faithful stewardship of the word of God. This presupposes that there are two parties involved. There are those who are proclaimers, and there are those who are the hearers. Both are required to faithfully observe, and to faithfully guard, and to faithfully transmit, and to faithfully proclaim, and obey the word of God. And so, when God calls us to be stewards, He invites us into His army. And this is a great privilege. I guess when He does invite us to the army, He gives us a sword. And I guess we can kind of use that to learn some martial arts and show off the shiny sword. But what He would like for us to do is to put that to use because the field of battle that He places us we have to deal with life and death issues, heaven and hell issues. So when we talk about faithful stewardship of the Word of God, we're talking about ultimate categories of issues in life. And so I want to bring to your attention the importance of the faithfulness of the steward in his life, I would just say his self, himself, and his scriptures, The means through which he must communicate to the hearers. And what is really at issue? Nothing less than salvation. Eternal testaments. So these are some awesome topics for us to deal with. I titled this message, The Awesome Task of Stewardship. Let's look at the Word of God. 1 Timothy chapter 4. And our text for tonight is verse 16. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 16. And this is the reading of God's word. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and those who hear you. Pay close attention. Why? What's at stake? Salvation. Pay close attention to yourself and to the scriptures. The teaching. Doctrine. Because if we don't, we're playing fast and loose with the most important issue of life. Eternity. Nothing less than eternity is at stake. This requires careful stewardship of light and doctrine, both for the preacher and the hearers. This is Paul's final exhortation to Timothy, and he mentions two things that Timothy and all faithful stewards of the Word of God must do and must pay close attention. It's a present imperative. It is an ongoing thing that we must pay attention to. It is a command that God wants us to pay attention to. Timothy must do it because he's already in the position of stewardship. As a pastor, apostolic delegate at Ephesus, he needs to pay close attention. But we must also. Because we bear the name of Christ, we must deal with our lives and the Word of God, and we must present it to people. A constant self-examination, therefore, of one's life and inner condition is a must for anyone to be faithful in their stewardship. This does not mean, however, that you see yourself as the most important, significant being in this ministry. You are not the sole guard keeping and securing the truth of God. There are others. God is doing this work. The Holy Spirit is at work. I remember Dr. Ken Hughes reminded us to take the ministry very seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously. The task of stewardship is important, even if we may not be. So let's take a look at, first of all, what is it that we must pay careful attention to? First, pay attention to yourself, the self. Paul exhorts the Ephesian elders the same thing, similar words, in Acts 20 verse 28, Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit may be overseer, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. In order to be on guard for ourselves, we must make sure that we are men of faith before we can be men of faithfulness. We must be strong believers, men and women, who are men and women of faith, full of faith, before we can be faithful. We must be people who don't waver when it comes to truth and God's authority. Charles Spurgeon routinely said to his students, Brethren, be great believers. Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your souls. There is no such thing as great servants. There is only a great master. But there is such a thing as a faithful servant, and we can have great faith in the great master. And we must first have great faith before we can be faithful stewards. We must believe and trust that God has entrusted to us, through Christ, the stewardship of the Word of God. Too many religious people simply place their lives on spiritual cruise control and live by borrowed convictions. And the soon, the first speed bump they hit, they crash and burn. And for those who enter into the ministry too, especially those who are gifted in proclamation. We call it the gift of gap, people who are just naturally talented at speaking, their oratory skills, the command of the language. The professionalism can easily set in those of us who are in speaking roles if we're not careful. Many preachers are very adept at preaching. And because they have this level of verbal prowess, they used to simply pump out sermons. Some of these men are nothing but sermon-producing professionals, sadly speaking. But that's not what God wants us to be when we're faithful stewards. Paul says, be very careful to observe what's happening in your life. To yourself, literally. And so if you're not careful, you can just be on cruise control on somebody's moral convictions, or just pumping things out to give it to others. If such attitudes are not carefully screened out, but allowed to prevail, We may just be dispensing the Word of God, instead of being faithful stewards of the Word of God, at the whims of the people's opinion, as they put their little coins of opinion in the vending machine, we just dispense what they want. That's not being a faithful steward at all. We must be diligent readers, therefore, and diligent meditators, diligent consumers of the Word of God for ourselves in order for us to live a God-honoring life and to be a faithful steward. If our lives are not marked by frequent and consistent consumption of the Word of God, we will be spiritually emaciated men and women. All the while we are preparing a feast for others. Are we like tailors who provide beautiful garments for other people while we ourselves dress in rags? Are we like gardeners watering other people's lawns while our lawns turn into dirt heaps? Are we like chefs preparing feasts and delights for others while we feast on garbage? We had better not be stewards giving spiritual nourishment to others while we ourselves are malnourished. It is so important, therefore, that we be careful stewards of our lives. Watch yourself before you are so quick to dispense the scriptures, to provide spiritual counsel, biblical advice, to teach others what God's will is. Watch yourself. That is a good reminder. It was a challenging reminder to Timothy, it must be to every faithful steward of the Word of God. Secondly, we must not only be careful to watch our lives and be stewards of our lives, ourselves, but we also must be very careful with the Scriptures, handling the Word of God. Paul says, Be careful of your life and your teaching. This is a biblical doctrine instruction through the agency of the faithful steward. The faithful steward dispenses God's revelation. That's his job. That's his primary function. And if we're going to be faithful stewards as Christians, our primary function is get the truth out. There's not too many things in the world that's more important than the truth. And God gave it to us. The reason why the church and the Christian has a monopoly on the truth is not because we are incredibly talented, or inventive, or we are intelligent. It's because we are privileged. And with greater privilege comes greater responsibility. And so the Word of God reminds us, the Apostle Paul reminded Timothy, watch what you teach. Watch your doctrine. The preacher's job is to always have God's greatness in mind, because if you don't have His greatness in mind, you will reduce the Scriptures into some man-sized, bite-sized portions. Every passage of Scripture is a revelation of God, and His character, and His will, and His deeds. Christ, of course, is center to this revelation. So, the preacher has to be ready to allow God's Word to speak clearly. This requires a high view of the Word of God, which means a low view of self. There is a constant balance here how the steward presents God's Word. If he is absolutely convinced in his mind that God's Word is inerrant, infallible, supreme, authoritative, and fully sufficient for life and for godliness, then he will present it in a high and reverential way. But if he doesn't see it that way, he will continue to interject with, I believe, I think, in my opinion, I have discovered that, etc. etc. The I will replace, thus saith the Lord. So get out of the way, and let God's Word shine forth. The chosen method of this kind of teaching and preaching is the expository method. It is more of a philosophy than a methodology. It is a pre-commitment to bend our thoughts to scripture rather than bending scriptures to our thoughts. I know of no other method of preaching or teaching which keeps the teacher and the preacher accountable and the hearers accountable more than the expository method. In other words, presenting God's word clearly and allowing every hearer to deal with the immensity of the weight and the punch and the thrust of the word of God. Paul says to Timothy, persevere in these things. Literally, it means stay on, or constantly abide. Paul used the same word in Romans 11.22 and Colossians 1.23. And both times it's translated into NASB as continue. Again, it's present tense. It's an imperative, it's a command. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. Keep doing what? Keep being in these things. In them. It's an interesting way of pointing to it. The nearest antecedent to these things are the teachings. Didaskalia. He just said it. Be careful of yourself and the teachings, the scriptures. Make sure that your handling of the scriptures is careful, and keep being involved in it, keep immersed in it, in the Word of God, in the doctrine, in the teaching. The stewardship of the Word of God will only be feasible when there is a continuing and an ongoing teaching of biblical truth, which will force the individual preacher and teacher There is no other way to present the word of God and be a faithful steward without hard work. It is a chosen method that God has appointed for all of us. It is like mining for gold or for jewels. Mining would be easy if all the precious metals and the jewels were just on the surface. It would be like picking flowers. You just go pick it up and say, hey, I got some gold today. Hey, I got some diamonds. It would be very easy to do. But that's not how mining works. You need to take a shovel and dig one shovel at a time, ever deeper, deeper again until your hands are calloused, your back is sweaty, and your brows are filled with agony. And then when you hit that muddle, that nugget, that jewel, then you know it was all worth it. It required digging, intellectual and spiritual labor. It is hard for those who are not naturally endowed with gifts of speaking. But at last, God has given to all of us a shovel and His Word. And He tells us to dig. Paul says, continue in that. You don't just give up after a few days. You continue. You work hard. As an individual responds to labor, characteristics of faithfulness. The stewardship of the steward. That's where we get the shift from, in the stewardship. You begin with the steward, who has a privileged position, and he keeps plugging at it. And the characteristic develops. So the outcome is not simply a sermon, or a message, or a Bible study material, but the faithful steward, along with the message. The messenger is just as honed as the message is. He is just as prepared as the message is. Paul's insistence that Timothy hold fast to the Word is a key reminder to all of us who want to be faithful stewards in this Godless service. It's true that persevering in teaching proper doctrine does correct error and bring people to the truth. But the final goal of biblical instruction is much more than the presentation of truth. 1 Timothy 1, verse 5, Paul says, But the goal of our instruction, that is the outcome, is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. What's that? That's the fruit of salvation. That's the end result. That's what we strive for. Have you noticed the spiritual and moral attitude and action that flows from this goal? For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. And I say there are always two parties in stewardship. There are the preachers and the hearers. You will ensure salvation. Because you are faithful in the stewardship of God's Word. You are ruthlessly committed to God's truth and not man's opinion. For God's truth is majestic and it has its own beauty and its own appeal like no other. And that's why we must fight the urgency to constantly add stuff to it that's unnecessary, but to actually clear away the obstacles so that people can take a footnote. That is true. It's clear that doctrine that leads to salvation must include a sovereignty of God and reluction, Christ and His work of redemption on the cross and His glorious resurrection to justify the sinner, the reality and the power of sin that is defeated on the cross, and the certainty of judgment for rejecting the gospel, and the penalty for unbelief. These things need to be laid out for people. They must be proclaimed. as the messenger is prepared along with the message. Michael Horton said, and I quote, I suggest that we allow the Bible to arrest us, condemn us, justify and free us. We need more preaching that focuses on God and what He has done and is doing and will do in history and less on ourselves and how we can be happier with God's help. End quote. What's Dr. Horton saying? More God-centered. Less man-centered. Such God-centered, Christ-exalting, Gospel-propelled preaching glorifies God and secures salvation for the preacher and the hearers alike. The fact that there are those who hear our preaching and teaching tells us a lot about God. It assumes that God will always raise up people who want a feast, the feast of His Word, in the midst of a famine. There is a famine out there. You have heard, for this past week, man's opinions and man's ideas. You're filled with that. You're here, not to hear man's opinions and man's ideas. I assume you're here because you want to hear a transcendent message from God, not some opinion of men, some theory of men. The Word of God is not a book of theory that you take off from your shelf and you look at it and you learn its contents and put it back. It is a practical book. It is a tool that you take out and you use again and again and again and again. If you're not using the Word of God, chances are you are not familiar with the stewardship of the Word of God. A steward knows that whatever is entrusted to him is not his. He must put it to work. Our work of stewardship requires that we not only study God's Word, therefore, that we must also become diligent students of those who have come to hear God's Word. In other words, in order for us to be faithful stewards of the Word of God, you are also a faithful steward of men's souls. There's no other way of life. God leads us there. And so, we must ask this question, when we present the Word of God, what are we doing? Are we showing off our vast knowledge, or esoteric theology, or tremendous grasp of doctrine? Is the Word of God a shiny sword in the hand of a martial arts performer, or is it a sharp instrument in the hand of a physician who needs to cut deep to remove some cancerous tumor? What is it? Is it for entertainment and show-off? Or is it a practical usage for the most important tasks? Is the Bible book a theory for us to read and then show? Or is it the most frequently used tool in the arsenal? Are we more interested in impressing people and communicating clearly? In an understandable way. We want people to say, wow, I never knew that. That blew me away. Or do we want to say, hey, I understood that. That's what God is saying. And allow the Word of God to do its work. Are we simply stating facts for people to think about or to contemplate? Or are we trying to persuade people to change their attitudes, change their thinking, and change their behavior in obedience to God? Are we going to cajole or manipulate people through emotive techniques or guiltures? Or are we going to unleash the power of God's Word and let it do its work? Are we going to rely on preaching skills, or are we going to pray in full dependence upon the Holy Spirit to transform lives? You see, my friends, the stewardship of the Word of God is an awful and awesome task. If we're faithful in it, the Word of God will transform us into faithful stewards. But we must be careful to make sure that we examine ourselves. We must be careful in the handling of the sword of the spirit, because it's a dangerous and awful weapon. And it is a mighty force in the hand of a man or a woman who knows how to use it. What does that state? Nothing less than eternal destinies of souls. Salvation. And so Paul says, pay close attention to yourself and to the scriptures. Persevere these things, for you do this, you will ensure salvation, both for yourself and for those who hear you. Stewards of the Word of God. Be faithful. First be full of faith. in God, in Christ, in His revelation. Pay close attention to yourselves. Pay careful attention to the stewardship of consuming, feasting, and daily utilizing the Scriptures. Nothing less than full salvation for yourselves and your heroes is at stake. May God bless you as you put these things into action by faith. Father, thank you for reminding us of the importance of stewardship. We want to be faithful men and women. We want to allow your Word to do its work. And we want to make sure that we are, as privileged recipients of stewardship, we want to put it to action. Lord teach us therefore to examine ourselves and commit our lives to the practical application of scripture and may we see your power being unleashed in the salvation of souls both for us who proclaim and those who hear. May these things happen unto your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.