Paul’s opening words of this text – “Now in a great house…” – reminds me of the image he used to describe the church in 1 Timothy 3:15 where he says that he wants the members of the church to “know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth”. Paul’s point with the image he is painting is that the church is the great household of God and God intends to fill his home with people who live to serve him above all else.

The problem, of course, is that when we become part of God’s household, the moment we surrender to Jesus as our Savior, we do not usually understand that we are also being called to surrender to Jesus as our King; we like the benefits of salvation, but we cringe at the expectations for a servant of the King – even if the expectations are for our own good.

Another way to think about this is to think about our natural tendency to come into God’s household as a consumer who enjoys being served by other servants of God but then we balk at the expectations of being transformed into contributors who are expected to serve God by serving others from a pure heart of loving sacrifice.

Having someone sacrificially serve you is much more attractive than being called to become a sacrificial servant for others. Why is this? I think it’s because being served does not require moral fortitude or commitment. But sacrificially serving others – to the point that it really hurts and costs us – this is something that does require moral fortitude and it does require unwavering commitment.

This is Paul’s vision for members and leaders within the household of God: That they would be servants of God who are growing in godly character. What you are is far more important than what you do because what you do will always flow out of and prove what you really are.2 So how do we become servants of God who are growing in godly character? Look at the text with me…

2 TIMOTHY 2:20 – 26…

20Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 22So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

#1: SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRASH CANS AND SERVING DISHES (VV. 20 – 21)

Evaluating and differentiating between trash cans and serving dishes helps us to see current unwanted realities clearly and strive towards a more desirable future. We have to see the difference between trash cans and serving dishes if we are going to become servants of God who are growing in godly character.

This is why Paul reminds Timothy in verses 20 – 21 that, “20…in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.21Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” The reality is that we cannot serve nourishing meals in filthy trash cans.

In Timothy’s day, just like today, every home had trash cans for taking the garbage out and serving dishes for delivering nourishing food. In God’s house the expectation is that there will be no garbage to take out because God’s house is intended to be perfectly clean.

Therefore, every person who claims the name of the Lord is expected to cleanse themselves from the filthy garbage of sin by trusting and obeying the gospel – the message of Jesus, crucified for our sin, risen in victory over death, and returning in triumph over Satan.

As you and I trust in the message of the gospel and strive for obedience to the gospel – meaning that we strive after holiness – God transforms us from the trash cans we were into the priceless serving dishes he intended us to be – set apart as holy and useful to God for every good work. We must see the difference between being a trash can or a serving dish!

#2: RUN FROM GARBAGE AND CHASE GODLINESS (V. 22)

The foundation of this principle is that we must run away from some things while running after other things. We cannot live our lives perpetually running towards garbage because we will inevitably be running away from the purity that only godliness can produce. We also cannot spend our lives merely running away from the destination of garbage without a new destination of godliness in the windshield.

This is why Paul instructs Timothy in verse 22, to 22So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. It is foolishness to run from one bad destination without a better destination in our sights.

Early on in my journey with Jesus, a friend and mentor of mine taught me the acronym “G.I.G.O.” – Garbage In Garbage Out – which simply teaches us that if you put garbage into your system then garbage is what inevitably comes out.

Paul is basically reminding Timothy of this principle in verses 21 – 22 when he tells Timothy to run from the bad destination of youthful passions and chase the good destination of godliness which is characterized as righteousness, faith, love, and peace. This is the destination that all who genuinely follow Jesus are chasing after.

The question for us is: Which destination am I chasing? Am I chasing the destination of youthful passions – a destination that looks and smells like the garbage of filth, impurity, rebellion, hate, and conflict? Or am I chasing the destination of godliness that looks and smells like the godly character traits of righteousness, holiness, purity, faith, love, and peace?

If we are going to become and be servants of God who are growing in godly character, then we must run from garbage and chase godliness.

#3: LIVE TO SERVE GOD ALONE (VV. 23 – 26)

I think this final principle is Paul’s bullseye, it is what he has been aiming at all along. He knows that there are some highly influential leaders in the city of Ephesus who have abandoned their faith (1:15, 2:16 – 18) – they have become trash cans instead of priceless serving dishes and they have been chasing the garbage of self-exaltation instead of pure godliness – as they spread their cancerous false teaching and seek to draw believers into their foolishness.

This is why Paul says, 23Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

A self-serving mentality is a snare of the devil that has wrecked many ships on the shorelines of consumerism. Serving God alone is the only key to getting and remaining free from the prison cell of our sinful selves.

When it comes to self-exaltation (serving selfish desires) it is never more clearly seen than the petty and ignorant arguments that often break out among God’s people.

I have been guilty, more times than I can count, of taking the bait of being right and being able to win an argument. Arguing passionately is not always a sin but arguing for the sake of being right or for the sake of winning the fight is a sin.

This is why Paul reminds Timothy that someone who truly wants to serve God alone, above all else, must not argue to merely argue or to win the fight but instead must practice kindness and patient teaching while enduring all of the evil that gets thrown around when confronting error and falsehood.

The intended goal in someone who wants to serve God and grow in godly character is the goal of seeing others repent from sin and trust in the truth of the gospel so that they may walk in freedom from the effects of Satan, Sin, and Death.

If you and I would live our lives to serve God alone, then we will resist and continue to repent when we get caught up in arguing to win the fight and we will press on in serving God by patiently enduring evil and speaking truth so that others may repent and be set free.

We must remember that a self-serving mentality is a snare of the devil that has wrecked many ships on the shorelines of consumerism. Serving God alone is the only key to getting and remaining free from the prison cell of our sinful desires.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, a servant of God who is growing in godly character must see the difference between being a trash can and being a serving dish. We must run from garbage and chase godliness, and we must live our lives to serve God and God alone instead of our own selfish desires.

I think about everything I have just said, and it all rings true, and it all sounds good. But it all feels impossible sometimes; doesn’t it?

I am way too prone to being more like a trash can with my thoughts, words, and actions than I wish I was. I am way too prone to run towards garbage instead of chasing godliness. Sadly, I find myself chasing self-exaltation instead of living my life to serve God alone.

Someone picks a fight with me based on some kind of foolishness and I go off halfcocked, ready to decimate their argument and destroy them in the process; I act like a trashcan.

I feel the guilt and shame of my sin and I let my thoughts and my eyes linger on impure things that bring a momentary sense of pleasure to escape the pain; I chase garbage.

I want to prove that I am better than I really am, so I jump back into the argument with a renewed sense of winning and rightness; I wind up exalting myself.

What a wretched sinner I really am. Who will deliver me from these sinful habits (Rom. 7:24)? How can I be set free from these shackles so that I can freely serve God and grow in godliness? The only answer I have is in verse 21 of our text where Paul says, “if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” The only hope I have is to be cleansed from my sin.

The only way to be cleansed from my sin is to trust in the finished work of Christ at the bloody cross of calvary; to rest assured in Christ’s powerful victory in the empty tomb; and to stand in hope-filled expectation of Christ’s faithful promise to rescue me once and for all from this sin-infected life in eternity.

The gospel and the gospel alone, is what frees me to serve God and to grow in godliness so that I may be a serving dish; so that I may chase godliness; so that I may live my life to serve God and to serve him alone above all else. – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 R. Kent Hughes and Bryan Chapell, 1 – 2 Timothy and Titus, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2012), 233 – 235.