A Word Or Two For Believers Series

A WORD OR TWO FOR BELIEVERS

1 Timothy 4:12-16

INTRODUCTION:

A. God’s timing is always so good.

1. Take for instance our current passage from the book of 1 Timothy.

2. 1 Tim. 4:12-16 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 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.

3. As I read this it hit me: this is a great passage for the beginning of the new year.

4. It has so much for us that we need to hear and follow through on, and if we do we will have a great new year both in our personal lives and in the life of the church.

B. Now I know some of you more hermeneutically (the science of interpretation or the principles of biblical study and presentation) minded folks are thinking this passage is directed toward Timothy and to him as a young pastor.

1. And you would be right.

2. So this applies directly to me, pastor Mat and pastor Vincent

3. But I do not believe you will find anything within the text that is not delegated to the body at large in many other places in Scripture – so you are not off the hook.

C. Lets read the passage again:

1. 1 Tim. 4:12-16 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 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.

2. I love the first six words: Let no man despise thy youth;

3. Its for all ages!

4. And in its contents I believe we can find two over arching categories we need to look at

a. Example

b. Exhortation

5. This is a word for all believers, regardless of age and in our best interest for the new year.

PRAY

We will begin this morning by looking at Paul’s word to Timothy to be an

I. EXAMPLE, 1 Tim. 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

A. Of all that Paul writes to believers I believe this is one of the most important

1. Directed to Timothy, it shows that pastors, elders, even deacons need to provide a positive example for believers as a whole

2. But understand an example is something to be followed by all – not just a show piece for the church.

3. Each of us is to be “an example of the believers” so that we might be salt and light in this decaying and dark world.

B. Here we are given 6 areas (five in many translations those leaving out “in spirit”) to be examples in

1. First given is be thou an example in WORD

a. This is a very important area for both church leaders and members

b. More damage can be done in five minutes with the tongue than can be repaired in 5 years.

c. James tells us that our tongue is or can be an unruly evil. Jam 3:1-12

d. Eph 4:29 states Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

e. And we should know that we will give account for every idle word according to Matt 12:36-37

2. Second mentioned is that we are to be an example of the believer in CONVERSATION

a. The Greek word translated “conversation” is a compound word that means to turn upside down or turn around – thus it speaks about a life that is turned around and now in pursuit of God!

b. It should be something that people could talk about if they so wish.

c. One in which the beatitudes and fruit of the Spirit over flow and spill out into life as we live it!