Be an Example in WORD

Amen. Alright. First Timothy First Timothy chapter four verse 12. First Timothy chapter four verse 12. We'll continue what we started last week and we will be on this verse for four more weeks probably.

Alright. I don't normally take six weeks on one verse, okay? But this one is easily divided up into some very important teachings and doctrine that we need to be reminded of. And so we'll take our time. So Paul writes Timothy, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Dear heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word today. Thank you for the insight from above that it shares, for the challenge and encouragement that we find therein, to be the example that we ought to be before a world that needs you, before other Christians that need role models to follow, who are following Jesus. We pray, Lord, that you would work in our heart, that the Holy Spirit would take the sword of the spirit, convict us where it is needed, would challenge us and guide us in our service to you today and may all be done to the glory of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. In Jesus name, we do pray.

Amen. We spent some time last week looking at the first phrase. Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example. Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers. What does that mean?

Well, Paul is not talking to the despisers. He's not talking to those who would despise Timothy because he's young. He's speaking to Timothy to make sure he's the kind of example that would not bring that upon himself, but that would show something different, would give them a reason not to despise him. In other words, when he says, let no man despise your youth but be an example, he's saying being a godly example before other believers. Don't give them a reason to give them every reason to respect you.

Give them every reason to follow you. Show them what it means to be a Christian in every aspect of your life. The word example means pattern or model. And Paul was challenging Timothy to continue to become a better role model for those to whom he ministered, which they could follow in respect. As he also said to Titus here, another young man that he had trained in the ministry and and now sent to Crete to minister there on that island.

He sold Titus here in Titus two seven and eight, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you. In all things showing thyself to be a what? A pattern of good works. Don't just tell them, but practice what you practice what you preach because people are gonna judge you more on what you practice often than what you preach or what you say. Your practice most definitely affects your preaching and the effectiveness of it.

So be an example, Timothy. Be a role model, Titus, before others. I know this should probably go without saying, but the areas of character and behavior which Paul encourages Timothy and Titus to be a good example, God also expects of who? Of all of his children. It isn't just for Timothy and it isn't just for Titus.

It isn't just for teachers and deacons and pastors. It is every child of God. This is why it is so important for the leaders to be a good example so that others can learn from not only their words but their actions. How they can be more like who? Jesus.

Because as children of God, God wants us, desires for us, is working in us to make us more like him. All of us who know Christ as savior, not just the preachers and the teachers. And believe it or not, there are others that are watching not only me, but they're also watching who? They're also watching you. A matter of fact, a lot of them can't watch me.

Well, I mean, if you give them the website and, you know, they can see me preach, but they don't know me. They've never met me, but they've met you. They know you. You have your own realm of ministry where you represent Jesus Christ to the lost and to other believers that need to see that there are Christians that are still serious about their faith. There's still a God in heaven that changes lives and is real and is worthy of our worship, our faith, our obedience.

Here in first Timothy chapter four, the first one of these characteristics is word. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of believers in what? In word. Or he says here back to Titus in Titus two, in all things showing thyself to be a pattern of good works doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, and sound what? Speech.

What is word? Well, word is our speech, what we say. And what we say is very important. Okay? We're not talking about our behavior and our actions and downplaying the importance and the power of our words.

Words are powerful. Our speech, your words, the words you speak, the things you say to others are very powerful. The the little saying, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. We all know that isn't true. Words heal, words hurt.

Words direct, encourage, challenge, guide. They can guide people in the right way. They can guide people in the wrong way. Words can reveal truth or words can be deceptive and be filled with lies. Our words are very important, particularly in the ministry.

The more I preach, the more time I spend sitting down and typing out the very words that I'm going to say. Now sometimes the Lord brings things to my mind that aren't written on this piece of paper, and that's good. But the Lord brings a lot while I'm sitting in front of my Bible and my computer printing this out. And I wanna be careful with what I say because words are important. And so I take time to think through and write out often much of what I'm going to say because I want my words to be accurate.

Paul says here to Timothy, be an example in word, in your speech. Just a couple thoughts, actually three, concerning our speech this morning and Timothy's. First of all, let your speech be true and honest. Let your speech be true and honest. Paul wrote to Timothy here to declare unto him that others need to see over time that you are trustworthy by being careful in what you say from the pulpit, but not only from the pulpit, but in your personal what?

Conversations. Be careful what you say. Over time, if you are honest and truthful, you will win the trust of others whom you lead and whom you teach. Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot by allowing our mouth to run what? Wild.

Making exaggerated and emotionally charged statements or speaking inaccurately to an attempt to try to prove a point, to bolster an assertion. And we get ahead of ourselves. And we need to be careful not to do that. I caught a fish the other day and it was this big. Was it that big, Dale?

Yeah. Not my fish, Dale's fish. Yeah. I haven't caught a fish in a while, and I don't think I've ever caught I caught one this big. I mean, truthfully, I was this big.

I don't know if I've ever caught one bigger than this, but anyway. But you've heard we call them fishtails because people do what? They exaggerate. Okay? And sometimes they're funny and sometimes we laugh at it.

Yeah, I caught a fish this big. And really, it was about that size. Not Dale's fish, it was big. I saw the picture. All right.

Yes. Dale's got a video if you want to see it. All right. It was a bass. It was a large mountain bass.

I anyway, we've we've had this conversation. But whether it's, you know, I caught a fish this big or they never or they always. I don't know how many times I've heard people say, well, they never do that or they never said that or they never be careful using the word what? Never if you don't really mean it. Or they always or I always or you always.

Be careful because you don't always and I probably don't always. They don't always. But, well, we wanna we wanna bolster our assertion. Therefore, we use words that make it sound like it's it's always, you know. So be careful what you say.

Exaggerated emotionally charged statements can often be inaccurate and they don't help your cause. They what? They hurt your cause. Whether it's the preacher from the pulpit or you talking to the person you work with because they'll take note. This Christian just said something I know isn't what?

I know isn't true. We will lose our credibility before others and they won't take us seriously if we claim to know everything. You ever met that person that claims to know everything? Or at least they seem to claim to know everything because no matter what the subject is you're talking about, they always know everything about that subject. So, if we claim to know everything or dogmatically make assertions for which we which we cannot support, we won't help the cause of Christ, we'll what?

We'll hurt it. So be true and honest. The Lord is coming back this year. I know it. No.

I don't. I don't know it. He might. He might come back tomorrow. He could, but I don't know when he's coming back.

All I know is he is and one day, I'm going to see him. But be careful. How many preachers have hurt the cause of Christ in their own ministry by making statements that they didn't know? These may be regarding doctrines we teach or statements about other or other groups or politics or any number of things. Those Calvinists or Armenians, they just be careful.

Be careful. Are those Republicans or Democrats or those Presbyterians or Methodists or just fill in the blank? Okay? Be careful that you don't say something about a whole group of people that may not be true of the whole group of people. Be careful with your generalities.

Paul tells Timothy not to get caught up in endless genealogies and arguments over the law or or conspiracy. We call em conspiracy theories today. Conspiracy theories. Now, I know there are a lot of things labeled conspiracy theories, some of which are not conspiracy theories, they may be true. However, there's a lot that's not.

And be careful not to get sucked in and not to get distracted. Stick to what? Stick to the word of God. I'm getting tired about hearing about the Illuminati. Now, do you know anything about the Illuminati?

If you do, don't tell me because I don't want to know cause I'm sick and tired of hearing about the Illuminati. I don't I know that God's in control in the end. It doesn't matter what group of important or rich or powerful people. One day, they will all bow the knee to who? They will all now bow the knee to Jesus Christ.

They will. And in the end, he is the one that's in control. He is. You know, if you add up these number of words minus this and you come up with this number and when you go through the alphabet and you pick out these letters, you get this word and it tells us the name of the antichrist. Don't think so.

Don't think so. Don't get caught up in the numbers game. The Bible codes. There's books out there. The Bible codes.

Don't don't get sucked into that. God wrote his his word in words. Now, there are numbers in here but the numbers are specific to the context of the numbers. Don't get caught up in. God God's not into into some of this codes and all that stuff.

He he tells us plainly. He he wrote the Bible, the New Testament, particularly in Koine Greek. What's Koine Greek? Common Greek. It's it's the language of the day that that the vast majority of people understood.

That's why it was written in Greek. And it wasn't meant to be confusing. It was meant to be simple and understandable. God's not playing games. He's given us his word.

Just read it. Learn it. Study it. Get to understand it. Don't get caught up in all the endless genealogies and fables and conspiracy theories and bible codes and whatever that may be.

Stick to the scriptures, to the point of the scriptures, and you'll be okay. Otherwise, you will lose your audience. And above all, just be honest. Do not try to manipulate people by twisting the facts. That is not Christ's way, that's Satan's way.

It is Satan that twists the facts. It's not God. Just speak the truth. Just be the messenger. Trust the Lord to do the rest.

Number two, in your speech be true and honest. Number two, be clean and God honoring. There is no reason for any corrupt communication to come out of the mouth of a Christian leader nor of any Christian. There's just no there's no reason for it. There are a couple of words I used to use in high school and college that I haven't said in thirty years.

And you probably wouldn't consider them foul words. But they just well, they were kinda on the and so, hey, I just quit using. Because it's not what? It's not worth it. It's not worth it.

I am an example and there's no reason whatsoever for me to use anything which might be considered off color or dishonoring to God. There what's the reason? Tell me. What's the reason? I I don't understand it.

Just say the truth. Speak speak clearly and be clean in your speech. There's really no reason for me to use those words, and there's really no reason for you too either. I wrote the Wednesday devotional on a passage from James about the tongue. James says there, it's an unruly evil.

Who can tame it? I know. He can. God can tame it. God can direct it.

God can use it to encourage and uplift, to speak the truth, to heal, to guide, to save. God containment. Draw close to the Lord, commit your way unto him, and he will clean up your heart and reign in your what? And reign in your tongue. I have seen it many times.

I have seen it many times. And in some cases, it it it didn't come easy, but I saw God change people's hearts, their minds, and their tongues. I there's a young man that I ministered to. I had bible study with him for two or three years in Georgia. He was in his twenties.

He got saved in his teens, but he was around a lot of foul mouth people and he he didn't go to church for a long time and and he adopted that kind of speech pattern and he was convicted by it, but he would be in charge of people at work and they'd rub him the wrong way and he'd get angry and guess what? Out it would come. But you know something? Over time, God changed his heart, he changed his mind, and guess what he also changed? He changed his speech.

And he started to use his tongue to bring glory to God and the people to Christ. And for the past, I don't know, twenty years, he and his wife have been working at a Christian college in Pensacola, Florida serving the Lord. Don't make excuses for what comes out of your mouth because the Bible says what comes out of your mouth comes from where? Comes from your heart. So if something bad's coming out of your mouth, well, that's coming out of your heart.

You say, well, I hit my thumb with a hammer. Yeah. Well, I've hit my thumb with a hammer too. I said, Al, what did you say? K?

What you said and what I said both came out of our mind and our heart. The hammer didn't make you say it. The pain didn't make you say it. It was there and the pain opened the door and out it came. See?

It's what's in our heart that defiles us. And it's exposed when we sometimes open our what? We open our mouth. Ephesians four twenty nine. Paul writes, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that may grace into the hearers.

Ephesians five thirty four, but fornication, uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become of saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient or rather giving of thanks. There just isn't any reason for Christians to be telling dirty jokes or laughing at that which is filthy. But I do believe sometimes we do, but that doesn't make it what? That doesn't make it right. And rather than making excuses for it, we need to what does the Bible say?

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Rather than excusing it, we need to confess it. And allow God to change it because He can and He will. But be an example in word, in true and honest speech, in clean and God honoring speech, and in bold and kind speech. Bold and kind speech.

Can you be bold and kind at the same time? Yes, you can. You can be bold and you can be kind. And God has called those in ministry to be bold, to speak the truth and to be what? And to be kind.

And guess what? I think he expects it of all of us. Be bold and be kind. He said to Timothy, preach the word. Don't draw back from preaching it.

Don't preach just the parts that everybody liked. He says in another passage, to preach the whole counsel of scripture. So preach the word. Preach it with confidence. Preach it with boldness.

Be instant, be ready in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. The word long suffering there, we also would translate patience. Being patient because in the ministry, if you really care about others, you're gonna have to be patient. Because like that young man that I had the Bible study with for years, I really wanted and I really expected him to change overnight. But it took what?

It took time. Took weeks, months, years. Some things take that long in our life. Be be patient. Be kind.

If God is at work, he is he's going to keep working. If if the holy spirit resides in the heart of somebody and you give the holy spirit, the word of God, the sword of the spirit to use, he's going to use it but it takes what? It takes time. Be bold but be patient and be kind. Do not be ashamed, Paul said.

Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto every believer. Power of God unto salvation to every believer, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Be ready always to give an answer of the hope that is in you, Peter wrote. Paul's instruct instruction to Timothy, be bold and speak the word without apology, but it's also necessary as Paul said in Ephesians four fifteen, to speak the truth in what? To speak the truth in love, particularly in ministry.

You have to speak the truth in love. You need to speak the truth because it it it's not going to help people if you tell them a lie. It's not going to help people if you hold back from the truth. I'm afraid there's a lot of that going on today. We don't want people not to like us and so we don't speak the truth because we're afraid that they're not gonna like it and they're not gonna like us and that's not good in relationships overall.

It's certainly not good in ministry. Otherwise, what are you here for if you're just telling everybody what they want to hear? That's a waste of time. Speak the truth but speak it in love. Remember, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

And my wife, last night when I was trying to remember what that saying was, she she she said amen to that because she hates vinegar. I like when when I was a kid, my mom cut up cucumbers in little slices and she put them in vinegar. And she certainly and I like that. They were good. But that will never happen in my house.

So, my wife does not like vinegar. What does scripture say? Colossians four six, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer every man. Let your speech be with grace. With grace.

Let it exude the grace of God. What's the grace of God? The grace of God has brought us salvation. It's brought us Jesus Christ. It's brought us forgiveness.

It's brought us eternal life. It is God giving to us that which we did not earn or we do not deserve. That is the grace of God. It's the grace of God that led Jesus Christ to a cross to die on the sins for those who were undeserving to take our place. Who rose again and went back to heaven where he ever lives to make intercession for those who come to him in faith.

It is the grace of God that's given me this opportunity to know him, to serve him, and to preach his word today. Be a mouthpiece of God's grace, to minister grace unto the hearers, to minister the grace of God, to share it with others. We need to encourage others with kind but honest admonition. Sometimes even as a child, a Christian, a brother or sister in Christ, there is somebody who needs some help to see that what they're doing is leading them down the wrong path. And they need someone to tell them the truth.

Someone. Not to just say, oh, yeah. That's okay. That doesn't matter. Someone not to ignore it and let them walk off the cliff.

That person may be you, and you can do that with kindness and love because it will be your love for them that leads you to do that thing which is hard. We must show others how to keep our cool in the midst of crisis and contention. We live in a our life has full of crisis and contention at times. And some people right away, they wanna get in the fray. Words spew out of their mouth.

What did Christ say? Turn the other one. Turn the other cheek. What does that mean? If you cuss me out, that does not give me the right to what?

To cuss you out. If you if you gossip behind my back and stab me in the back with your words, guess what? That does not give me the right to do the same to to you. If you get angry, it doesn't give me the right to get angry and lose my temper with you. It doesn't.

One of the fruit of the spirit is temperance. What is temperance? Temperance is self control. So Paul said to Timothy, be an example in your words. One of those areas is being kind and in what?

And in control, under Holy Spirit control with his tongue. Christ was bold and Christ at times was stern, but Christ was never out of control. He was also kind and considerate and merciful. Even to those who mocked him, even to those that drove the nails in his hands. As he hung there on the cross and said, father, forgive them for they know not what they they do.

Be like Jesus, Timothy. Be like Jesus, Christian. Be like Paul who spoke with respect and kindness to the Philippian jailer who that night became a born again Christian, one of the first in the city of Philippi. Be like Stephen who pleaded with God as they picked up stones to stone him to death and said, lay not this Lord to their charge. That's hard to do.

Be like Joseph and Daniel, Ruth. Be like Eli who who said to a young lad named Samuel who kept waking him up in the middle of the night. He would just go back to sleep and hear Samuel be standing at the bed again. What What again, Sam? Well, I heard a voice.

Again, go back. Go to sleep. He comes back, wakes him up again. What did Eli say? He didn't say get out of here and leave me alone and let me sleep.

He stopped for a second. He thought, you know, somebody is some something's happening here. Next time you hear the voice Samuel say this, speak Lord for thy servant hears. Because it was God who was speaking to Samuel. And Eli, rather than getting angry and upset over a young man that kept waking him up in the middle of the night, had enough love and concern and wisdom to stop himself and go, be like Jesus who kindly but firmly said to the woman caught in adultery, go and sin no more.

Be like Jesus, wearied and worn in ministry, who said, come on to me all you that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Let God use your tongue. Let God control your tongue. And God will use it to change hearts and lives, to turn people to the Lord, particularly as we allow these words to come out of this mouth. And you don't have to be a preacher.

You can share God's word. You can share God's love. You can show others what it means to be a Christian and a follower of Christ with the love of Christ and the kindness of Christ and the holiness of Christ. And the speech that you use. So he pleads with you this morning.

As he did that day, come on to me all that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He pleads with you this morning to come to him for salvation and eternal life. And he will give you rest. He pleads with you today, child of God, to confess our sins. He pleads with us to let him use our tongue for good and not for evil.

He pleads with us to be an example in our what? In our words, to speak the truth in love to a world that needs it. He asks us only to trust him and to let him have his way in your life and mine, in our actions and in our what, in our words. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for your word and thank you for the opportunity to be reminded of this today as Timothy was by Paul.

Lord, we pray that you would have your way in our life, that you would open up our eyes and hearts to see that there is a better way than the world around us shows. There is the way of Christ. And Lord, there is no reason for foul things to come forth out of the mouth of the child of God. But things that edify, that build others up, that point others to Christ, that ministers grace unto the hearers. Lord, forgive us where we have let things go.

Lord, where we have maybe failed in this area of our life. And Lord, help us to be a better example. Lord, train our heart, our mind, and our tongue to bring greater glory to the God we serve and bring more to the savior, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.