VERNA HARGROVE: A Shepherd's Heart

ONE

The Teacher

“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work, which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm,” (I Timothy 1:3-7) NIV.

TRUTH TO THE CHURCH

So you want to serve the Lord, do you? Possibly, you want to be a pastor or a deacon. Based on I & II Timothy and Titus, A Shepherd’s Heart will guide you through the disciplines that God expects to work into the hearts of His church leaders and workers. Are these characteristics the standards you want in your life? Read A Shepherd’s Heart to see if this is the work God is performing in you. You may have areas you want Him to perfect. Because, if a man wants to minister for God, he must have a shepherd’s heart.

The Word of God is God speaking to you. The Bible is the best source of training, especially for those who want to preach or teach the Body of Christ. The best information for believers who want to teach the Bible is found in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. These men were both leaders in the early church. It was their job to be outstanding teachers and men of character. It was their job to find qualified pastors and Bible teachers that the gospel would go forth.

The Pastoral Epistles are the three letters of First and Second Timothy and Titus. For 150 years, Bible teachers have referred to them as thus. Church government and administration are important themes in these letters, and the teaching is essential in church management today. Many believe that Paul wrote First and Second Timothy in Rome during his two imprisonments there. He wrote Titus during his free time in between.

The two epistles to Timothy differ in style and language from the one to Titus. In them, Paul explained pastoral responsibilities and duties more carefully. The other letters that Paul wrote to churches had the salutation of grace and peace, but these have more. Paul greets these men with grace, mercy and peace.

We now begin our study by looking at the book of First Timothy, which was a letter from Paul. Timothy was the pastor of the large church in Ephesus. He had a great responsibility to do an excellent job. Paul would give Timothy specific qualifications for one seeking to pastor a church.

Paul does not waste time getting to the point. The number one thing Paul said to Timothy was to discontinue wrong teaching. He immediately told Timothy to stop those men who were lecturing false doctrine to the church in Ephesus. Those instructors were possibly Jews teaching the Law of Moses. In other words, first fire the bad people then set up a righteous platform.

New believers, who had already repented for their sins, accepted Christ as Savior, and were learning to walk with Him, did not need someone trying to put a guilt trip on them by putting them under the law. They had accepted the glorious Good News which had been entrusted to Paul. They believed that Jesus was the Son of God who paid the full price for their sins. They believed that the resurrection was living proof of who He was. They did not need to try to keep laws that the Jews had never been able to keep themselves.

PERSECUTION

Jews attached to the Old Covenant could not stand to see Gentile believers walking in freedom. The freedom came from receiving the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. It was a power to love. Paul wanted the two administrators to remember that new Christians needed to experience the law of love, coming out of a pure heart and a good conscience. This would be a walk of faith in God, not human effort to keep the law. Bible teachers had to know the Word of God available to them in their day.

Timothy would have to go to the location where the new believers were gathering. He needed to give them direction as to how to walk in the power of Christ. He would have to go and tell them that faith in the finished work of Christ was all they needed.

Timothy needed to silence Jewish teachers.

Where did the teaching take place? There were no church buildings. It could have been in a synagogue or in the open air nearby. Homes were open for churches to gather in for fellowship. One would hope that false teachers would not go there.

Bible doctrine, taught by pastors in today’s world, is more formal. Pastors usually teach from a pulpit or in a Bible study setting. Yet ministers of the Gospel need direction as much as they did in the early church. All pastors must know the Word of God, and teach true doctrine. The information found in Paul’s letter to Timothy is essential for proper teaching today. The Word must be taught God’s way. It is the only way. It is our job to search out truth, and ask the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. We are the only hope for unsaved people to hear truth. Jesus is truth.

WRITTEN WORD

It seems that early apostles lived their lives so close to God that His Blessed Holy Spirit constantly filled their souls with His holy presence. The Spirit filled their minds and mouths with God’s Word. The teachers gave forth the word in power.

God assisted Paul and other apostles as they wrote down the living Word of God. Jesus had said that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. These men knew the voice of the Lord. They had a need in their heart to follow and please him. They spent time alone with Him until they were empowered to go forth.

Forty human authors wrote the Bible over a period of fifteen hundred years. God Himself was the real authors as the Holy Spirit inspired the writers. II Peter 1:21 tells us, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The phrase “they were moved” gives us a feeling of what the prophets and apostles felt when they wrote scripture. They were empowered by the presence of God.

The goal of the first church was love. This is supposed to be the goal of every church today.

A young man wanting to be a pastor gets his best training on his knees in prayer, asking God to fill his heart with the love of God. One going into the ministry has to first have the call of God on his life. Being a pastor is a calling, not a career. The Bible is clear about that.

PAUL’S EVANGELISTIC PARTY

The stories of Paul’s missionary trips are found in Acts. “Paul and Silas went first to Derbe and then on to Lystra. There they met Timothy, a young disciple whose mother was a Jewish believer, but whose father was a Greek. Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews in the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before he left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek,” (Acts 16:1-3).

Paul went out preaching the gospel very soon after his Damascus Road experience. The Lord first led Barnabas to join him until they parted company, then Silas traveled with Paul on his second missionary journey. That was when Paul first met Timothy.

Paul refers to Timothy as his “child in the faith”. This probably means Paul was instrumental in Timothy’s conversion. Paul preached in Lystra on his first and second Missionary Journeys. Possibly, Timothy’s conversion was on Paul’s first trip to this Gentile city.

When Paul went to Lystra on his second missionary journey, Timothy had grown in the Lord. He was already a well-respected disciple of Christ. The Christians in Lystra had educated him in the ways of the Lord. Paul asked Timothy to accompany him on the remainder of this second Missionary Journey, which Timothy probably felt honored to do. Timothy had earned the respect and esteem of his Christian brothers at Lystra. Now Paul paid attention to him. Impressed by the Christian quality of this young man, Paul wanted to evangelize with him.

There was much to learn. One had to be grounded in the Word to spot a false prophet and keep him from influencing innocent sheep. The under-shepherd had to understand that we find favor with God when we call on his mercy, not when we try to impress him with how smart we are.

TIMOTHY JOINS THE TEAM

Paul, Timothy and their companions traveled throughout the region preaching the Good News. They told about redemption through the Messiah and delivered the message that the new Christians were free from the Law of Moses. They said the new converts did not need to be circumcised in their bodies, just in their hearts.

The Jews could not stand for Paul to deliver the same message the apostles of Jesus shared. The thought that Jesus gave freedom to those who believed he had paid the full price for their sins caused jealousy. Guilt of the crucifixion was probably a factor, also.

The godless Jews pursued Paul, wanting to kill him. They wanted to shut him up. The Bible says, “When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the Word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble. The believers acted at once, sending Paul on to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind,” (Acts 17:13-14).

PAUL’S REASON TO WRITE

As with a magnifying glass, we will look at the three letters Paul wrote to his spiritual sons, Timothy and Titus. He wrote two letters to Timothy and one to Titus. Paul began his letters to Timothy and Titus in similar manners. He stated his apostleship, his appointment, and his relationship with the young men. He considered them both his children in the Lord.

Timothy was obviously the favorite. Paul called him his true child in the faith and his dear son. Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy to give the course of action to take for church administration. Writing to his favorite disciple, Paul also did not want him to become too weary in his service for Christ. Paul wanted Timothy to hang in there. The second letter to Timothy is called the “swan song” or the “last will and testament” of the Apostle Paul. It is without question the last of Paul’s writings.

Titus helped the troubled churches on the island of Crete. Titus was Paul’s right hand man in organizing churches, so Paul wrote to encourage him in his work. He gave both men guidelines on how to run church business.

According to Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Paul was teaching that a church must have creed on the inside and conduct on the outside. There needed to be worship on the inside and works on the outside. The desire to live for God had to come from a changed heart. “The old has gone; the new has come.”

FAITH IN GOD’S WORD

This brings us to the point of how we as teachers should interpret scripture. Do we follow a specific guideline? Why do we put our faith in the Bible? Do we know the voice of the Lord? Do we follow His leading? Do we expect God to help us when we pray?

We should teach our pupils to dig out the truth from Holy Scriptures. “Let all those who put their trust in thee rejoice; let them ever shout for joy, because you defend them,” Psalm 5:11, can bring a lot of hope in time of trouble to a believer. Pastors should teach the believer in Jesus Christ how to approach the Bible. As Christians, they need to learn the Bible in such a way that they can translate it into their own lives.

We want our pupils to see the living Truth in us, do we not? We can find answers in Paul’s letter to Timothy that will empower our teaching.

In this study of Paul’s writings, we will follow the steps which Paul laid out in his letters for spiritual growth. Our pupils need to learn scripture so they can stand on their on when trials come. Those we minister to must know which scriptures will assist them in times of trouble.

As Bible teachers, we need to look inward first. Our first step is to check our attitude toward spiritual things. We should approach God’s Book reverently, because it is God’s Word. We approach it prayerfully, asking for Divine revelation. We translate the living Word into our lives by communicating with God in prayer. We talk to Him and He speaks to us through His Word. The saying, “We are the only Bible some of our neighbors ever read” is true.