Overview
The aim of Christian leadership is love. First Timothy describes that love as coming from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith without hypocrisy. This teaching contrasts that clear goal with myths, pride, false teaching, condemnation, and shipwrecked believing. It calls leaders and believers to remain honest, strong in grace, and committed to loving people while working through real issues together.
Transcript
The Goal of the Charge Is Love
1 Timothy 1, our aim is love, that’s our aim, that’s what a leader’s aim is, that’s what you’re aiming at, that’s your goal, that’s my goal. In the first leadership epistle, Paul writes this in 1 Timothy 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, unto Timothy, that’s his protege, my own son in the faith, the faith is the household faith, the common faith of Jesus Christ we all share as brothers and sisters in the family of God. Grace mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord, as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, he said, stay in Ephesus, Timothy, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, in other words, charge them that they don’t teach anything other than the good news of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
There’s only two, the truth and everything else. Neither give heed to fables which are myths and endless genealogies where people magnify their pedigree, which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in the faith, so do. The faith is the household faith.
Now the end, now the end of the commandment, the end of this commandment, the end of this charge to Timothy, the end is the goal. In the Greek, it’s what you’re aiming at, it’s the goal, it’s the aim, the end of this charge as a leader is charity. And the word charity is love.
That’s what you’re aiming at. And if you and I aim at love, guess where we’re going to lead people. If you and I are aiming at love, where are you going to lead somebody else? Love.
It’s love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. That love is out of a good conscience. It’s out of a pure heart and a faith unfeigned.
This section here is so significant because from the words out of all the way to word unfeigned is what’s called a prepositional phrase. And it has three interesting and significant components because love comes out of a pure heart. Now the pure heart doesn’t mean you never make mistakes.
It doesn’t mean that you don’t do things wrong. The pure here means pure from everything that would change or corrupt the nature of the subject, which is combined with. In other words, there’s nothing added.
What this is talking about is having no filters on your heart. That’s what it’s talking about, not making mistakes. That’s not what it’s talking about.
Love From a Pure Heart
It’s talking about when you love, you don’t say, I love you if. I love you when. You got no filter on it.
I love you because of whatever. Some people love people because of what they look like. Some people love people for whatever reason, or they don’t love people because of what they look like.
There’s no filter on your love. It’s a pure heart. There’s nothing that would corrupt and change that love.
There’s no filter on it. In other words, the love of God is unconditional. It’s unconditional.
So you and I can’t put a condition on it. I’ll love you when you do what I tell you. I’ll love you if.
I’ll love you at a certain time. No. Love is to be done all the time.
The word is, you see that word is in front of charity? That’s a verb. And in the Greek, it’s a present tense indicative verb, which means it’s done continuously all the time in the present. That means you never turned it off.
So when are we supposed to love? All the time. You never turned it off. What’s your aim gonna be when you wake up tomorrow morning? Love.
What’s your aim gonna be in two weeks if the Lord carries? Love. To fulfill the commandment, to fulfill the charge as a leader, your aim is love. And it’s done in the moment all the time.
And it comes out of an unfiltered heart. It’s pure. It’s a pure heart.
It doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes. We all make mistakes. But you’ve got no disclaimer on your love.
A Good Conscience Before God
You don’t put a condition on it. It’s pure. Look at the next thing.
It says out of a pure heart and a good conscience. Boy, this is a great, great truth here. A good conscience.
You know what a good conscience is? The original meaning of the word good here was in the sense of having an advantage. And then it moved to mean morally perfect, like a standard that only God has. And the word conscience means the knowing with oneself.
The knowing with oneself. Like you know you’re aware of what you’re doing. You’re conscious of it.
A good conscience is like having the advantage of God’s moral compass. A good conscience is like having the advantage of God’s moral compass. So your love has no filters, no conditions.
You have a good conscience. You have the advantage of having God’s moral compass. You know right from wrong because God’s Word says so.
And we stop listening to what the world says is right. You stop listening to that stuff. If God says something’s right, it’s right.
If God says something’s wrong, it’s wrong. God’s moral compass, that is how that love is going to flow. Out of a pure heart, unfiltered, and then it has the advantage of God’s moral compass.
And then finally it says, and of faith unfaith. That faith is the faith of Jesus Christ and it’s unfaith. It means without hypocrisy.
What does that mean? That means that when we say that Jesus Christ was crucified for my sin, we say it, we don’t act as if he didn’t do it. That would be hypocrisy. When I say that I was buried with him in baptism, then I don’t act differently.
Faith Without Hypocrisy
If I say, and the Word says that I’ve been resurrected with him, I don’t act differently. If I say that I’ve been ascended with him, I don’t act differently. If I’m sitting at the right hand of the throne of God, I don’t act differently.
It’s faith unfaith, without hypocrisy. Why do we act as if we’re not at the right hand of the throne of God? Why do we act that way? Well, you just got to get to the point where you make up your mind. So our aim as a leader is love.
Out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith and fame. Look at Matthew 15, please. Matthew 15.
Matthew 15. Where do these filters come from? This all ties into mentoring, by the way. Matthew 15.
Here’s where sometimes the filters in our love come from. I love you if, I love you when. It comes from the commandments of men.
Matthew 15, verse 7. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain, or fruitlessly, they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of what? Men. That’s where some of the filters come from.
Commandments of men. And the love of God is unconditional. That doesn’t mean you’ve got to agree with what everybody does.
We’re clear on that. It just means that our love is unconditional. We love because that’s what God does, loves.
That’s what God does. Look at Titus, please. Titus.
Correcting Error Without Losing the Aim
If God hasn’t planted that truth in your heart, then don’t let it grow in your garden. Don’t water it. It probably ends up as a filter.
Titus. Sometimes the culture can affect. Look at Titus chapter 1, verse 12.
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars and beasts, slow bellies. Cretans were people from Crete, which is an island in the Mediterranean. And the word says that they were liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
Means they were lazy and gluttonous, and they were liars. Watch this. This witness is what? True.
If God says it’s true, guess what? It’s true. That means these people were liars, lazy, and gluttonous. I didn’t write it.
That’s what it says. Now being in that environment can affect you, where you start being affected by that. So that’s why he says, wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
In other words, don’t let the environment alter you. The faith of Jesus Christ is his accomplished work. Don’t let it become hypocritical.
When you say he was raised from the dead, we say we’re seated at his right hand, but we act differently. Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. There it is again.
More filters. Watch this. Unto the pure, all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, for even their mind and their conscience is defiled.
That means in their mind, they have not adopted the advantage of God’s moral compass. They have things in their head that are wrong. We’re going to run into that.
Holding Faith and a Good Conscience
Look at 1 Timothy 1, please. 1 Timothy 1, verse 19. It says, holding faith, we hold faith and a good conscience.
There it is. When you hold faith, which is the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, that’s going to give you a good conscience. You’re going to have the advantage of God’s moral compass, knowing right from wrong, which some having put away concerning the faith, here it is, had made shipwreck.
That means the vessel that they were using is dashed against the rocks. It’s shipwrecked. And because they are not holding the faith and a good conscience, which is the advantage of God’s moral compass.
Look at chapter 3, verse 9. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. That means part of the mystery is not just the body of Christ, it’s not just Christ in you, it’s the faith of Jesus Christ.
And we hold it in a pure conscience. What God says is right, is right. What God says is wrong, is wrong.
And finally, in chapter 4, look at this. Now the Spirit, verse 1. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. That’s where a lot of these filters come from.
Speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. They depart from the faith. They depart from the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, the work of another man.
They go to their own works. That’s not what a leader does. A leader aims for love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, the advantage of God’s moral compass, and faith unfeigned, without hypocrisy.
They depart from the faith. They depart from the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, the work of another man. They go to their own works.
This conscience seared with a hot iron will really hit you. What it means is to be branded in their own conscience, like a brand. Mmm, hot.
It means to cauterize. One rendering of this is in a sense of whose souls are branded with the marks of sin. Or another way of saying it, who carry about with them the perpetual consciousness of sin.
Love Through Honesty, Grace, and Faithful Teaching
Wow. When people depart from the work of Jesus Christ, they carry with them the perpetual consciousness of sin. Does this make sense? As leaders, when we mentor, we’re aiming for that love of God, and all those wonderful things will come to pass.
So I wanted to talk a little bit about aiming for that love, because my goodness, that’s very important to do. And quite honestly, we got to get rid of these filters, these disclaimers. I love you if, I love you when.
No, we love all the time. And work through the issues we have. If we have issues one with another, let’s work them through.
Let’s be honest, and let’s be strong in grace, and let’s look to teach others that will teach others also. So I think these are great days.
Key Takeaways
- Love is the intended goal of Christian leadership and sound teaching.
- Biblical love flows from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith without hypocrisy.
- Correction should protect people and truth without abandoning love.
- A violated conscience and rejected faith can lead to spiritual shipwreck.
- Honesty, grace, and faithful teaching help believers continue loving one another through challenges.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the aim of Christian leadership?
The aim is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith without hypocrisy.
Can correction still be loving?
Yes. Loving correction protects people and truth when it is given honestly, graciously, and without hypocrisy.
What helps believers avoid spiritual shipwreck?
Holding faith, maintaining a good conscience, staying strong in grace, and continuing in sound teaching help believers remain steady.
Scripture References
- 1 Timothy 1:1–20
- Matthew 15:7–20
- Titus 1:10–16
- 2 Timothy 2:1–2
Verification note: This page was prepared from a machine-generated transcript. Transcript wording, names, and Scripture quotations should be checked against the original audio and the intended Bible translation before publication.
