A Good Servant of Jesus Christ
1 Timothy 4:1-16
I.Introduction
A.Read 1 Timothy 4:1-16. Over the last few weeks we’ve examined the important truth that God’s grace shapes us into people who serve the local body of believers. Now, God’s grace also prompts us love the lost. It moves us to live holy lives. But one of things God’s grace teaches us is to be devoted to the local church.
1.We found this truth expressed in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. Where it says Paul says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love” (12:10). We are taught that the local church is like a body where every member has a vital part to play. As Paul put it, when “every part does its share, it causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).
2.The body of Christ grows when we reject the passive, inactive Christianity of our day, and bind ourselves together with other believers in mutual love and service.
3.To this point we’ve made the point clearly that every member is to be a servant in the local church.
B.It’s one to know what we are to do, but it’s something entirely different to be the kind of people who can do it! For example, you can dress a person up in a police uniform and put him out on the street, but if he doesn’t know the laws or if he doesn’t care about his community, he will be nothing more than a dressed up mannequin. In the same way, by God’s grace we are placed in the body of Christ to serve, but we must know what His word says about how to do that, and begin to live that way, we will be little more than Christian mannequins.
1.Thankfully, in 1 Timothy 4, Paul gives us a thorough description of what takes to be good servants of Jesus Christ. What we learn is being a good servant of Jesus Christ is not just something you do, it’s something you are! Acceptable service is the result of a certain lifestyle.
2.I want to begin our study with this important principle.
II.Opening Principle
A.Don’t Neglect Your Service! It’s in the form of a command in verse 14, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you.” Here is a man who traveled with the apostle Paul and was one of the spiritual leaders in the church at Ephesus, and yet Paul needs to remind him, “Don’t neglect your service, Timothy.” If Timothy needed that encouragement, we all do. Don’t let the difficulties in the local church, or the challenges of life cause you to close up and go underground. Keep on serving.
1.Now, Timothy’s gift was given to him by God and recognized by other believers, and he was to use that gift to help the church there in Ephesus.
2.We may not have the same work Timothy was given, but we all have a role to play serving the body of Christ. Peter put it like this in 1 Peter 4:10, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfullyadministering God’s grace in its various forms.” Each one, serve others. This is something we are not to neglect, put off, and ignore.
B.Souls Are At Stake. Why? Because souls are at stake! Paul ends the chapter saying, “for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (4:16). If we’re not serving, we are sleeping and our soul is in jeopardy. In addition, if we’re not serving, others are starving, and their souls are in jeopardy.
1.Yes, the work of serving the body is difficult, time consuming, thankless and exhausting, but you joyfully do it because souls are at stake! As Paul said in one place, “I am glad and rejoice with you all that I am being poured out as a drink offering and a sacrifice for your faith” (Phil. 2:17). Sacrifice becomes a joy when you know souls are at stake. Souls in this room depend upon you serving as you should.
2.Even our own souls are at stake. There is no way to grow in faith without serving. Without continual, earnest service we fall asleep and die spiritually.
C.The identifying marks of a good servant of Jesus Christ found in this text are not easy. They don’t come quickly. They will require a change in lifestyle. But, we must not neglect them, because souls are at stake!
1.In verse 6 Paul makes this wonderful statement, “you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 4:6). Remember the word minister is simply the word “servant,” and we are all to be servants in the church. What Paul does for Timothy is identity those behaviors which will ensure he will be a good servant of Jesus Christ.
2.This is where it starts. We must have the right lifestyle, if we will serve the right way. I find here three activities of a good servant of Jesus Christ. There are no shortcuts, no skipping to the end. It because with…
III.The Activities of a Good Servant
A.Eat The Right Things. Verse 6 says, “You will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed” (1 Tim. 4:6). The word “nourished” is the idea of eating something to give you strength. What gives us strength to serve is the word of God. Special events may generate momentary excitement, but what builds the strength of a servant is God’s word. It teaches us what godly service is and what it looks like. [This week our thematic readings in the bulletin were about being an example to others. The reading gave us something to pray about. It changed the way I thought of myself in front of others.] Time spent in the world will help you serve.
1.Refuse The Trash (4:1-5,7). The reason it is so urgent to feed regularly on God’s truth is because there is a lot of lies and error in the world around us. God warned us this would be the case, verse 1 says, “The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith” (4:1). People will “speak lies” and not care, because their “conscience is seared with a hot iron” (:2). In the place of truth people will invent stories to live by rather than God’s word (:7).
a.I can’t think of a clearer description of the media in our culture. Its values do not come from the Lord. Multitudes of people base their lives on fictional characters on TV and movies.
b.The same thing happens in religion. We can base our lives on the teachings of men, or how other churches do things, rather than on the word of God.
c.These things are junk foods that do not nourish us as servants of Jesus Christ. If you find you have not served much lately, you might ask yourself what you’ve been filling your mind with.
d.Let me give another warning about listening to and watching the values of this world. It literally has an impact on your mind. Research by Tony Buzan has revealed that our thoughts actually change our brain patterns. He says,
“Every time you have a thought, the biochemical/electromagnetic resistance along the pathway carrying that thought is reduced. It is like trying to clear a path through a forest. The first time is a struggle because you have to fight your way through the undergrowth. The second time you travel that way will be easier because of the clearing you did on your first journey. The more times you travel that path, the less resistance there will be, until, after many repetitions, you have a wide, smooth track which requires little or no clearing. A similar function occurs in your brain; the more you repeat patterns the less resistance there is to them. In other words, the more times a ‘mental event’ happens, the more likely it is to happen again.” (The Mind Map, pg. 29)
The point is, listing to the lies and errors of this world makes paths in your brain. Those paths become easy to go down; until that is the way you think and live. That is why it is so important to feed on the word!
2.Be Enthusiastic About The Word. No wonder Paul advises Timothy, not only to feed on the word, but to do so enthusiastically! Good servants of Jesus Christ do not have a casual or indifferent relationship with God’s word. In verse 6 Paul says good doctrine should be “carefully followed,” (:6); in verse 13 Paul says, “give your attention to reading it,” (:13); in addition, verse 15, take time to “Meditate on it” (:15); and if all of that is not clear enough, verse 15 says, “Give yourself entirely to it” (:15), and evaluate how well you’re doing (:16). Would you say you are enthusiastic about knowing, learning and thinking about God’s word? That’s an essential quality for being a good servant of Jesus Christ.
3.Be Active In Sharing The Word. Of course, if you are truly going to learn anything you need to share it. If you can’t share it, you never really had it. So, Paul tells Timothy, servants reject the world’s ideas, and is enthusiastic about learning God’s truths, so that they might share it with others. Verse 6 says, “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ” (:6). Again in verse 11, “These things command and teach” (:11). Verse 16 says that people are saved when they “hear you” share the truth.
a.One of the most helpful acts of service you can provide is to share God’s values with your spiritual family and the people of this world.
b.You can say it boldly, because it’s not just your opinion of how things work. It’s what God says is right. It is how God says we will be judged.
c.I would be concerned about someone’s spiritual health who cannot or does not talk about God’s word and God’s values with the people around them. It tells me they are not nourishing themselves on the words of faith and the good doctrine.
4.Being a good servant of Jesus Christ does not begin with programs or events. It begins with filling your mind regularly with God’s truth. It changes who you are, which changes what you do. What we fill ourselves with is what we will give out. The order is important.
B.Exercise The Right Way. Once you’re eating right, the next step is to exercise. In verse 7 Paul writes, “Reject godless myths and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness” (:7) Paul used the eating metaphor in verse 6, “nourish,” now he uses the illustration of “exercising.” It takes both: knowing and doing; taking in and giving out. But the exercise he gives us to do is not what I would expect. I might expect, “serve the widows, teach the lost, and strengthen the weak.” But, Paul gets to a more basic exercise than that. These are the gym exercises that help when you get on the field. When a football player gets on the field he doesn’t pick up a barbell and curl it. He does that in the gym. But the curling in the gym helps the throwing on the field. Paul gives us several things we are to exercise ourselves in every day, so when the time to serve arises, we are ready.
1.Exercise Your Godliness. For example, we are to “exercise ourselves in godliness” (:7). This word “godliness” is often misunderstood. It does not mean, “god-like-ness.” It was a word which means “respect, or reverence” which a person would have for a ruler, judge or parent.
a.In this case, it means to have a deep respect for, even fear of, God. In other words, instead of going through your day thinking about your wants, the boss’ demands, how society feels; you go through your day thinking, “What does God think of this? How would God have me think?” It is to become “God-centered” in your view of life, rather than “self-centered” or “worldly-centered” in your view of life.
b.That’s something you need to exercise yourself in every day. A few years ago people wore bracelets with WWJD. It was an effort to exercise godliness. Write on a piece of paper this week, Proverbs 15:2, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Take it with you every day this week. It will be good exercise (See Scripture Box in Bulletin).
2.Exercise Your Example. Next, it’s good to exercise your example. There will always be people around us that will look down on us because we are young, or old; man or woman; educated or not; this race or that race; the list is limitless—these externals people evaluate us by. Paul tells Timothy, “Yes, you are young, but if you don’t want people to look down on you, then you work on your example.” Verse 12 says, “Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love,in faith, in purity.” If you exercise yourself in these areas; you’ll be a respectable servant!
a.With regard to yourself, work on being a good example in what you say (“in word”)! “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers” (Eph. 4:29).
Then be an example in what you do (“in conduct”)! To the point where you can say with Paul, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
b.In your relationship to others, be an example of “love.” “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8).
c.In your relationship with God, be governed by “faith.” Trust in His word, and prove yourself faithful in your obedience to Him.
d.In all your relationships, be “pure.” Use self-control to do what you know is right. Be honest and sincere with God, self, and others.
e.Our world needs an example of godly living. It has enough models of people to sell out to pleasure, self, and worldliness. Our world, and our brethren, need examples of people like you and me that make the choices to put God’s word and God’s ways as first in our lives. Exercise your example.
C.Keep At It. There is one more important quality of a good servant of Jesus Christ. We all feed on God’s word sometimes, we all do some right things sometimes. The challenge is to do it all the time, and keep at it. That’s what good servants do. They are not fair weather helpers. They don’t just serve when it is convenient. Service is a way of life.
1.Show Some Progress (:15). As a result, they show progress in their knowledge and work. One of the most motivating verses to me in the early years of my faith were those found in verse 15, “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (4:15). People ought to be able to see our spiritual growth. We ought to be so immersed in learning God’s word, and living God’s ways that people say, “I see a difference in you!” You don’t get that way by a sputter approach to faith; where you are on again, off again. You make progress by doing what is right and keep on doing it!
2.Even When It Is Hard (:10). And you keep on doing it even when it gets hard. Paul says in verse 10, “to thisendwe both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God.” Paul is reminding Timothy the life of a good servant of Jesus Christ is not all peace and pretty. It’s labor. There will be suffering. But we keep at it.
a.Why? “Because we trust in the living God” (:10), who alone is able to save.
b.And, because our souls and the souls of others are on the line! Verse 16 says, “Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (:16). The saving is in the continuing!
IV.Conclusion
A.The Scriptures are clear; each one of us is to use the gifts and abilities God has given us to serve the body of Christ. We are to be devoted to the fellowship of believers (Acts 2:42). I believe most of us here want to do this. If we are going to be successful we must do the things a good servant of Jesus Christ does. We must eat the right things, exercise the right way, and keep at it.
B. This last week college football had what is called “Signing Day,” when the top high school football recruits declare what university they plan to attend. (The public’s interest in such matters shows a lack of concern over matters that really matter!) I happen to hear a sports commentator say something I thought illustrated the truth of this text. He said, “There are a lot of big, strong young men in this country who play football. But the most important questions are not their size, scoring record, the school they play for. The most important questions are: Do they spend time in the weight room, and are they coachable? That is what will determine their success.” Dear servant, do you spend time in the weight room, and are you coachable. It takes God’s word and God’s work to make God’s people.
C.To put it another way, you must do the work in the kitchen before you get to the table! Our habits of “eating out” all the time have separated us from an important step in that process. We go, order, and boom we have food. We must remember before the food can be served, it must be harvested, prepared, cooked, and served. Servants spend the time in the preparation, that’s why it gets to the table. We must put the time in on feeding on God’s word, and exercising godly attitudes and actions, if we are going to be good servants.