Give Attention to Reading, to Exhortation, and to Doctrine

Transcription

1 Give Attention to Reading, to Exhortation, and to Doctrine I. Introduction. A. Reference to series of lessons from 1 Timothy 4: Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you. 2. Let no one despise your youth. - young people are important. 3. Be an example to the believers. - young people can have a great impact on the church. - here are six ways that you can influence your brethren. 4. Today, we are going to be focusing on verse Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. B. A quick look at this verse. 1. Contain very practical advice for young people. 2. How can you grow into the type of person that God wants you to be? - if you look 10,15, 20 years into the future. 3. These three suggestions will help you get there. 4. Give attention to these things. - means that these things are important. - you need to spend time doing these things. C. Goal of the Lesson. 1. To get all of us to realize the value of these things. 2. To motivate all of us, especially those who are young, to make a decision to make these things habits in our lives. - to read our Bible every day. - to exhort and encourage our brethren continually. - to place great value on sound doctrine, especially in light of the ecumenical views of our day. - ecumenical means that you accept everyone no matter what views they have. - that we all can have different views on Bible truths and still be okay. II. Give Attention to Reading. A. The Value of Reading. 1. I can t really say that I enjoy reading. - but I understand it s value. - and I have done a lot of it. 2. We try to emphasize on our children the value of reading.

2 - children who read a lot stimulate their brain and develop faster. 3. People who read have a better vocabulary and usually better speaking skills. 4. Reading develops imagination and creativity. B. Reading is a necessity in the life of a Christian. 1. Literacy is a necessity in the world in which we live. 2. It is also a necessity in the life of a Christian. 3. Yet how often do we read our Bibles? - do we only open our Bibles when we come together as a congregation? - there are many who don t even bring their Bibles to church or even open them during a sermon like this. 4. How many people leave their Bibles on the pew or in the car? 5. How many people put their Bible on the shelf and forget about it? C. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 1. Isn t that statement just as true today? 2. How many people are there in the religious world today who have a good knowledge of the Bible? - in the denominational world, I believe you have auditoriums full of people who only know what they have heard from the pulpit. - yet sadly, I believe that is pretty much true in even conservative and sound churches. 3. This is not because the Bible is too difficult to understand. - it is because we are not willing to put forth the effort on our own to read and study God s word. 4. How many of you like to read? (Ask for a show of hands) 5. How many of you have ever fallen asleep reading a book? (Ask for a show of hands) - you ve probably done this because you didn t want to put the book down. - you re eyes gave out on you before you could finish reading. 6. Psalm 119:82. - My eyes fail from searching Your word. - this is the type of attitude we need to develop towards God s word. - that our eyes give out before our heart does. - that we want to keep reading, but our eyes just won t let us read anymore. 7. Public scripture readings and readings during class or sermons. - How long does it take before your mind wanders and you lose concentration? - What would be the reaction if a man gets up and announces that he is going to read the first 5 chapters of the book of Matthew? - Through our actions and reactions, we show very little interest in hearing the word of God read. - those of you who have preached sermons or taught classes, have you ever looked out at the audience and witnessed people sleeping or daydreaming or totally ignoring what is going on.

3 - Look at two passages in Nehemiah. - Neh. 8:3, Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. - Neh. 9:3, And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. - Could you imagine a public reading of the law of Moses for three to six hours? - and they were attentive. 8. My point is that we need to develop a desire and love for reading the Bible. D. A love for reading God s word must start early on in life. 1. You remember the example of Eunice and Lois. - taught Timothy early on a love for the Scriptures. - 2 Tim. 3:15, from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2. Listen to what Moses command the Israelites regarding the reading of God s law. - Deuteronomy 31:11-13, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess. - Moses is emphasizing the need for children to learn the word of God. E. Several points of application. 1. Parents, read the Bible to your young children. 2. Parents, when your children learn to read, teach them to read the Bible. 3. Young people, start the habit early of reading your Bible every day. 4. To everyone, start reading your Bible. III. Give Attention to Exhortation. A. You could look at this admonition in one of two ways. 1. Paul is instructing Timothy to listen to and learn from exhortation. - such as when Paul himself is exhorting Timothy to do better. - or when others would exhort Timothy to grow. 2. Or Paul is instructing Timothy to exhort others. - to encourage and strengthen other Christians. 3. I believe that Paul is referring to the latter.

4 - that Timothy needed to exhort Christians. B. Exhorting is a large part of a preacher s responsibility Timothy 4:2, Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering ant teaching. 2. Paul told another preacher virtually the same thing. - Titus 2:15, Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. 3. The idea of exhorting means to encourage, to motivate, to strengthen. - persuading someone to be stronger in the faith. 4. Preachers aren t supposed to just state the facts. - they are to try to motivate their listeners to respond to the facts. C. Exhorting is not just preacher work. It is the work of all Christians. 1. Really you could say that exhorting each other is our main responsibility to one another. 2. It is why we come together in assemblies like this. - And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10: Christians have made a pact with each other. - The pact is that we will make it to heaven together. - I will do whatever it takes to see to it that you will stay on the straight and narrow path that leads to heaven. 4. Hebrews 3:12-13, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. - when we see one of our brethren who is slipping away, what should we do? We should exhort him, and do whatever it takes to bring him back. D. This is an area in which I believe that we are failing. 1. Many churches have a revolving door out the back of the building. - their attendance stays pretty much the same. - but they gain members and they lose members. - and we pretty much just accept that. 2. If we could ever figure out a way to shut that revolving door. - imagine the growth that we could have if we wouldn t lose so many. 3. Turnover percentage. 4. What happens when a person starts slipping away from the church? - maybe they start missing some services. - pretty soon they ve quit coming. 5. Maybe a couple of people write cards to them; maybe even the preacher or an elder goes to visit with them. 6. But, let me ask you a question: What should happen when a Christian starts slipping away?

5 - they should be overwhelmed with cards, phone calls, and visits from concerned brethren. - they should get the idea from us that we care about them and we aren t going to just let them go without a fight. E. Practical advice to a young person. 1. Go ahead and get over the fear of confrontation now. 2. The thing that stops us from rebuking and exhorting. 3. We don t want to make anyone mad. 4. We don t want anyone to feel uncomfortable, including ourselves. 5. My advice and Paul s advice is to go ahead and get over that now. - if you will, you can accomplish a whole lot of good in helping your brethren reach the goal of heaven. IV. Give Attention to Doctrine. A. My first point regarding this is very simple. 1. Doctrine is important. 2. Doctrine can be defined as a body of teaching. 3. The New Testament speaks of doctrine as a set of teaching that cannot be compromised and must be obeyed. - 2 John 9-10, Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 4. We live in a religious climate in which there is not much emphasis at all put on doctrine. - Everybody s got their own doctrine. - Baptist doctrine, Methodist doctrine, Church of Christ doctrine, etc. - People have come to the conclusion that doctrine isn t all that important. - As long as you believe in God and love Him and are sincere then you are alright, no matter what doctrine you hold. 5. Here, in 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul emphasizes the importance of doctrine. - Give attention to it, Timothy. 6. Look down a few verses to 1 Timothy 4:16. - Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. - notice the connection between doctrine and salvation. B. It is interesting to note that Paul emphasizes doctrine to the young preachers, Timothy and Titus, in the letter that he sends them. 1. It tells me that young people need to learn the right doctrine. 2. He mentions sound doctrine in several verses to these two young men. - 1 Tim. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:3; Titus 1:9; Titus 2:1 3. What is sound doctrine? - to be sound means to be well, to be in good health. - or to be in a good, solid condition.

6 V. Conclusion. - if we were to talk about a floor being sound, we would be saying that it is solid and in good repair. - doctrine that is sound or in good health. 4. There is only one way for doctrine to be sound or healthy. - that is, for it to come straight from the word of God. - 2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. C. My point is that young people need to develop a reliance upon the Scriptures early on in life. 1. Learn a respect for the all-sufficiency of the Bible. 2. To learn to not go beyond the words of the Scriptures. 3. Young people are challenged to think. - especially when you get to college. - challenge everything that you have known. - and that s not bad in and of itself. 4. But, you must remember what the Bible is. - The Bible is the inspired word of God. - No matter how educated we might get, and no matter how high our thoughts might get, we will never compare to the wisdom that is found in this book. 5. Learn to treat the Bible for what it is. - The standard of authority. - If the Bible authorizes it, then do it. - If the Bible doesn t authorize it, then refrain from doing it. 6. Doctrine is important. - Our soul depends upon knowing and keeping sound doctrine. A. Practical Advice. 1. Make reading your Bible a habit. 2. Get in the practice of encouraging your brethren. 3. Rely on God s word before anyone else. B. What will you do with it?