You Talking to Me: A Sermon Based on 1 Timothy Chapter 4

It's easy to look at certain parts of scripture and jump to the conclusion that these particular words do not apply to us.

We can come to certain part and think....God...are you talking to me...?

1 Timothy Chapter 4 could be one of those sections for you. You may have always thought it seemed to be talking to someone else. But that has never been the case for me.

For one, the book is addressed to a man named Timothy. That's my name, of course, so that seems very personal. He's a younger man. He may have lacked some confidence and authority because of that. Possibly he had some difficulty with crowds and confrontations. I can relate to all that. He was also a minister, a preacher, a pastor with a lot to learn. So this is clearly talking to me.

So in my personal case, starting as a teenager, and even before, this spoke to me...loudly.

So it might seems, on the surface, that this chapter of Timothy, is just for the young pastor. It might seem that way.

By a show of hands, how many other ministers of Christ, besides me, do we have in this room today?

You may not be a preacher, or a pastor, per se. That might not be your calling or gift, but how many here this morning are bound by the great commission of Jesus.

You know....Go...therefore, all of you, go unto all the nations...telling of the Good News of Jesus Christ? Is that you? I hope so. I hope to see that you all would raise your hands.

Because even if you never step up to a pulpit to give a sermon in your life, you are a minister of Christ and our very lives are be living sermons.

If you claim Christ as your Savior, but you do not minister for him in the way you live and the things you say, you DENY him by your very lives.

If you are saved by Jesus, your life will be an ongoing program of ministry.

This is who we are ...ministers.

So again, if you are tempted to wonder if what we read today is talking to you, I hope you will listen extra carefully, because it is.

That said, we are also going to be talking, in some ways, specifically about pastors. Timothy was a young Pastor, that was his vocation, and he was being mentored by Paul.

He was beginning his work at the church in Ephesus, in a time where false teachings and doctrines were sweeping over the land.

We see in the first couple of verses, Paul instructs Timothy to teach and train the believers in the right doctrine and to protect their faith from the influence of false teachers.

But like all of us, Timothy had a challenge. He would indeed have to learn to practice some important principals and disciplines in his own life so that others would listen to him, and trust what he has to say.

He would have to fully embrace this idea of living life as a living sermon.

No one would accept what he said with words, if the life he lived was not consistent with a person trying very hard to live it himself.

So let's read our scripture for today as ask yourself as we go through....God, are you talking to me?

1 Timothy Chapter 4 [From the NLT '" New Living Translation]

1 Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 2 These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.*

3 They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. 4 Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. 5 For we know it is made acceptable* by the word of God and prayer.

6 If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters,* Timothy, you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed. 7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives' tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. 8 "Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come." 9 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. 10 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle,* for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

11 Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. 12 Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. 13 Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.

14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. 15 Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.

So there are important things that need be to heard. For every last one of us we must " Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you."

Many believe that Timothy was a shy and timid person. If that was the case, confronting false teachers would not have been an exciting prospect to him.

And that's not unusual. We all deal with a certain amount of confrontation, but how many of us here really enjoy it?

Yes, there are some who are very well suited for it. Some who handle it well. But very few who actually enjoy it.

But like most other unpleasant things, it will happen from time to tome, and when something is as important at the vital truths of our faith, how exactly do we make sure we are heard, and respected in these situations, for the sake of Christ and His gospel?

Simply put you do so, by having AUTHORITY. And AUTHORITY is something that is given, not taken. We often hear these two words, POWER and AUTHORITY...but they are not the same thing.

You can take POWER over someone simply by beating them down and stripping them of what they have. Ruthless dictators take power, and they do often rule, unopposed for long periods of time until someone else with more POWER takes in away from them. And that does happen eventually.

So we see the world is always filled with varying degrees of POWER struggles. But there are very few in the world who wield very much authority.

Because AUTHORITY is different. It's not taken. You can't take AUTHORITY over other people. You can only be given AUTHORITY.

Uniquely, Jesus has POWER and AUTHORITY, and for Him those things are eternal. Neither his power nor his authority can be taken away.

But for us, Power is very fleeting. For one thing, in and of ourselves, we can't stay strong for very lon g, and in our evangelism you can't force anyone to accept Christ anyway. If we had enough POWER we might be able to make someone say certain words, but we couldn't force them to take Jesus into their hearts. It's been tried, it never works.

But Paul tells us here that if we " 16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching.", the Holy Spirit will give us authority to guide others to salvation in Christ.

We are given this AUTHORITY by the Holy Spirit, but it's only truly impactful and effective in bringing people to Jesus when we have INTEGRITY. That's our third word of the day and it means having our words and our actions match up.

You likely heard it a million times but we have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Otherwise, we'll be seen as the dreaded H WORD. Hypocrite. And that's how a lot of non-believers see Christians. They see us often as people who love to give beautiful sermons with our mouths, and dishonor Christ with every other part of our bodies.

But this claim of hypocrisy can be overcome when we testify to, and are seen as, and live our lives as admitted sinful people, who are trying, with God's help, to live God honoring lives.

When we make the effort, and trust Christ to transform us and mold us, we are given authority through Him, and it doesn't matter our station in life.

Paul tells Timothy, "Do not let any one look down at you because you are young -- "

It seems maybe, at this point, Timothy about was 35 years old. That's pretty young by some accounts. But God used Timothy in a mighty way. Timothy at his young age was given authority.

But he could not use his authority in Christ and the authority of the scriptures unless he practiced what he preached. Granted, not perfectly, but with great diligence.

People were simply not going to listen to, or respect, a person who spoke of things that were not evident in his own life.

And the apostle here speaks of two important areas -- speech and conduct -- and three qualities that ought to be evident -- love, faithfulness, and purity.

A minister must, first of all, be loving. Not arrogant, not rude, critical, or cruel in either word or deed.

And he must be faithful to his commitments, not using insincere words, or being irresponsible, unreliable and breaking promises.

And the third quality is purity.

Ephesus was a city filled with sexual immorality -- it was even more prevalent there than it is in our country today, if your can believe that -- yet Timothy was expected to maintain a pure standard in the midst of that.

For him, there was to be no vulgar, obscene or profane words in his speech, no dirty stories or double meanings, and there was to be no sexual misconduct.

Because without seeking purity in the way he was living, all his words would mean nothing.

Let me be clear though....that didn't make Timothy, or any of us, any less of a sinner. But no one would listen to him if he spoke of things he did not embrace personally.

I've been given authority in a number of situations in my life, and one thing that became very clear was if you asked someone else to do something, you had to be willing to do it yourself.

Has anyone had a boss who jumped right in to the mud with you? How about the boss that sends you into the swamp and sits up in an easy chair with a lemonade and just watches you?

Which one did you respect more? I've always respected the one who was willing to get his hands dirty just like me. The one who wouldn't send me into something he wasn't prepared to do.

It's totally the same in ministry. We follow the example of Jesus, who was right there with us in our suffering, and our pain, and our temptation. He was willing to get his hands dirty on the cross. He led by serving. He led by example. He led because he had authority both on earth, and in heaven.

So we, as his followers, have to show people that when Jesus speaks, He is talking to us. Not just some other guy.

As as the army of Christ's ministers marching on, our sermons will be our very lives.

And then, in middle of the chapter, the author turns to the specific role of the pastor.

He tells Timothy that it ought to consist of reading the Scriptures in public, exhorting, and teaching.

And I'd like you to note the centrality of the Scriptures there. Timothy is to read the Scriptures; then he is to exhort, to urge, to proclaim, to open up and make clear what the Scriptures say; and he is to teach, to explain the Scriptures.

All this focuses on the Word of God.

A congregation meets so that they might hear the Word of God, taught by a man of God, led by the Spirit of God, implanting that Word into every individual life and heart.

That is central to the work of the preacher.

This has had so much impact on me through my life. I most definitely felt that "God was talking to me, personally."

Especially the past about reading the Scriptures in public. I had noticed that many people talk about the bible, try to tell me what the bible says, quote this verse and that verse, but how many people have really read or even heard the entire text of it.

Surprisingly few.

And God seemed to be saying, and still seems to be saying..."Timothy, read the bible to the people...then talk, then share, then preach, then teach...and not necessarily in that order....but start with READING IT.

And you'll see that we do that here all the time....

We get off track a bit in side topics sometimes, but then someone will make a reminder..."we are at a bible study here, maybe we should read the bible...."

Rita's mom, Gertrude, was great at that before she passed way. She'd say "what exactly does this have to do with Ephesians?"

Sometimes that meant just digging in deeper, because everything in our lives has to do Christ and his Word. But sometimes we get bogged down in worldly things and lose track of what's reading important.

Reading the bible is a big "God speaking to me" important focus to me. And between Sunday Morning and Wednesday we read at least two chapters a week here..every week.

And then preaching...and teaching...That's what a pastor is to do. And there's more.

Ministry is to tend to the sick, and feed the hungry, and encourage the downhearted, look out for widows and the elderly, counsel the hurting, and much more....

Our whole lives are to be ministry -- living sermons But I believe, and the bible says here, preachers are to prioritize certain things. Essential things.

Reading the scripture, preaching and teaching.

I love doing the meal programs, and visiting with people, and being community involved. I value my service time a great deal. I know the value in doing memorial services and funerals, and the purpose and joy in weddings. I appreciate how important it is for us to be with each other when we are sick and dying.

But these things are not just for pastors, and we can tend to think of them that way.

And I have to remind myself of this from time to time. We're all in this together. All these things of ministry we do together, because we are all commanded to do so by Jesus himself.

But preachers must focus almost singularly on sharing the WORD of God, and bring people to Christ. And nothing should get in the way of that.

The apostles even made a point to assign others to some of these tasks reminding themselves "we are not called to run food programs...but to preach the word", and they picked others to minister to the hungry.

So one of the main points the apostle makes here is that, having been given a spiritual gift, Timothy is expected to use it. There is a good deal of debate among the scholars as to what Timothy's gift was. Some think it may have been evangelism, because Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, says, "Do the work of an evangelist." Some think it was a pastor-teacher gift.

Whatever it was, Paul urged Timothy to use it, and use it well.

Not every preacher/pastor/ministers (and that's all of us together) are gifted in all of these area, anymore that we are all good at oil painting.

But what you got...you're supposed to use. And that's it. This passage today is talking to ministers. It talks to pastors and preachers. So it talks to me very clearly.

But this text is talking to you. God is talking to you.

We should remember that every last one of us gives sermons every day with our words and our actions. People will come to Christ, not just through pastors and preachers but through each you, as well. They will come to Him, or they will turn away.

If you call yourself a follower of Christ, you are part of his group, your wear His name on your entire life.

Let us pray that the lives that we talk and the lives that we walk show the authority of Jesus Christ himself.

Amen

(c)2011 Timothy Henry