1 Corinthians 4:16
Introduction
: I few reasons for this message…piggy-backing on Father’s Day and today’s graduates and children singing.
Paul was able to say with confidence, ‘Follow me as I follow Christ.’
Application: You have heard it said that, ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.
1 Corinthians 11:1
, ‘You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ’.
Philippians 3:17
,
‘Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who live according to the pattern we set for you’.
Philippians 4:9
, ‘Whatever you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, put these things into practice. And the God of peace will be with you’.
1 Thessalonians 1:6
,
‘And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you welcomed the message with the joy of the Holy Spirit, in spite of your great suffering’.
2 Thessalonians 3:9
, ‘Not that we lack this right, but we wanted to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate’.
Transition
: To his young protégé Timothy, the Apostle Paul states this,
1 Timothy 4:12
‘Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit
1
, in faith, in purity’
. (NKJ)
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit1, in faith, in purity. (1Ti 4:12 NKJ)
[
Let no man despise thy youth
]
It is clear from this that Timothy was then a young man, but his exact age there is no means of determining. It is implied here:
(1) that there was danger that, by the levity and indiscretion to which youth are so much exposed, the ministry might be regarded with contempt; and
(2) that it was possible that his deportment should be so grave, serious, and every way appropriate, that the ministry would not be blamed, but honored. The “way” in which Timothy was to live so that the ministry would not be despised on account of his youth, the apostle proceeds immediately to specify.
[
But be thou an example of the believers
]
[
In word
]
En logo
= In “speech,” that is, your manner of conversation. This does not refer to his “public teaching” – in which he could not probably be an “example” to them-but to his usual and familiar conversation.
[
In conduct
]
En anastrophee
. In general deportment. See this word explained in the notes on Phil 1:27.
[
In charity
]
En agapee
. In love and goodwill to God and man; show that this is the principle and motive of all thy conduct.
[
In spirit
]
En pneumati
. 1 In the government of your passions, and in a mild, meek, forgiving disposition.
[
In faith
] En pistei.
[
In purity
.]
En hagneia
. In chasteness of life; see 1 Tim 5:2. There should be nothing in your contact with the other sex that would give rise to scandal. The papists, with great impropriety, understand this as enjoining celibacy-as if there could be no “purity” in that holy relation which God appointed in Eden, and which he has declared to “be honorable in all” (Heb 13:4), and which he has made so essential to the wellbeing of mankind. If the apostle had wished to produce the highest possible degree of corruption in the church, he would have enjoined the celibacy of the clergy and the celibacy of an indefinite number of nuns and monks. There are no other institutions on the earth which have done so much to corrupt the chastity of the race, as those which have grown out of the doctrine that celibacy is more honorable than marriage.
Transition
: 10 practical ways to lead by Example (Carl Golden)
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