Well, it’s Christmastime. That means extra joy and extra demands. You have your family festivities and a crowded church calendar of Advent activities ahead of you. With all of this going on, it’s easy to get distracted from your noble task.
So let’s get back into 1 Timothy and consider our responsibilities to command and to teach.
In 1 Timothy 4, Paul just explained how much more valuable it is to train for godliness than for physical fitness. Now he’s transitioning to a rapid series of short instructions, beginning with verse eleven.
“Command and teach these things” (1 Timothy 4:11).
Command
The word means to issue a charge that obligates obedience. Jesus commanded the former leper not to tell anyone about his healing. Later, he commanded his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not shepherd by suggestions; he commanded. His undershepherds are to do the same.
Pastor, your ministry to your people will include commanding them. If that seems a little egotistical to you at first, that’s good. You should be uncomfortable commanding your people in your own authority. In fact, you have no authority in yourself.
However, you serve under God’s authority. God has the right to demand obedience, and Christians are those who have willingly signed up to obey him.
God locates his authority in the lordship and royal reign of Jesus Christ. Jesus issues his commands via his apostles’ writings in the New Testament. Now you stand at the end of the chain, pointing your people to his authoritative word and insisting that they receive it as such.
A strong-in-the-Lord pastor relaying God’s commands from God’s word is the link between God’s initiatives and God’s eager people.
God’s people crave God’s leadership. Don’t deprive them for fear of breaching unspoken Southern niceness codes. Our people need our obedience to God, not our niceness to them.
Now, this does not mean that you should always be commanding your people about everything. You’re not a military commander. You’re still a shepherd.
Pastoral command is like the rumble strip on the side of the road. You don’t want the whole road to be one big rumble strip. Most of the road should be smooth and gentle. But if your people are veering off the path, you want to wake them up and set them straight before they hurt themselves.
Teach
Cause your people to learn.
If frequency indicates emphasis, teaching may be the pastor’s primary purpose, even above preaching. I know there’s overlap, but my point is, it’s easy to focus so much on preaching well, that we forget to teach well.
We go to preaching conferences, read preaching books, and listen to great preachers. This is good, but it can create imbalance in our ministries if we’re not careful.
A pastor can feel so much pressure to PREACH that he neglects to teach. He can focus on being dynamic to the neglect of being clear. He can attempt to cause his people to feel something on Sunday mornings, rather than to learn something.
Straighten the nail before you start hammering. Don’t be so eager to preach that you just start yelling on Sunday mornings without taking the time to straighten out what you’re saying to make sure it’s biblically sound and clear enough for your people to understand it.
That’s my encouragement to you this week. In the busyness of the Christmas season, remember, you’ve been commanded to command and taught to teach.
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Pastor, honoring widows is an important part of your assignment. Make sure you're giving proper attention to them this week.