Authentic Christian Living: Insights from Timothy's Legacy

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now, come along.

Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here.

Today we are studying the book of Romans.

But today, since it's Mother's Day, I thought that it would be appropriate to pause that study and to turn our attention to a godly example of two mothers, one being a lady named Lois, another being a lady named Eunice.

One is a godly grandmother who was also a mother, and another godly mother to an individual in scripture that we know named Timothy.

And what we're going to do is we're going to look at Second Timothy, chapter one, and we're going to see a snapshot of a picture of the character of these two women that I think all of us can learn from, not just the ladies that are here today, but all of us can learn from the type of faith that these two women had and especially how it impacted those that are in their family and those that the person that they sewed into Timothy, how it impacted greatly many other people as well.

So if you want to follow along with me, we're going to be in Second Timothy, chapter one, and we're going to look at verse number five.

Now, by way of context, Paul is talking to Timothy.

He's encouraging Timothy, he's challenging Timothy, he's teaching Timothy.

And here he's remembering Timothy's past.

And he's talking about how he's thankful for Timothy.

He's talking about how Timothy should be standing in the truth of God and not having the spirit of fear.

And in verse number five, he calls to remembrance what Timothy had as a godly mother and a godly grandmother.

And he really explains one of the main many contributing factors to the fact that Timothy has faith.

It says in Second Timothy, Chapter one, verse five, he says, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, talking about Timothy, he says, when I think about that unfeigned or authentic faith or sincere faith that you have, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice.

And I am persuaded in the also.

Now, what he basically says here is he says, when I look at your life and I see your faith, I see the faith of your grandmother, I see the faith of your mother who passed along the truths that they learned Now, I want to give you some background context to that, because we see that Timothy was a young man who was from a place called Lystra.

And if you want to cross reference another passage that deals with his call to ministry, you can go with me to Acts chapter 16.

And Acts chapter 16 gives us a little bit more background on Timothy and on his parents.

And I think it's important for us to note, because when we're trying to understand this type of faith that Lois and Eunice had and eventually Timothy has, it's important to know how they got there, because I think that all of us to some degree, need to understand this lesson so that we can have this type of unfeigned, sincere faith in our lives and so that other people can see that faith around us and grow in their faith.

And so In Acts chapter 16, we see Paul's second missionary journey, and he's coming back to Lystra.

He's already been there once before.

The first time that Paul was there, he was chased out, he was persecuted, and no doubt Timothy's mom would have seen that, and maybe even Timothy saw that.

Now Paul is coming back to Lystra and he's going to hear about this young disciple.

It says here, Timotheus, that's the same guy, Timothy.

And he's going to see that Timothy is ready to serve, that he's grown in his faith and he wants to launch out and go into ministry.

So Acts chapter 16 says, then came he to Derby and Lystra.

And behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus or Timothy, the son of a certain woman.

Now, we know that she's named.

Later on, she's named in second Timothy.

But we see here it just says a certain woman who was a Jewish and believed.

So we see that his mom was a Jewish lady who was a believer.

And then we see a little bit about his father.

We don't know a lot about his father, it says, but his father was a Greek.

And by way of implication and by way of context, most likely, at least at this time, Timothy's father was not a believer.

And so he's a gentile unbeliever.

And we see that Timothy has a Jewish mother who is a believer.

And so obviously a difficult place for Timothy to be.

Maybe there was some division in the household, maybe there's some conflict there.

There wasn't a stable father figure that was leading, at least in the spiritual realm.

But we see that there was a lady who stepped up and believed in the Lord and passed that on to her son.

And it says in verse two, which was well reported of by the brethren that were in Lystra and Iconium.

So what happens here is that Timothy's testimony precedes him, and Paul hears about him and Lystra and Iconium, and now he comes two here, and he's going to find out more about this guy.

And it says verse three, him.

Would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew all that his father was a Greek.

And so there's some implications there.

Some people knew that Timothy's father was a Gentile.

And so Timothy took a step to show that he was committed to understanding the Jewish culture and their belief systems.

But ultimately, Timothy was a man of faith.

And so he goes out with Paul and he becomes Paul's partner.

He preaches the Gospel.

And eventually Timothy goes and becomes somebody of a.

A pastor.

And he pastors many churches, which we're going to see later on.

So That's Acts, chapter 16.

Let's go back to second Timothy, chapter one.

And let's look at this authentic faith, this sincere faith that all of us should be having.

And by the way, that word, sincere, that word, authentic, that word, what we see in the King James unfeigned faith, it literally means without hypocrisy, without a mask.

And so the type of faith that Lois and Eunice had was a faith that was sincere.

And I want to talk about that sincere faith here right now, because we live in a world that's very superficial.

Actually, the title of this sermon this morning is Sincere Faith in a Superficial World.

We live in a world that is shallow.

We live in a world that is all about the material thing that we see right in front of us right now.

What can we get in this moment?

What can I feel in this moment?

And there's no depth.

We.

We see a lot of things happening in this world.

And we're.

We're really wide, we're miles wide, but we're only an inch deep.

And what we see here is that Timothy sees his grandmother and his mother not just being a Christian who walks the walk, but what we see here is that they walk the walk, they talk the talk, and they teach Timothy what it means to have a true faith.

A true faith.

It's.

It's something that's sincere.

And we also see in verse number five that it's something that's shared.

So they have a sincere faith, an authentic faith, but it's Something that they not only live privately, but they live publicly.

They.

They live it in front of Timothy.

Timothy sees his grandmother, Timothy sees his mother, and he sees that they're real about what they say, they're real about what they do.

They don't just come to church and go home and act a completely different way when they come home.

They don't talk a certain way in front of Christians, but then when they get other places, they talk another way.

The Bible says that we're called to have authentic faith.

We're called to be transparent before the Lord, transparent before others, and say, this is who I am.

God is what I need, and I must live and walk in this way.

Too many times we're trying to live in such a way in which we are perceived by others to be a certain way, but really in our hearts, we know we're something different.

And the Bible says that we're to live authentically, we're to live in such a way that we not only believe in an outward way, but we also believe in an inward way.

There's some other passages of Scripture that do talk about that.

And we're going to go into a lot of passages here this morning that discuss this type of authentic faith, this type of sincere faith.

And we're called to have sincere faith in this superficial world.

So the next passage of Scripture that I'd like us to go to is Psalm chapter 51.

Psalm chapter 51, verse number 6.

This speaks a little bit more to this idea that God already knows our hearts.

So therefore, we should live in a way that in our hearts we're believing, in our hearts we're trusting.

And we know that even if nobody sees what we're doing, this is the type of character that we're supposed to have.

Because the type of faith that we have is not just about showing other people who we are, but it's about really showing God what we believe in the heart of hearts.

And so In Psalm chapter 51, we see.

In verse 6, we see that God already wants.

God already knows our heart, but God wants our heart.

He wants our most inward passions, our most inward desires.

Psalm chapter 51, verse 6 says, behold, thou desires truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

So, so God wants our heart.

God wants sincerity.

God wants authentic faith.

And.

And I thought about that word, sincere.

I thought about that word.

What we see in the King James here, unfeigned faith.

And actually in the Greek, that word is used in multiple occasions in the New Testament.

And when it's used in the New Testament, specifically, it's used in the area of loving other people and loving the Lord without hypocrisy.

Literally, it means without a mask.

And so what we see is that the Bible says that there's a way that we can love, there's a way that we can believe, there's a way.

There's a way that we can serve, there's a way that we can teach with a mask on.

And I'm not talking about the mask that we wore, you know, back five, six years ago.

I'm talking about a mask like an actor would wear on the stage at this time, and the actor would come out and the actor would put a mask on, and he or she would be a different person.

Right?

They would be a.

An individual.

Let's say his name is John, but he would wear a mask.

And maybe now he's Bob, and he's acting completely different than he did before, right?

He.

He's wearing a mask.

He's being a different person.

And so when the Bible says to have this type of unfeigned, sincere faith, it's talking about being real to who we are, having a true faith.

What we are being shown in the Word is this, that we're supposed to love, serve, worship, live with this type of authenticity.

And so this word is used in a couple of different occasions, one being in a passage in First Peter one, Peter, Chapter two.

We're told here in First Peter, chapter two, if you want to see this, that we are to live or.

Excuse me, First Peter, chapter one, verse 22.

First Peter, chapter one, verse twenty two, tells us that we're supposed to love with this type of unfeigned love without hypocrisy.

The Bible says that when we're saved, we're changed.

So when Lois and Eunice were saved, they were changed.

And the way that they lived was such an authentic way that their son Timothy saw this type of change.

And that type of change was compelling for him, and he trusted in the Lord.

So first Peter, chapter one, verse 22, it says, seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.

So part of having unfeigned faith, part of having authentic faith is having an authentic love for the brethren, for other Christians, you can't save.

First John tells us this.

You.

You can't say that you love God, but then hate your brother, hate your brother in Christ, hate your sister in Christ.

So one way to demonstrate unfeigned faith in front of the next generation.

Because, by the way, remember, this was sincere faith that was shared.

So how can I share my faith with other people?

How can I share my faith with my children?

How can I share my faith with my grandchildren?

How can I share my faith with other.

Other people who need to see this type of sincere faith?

Well, the Bible says one way that we do that is to love authentically other Christians, particularly In this case, First Peter, chapter one, verse 22 says that we love with this type of love of the brethren, seeing that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently.

So the way that Timothy was able to see this type of unfeigned faith, this type of authentic faith, was that, no doubt Lois and Eunice were able to live authentically and love authentically to other Christians around him.

They loved him, but they loved others.

One of the things that I struggle with is to tell my children something and then stay consistent in that.

Some of you know that struggle.

You know, you tell your kids, hey, you shouldn't be doing that.

And then, you know, if you tell your kids something, some of you maybe don't have this problem.

I have this problem, they'll call me out on my consistency.

Well, dad, didn't you say that we weren't supposed to.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, you caught me.

You got me.

The reality is, is that sometimes in our life, what we do, we don't necessarily mean to do this, but our inconsistency in what we believe and what we say and what we do causes other people to see an inconsistency.

Therefore, it doesn't look authentic.

And why does anyone want anything that's inauthentic?

Why does someone want a faith that's empty?

That's.

That's hypocritical.

Now, all of us, to some degree, to some level, are hypocritical because we say certain things that we can't keep our word in every case, but our heart should be to display this type of love to other Christians so that our children, so that our grandchildren, so that other people around us can see authentic faith in action.

Another passage of scripture that speaks of this type of authentic love is in Romans chapter 12.

We're going to get there in our study in the Book of Romans.

But the Bible speaks in Romans chapter 12 about how we're supposed to live out what we believe.

And part of living out what we believe is by how we treat other Christians.

And So Romans chapter 12 tells us that we're tight, we're to love, as it says here, to love without.

If you have the King James there, it says, love, let love be without dissimulation.

Now, we don't use the word dissimulation often, but it's a old term that basically means hypocrisy.

So let love be without hypocrisy.

Another reminder for us as Christians that if we're going to show love, which the assumption is we're going to show love, that's, that's one of the calls of being a Christian, is to show love for other people.

What does it mean to love someone?

It means the sacrifice for them.

The type of agape love that we're called to have for people is not a selfish love.

It's a selfless love.

Selfish love is this.

Selfish love is what the world teaches.

Remember sincere faith in a superficial world.

What does a superficial world teach?

Well, love is loving somebody who will love you.

Love is loving someone who will do good for you, make you feel good, give something back to you.

It's a, it's a transactional type of love that our world teaches today.

But biblical love in many cases is talking about this agape love that's sacrificial.

I'm going to love with the risk of not being loved back.

Isn't that the type of love that God displayed for us?

When Jesus went to the cross, There was the understanding and the knowledge that there would be many who would not believe.

But yet the understanding from the Lord was this.

I'm still going to show the love.

I'm still going to demonstrate the love.

When a parent, specifically in this context, on Mother's Day, when a mom is raising her child, true love is this.

I don't care what they say, I'm still going to love them.

You know, a, a, a selfish mother would say, well, if a child talks back to me, I'm not loving them anymore.

That's not the type of motherly love that the Bible calls us to have.

The Bible calls us to have the type of love that says, no matter what that person does, I'm still going to love them.

I'm still going to sacrifice for them.

I'm still going to put my life in the way for them.

And that's what the type of love that God's calling us to have.

And that's the type of love that shows us in, in many ways the authenticity of what we believe.

If we truly believe what we say.

We believe that unfeigned faith will be producing unfeigned, unhypocritical love.

And so it says in Romans 12, 9, love, let love be without dissimulation, Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.

And so the reminder for us as we want to demonstrate sincere faith and share sincere faith would be this.

It would be to love authentically, to love consistently, to love differently.

We want our children, our grandchildren, the next generation that's being raised in the church, to see people that are different.

Wow.

That didn't make a lot of sense that dad or mom would do that for somebody else.

That, that didn't make a lot of sense that dad or mom would give someone that thing or to do that for them.

What did they do for you?

Well, they did nothing for us, but God tells us to love them.

That's what Lois and Eunice were doing.

They were demonstrating an authentic faith.

So there, there was a sincere faith, there was a shared faith with the love.

But the Bible also talks about the wisdom of God that can come through unfeigned faith.

Go with me to the book of James.

James chapter 3, verse 17.

The Bible tells us that God can give us through unfeigned faith.

What we would say is unfeigned wisdom or, or true wisdom.

Now there's superficial wisdom that comes from this world, right?

We know that if you go to someone, or if you go to the Internet, or if you go to someone who has no belief in the Lord or belief in His Word, there would be some level of wisdom that's given.

But that's man made wisdom.

That's wisdom that's going to be lacking that superficial wisdom.

Maybe it's this, hey, should I do this?

Should I sacrifice here?

And someone says, no, what's that benefiting you?

How's that going to benefit you?

How that's, how's that going to help you?

How's that going to bless you?

That's worldly wisdom.

Worldly wisdom is, don't do it unless it helps you out.

Don't do it unless it amplifies you, lifts you up.

But godly wisdom is different.

So James chapter 3, verse 17 says, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

The Bible says that unfeigned faith brings about unfeigned wisdom from God, imparted to others.

Because remember our three words today, it's going to be sincere, shared, and then we're going to get to another one at the Very end.

But we have sincere and shared.

So for me, to have sincere faith is to pass on something by sharing it.

So if God is giving me wisdom that's unhypocritical, I'm to pass along that wisdom that's unhypocritical.

So it says there at the end of that verse 17, it says, and to have that wisdom, that is what?

Well, pure, first of all, God's wisdom.

That's in the case here.

With authentic faith, God's wisdom is always pure.

God's wisdom is always peaceable.

It's gentle, it's easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits.

It's always going to be aligned with the Word.

It's without partiality, meaning it's not a respecter of persons.

It's not going to look at someone and say, well, this wisdom's for you and you're because you're better.

And this wisdom over here, we're not going to give it to you.

No.

The Bible says that God sheds his wisdom upon all that ask in faith.

And then it says there at the end of verse 17, without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Meaning the idea is that there will always be peace along with this type of wisdom that God brings.

It doesn't mean that there's going to be peaceful circumstances.

It's just going to mean that there's going to be peace in the midst of the difficult circumstances.

And so with authentic faith comes authentic love, comes authentic wisdom.

Authentic wisdom does not come from me.

Authentic wisdom comes from God.

So part of Lois and Eunice's relationship with Timothy no doubt was giving him wisdom, giving him godly wisdom.

That godly wisdom came from a source.

And we see in James chapter three that source comes from God.

When we want to display our unfeigned, unhypocritical faith to others, and people come to us and ask us questions.

It should always go through the lens of the gospel.

It should always go through the lens of truth.

It should always go through the lens of what I believe about God, not what I believe about myself.

There's times in my life where it's a lot more convenient, it's a lot more peaceable in my mind to choose my path.

But the Bible says that choosing the path of the Lord is a difficult path.

Sometimes.

Sometimes it's not going to bring me pleasure.

But what the Bible says is that if we want to share our authentic faith that God has given us, and we want to share that with others, we must sacrifice.

We must go to the Lord.

We must put him first.

There's a whole passage of Scripture and we're going to go there, here in a few moments that talks about how God can search our hearts.

We know that he's searching our hearts, but oftentimes we put up a barrier.

Oftentimes we think that we have some type of hidden knowledge that nobody in the world knows about.

And again, that's the type of wisdom that the world gives.

In a superficial world, the world says if nobody knows about it, it's okay.

If, if nobody is affected by this, it's okay.

I don't know if you've ever heard that teaching.

Well, maybe you've heard it this way.

It's not hurting anybody.

Truth is, is that a lot of times if what I'm doing, even though I don't think it's hurting anybody, it's hurting somebody.

Because if I'm living inauthentically, it affects those that I'm ministering to.

So for Lois and Eunice, if they were inauthentic in what they were doing, if they were being guarded with the truth of God in their lives, Timothy would have not been able to see their open heart.

And so we see a guy named David in Psalm chapter 139.

And by the way, what David is talking about here is something that all of us need to be challenged with.

It's this idea that God already knows.

Did you know that no matter what you try to hide from God, he already knows it?

I mean, I, I think that sometimes in our life it's like my kids trying to hide something from me.

It's like when I tried to hide something from my parents.

My parents knew me so well that they knew what I was hiding.

They knew my heart even though they couldn't see it visibly.

They knew me so well that they understood me.

Think about God in such a more infinite scale knows every thought that I've ever had.

He knows every action that I've ever done.

And so the Bible tells us that if God already knows it, how should we be living in our life?

How should we be facing Him?

And the Bible says in Psalm 139, David is talking here at David is attributing God's all knowing nature.

And I think all of us have to come to this point in, in our lives when we want to live authentically.

If we want to be a Lois in unice to a Timothy, we have to live Psalm139 out.

We have to do this on a regular basis.

Verse 1 says, oh Lord, thou has searched me and known me.

It's a recognition that God already knows my heart.

Whether you are walking in faith, whether you're walking in doubt, whether you're walking in sin, whether you're walking in obed obedience, whatever way you are walking, God already knows.

David recognizes that God already knows my heart.

My children might not know my heart, my spouse might not know my heart, my pastor might not know my heart, but God knows my heart.

Verse 2, Thou knowest my down setting and mine uprising.

Thou understandest my thought afar off.

So God not only knows my heart, but he knows my thoughts and my actions.

Now this isn't a message to make you feel super convicted, but maybe the word of God will bring you some conviction.

God knows everything.

You can't hide it from him.

He, you can't hide your thoughts, you can't hide your actions.

And so David says, okay.

With that being in mind, he says, thou compass my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word in my tongue but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together.

Thou has beset me behind and before and laid thy hand upon me.

So he says, you've guided me.

You know me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

It is high.

I cannot attain it.

What is he saying here?

He says this.

When I stand before the Lord, when I understand his grandeur and when I understand my limitations, it brings me to a place of humility, and it brings me to a place of authenticity.

You know, when I am trying to make people think a certain thing about me, I have pride, right?

It's pride that I want someone to think that I'm better than I am.

And what David is saying is, God, you already know so much.

You're so big, I'm so little.

And it brings them to a place of humility.

So always, always attached to transparency and authenticity is humility.

So he comes to a place of humility.

Here he says in verse seven, whither shall I go from my spirit?

Or whether shall I flee from thy presence?

He says, I can't run from you.

I can't hide from you.

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there.

If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

He's basically just teaching this.

I can't run from you.

No matter where I go.

I can try to go to the place that no one can reach, and you're still there.

He goes on to say in verse nine, if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea.

Even there shall thy hand lead me.

Thy right hand shall hold me.

He says, I can't hide from you.

You're holding me no matter where I go.

Verse 11 if I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light unto me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day.

The darkness and the light are both a light to thee.

Meaning I can't hide.

There's so much darkness in this world, but God's light is so much brighter than all the darkness.

Verse 13 for thou has possessed my reigns, Thou has covered me in my mother's womb.

He says, from the very beginning you knew me.

Wasn't after I was born.

It wasn't after that I started loving you and serving you.

You knew me from the very beginning.

Verse 14 this is the response.

So there's two responses to knowing that God sees everything really one response to the person who's walking in disobedience and sin is this.

Oh man, that makes me scared.

God sees everything.

When I was a teenager and a pastor got up and preached that sermon and I wasn't walking with the Lord, that sermon brought me to a great place of anxiety.

God knows everything.

Oh man, God saw me doing that.

God heard me thinking this, oh man, that's not a good thing.

Because when I'm walking in obedience, that type of oversight stresses me out because I'm hiding from that.

I don't want to face that.

But a person who's walking in the goodness of God, the person who's walking in fellowship with him, it should bring another response.

So the fact is, is that if I'm walking with the Lord, I have nothing to hide and I'm authentically before him.

Then that brings me comfort and joy knowing that God sees everything because he's there with me through the struggles, he's there with me through the trials.

He's there with me through all the times in my life in which I can't do something.

And so we see verse 14 David's response.

He says, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are thy works, and that thy soul knoweth right well.

Meaning this is a good thing that you know.

Everything about me goes on to say this.

Verse 15 he says, My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth, Thine eyes did see my substance.

Yet being unperfect and in Thy book, all my members were written, which is in continuance, were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, oh God, how great is the sum of them.

Meaning God only wants what's best for us.

God doesn't want anything harmful to come to us.

God wants us to come to repentance.

God wants us to walk in fellowship with him.

God wants us to have all the blessings of this world and all the blessings of eternity.

Verse 18.

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.

When I awake, I am still with thee.

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, oh God.

Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly.

And thine enemy take thy name in vain.

Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee and am not.

I grieved with those that rise up against thee.

I hate them with a perfect hatred.

I count them mine enemies.

So what David's saying here is this.

He's saying, everyone that's against you, I'm against them.

I. I don't want to be on their side.

I don't want to ever be associated with anything against you, Lord, I want to be on your side.

That's that type of consistency that we were talking about.

He wants to.

He's asking the Lord to give him strength to be consistent.

Folks, there's a lot of people in this world that have caused a lot of people to stumble because a lack of consistency with, with beliefs, preferences, values, convictions.

For example, if I say, hey, we're not doing this, and we're the most holy people because we're not doing this.

But over here, that's my pet sin.

We can keep doing that, okay?

If we can't see through that inauthenticity, children can.

Children are going to understand growing up that, well, dad said one thing but did another thing, or he was really strong on this area, but over here, he didn't care about this.

Folks, we need to be consistent with our preferences, consistent with our convictions.

Folks, we can't make our convictions farther than we can even keep those convictions.

Sometimes that's what we do.

Sometimes we make our convictions or our preferences so far in advance that we can't even keep up with it.

Folks, no one can be perfect.

We have to understand that.

So if we're trying to set up an environment where everyone to be perfect, none of us are going to reach that environment.

We got to strive to be like the Lord, but ultimately understand that we are going to fall short and there's grace there that when we fall short, it doesn't mean that we're hypocritical.

It just means that when we fall short, we recognize where we fall short and understand that it's only God who can give us forgiveness and strength and not celebrate the fall, but celebrate the restoration.

And so what we can see here is he says, I don't want to be inconsistent.

I don't want to be with them.

And then verse 23 and 24 really should be the challenge for us, as Lois and Eunice were authentic in their faith.

So we should ask God to give us this type of authenticity.

David says, search me, oh God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

What is David asking?

David saying, lord, search me.

Now, the Lord has already searched us.

The Lord already knows our heart.

But what David is doing is he's opening himself up and he's saying, lord, search me.

Then reveal to me where I'm wrong and allow me to be consistent in my faith.

He says, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Point out to me, Lord.

Make it clear for me where I'm wrong and where I can get that right.

To be an authentic Christian means to recognize where we've gone astray, allow the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts and don't allow that Holy Spirit conviction to cause us to be defeated, but to cause us to come to a place of comfort and to a place of repentance.

And so for all of us, we should be asking God to search our heart daily so that we can be consistent in what we believe and consistent in what we say and consistent and authentic with what God has allowed for us to have in our life as the blessings of salvation.

And speaking of salvation, I think a part of this is understanding what we should be focused on.

To be an authentic Christian means that we're gospel centric, not individual centric.

Think about it this way.

Everything that I do should be seen through the lens of the Gospel.

Everything that I do within my family, when, whether it be discipline, whether it be celebration, whether it be fun, whether it be just whatever rest, all of the things that I do within my life should be seen through the gospel lens.

You know, for, for example, you've heard the analogy of seeing things through rose colored glasses.

You know, you put on red glasses, everything you're going to see is.

Is going to have a red tint to it, right?

Everything that we see in our life should have a gospel tint to it to understand the gospel implications of the decisions that we're making.

You know, I'll just speak to you in a way that is transparent and authentic here this morning.

One of the things that I struggle with as a parent, and I'm still in that struggle, Some of you might be still in the struggle.

Some of you might say that was a long time ago.

Some of you might say I mastered this.

But whatever.

When I'm disciplining my children or when I'm.

I'm trying to teach them to do right, many times my flesh is.

I want my children to obey me because it's embarrassing to me when they're not acting right.

It's a, it's an, it's an affront to me and it's a selfish way in which I'm going about it instead of saying, I want to discipline these children in the proper way so that they can understand their relationship with God.

Yes, I am set up as authority to my children, but I am not the ultimate end all be all to their authority and their worship.

And so it's pointing them to Christ.

Lois and Eunice pointed Timothy to Christ.

They pointed Timothy to a relationship with him, not just following them.

And so the point that I'm trying to make here is that anything that we do, even if it's under the realm of being a good thing, if it's self focused, it's the wrong focus, it's the wrong motivation, it always must be a gospel motivation to what we're doing in our lives by our teaching, by our.

By our discipline, by our love, by our sacrifice, by our giving, by anything that we do.

It must be through the lens of this is what Jesus did for me, and now this is what I'm doing for him because he gave me so much.

It's sincere words and actions.

It's humility.

First Timothy, chapter one, verse five.

So we are in second Timothy, chapter one, verse five dot and it's interesting that in first Timothy, chapter one, verse five, it talks about this very thing, about having this type of love, this type of faith, this type of conscience.

And I think all of us to some degree understand that there's a bigger picture, that there is a bigger battle than what we think we're fighting sometimes in this superficial world.

And in First Timothy chapter one, he's talking about being distracted.

And, and so in, in verse number three, he says, as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou minus charged some that they teach no other doctrine, meaning there were people that were teaching the wrong teachings there.

And verse four, he says, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith.

So he says people are teaching things that are a distraction.

People are teaching things that don't matter.

He says it's these genealogies, these fables, these things that have no standing in the Gospel.

He says those are distractions.

Those are things that are pulling the attention away from what needs to be taught.

And so for us in this world, remember sincere faith in a superficial world.

We're living in a superficial world that has so many distractions.

Our children that you see running around the church have so many distractions.

There's so many different voices that are trying to pull them away from the truth.

The adults that you see in the room with you today have so many distractions, so many things that are trying to pull us away from the truth.

It's hard to live as an authentic Christian when there's so much superficial nature around us.

There's so many lies that are around us, and in a world of lies, the truth seems crazy.

And so for us to live boldly, what do we do?

Well, it says in verse five now, the end of the commandment is charity or love.

That's that agape, love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned, same word without hypocrisy.

The Bible says here that what do we want to teach our children?

Well, not fables, not endless useless genealogies.

Even though if you're into genealogy, I'm not saying it's useless, but it's not the gospel.

What we're seeing here is that he says there's so many things that we can teach people within the church, within our communities, within our homes, within, within our world.

But he says what we have to focus on is what really matters, and that is to love out of a pure heart, to have a good conscience, to walk with authentic faith from which some, having swerved, have turned aside into vain jangling, meaning some people have turned away from the authenticity.

And so he's explaining here that we must be laser focused on what we're trying to do.

And that is to teach the next generation what it means to understand the truth of Jesus Christ, to have faith unfeigned.

And so we go back to second Timothy, chapter one, and we see verse number five, Paul's remembrance of Timothy, Paul's remembrance of Lois and Eunice, and we're going to conclude here with these thoughts this morning.

Second Timothy, chapter one, verse five, he says, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee.

So first of all, we see that it's a sincere faith which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice.

It's a shared faith.

Lois and Eunice share their faith with Timothy, and we know that Timothy shared his faith with other people.

Another passage of scripture that some of you might know, it's only probably a page away in your bibles.

It's a second Timothy 2.

2 Paul says, what you've heard of me, pass that on to other people so that they can pass it on to other people.

So, so Timothy ultimately was one who could share his faith with people.

So Lois and Eunice, they were able to impact one man that we know of, but that one man was able to impact hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions, because of the Scriptures.

Today, we know that their unfeigned faith through their life and through teaching, Timothy was able to impact so many more people.

So it was a sincere faith.

It was a shared faith.

And we see lastly here in verse five, he says, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded in the also, meaning it's a steadfast faith.

It wasn't shallow, it wasn't something that was just flash in the pan because we had a revival moment that we were there and we went to church for one year every single Sunday.

No, this was steadfast.

That was in the life of Eunice, the life of Lois, and the life of Timothy for a lifetime.

And what we can see is that if we pass on the truth of the gospel and people believe in the Gospel, it's something that's sincere, it's something that's shared, and it's also something that can be steadfast in the Lord.

And so here this morning, the challenge for all of us, not just mothers, even though mothers would be included, is are we going to be willing to be like Lois and Eunice, who not only had unfeigned faith, unhypocritical faith, authentic faith, but are we willing to say, you know what, that's something that I want to share with somebody else now, how do we share with somebody else?

We've talked about it already.

To have that unfeigned love, to love them in such a way that's sacrificial, to love them in such a way that's gospel centric.

Recently had an opportunity to talk to one of my children.

And they had acted up.

And at the end of the day, I said, okay, we're all going to go get some ice cream.

And the one child said, but dad, I'm.

I'm in trouble.

I said, yeah, but you know what?

I'm going to take all three of the kids and we're going to have ice cream.

He said, yeah, but I don't deserve it.

I said, well, now I just said.

He.

So you know which one it was.

He said, I don't deserve it.

Oh, it could have been Silas.

Okay, he could say this, but, but, but he said, I don't deserve it.

I said, you know what?

I know, but you know, I don't deserve God's love.

You know, there's times that I'm not saying all parents, you should give your kids everything in every situation situation, but there is a time and a place sometimes to teach that gospel centric grace that only could be found in the scriptures.

So.

Yeah, I know, but you know what?

I've forgiven you.

Everything's okay.

We're gonna go.

Even though you don't deserve it, I don't deserve it.

We don't deserve salvation.

We don't deserve God's love.

We're gonna do this anyway.

And in so doing, you know, there's probably a lot more learning with that.

But one of the things that we have to do within our Christian faith is to tell people lessons that we have learned, wisdom that we have learned from God so that we're able to show them that type of love is not something that's normal, that it is different.

Giving.

I'm not naturally someone who has the gift of giving.

I want to keep everything that I have.

My flesh is like, it's mine.

No one can touch it.

Okay.

And that part is probably because I'm an only child, too.

It probably plays a lot into that.

The reality is, though, is that the way that we give, the way that we share is different.

Therefore, someone sees that.

I remember times in my life when my dad, we would be doing something and my dad would not take part of something with somebody else.

He wouldn't talk a certain way, he wouldn't do a certain thing.

And I was like, dad, why did you not do that?

Why did you not say that?

He says, because as Christians, we don't do that, son.

So, dad.

But people made fun of you for that.

He said, that's okay.

I don't care.

And that meant.

That meant a lot to me because I knew that my dad was real about what he said.

He said Things in public, at church, but then behind the scenes in real life, I knew that he was real about that too.

And that spoke volumes to me.

And if we want what we're teaching to resonate with people, if we want our children to see that this is real, if we want the world to see that this is real, the Bible says that we're to love authentically, we're to serve authentically, we're to sacrifice authentically, not out of ulterior motives, not out of a selfish heart.

We're to say, you know what?

If it means that I miss out on something, fine, because I've got a bigger plan, I've got a bigger purpose.

And so Lois and Eunice were sincere, shared it, and there was a steadfast nature to that type of faith.

Are we thinking, are we praying for opportunities for us to teach gospel centric lessons to those that are around us?

It doesn't need to be a little child.

It could be adult children.

It could be our friends, it could be our family, it could be co workers.

Are we looking for opportunities to display authentic love?

If we are, guess what?

When those opportunities come, we've got to take those opportunities.

And as Paul says, to take that door of utterance, to take that opportunity to live out the gospel before them so that it can be real to them.

I want my children not to see the dad's a pastor, that the church is a fun place.

Even though I want church to be fun, I want them to see that the greatest thing that they could ever experience and believe in is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Lead them to Jesus.

Lois and Eunice were not leading Timothy to themselves.

Paul wasn't leading Timothy to himself.

It was all about leading him to Jesus.

You know, there's a big epidemic in this world, and there's a lot of epidemics, but one of the epidemics is people leaving the church, children that grow up within the church and then leave.

And we go, well, that's a lost cause.

Sometimes they come back, praise God for those moments.

But we don't want them to leave.

How do we keep them?

Well, I don't have all the answers.

If I did, I'd write a book about it and maybe sell a few books.

But the reality is, is I. I believe one of the core principles to retaining people within the church is living an authentic Christianity before them.

We don't have to have the best ministries, we don't have the most entertainment.

We don't have to have anything like that.

What we need to do is show people that There's a real relationship with Jesus Christ that can change our life.

That.

That can transform a person who has a sin nature into someone who loves the things that God loves to love differently, to love someone who looks different, to love someone who is from a different culture, from a different background, from a different age.

Now, I'm not saying love, by the way, I. I hope that you understand this.

I'm not saying that love is an acceptance of a person's lifestyle, because I'm not saying that.

Because love, love that way would not be true love.

If I love somebody and I saw that they were doing wrong or I saw that they were doing something that would harden them, and I didn't say something that would not be love, that would be selfish because I say, you know what?

I don't want them to get upset with me.

So love, authentic love in scripture does not mean a condoning or an acceptance of sin.

What it means is that I love them enough to do what's best for them.

And that's what God's love is for us.

He doesn't always give us the things that we want because the things that we want might be harmful to us.

God gives us the things that we need because he knows better than us what we need for our lives.

And so for Timothy, he was able to see a mother and a grandmother who were authentic with unfeigned faith, depth.

True, true sacrifice for a mom.

What are some good characteristics of a mom?

Loving, sacrificial, selfless.

It's the same thing for a Christian.

All Christians.

Let me give you a hint.

All Christians should be sacrificial, selfless, loving.

Why?

Because that's what a good mom does.

No, that's who God is.

God's the greatest example.

We want be better mothers.

Okay, I can't speak for this because I'm not a mother, but the Bible teaches this.

To be a better mother.

What love Christ, grow in him.

To be a better mother means to be more like Christ.

To be a better father means to be more like Christ.

To be a better child means to be more like Christ.

To be a better anything means to be more like Christ.

And so what I would encourage you to do here today is not just say, well, am I being authentic?

Am I being hypocritical?

I don't know.

I. I sometimes think about sins.

Does that mean that I'm bad?

No, folks, all of us deal with that.

It's not a matter of saying I'm perfect in what I think about and what I do, what it Means here is, is that I'm real.

When I make a mistake.

What did David do?

Search me, oh, God, know my heart, try me and know my thoughts.

See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

The challenge is this, to live as authentically as we can.

But when we make a mistake, be authentic and transparent and sincere and go to the Lord and ask him for forgiveness.

And if we do harm somebody else in the process, if we do sin against somebody else in that process, to ask them for forgiveness and come to them with authenticity.

Do you know I've had to ask my children for their grace.

Guys, I'm sorry.

Dad made a mistake.

Shouldn't have said it that way.

I was frustrated, but there's no excuse.

That's the same thing for us as Christians when we make a mistake, to have that humility, to say, lord, I need your help to do what's right in my life.

It's not about being a good person.

It's about being more and more aligned with the Lord and being authentically before Him.

Folks, if I got up here today and said, I've got it all figured out.

Be perfect like me and we'll all go home and be happy, that would be inauthentic because I am not perfect.

I'm still learning.

I'm still growing.

I think all of us can say the same thing.

So what does that mean within our church society, within our church culture, within our church community?

It means this.

All of us are part of this.

Whether you have a child within the church, a grandchild within the church, or you just have a little kid running around that you see, all of us are part of that process to live unfeigned, unhypocritical, authentic Christian lives before others and before the Lord.

And so I want us to think about that here this morning.

In what ways can I be more steadfast in my faith?

What ways can I share my faith with others around me?

In which ways can I be more sincere with what I believe?

I made a statement before, and I think it is important to note again because I want there to be some clarity when I talked about convictions before.

Convictions are one thing.

Convictions are what we stand in Scripture.

And we should never compromise in our convictions.

Never compromise our convictions.

So one conviction that I have is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, that he rose again on the third day, and that he offers grace and forgiveness for all of us for salvation.

That is a conviction.

I can take you to a scripture and I can point you to that.

Never compromise your convictions for the sake of being authentic.

Okay, well, I want to, I've heard people say this.

I want to reach people.

So I'm going to compromise my convictions so that I can reach people.

No, Paul never teaches that.

Jesus never teaches that.

He tells us to stand fast in the truth.

But there's other things in our life that are more what we would consider to be in the, in the fringe where we can have our preferences.

Preferences are not something that I die for, but preferences are something that I prefer.

Right?

Preference.

I prefer a certain way to live out this principle in my life.

Folks, in some ways, those preferences are going to be different amongst the church family.

There's going to be different ways in which we can enact certain things within our preferences.

Within that being said, we can have grace, we can have patience.

We can show people that, hey, you know what?

Just because you prefer this and I prefer this, neither one of us are sinning.

We can live in unity and we can live in fellowship as long as we're not compromising the values of the Scriptures.

So therefore, that's how we can live authentically.

So for example, if I, if I have a, two Christians that are sitting here and one Christian over here looks at this Christian and says, well, I can't believe that, you know, you, you eat, you eat meat, sacrifice to idols.

I'm going to use an analogy from Scripture, okay?

So I don't confront too many people here today.

And this person looks at here and says, well, I, I, I mean, sacrifice to idols.

And you know what?

I don't, it doesn't convict me.

Well, Paul talks all about that in Romans chapter 14, okay?

Paul says one is okay because they aren't convicted by the other is not okay, okay, because they are convicted.

So they shouldn't go do that.

There's times in our life where we're going to talk about this.

In Romans 14.

There's times in our life where we have to enact some level of grace to other Christians.

Because what if I said in, within the church, okay, every little kid coming up has to dress just like Pastor Josh every single day.

They all have to have, you know, my same hairstyle.

They all have to, they all have to talk like me.

Every, that was, that's what it means to be a good Christian.

You have to be just like Pastor Josh and his family.

The problem is, is our church would be very narrow because there'll be a lot of people that are like, I can't be that way.

That's not a good standard to have.

So.

So what we would say is this.

There's going to be people within the church that are different than us.

Maybe they look different, may, maybe.

Maybe they're from a different culture.

Maybe, maybe they live in a different area.

You know, maybe they live all the way over in Maryland, across the line.

Okay?

The idea would be this, that we can look at one another and show that, hey, they're following Jesus.

And there's that type of authenticity that's going to rise up within the church.

A next generation that says, hey, this is something that can be sustained.

This is something that crosses cultures.

This is something that crosses decades.

This is something that crosses different socioeconomic classes.

And that's when we can see a church that stands, a church that's steadfast, a church that's faithful, a church that's authentically serving the Lord no matter what might be the case.

So what I would say is this here this morning, all of us are called to share our faith.

All of us are called to be sincere in our faith, and all of us are called to be steadfast in our faith.

Lois and Eunice and even Timothy were good examples of that.

And may we be the type of people that pass that on to the next generation.

Some of you have children within your home.

That's your number one place.

That's your number one discipleship field.

Some of you have grandchildren that might not live in your home.

Maybe they do, or maybe you get to see them a lot.

That's another mission field right there.

Start ministering to them.

Some of you might not have grandchildren or even great grandchildren.

Maybe you have nieces and nephews.

Maybe you don't have nieces and nephews, but maybe you have someone within the church that you're friends with.

All of us, all of us have opportunities to sow into the life of the next generation at whatever capacity that is.

What I would encourage you to do is think about ways in which you can do that with a gospel centric, humble, loving, God centered wisdom focus that all of us can see that faith shared to the next generation.

We don't want it to end with us.

We want to pass the torch.

So Lois and Eunice pass the torch to Timothy.

Timothy passed the torch to others.

And we know that that torch has been passed down throughout generation to generation.

And if the Lord tarries, we want to continue on with that as well.

Middletown Baptist Church has been around for almost 60 years, and I don't know what the future holds for this church, but I do know that if God tarries, I want it to be another 60 years at Middletown Baptist Church.

Is here faithful in this community.

And the way we do that.

I don't know if any of you are like, 60 years from now, I might not be here.

60 Years from now, I might not be here.

But maybe some of those little ones that are running around will be here.

And instead of looking at them as a distraction or looking at them as someone who doesn't get us or someone who doesn't understand us, what we have to say is, okay, maybe I don't understand them.

Maybe I don't understand their lingo.

Maybe I don't understand why they talk the way they talk or what they watch or.

But you know, what I can understand is that they need Jesus and they need to understand that Jesus changed my life and that he can change their life.

Some of you are going to work directly with children within children's ministries.

Some of you are like, I'm not called for that.

Pastor Josh, that's okay.

You're working at a capacity that's not direct, but it's still there.

Okay?

I, as a child that grew up in a church, I'm a people watcher, okay?

I always watched people.

And whether they were my teacher or not, I always wanted to see if they were in their place.

I always wanted to see if they were serving.

I always wanted to see what they were doing.

And folks, no matter if you're directly ministering to a young person or indirectly ministering to a young person, it's a large responsibility for all of us to pass that on.

So who's the next Timothy?

I don't know.

But the truth is, is that I know who can be the next Lois in Eunice.

It could be any of us who are going to be willing to.

To sacrifice and to share and be sincere in our faith and ultimately be steadfast and see steadfast disciples for Jesus Christ.

And so I'm going to ask if you're able to.

To stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed.

As the music plays here this morning, we're going to have an opportunity to respond today.

I'm thankful for godly mother.

I'm thankful for a godly.

Multiple godly women in my life that have impacted my life.

My grandmothers, my Sunday school teachers, my school teachers, other church members here at Middletown Baptist Church.

I'm so thankful that God blessed us with godly women in our lives.

I'm so thankful for Eunice's.

I'm so thankful for Lois's I'm so thankful for ones that were able to stand in the gap.

What we would say here this morning is that the job's not done.

Some of us still have children in the home, some of us still have grandchildren.

We're affecting, some of us still have young people running around us here at the church and we have an opportunity to be able to pass this on to somebody else.

And it's not just about the little ones.

Some of us have adult children.

Some of us have people in our lives that are needing that type of guidance and example of authentic, sincere faith, not perfect faith because none of us could reach that.

None of us can be perfect, but authentically living for the Lord to the best of our ability.

And when we fall short, admitting where we fall short and having grace and mercy for those that are learning and growing as well with us.

So here this morning, are you willing to take that call, man or woman, to be the one who passes on that unfeigned faith?

Now the reality is, is that none of us can fit force anyone to be saved.

None of us can make someone be a person who follows God.

But what we can do, what we can affect is my testimony to them and to make the gospel so compelling, so amazing, so life transforming to them that they are wanting that change, that they're wanting that difference.

Paul talks about compelling people to come to Christ.

There's nothing wrong with, with trying to bring people to Christ through showing them the amazing power of the Lord and the amazing power of his salvation.

So are we going to be the church that individually and corporately takes the call to say I want to live authentically, I want to share authentically and I want to ultimately pass that on to the next generation.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation working hearts and lives help us to be those who are praying that prayer of Search me, oh God, know my heart, try me and know my thoughts.

See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Lord, I pray that that's something that we can be today folks that are open to you, Lord, authentically, transparently living a life of grace and faith before others so that they may see your good works and glorify you in heaven.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation if there's someone here who does not know you as Savior, who does not know the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, rose again on the third day and offers grace to us.

Lord, if there's someone who needs to put their faith in that here today.

May today on Mother's Day 2026 be the day of salvation for that person.

But if there's anyone else here that maybe is saved, Lord, but needs to be challenged in that living transparently, sharing transparently, Lord, I pray that today can be the day of conviction, where the day can be the day of comfort, today can be the day of equipping, that today can be the day of promise to you, Lord, that we are going to commit ourselves to that in our lives.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

We ask all these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

As the music plays, the Lord spoken to you this morning, come forward here, kneel and ask the Lord to give you strength, whatever he might be calling you to do here today.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

You you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro, Middletown BaptistChurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.