,

not like the wooden clay ones.

What does that mean?

Well, remember verse 19,

the Lord knows those

who are his

and everyone who confesses

the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness.

In other words,

the point is

God will get the job done,

right?

God knows who is his.

God doesn't look at the church

and go,

oh, I'm not quite sure

I know what I'm doing,

right?

God knows what he's doing

and he will get the job done.

He knows who his people are.

God's mission is not threatened

by false teachers

and by bad workers

in the church.

No, the point is really

that false teachers

and bad workers

in the church

are like these

wooden implements,

clay implements.

They're used by God

for the dirty jobs

and then discarded.

You know,

they're like the Assyrians

in Isaiah chapter 7

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention

who are used like a razor

on the head of Israel,

right?

They are used

despite themselves

to accomplish

the purposes of God

or like the circumcision party

in Acts 15

who make the church

much clearer

on the gospel

by disputing

with the church

on circumcision.

You know,

they're not seeking

to serve God,

they're serving themselves

but nevertheless

they accomplish God's purposes

even unwittingly.

The point is

that false teaching

in the church

is not bad for God.

It's bad for the false teacher

and for those who listen

and God's point here

is don't be

a wooden hammer,

be a silver spoon.

You know,

don't unwittingly

bash out God's plan,

be a golden candelabra

that holds the flame

of the gospel brightly

because the Lord

knows those who are his

and everyone who confesses

the name of the Lord

must turn away

from wickedness.

So turn away

from wickedness.

That's what God's people do

and that's what you should do.

I wonder sometimes

whether we get confused

by these warnings

in the Bible.

How can both

those statements be true?

How can the Lord

know those who are his

and accomplish

all his purposes

and at the same time

warn us about disobedience?

How can those things

be true?

Now,

I think actually

sometimes we get confused

about this

because we don't really listen.

The point is

that the warning

will work

if you listen to it

even if

you're listening

to the warning

is not necessarily

related

to the warning itself.

Let me try and give you

an example

because that's confusing,

isn't it?

If I tell you,

right,

don't go play

in the railway line,

whether you listen

to my warning

of not playing

in the railway line

is probably related

something to do

with whether you think

I'm sensible

or a fool.

I'll never listen

to that Steve guy.

What does he know

about railways anyway,

right?

So you don't listen

to the warning.

But if you think,

do you know what,

Steve might be worth

listening to.

I know he's got

some experience

of railway lines.

I don't actually,

but you know,

he's got some experience.

He probably knows

what he's talking about.

I should listen

to his warning.

In that case,

the warning works

because of your

relationship with me.

God warns his people

and it divides them

between those who listen

and the warning works

and those who don't listen

and therefore

the warning doesn't work.

And that's what's going on.

The same is here.

God tells you,

cleanse yourself

from being a tool

of ignorance

to be a tool of glory.

You should listen.

Be useful for good work.

Be holy.

Be special.

And of course,

whether or not you listen

is not really related

to the warning itself.

It's related to your relationship

with the Lord

who gives the warning.

So how then

do we become

useful,

holy tools

instead of

sacrificial screwdrivers

that we hit with a hammer

when we've got a dirty job

we want to do?

Well,

that's what Paul articulates

in verse 22.

Have a look down at it.

I'll read it to you.

Flee the evil desires of youth.

Pursue righteousness,

faith,

love and peace

along with those

who call on the Lord

out of a pure heart.

Don't have anything to do

with foolish

and stupid arguments

because you know

they produce quarrels.

And the Lord's servant

must not be quarrelsome,

must be kind to everyone,

able to teach,

not resentful.

Opponents must be

gently instructed

in the hope

that God will grant them

repentance

leading them to a knowledge

of the truth

so that they will

come to their senses

and escape from

the trap of the devil

who has taken them captive

to do his will.

Let's just work through

those really briefly.

Being useful to the Lord

involves running

from what Paul calls

evil desires of youth.

In the context

that seems to be

going in the opposite direction

towards righteousness,

faith,

love and peace.

So that to flee

the youthful desires,

the evil desires of youth

is yes to run away

from unrighteous sexual desire

but it's more than that.

We're to flee a desire

for fame.

We're to flee

a desire for influence.

We're to flee

a desire for material wealth.

We're to flee

a desire for making

a name for ourselves.

We're to run after Jesus

and do stuff out of faith

in him

and not confidence

in ourselves.

We're to run after

loving others,

laying down ourselves

for their benefit,

being willing to become less

that they might become more.

We're to run after peace

and not disagreements.

In verse 23,

Paul spends longer

on that, doesn't he?

He says that churches

are full of stupid arguments,

foolish talk

that leads to quarrels.

And verse 24,

the Lord's servant

of gold and silver

is not to be fighting

with the sheep

over stuff that doesn't matter.

You've all met that

kind of pick-a-fight

pastor, right?

Well,

he's a jar of clay

in a bad way,

not in a one Corinthians way

but in a bad,

or two Corinthians way

but in a bad way.

He's there

for ennobal purposes.

Actually,

you need a peace-loving pastor.

We're to be kind

to everyone

even when they disagree

with us.

We're to be able

to teach

because we're not

distracted by silly arguments

that can take away

from the point.

And our hope is that

not that we can change people

but,

verse 25,

look down at it,

that God might grant

repentance to people.

God is the one

that we trust in.

God is the one

doing the work,

turning people back

to him in knowledge

of the truth

and freedom

from the devil,

verse 23.

So here's the question

for you and me

for this morning,

right?

The question is not,

notice,

the question is not

will you be useful,

right?

You will be useful

because God uses

all things

for his purposes,

right?

That's a given.

All things work out

for the accomplishment

of God's purposes.

That is not the question.

You know,

if you think

you can stand in God,

it's like standing

on Brighton Beach,

stopping the tide

from coming in,

right?

Stop.

It's just going

to wash you away,

isn't it?

You can't stand

in the way of God.

You can't stop

his purposes.

He's going to accomplish

his purpose

come what may.

Now,

that's not the question.

The question

is really this.

The question is,

are you going

to be a gold

or silver tool

or are you going

to be a wood

and clay one?

The question

isn't even,

are you a Christian

or not?

Because it seems

like in the context

it's possible

to be saved

and still

to be a noble tool

in the hand of God.

Think of the people

in 1 Corinthians 3

who were escaping

through the flames.

You see,

the question really,

I suppose,

you put it this way,

do you want God

to use you

because of your desires

and your love

for his people

or despite

your lack of love?

Do you want

in your youthful,

sinful passion

to pursue your own ends

and be frustrated

and waste your life

in causing irrelevant arguments

on the edge of church

or do you want

to grow up

and live for God's glory

and not your own?

What do you want?

Which will it be?

It's not that you can

thwart God's purposes

but you can waste your life,

right?

You can ruin a church.

You can squander your money.

You can lead people astray.

You can rob yourself

of any assurance

that you're really a Christian.

You can lose your joy

or you could cleanse yourself

from all of that

and press into the gospel of grace,

leaning in the strength

of the spirit,

making the most

of being discipled

and trained

that you might be

an instrument of gold

and silver

and the mission

of God in the world.

When I was at theological college,

I was lectured by a guy

called Mike Ovey

who died tragically

and very suddenly

a few years later.

He used to say,

I want to make you

the best gift

to a local church

that I can.

That was his purpose.

I want you

to be the best gift

you can be

to a local church.

He was under God

trying to make

wooden hammers

into silver spoons.

That's what he was doing.

And it's not just for pastors,

is it?

It's for all of us.

Let's pray

that God might cleanse us

from passion

for our own glory,

for the praise of others,

that we might live

for the glory of God alone,

follow him,

obey him,

and be a golden tool

in the service

of our Lord

because the Lord

knows those who are his

and everyone

who confesses

the name of the Lord

must turn away

from wickedness.

Let me pray

as we close.

Heavenly Father,

how we thank you

that you have

an unstoppable purpose,

that you know

what you're doing,

you know who belongs

to you,

and you are accomplishing

all that you desire

in this world.

We want to pray,

please, Lord,

that you would

forgive us

where we've been

tricking ourselves,

pretending that we belong

to you when we don't.

Forgive us,

have mercy on us,

purify our hearts,

we pray.

And we ask, Lord,

that you might make us

into useful servants

for the glory of your name.

Help us to be these

approved workmen and women

who live for your glory,

who handle the Bible

properly and truthfully

and teach it clearly.

Help us to avoid

godless chatter

or false teaching,

but to present the gospel

clearly and faithfully

that you might be at work

turning people

to trust in Christ

and receive life in his name.

As we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.