Introduction:       Just as surely as Jesus Christ is Lord and Head of His church, so His word is its final authority, its rule and guide of faith and practice. The mission of the church is to make disciples or pupils of the Son of God, which means by definition that they seek to be taught by Him. More than anywhere else on earth, the word of God ought to be respected, believed, and taught in His churches.

      For convenience in study, the passages of scripture in this week's lesson may be outlined as follows:

1.	Ministry of the Church, I Timothy 4:11-16
       a. Precepts of truth, 11
       b. Patterns of truth, 12
       c. Proclamation of truth, 13
       d. Prophecy of truth, 14
       e. Progress in truth, 15
       f. Persistence in truth, 16
2.	Mystery of the Church, Ephesians 3:6-12
       a. Mystery of the world, 6
       b. Mystery of work, 7
       c. Mystery of wealth, 8
       d. Mystery of waiting, 9
       e. Mystery of wisdom, 10
       f. Mystery of will, 11
       g. Mystery of worth, 12

      Notes on the Printed Text:
Ministry of the Church, I Tim. 4:11-16.       Besides apostles and prophets, Christ has given to His church evangelists, pastors, and teachers "for the work of the ministry." (Ephesians 4:11, 123 The apostle Paul gave the young pastor Timothy Instructions from which we may alt profit.

Precepts of Truth, 11.       "These things" include all that the apostle had previously written; in fact, we may safely say that we ought to teach all the word of God in its proper time and place. Of course, we cannot teach it all at once; and of course we need spiritual guidance to know what portion of truth will be most helpful in each situation; but we ought never to hold back any truth for fear of man. We are to "command" the truths of God's word, or declare them as a message from Him, to be received and believed as such.

Patterns of Truth, 12.       At the time of Paul's writing, Timothy was a comparatively young man. Youth is generally disposed to be hasty and rash in expression; and if a young preacher is to have the respect of the people, he must be careful to pattern his own life according to the principles that he undertakes to preach to others. Young or old, his actions will speak louder than his words.

Proclamation of Truth, 13.       Still, a preacher must preach. The silent preaching of a godly life provides creditabilty for the oral ministry, but it cannot take its place. Pastors and teachers ought to read God's word to the people, exhort to faith and obedience, and teach what it means.

Prophecy of Truth, 14.       The New Testament ministry is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. More to the point, the laying on of hands of the presbytery (council of elders) in ministerial ordination amounts to a formal prophecy that the ordained minister is recognized as a man called of God and gifted of God for his office. Paul knew that Timothy's gift was real: it is of utmost importance that we do not neglect whatever gifts God has put within us.

Progress in Truth, 15.       God's word should be continually in our minds, and we should be constantly under the power of its truth, if we would "profit" or progress In this truth. Our prime motive should be to please God rather than to Impress men; but since the preacher is a public figure, his progress or lack of progress in the truth wfll be evident to all. The teacher who would teach others, the leader who would lead others, must advance himself.

Persistence in Truth, 16.       If our doctrine is false, we ought to leave it; if it is true, we ought to stay with it. "Continue in them": that is, continue in your true self and in true doctrine. So doing, Timothy was to save both himself and his hearers; that is, save them from error, backsliding, and wasted lives.

Mystery of the Church, Ephesians 3:6-12.       Abundant mystery remains, though the revelation of the New Testament is much clearer than that of the Old Testament. Still clearer will be the revelation of the coming again of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Mystery for the World, 6.       Redemption in Christ is for Gentiles as well as Jews, with no distinctions between them so far as gospel privileges are concerned. Jewish and Gentile believers can and should belong to the same "body" or church. As stated in the preceding verse, this mystery was not made known "in other ages" as clearly as it is now revealed.

Mystery at Work, 7.       Paul was a working minister, in more ways than one. God's gift, God's grace, God's power, worked - and it, made Paul work. So will it be with any other true minister of the gospel of Christ. It remains a mystery to most people that work always fails to obtain grace but grace always produces work.

Mystery of Wealth, 8.       He who called himself "less than the least of all saints" could also declare that "in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing." (II Corinthians 12:11.) The mystery of his spiritual wealth, as of ours, is in "the unsearchable riches of Christ."

Mystery of Waiting, 9.       Jesus told His disciples, "Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." (Luke 10:24.) The mysteries were not completely hid in former times, or men could have had no desire to see them. Nor have we seen them yet as clearly as we shall see them in eternity.

Mystery of Wisdom, 10.       Surely it is a mystery why and how God should use a despised and persecuted church to make known His manifold wisdom "to the principalities and powers in heavenly places." And that very wisdom, being infinitely "manifold," must remain mysterious to finite minds.

Mystery of Wills, 11.       What God does, He does according to His eternal purpose, according to His own will. Who will deny that there is mystery here? Some four or five thousand years of theological controversy testify to man's general inability to understand his Maker's purpose. To the believer, however, there is great comfort to knowing that the divine purpose is "in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Mystery of Worth, 12.       "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" (Revelation 5:12). Sinners that we are, unworthy of our Creator's blessings, we become worthy in His sight through simple faith in Him. Clothed in the perfect righteousness of our Savior through "the faith of him;" that is, the faith of which He is the object; having our conscience purged by His blood "from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:14);secure in the certainty that the true believer "shall not come into condemnation" (John 5:24) - through this faith we can approach God boldly with perfect confidence, for we "are worthy" in Him (Revelation 3:4-6).

Key Verse:       "Let the word of Christ dwell in yon richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." - Colossians 3:16.

      Having God's word in a book lying on a table or shelf does not satisfy the requirements of this verse. There are abundant riches in the book, but we can still be spiritually impoverished if we fail to have them dwelling richly within ourselves. We need further the wisdom that only the Holy Spirit can give us to apply this word in our own lives to meet our own needs. In this wisdom we shall be concerned not only for ourselves but also with teaching and admonishing one another. One way of doing this is through singing.

      "Psalms" are sung to the accompaniment of instrumental music; "hymns" are especially songs of praise; "songs" here is from the Greek word from which we get English "ode." Songs in the Lord's service are to be "spiritual," which rules out the trashy noises whose chief appeal is to the flesh. Good singing of good songs may be a means of blessing to others; but even if we cannot sing well with our voices, we can sing in our hearts; and in grace we can sing to the Lord.

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[From Ashland Avenue Baptist weekly paper, Lexington, KY, June 15, 1969, pp. 2-3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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