1 Timothy: A Good Servant of Jesus Christ
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I. Introduction
A. Over our past few studies, we have been examining the qualifications of elders and deacons. We have seen the high standard that those who hold these positions of service must have to be able to fulfill their roles in a godly way.
B. In today’s lesson, we are going to continue this line of study by looking at another position of service among the body of Christ – the role of the evangelist and the character that is demanded of him if he is to be a “good servant of Jesus Christ.” This is the main idea of . Timothy, as an evangelist, is given instruction from Paul that shows him how he must live within the body of Christ along with describing the work that he is to do as he works with churches.
II. What is an Evangelist?
A. As with our last study, this is also an instance of a Greek word being brought straight into English. The translators took the Greek word and gave it English letters, in essence creating a new word in our language… If the translators actually translated the word into English, it would be translated as a proclaimer or a preacher of good news, or as we would commonly say today, “a Gospel Preacher”
B. Also, just as with our last lesson on deacons, there are not a lot of passages that use our English word evangelist. In this case, there are three verses we will look at –, , and .
1. "On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him." ()
a) In this passage, all that we are told is that at this point, Philip was an evangelist. There is nothing in this passage that shows us a lot about the work that he is to do as an evangelist. We do see Philip in preaching the gospel, but it is not clear whether or not he was an evangelist yet.
2. "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…" ()
a) This passage shows us that the service of ‘evangelist’ was given so that they, along with the shepherds and teachers would be able to equip the saints to work and serve within the body of Christ. These men are not the only workers. They equip the saints to work and minister.
3. "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." ()
a) This passage is where we would go to see that Timothy was an evangelist, not a pastor as is commonly believed.
b) This passage also shows us the main way in which the preacher of the Gospel equips the saints… by preaching the word. We will talk more about this shortly
4. These are all of the passages which specifically mention the word evangelist. This is not to say that these are the only passages that talk about their work. The epistles to Timothy & Titus are the best places to go in order to see what the Apostles expected of Evangelists. These epistles show us that they were in the New Testament times representatives of the Lord Jesus and of the Apostles as they taught the instructions that the Apostles gave them to give to the churches. They would be sent by the Apostles to specific churches to give them instructions from the Apostles, and they would stay until they were either sent somewhere else by the Apostles or decided themselves to go somewhere else
5. The passage that we are going to quickly go through today is one such passage that gives us a good picture of what the Apostles expected of evangelists. Timothy has already been given some instructions about his role as an evangelist (for instance, his need to appoint elders and deacons (ch3), to be devoted to prayer (ch2), to deal with the false teachers (ch1)… these are all roles of the evangelist). But Paul continues in chapter 4 to give Timothy instructions regarding the work he needs to do while he works with these brethren. He tells him about his role and his character in this passage.
6. Paul says in verse 6 that if Timothy does these things, especially in our first point we will look at, then he is being a good servant of the Lord Jesus in the role of service he was entrusted.
III. Six qualities of a good servant ():
A. I would like to take note of 6 qualities of an evangelist in this passage that, if fulfilled, will make an evangelist a good; noble servant of Jesus.
1. Warns God’s people of error
a. In verse 6, Paul says that if Timothy instructed the brethren in these things, which may be talking about what comes prior to this verse and what follows, he will be a good minister. In verses 1-5, he gives warnings to Timothy about the danger of false teaching in the “latter times.” Whether this is talking about the false teachings they are currently dealing with in Ephesus or things they will deal with in the future is unclear. Both are possibilities. But the idea here is that Timothy must warn the brethren about the doctrines of Satan that come into the church and destroy it. He is to warn them so that they are not part of the number who fall away from the faith, giving heed to Satan’s lies.
b. This is not the main emphasis of his teaching as we will see shortly, but it is an important role. Timothy as an evangelist was supposed to command false teachers to stop teaching their doctrines, but not only this, he was also to remind the brethren about the danger of false teaching, but also be able to instruct the brethren about specific doctrines and why they were erroneous. This will help the brethren to be able to be equipped to deal with it when they are approached by false teachers.
2. A student of scripture (v6)
a. Second, an evangelist is a student of Scripture. If you want to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, one must, as Paul shows us in v6, be “nourished by the words of the faith and the good doctrine which you have closely followed.” This is so basic. Paul uses the present passive participle, being nourished, showing this is a continual action needed in Timothy’s life. You need to be being continually nourished. It is a continual process of self- feeding, by reading and reading and reading and reading and inwardly digesting and meditating and dialoguing and mastering the content of the Word of God, rightly dividing it so that you are a workman who needs not to be ashamed. This will help him be devoted to teaching truth, and also guard him from error, such as the error that Paul mentions in v7 – profane and old wives-fables.
b. He is a prayerful student of God’s word (2:1-7).
3. Devoted to serving others with the word (4:13, 16)
a. The life of the evangelist is devoted to teaching the word of God to all men. Whether this be publically or in private. Paul tells Timothy in 4:13, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” We saw this same idea in . The main role of the evangelist is to teach the word of God, to preach the word publically in privately
b. "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." ()
c. Paul says in verse 16 to Timothy, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.” The evangelist may pay careful attention to what he will say, and Paul tells us why in this passage. What comes out of his mouth will make an impact on his hearers, whether it be for good or evil. This is why he must be a good student of God’s word.
4. Teaches w/ authority
a. "Command and teach these things." ()
b. This man does give the commands of the Lord Jesus. He is a representative of Jesus and His apostles as he preaches the word of God.
c. If the truth is being taught, to reject or ignore what is said from God’s word by the evangelist is to reject Jesus and His apostles.
5. Devoted to personal growth
a. "Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." ()
b. The picture we see here is neat. Your version may wither say “train yourself for godliness,” “discipline yourself towards godliness,” or “exercise towards godliness” The word he uses here (gumnazo) to get this idea across meant to exercise, or to train yourself in an athletic endeavor, which means rigorous, strenuous self-sacrificing kind of training. He is saying to train yourself to be godly like a professional athlete would train consistently in order to win. The idea is that this is something you need to devote yourself to do. It will be hard work to do it consistently.
c. This training is done in part by being a student of scripture. But it also comes in devoting oneself to not just studying, but doing what it says. The life and the teaching of the evangelist should not be at odds with one another. He must be growing in the areas that he is encouraging God’s people to grow in.
d. An example to other believers – "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." ()
i. Timothy as a preacher of God’s word was to devote himself to show, not just in his teaching, but in his example, what it means to live like a disciple of Christ
e. Paul tells Timothy to devote himself to these things – to immerse himself in them in such a way that even those who he is working with will see his progress in the faith. This is the kind of growth that an evangelist must devote himself to.
6. Committed to work
a. "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." ()
b. We have another of Paul’s trustworthy statements here. It is unclear whether the trustworthy statement is what comes before or after verse 9, but the verses are giving us the same idea
c. The work that the evangelist is doing is work. Paul says that they labor and strive… Many think a preacher only works two days per week… not the case at all. To do all of the things in this lesson is hard work. It takes a lot out of you.
IV. Conclusion Observations
A. Evangelists have certain qualifications or credentials that they must have to be able to be a good servant of Christ in their role. Just because there is not a passage that says “the evangelist must” as there are with deacons and elders does not mean that there are not expectations that the Apostles give regarding an evangelist. I believe this is something we often miss!
B. What makes the service of an evangelist and the services of elder and deacon different is
1. An evangelist’s work is not limited to just one congregation in the New Testament. The elders were over one congregation. The deacons were servants of the local church they were members of. The evangelists were representatives of the apostles who would go from church to church teaching and building up the brethren. This is not to say that they didn’t stay in one place for a long period of time. They did at times. Philip had a house in Caesarea, for instance. He was there from the end of to where we see him again in – he was there for many years.
C. We need to be careful that we do not create our own template of what an evangelist/Gospel preacher is.
1. It is often the case that churches look at evangelists in the same way that denominations look at the role of the pastor. The idea of a man being “the evangelist of a single congregation” who belongs to the congregation (is the congregation’s preacher) and who receives support from only the congregation they are working with is not a New Testament concept
2. He is looked at as the man who does the work of the congregation. He does all of the visiting… he does all of the preaching and teaching… He takes care of the website and the bulletin. He answers all of the phone calls at the building and teaches all of the home studies… This is not to say that these things are wrong… this is just to say that churches need to be careful not to make it so there are just a few doing all of the work. The biblical pattern is that the few train the many to do the work of ministry.