Preach the Word — 09/11/2021

foreign [Music] when you go to church are you being entertained or edified preaching is no laughing matter and today on truth for life weekend we begin a new series called guard the truth we'll join aleister begg as he teaches from the opening verses of second timothy chapter 4. [Music] when you think about it it is i think for us as a church a happy providence that we find ourselves in this particular passage of scripture on this first day of a new year because after all most of us are going to be confronted not so much by an amazing vista that opens before us or a peculiar challenge that we have never yet encountered most of us are going to be faced are already being faced with the inevitability of a return to the routine of life there's something in the human spirit that can face a new challenge that can deal with a new responsibility it is particularly daunting to deal with the same thing again that's why i say it's a happy providence that we're here because 2 timothy 4 says to timothy and all who are in the limits of timothy essentially this i want you to continue as he says in verse 14 to continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed he has already told timothy that the scriptures are divinely inspired that they're completely reliable that they're totally sufficient and as he ended chapter three he pointed out that they are the key to the competence and effectiveness of the man of god and the reason that this is of such importance is because paul has already identified the fact that some in the ephesian context have gone the way of deviation they've gone off track chapter two they have their teaching which is spurious and spreading like gangrene he's going to as he continues in chapter four identify some who haven't gone away so much of deviation as they've gone away intrigued by innovation and so he says to timothy i want you to make sure that you commit yourself to proclamation and i charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus preach the word now the word there is an important imperative it's the word that would be used of a herald who went out into the community proclaiming a message that he had been given and this is the responsibility that timothy is about to take on and is the responsibility that is then entrusted to all who become under god's direction teachers and preachers of the gospel now let us summarize the opening two verses by noticing just two things first of all the solemnity of this charge and then the simplicity of this charge the solemnity of it solemnity is an important part of the way in which the bible introduces us to all kinds of themes and not least of all to the responsibility of the preaching of god's word if you look at this you will notice that there is nothing casual or inconsequential about this i charge you he says in the presence of god and of christ jesus in other words he says god the father and god the son are your witnesses timothy you're going to exercise your ministry not hidden away from the gays of god god knows you he made you the lord jesus christ is your savior and your king and your ministry i charge you to this ministry in the presence of almighty god and his son the lord jesus christ now let's just allow that to settle on our minds for a moment and let me illustrate it in this way as a young minister in scotland i have the privilege from time to time of being part of or present at the induction of a minister what we call in america here the installation of a minister and the process of induction there is a fairly formalized and traditional one there would be at least two preachers one would give the charge to the congregation thereby reminding the congregation of his responsibilities to and for its new pastor and then somebody usually a seasoned minister would give the charge to the incoming minister as he was about to take on the charge and responsibility of pastoral ministry and i can remember being struck by just how awesome and how daunting that was there was usually later on a celebration and food and some good humor but on the occasion of the induction itself there was nothing that could have been regarded as anything other than solemn and it wasn't unusual for these words from richard baxter or words like them to be quoted by the minister giving the charge to the young man quotes it is a sad thing that so many of us preach our hearers to sleep but it is sadder still if we have studied and preached ourselves to sleep and have talked so long against hardness of heart till our own hearts grow hardened under the noise of our own reproofs i can remember sitting in an occasion like that and saying how unbelievably daunting is this the far greater and more awesome prospect is not of having a congregation that doesn't listen to you but of having a heart that doesn't pay attention itself to the things that you're proclaiming so that the longer you go in teaching the bible the worse you get and the harder your own heart becomes what would help you snap out of that the solemnity of this charge i charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus who is the one who will judge the living and the dead those who are alive and those who are raised to life will face the judgment of god and the accountability that is represented in that is such that paul himself recognizes it down in verse 8 he's anticipating the day of the appearing of the lord jesus christ and so he says to timothy listen timothy if you want to if you want to deal with judgment which you must because we all will you see we will all face judgment you understand that don't you two corinthians 5 that we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ to receive that which is done in our bodies that we will be judged in relationship to our works believers will not be judged in the same way as the rest of mankind believers do not face the judgment as cowards shrinking from it but rather in light of what paul says here in verse 8 to which we will come looking forward to the day when a crown will be given to us but nevertheless the christian view of judgment makes it clear that history has a goal that judgment protects the idea of god's goodness and of the triumph of god and of the punishing of all wrong and of the setting of justice to rights all of that and more is represented there but what paul is driving home to timothy and to all who follow in his line is this you shouldn't be worried about being accountable to me i.e to the apostle and you shouldn't worry about being accountable to your congregation in ephesus if you want something to be concerned about be concerned about this that god's your judge and he knows the motives of your hearts people may impugn your motives timothy people may make all kinds of observations on the strength of what you do what you say where you go but the fact of the matter is your judgment is secure in god himself and it is that sense of accountability which drives home the solemnity of it that's why when the writer to the hebrews is wrapping up his letter he says to the congregation under his care obey your leaders and submit to them because they're really nice people no obey your leaders and submit to them because they're really really gifted no obey your leaders and submit to them because obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account to whom to god to god i think you get something of the solemnity of this this jesus who is the judge of the living and the dead is going to appear and his kingdom will be consummated and so he says i'm setting this before you timothy and i want you to understand the solemnity of what i'm saying and also secondly to understand the simplicity of what i'm saying what is he saying in a phrase preach the word there's actually a series of imperatives here preach be ready reprove rebuke exhort and in verse five another another group of four i think it is you can check yourselves but what do you what what is timothy to do in ephesus well he's to preach the word well timothy would be in no doubt now about what paul meant he has spoken to him throughout his letter about the pattern of sound words that he's to hold to the good deposit that he is to guard the word of truth that he is to proclaim the sacred writings that he has known from his infancy all of that underpins the simplicity of this charge preach the word in other words timothy i want you to teach the old testament scriptures and i want you to teach and turn the things that you've learned from me and that you will learn from the other apostles you will notice that he's not charged with coming up with something but rather declaring the message that god has spoken i know you're as intrigued as i am about where all my hymnity comes from i don't even know where it all comes from and every so often i find a hymn is in my head and then i go in search of it and i'm amazed where it comes from i had the experience just last evening as i was scribbling and and a phrase came into mind when i was thinking about this i don't come up with it it comes down to me and in essentially the line came well it is a message from god and then i went to i have a message from the lord hallelujah and i thought well that's interesting i wonder why the guy put hallelujah in there i think it's just the syntax you know so i have a message from the lord hallelujah this message unto you i give it's recorded in his word hallelujah and the message is to look and live i've known that ever since forever so i went to look for where did it come from i finally came from a man called william ogden who was born in franklin county in ohio in 1841 never met him in my life and in the civil war he was part of the indiana volunteer infantry because his finally moved to indiana when he was a young man but in the course of that he exercised if you like a heraldic ministry amongst his friends and this is what he said i've got a message from the lord and here's a message look and live taking that from the old testament picture of the serpent in the wilderness where in order to be freed from their condition they were instructed not to scrub themselves wash themselves fix themselves meditate themselves but to look and to live and he says and this is the message look and you will live it remains the message secular man said i never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life it's going to be far more elaborate than that it's got to involve me far more than that no it doesn't at all here is the message now to me this is what i want you to do he says i want you to go out and proclaim this message what god has spoken in the apostles has been bequeathed to us in the bible so we are to preach the word and nothing but the word and when are we to do it well he tells us when we're to do it where to do it ready in season and out of season be ready i think the notion of readiness i ready aye ready is part of the canadian navy but i haven't checked it's certainly the theme and the symbol of my soccer team from glasgow unfortunately my team hasn't been ready for a number of years despite having on its crest that it is always ready could have fooled me the last time i saw them play it but anyway they're supposed to be ready and that's what he's saying here is standing by captain ready ready when you are that's the whole thing so that so that you the the pastor doesn't need to be cajoled into preaching he doesn't need to be cajoled and lured and and and no no he's just ready he's ready whether he feels like it or whether he doesn't feel like it that's the whole point here in season and out of season paul understood for himself there were seasons where it was more delightful other times where it was more daunting there would be times when it was discouraging and what he's to do is to press the message home on all occasions deeming it convenient or inconvenient now let's just let's just reinforce this realize how how straightforward how simple this is and yet how unusual it is how unusual it is for a man to stay the course as a bible teacher to just keep teaching the bible what he's saying to him is this i want you to preach the word timothy if the environment is marked by receptivity or of hostility you must preach the word of god when the prospect of it fills you with delight but also when it fills you with dread now let me just say a word to my fellow pastors who are within earshot of what i'm saying now don't let's kid ourselves there are seasons in our souls there are seasons in a congregation there are seasons in the framework of life that make it far more daunting than delightful to stick with the task you just gotta preach preach though your heart is breaking preach when it is delightful when it is dreadful preach when your listeners are attuned to what you're saying and preach when your listeners tune out what you're saying preach when the crowds are growing preach when the congregation is dwindling preach why because it's god's word and god's word always accomplishes its purposes it's so simple it's not that paul is given a warrant here for some kind of breastness or rudeness well i'm just going to preach whether they want to hear it or not no what he's saying here is an appeal against laziness laziness because you will notice that as he said in verse 16 scripture is profitable for teaching for reproofing for correction now he comes round to it again and he says and the elements in preaching the word as you're ready in and out of season will be to prove or to reprove helping people think properly about the bible the doubtful are in need of solid arguments they're in need of reinforcements therefore you're going to have to speak apologetically and prove and reprove their thinking correcting those who are thinking wrongly or who are living wrongly it's not easy to say these things in correction but correcting our own souls and exercising a ministry of correction and also a ministry of encouragement encouraging people as paul does it as he begins first thessalonians remember he says i'm so encouraged because of your your your faith that functions and your love that labors and your hope that hangs on faith hope and love present in the thessalonian context what an encouragement it must have been for them but it is such a task isn't it and the nature of the task to reprove rebuke to exhort is then to be dealt with in a manner that is marked by patience and by teaching wouldn't it have been better if it just said with a wee bit of patience why does it have to be complete patience with complete patience how patient are you are you using the utmost patience in your teaching the niv has with great patience and careful instruction jim boyce now in heaven is the one who said to me years ago as a young man you will tend to overestimate what you can accomplish in a year and you will underestimate what you can accomplish in five years so be patient to be a teacher i think demands patience whether you're teaching tiny children or big children because not everyone gets it not everyone gets it at the same level some people apparently never get it and then one day they get it like in my fair lady and some of your school teachers or university professors that's been your great joy in life that somewhere along the line one of those characters that made it out of your class by the skin of their pants has has met you in the thoroughfare and has said oh i finally got what you were on about and you may even have become a teacher themselves paul says now timothy if you think about this context in ephesus it's daunting without any question at all i want you to make sure that you're patient and i want you to make sure that you're operating as carefully as you are patiently in other words it demands an approach to the bible that is demanding that if you if you want to come up with an approach to teaching the bible that is like three illustrations two jokes and the odd practical idea you never need to study again in your life you just they they're they're they're bound everywhere there's books with all of that stuff and it can be like both sides now you know and leave them laughing when they go and if you care don't let them know don't give yourself away it doesn't matter but no this is solemn this is straightforward this is demanding sensible careful intelligent instruction well it's the first sunday of the year and and here we are same old thing right i mean you're like are you kidding me big we're doing we're we're doing the same thing again yeah and as god spurs me we'll be doing the same thing again next year why because it's a great idea no if you think about it this kind of didactic instruction is like a dinosaur i mean do you know any place where anybody is able to speak for more than 20 minutes and hold anybody's attention but every so often the sound of god appears across the horizon and people suddenly realize this must be god himself who speaks and that's the whole point it is in the old days at the churches in scotland they had that sign sir we would see jesus i think actually it could equally be sir we would hear jesus we want to hear from jesus jesus is ultimately the preacher we preach his word so let me finish in this way first of all a word to our pastoral team of which i am a part it is a happy providence that we've arrived at 2 timothy chapter 4 on this first sunday of the new year it is a word for our pastoral team to faithfully proclaim the word of god in light of the judgment of god whatever the response of the people of god that's for the pastoral team and a word for the congregation that we might prayerfully support our pastors as they preach the word of god and as we receive it gladly as from god [Music] pastors are to proclaim the word of god in light of the judgment of god whatever the response of the people of god that's alistair begg with a message titled preach the word you're listening to truth for life weekend although clever bible teaching can be amusing it is god's word that ultimately accomplishes god's purposes that's why our mission at truth for life is to teach the bible and only the bible every day our prayer is that the holy spirit will work through the daily messages you hear on this program to change the hearts of unbelievers to encourage believers and to strengthen both pastors and church members within the local church we also carefully think through the books that we recommend to you that will help you grow in your faith today we're recommending a book that's written for young adults it's titled surviving religion 101 letters to a christian student on keeping the faith in college surviving religion 101 anticipates many of the doubts and challenges that your son or daughter are likely to face as they navigate a secular environment on their own for example the book offers answers to questions like why wouldn't a loving god just save everyone or how do we know that the bible is really from god to find out more about the book surviving religion 101 visit our website truthforlife.org i'm bob lepine wouldn't you love it if at your next physical the doctor said you need to cut back on exercise you need to watch more tv and eat more dessert well that may sound tempting but there's no chance that's going to be good for your health join us next weekend when we'll learn why it's equally detrimental for a pastor to preach what we want to hear instead of telling us what we need to hear the bible teaching of alistair begg is furnished by truth for life [Music] where the learning is for living [Music]

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 5,294

Rating: 4.9527559 out of 5

Keywords: Church Leadership, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Leadership, Ministry, Patience, Preaching

Id: FTBI_EDmgxk

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021