Jump Start # 848

1 Timothy 4:15 “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”

Our passage today comes from Paul’s words to young Timothy, the preacher. Young preachers need help. They need to learn. They must grow. Congregations must be patient with them.  These words do not just fit a young preacher. They fit old preachers. They actually are for all of us. I can’t think of any Christian that could be excluded from these wonderful words.

Three statements make up this verse. Let’s look at them in reverse order:

1. So that your progress will be evident to all. Progress. Growth. Movement. Future. There is a ride at Disney that takes you on a journey from early days of household technology to the wave of the future. The characters remain the same, even the dog is the same, but the appliances, TV’s, phones become more advanced with each scene. It’s progress we are told.  Spiritually we ought to be progressing. We ought to be moving. We ought to be getting closer to God, more Christ-like in our thinking, and deeper in our understanding. Why does it matter that our progress is evident to all? Two reasons.

First, if it is not evident, then I may not be progressing. I remember the first time, as a kid, our family drove to the Rockies. At first, the mountains seemed small, way off in the distance. As we drove closer and closer, it seemed that the mountains were growing. When we finally got there, they filled the sky. Evident.  As a person is growing in character, knowledge, faith, their progress will grow and others will see it. If no one can see any progress, it is possible that no progress is taking place.

Second, evident progress becomes useful. Who do you want standing in the pulpit on Sunday? Someone whose progress is evident. Who do you want to go to if you have a question? Someone whose progress is evident. When progress is evident, you will use those spiritual tools and knowledge to help others. The opposite of progress is stagnate. Stale. Stuck. Find those gems of truth and insights and observations that are in Scriptures. Dig them out. Share them. A growing Christian is exciting to watch. They are eager, busy and interested. They are busting with questions. They are full of energy. They have ideas. They are thinking, using and benefiting spiritually. Their progress is evident.

Now, we must ask, can that be said of you? Is your progress evident? Do others see it? Do they see it in your home? Do they see it at work? Do they see it at the church building? Same ole’ same ole’ are not the words of Paul to Timothy. Progress spiritually.

Christians who stumble, fail and have trouble are those who stopped progressing. They turned their engine off. They came to a stand still. Others things took over. Sports, wealth building, grandkids, TV, Facebook have filled their time and hearts. They have flat-lined with God. Have you ever eaten anything stale? Not too tasty is it? God is interested in your progress. Peter ended his epistle with, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Grow. Movement. Progress.

• Progress in attitude. Less thinking of self and more thinking of Christ. Less “woe is me,” and more, “Here am I, send me.” More forgiving and less demanding. More hope and less gloom. More peace and less war. More positive and less negative. More joy and less pouting.

• Progress in knowledge. Moving off the milk of the word and onto the meat of the word. Deep thinking. Lowering the nets spiritually. Looking at words. Looking at the settings. Looking at the how comes and the whys? Asking. Probing. Researching. Digging. Learning. Figuring things out. Taking that knowledge and using it. Become a person of the word.

• Progress in behavior. More like Christ and less like the world. More sensitive to things that are wrong. More compassion for others. Becoming more generous. Old man, old ways, old thinking,  old habits gone and buried. No more. The expression, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” doesn’t fit in the thinking of a person who is progressing. Holy, righteous and godly become who you are. Prayer is as natural as breathing. You find yourself praying all the time and about everything and everyone. You pray for strangers. You pray for friends. Kindness smoothes those hard and rough edges of your character.

• Progress in hope. You think about Heaven more. You long for Heaven. You live as if one foot is already there. Your ambition, drive and aim are Heaven. Years ago, someone was trying to get me to be a salesman. He had me write down five things that I wanted. I wrote the word “Heaven” five times on a piece of paper. He looked at that and said, “No, you wrote the wrong things. I meant a boat, a vacation house, travels overseas…” His hope and my hope were not in the same galaxy. What is it that you want? The man who is progressing spiritually wants Heaven.

Next time, we will look at the next expression from this verse.

Progress…evident to all…You don’t have to tell anyone, they can see it! That’s what Paul wanted. That’s what God wanted. Is it what you want?

Roger

Jump Start # 811

1 Timothy 4:15 “Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all.”

Paul writes to Timothy about preaching, but more so, about the Christian life. The older preacher and the younger preacher. The apostle and the young disciple. Experienced and inexperience. That is the setting for 1 Timothy. Timothy was preaching at Ephesus. Reading 1 Timothy, tells us that there were all kinds of things going on, good and bad. Young preachers get discouraged. I know, I’ve been one. There is something genuine and honest about the heart of the young preacher. They just love the Lord and want to preach that word with all their heart. I know, I have one in my family. Looking at him reminds me of myself thirty years ago. Sometimes we just don’t listen well to those young preachers. They are so idealistic and young. We don’t want to change, so we don’t. We never realize that our stubbornness can kill the heart of a young preacher. They get discouraged. Some want to quit. Some do. Paul writes to one such preacher. His words are intended to encourage, strengthen and motivate.

Our passage is found in a series of short instructions to Timothy. Paul writes concerning the things that he can do. Notice these words: “take pains…be absorbed.” Wonderful words. Powerful concepts. People have taken great pains to finish their degree. They’ve worked and gone to school, living on very little sleep. It was hard, very hard. Others have taken great pains to pay off debt. They have sacrificed and done without just so they could pay off the car loan or the mortgage on the house.

Paul has in mind the spiritual. He always does. Take pains with these things…be absorbed in them are directed toward the spiritual disciplines in life. This is odd for many of us. Taking pains with the spiritual is just taking things a bit too seriously. Paul didn’t seem to think so. Too many are content just to go to church on Sunday and then get back to their life. For Paul, Christ was his life. He said so in Col. 3:2.

Something special happens when a person becomes absorbed with a subject—they become an expert. Consider the person who has devoted their life to music. He has studied music, taken lessons, read books about music and enjoys it passionately. He is absorbed with it. He talks about it so easily and freely. You will find people coming to him for advice about music. Some will ask if he can give lessons. You find the same thing to someone who has devoted his life to cars. He knows cars. When a friend has a car problem, he knows just who to ask for help. The people you see on the cable channels, such as the cooking shows or the travel shows or the antique shows—how is it that they know so much about their topic? They have absorbed themselves with it. They’ve taken great pains to know it.

Now, consider what would happen if we became absorbed with the New Testament. What if we took great pains to learn Jesus? Imagine what that would do for us. First, we would feel very sure about God. We would know God, if that is possible. Our confidence would rise because we have become absorbed with it. Then, others would come to us when they wanted to know things. Why? Because they knew that we knew.

When those things happen the end of this verse becomes natural. Paul said your progress will be evident to all. How so? Because you have taken pains with these things and have become absorbed with them. Sometimes growth is hard to see in ourselves, but others see it. Absorption with God makes it happen.

Paul gives us a great thought to end with: what is evident about us? What do folks see? What do they see spiritually? Are you progressing? Paul says you should.

The word “pains” sound painful—there is no easy shortcuts here. A younger preacher listened to an older preacher preach. He was impressed. He told the older preacher, “I’d give anything to know the Bible like you do.” The older preacher replied, “I gave 40 years of my life.” There is no other way. Soak it up, that’s what absorbed means. Drink deeply of God’s word. Learn, grow, ask questions, seek, listen, read…that is the absorption process.

Roger

Jump Start # 557

1 Timothy 4:15 “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”

In our verse today, the apostle Paul is giving instructions to the young preacher Timothy. The context reveals things that Timothy should avoid and it encourages him to grow stronger in the Lord. Spiritual strength is something that God wants from all of us. The Ephesians were told to be strong in the Lord. The Corinthians were told to act like men. Strength wins in about all things.

A strong basketball team has a better opportunity of winning than a weak team. A strong candidate has a better chance of being elected than a weak candidate. A strong building will withstand storms better than a weak building. Strong backs, strong hearts and strong convictions are what keeps things going. Weak minds, weak faith and weak resolves tend to fold under pressure and compromise what they once believed in. Jesus rebuked the disciples on four different occasions for having “little faith.” That’s the same as weak faith. Be strong. We need strong fathers who will defend their families. We need strong leadership in the church that will not turn at every complaint. We need strong pulpits that sound out the word of God. A soft message will not produce a strong faith. There are things to be warned about. There are dangers that we need to be aware of. We need a diet of healthy things if we are going to be strong.

Notice some of the words Paul uses in our verse today:

• Take pains with these things. Pain and comfort do not co-exist. We like painless. We take pain-relief pills. We try to avoid pain. The pain Paul has in mind refers to effort. Work at it. Work hard at it. Paul has in mind growing spiritually. This is accomplished by spending time in the Bible. Not just preachers, but all of us. A strong preacher and a weak church isn’t a good combination. Disaster looms ahead if that is the current situation. We all need to take pains. Just reading a verse about five seconds before Bible classes begin, really isn’t taking pains is it? Remember studying hard in school. Books spread out on the kitchen table. Pencils, paper spread out. You read. You looked. You wrote down a few things. You scratched out a sentence or two. You worked at it. You busted it. You labored. This is what Paul is saying. Spiritual growth is something that ought to be a high priority for us. It’s probably been a long time since some of us really got the books out and really dug into a topic. Current stats reveal that more than 50% of college graduates never read a book again in their life! Never! Why? They have TV, cable, computers, youtube—there’s not a need to open books. Why open books? The joy of learning, the power of knowledge, the enlightenment that comes when you know. How much greater that is when we consider God. Walking in the light of God’s word gives you confidence, assurance and hope. You know because you know.

• Be absorbed in them. I get the idea of a sponge. It just soaks up and becomes full when placed in a bucket of water. Be absorbed in God’s word. Know God. Know God’s will. Saturate yourself with them. Now this goes against what many think. Most would say, “Don’t get too serious about these things.” “Don’t become a fanatic.” “There are other things in life.” “Too much of anything isn’t good.” Those thoughts don’t sound like something Paul would say. Get into God’s word. Know it. Understand it. Share it. It takes work. Ask yourself questions. Try to figure things out. Read it in other versions. When a person picks up a big yellow sponge that has been sitting in a bucket of soapy water, it just drips and is hard to hold because it’s about to burst with all the water in it. Just the slightest squeeze and the water pours out of the sponge. Could it be that one reason we have difficulty telling others about Jesus is that when squeezed, nothing comes out of us? Could it be that we need to be absorbed with the Lord? Spend time. Drink in spiritual truths. Be absorbed. When you are it comes out easily and naturally.

• Your progress will be evident to all. Progress—that’s growth. That’s movement. Cars progress down a high way. Schools give progress reports, we call them report cards. Companies will have evaluations. How are you doing? That’s a measurement of progress. Spiritual progress is what Paul has in mind. Through the years, folks who know us, ought to see us getting stronger in the Lord. They ought to see progress. They will remember just a few years back when we couldn’t find the books of the Bible and didn’t seem to know much about anything. And now? Well, now we’re teaching classes. Now, we are preaching. Now, we are making an impact with our families. Now, we are leaders in God’s kingdom. Progress. Parents see that. God sees that.

Are your growing? You’re not stuck in the third grade spiritually are you? Have you put your spiritual life in park and been sitting idle for a while? Time to get it going again. Time to get the books out. Time to get busy with the Lord. When progress is evident to all, folks will come to you for answers. People will ask you to teach a class. You will be a source of help for others. The reason, your progress is evident. That’s the way it ought to be. That’s the way God wants it.

Progress will be evident in knowledge, character and dependability. Progress, all the way to Heaven.

Roger

Jump Start # 209

1 Timothy 4:15 “Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all.”

 Paul writes to Timothy about preaching, but more so, about the Christian life. The older preacher and the younger preacher. The apostle and the young disciple. Experienced and inexperience. That is the setting for 1 Timothy. Timothy was preaching at Ephesus. Reading 1 Timothy, tells us that there were all kinds of things going on, good and bad. Young preachers get discouraged. I know, I’ve been one. There is something genuine and honest about the heart of the young preacher. They just love the Lord and want to preach that word with all their heart. I know, I have one in my family. Looking at him reminds me of myself thirty years ago. Sometimes we just don’t listen well to those young preachers. They are so idealistic and young. We don’t want to change, so we don’t. We never realize that our stubbornness can kill the heart of a young preacher. They get discouraged. Some want to quit. Some do. Paul writes to one such preacher. His words are intended to encourage, strengthen and motivate.

  Our passage is found in a series of short instructions to Timothy. Paul writes concerning the things that he can do. Notice these words: “take pains…be absorbed.” Wonderful words. Powerful concepts. People have taken great pains to finish their degree. They’ve worked and gone to school, living on very little sleep. It was hard, very hard. Others have taken great pains to pay off debt. They have sacrificed and done without just so they could pay off the car loan or the mortgage on the house.

  Paul has in mind the spiritual. He always does. Take pains with these things…be absorbed in them are directed toward the spiritual disciplines in life. This is odd for many of us. Taking pains with the spiritual is just taking things a bit too seriously. Paul didn’t seem to think so. Too many are content just to go to church on Sunday and then get back to their life. For Paul, Christ was his life. He said so in Col. 3:2.

  Something special happens when a person becomes absorbed with a subject—they become an expert. Consider the person who has devoted their life to music. He has studied music, taken lessons, read books about music and enjoys it passionately. He is absorbed with it. He talks about it so easily and freely. You will find people coming to him for advice about music. Some will ask if he can give lessons. You find the same thing to someone who has devoted his life to cars. He knows cars. When a friend has a car problem, he knows just who to ask for help. The people you see on the cable channels, such as the cooking shows or the travel shows or the antique shows—how is it that they know so much about their topic? They have absorbed themselves with it. They’ve taken great pains to know it.

  Now, consider what would happen if we became absorbed with the New Testament. What if we took great pains to learn Jesus? Imagine what that would do for us. First, we would feel very sure about God. We would know God, if that is possible. Our confidence would rise because we have become absorbed with it. Then, others would come to us when they wanted to know things. Why? Because they knew that we knew. 

  When those things happen the end of this verse becomes natural. Paul said your progress will be evident to all. How so? Because you have taken pains with these things and have become absorbed with them. Sometimes growth is hard to see in ourselves, but others see it. Absorption with God makes it happen.

  Paul gives us a great thought to end with: what is evident about us? What do folks see? What do they see spiritually? Are you progressing? Paul says you should.

  The word “pains” sound painful—there is no easy shortcuts here. A younger preacher listened to an older preacher preach. He was impressed. He told the older preacher, “I’d give anything to know the Bible like you do.” The older preacher replied, “I gave 40 years of my life.” There is no other way. Soak it up, that’s what absorbed means. Drink deeply of God’s word. Learn, grow, ask questions, seek, listen, read…that is the absorption process.

Roger