PEOPLE IN THE LIFE OF A SERVANT

1 Timothy 6

Part 3

Verses 11-16, 20-21

Introduction: It is important that a pastor care for himself, as he is caring for the needs of others.  Paul reminds Timothy of this truth in a previous chapter.  We find these words in chapter four and verse sixteen:  “Take heed unto thyself”.  This admonition is still needed today.  As a pastor, I have many needs. 

      The phrase “but thou” shows a great contrast between Timothy and the false teachers in the previous verses.  Those men were men of the world and in contrast Timothy was a “man of God”.  Timothy was in good company.  This designation was given to Moses. Deut. 33:1

“And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.”

It was also given Samuel. 1 Samuel 9:6

“And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.”

Elijah was given this designation also.

                                                1 Kings 17:18

“And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?”

David was called a man of God. Nehemiah 12:24

“And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward.”

      There are four admonitions given to Timothy in these verses of our text today.  If these were obeyed, Timothy would be assured of success in the ministry.  It was also give him the continual testimony of being a “man of God”.

THE PASTOR HIMSELF 

I.  FLEE    Vs. 11a

                  “flee these things”

      Adam Clarke put it this way: “Thou, who hast taken God for thy portion, and art seeking a city that hath foundations, whose builder is the living God, flee these things.  Escape for thy life.  Even thou art not out of the reach of the love of money.  How many of the ministers of religion have been ruined by this!  And how much has religion itself suffered by their love of money!”

      There are times that running away is an act of cowardice. Nehemiah asked this question in Nehemiah 6:11: "Should such a man as I flee?"  But there are times that fleeing is a mark of wisdom and a means of victory.  Joseph fled when his master’s wife tempted him. We find this in Genesis 39:12. In 1 Samuel 19:10 we know that David fled when King Saul tried to kill him.

  The word "flee" that Paul is using in this passage does not mean to literally run but for Timothy to separate himself from the sins of the false teachers.  This is the echo of verse five were the admonition is "From such withdraw thyself."

   There are a lot of people who thinks that all unity is good and all division is bad.  This is part of the foundation of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.  There are time when as a pastor I have to stand against false doctrine and godless practices and separate myself from them.  It means the difference between the basis of a Biblical conviction and a personal preference or trying to fit into a certain mold.  

II.   FOLLOW               Vs. 11b

“follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”

                        Separation without positive growth becomes isolation.

We saw much of this in sixties and seventies.  Many folks were preaching separation against a few pet sins.  They preached against long hair on men, short skirts on women or women wearing pants, rock music and the list goes on.  They preached against them so much that many people quit following the church to explore these sins that was the basis of much preaching.  Before you wonder if I have went off the deep end, remember I still am against worldliness and sin by any name.  But I want to try to replace separation with cultivation of the graces or the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  If separation against certain sins is the key to a ministry that is the you will be known in your community instead of being known for a church that cares for souls.  I am not trying to minimize separation but I am trying to maximize godly living after the right areas.

      Paul gives them to us in this verse.  They are "righteousness" which is personal integrity from the Lord.  "Godliness" literal means "practical piety".  Righteousness has to do with your character and godliness deals with your conduct.

  "Faith" deals with your faithfulness.  Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. used to say that the greatest ability is dependability.  Another ability that ought to be seen in the life of a believer is availability.

  The word "love" found here in the Greek is agape love that is the supreme love that only comes from God.  It is the love that sacrifices for the sake of others.

                          John 15:13

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

  This love seeks to give.  It does not seek to gain.  If your love is just for what you can get, then your love is selfish and satanic in nature.

  "Patience" carries with the idea of endurance.  This means stick to it when the going gets rough.  It is not the complacency that waits but a God-given courage that continues in the hard times and hard places.

  "Meekness" is not weakness.  If that is a person's belief, then the Lord Jesus was weak.  He said that He was meek and lowly in heart.  He was not the weakness but exhibited strength that this world could and can not understand.  This meekness in the Greek refers to a gentleness that can only come from the Lord Jesus as He imparts this grace up the believer through the Holy Spirit. 

III. FIGHT   Vs. 12-16

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”

      The verb “fight” means to keep up the fight.  It is from which we get our word agonize.  It is very applicable to soldiers and athletes.  In fact, in the Strong’s definition, it refers to the conflict of a soldier or an athlete.  Imagine the strain and giving of one’s best to win the prize or win the battle.

      This “fight” should not refer to a conflict between believers.  It gets to be a fight when some believers resort to cheap shots to try to stir up a fight.  Most husbands and wives know what button to push of their mates to get a fight.  This “fight” is referring to the enemy around him and the man of the God.

      It is time once again for the children of God to be like the people in Nehemiah’s time to have a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other.  That way you are ready to battle or build for the situation that comes up. 

      Too many believers are spending time fighting the enemy that there is no time to build up the church.  But we must be on guard against false doctrine and oppose the enemy that what we have built will be taken away from us.

      I grew up in my Christian life in an era that men took pride in being called a fighting fundamentalist.  They seemed to fight everything and everybody.  In fact, they were not happy unless they were in a fight.  I thought that I could not learn from anyone who was not in the camp in which I was.  I have learned in some ways the hard way that you can learn the Word of God from numerous sources including some that are not Independent Baptist.

      What can encourage us in the battle?  Let’s look at a few of them.

1. We have “eternal life”.  God has called us.  This fact should assurance of victory. 1 John 5:4

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

2. We have the witness of Jesus Christ our Saviour.  He gave the great confession before Pilate.  He knew the Father was with Him and watching over Him and that He would raise Jesus from the dead.  It is possible that Timothy was timid in that he would shrink from battle and confrontation.

      Paul is giving Timothy his orders like a commander to a subordinate.  Why must he stand guard and obey this command?  The answer is found in verse fourteen.

“That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”

      The soon coming of the great Commander is the answer.  When a soldier know the inspection is coming, he will clean and press his uniform.  He makes sure his weapon is clean.  His boots will have a gloss shine.  His salute is sharp.  Why?  He wants to make a good impression upon his commanding officer.  Our commander will come soon and we should want to make a good impression upon Him.

      The word “appearing” means a glorious manifestation.  We do not know when He will return so we must be ready at all times.  It is in His time.    Our task is to be faithful every day and abide in Him.

                              1 John 2:28

“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”

      He alone has the right to called only Potentate.  This refers to the power that is God’s.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  He is not subject to death.  He is the giver of life and is Life.  We are mere mortals.  When He returns, we will share in His immortality.

                              1 Corinthians 15:50-58

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

      Paul explains all these truths about God in order to encourage Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith” and never and never give up.  It is always too early to quit.  We do not fear life or those things around us.  Why?  God is ruler of all. 

      Remember that Timothy is living in the godless city of Ephesus.  God dwells in glorious life.

                              Exodus 24:17

“And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.”

      John describes Christ as the light of that heavenly city.  Light is also a symbol of holiness.  Darkness is always a symbol of evil or sin.  God dwells apart from sin, and God is glorious in His Holiness.

      Sinful man can not approach God.  It is only through Jesus Christ that we accepted into His presence.  We see the essence of God in Jesus Christ. 

IV. FAITHFULNESS Vs. 20-21

“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.”

      God had committed this truth to Paul and Paul passed it to Timothy.   1 Timothy 1:11

“According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”

      In turn, he passed it on to each man whom God has placed in the ministry.  Timothy was responsible to guard the deposit of the truth and then pass it along to others who would, in turn, continue it on.

                              2 Timothy 2:2

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

      This was God’s plan for protecting the truth and spreading it around the world. We are stewards of the great doctrines of the faith.

      The word ‘science” is not the technology that we have today.  This is dealing with knowledge in the Greek.  There was a group around in Paul’s day thought they knew everything.  In reality, they do not really know much of anything.  The shame of the situation is that these people called themselves Christians and knew some hidden truths of the Bible that others do not know.  They claim to have knowledge from their experiences and such.  Paul summarizes up this group as being teachers of profane and vain babblings.  These are nothing but empty words.  There are no great spiritual truths that will help some to grow.  Preaching and teaching that is not clear and causes more questions than answers, it is usually vain babblings. 

Conclusion:  Why should Timothy avoid these teachings which was a mixture of Christianity, Oriental mysticism, Greek philosophy and Jewish legalism.  They were offering something for everyone.  It was some that has gotten involved into this doctrine erred from the faith. 

      Some erred from the faith for money.  Some erred from the faith for false doctrine or a desire for some great spiritual teaching. Evidently some who professed to be true Christians. They were attracted by false philosophy, and soon, as a consequence, were led to deny the doctrines of Christianity. This result has not been uncommon in the world.

      These lies work their way into a person’s mind and heart gradually and before he realizes, he is wandering off the path of truth.