Christ's Instructions

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393) 2Tim 2:23 . . Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that
they produce debating.

Not all speculation is forbidden; only the kind that's absurd and uneducated.

I seriously doubt that 2Tim 2:23 is addressing one's IQ, but rather, the
propensity of some to shoot from the lip without really knowing what they're
talking about and/or having the slightest basis for their perspective.

So; if Christians are to refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, then they
really ought to avoid spouting their own too.

Anyway, the focus is upon debating which, at its worst, consists of running
gun battles, food fights, endless rebuttals, and perpetual bull sessions that
never get to the bottom of anything.

Academic debates are quite a bit different. Neither side interrupts the other,
nor do they shout to be heard, nor strive to get in the last word; rather,
opponents take turns presenting what they believe to be evidence
supporting their argument until there comes a sensible point in the
discussion when both sides "rest" which is a legal term for concluding all
arguments when neither side has any new evidence to submit.

Sensible discussions are peaceful and orderly whereas running gun battles,
food fights, endless rebuttals,and perpetual bull sessions typically
deteriorate into quarreling, demeaning comments, anger, frustration,
animosity, malice, reciprocity, recriminations, accusations, antagonism, and
hurt feelings.

● Phil 1:27 . . Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of
Christ.
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394) 2Tim 2:24a . . The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome

The Greek word translated bond-servant means slave; ether voluntary or
involuntary. Bond servants are different than captive slaves. A bond servant
is typically someone who's entered into a service agreement with minimal
compensation; usually to satisfy a debt.

Although the choice to translate the Greek to indicate a bond servant was
probably done so arbitrarily, it fits the Christian concept of one's allegiance
to Christ.

As regards quarreling:

Sometimes it's best to follow Han Solo's advice and let the Wookie win one.
In other words; when one is wise; two are happy. Be the wise one and pick
your fights carefully. Don't expend your energies on hot button topics; they'll
just lead to anger, frustration, demeaning comments, and flaming remarks.

Especially avoid getting into discussions with obtuse individuals driven by a
rather annoying propensity to challenge everything you say simply because
they thrive on endless questions.

Another thing: Do we really have to be right all the time? People are entitled
to a second opinion so let them have one. It's good diplomacy; which can be
defined as skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility, i.e. tact. In
other words: make an effort to not be one of those in-your-face types for
whom every disagreement is an act of war to be won at any cost.
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395) 2Tim 2:24b-26 . . The Lord's servant must . . be kind to all, apt to
teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in
opposition, if perhaps God may grant them a change of heart leading to the
knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from
the snare of the Devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

The all in "be kind to all" really should be taken to mean all in Christian
congregations rather than all in the world. The reason being, according to
Eph 4:11-16, Christ doesn't dispense his servants for the world's benefit,
rather, for his body's benefit.

For the above reason; Sunday school teachers need to treat the people in
church who oppose them with the same sympathy and consideration as they
would patients in a mental hospital who lack the faculties to know what
they're doing and/or to think for themselves; hence the instructions to be
kind, gentle, and patient because according to the last words in that
passage, those folks are entangled in a bit of paranormal activity not easily
overcome by argument.

* Compare Heb 5:2 where it's said that a high priest is able to deal gently
with those who are ignorant and are going astray.
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396) 2Tim 3:12-15 . .You, however, continue in the things you have learned
and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and
that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to
give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus.

The "sacred writings" upon which Timothy cut his teeth are of course the old
testament's collection; which Paul affirms is useful to Christians.

● Rom 15:4 . .Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our
instruction that we, through patience and the encouragement of the
scriptures, might have hope.

NOTE: The Greek word translated "hope" means to anticipate (usually with
pleasure and confidence). In other words: this kind of hope doesn't cross its
fingers and pray for the best while in the back of its mind dreading the
worst. No; this hope speaks of having something to look forward to with the
bold unreserved expectation of obtaining it.
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397) 2Tim 4:1-2 . . I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of
Christ Jesus-- who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing
and His kingdom --preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Preaching and teaching are areas where pastors must take the reins. They
can't wait until their boards take a vote on it. No, the pastor's vote is the
only one that counts because left to themselves, congregations (and boards)
are just like any other flock of dim-witted sheep: they're prone to wander.

● 2Tim 4:3-4 . . For the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine; but wanting to have their ears rubbed, they will accumulate for
themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires; and will turn
away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to fiction.

Once somebody adopts an error for themselves as the God's truth, they like
to hear it reinforced, over and over again so they feel good about
themselves rather than feeling like a fool for thinking a certain way.

That mindset is very difficult to correct. So, like it's said; the best remedy is
prevention; hence the instruction to "preach the word' lest by preaching
something else a pastor's congregation gets their heads full of wrong ideas,
and from then on they tune out everything that opposes those ideas and/or
fails to reinforce them.
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398) 2Tim 4:5a . . Be discreet

Webster's defines "discreet" as: using good judgment, caution, and
prudence.

Human nature can be so inconsistent. Though most adults have fairly good
judgment, they oftentimes do things that are contrary to their better
judgment and make foolish choices (especially on Black Friday) because they
don't always use their heads but instead yield to their impulses; and
everybody knows that one's impulses, by and large, are mostly incoherent.
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399) 2Tim 4:5b . . endure hardship

Some of the aspects of hardship are adversity, mischance, misfortune,
danger, hazard, peril; affliction, trial, betrayal, drudgery, toil, travail,
anxiety, fear, discomfort, hunger, thirst, illness, and distress.

Feelings of isolation and loneliness are a part of that too. Nobody really
cares to sympathize with somebody when they're at the top of the food
chain. Pastors comfort others, but who comforts the pastors?

The lives of Christ's pastors are not supposed to be a piece of cake. If
they're doing their jobs in a way that pleases The Lord, pastors will have
some struggles. Hardship comes with the turf; it's a given when Christ's
pastors serve him faithfully and effectively.

The reason being that a pastor is essentially a shepherd. Well; according to
Jacob, that job was a rough career path back in the day.

● Gen 31:40 . .Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the frost by
night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

Part of the reason that tending sheep was rough in Jacob's day is because a
shepherd was essentially a security guard, constantly keeping an eye out for
rustlers and predators. That part alone was a 24-7 task; not to mention
monitoring the herd so none of them wandered off as sheep are prone to do.
It's no wonder Jacob lost a lot of sleep outside in the fields; and when you
throw in exposure to the elements; a shepherd's life was really not one to be
desired.
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400) 2Tim 4:5c . . do the work of an evangelist

The Greek word translated "evangelist" basically means a preacher of the
gospel.

Here in America, we typically think of evangelists as guys like Billy Graham
and Louis Palau. But according to Paul, pastors are supposed to be
evangelists within the walls of their own churches rather than on the road.

My ex-Catholic wife begged and cajoled her Catholic father to accompany
her to a Protestant church back in the 1970's before we met. On that
particular Sunday, of all days, the pastor spoke about money; especially
giving it to support his church and its programs.

My father-in-law was disgusted, and commented afterwards: Protestants are
no different than Catholics; all they care about is money. He never went
back. Had that pastor spoken about Christ instead of money, my father-in
law might have returned.

The same goes for tongue services, political activism, and people dancing
with rattlesnakes, shouting, shrieking, rolling on the floor and fainting in the
aisles. That kind of stuff is entertaining but certainly not conducive to
fulfilling Christ's command to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matt 28:18-20)

Sunday morning services are a mission field right here at home. A sharp
pastor will make sure that visitors leave his church with a full hour of real
gospel preaching to think about.

Paul described evangelism as pastors fulfilling their ministry. (2Tim 4:5)
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401) Titus 2:2 . . Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound
in faith, in love, in perseverance.

I used to get my watches serviced by an aging repairman at a local mall
until the day finally came when I could no longer tolerate his manners. He
was around seventy-five years old, cantankerous as can be, and perpetually
cross. I often felt like asking him if he ever gave any thought to his future.
You know, heaven is a place of peace. A hateful man like that repairman
would not only never fit in there, but it wouldn't be fair to the others to
permit him in their world.

"Cantankerous" can be defined as: habitually ill-humored, irritable,
disagreeable, bearish, cankered, cranky, cross-grained, dour, morose, sour;
crabby, cross, crusty, huffy, petulant, prickly, snappish; dyspeptic, ill
conditioned, thin-skinned, complaining, and ill-natured.

A Christian man in old age really ought to be a sweet, mellow guy: a pal and
a big brother for the younger ones rather than somebody they'd prefer do
the world a favor by stepping in front of a bus.
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402) Titus 2:3a . . The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as
becomes holiness: not traducers,

Traducers are particularly ugly human beings; especially the kind that
misrepresent their own friends and say things about them that their friends
would never approve; thus needlessly disparaging their friends' reputations
save for the pure pleasure of having something to say about somebody.

Traducers aren't regular gossips, no, they're malicious gossips. Webster's
defines malice as: a deep-seated, often unexplainable desire to see another
suffer. In other words, traducers like to hurt people for no reason other than
that it's gratifying.
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403) Titus 2:3b . . The aged women likewise, that they be not addicted to
much wine

A moderate amount of wine isn't discouraged. I think what we're talking
about here are the characteristics of a lush, i.e. intemperance. Those folks3
don't control the bottle, rather, the bottle controls them.

* One of the problems associated with booze is it's negative effect upon the
heavy drinker's judgment, and also the way that alcohol sometimes
influences their mind's interpretation of reality. (Back in the day that was
called pink elephants)
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404) Titus 2:3c-5 . . The aged women likewise, teaching what is good, that
they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their
children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their
own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored.

Far from teaching younger women to respect their husbands, feminism
encourages them to stand up to their husbands; and rather than be keepers
at home, feminism has them out seeking means to compete with men and
break the so-called glass ceiling; and rather than love their children,
feminism has them dominating their offspring in a domestic society
structured on divisions of labor, command and control, tyranny, and
regimentation. Those behaviors certainly can never be categorized as
honoring the word of God.

At the heart of women's hostility towards men is the drive to resist male
supremacy. Yet the very lord and master of Christianity, the supreme male
in the universe; demands death to a woman's self interests, and her
subordination to His monarchy.

"If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father
and mother, wife and children brothers and sisters-- yes, more than your
own life. And you cannot be my disciple if you do take up your own cross
and follow me." (Luke 14:26)

In The Lord's era, crosses were for executions. So when he told his disciples
to "take up their own cross" it meant stifling their own way; viz: it was a call
to abandon self interests, and comply with their Master's wishes.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies
as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of
worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God's will is-- His good, pleasing and perfect will." (Rom 12:1-2)

Those requirements runs 180° counter to modern feminism's self
aggrandizing attitude that homemaking is oppressive and demeaning to
women, and that respect for one's husband is somehow abusive; which is
obviously an attitude that vilifies the word of God instead of honoring it.

Christian marriage and motherhood are not for militant females; no,
marriage and motherhood are for grown-up, mature, emotionally stable
women; and I'm not talking about years of life; no, even some 35 and 40
year-old women often fall short of being grown-up. Their association with
men is on no higher a level now than when they were the 17 year-old, self
absorbed insolent brats they were in high school.
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405) Titus 2:6 . . Encourage the young men to be sensible.

Paul urged Titus to "encourage" the young men in his church to be sensible;
which is quite a bit different than hounding them or getting on their backs.

Relentless criticism and ridicule, unreasonable expectations, zero sympathy,
and disapproving everything they think, say, or do are the surest ways I
know to ruin a young man's attitude.
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