2 Timothy 2:20

But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition. If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

In God's great house there are vessels of honor and dishonor—and the gracious Master is an expert at transforming the one into the other.

Hearing One Side of the Conversation

It is the task of every Bible student—especially those who set out to preach or teach—to seek the authorial intent of the writer. What did Paul intend for Timothy, his reader, to understand? Reading through the New Testament letters is often like listening to one side of a phone conversation. You hear what the person in front of you says and see their expressions, but you only have part of the information. You must piece things together.

So as we read 2 Timothy, we piece together what Timothy was facing at the church he was overseeing. Having studied 1 Timothy last year and 2 Timothy this year, and having gone through the whole New Testament, we begin to see the fabric of his situation. Paul had visited the church at Ephesus in the early to mid-60s A.D.—a church he had planted and pastored, and knew very well. When he arrived, he found that this church, if not in chaos, had issues.

Every church has issues, because every church is made of people, and people have problems. There is no perfect church. If you came to Cross Connection thinking you had finally found a perfect church, it isn't—by the mere fact that you and I are here. We are all people in process, your pastors included. So it's important that we be gracious with one another. We probably need shirts with big orange signs that say, Under construction, expect delays.

Why Paul Left Timothy at Ephesus

Paul couldn't stay at Ephesus. His time was short and he was on his way to Philippi, the capital of Macedonia. So in hopes of dealing with the issues at Ephesus, he left Timothy behind. In his first letter, written just after he left, Paul says:

As I urged you, when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

This is important. The issues at Ephesus had to do most likely with bad teaching. And so often that is the case. When the lives of individual Christians—or gatherings of Christians called churches—do not line up with how God calls us to live, most of the time it's because they've neglected sound doctrine.

So both of Paul's letters to Timothy stress the importance of strong doctrine. But not merely understanding it—you can know doctrine and not practice it, and you still have a problem. "To him who knows what to do and doesn't do it," the Bible says, "that is sin." Paul leaves Timothy, whom he had discipled for about fifteen years and called his son in the faith, to set these things in order.

Timothy's Twin Challenges

There was a problem specific to Timothy. At this point he was probably in his mid-thirties, and that was a challenge in that culture. Paul and Timothy ministered in what we sometimes call an honor-and-shame culture, where youth is looked down upon. (Interesting that in 21st-century America, a 29-year-old in Congress is looked up to as the most important thing on the planet—we've swapped these things around.) There were likely people in the church older than Timothy, and in that culture the older were more valued. We know this because Paul encourages him:

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity... Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

Not only did Timothy face false teaching and the challenge of his youth, but it becomes clear that he also struggled with a confidence problem—a tendency to be timid. So Paul encourages him to be strong in the Lord and to stand on primary doctrine. And it becomes clear there is at least one primary troublemaker, a man named Hymenaeus, mentioned in both letters as promoting teaching out of line with sound doctrine. Two others, Alexander and Philetus, are also mentioned. We can assume Hymenaeus was respected and older, and timid Timothy had to deal with him.

These specific issues in a specific church 2,000 years ago have general application for us today. And the heart of why churches have such problems is found in our verse.

The Great House and Its Vessels

But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.

As Paul often does, he gives word pictures. There are three metaphors here: a great house, vessels of honor, and vessels of dishonor. The best understanding is that the great house is the church and its Master is God.

There is disagreement among commentators. Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, says, "The apostle compares the church to a great house. We feel sure that he is not speaking of the world." But another teacher, John Christopherson, says, "Paul is not speaking of the church. He is speaking of the world at large." Based on the context of 1 and 2 Timothy and the fact that Peter also refers to the church as a great house in which the Master dwells, it seems to me the great house here is the church.

A vessel of honor is an individual in God's house who is useful to the Master. A vessel of dishonor is one who is a problem—and this is the challenge. Paul really is saying that in God's house there are dishonorable vessels who are problematic. We just talked about Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus. They were in the church.

God's House Can Look Like a Hoarder's House

Point one: God's house can sometimes look like the house of a hoarder. I watched one episode of Hoarders and it gave me heart palpitations—I couldn't watch anymore. God's house can be cluttered and filled with junk. Some of you are crafting a text message: "Pastor, you can't say there's junk in God's house!" You're right—I'm not saying it. Paul did. So text Paul.

Some vessels are gold and silver; others are wood and clay. Is he really calling a vessel of dishonor junk? This word "dishonor" is used elsewhere and sometimes translated as dung or excrement—a nice way of saying crap. There is junk that sometimes finds its way into the great house, and Timothy is the one cleaning it out through right doctrine. It sounds much better in the King James than in the Miles DeBenedictis version, but when we peel back the layers, it's striking.

It should go without saying, but there are people in the great house of God who are not Christians—people who find their way in without honorable intentions or lifestyles. We can be bothered by this, or we can recognize it for what it is: God welcomes into His house people of every sort. That's good news, because it reveals the nature of the Master. He is gracious and hospitable. He welcomes people that, if they came to your door, your wife might look at you and say, "Really?" The church is called the bride of Christ, and there may be times we look at whom God accepts and say, "You really want that one here?" Yes—because God is gracious.

Does the presence of dishonorable vessels diminish the greatness of the house or ruin the solid foundation? No. The previous verse speaks of the solid foundation of God—Jesus Christ and Him crucified—upon which the church is built. The presence of dishonorable vessels says nothing against the foundation; it says something about the Owner: that He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, not willing that any should perish.

Accepted As We Are, But Not Left That Way

What should be the response of the occupants to the graciousness of the Master?

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work.

Point two: God accepts us as we are, but expects that we not remain that way. The one who enters this great house—even when life isn't in order—begins, by a work of God's grace, to comprehend His mercy and compassion, and so desires to become set apart. That's what "sanctified" means: hallowed for the Master's use.

How do we cleanse ourselves so as to become useful?

Flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Look back to verse 19: "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." God accepted you into His house when your life was not in order. Then, by His Spirit, He worked in your heart, you named the name of Christ, and He forgave all your crud from the past. So what do those who name His name do? They depart from iniquity—they begin to walk in a different direction. That's repentance: turning away from your old pattern of life and turning toward something new.

It is fleeing youthful lusts—the inordinate craving for what is youthful, the carnality of the flesh. Left to your own inhibitions, what would you seek? The deep craving for passion, pleasure, power, possessions, and position. The frightening thing is that 21st-century American culture says, "Just go for it, follow your heart, do whatever your heart desires." That's bad counsel, because Scripture says the heart of man is desperately wicked. Out of the heart proceed envy, anger, murder, adultery—Jesus said so in Mark 7. Some of you followed your heart for ten or fifteen years; where did it get you? Hopefully to a place of brokenness, where you came in as a dishonorable vessel and God said, "You're welcome here."

In place of those lusts, pursue four things: righteousness—what is right before God, not what is merely expedient; faith—a trust in and faithfulness to God; love—the kind described in 1 Corinthians 13, patient, kind, content, humble; and peace.

Usefulness Is Linked to the Pursuit of Godliness

Point three: the privilege of usefulness is linked to the pursuit of godliness. This is why Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:

Reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.

I have to be candid—I don't like the word "exercise." Can anyone give me an amen? Exercise implies work and discipline, and our flesh doesn't like work and discipline. But Paul continues:

For bodily exercise profits little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

The pursuit of godliness makes us useful to the Master. But let me be very clear: in promoting discipline and the pursuit of godliness, I am not promoting works-salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves. The gracious Master accepts us by His grace and transforms us by His grace—but that transforming work is as much His grace working in us as it is our working it out.

My favorite passage is Philippians 2:12–13: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." You are working, and God is enabling your work. God's sovereignty works together with human responsibility. Some people put everything on God's sovereignty: "If I'm going to change, God will have to do it." No—you must work out your own salvation, because God is already doing His.

This is why the New Testament, though it teaches we are saved entirely by grace, contains over a thousand commands to Christians. I looked it up: a 47-page document of 1,050 imperatives for us to live out, knowing God enables our obedient pursuit. In twenty years of teaching the Bible—this Sunday marks my twentieth year—I cannot tell you how many times I've heard, "If God wants to change me, He'll just have to change me." No. He accepted you as you are and now says, "Walk in righteousness," and He will enable you.

Just as Jesus told the man with the withered hand, "Stretch forth your hand," and gave him power in that moment—but the man still had to stretch it out—so we must act, realizing God's power abides in us. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. Ephesians 2: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." He didn't save you because of good things you did, but now that He's saved you, He desires that you be a vessel of honor, useful to Him.

Waste No Time With Strife-Producing Disputes

But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

Point four: waste no time with disputes that cause strife. Just as we shun profane and idle babblings, we avoid foolish disputes. In this mixed multitude, people can begin to follow those who say, "It's all of grace, you don't have to do anything," and their idle babblings cause strife. In 1 Timothy 6, Paul wrote:

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words... he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings... From such withdraw yourself.

It may seem rude, but the more time goes by, the more I've learned the wisdom of saying, "I don't have time for this," and walking away when someone wants to dispute over something ultimately not worthwhile.

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

This is striking. There are people within the church who have been ensnared by the enemy and are being used to do his will. Jesus calls them wolves in sheep's clothing; Paul calls them false prophets; Peter, false teachers; Jude warns of them too. As Jesus said in Matthew 7, "You will know them by their fruit"—and you also know good teachers by their way of life: gentle, not quarrelsome, patient, humbly correcting those in opposition. Follow that pattern, but recognize others need to come to repentance. So the vessels of honor give forth the Word, that perhaps God would bring such a person to repentance and to their senses.

God Makes Dishonorable Vessels Into Display Pieces

Why does God allow vessels of dishonor in His great house? Because it is His desire that, through clear instruction of the Scriptures, the work of the Spirit, and the fellowship of the body, they would come to their senses, repent, know the truth, and walk in righteousness.

Point five: God is an expert at making dishonorable vessels into display pieces. There is not a single person in this church who came in as an honorable vessel. We all came in dishonorable—in lifestyle, thoughts, and intentions—and the gracious Master said, "Come in." He did that because He is the master craftsman, who takes what is crooked and makes it straight, what is broken and makes it into a glorious piece for His glory.

Paul told the Corinthians that God made us a spectacle to the world; He reforms and reshapes our lives to bring glory to Him. And here's the amazing thing: many of you came in broken and dishonorable, and God has transformed you so that people who knew you before look at you and say, "You're not the same. What did you do?" You can't say, "I downloaded a self-help book," or "I took a class." You say, "God has transformed my life." And that glorifies His grace and power, because He is an expert at taking dishonorable vessels and turning them into pieces of honor on display.

This is why Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians matters: judge nothing before its time. It's easy as a leader to look at certain people and think, "Are you sure God wants that person here? I don't think they'll ever get their act together." Judge nothing before its time, because He is a master at work. Amen.

Closing Prayer

God, I thank You that this is a church filled with a whole bunch of dishonorable vessels that You have welcomed by Your grace and are transforming into those earthen vessels that carry forth the glory of Your gospel. It's not our glory; it's the glory of You who transforms us. You are the potter, we are the clay, and You are molding our lives into something useful for You, the Master.

You take this broken, dishonorable thing that we are when we come into Your house—maybe because someone invited us, maybe because we drove by and wondered what was going on here—and You welcome us in, and by Your grace and mercy You work a work of transformation. Jesus, You said that when we confess our sin, You are faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

So God, as we stand here right now, if there are things in our lives that are not bringing You honor and making us useless, would You identify that by Your Spirit? Point it out to us, whatever it is. Bring us to the place where we would offer it to You and say, "God, take this away. I don't want to walk in this any longer." Through confession, You are faithful to forgive and cleanse.

Thank You for Your forgiving grace, and that You are the one able to remove from us all dead works so we can display Your glory in this world. Forgive and cleanse and help us to turn away from those things and walk with You in Your grace. We rejoice that You make dishonorable things into vessels on display for Your glory. God, do that with our lives, we pray. Make us useful, we ask. For we pray it in Jesus' name, and all those who agree said, Amen.