Continue in Sound Doctrine

March 20, 2011

Lesson: 1 Timothy 4:6-16

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 4:16

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Introduction

The Holy Spirit has placed in the hands of the redeemed, the congregation of our Savior, a precious writing that we may know “what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man” (L.C. Q 5). These “Scriptures manifest themselves to be the word of God, by their majesty and purity; by the consent of all the parts, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God; by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation: but the Spirit of God bearing witness by and with the scriptures in the heart of man, is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very word of God” (Q 4). Thus we are encouraged by the Spirit to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Then each of us, with God’s Word written, are to “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine (truth); continue in doing them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Tim. 4:16). In other words, we study and practice the Word of Truth; and, in so doing, the Spirit builds us up, and in His power we are able to witness to others of the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus.

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The Good Servant—1 Timothy 4:6-7

Timothy receives instruction from his father in the faith, Paul, as how he is to conduct himself in the congregation, and then, how he is to instruct the saints under his care as an under-shepherd. Timothy is to bring to remembrance those things of which he has just spoken and, by being an example of a good minister. As a good minister “of Jesus Christ,” Timothy is being “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” Timothy is becoming mature in the Word of God. It is sad that some congregations make such a demand upon a pastor that he is unable to be nourished in faith and doctrine, unto which he has been called by His Savior.

A good servant, minister of Christ, a very faithful servant, a saint who claims the name of Christ, needs to be nourished in faith and truth. Faith is being convinced in that salvation, which has been revealed in Christ Jesus, by the Spirit and His Word. Doctrine (truth) reminds us that the teaching of Scripture nourishes the soul, both in faith and works of obedience.

This exercise in godliness also demands that the opposite of righteousness be lacerated from one’s life. We are to “refuse profane and old wives fables.” We are to refuse to listen to, and purposefully avoid lying tales, myths, which are the product of men’s minds rather than God’s truth as He reveals it to us. We are to refuse to listen to the profane empty babbling of the wicked. The ungodly have no insight worthy of our attention. Our exercise is in Christ and His Word alone.

Discussion: What should be included in our daily exercise of godliness?

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A Good Profit—1 Timothy 4:8-9

Bodily exercise is good. However, very little good is accomplished in comparison to our exercise in godliness. Godliness is profitable in all things. This is so because it has a “promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Compare this “faithful saying” with the promise of evolution. Evolution, and its comparable “wives’ tales” of psychology and social humanism, would have men believe that there are millennia behind us, but no hope for an eternity. That man as an evolved animal, without a soul, and must rule its existence, at best, by fables of pluralism and of chance without hope.

God’s Scriptures claim life, abundantly and forever, for those who know His Christ as their Lord and Savior. For those who deny His existence through their fables will know life forever, but not in its glory or abundance. The wage of this transgression is death, eternally. The benefits of our being justified by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins, of our being adopted into the family of God our Father, and of our being set apart in righteousness by the Holy Spirit, are “assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end” (Shorter Catechism # 36). This promise man cannot give or guarantee, and so they listen to the tales of men.

Discussion: What is the promise connected with the exercise of godliness?

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A Good Example (1 Timothy 4:10-16)

We, as Christians, labor and “suffer reproach,” because “we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe.” We have faith, a gift of our Creator, whereby we are fully convinced that the living and true and only God is our Savior. We believe in and hear only the truth that comes from the three Persons of the Godhead. We know, by God’s Word written and interpreted to us by the Spirit, that the Father has loved us so that He sent His Son, that the Son, our Savior, died on the cross for our sins, and that the Spirit has quickened us and continues to teach us of the things of Christ.

These are the things which Timothy and we are commanded to teach. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only words which “direct us how we may glorify and enjoy” God; and they are the only teachings which tell us what is to be believed “concerning God, and what duty God requires” of us (Shorter Catechism # 2-3). It is because of the truth of God’s Word and the faith that Timothy has, that he is told that no man is to despise his youth. He is to be, as we should be, examples as believers in the Word, having actions that reveal true righteousness, our love in Christ, a spirit of kindness, etc., and our faith in Christ.

Though we are not waiting for Paul as Timothy was commanded to do, we still ought to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our Lord and Savior. Timothy is admonished to give his daily attendance to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. Many people rely on their own reason, based on little reading and much hearsay, to proclaim what they believe is to be true. Experience becomes the foundation of what one should believe or do, and the social climate becomes the means by which God’s Word is interpreted. One must read, then exhort, and then make sure that what is said and believed is true doctrine, that which is taught by the Spirit through the Word of God, written.

Timothy is not to neglect the gift which is within him. Yes, the gift of faith, but also that special gift which was given to him as a chosen servant of Christ. He is to remember that gift of faith which was first in his mother Eunice, in his grandmother Lois, and in Paul also. He is to remember that gift he received being set apart in the ministry: “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:6-7). Timothy, as well as each servant of Christ, needed to “meditate on these things” that, by the Word of God, the chosen servants of God may continue to grow in doctrine and in the proclamation of the glorious saving grace of God, in their lives and in the lives to which they have been called to minister.

Discussion: In what ways are we to be true servants of Christ?

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2011 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.