MCC Podcasts
Working It Out - Don't Be So Hasty In Figuring Everybody Out
Hey, can we read the text really quick, not really quick, I mean fat, but I mean just at the start is what I mean. We're in first Timothy, we're doing a series on, we're calling it working it out because Timothy was a pastor of a church in Ephesus and his mentor Paul was saying, "Hey, go lead that church. Here's how you guys work that Jesus thing out in your context." And surprisingly, there's a lot of really different stuff from AD 63 to 2012, but there's surprisingly a lot of very similar things and things that we can get from it, and that's why we're studying it. We're at the end of chapter 5 where we will, art's going to go pick up one more topic in chapter 5, but after that we're on to the final chapter, final leg of first Timothy. And here's the scriptures for this morning. "I charge you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to keep these instructions without partiality and do nothing out of favoritism, do not be hasty in the laying on of hands and do not share in the sins of others, keep yourself pure. Stop drinking only wine and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent." Sorry, stop drinking only water. That makes a whole different meaning in the text, doesn't it? Let's start over there. It's weird that he has a bunch of these things that are sort of linked together. It's an odd passage that he says, "Stop drinking only water. Use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them, the sins of others trail behind them in the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot be remain hidden forever. Tough passage to kind of get our head around what he's saying right at the beginning. But let me just sum it up this way, and then we're going to dig into it. My title this morning is, "Don't be so hasty in figuring everybody out." See Paul is telling Timothy, and we'll talk about the context in a minute, he's telling Timothy, "You've got these leaders, and you're trying to set leaders free to go do ministry and honor them. You're also trying to rebuke those leaders that aren't doing well." He says, "But don't do it so quickly that you goof it up." That's essentially what he's trying to say because friends, we so hastily make judgments about people every day of our lives. Are you with me on that? He's talking about leaders, but very quickly we translate that to, "Are we too quick to make judgments about people? I am the king of this." Well, I'm going to write you the prints, and some of you are the king. Anybody want to volunteer for being the king of this? It just happens all the time in our lives. One of my famous ones, and I had to, you can get ready to show this video, I had to tell you, I was two years ago, well, watching the baseball playoffs with my son Tommy Brandon Innch, who played for the Oakland A's, God rest their soul. He played for the Tigers at the time, they were Detroit Tigers, they were in the playoffs, and he came up to bat, we're watching a playoff game, and I say to my son, who's 15 at the time, and I'm not proud of this, dude, that guy's a punk. My son goes, "What?" I go, "Branon Innch is a punk." I can't stand that guy, he's like, "Why?" It says I didn't have any reason I just kept the same train of thought, "He's a punk. Hate that dude." I didn't like his attitude, I didn't like his tattoos, I didn't like the way his walk-up song, I didn't like any, I didn't like Brandon Innch, that guy's a punk, I hate that guy, and he goes, "I got something you got to see," and he emailed me the next day at work this video, and you got to just see it because it's worth watching. September 2nd was Brandon Innch Day at Mott Children's Hospital in Michigan. Over the past five years, Innch has quietly donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the hospital, and that would be the story. Had it not been for this boy and this ball. He wanted to have a play date with me, and I said, "Sure, I'd be glad to come over there." On August 28th, the Tigers All-Star third baseman spent more than two hours playing with Noah Bjorkman, a five-year-old cancer patient. Brandon got down on the floor, was playing with him, and showed him his room, and then we built the floor, then they built it for it. Right before I left, his mom, I think whispered in Noah's ear and said, "Don't you have something you want to ask Brandon?" And I knew it from that point on to you always hear the stories, and Noah said, "Yeah, Brandon, can you please hit me at home run tonight in the game?" I said, "Man." So here's Brandon Innch. He was standing there right in front of the TV, and he's got his fist clenched, and he's going, "Hit home run, hit home run, hit home run." He's driven to the air, deep in the left field, way back, this ball is gone, it's a home run. And he hit the home run, he put his arms straight up in the air, and said, "He did it. He did it. He did it for me. He did it for me." And he's got Noah's name right on his arm right there. The right forearm. How about that? Noah, that one is for you. It's the first time ever in my life when I've been wearing a baseball uniform that I completely broke down. I mean, I was in tears. I was in tears to the point where I was going back out in the field, and I still had tears running down my face. And I'm not ashamed to say it. And I hit woken me up and said, "Did you see what happened in the dugout after with the cameras on me?" And I said, "No, I had no idea." And he said he had really kind of broken down in the dugout. And that was amazing because Brandon doesn't show his emotion that often, especially on the field. The next day, Inge gave Noah the ball. We were both crying, and everybody else we knew was crying because it was just, you know, again, it's real. We had him here. He asked. He did. How often is that going to happen? Amazingly, twice. In June, eight-year-old Tommy Shoemaker had a heart transplant, and a visit from Inge. At the end, he said, "All right. I've given you a lot of autographs, Tommy. He said, "Give me. Sign my arm." So I signed his arm, and that night I saw it on TV, and he had a homerun, and it was cool. High fly ball, left field, and hit well. Sorry I don't back to the wall! Inge has done it again! I can't believe it. Tony, hit the homerun. Tommy Shoemaker! That home honest for you, bud. I can't explain either. Well, I'm going to be honest with you. Maybe it's just the way it's supposed to be written. I'm not sure. I'm looking at myself as a hero. I don't see it at all. I don't look at that at all. I see those kids that are in a hospital fighting life into situations. Some parents that have to drive them every day, that have to take off work and do all the things for their kids. I see them as heroes. No two ways about it. They're the heroes in this situation, not me. Brandon Inge is a punk. I hate that guy. That was the longest I've ever gone for a sermon illustration lead in, but was that not worth looking at? Is that not the epitome of what we do? I'm sitting in my office, tears on my cheeks, half thinking this dude is so inspiring and half thinking I'm the biggest jerk on the face of the earth. And I quickly and so quickly figured him out, judged him and that's the kind of thing that happens. And my poor 15-year-old is looking at me thinking you're an idiot. And this is the kind of guy that I want to emulate and you're calling him a punk. This text is about Paul telling Timothy you cannot jump to make judgments about people or you're going to miss out. A couple of quick things on this sermon before we get to the end of our time this morning. If you just look at the text before we -- if you have your text open or maybe the scripture can come up front really quick. If you look at verse 21, he says I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ. He's saying in view of all of heaven friends, you've got to keep these instructions about leaders without partiality and favoritism. This is the whole point of the passage. This is the whole point of the morning. He says don't be partial and don't show favoritism. Partiality is about the way we are inclined, that we're partial towards something. The way that we lean and favoritism is the outcome of that where we treat somebody better than another. He said when you size these leaders up, and again, he's talking about leaders, friends, we translate it to every human encounter we have all day, every day. He goes when you size these people up, don't just depend on your own feelings, impressions, judgments, isms, and inclinations, and don't then act differently toward people because of it. Don't do that. And he goes on in the next verse to say and don't -- so don't be hasty in the laying on of hands. What he's meaning is don't call people into ministry, don't so quickly go, that guy's got it all together. We want him to be one of our elders or our leaders. Remember that's what we were talking about the last few weeks, these elders leaders. He goes don't be hasty in laying on our hands and he uses these words and don't share in the sins of others. What does that mean? Because if you're hasty in making judgment about these folks, setting them into ministry, and they end up being losers, and you were too quick to think they were great, but they actually weren't ready for ministry, you end up sinning with them. So keep yourself pure, he says. And then that next weird verse right in the middle of the day goes, "Speaking of keeping yourself pure, I know you want to keep yourself pure. You're keeping yourself so pure that you're drinking only water. Take a little wine for your stomach." Isn't that a weird verse right in the middle? But that's kind of his logic. Hey, listen man, I know you're working hard to keep yourself pure, but by the way, don't be crazy about it because you need some wine for your stomach. Back then, wine, especially the watered down wine that they had, they thought was a medicinal and it was a little bit better than the pure drinking water, which wasn't so pure. And so it was kind of well thought that some wine would help with indigestion. Who knows? But that works for me. So he goes, "But it's thinking about pure, don't be that pure, but he just has a little parenthetical." And then he goes back in verse 24 and 25 to the main point where he says, "But the main point here is be patient in assessing people for leadership. The sins of sun run ahead of them and you see it and the sins of others drag behind them." And good deeds, some people are robbers and some people are really solid down deep. "Hello, Brandon Ench and you don't see it right away." And so he goes, "Don't be so hasty. State and the truth of God will come out about these folks." So again, the context is leaders, but the thesis for us is we have to be so careful not to quickly judge people in our lives and our encounters with them, whether we're setting them up to trust them or to work with them or whether we're trying to figure out how to protect ourselves from them. Man, all day long we're engaged with people and we can't make judgments so quickly about it. That's literally the outline this morning. That's judgment so quickly. And why? Two reasons. One, because from the surface, you can't really tell what's going on. That's what verse 24 and 25 is about. From the surface, you can't tell really what's going on. And by the way, surface, that's what partiality and favoritism is. It's about surface-ness, isn't it? It's about judging someone from the outside, from our impressions, for our quick assessments of the situation that's always judged on the outside. We even go so far as to see someone who looks like someone that we used to not be able to like. Have you ever even had that in your life? And you realize you've already got some sort of partiality against them because you're like, yeah, I know people like that. I know, you know, it's so bizarre that in our humanness, that's what we do. It's all right on the surface. James talks about the book of James. He talks about partiality and favoritism. And he talks about it from the context of somebody walks into your meeting and they look all together and they look like they're put together and they're dressed well and they got jewelry and they obviously have done well in their lives and you go, here's a great place for you to sit. And then somebody comes in and shabby clothes and you go, you know what, apparently the dude's a loser and we don't really care that he's in our midst. And that's how he uses it. And he goes, when you do that stuff, you sin against the body you've shown yourselves to be judges and it's sin. We do that on the surface and the scriptures are full of the idea of not showing partiality, not judging on the surface. It's God, man who looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart and we just make these surface judgments. The surface, we can't really tell what's going on and that's it verses 24 and 25 are about at the end of this passage where he said, look it, the sins of some run ahead of them. There's some people where you look at them and you go, they're a mess. And I can see that a mile away and it's just obvious and that's just easy to see. Mike Benel, that's one of the guys. No, I'm just kidding. It's just one of the people, you just right away you go, that's, that guy's a mess. And he goes, but you got to be careful because the sins of others trail behind them eventually they get to the place of judgment. I mean, man, there's people that look okay on the surface, but in the end they're a mess, you shouldn't be putting them in ministry, you ought to be a little careful with your children and their presence, you know, all that kind of stuff because you can't tell what's going on from the surface. He goes, likewise, there's people who are awesome and right away you see they're good, they're good deeds, they're just those kind of people that they look great from the beginning and they are and their deeds are good deeds are obvious, but then there's other people who were kind of quiet. They fly under the radar on the surface, but down deep rock solid, baby, full of the things of God and gifts and fruit and Brandon Inge-ness down there. And so there's that sense in which we don't know what's going on in the surface. So he says basically the message is so be patient, don't quickly make judgments about people because in the end God's fruit will come out. And so when we are in an interactions with folks, when we go to live with engage in relationship with people and we want to go, nope, yep, wow, we need what we have to slow down and let the weight of God come in, let the fruit of God, you know, Jesus said, what, you'll judge a tree by its fruit in the end, we'll know, not going to be able to hide these things. So let's not be so quick, we'll let God bring it about. So why do we do this, why can't we, why shouldn't we make judgments so quickly about people number one, from the surface, you can't really tell what's going on. Number two, because you'll miss God. When we jump to conclusions, when we make judgment, we miss God. See by definition, partiality is about acting on our judgments and our impressions and our instincts. It's the stuff that's going on inside of us, it's being inclined a certain way. God's not in that equation, friends. But interacting with human beings on a daily basis, the one thing that God has given us to do here to love people, we are supposed to love God and love people, and loving people in the world requires that to be a God infused kind of an activity. And we will miss God when we act on our own judgments. Anybody feel convicted about that other than me? We'll miss what God wants to do, what are we going to miss? We're going to miss God's leading in the whole deal. We'll miss God's leading in the thing. We'll miss, following Jesus is all about putting our own stuff aside and not saying, boy, this is how I want to live, this is what I should do. It's about following what Jesus wants to do. And when we kind of come in with our stuff, we miss God saying, but I want you to love this person, I want you to engage with this person, I want you to be in business with this person, I want you to have lunch with that person, I want you to reach out to that person. We miss God because we go, yeah, I don't like those kind of people. This is what isms are all about, racism and sexism and so on and so forth. It's us going, I got that figured out and I'm not into it. It's our inclination or the other way around. Man, I love those people who act or look like this. And so I'm all in. But we miss where God's leading is in the whole thing. We'll miss God actually saying, I want you to do this. I mean, friends, the reality of having our neighbors in our lives and I look at my neighborhood and of course I want to go by my own inclinations. Of course I want to be best friends with the people that I really, really, really like and I don't want to hang out with some of the people that I already judge from afar because of the way their children drive or because of the music that I hear coming out of their house. God forbid, really, seriously? But as opposed to hearing Jesus say, hey, friend, Jeff, I got you in this neighborhood, will you reach out and love this person? And that's just the beginning. How about God just says, look it, I am not a respecter of persons, I show no partiality. Why are you going to be getting to judge between your neighbors as to which one is worthy of your unbelievable love and friendship, Jeff? Am I right? It's not a godly thing and we miss God's leading when we go, yeah, they don't like me or they don't, whatever, or I don't. We drop our agenda and we follow God's leading. We miss God. We miss God's leading. We miss God's plan. God's agenda, if we judge people too quickly, you know, it's what God wants to happen. That's his agenda versus what I think should happen. I am full of that should happen and that shouldn't happen in my life and in my relationships with people. This shouldn't be. That person shouldn't be like that. So I'm going to judge it this way and I'm going to act that way. Man, I remember being a student in my high school group when I first became a Christian. And I remember catching a whiff of the dynamic in our adult leaders and our youth pastor who were talking about what students to put on a student leadership team. And I remember catching wind that there was a great debate around me. And the reason was I was a mess. And the reason was I came from a non-Christian church family. And the reason was I didn't even go to Sunday morning yet because I didn't even value that I wasn't part of the church. The reason wasn't I hadn't cleaned up my life yet. And the reason was I was totally out of control but had this stirring passion somewhere deep down to follow Jesus and to be God's man. But I was 14 years old and absolutely clueless. And I remember this stirring. And there were people on that team who were understandably so who were like, well, that shouldn't be. He hasn't walked faithfully. He hasn't done the Sunday school track. He hasn't pulled his life together. He hasn't cleaned it all up yet. He hasn't. He's not a member. His parents don't. Right? Unfortunately, my youth pastor somewhere along the line said, but I got God's leading. And he didn't reject God's leading so he didn't have to reject God's plan. And he said, no, I think the hand of God is on him and he walked with me. And the benefit of that was, of course, that I got to spend time with him and I engaged with him and I got discipled in the process and I learned what it was to follow Christ. And it was probably the thing because when I was 14 figuring out how it was I was going to live, there was a man of God who got his mitts on me and walked with me in life. That wouldn't happen if he had rejected God's leading by making too quick a judgment because he would have missed God's plan. It was God's plan to rescue me, even though I wasn't worthy of being rescued. He shouldn't be on leadership. We'll miss it if we decide what shouldn't shouldn't happen as opposed to God. And last, we're going to miss God's blessings. What could happen because we're people in our judgments who go, that's never going to happen. I'm famous for this. I'm infamous for this, this phrase, this statement, this attitude. Let me tell you how this is going to go down. That's what I'm famous for, friends. In all my great intellect and wisdom, I'm famous for it. Let me tell you how this is going to go down because I've got it all figured out. I know not only what should happen, but I know what could happen. And when you got people who are full of faith hanging around me, they go, yeah, or God could come through and capture their hearts and redeem that and God could show up and this miracle could happen. And I look at them like, yeah, bless your heart. No, see, here's how it's going to go down. And I'm embarrassed to tell you, and I'm ashamed. I think that is one of the greatest sins that I have because I think I know in my inclinations and in my partiality and my favoritism and in my judgments, I think I know what can and it cannot happen. God forbid we have a God who continues to rescue and to show up and to transform people and to do miracles. And I'm so sick of the way I limit him by my judgments. You with me on that, anybody? That's kind of what this text is all about. We miss God. We'll miss God's leading, we'll miss God's plan, we'll miss God's blessings. If we continue to go forward in our sort of our judgments, again, Paul says to Timothy, you slow down. And don't be so hasty to judge what somebody can and can't do, what somebody, what should and should not happen. What I'm trying to do and not trying to do with this person, wait and walk with God and let God's fruit unfold, verse 24 and 25, it will come out what's supposed to be in this relationship and how to interact safely in this relationship with this person. It'll come out, you get rid of your judgments because you don't really know what I'm doing under the surface and you're going to miss me. You're going to miss me. You're going to miss my leading. You're going to miss my plan. And then you're going to miss my blessing. You're going to miss my fruit. You're going to miss what I could do if you just go with your judgment of people. Where and with whom in your world have you made quick judgments? Is there somebody in your life, your family, your church, your small group, your work environment, your neighborhood where you have already said and you've dismissed them and God may be trying to lead and plan and bless but he's got no chance because you've written off that situation. Anybody like that in your world? Does God kind of grab in your heart about any stories or even the other way around? Is there somebody in your life that you are so impressed with on your worldly level that you've given trust? You've given authority and that you're impressed with them but they shouldn't have influence in your life because the fruit of God isn't in them and you can't figure out why you keep getting disappointed for how you set them up to be this person but they're not that person but you're so impressed with them. Let's be slow to make judgments and let God lead and speak to us and I just want to be God's heart through my heart to people in this world and then we'll be free to see God's fruit. Let me pray for you and I'm going to have Ben come up and close us and then we'll have one other peace to our worship gathering, Jesus speak to us about your truth in this. We want to know God where it is that we miss, miss loving people, miss judging people according to your heart and your plan. We don't want to miss you God. Take our hearts over the hardness of them and our quick judgments and all the isms that are built in and God get and root out by your Holy Spirit and your power and your healing force of the Holy Spirit. Get in and root out that stuff that's in our DNA. Often we don't even know where it comes from but we so quickly judge someone. Get it out God, make our heart for people your heart or dependent on you for this kind of transforming work in the name of Christ. [BLANK_AUDIO]