1 Timothy 4.6-16
The River of Grace
Stewardship 2015
You Are a River Guide
 11.15.2015 – First UMC St.
Cloud
Note from Pastor Mike: I want to encourage our church family to look
deeper into what God speaks to us through the Message.
Here at First United Methodist Church of Saint Cloud we believe that God
speaks to us through the Message. One way for all of us to hear from God
more clearly is to read the Scripture verses and the Message again during
the week.
I would really like to hear your comments and how God is challenging you
through the worship service and the Message. It would be great to hear
your discussion ideas. Please feel free to send me your discussion points.
Your friend on the journey,
Pastor Mike
(NIV) 1 Timothy 4.6-16 – 6 If you point these things out to the brothers and
sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths
of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have
nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself
to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has
value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to
come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is
why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God,
who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
11 Command
and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you
because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in
conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to
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the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not
neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body
of elders laid their hands on you.
15 Be
diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that
everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely.
Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your
hearers.
Introduction: You Are a River Guide
1. This is our last in the message series about God's River of Grace. We
have used this image of a flowing, often raging, river to focus on God's
grace that flows into our lives. God's grace: God’s freely given love,
forgiveness, power and food, shelter and income. This morning our
conversation will be about leaving a lasting legacy for those who
follow after us here in our church - for new believers, for younger
believers, for our children and all those who will continue to look to this
church as a means to experience Jesus and grow in their faith.
a. Our conversation also applies to our own individual live. Your faith in
Jesus leaves a legacy for many of the people in your life: spouses,
children, grandchildren, neighbors, coworkers and friends.
2. One more river story. This past summer you all gave me the opportunity
to go to Camp Rainey Mountain in North Georgia with our Boy Scout
Troop 192 as the Troop Chaplain. As part of our week at camp, the
youth and adults went white water rafting on the Nantahala River.
When we arrived they gave us the normal safety procedure speech.
We were told how to "swim," or more specifically, get carried along by
the river if we fell overboard. Then they divided out troop into groups of
six. They then told us, we would only have trained guides in half of our
rafts. That would mean some of our adults would have to guide their
own rafts down the river. So, I get told, I mean volunteered, "You are
now a river guide." So off I go to guide my raft onward down the river.
NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE.
3. As we set off down the Nantahala River, I tried to remember anything I
have seen the guides do on the many trips I had been on. Then, I tried
to emulate as best I could how the trained guide ran their rafts onward
down the river. A few times, one of the real guides (as opposed to me,
the "terrified guide") would point out how to correctly maneuver the
raft in the rapids. Now, we did a lot of unintentional three-sixties. At one
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point, I almost fell out of the raft as we went over a rock (which we,
well, I successfully failed to go around). I put my hand out trying to
steady myself on the side of the raft, instead I missed the side, placing
my hand on the rock and promptly got my hand stuck between the
boat and the rock. Ouch!
4. As we came to the rapids, I realized how significant a responsibility I
had for the safety of these scouts, one of whom was my own son. This
heightened the importance of working hard to guide this raft as best as
I could onward down the river. As Christians, you and I have this same
responsibility to do the hard work to successfully guide the next
generation of believers and the future of our church family Onward
Down the River of God's Grace.
The “Big Idea” – God is constantly challenging us to guide the next
generation of believers onward down the river of God's grace; to leave a
lasting legacy in their lives and in our church.
A. Help Believers
What we see in 1 Timothy 4.6-16 is the early church setting up definite,
though not too detailed, borders that will help believers speak and act in
ways that will lead them to become more and more like Jesus.
1. In 1 Timothy 4.6-16, we find Paul, one of the pivotal leaders in the first
generation of the Church, speaking to Timothy, a church leader of the
next generation. What we are reading is an older church leader
speaking to the next generation about what is of lasting importance in
the life of the church – Paul is seeking to leave a lasting legacy. Paul
(older generation) begins by reminding Timothy (younger generation)
of the way he was 1 Timothy 4.6b – 6 ....nourished on the truths of the
faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Certainly,
Timothy was taught by listening to older Christians tell about how to live
the Christian life and by watching them actually live out their Christian
lives. One generation deliberately sets out with their words and their
actual living to help believers of the next to be Christ-like or to act like
Jesus - this is discipleship.
2. Moving on with this idea of discipleship or learning to do what Jesus
would do in your own life, Paul takes up this image of being an athlete
in training for a physically challenging event. We read in 1 Timothy 4.7-
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8a – 7 ....train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some
value, but godliness has value for all things.... Learning to be "godly" or
learning to act like Jesus requires strict discipline: time, energy and
practice. Then he separates physical training from discipleship training
to remind us that there is more to life than what we now experience. In
fact, training to be a disciple is 1 Timothy 4.8b – 8 ....holding promise for
both the present life and the life to come. Following after Jesus brings us
into the saving life-of-God both in this present life and in the life after
Jesus returns to make all things new.
3. So, our text sets out to encourage each new generation of believers to
learn what it is to live the Christian life. Then to help believers in the next
generation practice it so as to get better and better at doing what
Jesus would do in your own lives. Our text ends by explaining the
reason for this which, though for our own good, is also for the good of
other believers. Timothy 4.15-16 – 15 Be diligent in these matters; give
yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if
you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. You will lead
people onward down the river.
B. Self-Absorption and Stagnation
Our Christian faith becomes self-absorbed and stagnates if we do not
pass it on to others and to the next generation of believer in our church
family.
1. Erik Erikson (June 15, 1902 – May 12, 1994) offers us some important
insight here, Erikson was a Danish-German-American developmental
psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social
development of human beings. The development of identity seems to
have been one of Erikson's greatest concerns in his own life as well as in
his theory. He may be most famous for coining the phrase identity crisis.
One of these identity crisis comes in Middle Adulthood (35 to 55 or 65):
Generativity vs. Self absorption or Stagnation. The significant task is
transmitting the values of one's culture and working to establish a
stable environment for the future. Strength comes through care of
others and production of something that contributes to the betterment
of society, which Erikson calls Generativity. One of the best ways to
successfully navigate through this crisis is to fully engage in establishing
and guiding the next generation
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2. If we don't get through this stage successfully, we can become self-
absorbed and stagnate. Believers and church families face a similar
crisis. We come to a point in our individual lives or in the life of a church
family where we realize that the world is changing around us. Even for
those of us who have known God’s faithfulness for years, to be
confronted with the possibility of having to move into uncomfortable
new experiences can be frightening. We have the opportunity, though,
to embrace this move into the unfamiliar as a call from God for us to
develop a deeper faith and greater capacity to work with Jesus in our
world. For our discussion, to leave a lasting legacy for the future by
leading the next generation here at First United Methodist Church
onward down the river of God's grace.
3. When you and I forget that others depend on our faith for their own
faith then when we do not Timothy 4.6 – 6 If you point these things out to
the brothers and sisters...., and younger generation and younger
Christians and even our peers in the faith are not ....nourished on the
truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. We
do this when we gossip about others, practice racism, do not study the
Scriptures or pray, speak harmful words about others, do not worship
wholeheartedly, spend our money unwisely, see worship as optional,
we are more concerned about politics than people and more......
C. Our Hope
This idea of generativity, leaving a lasting legacy, begins in reading the
Bible which opens our lives to our hope we have in the living God our
savior.
1. Paul tells Timothy, one generation of Christians tells the next, parents tell
their children, mature believers tell new believers, 1 Timothy 4.10 –
10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the
living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who
believe. This is the Jewish idea of hope as assurance and not merely
tentative aspiration or a wish. This hope, this assurance is in a God who
is living and thus acting on our lives. Just as we are to Philippians 2.1213 – 12 ....continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
we can be confident that God the Holy Spirit 13 for it is God who works
in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
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READ ALOUD - Philippians 2.12-13 – 12 Continue to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act
in order to fulfill his good purpose.
2. God is working through our lives to bring about or fulfill God's good
purposes. Primarily God's good purposes are salvation of the world
from sin and evil. Though we labor and strive to participate with Jesus in
these works of God, we can only do so because we have God's
presence in our body, mind and soul through God the Holy Spirit,
guiding and empower our lives to be more and more like Jesus. Here
we experience Colossians 1.27b − the glorious riches of this mystery,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We share in the life-of-God
through Jesus the Christ!
3. God offers us this continual transformation in our lives in large part
through the Scriptures. Recall that we have said recently that we would
do well to read the Bible with the assumptions that what occurs on its
pages might just as well occur in our own lives. These qualities (virtues)
that make up a Christ-like character must be learned and practiced so
that God can integrate them into our lives. Through the Bible, God
builds into our minds and character the resources to creatively respond
to various and often-unanticipated difficulties and struggles in life. This
occurs best when you and I read the Bible alone, study it in small
groups and listen to sermons. Then through the power of the Holy Spirit
the story of God told by the Bible becomes our story.
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4. When we truly dwell (live with, think about, practice) these words in the
Bible by putting them into practice (even if only imperfectly at first) we
are driven again and again to a new dependency on God. This arises
out of the fresh inadequacies (our failings, incompetency, defects) that
we discover in our lives as we see our life story in light of the story of life
reveled by God through the Bible. "My prayer is this, that the beauty
and strength of Jesus the Christ will be personally revealed to those of
us who will simply make the effort to do what his word [God speaking
to us from the Bible] indicates (Willard, 296).”
D. Be River Guides
Finally, Paul offers us some practical places in our own lives where we can
begin to be river guides, leaving a lasting legacy by lead others onward
down the river of God's grace.
1. Paul gives some particular, though not a "straightjacket," direction for
living a Christian life that will be adequate to lead others onward down
the river of God's grace. To begin with we read in 1 Timothy 4.12a –
12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young.... The
general principal here is to be bold in living out your faith even if other
believers seem to look down on you because you are young or old,
female, a new believer or not a long time member of the church, from
a different culture or "not from around these parts" and so on. Leading
others onward down the river of God's grace begins with what we “say
and do” or in how we 1 Timothy 4.12b – 12 ....set an example for the
believers in speech, in conduct.... I think we begin searching our hearts
here because our words are so powerful, reflecting what is inside of our
hearts. Then, if what we say is of such importance, then what we “do”
or our “conduct” reveals our integrity. Do our actions match our
words? Our life-style and actions in large part are how we leave a
legacy in the lives of others.
2. Love - Love in the Scriptures has little to do with the emotional feelings
that we often associate with the idea of “love”. Our love for God is
reveled in our obedience to what God speaks to us through the
Scriptures. (NRSV) 1 John 2.3-6 –4Whoever says, ‘I have come to know
him’, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a
person the truth does not exist; 5but whoever obeys his word, truly in this
person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure
that we are in him: 6whoever says, ‘I abide in him’, ought to walk just as
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he walked. How devoted is your heart toward God this week. How
about the love you show towards family, friends, and people you
know? What are some of the ways you showed the love Jesus has for
those who have yet to believe? What acts of service did you perform
to reveal your love for your neighbor?
3. Faith - Faith reveals that we believe that God is reliable and trustworthy.
There are numerous spheres in your life where we evidence faith as an
element of our Christ-like character. The Archbishop of Constantinople
from 349–407, John Chrysostom cautions us, "They [those who have yet
to believe] see our lives [Christian's lives] are open to reproach, our
souls worldly. We admire wealth equally with them, even more. We
have the same horror of death, the same dread of poverty, the same
impatience with disease, we are equally fond of glory and rule....How
can they believe?"
4. Finally, Purity - This is not a word we use very much today except when
we speak about say maybe gold. Part of a Christ-like character is
conforming to God’s standard of sexual behavior. The Bible maintains
that we keep sex within a marriage. It goes even beyond this. Jesus
said that even our thoughts need to be “pure”. (NRSV) Matthew 5.2730 – 27‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.”
28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has
already committed adultery with her in his heart Jesus is underscoring
the significance of holding the wonder and beauty of sex in the highest
regard. In the right place, sex is the greatest gift. Yet, misused, even
with someone we love, sex can lead to untold pain and suffering.
5. Remember, you are or you will be someday leading other believers
onward down the river of God's grace. Like guiding the raft this summer
(only way more important and with eternal significance), you are
responsible in a great part for leaving a Jesus-focused legacy in the
lives of others, especially the next generation of believer in the church.
Be a river guide leading other believers onward down the river of God's
grace.
“Action Point” – Be a river guide - set an example for the believers in
speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.