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READING: 2 TIMOTHY 4:1-22 TEXT: v1-8 [SERIES #14]
Three little words in both the English/NT Greek language: Preach the Word
Each word is pregnant with meaning:
[i] Word – God’s word as defined: 3: 14-16 (essentially our Bibles)
[ii] The word – for there is no other
Paul did not need to clarify again what he meant - Timothy knew
Reminds me of Christ’s explanation the parable of the sower
In Luke 8, He said: The seed is the word/God (Slow learners)
In Mark 4, He said: The sower soweth the word (No other)
Likewise here – There is only one real word to preach
It is isn’t politics or economic strategies
All these things are important in their own place
But Timothy was a preacher – not a politician or a economist
The third word in this important phrase is [iii] Preach
The modern church frowns now upon preaching
Considered to aggressive for today’s world
We like chat shows with smooth talking communicators who come across
all bubbly and have a good supply of anecdotes and especially jokes
– who can entertain and make you feel good
But God wants us to preach
It pleases God by the foolishness/preaching to save (1:21)
There is an authority in gospel preaching
It is designed to be the case
The method befits the message that it brings
If people get scared and uneasy – then so be it
Better to go to Heaven scared than to go to Hell amused
Of course, there is such a thing as friendship evangelism
Not every conversion has a pulpit in it somewhere
Wee chats over cups of tea are effective
But never at the expense of a faithful pulpit
Preach the word – 5 thoughts
1) PREACH THE WORD – IN ALL ITS FULLNESS:
A/ Preaching/word gives us opportunity to teach doctrine (v2)
This doesn’t sound very exciting at all in some quarters
Doctrinal preaching can be very hard to do and esp: understand
But this term doctrine means teaching
Bible conveys its teaching many interesting ways:
Straight statements/Historical happenings/Proverbs/Psalms which usually convey the emotional states of their writers etc.,
What a treasure-trove awaits us when we open the Bible!
B/ But we do not merely preach the facts of the Bible
A mere machine could do that
Preacher/word is commissioned to reprove
In Matthew 18:15 we are given a great explanation of this word:
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Again – you might think – more negativity
No wonder the world wants chat show services with congeniality
Criteria: It is not what the world wants – but what God wants
God wants us to be right and we need to be made right
Only way to be made right is to be shown where we are wrong
We ought to thank God when we are thus reproved by the word
God could quite easily let us go on in our sins and leave us to the consequences – be just as we deserved
But God kindly sends us word via His word so that we enter into the best things that He has graciously prepared for us
C/ Preacher does more than instruct and reprove: He rebukes
It is probably here that the sparks begin to fly!
Who wants to be rebuked?
Sometimes, these rebukes need to be open rebukes before all
Such was Paul’s very public rebuke of Peter in Galatians 2:14
But when I saw that they walked not
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter
before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the
manner/Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the
Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Of course, there are varying degrees of public rebuke
Sometimes the mere mention of it from the pulpit is enough
(Sometimes, a wee word on the side is sufficient and that is certainly easier on all parties – but not always)
But even in the rebukes/God – there is grace
Again: Worse case scenario is being left without God’s voice
That is a forerunner of sure and certain doom
D/ Again, the preacher: to exhort/all longsuffering/doctrine
Exhort means much more than shouting orders/coach
Word is parakaleo and means Comfort
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter (Paraklete)
If preachers must (and we must) open up wounds etc.,
Let them also apply the healing oils of the gospel
Sometimes this text gets awfully abused
Taken to mean: thunder out severe denunciations
Of course, there is a time for that too
But ordinarily it’s not – you need balance
Even when it is – let the comfort more than match the rebuke
Preaching is a long term work
Hence the Apostle adds: “With all longsuffering”
We’re in for the long haul
2) PREACH THE WORD – IN ALL ITS SOLEMNITY:
A/ Already we have seen how solemn such a work is
You cannot preach the word and rebuke etc., lightly
The subject carries its own solemnity with it
But Paul gives it a great deal more
(Which makes these modern pulpit antics the more inexcusable)
B/ In v1 he charges Timothy before God and the Lord Jesus
He charges Timothy before Christ as the Coming Judge
That is deadly serious is it not?
Every preacher will give an account of His ministry
Every Christian will give an account of his/her work/God
This is the context of Romans 14:12
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Therefore every preacher will give an account of how they handled the word/God etc., hence: 2:15
If the pulpit goes wrong – then the whole church goes wrong
The pulpit is the most powerful organ of the church
Very few churches survive rotten pulpits
Hence the doctrine/pulpit of the church needs to be guarded
When the false teachers/legalists came into Galatia, notice that Paul didn’t allow them anywhere near the pulpit:
To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. (Galatians 2:5)
Certainly no ecumenical get together here
Separated brethren and all that!
The pulpit was protected by Paul
False gospellers were denounced with the greatest possible fury:
But though we, or an angel/ from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)
V1-2 is the positive end of these things: Keep the pulpit pure! Preach the word as it is to be preached
3) PREACH THE WORD – IN ALL ITS OPPORTUNITY:
A/ Bible gives us just two times to preach the word
Do I detect some humour here on the part of Paul? :o)
In season and out of season
There is always a right time to bring the word/God
Let us not be reticent – but instant (v2)
We are to be instant in all that we do for God
Unto which promise our twelve tribes,
instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's
sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. (Acts 26:7)
B/ But see the urgent reason that Paul attaches to it all: v3-4
This tells us a number of things:
[i] Some seasons are better than others for gospel preaching
Not only in the big picture, but in individual’s lives
Sometimes people are more soft towards God than others
When they are children…
When they are in times of trouble…
When they have acquired an interest in the Bible etc.,
Let us make hay while the sun shines
David: Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD. (Psalm 34:11)
If the sinner perceives a softening – let him not despise it or
lose it – act upon it and follow it through and seek Christ
[ii] Such seasons do not always linger
Spring may lead to summer, but soon autumn which leads/winter
Having softened the heart, God can equally and justly harden it also if the softening is not improved upon
If the calls of thy Saviour have so wearies thee –
Oh what if they should weary Him?
[iii] Time will come when the instructing/reproving/rebuking etc., becomes unacceptable and sound doctrine is rejected
Devil uses a pincher movement here
1) The sinner’s own lusts rebel against the preaching
This creates the itchy ears (and soon: itchy feet)
2) False teachers who cater for these ungodly lusts
Note the enthusiasm the ungodly have for such teachers:
They heap to themselves such teachers
No shortages! We’ve been overrun!
Only use of the Greek word heap to themselves is here
Means: They add to themselves such teachers
They keep going and going and adding and adding
All the time, they are digging their own spiritual graves
In turning to these teachers (v3) they turn from truth (v4)
As they turn from the truth – they turn to fables
No fable can save a soul
C/ Therefore the preacher must needs preach while there is still the opportunity for a hearing
Some unsaved one maybe starts coming to a meeting
Become regular in their attendance
Let not the preacher think: their attendance is a settled thing
Can just as easily stop coming
Hear along the grapevine that they are going elsewhere
Somewhere where the trumpet gives an uncertain sound
Somewhere where their lusts are fed rather than removed
Unless God intervenes – they will not be back
If they are not under the word/God – they will be lost
We need to be evangelising while we can do it
The night is coming when no man can work (John 9:4)
Child/God is always battling against time and tide
The natural man does not naturally received the things/God
D/ Let us resist the urge to soften things to make him linger
That is the wrong way to go about it
Let God be God!
The newspaper industry have a saying: Publish and be damned!
We say: Preach the word – reprove/rebuke/exhort etc.,
Paul did not pull back or soften down his message:
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel/God.
Therefore he could say:
Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. (Act 20:26-27)
Good maxim: The duty is ours – the consequences are God’s
It is Divine Wisdom who should dictate the way ahead
I, for one, am happy to let Him do so
4) PREACH THE WORD – IN ALL ITS HARDSHIPS: v5-6
A/ Paul encourages/exhorts Timothy to watch in all things
This presupposes danger – and it is a true supposition
When people turn away from the truth because they will not endure it
– they end up not enduring/tolerating preachers either
After just a few qualms – Herod got rid of John/Baptist
B/ Timothy was not to run away from afflictions
Temptation: try and minimise them by compromising the message
Following on the heels of v2 are these words:
Do/work of an evangelist/Make full proof of your ministry
We cannot afford to compromise the message
Such grieves and then quenches the Spirit of God
C/ Paul was probably/most consistent Christian who ever lived
These words in v6-7 are fantastic
I’m sure Paul could have negotiated for his life and comfort
He could have come to some kind of agreement with the Jews
He could have honed his message down and made it a tad bit more ecumenical and embracing
But he didn’t – because he couldn’t
The
sad reality is: The Jews went about trying to establish their own
righteousness (filthy rags) and would not submit to the
righteousness/God which is by faith – and so they were lost
How could Paul sit back and allow that to happen by default?
Even though it cost him his life – he was ready to do it
5) PREACH THE WORD – IN ALL ITS REWARDS:
A/ Obviously Paul felt it worth his while to forfeit his life
For one thing it nails the devil’s lie in Job 2:4 (All that a man hath will he give for his life)
Another: God rewards those who diligently serve Him (v7-8)
We may lose out in earthly things because of our position
If so – do not worry nor think yourself hard done by
B/ A crown awaits all of God’s people when Christ returns
Note: it is not for Paul only or even for martyrs only
It is for every faithful child/God
Loving the appearing of Christ is a sign of grace/heart
Let us aim therefore to be faithful unto death and keep/faith
THE END