Introduction

In the mid 1860’s, a French sculptor was commissioned to create the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty was placed on her pedestal in the late 1880’s. Do you know what was not in the sky in the 1880’s? Airplanes. The airplane was not invented until the early 1900’s. The sculptor probably could have gotten away with leaving out a few details on the top of the head of the statue. Certainly no one would ever look at the top of the head other than an occasional bird. But…. he didn’t take any shortcuts.

The statue was made in such complete detail that even the top of the head of the statue was perfectly sculpted. The sculptor was supremely concerned with details that perhaps only he and the builders and a few birds would ever see. Little did the artist know that one day tens of thousands of people a year would fly right over the top of the Statue of Liberty and be able to see the full excellence of his work.

Last week we ended our teaching with an encouragement to be excellent in a culture that is constantly pushing for success. We defined success as “our standing in comparison to other people” whereas excellence is “our standing in comparison with our own personal calling and convictions.” A concern for excellence was a motivating influence in Paul’s ministry and Paul was concerned with Timothy’s pursuit of excellence as well.

Our greatest accountability is not ultimately to a board, a boss or to our peers. Our greatest accountability is to the Lord who called each one of us to serve in His kingdom. He called us and empowered us to do good works in His name. Ephesians 2:10 says, “¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

He not only called us and empowered us, but he is coming back in order to determine the effectiveness of how you and I spent our time.

• Did we spend our time pursuing the excellent call God has placed on each of our lives or did we use our time in the pursuit of something else?
• Were you and I consumed with success in the eyes of men or with excellence in the eyes of God?

Paul asked that very question in Galatians 1:10 when he wrote, “¹⁰ For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Every one of us is either trying to please men or trying to please God. There is not a middle ground.

A faithful servant of the Lord is supremely concerned with the things that perhaps only the Lord will see. It is more likely than not, the things that are done in private – when no one is looking – will eventually become evident in the excellence of the work that other people can see. 1 Timothy 4 is a call to excellence.

1 Timothy 4:1 is a passage that is meant to reach out and to grab us by the lapels. There are few other places in the Bible that have such an emphatic demand for you and I to pay attention. Listen to this appeal: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:”

Let’s stop there for a second. Paul is referencing all the things that are most important to you and I as believers in order to get our full attention…

• I charge you in the presence of God and in the presence of Jesus Christ – I’m calling you out in front of your God
• I charge you in light of the return of Christ and the impending judgment – I’m calling you out in light of ultimate accountability on your life

What does Paul solemnly charge Timothy to do? In verse 2, he charges him to do this: to “preach the Word.” Some people might read these words and immediately check out. They figure that they are not a preacher and they aren’t called to be a preacher, so the emphatic command does not apply to them at all.

It is true that the immediate application of the text is for those who are called to vocational Christian ministry. However, its application extends far beyond the pulpit. God puts a call on every person’s life. God’s plan is for all believers to participate in the work of the ministry – whether they are in a pulpit or not. Don’t think for a minute that preaching the Word only happens in pulpits. Proclaiming the truth of the Bible extends to situations, circumstances, conversations and confrontations in absolutely every area of your life and mine.

Preaching in a pulpit is good and helpful and necessary for sustainable spiritual growth. Paul says in 1 Timothy 5:17, “¹⁷ Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.” Preaching is good but proclaiming God’s truth with our words and with our lives is a calling that extends to every man and woman in the room.

• Jesus says in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your goodworks and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
• Jesus said in John 15:8, “⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
• And Paul wrote this encouragement to his friend Philemon, “⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philemon 9-11

So don’t check out when you hear the phrase “Preach the Word” and assume it does not apply to you – because the imminent return of Jesus demands an urgent proclamation of the gospel…. With our words and with our lives.

The imminent return of Jesus demands an urgent proclamation of the gospel.

“² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;”

The Greek word translated as “preach” could be more literally translated as the word “herald.” It referred to a town crier with a message from the King. In ancient civilizations without access to mass media, a herald stood up in the town square and boldly proclaimed an urgent message from the King. The proclamation was never about the herald themselves, but the herald was tasked with the urgent responsibility to travel from town to town in the kingdom in order to proclaim the message from the King.

If the herald came into the town square and proclaimed that the King would be visiting soon, you could imagine that the announcement of the coming of the King would illicit a response from the people:

• We better spread the word about the appearing of the King so everyone knows and nobody is caught by surprise.
• Beautification and improvement and clean-up projects that had been put on the back burner, are now made important
• Assignments that the king had previously asked to be completed, are now kicked into high gear
• Rebels who might oppose the King and embarrass the community are driven out-of-town or thrown in prison

The king is coming, so it is time to get ready for His arrival. Do you see the direct correlation here to the coming of Jesus? Paul is urging Timothy to herald to the people that King Jesus is coming soon – sooner than we think.

• Everybody needs to spread the word about the appearing of the King to every corner of the Kingdom so everyone knows and nobody is caught by surprise.
• It is time to clean up our lives and get them ready for the King’s arrival and for the King’s inspection
• If King Jesus had called you or I to a task, it is time to kick that project into high gear and get that job done before He gets here
• If there is a rebellious sin in your heart or mine that might embarrass us, it is time to rid ourselves of that sin

King Jesus is coming soon. There is urgent work to get done. We better get ready. Paul is calling Timothy to herald the message of the coming King courageously. He telling him to boldly proclaim the full council of scripture including what the King expects in regard to sin, righteousness, judgment and law.

Paul also knew that some men and women did not recognize the authority of the coming King. These people are not just indifferent. They are actively working against what the King is trying to accomplish. These people are not servants of the King but they are servants of Satan – who has taken them captive to do his will. Earlier in our study of 2 Timothy, we saw that Paul told Timothy to correct his opponents with gentleness so that, “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:25-26

When the King shows up, He would not look favorably on those who oppose Him. These rebels need to be warned about the coming judgment and they need to be taught about the joy and the rewards the King has in store for all of those who submit to His rule. Paul instructed Timothy to “Preach the Word,” and to proclaim the second coming of Jesus. The King is coming. Rebels need a savior or they’ll be in eternal trouble.

The best part about our King is that he is not only the judge, but he is also the justifier. The gospel message is that Jesus previously came and bought atonement for sin on the cross at Calvary. All who bow a knee to His reign are given a pardon for their sin for all of eternity. It is the best news that any herald gets to proclaim!

This message is not just for preachers in pulpits on Sunday mornings, but this message is to be heralded by all those who consider themselves servants of the Most High God! Judgment is coming for everybody, but salvation is extended to all those who believe. Paul said in Romans 1:16, “¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

• This message is nothing to be ashamed about
• This message is the very best news that any man or woman can hear
• This message needs to be taken to as many corners of the world by as many heralds of the gospel as are available.
• All people, in all tribes and in all nations and in every neighborhood should know the King is on His way, pardon for sin is obtainable and pleasures for all of eternity are offered for all who call upon Him as Lord.

So, the imminent return of Jesus demands an urgent proclamation of the gospel. The message of the gospel is going to impact people differently, though. Some will receive it and love it and take it all in with joy. Others people will take the gospel message, receive a part of it and cut out what they don’t like.

A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking with someone about the gospel. He was offended by the scripture that instructs the church to be led by men and that only men should have authority over other men in the church. He thought that practice was antiquated and needs to be cut out. I responded to him that God’s wisdom is perfect and should not be substituted for our imperfect opinions.

If somebody cuts out what they don’t like in the Bible, then they have become the judge of what the Bible should say. They reason, “If I had written the Bible, I wouldn’t have put that part in there…” In my mind I can imagine that by the time that editor was done with cutting up their version of the text, it looked like a string of paper dolls. These paper dolls didn’t look like Jesus, though. The more and more text was cut, the more the paper dolls resembled the editor in all their sin (and the less they resemble Jesus is all His perfection).

When someone tries to rewrite scripture, they are in essence saying that they know morality and theology better than God knows it. Proverbs 21:30 says, “³⁰ No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can  avail against the Lord.” In other words, no manmade wisdom is wiser than the wisdom of the God who knows everything!

If people get off track in the church, it is the job of Christian leaders throughout the church to begin by preaching the Word and then they are to intentionally call people back to a Biblical understanding of the scripture text.

The imminent coming of Christ demands intentionality in leadership

^“2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort…”

Of the 3 commands, reprove, rebuke, and exhort, the first two are negative and the third one is more positive. Reprove and rebuke are similar in meaning. Here is the slight difference:

• Reproving has to do with the mind. It is a correction of wrong thinking and faulty reasoning so that someone understands why what they are doing is incorrect.
• Rebuking has more to do with the heart. It is bringing a person under the conviction of sin.

One commentator said that reproving is addressing intellectual issues and rebuking is addressing moral issues. I came across an article a few months ago by a well-known preacher who emphasized positive preaching that intentionally never rebukes anyone. He said, “Very few people who came to Jesus were looking for truth. They were looking for relief.” He made a decision in his ministry to focus on meeting people’s needs, not addressing their sin.

• The first problem with that philosophy of ministry is that people’s greatest need is to be delivered from their sin! Preaching that fails to confront sin also fails to meet people’s greatest need. It might make them feel good, but it gives them false hope.
• The second problem with that philosophy is that this approach is not used by any of the preachers in scripture nor was it the approach used by Jesus himself. Jesus’ public ministry revolved around calling sinners to repentance.

After being tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus began to preach. Do you know what his primary message was? Right from the beginning, He preached repentance. Matt 4:17, Jesus preached this message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Although Jesus mentioned God’s love on several occasions, we don’t have any record of Jesus preaching on that topic. When Jesus preached, he preached message after message after message on God’s condemnation of sin, on the impending judgment of sinners and on every man’s desperate need for repentance.

Jesus was intentional about making it crystal clear that an unrepentant sinner can’t just assume that God is so loving that He’d never send anyone to Hell. Instead, Jesus taught that God’s love cannot be separated from his holiness and justice. Jesus preached that any person who lives in rebellion against God and refuses to be cleansed of sin by God’s grace has no chance of being accepted into heaven. Jesus preached a sober message of repentance.

If Jesus focused on rebuking and reproving and calling sinners to repentance, then shouldn’t we do the same? Preaching is not supposed to be a pep-talk. Preaching is not just feel-good, positive messages. Biblical preaching often calls out sin and then encourages believers to pursue righteousness. That is the role of positive exhortation.

The Greek word translated “Exhort” is the common New Testament Word, parakaleo. Parakaleo carries with it the idea of encouragement. After having reproved and rebuked disobedient believers, the faithful herald of the gospel is to come along side in love and encourage people in spiritual growth.

In our family devotions this week, we came across this incredible exhortation from Moses. Listen to Moses’ encouragement to God’s people in Deuteronomy 28:

28 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

Moses exhorted God’s people to obey God by listing all the benefits of a life surrendered to Him. Paul pastored his flock with the same kind of encouraging words of exhortation. In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, he wrote these words of exhortation to the believers in Thessalonica, “¹¹ For you know how, like a father with his children, ¹² we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”

Not only are the words of gospel herald important, but the way he uses those words are important as well.

The imminent coming of Christ demands careful theology tempered with patience

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete L and teaching.

A pastor, a biblical counselor, a small group leader or a parent might have someone in their care who is so stubborn. That faithful leader is speaking Biblical truth into that person’s life week after week after week and that person consistently resists and fights and rejects the truth.   It is tempting for the leader to become angry.

Paul is reminding Timothy, as well as other leaders within the body of Christ, that Jesus, the Great Shepherd, didn’t give up on us when we acted in rebellion against Him. Jesus is the perfect model of patience. Jesus pursued us when we wholeheartedly rejected Him. Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Perfect Son of God is forbearing and patient with sinners. How much more are leaders in His church indebted to have those same attitudes? With the power of Christ in us, we can stand by other people lovingly and patiently when they are resistant to the Word of God in their lives.

BUT… being patient with sin, does not mean that we never address it. Although the teaching aspect is at the end of this verse, it does not lessen its centrality. Proper theology and thoughtful instruction is essential and foundational for preaching, exhorting, rebuking and reproving. It is only through the careful study and teaching of the Word that any of these tasks can be carried out by a Christian leader.

In order to help us to gain a grasp on Biblical theology, at Canyon, we generally teach in an expository style. Expository preaching is where you teach through a passage verse by verse. It is not the only way of handling the scripture accurately, but it is a very effective way of handling scripture.

When you teach the whole council of God by going through a passage verse by verse, the scripture itself does much of the hard work of reproving and rebuking and exhorting. Solid Biblical teaching is an essential and foundational element needed to show someone their need of repentance and restoration. Instruction from God’s Word can effectively inform a person of their lost condition and can spark the conviction of sin.

Life Application

With that being said, it is not the preacher’s or teacher’s power of persuasion that leads anyone to a saving knowledge of Jesus – no matter how gifted they are or how well they know the Word. Saving faith comes solely through the authority and the power of the scripture itself as it is illuminated by the Holy Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 6:11b says, “you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” We can’t personally change anybody, but we can preach the Word!

As God is calling each one of us as heralds of the gospel, here are five applications to help you and I to be effective in our proclamation:

1. Preach the Word. Pastors preaching in pulpits are profitable, but it’s not enough. Proclaiming or heralding the truth of the Word to every corner of our community is for every believer.
2. Be urgent. Jesus is coming sooner than we think. The end of our lives will be here sooner than later. We don’t have that many opportunities to share the truth of the gospel so take every opportunity to proclaim our coming King, Jesus, to all who will listen.
3. Be intentional. When you see sin in your life, deal with it. Strive for excellence in every area of your life for the glory of our King.
4. Be patient. When you see sin in the life of someone in your spiritual care, lovingly and patiently confront that issue. Discipleship is a long journey in the right direction with the same people.   I’m still working out sin issues in my life and so are you. Let’s keep on walking this journey together and encourage one another to love and to good works.
5. Think it through. Study the Word so you know what it says. Be intelligent as you talk about the Word because you spend time in the Word

There is a lot of work still left to do before our King appears. The Bible says he’s coming soon. Together, let’s get His house in order and ready for His arrival.

Teaching Outline

The imminent return of Jesus demands an urgent proclamation of the gospel – v. 2, 2 Timothy 2:25-26, Romans 1:16, Proverbs 21:30

The imminent coming of Christ demands intentionality in leadership – v. 2, Matt. 4:17, Deut. 28:1-6, 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

The imminent coming of Christ demands careful theology tempered with patience – v. 1-2, Romans 5:8

Application

1. Preach the Word
2. Be urgent
3. Be intentional
4. Be patient
5. Think it through