1 Timothy Series - Part 9

“Not Suitable For Children”

1 Timothy 4:12-16 (Message #9 in 1 Timothy Series)

INTRODUCTION:

            “Not Suitable for Children.” This label can be seen on many products these days. Movies on Netflix and DVDs containing violence, gore, sex, and bad language may be labelled, “Not suitable for children under the age of X.”  Or certain toys, especially those with lots of tiny pieces, like Lego, will have a tag saying, “Not suitable for children under 4 years of age, due to risk of choking.” Or amusement park rides that take you up and spin you around and flip you upside-down may have a warning sign at the ticket booth and entrance gate, “Not suitable for children under 4.5’ tall.” That is because the owners are afraid that a child might slip out from under the restraining bar and be thrown to his/her death.

TRANSITION:

            Age has always been one of the determining factors in how we see and evaluate people. Whenever Ramel or I have to go in to the medical clinic or the hospital for anything I come away feeling the same way every time. I have to confess that I find it disconcerting when my doctors and nurses look younger than my own children. I have seen specialists who look like they graduated from high school just last year. Some of them still have pimples, for crying out loud! How can they be old enough to have the skills necessary to save anyone’s life?

            However, I know that is not a fair estimation of their skills, training, and abilities. It is just a gut reaction from a cranky old geezer who is feeling older by the day, especially when I look at people like them who are younger than my own children.

            In our text for this morning, Paul writes to Timothy with some sage advice about how to handle this problem of being written off for being young. At the time of the writing Paul was in Macedonia and Timothy was in Ephesus, serving as the pastor of the Ephesian church. Even though Timothy was no newcomer to the ministry, apparently there were some folks in that church who thought he was too young to know what he was doing, and they were not giving him the respect and honour that he deserved. We get the strong impression that some of the church members were giving him grief because they were viewing him as a lightweight. Let’s see what Paul had to say about that.

MAIN BODY:

Verse 12: 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. 

• “Let no one look down on your youthfulness” The KJV translates this phase as, “Let no man despise thy youth.” Many of you memorized the verse that way. However, the Greek word Paul uses here does not mean, “to hate.” Rather, it literally means, “to think small of.” The idea is to “look down on,” “to underestimate,” “to disregard,” “to write off as being unimportant.” I am quite sure that no one in Ephesus hated Timothy. They just did not think he had much going, and thought he was a lightweight because he was young and inexperienced in their eyes.
• “youthfulness” This is the Greek word, neotes, which comes from neos, meaning “new.” However, it is interesting to note that this was the term for men of military age up to about 40. Calculating the number of years that Timothy had ministered alongside the apostle Paul, Timothy was probably between 35-40 when this letter was written, so he was not a youth in the way we usually think of the word.  It is just that in the eyes of some of the people to whom he was ministering he was viewed as too young to know what he was talking about. But they were wrong!
• LISTEN TO ME. Some of you might be tempted to do the same thing. You may look at young leaders in the church and think that there is nothing they can teach you. That is wrong. Timothy was a relatively young man and he still had many things yet to learn, but he was a dedicated and well-seasoned servant of God and Paul said that his youthfulness should not be held against him.
• You may have heard the adage, “The track that a man leaves is sometimes bigger than the shoe that he wears.”  In other words, to see the impact of a man’s life, examine the imprint that he leaves rather than just the size of his shoe. Timothy, like Paul, may have had a small foot, but the lives of both of them left huge imprints in church history. 
• “…but rather, in speech” This includes everything that comes out of the mouth or off the pen. Everything you say or write.
• “…in conduct” Meaning behaviour, manner of life. Includes everything you do. (not the modern usage of “conversation” meaning talk, as in the KJV).
• “…in love” This refers to kindness and charity toward other people (your horizontal relationships).
• “…in spirit” Refers to being led by the Spirit of God (N.B. This is included in the KJV but not in older, better manuscripts).
• “…in faith” Refers to his devotion to God and his faithfulness to obey Him (the vertical relationship).
• “…in purity” Includes being pure both in sexual matters and in one’s thought life, propriety, and chastity (the inward relationship, the relationship with one’s own body).
• “…show yourself an example of those who believe.” Paul is saying that Timothy should become a positive template for other Christians to follow and emulate. Paul here uses the Greek word, túpos meaning “an ensample, a mould, or a model.”  It is an original design from which copies can be made. Paul is calling on Timothy to be an example of what a true Christian is like. Sometimes younger people believe that the older believers are the ones who are to provide the example for everyone else to follow. Sadly, chronological age is no guarantee of spiritual maturity. Paul is simply reminding Timothy that many times God uses the zeal and passion and energy of young Christians to get His work accomplished. Youthfulness should be viewed as an asset, not a liability. So we can see from this text that these godly elements are not only for the young but should be desired and practiced by all believers, young and old.

Verse 13: Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.    

• “Until I come…” Paul was obviously planning to visit Timothy and the Ephesian church sometime in the near future (cf. 3:14).
• “…give attention to the public reading of Scripture” This does not make much sense to us today, does it? After all, why could not those people just read the Bible for themselves? Ah, but therein lies the problem. In Paul and Timothy’s day no one owned a Bible of his own. Very wealthy people might own a portion of the OT Scriptures but manuscripts all had to be hand-copied by scribes and they were very expensive and very rare. The only times that the Early Christians would hear the Word of God read would have been in the public worship services. For this reason Paul tells Timothy to be sure and give special attention to the “public reading of Scripture.” The Bible itself says in Romans 10:17, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” People need to hear God’s Word read, taught, and explained so that they can go out and live it.
• Notice that in this verse Paul gives us the three-fold secret to biblical exposition with these three key words, “reading, teaching, and exhortation.”

Ø  Reading speaks to the question, “What does the text say?” 

Ø  Teaching [doctrine] speaks to the question, “What does it mean?” 

Ø  Exhortation speaks to the question, “What then should we do?”  This word “exhortation” is full of meaning. It involves preaching, comforting, encouraging, motivating, and applying the truth to life.

• “Give attention” Before we go any further I want to point out something important to you about this text. Starting back in verse 11 Paul uses a whole string of imperative verbs. These are nine (9) commands, not mere suggestions. I will point them out for you so that you can underline them and be aware of them as we move through these verses.

Ø  Verse 11 = (1) “Prescribe and (2) teach these things,” i.e. the things listed in 1-10.

Ø  Verse 12 = (3) “Let no one look down on your youthfulness… (4) be an example…”

Ø  Verse 13 = (5) “Give attention” to the public reading, exhortation, and teaching.

Ø  Verse 14 = (6) “Do not neglect” your spiritual gift(s).

Ø  Verse 15 = (7) “Take pains with these things… (8) be [absorbed] in them”

Ø  Verse 16 = (9) “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching.”

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. 

• “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you.” According to 1 Corinthians 12 every child of God receives at least one spiritual gift from the Lord to enhance his effective service in the Body of Christ, which is the church. Now we do not know specifically what Timothy’s spiritual gift was, and it is not important for us to know, although I suspect that it was probably either exhortation or teaching or both because of the last part of verse 13. But Paul knew, and he was reminding Timothy not to hide away that which God had given him and intended for him to use.
• “…which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” This is a little bit awkward to explain but I will give it a try. We know for an absolute certainty from the Word of God that the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts when a person becomes a new-born child of God. We do not get our spiritual gift(s) from people, and Paul is not saying that either. He is just reminding Timothy of that day when he was ordained and a group of elders stood around him, laid hands on him, and prayed for God’s blessing on his life and his future ministry. In prayer they confirmed that Timothy had been called by God and equipped by God with a spiritual gift(s). They recognized his spiritual gifts and asked God to use those gifts for His glory. We do the exact same thing today every time we ordain a man to the Gospel ministry. We recognize his gifts and calling, and ask God to bless Him as he launches into a life of service for Christ and the Gospel.
• “…through prophetic utterance” Look back at 1:18. In the Early Church God often revealed His will through prophets. For example, in Acts 13:1-3 the prophets had an active role in the sending out of Paul and Barnabas on their mission to the Gentiles. In Timothy’s case this prophecy may have occurred at the time of, or before his ordination, many years earlier. This likely happened at Lystra as described in Acts 16:1ff when Timothy first started travelling with Paul. And in 2 Timothy 1:6 Paul reveals that he was part of the group that laid hands on Timothy. On that occasion prophecies about Timothy seem to have pointed to the significant leadership role he would one day have in the church.
• “…with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” This word is used only three times in Scripture: in Luke 22:66; in Acts 22:5; and here. It refers to a group of representative spiritual leaders called “presbyters” or “elders”, chosen, and approved, and placed in charge.  In our modern churches the “presbytery” (although Baptists seldom use that term) would be made up of the pastors and elders.

Verse 15: Take pains with these things; be [absorbed] in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. 

• “Take pains with these things” KJV says “meditate” but that does not really capture the meaning. The original Greek word means to practice or to cultivate. Thus, the phrase can be translated as, “keep on practicing these things.”
• “…be [absorbed] in them” Literally, “be in these things.”
• “…your progress” Meaning, “your progress in the Christian life.”
• “…will be evident to all.” I think that is what we all want when people look at us. We want it to be plainly visible to anyone who examines our life that we are advancing in Christian maturity and “growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” (Cf. 2 Peter 3:18)

Verse 16: 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. 

• “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching… persevere in these things.” Here we have two more imperatives from Paul. The Christian life is serious business and should not be taken lightly. It takes grit and discipline and hard work to keep our eye on the ball. This is especially critical for anyone in a leadership role but it is true for all Christians.
• “…for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” Upon a surface reading we could conclude that Paul is promoting a doctrine of justification by works here, but that is not the case. Our eternal salvation is not guaranteed by our level of dedication, or by our degree of religious zeal, or even by our exacting obedience to the rules of our religion. God alone saves, but Christians can be God’s instruments to bring about the salvation of others. We know that salvation is both an event and a process. We are saved at the time of conversion, but are still being saved (i.e. sanctification) in the sense of being made more and more like Jesus (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18).
• Here Paul just means that by doing these things Timothy can save himself from the grief, pain, and shame that comes with screwing up the job. This verse is not about eternal salvation from Hell.
• “…both for yourself and for those who hear you.” Paul is of course referring to the Christians in the Ephesian church to whom Timothy was regularly reading, teaching, and exhorting.

CONCLUSION:

            So where do we go from here? While these verses were written specifically to Timothy the principles in them apply to us as well. What are some of those principles?

• Youth is no excuse for spiritual immaturity, but neither is anything else.
• Spiritual gifts are meant to be used, not hoarded like a miser’s gold.
• The goal of the Christian life is progress. Status quo is unacceptable.
• Spiritual growth, unlike physical growth, does not happen naturally. It requires attention and perseverance. It requires making spiritual growth a priority of our life.