1 Timothy 4:1-5

Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)



Eternity-Inspiration for Tuesday 3rd March 1998


1 Timothy 4:1-5

(1 Tim 4:1-5 NKJV) Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, {2} speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, {3} forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. {4} For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; {5} for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
"Giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.." that is a strong and strange phrase. How do you give heed to a spirit? By following dreams, visions and strange spiritual experiences, and by paying more attention to "angels" than to Christ. Colossians gives us a glimpse of how people are deceived (Colossians 2:18,19 NIV) "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow." People who wander away from the faith seek revelation outside of Jesus and while appearing more spiritual are in fact less spiritual. They are "puffed up" in their minds and disconnected from the life that is in Christ Jesus.

In Colossians and 1 Timothy the strange doctrines result in a wrong perception of the natural order. It is the doctrines about Creation, marriage and food that suffer first. Cults and sects often have strange diets or ask people to either abstain from sex or to over-indulge in it. Christ is not bizarre or unnatural. The natural order was created through Him and for Him so when we are in harmony with Jesus we should be in harmony with Creation which He declared good. This means that we should see our own bodies as good, marriage as good and all foods as good (personal tastes aside). So we see that to be "spiritual" is not to reject and be alienated from the natural order but rather to be thankful for it.

God created food to be received with thanksgiving and this act of thanksgiving sanctifies the food. "Giving thanks" seems to involve both the word of God and prayer. It is the same as our "saying grace". Jesus is recorded as "giving thanks" for food nine times in the New Testament, this is unusually often and prompts us to ask "why was it recorded so much". Food and drink were matters of dispute from the early days of the church. Romans 14 is devoted to the issue as well as big chunks of Acts, Galatians and 1 Corinthians. By recording Jesus' practice it showed that Jesus had a positive and grateful attitude towards foods as part of God's providential creation. Paul builds on this to say that in praying over the food Jesus sanctified it and thus gave it its original and proper created place - which was "good" (see Genesis 1). Since all animals and plants are from God and are good they can be eaten by the Christian provided they are received with thanksgiving and thus sanctified. A T-bone steak and coffee is no less spiritual than unleavened bread and water and I am far more likely to be truly thankful for the steak! We do not have to indulge in "false humility" and regulations about what we can eat or drink. We are free. (Col 2:20-23 NIV) Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: {21} "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? {22} These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. {23} Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Prayer:
Lord we thank You for the natural order and the wonderful goodness of all created things. We thank You for marriage, food, drink and our bodies. We thank You for life and joy and happiness and for our daily bread. Help us to walk in thankfulness and freedom and live in the truth. Keep us far from deception and lets us always be connected to the life that is in Christ Jesus that we may grow up into Him. In Jesus precious Name. Amen.

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John Edmiston ([email protected])
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