Date:   07/08/2010

Text:   1 Timothy 4:1-5

Title: Dog and Cat Theology

Theme: Since everything God created is good, we are to receive them with gratitude.

Introduction:

  Whenever we hear the word theology or doctrine, we may respond, “It's too difficult for me, I only want something practical.” I remember several years ago two guest speakers on two different occasions made a similar statement: the issue is not whether you like theology or not, for everyone has a theology, but the issue is, is it a good or bad (dog and cat) theology. Not only we have a theology, but our theology will also determine how we minister and live.

  There are plenty of bad theologies around us today. We hear preachers proclaim, “Be healed. Jesus died for your disease on the cross. When you have faith, your sickness will be healed” Or, “Jesus wants you to be successful in life. When you drive that pink Cadillac, or wear that fur coat, it is a sign of Jesus blessing you.” “The Christian God cannot be exclusive, if so, he will not be a loving God. This God must be all inclusive; therefore all religions will eventually lead to him. It doesn't matter what religion, as long as you have one.” or the one we heard last week, “If you would cry non-stop for 3 days, then you are saved.” Where do they come from?

  Again, bad theology/doctrine is not a 21 st century problem. The text we read is about Paul writing to Timothy, telling him about a specific bad doctrine and how to counter it. We want to first explore what was going on in that Ephesus church.

I •  We are to understand the nature of Asceticism.

The bad theology, the false doctrine in the Ephesus church was known as Asceticism. The teachers of Asceticism advocated that in order to be close to God, one had to avoid certain food and are not allowed to marry. Basically they attacked sex in marriage and food. Vs.1, “ Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,” Paul states that his denouncement of Asceticism is in line with the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself had made similar statements. Later times, in the Bible means the time period between Jesus first coming and his second coming. This says that between the two advents, there will be many false doctrines appearing inside and outside the church. Where do they come from?

1 •  Demonic origin.

The scripture is rather dogmatic in making the statement that false doctrines are teachings of demons, they are from the devil. This attack on food and marriage has its origin in the Devil. These are strong words. Few of us would want to use this to describe the false doctrines around us. We are afraid of offending others. However, when a doctrine that advocates in order to be close to God, one would have to refrain from certain food and forbid marriage, can only come from the Devil. Any doctrine that distorts the truth in the Bible is from the devil.

2 •  Human origin.

Vs.2, “ through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,..” This false doctrine originates from the evil spirit, the devil. Yet, there is also a human element in it. Devil uses human as means to deliver his message. Please note how the human source is described, insincerity of liars, or hypocritical liars. Again, Paul used very strong words in describing the the advocates of Asceticism. They are called hypocritical liars. Liars deliberately tell something that is not true. Hypocrites deliberately pretend. These false teachers know asceticism is not true, yet they pretend and taught it as truth. They did not believe in their own teachings. They are really the worst of worse.

Benjamin Jowett, a British scholar and theologian in the 19 th century, would say the apostle's creed this way. He would loudly say I believe, then whisper to himself, I used to, then in God the father. This is hypocrisy in its highest form.

There is also a further description of the false teachers: consciences are seared. This means that as they lie and being hypocritical, their consciences had become so callous that they could not feel anything. There was no sense of wrongdoing and shame. Can you imagine if one of us would every Sunday recite the Apostle's creed this way: I, used to, Believe in the Holy Spirit… The first few times, we may feel uncomfortable, but after a little while, it would mean little to us. The conscience has been seared.

The false teachers taught if we are to get close to God, human efforts are very important. One would have to refrain from certain food, and stay away from sex. Both food and sex are to be rejected. In the book of Colossians, Paul wrote that these are things that one cannot touch or eat. This is the essence of Asceticism.

Paul strongly rebuked such teaching. Why? Vs. 4,5, “ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” He had a twofold argument. First, how can anyone reject anything that God created? Everything, including the food is created by God and given to man as gifts and is to be received with thanksgiving. Marriage is instituted by God and given to men. Sex in the context of marriage is a gift from God. Second, how can anyone reject what God considered as good? At the creation, God saw what he created, and according to his most perfect standards, he said it is good. God in his own words claimed that the food is good and is to be received in thanksgiving.

  So, what does this mean to us today? Is there a present day application of a situation that happened over 2K years ago? I want to call our attention to three areas this morning: first, our relationship with God, secondly our attitude towards food and thirdly, our attitude towards sex.

II •  Believers are to understand grace is the basis of our relationship with God.

I think most of us could say that we don't have that asceticism taught among us. Our relationship with God is all by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We don't teach that one has to stay away from certain food or marriage in order to be close to God. We don't have those don't touch, don't eat rules among us. We can't by human merit gain access to God. If I have to do a survey on this, I expect 98% of us would agree to this. But really?

When we find ourselves in a severe trial, say, car totaled and have no money to replace it, or diagnosed with a severe sickness, such as cancer, or just lost a job, what are some of our reactions? Some of us may say, “I wonder what God wants me to learn from this so I can become more like Jesus.” More of us may say, “I must have sinned somewhere, sometime, and God is punishing me.” This the thinking of Job's friends. This really means, my relationship with God is based on my efforts, to be good, to do good. And when I fail in any of these areas, God is not happy with me, and this is why this is happening to me. When we feel like this, we are saying that our relationship with God is based on the don't touch, don't eat principle. This is wrong, this is bad theology, this is bad doctrine. Beliefs like this will keep us living in constant fear, for who can please God with our own efforts?

The gospel truth is that we are saved, reconciled with God by grace. It has nothing to do with any of our merits. Not only we are saved by grace, but we also live our day to day life by grace. The reason for our reading God's word, praying to him, being good and doing good, has nothing to do with getting close to God. Instead, we are already close to God, He is already living within us when we put our faith in Him. We pray, we read his word, we be good and do good, because we want to be obedient to him, to be more like him. This truth brings freedom, and not fear in life.

III •  Believers are to receive food with thanksgiving .

Since everything God created is good, so, what is our attitude towards food? Today, food can be a very sensitive subject. Most of us want to eat healthily. We stay away from things that are too greasy, too sweet or too salty. This is good and important. This is what we need to practice and teach our children.

However, isn't it also true that at times we may go the other extreme? Such as I will not eat any kind of meat; no dairy products, whatsoever. So, what is a believer's proper attitude towards food? The principle Paul used to rebuke the false teachers of the 1 st century still applies here. We are not to reject anything God created. And secondly, we are not to reject anything God claimed to be good. We are to receive with thanksgiving. Living in a broken world, we also realized that eating food prepared in certain way can be harmful to our health. Each person, each family will have to make certain decision what kind of food to eat and what to stay away. We are to avoid imposing our standards on to others. When individuals found out that I have diabetes, I always appreciate how they sharing with me their experience of eating this not eating that, and not telling me that this is the only way I should eat. It is important for us to remember, food cannot bring us closer to God. We are his children, very close to him already. Of course, when we keep eating certain unhealthy food, it can indeed bring us to God much earlier than it is planned. J

IV •  Believers are to receive sex in marriage with thanksgiving .

Now, we come to the matter of marriage. Or more specifically, sex in the context of marriage. As we have noticed earlier, the false teachers advocated that sex is bad and should be avoided. If one wants to be close to God, stay away from marriage, from sex.

Even though Paul clearly instructed the believers of the 1 st century to reject such teaching, yet somehow it prevailed in a different form. I will give you some examples. Some early church fathers, Tertullian and Ambrose believed that that the extinction of the human race was to be preferred to the sexual relationship within the marriage. Ambrose wrote that “Married people ought to blush at the state in which they are living.” Augustine argued that the sexual relationship was innocent, neutral in marriage, but the passion that accompanies it is always sinful. He frequently counseled married couples to abstain from sex. The church fathers were almost unanimous is praising virginity as superior to marriage. The dominant attitude of the Roman Catholic church throughout the Middle Ages was that sexual love itself was evil and did not cease to be so if its object were one's spouse. The Roman church kept adding days in which marital sex was prohibited until more than half the days in the year were excluded. This was the dominant view towards sex in the western world up till the 16 th century, when Reformation came along.

It was the Puritans that brought the church to see marital sex from a true biblical perspective. Our society keeps telling us that the puritans had a very repressive view on sex; that it is evil, it should be avoided. Nothing is further from the truth than this. it was the puritans that devalued celibacy, glorified marriage, affirmed married sex as both necessary and pure, established the ideal of wedded romantic love and exalted the role of the wife. Puritan literature is filled with stunning expressions of marital love.

Again, the principle behind this is that marriage is instituted by God at the beginning of human history. He called it good. Sex in the context of marriage is good and is to be received with thanksgiving. I have shared this with all the couple in the premarital counseling: sex is a gift from God. In marriage, there is the total freedom in your sexual relationship. We are to enjoy sex as a gift from God. Don't believe others when they say, “Oh, after a few years, sex is just another thing you do, no big deal.” Can you imagine saying this about food. Oh, eating is just one of the chores we go through in life. No, we find opportunities to enjoy new food. Food, eaten in moderate amount, can be enjoyed. The same is sex in marriage. It is to be received with thanksgiving and is to be enjoyed between husband and wife. If we take a look at Songs of Solomon, we'll begin to understand the high view God has on marital sex.

Conclusion:

 As children of God, we are to be constantly thankful that he has already abode in us, and we in Him. Nothing can change that reality. No amount of good work, merit, or lack of good work, human effort can change this. We are close to God because of our faith in Jesus Christ. You see, we practice certain spiritual disciplines, such as regular devotions, praying and reading the word, sometimes fasting and prolonged time of prayer, not because they will bring us closer to God, but because we want to know him better, to be more like him.

  It is in this close and secure relationships, we receive with thanksgiving all the gifts he has given us, including food and sex. This thanksgiving go beyond eating and sex to all of life.

  When I was in china this May, David Lin shared the following story with me. There was a teenager in his fellowship. Recently she gave this testimony, “my brother told me it is important to have a religion. So I started to look at different religions. Muslims do not eat pork, and I like pork, so its out for me. Then I looked at Buddhism and found out that it cannot eat any meat, so this too went out of the window. I came to Christianity and found out one can eat anything. I like this so I came to this fellowship group. You see, I came looking for a religion, instead I found life.”

  I also remember that it was in the 1970's, through the teaching of Francis Schaeffer, I learned of God creating the world and called it good. Therefore as believers, we are to enjoy God's creation with joy and thanksgiving. We can enjoy good food, sex in marriage, the beautiful nature, the creative productions of movies, art and music. They are God's gift to us. I want to close with the words of G.K. Chesterton, a well known British writer:

  You say grace before meals, All right. But I say grace before the play and the opera, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing; and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

  Our life is a gift from God, everything God has created is good and a gift to us. they are to be enjoyed. Now, this is good theology, good doctrine.