A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): What makes for an effective minister? Here's Pastor John Randall to touch on that.

John Randall: Watered down preaching mixed with psychological platitudes will always leave God's people starving, starving for more. When all the hype settles down, listen, people need something that's going to be an anchor for their soul. We encounter real trials, real tragedies, real life. And these certain kind of platitudes and these little things that we present, little catchy phrases and and countless illustrations, listen, that doesn't hold up when life comes down. You need an anchor for your soul and the word of God is that anchor. For a minister to be a good minister, there is a consistency in presenting God's word to God's people.

Guest (Male): Well, maybe you're the type of person that hits the gym on a regular basis seeking to improve your physical health or appearance. And while that certainly is not a bad thing, there is something even more important that we want to focus your attention on. And that is to exercise ourselves toward godliness. We're talking about how we can be effective servants or ministers of God today on a daily walk as we dive back into 1 Timothy. Pastor John Randall has an eye on chapter 4 which lays out the qualities that make for a good minister.

John Randall: If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives' fables and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise, it profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. And then he goes on to say, as godliness is profitable for all things, having a promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. And this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end, we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

These things command and teach. The ancient city of Ephesus would have been a difficult place to plant a church. For within that city was one of the seven known wonders of the ancient world. It was the temple of Artemis or the temple of Diana. And temple prostitutes led the worship there at that temple to the goddess of fertility. Also, the people of Ephesus practiced the magical arts of witchcraft. Yet Paul, going into Ephesus, stayed there for over two years preaching and teaching the word of God and a church was planted and established. But now, years later, the church needed direction.

The church was in need of strong leadership to navigate through some of the challenges that they were facing. And Timothy, Paul's assistant, was sent to fulfill that mission. And one of the difficulties that they were encountering was with false teachers. It was one thing to deal with cultic practices of the day that surrounded them, but they also had to contend with a combination of Jewish legalism mixed with Eastern asceticism. Sadly, some within the church had actually given these false teachers an audience and ended up turning away from the faith. Now, in light of these challenges that Timothy was facing, Paul gives his young minister instructions as to how to be effective in the midst of Ephesus.

How is he to be a good minister? That is the word that is used here. The word minister means servant. How is he to be a good servant in this kind of a situation? Which by the way raises a valuable question and that is what makes a good minister? What classifies a person as a successful servant in the kingdom of God? Is it the size of their church? Is it the influence of their ministry? How many books they've written? How far? How many ministries they have? Listen, so often the criteria that we use for judging a minister's effectiveness isn't necessarily biblical criteria.

But here, what we have in 1 Timothy chapter 4 in these verses are the qualities that make for a good minister. And there are several that I want to point out to you, but I also want you to keep in mind that what we are considering not only applies to a minister or a servant within the church, but those believers who are servants outside of the church, whether it's in your home as a husband or a wife or at your job or at your school. How can you be an effective, good servant of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Well, for Timothy, in order for him to be a good servant, the first thing that Paul points out is that he must present the word of God consistently. Look at what it says in verse 6. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ. The word instruct here means to remind. It means to suggest. The literal translation is to lay before the people. Timothy, to be a faithful and effective servant, had to consistently lay before the people the word of God. A faithful minister, a good minister reminds people consistently of what God's word says.

This was very important to the apostle Paul. In fact, in writing to the church in Philippi, Philippians chapter 3 verse 1, he says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord for to me to write these same things to you, it's not tedious. I'm not just saying this to be redundant. Do you understand? I'm saying this to you because you need to be reminded of these things. I'm laying this out before you consistently. The apostle Peter felt much the same way. In his second epistle, 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 1, he said to the church, beloved, I now write to you this second letter in both of which to stir up your pure minds by way of reminder.

I wrote you my first letter. You received it. I'm writing you a second letter to remind you of what I talked to you about in the first letter. I want to stir you up. I want to keep presenting to you the word of God consistently. Now, sometimes that means encouraging people from God's word. Other times, it means warning people from God's word. But to be an effective minister, Timothy had to proclaim the word of God. Now, for most of us, we think that's simple. Doesn't everybody know that? That of course he's a minister. If he's going to be good, he's got to present the word of God to people.

Every that everybody knows that. But there is a danger. There is a danger to replace biblical, sound expositional teaching with gimmicks, programs, positive pep talks without power. And every time a minister stands before God's people without presenting God a word, the church and its people are weakened in their faith. Furthermore, they're ill-equipped and not prepared for the spiritual battle that we are in. Watered down preaching mixed with psychological platitudes will always leave God's people starving, starving for more. When all the hype settles down, listen, people need something that's going to be an anchor for their soul.

We encounter real trials, real tragedies, real life. And these certain kind of platitudes and these little things that we present, little catchy phrases and and countless illustrations, listen, that doesn't hold up when life comes down. You need an anchor for your soul and the word of God is that anchor. For a minister to be a good minister, there is a consistency in presenting God's word to God's people. A good minister, a faithful servant knows what the Bible says and he refers more to Jesus than he does to the culture. He refers more to scripture than catchy stories, countless illustration.

More of God's word, less of his words makes for an effective minister. Amen. Amen. That is why here in this fellowship at Calvary Chapel, we play such a high priority on the teaching of the word of God. God's word is living and powerful and it can change your life. And if it's my desire as a minister amidst the flock of God to have the best loved, best fed sheep that there are, then to do that, I have to consistently present the word of God to you so that you can be nourished. Paul felt so strongly about this.

In fact, he wrote a second letter to Timothy and right before his death, when he was there in the Mamertine prison where we actually were on our trip, and this is what he said to Timothy. He said, Timothy, right before his death, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus who is going to judge the living and the dead by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching for the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine.

Paul said, if you remember anything I'm going to tell you before I leave this life, you remember this, you preach the word. You tell people what God's word says because you're going to stand before a God who's going to judge the living and the dead and you're going to have to give an account for what you've presented. So you preach the word is what he told Timothy. A good minister consistently presents the word of God to God's people. But the second thing that Paul points out is that a good minister also receives from the word personally.

Look at what it says in verse 6 concerning Timothy. He was nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. For Timothy, to be a successful servant, he not only had to tell people what God's word said, he had to personally follow what God's word said in his own life. He had to be nourished in the words of faith and good doctrine to be able to present the words of faith and good doctrine. He not only had to present the word, listen, he had to practice the word. The word for nourish here means to be fed, to be satisfied.

Timothy was feeding upon the word of God and then he would be able to feed others. And this is something that every servant of the Lord, every believer really must guard in their own personal life. Time spent with Jesus in the word and in prayer every single day. Spending time with Jesus, it nourishes you. It nourishes your spiritual life. It provides the necessary food that we need. You remember Jesus said in Luke chapter 4, he said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Too many Christians today are spiritually malnourished because they have an improper, unhealthy spiritual diet.

They do not feed on the word of God. You remember what Job said in Job 23 verse 12? He said, I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job said, God, your word to me was more important, more valuable than my necessary food. As a Christian, I can live without many things, but one thing I cannot live without is the word of God. I need it more than my necessary food. How important that is? Let me ask you, what's your spiritual diet like?

Oh, you know you're cutting carbs and you're not you're eating protein and you're you know you want to stay away from the sugars and you don't want to eat this and that. Okay, awesome. Let's talk about your spiritual diet for a second. Are you feeding on the epistles? Are are you reading from the gospels? Are you digging in to the meat of the word? Are you still on the milk of the word? Are you growing in that spiritual diet, sound doctrine? For Timothy to be a faithful and effective servant, he had to be nourished in the word of God.

And the same principle applies to us. But another thing that I believe Paul eludes to here for Timothy to be a good minister is that he had to maintain his focus. It says here in verse 7, but reject profane and old wives' fables. In direct contrast to the sound doctrine that was to be received by Timothy, he is exhorted here by Paul to reject the word is have nothing to do with that which is profane or worldly, that which is radically separate from what is holy. Have nothing to do with that. Take in the sound doctrine, but do not be distracted by the false doctrine.

Don't you need to maintain your focus. Reject that. Don't get caught up into that. Don't get sidetracked with that thing that has nothing to do with the main thing. And in Ephesus, in Timothy's day, even in our day, there are many strange, bizarre, unbiblical things that can filter into the church and people gravitate toward and get a hold of. In Timothy's day, it was the the stoic philosophy, the epicurean philosophy. It was uh gnosticism was prevalent. I mean, all kinds of things. They were they were into idol worship. These are the things he had to contend with.

And and even in our day, we find people gravitating toward some of the most bizarre things that make their way into the church and you wonder, where did you come up with that? How did you get into that? Reject that. There's nothing biblical about that. Why are you doing that? That's not in the Bible. And sometimes people because they don't read the Bible, they don't feed on the Bible, they're quick to receive old wives' fables. Well, you know, I read somewhere on the internet that this is what No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't get sidetracked on that.

Stay, keep the main thing, the main thing. Don't lose your focus. And that is something that I think we we're challenged with every single day to to be diverted from the main thing. If you don't know this, write this down. The main thing is keep the main thing, the main thing and the main thing is Jesus. That's a lot of main things, but you get the idea. Stay focused, man. Stay focused on what you're to be focused on. The focus is Jesus. Paul, again, very concerned about this, wrote to the Corinthians in his second letter in chapter 11 and he said, I am afraid.

I fear for you lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. I don't want you to lose your focus here. Don't lose sight of the simplicity that is in Jesus. Simple things, knowing Jesus, loving Jesus, praying to Jesus, sharing about Jesus, simplicity that's in Christ. It doesn't have to be so complicated and convoluted to where you lose your focus. Maintain your focus. Let me ask you something this morning. Have you lost focus? Have Have you been distracted? What What's your attention on at the moment?

How important it is for a a servant to be a good minister, not only teaching the word to the church consistently, reading the word personally, but maintaining his focus. And how important it is to do that. Lord, help us to focus on what we're supposed to be focused on. And for the believer in Jesus Christ, this is important. But the fourth thing that I see concerning being a good minister is that he had to be disciplined, disciplined. In verse 7 and 8 says, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having a promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

It was extremely important for Timothy to remain spiritually disciplined in Ephesus. And therefore, Paul says, exercise yourself. The word exercise is where we get the English word gymnasium. This is a spiritual gym, Timothy. You need to be a member of. You need to get in there. Exercise your spiritual biceps. Get in there and and exercise yourself. Be disciplined in what way? Toward godliness. In the Greco-Roman world, the culture was enamored with the physical body. I can tell you this for a fact because I was just in Greece and Rome, Greco-Roman. And what you find there are statues of bodies.

Every just way too many bodies. Just like, hey, and they're all chiseled and unclothed. It's like it's difficult to teach at the footsteps of Okay, everybody look over here. Okay, everybody look over here. Nobody look at the statue behind me. I mean, just in there everywhere. They were so enamored with the the physical body. It was just they worshipped it and all the gods that they made, everything that they presented, their statues everywhere. It's no wonder that Paul was so stirred up when he went into Athens because it was more it was easier to meet a a false God than it was to meet a person.

I mean, they were just everywhere. And they still are to this day, even in the Vatican of all places, statues everywhere. All right, enough about statues. They were enamored with the physical body. And in Paul's day, every Greek city had a gymnasium. Everyone. Ephesus was no exception. And men, young men from ages 16 to 18 would enter into training, discipline their bodies for the life that lay ahead of them. And for Timothy to be effective, he had to exercise himself, had to train himself in godliness. How? Paul says, bodily exercise, it profits a little. That's not a bad thing.

But I know some people today who are extremely dedicated to their health, extremely dedicated to their workouts, special diets, maintaining a level of physical health and they're so disciplined at the time they show up and when they leave and how they do it. And again, it's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. This is the temple of the Lord that we've been given. We want to use it to the best of our ability as long as we can. But some people are so strong on the outside, but they are completely weak on the inside.

You can be physically strong and spiritually weak. Listen, godliness is profitable for all things. One day, this body's going to fade. One day, gravity takes over and wins. We are being pulled down into the grave. Just you can feel it. Man, I can barely get up this morning. You got one foot in the grave, you know, and everything's sagging and won't come up and you I don't care how many surgeries you have and all the plastic you want to put on yourself, it will one day fall, all of it. So age gracefully, please. Anyhow, I'm just going to say some of this is jet lag talking.

I don't know what I'm saying. But if you're going to be disciplined, be disciplined toward godliness. This isn't a bad thing. We look at discipline as such a bad thing. No, it's a good thing. In fact, Paul, he must have been one of these men and I like Paul. I think he liked athletics. I mean, because the isthmian games were in Corinth and and the Olympics were there in Greece. And so he uses metaphors from athletics to describe the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9, he says, don't you know that those who run in a race are temperate?

Those who compete for a prize, they're temperate in all things. That means they are disciplined, not just in some things, but everything. They have to be if they're going to compete, they have to discipline their bodies. And Paul then applied it to himself and said, I discipline my body spiritually. I bring it into subjection. I don't want to be disqualified in this race that I'm in. He tells Timothy in another place, hey Timothy, you're like a soldier and you can't be entangled in things of this world because you have to be disciplined. And that's a good thing.

And and maybe for some today at one time you were disciplined or you are disciplined in every area of your life. Man, you show up at work on time, you set your alarm, you do this, you do that, you have this responsibility, you coach this team or whatever it is you're involved with. You're so disciplined in all these areas of your life. But one of the main disciplines that you're missing that affects every part of your life is a spiritual discipline of meeting with the Lord. Can I encourage you to get in the gym spiritually, to start exercising yourself toward godliness and just start working it out.

You know, you understand, just get after it. Make it a priority. Flex those spiritual muscles. The pursuit of a good minister is not success, but it's godliness. Exercise ourselves toward godliness. Guys, this life is temporary. We have a life that remains for eternity. Exercise yourself toward godliness.

Guest (Male): Exercise is a good thing not only for our physical bodies, but even more importantly for our spiritual lives. Hey, thanks for listening to a daily walk with Pastor John Randall. We're going through the Bible right now. You can hear this study again at adailywalk.org or download our church app so you can listen through your mobile device. Just search for Calvary South OC. You'll also find us on most of the major podcast platforms. When a listener takes the time to write or call, it really blesses us more than words can tell. And yes, Pastor John reads your emails and letters.

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