The Good Minister

The True Preacher and His Duties

1 Tim 4:6-11



1. A Good Minister: "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.

a. A True Preacher Is A Teacher “"If you instruct the brethren in these things…”

(1) If you instruct—in this case, a rare Greek word that means, “to put under.”
(2) this is one of the key tests of the true preacher, does he teach the people?

(3) There are some who seem to think that one can be a preacher without being a teacher—there are no Bible verses to support such a thing—preaching and teaching must go together.

(4) The very definition of pastor, in the only time the noun form is used to describe the New Covenant preacher, is wrapped up in the gift of God to the church in the form of teaching pastors (plural)—(Eph 4:11) "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,"

(5) The heart of the great commission is not to make converts, but to make disciples by teaching them.

(6) Examples of the verb form of “shepherd”

(a) (John 21:16) "He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My sheep.""
(b) (Acts 20:28) ""Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
(c) (1 Pet 5:2) "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;"
(7) Bottom line—it is hard to imagine a New Testament preacher who was not only a preacher but a teacher.

b. A Good Minister is a Good student—“…[constantly] nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine…”

(1) The word “…constantly…” expresses that this is a present participle, which refers to continuity, a lifestyle habit—the true preacher never stops learning
(a) Example—Bro. Charles Dinkins
(b) Example—William Tyndale, waiting to be martyred, requested a Hebrew Bible and Hebrew dictionary that he might study
(c) And of Course, Paul…(2 Tim 4:13) "Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come; and the books, especially the parchments."

(2) Nourished is the word “entrepho,’ which is a rare word. The philosopher Plato used the word to describe the education of a lawyer—“nourished in the laws…”

(3) The nourishment is in the words of the faith, [tois logois tēs pisteōs] not some magic-like “faith word,” but as so many other times, THE faith is in view, the doctrines and teachings of “the faith once delivered to the saints.”

(4) “Sound Doctrine” goes beyond the basic teachings of the faith, to the deeper things (1 Cor 2:6 ff), and to the practical implications and applications of our faith.

(5) There is such a thing as bad doctrine

(a) False theories about Who Jesus Is
(b) False teaching about salvation
(c) Denial of the full sufficiency of God’s Word
(d) Denial of the Lordship of Christ
(e) Human traditions set over and against the Word of God
(f) “Prophecies” by modern day “prophets”
(g) Gnostic “secrets”

c. A Good Minister is a careful student —“…which you have carefully followed…”

(1) This no doubt refers to the discipling that had occurred when Paul taught Timothy

(2) The word means “to walk alongside of,” indicating perhaps even the manner of the instructions Timothy received while traveling with Paul.

(3) The verb is in the perfect tense, which tells us that for Timothy, the study and personal application were an established and settled habit—2 Tim 2:15

d. A Good Minister Rejects Ignorance—“…7 But reject profane and old wives' fables…”

(1) Reject—turn away from

(2) Profane—the word refers to godless things

(3) Old wive’s fables—the word for “fable” is a word that talks about fictional stories that are not true and have no basis in Truth

(1 Tim 1:4) "nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith."

(2 Tim 4:4) "and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."

(Titus 1:14) "not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth."

(2 Pet 1:16) "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty."

(4) The True Preacher does not buy the lines of the heretics, nor does he believe in human traditions and legends

(5) The theology of the Gnostic heretics was fanciful, mystical, and ridiculous—here Paul compares it to the ghost stories, scary stories and legends that a pagan grandmother might tell her grandchildren

2. A Good Minister Stays in Spiritual Shape— “…and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance …”

a. A Spiritual Workout

(1) The word “exercise” is “gymnasia,”.

(2) He is not saying that bodily exercise is of no account, just that it is not of much worth, since it is not about eternity.

(3) Instead of being a physical athlete, the true preacher is to be a spiritual athlete, worked out and prepared for the contest by rigorous instruction and hard work—

(2 Tim 2:15) "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

(Col 1:29) "To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily."

(1 Tim 5:17) "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine."

(4) What a true preacher does, by way of preparation and spiritual training, is to study the Word and allow God to work in his life to create godliness, and to grow in prayer and in experiential knowledge of God.

b. The Spiritual Fitness Goal: Godliness

(1) Godliness refers to that character trait which is serious and reverent about the things of God

(2) The True Preacher has the same mindset as the Lord.

(Col 3:2) "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."

(Phil 2:5) "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,"

(1 Cor 2:16) "For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ."

(3) The True Preacher has set his mind on God and His ways—Mat 6:33

c. Pain Brings Gain “…godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come…”

(1) There is no area of our lives which godliness will not go

(2) The life now—living for Christ
(3) The Life To Come—living with Christ for all eternity.

d. Paul’s Amen—“…9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance…”


3. Why the Good Minister Does What He Does è (1 Tim 4:10) "For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe."

a. Two battles fought by every man of God

(1) Labor—(Col 1:28-29) "Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily."

(2) Suffer Reproach—strive, agonizomai, agonize

b. What makes it worth it all, and then some

(1) Our Faith—“…we trust…”
(2) The Object of Our Faith “…in the living God…”
(3) The Goal of the ministry “… the Savior of all men…” Available for all, but it is only effective to those who believe.
(4) The Family of Faith “…especially of those who believe…”

4. A Good Minister Preaches With Authority—“…11 These things command and teach…”

a. These things—everything brought up, chiefly “the Faith” and the various instructions having to do with the apostates.

b. Command—

(1) Paraggello—a word almost always identified with authority, often with the authority of Jesus

(2) Some examples

(Acts 1:4) "And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;"

(Acts 16:18) "…Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour."

(Acts 17:30) ""Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,"

c. In Authoritative preaching, the preacher takes into account the following things

(1) The Authority of the Writer—2 Pet 1:18-21, 2 Tim 3:16-17

(2) The Accuracy of the Text—Mat 5:17-20, Jn 17:17


(3) The Example of the Savior—(Mat 7:28-29) "And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

d. And Teach—covered already, but a reminder that if preaching contains no teaching it is not real preaching