"SERVANTS OF CHRIST"

Servants of Christ Will Be -

Saturated with the Word of God - vs. 6

Protect the Word of God - vs. 7a

Flee heresies against the Word of God - vs. 7a

Disciplined for the pursuit of godliness - vs. 7b-8

Committed to Hard Work - vs. 9-10

Prescribe and Teach with Authority - vs. 11

Live Out Your Faith - vs. 12

Model’s a Biblical Ministry - vs. 13

Lives out His Calling - vs. 14

Totally immersed in His ministry - vs. 15a

Progressive Sanctification - vs 15b

Conclusion - vs. 16

There are five passages in the book of 1 Timothy that include prohibitions -

1 Timothy 2:9–15 (NASB95)

1 Timothy 4:6–16 (NASB95)

1 Timothy 5:1–16 (NASB95)

1 Timothy 5:17–25 (NASB95)

1 Timothy 6:1–21 (NASB95)

1 Timothy includes -

Chapters 6

Verses 113

Words 1,591

Lemmas 538

Proposition - I invite you to join me now as we look at 1 Timothy 4:12 where will see that Servants of Christ will live out their faith.

Interrogative question - What kind of “imprints” are you making in the world?

1. Servants of Christ Will Live Out Their Faith - vs. 12

1 Timothy 4:12 NASB95

12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

“no one” - (medeis) - adjective, nominative, singular, masculine - substantival adjective - no one; nothing - (the noun that this is describing is the word “youthfulness”)

Within the Pastorals -

1 Timothy 4:12 (NASB95)

12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

Titus 2:15 (NASB95)

15 These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Titus 3:2 (NASB95)

2 to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

“Let look down on” - (kataphroneo) - verb, present, active, imperative, third person, singular - finite verb - despise; look down on

Sense: to despise - to despise - to look down on with contempt

The root Greek word an mean despise, despising, look down on, or disrespectful -

“Despise” -

Matthew 18:7–11 (NASB95)

7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.

9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

Hebrews 12:1–3 (NASB95)

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

“think lightly of”

Romans 2:4 (NASB95)

4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

“Disrespectful”

1 Timothy 6:2 (NASB95)

2 Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles.

“Youthfulness” - (neotes) - noun, genitive, singular, feminine - genitive object - youth

Sense: youth (time period) - a time of life after early childhood and before older adulthood; though the exact start and endpoint are uncertain.

Mark 10:17–31 (NASB95) - The Rich Young Ruler

17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 “You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”

20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

23 And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”

28 Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake,

30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 “But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

Luke 18:21 (NASB95) - (Rich Young Ruler vs. 18-34)

21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”

Acts 26:1–5 (NASB95) - Paul before Agrippa

1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense: 2 “In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today;

3 especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. 4 “So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; 5 since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.

Notice the use of the word in the OT

Genesis 8:21 (NASB95)

21 The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

1 Samuel 17:33 (NASB95)

33 Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.”

Age does not equal maturity

“an example” - (typos) - noun, nominative, singular, masculine - predicate nominative - example; type; pattern

Sense: example - a representative form or pattern; often for imitation or replication

Noun: τύπος (typos), GK 5596 (S 5179), 15×. typos is a “pattern, example, model,” taken from the concept of an impression or a mark left behind by something on a surface. This word is used in the NT in a practical and theological sense. The most concrete way in which it is used is of the marks made by the nails in Jesus’ body, when Thomas says he will not believe unless he sees the “nail marks” (Jn 20:25). typos is also used to describe a summary of a letter written by Claudius Lysias to Felix, translated as either “in the following manner” or “as follows” (Acts 23:25). Similarly, typos is the “form” or summary of teaching that Paul entrusts to the Roman Christians (Rom 6:17).

Because God is not to be copied or imaged, Stephen censures the Jews for having made “forms” (NIV “idols”) and worshiping them (Acts 7:43). The precise nature of typos as a form or pattern can be seen by the fact that Israel constructed the tabernacle according to the pattern that God had given Moses on Mount Sinai (Acts 7:44; Heb 8:5).

But typos is not limited to a physical form or pattern of things; the NT also uses this word to describe a theological pattern or example. In this sense Adam is a “pattern” of Christ, the one to come (Rom 5:14), and the people and events of the OT are cited as “examples” to the Corinthians to spur them on to reject evil (1 Cor. 10:6). Paul applies this in a personal context for believers, writing that they are to follow his example (Phil 3:17) and that he has acted in such a manner to be a “model” to believers in the church (2 Thess. 3:9). One of the roles of an elder is to be an “example” to his flock (1 Pet. 5:3), setting a pattern by doing what is good (Tit 2:7) and not allowing anything else to interfere with his example (1 Tim. 4:12). In this way, people in the church must emulate the example of the elders by becoming examples themselves to others (1 Thess. 1:7). See NIDNTT-A, 565–66.* Mounce, W. D. (2006). In Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 226). Zondervan.

1 Corinthians 10:1–6 (NASB95)

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food;

4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.

1 Thessalonians 1:7 (NASB95)

7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

Titus 2:7 (NASB95)

7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

1 Peter 5:3 (NASB95) - Instructing the elders

3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

John 20:25 (NASB95) - EVERYONE PLEASE TURN IN YOUR BIBLES

25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

“show yourself” - (ginomai) - verb, present, either middle or passive, imperative, second person, singular - finite verb - be; become; take place

Sense: to become (condition) - to enter or assume a certain state or condition

Verb: γίνομαι (ginomai), GK 1181 (S 1096), 669×. ginomai means “to be, become.” It has various nuances relating to being and manner of being and has no unique religious or theological meaning. It is one of the most fluid words in the NT. It is sometimes used simply as a synonym to the verb eimi, “to be.”

ginomai is used frequently in combination with kai (“and”) in order simply to move a story along throughout the NT, especially in narrative texts (the bulk of the occurrences are in the Gospels and Acts): “and it happened that,” or “and it came to pass” (KJV). This literally copies a unique style in Hebrew historical writing and is often left untranslated in modern English versions of the Bible.

ginomai can refer to the initial experience of life, as in “being born” or “being produced.” Jesus stupefies and angers his Jewish audience by saying, “Before Abraham was [i.e., was born], I am” (Jn 8:58). In this sense there never was a time when Jesus was not, so ginomai does not apply to Jesus when one considers his deity; on the other hand, he did come to be as a human being through the line of David according to the flesh (Rom 1:3). Jesus was a real, live, flesh-and-blood human as much as he was God. Jn 1:14 provides a theological perspective on the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth by saying simply, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”

Paul uses ginomai to assist in the communication of the real “state of affairs” of his missionary team’s mode of operation in their midst. He says in effect in 1 Thess. 1:5, “Our gospel did not materialize or operate among you in word only, but also in power and by the Holy Spirit, and in much conviction, just as you know what sort of men we proved to be among you.” Thus, ginomai can go beyond the idea of being to describe character or effect. See NIDNTT-A, 106–7. Verb: γίνομαι (ginomai), GK 1181 (S 1096), 669×. ginomai means “to be, become.” It has various nuances relating to being and manner of being and has no unique religious or theological meaning. It is one of the most fluid words in the NT. It is sometimes used simply as a synonym to the verb eimi, “to be.”Mounce, W. D. (2006). In Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 57). Zondervan.

“believe” - (pistos) - adjective, genitive, plural, masculine - substantival adjective - faithful; reliable; believing -

Sense: believer - a person characterized by trust in Jesus as the Messiah for salvation

SO WHAT?

What kind of “imprints” are you making in the world?

Friends let us kind walk through a day together -

168 hours in a week

assuming we sleep 8 hours a night that is 56 in a week

Let’s say we work 8 hours a day for 5 days each week that is 40

that is 96 hours of the 168 in a week leaving us 72 remaining -

You and I am brothers and sisters in Christ are called to live out our faith

Is prayer powerful? (what’s keeping you from being a prayer partner)

Get involved in the hour of prayer at the church every day of the week

Where are you working/serving in the ministry? (spiritual gift)

How serious is your walk with the Lord? What’s keeping you from getting baptized?

What kind of imprints are you leaving at the grocery store, the hardware store, your job, your home, on the mesa, when your hiking, what kind of imprints are you leaving for your family, your church, your community.