Text: 1 Timothy 6:3-10
Exegesis
- Theme: False Teachers in Ephesus
- Topic: Why false teachers are dangerous in Ephesus
- Truth: False teachers reject the truth and they always cause problems for themselves and for others.
- Thrust: Timothy must watch out against false teachers in Ephesus and warn them to stop teaching false doctrines because it will only destroy them as well as the church in Ephesus.
Exposition
- Theme: False Teachers in churches
- Topic: Why false teachers are dangerous in churches
- Truth: False teachers reject the truth and cause serious problems in the churches.
- Thrust: Churches must watch out against false teachers because they will always cause problems among themselves and God’s people.
Exhortation
- Type: Truth-oriented Passage
- Take Home Message: False teachers ruin good churches.
- Trailing question: Why should we watch out against false teachers in our midst?
- Talk (sermon):
A. Take-off (intro)
Not everyone in the church is good. Some are just bad apples. They can ruin entire churches. They are called false teachers. If we’re not careful they can secretly penetrate our fellowship and then destroy God’s work among us. So we must learn how to identify them and prevent them from destroying themselves or our church..
B. Teaching outline (body): Why should we watch out against false teachers in our midst?
- Their teaching bring spiritual sickness, rather than spiritual health (v.3).
- They pretend to know the truth but they are ignorant of the truth (v.4a).
- They love quarrels and conflicts among themselves and others (v.4b-5a),
- They love financial gain rather spiritual contentment (v.5b-10).
C. Touchdown (conclusion)
False teachers can ruin good churches, even our own church. We must guard ourselves against them. They are like bad apples that can ruin the entire basket of good apples. We must vigilant so that the enemy may not succeed in causing havoc among us.