A friend called recently about a subordinate who was caught doing something at work that will likely cost him his career, years of accumulated long-term pension, and public shame.
He asked me for some advice on how to proceed, because he assumed I had dealt with this before….I said, sadly, “Yes, I have.”
I have lost track of the number of times I have seen this scenario play out…to summarize.
He is a believer…but his actions did not match his convictions…and he didn’t seek help for that lack of synchronization.
He was hiding in plain sight…he was not training in community for godliness.
There is a long debate over whether it is truly a conviction if it doesn’t show up in action.
But we know from experience that this is true to a degree for all of us.
Whenever we sin, we betray our convictions as a followers of Christ…it doesn’t mean that we don’t believe.
Our insides and outsides will not always match perfectly in this life…but they must match substantially.
Training in godliness is the ongoing process of matching our external actions and our internal heart orientation to the truth of the gospel.
We must keep close watch over both our lives (actions, attitudes) and our doctrine (what we believe is true).
We want increasingly, consistent synchronization between our life and doctrine…what we do and believe must match the truth of the gospel.
Turn to 1 Timothy 4, I will read.
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.
“Command and teach” means that Timothy is to use his God-given authority to exhort the people to believe and live the truth of the gospel.
Exhort is also translated “preach.”
Exhort them to train for godliness… means that he is to preach, proclaim, command…to give authoritative directives…”We must do this!”
Teach them how to train for godliness…is patient instruction, modeling, demonstration…”This is how we can do this!”
Now, immediately, knowing Timothy as he does…Paul addresses what he knows is the first thing that is going to go through Tim’s mind.
Feelings of timidity…the imposter syndrome.
Timothy reads his mentor saying, “Tim…Command and teach…step up.”
Paul knows that his next thoughts are “Oh, boy…I am going to have people trying to beat me in theological arguments, I hate that!
Then that old retired Roman War veteran in the church is going to patronize me and say, ‘Well, Timmy boy…you mean well, but…”
Paul knows where his mind is going to go…so he directs him to “Command and teach…
Then he immediately he challenges him…”and don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young.”
“I know you Timothy, don’t go there.”
Timothy may have only been in his late twenties… but his age doesn’t matter as much as the that fact that he is much younger than Paul and many would not be as prone to listen to him because he was young.
I’m 67, if I live that long I will be 70 when I step down as pastor of River.
The man that follows me, will be younger…and I will tell him, “Command and teach…and don’t let anyone look down on you because of your youth.”
I will tell you…”Follow him, don’t you dare look down on him because he is young or younger.”
Timothy’s age was a strength, and it was God’s sovereignty…God decides when we live and what he will call us to and when he will call us to that.
My first time to preach a sermon was in a little church in Towanda…I was 20 I think.
The sermon had a lot of points; they were semi-connected to one another.
It was full of passion but not full of great content…I had not had much mentoring in preparing and presenting a sermon.
I was, too naive to even be too nervous.
The congregation was gracious with me…they were a part of my long-term development.
There is yet another tension in Paul here:
He writes: “Don’t let anyone look down on your youth”
In the next chapter he will write, “Don’t be too hasty in laying on hands”
Which means, “Putting people into spiritual leadership”
So, step up and lead, don’t let your youth undermine your confidence…because God and the church have called you to this.
Then…be careful to not appoint leaders too soon, it can backfire if they are not ready.
We can’t wait until people are fully baked to release them into ministry…but they have to be ready to a reasonable point.
It’s why we have lots of entry points into training opportunities through our small group ministry structure, the training center, mission trips, Youth Horizons and others.
There are opportunities to grow in ministry leadership in line with the level of responsibility people take to step up and serve where they are.
We talk a lot about TWT…time will tell.
The key difference between “Don’t let anyone look down on your youth” and “Don’t be too hasty in laying on hands”
…is that Paul had watched Tim for years…he already knew that his life matched biblical doctrine…he was ready to go.
This was not a violation of “Time with tell”, but an example of it…time had told, Tim was ready.
**Now, pay careful attention to HOW Paul told Tim to ensure that no one looked down on his youth.
First…notice, what he did NOT tell him to do…
It was not “Demand and degrade” anyone who looks down on you.
But it was “demonstrate and devote”
I once had a young AF officer tell me after some training I had given on leading by example, that if any of his subordinates didn’t like what he told them he would just make them eat a feces sandwich…but he used a more colorful word.
I told him that if wanted to use his leadership to make those kinds of sandwiches he is not going to have much impact…and there is something wrong with a guy who wants to spend his time making those kinds of sandwiches.
He was a demand and demean kind of guy…this came from his arrogance and insecurity.
He did, I’m happy to say, later change his stance on this.
Youth, insecurity, pride…can lead to demanding that others submit and degrading them when they challenge you.
Paul gives a better path, a Christlike path…
Don’t let anyone look down you because of your youth…instead, let them see the demonstration of your life and your devotion to the Word of God.
Set an example…earn respect, don’t demand it.
First, he unpacks the demonstration of his life: He uses 5 words with a lot of content embedded in each one of them.
Speech:
Clearly what we say is crucial to our impact and leadership…here he is not talking about his preaching; this is his normal, daily conversations.
*Now, if Paul were writing this…he would include cyber speech…watch your texts, tweets, etc.
Do not underestimate the power of the spoken word…even the cyber word
Word’s change minds, hearts, and life direction…word’s reveal our hearts
Words can mobilize people to action…they can bring hope in hopeless situations.
They can undermine hope.
I have seen this over and over and over…it is wonderful, and terrifying…the tongue is a powerful weapon for good or for bad…just read the book of James.
*Sheila’s funeral…Momma, look at me, that moment in your mind does not exist…Sheila is not afraid, she is fineshe has forgotten it, she is good…now you must not be in that moment either…you need to be where she is now…the presence of Jesus.
She came into the room where we were…and left the darkness of her thoughts that trapped her in the past.
They were just words…just my vocal chords vibrating air making sounds…but then again, words are not just words are they?…they are weapons of harm, or tools of blessing.
Words are so important that we will be judged by God for how we use them.
Words are important because of their impact on others and because they reveal our own hearts.
Jesus…“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matt 12:34).
We have all heard a hundred public figures when caught in a hot mic moment say: “This doesn’t represent who I am”
Yeah, it sort of does.
That’s what bothers me about some of the stupid things I say…it does represent who I am.
Again, there is a balance here…James writes that if anyone is never at fault in what they say they are perfected.
Since we are not going to become perfect in this life, we will never get to the place of perfection in our words.
Though our words will not perfectly match our convictions, they must substantially do so.
Slips of the tongue are usually because of the way we have trained our hearts and minds.
Don’t be fearful of saying the wrong thing so much that you fail to say the right thing.
Proverbs says, that “an aptly spoken word is like an apple of gold in a setting of silver”…a beautiful thing.
But if you talk too much or say a lot of dumb things…you need to get a handle on this…do the work.
I memorized a bunch of verses on the tongue/words when I was a new Christian…because every single night that first couple of years… I reflected on and repented of…all the dumb things I said that day…and there were a lot of them.
I got tired of that…I knew that it had to change…heart and habit, both had to change.
Conduct:
Clearly is it important that our actual lives match what we say that we believe.
The Lord asked rhetorically…
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).
I will say it one more time…our conduct must reveal a settled direction not a life of sinless perfection.
But there needs to be growing continuity between conviction and action.
Love:
Earlier Paul told Tim that the reason he was to learn and teach the truth was for the sake of love.
1 Tim. 1:5
The goal of leadership, of learning theological information… is not to look smart, spiritual, impressive…not to win arguments…it is to lead people towards God’s purposes for their lives.
Love for God and love for people is how Timothy was to see to it that no one looked down on his youth.
He was to be ahead of his years in how he loved others.
Faith:
I was naive at 20 but I was full of faith.
My faith was, in retrospect, sometimes misguided and not fully biblically informed…but I did trust God.
I spoke at my own church soon after my experience in Towanda…I gave an impassioned plea…to trust God with your life, your money, everything…and God would bless you if you did.
Many who were present when I spoke were much older than I was…in fact, I had very little experience in any of what I was saying, compared to them, and I very little to lose at that point in my life…but my faith was real.
One kind, older man said, “Your faith is compelling, though the content of your message is not fully biblical.”
He was right…on both counts.
A contagious and passionate faith must be tempered by truth and the goal of love.
In Galatians 5:6 Paul wrote, “The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.”
Purity:
Next week, we will read in chapter 5, Paul telling Timothy to treat younger women as sisters with “all” or “absolute purity.”
There is no room, none, zero…for moral impurity in ministry…none.
I read the terrible stories of clergy sexual abuse…I am probably aware of more of these than many of you are.
I also know that there are thousands of stories of clergy sexual purity…no one tends to hear of these; they don’t make the news.
We must not even tolerate sexual jokes, innuendos, “boys will be boys” stories.
This kind of talk…never happens on our staff…I have never talked this way with staff or heard one of the men or women on our staff talk this way.
There can be sexual line crossing…absolute purity is the standard.
Paul wrote this elsewhere:
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. Ephesians 5:3
Who cares if culture thinks you are out of step…culture is in in the ditch, and worse…falling off a cliffs to their own destruction.
Sex is God’s idea and it is a really good thing in the context of his design.
But it’s like a fire…in a fireplace it will warm your house, out of the fireplace it will burn down your house.
This is Paul speaking to Timothy as a pastor…but remember, what God calls Pastors to lead in, he is calling his people to follow in.
Don’t mess around with this…run from it.
People have mocked what has been called the “Billy Graham rule”…where he would not be alone with a woman who was not his wife.
Most don’t know how many people tried to sabotage his life using women as set ups…he lived in a continual combat zone that few ever will.
In addition…he stayed happily married and died without some terrible secret news coming
Because of his settled commitment to purity…a commitment that involved real strategies.
He didn’t hope he would stay pure…he saw to it that he did.
I don’t apologize for the fact that I have friends who are guys, and Christy has friends who are gals…and we have friends who are both guys and gals.
I understand that you may be in work situations where you have meetings, work lunches with the opposite sex…you can and you must make sure you live above approach…no hint.
Years ago, I spent a month at officer training school in Alabama.
We had to spend all day and most evenings together in our small groups…it was how the training was designed.
I spent a lot of time in my assigned seat next to a medical officer named Lisa.
I did not spend time with her alone and whenever we were chatting at our side-by-side desks or at group dinners…the topics of conversations from my side where about: Jesus, Christy, and my daughters.
Those were the parts of my heart she got to see.
You may have a different conviction than I do about some of these things…that’s okay…as long as that conviction looks like…”absolute purity.”
So, Tim is to ensure that no one looks down on his youth by his life demonstration and then by his devotion to a Scripture infused ministry.
13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
He was to gain influence by his demonstration of a gospel life and devotion to gospel preaching and teaching.
Read, preach, and teach Scripture…are like three movements of a Sonata.
They are each distinct, but each are a key part of a single aspect of his ministry…the ministry of the Word of God.
Public reading of scripture: The content of our ministry is the revelation of God in the Bible.
*Movements, churches die…when leaders divert from Scripture.
Exhortation: Also translated preaching, it is calling others to gospel action from Scripture.
Teaching: Specific application of the truth.
These are three intertwined activities in the gathered church:
On Sunday mornings we:
- Read Scripture
- We preach towards specific actions…what are we think, do, feel, believe, etc. (devotion, faith, sacrifice, evangelism, world view perspective)
- We seek to come away with clear instruction, applications…how do we pull this off?
*Information without application…cannot lead to transformation.
*Start with God’s word, then we move to exegesis (to read out what is there), then move to practical application.
Timothy was not to demand respect but to earn it through his demonstration of a gospel lifestyle and a devotion to gospel communication.
We see how important this aspect of gospel ministry is over and over in Scripture.
In the next chapter Paul will write that the elders who direct the church are worthy of double honor…especially those who preach and teach.
This is the priority of the Word of God.
What we let enter and stay in our minds is what we let shape your lives.
Above all else guard your heart (minds)…from it flow every single aspect of your life.
Scripture must shape our minds…so that it will shape our lives.
Without getting into the weeds, preaching is more about exhortation (mobilizing hearts and lives)
Teaching is more about instruction.
Sunday sermons we try to do some of both…but generally we use a bigger paint brush on Sunday mornings…heavy on exhortation… because of the diverse group, time constraints, and the overall purpose.
In other settings, like training events, small groups, leadership community, and Aaron’s classes…we use a smaller teaching brush, and get more detailed.
Verse 14 Paul calls Timothy to be faithful with his gift and he challenges him by reminding him of what he already knew and surely remembered very well.
We don’t always need to be telling people new things…we need to keep reminding people of what they already know.
Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.
God gave the gift and it was confirmed by the church (as represented by the elders).
When things get tough, when our sense of calling is tested…we must be able to remember that we did not call ourselves, God did…and this call was confirmed by his church.
We cannot measure our lives by our inner emotions in a given moment.
*This same thing, in principle, applies to every believer in regard to their salvation…God has saved you, he has called you to his purposes…do not doubt this when times get hard or confusing.
In marriage ceremonies I will often speak to the need to navigate by fixed points of reference…as given in God’s word.
Not moving reference points, like our emotions.
I use the example of the Greensburg tornado…I was working there in the aftermath as a chaplain.
As I walked through the debris of what used to be a city…I spoke with the City Manager who had lived there for decades.
He told me that he could not find where his house had been… because not only was his house gone but every point of reference was blown away as well.
We navigate by points of reference.
The point of reference for a marriage is the vow, it’s not love.
If you focus on love not commitment…love will often devolve into feelings and will often fade away.
If you focus on the commitment, you will keep love alive.
Commitment fuels love…love doesn’t fuel commitment.
Nurture your commitment, you nurture your love.
In the same way ministry calling has an internal, subjective, emotional component…but it must have an external, objective…fixed point of reference.
Others see evidence of calling, character, commitment and competency.
Paul is calling Timothy to remember his calling…internally and externally confirmed by God and others…so he will act with courage.
Verse 15
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress
Pastors are not to play at this…they are to be all in.
Early on I took myself way too seriously as I tried to figure out how to take my calling seriously.
The sweet spot is to relax, don’t be so intense…smile a little or lot…but be all in, train hard, immerse yourself in your calling.
It’s good if you look like you are actually happy about what God has called you to.
I’m pleased to say that there are fewer and fewer Sundays where people ask me, “What’s wrong?”
But I’m still trying to get this part down…take the ministry serious…and don’t be so serious.
Now, we find another tension here: Scripture loves tensions…we need to learn to love them as well.
The tension is: “let others see your progress” but the tension is…don’t “play for the crowd”
- How will they know how to grow if they don’t see you growing?
- Let your progress be seen…Don’t do what you do for the applause of others.
Here’s how Jesus defines that tension:
- “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them” (Matt 6:1).
- “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16).
Clearly motive is the key in all this…whose glory are we after?
Finally we are to that verse we have quoted so often…last year and this year.
16 Keep a close watch on yourself (your life) and on the teaching(doctrine). Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers
*Make sure your outsides match the gospel
*Make sure your insides match the gospel.
Make sure you are training to synch your insides to your outsides, and your outsides to your insides…belief and behavior.
What does he mean that “you will save yourself and your hearers”?
Paul knows that Christ saves sinners
But for churches to persevere in faith and faithfulness…leaders must persevere.
There is that grace and grit tension that is all through Scripture:
Paul wrote elsewhere:
“I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor 15:10)…grace and grit.
Paul calls people to Christ, knowing that only Christ can save them…
But then he writes, “I limit my own freedom so that by all possible means I might save some” 1 Cor. 9:19
He knows Christ saves…he is focused on his own agency…his choice…he chooses to align life and doctrine.
There is a clue to what he means in how he words this:
“You will save both yourself and your HEARERS”
Save your “hearers” not “watchers” this reveals the core function of the pastor…to proclaim the truth.
Romans 10, “Faith comes through hearing the word of God”
Pastors must not be mere talking heads…but we must live gospel proclaiming lives
Thus…watch your “life and teaching” closely.
Again, what God calls pastors to lead in, he calls all his people to follow and to grow in.
You…watch your life and doctrine closely…train for synchronization between what you profess to believe and how you live your life.
This a team sport, but a team sport like wrestling, or track and field.
When you are on the mat or running track…you must compete, work, train…no one can do for you what you must do yourself.
But you are a part of a team…and you will not go far if you do not train as a part of that team.
This is how God has designed us and how he has designed the church…train in community for godliness…more and more synchronization between life and belief.
In the military part of your job requirement is to pass fitness tests.
Sometimes members complain about having to do ongoing physical training as a part of other job… but the fact is…it is a great privilege to be able to train as part of your job.
To be paid, to have a requirement….to be healthy…what a great thing.
Last week we looked at “Training for godliness”
We can’t see this as something we MUST do but something we GET TO do.
We have been given all we need in order to train to become more like Christ over time.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3
This is our great responsibility…this is our great privilege.