Morning Moments

E. What is Paul saying in all this? Namely, if you are not under grace that brings the faith of the Son of God, you are under the Law of God which should lead you to grace. The Law condemns sin, but grace cleanses from sin. So any doctrine (teaching) that does not enhance our appreciation of God's holy standard and our need for Christ to meet it, by His grace through faith is to be stopped.

IV. Committed To Lordship 1:12-17
It stands to reason that if we are going to lead the saints, we must follow the Savior. That is what Paul is saying to young Timothy. Don't confuse truth and youth! The Savior is the Truth, so never mind your youth. The Church must have leadership that is committed to His Lordship. Lordship demands that we -

A. Produces Good Stewards Careful in Companionship 1:12-17
"It is required of a steward that he be found faithful." Whatever else God might want us to be, the most important is to be "good" - good soldiers, good students, good stewards, etc.. In other words there is to be a strong sense of responsibility and careful awareness of accountability.

1. Remember Your Place 1:12

Prov 27:8 "As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place".

a. He Entrusted Me (v 11) "my trust..."
Sound doctrine (truth in trust) is to be guarded and given. As a courier is entrusted with certain important and classified documents, so is the man or woman of God entrusted with the Gospel which is able to make one wise unto salvation.

b. He Enabled Me "enabled"
The word means to strengthen or make strong. Remember that God told Paul that he (Paul) would suffer many things for His (Jesus') sake. This is a sure cure for "burn out."

c. He Examined Me "counted me faithful"
To be regarded as faithful before God is certainly a high and noble thing. This give us insight into the heart of Paul that God saw. To many of us cannot be trusted with truth and thus cannot be counted faithful. "Be thou faithful unto death and He shall give you a crown of life."

d. He Established Me "putting"
It is He that "places" us. I like what Ian Thomas says, "Go where you are sent and stay where you are put." When God "puts" you - stay put until God moves you. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord," and as Ravenhill said - so are his stops. The man of God is like a TREE - P L A N T E D!

2. Remember Your Past 1:13-15
The Apostle Paul never forgot where he came from and had to live the present with the past in mind. Now let me be clear about this - We cannot spend our lives "looking back", but we must never forget where God found us, where God has "put" us, and how God has changed us.

a. He Enlightened Me "before…ignorantly" 13
Everybody's ignorant "just in different subjects". Here is the difference with the man (or woman) of God - In the manifestation of God's gifting us, we make problamation of the revelation given by inspiration and understood only through illumination. THAT is how it works! May God help us to remember what we were -

1). I Hated "blasphemer"
Paul had "consented" to the stoning of Stephen who was filled with the Spirit of God and apparently Paul never forgot watching this man of God die. Hating hurts! Furthermore, it can't be healed without the grace and goodness of God. What Saul was, Paul was not and vice versa.

2). I Hunted "persecutor"
This word needs no further clarification. We all understand what it means to be "persecuted". Paul was not satisfied with opposing Christianity, but sought to obliterate it because he saw it as a perversion of Judaism.

3). I Hurled "injurious"
As a lost leader, he was despiteful and desperately dispised disciples of Jesus. Think of those who cursed and mocked Jesus and said to Him, "IF thou be the Son of God, comes down from the cross. You saved others, save yourself."

b. He Entrusted Me "grace, faith, love" 14-15
What is it that God has entrusted us with? Sound doctrine which demands spiritual demeanor and deportment. Paul tells us here what that means in practical terms -

1). With Grace for Growth "grace" 14
"...Grow in grace and in...wisdom and knowledge...".
With Faith for Favor "faith" 14
"...without faith it is impossible to please Him." "For the Just shall live by faith".

2). With Love for Leadership "love" 14
Leading without love is like "sounding brass or tinkling cymbals," it just a lot of noise.
With Salvation for Sinners "salvation" 15
It is with grace and faith and love that we reach out to others as beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.