14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
Paul continues his instruction and encouragement to Pastor Timothy by telling him, basically, that you need to keep the main thing as the main thing.
He writes that Timothy is to remind them of these things, these being the core tenets of the Gospel in vv.8-13.
When the church gathers, when God’s people assemble together, it is the Word of God that must be first and foremost. The Gospel message of reconciliation to God through remission of sins through faith in Jesus must be present above and beyond everything else. These things must be more important than quarrelling about words, which Paul says is good for nothing and eventually leads to ruining the hearers.
Just pause and think – when you go to church, what do you want to hear?
You don’t want to hear a guy stand up and tell you everything he thinks about how you should live.
You don’t want to hear someone read the Bible then proceed to tell you everything they think about it.
You don’t want to be entertained but not equipped for life.
You want to go to church and be filled and fed by the Word of God.
You want to go to church and leave just a little bit firmer in your faith.
The truth of Jesus and the Word of God must be central for this to happen.
Romans 10.17 tells us that faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ. Here preached word means what it says, the preached word about and of God, of His Christ Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit.
So, Pastor, growth-group leader, kids church teacher, counsellor, Christian, nobody is that interested in what you think on any given subject. Perhaps, maybe, sometimes, people might ask for your opinions about secondary things. However, first and foremost, where you have the profound privilege of speaking into people’s lives, do so with these things, do so with the Gospel, do so with the Word of God.
James Travis 