1 Timothy 1.13-14 Charge to Ministerial Faithfulness

The Apostle Paul tells Timothy, do not be ashamed. And in telling him, do not be ashamed, what he's saying is do not feel disgraced by the world's disapproval of the gospel.

It's in verse 8. And in verse 12, Paul, speaking of himself, he says, I am not ashamed. And then the Apostle gives the reason why he is not ashamed.

And the reason is I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day.

That's to say that God, according to his eternal purpose and almighty power, will preserve the gospel. And in God preserving the gospel, what he's preserving is its message, its content, its promises, and its believers.

So Paul is saying, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. So not being ashamed, his not being ashamed and his charge to Timothy to not be ashamed isn't just about the present.

It's also about the future. So for this reason, the gospel is not a matter of shame and future disappointment. Believers of the gospel will not find themselves to be disappointed.

So it's not a matter of shame or disappointment, but of glory. Now in 2 Timothy chapter 1, we'll read from verses 3 to 14.

1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 3.

1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 4.

1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 4.

1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 5.

the word this morning and the hearing of the word pray holy spirit that you would illuminate your word to us and enlighten our minds that we may know that which is spiritually discerned we pray this in jesus name amen well today there are many rampant churches that follow the seeker sensitive methodology or the the seeker driven methodology and it is geared in order to really to arouse the curiosity of those who are unchurched so those who are not christians and in doing so it surveys what they don't like about church and then try to cater this approach to the unbelievers concerns for how they think church should go and that in practice is how the seeker sensitive churches operate but a lot of it too is that um they they survey the unchurched to see what it is about church that has wounded made them feel wounded or what they didn't like or what offended them and then of course cater to that so not only is the practice then to cater towards the unbeliever but also is the message so that they would not be offended and the seeker sensitive methodology is quite rampant today particularly in mega churches and we'll we'll kind of get more into that of how it's it's led to that and that approach and seeking to grow in terms of size of numbers but what we see in verses 13 and 14 of second timothy is that in the face of opposition the church is to retain and preserve the pattern of sound words from loss or alteration in the face of opposition the church is to retain and preserve so in this charge to ministerial faithfulness we'll see first of all faithfully retain and then faithfully preserve so first of all faithfully retain starting in verse 13 it says hold fast so we see the charge the content of the charge the original or where it originates from and then the manner in which it's going to be done in order to faithfully retain so what is the charge the charge is to hold fast notice it doesn't say find and grab a hold of it doesn't say appoint pastors of creativity and and appoint directors of innovation within the church but that which is already held on to hold fast to it not to be innovative but hold fast onto what is already held on to the charge is to hold fast but what is the content of the charge what is the content that the church is to hold fast onto well says hold fast the pattern of sound words so let's break that down a little bit before we get into sound words what does pattern mean your some translations might say form the word can be translated either way so the form or the pattern is the objective characteristic of something so hold fast to the objective characteristic or we could say the intentional likeness to an original a pattern is an intentional likeness to original hold fast to that or to get maybe a little bit more wordy hold fast to the principle of intelligibility due to its likeness to its maker's intention or to its author's intention which in this case is ontological truth so hold fast to the pattern of sound words words here mean doctrine so if words mean doctrine what are sound words sound words are pure doctrine hold fast to the objective characteristics of sound doctrine according to the intentional likeness of an original that's to say

pure doctrine unadulterated uncorrupted undiluted unaltered and unchanged and in so it is nourishment for spiritual health to make one's soul sound pattern of sound words so we still really haven't gotten down to the bottom of what this pattern of sound words is but if a pattern is according to the intentional likeness of original then we must ask what is the original or where does it originate from this set these sound words the original hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me so again timothy isn't told to be innovative timothy isn't told to be creative timothy isn't told to figure it out and to to find something to grab a hold of but to hold fast to that which you have heard from me from the apostle paul what timothy heard from the apostle and with the apostle what he passed down is what was previously entrusted to him so this isn't paul's own innovation but what was entrusted to him first corinthians 15 3 for i delivered to you first of all that which i also received so this pattern of sound words the original or what it originates from isn't the church itself and it isn't from the apostle itself but from god itself the apostle is being carried along by the holy spirit and the authority of christ christ and scripturated the words of christ so the charge hold fast the content pattern of sound words which originates from that which you heard from me which is from god what is the manner in which the church is to undergo this charge to hold fast it says in faith and love which are in christ jesus as to say faithfulness ministerial faithfulness in both doctrine and in practice in the face of the disapproval of the world in the face of the shame of the world in the face of opposition of the world the charge is to ministerial faithfulness in both doctrine and in practice and faith and love which are in christ jesus so let's quickly define those words what does faith mean well faith is knowledge assent and trust knowledge in what knowledge in the gospel and when i say the gospel we're not reducing what the gospel is as much as possible so that as many people as possible can agree on it to a single pithy statement that doesn't offend anybody but the gospel is god's way of salvation and how all of all of scripture pertains to the gospel for faith and obedience so knowledge knowledge of the gospel faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god assent of it to have understanding of it and to have agreement this is true and then trust or confidence and it's trustworthiness personally to personally embrace and believe the promises of the gospel my sins are forgiven in christ i am righteous in the eyes of god because of christ's righteousness apputed to me and then love follows from faith we are saved by faith alone but saving faith is not alone saving faith is accompanied by the fruit of loving obedience when god regenerates a person when somebody is born again they are reoriented instead of being oriented according to the course of this world they are reoriented granted repentance with a complete turn and change of mind and reoriented towards god's ways and love follows faith now if you're thinking well i don't feel like i've been perfectly reoriented and perfectly delight in god's word we are still in a state of grace not a state of glory we will not be perfected until glory but saving faith is accompanied by the fruit of loving obedience that is delighting

in god's way john 14 15 says if you love me keep my commandments faithfully retaining the pattern of sound words the manners in faith and love which are in christ jesus and matthew pool or the annotators of matthew pool's commentary on this says the sum of which form of sound words he declares to be faith and love for all that the gospel teaches is either believing in the lord jesus christ or keeping his commandments which is the demonstration of love so again the gospel isn't just reducing what must be no it's not just reducing salvation to one concise pithy statement that's not going to offend anyone that the more people agree on it the more people we can ecumenically include but it's it's the gospel message and all of how scripture speaks and pertains to that gospel message that god is holy that god is righteous that god is just and that god does not change that he will by no means clear the guilty and this is offensive to the world and they might not want to hear it the church or people or missionaries might be tempted to try to soften it but it is the truth and the truth is not to be changed and because god is holy and righteous and just because mankind is sinful and has rebelled against god because man by nature is our children of wrath and go our own way sinful fallen mankind is at enmity with god and this is offensive and being at enmity are under the curse and wrath of god this is offensive to the world but it is necessary for gospel understanding of how to be saved and that is why it was necessary for the son of god to assume our nature in the fullness of time to take to himself a body to perfect righteousness to perfect obedience in order to merit eternal life and eternal blessedness and as a substitute suffer and die in the place of his people that justice would be satisfied that sins would be paid for and that the ransom price would be paid in full once for all and that this work of redemption is applied by the spirit and as the individual as the sinner receives it by faith again which is knowledge assent and trust and resting in christ alone for salvation and not on our own works or our own righteousness because we do not have perfect righteousness which god's justice requires so confidence in ministerial faithfulness is grounded in the approval of god's approval which includes his message and his means and the power of god which is his spirit so next in verse 14 ministerial charge to ministerial faithfulness to faithfully preserve so what's the difference between verse 13 that we read well in verse 14 the charge here says to guard or to keep it's the same word might be translated differently in different bibles but to guard or to keep so what's the difference between 14 and 15 sorry 13 and 14 and 13 the charge was to hold fast but in 14 the charge is to guard or to keep to hold fast means to retain possession so you already have possession of it hold fast onto that as though with both hands to retain possession whereas to guard or to keep means to watch over hold fast retain possession what you're in possession of watch over it preserve it protect it protect it protect it from impurity from error and from alteration if you remember adam in the garden was to keep the garden he was to guard the garden and he failed to do that to preserve and

protect it from impurity error and alteration now notice that there's a link what's the whole context of of verses 13 and 14 is is not to be ashamed not to be ashamed of the disapproval of the world and there's a link there's a link between the church holding fast to purity of doctrine so there's a link to purity of doctrine and suffering the disapproval of the world period of doctrine the holiness of god the justice of god the righteousness of god the misery of sin god's condemnation and wrath on those who are in sin there is a link between the purity of doctrine and suffering the world's disapproval because the world will be offended and will disapprove of the truth that they have offended a holy and just god or under the condemnation and wrath of god unless they repent and turn from their perceived righteousness to embrace the righteousness of christ and the promises of the gospel in christ so that is that link between the purity of doctrine and suffering disapproval of the world that's to say suffering as a result of being faithful to doctrine without compromise and alteration and the apostle paul in this he he mentions his imprisonment why do you think that is he mentions it so that timothy and subsequently the church uh in speaking to timothy he also speaks to the church as the church today can understand god's word as applying today it wasn't just to that situation and no longer relevant but he mentioned it because imagine if you were just given directions of what to do instructions you follow those instructions and you find you're being persecuted and imprisoned and killed on account of following the instructions you might think i don't understand what's going on i've been doing exactly what the instructions say why is everything gone wrong but in the apostle paul mentioning his own imprisonment he mentions it to timothy and to the church so that they will not think they're doing something wrong as if they're being persecuted was on account of holding fast the gospel but that there is a link between the purity of doctrine and suffering the disapproval of the world so guard the charges to guard guard the good deposit keep it uncorrupted and pass it on unchanged and suffer the world's disapproval and the process so the charge to ministerial faithfulness to faithfully preserve the charge is to guard or to keep and then what's the content what is the church to guard well the content here is it says that good thing and it's progressing from verse 13 the pattern of sound words the pattern of sound words is that good thing and suffering just to suffer in itself is not a commendable thing to suffer for the sake of suffering suffering but suffering for a worthy cause is commendable and that is why paul said i am not ashamed of the gospel paul's suffering which he's not ashamed to suffer is on account of the gospel the gospel is that good thing which is to be guarded to be kept in the face of the world's disapproval and persecution and imprisonment and in acts 5 41 so they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name on account of christ on account of the gospel on account of the words of christ that good thing not a thing of shame the good thing pattern of sound words so the charge is to guard the content is that good thing and where does it originate from or in other words what is the original of the pattern of sound words it says which was committed to

you or which was entrusted to you now there is no such thing as apostolic succession of the office of apostle and that's what rome tries to argue in order to justify having the office of the pope so there's no apostolic succession of the office but there is apostolic succession of the teaching of the apostles the apostles teaching the church is told to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints that's to say the good deposit that has been committed or has been entrusted for faithful propagation from one generation to the next generation throughout the age that which was committed that which is entrusted to guard it and to keep it the second london confession of faith in chapter three speaks to god's decree and summarizes what scripture says about god's decree and in paragraph six it says as god has appointed the elect unto glory so he has by the eternal and most free purpose of his will for ordained the means the means thereon to just as much as god has for ordained his perfect plan of redemption and the elect he has also for ordained the means of his work of redemption as it's unfolded in time which involves the faithful proclamation of the gospel without error without alteration without softening it but the true doctrine so now we have the source the charge to ministerial faithfulness to faithfully preserve the charge is to guard the content is that good thing the original is that which was committed to you again no innovation or creativity and the source the source in order for the church to do so or for timothy to do so is by the holy spirit who dwells in us the holy spirit the source of creation the source of new creation the source of scripture the source of inspiration the source of illumination dwells within the believer the divine essence subsisting in the third person eternally proceeding from the father and the son by whom the divine will is accomplished dwells within us i feel like we could pause for a minute and just chew on that and just be astonished the holy spirit dwells in the believer the holy spirit dwells in timothy the holy spirit is present and working through the preaching of the pattern of sound words the gospel and all of scripture as it relates to the gospel and where there is pure preaching of the gospel the holy spirit is there working in our particular way illuminating the word enlightening minds and making the word effectual to the hearers and even those who are dead and their sins the holy spirit quickening them to new life read ephesians 2 for fuller details on that and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god romans 10.

so this plan of god god's eternal plan of redemption is being worked out in time and it's not reactionary it's not that god's waiting to see what's going to happen next and if somebody who's an unbeliever walks into church and hears the gospel and he's got to react accordingly god doesn't react to creation but and god is not on call and the event that someone decides to to throw god a bone and he's just delighted because somebody's going to meet him halfway what this says is that it is the eternal purpose of the father from before the world began verse 9 who has also saved us and called us with the the holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in christ jesus before time began god is worthy of all glory for our salvation read ephesians 1 for further understanding of the covenant of redemption i have a question for you in terms of remember the source of how the church is to is to is to guard and to keep that good thing the good deposit my question is this is the holy spirit active in worship services today there were signs and wonders in the apostolic era to to validate the authority of the apostles of the authority of christ and the inscripturation of the word we don't see that today so is is the holy spirit active in worship services today is the holy spirit active in this worship service yes the holy spirit is active in worship service today not by the signs and wonders that validated extraordinary apostolic revelatory gifts but by making the ordinary means of grace making green pastures effectual for faith and obedience and in the baptist catechism question 94 the answer is given the spirit of god makes the reading but especially the preaching of the word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith onto salvation it's important to know that the holy spirit is active in worship services where there is a true church we have the promise of scripture of the spiritual presence of christ at work feeding and nourishing through by the work of the holy spirit now in verse 12 the apostle paul says that he is god is able to keep that which i've committed to him until that day what is committed what is he referring to when he says he's able to keep that which i've committed that's the good deposit the content of the gospel and the labors of the gospel so verse 14 answers the question of how of verse 12 look back at verse 12 we'll read it again for this reason i also suffer these things nevertheless i am not ashamed for i know whom i have believed and i'm persuaded that he is able to keep what i have committed to him against that day how how does god do that the answer is in verse 14 by the holy spirit who dwells in us and that is why at the beginning of the service we pray for the illumination of the scriptures by the holy spirit and the enlightening of our minds and we must plead the assistance and operation of the holy spirit and the ministry of the word lord so what are some concluding uses that we can take from this text this text speaks to is a charge to ministerial faithfulness to faithfully retain and faithfully preserve so what are some concluding uses

consider the consequences of unbiblical approaches to missions um and compromise in the mission fields we'll divide that into two but consider the consequences of unbiblical approaches to missions and there are quite a few missionaries who just desire to be missionaries perhaps they couldn't hold down a job and they thought well i'd like to travel so i'll be a missionary but missionaries to be a church planter is to be a minister of the word approved by the church appointed and called and sent so an unbiblical approach of just because somebody says maybe they're again they can't hold down a job they like the idea of traveling they're excited about the prospect of missions so god's called me and they say god's called me to be a missionary and the church says well who are we to get in the way of god we'll support what god does and send you on their way and they go there and then they find that they don't have the the answers or the biblical knowledge to to answer the questions or to or what to do or regardless of how they're sent or their background whether it's biblical or not they go from somewhere like where we are where it's a culture where the idea of the gospel has been heard it's not a completely unreached culture and they go to a culture where it is an unreached culture and the idea of there being one god and one only god who is a jealous and a holy god and that sinful mankind is at enmity with that god and under the condemnation of wrath of god this lone missionary and this culture that hasn't heard this is hostile towards it there's going to be a temptation to soften the message a little bit so whether it be unqualified men or a fearful compromise the con the consequences of softening the gospel in the face of the culture's disapproval and that even happens in our culture even though our our culture has is not an unreached culture and the the saying god loves you is not the gospel the saying god's love god to say god loves you instead of the gospel it's actually quite confusing because it insinuates that god's affection is set on that person for for who they are but the truth is that god hates sin and god hates sinners and that god will by no means clear the guilty and that repentance is necessary to turn from sin to christ for salvation and the saying god loves you doesn't communicate what's necessary doesn't communicate the gospel the gospel which is the power of god to salvation for all who believe so it doesn't communicate that and it doesn't provide what's necessary for salvation but it may prevent suffering the disapproval of of the culture of the world now a couple of uh names i want to mention one is donald mcgaverin he was a missionary in india and his he he had a a different approach than the diff uh the traditional approach to evangelism and he found that in india there were different social and economical settings and he thought that that was um a a hindrance to the gospel and that it had to be altered according to to those social and economical settings and then he uh became very influential and the um world's uh world missions through fuller theological seminary and

he revolutionized concept of evangelism for the 20th century to tailor the approach of evangelism to the social and economical differences of culture so that was very influential and that was developed into the church growth movement which is just exactly as it sounds a movement for growth church growth and size and kind of for develop further developing that are people such as bill hybels and rick warren which are names you've probably heard of and there they took they further developed that approach to seek for for a church growth movement a movement to grow the church they targeted unchurched people so to grow in size they charge targeted the unchurched people surveying them of what they didn't like about church as i said before what maybe um they felt wounded about traditional church or about what they didn't like or about what offended them and from the results of these surveys um they catered their idea of church towards the concerns of the unchurched of the irreligious or unbelievers in order to bring them into church to grow in size so they're changing church to accommodate the the unbelievers um concerns skepticism and cultural preferences and then that church growth movement through uh like bill hybels and rick warren was then further developed into the seeker sensitive movement which is a pragmatic shift to consumerist performance and entertainment to try to arouse the curiosity of the unbeliever to bring them in to entertain them which is really no different from the old testament when israel looked at the idolatrous nations around them what they were doing and brought that into their worship this movement takes what entertains the world and brings it into church to bring the world and to church for church growth for growth in numbers it's a pragmatic shift and then from the seeker sensitive movement we have modern mega churches today with thousands of people where they are seeking to cater towards the entertainment needs of the of the world so they bring the world into the world's ways into the church and take the the ways of church and the message not just the the practice but also the message and the doctrine because that will certainly offend those who are not believers that goes out in order to bring in those who are the unchurched so these modern omega churches they have a casual atmosphere and they bring in bands and all sorts of ways of entertainment with light shows and motorcycles and zip lines and everything else in order to try to entertain the world to grow in numbers and as a result then they can't offend the world now that they brought them in then so the message is changed and it's more of a self-help message instead of the disapproved gospel i say the disapproved gospel because the world disapproves of the gospel that's why the true church bears the shame of the world so the the disapproved gospel of the world that's going to offend those whom they are trying to bring in so it becomes a self-help message but it's important to remember that for the church the duty is ours and the results is the lord's we don't throw out our duty to take the results into our own hands we need to be faithful to our duty and the results belong to the lord so one more note on that is that evangelical

self-help is not the gospel self-help is antithetical to the gospel and when the church does away with the gospel and brings in self-help messaging it's of course moralism of how you and your self-help can whatever whatever it is here's five steps and really as as creature as mankind of say we i don't mean you and i i mean we as mankind as humanity it's easier for us if you just say this is what you have to do instead if the to present the gospel and to present the all the doctrine pure doctrine you have to think about it and thinking takes energy it takes work we don't want that work we don't have to do that thinking just tell us what we have to do it's easier that way but the way that the gospel works isn't by telling us a moralism of what we must do the way the gospel works is by our thinking of it and contemplating of it and saturating our whole soul works in us so evangelical self-help is antithetical to the gospel so in the face of opposition and disapproval the church is to retain and preserve the message of the gospel from loss or alteration let's pray