Gospel Coalition live blog 5: Mark Driscoll
Text: 2 Timothy 2:14-26
Paul writes this letter as a father to his son. Paul packs this letter believing that Timothy would read this letter over and over and over as a postscript to his life. And we should read this book over and over and over.
There are three types of people pastors have in their churches:
Positives
Those who do Gospel things in Gospel ways for Gospel reasons because they want the Gospel to win. These people will confront sin and heresy, but they will do so as an act of compassion. These people will help set a life-giving culture in your church.
Negatives
These people do un-Gospel things in un-Gospel ways for un-Gospel reason because they want to sin. The Bible uses words like stiff-necked to refer to these men. These are the people who keep the pastor up late at night. In most ministries, there are only a few negatives, but they have a loud voice.
Neutrals
Most people are neutrals. They are timid. They don’t know who to trust. They are easily confused.
Paul’s hope is to encourage Timothy to be a positive and not a negative. His hope is to encourage Timothy to respond in a positive way to the negatives to serve the neutrals.
20 kinds of Negatives: you can view these at www.Resurgence.com.
There are various types of negatives. In the middle of the conflict are the neutrals (2:18 — some men were upsetting the faith of some). Paul was challenging Timothy to be a positive. Timothy was going to have a temptation to be a negative, particularly because he was young. The Bible doesn’t have a lot of positive things to say about the young.
Paul was a positive.
20 positives Paul communicated to Timothy:
1. Positively emphasize what you are for and not against (2:14 — Remind them of these things).
2. Positively use your God-given authority (2:14 — Charge them before God). If you spend most of your time as a loving shepherd of your flock, when you do raise your voice they will know that it is urgent.
3. Positively invest your words (2:14 — Don’t quarrel w/ your words). You have to be careful w/ your words, particularly in response to those who criticize you or tear you down.
4. Positively do your best (2:15). You can’t get rid of criticism, but you can do your best.
6. Positively study harder (2:15). Rightly divide the Word of truth. God uses negatives to form positives. One positive is that you study better when you have a lot of negatives. It forces you to be better.
7. Positively avoid getting drawn into endless arguments (2:16-17). Some people in the church are like gangrene. Paul says don’t get drawn into endless arguments w/ such people. Information is instant, constant, permanent and global, Rick Warren told Driscoll. In this technological age, it is far easier to get into such endless arguments.
8. Positively warn the sheep about the wolves (2:18). Be careful about how much you use words like “heretic.” That is a big word that should be used sparingly. In some situations, some firefights with negatives, you may want to consult a third party: someone in your denomination or another godly pastor. Paul named the heretics in Timothy’s church, not Timothy. We don’t know the details of the situation, but this would have allowed Timothy to minister to the neutrals in his church who were unsure about the situation. And if the third party says you are both being negatives, then you can repent and work with the negatives.
9. Positively rejoice that God rules the church (2:19). Christ is the senior pastor (1 Pet 5). The people in church are His people most fundamentally, not your people.
10. Positively practice repentance (2:19). Some sins qualify you to speak about the grace of God, through repentance and acknowledging your sin.
11. Positively use your passion to be a better servant (2:20-21). Use the passion you have in conflict to be a better tool in Christ’s hand.
12. Positively flee youthful passions (2:22). You have a full tank of gas and no map. Young guys go two ways: angry, intense, etc. Other guys become cowardly, passive, nice boys who are not fit to serve in the church. You outgrow youthful passions through encounters w/ negatives and your own failures. Passion is not bad: youthful passion is bad.
13. Positively seek righteousness, faith, love and peace (2:22). Blessed are the peacemakers. Peace does not mean that you agree, but it does mean that you agree to not declare war.
14. Positively grow in discernment (2:23). The people who want to have foolish arguments don’t know that their arguments are foolish.
15. Positively be kind like Jesus (2:24). Jesus was kind to everyone. Everyone. He was kind to Judas and His enemies on the cross. Jesus is the manliest man who has ever lived and He was kind.
16. Positively harness the opportunity to teach your people (2:24). When negatives come, it is a great opportunity to teach.
17. Positively suffer patiently like Jesus (2:24).
18. Positively correct gently (2:25). You do refute and correct. You do practice church discipline. But you do all of these things gently.
19. Positively desire good for your enemies (2:25-26). God may perhaps grant them repentance.
20. Positively use your energy to win converts not arguments (4:5-8). Paul is telling Timothy to not waste all of his time on the negatives and to instead do the work of an evangelist.
Closing thoughts in response:
- Honor the positives in your life and listen to them, particularly if you are a young guy.
- Be a positive.
- Be a better neutral. Choose good people to be influenced by.
- How are you a negative? We are all negatives. But Jesus was never a negative.