The context of 2 Timothy 3 is contrary to the world’s thinking. “Avoid such people” is where we will focus – Meaning avoid people who are claiming to be religious, even those among God’s people. That should scare us. There were people who had drifted away from the Lord, teaching dangerous things, and they were told to avoid them.
Warning – don’t be that person that others need to distance themselves from. It will take some self evaluation and examination. If you find people don’t want to be around you, you need to ask yourself why.
So what is Paul saying? Why avoid these people? 3 reasons:
1. Some people love the wrong things. They claim to follow the will of God but in reality they love self, or they love money and the things of the world. We need to ask ourselves – what is it that I love? Love money? Remember 1 Tim. 6? “The love of money is the root of all evil.” If I am being drawn into something and it is ruling my life, I need to stop and think. Do I need to remove this from my life? You may need to if it has replaced God, who we are to love with all of our being.
Also words related to pride pop up in this text several times. Pride is a big issue and a struggle for a lot of people. Enjoy being around an arrogant person, someone who talks about themself all the time? Of course not, so don’t be that person. And it you’re a friend of someone like that, set them straight. You’d want it pointed out to you if you that’s who you are.
2. Some people are full of deception . These people want to appear to be righteous. They want to pull people away. They entice you, promise you freedom. They actually deceive themselves by their own teaching. Our politicians are a prime example. They deceive, think they are right and yet they solve nothing. They think they are better than everyone else. They’re arrogant and self-deceived. Evil people just get worse and worse. (See 2 Tim 3:13).
Look at Col. 216ff. What we need to do is hold onto Jesus and His teachings. Forget about these other things that have an appearance of goodness but are actually promoting self made religion, such as fasting with an attitude of withholding for appearances.
3. Evil people have a dangerous influence. If we continue to hang around darkness, we will eventually become dark ourselves. These people do not say crazy things. They offer solutions that appear to be true. Poor knowledge, bad motives and arrogance are a dangerous combination. Some people crave controversy, 1 Tim. 6. 2 Pet. 2 warns against the same thing.
How do we know who should be avoided?
What does 2 Tim. 3:14-17 say? Stay in the Word:
1. It will make you wise,
2. It can be trusted because it is from God Himself. And,
3, it equips us for every good work.
Sermon by Brent Moody
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