1 Timothy 6:20 – Ministry and Mindfulness
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust…
In his sermon, "Presumptuous Sins," Charles Spurgeon is on guard for himself and his listeners. He quotes, "The Apostle Paul warns saints against the most loathsome of sins. He says, 'Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, inordinate affection,' and such like." What!," reacts Spurgeon in mock surprise, "do saints want warning against such sins as these? Yes, they do," solemnize is the prince of preachers, concluding the thought with the reminders, "the highest saints may sin the lowest sins, unless kept by divine grace. You old experienced Christians, boast not in your experience," Spurgeon pleads, "you may trip yet, unless you cry, 'Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.'"
If anything, we experience a plea of Paul for Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20 as more emphatic, more personal. We have, by God's grace heard the old apostle's heart for the younger minister over time. Because of the way we are wired, and that wiring has been corrupted by our fall, we are vulnerable to what Malcolm Gladwell calls the narrative fallacy. We will make a progression out of Paul's charges. We would have Timothy, and ourselves, graduate from danger, at least to a particular sin, and then teach others to the point of imperviousness.
Surely, our craving for a man-centered happy ending goes, the satisfaction Paul helps Timothy envision at the end of 1 Timothy 6:19 is such a point. If those Timothy is to confront are using the same phrases as Paul used for Timothy and are laying hold of eternal life, then the seal of approval is on our young minister, right? His brand has proven worth expanding. Surely the enemy of his soul would not try him in those very ways he has successfully taught others against?
Or, maybe not. Maybe we are to see something cyclical in healthy Christian circumspection. Paul has Timothy examined himself for the twin pulls of materialism and pride, then has him confront these in the influential among his flock, but Timothy's time for healthy, humble self-examination has not passed. His 360°, Scriptural vision of his place in the Christian life is to include offense and defense, introspection and expansion. As equipped as Paul believes Timothy to be as the man on the spot in Ephesus, as crucial as his public proclamation of the aspect of the Gospel which will confront the local idolatry are, Timothy is still to insist on time to inspect himself, to guard that which was committed to his trust.
This is the crucial incorporation of the after-action report, vital to the military in this world and successful combat of the spirit. In some sense, the spirit of the age which Timothy fights is contagious. Daunted, he and we may be tempted to declare a partial victory and to make provision for the flesh. He and we may take home a strain of the very virus we once knew to be so deadly. Taking the time to reflect on the original mission and our place in it, to guard that which was committed to our trust, can allow us to cast a critical eye on the ways in which we may be drifting from that sense of mission and identity.
We do well if the engagement against the sins of the age has left us more disgusted with them and less likely to engage in them, but we are not in vulnerable in this state. To be offended as sinful thoughts and actions infringe upon the Lord's due glory is a wonderful thing, but we don't stay in this state for very long. Superficially similar but putrefying quickly is a kind of religious pride. If we are not especially vulnerable to the sins of the following we are trying to assist, we find ourselves all the more vulnerable to pride. We forget that such a Gospel was not gleaned by the braun of our brains but was committed to our trust, that others were used by the sovereignty of God as we are being used now. By this grace, every quiet moment is an opportunity to place ourselves back in the stream of HIS narrative. He is faithful to finish what He has begun in us, and what would so quickly run aground otherwise.
In his sermon, "Presumptuous Sins," Charles Spurgeon is on guard for himself and his listeners. He quotes, "The Apostle Paul warns saints against the most loathsome of sins. He says, 'Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, inordinate affection,' and such like." What!," reacts Spurgeon in mock surprise, "do saints want warning against such sins as these? Yes, they do," solemnize is the prince of preachers, concluding the thought with the reminders, "the highest saints may sin the lowest sins, unless kept by divine grace. You old experienced Christians, boast not in your experience," Spurgeon pleads, "you may trip yet, unless you cry, 'Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.'"
If anything, we experience a plea of Paul for Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20 as more emphatic, more personal. We have, by God's grace heard the old apostle's heart for the younger minister over time. Because of the way we are wired, and that wiring has been corrupted by our fall, we are vulnerable to what Malcolm Gladwell calls the narrative fallacy. We will make a progression out of Paul's charges. We would have Timothy, and ourselves, graduate from danger, at least to a particular sin, and then teach others to the point of imperviousness.
Surely, our craving for a man-centered happy ending goes, the satisfaction Paul helps Timothy envision at the end of 1 Timothy 6:19 is such a point. If those Timothy is to confront are using the same phrases as Paul used for Timothy and are laying hold of eternal life, then the seal of approval is on our young minister, right? His brand has proven worth expanding. Surely the enemy of his soul would not try him in those very ways he has successfully taught others against?
Or, maybe not. Maybe we are to see something cyclical in healthy Christian circumspection. Paul has Timothy examined himself for the twin pulls of materialism and pride, then has him confront these in the influential among his flock, but Timothy's time for healthy, humble self-examination has not passed. His 360°, Scriptural vision of his place in the Christian life is to include offense and defense, introspection and expansion. As equipped as Paul believes Timothy to be as the man on the spot in Ephesus, as crucial as his public proclamation of the aspect of the Gospel which will confront the local idolatry are, Timothy is still to insist on time to inspect himself, to guard that which was committed to his trust.
This is the crucial incorporation of the after-action report, vital to the military in this world and successful combat of the spirit. In some sense, the spirit of the age which Timothy fights is contagious. Daunted, he and we may be tempted to declare a partial victory and to make provision for the flesh. He and we may take home a strain of the very virus we once knew to be so deadly. Taking the time to reflect on the original mission and our place in it, to guard that which was committed to our trust, can allow us to cast a critical eye on the ways in which we may be drifting from that sense of mission and identity.
We do well if the engagement against the sins of the age has left us more disgusted with them and less likely to engage in them, but we are not in vulnerable in this state. To be offended as sinful thoughts and actions infringe upon the Lord's due glory is a wonderful thing, but we don't stay in this state for very long. Superficially similar but putrefying quickly is a kind of religious pride. If we are not especially vulnerable to the sins of the following we are trying to assist, we find ourselves all the more vulnerable to pride. We forget that such a Gospel was not gleaned by the braun of our brains but was committed to our trust, that others were used by the sovereignty of God as we are being used now. By this grace, every quiet moment is an opportunity to place ourselves back in the stream of HIS narrative. He is faithful to finish what He has begun in us, and what would so quickly run aground otherwise.
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