Tammy On Tuesday ~ Impostors

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I grew up in a Bible believing church. I was taught that God loved me and wanted me to know Him through a relationship with Jesus Christ. I was also taught that I had an enemy. His name was Satan and he walked about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. As a little girl, the battle seemed pretty black and white. Good versus evil.

Good versus evil.

In fact, as a child we often imagine things very simple. God would win over Satan as the Bible promised.  And we would know who is who in the battle because God would do and say everything good and Satan would do and say everything bad. We would easily be able to distinguish the good and stand with God.

But that’s not been the case since the beginning in the garden where Satan tempted Eve. Satan is the great deceiver. In the Bible he is called the father of lies. (John 8:44)

He has been deceiving men and women throughout the ages.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul spent much of his time in his letters to the churches warning them to guard the truth of the Gospel. There were countless attempts by the enemy to thwart God’s work and the furtherance of the Gospel, not by opposing the Gospel but by twisting it, adding to it, and subtracting from it.

Deception.

This morning I want to look at the special relationship the Apostle Paul had with a young pastor named Timothy. Paul is Timothy’s mentor and teacher. He calls him his ‘son in the faith’.  I want to look at a few verses in Paul’s second letter to Timothy and give you some things to think about. In this heartfelt letter, Paul speaks with a sense of urgency. He loves Timothy. He is looking out for Timothy with great interest for his spiritual well-being and his endurance in the faith.

Think about it.  This letter is not a quick text he shot off to Timothy while sitting at a traffic stop.  Each and every word was thoughtful and intentional. This letter was meant to be read over and over.  It wasn’t sent via E-mail.  It was delivered to Timothy from Paul who was, of all places, writing to him from a prison cell facing his death.  So try to imagine this in your mind as we read a portion of the letter.

Let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:10-13

10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.   2 Timothy 3:10-13

We see in verses 10 and 11, Paul’s example. He reminds Timothy of the safeguards and evidences of the Christ follower. What Paul lived out by example, he also wanted Timothy to strive for in his own life. He knew this would guard Timothy’s heart against deception.  It’s important for you and me today as well.

He says, Timothy you have followed:

• My teaching (Romans 8:3-4, Ephesians 2:4-7)
• My conduct (Philippians 1:27)
• My aim in life (Philippians 3:8-9,14)
• My faith (Galatians 2:16)
• My patience (Romans 12:12)
• My love (1 Thessalonians 3:1)
• My steadfastness (1Corinthians 15:58)
• My persecutions and sufferings (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)

Is my heart for God reflected in the ways listed above? Do I identify with Paul’s example? How about you?

Why does Paul start off here reminding Timothy of characteristics of being in Christ? Let’s look at verse 12.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (v 12)

In other words, “By identifying with Christ in the ways I have shown you Timothy, you’re going to encounter persecution.”

He says ALL who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

I want to share personal testimony here.
My husband, Mark, and I answered the call to plant a church roughly seven years ago. We started in our home with 15 people and then just over five years ago LifeHouse Church was launched in a local fire hall. We are now a body of roughly 900 believers and God is continuing to work.

PINIMAGEWe were told often as we stepped out into this new endeavor, that it would be hard. We were told there would be many tears. We were told we would experience challenges unlike we’d ever experienced. And they were absolutely right.

Through these past several years, God has taken me personally through trials and difficulties strengthening my faith in Him, in order to bring me to a place where I will always remember that I LIVE for an AUDIENCE OF ONE.

This means:

There will be some who don’t like me.

There will be some who don’t understand me.

There will be some who criticize me.

But my life is an offering. My purpose is to fix my eyes on God alone.

Suffering in ministry is one thing. Yes, suffering is real. The enemy is attacking the work of God and we are on the front lines. But what has taken me by surprise on this journey as a pastor’s wife is what I’m learning about persecution.

In my experience, persecution most often does not come from the one who is far from God with no interest in knowing Him.  It doesn’t come from those people who refuse to darken the doors of the church. It comes from people within.

Did you hear that?  It comes from people within the church.

Let’s look at a passage earlier in the same chapter of Paul’s letter to Timothy.

1 But mark this (Timothy): There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2 Tim 3:1-5 (emphasis mine)

I want to point out something here…look at verse 5.

Having the form of godliness but denying its power.

These people are impostors.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Much of our battle and the persecution we have faced, much of the tears we have shed, have come from those who have twisted the Truth of God’s Word – the “so-called godly” people who oppose, add to, and subtract from God’s message of the Gospel.  They’ve taken on a salad bar approach to God’s Word, picking and choosing what they will put on their plate and walking away from the rest.

Friend, this battle is real.

Let me interject. This battle isn’t my opinion against yours.  The twisted gospel gives no life.  The true Gospel gives power over death.  Paul fought for the true Gospel. He understood the great cost by which it comes to us. He fought to the end, endured prison and faced death to protect this precious gift.

Let’s look at the last verse in the passage we are studying today.

13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Paul tells Timothy he will face persecution. In fact, ALL in Christ (notice “In Christ” is the key phrase here) will suffer persecution. Then in the very next sentence Paul warns Timothy that the evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. The battle against the truth will only continue to grow.

But this battle against Satan’s infiltration in the church and into the work of God is nothing new.

Paul warned the churches he planted in Galatians 1:6-9:

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! 

Initially, while meditating on the passage I am sharing with you today, I thought to myself, I’m living in a country where I am free to worship and follow Christ. How can I speak about persecution when I see those in other countries dying for their faith. That’s persecution.  And it is!  Persecution unto death would seem to me to be the worst kind.  But as I prayed and waited on the Lord I thought of Paul’s own testimony. Before his name and direction in life were radically changed, he fought against the work of Christ for many years. He religiously and passionately persecuted those who carried the gospel. Then he met Christ on the road to Damascus…

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  Acts 9:3-5

The persecution I encounter is inevitable.  It’s been plaguing the church and the truth of the Gospel from the beginning…

“You are unloving.”

“You are exclusive.”

“You are intolerant.”

“You are archaic.”

“You are hateful.”

These words are not words against me, they are against my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

When impostors criticize and mock and speak out against me, truly they are speaking against Jesus himself. Remember what Paul told Timothy to do…”focus your life on my example. And then remember this..”

He fights for us.

Notice in the second part of 2 Timothy 3:11. In Paul’s testimony to Timothy he says, “Yes, Timothy, I’ve been through MUCH persecution, many trials and challenges. YET from them all, the Lord rescued me.”

The Lord rescued him FROM THEM ALL.

Believer, are you facing persecution for standing in the truth?

Have you shied away from difficult conversations for fear of being misunderstood?

Are you tempted to be silent for fear of being maligned?

Remember, this is not our battle.  The battle is the Lord’s.

Consider Paul’s exhortation to Timothy and, like Timothy, stand firm in the faith.  He will fight for you!

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:21