2 Timothy, Part Seventeen
Cleanse Yourself From Ignoble Purposes
2 Timothy 2v20-21
25th September 2026
2 Timothy 2v20-21
In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but
also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.
If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for
noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any
good work.
Paul's meaning is clear. We keep our dining plates and coffee cups clean because we want to eat and drink out of them safely. We don't take so much care to keep our waste bins and dustpans clean. Items that are keep clean can be used for any purpose. Items that are not kept clean can only be used for the dirty jobs. In the same way, Christians who keep their hearts, minds and lives pure can be used by God in many ways but those who don't, can't.
Of course, God can use any person or any thing for whatever use he chooses to, but we don't want God to drink out of a dirty cup and, generally speaking, neither does He.
If a Christian refuses to get involved in the dirtier aspects of life, by which we mean sin, then he is made holy - set apart for God because we are no longer giving ourselves to sin. This makes us suitable to be used by God for noble purposes, the work of building the kingdom of God, caring for God's people and reaching out to the lost with the amazing Gospel of Christ.
All God's people are already holy, because they are God's people. We can think of this as legal holiness; we are holy because we have already been justified by faith. Some call it positional holiness because we are in Christ. After giving us this kind of holiness when we are born again, God is now sanctifying us, making us holy in practice. Paul is urging us to co-operate with God in this process. Christians who are holy in practice - who lead godly lives - are fit for His service.
We must pause, though, to consider the people who lead large churches, or group of churches, or who have lucrative television preaching careers, some of whom have been exposed as having private lives that are far from pure.
Every person is tempted, to a greater or lesser degree, by sex, money and power. Church leaders and teachers, especially the famous ones, are even more tempted than the rest of us, because they seem to be achieving great things for God and so are attracting opposition from our enemy, Satan, and because they find sex, money and power easier to obtain. Pray for your leaders. Many leaders start well and end badly.
With all that said, doesn't the existence of people who lead large churches, or who are famous and well paid for preaching, but who lead sinful lives, contradict Paul's saying? Are they not articles... for ignoble purposes? Why does God continue to allow such people to remain in their roles? I have only a partial answer. It comes in three parts.
Firstly, we're all sinners, aren't we? Not one of us completely cleanses himself.
Secondly, there is often a delay between a person falling into grave sin and God exposing him and taking him out of ministry. Perhaps this is because God is allowing him an opportunity to repent before taking drastic action. Are we not all, perhaps in smaller ways, glad that God has given us time to repent before exposing our sins to the rest of the church?
Thirdly, perhaps we fail to grasp what God's noble purposes are. Perhaps God is not very interested in how many people come to our church, how many times we appear on television, how many "clicks" we get on the internet, or how well we're paid. I think God is much more interested in whether we teach the truth and how we treat the people who come to us.
The pastor of a small church, who helps a handful of people to discover the Gospel, repent of their sin, and receive saving faith in Jesus, who tends the sick, visits the lonely, teaches the truth, prays for the world, and keeps his conscience clear, is truly serving noble purposes. He is truly building the kingdom of God. The man who is well paid for preaching what people want to hear is only serving himself.