A Servant’s Heart: Majoring on Majors

A Servant’s Heart: Majoring on Majors

I Timothy 4:6-16

Last Sunday, we began a series of five messages on the theme, “A Servant’s Heart.” We talked about how the first disc= iples responded to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him. And we looked at how you and I ans= wer the call of Christ in our lives today.

This morning, we’ll consider our need to ‘= major on the majors’ as Christian servants, and we’ll begin by turnin= g to the writings of the Apostle Paul found in I Timothy 4:6-16:

⁶If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the tr= uths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. ⁷Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wiv= es' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. ⁸For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ⁹T= his is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance ¹⁰(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who= is the Savior of all men, and especially of those w= ho believe.

¹¹Command and teach these things. ^{12Don't
let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for t=
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believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. ^{13Until
I come, devote yourself to the public reading of
Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴Do not neglect your g=
ift,
which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid
their hands on you. ¹⁵Be diligent in these matters; give
yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you d=
o, you
will save both yourself and your hearers.}}

If you could change something about yourself, what would it be? Most of us, if we’re honest,= could point to something in our lives that we would change if we could. We believe these changes would make us--or life in general-- better in some way. So how about it: what would you ch= oose to change?

The media is full of advertisements where someone is giving a testimonial concerning something t= hey chose to change about themselves and how a particular product or device or = drug or diet plan enabled them to do it. And, of course, this has transformed their lives, and it will do the same for you! ‘All that’s required is three easy payments, plus shipping and handling…’

The changes usually have something to do with our bodi= es: our weight or some other aspect of our physical appearance. Did you notice in our text for tod= ay that Paul commends us for wanting to take care of our bodies: “physic= al training is of some value,” he says (verse 8).

But then he quickly adds that we need to be even more concerned with our spiritual health—“godliness”—and here’s why. Spiritual training has value not only in this life, but also in the life to come!

Do you get the message? ‘Major on the majors.’ Physical training is important—don’t neglect it--but spiritual training is of greater importance. It’s major,= so give this priority!

Okay, we’re talking about what matters most when= it comes to servanthood. What do= es it mean to be a Christian servant, to have a servant’s heart? We’ll try to answer this que= stion by focusing on a few of the major ingredients.

1. First = of all, we must major on A PERSON. The servant heart understands that= the Christian life begins by committing our lives to Jesus Christ. Maybe I’m just getting older= , but does it seem that commitment doesn’t mean as much as it once did?

Don’t you find it interesting that Paul warns Ti= mothy elsewhere that there is going to be “a falling away from the faith?” There will be discouragement in the life of the church.&= nbsp; But in those times when others are leaving the faith and chasing aft= er every new notion and trend and amusement that comes along, Timothy is to re= main a good servant and a faithful minister.&nb= sp; Paul urges him to stay true to the cause of Christ.

Doesn’t this speak to our day? Do we see a falling away from the = faith of our mothers and fathers, combined with a headlong plunge into something else? I’m not talking a= bout a commitment to a particular church or denomination, or to any preacher or Po= pe or Sunday School class.

What I am saying is that when we major on the majors, = we make Jesus Christ Lord of our lives. Maybe we haven’t been clear enough about this, or even underst= ood it ourselves. Certainly we ha= ve often settled for something less.

When Samuel, the preacher from Sierra Leone, Africa, was= with us at the men’s meeting recently, we heard about the awful atrocities= so many Christians in his country have had to endure. He had experienced these personall= y, and he was thankful to have survived. Many of his friends and family members didn’t. I think we all came away fro= m that meeting knowing that here was a man who understands what it means to make Christ Lord.

I hope none of us ever have to go through the kind of testing that Samuel described. But I also encourage us to ask ourselves the hard questions concerning what dyi= ng to self and living for Christ means for us—not in Africa, but in Anderson, SC.

What does majoring on the person of Christ mean? What does that look like for us? May we all welcome Jesus into our = lives as Savior and Teacher and Friend. But let us also make Him Lord!

2. Which brings us to our second Major concern: A LIFESTYLE. Paul says (vs. 7): “…t= rain yourself to be godly.” If Christ is Lord, our lives will reflect the fact that He is in control.

What does “godliness” mean? There was a time when we tried to = reduce this to a few rules…NO drinking, smoking, cussing, fooling around. Some would add movies and wearing jewelry and cutting the grass on Sunday to their list of prohibitions.

Now, the rules may be good or not. There would no doubt be a differen= ce of opinion among us about them. = We do need rules to live by; but our rules, even the good ones, miss the point wh= en it comes to godliness.

If you’ve been around here long, you know that I= like the comic strip called “Calvin and Hobbes.” One year, as ‘Santa season&#= 8217; was approaching, Calvin said to Hobbes, “I’m getting nervous ab= out Christmas.”

“You’re worried that you haven’t been good,” Hobbes replied. “That’s just the question,” said Calvin, “It’s all relative. What’s Santa’s definition? How good do you have to be to qual= ify as good? I haven’t killed anybody. That’s good, right? I haven’t commit= ted any felonies. I didn’t = start any wars. I don’t pract= ice cannibalism. Wouldn’t y= ou say that that’s pretty good? Wouldn’t you say that I should get lots of presents?”

Hobbes reflected on Calvin’s reasoning for a mom= ent, and then said, “But maybe good is more than the absence of bad.” To which Calvin replied, “See, THAT’S what worries me.”

Maybe this should concern us too—that goodness, = or godliness, is about something more than just NOT being BAD. In Jesus’ day, a lot of peop= le were defining godliness as the keeping of lots of rules. Jesus taught, however, that a life= that is pleasing to God is about something more than just living by the rules.

Goodness is about “DOING unto others as you woul= d have them do unto you.” Godl= iness is about imitating the Heavenly Father who “causes His sun to rise on= the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.R= 21; (Matthew 5:45)

It all gets back to servanthood—being committed = to a pattern of living that reflects Jesus’ life in us, a life that was totally surrendered to serving others.&nbs= p; This was Jesus’ way because it’s the Father’s way. “Train yourself to= be godly.”

3. Now, look please at verse 13: R= 20;Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” Here’s something else that’s big in the life of a Christian servant. We are to major on A TASK. We are pe= ople who have an assignment--a job to do!

All of us need what Paul is encouraging here. Don’t neglect gathering toge= ther with fellow Christian servants for worship and Bible study. He specifically mentions the public reading, the preaching, and the teaching of Scripture.

This is not some Lone Ranger endeavor. It’s in the context of the gathered community of faith, the church, that we= are to worship God. He tells us t= o DO this TOGETHER!

What we do here each Lord’s Day is MAJOR. If we take seriously our walk with= the Lord, we will be committed to a fellowship of Christian believers—attending the services, supporting it with our tithes and offerings, and loving and serving one another.

That’s not the preacher talking. It’s the Bible. Commitment to Jesus Christ means allegiance to His body, the church—which requires faithful involvemen= t in worship and Bible study. And = those who teach in the life of the church should also faithfully worship with that church. Anything other than t= his is unhealthy for the body. ‘Devote yourselves to this,’ = Paul said.

4. Now, let’s consider one other major requirement of servanthood that grows directly out of this passage. I’ll call this majoring on A MISSION. Begin reading, please, in the middle of verse 9: “…we have put our hope in the living God, wh= o is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. Command and tea= ch these things.” (I Timothy 4:9b-11)

Timothy understood.&n= bsp; He knew that the Lord had commissioned His followers to take the Gos= pel to the world, to be good ambassadors of Christ in their daily lives, wherev= er life took them. Our mission i= s to reach and disciple people for Christ.

Think back to when we would hear the purpose of Sunday= School summarized with just two words. Remember what they were? Some of you do, I’m sure: RE= ACH and TEACH.

This was drilled into us as the purpose of the Sunday = School: reaching people and teaching them God’s word. And then we would be re= minded of the Great Commission: to make disciples of all people, all nations, beginning right where we are—in our families, our neighborhoods, our classrooms and workplaces.

This is still major, friends—it hasn’t changed! We are witnesses of = the Good News of Jesus Christ, sharing the Gospel with others, inviting them to enter into a saving, life-changing relationship with Christ--and then teach= ing all of us what this means. Re= aching and Teaching!

Listen: it takes people who have servant hearts to do this. To risk opening yoursel= f up to another human being and sharing with them your deepest, heartfelt convictions—to do this you have to become as vulnerable as Jesus was = when He took off His outer garment, wrapped a towel around His waist, and washed= the disciples’ feet. He was demonstrating for them, and for us, what it means to serve.

How does this relate to the mission Christ has given us? Like = this: it takes a servant to be a good witness. We have to shed our defenses, our = outer garments, and get real exposed in order to share with another person our fa= ith in Christ.

Then, when this person shows up at church—that p= erson we’ve invited, or shared our faith with, or the stranger who just hap= pens by--again, we need the heart of a servant to reach out to them and befriend them and sacrifice something in order to welcome them into our church, our Sunday School class, and, yes, into our circle of relationships—becau= se they won’t stay around here long if we don’t.

Someone reminded me of this story last week, and the timing could n= ot have been better. It’s = about a Sunday School teacher in = Boston named Edward Kimball. He went to a shoe store to visit w= ith a young man who had been attending his class. Kimball later wrote this about = him: "I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was = his when he came into my class." Well, Kimball led this young man to Christ.

His name was Dwight L. Moody, and he was quite gifted. He soon attracted a group of peopl= e and started teaching a Bible class. He moved to Chicago where his ministry continued to grow.

Moody traveled to England to lead an evangelistic crusade, and he won so many people to Christ there,= he returned to this country as a bit of a celebrity. This enabled him to further his evangelistic ministry back home. Along the way, he built schools for boys and girls, and he also began the Moody Bible Institute.

A Sunday school teacher, with a servant’s heart, shared his f= aith and led a young man to Christ. As a result his witness and influence, thousands came to the Savior. Just imagine the possibilities whe= n you and I major on the MAJORS, when we, through the grace of Christ in us, have servant hearts!

First Baptist Church, I challenge all of us to MAJOR on these most important ingredients of Christian discipleship; and then, let’s just= see what the Lord will do through us!