1 Timothy 4:11-16

Command and teach these thing. 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 what given you by prophecy when the counsel 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 your life and the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so you will save yourself and your hearers.

In the text that Mark just read, Timothy is to do three things:

Set the believers in his church an example.

Devote himself to the Scriptures.

Use the gift that is in him.

He is to practice these things and not just practice them. He is to immerse his whole life into them, show up every day as an example to the believers, as one devoted to the Scriptures and using the gift in him.

Paul charge Timothy this way in order that all may witness his growth as a disciple, pastor and leader.

He the summarizes everything in by saying keep a close watch on your entire life and on the content of your teaching because in doing so he will save himself and his church.

Now it is hard enough to set an example, remain devoted to the Scriptures and use your gift when everyone is happy with you. How much more difficult to practice and immerse yourself in these things when some discredit your, look down upon you, call you into question, and despise you.

This is the circumstance facing Timothy. No matter, he is to walk the road leading to life in the hope that his church will do the same. It is a narrow road that leads to life Jesus, said, and very few walk it. It is a broad road that leads to destruction and very many walk it. As much as it depends on him, Timothy is to set the example, devote himself to Scripture and his gift, showing up everyday. The saving of his church hangs upon this.

I want you think about your life for a moment. If your are at all in a position of influence, your example matters. Your devotion to Scripture matters. And the use of the gift in you matters. What is more, practicing and immersing yourself matters. It matters so much that the saving of those under your influence hangs in the balance. If you are parent, you have influence. If you are a group leader, you have influence. If your are student ministry leader, you have influence. If your work with college students, you have influence. The question is this: what kind of influence will you have? Will you walk the narrow and hard road that leads those under your influence to life? Or will you walk the broad and easy road that lead to destruction? And the bigger question is this: will you do this when the pressure is on, when you are despised and disregarded?

Let’s look at the text now together… and the conditions facing Timothy.

Command and teach these thing. Let no one despise you for your youth.

So, as a pastor in his church at Ephesus, some had been undermining him, looking down upon him, and disregarding him saying, in effect, Timothy, you might be a good guy and all but you are in over your head. You are too young for this responsibility. You are not seasoned enough in life and ministry. You lack experience.

The truth is, Timothy was younger in age and experience at least by comparison to Paul. Timothy is in his mid thirties and has been assigned a massive task to take on those who are wrongly using the Scriptures, to rightly organize the entire church, and correct the behavior of some. That is hard enough to do when everyone is on board. The truth is, in every church, a handful will make it difficult by despising and disregarding those in authority and leadership. For Timothy it was because of his age.

So, says Paul, Timothy, let no one despise you! Fair enough. So how is he to do that? Maybe make a phone call, write an email, or send a text saying something like, look. Do you know who I am? “I have been appoint and gift by God and sent here by the apostle Paul himself to clean up the mess you are creating.” You know, stand up for himself. Another option might be to give into despair and throw into towel and sulk in defeat. My despisers are undermining me. Cave under the pressure. Both options will have the effect of Timothy and his church being on the loosing end.

Paul says, hey Timothy, no matter what your set an example. And notice who he is to having mind as he does: the believers.

look at it with me: in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. His example is to be comprehensive, from his talk to his walk.

Think with me, if your are despised like Timothy had been, it would be so easy to, so natural to, and feel so justified to say something sinful and/or a sinful manner in return. Let your speech be totally cut loose from control of the Holy Spirit. If Timothy, gives into the pressure, he looses; his opponents smile. Got ya!

Timothy, be someone otherworldly in how you speak. Timothy as we will see is to continue to teach the Word, preach the word, encourage his church and not play the silly little games of his despisers.

1 Peter 3:13 of Jesus it say, “when revived, spoken ill of, did not revile back but continued entrusting himself to the one who judges justly.” So do your really want to be like Jesus? It is a narrow road involving setting an example in speech, even when it would be easy and feel good to do otherwise.

Titus 3:2 “resolve to speak evil of no one.” Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Jesus said in Matthew 12, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

in conduct. That is Timothy’s entire way of life is to exemplify focused discipline. Being despised has a certain gravity and weight that can pull you down and away from a disciplined life and to a very distracted life. And yet there rest and golden opportunity to influence others by resolve to keep your eye fix on Christ and this show others that your manner of life is not caving, by the grace of God, under the weight of despisers. Make no mistake, others are watching your life and your conduct in the face of critics.

In Love. Among the most difficult callings and commands Jesus gave to those who would follow him is to love your enemies, those who despise you. Is not not our human nature to hate those who hate you? Listen to the words of Jesus. “ You have heard people say, You shall love those who love you and hate those who hate you. But I say to you, if you will follow me, you must love your enemies and pray for those how persecute you, so that you will be may be sons of my father in heaven.” Timothy was to set an example of this to those who had been undermining him. So, a faithful believer in Timothy’s church walks up to him and says how are your going to respond to your critics? Timothy, says would you join me right now in praying for them, that in some way God’s grace and mercy would so capture their heart, that they would be rescued by his grace and that I would by that same grace and mercy I would love them in the way that God has demonstrated his love to me through Jesus Christ.

In faith. The pressure facing Timothy had the power to shipwreck his faith in which case he looses himself and his church and his entire ministry. I can imagine Timothy waking up each morning, throwing himself at the feet of his King, Jesus Christ, saying “I can’t do this! My faith is floundering under the endless borach of those who are undermining me in my desire to be faithful to you here in Ephesus. Upon your grace and mercy and strength for perseverance do I cling. He then stands on his feet and keeps going. You do that, it will be noticed by those under your influence.

In purity. This word means purity in the area of sexual lust and also implies purity of intentions of the heart. This one reason Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, will tell him to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness along with all who call in the name of the Lord from a pure heart.

History has shown that ministry and the church is devastated by sexual impurity. This had been happening in Ephesus according to 2 Timothy 3 some men were secretly entering households of weak and vulnerable women who had been burdened by their sin and where led away into sin by these men. If you are that kind of man, knock it off! It will not be tolerated here. Timothy, in every way, from computer to cell phone to all interactions, you model purity.

The way to respond to those looking down on and discrediting Timothy ministry is to, number 1, let his entire life be an example from how he talks to how he his walks. Paired with this is a relentless devotion to Scripture.

Verse 13, Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Regarding the Scriptures he must read them to the church not something else, use them to exhort the church, not something else, and let them serve as his source of teaching to the church, not something else.

His stand before his church and not share a talk about his opinions but to show from where his opinions come, namely the Scriptures. He is to stand before the assembly of believers and not share a talk or dialog about current mainstream thoughts and ideas, no matter how much pressure those who are disregarding him put on him.

In Timothy’s day, much like our own, the pressure was great to push the preaching and teaching of Scripture to the periphery of the church in favor of some other perceived or felt to be “more popular subject.” Timothy is to have none of it. His responsibility is to be a man devoted and sold out to the Scriptures as the source of his content. There is little use in exhorting people to be Christians if the one teaching is not devoting himself to teaching the Christian book.

I charge you Timothy, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge those who are alive and those who are dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the Word. be ready all the time, in season and out of season with complete patience. Timothy, you are to stand up every Sunday and preach knowing full well there will be at least a few who will despise you for it, criticize you for it, find fault in you for doing so. So what! You be ready.

Timothy is not surprise by the days in which he lives, and neither are we to be surprised by the days in which we live, that the time is coming when people will simply not tolerate sound teaching from the Scriptures because they have an itch in their ears and will therefore accumulate a host of other teachers scratch it. and accommodate their own passions and desires. They will turn away from the truth, travel the road leading to death and leave the secure shores of Christ and His Word sailing out into the blue ocean to drifting forever into myths.

By the grace and mercy of God Anchor Point will remain with firm resolve and devotion to read this book, exhort you from this book, and teach it for what it is: the inspired word of God. Therefore we simply resolve to let the text of Scriptures determine the topics we teach.

You need to know that I believe with every ounce of my being that to learn the gospel, preach the gospel and make disciples of the nation no other “curriculum” is necessary outside this book. Let me ask you, “if the Scriptures were the only curriculum that we had to finish the great commission would it be enough?”

May I and the the preaching team and elder who teach be able to say with Paul "I did not shrink from declaring to you the entire counsel of God.”

This my charge as pastor, it is your charge as a Christian and in particular if you are a group leader, work with our kids or our teenagers or if you are on a college campus. Devote yourself to the Scriptures. Let’s keep pressing into the Scriptures no matter the how popular or unpopular it is and no matter the season.

Paul expounds on this further in verse 14. In the strongest way language is capable Paul says, Do not neglect the gift in you, which what given you by prophecy when the counsel of elders laid their hands on you. The gift he had was exhortation and teaching. Though this gift was placed in him by God, this gift had been affirmed by a spoken word from the elders when they laid their hand on him. “Timothy, we see this gift in your. Do not neglect it. Use it. Use it. Use it.” Given the pressure he is under by those who are looking down upon him for being young, I think Timothy needed to hear this. I would imagine his critics saying or thinking, there he goes again to teach the word to these believers. He is so in experienced. That’s about enough to neglect his gift. Because his critic were likely persistent, over time it could wear him down to the point of utter exhaustion. I have been there. You know what keeps your going? You genuine love for Christ and His church. You are in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, so you keep going, not neglecting the gift in you.

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

Practice setting the example. Practice your devotion to Scripture and practice the gift that is you. Paul adds immerse yourself in them.

Literally, the phases reads in these the be. Always be the kind of person who actively sets the example, actively devotes himself to Scripture and actively puts his gift in use. Make these matters your business, make them your absorbing interest.

5. Keep both eyes on your life and your content of teaching. The content of his teaching is to be root in Scripture and it is to be for his own life as it is also to be for those under his teaching. The implication of this instruction is massive. you will save yourself and your hearers.

God has means....

Neglect of spiritual gifts may happen when under pressure.

Watch your life and what you teach. Watch it closely! Don’t cave under the pressure.