Do You Speak Klingon?

“nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith” (1Tim 1:4)

Do you speak Klingon? What’s your take on Yoda’s species? Do really think Captain America is a member of the Tea Party? Let me get this out on the table from the get go. I’ve paid cash money to watch more than my fair share of movies from the all the sci-fi and superhero franchises. But I have many friends who are so consumed with these fantastic stories you might think they live aboard a starship or in the Marvel Universe. Have they ever sucked you into a black hole of discussion about the impossibilities in the conclusion of “Interstellar”? 

Well if you’ve been hanging around Christians for any length of time, you know our friends who go to ComicCon haven’t cornered the market. Have you walked down the aisle of your local Christian bookstore lately? We’re constantly playing a goofy game of “Pin the Tail on the Antichrist.” You’ve got “The Bible Code” and its whacky sequels. There are books cooking up countless crazy connections between 9-11 and obscure Old Testament commands. You’ll even find authors claiming to find the cure for your irritable bowel in the pages of the Bible. I would say you can’t make this stuff up, but somebody clearly has!

Don’t make the mistake of believing this is some sort of recent fad. Church folks have been cooking up whacked out conspiracy theories for a thousands of years. When we take a look at one of the letters Paul wrote Timothy, we see it was going on at the megachurch in Ephesus. Yeah, THAT Ephesus. The apostle tells his protege that Jesus’ followers should not “devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith” (v4). Some of the most popular hobbies in the Ephesian church are interminable discussions about urban legends that aren’t in the Bible. Stuff, in the long run, that doesn’t mean a hill of beans. 

These aren’t occasional confabs over coffee at Starbucks. Paul talks about how they “devote themselves” to them. He uses the Greek verb prosecho, which means paying very close attention to something. It can easily be understood as being consumed or even addicted to a particular activity. That makes this a worship issue. Do you spend more time on particular preoccupations than on things that have no eternal significance? We can do this with our smart phones, Facebook, Pinterest, sports, and scrapbooking. None of these is really evil all on their own. But anytime you take a good thing and make it a god thing that’s a bad thing. In a word, that’s idolatry. A certain section of the Ephesian church has unhealthy obsession with debating issues that don’t matter. How about you? What have you allowed to be your personal time suck?

For the Ephesian church, a boatload of their schedule is loaded with debates over “myths” (v4). A closer look at the original language reveals exactly what’s going on. This is muthos, which is fiction, a fable, or made-up story. We’re talking about fairy tales. This term can even mean a wild rumor or whacky conspiracy theory. Imagine a small group devoted to digging into the pages of the Weekly World News or one of the other tacky tabloids at the checkout counter. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but you really can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Shocking, right? 

Apparently these whacky goofball stories are all the rage in the first century church. Later in this letter, Paul tells Tim, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths (Gr. muthos)” (1Tim 4:7). A few years later in another note, the apostle warns Tim again how Jesus’ followers are easily distracted and “wander off into myths (Gr. muthos)” (2Tim 4:4). Paul alerts Titus that the congregations on Crete must avoid “devoting themselves to Jewish myths (Gr. muthos)” which pull them away from God’s truth (Titus 1:14). Don’t think the man from Tarsus is the only one who sees these religious fairy tales as something to be avoided. Pete’s the leader of Jesus’ apostles and promises, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths (Gr. muthos) when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2Pet 1:16). 

But that’s not the only unhealthy distraction. Tim’s also trying to put the kibosh “endless genealogies, which promote speculations” (v4). Folks are spending WAY too much time and energy trying to trace their family trees. We all want to tell people about our impressive ancestors. Tell me you haven’t looked back at your ancestors to see if you’re a descendant of royalty or some celebrity. While it’s nice to know all about your memaw and pawpaw, there’s nothing to truly gain by spending hour upon hour climbing your family tree. I don’t know about you, but I’m a little afraid about what I might find along the way. A dive into one of these genealogical rat holes is “endless” (v4). Paul uses a Greek term here (Gr. aperantos) that means something that cannot be passed through. It’s boundless, limitless, and interminable. A series that never stops. It’s a conversation from which there is no escape! You’ve been cornered in a few of those, I’m sure.

All this mindless lip-flapping will simply “promote speculations” (v4). These aren’t so much controversies as distractions. God’s people argue about a boatload of stuff in the Bible that we don’t really have the answers to. How often should we celebrate communion? Should be people be dunked all the way under during baptism? Worship songs or hymns? How loud the music should be? Should we go on? I’ll answer for you. No. Some folks refer to these as open-handed and close-handed issues. There are doctrinal points we need to keep in a kung fu grip. You know the ones. The Trinity. God’s creation of the universe. How we broke His perfect creation. Jesus is the sinless Son of God who died for our sin, was buried, and rose on the third day.  

The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing. We should put all our efforts into “the stewardship from God that is by faith” (v4). Don’t major in the minors. Let’s avoid speculating on things that we can’t know for sure. Instead, let’s focus on our loving Heavenly Dad, our awesome Big Brother Jesus, and the brothers and sisters we’ll be spending eternity with. That’s the family we need to devote ourselves to. That’s the genealogy that really matters. This is a HUGE reminder that we’re to carefully take care of all that God has given us in Christ. It’s all about our faith in Jesus. What He did for us that we could never do. 

I really don't care if you can shoot the breeze with Worf in his native Klingon tongue. What intergalactic race of beings Yoda is part of, I care not. And I don’t give a hot hoot about Captain America’s political leanings. Instead, how about we spend a good bit of our calendar on what really matters? Who Jesus is. What He has done. Loving those around us. Being a firehose of His grace to everyone we meet.