A. What is the purpose of preaching and teaching the word of God? There are many good answers:
1. To teach the truth about life and godliness (2Pet. 1:3);
2. To bring salvation through faith (Rom. 10:17; Eph. 2:8);
3. To equip men of God for every good work (2Tim. 3:16-17).
B. These are excellent answers, but notice the answer given in 1Timothy 1:5.
1. To get a clear meaning of this verse, let us consider three different translations.
a. "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1Tim. 1:5 NASB)
b. "But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned.” (1Tim. 1:5 ASV)
c. "Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, [from] a good conscience, and [from] sincere faith.” (1Tim. 1:5 NKJV)
2. The alternate readings of this verse help us understand that there is one overall goal for instruction in God's word, and that goal is love.
a. This love is the agapē (Gr.) type of love, which is active, goodwill towards others.
i. This love is not simply an emotion, but rather it is action that demonstrates genuine care and concern for others.
ii. Christ defined this type of love for us by His actions: "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1John 3:16)
b. The fact that "the goal of our instruction” is love should remind us of the Lord's answer in Mark 12:29-31 when He was asked which was the foremost commandment in the Law. He said:
"The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.”
c. Truly, there are many purposes for teaching God's word, but they are all really just the means of reaching the true purpose of God's more excellent way of love (1Cor. 13).
C. Presently, let us consider how a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith contribute to the goal of love through the instruction of God's word.
II. LOVE FROM A PURE HEART
A. Corrupted and sinful hearts are hindered from the practice of love.
1. Sinful hearts typically do whatever is pleasing to themselves without regard for others. They are inherently self-indulgent and unconcerned with the will or welfare of anyone else, including God (contrast this to Christ's attitude in Phil. 2:3-8).
2. Sinful hearts are separated from God (Isa. 59:2) and insensitive to His will (Rom. 8:6-8). Without knowing God, they do not know love, "for God is love” (1John 4:8).
B. Therefore, it is necessary that every heart be purified through the truth.
1. Consider 1Peter 1:22-23 – "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”
a. Purity of the heart or soul comes by means of obedience to the truth. Such obedience has a cleansing and sanctifying effect on the believer of truth (John 17:17-19; 1Pet. 1:2).
b. Notice that this message is very similar to that of 1Timothy 1:5. The end or goal of obedience to the truth is love of the brethren.
2. Without this purification of the heart, we cannot love. Likewise, without purification of the heart, we cannot see God (Matt. 5:8). This all makes for good logic, "for God is love.”
III. LOVE FROM A GOOD CONSCIENCE
A. A good conscience prepares the heart for the practice of love.
1. Conscience is a sense of right and wrong.
a. Some issues of the conscience are natural, innate, and universal (that murder is wrong, that theft is wrong, etc. - see Rom. 2:14-15).
b. However, the conscience can also be trained. Such training may be in accordance with God's will or it may be contrary to God's will (consider the example of Saul of Tarsus, who thought he was right when he errantly persecuted God's church "in all good conscience” - Acts 23:1; 1Tim. 1:12-13; compare to Prov. 16:25).
2. A truly good conscience will motivate us to be proactive in doing what is we believe is good and right (Jas. 4:17), especially in loving God and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
B. Only a person who has obtained a truly good conscience through Christ can practice the love of Christ.
1. The Scriptures attribute a good conscience to many factors:
a. Cleansing by Christ's blood and baptism (Heb. 9:14; 10:22-25; 1Pet. 3:21);
b. Adherence to the faith and doctrine of Christ (1Tim. 4:1-2);
c. Godly, reverent conduct (Rom. 13:3-5; 1Pet. 2:18-19; 3:16-17);
d. Purity in mind and motive (1Cor. 8:7; 10:28-29; Tit. 1:15; 1John 3:19-20).
2. These are essentially the same factors involved in obtaining a pure heart, and all of these are necessary to cleanse a Christian's conscience for genuine, Christ-like love.
IV. LOVE FROM A SINCERE FAITH
A. It is important that we understand the connection between love and faith.
1. Let us recall the definition of faith from Hebrews 11:1 – "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Thus, faithful people hope for and believe in things they have never seen.
2. Such faith is evident only through works.
a. A long list of examples of people who acted in faith is given in Hebrews 11.
b. Notice the connection between faith and works in James 2:14-17:
"What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”
3. Similarly, love is also evident only through works.
a. Notice the similarity between James' message of faith (above) and John's message of love:
"But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” (1John 3:17-18)
b. Such works of love are evidence not only of our love of men, but they are also evidence of our love of God. Notice 1John 4:20:
"If someone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”
B. Therefore, we see that love and faith are inextricable connected and are practiced and proven in exactly the same way, which is through our practice of works of faith and love according to the Scriptures.
V. CONCLUSION
A. This lesson is important because it teaches us to pursue the correct goal of love.
1. Pure hearts, good consciences, and sincere faith are worthy pursuits, but these are only the means by which we are to attain God's true goal for us, which is love.
2. Too many Christians have been falling short of the goal of love for too long. Perhaps that is because we have been aiming at the wrong targets.
B. Therefore, let us be careful to keep the love of God and the love of man as the goal of our instruction and our learning.
VI. POST-SCRIPT APPLICATION: SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE
A. The book of 1Timothy has a distinct emphasis upon the importance of truth and sound doctrine.
1. Regarding this letter, Paul said, "I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1Tim. 3:15).
2. This letter gives instructions pertaining to many doctrinal matters in the church, such as the qualifications of elders and deacons (chap. 3), the roles of men and women (chap. 2), the church's support of widows (chap. 5), attitudes about money (chap. 6), and many other issues.
3. Scattered throughout this letter are instructions for Timothy to refute the false teachers and their doctrines, which were troubling the church at Ephesus (1:3-7, 19-20; 4:17; 6:3-5, 20-21).
B. Despite this emphasis on truth and sound doctrine, doctrinal purity is not the goal of this instruction. Instead, Paul said, "The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1Tim. 1:5).
1. In light of the issues at Ephesus, one might expect that the goal of this instruction was adherence to the truth. Instead, we learn that the truth is the means to the true goal of love.
2. When properly understood and applied, the truth of God and all of its fruits – a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith – will lead a Christian to the goal of love.
C. Let us understand that if the goal of our preaching and teaching is not love, then we are missing the point of it all.
1. God has equipped the church so that it will build up itself in love. Consider Ephesians 4:14-16:
"As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
a. The church cannot grow by following the doctrines of men, but rather it will grow by speaking the truth in love.
i. "Speaking the truth in love” is the process by which the church is fed and nourished on the word of God (1Pet. 2:1-3).
ii. Some have made incorrect, extreme applications of "speaking the truth in love.”
1. To some, "speaking the truth in love” is always a matter of coldly applying "tough love” to those who are not in perfect conformity with the truth.
2. To some others, "speaking the truth in love” is always a matter of softly suggesting the truth so as not to offend those who are in error.
3. Neither of these extreme positions are correct, for truth in love requires both confrontation and compassion without compromise.
b. Notice that the last phrase of verse 16 says that the church is built up "in love.”
i. We might have expected this to say that the church is built up in truth, but the Holy Spirit emphasized the necessity of love for edification.
ii. Love edifies because "love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1Cor. 13:4-7).
2. If we attempt to build up the church in truth without the application and the goal of love, then we will fail to achieve God's purpose for the church.
a. Perhaps we may achieve a form of orthodox, doctrinal purity, but such an achievement falls short of God's goal of love.
b. Indeed, we must believe correctly, for our salvation depends upon it. Truth must never be compromised or pushed aside. However, if our faith is only an academic belief and not a living practice of love, then we are not Christ's disciples (John 13:34-35; 1Cor. 13; Jas. 2:14-17; 1John 2:7-11; 3:13-18; 4:7-5:3).
