In 1 Timothy 4:6–16, Paul encourages Timothy not to let his youth or his perceived inadequacies keep him from leading faithfully. Instead, Timothy is told to set an example, train himself in godliness, and—perhaps most importantly—not neglect the gift God has given him. Today we talk about inadequacy, comparison, spiritual training, and the unique gifts God has given each of us. We may not have someone else’s gifts, abilities, or calling, but God has given each of us something to use for the good of the kingdom. The question is: Are we using it?
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Good morning, friends. It’s good to be with you on this Thursday morning. I hope you’re doing well.
It’s good to be back in my normal abode after yesterday’s road trip. It’s nice to be back in my office with a computer in front of me, my iPhone up there, my Bible here, no motorcycles passing by, and a little bit of sun coming in the window.
Of course, I’m recording this late in the afternoon, so the sun is shining directly on top of me. Maybe the sun is my angelic glow that we all know and love so well.
Although, as I tell people when I say I sing like an angel, I’m often reminded that Lucifer was a fallen angel.
So, you know… potato, potahto.
Today we’re going to finish up 1 Timothy 4. We’re going to read verses 6 through 16.
Paul is giving Timothy some very practical instructions about what it means to be a pastor, a minister, and a follower of Jesus.
And there’s one verse in particular that really catches my attention.
Paul tells Timothy:
“Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct and love and faith and purity.”
Timothy was young.
We don’t know exactly how young he was, but he was young. Paul was older, more experienced, and more seasoned. Timothy was the younger person who was now being asked to lead.
And I think it would have been very easy for Timothy to feel inadequate.
Maybe people would dismiss him because of his age. Maybe people would look at him and think, “What does this young guy know?”
And so Paul says, essentially, “Don’t let that define you. Instead, set an example.”
And I think that’s a word that all of us need to hear.
We all have something in our lives that makes us feel inadequate.
I don’t know what yours is.
Maybe it’s your age.
Maybe it’s your education.
Maybe it’s your history.
Maybe it’s some failure you’ve experienced.
Maybe it’s something somebody said about you years ago that you’ve never quite gotten over.
We’ve all got something.
And if you think you don’t have an inadequacy, maybe your arrogance is your inadequacy.
We’ve all got something.
For Timothy, it was his youth. It was the thing that other people could use to discount him or disregard him.
Paul says, “Don’t do that.”
Instead, set an example in your speech, your conduct, your love, your faith, and your purity.
Read Scripture.
Teach.
Exhort.
Pay attention to what God has given you.
And then Paul says something else that I really love:
“Do not neglect the gift that is in you.”
Friends, you have a gift.
I don’t know what your specific gift is.
I don’t know what it is that God has uniquely given you.
But you’ve got something.
Every one of us who is breathing God’s air today, every one of us who is living this life, has some kind of giftedness.
There’s something that you can do for the good of God’s kingdom.
And it is so easy to ignore that.
It’s so easy to feel inadequate.
And it’s so easy to compare ourselves to other people.
Comparison is a thief of joy.
We look at somebody else and say, “Well, I don’t have what they have.”
Maybe it’s a particular gift.
Maybe it’s an ability.
Maybe it’s their personality.
Maybe it’s their career.
Maybe it’s their preaching.
I know I’ve done this.
I hear some preachers and I think, “Man, I wish I were that good.”
I think I’m okay, but there are certainly preachers who make me feel inadequate.
Or administration.
I’ve had to work hard at administration. I see people who are naturally gifted at it, and I think, “Man, I wish that came naturally to me.”
But Paul doesn’t give Timothy the option of saying, “Well, somebody else has a better gift, so I’ll just sit this one out.”
No.
You’ve got a gift.
Timothy had a gift.
Paul says, don’t neglect it.
Use it.
Practice it.
Pray about it.
Pay attention to it.
And then Paul gives us another image that I really love.
He says to train yourself in godliness.
He says physical training has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way.
And I think that’s an important reminder for us.
We spend a lot of time training our bodies.
We want to be healthy. We want to take care of ourselves physically.
And that’s a good thing.
But are we training ourselves spiritually?
Are you training yourself spiritually?
Are you stretching yourself?
Are you challenging yourself?
Are you attempting things that require you to depend upon God?
I remember a book from probably twenty years ago called Fit Body, Fat Mind. The basic idea was that sometimes Christians are very concerned about physical fitness but don’t spend nearly as much time training their minds and their spirits.
And Paul is saying, train yourself in godliness.
One of the ways we train spiritually is by attempting things for God that we can’t accomplish entirely on our own.
Think about physical training.
When you lift weights, you don’t lift something that’s easy. You lift something that’s difficult.
You stress the muscle, your body recovers, and you become stronger.
There’s a similar principle in our spiritual lives.
If we only ever do things for God that we know we can accomplish entirely through our own strength, we’re probably not going to grow very much.
So when was the last time you tried something big for God?
When was the last time you swung for the fences?
When was the last time you looked at something and said, “I can’t do this on my own strength. But I’m going to try it anyway, because I believe God can work through me”?
That’s training for godliness.
Read your Bible.
Pray.
Fast.
Serve.
Give.
Love people who are difficult to love.
Take a step of faith.
Try something that stretches you.
Because we want to be physically healthy, yes.
But we also want to be spiritually fit.
Paul tells Timothy, “You’ve got this gift. Don’t neglect it.”
And I think that’s the word I want to leave with you today.
Don’t neglect what God has given you.
Don’t let your inadequacies convince you that you have nothing to offer.
Don’t let comparison convince you that somebody else’s gift makes yours insignificant.
God has given you something.
So live into it.
Practice it.
Train yourself.
Use it.
And use whatever God has given you for the purpose God has placed in front of you.
Thanks for being with me today, friends.
Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll pick up tomorrow with 1 Timothy chapter 5.
See you in the morning.