Claim (of the passage): Pastors are charged before God, in light of Christs return, to preach the Word whether it’s received favourably or causes offence and brings hardship.

Focus (of the sermon): To show the motivation and method of preaching the Word regardless of cultural pressures or opposition even within the church.

Function (for the congregation): to understand and support the preaching of the word even when it hurts us, or clashes uncomfortably with our culture.

Preach the Word:

In the presense of God

In view of His appearing

Preach the Word: Method

in season and out (The situation before us)

OUt of Season

Itiching ears

false teachers

Believing myths

Correct, rebuke and encourage (How to preach)

Great patience and careful instruction (preperation is important - can’t just stand up here with a few ideas and hope it turns out ok.)

Keep your head! (Facts not feelings - such an important quality to develop as preacehrs - and even as Christains) Walking on the wall!

The Letters to Timothy and Titus 2. Responsibilities (4:1–8)

1. “Correct” (elenxson) is the verb form of the noun translated “rebuking” (elegmos) in 3:16. Pastoral preaching must often help people stay on their desired path by addressing errant tendencies. The preacher or spiritual counselor must not only disseminate information or offer engrossing talks but actually deter digression and herd sheep back toward where they belong, to the extent verbal suasion (and other pastoral tools like prayer and encouragement) can help effect such redirection. (Paul would also view the Holy Spirit’s work as key.)

2. “Rebuke” (epitimēson) is a verb used only one other time in the NT epistles (Jude 9) but frequently in the Synoptic Gospels to describe Jesus’s action. Jesus taught his disciples to “rebuke” one another, forgiving when there is repentance (Luke 17:3). Timothy’s preaching ministry should not only “correct” but, when necessary, confront with stern reproof.

3. “Encourage” (parakaleson) is a word that can approximate the meaning of “correct” or “rebuke,” but it may also convey a more nurturing sense. It is used 109 times in the NT, 54 of those times in Paul (see discussion at Titus 1:9). Over a dozen times in Paul’s writings, he uses this word to denote strong encouragement or admonition: see his “I urge/plead/appeal …” in numerous contexts. Paul has already exercised this duty in his own “preaching” to Timothy in an earlier letter (1 Tim 1:3; 2:1). Timothy’s preaching should be suffused with heartfelt, affirmational appeal that will confirm in listeners that their pastor cares and that there is much at stake.

Before Leanna and I had children and we both worked, we had a 'first one home cooks' rule. Leanna, because of her great passion for cooking, would wait at the top of the hill on her bike until she saw my car pull into the drive. Then cycle in after me. “Oh, you beat me again, she would say!”

But in Lesotho and particularly now, Leanna is making a real effort to get acquainted with the kitchen.

But it leaves me with a regular dilemma.

Do I question the gas hob on full pelt turning a chicken breast into a leather belt,

risking her disapproval of my unwelcome interference,

but perhaps saving the dinner,

or do I exclaim “that smells amazing!! can't wait to try it, and sharpen my teeth before it is served?

And this is the dilemma we find in 2 Timothy 4.

Does Paul when writing to Timothy encourage him to interfere with the Christians,

risking challenging, offending, rebuking and correcting their actions

or does Timothy tell them what they want to hear. Ensuring his friendship with them and their own self esteem is kept well.

Of course we're not talking about cooking, but their lives, their actions and thoughts.

Or to put it another way,

should Timothy's preaching be insisting on bible principles and doctrine being lived out in believers lives,

or should his preaching be more concerned with making people feel good and that their lives are 'ok'?

Well, Paul tells us what good preaching looks like in verse 2 and v5 and then points out the realities of bad preaching in v3-4.

But before we get into the discussion of what good preaching is,

we need to know if preaching is of any importance in the first place.

And Paul deals with that immediately..

1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the word...

It is in the presence of God that Timothy is charged to preach!

So, our first heading then is

Good preaching is essential and urgent

Timothy is charged before God and Christ Jesus.

It's not a light hearted persuasion, if you wouldn't mind awfully trying to be preach in this way.

1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead ##,

## All mankind will be judged by Christ says Paul

- makes sure you get this preaching right, you'll be judged as well, and so will all that hear you,

so feel accountable for them Paul is saying,

Get your preaching wrong (or don't do it at all)

and both you and your hearers will be judged accordingly!

Good preaching therefore is essential!

The second part of Paul's charge to Timothy is that

good preaching is urgent.

V1 and in view of his appearing and his kingdom **, I give you this charge:

Christ's appearing is intended to motivate Timothy into good preaching

** Matt 24 helps us understand why...

42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Christs appearing) 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Christ will return, he will appear as it's put here,

to bring in his Kingdom in completion.

all evil, sadness, illness, pain, suffering and tears will be removed eternally.

But with that removal of bad, has to come the judgement we just mentioned, and we don't know when his appearing will be!

So good preaching is urgent. Preachers and their hearers must be 'ready'! As Matthew put it.

Preaching is essential and urgent.

and the beginning of v2 enforces that clearly.

2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season

When it's convenient and when it's not convenient!

in whatever circumstance – in church, talks to children or youth, bible stories with our own children,

do it whether it is easy or hard, convenient or inconvenient, in season and out!

When you're tired or have people round and tell your children to go to bed without a bible story today,

or works been busy so we skimp on our prep for sermons, home groups, Jnr church, or the youth groups.

perhaps that is out of season and we should still make the effort – it is essential and urgent.

When numbers are quiet in the summer in the evening St Luke's is still opening to share God's word

– because it is essential and urgent.

Bible teachers and listeners face judgement, so it's essential, and we don't know when that judgement will come, so it is urgent.

We have a police officer in our home group and he was telling us how his claim to fame was when he was caught by sky news TV being heavy handed with a lady in London.

He grabbed the back of her collar, frog marched her along and pushed her under the police tape barrier.

Just like you are probably thinking now, that seems pretty unnecessary, as did the TV news who cycled the clip all day!

But, when we know all the details, such that he did,

we wouldn't blame him at all for his actions.

We would see his actions as loving.

It was 2 weeks after the London Bombings in 2005 and the Police knew there was an unexploded bomb in the area from another attempted attack.

So it was essentialhe got her out of there.

But he didn't know when it was going to go off, so that made it urgent.

In that situation, you only ask someone to run once, after that you make them run at what ever costs.

They both faced potential judgement at an unknown time by a terrorist bomb, and so it was essential and urgent to get out of there. Whether the means was in season, or out of season!

If we believe preaching to be essential and urgent,

it means when we meet in a Sunday we should desire to hear the sermon.

If you have young children in creche, you should desire where possible to leave your child with the person on creche duty so you can hear the sermon.

If you teach in Jnr church, you should desire to come to the evening service to hear a sermon.

It is essential and urgent. So do it and hear it.

Great – Good preaching is essential and urgent. So what is good preaching?

Well that is our second heading.

Good preaching is uncomfortable

2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

Good preaching first and foremost is preaching 'The Word'.

Timothy and the early church understood exactly what 'the word' meant.

It is the OT and the apostles teachings, those ordained by Christ to teach, such as Paul.

For us that simply means the Old and New Testament.

A church I once attended had a sermon series on 'Pilgrims Progress'!

Even having a section read as part of the reading for that service.

Yes it may be a excellent book that illustrates the message of the the bible, 'the word'

and can of course be used to illustrate points in sermons to make a point clear.

But it is not to be preached from.

That's also why we should be careful of thematic preaching programmes.

It runs the risk that we preach our own ideas on a topic rather than preaching from the bible. That's why St Luke's goes through books of the bible.

We must 'preach the word'.

And that is something very significant that we ought to look for in our churches.

But just because it is from the word doesn't mean we'll be comforted by what we hear.

Timothy is to correct; rebuke and encourage when he preachers.

Every sermon may not necessarily include all those 3, but it ought to be something that is recognised generally in sermons we hear.

I wonder if we're prepared to hear uncomfortable sermons.

And I don't mean just listen to them in a general dazed state.

They will only be uncomfortable if we listen with our hearts prepared to hear and change as a result.

Look at the contrast, and warning, Paul gives in v3-4

3For the time will come when men (and women) will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Do you see the other option for preachers.

It's my option of telling Leanna the burnt chicken smell great. Only with much more significant consequences!!

v3 to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

I'd love to go to church and hear someone say, you know what, it doesn't really matter what you have done this week.

God loves you all the same, you're a great person and you're doing just fine.

But that isn't what the bible tells us. The bible tells us we're miserable sinners, who need to ask God's forgiveness.

The bible tells us our lives are unholy and offensive to God and that 'if' we call on his name,

we ought to prove our faith by working hard to be righteous. To do good..

2 Tim 3

16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Preachers are to correct and rebuke our unbiblical actions and thoughts

and encourage our good actions and thoughts

so that

we may improve in righteousness – being right with God.

If you always feel great and the preacher has nothing to challenge you with,

then either you're not listening with your heart, or the preaching is bad and it's not biblical.

Bad preaching is comfortable

Good preaching is uncomfortable.

I – A doctor who finds something wrong with his patient

is not of any use if he simply tells the patient

what they want to hear.

“Every thing is ok.”

It may be what the patient wants to hear, but it certainly isn't what they need to hear.

The diagnosis is uncomfortable.

Are we prepared to receive our uncomfortable diagnosis from our preachers,

we certainly wouldn't begrudge the doctor giving us truth, so lets not begrudge the preacher for giving us truth.

Good preaching is essential and urgent

Good preaching is uncomfortable

Our final heading..

Good faith rewards bad lives

6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.

As we have said several times about Paul writing 2 Timothy, he is facing a death sentence in prison.

And he sees his life as a sacrifice 'a drink offering' being poured out.

7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Paul has fought the good fight of keeping the faith, the gospel, alive.

Even as he faces death he is ensuring the gospel goes forward by writing these instructions to Timothy.

It is the good fight, no other fight compares to this, the fight to spread the gospel.

He is not boasting in his own faith, he is emphasising what he has spent his life trying to do, as an example to Timothy.

His own personal faith, he takes no boast for, it has not been kept by himself, it has been kept by God.

8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

The righteous judge will award Paul the crown of righteousness!

How can a righteous judge award Paul righteousness? Paul spent much of his life before becoming a follower of Christ,

by having Christians put to death!

He was feared by Christians.

And his own writings in the NT do not claim himself to be perfect.

So a righteous judge should sentence Paul to his rightful separation from God.

But Paul has his assurance in something other than his 'bad' life.

He has his assurance in Jesus and his appearance.

He has good faith. Meaning faith in the only way to a righteous crown.

The reason it is so essential and urgent to preach by correcting, rebuking and encouraging is because we all face judgement.

And it is ONLY the truth in the 'word' that tells us of Jesus substituting himself for our punishment.

When God judges Paul, he will punish Jesus. When God judges Jesus on the cross he will REWARD Paul.

, he will reward Paul with a crown of righteousness. Eternity with a good God.

V8 and not only to me (says Paul), but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Do you long for Christ's appearance? Long for the one, who can take your punishment away, to return?

I think we all are guilty of hardly even considering it.

But if we don't have good faith in Chirsts apearing,

we receive no reward.

We will be separated from God for eternity.

And that will not be a great place to be.

Do we see how important good preaching is.

How important it is too listen with our hearts and to be ready to be corrected, rebuked and encouraged.

We must hear God's word, and we must respond, by having a 'good faith' that longs for the appearing of Christ.

Then when God judges us, he will punish Jesus. And when God judges Jesus on the cross he will us.

And Jesus then rose from that punishment and death, so that we can have faith in his appearing once again in the future.

Lets pray.