Personalities differ. Some of us thrive on what’s new and exciting. We love change. Others prefer the familiar, safe and tested. Don’t change anything! Still others of us are practical. We gravitate toward whatever is most efficient in producing desired results.

Such preferences can contribute toward dissenting ideas about congregational practices and worship. Let’s hang on to this thought for a moment. 1 Timothy offers us a practical lesson even though Timothy’s situation in Ephesus did not involve personalties.

Timothy found himself embedded in a church awash with contrary ideas. Paul’s first letter to him advised how to handle this cacophony of voices. It actually was quite simple. Those espousing falsehood were to be silenced (1 Timothy 1:3,6).

However, here’s the thing about controversies. People are generally confident that their viewpoint is the right one. Although everyone would have been confident, this was not to be the determining principle of who to silence.

On what basis was Timothy to approach these dissenting voices to point a way forward? God had entrusted Paul with “the glorious gospel” (1 Timothy 1:11). This message had been handed onto Timothy. And now he too had been entrusted to protect it and entrust it to others capable of passing it forward (1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:14; 2:2).

Being entrusted with this message meant several things. The message came from and belonged to God. These stewards were responsible before God for how they handled it. They could not permit their personal preferences, opinions or other sources to shape it.

God had provided the glorious gospel. This was the basis for evaluating and winnowing through the various ideas being proclaimed.

In Ephesus different doctrines and teaching sources were being promoted. This is categorically different from how competing personality preferences might propose different paths forward. And yet, the principle of allowing the glorious gospel to shape the path forward is also applicable in this situation.

There is no need to provide examples how each of the various approaches under different circumstances could distort the gospel. It is obvious that neither sticking with what you are doing, latching onto something new or pursuing the most practical path to one’s goal is always the right response. Yet, sometimes it seems to me that some people always grab the same hammer for every situation.

The wisdom from 1 Timothy involves promoting the glorious gospel as the path forward. Sometimes that will require change. Sometimes that will demand sticking to what is. And it always directs us toward the gospel’s spiritually healthy and wholistic goals. It is not just about numbers.

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Barry Newton

Barry has worked with congregations in Texas, California and Brazil. He and his wife Sofia have two sons. He believes we should love God above all and that to honor this principle will shape daily decisions and silence competing values. Furthermore, we ought to love people in those ways we would like to be treated.

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