1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself, and to the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you. These words of Paul to Timothy should not be confined to ministers. They have an application to all men. I. MAN'S HIGHEST WORK. 1. The moral salvation of self. "Save thyself." What is salvation? Not mere deliverance from an outward hell, or introduction to an outward heaven, but it is restoration to the soul itself of what it has lost through depravity — the restoration of lost love, lost purity, lost harmony, lost usefulness. 2. The salvation of others. "And them that hear thee." All men, besides ministers, have hearers; and it is the duty of all men to preach, to speak that which will tend to the moral salvation of men, to raise them from ignorance to knowledge, from selfishness to benevolence, from materialism to spirituality, from Satan to God. II. MAN'S QUALIFICATIONS for the highest work. 1. Self-heedfulness. "Take heed unto thyself." See that self is all right, rectify thy own mistakes, train thy own faculties, purify thy own affections, discipline thy own character. This is the first step. You must be good, in order to do good. 2. Genuine teaching. "Unto the doctrine." The word doctrine here includes the whole matter of teaching. See that the teaching is true — true in its doctrine, in its spirit, in its aim. There is no teaching work where there is not a teaching life. He alone knows the Divine doctrine that does the Divine will. 3. Perseverance in goodness. "Continue in them." Continue in the work of self-culture and in genuine teaching. Do not let your efforts be capricious, but systematic; not occasional, but persistent. "Be instant, in season and out of season." (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. |
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