70_First Timothy Lesson 24

Alrighty. I wanted to do something real quick. I wanted to just give us a running start through the chapter, 1 Timothy chapter 4. Just kind of give a quick overview of, because we're going to finish the last verse today. And for those of you who didn't hear, maybe this is Lesson 24, and I'm going to be covering a lot of the, several of the last questions from 23. So if you did that work and you did that study already, it'll pay off for these questions as I move those over to today's lesson. So I looked at kind of summarizing Chapter 4 of 1 Timothy, and then we'll go right into Verse 16.

I said that verses one through five are really about the warnings about false teachers. So Paul's warning Timothy about the nature of false teachers in the latter times. He said some will fall away from the faith and follow deceptive spirits and the teaching of demons. And that's what the environment was for Paul and Timothy. The false teachers are marked by their hypocrisy, right? And they had what we call a seared conscious. They promoted unnecessary legalism. So you not only had the demonic deception of the evil spirits, but you also had an unnecessary amount of legalism.

We talk about putting rules around rules. That way we don't break the big one, we break the ones that we put in place for ourselves. Some of the examples of that in verses one through five were the forbidding of marriage. and certain foods. So they would put rules on that kind of thing.

And despite God having created those things to receive by thanksgiving, by believers who knew the truth, they were still taught not to do it, right? So that's where we got the issue of what's right for you may not be right for those that you're in the presence with, if they're a weaker brethren.

And then we look at verses 6 through 10, and that's really a call for godly leadership. This is where Paul's really getting to the encouragement of Timothy to train himself in godliness and sound doctrine. He's telling Timothy that physical training has some value, but spiritual training holds value for both the present and the life to come. That was what he was trying to convey to Timothy in verses 6 through 10.

And he's urged to labor and to strive and to live in hope of the living God. And so there's the salvation message of the Savior of all people, especially to those who believe. So that's verses 6 through 10, a call for Godly leadership. So you have the warnings and you have a call for Godly leadership.

And then you get into where we are today, 11 through 16, and we have instructions for Timothy, Timothy's example and his teaching. So Timothy is to command and teach these truths. Even though he's young, he must set an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. He's instructed not to neglect his spiritual gift and to devote himself to reading scripture, exhortation, and teaching. By preserving, and this is what we're looking at today, by preserving in these things, he will save both himself and his hearers.

So verse 16, verse Timothy 4.16, somebody want to read that for me? Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. So in verse 16 it starts off with the term, or the phrase, take heed in your translation.

Does anybody else have a different translation? Pay close attention to yourself and to your teacher. Yep, I have pay close attention as well, but take heed is a direct, could be directly translated as well. So what does pay close attention mean? This isn't a big, tough question, but we can kind of build some color to it. What does it mean? What is Paul telling Timothy? We're gonna talk about what is to pay close attention to, but what is the phrase pay close attention or take heed? Got some synonyms for me?

Awesome. Be absorbed. Okay, be absorbed, that's a good one. That's in verse 15. Yep. And we're going to see how verse 15 and actually several of the verses above it are translating specifically to this verse. But pay close attention. To be absorbed, I think that's good.

The word is apeko, which means to hold firmly to. So Paul is telling Timothy, hold tight to these things. We'll talk about what these things are, but he's saying hold tight to them. Focus intently on these things. Persist in giving careful thought to these things. Be mindful, stay alert, diligent. Be mindful, I really liked that one. Be mindful, stay alert, be diligent in these things. Pay close attention. So another thing, that's the first question, what does pay close attention mean?

We've got a definition. I like, again, the term be absorbed in these things. And then the second question, it really builds on the verb tense. So the verb here is in the active voice and present tense. What does that tell us about the exhortation or the teaching that he's supposed to adhere to? Present, I'm sorry, active voice, present tense. What would that tell us? It's ongoing, going right now. Yeah. Absolutely. You guys agree with that? Keep doing what you're doing. Yeah, and in the context of this pay close attention, how would you say it? Yeah. Keep on paying attention. Keep on paying attention.

And then he goes on to say yourself and to your teaching. And while we're going to get to that more in depth here in a moment, I wanted to read what Vincent says. He says the order is significant. And what order he's talking about is yourself and your teaching. And Vincent says this is a really important order because it puts the person or the personality before the teaching. Pay attention to yourself and your teaching. In other words, you're not paying attention to yourself if you're not being mindful, staying alert, being absorbed, heeding to the Word of God yourself, then your teaching is not going to reflect that. Does that make sense?

Take the advice that Paul has already given him. Make sure you're doing that first before you try and bring that upon anybody else. I think about this, I think it's a lot like the, a lot of times the hungry heart is, you know, it gives a warning. Don't go out and start a ministry before you're ready. You know, you have to be ready before you do a ministry, otherwise the ministry will flounder or whatever. So it's, you be prepared first, and then you go out and share it with others.

And I think it's the same warning here, is you heed these warnings, these instructions that I'm giving. You do that first, so your witness, you know, it's kind of a brother, You can see a sermon and hear one any day, you know, it's that song. I think he's got to be the example and then bring it forth to the church of deficits. On Wednesday night, we're finishing up Ephesians.

Verse 618 says, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit and with this in view. Be on the alert. Be on the alert. with all perseverance and position for all of the saints. So you see that in Paul's epistles everywhere, whoever he's writing to.

In Ephesians, he's just finished the verses that have to do with put on the full armor of God. And the metaphor is about a soldier and how he functions. And a soldier has to be awake and paying attention Otherwise, it's going to be defeated. Yeah, and I think that's definitely the message here that Paul has given to Timothy.

Have you ever been in a Bible study where you're like, this person has obviously not even read what they're telling us. It's kind of like, let's just wing it. This is not a situation where you wing it. You don't wing God's Word. It doesn't mean that you can't remember everything at every time, but you can go sure find out, right? refine what you're trying to convey as a teacher. At times you learn on the fly, but it doesn't mean that you're not already acquainted with the Lord intimately about the things that you're teaching.

Well, question number three says, who is Timothy to pay close attention to and why? The Spirit? Yeah, I mean it could, what does it say in the verse there? Pay close attention to yourself. So let's start with that one. Pay close attention to yourself. Watch yourself, right? Watch your life. And be mindful of your character, your spiritual health. Where are you before the Lord? Are you in fellowship? Watch yourself. How's your personal conduct out there? What are other things that come to mind when you read that Timothy is to pay close attention to himself?

The teaching. I think it ties back into what we were just talking about. He's practicing what he's preaching, right? The idea is that he's staying alert, like that soldier. He himself is prepared, and he's staying alert. What is he staying alert to? Hypocrisy. Yeah, maybe his own hypocrisy, potentially, that he's inherited from the teaching of his day. He had to look out for sound doctrine, that's for sure. I mean, he's got motives, just like you have motives. He had temptations, just like you have temptations. But Paul is looking for a consistency with Timothy's actions and his beliefs, right? That's what he wants to see.

And so why does he tell Timothy to pay attention to himself? It's actually found at the end of the previous verse. Look at verse 15b. Read the whole thing. I think that has to do with self-judgment, basically. Okay. Why? What does it say in 1 Timothy 4.15? Close the end. Pay close attention so that your progress may be evident to all. What does that mean? What does progress mean? Yeah, I think so too. You're seeing Timothy grow as a young leader. And Paul wants that to be evident. And how that becomes evident is that Timothy pays close attention to himself. And he judges himself according to the word of God. That's what confession really is, right?

First John 1.9 is judging rightly our actions based on what the Word of God has said and agreeing with him that he's right about those things. So, Timothy's to pay close attention to himself and be mindful of his character. His spiritual growth is on display and it's to be evident to all those that he has in his supervision as a teacher.

Any other thoughts on question number three? I feel like we got a good handle on that. I think question three could be received on a legal basis. It's interesting how Paul writes his epistles. He always puts things behavior after he's given you the doctrine and who you are and where you are and what your focus is and that you're in the resurrected Christ and all that goes with that and you're a new man. And he expects that that life should be a growing life and it should be visible to all those that are around you. your attention to it is not so much checking your own scorecard every day, it's more, you spend more and more and more time with the Lord Jesus, which results in a conformity that people can see. And I think that is more the flavor here, because it is not a self-improvement thing. It does start with aligning you're yourself with the Lord. I'm trying to remember the term. Literally thinking God's thoughts after him is a phrase that I often use. You can't think God's thoughts if you don't know what they are. So we want to be thinking God's thoughts after him.

But Adam, the old man, He comes in the front door, you throw him out the side door. He comes in the side door, you throw him. You know, he's got... He's chained down. Yeah. You just like to go talk to him. Because he's demanding that you talk to him. Yeah. Well, and the teaching should have an effect on your character.

You know, I mean, we all know people that, like, wingers, you know, that get up and wing it. But they are not different. You know, they're not... They could be saved. Yeah. They don't walk the talk. Sure. And we all have situations like that. So, and Timothy did too. And that's why we have 1 John 1, 9.

Okay, well question number four, this will be a little bit longer than I want to spend some time on. It says, explain what things Timothy is to concentrate on. So let's try to look back. Verse 16 is really referencing all the way back to 12 through 15.

And I'll summarize it, but I want to start with, I want to look at 1 Timothy 4.15 first, just because it's in the direct context of verse 16.

So 1 Timothy 4.15 says, take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. We covered that evident to all portion a bit, but what about take pains? What do you think take pains means? Does anybody else have a different translation that might help us?

New King James says meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. It said meditate? Meditate. That's actually a really good translation. It's more understandable than probably the word take pains. more like work with the spirit rather than against it. Yeah, the idea of this Greek word that translates take pains or meditate, it really has the core being caring about.

Care about these things deeply. Be diligent in attending to these things. be constantly immersed or engrossed in them. If, when you lose enough battles, you'll figure that out. Yeah, Zoriade says, to consider, weigh, or ponder over something so as to be able to perform well. So it includes the action here. Care about these things. Ponder on these things. Diligently attend to them, and that's equal to what we just talked about using the word meditate on these things.

I looked at Hebrews 12, and we go back to that. pleasant but painful. Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields impeacable through the righteousness. That is an excellent verse that I think directly relates to what Paul is saying to Timothy. And that word pain is not meant to be a negative thing.

It's meant to be... Discipline can be painful at the time. It's hard to see the outlook, you know, because you're being disciplined. But afterwards, when you're trained by it... So Timothy is to take pains to meditate, to be engrossed in these things.

So what are these things? We need the context of verses 12 through this verse 15 and 16. But the phrase, these things, what does it refer to? First of all, who gave Timothy these things? This is what he was disciplined by Paul according to. These are the things that I've, not discipline in a negative sense, but I've trained you in these things, I've taught you these things. What are the things? What's verse 12? What do you see in verse 12? I put, does anybody want to answer? I said verse 12 really has the idea of being an example.

That's the thing. And then there's qualities that make him an example. In speech, he needs to be an example. In his conduct, the way he behaves, be an example. In his love, be an example. In his faith and purity, be an example. He's got to trust the Lord for spiritual maturity as a young leader.

And that applies to all of us. even though you may not be a church leader, these are the things that teachers are to teach you if you're not a teacher. These are the things that you're to be taught so that you can do the same thing that Timothy is doing by taking heed to speech, conduct, love, faith, be an example. That was the first thing I got. from verse 12, these things referred to being an example. Second, verse 13, what do you see there? Public reading of scripture, exhortation and teaching.

Yeah. The Word. Yeah. So this is a ministry thing in these things. Devotion to ministry of the Word. That's what I wrote down. That's what we're doing now. That's what we're doing now. And we're... I'd like to say that we're taking pains with it as well. We're able to take these things and ponder them.

Be careful with them. So you had devotion to ministry of the Word, and you read the verse. The idea is to give focused attention to public reading of the Scripture, Exhortation, which, what does exhortation mean? We don't use that word very often. To encourage, uplift, strengthen. Yeah. To explain. Yeah, I think it could include explanation.

But yeah, encouraging and even challenging others with the truth. If I were to exhort you, I would be, in this context, I would be exhorting you in the word of God. I would be encouraging you in the word of God. I would potentially even be challenging you in the word of God.

That's what parents need to do nowadays with their kids. Yeah. Encourage and challenge. Happy Father's Day. All right, well, what about verse 14? What is, how does this thing fit into these things? What would you call that? Talking about a spiritual gift. That's this exhortation to all of us. Don't, you know, neglect what your spiritual gift is. Yep. Use it. Use it. Yeah, I think this whole verse is about using a spiritual gift. Not neglecting the gift that was given to him. And what do you think those gifts were for Timothy? What do you think his spiritual gifts were? At least clearly. Exhortation, teaching. Exhortation, teaching. Yeah, but leadership and teaching. Yeah. Definitely exhortation as well.

And how was that affirmed in verse 14? What was the stamp of approval? It was affirmed through prophecy and the laying on of hands. Remember when we studied that? So that's one of these things. And then finally, verse 15, these things are practice them diligently, reflect on them, to take pains, rehearse them. It's almost like an athlete or a music, a musician rather, training regularly.

And you think about, I think about all the time my son spends training for football, even outside of football season. Oh, by the way, they won seven-on-sevens at Broncos, the Broncos seven-on-seven tournament this weekend, it was really cool. Only undefeated team in Colorado, the 717s. Happy Father's Day to me. Yeah, but he takes great pains in his training. And you can see that visually, right? You can see the sweat and the exhaustion at the end of the day. But because of that, he's becoming a better player.

And that's similar to what Paul is saying to Timothy, except you can't see the pains that he's taking necessarily. This is between him and the Lord. This is how he's meditating on God's word. how he's being absorbed with God's word. So when I look at this phrase, these things, it does refer back to the instructions that Paul gave Timothy in 12 through 15. So we'll just go through them again.

These things being, be an example in your speech, your conduct, et cetera. Be an example, number two, be devoted to the ministry of the word, public reading, exhortation, teaching. Number three, use your spiritual gift. Don't neglect it. For it is Christ in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

That's one of the things that he would be taking heed to, for sure. As we're talking, I'm thinking about one of the major issues in our society today is today's Father's Day. We don't have men. We have males, but we don't have men. who are leaders in their family. And this gives you the prescription for it right here. I think you're right, yeah. It's directly related. When I talk to guys about their families and leading, I always go here and they think I'm somewhere else. What do you mean, somewhere else?

Well, that they're wealthy, have a lot of authority, they talk loud, they do something to give the impression that they're tough men. But a real man is quiet and he does these kinds of things. He pays attention to what his family's doing. He's spending time with the Lord. He's exhorting them. That's how he leads.

That's really good to kind of pull this out from a father's perspective. I mean, interestingly enough, going into Chapter 5, fathers come up. Yeah. This not only helps with that, but also with this LBDQ or whatever it is, you know, the Pride Month and all that.

It's because men haven't But this isn't so much against them as it is, I'm a man, I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I have certain responsibilities in those roles under God as a believer, and it isn't to go tell them they're wrong. It's for me to live so people will notice there's a difference.

Law brings forth rebellion. If I speak for Mike, I think it's not that it's saying against them, The Romans won, right? Exactly, exactly. Because of lack of leadership, all of this other comes in to fill the void, and the Romans won. We've got to get them over to their lusts, because we're not doing what we should be doing as men.

Yeah. How's it going? So now we know what these things are that we're to heed, or meditate on. We're looking at it from both our perspective and Timothy's, I think that's really good. Question number five, we've got, I think we can get through question number five. We've got two minutes. Timothy used to pay attention to himself and the doctrine he teaches, plus he is to preserve in them.

Persevere. That's a typo, persevere. It's persevere, is to persevere in them. What does persevere mean then? So persevere. Work with the spirit. Okay. Like on Mondays? No, this is a life gift. Okay. Anything else that you, what other kinds of words would you use to help me understand what persevere means? Continue. Steadfast? Steadfast. Keep on keepin' on. Keep on keepin' on. All of those are movement, like it has the idea of moving forward, continuing on with something.

Put the whole armor of God on. Yeah, it would very much include what we have available to us to live this life by faith. Well, the armor of God points out that In the world system, there's going to be opposition to this. And that's why perseverance is so important, because without the opposition... You wouldn't have to persevere.

Yeah, I had for this epimeneo, continuing this. So meditate on these things and persevere, continuing them. Keep doing them. I also had the idea to stay beside the side of. Stay beside these things all the time. Keep staying beside these things. The idea is constantly stay by them, stick to them, see them through. Keep on keeping on. Right? This all feeds into the same thing where we started at.

Don't let them look on your youth, you know, because they're beating him up for his youth, and then he's giving him all this instruction. These are all very, I mean, take pains, you know, it's like, it's just going to require a lot, you know, to stay the course, you know, and be absorbed in the New American Standard. I mean, all of these are, and pay close attention to yourself, all of these are very, encouraging, strengthening.

It's going to be tough, but keep on keeping on. Like I said, these are going to be tough when they're telling you you're too young, you're too whatever. And he's just exhorting him to don't give up the fight in all of this. There are going to be hard times. You're going to be, you know, when you're young, you're going to be telling these old guys, you know, what you're going to get into a little, sharply rebuking old men in the next one. But it's really just strengthening, encouraging, exhorting Timothy that just don't give up the fight.

It's going to be hard. Be absorbed in these things. Listen to what I'm saying and do it. Use your gifts and keep on going. And the result is he's going to be spiritually preserved and strengthened. Exactly. So, good, good. So persevere. Take heed these things and persevere in them. kind of unpack that portion. Next week we'll pick up with question number six. What are the three things Timothy is to be on top of doctrinally? We've talked about it a little bit. We'll look into verse 13 and pick up with that again.

All right, let's pray. Father Howie, thank you for this message here, even on Father's Day. We just can learn from First Timothy and Paul's instruction to Timothy and take heed and meditate, absorb these very things for ourselves. And so Lord, we're thankful that we can stay close to sound doctrine and that that strengthens and preserves us as we persevere in it. And Lord, just pray for the next hour that we would heed those things. that we learned from the Book of Romans. And so we just pray for a good time together in worship and the reading of your living word. It's in your name we pray. Amen.