INTRODUCTION
- I would have never been able to cut it as a priest in the Roman Catholic church
- It's that celibacy thing
- The idea of going through your whole life and never being able to marry
- I couldn't handle it!
- Under ANY circumstances!
- I mean...who would fill my pill trays?
- You know those plastic containers which have little compartments for each day of the week?
- Every week Pam faithfully fills them up with my morning meds
- Not to mention all the vitamins and nutritional supplements she has me on
- Here's the thing: she knows there's no point in letting me die at an early age
- My life insurance policy isn't worth that much money
- The bottom line is: She wants to keep me healthy and strong
- And I'm glad she does- because I love being married to her
- Can't imagine not being married
- Don't understand why priests aren't allowed to be married
- Particularly when the Bible is so pro-marriage!
- Let's turn to 1 Timothy 4.
- We'll begin with the first verse
FOR EVERYTHING GOD CREATED IS GOOD...
- The technical term for someone who abandons their faith in Christ is apostasy
- To be in a state of apostasy is to move away from the absolute, infallible, inerrant truth of the Bible
- And accept as true false teachings about the things of God
- Which raises the question: If a Christian falls into apostasy can they lose their salvation?
- Or to put it another way: If you reject God
- He is going to reject you?
- Well- it depends on whether that person ever made a genuine profession of faith in Christ
- There are people who think they're a Christian who are as lost as a...radical Islamic cleric
- It's like we talked about last week:
- Knowing facts about Jesus- and having your name on a church roll doesn't save you
- You're saved by receiving Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord. PERIOD!
- Assuming that a person has made a sincere and genuine profession of faith at some point in their life
- They're as saved as...Billy Graham
- Regardless of what they do with the remainder of their life
- Remember:
- A person is saved BECAUSE of God's amazing grace- not what they've said or done in their life
- And the Bible says God's grace will be found eternally faithful and true
- Turn with me to Romans 3:3-4
- I don't know about you
- But I'm eternally grateful my salvation is in the hands of a loving and faithful heavenly Father
- With all that in mind- let's get back to 1 Timothy chapter 4
- Remember- Paul had left Timothy behind to handle problems that had arisen in the church in Ephesus
- The biggest problem he faced was the heresy known as asceticism
- Asceticism is a theory that says salvation- and spiritual growth
- Is dependent on severe forms of self-denial
- Verse 3 tells us what these ascetics were teaching. Paul says they...
- Here was the problem with marriage...according to the Ephesian ascetics
- Part of being married means you get to enjoy the physical pleasures of sex
- And that was a problem for the ascetics
- They claimed that spiritual things were the only things human beings ought to be interested in
- That anything of the flesh was a sin and had to be ignored or rejected
- Which explains why the Ephesian ascetics also- .
- Eating is not only a pleasure- it nourishes the physical body
- Again- that's a problem if you're an ascetic
- They practiced something called mortification of the flesh
- They thought that by denying the flesh- in this case by starving themselves
- They were going to win brownie points with God
- Which is absolutely ridiculous. You don't get extra credit with God by:
- Robbing yourself- and your spouse- of the blessings of marital sex
- Or by starving yourself to the point of looking like some pasty-faced, glassy-eyed, anorexic fashion model
- That's why Paul reminds Timothy to teach the Ephesians that God's good gifts like marriage, marital sex and nourishing food are...
- I don't want you to miss what the Bible is saying here:
- Not only are pleasures like marriage- marital sex and food to be enjoyed by Christians
- They become a source of worship and spiritual growth when they're received with thanksgiving and prayer
- This is such an important truth that Paul goes on to tell Timothy: 1 Timothy 4:6
..order (people) to abstain from certain foods,
GODLINESS HAS VALUE FOR ALL THINGS
- Let's read on in 1 Timothy 4:7-8
- I want you to really focus on verse 8
- Notice that Paul begins by saying: physical training is of some value
- Folks- Paul isn't diminishing the importance of physical exercise
- The last thing evangelical Christians need today is an invitation to be a bunch of coach potatoes
- The Bible says your physical body is the temple of God
- As such you need to take care of it by:
- Eating good food
- Getting proper amounts of rest
- And exercising to keep it healthy and strong
- Having said all that- the key to understanding 1 Timothy 4:8 is the contrast Paul is making between physical training and godliness (or spiritual training)
- The Greek phrase used to describe the value of physical training is pros oligon
- It literally means for a time
- Or in this life
- On the other hand the spiritual exercise of godliness has value for all things or more literally for all time- eternity
- So let me paraphrase what verse 8 is saying:
- Physical training and exercise is important because it keeps your body healthy and strong throughout your lifetime
- But practicing genuine godliness- growing in the Lord daily- developing the mind of Christ has benefits that stretch throughout all of this life into eternity.
- You know- it's really ironic
- Paul emphasized the absolute importance of spiritual growth and godliness
- Just after he's finished bashing the people in the Ephesian church who seemed to be most interested in- and dedicated to- spiritual growth: Namely the ascetics
- This demonstrates an important principle of spiritual growth
- You don't grow in the Lord by:
- Practicing rigid self-denial
- Or obeying legalistic rules and regulations
- Or withdrawing from society to go live in a cave
- You grow in the Lord by:
- Worshiping together with God's people
- Praying
- Studying the Bible
- Participating in the life of the church
- And actively serving others in Christian mission and ministry
- That's it. There is no other way
SET AN EXAMPLE FOR THE BELIEVERS...
- Let's keep on going - 1 Timothy 4:12
- Last Sunday I mentioned I was celebrating my 25th anniversary as a pastor
- As most of you know- I'm 50 years old
- You do the math.
- I was 25 years old when I became pastor of New Sandy Creek Baptist Church
- I was a rookie- a greenhorn
- I was still wet behind the ears- and I was scared to death
- Here I'm supposed to be the spiritual leader of a church made up of people who'd been a Christian longer than I'd been alive
- At that time 1 Timothy 4:12 provided a lot of comfort and encouragement: Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young...
- I figured Timothy was like me- in his early to mid-twenties- totally over his head
- Imagine my surprise to recently discover that Timothy wasn't all that young at the time Paul wrote this letter
- The Greek word translated as young- or youth in the King James Version is neotes
- It carries the idea of someone of grown-up military age (‘Locke' p. 374 The Expositor's Bible Commentary- vol. 11)
- In other words: Timothy was probably in his mid-to-late thirties at the time
- Oh well- it helped me back then
- And I gotta admit- after all these years it's still cool to learn new things about the Bible!
- The word translated as example means an image- an example or a pattern
- The idea is that Timothy was supposed to present the proper image of a godly life
- Which would- in turn- serve as a pattern for other Christians to follow
- As a Baptist preacher I don't wear one of those clerical collars worn by ministers in other denominations
- Frankly- they give me the creeps
- It looks like you're walking around with a knife at your throat
- BUT- I always try to remember that I'm supposed to present the proper image of a godly life to others
- Now heaven knows I don't always succeed
- But my goal is to have people see Jesus in me
- You should have the same purpose
- You might not be a pastor
- But as a born-again child of God you need to remember that other people are watching- and listening to- you
- What's the old saying? You're the only Jesus someone will ever know
- Folks- it's true!
- People are judging Jesus by what they...
- Hear you saying
- See you doing
- Notice about your way of living
- Experience in the way you demonstrate God's love
- As a the body of Christ that meets at 2317 Sunset Road we need to make sure people are seeing Jesus revealed in us!
DEVOTE YOURSELF TO...PREACHING AND TEACHING
- I think they meant it as a criticism
- I took it as a compliment
- The purpose of preaching is not for you to know what I think
- The purpose of preaching is for you to discover what GOD thinks!
- As a preacher my job is to proclaim the Word of God in such a way that you will be encouraged to:
- Accept Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord- if you've never done so
- And if you're a Christian- to obey what it says
- As a teacher my job is to explain the Bible so that you-
- Will understand its truths
- And know how to live a more Christ-like life
- Then I'm satisfied
- Because I've done what God has called me to do
DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR GIFT
- Paul warns Timothy not to neglect the gift he has received from the Holy Spirit
- The word he uses here is charismatos
- It literally means a gift of grace
- The Biblical teaching concerning spiritual gifts is very clear:
- Every born-again believer has been given a gift of the Holy Spirit
- 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
- If you're a Christian you have a gift of the Spirit
- And don't think- or claim- that you don't
- The fact is- you received a spiritual gift when you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord
- And here's the thing: EVERY gift of the Spirit is necessary for the church to accomplish its work
- In 1 Corinthians 12:14-25 the Bible uses the analogy of a body to emphasize the importance of every Christian's gift of the Spirit
- Now let's get back to 1 Timothy 4. In verse 14 Paul specifically warns Timothy not to neglect his gift of the Spirit
- The Greek word he uses means to be careless or to disregard something
- So here's the point Paul is making:
- If you're not using your God-given spiritual gift in the church
- You are sinning against God!
- Let me repeat that so you understand what I just said
- If you're not using your God-given spiritual gift in the church
- You are sinning against God!
- But Steve- wait a minute! I love God- and I give my money to the church- but...but...
- The church doesn't really need my puny little spiritual gift- it's not that important
- Besides that- I'm too shy to do anything in the church...Not to mention the fact that I just don't have the time!
- If you choose to neglect your gift of the Holy Spirit
- You are sinning against God
- And you'd better understand that God is going to hold you accountable for that sin!
CONCLUSION
- In my office I have a copy of a devotion written by Steven Cole posted on my wall.
- The devotion is titled The Other Spurgeon
- I want to share it with you
- The Other Spurgeon- Steven J. Cole - Leadership . Vol 7 no. 3
- God's question for Sunset Road Baptist Church is simple:
- Will you be faithful to Me?
- Will you serve me with the gift I've given you?
- Will you let Me use you as I see fit?
- Will you? Let us pray
One day I was jogging in the forest near my house when a question popped into my mind: What about John Spurgeon?I admit, not many people are losing sleep over that question, but I had been reading the autobiography of the famous British preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. I was asking the Lord to bless my ministry like his. And then that question hit me, and I began thinking about John Spurgeon.Ever heard of him? Until my recent reading, I never had. He was the father of Charles. He was himself a pastor and the son of a pastor. Yet if his son had no achieved such fame as a preacher, John Spurgeon would have served the Lord faithfully, gone to his grave, and we never would have heard of him.Hundreds of pastors like him have walked with God, shepherded his flock for a lifetime, and gone to their reward without any notice in the sight of the world. As I jogged, I thought, Would I be willing to serve God faithfully and raise my children up to serve him, even if I never achieved any recognition? Even if no one but my own small congregation knew my name?The more I thought about it, the more I realized, ‘Yes!' That's really what I want: to be faithful to the Lord in my personal walk, in my family, and in my shepherding of God's flock.The Lord never says, ‘Well done, good and famous servant', but He does say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.'If God makes me as famous as Charles Spurgeon, that's His business. My business is to be as faithful as John Spurgeon.
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