The Pastor's Mandate
The Word of God for the people of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
to preach or proclaim. Refers to publicly preaching or proclaiming a message.
to make public declarations, proclaim aloud
“Preach the Word!” is the main responsibility that Paul shared in this section. Everything else he said is related to this. The word “preach” means “to preach like a herald.” In Paul’s day, a ruler had a special herald who made announcements to the people. He was commissioned by the ruler to make his announcements in a loud, clear voice so everyone could hear. He was not an ambassador with the privilege of negotiating; he was a messenger with a proclamation to be heard and heeded. Not to heed the ruler’s messenger was serious; to abuse the messenger was even worse.
What this verse says to us is that the preaching is the pastor’s highest calling.
Famine in the Land: A Passionate Call for Expository Preaching 1. Feast or Famine?: The Priority of Biblical Preaching
Biblical preaching must always occupy the leading place of influence in the life of any church. At the core of any healthy congregation is a vibrant exposition of God’s Word.
Famine in the Land: A Passionate Call for Expository Preaching 4. No Higher Calling: The Passion of Biblical Preaching
“The work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.
Purpose Statement: To demonstrate to us the significance of the preaching the word of God
Propositional Statement: Timothy is charged in the presence of supreme witnesses to carry out a supreme task in the midst of imminent danger
Interrogative Adverb: What? What is the Pastor’s Mandate?
This morning I want to share with you three aspects of the pastor’s mandate.
Gravity of the Mandate 2 Tim. 4:1
Gravity of the Mandate 2 Tim. 4:1
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:
An oath sworn by a deity or deities was considered especially binding and dangerous to break; in the same way, a charge witnessed by a deity or deities was sacred and inviolable. A broken oath would be avenged by the god whose name was violated; for Jewish people and Christians, the ultimate judgment was in the coming day of the Lord.
As we read this verse it is clear that Timothy is charged in the presence of the greatest of witnesses. It is clear that this task of preaching is no joke matter.
If Paul called on the council at Jerusalem to bear witness that is one thing.
If he called on
the apostles
the angels
creation itself, it still would have been a high calling
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
1st Witness: God
We don’t need to hear any other witness because God is the highest witness that anyone could ever call on
He didn’t start with a lower authority, instead he began by calling on God, the highest of authorities there is
2nd Witness: Christ Jesus
Judge the living and the dead
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
So whether Timothy is dead or alive he must stand before the judge.
Then we must conclude that the pastor must preach with the mindset that he is first and foremost preaching in the presence of one -God.
3rd Witness: Christ Second Coming
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
4th Witness: His kingdom
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Paul calls on God and Christ to be witnesses to what he is going to charge Timothy with [HNTC].
Illustration
Those of you who are employed, when you were hired by your employers, you were given a set of duties/task to carry out....
Application
Can the Pastor neglect this responsibility without being noticed?
Qualities of the Mandate 2 Tim. 4:2
Qualities of the Mandate 2 Tim. 4:2
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Be ready
to be present in readiness to discharge a task, fix one’s mind on, be attentive to
stand by, be at hand
In Season: εὐκαίρως (LN 67.6) (BAGD p. 321): ‘convenient’ [BAGD; NAB], ‘favorable’ [TNT], ‘welcome’ [NJB], ‘in season’ [BAGD, HNTC, ICC, NTC; KJV, NASB, NIV, REB], ‘in good season’ [Lns]. This word is also translated by a clause: ‘(whether) the time is favorable/right’ [NRSV, TEV], ‘(whether) you are expected’ [HERM], ‘when it is convenient’ [BAGD].
Out of Season: pertaining to the lack of a favorable opportunity for doing something—‘unfavorable, when the time is not right.
15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Reprove: ‘to rebuke’ [LN], ‘to correct’ [BAGD; NAB, NIV], ‘to refute’ [HNTC], ‘to refute falsehood/false teaching’ [ICC; NJB], ‘to use argument’ [REB], ‘to convince’ [NRSV, TEV], ‘to convict’ [Lns]. He is to refute false teaching and to rebuke wrong-doers [ICC].
to state that someone has done wrong, with the implication that there is adequate proof of such wrongdoing
20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
Rebuke: to rebuke wrong-doers’ [ICC], ‘to reprove’ [BAGD; NAB], ‘to censure’ [BAGD], ‘to reproach’ [TEV], ‘to chide’ [Lns], ‘to correct error’ [NJB], ‘to correct’ [TNT], ‘to threaten’ [HERM], ‘to use reproof’ [REB], ‘to pass censure on’ [ICC]. He is to reproach or warn those who do not heed the rebuke [GNC, ICC] and tell them to stop doing wrong [LSA].
This verb primarily refers to the action of verbally correcting someone or something.
Exhort
to urge strongly, appeal to, urge, exhort, encourage1
13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
Preaching must be marked by three elements: conviction, warning, and appeal (“reprove, rebuke, exhort”). To quote an old rule of preachers, “He should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” If there is conviction but no remedy, we add to people’s burdens. And if we encourage those who ought to be rebuked, we are assisting them to sin. Biblical preaching must be balanced.
With complete patience and teaching
God’s speaker must be patient as he preaches the Word. He will not always see immediate results. He must be patient with those who oppose his preaching. Above all else, he must preach doctrine. He must not simply tell Bible stories, relate interesting illustrations, or read a verse and then forget it. True preaching is the explanation and application of Bible doctrine.
Rationality of the Mandate 2 Tim. 4:3-4
Rationality of the Mandate 2 Tim. 4:3-4
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.
Endure
① to regard w. tolerance, endure, bear with, put up with;
Sound Teaching
② to be sound or free from error, be correct,
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”
Itching ears
‘to say what their itching ears want to hear’ [NIV], ‘who will tell them what they are itching to hear’ [TEV], ‘to desire to hear what they want to hear’ [LN], ‘they will want to hear only what they fancy’ [TNT], ‘to suit their own desires’ [NRSV].
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
Myths
Yearning for novelties instead of sound doctrine.
Itching ears indicates a yearning for novelty that results in a pursuit of teachers who will tell people what they want to hear (to suit their own passions) instead of orthodox teachers like Timothy
Conclusion
The Pastor’s Mandate
Gravity of the Mandate
Qualities of the Mandate
Rationality of the Mandate