First Timothy lesson 22 cont. from quest. 6

We are in, whatever lesson? 22. 22. Lesson 22 in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 12 and 13 we're going through. We're in 6. So in addition to the points recommended in verse 12, what was Timothy to give attention to? So we started out and we were looking at first the word of attention. What does that mean? Does that mean kind of, sort of, you think about it, you're checking your emails while he's giving the word? Is that what he's talking about, attention, give attention? Is it a kind of sort of thing? Is it a military word? It's not military, but it's very, very precise in that you give like lightning attention to this, or lightning focus on this.

The word for attention is in the present tense, active voice, and imperative mood. In other words, we are to actively and continuously give attention to these three areas that Paul is going to instruct. Focus, look at. You don't just kind of think about this. You do this. Pay attention to this. And now the three things he's saying to pay attention to. So what's the first thing Paul says to Timothy to give attention to? What's the first thing? Well, I should read. I'll read the verse.

Until I come, which actually Brian had a good point. Until I come. Does that mean you wait until he comes? It's in the present active. You're doing it now. Do it now. Until I come. You're supposed to do this now. Until I come. You keep doing it until I come. So again, you're to be doing this. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

So what is the first one? Readings. Public reading of scripture. Public. So that's kind of an interesting one. It isn't just you sit in your Word and look at the Scriptures. This is a public reading of Scripture, which is a little bit different. He's saying we should have public reading of Scripture. So there's some points about that, about public reading of Scripture, because it's different than just go home, read the Word, or open the Scriptures at that point. So it's a little bit different. First, it was the public reading of scripture.

The word reading is agnagnosis. And the verb agnagnosis is to distinguish between, to recognize, to know accurately, to read. This is one single word in the Greek that means to read from a document to a group of assembled people. In post-classical Greek, it was used for the reading aloud with interspersed comments.

It's kind of like this. You read the word and you discuss it. So it's a public reading of the word. So, what could we derive from this advice or command from Paul? That we need more of the public side. Kind of. We need to fill the churches, right? Does it mean to meet? How do you have public reading of scripture if you're by yourself? So what does it mean?

It means we are to come together, which is interesting in this day now, which we have Zoom, which is great. Miles and some others from out of state are able to do that. That's awesome. And it does fulfill this to some extent, but this is really, I think, to come together and study God's word, to have a public reading of God's word. You know, we read the scripture every main service. What are the verses for today? We read them. We read them here. That's the public discussion or bringing forth of the word. That's what he's talking about here.

It isn't you go home and you look, you know, this time, and I think about this time when Paul's giving this advice, what did they have? Did they have the Bible to go home and read? But did everybody have a copy of the Old Testament? No, they didn't. No, that's what I'm saying. They didn't have it. They couldn't go home and crack the old scrolls, you know? The scrolls were at the synagogues. And so they would go and unroll the scrolls and read.

It was kind of fascinating. Actually, in Magdala, when we were in Israel, and they just unearthed the temple. Actually, that was fascinating. It was where, actually, Christ actually taught. And it was cool. They undid it, and they had the bench or wherever they unrolled the scroll. They had unearthed that, and you could see that. But this is like right where Christ taught. And it was fascinating. But they had the place where they had the scrolls, they'd roll them out, and they'd read them. And so that was the public reading of Scripture. Because they didn't have a Bible to go home to. They didn't have this. So Timothy's saying, Unroll the scrolls and read it.

Or at this point, it's basically the teaching of Paul's teaching. Read his letters. We've talked about this. How many letters did he write that are not in Scripture? What did they have? Paul spent weeks, months at certain places. Was there somebody just, Paul, let me write these things down that you're telling us. Is that what they, I don't know, this is pure speculation, but it's like, what did they have? They had to have something, you know, Paul's letter, you know, they had cyclical letters that went around to, you know, all the different areas a lot of times, so they maybe read that, but notes from things, I don't know, it's just kind of a.

I know that when you ever, in the gospels, when you see the word scribe, there were almost every synagogue, and their job was to record things. And so the reason they became such a problem in the Lord Jesus' ministry is that they began to debate what the scribe wrote rather than what the Word of God was.

Yeah. You know, also, I wonder, too, You know, and I think Joss McDowell actually has some of this stuff. The accuracy of our word is incredible. You know, the veracity of this text that we have is, and the scribes, you know, if there was a dotted, jotted, tittle that wasn't right, They threw it all away and started it again. So, and when you look at the manuscripts, and they'll find manuscripts, and Josh's, we had a thing at Littleton Bible Chapel that we went to, and I mean, he has so many documents that he can, you know, that they've found that verify our scripture. Word for word, I mean, it's not, they don't find anything wrong, or a scripture that proves that it's wrong. So the veracity of our word is incredible. At that time, the scribes, and I'm saying if some guy was writing down notes of what Paul, how accurate were those or whatever. But for some reason, the Lord has not had us record those.

But what were the public reading of scripture? I'm sure that a lot of them was the Old Testament. Remember what, Galatians 3, 23, 24, that the law pointed to Christ. So I'm sure a lot of what their scripture that they were reading was, these are the scriptures that point to Christ. That was the public reading for new believers was Christ is here and this is the Old Testament that pointed to him. So he's saying the public reading, yeah.

I was just thinking the Bible itself is the word of God and it's God breathed, it's inspired. Every word is so important just the way it is and I just thought if the scripture itself isn't read and then you just come to church and hear some guy teaching, It could go off on his opinion about this or that, but I think including the actual scripture is so important just because it is for itself to some degree. I mean, it needs explanation as well, but I think it's important just to plain read the Bible. Scripture interprets scripture.

Yeah, I mean you can use, but getting back to your point, what I was thinking about too is that that proves that it's God's word because it's made it through millennia. accurately. What book or anything makes it perfectly through 2,000 years? That proves it's God's Word to me. It's come through all that time, and what we have now can go back to scriptures, the old scrolls and things that they've found that prove it. So again, that to me proves it's God's Word, that it's perfectly accurate.

He's maintained it. And the other is that he's determined that this is the word he wants recorded and kept, that we have in the scripture. And going back to what you're also saying is we always hear, Jim Russell, what does he do every Sunday? Reads the Word.

Before Mike or Roger or whoever gives us the Teaching from that it is it is God's Word first so and then You know God's Word is acceptable for teaching approve all the things so We are to take his word and teach from it. So and that's what actually we'll see here, too. So so again, really this points to We should be meeting together and opening his word. Bible studies, or as the church body meets, we should be together and opening his word.

We shouldn't be remote and by ourselves. And I'll get to that in a minute, too. I'll touch on that a little bit later. So what's the second thing Paul tells Timothy to give attention to? Public reading of scripture. And then what's the second thing? Exhortation. Exhortation. So, what is exhortation? Reading with a purpose to exhort.

Oh, you know my rules. You just violated my rule. Oh boy. You can't use the word in the definition. To build up. To build up. Strengthen, build up. I don't mean, I always give that. Even in my infinite wisdom of Merriam-Webster uses the word and it's like, they violate my rules. So it's exhortation. It's to build up to, we'll see it. Well, I want to ask a question.

Do you think there's any importance in the order in which Paul gives this instruction to Timothy? Is it public scripture and then exhortation? Is there a reason he gave it in that order? Yeah, it's applying what's read. It's the scripture that builds up.

I don't even know what it says anymore. I thought you were supposed to take that. No, no, I can't. It's got to be. It's a monument here. So it is facts first. Where do the facts come from? The Word. And then exhortation. How do you exhort somebody? If you exhort them without the Word, how does that work? You've got to start with the Word first. So again, the way Paul lays things out, it's not just happenstance. You read the scriptures and then you exhort. You build them up. You take the word and then build people up from the word. So I think it's real important in the order that he gives it. And basically every one of Paul's letters kind of follows that same one.

It starts with doctrine and then goes to application or wisdom and how to skillfully use that word or the word that he's given or the doctrine that he's given. Exhortation makes an appeal to the will of the believer to act upon the word of God. Robertson injects, and this is from Mike's notes, injects a keen remark when he says that probably Paul does not mean that the exhortation should precede the instruction, but the instruction should be given first. So again, word first, and then exhortation. You have to build them up. So, is there anywhere else where we see exhortation? to exhort. Is this a gift? Or is everybody supposed to do it? Everybody. It's a matter of growth. So everybody's to exhort, I think is true.

But we also see this in Romans 12, 6 through 8. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each one of us is to exercise them accordingly. If prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith, if service in his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

So I think exhortation is a gift of some people. is to actually exhort, to build up, to strengthen people in the word. So, that again, just one of those, you know, I thought, I was trying to remember exhortation, and it is one of the gifts. So you may be gifted in exhortation.

So, you know, I think some people actually are, you know, when I think about it, they are gifted in, you know, building people up in the word. So, and so I think it's a little different, is it the same, now that I think about it, is that the same as teaching? I think it's a different one. Teaching is more giving the word out and skillfully bringing forth the word. Exhortation is to build people up. It's to strengthen them in the word. So it's a little bit different than teaching. And I thought about that when I was going through this. I thought I had a note on it. But it's a little different.

So teaching is a gift, but also exhortation. So I think Paul writes his epistles that way. The first half, give or take, is information, teaching. Right, doctrine, teaching. And then he moves into the application of the teaching, which is exhortation. That's what we've been studying in the last several months in Romans. you know, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Yeah, application. This needs to be, what I have taught you, needs to be implemented in part of your life. Yeah. So, we actually, which is the last part, which is the different part, that's why I have the note in here. So what is the third thing Timothy gives attention to? Paul says, what's the third thing? So it says, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, and what does your Bible say? Teaching. Teaching. Mine says doctrine. Doctrine, yeah.

So it's a little bit different in the different versions. There is teaching, which refers to explaining of the text and involves an appeal to the mind of the man to absorb the truth and doctrine of the word. So it's again different than exhortation, where you're building them up, you're kind of strengthening them in the teaching or the word, and now you're really getting down into the teaching of it. What does it mean? And so, the word doctrine is discidalia, teaching. Doctrine is systematized body of teaching.

So this is Paul's instruction to Timothy on how to conduct the church at Ephesus. It's similar to the instructions to the early church and to us. So this is where I think it all comes together when it's exhortation, public reading of scripture, exhortation, and now teaching. I went back to, what was Paul, well not Paul's instruction, it was in Acts, where the early church, what was it supposed to do?

This is really the only place we get an outline, at least from what I see, of how the church is supposed to function. Because do you find anything, we're supposed to meet on Sundays, we're supposed to have Wednesday Bible studies, where do you find that? You don't. It's really local elders will establish what you know, timing and Bible studies and instruction.

But the only place I see that it gives any kind of wisdom on how the church is to function is in Acts 2.42.

And it's, they were continually devoting themselves. So this is continually devoting themselves. You know, always do this. To the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to prayer. That, to me, is the only guidance for how a church is supposed to function. So, teaching, which we do.

The fellowship, again, the public. We're to come together in fellowship. We're not supposed to be individuals. I mean, we all are individuals in Christ, but we're to come together. The public reading of scripture. Fellowship, we're to come together, and with the teaching, and then the breaking of the bread.

We're to remember. That's why we have a remembrance service. We are to do that. Break your bread. They actually had meal and they had the yes. But it's to come together and remember the Lord. And then the last is prayer. What do we start every meeting and end with meeting? Prayer.

That's the only guidance I see on how the church is supposed to function as a body. I mean, the only real guidance, maybe Mike has others, but really that was kind of the structure or the framework of how the body of believers was supposed to function as a body of believers. unless somebody else has something.

That's what we're supposed to do. But it follows that we are to devote ourselves to teaching, the apostles teaching, Paul's teaching. That's what we're supposed to continually devote ourselves to. But then the others, fellowship, breaking the bread, and prayer. So again, it follows. I want to say something about doctrine. Yeah. One of the interesting things is like, Probably the best example, it's like in the study of the book of Romans.

You go along and the first five chapters up to verse 11 are about salvation. And then at 512 it changes. It now starts talking about I'm already saved. What else happened? You know, how did God deal with the sin nature and our co-crucifixion with Christ and burial, resurrection, and what that, and that's what really doctrine is, is that we've got to this point, we understand that, well now there's a new theme or a new discussion gonna take place about some additional blessing that was in this that we didn't see before.

And that's what the teacher's supposed to, A good teacher sees that and teaches it. Yeah. Well, you start from the foundation and then go from that. That's right. The stupid thing in front of me. You know, facts first, the doctrine first, and then you move on to the application of it.

And like I said, Paul does that in all of them. And that was the other thing when we got into Romans. Remember in the back or front of the book, they had how the scriptures were laid out? And that was fascinating to me. It's not chronological. It wasn't that as Paul wrote these, we lay them out. It was a buildup of new information, each one built on the last one.

And each has its own separate doctrine. Well, yeah, but it starts with the Romans. That's Christianity 101. But then you expand, and each one of his epistles builds on the previous. But it wasn't chronological, which I hadn't really thought about it. But I thought it was chronological. It's like, as Paul wrote these, this is what. But it wasn't.

The scripture is laid out to build upon itself. The foundation and the structures in Romans 101, what happened to us? Romans 3, we're the worst of the worst of the worst. Justification by faith in 5. And then how do you take care of this? Romans 6. Can I do it by effort? No,

7. And then you move on in 8. Therefore there is now no condemnation, and we have been set free. Now the spirit of life in Christ. Well, in the book of Romans, it's interesting that we're On Wednesday we've been studying Ephesians, and Ephesians is heavenly, but Romans isn't. Romans is right here on the ground, and what God has come down to humanity and done. And as you graduate along the line of study, you begin to become more and more heavenly, or that's the viewpoint.

But Galatians has to be went through, too. That's why it's right up there in the front. Well, and Colossians, too. Yeah, sure. Now, what are we looking at? So anyway. God kind of had it figured out. You just kind of do this, and he kind of got this figured out. And it wasn't a happenstance building. It was a very, very thought out, well done structure. Foundation, and then you build off the foundation.

So again, remember all three of these items, the public reading of scripture, exhortation, teaching, were to give attendance to that, prosecco, to hold toward thus, to give attention, keep on putting your mind on it. That's what we're supposed to do on these three things.

So can you pick out fourth in question seven, can you pick out four things this verse tells us about believers? Until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching. So you might not be able to get this, so I'll go through this. The verse assumes four things about believers.

So the first it assumes that they gather together in public meetings. read the public reading of scripture. Second, it assumes believers assemble with a learning attitude, that they're there to learn, to understand. Third, it assumes they are willing to put forth effort to think and thus learn. And then fourth, it expects believers to act on what they learned. So give attention to the reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching. So exhortation, to build up, to teach, to take the word and apply it, and then the teaching. Get your knowledge from the word.

So, kind of after that, is this how most churches run today? No. I thought about that. It's like, do churches run this way? Or even the Acts 2.42, that's why I brought that up. Do churches function according to 2.42?

It's more entertainment. You know, to the apostles' teaching. You know, when you go to a lot of churches, do they bring out the word, or is it, you know, well, the world today, and this is how Christians are supposed to function in the world today, or, you know, whatever.

It's topical. It's not, you know, taking God's word and explaining it, or how it's applied, or anything like that. you know, common day themes or whatever. So most churches don't, most churches are not as scripturally focused. They don't take God's, you know, I'm just thinking some of the ones we've been to, I don't see a lot of scripture up there a lot of times. It's kind of what Ingrid was saying, you know, it's that guy's opinion, which may be good in explaining things.

But I think you've got to start out with the word first. That's why I really appreciate how we do it. We bring the word, the first thing we do before Mike or Roger teaches is we bring forth the word first. And then we teach on it. So again, I think, I had the other question, how are we doing with respect to these things? I think we do well at this. And Jim gives the public reading. Yeah, the public reading, exactly.

And so I think we actually, as Holly Hills, function pretty much what he's saying here, which I think is, you know, why we grow here in Christ, is because we follow what God laid out for us. So, question eight. Why am I doing it on time? What four things is it worth to assume about Timothy or any pastor or teacher So I can go through this too, just so we can get through this here.

First, it assumes that the overseer is thoroughly acquainted with the scriptures. So was Timothy acquainted with the scriptures? It says he was. It says he was. And think about how much time Timothy spent with Paul. He traveled with him on his missionary journeys. He's placed him in different places while Paul's journey was going on. He left him in certain places while Paul moved on. But he spent all this time with Paul. It also says that his mother taught him the scriptures.

Yeah, Eunice. Was it Eunice? That was the grandmother. That was the grandmother, yeah. Because he had a Jewish mom and a Gentile father. But yeah, did it say about his mom? I didn't know. It was his grandmother. It was his grandmother. That's why I think it was Eunice. Well, I think he comes from a Jewish family. He just was living in Tarsus. Yeah.

So it assumes that Timothy or, and by prescription, pastors today, are you acquainted with the scriptures? You better be, you better be. And I think here, All, everybody who teaches here is fully, you know, knows the scriptures before they teach. All the teachers know the scriptures. And we spend a lot of time in the Word, you know, yeah.

I found the verse in 2 Timothy 1 verse 5. I've been reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois, I was wrong about that, and in your mother Eunice. And I'm persuaded now lives in you also. Yeah, so Eunice was his mom, and then Lois. So yeah, so they taught him. And they taught him about the Old Testament. I go back to, again, Galatians 3, 23, 24, about the law pointed to Christ. The Old Testament all pointed to Christ.

That's what it did. Oh, that's embarrassing. All my business contacts. Call again Sunday. What was I saying? Talking about Eunice. Oh yeah, and about the Old Testament. Again, the Old Testament all pointed this. So you can go back, and that's why I think what I was saying about rolling the scroll out in where we saw in Magdala. They'd pull the Old Testament out, but all of it would say, and when Christ teaching, who was that pointing to?

Me. So when he went and read the public scripture, he was saying, this is talking about me, I'm here today. And that's what I think, you know, when Eunice and Lois would tell him is, you know, here's the Old Testament scripture that pointed to Christ.

That's what they taught him. So the second assumption is, so the four things he assumes about Timothy, our pastor. The second assumption is that he will exercise the leadership to see that they are faithfully taught. So remember, Paul is exhorting him to do this, to teach public reading of scripture, exhortation and teaching.

So you're to do this. Remember, it was a present tense imperative. You're to continually do this. It's a command. So faithfully taught. The third is it anticipates that the overseer has the gift of teaching. I don't know about that one. You know, I don't know if you have it, you know, it's assuming that they have the gift of teaching or not. And but I think they're to be skillfully bringing forth God's word. So fourth, it expects him to have the wisdom to see the application of the word of God.

So, again, this is the wisdom, the exhortation part, I think. You take the word, the public reading of the word, and then how do you apply it? How do you do this? How do you build the person up and use the word? So again, that's kind of have the wisdom.

Wisdom I always take is the skillful application of knowledge, is my definition always of wisdom. Knowledge is knowledge. It's like facts, doctrine. Wisdom is the skillful application of that knowledge. So how do you apply that knowledge? I think we can get through this here.

Nine. Sum up three elements of the ministry of the word. There are three things. Ministry of the word. Reading aloud of the scriptures. We do that. You're supposed to do that. Publicly. Bring that out. God's word, bring it out. And then exhortation based on the reading of that word. So you take that word and you now, how do you use it? How does it apply to you? How do we use it as believers? How does that help you as a believer? How does that strengthen you as a believer?

How does all that word that we have, what does it mean? That's the exhortation. That's the person who takes that and exhorts the person in the Word. You know, you can have the Word, but, you know, and I'm constantly amazed at the other, which I think about this. You know, think about God's Word.

How many times have you read something and it just becomes alive to you? Like, that time. You've read it 52 times. But that day when you read it, It just hits you differently than the 52 other times you read it. That day, God's using it. I think the exhortation is that the Word exhorts you and strengthens you, brings you up. There are several times where I've read something and it's just new to me. I've read it before, but it's new. I think God's Word exhorts me.

And I think we, as people, are to exhort others in the word. And the last one's appealing to the moral sense and teaching and appealing to the intellect. So we're to publicly read this, exhort them, and teach them the three things he's saying about here. And so I think that's our charge as believers and as teachers, as pastors, elders, individuals. This is what we're to do. Get into God's word, exhort people, and then uplift them. So it's the...

Like you don't get out of Roman 7 Well, yeah, I mean, again, the logical pathway. You know, I go back to Romans 3, it's one of my favorite verses, to see who I am in the flesh. You know, desperately wicked, horrible, terrible, unspeakable, wonderful, terribly wonderful, terrible things that are You know in Romans 3 and then you get the justification by faith and in five But then you get into six now. I'm a new creature. I've been you know crucified and Raised up with him. I think in five it's awesome.

Is that Baptist baptizing them that five? anyway so again logically we have to go through all that before we get to seven and You know, how do you know in seven, how do you get out of seven if you don't know everything before that? You don't. You don't. And that's where, unfortunately, I think a lot of believers are, that don't know the identification truths. They're trapped in trying to get better. They're stuck in Romans 7. They haven't figured out that all of that past is gone. You're a new creature in Christ, and that I can't do anything in flesh. Paul's exhortation is, nothing good in my flesh. Zero nada, nothing.

And I don't think a lot of believers get to that point. And in fact, a lot of the hungry heart says, which is kind of interesting, what's the hardest thing a believer, in a believer, to do? see how wicked they are in the flesh, that there is really nothing good, and the only good thing to do is what God did, crucified us. But it's a hard thing to see how bad you are, how bad your flesh is. That's hard to do, because we're proud Americans, and we really have to figure out just how desperately wicked you are. That's why the Romans 3, that's what's in our flesh.

So, any other questions or comments on these? Otherwise we can actually, we're right on time, we're two minutes. Any other thoughts? I think that a lot of times if you're a place like Holly Hills and you've learned to some degree the identification truths, and you come along aside somebody who may not be a believer or a young believer, You skip 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and you go right to 6, and you can't understand why they don't get it. Right. Because you're trying to teach and impress them with your knowledge rather than paying attention to where they are.

Well, and also, when you build a building, you don't start on the second floor. You start on the foundation. And if you don't, the building doesn't stand. So if you try and start it on the second floor and say about all this with co-crucifixion, well, why am I, what, why, how?

Well, number one, you're desperately wicked. Everybody is sinful. I'm bad, you're bad, every single human on the earth has that same nature. You start there and then work them through. I think just on believers, I think a lot of believers who don't know the identification truths, I think you get the justification, start at Romans 5, justification by faith, but then you move into what really transpired.

A lot of them, it's just, I've got Jesus in my heart. There you go. What does that mean? You know, and so many believers are in that, I've got Jesus in my heart. Well, great. which is true, but there's a lot to learn. Yeah, but that's not what the scripture says. I mean, he's in us. We have his very life in us through the Spirit. That's true.

And there are some verses about, and there is one I think about the heart, but it's, you can't start on the third floor, like I said. You can't start with the emotional heart without knowing what all transpired prior to that, which is the co-crucifixion.

So, and that's where a lot of, I mean, we say this all the time, if you don't know the identification truth, how do you grow? If you don't know that foundation, how do you grow? You can't build on the third floor. Well, if you don't know your loss, how do you get saved? Well, true. I mean, well, that's even more, I'm saying believers. Believers who are, they can't grow because they don't know what transpired in the identification.

Again, we all make mistakes, but structurally you have to build the building correctly. Again, you don't start on the third floor, you start on the foundation. If you don't know the foundation, your building is going to fall. Somewhere the building is going to fall. You may think you have a building, but it's going to fall.

Alright, we need to close. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you again, just for your word, and especially as we think about this, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who just makes the scripture real to us, and again, just is the living force in us, in our new life in Christ. And we just, we again, thank you for all that you have done. We just thank you again for what you've done in us, co-crucifying us with Christ and give us a new life in Christ. And we just thank you for that. Again, just pray for Mike in the next meeting, just to bring forth the word accurately and just prepare our hearts to receive it. And Father, we just give you thanks for all these things. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.