“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim. 4:1-5).
At the end of chapter 3, Timothy is fitted out with his armor. Here he is told what to do with it; he is told how to fight. Paul solemnly charges him with his task, in the presence of God and Christ — the Christ who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and the manifestation of His kingdom. And what is that task? He is to preach the Word. He was given the Scriptures to equip him in the previous passage, and so here he is charged to use his equipment. He has the Scriptures and he must preach the Scriptures. He must do this when people want to hear it (in season) and when they would rather not (out of season). He is to use the Word to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. He is to do this all while patiently teaching. Timothy is told to do this while expecting an unseasonable time to come — the time will come when people won’t put up with sound teaching. They will rather prefer to have doctrine tailored to their passions than to have to tailor their passions in accordance with the doctrine. And if you need that kind of tailoring, then you need specialty tailors — those who will cut, snip and trim to order. Some people believe the congregation is in charge of the content of the sermons, but they are not. Some believe the preacher is in charge of it, but that is also false. The ordained minister is a minister with a delegated responsibility, and he is charged to preach something that would have been true whether or not he or every last big tither in the church agreed with it or not. The reason men veer off from the truth and wander off into myths is that they want a doctrinal system that leaves room for their lusts. But the faithful minister has none of it — he is to be sober-minded, and prepared to catch flak. He does the work of an evangelist, not the work of a recruiter. He fulfills his ministry, and a delegated ministry it is.