the weight of responsibility that these verses place upon me, but there's also a responsibility for you as well in terms of how to live your Christian life and what to expect from your elders, from those who bring you the Word of God. If you will stand, please, and follow as I read 1 Timothy 4, verse 11 through 16. Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident in to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things. For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. Please be seated and pray with me. Father, we thank you for your infallible, inspired, inerrant word. We thank you that you have called us to a holy and righteous standard. We ask for your grace and your enablement through the Holy Spirit and through the living scriptures that we may obey and fulfill all that you have commanded. Lord Jesus, we thank you for all you have done for us and acknowledge that you have commissioned all of us as your disciples to proclaim your Word, to bring the truth of salvation to every person. We pray that you will use us even in unexpected ways, to fulfill the great commission, that you may be glorified, that the whole earth may hear. And we look forward to the end, the time of your return, that we will meet you in the air and be with you forever. In your name we pray, amen. If you're like me, you probably think a fair amount about priorities. And if you don't, you probably feel guilty for not thinking about what should be your priorities. And embedded in that word, obviously, is prior, what comes before. And I think you know that nearly every day, I write out an extensive to-do list with different categories for church and for school and my upcoming sermon. And typically it has more than I can possibly accomplish in one day, but I still write it out nonetheless. But what are the things that come higher, that come before? Those are the things that are the most important. And similarly, we need to think about what are we focusing on? What are we doing? What are we treating as most important? What comes first in your life, in your to-do list? What comes last or maybe doesn't even make the list at all? And then think also about Those who are your spiritual leaders, your elders and others. Should you care about what their priorities are? Should it be like, I don't know, whatever they do doesn't affect me at all. Well, it does. In fact, at the end of this passage, you may have noticed this curious turn of phrase where the Apostle Paul said to Timothy to watch yourself, pay attention carefully to yourself and your teaching, because in this way you will ensure salvation for yourself and those who are hearing, those who hear you. What your spiritual leaders have as their priorities impacts your spiritual life. And taken to an extreme, a steady diet over many years of watered down, feel-good-about-yourself preaching could end up with someone perishing, having never understood the gospel. Whereas a steady diet of proclamation of the Word of God, obvious, something people can see. That is God's desire for each one of us, and certainly, particularly for those who are in a leadership position. Spiritual leaders must be exemplary, practicing what they preach. They must preach the truth of God's Word, reading, teaching, and applying it. And they must persevere in it, because their ministry impacts the eternal destiny of those who hear. So as we consider these six verses, they seem to very nicely break out into three sets of two. And I've labeled these, first, the pastor's practice, his life, his lifestyle. And second, the pastor's preaching, his public ministry. And finally, the pastor's perseverance. And I think as we understand each of these, there's some application to each one of us, and particularly for you in terms of what you must righteously expect from whoever is standing before you proclaiming God's word. Practice preaching and perseverance. So if you'll turn back to the text, 1 Timothy 4, verse 11, says, prescribe and teach these things. And I don't like to criticize Bible translations, but this word prescribe, to me, just has a medical feel to it. When I go to the doctor, he will write out a prescription. And in the old days, you would take a physical piece of paper to the drugstore and you'd get your pills and so forth. Now many of them are electronic. But the word prescription, while it does echo some truth of spiritual ministry, like I can tell you how to be saved from the authority of God's Word. I can give you a prescription. Repent. Trust in Christ. Here's your prescription. Go fill it." And we had the privilege, Friday evening, Serge and Martin came with me to Wayside Cross, and I tried to do that faithfully, to tell those men, you face an eternal destiny. You must trust Christ in order to be adopted into his family. But the word prescribe also has this limitation, at least in my mind, because I know people who've gotten a prescription and then never filled it. And then it doesn't do any good. Now there may be times when a physician would prescribe something that really you shouldn't take, but their authority ends when they write that prescription. The word here really has more of the idea of commanding, instructing, and directing, not simply suggesting. And it is, in my opinion, challenging thing to authoritatively proclaim God's Word, to say, you must do this or that. And yet, the Scriptures call for that. The authority of God, not the authority of the preacher, calls out for that. So perhaps we could think of this as command and teach these things. Now, these things certainly relates to everything else in chapter four, proclaiming God's word, warning about false teaching or false practice. Good preaching, the preaching that you should expect or hear, or if the Lord leads you somewhere else, that you should look for in another church, is an authoritative proclamation of the gospel, not a, well, you know, here's an option, something you may consider for a better life. You could add Christ on, like an addition on your house, right? Well, you don't want that, you don't need that, that won't help you grow. And while I don't want any of you to leave, it may be that in the Lord's providence that at some point you'll be looking for another church in another area. And this passage contains several directives that will help you as you navigate that. Command and teach these things. Paul tells Timothy in verse 12, let no one look down on your youthfulness. And perhaps you've read that in the ancient world there was a different view of youthfulness than we have currently. Several commentators have reconstructed the timeline and it seems that at this point in his life, Timothy was likely in his mid to late 30s, perhaps even 40 years old. Now there was a kind of a milestone in ancient thinking of 40 years old. That's when you became older, an elder. So if we think of Timothy as 37, 38, That may be the context in which Paul was telling him, let no one look down on that youthfulness of yours. It wasn't like he was 17 and leading the church in Ephesus. He was significantly older than that. But in the view of the culture, there might have been some skepticism. And it's interesting how specific and how strong Paul is here. Let no one despise your youthfulness. And just taking that, you might think, wow, well how would he do that? Like he's going to smack people who criticize his youthfulness? No. He continues here and says, but rather, show yourself as an example, a pattern, a prototype of those who believe. You overcome a lack of respect by being respectable. You may know, you may have heard me say, as I so often do to people who ask me about church, and I say that I am so spoiled by the congregation that I serve. I have never really faced from the congregation in general any kind of resistance or skepticism. Somebody could say, computer programmer, what do you know about the Word of God?" But over time, we've just had such a warm welcome. So I feel as though there's a, to a certain extent, I can't relate. And certainly because I'm not young by any definition. But my lack of experience in the pulpit could have been an issue when I came. And so I can sort of translate this, if you will, to let no one despise or look down upon your lack of experience. And the way you overcome that is by being exemplary. And notice that Paul gives five areas here, five ways in which Timothy, and I think all pastors, and I think all Christians, should be respectable, should have a character that others would want to imitate. He says, let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Show yourself an example of those who believe. And I just want to note that last phrase for you, Show yourself an example of those who believe. It's not show yourself an example of those who preach. The idea is the pastor, Timothy, all other of those who are in leadership should be exemplary of this is what a believer should be like. It's not, oh, he's an exemplary pastor, but rather he's showing us how to live as a Christian. Now, of course, as I think about that with respect to me, I think, oh, no pressure. Don't mess up. But there's a certain extent to which that pressure is good. And it's good for all of us. So what Paul is saying is not, here's a list of things that apply to Timothy, and who cares for all the rest of you? No, what Timothy is to be is a model, a prototype, an imprint of here's what a Christian looks like. Now obviously there's no human who can do that perfectly. but we're called to this standard. So notice again, the first is in speech. That's enough to cause any of us to literally shut our mouths for a moment and think, maybe it's better not to say anything than to take a chance on saying the wrong thing. We know from the scripture that our speech must be true. We're proclaiming God's truth. We should not have any falsehood, any lying, any shading of the truth. I only left out a few of the details. No, we should tell the truth as that old expression, the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. That applies to us. Our speech must be wholesome. should be pure. There should be no double entendres or hidden meaning in our speech. In Ephesians 4, 29, it says, we should only speak such a word as is good for edification, that is, building up according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear. What a marvelous standard for all of us in our conversation, in the pews, in the lobby, outside, that our words are timed to build others up just at the moment they're needed. And this is something the Lord can enable us to do through the Holy Spirit. He might prompt you to call someone or greet someone or speak to someone, something that's edifying, something that builds them up, not in pride, like, you're a really great person, but rather, isn't it marvelous how much the Lord loves us? Or, I'm so encouraged by the growth I see in your life. You're an example to me of prayer." Those are all edifying, meet-the-need-of-the-moment sorts of things that give grace to those who hear. So first, being exemplary in speech, and then conduct. Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 1.15, be holy, God says, for I am holy. Now there's a high standard. And he exhorts the believers, he's writing to in 1 Peter 2.12, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. Your way of life, your conduct should be something that even those who don't believe can look at and have some respect for. They may accuse us of all sorts of Things that may be untrue. They may accuse us of believing things we actually do believe. But the thing that should put a question mark in their mind is our conduct. How we treat other people. How we treat our family. How we relate to people. Our conduct. We're to be examples in speech. conduct, in love. That's a fruit of the Spirit. And of course, there's the rather familiar verses in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And I thought, you know, it's been a while since I've looked at those, and they're very challenging. This standard of godly Love, 1 Corinthians 13, if you want to turn there. I'm on page 1035 in the Pew Bible. Jumping in at verse 4, Paul's description of love. Love is patient. Love is kind and not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant. Does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. No matter then that he concludes that list with saying love never fails. Love should characterize us in a way that we're not naturally capable of. You know, if you've met someone that's been described as a loving person, if they're loving according to the biblical standard, that didn't come out the cradle. That didn't come from their family of origin. That came from the Holy Spirit transforming a person. We're to be examples of those who believe in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Faith, of course, is our confidence and trust in God and His Word, His promises. But the word is also used in the sense of faithfulness. That is, are you a dependable person? If someone asks you to do something, do you follow through? Are you the person who's consistent? That's a degree of faithfulness that is required, particularly of spiritual leaders. But it's an example of what the Christian life looks like. And then, finally, purity. And this ties up several of these all together. Ephesians chapter 5, Paul says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. That's our, again, our ultimate standard. And walk in love. just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Jan and I met with a couple, last night and they were describing a situation in their church and I don't fully understand but there was immorality involved and yet they were at least occasional visitors to the church. And Ephesians reminds us of course we want to welcome unbelievers and give them the gospel so that the Lord can overcome their sin, but as a practice there must not be immorality named in the church. And Paul continues, there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting. but rather giving of thanks. And I am blessed, again, that I don't see this as an issue. As I go through the lobby, I don't need to kind of cover my ears, you know, to avoid overhearing some tasteless tale being told in the corner. Praise God for that. But here's the standard that we must attain and retain. No filthiness, no silly talk, coarse jesting. And what a fascinating contrast, but rather giving a thanks. should characterize us. We should be thankful people. We are to be examples, and again the leaders in particular, an example of those who believe. Peter tells the elders, you must prove to be examples to the flock, leading a life that others can say, okay that is reflects someone who's trying to live the Christian life. Paul tells Titus in chapter 2, verses 7 and 8, in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Again, the pastor's practice is to be an example, to live an exemplary life. But it's not so that the church can say, wow, we have this pastor here up on the shelf and he's really well polished and is a great example of the Christian life. None of the rest of us live that way. No. It is, okay, I can see it in three dimensions. Here's what Christianity looks like. And of course, when one of your spiritual leaders, perhaps especially me, falls short in some way, you should, in a gracious, godly way, tell me to shape up. Because I'm supposed to be exemplary. Now, we need to learn how to rebuke and correct one another. And that's part of how God wants us to grow up into all the image of the fullness of the stature of Christ. So for each of us, we must be an example. But consider yourself for a moment. Are you an example of those who believe? I think many of you are. Can you point to your practice, your life, and say, I'm a prototype. I'm not perfect, but I'm following Christ. Is there anything in your life now that you feel like, wow, That part is not right. I don't want people to imitate this aspect of my life. If there's something there, then ask God for help to conquer that. We must be prototypes, examples, patterns for others to follow. In addition to the pastor's practice, then again is the pastor's preaching. Continuing in verse 13, Paul says, until I come, so Paul is saying I'm headed back there, but until I get there, here's the priorities, here's what to focus on. Give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching. And this idea of giving attention, it's being occupied with or devoted to. This is a, not simply, check this off, make sure you get that done, but no, be devoted to this. And literally, it says, give attention to the reading. And the reason why Paul could just say, give attention to the reading, is that was a practice. going back to the synagogue where they would read the scriptures. And so people seeing this, especially Timothy, would understand Paul's not talking about pick up a good novel, but rather be devoted to the reading of scripture and in the context of a church service. And we're trying to do that. We work our way through Psalms in several months, sometime next year. We'll finish a second round through the Psalms and maybe we'll change it up. But every Sunday there should be a reading of God's Word just to remind us and refresh us of the importance of it. and I read what I'm preaching on, and it hopefully underscores the fact that what I'm bringing to you is not Jay's thoughts on living a happier life this week, but rather, here's what God's Word says, the revelation of the living God. And Maya has done such a marvelous job. Again, I want to highlight a few things on the cover of your bulletin. You may notice we actually have three languages here, which is quite noteworthy. But on the two sides of the bulletin is this Latin phrase, Lectio Continua. And what that means is a continuous reading or a consecutive reading. That's what we're doing in the Psalms. And that's what I'm doing with each book of the Bible. I go through it from the beginning to the end. I don't leave out the hard parts. Or if you feel there are dry parts, I don't leave those out either. Because I certainly wouldn't claim to know better the Holy Spirit what should be included. So we read every verse, we talk through every verse. And if you'll notice in the middle is the verse we're just now talking about, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. And that's in fact the Greek words that you see kind of superimposed on the Bible in the pulpit. So the first one, onagnosis, and I love this little word, it literally means up, no. And while we do want to be careful about trying to dissect Greek words to figure out what they mean, it's just kind of cute to think about onagnosis, up, no, how would you increase your knowledge? Well, you might find a book on the topic and you might read it. This is the Greek word for reading, apno. Maybe you'll remember that, but it's from our text, the reading. And then the exhortation is this word paraklesis, written in English characters. Obviously it looks different than that in the Greek text, but that's the word for it, exhortation. And then finally, back to the first side at the bottom, this word didaskalia is the word for teaching. So we have there the reading, the exhortation, the teaching. And I think these are the elements that you should look for if you're visiting another church or if in the Lord's providence you're looking for a church. Does it include the reading of Scripture, the teaching of Scripture, the exhortation from the Scripture? Those are the things to look for. And whether it seems popular, whether it seems attractive, I think I can say this practice does not obviously draw a huge crowd and yet we believe that these things are the priority and that's why we do them. Paul continues in his exhortation, I think related to this ministry of public reading, of exhortation, of teaching. He tells Timothy in verse 14, do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. And let me just comment on that last word. Boy, that sounds very Presbyterian, doesn't it? And that is where, in fact, they get their name. But that word doesn't occur very often in the New Testament, certainly not enough to structure a whole organization off of, in my opinion. So it would perhaps be easier to understand this as the Council of Elders. So there was a local church, a group of elders, qualified elders, who prayed for and over Timothy and literally laid their hands upon him in commissioning him for ministry. And that practice, amazingly, is something that we continue down to the present day. What else is there really that we do, other than the Lord's table, that they were doing in the first century? So when a man is commissioned into the ministry, there is typically this laying on of hands. I think just two of you were at, well, and let's count Jan. She was there also at West Chicago Bible Church when I was commissioned, or perhaps in one sense, we were commissioned to come to Bethel Baptist. And so it was a really cool time when the elders of West Chicago Bible Church and the elders of Bethel Baptist Church gathered together and literally laid hands upon me in this commissioning to this role at Bethel Baptist Church. special day. It was Father's Day, so memorable, that's why I remember my church anniversary every year is on Father's Day. And that laying on of hands is signifying a certain identification with and an affirmation for this candidate for ministry. And Lord willing, as we raise up additional elders and deacons and even if there are missionaries to be sent out to other places, then we would want to have them come to the front and have the elders lay hands upon them. It's certainly and obviously, I think, not magical But it's an important and very ancient step, again, of affirmation and recognition, of identification. We identify with you and your ministry. We affirm your calling. But Paul says to Timothy, do not neglect the spiritual gift within you. And I know from time to time I mention the existence, the reality of spiritual gifts. And sometimes people get all wrought up in, I've got to figure out exactly what to label my spiritual gift and maybe I'll take four different online assessments and I'll average them out and kind of figure out what. But my consistent counsel has been, what are you burdened about? What is on your mind? What do you feel like the church ought to be doing? Sometimes I ask people, finish this sentence. The church ought to be doing more, blank. And whatever that is, whatever you fill in, I think that's an indicator of your spiritual gift. You don't necessarily have to come up with an exact label on that. but it's highlighting something that perhaps the Lord has gifted you in, qualified you for, has given you a heart and a burden for. Now, sometimes people will feel like, oh, the church ought to be doing this, and instead of understanding, well, let me get the resources and help I need to fulfill this thing that the Lord has called me to, Then they'll say, no, the whole church needs to be involved in what I think is most important. And that can sometimes lead to frustration and difficulty because we're gifted in different ways. And perhaps you feel very excited about one aspect of ministry. Maybe you'd love to run a food pantry. Praise God, let's talk about it, let's think about it, let's pray about it. How can we help you in that? But we're not necessarily gonna stop everything else so that we can only focus on that, if that makes sense. So each of you, I believe, based on the scriptures, has been equipped by the Holy Spirit with a gift chosen by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, it says, according to His own will, distributes these gifts. What a marvelous thing. And my go-to verse is 1 Peter 4. where Peter says in verse 10, as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. And there's a couple of perhaps categories. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving. by the strength which God supplies. And the result of all this then, the end of verse 11, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. The gifts that the Holy Spirit gives are for helping one another. They're not to be consumed on our own interests. We have a gift to share, to serve others. Are you convinced from the scriptures that you have a spiritual gift? If you're not convinced, let's talk about it. There's verses we can go through. Let me just briefly mention the fours and twelves, I'd like to call them. So Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, those are the twelves, and the fours are Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4. Those four chapters, the fours and the twelves, have the most focused attention given to spiritual gifts. Finally, Paul addresses perseverance. We've looked at practice, at preaching, at now perseverance. In verse 15, back to 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul says, take pains with these things, be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. And taking pains is taking care, endeavoring, practicing, or my favorite is cultivate. Cultivating these things. You think of a garden, of which I have very little experience, but the idea would be you need to pay attention to that, and it needs something almost every day, pulling out weeds or making sure the plants are healthy. Cultivate these things, and then literally be in them. Be in it. And I've thought of that this week, trying to balance a number of different things and spending time combing through the text. And I want to be in it. I want to be in the Word. And the Lord has graciously allowed me to do that. That's what I do. And the New American Standard has added this word absorbed to make that make sense a little bit better in English, be absorbed in this. But again, literally, just be doing this, be in this, in the word, in preparation for the reading, the exhortation, the teaching. And Paul says, take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. That's interesting. Other people should notice our Christian growth. And I hesitate to put the question in your mind, but have I grown? Have I improved? Is my progress evident? And don't shout out the answer. But for each of us, including the pastor, our progress should be evident. There should be some obvious aspect that someone could point it to in your life and say, I see your growth. Now again, we always want to take that graciously and not react with, oh yeah, so you think I was crummy before? But rather be encouraged. If someone says, I see growth in your life, it should be evident to everyone. Paul says, then pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. It almost has this idea of guarding and I was reminded of Proverbs that says, guard your heart for from it flow the issues of life. There are many pastors who have started well and then somehow veered off. And they failed to do what Paul is advocating here. Pay close attention. Don't stop examining and guarding your own life, your example, and your teaching. This is really important. It has eternal implications because, again, this is where Paul says, by doing this, you will ensure salvation for yourself and those who hear you. Now, that may cause a number of questions to come up in your mind, like, wait a minute, the pastor saves me? I thought Jesus saved me. Did I miss something? No, Jesus is the one who saves, and yet, as I remarked to Serge and to Martin Friday night, how marvelous it is that God uses redeemed sinners to proclaim the gospel. We are his preferred method. One of the guys at Wayside came up and described this just really rough life that he had lived. I think all of his brothers died before he was age 20, something like that. And he was excited now to be a believer. And he said, I'm not gonna, It was his resolve not to give up, not to stray, but to stay at it. And it was in that context that I mentioned this thing that God is so pleased to use redeemed sinners to proclaim the gospel. And so it is in that sense that a pastor, an elder, who is faithfully proclaiming the Word, if he's cautious about his own life and his teaching, he will be teaching a pure gospel, and the Holy Spirit will use that in the lives of people as they are saved, as they grow. But an elder or pastor who neglects to do that, well, what I do on my day off isn't anybody's business. Well, that's headed for shipwreck. And I've read of pastors, prominent, big platforms, written books, spoke at conferences, and later totally abandoned the faith. Most likely they were never saved. But even if somehow somebody got into a position of being a pastor and they weren't a genuine believer, If they looked at their life and they looked at their teaching and compared it to the scripture, the Lord might use that to save them even while they're functioning as a pastor. I've read of that in history. There was a man that was converted in the pulpit. He was preaching a sermon and he got saved. What a marvelous thing. Now, that's not the standard we want, but it just highlights how important it is For the pastor to keep an eye on himself, on his life, and on what he's teaching. And for you to keep an eye on the pastor's life and what he's teaching. But again, it's not as though none of this applies to you. You should keep a close eye on your own life and on what you believe and what you're saying to other people. Does my life reflect my confidence in the gospel? Persevere in these things, not a short time, but a long, a long haul. And perhaps it's worth thinking of how you can encourage your elders, your pastor, in persevering because it's so important. And we only know it's persevering when it lasts a long time. Like two weeks is not persevering. Two years, you're starting to persevere. Ten years, you're probably into persevering. So each of us should encourage one another to persevere Paul says in Philippians 3.17, Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. In the first century they started showing this pattern of what it's like to follow Christ and by his grace we're continuing to do that all the way to the end. Spiritual leaders must be exemplary, practicing what they preach. They must preach the truth of God's word, reading, explaining, teaching, applying it, and they must persevere in it because their ministry has an eternal impact. Please pray with me. Father, thank you for this word. We thank you for the standard to which you have called us. And we confess that we do not have strength in our own selves to live this way, to teach this way, to proclaim the truth as it should be proclaimed. We thank you for your boundless grace and Holy Spirit for your enablement. Pray that you would help each one of us to understand and use our spiritual gift, that we may not neglect it. That we may prove to be examples of the faith, that our speech, our conduct, our love, faith, and purity would be exemplary, that we could Shine forth as examples of those who've been redeemed by the power of your spirit and the truth. In Jesus' name, amen.