Keep a Close Watch

6 · Brief review of previous content from 1 Timothy: warnings against false teachers, embracing the gospel, prayer, gender roles, qualified leadership, and receiving God's gifts with thanksgiving

All right. Our passage today begins with the following. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. So this opening encouragement serves as a wonderful opportunity for us to begin today by remembering, by remembering so much what we've learned throughout the letter of First Timothy. So let's do a quick, quick flow through what we learned to date. Paul is calling Timothy to put these things before the brothers. So let's remember. So he's calling Timothy to warn the brothers to watch out for false teachers, for those who would teach myths and endless genealogies that promote speculation, not stewardship from God, those who would boast in their family lineage, especially in particular Jewish heritage. He's calling Timothy to encourage brothers to fully embrace the gospel of our salvation, which we read about after worship. He's calling Timothy to encourage brothers to pray vigorously, to embrace our God given gender roles within the church, to ordain only those qualified for ministry, and to receive God's created gifts like like food and marriage with thanksgiving. For this is obedience that flows from Gospel doctrine. This is how the household of God is to function.

7 · Word study on gymnaso, the Greek term for training, emphasizing that Timothy was to work hard at godliness with the same devotion an Olympic gymnast brings to their discipline

Following that, if you follow along verse seven, Paul strongly commands Timothy to avoid irreverent silly myths and rather train himself for godliness. Train himself. So the Greek word for train being gymnaso, which our word gymnasium comes from, signifies that Timothy was to work hard at godliness, that he was to exert effort and as we'll see later in the passage, truly practice Gospel behaviors in line with godliness. If you're familiar with Allen Iverson, this is not practice. Who needs practice? This is practice. Truly practice gospel behaviors in line with godliness. So for now, imagine an Olympic gymnast who day in, day out, with extreme devotion, trains their body, their mind and their will to perform amazingly difficult feats. That is how Timothy was called to train for godliness.

8 · Exposition of the comparison between physical training and godliness

Alright. Paul goes on to comment that bodily training is of some value, but he also emphasizes that godliness is of value in every way. So now, as alluded to earlier, exercise and physical fitness is certainly important and good and commendable. I've enjoyed my full Body Friday workouts at Planet Fitness with some of the guys. That's been good I think good for me obviously still have some work to do. Physical fitness has so many benefits. It makes you stronger and empowers you to be able to do things that you couldn't do if you weren't in good shape. It helps you think better. It's truly a good thing to do. However, for Paul, who's writing on behalf of the Lord, physical training pales in comparison to godliness as full orbed godliness holds promise for this life and for the life to come for him. Physical training For Paul, physical training was important, but godliness was of the utmost importance and we're going to spend time about how we can train for godliness.

9 · Final exposition point before the sermon's main focus: Timothy is instructed to teach boldly, not neglect his gift, and develop it faithfully

All right, finally, last kind of initial point in verse 11, follow along. Paul instructs Timothy to command and and teach these things and let no one despise him for his youth. However, Paul commands him repeatedly to consistently, fully, boldly to lay out the gospel and the right behavior that flows from gospel truth. He was not to neglect the gift that he had, which was most likely a teaching gift. He was to use it, to develop it, to grow it faithfully to serve his congregation and ultimately the Lord. So that's the beginning of the passage that's a highlight of the first paragraph or so. Now we're going to focus on verses 15 and 16 and really spend the bulk of our time here in verses 15 and 16 because there's just so much truth and personal application that we can mine from these verses. So let me read them again. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this. For by so doing you will see both yourself and your hearers.

10 · Structural transition outlining the sermon's three main commands: practice and immerse, watch closely, and persist

All right, three major commands. These are the three major points for today. Practice and immerse yourself. Watch yourself in the teaching and persist in this Practice and immerse. Watch closely and persist now to service today. By focusing on these two verses, I'm going to draw most of our application to personal, family and friend based ministry. If we were a group of pastors, I'd preach this message differently with a different focus aimed at encouraging gospel ministry and leadership within the church. But while we're not all overseers of a church, we are, we are all overseers of our own hearts and lives. Some of us are overseers of families, of wives and children. And therefore we all have an active ministry either over ourselves or beyond into our families, our discipleship relationships, our community groups and beyond. And we've been talking a lot about this at men's meeting on Wednesday night. We've been talking about this man at prophet, priest and king in their home. We talked about this at the men's retreat and hopefully this will be a good review for the ladies as well. I'm sure you've heard a lot about what we've been talking about. But again, we all have a ministry. Let's make sure we're keeping a watch on ourselves for our ministry, the fruitfulness of our ministry.

11 · Word study on meletao (practice), linking it to the concept of caring deeply

So alright, first command, practice and immerse. Practice and immerse. Practice. The Greek word here for practice, meletao, literally means to care about, to meditate on, to ponder deeply. It's related to the Greek melo which also means to care about. It's used in 1st Peter 5:7. 1 Peter 5:7. Casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. We can cast all of our anxieties on God because He cares for us. Same word, care, related word, care. So just imagine how much God cares for you. He made you, he sustained you. He sacrificed his son for you truly God cares for you. He cares for us. It's with that earnestness, that Zealand, that dedication, that we are to practice. That we are to practice these things, to hold fast to and cherish the truths and behavioral implications of the Gospel. We are to ponder them deeply, to meditate upon them, to hold them dearly.

12 · Cross-reference to Philippians 4:8-9 to reinforce the call to practice godliness

Consider what Paul writes to the Philippians in Philippians 4, 8, 9, familiar verse. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things, what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Here's that word. Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.

13 · Word study on isti (immerse), emphasizing total occupation and absorption

And not only are we called to wholeheartedly practice the Gospel and its implications, but Paul and by extension, God. This is God speaking through Paul to the letter Timothy to us. He calls us to immerse ourselves in gospel teaching. Immerse. Great word. So immerse comes from the Greek isti, which is related to the word amy, which literally means to be occupied in, to give oneself holy, to, to be absorbed in. So consider what occupies your mind and heart. What have you given yourself wholly to? Here in this passage, Paul is calling us to be occupied in, to be absorbed with, to give ourselves wholly to the truths and implications of the Gospel. Coupled with the word practice. He's instructing us to make these things first in our lives, priority one. We're to seek them first and foremost.

14 · Moves from exposition to concrete application

So what does that look like? It's all very kind of ethereal and theoretical. Let's get practical, let's get nitty gritty to ponder the church. Be absorbed by these things. Well, in our pursuit of godliness, we're not just a nibble on a verse Here, there, once in a while, and as good as Sunday morning is for spiritual nourishment, we should not just rely upon a weekly meal of sermonic truth. It's just not enough to feed our souls day in, day out with the wear and tear of our daily responsibilities. We need more than that. We are to immerse ourselves in the truths of the gospel and its implications. We are to devote ourselves to cherish, absorb ourselves in the Word daily. This can take the form of daily devotions or dedicated time to study. Listening to sermons or podcasts in the car, on a walk, talking about the Word with our friends, our spouses, our children and others. Verse memorization in addition to the public spiritual disciplines we enjoy through church, small group and Bible Study attendance. We've got to keep ourselves practicing and immersed in the Word and in truth.

15 · Unpacks the purpose clause of verse 15: 'so that all may see your progress

Now why should we do this? Why should we do this? The verse is very clear. Verse 15 so that all may see your progress. Verse 15 so that all may see your progress. And we don't progress in our faith to show off, to make a big long, impressive prayer, or to make the perfect point, a community group, right? That's not why we do this. But we should be running toward the Lord. We should be practicing and immersing ourselves in the truths of the gospel and its behavior implications in a way that people see our growth. That over a month or three months or six months, people sense, wow, this guy is serious about the Lord. And while she's growing and maturing, he isn't the same person he was a year or two ago. She loves the Lord. He's grateful for the gospel, he's sharing good wisdom. He's making godly choices. She's rubbing off on others in a good way. She's a godly influence. She's investing in others and they're growing too. Again, we don't do this for our own glory. We're to show off. But people should be noticing our growth in godliness.

16 · Direct application through rhetorical questions

So question, where do you see yourself in this? Do you sense your own growth and godliness? Do others around you notice it? And aren't you hungry for this? Don't you long to know the Lord and to serve others in this way? What an encouragement to see guys at the men's meeting Wednesday night evidence of grace, digging in, saying, I want to pray more, I want to read scripture to my family more. That's progress. What an encouragement to my soul to be able to say, yeah, I need to do that more too. And it's so great to see other guys doing it. To run. I ran a 5k back in like April or something. I hadn't run a mile, like straight up mile in years, but there were like what, thousands of people around me running together. I ran that first mile with that 5k and I did it. And I could keep on going because other people were progressing around me. That helped me to progress too. So practice and immerse yourselves so that all may see your Progress.

17 · Exposition of the second major command: keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching

All right? Second key command for today's message come from verse 16. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Here. Paul calls us to watchfulness, to watch closely, to healthy self awareness, to notice, to pay close attention to how you are doing. We watch our lives. Are we growing spiritually like we just Talked about, Are we stewarding our body? Are we shepherding our family? Are we investing in the local church? Or are we excelling in our vocational callings? If so, praise God. Praise God. That's awesome. But if not, why not? Is there a weakness, a distraction, a pursuit, a sin that is hindering our walk with the Lord?

18 · Unpacks the call to watch our teaching

And we must especially watch our teaching. Now, listen to this. We are constantly teaching each other through our example and through our words. What are we teaching with our lives? What's coming out of us, our choices and our words? Are we demonstrating everyday godliness, everyday godliness in the mundane choices and statements and tasks of our lives? And if you thought studying good doctrine was simply for pastors, well, as we're seeing through this series, good gospel doctrine affects our lives. It affects our behavior, it affects our priorities, it affects our choices. Good, sharp, clear biblical doctrine clarifies our thinking, gives us the proper life perspective and aids our prioritization. It's a lamp to our feet. Remember 2nd Timothy 3, 16. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but we must be studying Scripture. All of its teaching, all of its doctrine, whether it be systematic theology, which can be challenging, but also amazingly valuable. Amazingly valuable or practical applied theology, like a good marriage or parenting video on something like Canon plus or right now, media, you gotta be discerning. But even watching a video of someone teaching throughout the week can be helpful. But if we're watching our lives and teaching, making sure it is lined with the Bible and with the Gospel, we must be studying what the Bible teaches.

19 · Addresses the apparent tension in Paul's language about 'saving yourself and your hearers

Why? Again, the scripture speaks clearly to the why. In this passage. It's to save yourself and your hearers. To save yourself. And you're here. Isn't that sounds kind of strange? Didn't Jesus save us? This is what Paul's saying. Imagine your child is allergic to bee stings. And a fortune gets stung by a bee, immediately pull out the EpiPen and administer its medicine. Yes, I've been told, take your child still to the hospital after that, just get checked out. But at that moment, are you saving your child? Well, in a sense, yes. Sense, no. Truly, the medicine is saving your child. But in that moment, God is using you to administer that medicine, to serve as an instrument in the hands, to save your child.

20 · Applies the 'save yourself and your hearers' principle to specific relational contexts: marriage, parenting, friendship

Remember, like I mentioned earlier, we all have a ministry. We're all, all influencing each Other husbands. You have a wife to lead and invest in and cultivate and care for wives. You have a husband to help and support. Fathers and mothers, your children are listening to you, watching you, learning from you. What are you teaching them? Intentionally and not so intentionally. What kind of a friend are we? What does our ministry look like? What do people hear from us when we open our mouths, when we make choice, when we live our lives? Do people love the Savior more because of us? Are people increasingly thrilled to be saved because of our words? I know, high bar, but isn't that what God is worthy of? Do people cherish the gospel more because of our actions? Do people make better gospel informed choices because of our examples? To do this, we must watch our lives and teaching closely. So let's watch our lives. Let's watch closely.

21 · Introduces the third major command: persist

Last major point. Final again, verse 16. Persist in this. Persist. If we're going to be fruitful Christians, if we're going to advance God's kingdom, we must persist in these things. It's one thing to talk about, it's one thing to start them. Have a good Monday, have a good Tuesday. What about Wednesday and Thursday and Friday? Friday we gotta persist now.

22 · First hindrance to persistence: laziness

What's gonna stop us? What's gonna stop us from persisting in these things? I've got four that I want to call out. Four that I want to call out. I'm gonna throw some jabs here, so just follow along with me. Come along with me for this ride. We're all gonna get a little bit, little bit jabbed up. All right, the first, these hindrances persisting is laziness or sloth. Laziness or sloth. Just consider the warnings against sloth in Proverbs. Proverbs 12:24. The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. Proverbs 12:27. Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth consideration. Do you want to rule spiritually? Rule over your own flesh, rule over your own sin, Rule over the temptations of the world? Or do you want to be a slave to these enemies that bring only sorrow and death? Also, there's precious wealth. There's precious wealth. Spiritual gold to be mined by studying the Scriptures, by practicing Paul's teaching, by immersing ourselves in the truths of the Gospel. Spiritual gold. May we diligently set our pickaxes into the mind that is the word of God and go after that gold. So don't be lazy, don't be Lazy.

23 · Second hindrance: apathy

Second hindrance to persisting is apathy, sometimes minor indifference. You're not going to apply this message today. We won't persist if we don't care about our own souls, if we don't care about our wife's soul, our children's soul, our friend's soul. And I know this is not the case for the majority of us in this room. We care about the things of the Lord for ourselves, our families, our church, and the generations to come. But just consider. Is your heart warm toward the things of the Lord? And are you willing to put in the work to keep a close watch on yourself for your own good and the good of those around you? Be willing. Care. Don't be apathetic about your spiritual state. Care.

24 · Third hindrance: blatant sin

Alright. Third, blatant sin will keep you from persisting. In the commands of this passage, Dwight L. Moody is credited with saying, the Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible. Is there a blatant sin? Are you harboring, coveting? Is there any kind of sinful anger? Are you looking at anything on the Internet? It's not serving your soul. Are you gossiping in any way? Whatever that sin is, cut it off, confess it to the Lord, bring it to light with a trusted friend or two, but do whatever you can to cut it off because it is hindering your ability to watch your life and doctrine closely. It's a distraction. Cut it off. Seek the Lord with all your heart.

25 · Fourth hindrance: busyness

Alright. Last Endurance. Simply Busyness. Busyness. So many of us are just so busy. We're seeking to fit in. Family life, schooling the kids, church life, taking care of the house, contributing to our jobs. Who has time for a gospel centered marriage book or even crack open the Gristem Systematic or even just personal devotions? Church. We need to prioritize to make the time. What are the good things in life that we are pursuing that just may not be as essential as the things that will help us to tend to our souls and strengthen our souls? Frankly, if we have time, I love to shift around my fantasy football team. If I got five or 10 minutes for that, I got five or 10 minutes to read a song. If we have time for youth sports, if we've time for another movie or a daily 10 minute scroll on Instagram, we've got the time. We've got 10 or 15 minutes to do our devotions, to read the Bible, to pray for our spouse and children. What's our time? How are we investing our time? Guys, this is a life or death. Eternally impactful call where we invest our time will reap fruit. It will reap spiritual strength or spiritual weakness over the days and weeks and months and years. Where are we planting the seeds of our time? Where are we investing our lives for ourselves, for our marriages, for our children, in our friendships? And think, even generationally, even for the generations, make that investment, prioritize that time. Use your time to immerse yourself in the things of God. And Also remember Deuteronomy 6. You can do all these things as you're walking along the way, as you're driving to the next upward practice as you're going to Boy Scouts, put on a podcast, put on a sermon. Do it as you're going along the way. It's not either or. It can be both. And we have to be intentional. We can't go with the flow. We can't coast. We've got to make these choices, put the stakes in the ground and saying, I'm going to listen to some scripture on the way to work today.

26 · Synthesizes the four hindrances and their corresponding virtues

So laziness, apathy, blatant sin, busyness versus diligence, care, holiness and biblical prioritization. Which will you, which will I, which will we choose? Those choices will determine whether or not we are hearers only of this message or truly doers and truly persist in the teaching of this passage again over the days, over the weeks, over the months, or the years. The choices we make today will in large part determine the people we will be Six months from now. May we be stronger. May we have progressed in the faith for the glory of the Lord.

27 · Recapitulates the sermon's main imperatives: avoid false teaching, train for godliness, practice, immerse, remain in good doctrine

In conclusion, we must remember the instructions of First Timothy. We must avoid false teaching. We must train for godliness. We must practice. We must immerse. We must remain in good doctrine, biblical doctrine, gospel doctrine. Then and only then, will people see our progress. Will we save ourselves and our heroes? Will God receive the glory that he is so worthy of? Dave Scott, that cottage cheese guy, he was diligent, he cared, he prioritized toward his goal of iron man's success. Don't we have an infinitely greater call? May we press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14. So may it be so amongst us here at Providence. May we live and speak and act in accordance with the truth of the gospel, the gospel that set us free from guilt and condemnation and eternal death, and opens up for us a life of holiness and freedom. And day by day, moment by moment, communion with the Lord. Is there anything sweeter? May we be willing to work hard to put in the time and effort to grow in godliness, may we do it all with a heart that desires to live lives worthy of our great God and Savior, and a heart that loves each other with a depth and vigor and truth that will continue to sharpen one another so that all inside and outside the church may see our progress and give glory to the Lord.

28 · Closing prayer thanking God for being King and Father, for the gospel, and for the Spirit's empowerment

Let's pray. Dear God, as we said in the beginning, say again, you are king of the universe. You are a father that loves us. We thank you for being both. You are worthy of so much. And we thank you that you also, in your worthiness, you love us because Jesus died for us, forgave us all of our sins, and has now put his spirit, your spirit, into our hearts, spirit of the resurrection, to empower us to live out these commands. So we thank you that we don't do it ourselves. We thank you that we don't do it for ourselves. We do it for your glory and your power and your strength. So I pray that you'd fill us with your strength, give us all a new, fresh power to obey your commands in light of the fact that we are totally accepted by God, by you, because of what Jesus did for us. So we thank you, God. I thank you for this. Precious people Providence Community Church. I just pray you bless our church this morning, in this week and in the months and years ahead. Praise in Jesus name. Amen.

29 · Transition to the Lord's Supper, signaling a return to the gospel foundation established in 1 Timothy 1

All right, so for communion this morning, I want to bring us back to 1 Timothy 1, 15:17. To the gospel.

30 · Re-preaches 1 Timothy 1:15-17, emphasizing the gospel foundation for the sermon's imperatives

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason. That in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Jesus. Jesus is King of the ages. And he came into the world to save us, to cancel our guilt, to cover our shame like we sang about, and to make the great God of the universe our loving Father. Praise God. And he did that for sinners, for people like you and like me who haven't trained for godliness like we should. We haven't practiced and immersed ourselves in the truth like we should. And who just haven't loved God as we should. But thank God, all that sin of omission and commission, all that sin has been forgiven, wiped clean. What once we were red with our sin, stained red now we are white as snow in Christ. So now we can walk forgiven, justified and adopted. So now we can walk empowered. Empowered by the Spirit to fulfill this great call in our lives, to watch our lives and teaching closely. Guys, we have the spirit of God inside of us.

31 · Invites the congregation to come to the Lord's Supper with fresh amazement at the gospel and renewed resolve to live worthy of God

So let's come to the table freshly amazed that Jesus Jesus died for us, that we are now God's children, that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and inspired afresh to live lives worthy of of the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God who alone deserves honor and glory forever and ever.

32 · Reads the Words of Institution from 1 Corinthians 11, establishing the theological framework for the Lord's Supper and inviting the congregation to partake

First Corinthians 11:23, 26 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Let us come and partake of the table.