Living As A Man Of God Series

LIVING AS A MAN OF GOD

1 Timothy 6:11-16

Dorn Ridge and York Manor, September 21, 2013

Audio link to listen to this sermon: http://chirb.it/P4wDmB

INTRODUCTION:

1.) The Book of 1 Timothy as we have said before was kind of a ministerial manual from the Apostle Paul to the young man Timothy.

2.) Paul’s words in this 6th. chapter were words of instruction for this young man to keep him true to God, and to help him live the Christian faith as minister of the gospel.

3.) Today, I want us to see five applications of what it would mean for Timothy to live as a man of God.

4.) These same truths can be applied to our lives to day to help us live as men and women of God.

I. MEN OF GOD NEED TO BE ABLE TO FLEE. ( 1 Tim. 6:11)

1.) He must flee from the desire to get rich, and from the love of money.

A.) Last week as we were looking at money, one of the directives of the Apostle Paul was that Godliness with contentment is great gain.

B.) The second statement we had looked at was that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

C.) As Paul was writing to this young man Timothy he was giving some powerful instructions for Timothy, and also for the church at Ephesus.

D.) Today as we further the teachings in this regard, I want you to see the verb in this 11th. verse.

da.) The verb that Paul has used we translate as “flee.”

db.) When I study the Scriptures of the New Testament I find that many times sins are spoken of and warned against.

dc.) Many times the Bible gives warnings about sin.

dd.) The word of God challenges us to avoid allowing temptation to lead us into sin.

dda.) Scripture reminds us that when we will rely on God, that He will give us his strength to withstand sin.

E.) There are two temptations to sin listed in the Scriptures where the inspired writers use words that are more powerful than just to warn us about the danger of the sins.

ea.) The two areas of sinfulness that are spoken of more powerfully than just a warning are the sins of sexual immorality, and of the love of money.

eb.) Many times when the warnings are given, the admonition is to “flee” from these areas of sinfulness.

eba.) The idea of fleeing is much more than just going for a casual jog in the park; it is the idea of escape from some kind of intense danger that could destroy us.

ebb.) It is the picture of how fast and hard you try to get out of range of a very real danger.

ebc.) To illustrate the idea of fleeing, I want to take you back thirty years to a time when I wanted to look at a certain car in a junk yard in Eastern PEI one Sunday afternoon.

ebc-1.) I had walked through most of that junkyard, and was wondering why there was a cable going from the back of the junkyard and was connected to a front end loader on the other end of that junkyard with the cable very tight.

ebc-2.) To go to a back corner of that junkyard, I had to lift the cable which caused another cable attached to it to move, and make a noise.

ebc-3.) It was at that point I learned the purpose of this cable as a very large German shepherd whose job it was to keep people out of that junkyard sprang to life.

ebc-4.) Needless to say, I wasted no time in getting out of there that day, getting over the fence about three feet ahead of a dog determine to get hold of me.

ebc-5.) That is the picture of fleeing that Paul is speaking of here.

ec.) Scripture warns us that some temptations to sin are so dangerous and so beyond our ability to deal with that our only option is to flee from them.

eca.)such is the case with either the love of money, or the temptation to sexual immorality and sin.

ecb.) These are both areas that are so powerful that we cannot play with them once the temptation has come, for we will most likely lose the battle.

II.) MEN OF GOD NEED TO PURSUE.

-- The idea of fleeing is a negative one. Paul now gives us a positive one to follow or pursue.

-- It is the picture of someone who has a goal and vision before them and will do whatever it takes to reach that goal.

-- It is the kind of determination that caused Christopher Columbus to keep on sailing when his crew were to the point of mutiny out of fear they were going to sail off the end of the world.