Do They Get Noticed?

1 Tim 5:24-25

No one mistook her for a good person; she had the look of someone who had lived very hard. She was a drug addict with lines plainly visible along the inside of her arm. To get the money for her addictions she sold her body to anyone who had a little money. This was a woman whose sins were visible to anyone who had eyes.

He was at the pinnacle of the religious world. He was hugely famous, had an incredible TV ministry, and was well off financially. He seemed to be what every religious person wanted to be… Until the news story broke about his frequent visits to prostitutes. He had covered his sins so well for so many years, but eventually they caught up with him.

He was a good man. Friendly, helpful, whenever there was a need, he would try to take care of that need. He was a deacon in his church, a great husband and father, a dedicated Christian. Whenever someone thought about someone who they would like to emulate as a Christian, he was always on their short list.

She was also a dedicated Christian. She rarely received the recognition for all the great things she did, but that was okay with her; she didn’t do them for recognition anyway. It usually embarrassed her if what she did was mentioned, but people couldn’t help but notice from time to time what she did for the kingdom of God

All of these stories are of real people that I know. They bring the truth of this simple verse to life. There are some important truths we can learn from this one simple verse.

PRAYER

I. Some Deeds are Obvious, Some are Not

A. Sins

1. When we think of obvious sins, we quickly start defining the sins that are easy to spot.

2. We are like the Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Lk 18

a) READ Lk 18:11

b) He named off sins that he could compare himself to and come out on the good side.

3. But even if we aren’t making the comparison, we still tend to base obvious sins on what is done.

4. We call them sins of commission.

5. What we need to understand that some obvious sins are obvious sins of omission.

a) In Matthew 25 Jesus said that those who didn’t show compassion were sinful.

b) Jesus tells us to forgive others or we won’t be forgiven.

c) Love your neighbor as yourself.

d) Sometimes we have obvious sins by what we DON’T do.

6. Some sins trail behind us

a) Some of us are so good at covering our sins that no one around us will ever know.

b) However, God does know and will bring them up at judgment.

c) Just because others don’t see them, doesn’t mean we got away with them.

B. Good deeds

1. Some good deeds are easily noticed.

2. A Christian should have a life of good deeds that others notice. It should be part of our make up to do these deeds.

3. Whenever we DO the things God wants us to do, those deeds are obvious, and even when they don’t get noticed right away, obedience to God cannot be hidden.

4. Just as sins cannot be hidden from God neither will our good deeds.

II. Deeds and Choosing Leaders

A. Deeds in Context

1. This passage is in the context of choosing leaders in the church.

2. Lets back up and READ vs. 17-23

3. It’s impossible for us to look into the heart of a person and know if they are truly what they show us on the outside.

4. Whether it’s bringing accusations against an elder or ordaining an elder, we need to spend a great deal of time in prayer asking God if we are doing the right thing.

5. God knows the heart even when we don’t and if we put these things in God hands, he will make sure right is done and seen.

B. Accusations

1. If we have spent time in prayer asking God to help us make the decision about a man to spiritually lead the church, we need to always presume his innocence.

2. However, there are times when even elders forsake their faith for sin.

a) A person very close to me was an elder for many years. One day he told his wife he wanted a divorce and proceeded to do just that. As all this unfolded, he still served as an elder until it became known he was dating another lady.

b) The church insisted he step down because he had given up the moral authority to lead them.

c) It was a painful but necessary thing to do.

3. The reason Paul told Timothy to never accept accusations unless there were 2 or 3 witnesses is because spiritual leaders lead by integrity. When that integrity is questioned it diminishes their ability to lead even if the accusation was unfounded.

4. So don’t even give accusations a chance to be accepted unless there is overwhelming evidence of sin.

III. Christians and Alcohol

A. Drinking

1. Paul then touches on a touchy subject.

2. READ vs. 23

B. Do Christians have to be tee-totallers?

1. Christians for most of my life have always said Christians shouldn’t drink. Period.

2. My dad’s famous quote to me was “one drink is one drink drunk.”

3. Apparently Timothy himself or Christians around Timothy felts the same way.

4. There is danger of becoming an alcoholic if you drink; 1 in 10 casual drinkers become one.

5. However, what about the other 9? What about drinking in a society that doesn’t put a social stigma on drinking?

6. These are questions each Christian has to answer for himself.

7. Paul seems to see a place for certain uses of wine and the Bible itself condemns drunkenness but not drinking.

8. However there are many scriptures dealing with Christians being above reproach and not doing things that harm the cause of Christ.

C. The sins of some…

1. This sermon took me a good 3 days to bring together.

2. Trying to figure out how these verses related to each other and then present it in a sermon proved MUCH harder than I anticipated!

3. I believe vs. 24 -25 ties in to both dealing with leaders and the drinking of alcohol.

a) Some may thought his drinking wine was a sin.

b) Paul comes back to sin will be seen for what it is and good deeds will be seen for what they are.

c) In the end, Timothy will be seen for his good deeds, not the perceived sin of drinking some wine for his stomach.

4. That’s the key for all of us.

5. Our lives need to be lived in a way that we will be judged by the good deeds we have done not the sins.

6. Here is what you need to think about at this point. Are God and others judging you by your sins or by your good deeds?