Instruction for Equipping the Saints
2 Timothy 4:1-5
December 3, 2023
In his book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman writes:
The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be 80, you have just over 4,000 weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our 4,000 weeks.
The problems we face as individuals are replicated in the church: there are only so many resources, so many people, so many hours — and the needs seem to surpass the needs that exist in the church (at large) and in the world. And that is true at GBC as well. The Lord has graced us with many gifted, servant-hearted people, but the needs and opportunities seem to outpace our ability. So how will we prioritize what we will do as a church and individuals? What should we do?
This year our theme for ministry has been “Equipping the Saints” — it has been a reminder to continue pursuing excellence in preparing one another to serve Christ. As we finish the year, we’ve been thinking about the topic more directly — we’ve talked about the goal in equipping, the people who equip, and the character of the equippers. Today we will answer the question, how will we equip others? We are going to find in 2 Timothy 4 that —
All of God’s people are saved to serve Him.
God’s people will serve Him well when they carefully administer God’s truth.
Ministry — caring for souls and discipling — isn’t easy, but the process is simple; what we need to do is uncomplicated — and we will see that again this morning. Observe three priorities for those who will equip others in the church body (in our church body). What do equippers do?
- To Equip Others, Be Faithful with Your Doctrine (vv. 1-2)
- Be doctrinally faithful because of your accountability (v. 1)
- Be doctrinally faithful because of your role (v. 2)
- To Equip Others, Be Wary of Unfaithful Doctrine (vv. 3-4)
- To Equip Others, Be Faithful with Your Life (vv. 5)
- Be faithful in watchfulness
- Be faithful in endurance
- Be faithful in evangelism
- Be faithful in using your gift(s)
Download the rest of this sermon on 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.
Words of Grace 