A Good Servant Of Christ Jesus

1 Tim 4:1-10 - A Good Servant of Christ Jesus

I borrowed this sermon title from Paul. Let’s read 1 Tim 4:6-10 ESV

Subtitle: Some Will Depart from the Faith

1Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Subtitle: A Good Servant of Christ Jesus

6If 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. 7Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10For 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 of those who believe.

1 Tim 4:6 he says, “…you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.”

• How? By taking good care of these two aspects of your life.

• One in verse 6: “Be trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.”

• The other is when the word TRAIN comes up again, and that is in verse 7: “Train yourself for godliness.”

A good servant of Christ TEACH THE TRUTH and LIVE THE TRUTH.

• The 2 important TRAINING that we have to commit to as GOOD servants of Christ are:

• (1) to be trained in the truth, the words of faith and good doctrine, in other words, in knowing God’s Word.

• (2) to train ourselves to be godly, so that we truly WALK THE TALK.

TRAINING OURSELVES IN THE TRUTH

Paul says in 4:6 “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus…”

• In other words, if you point these things out (NIV) to your brothers and sisters (NIV), instruct them (NKJV) or explain these things to them (NLT)… then you will be a good servant of Christ.

• So what are “these things”? We have to look back to 4:1-5.

1Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…

• There are false teachings, even cultic teachings, and the people are being deceived into leaving the truth and following these falsehoods.

2through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

• Paul gave examples of some wrong teachings, like forbidding marriage and eating of some food when 4…everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

• These are wrong beliefs and people are misled into practising them. They are propagated… 4:2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared (4:2).

• They are lies but people believed them.

Paul encourages Timothy to remain true to the teachings of Jesus Christ and instruct the believers in the truth.

• Because Timothy has been 4:6“trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed” (4:6)

• Put in the past tense – you have been trained and you have followed.

• Timothy knows the truth and he has kept the truth, therefore he has to speak the truth and bring the people back to the understanding of God’s truth.

If that is a concern for Paul in Timothy’s time, then it would be a greater concern for us today. We live in an age filled with falsehoods, lies and scams.

• Almost every other week you can hear news of victims being scammed or cheated.

• Even receiving a call or text on your phone can be a scary thing nowadays.

Last week I received a text from a church member telling us not to scan the QR code of a flyer that says we can redeem a free blood pressure device. It might contain malware and steal information from your phone.