1 Timothy 1:18-20

"This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme."

Christian warfare doesn't involve tanks, guns, or forceful tactics. Believers are never to advance the gospel through shedding people's blood or through threatening them with some earthly consequences. The Christian warrior wages spiritual warfare through holding fast to his faith. The gospel permeates every aspect of his life, enabling him to look at the outworking of faith in his life with a good conscience. This kind of life is infectious, but it is not easy.

Holding fast to your faith is warfare. The entirety of the world's system is pushing you away from standing true in the gospel. False teachers want you to reject Christ's substitutionary (vicarious) atonement. Worldly acquaintances want you to live faithlessly, as they do. Your flesh want you to indulge it so that it can overtake you. And we are not impervious to these things. Christians never have to fall. But they often do, and when the dulling of their conscience is severe, it leads to an all out shipwreck of faith.

Paul could name people who followed this path (and I can too). He had encouraged them to repent, but because they had gone so far and rejected his calls to repent so often, he "turned them over to Satan." This is not some pagan sacrifice but a releasing from church care, allowing the person to have their own way. When a Christian pursues ungodliness with passion, he is left feeling deplorably empty and even depressed. This turning over to Satan should lead you back to Christ.

If you are a Christian who has turned from a genuine Christian life, be honest with yourself. You are miserable. Sin is not making good on its promises. Repent and turn to God. Reject the lies that you have believed and walk with God again. If you are a Christian who is holding your faith in good conscience, continue to fight to avoid shipwreck. How? Read your Bible. Pray. Share God's truth with others. Live out what you know to be true!

My prayer: You are merciful, Father. You know what is best for me and You urge me to it. You are my strength in battle. You keep me from destroying myself. God I pray that I would always war against sin in my life. Keep me close to You and far from shipwreck.

1 Timothy 1:3-4

"As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith."

The purity of the church's teaching is a serious thing and was one of the major reasons Paul left Timothy in Ephesus. Timothy was supposed to stay to keep false teaching from spreading. There were some people who were becoming sidetracked. They were not focused on Christ and the outworking of faith in Him. These distracted people were giving attention to intellectually intriguing diversions that were directing them away from God and toward themselves.

A self-ward focus is incredibly easy to develop, but it is not satisfying. We are not designed to find happiness in ourselves. Everyone is designed to find his joy in God. And beyond that, for those who are believers, there is a special responsibility to find our joy by walking with God as we advance the plan of God in our lives. But when we focus on distractions rather than Christ, we are poor stewards who have given ourselves to worthlessness.

1 Corinthians 12:8-11

"For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills."

The Spirit has complete liberty to grant whatever gifts He chooses to grant. If you know my belief concerning miraculous sign gifts—that they have stopped and are not for today—you might think my last statement to be contradictory. But I don’t feel in conflict with myself on this matter. I have an understanding from scripture that I believe is accurate and universal. However, God is not confined by my understanding of Him or by how He typically does things. He can do whatever He wants whenever He wants.

So what kind of gifts does He grant (or has he granted in the past)? I have not studied these phrases in depth. Therefore, the following definitions are in no way authoritative but are my thoughts on what these gifts might look like.

Utterance of wisdom / knowledge - these are two different gifts, but both have to do with the ability to communicate something true. God has gifted some believers with an amazing ability to communicate truth in an interesting and understandable manner.

Faith - all believers have been given the gift of saving faith. But some believers have been given a special measure of faith. For us, this gift seems to be coming through the experiences that God has been allowing to come into our lives.

Gifts of healing - the text does not specify whether the gift is the ability to heal someone or if it is the gift of personal healing from some kind of illness. Both might have been in view at the time of the book’s writing. However, I don’t believe God uses healers anymore, but I do believe that God miraculously heals people. Why else would we pray for sick people?

Working of miracles - I believe that God still does miracles and that He can use an individual as a vessel through which that miracle flows. However, I don’t believe that God is currently gifting people to work the supernatural. And yet, our lives as Christians ought to be filled with things that unbelievers can’t explain.

Prophecy - a much broader term than we think of it today. It goes beyond foretelling the future and focuses primarily on the message of truth from God for those in need. Frequently, prophecy was a call to turn from sin. In the Old Testament, it was said that people would prophecy on musical instruments. Both men and women should be declaring God’s truth in church today.

Ability to distinguish between spirits - some people trust everyone. They haven’t met someone who isn’t a great guy (until they stab them in the back later). But others are more discerning. I have met some people that seem to be able to accurately describe a person after talking with them for five minutes. My pastor seems to be this way. Early in our relationship, he kept on saying, “Joshua you are like this (and he would describe some personality trait of mine), and therefore you will need to do this.” I would think, “Yes, that’s right, but how do you know that?” Perhaps it is a special ability given to him by the Spirit.

Various kinds of tongues / interpretation of tongues - these gifts are dealt with in greater detail later. I will address them then.

1 Peter 1:20-21

"He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."

The Son (the Lamb) was known by the Father before time. It was their intent, from before the beginning, for the Lamb to sacrifice Himself for man. Now, the Lamb has come. He has come for those who would believe in God. When the Lamb came, He was sacrificed for our sins. But God raised Him from the dead and "gave him glory." He did this so that we would have faith and hope in God.

Without the sacrifice, we could have faith, but it would be without hope. I have a confidence in Christ, the Lamb, who had died and is alive in glory.

James 5:13-15

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven"

Verse thirteen gives two appropriate responses to two different situations. The first one deals with what we've been looking at in the previous verses, suffering. The correct response to suffering is prayer. The second situation is quite different. What if you are happy? Then sing. I love singing. A third situation is also given and then addressed at length. What if you are suffering in a different way? What if you are suffering, not because of someone else's sinful actions? What if you are just sick? The answer is prayer again.

But there seems to be more to the situation than, for example, someone with a cough requesting prayer. Surely that is fine to do. But the illness must have been severe or longstanding, meriting special attention from the leaders of the church. One possible source of the illness seems to be your own sinful choices. The text says "if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." However, the existence of a sin wasn't a certainty as the forgiveness was conditioned by the existence of a sin.

So what does all this mean for me? The key to understanding the passage seems to be in the middle of the verses listed. "The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up." If I've committed sin and not confessed it to the Lord, it's going to be hard to look to Him honestly in faith. If there the Lord is going to raise me up, I need to look to Him rightly, in dependence and faith. This is true whether or not your illness is due to sin or not. However, if it was because of sin, my prayer of faith must entail your confession of sin and will result in the forgiveness of it.

James 2:18-26

"But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead."

Dead faith, useless faith, demonic faith--these are all descriptions of faith that do not benefit the one who says that he believes. Faith must result in works. This is the undeniable conclusion of these verses. Works are necessary. But what are they necessary for? This extensive passage, discussing the necessity of works, never says that meritorious works earn you favor with God. However, it strongly asserts that your faith must produce works.

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works?" Violent is my initial reaction against this statement. However, my initial reaction is a poor one, and it is based on a misunderstanding of what the passage is asserting. The statement that Abraham was justified by works is shortly connected with a statement that would seem to flatly deny it, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." But the second statement is in harmony with the first, even as works should be in harmony with faith. The words in between these two seemingly contradictory statements express the concept that faith and works are complimentary, that is they work with one another, and works complete faith. Works give validity to your faith. By your works, it can be seen that you have been justified by your faith. If you have no works then you have not been justified by faith. You cannot effectively claim that you have been justified by faith unless people can see that your works prove it. Your faith does not declare that you are just, if your works do not declare that you are just.

James 2:14-17

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

Insufficient faith. If someone has a faith that doesn't produce works, they have a dead faith. Knowing and saying the right things isn't enough. Actions need to back up the words.