1 Timothy 4          Message 25

Review –  We have studied Paul’s instructions about –

    1.  Commitment to right Doctrine                   

          The instructions were given in chapter 1:3-20

Paul then began to instruct Timothy in the – 

    2.  Conduct of the church.  1 Timothy 2:1-3:16

    3.  Calamity in the church  1 Timothy 4:1-5

    4.  Correction of the church.                  1 Timothy 4:6-16

We learned of –

      a.  Our Promise – the Word of God,  to –

        1).  Resolve to teach the truth

        2).  Reject the lies

        3).  Rejoice in the promises of God – knowing that –

           a).  The Lord is our satisfaction

       b).  The Lord is our Surety

       c).   The Lord is our Saviour.

We learned of –

      b.  Our Person, who we are?

        1).  The Plan

Be more than what others think you are.  Paul instructed Timothy to raise their expectations by being mature in the Lord.  He, even though young, could be an example to them all, young and old, not through acting, but by being mature –

        a).  “…in word

        b).  “…in conversation…”:  In lifestyle both public and private.

Timothy was to be open and approachable to the people.  This pattern would be –

        2).  Produced through charity, spirit, faith, and purity

We have learned of our promise and of our purpose, what we are to be.  Today we will look at the instructions for –

    c.  Our Practice, what we do? 

Paul commanded four actions in verses 13-16 that will, if we will heed them, protect us and keep us from stumbling in our walk and as Paul stated in chapter 3 –

“…that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

        1).  Attend to the Word of God

I am using the word ‘Attend’ in the same context as used in verse 13 “…give attendance…”  which translates to “keep on putting your mind on it”.

1 Timothy 4:13  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

          a).  Preparation of the hearers – “…reading…”

          b).  Proclamation to the hearers – “…exhortation…”  give understanding of the Scriptures, which naturally would lead to the application to lives, or the –

          c).  Practice of the hearers – what they are to do now with what they know.

We find the example given in both testaments of Scripture –

Nehemiah 8:6-8  And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

Luke 4:16-21  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

The Lord commanded us to follow this pattern –

Matthew 28:18-20  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Following this plan of the Lord, we are prepared by the reading, exhortation, and doctrine, we are to –

        2).  Attend to ministering to others –

1 Timothy 4:14  Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

The Lord is telling us through the Apostle Paul that we are to “neglect not…” that which God has set before us to do.  The direct translation helps us understand the commanding tone used in giving this instruction – we are to ‘not – not to care’.  When we find ourselves spending the hours of our days ‘not caring’ about God’s purpose for our lives, we are to stop that which is distracting us and turn back to our first priority!

You might respond “I am not a pastor, a preacher, an evangelist”.  I have a life to focus on!   You do have a life and it was purchased with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ”!  God has given every one of His children a responsibility, a service to perform unto Him –

1 Peter 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

We have been given the work of helping one another to know more about God each day and must heed the words of Paul –

1 Corinthians 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

And also as Solomon simply put it –

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…

We are to live an active life being a testimony for the Lord in everything that we do!

As we attend to ministering to others, we are to –

        3).  Attend to the wisdom of God, seeking understanding and grow from faith to faith. –

1 Timothy 4:15  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

        4).  Apply the study, service, and development of understanding and wisdom to your life each day because this is the only protection that we have from stumbling and destroying our testimony!

1 Timothy 4:16  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Important note: Paul is not writing about salvation when he tells Timothy that “…thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.”  He is warning of stumbling, falling down as a believer and destroying their testimony before men.  A believer is safe in Christ –

“…if any many be in Christ, he is a new creature…” and cannot fall ‘out of Christ’!  The believer’s security in salvation is confirmed many times by the Lord in His Word.  Paul is telling us how to “behave” ourselves

Conclusion –  The ultimate goal:

In this present time –

Spiritually

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Physically

If we are declared righteous by the Lord and are new creatures in Him, we cannot be righteous on the inside and wear rebellion on the outside.  This is just as bad as the Pharisees who were rebellious on the inside and wore righteousness on the outside.  The Lord condemned them for their hypocrisy.  We, the children of God, must have integrity – be the same throughout –

Ephesians 4:22-24   That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

And in the Future –

1 Corinthians 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Are you looking for that day when you will be with the Lord?  Are you sure that when you die, you will be with Him?