1 Timothy 4:6–16 (NRSV)
A Good Minister of Jesus Christ
6 If you put these instructions before the
brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on
the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. 7 Have
nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in
godliness, 8 for, while physical training is of some value,
godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life
and the life to come. 9 The saying is sure and worthy of full
acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and struggle, because we
have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people,
especially of those who believe.
11 These are the things you must insist on
and teach. 12 Let no one despise your youth, but set the
believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until
I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to
teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was
given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of
elders. 15 Put these things into practice, devote yourself to
them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Pay close attention
to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this
you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Responding to a call to be a young Christian leader during the time of quarantine
This book is Paul’s instruction to Timothy a young minister
of the church by St Paul the seasoned apostle of the church. As a young man he
is told that he has two paths to choose, the wrong one that will make him
ineffective as a Christin leader and a right one that will keep on increase his
effectiveness as a Christian minister in the changing circumstances of the life
of his church members. One of these paths will become a reality in his life
depending on his response.
The instructions that Timothy gets from Paul are many and
loaded with a lot of meaning. Let us consider some of those instructions for
our consideration in today’s study of the text. Let me pick up the following instructions
for a brief detailing to build our devotion. They are namely, 1. Depart from
(4:1), 2. Follow (4:6), 3. Train yourself (4:7-8), 4. Strive and hope (4:10),
and 5. Progress
1. Depart from
Paul advises Timothy to depart from deceitful
spirits and demons. The deceitful spirits and demons are not a reference to the
otherworldly beings, but a symbolic expression of the daily temptations that
keep us away from a close relationship with God and a knowledge of His ways. He
is also to be aware of the hypocrisy of liars and a seared conscience. Don’t be naïve
to take all the truth claims around us as it is not the truth that is
propagated by the people who attract our attention through different means. Be
alert in your conscience to identify the self-interests and profit motives of
people who try to waver our attention from growing up as faithful servants of
God. Also, beware of the false teachings, false prophesies, false spiritualities
that blur the focus of a strenuous and disciplined Christian living, and lead us
astray to justify the pleasure-oriented life. In Timothy’s time-teachings forbidding
marriage and encouraging abstinence were in popularity. Even in our times, we
see such fashionable versions of Christianity that advocate life-negating
social practices. But Paul’s thesis is that enjoying the gifts in thankfulness
to God is more important and necessary than practices of abstinence. There are
controversies among us about accepting a new lifestyle by the youth. What
should be measuring rod that we apply in legitimizing a lifestyle?
Acceptability of a lifestyle to God rather than a church tradition should be
the criteria for that. Paul says that anything that edifies the Christian community
living, or that nourishes our feeling of thankfulness to God or that affirms
the sanctity of life can be accepted and others rejected. The measuring rods
should be the ethos and values that the Bible upholds. The kingdom values the Christians
as a community is upholding. Individual freedom or liberty of opinion should
not be the sole criteria to choose a lifestyle as the contemporary culture teaches
us. We may be free to choose, but not free to choose the consequences of
choices that we make. Whether it be our experiments with drugs, sex, or
technology, we cannot have the freedom to choose the consequences of those
experiments. Those choices will be our character-shaping choices and to escape
from the consequences of those choices will be the hardest way forward.
2. Follow
You should not forget the fact that you are
a person nourished in the house of the Lord (v.6). “I am reminded of your
sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your
mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this
reason, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the
laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of
cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and self-discipline (2 Ti
1:5–7).”[1] We
all need to look back into our days of early development in our homes and
churches to realize the sense of the presence of God that surrounded us from the
very time of our formation in our mother’s womb. Do not ignore or waste the
advantages of your upbringing in a Temple of God, in a Christian home. Words of
faith and sound teachings that were echoed in our churches and homes are to be
held on to forever. Let us inscribe in our hearts the Word of God being read
and explained and prayers faithfully uttered by our parents and grandparents. Clinging
on to the right way, right faith, and right spirituality as a continuity with
the faith of our older generations and building on them in accordance with the
gifts and blessings we receive from God will grant a sharper sense of our Christian
identity while living in the wider society. That will further help us to be mindful
of the boundary that we need to respect being the disciples of Christ in the
larger society. The Christian life involves movement, a movement to realize the meaningfulness
of living in a changing world as Christians.
3. Train yourself
Another important instruction by Paul to
Timothy is to train in Godliness. Whatever be the situations of life the young
minister of God should not feel a slackness in exercising Godliness in his life.
Paul uses the imagery of an athlete’s preparation for a race to teach his
hearers about the spiritual preparedness in many places in his letters. “While physical
training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise
for both the present life and the life to come (v.8).” Slackness and lack of
discipline is a dangerous possibility of a lapse in any disciple’s life. The time
of quarantine is a very tempting time to be slack in our disciplines as it tempts
us to sleep more, eat unnecessarily, spend more time browsing idly on computers
and smartphones, etc. It can also affect our spiritual discipline as there is
no compulsion from anywhere to read the Bible, do personal and family
prayers. Paul advises Timothy to keep us with the godly practices of thanksgiving,
believing and knowing the truth, loving, nourishing faith, and living in purity.
This training in Godliness is not merely aimed at attaining a mere victor’s
wreath, a perishable wreath. But life both now and in the age to come. Therefore,
the training in godliness helps us live meaningfully in the present age as well
as in the age to come. Let not this time frustrate us because of the lack of
our godly disciplines.
4. Strive and Hope
Timothy has to strive hard to maintain hope in his life. The striving
involves reading the scripture, studying it, encouraging others through the
explication of it, and teaching the fellow church members in ways of God (4:13).
Training in Godliness should be put in the context of long-term benefits. It points
our attention to the hope of salvation beyond the current experiences of life. “For
to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living
God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe (v.10).” 1
Cor 9:24–25 we read; “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it
to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.” Hope is not a mere
aspiration of good times to come, but a concrete assurance we experience
because of our intimate relationship with a living God. Hope arises out of
Christian conviction that God is our Savior and he is the guarantor of our hope
too. Hope is the confidence of sharing in God’s salvation in the present and
now.
5. Progress
Paul warns Timothy not to neglect the gifts
that are in him (4:14). The gifts are
permanent deposits in our person invested by God. But they can be either
neglected or rekindled (2 Timothy 1:6). Timothy is asked to rekindle his gifts bestowed
on him by the presbyter’s hands. We too have our own experiences of assurance of
reception of gifts through the laying on of hands by the ministers of the church.
Or through be a prayer done for us by a parent, grandparent or a friend. Timothy is
to provide exemplary leadership to the church through the proper nourishing of
those gifts “in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity,”[2] Timothy
has to present himself as a model to be copied. Authority of status he is
holding in the church must be matched by the quality of life that he leads. A
development towards maturity that imitates Christ in everything is a necessity
in our Christian life. A choice once made to follow Jesus has to be repeatedly
reaffirmed and lived out.[3] Each
gift and the commission associated with it in the church has to be carefully
thought about, patiently cultivated, and humbly practiced. We all are gifted in
different ways; some can sing, some teach, some speak well, some paint
well and some write cogently. Every gift should be thought about, nurtured, and practiced. The gifts that are not practiced will wither. And let us not
despise the gifts in us at a time like this. Let us do something to cheer the
world and give it hope. May the good Lord bless us all!
[1] The Holy Bible: New
Revised Standard Version. (1989). (2 Ti 1:5–7). Nashville:
Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[2]
Dunn, J. D. G. (1994–2004). The First and Second Letters to Timothy and the Letter to
Titus. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New
Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 11, p. 814). Nashville: Abingdon Press.
[3]
Dunn, J. D. G. (1994–2004). The First and Second Letters to Timothy and the Letter to
Titus. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New
Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 11, p. 816). Nashville: Abingdon Press.
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