Paul's Charge to his Child in the Faith

English Standard Version Chapter 4

11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

1 Timothy 4:11–16 ESV

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Before we unpack the passage this morning, we need to understand some important facts about this passage we are about to study. Do you ever hear Pastor Josh, Pastor David, or Pastor Adam say we need to understand the context before they preach or teach? That means we need to understand the setting of the story, who wrote the passage, and who he is writing to. We don’t have a lot of time, but there are are some key points we need to understand.

First, who knows who wrote the letter of 1 Timothy? Paul

Second, who was Paul writing to? Timothy! Who was Timothy? He was Paul’s son in the faith. He was a young man that Paul was raising up to be a Pastor, Teacher, and Church Planter.

Now here is a couple of final questions before we get started. Where was Timothy and why was Paul writing to him?

Timothy was in Ephesus serving as pastor trying to help them become a faithful God honoring, Christ exalting, Gospel preaching Church. Now there were false teachers in the church, there were folks following silly fables, folks that needed to be reminded of the Gospel and ultimately who needed some strong teaching to help them grow in holiness and their commitment to Christ.

Now, do you think we can learn from this letter to the first century church at Ephesus and their young pastor? Do we all want to honor and please God? Do we all want to exalt and lift up the name of Jesus Christ? Do we want to be faithful gospel witness so that the lost may be saved?

Good deal, I want us to see three exhortations Paul gives Timothy that were for Timothy and the church to help him and every member understand how they should live as the body of Christ.

First we are to,

I. Command and Teach the Gospel (4:11)

What does Paul say in verse 11?

1 Timothy 4:11 ESV

Command and teach these things.

That is pretty easy right? What things is Paul talking about? What is it that Timothy, our Pastors and by extension all believers, are supposed to command and teach? We have to look back to understand what we are to command and teach. Notice first we are to,

a. Train in the words of the faith and good doctrine. (4:6)

1 Timothy 4:6 ESV

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

Very simply put we are to train and be trained in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to train in sound doctrine or true teaching about who we are and who Christ is and what He as done for us. Everything we do is based on this. The way we live, what we learn, and how we teach others.

This means the we are teach the truth about God. He is the One True, and Living God who spoke all things into being. In other words, He is our Creator. This means He has all authority over us.

Once we understand who God is we must understand who man is. We are God’s creation, created in His image. The problem is in the beginning Adam and Eve our representatives on earth rebelled against God and therefore sin came into the world and because of their sin we have all become slaves to sin and are in need of salvation. We are all dead in our sin, children of wrath, and will one day face the judgment of God. This means we are in need of a Savior.

There is only One who is able to save us from the coming wrath of God, it is His Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. Jesus is Co-eternal and Co-equal with the Father, meaning He is God himself. In order to save humanity from our sin Jesus Christ, came to this earth, born of a virgin in what we know as the incarnation or God becoming man. God became man in the person of Jesus Christ so that he might live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death as a substitute for sinners like you and me. Three days after Christ was brutally crucified on the cross for our sin, He rose from the dead, defeating sin, death, and the grave so that all who would repent and believe might themselves be resurrected from the dead spiritually and one day eternally!

That is what we are to command and teach! In order for Timothy to command and teach sound doctrine he needed to.

b. Train yourself for godliness (4:7)

We are to avoid silly myths and train ourselves in godliness. Instead we are to learn how we should live holy lives according to the Gospel. When we repent and believe we will spend the rest of our lives studying the Scriptures, repenting of the sin God reveals to us, and growing in sanctification or another way to say it is being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Notice next Timothy was to,

c. Toil in teaching that God is the Savior of all who believe (4:10)

Did you know that your pastors toil or labor in preaching and teaching in a way that helps us all understand and know that we need a Savior. We all are sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory and are in need of a work of salvation that can only be recieved because of Jesus and His work on the cross. This means that we all ought to work in studying the Scriptures, learning about our great Savior Jesus Christ. He ought to have our hope set on the living God as Paul tells Timothy. Our desire should be to learn what Christ has done, how we can be made like Him, and how we can faithfully worship and serve Him!

Do we all understand what we are to command and teach?

Next, Paul explains to Timothy and us to,

II. Conduct Yourself According to the Gospel (4:12)

1 Timothy 4:12 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.

Timothy was a young man, and many times older folks look down upon the younger. We think that are not wise, they may be foolish, surely we can’t learn anything from these younger men and women, boys and girls. But, instructs Timothy, don’t let your age cause others to look down or despise you. If you have repented and believed the gospel, you have the Scriptures to instruct you, and you have the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth of the Scriptures and help you live faithfully. Notice how, Timothy is to conduct himself because of the Gospel.

He is to....

a. Set an example in speech.

When we come to know Christ we no longer talk like we use to. We no longer say the mean and ungodly things we used to say. Scriptures teach us we are to speak wholesome, edifying speech that points people to Jesus and builds one another up in the faith.

Next Timothy is to,

b. Set an example in conduct.

This means we are to set an example in the way we behave. How many of us have ever been told by our parents you better behave! They want us to act in a way that is not sinful, not unrestrained, and ungodly. Instead we are to conduct, behave, and live in a Christlike manner.

How did Christ conduct himself? Was He kind? Gentle? Respectful? Patient?

Timothy was also to,

c. Set an example in love.

Can any of you explain how I we are to act in love? Love is putting others before yourself. Love is being unselfish willing to do things for the good of others. God again gives us the perfect illustration of love in Christ.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Do you see how Christ showed love?

Paul keeps going, Timothy is to,

d. Set an example in faith.

One of the ways we conduct ourselves according to the gospel is to live by faith. We practice what we preach. We tell others to be saved by repentance and faith, therefore we are to live lives trust Christ for our salvation, sanctification, and glorification!

Finally,

e. Set an example in purity.

Timothy, our Pastors, and even me and you are to live lives of purity. Free from sin, free from immorality, for doing wrong things. But, the truth is we all struggle with that. This means we have to constantly ask Christ for forgiveness of our sins, and we are to ask the Spirit to help us grow in purity and holiness.

Wow that is a lot isn’t it. That can be a little overwhelming. When you consider all the ways we are to conduct ourselves according to the gospel we may say, How am I supposed to do that? Paul is about to tell Timothy and us.

Our final point for this morning is we are to,

III. Commit Ourselves to the Scriptures (4:13)

1 Timothy 4:13 ESV

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

Paul says, Timothy I have left you in Ephesus to shepherd the flock, to pastor the church of God, to oversee the household of faith. The most important thing you can do while I am gone is to devote or commit yourself to the Scriptures. This is what we are to do when we gather as the church today.

We are to publicly read the Scriptures. Have we done that today?

We are to be exhorted, encouraged, and challenged from the Scriptures. Have the Pastors done this today?

We are to teach the Scriptures. Have you been taught the Scriptures today.

You may be thinking yes, all those things have happened today, but what am I to do as a young boy are girl. You are to let no one look down upon your age, and,

a. Practice These Things That All May See Your Progress

1 Timothy 4:15 ESV

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.

1 Timothy 1:15

You want to know why this is so important? Because salvation happens as a result of preaching the gospel from the Scriptures and practicing faithful living according to the Scriptures. God does the work, but He calls His church to be the way in which He accomplishes it!

Conducting ourselves according to the gospel,

Committing ourselves to the Scriptures!

Here is the final command Paul gives Timothy in this letter, Timothy is to,

b. Persist in Practice for the Salvation of Others

1 Timothy 4:16 ESV

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

1 Timothy

Do you have a desire to be saved? Has God shown you this morning that you need to be saved. If he has not matter your age you can call out to God, repent of your sin, and trust in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and the Scriptures promise you will be saved. If you do this talk to your parents, teachers, or one of the pastors and let us help guide you in the faith.

Do you desire to see others saved? God uses his church, believers like you and me to.

Command and teach the gospel.

Conduct ourselves according to the gospel.

Commit ourselves to the Scriptures so that we might lead the lost to Jesus Christ. Let’s pray that we would all be faithful to do that today!