A Good Servant of Christ Jesus (Part 3 of 4)

When you're just getting started job. There's nothing like being able to sit down with the mentor someone who's older and wiser, more experienced today on Truth for Life.

Alastair Bragg describes the wise counsel young Timothy received from his mentor.

The apostle Paul. Alastair is titled today's message a good servant of Christ Jesus for 74 and verse 11 command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but said the believers. An example in speech and conduct, in love and faith, in purity until I come devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation to teaching. Do not neglect the gifts you have which was given you by the prophet say when the council of elders lay their hands on you practice these things immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. Amen.

What if someone had asked him if he if he could summarize Paul's exhortation to him.

In this particular chapter. I don't think there's much doubt but that he would have used the opening part. The first sentence. As we have it in English of their 16 namely Paul has been encouraging me to keep a close watch on myself and on my teaching. Or as JB Phillips paraphrases it. Keep a critical eye, both upon your own life and on the teaching you give or as many of us grew up learning it in our youth in the authorized version, or in the NIV watch your life and doctrine closely.

So in a sense we have come almost full cycle from where we began this again, this paragraph is another LDS paragraph is that tackling the issue of his life and his doctrine and all with a view to salvation and what he's done is he is given to Timothy.

What is a vital reminder not only for Timothy but for all the Timothy's that follow behind him. It's important, I think it helpful for us to acknowledge the fact that while this is a personal letter. It is directed to Timothy but it was not a letter that would've been exclusive to him in the sense that it would have been read publicly so that the congregation would have been aware of and purposefully so all of the expectations and encouragements that the apostle had given to his young life tenant, and in that of course there is a great challenge.

It would be one thing for Timothy to take this letter written directly to him to get away into his bedroom as well and read it all by himself. The challenges would be real but for them to sit there perhaps.

As someone read the letter in his hearing and in the healing of the congregation word have a salutary effect in the sense that it would make the congregation aware of the challenges that Timothy was facing and also of the responsibilities entrusted to him and not least of all, they may have set up in their seats when they came to verse 11, and Timothy command and teach these things. Here we are at these things again eight times. It comes in the letter. What are these things well. They are the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They are the they did. It is the teaching that accords with godliness as we've seen, if you like we could think of it, since we have at least one military man with hers as we know, we might think of it in terms of standing orders that you have a responsibility to convey the standing orders note standing orders are used in medicine are used in politics in Parliament in Britain, I know, but there are also military in their emphasis so standing orders a military order demanding that it be retained, irrespective of changing conditions.

So here he says to Timothy, this is what you're going after convey the situation may be different for you this, that the context may change but you are going to have to do this now when you think about how he began his letter in chapter 1, he had urged him in light of the fact that certain persons were going to teach different doctrine, there were going to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, and so on, and what he saying to Timothy as committee and you don't have to be prepared to say to Forbes, you must not believe this, you must not believe this, you have to be prepared to say this is false teaching. And if you're going to come up with this stuff.

There is no way that you going to teach a home Bible study group here in Ephesus. Why not who you think you are Timothy and the servant of God and entrusted with the standing orders of God, which rules out falsity and demands that I encourage you to lay hold of these great and precious promises, others an amazing sort of juxtaposition between verse 11 and verse 12 is another command and teach these things and then immediately let no one despise your youth. So this is a tall order for a young man, especially when in his congregation as in our congregations. There will be all there always be those who are older than ours.

Perhaps more experienced than ours and so on.

And yet the responsibility that is entrusted to the pastor and the teacher is to do just this. I can remember being young I can remember the start of it all I can remember when I was as sent on my early visits to the hospital by Derek trying backing in the autumn of 1975 and as I was reflecting on this. Let no one despise your youth. I recall the particular incident where I was dispatched to visit a lady, the wife of a doctor who had just had a baby and then she had subsequently had gallbladder surgery or gallbladder removed and I was supposed to go all the honking so he went along and I went into the big ward there were bags on either side and when I got to the bed. She was asleep. I don't really know what to do.

So just perched on the bed. I didn't sit on it entirely, but I rested rested on and as I was sitting there. She woke up and with a start, she strongly she said who are you and I am said.

I said I am the assistant to the pastor at Charlotte Chapel. She said really there sending boys, my first funeral, which I conducted wearing a clerical collar is by the directive of my boss.

I almost destroyed the funeral where there should've been tears there was significant laughter was is this a joke is this a Halloween party. What is this in front of the elders were concerned about you my youthfulness when they offered me the opportunity to become the assistant the report that came from the elders meeting after I'd gone there went something along these lines, the elders had a long discussion about your visit to us last weekend and we concluded that on account of your youth that you would not be much help to Mr. Perrine and that because of your youth. You would gravitate only to the youth and therefore would not be able to serve the congregation and reading the letter. Then it said. However, so I'm saying to myself so you're saying there's a chance, however, Mr. Perrine said that with guidance on his part and a good attitude on your part that this could be a happy and successful relationship, and so on the strength of his willingness to take the risk and on the basis of my willingness to love him, serve him, never second-guessing, never ever speak wrongly about him in front of any member of the congregation. God in his providence to this very moment has marked my life by the influence of that man and many of you could stand and testify to the saying you see the difficulty with the youth is.

While there are many, aren't one is that the young person thinks that they will be able by one gigantic step to reach the place where older men have arrived as a result of many many many steps and so the temptation for a Timothy is too aware of his sense of youthfulness of natural inadequacy of look at what everybody else knows the temptation is to sort of become a kind of bossy little character or to assume a false authoritarian perspective.

Or perhaps to show to do something or or even to begin to use terminology in the pool bread that we have never earned the right to employ this young man is not here, therefore, and I'm not going to tell you his name but I remember not long after he was part of our internship program where if it was, I noticed that he began to use one of my words that I use for the congregation.

I had him saying in the course of sentences, beloved, I was very nice, but they hadn't become his beloved.

He just cared me saying that I thought that's a nice thing to say and it is a nice thing to say but you know whether your beloved or not and your congregation know whether the left and the use of the language without the reality of the relationship just comes across as insincere. So what is he to do what is the answer. How do you how do you handle this. Let no one despise your youth.

Don't let people look down on you. He says while how we handle this well see that they look up to you because you're an example to and then he gives to us these areas that are if you like.

I kind of exposition of training yourself in godliness and in the earlier paragraph five yearly is if you like another to belabor them. I would say more about three, then I will about all five but essentially this is his outworking of training yourself or godliness that I want you to make sure that you are clear on this, Timothy Dall other people look down on you. Make sure they look up to you. The way they will look up to you is if you sent them an example in these areas number one speech speech words solving about words. The word of God the way that God uses our words in the proclamation of his word. The great mystery of it all and writer. The very outset speech that would be true.

Kind purposefully helpful.

The words words are our tools is what is important to read widely is advising born have a decent vocabulary because we need words, we don't just need words. Words mean the best words we need the right words at the right time and we know from school and some of her talk about it just before we were reminiscing about some of our schoolteachers in the and and how we used to say in the playground sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me. But we know that's not true. We've long recovered from any sticker stone that reached as at any point on the on the perimeter of our person but I was dying I had a teacher who told me one day in front of the class that I had a turn up for ahead – and then he had me stand up in front of the class and he said bag tell the class what you have for ahead and so I had to say. Well III have a turn for ahead.

I probably should've mentioned that because of the way emails circulate and so on, and I would hate to have to live it down all over again at this late stage in my life, but with our tongues, as James has said we have the capacity to enrich and explain and impart that which is strengthening and encouraging, but conversely our tongues are also he says the tongue itself is like a restless evil, full of deadly poison users were able to bless God and were able to curse others such as brethren, this these things are not to be don't you find it so challenging that in the area of what might arguably be said to be our greatest gifting we are confronted hourly by the great potential for failure. I was driving my grandchildren to school this morning and I realized as I was. There was a lady driving in front of me with her flashers on.

Everything was flashing. I why was flashing. I don't know and the more flash the more frustrated I became and I just stop myself from from launching into you know of verbal dissertation concerning the nature of her drive. Why did I stop myself when it was so attractive to me. Well as I knew, I have to give this talk and then I feel that but also because I remember another occasion when it was my children know my grandchildren when I was in the exact same position when I was a youth and I was in the same thing I'm saying. Oh come on, drive the car getting your own lane. What can a deal is this what I'm on your side like that and when I finished the silence little voice in the backseat said, and that's another kind word from your past you know the old boy am if all that we say in a single day with never a word left out were printed each night in plain black-and-white. It would make strange reading. No doubt, and then just suppose at our eyes to close that we must read the whole record through and when we sigh when we try a great deal less talking to do and I more than half think that many a king would be smoother in life's tangled thread if off what I say in a single day were to be left for whatever onset speech, not only in the public arena speech in the privacy of our cars under the breath, speech, speech with our wife's speech. An example then and conduct.

You can tell that I have to move more quickly in conduct or behavior know the false teachers were clearly concerned about conduct and behavior. That's why they had all these regulations that had to do with the their their diet, and particularly concerning the negation of marriage. So Paul is not suggesting to Timothy here that he kind of adopts that kind of external approach, but rather that as a result of the spirit of God at work within his heart that he would then have his behavior increasingly like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. The father's desire, and the spirits work is that those who love Jesus would be conformed to the image of Jesus as a boy in Scotland.

We used to sing a song that went. I think earthly pleasures vainly call me I would be like Jesus. We still for him there so that we didn't know what we're say nothing worldly shall enthrall me I would be like Jesus and then be like Jesus.

This my song in the home and in the throng be like Jesus all day long I would be like Jesus. II would like to be like Jesus. The problem is I'm so unlike Jesus command and teach these things don't get up on your high horse.

Timothy have them look up to you and to look up to you because they hear your words and the are able to observe your behavior. Love, affection, commitments I think of all the things that were said yesterday in the non-didactic monologue old presentation. The thing this thinker said yesterday in answer to one question when he said our wife's.

Every day at least six days a week, prepare the meals where they are excited about it or not excited about it. They do it. I've told my congregation. Here you will know. I've quit loving you when you come to the table and there is nothing that I give you that is worth eating that I have not done what you've asked me to do what you set me apart to do so that the language that is been primarily given to me is a language that is formed in secret that demands often isolation in order that when we come to the table on the Lord's day, we express our love in that way and our faith to our progress in the faith, our faithfulness, and so on. We could turn it into entire serious. We daren't set the believers. An example speech, conduct, love, faith, purity in verse two of chapter 5, you will notice between the older women as mothers. The younger women assistors in all purity and down in 22. Keep yourself pure.

How many false and feeling ministers have misused secluded pastoral situations to embark on sexual adventures to the ship break other ministries and to the shame of biblical Christianity. Sadly, many and what is the antidote well, the Bible.

The work of the Holy Spirit. The clarity of the book of Proverbs.

This is this is Charles Bridges. Tender well-regulated domestic affection is the best defense against the vagrant desires of on lawful passion.

I want to be funny on it. When you go home and wait for a few days. You tell your wife that you have been looking forward suit to some tender well-regulated domestic affection and the anticipation of was part of the means of grace that enabled you.

When confronted by that attraction and the danger of that preoccupation from actually becoming another one of the statistics and the sad story of pastoral ministerial declension in this realm.

Let the one who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall's listing to Truth for Life and a message from Alastair been called a good servant of Christ Jesus, helping pastors and church leaders and church members become good servant of Christ Jesus is what were all about your Truth for Life that one part of our mission is to strengthen local churches, but in order to make our mission a reality.

We are dependent on the prayers and donations we received from truth partners and all who support the ministry of Truth for Life. We always stand ready to say thank you for your donation by inviting you to request our featured book and for just a few more days, you can request the book epic and around the world journey through Christian history this is a creative book written by Pastor Tim Kelly's. It looks back through the centuries that faithful believers and some of the objects they left behind. We'd love to send you a copy of the book epic call 888-588-7884 and if you'd like you can also see a sample of the book and request your copy when you go to Truth for Life.orc is a young man, Timothy was blessed to receive wise counsel from an older mentor on Bob Lapine hoping you can join us tomorrow as we learn more from the apostle Paul's instruction to his young protégé Alastair will conclude first Timothy chapter 4 the Bible teaching of Alastair big is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living