March 8, 2020

2 Timothy 4:1-5: Paul's Charge to Timothy

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Series: 2 Timothy: Faithful to the End Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1–5

2 Timothy 4:1-5: Paul’s Charge to Timothy

Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 4. If you’re using one of the Bibles we provide, that’s on page 835. We’ve been working our way through Paul’s second letter to Timothy passage by passage, and today we find ourselves in 2 Timothy 4:1-5. 2 Timothy 4:1-5: 1 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 patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 

If a friend of yours told you that they were moving to another city and asked you for advice about what kind of church they should go to, what would you say to them? How would you describe what to look for in a church or what a “good” church looks like? 

I remember back when I was a young Christian—still in high school—leading one of my friends named Nick to faith in Jesus. I simply invited Nick out to a fast food restaurant one day and shared the gospel with him, and he ended up being saved. Then not too long after that, I started meeting with Nick every week in order to teach him about the Bible and disciple him. And I understood that as a part of that discipling process, I needed to help Nick get plugged into a church. And I thought about inviting him to the church I was a part of, but Nick lived farther away from it than I did, and I thought it was just a little too far, so I started looking for a church for him to attend that was closer to where he lived. Now, remember that I was a young Christian, so I didn’t really know a lot about what to expect in different kinds of churches. So I just started trying out churches with Nick that seemed like they might be good. The first one we tried out was a Pentecostal church. Now, nothing against Pentecostals, but I remember going in there one Sunday and seeing all kinds of things I had never seen before—people speaking in tongues and running around the room and at times even falling down on the floor. The whole scene was so chaotic that I honestly wasn’t even sure who was leading the worship service. It was definitely a very interesting experience, to say the least. I eventually decided—after about an hour of singing songs there with no sermon in sight—that it was time for Nick and I to leave, and so we did. Now, thankfully, we eventually found a church that seemed to be a suitable one for Nick to go to, but I remember, during that process of looking for a church, being rather overwhelmed at the number of options that were out there. There were so many different kinds of churches with different styles and different beliefs. How was someone like me supposed to know which one to go to? Now, looking back, I probably should have asked my pastor, but for some reason that didn’t occur to me at the time. And I was left wondering how to find a church and what a “good” church even looked like. 

So…what does a “good” church look like? What kinds of things should someone look for when they’re choosing a church to go to? For some people, the number one thing they’re looking for in a church is entertainment. They want to find a church where the pastor tells really good stories and makes them laugh and puts them at ease. They also want church that offers them an amazing “worship experience,” complete with top-notch music and cutting-edge technology and a concert-like atmosphere. Then, for other people, the thing they consider to be most important when they’re choosing a church is the array of programs a church offers. They want to know—almost as if they were choosing a hotel—what amenities are available. If they have kids, the most important amenity is, of course, the children’s program. Other amenities include youth groups, college groups, singles groups, men’s groups, women’s groups, mom’s groups, and recovery groups—just to name a few. And, of course, in addition to all of these things, everyone wants a comfortable environment as well. They want everything to be very clean and well-lit, with plenty of good parking and comfortable seating.  They also often appreciate a building that’s aesthetically pleasing inside and out. Some prefer stained glass, while others prefer a more modern look. And finally, many church shoppers also have preferences related to the people who already attend the church. Most of them prefer to go to a church with people who are like them in as many ways as possible—especially when it comes to being in the same social class as them and the same age as them. So as you can see, there’s no shortage of preferences people often have about what kind of church they go to. Even if they never explicitly state what they believe a “good” church looks like, just about everyone has some sort of idea in their mind about what kinds of things make a church good or desirable. 

Yet I’d like to suggest this morning that the number one thing to look for in a church isn’t any of the things I’ve mentioned so far. Rather, it’s related to the charge Paul gives to Timothy here in our main passage of 2 Timothy 4. Look again at verses 1-2: 1 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 patience and teaching. So Paul charges Timothy here to “preach the word.” That’s the most important thing to consider whenever you’re evaluating a church. Does the pastor “preach the word”—that is, does he preach the Word of God as it’s revealed in the Bible?

And this charge that Paul gives to Timothy grows out of what he’s just told Timothy about “the word” in the previous passage. Don’t let that chapter division keep you from reading these verses in light of the verses that come right before them. There’s a logical progression from the high view of the Bible that’s taught at the end of chapter 3 to the high view of biblical preaching that’s taught here at the beginning of chapter 4. In chapter 3, Paul taught that “all Scripture is breathed out by God.” And since it’s “breathed out by God,” that means Scripture is authoritative. And since it’s authoritative, that means it’s what we should be preaching in our church—as Paul solemnly charges Timothy to do in our main text. He charges Timothy not to preach his own ideas or what he thinks will be popular but rather to preach the Word of God. That’s the great imperative for pastoral ministry. If you’re taking notes this morning, feel free to write that down as the main idea. The great imperative for pastoral ministry is to preach the Word. Biblical preaching is the chief and central characteristic of a healthy church. It’s not the only characteristic of a healthy church, but it is the chief and central characteristic because it facilitates all the others. It’s the soil out of which all the other characteristics of a healthy church grow. Everything else rises and falls with the preaching. 

That’s why Paul introduces his charge to Timothy about preaching the word in such a serious and solemn way. Look again at what he says in verse 1: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus….” So Paul invokes the name of both God the Father and God the Son as he gives this charge. He then describes Jesus as “the one who is to judge the living and the dead.” In other words, Timothy had better heed this charge because he’s going to have to answer to Jesus one day for the way he’s lived and the way he’s carried out his ministry. Then Paul continues on and states that he’s giving this charge not only in the name of Jesus but also “by his appearing and his kingdom.” That’s when the judgment will take place. When Jesus appears and sets up his Kingdom, we’ll all have to give an account to him. And as we think about what Paul says here, I don’t know of anywhere else in all of Paul’s writings where he introduces a charge in such a serious and weighty fashion. Out of all the instructions Paul gives throughout all of his letters, this charge here in 2 Timothy 4 to “preach the word” seems to be more important to Paul than just about anything else he says to do. That’s why I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to refer to preaching the word as the great imperative for pastoral ministry.  

Now, unfortunately, there are a lot of preachers today that, in my opinion, don’t do this very well. Just to be honest, I think it’s somewhat difficult to find a church that takes this responsibility to preach the word seriously. That’s actually one of the main reasons why I started this church. And I believe one major reason why so few preachers preach the word is because many if not most of them are simply preaching the things that the crowd wants to hear. Interestingly, we see that Paul predicted this state of affairs in verses 3-4. Look what he writes: 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. So according to Paul, many people who claim to be Christians have “itching ears” and desire to listen to teachers who will basically tell them what they want to hear. The most obvious example of this is the so-called Prosperity Gospel. The Prosperity Gospel, which is really no gospel at all, teaches that God promises everyone health, wealth, and prosperity if they’ll simply claim those things in faith. Essentially, Jesus died on the cross so we can enjoy those things. And, of course, it’s not hard to see why people would want to hear a message like that. It appeals to desires that everyone in this world has. And that’s why the Prosperity Gospel is so popular. People with “itching ears” are accumulating for themselves “teachers to suit their own passions.” 

However, there are also other ways in which preachers often fall short of preaching the word, and I’d like to give you five of them this morning. Most of these aren’t as obvious as the Prosperity Gospel, but they can be just as deadly. One very common way in which preachers often fall short of preaching the word is by avoiding uncomfortable truths. There are many churches in which you don’t hear much mention at all of biblical truths like sin and hell and repentance. Many times, pastors simply avoid talking about them or perhaps, in some cases, even deny them outright. And that’s a big problem, because without sin or hell or repentance, there is no gospel. Take away any one of those three, and you’ve lost the gospel. 

And that’s closely related to the second way in which preachers often fall short of Paul’s charge to preach the word, which is by failing to preach the gospel. Their preaching doesn’t center around the gospel message of who Jesus is and what he’s done to save us. You see, preaching the word ultimately means preaching Jesus because Jesus is the Word. John 1:1 says, with reference to Jesus, that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It then says in verse 14 that “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So the sum and substance of the word is Jesus himself. The whole Bible is essentially about him. In the Old Testament, Jesus is predicted. In the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—Jesus is revealed. In the book of Acts, Jesus is preached. In the letters of the New Testament, Jesus is explained. And then finally in the book of Revelation, Jesus is expected. That’s essentially what the whole Bible teaches: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He’s so central to God’s revelation in the Bible that we can even call him “the Word”—as John does in John chapter 1. So obeying Paul’s charge to preach the word means preaching Jesus. And unfortunately, I can’t tell you how many sermons I’ve heard that are supposedly based on the Bible but don’t really preach Jesus. They may preach a lot of moral values and popular platitudes and give a lot of advice for how people can live better lives, but they leave out Jesus. And that ultimately amounts to preaching law rather than grace. You see, the gospel is a message of grace. It’s a message of Jesus living a perfectly sinless life in our place and then dying on the cross in our place so that we could be right with God. We get to God not through our own efforts at morality but rather through Jesus—by putting our trust in his merits, his achievements, his provision. And so, any preaching that gives people moral values without giving them Jesus is fatally flawed. Yet so often, that’s exactly what you find in many churches—lots of moral guidelines and practical advice but not much Jesus. Now of course, good preaching does include moral guidelines—the Bible’s full of them. But all of those guidelines have to be organically connected to the gospel lest they end up doing more harm than good. 

Then a third way in which preachers often fall short of preaching the word is by overemphasizing felt needs. And this is kind of tricky, because the Bible does address felt needs. The Bible tells us how we can experience genuine peace and joy and happiness and hope and meaning and purpose in our lives. Yet those things aren’t emphasized in the Bible nearly as much as they’re emphasized in many sermons. On the contrary, the Bible is a very God-centered book. It tells us that the universe revolves not around us but around God. It’s all about him being glorified and honor and exalted. Another way we could say this is that Jesus isn’t a vending machine whose sole purpose is to give you the things that you’re looking for in your life. He’s not a means to an end. Rather, Jesus is the end. We’re called to live lives that are all about him. And that’s what preachers who are faithful to preach the word will help people understand.  

Then a fourth way in which preachers often fall short of preaching the word is by seeking to entertain. So they’ll tell stories that may be very interesting and very funny but don’t really have a strong biblical point. They’ll also tell jokes and use props and employ gimmicks and display creativity, but the vast majority of it isn’t used as a tool for communicating biblical truth but simply, it would seem, for the sake of entertainment. It’s almost as if the church service is a show that people attend rather than an opportunity for worship and spiritual growth and learning. I’ve listened to a number of these kinds of sermons in my life and there just doesn’t seem to be that much substance to them. I begin listening to these sermons hoping for a nutritious meal but come away from them feeling as if I’ve only eaten cotton candy. That’s the best way I can think of to describe them. Cotton candy. They’re enjoyable to listen to, but then you come away from them and think to yourself, “What did I even get from that? What substantive thing did that pastor actually say?”

Then the fifth and final way in which preachers often fall short of preaching the word is by reading their own ideas into the text. And this shortcoming is one that’s involved in a lot of the other shortcomings as well. Instead of extracting ideas out of the text and preaching those, a lot of preachers like to read their own ideas into the text. Now, sometimes, their ideas are heretical and just plain wrong. But other times, their ideas might be somewhat true or helpful but just aren’t found in the Bible or in that particular passage of the Bible. One example of this is social justice issues. It seems like some pastors make every text in the Bible about social justice. Regardless of whether the idea of justice is found in a biblical passage or not, they’ll find a way to talk about it. And the assumption there is that what the preacher wants to say is more important that what God has said in that text. Kind of like when someone interrupts another person. Whenever someone interrupts someone else, their assumption is that what they want to say is more important than what the other person is saying. And that’s often an arrogant assumption when we’re interrupting other people—yet it’s even more arrogant when we’re doing it to God and substituting our words and our ideas for his. So good preaching will seek to identify what God intends to communicate in a biblical passage and preach that rather than anything else.  

So those are five ways in which I’ve noticed preachers often fall short of obeying Paul’s charge to preach the word. And that’s a tragedy, because it’s only when preachers preach the word that they have any authority. Unless I’m preaching the word, nobody’s under any obligation to listen to me. Furthermore, it’s only the preaching of the Word that has the God’s power to bring spiritual life to those who hear. Just like it was the word of God that brought about physical life in Genesis 1, it’s the Word of God that brings spiritual life today. We see this in 1 Peter 1:23, where Peter says to his readers that “you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” In addition, James 1:18 states that “Of his own will [God] brought us forth by the word of truth.” Then finally in Ezekiel 37, we see a wonderful picture of Ezekiel preaching God’s Word to a valley of dead bones and seeing those bones come together and come alive. It’s kind of freaky, but it’s a powerful picture as well. Then, in addition to the Word of God bringing life, we see in Scripture that it’s also the Word that sanctifies. In John 17:17, Jesus prays to the Father with reference to his disciples, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Also, Ephesians 5:25 states that “…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.”

So my commitment to you, as your pastor, is above all to preach the word. And I believe that the best way to do that is that through a style of preaching commonly referred to as “expository preaching.” Expository preaching is essentially preaching that focuses on a single passage of Scripture and adopts the main idea of that passage as the main idea of the sermon. Hopefully, for those who attend here regularly, it’s apparent that that’s what I try to do in my sermons. I try to discern the main idea of whatever biblical passage we’re focusing on and then preach that as the main idea of my message. Essentially, I’m trying to hold a microphone up to the Bible and simply let God speak. That’s what expository preaching is all about. We might say that expository preaching seeks to be a good conductor for the message of a biblical text. Kind of like copper is a good conductor of heat. A lot of times, pots and pans will have a lot of copper in them because copper conducts heat very efficiently. You lose a lot less heat with copper than you do with other metals. And in a similar way, I believe expository preaching is the best conductor of biblical truth. Now there are other methods for preaching such as topical preaching, where the preacher picks a topic that he wants to talk about and brings together verses from different places in the Bible that address that topic. For example, he may want to talk about prayer or parenting or conflict resolution. And so he brings together verses from different places in the Bible that address that topic. And there’s nothing wrong with doing that, but notice who’s selecting the topics. The preacher is selecting the topics what he wants to talk about and preaching on them. So it kind of makes you wonder whether anything is being left out or underemphasized over the course of time. That’s why I believe the best way to preach the word is through expository preaching, where we focus on one passage of the Bible and adopt the main idea of that passage as the main idea of the sermon. Essentially, we let God set the agenda for what we talk about. 

Now, I realize that the majority of you here today aren’t preachers and will probably never preach a formal sermon. So how does all of this connect to your life? 

First, let me encourage you to value the preaching of the Word. Let that be the first thing you look for in a church. If you ever move to a new city or are on vacation somewhere or are simply giving advice to a friend, put the preaching of the Word at the very top of your list of what’s important. 

Second—and growing out of that—learn to discern good preaching from poor or sloppy preaching. Just because a preacher is quoting from the Bible, that doesn’t mean he’s truly preaching the word. It’s possible to quote from the Bible and then go in all sorts of different directions—taking Scripture out of context and twisting it to say what you want it to say. Remember, like we talked about earlier, that preaching the word involves extracting ideas out of the biblical text rather than reading ideas into the biblical text. So learn to discern which of those a preacher is doing. 

And then, third, please don’t listen to preachers on TV or the Internet that aren’t preaching the word. They may say things you find encouraging. They may make you feel so good when you listen to them. But if they’re not preaching the word, they’re not really helping you and, in all probability, are causing you significant harm. And of course if you would like some help evaluating whatever preacher you enjoy listening to, I or any of the other elders here would be delighted to help you with that. Or if you’d like suggestions about who to listen do, we’d be very glad to help you with that as well. Providing guidance in that area is a pretty important part of our job as elders, so we’d love to be helpful for you in that way.

other sermons in this series

Apr 19

2020

Mar 15

2020

2 Timothy 4:6-8: Finishing Well

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6–8 Series: 2 Timothy: Faithful to the End

Mar 1

2020