The Power of Example

The Power of Example

“The Power of Example”

(1 Timothy 4:11-16)

Series: Reality Check: Keeping it Real at FBC

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

First Baptist Church Henderson, KY (11-23-08) (AM)

 

  • Take God’s Word and open to 1 Timothy, chapter 4.

 

We are better than halfway through the book of 1 Timothy in a series of messages entitled, “Reality Check.”  We want to be sure First Baptist Church is operating in accordance with the Holy Scriptures.  So we’re “checking” what we’re doing with what the Bible teaches and today’s passage of Scripture has much to say about how the minister is to be an example to the congregation.  Listen for that as we read the Word.

  • Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

 

11 These things command and teach.

12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.

15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.

16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

As long as I can remember I have enjoyed watching and listening to really good impressionists.  An impressionist is an entertainer who masters the imitation of a noted personality.  A popular impressionist today is Frank Caliendo.  The guy is just great!  He does a George Bush impression that is spot-on.  He even looks like him.  He also does a great Al Pacino and John Madden too, complete with white board with Madden explaining offense and defense in his unique way.  Caliendo is a good impressionist because he has spent hours watching video of countless characters, mimicking their gestures and mastering their vocal characteristics.  His goal is to be just like the person he is watching.

 

Imagine if Frank Caliendo were watching you.  What mannerisms do you have that he might mimic?  How would he imitate your particular speech patterns, or your accent or the way you stand, or gesture, or carry yourself?  Imagine someone spending hours watching your every movement—kind of scary, huh?!

 

Well people are watching us.  And the Bible challenges us this morning to live our lives as good examples before a watching world.  We should live in such a way as to inspire others to want to imitate us, to become like us, and not because there is something uniquely special about us, but rather because of the Christ we follow and the desire to know and love Him more deeply.  Are you living in such a way, to inspire others to want to be like you because they see in you the glory of King Jesus?  Well, that’s the main theme of this passage of Scripture, the power of example.

 

To be sure, we are reading someone else’s mail here.  We’ve picked up this letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and there’s some personal stuff here to Timothy.  But it’s not as though we’ve stolen this letter from Timothy’s mailbox and we’re not supposed to read it.  Actually, God wants us to read Timothy’s mail because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for all of us to read.

 

See you may say, “Well, this is a letter written to a guy who’s a minister and it’s about how to be a minister and I’m not a minister.”  But Paul says in this text, “Timothy, be an example to the believers.”  Now if Timothy is to be an example to the believers then what is the believer’s responsibility?  To follow the example.  So this passage of Scripture speaks to every one of us about being an example to others.  So let’s study this passage together and see a few ways we’re to be an example to others.  First,

 

I.  Be an Example in your Conduct (11-12)

 

Paul says, “Timothy be an example to the believers in your conduct, your behavior, the way you live.”  Look again at the first two verses, verses 11 and 12:

 

11 These things command and teach.

 

This verse that probably points back to the things we studied last time, the importance of having the right spiritual diet and exercise.  We talked last week about growing in godliness, getting the right nourishment from the Word of God.  So Paul says, “Timothy, command and teach these things.”  Now, verse 12:

 

12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

 

Let no one despise your youth.  The NIV has, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young.”  That’s the idea.  Some of the older church members there at Ephesus may have looked down upon Timothy because of his relative youthfulness.  We don’t know how young he was.  Some scholars suggest Timothy was in his mid-30s which would have been considered fairly young by the measure of the day.  But the point here is that if there were some who might be tempted to look down upon Timothy because of his youthfulness, Timothy could do something about it.

 

On the one hand we can’t do anything about our age, can we?  I remember some years ago at seminary, having the privilege to meet Adrian Rogers, the now late pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.  I was driving him to the airport to catch a plane and he was passing along advice and encouragement.  He said, “If a pastor search committee expresses concern about your being too young, just tell them that every day that will improve.”  That was practical advice because I couldn’t do anything to change my age.  But Paul says here that while we may not be able to change our age, we can offset whatever criticism we may receive by our behavior, by our good conduct.  Specifically, he says there are a few things we can do.

 

First, we can be an example to the believers in “word.”  That’s a reference to our speech, our day-to-day conversation.  Jesus says in Matthew 12:36 that we will be judged one day for every careless word we speak.  And Paul says elsewhere, in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

 

I’ve shared with you a simple prayer I try to pray every day, a prayer I commend to you: “Lord, guard my tongue and guide my speech that I would say nothing foolish, but only those things that edify others and only those things that exalt the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  I don’t always succeed at that, but the praying of that prayer increases my awareness and focuses my attention on watching what I say.

 

Then Paul says we’re to be an example in “conduct.”  That’s a word that refers to our general behavior.  We often say that we’re to both “talk the talk,” and what?—“walk the walk.”  That’s what this word means.  So it’s not enough to watch our words.  We must also watch the way we walk, the way we live before others.

 

The third way in which Paul says we’re to be an example there in verse 12 is the word “love.”  Be an example to the believers in love.  I remember my pastor back in Georgia saying, “You can preach anything you want to a congregation if they know that you love them.”  Love is the defining mark of the Christian.  Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another.”

 

The next word in the King James and New King James Version is “spirit,” but that’s a word that does not occur in the oldest Greek Manuscripts and so it is omitted from the newer translations.  It may refer to the Christian’s yielding to the Holy Spirit in daily living.

 

Then Paul says be an example “in faith.”  That could refer either to Timothy’s faith in Christ or his faithfulness, his loyalty to Christ.  The two really go together.  If we really trust in Christ then we will be faithful to Christ.

 

And then finally Paul says in verse 12 that we’re to be an example in “purity.”  This is a call for holiness in life, particularly with respect to sexual cleanliness in thought and deed.  Ephesus was a sexually immoral city, with temptation everywhere.  And Paul will go on and say in the next chapter that Timothy is to regard younger women in the congregation “as sisters, with all purity (5:2).”  That’s a helpful directive to all of us, to regard members of the opposite sex as our own blood brothers and sisters.  We are to love one another, not lust for one another.

 

So be an example in your conduct.  Here’s the second main point:

 

II.  Be an Example in your Convictions (13)

13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

 

Paul calls for our being an example in our biblical convictions.  We have a high view of Scripture here at First Baptist Church.  Our purpose statement says we exist to glorify God through Bible-centered preaching, reaching, and teaching in the name of Jesus Christ.

 

Verse 13 is a reminder of what should be important and prominent in the public gathering of Christians.  We come together in corporate worship for reading, exhortation, and doctrine.  That word “doctrine” refers to teaching of the Word.  You see why we do this when we come together for worship.  We read the text, we teach the text, and we apply the text.  That’s reading, doctrine, and exhortation.

 

Paul says to Timothy, “Give attention” to this, a phrase that implies that previous preparation has been made for the reading, teaching, and applying of Scripture.  The minister must take time each week to spend in the study of Scripture so that when he stands in the pulpit he has something to say.  Give attention to this.  Be an example in your convictions.  Thirdly:

 

III.  Be an Example in your Calling (14)

 

14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.

 

Here is a reminder to Timothy that he has been called, uniquely gifted by God to serve there at the church in Ephesus.  His pastoral gift was given by God and affirmed through men who saw God’s work in Timothy.  And that affirmation came visibly through “the laying on of the hands of the eldership,” through men who ordained Timothy to the Gospel ministry.

 

And Paul says, “Timothy, do not neglect this gift that is in you.”  That is, do what God called you to do.  Use your gift for God’s glory.  Now that’s true for every one of us.  God has given each of us at least one spiritual gift to use through the church for His glory.

 

One of the really fun things we do in our Bodylife workshop for new members is a spiritual gift inventory and personality profile.  They are two wonderful surveys we take that indicate how God has uniquely designed for ministry in the church.  It’s always a lot of fun to discover some things about how God has gifted each of us to be used here at First Baptist Church.  While not every member is a pastor, every member is a minister, a servant of the Lord using his or her gift for God’s glory.

 

Sometimes I’ll see an advertisement on TV for some piece of exercise equipment and I’ll think, “Well, that looks pretty helpful.  I think I’d use that.”  But then I think again and say, “No, if I got it I may as well just open it up and immediately store it in the attic or out in the garage because I’d never use it.”  I wonder how much exercise equipment is being stored in the average American’s basement, garage, or attic, just sitting there collecting dust—a silent testimony to our once grandiose ideas of becoming Mr. or Mrs. America!

 

But God has uniquely gifted each and every Christian with a special talent or ability and he wants us not to hide that gift or store it away somewhere, but to use it.  He doesn’t want us to neglect the gift, but to use it for His glory so that we teach, usher, greet, sing in the choir, give, evangelize, pray with people, call them, visit them, serve them.  Be an example in your calling.  Number four:

 

IV.  Be an Example in your Commitment (15-16)

 

15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.

 

This speaks of our commitment to the things of God.  Paul says, “Timothy, “meditate on these things.”  It means, “Keep on practicing these things.”  And then he says, “Give yourself entirely to them,” literally, “Be in these things.”  It speaks to the matter of absorption.  Be absorbed in exemplary speech, life, faith, love, and purity.  Be absorbed in the reading, teaching, and applying of Scripture.  Be in these things.  And here’s one result of that kind of commitment, last part of verse 15:

 

“that your progress may be evident to all.”  Others are watching, Timothy, and your progress in the faith, your growth in Christ, will inspire them to grow, too.

 

It’s often said that a pastor lives in a fishbowl.  From any angle you can see that fish inside of the fishbowl.  The fish cannot hide.  You can see it.  Similarly, the pastor lives a very public life and cannot hide.  Others are watching.  I heard one guy say, “Fishbowl?!  It’s more like a blender!”  But in any case, people are watching our progress.  But they are to watch the example so that they may follow the example.  And in that sense, then, all Christians are to be an example in their commitment to the things of God, the things we’re reading about here in this passage.

Then Paul sums up everything very nicely in two words.  Verse 16 is sort of like the Cliff’s Notes of everything he has been saying to this point:

 

“Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.”  That’s pretty much it: “Watch who you are and what you teach.”  If you forget everything else, Timothy, watch who yourself and your doctrine.  Stay committed.  “Continue in them.”  Keep it up!  Don’t stop!  Persevere!  If you’ll do that, “you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

 

That is, if you will keep going, being an example in your commitment, it will lead ultimately to your final salvation, not in the sense that you can earn your salvation, but in the sense that Christians one day will experience the final blessings of salvation they presently do not enjoy.  Each of us is looking forward to the final and future aspects of salvation.  We reach that final point after having persevered in our faith here on this earth.

 

So, stay committed to the things of God, Timothy, and you will save both yourself “and those who hear you.”  That is, “Your preaching the Gospel will lead to the salvation of those who hear you.”  Others will follow your example.  Talk about the power of example!  God wants us to use our gifts and talents so that others come to know Him more deeply, that they might be saved.  The power of example!

 

Concluding Illustration:

 

If you’re like me, when you go into the weightlifting room of the gym you make big guys look even bigger.  You know those fitness magazines always have some guy or girl on the cover with finely toned muscles a lean abdomen.  They don’t have frail or sickly person on the cover.  Nor do they have some huge, overweight person with a flabby stomach.  They put someone on the cover so that you and I look and say, “I want to be like him.”  Or, “I want to be like her.”

 

People should look at Christians and say, “I want to be like him.”  And, “I want to be like her.”  And why do they want to be like us?  Because they see in us the glory of our King.  They see in us the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who draws people to His side for salvation.

 

Imagine people being drawn to Christ through your example.  Imagine people coming to know this God who loved us so much that He took the punishment we deserved for our sin.  Imagine people coming to know this God who rose from the dead that they might be saved.  And imagine their being drawn to that God through you.

 

That’s the power of example!

 

  • Stand for prayer.

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