God's House Rules #14 - "Word-Centered Priorities in God's House" (1 Timothy 4:11-16)

1 Timothy and chapter number 4, 1 Timothy chapter 4.

And we're going to be in verses 11 to 16 this morning, so 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verses 11 through to 16.

If you grabbed one of the Red Harbat Bibles that we give away, that's on page 1052, page 1052, 1

Timothy and chapter number 4, 1 Timothy chapter 4, 1

Timothy 4, 11 through 16. If you're able to do so and you're there already, can I invite you to stand with me as we read this portion of God's Word?

1 Timothy chapter 4, beginning in verse 11 and reading through to verse 16.

Brothers and sisters, these are God's words to us this morning. Command and teach these things.

Don't let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. Don't neglect the gift that is in you.

It was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Practice these things.

Be committed to them so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching, persevere in these things, for in doing this, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but this Word of our God will remain forever. Allow me to pray, ask for God's help, and we will come to work in the

Word this morning. Let's pray. Well, Heavenly Father, we ask that as we come to your Word, that once again, you would open our eyes that we would see wonderful things out of your law.

Father, help us as we have been studying through this letter, help us to orient our vision of what the church is around what your

Word has to say, not what we prefer or what we have experienced, but ultimately, it would be on the basis of your

Word. Be with us now as we come to worship, because preaching is an act of worship.

Hearing your Word is an act of worship. And Father, as we come to this act of worship, we take a moment to pray for Valley Evangelical Free Church in Cave Junction.

Pray for their interim pastor, Pastor Dan Gregory, dear friend of mine who is currently serving there for the next few months as they pray and seek the

Lord's will for a new pastor there. Pray for that congregation, pray for Pastor Dan's interim ministry there, that it would be a blessing to them.

May Jesus be glorified in Cave Junction through their ministry as we pray that he would be glorified here. We ask all this in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen.

Well, this morning I've come to you with a message entitled, Word -Centered Priorities in God's House.

Word -Centered Priorities in God's House. As we come to this passage in 1

Timothy chapter 4 this morning, let me start with a question to kind of orient our minds with what we're going to think about this morning.

Here's my question. What does a faithful pastor do? What does a faithful pastor do?

Now, notice I didn't ask, what qualifies someone to be a faithful pastor? We've already spent four weeks thinking about that.

We looked at 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 7 and we spent quite some time asking and answering the question, what qualifies someone to be a faithful pastor, elder, overseer, leader in God's house?

Well, assuming somebody meets the qualification, what does he do once he's in the work?

So again, I asked the question, what does a faithful pastor do? After nearly five years in pastoral ministry and about 15 as a

Bible teacher, I've come to realize that when you ask that question, there are a lot of answers that people will give you and the answers range, just to be brutally honest, from the good to the bad to the downright confusing.

Not every answer that people will give you to that question of what a faithful pastor does is a good answer.

And here's the thing, it may not come from a bad place, but my contention this morning is this, the priorities of a faithful leader are not set by culture, they are not set by an external body, they are not set by previous experience, they ought to be set by the

Word of God. So again, I asked that question, what does a faithful pastor do?

That's a highly important question and it's a good question, it's one that we should be willing to ask. We should ask that question, but we should ask that question provided that we want

God's answers to the question, not necessarily our own answers. Your answer might not be wrong, but the only way that we know that your answer or my answer or anybody's answer isn't wrong is, can we test it by the touchstone of God's Word?

Well, as we come to 1 Timothy 4, 11 -16 this morning, we're going to learn something of God's priorities for faithful leaders in His house.

You know, we are in this sermon series that we have entitled God's House Rules, God's House Rules, an exposition of 1

Timothy, and our goal with this series has been to kind of ask the question, what does God want from a church?

If this is His church, what are His rules for His church? If this is His house, which this letter says, the church is

God's house, well, if this is God's house, well, how does God want His house to be run?

That's what we've been thinking about as we've been in this series for the last few months now, and this morning we come to a passage that I think is going to help us in figuring out, especially when it comes to those who lead in God's house, what their priorities should be.

Just by way of reminder real quick, you'll remember that this whole section that we've been in in 1 Timothy that started back in chapter 3 verse 14, and we're actually going to finish this morning, this whole section has as its theme the need to restore gospel centrality to the church.

And on first glance, it may seem like these words that we're about to read don't really fill in with that theme.

Paul doesn't use the word gospel once in this passage. Paul doesn't give an explanation of the gospel like he did a couple of times in the previous text.

It may seem like we're moving on from that subject, but I'm going to put it to you that actually we're not moving from that subject at all.

Actually we're getting to a very pivotal part of what it is to be gospel -centered.

If the church is the church when it's gospel -centered, and if the church is called to guard that emphasis as we saw last week from distraction and from deviation, if that is true, then the question becomes what role do faithful leaders play in ensuring that the church stays gospel -centered?

What role do faithful leaders play in that work? That's what we're going to be thinking about this morning as we come to 1

Timothy chapter 4 verses 11 through 16. Here's my big idea for this message, very simple.

For God's house to stay gospel -centered, faithful leaders must be word -centered leaders.

For God's house to stay gospel -centered, faithful leaders must be word -centered leaders. Like I said, very simple concept, but as is often the case, just because something is simple to say doesn't mean that it is simple in and of itself.

You know what I mean when I say that? So for example, I'm going to see my doctor on Wednesday, it's my twice yearly checkup with my doctor.

My doctor can tell me, Kofi, you need to take X pills, okay?

That's a simple thing to say. When I wake up half groggy like I do most mornings, is it easy to forget even though that was a simple sentence,

Kofi, take your pills? Yes. Just because something is simple to say doesn't mean that it is always simple to do.

And for us to say that, well, for God's house to stay gospel -centered, faithful leaders must be word -centered leaders, that can be an easy thing to say, but I'm going to suggest that actually when you start to peel the layers of that onion, so to speak, when you start to turn the facets of that diamond, this whole business of being word -centered leaders actually can get difficult, controversial, it can get downright offensive, depending on what things you think should be a pastor's priority.

But this is where, thankfully, we have the Word of God, because if it were left to me or to any leader, faithful or otherwise, well, okay, that could always be subject to debate.

But if God has said it, at the very least, we should take pause and say, hmm, are my priorities in line with His priorities?

And so as we come to this passage, we're going to learn that gospel centrality is a kind of thing that can only happen when you have faithful leaders who are word -centered leaders.

To help us see that for the rest of our time, I want to consider three directives for gospel -centered, word -centered ministry that come right from our passage.

I want to consider three directives that will help us to assess faithful ministers.

How do we know when ministers are being faithful to the task that they have been called to? Well, I think this passage is going to help us in that endeavor, three directives for gospel -centered, word -centered ministry that will help us assess faithful ministers.

So how can faithful leaders play their important role in keeping God's house centered on the gospel?

Well, point number one this morning, they must exercise word -centered authority. They must exercise word -centered authority, verses 11 and 12.

Now, as you come to verse 11, verse 11 is something of a hinge verse. It's connecting what we just read in chapter 4, verses 1 through 10, and that rousing call to gospel centrality, it's connecting that to the section that we're about to start this morning.

So look at verse 11, Paul says, "...command and teach these things."

Well, what things? Well, the things he just told us in verses 6 through 10. Well, what did he say in verses 6 through 10?

Well, let's look at it real quickly. Just turn over. It might be the same page in your Bible. My Bible is over the page. First Timothy chapter 4, verses 6 through 10.

Remember what Paul said? Paul said, "...if you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed, but have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths.

Rather, train yourself in godliness, for the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. "...for this reason we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living

God, who is the Savior of all people, especially those who believe." Paul tells

Timothy that, "...in light of what I just told you, you are not just to hoard this information for yourself, you are to command and to teach these things."

Paul had called Timothy to keep the church centered on the message of Christ and Him crucified, but this wasn't going to be just Timothy's responsibility alone.

Yes, he was going to hear these things, but Timothy was to hear these things, turn around, and tell somebody else.

The church needed to be reminded of this emphasis, not just Timothy.

Just as Timothy was to set pace in, remember that second point from last week, if you were here, retaining and displaying confidence in the gospel, just as Timothy was to set pace in that.

Can I put it to you that all faithful leaders are called to set pace with that priority in any faithful church?

If I could put it another way, Timothy was being called to exercise authority through the ministry of the

Word. Please note how he's supposed to exercise his authority, he's to do so by commanding and by teaching.

The reality is leaders will lead their people somewhere. There is no leader,

I was about to say no good leader, but actually even bad leaders are leading you somewhere. They might be leading you to green postures and healthy church life, or they might be leading you to brown lawns and sick churches, but leaders will lead one way or another.

There's no such thing as somebody who has become popular to say, well, I'm not a leader, I'm just a servant in the church.

Okay, well, that is true, all of us who serve, we are servants, but even in serving, you're directing people somewhere.

Timothy tells Paul that he was to exercise his authority well and to exercise his authority appropriately so that the church would stay centered on the gospel.

The New Testament makes this point that authority is tied to gospel centrality in a few places.

One of my favorites is from my favorite passage in the New Testament, Titus 2 verse 15. Right after Paul tells

Titus, which is interesting, Titus is a very similar book to 1 Timothy. They're both not local church pastors in the classic sense, they're kind of interim pastors who've been parachuted in to put some things in order.

Titus is in another location, the island of Crete. And as he's there,

Paul says, Titus 2 verse 15, after giving a wonderful exposition of the grace of God shown in the gospel and the kind of life we should live as a result of that,

Paul says, Titus 2 verse 15, proclaim these things, encourage and rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you.

Interesting, sounds like he's saying exactly the same thing he just said to Timothy, maybe a little more expanded, but again, proclaim these things, encourage and rebuke with all authority, and let no one disregard you.

Paul says, for there to be the kind of gospel living, for there to be the kind of gospel centrality that I am calling you to, that's going to require you to proclaim some things, to encourage and rebuke where necessary.

And as you do this, let no one disregard you. If I can pause for a moment, we live in a culture where the idea of authority can make us nervous, especially when somebody else has authority.

Let's be honest, we don't mind when we have authority, we just don't like it when someone else does. Authority can make us nervous.

And yes, authority can be abused. I'm not going to say that it isn't. Of course, authority can be abused. But can

I say this to you? My pastor said this to me years ago, and it stuck with me. He said, brother, you have to get to the place where you view authority as a good gift from God.

That authority in and of itself is not a bad thing. Jonathan Lehman has written a book recently called

Authority, answering the question of what is biblical authority. And I love the way he puts this. He says that if you look at the great movements of the

Bible, creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, they actually give you a good way of looking at how authority works.

So in creation, God creates the world with authority. And it's good.

It's not a bad thing. Well, the fall happens, and what happens? Authority is now distorted by the fall.

So you have authority being good in creation. It's distorted in the fall. But here's the thing. In redemption, authority is not done away with.

It's restored. And nowhere better do you see that than in God's house.

Timothy was to exercise word -centered authority for the good of his people, not for his own good.

But here's the sad thing. That authority would meet with some challenge. So look at verse 12 to verse 11.

He says, come on and teach these things. Verse 12, don't let anyone despise your youth. Let me stop there.

Church history tells us that when Paul met Timothy, Timothy was more than likely in his early 20s.

So he's a young man. If that's true, and I have very little reason to argue with the church history on this point.

So if he's in his 20s, by the time we get to 1 Timothy, we're about 15 years removed from when he met

Paul, give or take. So let's say, let's go for the real low number. He's 20 when he meets

Paul. That would make him, what, 34, 35 at this stage? Definitely younger than Paul.

In fact, when we read 2 Timothy, one of the phrases he uses constantly for Timothy, it's very heartwarming and affectionate.

He calls him my son. Paul doesn't call everybody his son. But he does call this young man his son.

He was definitely younger than Paul. And I'm going to guess he was more than likely younger than a lot of the people he was encountering in Ephesus.

It's interesting. The word that's used for youth here in the ancient

Near East, it was used for people who were under, anybody actually, who was under the age of 40.

So again, that kind of tracks. If we say he's in his mid -30s, yeah, he would be considered young.

He would be considered in the season of youth. And so here is

Timothy, a younger minister, facing the challenge of leading folks.

And if any of you have ever been in leadership, you always know there are two types of people you lead. There are people who want to follow, and there are people who don't.

Whether it's as a parent, whether it's a husband, whether it's in the workplace, whether it's in a sports team, that you're always going to encounter some people who are really good at following leadership.

And then you'll encounter those folks who, yeah, let's just leave it there.

Timothy was being called to say some pointed things. Timothy was being called by Paul to go against the grain.

Remember the problem in the church in Ephesus? You've got these false teachers who are running around. I can imagine he didn't really want to listen to Timothy regardless.

He's saying things that are, catch this, culturally unwelcome. You can only imagine how those conversations would have gone.

Because let's think about it. When people who are in the wrong get called out, what do those people normally do?

Let's make this painfully personal for a moment. When you get confronted about something, what are you often tempted to do?

I would love to tell you, let me just, I'm just going to be open and transparent with you this morning. I would love to tell you that every time

I'm confronted, I'm like, oh, thank you. I needed to hear that. Appreciate it. I like to,

I'll be honest, I try to model that. But let's be honest.

Like, I have some days where I'm just like, I don't want to hear this right now. What are you tempted to do when you are confronted?

Do you want to dodge and evade? Do you want to find a weakness to take the other person down a peg? Well, I'm not going to let that person talk to me like that.

So I'm going to find the nearest weakness I can so that they can feel a little bit smaller. Do we minimize and blame shift?

Paul seems to know enough about this context to know the kind of response Timothy's going to get. If I can put it in modern terms, some of you would have heard this term before.

Paul tells Timothy, Timothy, you are going to get age -splained. Some of you know what that word means.

If you don't, allow me to help you. Age -splaining is the idea. It happens both older to younger, younger to older, where you kind of treat somebody or explain something to somebody in a condescending way because of their age.

Because note what Paul says. He says, don't let anyone despise your youth. The word for despise, despise is a pretty strong word.

And I think the CSB does a good job here. Because the idea of despising someone, it's looking down on them with contempt.

Actually, this word in the original language, it carries the idea of looking down on in contempt, of caring nothing for, literally being unmoved by the presence of someone.

Paul basically tells Timothy, as you do this, here's what's going to happen. And know that Timothy was probably already encountering this.

Timothy would say something that people didn't like and people would give him that proverbial shrug of the shoulder and say, whatever, kid.

Now, to be fair, there are some commentators, to be honest, who say, well, Timothy was maybe acting in ways that required

Paul to say what he says here. I don't buy that though. Not when you pay attention to what we're told about Timothy, not just in First Timothy, but in other places.

If you're taking notes, Philippians chapter two, verses 19 to 22, here's what Paul says about Timothy. Here's Timothy's job review, if you will.

Philippians chapter two, verses 19 to 22. Now, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. Oh, there's

Timothy being sent somewhere again. Now, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be encouraged by news about you.

Know what he says, verse 20. For I have no one else like -minded who will genuinely care about your interests or seek their own interests, but not those of Jesus Christ.

But you know his proven character because he has served with me in the gospel ministry like a son with a father.

With all due respect to those commentators, some of whom I love dearly and use their resources a lot, I can't square this idea that, granted,

Philippians is written earlier than First Timothy, okay, fine. So you could make the case, okay, well, he was there at that point, but I'm sorry, that just feels like you're tilting at windmills a little bit here.

I'm sorry, the picture we get of Timothy in the Bible is not an immature guy. Yes, read Second Timothy. He may have been timid at points, but he's not immature.

Think about it, Timothy sent, excuse me, Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus knowing who

Timothy was. If you read the book of Acts, Paul has no problem kicking people to the curb when they can't cut it.

So much so, remember Acts chapter, I believe it's 15. Remember Paul, he has a friend called

Barnabas. Barnabas had a cousin called Mark. Mark wasn't very reliable and Paul literally has none of it.

Like an NFL GM, cut him. Barnabas is like, what do you mean? This is my cousin.

He's like, I don't care, cut him. So much so, what does the text say? That they parted ways. Does Paul, excuse me, strike you as the kind of person who would put somebody in a position of ministry who he didn't feel was qualified?

I put it to you that, catch this, Timothy's youth wasn't a problem for Paul. It was a problem for his audience.

And Paul says, listen, you're going to encounter this, but your response is don't let people look down on you.

Don't let people treat you with contempt on the basis of how old you are. If I can get personal once again for a moment,

I can tell you right now, people ask me all the time. I've started teaching the Bible when I was 18 years old. And I've had people ask me, would you recommend that to somebody else?

And I've had days I've had to tell people, I don't know if I would. Not because I don't think that 18 year olds are, okay, granted,

I was not very good as an 18 year old. God was very gracious and put good people in my life. So I'm not saying I was great at 18.

I really wasn't. But if I've learned anything, is that sometimes youth and service are not always a good mix.

As a young pastor and as a young preacher, I know exactly what it is to be looked down on because you're young. I know exactly what it is to try and point people to, hey, this is what we should be doing in light of God's word.

And people to kind of shrug their shoulders and say, he's a kid, he doesn't get it. Nevermind you have the

Bible and church history and all that good stuff on your side. I mean, yeah, minor details, minor details.

You're a kid, what do you know? That's what people tell me. You can't tell me that.

I've been a Christian longer than you. Okay, true story.

Someone actually has someone tell me this. Actually, this is gonna be a mixture of a few people over the years. You say something from God's word, it's pointed.

It doesn't exactly land on a bed of feathers nice and easy.

And you get people who come up to you. Oh, sure, you can say that now. When I was really young, it was wait until you have a job, but you get a job.

Okay, did that. Then it started to be, well, wait until you get the right job. I have one person tell me, you can't tell me how to behave at work.

You sit behind the desk all day. I work out in the real world. I said, yeah, when the tax man takes my money, it's a real job.

That went on for a while. And then it was, oh, you say that now. Wait until you get married. My rule, all that you being overly passionate, marriage will straighten you out.

Well, I got married. And then the goalpost shifted again. Wait until you have kids.

Well, fast forward, and I have two of them. I've actually had a few folks tell me, well, wait until you have grandkids.

That will tempt you. It's like, are we going to shift the goalpost to the planet

Mars at some point? And I'll be honest, younger me used to get really mad and annoyed by that.

Like when I was young, it used to be just please stop talking. Like Proverbs says, like a fool is considered wise as long as he doesn't open his mouth.

I thought you were smart. Please stop. Slightly yet less younger me has had to learn, you know what?

Kofi, you're not the first person to encounter this. You're not going to be the last either. Reality is a lot of times people will use stuff like that as a coping mechanism.

They're convicted by what you've had to say. And here's the thing, that doesn't necessarily have to apply just age.

Sometimes it's just, man, what he said, that hit way too close to home. I've got to take him down a peg. It's a coping mechanism.

But I've gained a lot of encouragement from the words of Paul in this passage. Yes, people will despise your youth.

Yes, if he tells them don't let people do it, that's not going to stop people from doing it. Like saying, don't step on the grass.

When has that ever stopped anyone? But here's where I get the comfort from because Paul says, there is a way you can kind of counteract that though.

You're not at the mercy of these people who are going to dismiss you because of your age. Because notice what he says. He says, don't let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers.

What was Timothy supposed to do? Argue back? Well, that never works. Was he supposed to get kind of firm?

Yell, shout and intimidate? Actually, think about that. Arguing back, getting firm, yelling, shouting and intimidate.

Wouldn't that just play into their hands? How was Timothy going to exercise his authority when his authority was being rejected by some?

Can I put it to you like this? Timothy wasn't going to out -bark them. He wasn't going to out -muscle them.

Paul tells Timothy essentially, I actually heard this from a pastor. Dr. Alex Montoya used to teach preaching at the

Master's Seminary. He said that when he first started in ministry, he, again, younger man, he's kind of being ignored by people.

And he finally got to a place where he had to tell himself, if I'm here long enough and I'm here faithful, if the Lord keeps me faithful long enough,

I will bury all of these people. Now, granted, if you've ever heard

Alex Montoya, he's from South Central LA and sounds like it. But I think there's an element of truth to what he says.

Timothy wasn't to out -bark them or out -muscle them. He was to outlive them. Paul doesn't say accept their behavior because it's not humility, by the way, to accept poor arguments just because somebody older made them.

No, Paul says to Timothy, you are to show yourself to be more mature than them by setting an example worth following.

Actually, this whole idea of spiritual leadership and example, this isn't foreign to the New Testament. So Paul can say in Titus 2 .7,

in everything, make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching.

First Peter 5 .3, where Peter gives this exhortation to elders. He says, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

How do godly leaders exercise word -centered authority? They exercise it by their words and by their example.

Their words and their example, not their age bracket, not their life experience, not their financial bracket or any other worldly metric we may use.

And how was Timothy to set this example? Well, again, look at verse 12. He says, set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

So in speech, how he would speak both publicly and privately. He was to be a man of the truth and also a man of consistency, both in public and in private.

In terms of his conduct, his way of life, the way he carried himself. He's to be an example in love, in self -sacrifice for the flock committed to him.

An example in faith, both his own subjective faith towards God and his own commitment to the faith, the body of truths that have been revealed to God's people.

And finally, he's to be an example in purity, in staying away from corrupting influences, whether it's in his life or in his teaching.

Timothy was to exercise word -centered authority in both his words and in his example.

And again, this is not for his own good. It's for the good of God's people.

And here's the thing. This is what I've had to learn. You may think, okay, Kofi, well, how have you learned to cope with this? Well, simple. I've had to learn that just because you try to live in this kind of way, will this always change people's minds?

Nah. Doesn't mean that people will get on board with what you have to say. Nope. But it does mean that you are living in the kind of way that honors, quite frankly, the only person who ultimately matters.

Godly leaders are called to exercise word -centered authority in the church.

Before I leave this point, just a practical note for a second. Whether it's in this church or any other church, the

Lord may place you in the future. Can I encourage you that where you have leaders who are being faithful in word and faithful in example, submit to those leaders?

If I can say this on the behalf of other pastors, please don't make their lives more of a misery than sometimes their lives already are.

Are they going to be perfect? No. In fact, we'll talk about that later on in the message. But that's not really the issue. The issue is, are they being faithful in their word and in their example?

If they do, that gives them, I almost gave this point the title, exercise moral authority.

You know that phrase, moral authority? It's the kind of authority that comes from you living in the kind of way that people can't argue with what you have to say.

If a faithful leader exercises his ministry in word and in example, in keeping with the

Scriptures and in keeping the gospel central, submit to that authority. Timothy wants to exercise word -centered authority.

That's the first directive we learn in this passage. Faithful leaders exercise word -centered authority.

But there's a second directive in our passage, comes to us in verses 13 and 14. So yes, he is to exercise word -centered authority, but secondly, he was to commit to word -centered proclamation.

He was to commit to word -centered proclamation, verses 13 and 14.

So Paul shifts from Timothy's exercise of authority to his public ministry as he comes to verses 13 and 14.

Paul had already told Timothy that he was planning to join him in Ephesus at some point. Remember that chapter 3, verse 14?

Says, I'm writing these things, hoping to come to you soon, but in case I'm delayed, I'm writing to you.

But until Paul would arrive, what was Timothy supposed to do?

What was supposed to be the bread and butter, the nuts and bolts of his ministry until Paul would arrive?

Paul's called to Timothy like all good ministry. Did you notice that when we read verse 13? In fact, let's read it. It says, until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.

Can I put it to you that the things that Paul calls Timothy to engage in, the things that Paul calls

Timothy to do are radically ordinary?

I mean, on the surface, it doesn't seem like much. Public reading, exhortation, and teaching.

If Paul were writing this in 2025, I imagine some church -goers gurus say, Paul, where's the strategic plan?

Where's the vision statement? Where's the advertising campaign? When I worked at an agency,

I got introduced to a three -letter acronym, KPI, key performance indicators. Where are they,

Paul? Where are the things you're supposed to look at? This seems kind of basic, but might

I suggest that's entirely the point. I often wonder when ministry got so complicated.

When you read the New Testament, ministry seems to be really simple. I can't remember who it was

I heard say years ago. I'm not sure if even the person was necessarily the most, like, trustworthy person to say this, but I heard someone say years ago, the

Bible is really simple, it requires a theologian to mess it up. And I often feel the same way about ministry sometimes.

Ministry is really simple. It just takes other people to mess it up. Can I put it to you that Paul's emphasis to Timothy is this, that, excuse me, public ministry is very simply word ministry.

Faithful ministry is word ministry. All three things that Paul mentions here, public reading, exaltation, and teaching, they are all connected by one, being related to the

Word of God, and two, by being public in nature. And do you know the phrase that Paul uses,

Paul says here in verse 13, until I come, give your attention. Unlike the fourth, if you've been paying attention to verse

Timothy, this language of paying attention has come up before. So remember, first Timothy 1 .4,

Paul says that Timothy's instructs certain people not to teach false doctrine, or verse four, to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies.

Chapter four, verse one, we looked at last week. Remember he said that there will be people who depart from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.

Paul says you can pay attention to myths and false teachings, or Timothy, you can pay attention to the things that actually matter.

As God's people came together, Timothy was to lead them in some very particular things.

First of all, he was to lead them in the public reading of Scripture, the public reading of Scripture. The word that's translated public reading in the

CSB is just the word for reading. However, in the world of the New Testament, this word was used for when things like wills were read, public announcements were read.

In fact, it's used for readings in the synagogue when the Old Testament was read. So that's why most of your translations will have something along the lines of public reading or the public reading of Scripture.

And this wasn't a new practice in the world of the New Testament. All the way from the beginning, God's people have done this.

So Moses writes or receives the law from God, and he reads it to the people, we're told in Deuteronomy.

The exiles come back from the exile, Nehemiah chapter eight, and Ezra leads the people in the reading and explanation of the law of God.

In fact, Paul alludes to this in the New Testament. So 2 Corinthians 3, he talks about the fact that at the reading of the

Old Testament, of the Old Covenant, excuse me. In fact, he'll say in the next verse that in every place Moses is read.

Not only that, the apostles themselves asked that their letters would be read publicly.

So 1 Thessalonians 5 .27, Paul says, I charge you by the

Lord that this letter, what we know as 1 Thessalonians, that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters.

Paul says about the letters of the Colossians, after this letter has been read at your gathering, have it also read in the church of the

Laodiceans, and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. There's some debate what the letter from Laodicea is.

I personally think that was actually the letter to the Ephesians. You can come and ask me why I hold that another time. My point is,

Old Testament and New Testament, one of the things that is given priority in the public gathering of God's people is the reading of the

Scriptures. I don't have time. On Wednesday night, you can ask me for this quote.

I'll give it to you. There's a quote from the early church father, Justin Martyr. And Justin Martyr is describing a early church worship service.

And it's interesting, the first thing he says about what they did when they came together was that, as he puts it, the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read.

It's a weird thing. I've talked about this before, but I'm going to talk about it again. Isn't it weird when we say in our churches, oh, we believe the

Bible is the word of God. We want everything to be centered on the word of God. And yet the word of God is noticeable by its absence.

Even in just being read without commentary or without, but just it being publicly read.

I think it's a tragedy, personally, when that's missing in the life of a church. Paul tells

Timothy, you are to pay attention to the public reading of the word.

But not only that, he's to pay attention to exhortation and teaching.

Those two words speak to two different aspects of the same task. In exhortation, there is this warning against error and an encouragement for people to live in line with the truth that they are hearing.

That's one side. The other side is teaching. Teaching is where there is explanation of the truth. And actually, you really can't have exhortation without teaching.

Teaching is the foundation upon which exhortation is given. Both of these come together,

I would argue, in the public preaching of the word of God. Yes, the scriptures must be read, but they must not only be read, they should be explained and we should be called to live in light of them.

R. Kent Hughes, a tremendous Bible teacher and pastor of many years, he's currently a professor at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia.

He has talked about what he calls the trend of de -exposition, of de -preaching.

That we are getting away in evangelical circles from the pointed, particular, faithful preaching of the word of God in favor of more generic encouragements.

We don't want to go too deep. You know, as I had someone tell me once, I just want to give people something they can use on Monday morning.

Paul would be very... I've often said Paul would be very confused by lots of things we do in church. He'd definitely be confused by that.

In fact, John Stott in his commentary says this, it was taken for granted from the beginning that Christian preaching would be expository preaching.

That is, all Christian instruction and exhortation would be drawn out of the passage which had been read.

This is what Paul calls Timothy to. And by extension, if he's calling Timothy to this, he calls all

Christian leaders to this. He calls all

Christian leaders to be committed to the proclamation of God's truth from God's word.

To bolster Timothy in this, Paul takes Timothy down memory lane. Look at verse 14. He says, don't neglect the gift that is in you.

It was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.

He essentially reminds Timothy, think back to when you were set apart for sacred service.

And he tells him in light of that, don't neglect the gift that is in you. I don't have the time to get into a full teaching about what spiritual gifts are.

Allow me to say this. I would argue from the New Testament, spiritual gifts are not special abilities. They are sacred assignments.

That the Bible understanding of a spiritual gift is not this supernatural ability that you have, but it's an assignment that God gives you and he empowers you to do that assignment.

Paul essentially tells Timothy, remember the assignment that has been given to you. That's why he points him back to his ordination.

It was given to you through prophecy. There was a direct word from the Lord that backed Timothy's ministry assignment.

And this ministry assignment wasn't just given, you know, behind closed doors, just, you know, hey, you know,

Paul didn't just go up to Timothy and say, hey, you know, I think you'd be great at this. No, notice what he says.

He says it was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.

There was public affirmation by those who are already in the work that Timothy was coming alongside them and joining them in it.

And in light of that assignment and in light of what happened at that moment when Timothy was set apart, Paul says, don't neglect this.

I would argue that the gift or the assignment he's referring to is this work of the proclamation of the scriptures, the reading of the scriptures, and exhortation from those scriptures.

Now we may say, okay, well, in that case, isn't that unique to Timothy? Well, here's the thing. While the circumstances by which men landing gospel ministry may differ, the task doesn't change.

The task stays the same. Second Timothy four, preach the word.

The faithful leader recognizes that he is first and foremost, a servant of the word. That's his primary work.

Again, not his exclusive work. But can I put it to you that that's the cornerstone.

That's the piece that sets pace for everything else. He's not an organizer.

He's not a community figure. He's not a political activist, right or left. He is first and foremost, a preacher of God's truth.

If I can pause once again. If a man is called to this work, if a man is called to this labor, and I think we can agree from this passage that all men who are called to gospel ministry in some way, shape or form are called to this.

If all men are, of all men who are called to gospel ministry are called to this work. And Paul says they are to, tells

Timothy, excuse me, that they are to pay attention to this. Then can we agree it's an act of disobedience when a man says,

I'm no longer going to pay attention to this. I'm going to pay attention to something else. It may be a perfectly good thing.

It may be a outwardly commendable thing. People may even clap and applaud that he does that. But in the eyes of the court of heaven, that man is ruled unfaithful.

This is the metric by which we examine whether someone is being faithful. They exercise their authority well, and they commit to word -centered proclamation.

This was to be Timothy's mission. This is a big one in, this is a big mission in any sense, and especially difficult in this context.

But the question becomes, if that's the case, what would ground Timothy in this work? Clearly times were going to get tough.

People were going to be dismissive. How would Timothy stay rooted and grounded in this work?

That's what the third directive in our passage is for. So if Timothy was to exercise word -driven authority, and if he was to commit to word -centered proclamation, that was going to require point number three this morning, that he pursue word -centered spirituality.

That he pursue word -centered spirituality, verses 15 and 16. In the face of all the distractions that he would face in Timothy, in Ephesus, excuse me,

Paul concludes with a final exhortation for Timothy to essentially hold the line and to stay the course.

So look at verse 15. He says, Practice these things, be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all.

Timothy was not to treat ministry as just a job, fulfilling functions and completing tasks for tasks sake.

Timothy's work, catch this, was spiritual work, and that required a spiritual outlook.

And there's two parts to the spiritual outlook. Firstly, he was to pursue a committed spirituality, a committed spirituality, verse 15.

So again, the way he says, he says, Practice these things, be committed to them.

A faithful leader is one who does his work. He practices the things that he's commanded by Scripture to do.

But Paul doesn't just say, Practice these things. He also says, do you see that there, verse 15?

Practice these things, be committed to them. Most of our

Bible translations don't really know how to translate this, and it's not because they're bad translations, it's just because Paul says something that on the surface is kind of weird.

He literally says, Be in them, that's it. Well, what on earth does that mean?

Well, the idea is to be absorbed with them. I think there is actually a translation that says,

Be consumed with these things. Timothy wasn't just to treat, catch this,

Timothy wasn't to treat the ministry of the Word as just a thing he did. He was to treat it as the thing he did.

He was to be consumed by his Word work. And he was to do this unswayed and undistracted.

It's interesting, you read Paul's letters, like I told you, you read the New Testament, ministry is really not that difficult.

Well, let me rewrite that. What we're expected to do in ministry is not that difficult.

Execution is a whole other thing. But it's interesting, when you read Paul, Paul seems to think that Word ministry is the heart of faithful ministry.

That's what it is. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking that Paul almost has no other place for other parts of ministry.

Because you read Paul's letters, especially these letters, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, these ones he's writing specifically dealing with church issues.

This seems to be the only thing he talks about. It's not, well, it seems to be, it's not the only thing he talks about.

But he seems to be really fixated on this. It's become popular in recent years.

I've heard people, including people I love and respect, I've heard people say, well, there is preaching and Word ministry over here, and there is shepherding over here.

Have you heard that distinction before? Can I tell you why that distinction, quite frankly, makes no sense? No, actually, let me pause, let me pause.

Let me not be too harsh. Break the habit of a lifetime. There is a sense in which,

I've said before, I haven't said it in a while, so actually, let me say it while I have a chance. If you're a narcissist, the pulpit's a great place.

Think about it. You get one hour a week. If you're me, you steal a few extra minutes here and there.

But you get at least an hour a week where people have to listen to you talk with very little interruption.

If you're a narcissist, I have to imagine you would love that. So is it quite possible to stand in front of people and to preach, and to preach well, in fact, and yet not have a heart for the people you're preaching to?

Of course it is. Let's not pretend that that happens.

However, might I suggest that I think at times we make this distinction, this is just my personal opinion, having read lots and lots and lots of people who make this distinction, that at times we make this distinction because if we're really honest, we don't think that the public ministry of the word is where the real stuff of ministry happens.

Now, let's be clear. There is a private aspect to ministry. There is a personal aspect to ministry, of course.

In fact, when we get to chapter five, which we'll start next week, Paul starts to deal with some of those more personal and one -on -one issues.

But here's the thing. The engine that drives that is not the private ministry. It's the public ministry.

Paul essentially tells Timothy that Timothy would be most effective in his work in this church as he devoted himself to that public ministry of the work of the word.

So like I said, I think quite frankly, this idea that there's word work over here, and then there's the real stuff of ministry over here, it just doesn't hold.

That's why Paul can say, practice these things and be absorbed by them, be in them.

And why should he be in them? Verse 15, so that your progress may be evident to all.

You know, one of my favorite words in ministry, the word progress. Why is progress one of your favorite words,

Kofi? Because progress implies you've not made it yet. Progress implies that you are closer to a goal, but you're not quite there yet.

It's almost as though when you hear that word, you're supposed to think, yeah, this person, we have a phrase in the

English language, we say somebody is a work in progress. Timothy was mature in the faith, yet this mature

Timothy still had room to grow. I mean, Kofi, where are you going with this?

Real simple. Can I put it to you that all spiritual leaders are works in progress? And I say that because I know some of you have been in ministry before, you've encountered this.

There are times when people think in ministry, you are the finished product and they treat you as such. You can't make a mistake.

You can't get things wrong. You can't even sin like everyone else. There's a sense in which you can't. Let me not overstate the case too much.

But there's, like I said, I've encountered this firsthand. You make a mistake, oh, and people are heavy with you. They expect you to be kind with them.

Brad, you're a pastor. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Their mistake counts for one.

Your mistake counts for 10. That doesn't work. Well, Brad said 20. Actually, I might go with him on that one.

It depends who you talk to. Can I pause for a moment?

Do you know what kind of culture promotes the idea that pastors make progress? A gospel culture.

When people understand the grace of God, when they understand that God has been gracious and kind to you, that even when you mess up,

I mean, granted, you might think you don't mess up. That's a lie. You do. That even when you mess up,

God is gracious with you, that God is working on you. It's the kind of culture that understands that, that enables leaders to make progress.

It's the kind of culture that understands that, that allows, that when people are, I can't remember who was used to say this, but there was a preacher

I used to listen to a lot, he used to say that he was thankful for the evidences of grace in the lives of his people.

When you have that kind of culture in a church, well, you know what? These people may not be where they should be. Here's a pastor that might have things he needs to work on, but I'm thankful for where he is.

That's the kind of culture where a gospel minister can make progress. Quite frankly,

I've come to the conclusion that when you encounter people who treat their pastors as basically employees, that they are basically accountable to you, which there's a sense in which, as a leader,

I'm accountable to you, but there's also a sense in which that can be taken very unhealthily. My pastor used to say to our church, brothers and sisters,

I serve you, but I don't work for you. Because I work for the Lord Jesus. He has asked me to serve this body.

That's a good distinction. And it's when you understand that in a church where the gospel has not just permeated the minds of people, but it's permeated the hearts and the culture of the place, you're able to allow a minister to make progress.

He's got things to learn, but I'm thankful for what he does do. After all, it's in a gospel culture where you recognize that there's only one perfect and righteous one.

Which means that even the best leaders are going to be showing progress. I would like to hope, not many of you have been here since our church started.

I would like to hope that I'm not the same person I was back in 2019 when I came here, or even in 2021 when

I became the pastor here. I would like to hope there's been some growth. Answers on a postcard.

The reality is progress happens in an environment where we understand we are all hoping anyway to make progress.

This is the hallmark of a committed spirituality. But Timothy wasn't to be marked by just a committed spirituality.

One more and we're done. He was to be marked by a consistent spirituality. He was to be marked by a consistent spirituality.

The verse 16, pay close attention to your life and your teaching. Persevering these things for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Paul essentially tells Timothy, Timothy, don't just do the public stuff of ministry, important as that is, but pay close attention to the private things that nobody but God will see.

As Timothy watched both himself and his teaching, both of those in balance, not one to the neglect of the other.

As Timothy watched his life and his teaching, the Lord would use that private work that he would do in the presence of the

Lord that nobody would see. The Lord would use that to bring both Timothy and his hearers to greater likeness to Jesus.

You might have been tripped up by the fact that he says that doing this, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Well, it depends on how you use the word save.

The word save in the Bible has all different kinds of meanings. I would argue that the sense that's in view here is this idea of sanctification, that salvation from the ongoing power of sin.

As Timothy worked in watching his life and watching his teaching in private, the

Lord would use that private work in his public ministry so that those who sat under his ministry would grow in likeness to Jesus.

Timothy's personal discipline would be the tool that the Spirit used in the life of his hearers to their blessing.

And so Paul says, pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. And again, he doesn't say pay attention to one, to the neglect of the other.

So you can't just say, well, I'm going to focus on life to the neglect of teaching. Well, what foundation do you have for pursuing a godly life outside of the teaching of God's word?

But neither can we say, I'm going to focus on just teaching and neglect your life.

We've seen that even in our theological camp in recent months. The answer is not pick one and neglect the other.

It's pick both. And it's in pursuing this kind of spiritual life that Timothy would be effective in keeping the gospel central in the life of the church.

And by extension, every faithful leader will be effective in keeping the gospel central in the life of a church when they pursue these things.

It's as we understand this, as we allow the word of God to shape how we recognize shepherds, it's in this way that we'll be able to recognize shepherds, catch this, who are a reflection of the great shepherd, who are a reflection of the one who was fully devoted to God and His work, who are a reflection of the word who proclaimed the truth without compromise, who are a reflection of the servant whose life was one of perfect obedience to God, who are a reflection of the great sacrifice whose life and death brings us salvation.

Listen, I can't bring you salvation in the way that Jesus does, but praise God, Jesus does. Ultimately, a church where you have leaders who have word -centered priorities, where you have those, you're going to see the ministry of the great shepherd in full effect.

Let's pray together. And our Father, as we come to these words and we are reminded of the need for word -centered priorities in the life of the church, in the life of ministry,

Father, we thank you that it's your gospel that fuels all of this. It's the good news of Christ who is given for us, and a

Christ who is more than sufficient for every failing and every moment where we don't quite do what we should do.

We thank you that it is that that motivates this kind of word -centered ministry. Father, I imagine for most of the folks this morning, the temptation may be to say, well,

I'm not a pastor, this doesn't apply to me. But actually it applies to all of us because this is the kind of, it takes a specific kind of body to do this.

So Father, help us to be that kind of body. Help us to cultivate the kind of gospel culture that makes this kind of ministry thrive and flourish.

Father, be with us as we come before your table now. We ask you in Jesus' name and for his sake.