trusted online casino malaysia
Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.
The Scriptorium

Wholesome Words Only, Please

It's wholesome words and sound doctrine, or it's a problem. 1 Timothy 6.3-5

The Pastoral Epistles: 1 Timothy 6 (2)

Pray Psalm 140.4, 5.

Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
Preserve me from violent men,
Who have purposed to make my steps stumble.
The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords;
They have spread a net by the wayside;
They have set traps for me.

Read and meditate on 1 Timothy 6.3-5.

Reflect.

1. What are “wholesome words”? What makes them wholesome?

2. What happens when we hold fast to anything other than wholesome words?

Meditate.
Wholesome words are words that tend to health, defined in terms of becoming like Jesus Christ and being godly in all our ways. Such words find their touchstone in Jesus and their outworking in godliness. Paul has been directing such words at Timothy so that the churches in Ephesus can continue to be healthy and Christ-like. 

Pastors must address their teaching and preaching to the health and fruitfulness, both of the members of their congregation and of the congregation as a whole. Otherwise, our words run the risk of being empty, pointless, merely self-serving, and divisive.

If we are not aiming to help people become godly and more like Christ, then what are we doing in our preaching and teaching? We are being prideful, spouting mere head knowledge, looking for points in some doctrinal dispute, and, consequently, stirring up “envy, strife, reviling evil suspicions, useless wranglings”. Pastors whose teaching and preaching is merely of this nature, and not directed at the health of believers and the church as a whole, are wrong in their thinking and keeping their people from the truth God intends for them (v. 5). They parade a form of “godliness” but only to the extent that it advances their prestige. 

Clearly, such preachers and teachers were already beginning to circulate in Paul’s day. They used the Gospel and the call to godliness not to promote health and godliness, but to show off their smarts, put down those who disagreed with them, and incite and prolong divisiveness rather than unity.

Paul calls us to teach wholesome, health-giving words, words that edify both believers and the church as a whole (Eph. 4.29). Anything other than that is not in line with the Lord’s agenda for His Church.

Reflect.
1. What does a believer look like who is healthy in the Lord? What does a healthy, growing church look like?

2. How can we make sure that all the words we speak are gracious and edifying (Col. 4.6; Eph. 4.29)?

3. This passage suggests a teacher-training and leadership-training agenda for pastors. Explain.

Presumption therefore arises not from knowledge but from “knowing nothing.” For he that knows the doctrine of godliness is also the most disposed to moderation. He who knows sound words is not unsound. For what inflammation is to the body, pride is to the soul. And as we do not in the first case say that the inflamed part is healthy, so neither do we say of the soul that the arrogant part is healthy. John Chrysostom (344-407) Homilies on 1 Timothy 17

Keep me from self-serving ways, O Lord, and let my words today – all my words – be for edification, especially as I…

Pray Psalm 140.1-8.

As you pray, remember that you are engaged in a spiritual warfare, and that enemies will be trying to unhorse you all day long. Use this time in prayer to prepare well.

Sing Psalm 140.1-8.
Psalm 140.1-8 (Old Rockingham: O Lord Most High, with All My Heart)
From evil, violent men, I pray, deliver me, preserve me, Lord!
Their hearts they bend to evil ways, and serpent’s venom is their word.

Guard me, O Lord, from wicked hands, from violent men preserve my life!
They sow my path with wicked plans, with nets and snares and cords of strife.

You are my God, O God, my Lord! Give ear, show mercy to my pleas!
Salvation grant by Your strong Word; grant not their wicked, evil schemes.

T. M. Moore

Whatever our calling in life, we are sent to bring the joy of Christ to the people around us. Our book, Joy to Your World!, can show you how to fill your Personal Mission Field with more of the Presence, promise, and power of Christ and His Kingdom. Order your copy, as a supplement to our study of 1 Timothy, by clicking here.

If you value 
Scriptorium as a free resource for your walk with the Lord, please consider supporting our work with your gifts and offerings. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button  at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters

Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.