Charged to Action
Letters to Timmy • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:
Just as Paul was charging Timothy here, each of us within the sound of the Spoken Word is being charged today.
When ever the Word is spoken to us, we are without excuse in out charge.
Paul reminds the reader that this charge is answerable at the day of Judgement.
Our response to the God’s Word is the fault-line between well done good and faithful—Depart from me I never knew you.
What is it we are charged with?
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
You say “but I’m no preacher….”
kērussō: be a herald, proclaim:—made proclamation
A messenger… {Called to be a witness not a lawyer}
In Season and out of season… Paul is using references to war time.
Calling Timothy to spiritually be battle ready, in shape but in normal war time season, but also out of season as well. A constant state of readiness.
What habits do we have that makes us battle ready?
What habits make us out of shape?
The Word
Reproves or exposes our need
Rebukes or corrects what was exposed
Exhorts or pleads with our soul to be Holy…
Patiently instructs us…
This can all sound negative… Like a good father teaching his kid how to ride a bike…
He exposes what is leading to falling off the bike
He tells the child what to change,
He cheers the child on as they ride
and He patiently picks them back up when they fall.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Commentary)
This refers to holding up under adversity, and can be translated “tolerate.”
Paul here warns Timothy that, in the dangerous seasons of this age, many people would become intolerant of the confrontive, demanding preaching of God’s Word
“Couple of college kids, wanted to go hiking…
The State Park had a sign that told them {DANGER do not go down the Green Trail…}
It looked safe to them and they saw no reason why and could hear the rushing water…
They got to what looked like the top a revine that drops to the river but there was no water, they could hear the rushing water but couldn’t see it…
They go on down the revine and stop, one asked the other why the ground was moving at the bottom…. they suddenly realized it was a pit of rattlers in mating season.”
The sign said danger, but how dare a sign tell me not to do something that “I” know is safe and “I” call good…
We live in an age that we would rather hear what we already believe and want to believe than to be challenged by truth.
We even have church leaders that want what they want and because what they want doesn’t line up with Scripture they either completely disregard it and take one verse and twist it to justify what they want.
Others will take what they masses say is true and because it is what the masses say it must be true…
I learned both of these accounts from modern history which shows us how quickly we can fall for a lie.
1. The Third Wave (1967)
The Lie: A high school history teacher in California, Ron Jones, told his class that a new, highly disciplined political movement called "The Third Wave" was going to eliminate democracy and revitalize America. He claimed it was a nationwide movement and that their class was chosen to lead it.
How Far It Went: Within just five days, the experiment spiraled entirely out of control. The single classroom movement expanded to over 200 students from all over the school. Students actively created a secret police force, snitched on their friends for failing to salute properly, banned outsiders, and intimidated anyone who questioned the movement.
The Reveal: To end the madness before it turned violent, the teacher finally gathered the students in an auditorium. Instead of showing them their "national leader" on television as promised, he revealed a blank screen and told them the truth: they had been entirely deceived, and they had willingly behaved exactly like the citizens of Nazi Germany.
2. The Milgram Obedience Experiment (1961)
The Lie: Regular citizens were recruited for what they were told was a "scientific study on memory and learning". They were told that their role as a "teacher" was to administer electric shocks to a "learner" in another room whenever they got a question wrong.
How Far It Went: The shocks weren't real, and the "learner" was an actor screaming in pain. When the participants begged to stop, a scientist in a lab coat coldly told them, "The experiment requires that you continue." 65% of the participants went all the way to the maximum, lethal dose of 450 volts, blindly obeying an authority figure despite believing they were severely injuring or killing a stranger
When we seek our own wisdom, our own wants, the demands of the popular position over the solid foundation of the truth, we find ourselves just as fooled and manipulated as the folks from these two studies.
Truth can offend at times…. The Dr saying you have cancer is offensive,
but to not do it and lie to you is criminal.
{Co-worker that was drinking… everyone else just talked about it, I talked to him about it…}
Did it offend him? yes, but it saved his life
Did I beat him down? No, I came to him as a brother.
Sadly many pulpits are afraid to offend with the Gospel so they remain silent and teach only what is easy to hear… they fill the pews but lives are unchanged.
They have loads of programs and events, but addiction is still king…
THE CHURCH IS NOT A SOCIAL CLUB!!! it is a hospital for the sick… occupied by the healing, ran by the great physician.
Nobody goes to the hospital be reminded of just how well they are… they go because they are sick and injured, and until we go to meet Jesus or He comes back we will always be tending to the cancer called sin.
What do we do about it?
5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Thomas Oden:
This heralding does not occur without work, study, prayer, meditation, and effort—all enabled by grace. Resistances are not overcome by chance or laziness but by work. Once planted the churches must be watered. Timothy was urged to stay with the work of the evangelist. It is by this that he would fully accomplish his ministry, bring it to completion, leaving nothing essential undone.
Paul is telling him to keep his hand to the plow, look straight ahead, and expect to find some rocks or hardships in the path.
Take Home?
Do You Stand For Truth?
When we all stand before God, what will we say we did with His Word?
