"THE CALL TO DO HARD THINGS"
Do Hard Things • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 83 viewsIntroduction to our study of do hard things
Notes
Transcript
Everyone take your Bible’s and turn to 1 Timothy 4:12
Proposition – My goal tonight is to challenge each of you to make the most of your teen years for God’s glory.
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.
Author?
Who is he writing to?
How old is Timothy at this time? Probably between 28-38
What’s going on? Timothy is a young Pastor at the church of Ephesus and listen to what his mentor Paul tells him.
The Call to Model Christ -
The Call to Model Christ -
what does your Bible say? (specifically for the “look down on”)
NASB95 - 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.
ESV - Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
KJV - 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.
HCSB - Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
NIV - Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
The question is does Timothy have the capability to control what people think of him?
Vs. on “despise you for your youth” –
10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord’s work, as I also am. 11 So let no one despise him. But send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brethren.
Paul is telling the people at Corinth to help Timothy. On what condition is he saying this?
As believers in Christ our goal ought to be to what 2 Timothy 2:22 says -
22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Our world says that during your teens years just have fun, party, do whatever in the world you want to. Our world has the mindset that teens are rebellious, self-centered, self-consumed and we should not listen to them.
But get this -
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
Ya’ll ought to use your teen years to deepen your relationship with God.
Make the most of your teen years for God’s glory.
Going on in 1 Timothy 4:12 it says “set the believers an example”
vs. on “called to model Christ” –
1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you,
Paul is telling Timothy to set all believers (young, middle age, and or old) an example in other words be their role model. Teens ya’ll are to be examples to fellow believers. Your lifestyles ought to be lived in such way that believers can watch and learn how to be more Christ like from you.
Then Paul goes on and lists five specific things that we are to be examples in -
Speech -
Speech -
The way that we speak ought to be an example to fellow believers.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
How could this be evident in your life?
The power of the tongue -
5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
Conduct -
Conduct -
In our behavior we are to set an example for all believers.
13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;
15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,
7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
How could we set an example by our behavior?
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
Love -
Love -
Noun: ἀγάπη (agapē), GK 27 (S 26), 116×. agapē signifies the true and pure love of God to his dear Son (Jn. 17:26), to his people (Gal 6:10), and to a depraved humanity that is in rebellion against him (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8). In fact, the Bible declares that the very nature of God can be defined as love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16). We can see that God is love, regardless of our situation in life; Heb. 12:6 explains that even though we may be under the correction of God, the correction is always guided by love. It is the love of God that prompts our obedience to him. Jesus told his disciples, “Whoever has my commandments and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him” (Jn. 14:21, using the related verb agapaō).
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 Corinthians 13 (NASB95)
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
How might we set an example by loving? (1 John)
Faith -
Faith -
(1) Faith can refer to the act of believing (see also believe). The NT speaks about faith in God (Mk 11:22; 1 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:21; Heb 6:1) and faith in Jesus (Acts 3:16; 20:21; 24:24; Gal 3:26; Eph 1:15; Col 1:4; 1 Tim. 3:13). It also simply speaks about “faith” with the unspoken object being understood as Jesus Christ (Rom 1:8; 1 Cor. 2:5; 15:14, 17). In the gospels, Jesus heals people as an affirmation of their faith and a visual aid of the spiritual healing they experience (Mt 8:10; 9:2; 15:28; Mk 5:34; 10:52; Lk 18:42). In other instances he reprimands people for their lack of faith (Mt 17:20; Mk 4:40; Lk 8:25).
A major theme in Romans and Galatians is that believers are justified by faith and not by works (Rom 3:28, 30; 4:5, 11, 12, 13, 16; 5:1, 2; 9:30–32; 10:6; Gal 2:16; 3:8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 22, 24; 5:5; see also Phil 3:9). Paul shows the proper relationship between faith and works. Righteousness is received by faith from first to last (Rom 1:17). At the same time, true faith produces obedience (Rom 1:5; 16:26; see also Gal 5:6; 1 Thess. 1:3; 1 Tim. 1:5; Tit 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:5). This is well in line with the exhortation of James that true, saving faith is demonstrated by action (Jas 2:14, 17, 18, 20). Reflecting these truths, a Reformation saying is that salvation is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.
In one sense, to have faith is equivalent to being a Christian. Paul affirms that “those who are of faith are children of Abraham” (Gal 3:7). Every Christian is saved by grace through faith as a gift from God, and not as the result of anything they do (Eph 2:8). Christ dwells in the hearts of believers through faith (Eph 3:17). Faith gives believers the assurance that they can approach God (Heb 10:22) and is the means by which God gets them to the finish line of their salvation (1 Pet. 1:5). Faith is part of the armor of God that protects believers against the enemy (Eph 6:16; 1 Thess. 5:8). Christians are people who “live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). The writer of Hebrews defines faith as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1) and follows with a list of OT saints who lived that way. Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith (Heb 12:2).
However, the degree of faith can vary from believer to believer. Faith can be weak (Rom 14:1), can be possessed in differing measures (Rom 12:3, 6), and can grow (2 Cor. 10:15; 2 Thess. 1:3). Faith can be tested and needs to be strengthened in the face of trials (1 Thess. 3:2, 5, 6, 7, 10). Faith can be renounced, abandoned, or destroyed (1 Tim. 1:19; 6:10, 21; 2 Tim. 2:18; Rev 2:13). The testing of faith results in perseverance (Jas 1:3).
(2) pistis can also refer to Christian doctrine or collection of beliefs (Jas 2:17; Phil 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:13; Tit 2:2; Jude 3). The word can also refer to the Christian religion as in Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthian Christians to “stand firm in the faith” (1 Cor. 16:13; see also Acts 13:8; 14:22; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal 1:23; Phil 1:25; Col 2:7; 1 Tim. 3:9; 4:1, 6; 2 Tim. 4:7; Tit 3:15). As the gospel is preached in the early days of the church, a number of priests become obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7), and churches are strengthened in the faith (Acts 16:5). There is “one hope, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5), and Jesus gives various people in service to the church to build it towards unity in the faith (v. 3). Christians belong to the “household of faith” (Gal 6:10). The Christian faith rests on the resurrection of Christ and has no validity without it (1 Cor. 15:14, 17).
(3) pistis can also denote a conviction or certainty of belief. Jesus says that if someone tells a mountain to be thrown into the sea and has faith that it will happen, then it will (Mk 11:23). Paul calls this aspect of faith one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:9; see also 13:2). Similarly, pistis can refer to an assurance or proof. God has given assurance that he will send Jesus back to judge the world by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:31).
(4) Finally, pistis can mean “faithfulness” or “trustworthiness.” Jesus remonstrates with the Pharisees for neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness (Mt 23:23). A lack of trusting in people does not nullify the faithfulness of God (Rom 3:3). Scholars debate whether pistis in Rom 3:22 means “faith in Jesus” or “the faithfulness of Jesus.” Slaves are to show good faith (show that they can be trusted) to their masters (Tit 2:10). Persecution will call for the faithfulness of the saints (Rev 13:10) and will require endurance to be faithful to Jesus (Rev 14:12). Faithfulness is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, which is to mark all believers (Gal 5:22). See NIDNTT-A, 462–66.
In the simplest terms it is referring to your relationship to God Almighty.
How might this be accomplished?
Purity -
Purity -
4:12 Let no one despise your youth. Greek culture placed great value on age and experience. Since Timothy was in his thirties, still young by the standards of that culture, he would have to earn respect by being a godly example. Because he had been with Paul since a young teenager, Timothy had much experience to mature him, so that looking down on him because he was under 40 was inexcusable. be an example … in purity. Paul lists 5 areas (the better Gr. manuscripts omit “in spirit”) in which Timothy was to be an example to the church: “word” (speech; cf. Matt. 12:34–37; Eph. 4:25, 29, 31); “conduct” (righteous living; cf. Titus 2:10; 1 Pet. 1:15; 2:12; 3:16); “love” (self-sacrificial service for others; cf. John 15:13); “faith” (not belief, but faithfulness or commitment; cf. 1 Cor. 4:2); “purity” (especially sexual purity; cf. 3:2). Timothy’s exemplary life in those areas would offset the disadvantage of his youth.
In your thoughts and your actions. How might this be evident in your life?
SO WHAT?
Explain Discipleship groups –
Encourage one another in the Word
Prayer
Accountability
Book Study –
Go over the material
Hand out books/Study guides
Expectations
The traits listed by Paul (“spirit” is absent from most modern translations) divide into two groups. The terms “speech” and “life” are outwardly observable or public traits. “Speech” refers to all types of verbal expression, and “life” describes general behavior. Paul wanted Timothy to be known for wise words rather than for rash, impetuous drivel. The second group, consisting of “love,” “faith,” and “purity,” refers to inner traits. Paul desired a love that demonstrates itself for both God and others. The term “faith” is anarthrous in the Greek and likely represents an attitude of faithfulness or trustworthiness rather than right belief. The call for “purity” demands both sexual purity and integrity of heart. Lea, T. D., & Griffin, H. P. (1992). 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (Vol. 34, p. 138). Broadman & Holman Publishers.