1 Timothy 4:6-11

Those are important questions - the answers to which, or at least part of the answers to which, are the subject of the verses before us this morning and, Lord willing, next Sunday morning as we continue with our study of Paul's first letter to Timothy. The Ephesian congregation, whose pastor Paul has been addressing throughout this letter, desperately needed an answer to these questions. They needed an answer because they had been confronted with a number of different "models" of ministry as they observed various people operating in their midst - some of them being those who would receive Paul's "seal of approval" and others, and seemingly many others, being those whom Paul would say were false teachers and blind guides and liars and hypocrites. They had all sorts of unhelpful examples; they needed some good ones.

So, as part of his ongoing agenda in this letter to encourage Timothy by promoting the good order and functioning of the church, and after saying some things already about false teachers in this chapter, Paul takes some time at this stage to talk to Timothy - and through him to the Ephesian congregation as a whole - on just what it will mean for him to be considered a true, faithful minister of the Gospel. To be sure, we have had hints and suggestions of these things before now in the letter - but here we have a somewhat more direct and focused treatment of the subject.

Now, as we begin let me just say that while one could really look at this whole section in one piece, we are not going to do that. In other words, you could preach all of chapter 4 as a unit, or you could preach verses 6-16 as a complete unit - and you would be right to do that. However, because there is so much good stuff in here, and because I think you guys would probably prefer two or three shorter sermons rather than one really long one (no applause or high fives please) but because of that we are going to look at a smaller section. So, for our purposes we will only be looking at verses 6-11 this morning and, hopefully, we will pick up the remaining verses next week. Before we give our attention to that, let's pause now to pray and then read the passage together.

(pray then read 1 Timothy 4:6-11)

As was said in the introduction, in the midst of so many unhelpful models of leadership and teaching, Paul wants to make sure in this letter that he not only directly addresses the matter of false teachers and false teaching BUT HE ALSO wants to positively and directly talk about what it means to be a good, true leader of God's people and a faithful teacher in Christ's Church.

Timothy certainly needs this sort of reminder and encouragement from Paul, for all sorts of reasons. He needs it because, for one thing, the ministry of the false teachers was, apparently, having some "success," at least in terms of its ability to generate some kind of following. People were latching on to these teachers who were going around, as we saw last week, forbidding things like marriage and telling people that certain foods were off limits - and who knows what else they were saying.

But people were listening TO and going AFTER these false teachers. Their rule-based and moralistic teaching was the kind that appealed to people's baser instincts. Their mis-use of the law - which we saw in chapter 1 - appealed to peoples' desire to manage God and to manage their spirituality so that God was put into their debt or was somehow beholding to them. It appealed to their pride and vanity. It appealed to their idolatrous tendencies and simply their plain laziness - desiring an approach to God that did not require the investment of themselves in an on-going, self-sacrificing, dying-to-self sort of way. No, the approach that so many people wanted, and still want today, is one that wants to compartmentalize and tame and domesticate God. So, for these and other reasons, surely, the efforts of the false teachers were attracting a following - and Timothy needed encouragement in the face of that to not be distracted from the message and the method passed on to him by Paul.

So, regardless of what the false teachers were saying and doing, and regardless of how many people chased after them. Paul says to Timothy, "If you put these things before the brothers you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus...." In context, what does Paul mean by the words "these things"? What things is he talking about?

Well, most immediately, we see in verse 5 that Paul talks there about "the word of God and prayer" and in verses 3 and 4 he summarizes some truths about creation that are derived from the word of God. Skipping down to some things Paul is going to say later on in this chapter - in verse 13 - we see there that he talks about Timothy devoting himself to "the Scriptures " and to teaching and preaching the same. And we could go to a number of other places in Paul's letters but it seems fairly clear that the "things" that Paul wants Timothy to put before the people of God are the truths of God's revealed Word - given through his prophets and apostles.

As we saw last week, and indeed, the week before as well, it is not just bare truth that Paul wants Timothy to put before them - as if he was just reeling off information from some sort of spiritual encyclopedia - but it was truth that centered upon a person - the living God - and upon what that living God has done through his Son to bring us into a reconciled relationship with Him. In short, it is truth that always comes to us "filtered", as it were, through the "lens" of the Gospel.

These are the sorts of things that Timothy is to put before the people of God if he is to be a faithful minister and a good servant of Christ Jesus. Further, they are the things which he must not only put before them but which he must continually set before himself, if he is to grow in godliness and train himself in that - and if he expects the same of his people.

Again, as Paul says in verse 6, in the ESV, "If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed .......Have nothing to do", says Paul, "...with irreverent, silly myths. Rather TRAIN yourself for godliness....

Paul shows by his language here that he sees the preaching and teaching of God's revealed truth - centered upon the Gospel - as crucial to Timothy's being a faithful minister and as the central component in training a person for godliness.

Now, at this point in the text Paul introduces some language and ideas that seem to come into the discussion from left field - talking about physical training or bodily training. And of course, we have to always remember that this is a personal letter from Paul to Timothy. As such, we ought not be at all surprised that Paul might make allusions and references to things, from time to time, that he doesn't bother to explain, but which he is quite certain Timothy will understand - like this reference.

One might wonder why Paul uses the example of physical training or bodily training here. And, while we cannot say for certain, it may well be that Paul uses this particular example with Timothy because it was something that was important to Timothy. We know that Timothy grew up in a Greek city - and thus would have been quite familiar with that country's great emphasis upon sport and in particular upon the Greek games which we celebrate today as the "Olympic Games". We know that Timothy was still a young man at the time of this letter. And although Timothy seems to have had a nervous stomach, we also know that he must have been a very brave and competent young man to have been in the situations to which Paul sent him. Further, we know from later on in this letter that Timothy was a man who was given to a certain kind of asceticism - only drinking water - which Paul addresses in chapter 5, advising him that he should stop only drinking water but should also include some wine in his diet - because of his stomach.

Anyway, when you put all the pieces together, what emerges is the very strong possibility that Timothy was a young man who had adopted some of the ascetic practices and tendencies common to the culture of his day, and thus was careful or disciplined about what he ate and drank - perhaps too careful.

So, Paul addresses Timothy as one who valued physical or bodily discipline - admitting that these things do have some value and importance - but then qualifying those statements by saying that while these things are useful, they are not all important. They are good things, but they are not ultimately as important as other things - like the pursuit and practice of godliness. And if pursuing such things as mere physical discipline has value in this life and in this world, how much more valuable is it to pursue that which has value in both this life, and the life to come? As a result, if Timothy is known for any sort of discipline or training in his life, he ought to be known, first and foremost, for his disciplined pursuit of godliness by means of his devoted attention to the Scriptures.

Now, we will see more clearly next week that Paul's expectation for Timothy is not merely a devoted attention to absorbing and proclaiming the truth of God but includes his expectation that Timothy will live out the truths he is proclaiming. The two go hand in hand and form the core of Paul's prescription for faithful ministry. However, at this point, and for our purposes this morning, we are only focusing on the first part of that prescription - Timothy's commitment to faithfully and continually place before the people of God - and himself - the truths of God handed on to him - and centered upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As always, we should pause to consider a number of implications that we can draw from Paul's words to Timothy here concerning what faithful ministry is all about.

For starters, Paul's words have a lot to say to us about how we evaluate and think about ministry. There is a book that has been written fairly recently, which I have not yet read, but I am planning to read, simply because I love the title - "Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome". While I don't know for sure, I would be willing to bet that one of the things that gets discussed in that book is this very passage - and if it isn't, then it should be.

Because, while the current means of evaluating ministries in our day is typically very "results" driven - and a very select set of results at that - Paul shows that his criteria for such things would be very different. For Paul, the determination that one was a "good minister" of Christ Jesus was largely tied to whether or not one had been faithful to guard and proclaim and practice the Gospel-centered truths that you had received. If one had been faithful to do this, then that was what faithful ministry - at its core - was all about.

Now was Paul unconcerned about things like "results"? Of course not. But the reality of the situation was this: Paul actually believed that the truth of God was sufficient and was powerful and effective. He actually believed that if he, and those whom he discipled, like Timothy, would faithfully put "these things" before God's people - day in and day out - that they would, to borrow language from the prophets, "not return to God, void" - i.e., they would be used of God to accomplish great things, eternal things, lasting things.

That is not to say that what happens will be glamorous or exciting or noteworthy in the world's eyes. It very well may not be. On one occasion the faithful proclamation and application of God's truth might result in revival, visible growth and expansion, and enthusiastic responses. At other times and in other contexts, the identical sort of ministry might result in people being stood up before firing squads or thrown into some cold, dark prison to die a slow, ignominious death. Of course, those are extremes and the truth is that, for most of Christendom, what happens lies somewhere in between. But the reality is that the same truth that scandalizes one person will comfort and encourage 10 others - and vice versa. That's the nature of ministry that is "good" and "faithful" and "successful" by biblical standards. That's the nature of ministry that is faithful to put before people God's revealed truth - centered upon the truth of the Gospel.

While having this sort of mindset about ministry - i.e., focusing on faithfulness rather than results - while having that sort of mindset can be scary and uncertain at times, at the end of the day it is the only way forward.

To be sure, one could adopt the world's perspective and worldly methods - and have a better than average chance of drawing large crowds and amassing other indicators that spell "success" by worldly standards. But to take such an approach is to be like the person who thinks only in terms of this world and not the next. Will all one's efforts and will the seeming "success" of that sort of ministry actually be shown to be of any ultimate, eternal significance? Or will it be like a person who chooses to devote all her time to physical training, and neglects training in godliness - only to discover that when this life is over she is ill-prepared, or perhaps not prepared at all for the next?

The question we must ask ourselves is: Will we adopt the message and method of the Apostles, or will we, in our pride and impatience, abandon such things, thinking that we can perhaps get to the same place by adopting some other way or some better "method"? The issue is, you see, do we actually believe, and does our message and method of ministry show that we believe - in the sufficiency of Christ - who is revealed to us by means of an all sufficient Bible? Or does our message and method reveal that our trust and confidence lies in other things?

Friends we cannot and must not look to some other message or method! These things - the things that Paul speaks of here - are the DNA of Christian ministry - and if you start with the right DNA - you end up with the right result. But if you alter that DNA then you ultimately end up with something else - external appearances notwithstanding.

The importance of this is further illustrated by looking at Paul's words near the end of this section, inverse 10. Paul writes, "....For to this end we toil and strive .... because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially those who believe." Now, don't get hung up on that phrase "especially those who believe". Paul has not become a universalist. He has not suddenly contradicted here what he has so clearly taught in other places about the fact that that not all will be saved. The word "all" here has the same sense as we saw in chapter 2 - meaning all without distinction, not all without exception. Further, the word translated as "especially" really has the sense of, "to be precise" or "in other words" and in my opinion ought to be translated in that way. But don't get so hung up on these things that you don't catch Paul's emphasis here. Right?

In the grand scheme of salvation, a crucial and necessary accompaniment to God's gracious and saving work - for which he alone can take credit - but a crucial indicator of the reality of God's saving work is the response of faith or believing in the heart made alive and new and rescued from its spiritual deadness.

In other words, believing, trusting, having faith are central to this whole thing that God is doing - and believing or having requires an object and, in fact, is only as good as its object. The saving of people involves faith, faith requires an object, the preaching and teaching of God's revealed truth points us to Jesus — who is the object of our faith. As Paul summarizes all this in Romans 10:

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they to call on him on whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?...And later Paul concludes, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

A second implication that follows on from the first one is that if "good", faithful ministry is centered upon putting and keeping "these things" - God's truth - before the people of God, then we need to not only make that a priority but to beep and guard and protect that as a priority.

There's another book out by John Piper, that I also have not yet read, but whose title I also love and am certainly planning on reading. The book is called, "Brothers, we are NOT professionals". And, like I said, I have no idea what this book is about, other than knowing that he has aimed his book at pastors.

But the title alone is making an important point. Pastors ARE not and OUGHT not to think of themselves as professionals. Indeed, one of the worst things that has happened to vocational ministry in the past few decades is that it has been increasingly "professionalized" - i.e., it has been increasingly viewed and approached using worldly ideas about what it means to be a professional minister - implying certain educational standards, implying the use of certain organizational methods and practices, implying the adoption of certain criteria of effectiveness, etc.

So pastors have been devoting themselves to becoming better managers, and writing better vision statements, and being better administrators, and becoming better negotiators and arbitrators and change agents - and the list goes on and on. In short, they have become increasingly distracted from what the bible says ought to be their primary work - and the church has suffered untold damage as a result. It is one of the chief reasons why the evangelical church in this country is so pathetically weak and ineffective.

If we are ever going to turn that situation around, it will only come through taking to heart the things that Paul says to Timothy here about what sort of emphasis he needs to have in his own life and ministry. As God's people, we need to make sure that the "Timothy's" that God has set among us - those who serve as elders among God's people - we need to make sure that these people make, and are allowed to make, prayer and the reading, study, preaching, and teaching of Scripture a priority.

Now, I know that for me to stand up here - as a pastor - and say these things all sounds terribly self-serving and, believe me, I would far rather have someone else up here- a guest preacher perhaps - saying these things. Not because I don't believe them - I do - but because it seems a little awkward. Nevertheless, the reality is that this is where we have gotten up to in our study of Timothy, I'm standing at the plate, this is the pitch I've been given - I'm swinging.

The reality is that making and valuing the ministry of the word and prayer has to be a priority not just for our pastors and elders - but for the whole church. If a congregation doesn't understand the significance of these things, or does not value them, then it doesn't matter what the pastor thinks because they will not allow him, by their expectations and demands and requests, to make and keep these things as a central priority. And, conversely, a congregation that does understand and value these things can serve to remind, and rebuke and sometimes reign in pastors and elders who lose their way and who have perhaps succumbed to the "professionalization" of the ministry, or who have drifted into other, secular models of ministry and have neglected the ministry of word and prayer.

One further, and final, implication we can gather from these verses is to see again the importance of having and maintaining an eternal perspective - to always try and think about things with the bigger picture in mind. Paul contrasts here physical training with training in godliness which is better because godliness, unlike physical training, has value in both this life and in the life to come. Now Paul isn't suggesting that we should give up looking after ourselves. He's talking about priorities here. He's talking about how kingdom values - like the pursuit of godliness - ought to be allowed to trump merely worldly things - like physical training - and how that is a one way street.

How different might things be if you and I would begin to really see ourselves as people who have already begun living forever. How different would things be if we were really learning to live in this world, with the thinking and values and perspective of the next one? Would we not view our relationships differently? Would we not view people differently - seeing them as either those who were heading toward a Christ-less eternity or those who were not? Would we not view our work differently - seeing it not as the means to our own ill-conceived ends - but as part of a much grander, far more beautiful tapestry than we could ever have come up with on our own? Would we not view our joys and successes differently? Would we not view our failures and sorrows differently?

How different would things be if we began to live right now with the values and perspectives that will be the sole preoccupation of all of God's people, in the life to come?

Wouldn't that be something?