SPEAKER_00: Paul writes to his beloved son in the gospel to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 7 to 9, and we'll read this text and then we'll be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Oliver.
SPEAKER_00: He writes to his son in the gospel and says, have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Rather train yourself for godliness.
SPEAKER_00: Or in this translation that's in front of you, train yourself to be godly.
SPEAKER_00: And he even says, For physical training is of some benefit.
SPEAKER_00: And he would have said this within the context of the Roman Empire and they're focused on physical training.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, But godliness has value for all things.
SPEAKER_00: Physical training has a physical benefit, but training for to be godly has training, has benefits both in this life.
SPEAKER_00: It holds promise both in this life and the life to come, or in eternity, other translations say.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, this is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I want to clarify the meaning of two words in this passage because I think it's important that Paul's meaning is clear to us.
SPEAKER_00: First, that word that appears in here as value is elsewhere translated as useful.
SPEAKER_00: And so another translation renders the reading: godliness is useful in every respect.
SPEAKER_00: And second, that word godliness refers to living in such a way that reflects the character and the teaching of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It refers to obedience to God's commands and conformity to his character.
SPEAKER_00: One person wrote about our journey into godliness in this way.
SPEAKER_00: They wrote, before we came to Christ, there was no room for him in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Our eyes were continually turned towards ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But when we came to Christ, our focus on self was diminished or eventually even eliminated.
SPEAKER_00: And instead, our eyes were always upon the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so the call to godliness is a call from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness in every part of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul instructs Timothy: training yourself to be like Christ is useful in this life and in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And so here, let me plainly state my thesis this morning for you.
SPEAKER_00: Becoming like Christ is always useful.
SPEAKER_00: Paul continues a few verses later, and speaking directly to Timothy, who was younger than himself.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we apply this to someone who might be young because what he's just said.
SPEAKER_00: But this was a model for all of the believers in the church to follow.
SPEAKER_00: He said, set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning I am going to speak to you on this topic, how to be useful in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: How to be useful in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to pray, and you can remain seated.
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, we give this time this morning to you.
SPEAKER_00: We devote it to you, and we ask, Lord, that you would speak to us clearly and directly.
SPEAKER_00: Help me, God is your servant, to speak with grace and with truth and with love towards your people.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that there would be open hearts towards what you would speak to us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Several years ago, I heard one of my seminary professors say these words.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Lately I've been thinking about my usefulness.
SPEAKER_00: Those were his exact words.
SPEAKER_00: Lately I've been thinking about my usefulness.
SPEAKER_00: And so he was speaking about his usefulness in the church and at that seminary.
SPEAKER_00: He was thinking about his advanced age and his present season of life.
SPEAKER_00: And it was interesting to me, and I think it caught my attention because I had never thought about whether he was useful.
SPEAKER_00: It was pretty clear to me that he was useful.
SPEAKER_00: He's written several books that probably many of you have read.
SPEAKER_00: He's been a Bible school instructor for decades.
SPEAKER_00: He's planted a church.
SPEAKER_00: He's had an immense impact on our fellowship, and he's a mentor and friend to many.
SPEAKER_00: And so it never crossed my mind whether he was useful.
SPEAKER_00: Yet even later in his life, and I think at that point he was probably in his mid-60s, even at that time, he was still thinking about whether he was useful in God's church.
SPEAKER_00: Was he still adding something?
SPEAKER_00: Was his life still adding something to the church or had his time passed?
SPEAKER_00: That's what he was contemplating.
SPEAKER_00: And here was a godly man.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he was filled with self-doubt.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he was having a late life crisis.
SPEAKER_00: I think he was being truly humble and considerate and thinking about whether he was still adding value to God's church.
SPEAKER_00: And that sentence has echoed in my mind ever since.
SPEAKER_00: Because looking back at my own life, and I think Christians within the church who have been around for any period of time, we have this thought about whether we are useful.
SPEAKER_00: And even young people in the church have this thought about whether they are useful, whether the church really needs them and if they really have a place there.
SPEAKER_00: So I've always been thinking about that.
SPEAKER_00: In August of 2020, I was thrust into a period of transition in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I resigned from my role as assistant pastor in the church that I was serving in.
SPEAKER_00: And I did that with the blessing of my district superintendent at the time.
SPEAKER_00: And I had attended that church since from birth for 25 years when I resigned.
SPEAKER_00: And so God had spoken to me personally and He had confirmed it through multiple confirmations from different witnesses, and it was time for me to move.
SPEAKER_00: And yesterday I was I was preparing, I pulled up the second paragraph of the resignation letter.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes when you go through a trial in your life, you go through a time of transition, you look back and it seems very small, like, oh, it all worked out.
SPEAKER_00: And we we forget how difficult sometimes those those periods of time were.
SPEAKER_00: And the second paragraph of that letter went like this For more than a year I have sensed God directing me to step into a new area of ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Since first receiving this word, I have prayerfully sought God's will for my life.
SPEAKER_00: In some ways, I am no closer to an answer than I was one year ago.
SPEAKER_00: And I explained to the church, and I wanted them to know there is no ministry position lined up, no move to another city planned, and no job acceptance letter that is waiting to be signed.
SPEAKER_00: For this reason, the story of Abraham resonates with me at this time.
SPEAKER_00: And then I quote Hebrews 11 and 8.
SPEAKER_00: It was by faith that Abraham obeyed God when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as an inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: He went without knowing where he was going.
SPEAKER_00: And this paragraph concluded in this way the future seems uncertain to me, but there is no uncertainty when you are in God's hands.
SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you that the young man, slightly younger man who wrote those words, didn't recognize at that point how hurt and how broken he was.
SPEAKER_00: From one day to the next, my full-time ministry position was gone, my full-time job source of income was gone, and the church family that I had grown to love and to know and to cherish for 25 years was immediately gone.
SPEAKER_00: But also there was this thing that happened to me that happens to people of all ages, that our entire identity becomes built on a position.
SPEAKER_00: And so the moment that that position is taken away, our whole sense of self seems to be ripped from us.
SPEAKER_00: And another thing that happened is that I began to question in that moment whether my labors had done any good.
SPEAKER_00: Was there anything that I had done of lasting value?
SPEAKER_00: What was the usefulness of something that is now finished and something that is now in the past and labors that I'll never see the finished product of because now I am gone.
SPEAKER_00: And it seems a little surreal reading this letter five years later, or I guess almost six years later.
SPEAKER_00: Because like Abraham, I did leave home.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't leave Ur of the Chaldeans, I left Ottawa, Canada.
SPEAKER_00: But I did leave home and I did go to another land and I didn't know where I was going.
SPEAKER_00: And surely God has been exceedingly faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Um wife Lynette is here, my son Oliver, my daughter Abigail, and God has been faithful through all those transitions, even when I didn't know where I was going.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I tell you the story, and I tell you a little bit of the history of how I ended up here in San Antonio, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: Because I want you to understand that through every transition, every season of my life, I've continued to grapple with this idea of whether I am useful in God's church.
SPEAKER_00: As you transition from one church to the next and from one group of believers to the next, I still grapple with that.
SPEAKER_00: In our first year of marriage, we were very intentional to focus on our marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And you should do that when you've only known each other for about six months.
SPEAKER_00: We still didn't really know each other, so we tried our best to do that in our first year of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And so we try not to get too, we didn't seek a ministry position in the church.
SPEAKER_00: We were very faithful in attending and we'd fill in preaching and on the worship team where needed.
SPEAKER_00: We taught the youth class on Sunday mornings after a while, but we never sought a position, but but we wanted to be useful.
SPEAKER_00: And God brought a young couple to us and we taught them Bible studies each week.
SPEAKER_00: And I had an online Bible study with some young men that I had been connected to over the years because we wanted to be useful.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't want to sit around and do nothing in our minds.
SPEAKER_00: By September of 2022, um we moved to San Antonio and began attending here at Calvary Church.
SPEAKER_00: Um and and again, we just had this lingering desire to be useful.
SPEAKER_00: And we're we're very grateful today to be part of this church and to serve on the worship team and to have an opportunity to teach the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And um I'll tell you that here in San Antonio, God has brought people into our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We have um, I would say, bi-weekly Bible studies with two couples here in San Antonio that that God is really um, we cannot take credit for connecting to them.
SPEAKER_00: God has really put us in connection with them, and and we are grateful to have this opportunity to serve in in different areas and to and to honor God with um the abilities and the talents and the time that He has given us.
SPEAKER_00: But when we moved here, uh we stopped teaching that youth class at New Life Brownsville.
SPEAKER_00: And so these thoughts come in about what was the point.
SPEAKER_00: Do those students even remember anything we taught in that in that couple who we taught Bible studies to?
SPEAKER_00: We don't even live in the same city of as anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And we can't keep the same connection with them.
SPEAKER_00: And what's going to be the lasting value of that?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00: And these these doubts begin to creep into my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Am I useful?
SPEAKER_00: And I don't repeat any of these labors to boast to myself, as the scriptures say, I am what I am by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have any opportunities of my own righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I share these things for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to understand that as you go through different seasons and you might be new in this church and and you might be in transition in your life, or uh, whatever's going on, you may be thinking about am I useful in God's church?
SPEAKER_00: Do I serve a purpose here or am I just filling a seat?
SPEAKER_00: Is there something that I am adding to God's church?
SPEAKER_00: Yet as I look back on the last several years of my life, I've recognized that I've viewed my usefulness through my activity and my accomplishments and my work in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Yet here is what God has taught me.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope that He will teach you if you need help with it as I do.
SPEAKER_00: My usefulness in God's kingdom has never been about my activity, it's been about my godliness.
SPEAKER_00: My usefulness is not primarily about what I have done or the positions I have filled or what I have accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: My usefulness is based on what Christ has done inside of me.
SPEAKER_00: And the greatest way for any of us to be useful in the kingdom of God is for us to become like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you just need one action step to be useful in the church, it is to become like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And few people in the Bible have embodied this as well as Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: And so I suppose we have a bit of a character study this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Those who study the life and ministry of Timothy find someone who is relatable.
SPEAKER_00: Unlike Apollos, Timothy isn't noted for his masterful sermons and polished oration.
SPEAKER_00: Unlike Peter, Timothy is not noted for doing miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Unlike Paul, Timothy never had an opportunity to see the risen Jesus, and he was never commissioned to write scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Unlike the daughters of Philip, Timothy is never said to have prophesied.
SPEAKER_00: As far as we can tell from the testimony of Scripture, Paul never talks about anything exceptional that Timothy has in terms of his natural giftings.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, when you read about Timothy, it seems that he had more limitations than abilities.
SPEAKER_00: To begin with, he was still considered very young by the churches where he was serving.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul told Timothy, don't let anyone look down on you because of your youth.
SPEAKER_00: And in his second letter, he urged Timothy to flee the evil desires of youth.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard when you are sent, I am sure.
SPEAKER_00: It's never happened to me, but to be sent to another church where everyone is basically older than you and you've been asked to pastor.
SPEAKER_00: That's Timothy's context, dropped into here by Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Some scholars place Timothy's age in his 30s, which doesn't probably seem that young to us, but an ancient world that was still considered within the confines of youth.
SPEAKER_00: Ireneus, a second century church father, once wrote, he said, 30 is the first stage of a young man's age and extends to 40, as all will admit.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's an encouragement to someone in here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And so Timothy felt inexperienced and he felt inadequately equipped for the heavy responsibility that Paul was laying upon him.
SPEAKER_00: There also seems to be a fragile nature to Timothy's temperament.
SPEAKER_00: He seems to need continuous affirmation and encouragement and reassurance.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Paul, when he sends him to Corinth, he writes to the church.
SPEAKER_00: He says, When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you.
SPEAKER_00: For he is carrying on the work of the Lord just as I am.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul tells the church, don't make him scared.
SPEAKER_00: Don't make him anxious.
SPEAKER_00: Put him at, one of the translations says, put him at ease among you.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure that he can just do his work without having to worry about your scowling face and your harsh feedback of his first few sermons.
SPEAKER_00: Just don't make him fearful.
SPEAKER_00: Paul asks the church to embrace him and to not make his work difficult.
SPEAKER_00: And so, in response to Timothy's seemingly timid nature, Paul writes something we love to quote.
SPEAKER_00: He sends Timothy, he says, Timothy, the Spirit of God does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.
SPEAKER_00: He says, So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner.
SPEAKER_00: And as though Timothy's timid nature and his youth were not enough, it seems that he was, from Paul's letters, he was often sick.
SPEAKER_00: He was physically frail.
SPEAKER_00: He had some sort of chronic stomach issue.
SPEAKER_00: And this prompted Paul, and we know this because Paul writes to him, he says, Stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
SPEAKER_00: And so from the correspondence sent by Paul, it seems that Timothy was prone to be shy, sometimes anxious, often sick, and the church thought he was too young to be a leader.
SPEAKER_00: Not the person we would pick for the pastor.
SPEAKER_00: That's not who the board is bringing in to the church who's been looking for someone for some years.
SPEAKER_00: Because his limitations seem to be many and his abilities seem to be few.
SPEAKER_00: But this has never disqualified anyone from an involvement in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Because God looks at the heart and not the outward appearance.
SPEAKER_00: God is well pleased for his grace to be sufficient in our weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul writes this to Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Yet this was no private correspondence between Paul and Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: So we should not suppose that this has a limited context just to this letter written to Timothy, because Paul addresses the letter.
SPEAKER_00: He signs off both letters, 1st and 2 Timothy, he says, Grace be with you all.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just for Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: Paul seems to have his eyes on that local church context, that local leader Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: But like Titus, it became known as the pastoral letters.
SPEAKER_00: And so they apply to spiritual church leaders throughout history.
SPEAKER_00: And so he seems to have his eyes both on Timothy and church leaders for millennia to come.
SPEAKER_00: And so if Timothy was timid and anxious, frequently ill and too young, what was it that Paul found useful about him?
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the natural question.
SPEAKER_00: Why send Timothy?
SPEAKER_00: What did Paul see in Timothy that made him worthy of leadership in the churches that Paul had established?
SPEAKER_00: Why was Timothy sent to Philippi in Corinth?
SPEAKER_00: Paul actually explains this to the church in Philippi in Philippians chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.
SPEAKER_00: So first there was the practical reason that he sent Timothy as a as a messenger.
SPEAKER_00: He can go and receive a report, and I may hear what's happening in your local congregation, and I may be cheered of news from you.
SPEAKER_00: But anyone could have done that.
SPEAKER_00: So the second reason he writes, he says, I have no one else like him who will show genuine concern for your welfare.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For everyone else looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father, he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The letter to the church in Philippi is widely considered a letter of friendship.
SPEAKER_00: The language, the prologue, and the closing, and just the language that's in the letter is much more reminiscent of an ancient letter of friendship, not an epistle.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't read, you read through the letter to Philippians, it doesn't really read like your classic epistle or letter from one of the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a reason for this.
SPEAKER_00: The church is very near and dear to Paul's heart.
SPEAKER_00: The church in Philippians.
SPEAKER_00: Was established by the conversion of two households.
SPEAKER_00: Paul and Silas first met a woman named Lydia outside the city gate.
SPEAKER_00: And when Paul shared the gospel message, she and the members of her household, the Bible tells us, were baptized.
SPEAKER_00: A short time later, Paul and Silas found themselves in prison, the perfect place for them to continue to plant their church.
SPEAKER_00: And after they were singing hymns and calling out to God through a unique set of circumstances, by the end of that night, they had baptized the jailer and his whole household.
SPEAKER_00: And with the conversion of just two households, the church in Philippi had been established.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul addressed this church and its members as friends that were dear to his heart.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 1, verse 3, he says, I thank my God every time I remember you in all my prayers for all of you.
SPEAKER_00: I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
SPEAKER_00: Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's not an epistle to just a church that you barely know.
SPEAKER_00: That's people that you care about.
SPEAKER_00: He prays with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Corinth, he weeps.
SPEAKER_00: Philippi, he has joy.
SPEAKER_00: Corinth is painful visits.
SPEAKER_00: Philippi, he can't wait to get news about them.
SPEAKER_00: And so who does Paul send to his beloved church?
SPEAKER_00: Timid Timothy with a tummy ache.
SPEAKER_00: That's who.
SPEAKER_00: And why does he send him?
SPEAKER_00: It's not his credentials, it's not his preaching, it's not his resume, it's not his accomplishment, it's not his miracles, it's not his prophecies, it's not his sermons, and it's not his singing voice.
SPEAKER_00: It's his godliness, it's his sincere love for the people of God, it's his purity.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes, I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.
SPEAKER_00: Paul told his beloved friends that Timothy was of the same mind of himself.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul is saying that is that he was confident that when Timothy arrived in Philippi, Timothy would show the same love and the same concern and the same virtue and the same patience as Paul would if he were there himself.
SPEAKER_00: And so what are we to make of Timothy's selection?
SPEAKER_00: Did Paul just look for a young leader who was just like himself?
SPEAKER_00: Was Timothy chosen because Paul showed him favoritism because he saw himself in him?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: I think Paul simply favored those who were like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's who Paul showed favoritism to.
SPEAKER_00: If we look just a few verses earlier in the letter, we will find the mindset that Paul and Timothy had in common with one another.
SPEAKER_00: It was the mind of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes, In your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: For Jesus, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very form of a servant, the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death, on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul recommended Timothy because Timothy had the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Timothy was shy, but it never stopped him from serving other people.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy may have been anxious from time to time, but that never prevented him from trusting in God's strength and trusting in God's grace to be sufficient for him to overcome his worries and fears.
SPEAKER_00: And Timothy may have often been uh struggled with illness, but he never made this an excuse to be disobedient or to or to walk away from God.
SPEAKER_00: He never saw his illness as a punishment, but he saw it as an opportunity for God's grace to be manifest in him.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Timothy, like Paul, had made Christ-likeness his mission.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what made him valuable in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to add here, Paul didn't diminish the importance of Timothy's work.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Paul told the Philippian church, as we just read, that Timothy had proven himself by the work that he had done in preaching the gospel and working amongst the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul wants to make it clear to the church that Timothy has been chosen because of his godliness.
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't been chosen because he desires a position or because uh he has a lot of potential based on his natural giftings.
SPEAKER_00: Paul tells the church, I have no one else like Timothy who is going to be genuinely desired, genuinely desire what you what is best for you.
SPEAKER_00: I have no one else like Timothy who looks out for what matters to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Christ-likeness is not just about being a little bit better of a person each day.
SPEAKER_00: Christ-likeness is fulfilled in the person who devotes themselves always and only to the things that are most important to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_00: There was this common mindset that dwelt in Paul and in Timothy, and that's why Paul could say, Follow me as I follow Christ, because the mind of Christ was in him.
SPEAKER_00: Paul would say, We have the mind of Christ, being filled with Christ's Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: They could say that we have we're not conformed to the world, we're conformed to the image of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul wrote to his beloved church and said, Timothy, I'm sending him because he's like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not based on his personality, it's not based on his confidence in self, and it's not based on his physical health.
SPEAKER_00: And he's not useful because of just his activity or what he has done with me, but Timothy's usefulness is built on a better foundation.
SPEAKER_00: It's the substance of his character, it's his humility and it's his obedience to God that make him useful and qualified for ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy is useful because he reflects the character of the one he calls Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In his own epistle, Paul, uh sorry, Peter would write about how the saints of God could avoid becoming ineffective and unproductive.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter writes about this too.
SPEAKER_00: He effectively writes in 2 Peter chapter 1, we'll read it here in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: He basically writes, in no uncertain words, how to be useful in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Peter writes, his divine power has given us everything we need for ministry.
SPEAKER_00: That's not his main focus.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, but that's not his main focus.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us his divine power to evangelize.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we have the Great Commission, not his main focus, though.
SPEAKER_00: Because no one's going to believe your preaching if you're not godly.
SPEAKER_00: No one's going to buy into your ministry if you're not godly.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter doesn't say the divine power of God, his spirit rests in us for us to have a great ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's why he's given it.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor preached about gifts.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a response or a rebuttal to this.
SPEAKER_00: He has given gifts in his church.
SPEAKER_00: But the primary, the starting point of why God puts his spirit inside of his church is for us to be godly.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us divine power so that we have everything we need for a godly life.
SPEAKER_00: Through our knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Through these, he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
SPEAKER_00: This is why God gives us his spirits to rise up above what is in this world, to be in this world, but not of this world, to be in this world, to be, but to be like our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter writes this for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness mutual affection, and to mutual affection love.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he say about this?
SPEAKER_00: For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
SPEAKER_00: This is so difficult for our 21st century activity-focused mindset to figure out.
SPEAKER_00: But here's Peter's claim: ineffectiveness and unproductiveness in God's kingdom are not a result of us being involved in too few ministries.
SPEAKER_00: Our ineffectiveness and unproductiveness is based on us not being godly.
SPEAKER_00: It's the result of us being too unlike Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's a claim that I've often heard from people of all ages, and it is that they, and I kind of began here, but I'm going to return to this, they feel that there is no place for themselves in the church.
SPEAKER_00: They see other people with particular giftings and other people serving in particular areas, and they say, I can see how pastor is useful, perhaps, just as an example.
SPEAKER_00: We can see how pastor is useful.
SPEAKER_00: I can see how the Sunday school teachers over there who are teaching our children and caring for our children, I can see how they're useful.
SPEAKER_00: The worship leader, I can see how our worship leader is useful, but me, I just keep the seat warm.
SPEAKER_00: That's how some people think.
SPEAKER_00: And they question whether anyone would notice if they just left out that back door and never came back.
SPEAKER_00: Because, well, they might explain I'm an introvert, and there's there's no place for me on the on the welcome team.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't sing well, so there's no place for me on the worship team.
SPEAKER_00: And I I never learned an instrument, so the band isn't for me.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not real good with kids, I don't connect real well, and so teaching the children over there, you just don't want me involved.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not very eloquent, and I don't I don't know the Bible real well, so I'm never going to preach, I'm never going to minister in this church.
SPEAKER_00: And pretty soon people begin to explain their way, logic their way out of the church.
SPEAKER_00: I don't do anything here, so I don't add anything at all.
SPEAKER_00: No one will notice if I leave.
SPEAKER_00: And so, in direct contradiction to biblical evidence, they have concluded that ministry in the local church is only for the musical, the extroverts, and the preachers.
SPEAKER_00: But if that were true, Timothy never would have been sent to Philippi.
SPEAKER_00: Paul would have picked Apollos.
SPEAKER_00: Apollos is the best preacher, I'm picking him.
SPEAKER_00: He's my son in the gospel, I'm sending him everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: No, I want Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: Because everywhere that Timothy goes, he watches out for what is in the interest of Jesus Christ, never his own interest.
SPEAKER_00: If all of that was true in the church was just for the preachers and the extroverts, he never would have installed Timothy as the pastor, and he never would have told Timothy to preach the word in and out of season.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus didn't establish his church to be a bunch of superstars on a platform.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures tell us what Christ intended for his church to be.
SPEAKER_00: In Ephesians 5, he says, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy.
SPEAKER_00: Cleansing her by the washing with the word, uh, with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless.
SPEAKER_00: Again, no talk about activity, no talk of outreach and evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: We still have the Great Commission, but Christ died for the church first of all to make her a light to the world, to make her pure, and to make her holy, so that his holiness would be radiated into this world.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot settle for a life of busyness when Christ laid down his life for a life of holiness.
SPEAKER_00: We must never forget that God has not given us a ministry spirit, although his spirit enables that, but he has given his church a holy spirit because his foremost goal for the church is for it to be holy.
SPEAKER_00: Rather see limitations.
SPEAKER_00: Paul saw the character of God formed in Timothy's life.
SPEAKER_00: Paul saw godliness in Timothy, and that's what made him useful in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: I think back to those words of my professor.
SPEAKER_00: Lately I've been thinking about my usefulness.
SPEAKER_00: And as I confessed, I've often thought about my usefulness in the church, God's kingdom, in all the wrong ways.
SPEAKER_00: I've considered myself useful because of my church activities and my ministry experience.
SPEAKER_00: I thought certainly I must be useful because of all these hours that I spend at church.
SPEAKER_00: I've taught Bible studies, I must be useful.
SPEAKER_00: I've planted CMI chapters on campuses, I must be useful.
SPEAKER_00: I've cleaned the bathroom and I've cleaned the floors and I've stacked up the chairs.
SPEAKER_00: I must be useful.
SPEAKER_00: I've prayed for people in the altars, I must be useful.
SPEAKER_00: And they are.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy was commended for his work by Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And his labor in the kingdom of God was also useful.
SPEAKER_00: And I honor this church and the members of this church, each and every one of you, for your contributions and your labors and your works.
SPEAKER_00: As Paul would say, your labor is not in vain.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a devaluing this morning of your labors.
SPEAKER_00: It's a refocusing.
SPEAKER_00: That if you want to be useful, the place to start is not in your activity.
SPEAKER_00: The place to start is in your godliness.
SPEAKER_00: God's inspired word reminds us that godliness is useful in every respect, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says this is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: Now, um the kingdom of God does need labor to go into the harvest.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you go to Pastor after the session this morning before the 11 o'clock service, and you say, Pastor, I just feel God's speaking to me, and I'm not going to be involved in children's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I'm focusing on godliness now.
SPEAKER_00: And Sister Caruthers, I can't sing on the team anymore because I'm just going to be focused on godliness.
SPEAKER_00: You missed it this morning, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: You missed it this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to turn our attention back to the place to start.
SPEAKER_00: The thing that first made us useful in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to differentiate some terms.
SPEAKER_00: Just uh I don't want to confuse you when I teach.
SPEAKER_00: You are valued by God no matter what your life looks like, and no matter whether you're holy or not holy, you're valued by God because He created you and He created you in His image, and He loved you so much that He was crucified on the cross and laid in the grave for three days and resurrected that you might have new life.
SPEAKER_00: And so you are valued by God no matter what your life looks like, and no matter what your contributions are, no matter whether you're a saint today or a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about usefulness in God's kingdom, not value in the eyes of God.
SPEAKER_00: But Timothy, Timothy, it's not his commanding presence that makes him useful.
SPEAKER_00: It's not his voice.
SPEAKER_00: He's not noted for having any of these things.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy was qualified for ministry because God qualified him.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard people speak about preachers as a double threat.
SPEAKER_00: Tyler, I think, is a double threat.
SPEAKER_00: You've heard this before?
SPEAKER_00: He can preach and he can sing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in that case, most of us are in trouble because the average congregant's not doing either of those things.
SPEAKER_00: And for those of us who maybe can only preach, it's we're only half as good as the other.
SPEAKER_00: Because we measure usefulness in weird ways.
SPEAKER_00: We always think it's our activity.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Timothy had a lot more going for him than just two qualities.
SPEAKER_00: If a preacher who can sing and preach is a double threat, then Timothy was much more of a threat because the faith that at first lived in his grandmother Lois and in his mother Eunice now resided in him.
SPEAKER_00: But that faith had not remained stagnant because he had supplemented, as Peter wrote about, he had supplemented his faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and with brotherly affection, and with love for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: And as Peter would preach, the more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God's kingdom is so upside down, he sanctifies sinners and calls them to be holy as he is holy.
SPEAKER_00: God takes people of low reputation, the people that no one else would choose, and he lifts them up.
SPEAKER_00: And when God spoke to a young minister who seemed entirely unqualified, he encouraged him in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Stay true to what is right for your own salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And the salvation of those who hear you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we don't start with ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Because people are not just going to be saved and be compelled to turn to Jesus because of what you say.
SPEAKER_00: But their salvation is based.
SPEAKER_00: I want to say that, their salvation is based on the work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But their confidence in God is going to be strengthened by a witness from a godly person who is living out the scriptures in their life.
SPEAKER_00: He would write, but you, Timothy, are a man of God.
SPEAKER_00: So run from all these evil things.
SPEAKER_00: Pursue righteousness and a godly life.
SPEAKER_00: Along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: Church, you're not useful because of what you do.
SPEAKER_00: You're useful because of who you've been formed to be by Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that there's Christians in this room who will respond to the call of God.
SPEAKER_00: Yet my foremost prayer this morning is that you would never measure your usefulness by your activity.
SPEAKER_00: Our usefulness in God's kingdom has never been about what we do, but our godliness.
SPEAKER_00: Don't allow yourself to do work for God without God's work first being done in you.
SPEAKER_00: I never once heard Brother Scott teach and preach in this pulpit in my years.
SPEAKER_00: Hear this church.
SPEAKER_00: But I never questioned his usefulness.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was godly.
SPEAKER_00: As I was studying, I don't even see her here right now.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm wrong, but I I don't think I've ever seen Sister Parks hold a microphone.
SPEAKER_00: But no one's ever questioned whether she's useful in this church.
SPEAKER_00: Because being a godly example is where usefulness begins in God's church.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be encouraged, whether you're involved in every ministry in this church, or whether you're involved in no ministries in this church, whether you have a history of winning people to the Lord, whether you've taught a hundred Bible studies or whether you've taught none, I'm not encouraging you to be inactive this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not encouraging you to flee from ministry, but I want you to know that if you want to be useful in God's kingdom, you don't start by grabbing a microphone and you don't begin by taking over a ministry and you don't begin by building a resume.
SPEAKER_00: You begin by being conformed to the image and the character and the lifestyle and the patience and the obedience and the virtue of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be useful in the Church of the Living God, let us begin with what Paul told Timothy set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
SPEAKER_00: Would you lift up the