The Conduct of a Faithful Minister

Jim Butler

What does faithful gospel ministry look like in practice? Expounding 1 Timothy 4:12–16 at an ordination service, this sermon works through four apostolic charges Paul lays on Timothy: the minister must be an example to the flock in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity; he must give sustained public attention to Scripture reading, exhortation, and doctrine; he must meditate on these things and give himself entirely to personal growth in godliness; and he must persevere in both personal holiness and sound doctrine, because the stakes of gospel ministry extend to the eternal welfare of those who hear. The sermon closes with a direct charge to the ordinand and to the congregation forming a new church plant, and with an evangelistic appeal grounding the seriousness of the gospel ministry in God's concern to save sinners through it.