SEVEN CRUCIAL COMMITMENTS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 23, 2025 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message, preached March 23, 2025 from 1 Timothy 4:11-16

Theme: There are seven crucial commitments that are essential to a pastor’s work in the gospel.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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I ask you to turn to 1 Timothy 4:11-16. And I want to begin this morning by actually showing you how important this morning’s passage has become to me as a pastor.

There are, of course, many portions of Paul’s two letters to Timothy that ought to be very important to all of us as believers—and especially to those who have been called by God to the role of pastor. After all, Paul wrote these letters to a pastor; and in them, the apostle instructed him on how the individual believers in the church family were to conduct themselves in the household of faith. But this morning’s passage has stood out to me so powerfully that—several years ago—I outlined it, printed a copy, and glued it into the inside cover of my Bible. As I hold my Bible open to you, you can see it. And now, when I open this Bible, I often see that outline, stop and read through it, and remember again the commitments that it tells me I must keep in order to be a good pastor.

In this passage—after describing many of the things that Pastor Timothy needed to emphasize to the church family—the apostle Paul said;

These things command and teach.

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you (1 Timothy 4:11-16).

And so, my message this morning is basically an explanation of the outline that I repeatedly look at on the inside cover of my Bible.

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Now; you may be thinking to yourself, “Why do I need to spend time in a passage of Scripture such as this? And why do I need to know about the things outlined from it? This all seems like a very good passage for a pastor of a church to study. But what does it have to do with the members of a church family who aren’t pastors? Would this passage, and the things it teaches, really be relevant to the church family at large?”

Well; if you’ll look carefully through this passage, you’ll see that Paul very much intended for it to be heard and heeded by the whole church family. For one thing, it tells us what a church family has a right to expect from its pastor’s teaching and preaching ministry. After going into great detail about how individual believers ought to conduct themselves, and about the things that the church family ought to beware of, Paul told Timothy, “These things command and teach.” Whatever else a pastor may preach about, he’d better make sure he’s preaching about these things! And in verse 14, we’re told that a pastor of the church is commissioned to that role by the authority of that church family. He is officially recognized by “the laying on of the hands of the eldership”. The church should expect him to take seriously the role that has been entrusted to him. And what’s more, in verse 15, we’re told that the pastor is to grow and make discernable progress in that commission. His progress is to be “evident to all”. The church should expect him not only to hold to these things but also to be continually growing in them.

But this passage is also relevant to the whole church family in terms of what God has given a pastor to do for them. For example, he has been given by God to be an example to God’s people of how to live the practical Christian life. In verse 12, Timothy was told to “be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity”. And so, the church should be careful to follow the godly example he is required to set for them. And he’s also given by God to provide what is essential to them for the good of their own souls. As it says in verse 16, he’s to commit himself to these things in order to save both himself “and those who hear” him. And so, the church family should pay heed to his ministry for the good of their own eternal souls.

So, dear brothers and sisters, no one in the church family should dismiss a passage like this as being only significant to the pastor alone. It’s a passage that’s very significant to the whole church family. In it, we’re told why a church needs a pastor … and what the members of that church have a right to expect that pastor to be faithfully doing.

And, of course, it has relevance to someone like myself as the pastor because it very plainly tells me about the kinds of commitments I need to be true to in order to be a good and faithful servant to you.

There’s an interesting statement that’s made in this passage that reinforces that fact to me. In verse 13, the apostle Paul wrote, “Till I come …”; and then he gave Timothy some instructions of what he was to keep on doing until that occurred. Paul had told him in the earliest portion of this letter that he had left him there in order to protect the integrity of the message of the gospel and to prevent false teachers from harming God’s people with false doctrine. In 3:14, he told Timothy that he hoped to come to him shortly; but just when that would be wasn’t certain. But I can’t help but think that Timothy would have always been conducting his ministry in anticipation of Paul’s return. When Paul came, he certainly would have wanted Paul to find him faithful and obedient to his service to the people of God in Ephesus—not out of fear, but out of love and respect for his mentor.

This has made me think back on my own mentors in ministry who had spent their time building into me. I very often think back to the pastors and youth ministers who had taught me and guided me in the earliest and most foundational years of my faith. I think of the many college instructors and seminary professors who taught me the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, and how to pass those things on faithfully to God’s people. I think of the many people who prayed for Marilyn and me as we grew in ministry. I’m grateful for all of these treasured mentors. Most of them have gone on to be with the Lord Jesus; but I’ll see them again one day in glory. And I don’t want to be a disappointment to any of them. I want to show that their influence on me truly made a difference—just as I believe Paul wanted to know that Timothy had remained faithful.

And so, I read this passage often—and carefully consider the things it outlines—to make sure I’m staying true to the essential commitments it describes.

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In this passage we find seven crucial commitments that are essential to a pastor’s work in the gospel—which are therefore also important to the whole church family.

What are they? The first one is that a good pastor must …

1. KEEP TRUE TO THE SCRIPTURES.

In verse 11, Paul told Timothy, “These things command and teach” (v. 11). The ‘these things’ that Paul spoke of are the instructions that had been given to Timothy—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—regarding the protection of the message of the gospel and the conduct of a holy church family. As he said to Timothy in verse 6; “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.”

Timothy had been brought up in the Scriptures from the time that he was a little boy under the teaching of his godly mother, Eunice, and his godly grandmother, Lois. Paul would later go on to tell him in 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2;

But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching (2 Timothy 3:14-4:2).

Dear brothers and sisters; as a pastor, I’m convinced that I don’t have the authority to teach or preach anything other than what God has said in His holy word. You have the right to expect faithful biblical teaching from me. And you have a right to expect me to work very hard in doing so. I have a duty before God to make sure that I give nothing else to you but the word of God faithfully studied and accurately taught. I must—by God’s grace—keep true to the Scriptures.

But sound biblical teaching and preaching isn’t the only thing I owe you. I also must demonstrate what good, consistent biblical living looks like in actual practice. And so secondly, a good pastor must …

2. BE HIS OWN BEST ILLUSTRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

Paul told Timothy in verse 12, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

Now; when I read those words, I’m grateful that I don’t have to worry about anyone despising my youth anymore. But I used to. And so did Timothy. But he was not to let anyone look down on him or disregard the importance of his ministry because of his relative youth.

But this is where a serious mistake can be made. One of the worst ways for a pastor to try to gain the respect of God’s people—whether young or old—is by demanding it. The best way is by living in a truly respectful manner. And so, Paul urged Timothy to be an example of how to live the Christian life. He was to be an example “in word”, that is, in the way that he talked. He wasn’t to bad mouth others or use the foul kind of language that the people of this world use; but instead, he was to be an example of godly speech. He was also to be an example “in conduct”; that is, in the way he managed his daily life. He was to be an example of how a believer should behave in a godly way in a fallen world. He was to be an example “in love”; that is, he was to set the pattern for what it means to give sacrificially of one’s self in order to meet the needs of others in sincere affection … and also of how to truly love one’s enemies. He was to be an example “in faith”; which could mean either that he was to show the church family what it meant to live a life of trusting God, or that he was to set the example for faithfulness and trustworthiness. And he was to set an example “in purity”; that is, that he was to show what it meant to live a life of true holiness and sanctification—keeping separate from the sins of this world. Some translations—such as the one I’m using—have it that he was also to set the example “in spirit”. And though that’s not in the best copies of the ancient Greek text, it would suggest that a pastor ought also to be a man of zeal and sincere enthusiasm for the faith.

It’s a very sad thing when a pastor preaches such things, but then denies what he preaches by the way he lives. His life ought to match his words—and thus be an encouraging example to the people of God in how to live for Jesus Christ. Pray for me that I will be such an example to you.

Another commitment that a good pastor should have is that he …

3. MINISTER FAITHFULLY TO THE MIND OF GOD’S PEOPLE.

A pastor deals with the truth of God’s word in such a way as to serve as a teacher of God’s people—accurately informing the thinking of God’s servants from God’s revealed word. He shouldn’t try to impress everyone that he’s ‘scholarly’, of course; but he should nevertheless be a sincere scholar in the things of God. And so, Paul told Timothy in verse 13, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (v. 13).

In the original language, when Paul said that Timothy should give attention to ‘reading’, he put the definite article before the word—making it ‘the reading’. And for that reason, many Bible teachers believe that Paul was instructing Timothy to give careful attention to the reading of God’s word. A pastor ought to be a regular reader of God’s word. In fact, he ought even to be skilled—as some Bible teachers believe Paul was saying—in the ministry of reading God’s word publicly in the gathered church family. But I can’t help but wonder if Paul wouldn’t have also wanted Timothy to give his attention to ‘reading’ in other areas as well. It’s very clear from the things he wrote in his letters that Paul was well-acquainted with a variety of the books and writers of his day. And so, I believe that a pastor ought to be a man who carves out time to read profitably—and especially in ways that inform him of how to live the Christian life. He should consider it a key part of his ministry; and the church family ought to see that he faithfully hits the books, so that he can pass the fruits of good reading on to them.

But it shouldn’t be all head-knowledge. Paul also went on to tell Timothy to give attention “to exhortation”; that is, faithfully instructing God’s people in what God’s word tells them to do, and urging them to get up and do it. His ministry to their minds ought to be geared toward practical application and obedience with understanding. And Paul also told Timothy to give attention in his ministry “to doctrine”; that is, to instructing God’s people in the fundamentals of the faith and showing them how the Bible tells them to believe. His ministry to their minds ought to make them hungry to know the truths of the faith better, and equip them to declare those truths to the world.

I hope you’ll pray for me that I’ll always preserve and protect time for reading, exhortation, and doctrine; so that I can competently pass the truths of the Christian faith on to you in a way that’s accurate and applicational to your lives.

Now; that’s a serious responsibility from God. A man who has been appointed the pastor of a church ought to take that appointment very seriously—as the most significant appointment any man can receive. And so, Paul went on to tell Timothy that a good pastor will continually …

4. VIEW HIS MINISTRY AS A SACRED GIFT FROM GOD.

Paul told him in verse 14, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership” (v. 14). When Paul said that Timothy was given a ‘gift’, the specific gift he was referring to was the responsibility of serving as the pastor of the church in Ephesus. The ‘gift’ was ministry in Christ’s service. And the way it had been given to Timothy shows that he should treat it as a great and honorable entrustment from God.

For example, notice that it was given to him “by prophecy”. We’re not told much about this, but apparently, the Holy Spirit somehow made it clear to the Ephesian church family that Timothy was to serve as their pastor. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit does this in a remarkable way—such as when the Spirit once commanded the leaders of the church to separate Paul and Barnabas to Himself for the work of missions (Acts 13:2). Sometimes the Spirit will declare a man’s calling plainly by a prophetic word; sometimes He makes that calling plain through circumstantial experience. But somehow, it ought to be clear to the church that God has appointed a man to be a pastor—and not through the man merely appointing himself.

Timothy was marked out in this way to be the pastor; that is, “by prophecy”. But notice that it was also confirmed: “with the laying on of the hands of the eldership”. It’s important to notice that it was not confirmed by the laying of hands, but rather “by prophecy with the laying on of hands”. In other words, the elders—the appointed overseers of the church family—recognized God’s call of Timothy as pastor, and confirmed that call publicly to the church family with the laying on of hands.

I imagine that all of this would have had the effect of making Timothy treat his call as pastor very seriously. There may have been times when Timothy would have been tempted to hold back in the exercise of his pastoral authority. There may have been some who actually ‘despised’ his youth; and there may have been occasions in which he was afraid. But a remembrance of the official nature of his call would have been used by God to give him the courage he needed. In 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Paul told him;

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

So; a man who has been called by the Lord into pastoral ministry—appointed by the leading of the Holy Spirit and examined and confirmed by the elders of the church—should take that call very seriously. It is a gift from God that’s not to be treated lightly. He should embrace it with all his heart and energy. Pray for me, that I will always treat seriously the gift of ministry that has been given me.

Treating a gift like that seriously would mean that a pastor ought to give his all to it. A good pastor doesn’t just come to a church to merely do a job or fill a slot. He comes to give his whole life to the task. And so, Paul went on to tell Timothy that a good pastor should …

5. NEVER STOP BEING A GOOD STUDENT OF THE MINISTRY.

In verse 15, he told Timothy, “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (v. 15). In this case, the ‘these things’ that Paul spoke of were the things that we have been talking about—the commitments that would make for a good pastor. And he told Timothy to continually “meditate” on them—that is, give careful thought to them and learn all that he could about them. What’s more, he said that Timothy should “give” himself to them. In the original language, Paul said that he should “be” in them—that is, to ‘be all in’ with respect to his commitments to the ministry. He was to be so committed to these things that his growth in them would be evident and measurable. If someone were to examine his ministry a few years from that time, they should find that he had become more devoted to the work of the ministry, more faithful to the truths of the gospel, more sacrificial in his love for the people of God, and more knowledgeable in the truths of God’s word.

I’ll never forget a compliment I received once with respect to my ministry in this church. I heard it a long time ago, second-hand. One of our former leaders, Carl Henley, was talking to someone about my work as a pastor and said, “When Greg first came, he wasn’t all that good of a preacher. But he got better.” Believe it or not—knowing Carl—I was greatly encouraged by that. It meant that progress was evident. And after all these years, I hope I’m still making progress.

A good pastor, then, should never be satisfied with where he is. He should keep on making progress and be a good student of ministry all his life. Pray for me that I’ll keep growing and learning how to serve our church family better.

A good pastor should also …

6. PAY DILIGENT ATTENTION TO HIS OWN LIFE AND FAITH.

At the beginning of verse 16, Paul told Timothy, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine” (v. 16a). I love it that he told Timothy not to just take heed to his beliefs in the faith, but to also pay attention to his own heart. When I was teaching the preaching courses at the seminary a few years ago, I used to tell the students that one of the most important verses they could memorize with regard to preaching was Proverbs 4:23. It says;

Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).

A pastor cannot send forth anything from himself except what he has within. And if he is fully yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ—if he is sincerely and ongoingly ‘taking heed’ to himself in his relationship with Jesus—then that will come forth in his preaching and his ministry. No other work requires that a man take heed to himself as much as the work of a pastor; and so he must be diligent to watch himself in his relationship with the Lord Jesus. He must keep that relationship strong and vital. But Paul also told Timothy to take heed “to the doctrine”. The content and quality of his inner life must be guided by—and conducted in full accord with—the truths of God’s word. Both must be happening.

For most of my Christian life—and especially in all my years of ministry—I have sought faithfully to have a regular time of meeting with the Lord. I spend some time reading the Bible for my personal growth, and praying about the things that I’ve read. I can’t think of any habit that has been more important to me than that. But over the past couple of years, I’ve also been diligent in pulling out my old theology textbooks and re-reading the foundational books that informed my growth in the faith. I’ve sought to recommit myself to crucial doctrinal truths—especially in these uncertain and unfaithful days; and to keep myself growing in those vital standards. I’m paying careful attention to both my inner life before the Lord and to my commitment to sound doctrine. Please pray for me in these things.

Now; all of this has a purpose. It’s not just for my own growth and edification as a pastor in a temporal sense. It’s all to be for an eternal purpose—for the cause of the gospel. Paul encouraged Timothy to seek eternal ends in his own ministry. And so he told him—lastly—that a good pastor …

7. ALWAYS KEEP THE GOAL IN MIND.

In verse 16, he told Timothy, “Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (v. 16b). It’s not that Timothy could do anything to either save himself or the people he served in a redemptive way. Only faith in the blood of Jesus on the cross can do that. But by faithfully fulfilling his ministry—and by keeping himself committed to these things—he would set the gospel of Jesus’ sacrifice before God’s people; and that would be used by God to save him and those he served.

I think that what Paul said in Philippians 2:12-13 sheds light on this. He told the Philippian believers;

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

In keeping true to these commitments, Timothy would have been faithfully ‘working out’ that salvation that God had ‘worked in’ him. And what’s more, God could then use him to help the church family also to ‘work out’ the salvation that God had ‘worked into’ them. Pray for me, then, that I’ll continue in these things so that, by faithfully doing so, we all are enabled to ‘work out’ in practice the salvation through faith in Jesus that God has graciously ‘worked into’ us.

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I hope you can see why I have glued this outline to the inside cover of my Bible. And I hope you can appreciate why this isn’t just a passage that is meant for a pastor like me. This is for all of us in the church family. I must keep to the commitments that will enable me to be the pastor God wants you to have—so that we together can be the church that God wants us to be.

So, please keep hold of this outline and use it as a list of things to pray for me. Pray that I will always keep true to the Scriptures, be a faithful example of the Christian life, minister faithfully to the understanding, preserve the sacredness of my calling, keep on being a good student of the ministry, pay careful attention to my life and doctrine, and always keep the goal of the gospel of Jesus Christ ever before me.

And please also pray for yourselves as the recipients of the ministry God has called me to perform. Then, we can all rejoice together!

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