Portrait of a Minister (1 Timothy 4:6-16)

• Timothy must untangle the messy problem of women in teaching positions in the church, and he had to address the issue of the role of

relationships of men and women in ordained ministry (2:8-15);

• Timothy had to make sure that the people knew the qualifications for elders and deacons as well as the deacons’ wives (chap. 3); and just to go up to our text and not go any further;

• Timothy had to face off with demon-possessed false teachers who were deceiving the flock and imposing ungodly rules about marriage and diet!

Now, who wants to apply to be a minister?

The Bible is clear. The work of the gospel is opposed by Satan, not naturally accepted by the flesh and resisted by the minister himself, once he comes into contact with the demonic and the anti-Christian attitudes of not just the world but those who bring the world into the church!

In order to face these perils, we must encourage those who are called to be ministers to submit their lives to other pastor-scholars for an extended period. During this time there will be Pauline-like oversight, instruction and spiritual formation in order to produce the soldier of the Lord for the battles we face in our own day. For in the training up of ministers, we build up the church.

But let me ask you: How do you approach your life as a believer? No, you may not be called, but you are a soldier in the army of the Lord, as well. The answer drawn from this and many other places in the Word of God is that you, too, need training. For some of you that may even mean coming to a seminary. But for most it means sitting regularly under the preaching of the Word of God right here. It means involvement in a small group or Sunday School class. It means daily Bible study and time with God in His Word. It means seasons of prayer, formulated from the Word itself.

How are you doing in your training in godliness?

So this is the first feature: discipline. Now look at the second feature of this Scriptural portrait.

A minister approved by Christ Jesus is a diligent minister (v. 10).

For we read in verse 10, “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

The minister approved by Christ Jesus is one who is not just diligent in keeping busy. He is not diligent in becoming a

veritable ringmaster of programs and executive oversight of a religious store. No, this man is diligent in preaching Jesus Christ as the Savior of all people.

It was Lesslie Newbigin who said that if the church does not exist to fulfill God’s purposes on earth, then it ceases to be the church. And we must say that this passage would lead us to affirm that and to add that if a minister is not toiling and striving to preach Jesus as Savior to the whole world, if a minister is not looking to preach Jesus as Savior to his flock, to his community, and also to the whole world,