Thank you. Well, every one of us as a Christian is called to serve the Lord and the local church,

the role of the pastor is an immense privilege that comes along with significant responsibilities.

Today on Truth for Life,

we'll find out why it's so important for pastors and teachers to be convincing but not quarrelsome as they defend biblical truth. Alistair Begg is concluding a study in 2nd Timothy.

Well, the verses to which we draw our attention are, as I say, the concluding verses

of chapter 2.

Let's think about it then in relationship to what the text says, first of all by noticing

that Paul is reminding Timothy of what he, first of all, must not be.

He first of all starts negatively. This is what you mustn't be. The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome.

He must know how to teach, but he must resist the temptation to quarrel.

It's therefore imperative that he doesn't dive into the quarrelsome speculations that he's just referred to in verse 23.

There's an inherent logic in this, isn't there?

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.

Why? Because you know they breed quarrels.

And since the Lord's servant is not to be quarrelsome, that wouldn't be a good thing to get yourself involved with. So when people try and trap you, Timothy, when they try and engage you

in this way, make sure that you

are not succumbing to that temptation. It's not a call to theological vagueness. It's worth

reiterating that. We don't want to keep saying it. It's not a blanket negation of controversy on any

front, because Paul is very clear in the pastros that Timothy and Titus

like him are going to have to wage the warfare. They're going to have to be convinced and committed

and hold true to the deposit and make sure that they live for it bravely and they guard it

correctly and they preach it boldly and so on. So he's not all of a sudden at the end of Chapter 2 saying,

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