Preach the word!, 1 Tim 3:1-4:5
Pastoral Moment & Sermon
Introduction
We are continuing in our series entitled “Pathways of Grace” where we are looking at what the scriptures teach us about the key means of grace by which we walk with God individually and corporately. We have been spending the past several weeks looking at the essential means of grace of the word of God. We’ve spoken about how it is only through the word of God we experience true life and you heard last week from Pastor Bauer Evans on the importance and practice of reading and memorizing the word. This week I want to talk to you about an aspect of our experience of the word of God that is so important that its practice is directly related to the health of the church throughout history. Every season of revival in church history corresponds exactly with the revival of this practice and every season of decline corresponds exactly with the decline of this practice. Every season of harvest in the church is related to it’s use, every church experiencing health over the long haul employs it regularly. Any guesses? That’s right – it is the preaching of the word of God. And this morning we are going to do just that as we look at 2 Tim. 3 and 4. Knowing the importance of this key means of grace, knowing our weakness and need and anticipating God’s pleasure to bless us as we are faithful to him, Let’s pray.
1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. 10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 1 I 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, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
2 Timothy 3:1-4:5 (ESV)
Now, there is much in this text to teach us about the importance of
preaching. Before we enjoy the separate
courses of what I hope will be a feast on God’s word, I want us to take a few
minutes to get an overview of the entire meal set before us, that is, I want to
follow Paul’s overall thought process in this section.
This letter of scripture is possibly the last that Paul wrote. He is at the end of his life facing imminent
execution probably under the persecution of Nero. He is experiencing the clarity that often
comes when we realize are days are short.
There is something about this that helps us put everything in
perspective. We are more apt to be able
to distinguish that which is peripheral from that which is essential. Crisis often have this ability. During the weeks after 911 is was remarkable
to see the clarity of peoples thoughts in terms of what was most important. There weren’t many people worrying about whether
they would be able to buy that new lawn tractor or whether the Red Sox were
going to make the series. People were
focused on faith and family and the values that have made our country
great. That thinking quickly faded
however. Nevertheless, Paul, who seems
to always to have thought clearly is perhaps experiencing extra insight as he
writes this letter to his dear friend and son in the faith, Timothy. Timothy is currently serving the churches in
As Paul speaks to Timothy he is both looking back over a lifetime of
ministry as well as looking ahead to the future of the church far beyond his
years. He wants Timothy to understand
that in these last days there will be times of difficulty. There will be people even in and around the
church that are fundamentally self-centered, not God centered, not people
centered and that such people would influence the church and drag away those
easily influenced. This has been the
case throughout the history of the people of God, including in the days of
Moses and up to our day. In light of
this reality and threat both for Timothy personally and for the church, Paul
exhorts Timothy to remember both Paul’s life and his doctrine, to,
particularly, remember the scriptures.
Then Paul seems to reach the climax of his exhortations towards Timothy
in the beginning of chapter 4 where he charges Timothy in the presence of God
and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and by his
appearing and his kingdom to preach the word and exercise all the actions that
go with being one who preaches the word of God.
In other words, Paul is saying, “Timothy, times will be tough and the
church will face many threats, what you need to do is to be a man of the word
and to preach the word.” “Timothy, if
you want to see success in the church preach the word!” “Timothy, I charge you,
if you are to do anything as a pastor and leader you must preach the word!”
Folks, I hope this point is clear. Of all the means of grace there is one that
stands out in scripture and in the history of the church as essential for
church health – the preaching of God’s word.
And what I want to say to you today from God’s word is this: We
must exceedingly value the Preached Word of God, Our life as a church depends on it. 1)
We must exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : The preached word saves,
2) We must exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : the preach word
sanctifies, 3) We must exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : the
preached word creates a healthy church, 4) We must exceedingly value the
Preached Word of God : By wisely receiving it.
1.
We must
exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : The preached word saves,
Paul reminds Timothy of the value of God’s word in bringing
about salvation. In chapter 3 verse 14
to 15 he says, “14 But as
for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing
from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been
acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” And in chapter 4 verse 5, “do the
work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” It is through the word that we come to
understand the essential truths that are necessary for salvation. God does indeed reveal his character and
power through his creation but it is the scriptures that explain what we need
to know to have a true relationship with God.
Salvation is the state of being rescued from our present alienation from
God that each human is born into to experience an eternal glorious relationship
with God that encompasses all of life and all of future time. Many people search here and there to find the
meaning of life. Many religious people
make pilgrimages and perform great acts to somehow attain to eternal life. Yet the scriptures teach us that eternal life
is found in Christ alone. He has said,
“I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father but by
me.” And in 1 John 5:11-12 (ESV)
“And this is the testimony, that God
gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12
Whoever has the Son has life;
whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” And he has said in John
5:39 (ESV) “39 You search
the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is
they that bear witness about me.”
Folks, it is the
scriptures that teach us of Christ and it is in Christ that we find eternal
life. The word makes us wise for
salvation by declaring Christ Jesus– the fulfillment of all righteousness, the
second and perfect Adam, the ultimate prophet, priest and king of the bible,
the true Son of David, the promised Messiah king of God’s people, the true Israel,
the apple of his father’s eye, the suffering servant, the perfect sacrificial
lamb, the willing substitute for our sins on the cross, our ultimate
kinsman-redeemer, our captain and champion, our victorious risen king, he who
sits at the right hand of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Judge of the
living and the dead, our elder brother, the first fruit of the new humanity,
the eternal word of God, Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord at whose feet every knee
will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the
Father.
Folks the word of God makes us wise for salvation because it reveals the Son from Genesis chapter 1 to Revelation chapter 22. And a chief means we behold him and are made wise for salvation is through the faithful Spirit anointed preaching of God’s precious word! So we must exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : The preached word saves. and…
2.
We must
exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : the preach word sanctifies
Look down at chapter 3 verse 16. What does it say? That’s right, “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” And what does it say next? “That the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Paul is instructing Timothy that the word is given to him as the man of God, as the messenger of God, as the one delivering the preached word of God that he might be thoroughly equipped. Later on in chapter 4 Paul tells Timothy to do the very things the word will equip him to do. Verse 2 says, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
Often we take 2 Tim 3:16 in a personal sense, and I think that is permissible. But this verse speaks of what the word of God does for the man of God, a term applied to the messenger of God or the leaders of the church. Yes, the word teaches, reproves, corrects and trains in righteousness but it is the word of God in the hands and the mouth of the preacher that Paul is speaking of here. Folks, we can miss this point all to easily. We may think that our growth in Christ comes as we spend time reading and studying the word of God, and yes, there is great value in that practice. But 2 Tim. Teaches us that our growth in Christ comes through the preaching of the word of God. Do we want to grow up in Christ? Do we want to be increasingly transformed to love God like he does, to love others like he does, to think and act like he does? Than listen to the preached word of God. For as the preacher wields the word, he does so in order to teach, reprove, correct and train in righteousness.
The word teaches us the key truths we need to know in order to walk with God. The word teaches us Christ above all things, it teaches us of God’s glory and goodness, of his holiness and love, the word teaches us of our sin and transgression of God’s holy laws and ways, the word teaches us of grace, the free righteousness, forgiveness and life that comes to us through faith alone in Christ alone. The word teaches us of God’s eternal purpose to have a people for himself ultimately culminating in Christ’s return, final judgment and establishment of an eternal kingdom of redeemed humanity. The word of God teaches these things. In order for us to walk in God’s purposes we must understand God and his ways. The word of God is given for this and it is a chief duty for God’s messenger, the pastor-teacher, the elder, to teach God’s people.
The word is also to be used to reprove and correct. It teaches us the holy truth and God’s holy standards he calls his people to. It clearly describes what is truth and what is falsehood through the use of wonderful stories and through direct instruction. We learn a whole lot about the holiness of God and the call of fathers to love and lead their children in truth from the story of Eli don’t we? God used the preaching of my pastor on the life of Eli to convict me of sin and negligence as a husband and father. Do you know that story? [tell as needed]. We also learn about God’s holiness and call fathers through the direct instruction of Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
We learn a lot about the importance of keeping Christ central through the story of the Ephesian church in Revelation 2, which had forsaken it’s first love, the love of Christ. We also learn of this through the instruction to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 11:3 not to be led astray from a sincere (or simple) and pure devotion to Christ. The word thoroughly equips the preacher of the word to bring reproof and correction to God’s people. It is chock full of all that we need for these purposes.
And, the word of God also gives all we need for training in righteousness. The truth we need to experience Christ-likeness is abundantly clear in scripture. Training in righteousness fundamentally comes through training in Christ. In him we experience the grace that kills the power of sin in us and chases out the presence of sin. In him we learn what a holy life of devotion to God looks like. In him is the relationship we need to sustain us as we deal with the trials and victories of life as we are progressively conformed to his image. The scripture trains us in righteousness by showing us Christ and by granting us the means to maintain an active and abiding relationship with Christ so as to become more and more like him. And the scripture gives us a perfect picture of righteousness in the Son who is shown in all the holy commands and examples throughout all of scripture and ultimately shown most fully and completely in his gospel – the story of his life, death, resurrection and reign. As Christ and the whole counsel of God is preached, the people of God receive what they need to be trained in righteousness.
So, We must exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : the preach word sanctifies. And ….
3.
We must
exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : the preached word creates a healthy
church,
I hope this point is clear from the previous two points. This is what Paul is basically saying to
Timothy. In light of all the challenges
the church historic and the church local faces from both without and within the
faithful preaching of the word by a man of God who both understands and lives
out its truth is the most essential ingredient for its health. That is the point of the section and that is
the indisputable record of history. Listen to what our friend Martin Luther
says of about how God used him to bring about the reformation: “I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word;
otherwise I did nothing. And then while I slept, or drank
Folks, think of all the great moves of God and all the great
churches throughout history. What do
they all have in common? What does the
church of Antioch and the church of Jerusalem, what does the missionary work of
Patrick and the leadership of Chrysostom, what do the Waldensians and Wycliffe have
in common, what does the ministry of Luther and Calvin, Knox and Bunyan all
have in common, what do the first great awakening, the Methodist movement,
Edwards, Whitefield, Finney, the circuit Riders, Moody, Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones,
Tozer, Graham, Swindoll, Evans, Piper, Sproul, Keller, MacArthur. What do all
these have in common? The faithful and effective preaching of God’s word by
qualified men. John MacArthur has said
the following: “You show me a church where there is
strong biblical preaching and teaching, and I will show you strong people and
strong ministry. You show me a church where there is weak biblical preaching
and I will show you a church with weak people and weak ministry. That’s just
how it goes because the Word of God is the food that makes believers mature and
strong.”[2] This has been my experience. All the
growth I have experienced, all my progress in the Christian life, all the
blessings of healthy churches have come through qualified men faithfully
preaching the word of God. My
brothers and sisters, We must
exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : the preached word creates a
healthy church. And finally, if
the preached word brings salvation, if the preached word sanctifies, if the
preached word creates a healthy church than…
4.
We must
exceedingly value the Preached Word of God : By wisely receiving it.
It is not enough for us to say amen to the previous three
points and not respond – that would mean that we don’t really believe it or we
don’t truly value it more than we value the status quo. If God has given the preaching of the word
such a central role than we must give it a central role in our lives. Calvin put it this way: “Now
the fact is that it [the church] cannot be built up, that is to say, it cannot
be brought to soundness, or continue in a good state, except by means of the
preaching of the Word. So then, if we earnestly desire that God should be honored
and served, and that our Lord should have his royal seat among us peaceably, to
reign in the midst of us, if we are his people and are under his protection, if
we covet to be built up in him and to be joined to him, and to be steadfast in
him to the end; to be short, if we desire our salvation, we must learn to be
humble learners in receiving the doctrine of the gospel and in hearkening to
the pastors that are sent to us”[3]
I have 4 practices that flow from the conviction that the preached word of God is an essential means of grace for the life of the church: 1) Pray continually. 2) Prepare & Listen attentively. 3) Fellowship Sincerely 4) Apply specifically.
4.1.
Pray Continually
While it is true that no congregation thrives without the faithful preaching of God’s word from a qualified anointed man, conversely, no man preach faithfully with anointing and remains qualified without the faithful prayers of his people. Any honest pastor must admit that his success is owed entirely to God’s grace and in particular God’s grace experienced through the means of the faithful prayers of God’s people. Folks, I am so grateful for your regular prayers for me. I can not imagine a Sunday going by without praying earnestly with the 5-10 folks downstairs at 10 am. Any success we have on a Sunday comes because of God answering the things we cry out for before any song is sung or any bible is opened. And if you want to hear some people pray join us at 10 down in the snack room. Thanks so much you guys for Sunday morning prayer and all your prayers throughout the week. I need you so much!
Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century pastor
attributed all his success to prayer. Listen to this story from Jim
Denison: “A group of American clergy traveled to
So, first, if we value the preached word of God we must pray for the preaching of God’s word and the preacher continually. Second, we must prepare and listen attentively.
4.2.
Listen
attentively.
No preaching is affective unless we listen attentively. Less than half the job is done if all that goes on is the preacher preaches. The people must listen. And you guys do an outstanding job of listening. Sunday after Sunday I look out on a sea of faces that all have eyes wide open and faces focused. It is a joy and a privilege to preach to such as these. I encourage you to continue to develop good habits of listening. And good habits of listening begin way before Sunday morning. If you can, find out the text of the sermon and read it before hand. We usually post the sermon and text by Friday evening on the web site. Take special care Saturday night to get to bed early so you are rested Sunday morning. Take time Sunday morning before you come here to pray and seek God at home and with your family if possible. Then, when you come, listen carefully – take notes that will help you remember and apply the message. Look for one point of application to write down before you leave. If you find your mind wandering pray and pray for the preacher and the hearers. Get a copy of the message either from the resource table ministry or from online. Our goal is to have the Sunday message on line for downloading by Sunday night. Listen to the message again during the week. If we value the preached word of God we must listen attentively. We also must fellowship sincerely.
4.3.
Fellowship Sincerely
It is very helpful to discuss the message with others during the week. I’d encourage you if you drive home from church with others to ask the following question: “What one thing did God show to you today?” That is something we try to do as a family. Another good question is “How do you think God may be changing you as a result of the message today?” We need one another to help us grow. Left to ourselves we would listen to the message and let it go in one ear and out the other. We need one another to encourage heartfelt Spirit empowered application of God’s word. So fellowship over the word during the week. Many churches make the sermon the point of discussion and application in small groups. I think there is much wisdom in this and we will be doing this more and more as a church. Our fellowship must be sincere and diligent so we can get the most out of the preached word of God. I so enjoy spending time with you guys in caregroup and throughout the week. I think you all excel at this. I have experienced so many rich times of deep fellowship, confession, repentance and prayer and I have seen wonderful progress in the things of God with you guys as we have fellowshipped over the preached word. Thanks! The great moves of God throughout history have been marked by sincere fellowship over the word of God and through that fellowship, specific application of the word of God. That is the final point here. If we are serious about the preached word of God we must make specific application from it.
4.4.
Apply
specifically.
We will spend more time on this in the next couple of weeks as we talk about being doers of the word and not hearers only. Suffice it to say for now that the thrust of the word is to produce fruit. God’s word is not meant to be empty and return void. It must accomplish the purpose for which he sends it. And a essential part of God accomplishing his sovereign purposes through the word of God is the heart-felt grace-motivated Spirit-empowered application of the word of God. God’s sovereign will to change us into the image of Christ will not be accomplished if we do not apply the word. We mustn’t deceive ourselves. A good message isn’t one that feels good. A good message isn’t one that sounds good. A good message isn’t even one that is full of the good. A good message is one that accomplishes good. And that only comes through the application of God’s word. The point of the preached word of God is fruit and so we, as God’s Spirit filled people, must seek God for appropriate and empowered application. I am not advocating empty legalism but neither am I advocating empty license. We must aggressively and without legalism seek to apply joyfully the word of God in our lives without worry of condemnation, for we are already forgiven and righteous in Christ. We have nothing to lose in humbly and gladly asking God to search our hearts, asking others to provide input and eagerly seeking to be rebuked, corrected and trained in righteousness through the word of God. Here are some questions that can help in this: In this message is there a 1) God to worship, 2) Truth to believe, 3) Promise to claim 4) Command to obey 5) Example to follow or avoid 6) Warning to heed 7)Teaching to act on – seven questions to help in application. The Sunday message is not done until there is application in our lives. Let us determine to diligently apply the word. For the glory of God and our good!
So, 4) We must exceedingly value the Preached Word of
God : By wisely receiving it. 3) We must exceedingly value the Preached Word of
God : the preached word creates a healthy church, 2) We must exceedingly value
the Preached Word of God : the preach word sanctifies, 1) We must exceedingly
value the Preached Word of God : The preached word saves, We must exceedingly value the Preached Word of God, Our life as a church depends on it. Let’s
pray.
[1] Martin Luther, ‘Sermon for Monday after Invocavit 1522’, in Luther’s Works 51, p. 77.
[2] John MacArthur, The Responsibilities of the Church: Preaching Part 1
[3] John Calvin, (Sermons on Ephesians, Banner of Truth, 1973, p.374).
[4] Dr. Jim Denison, Pastor,
[5] Charles Haddon Spurgeon: The Greatest Victorian Preacher, By William P. Farley