I actually covered in the last article three things to which Paul exhorted Timothy to give his attention, namely: reading, exhortation and doctrine, but these are three parts of the first thing Paul had in mind. So, the three things Paul told Timothy to do were to give attention to certain things; to be sure not to neglect certain things and to meditate on certain things. So, I will continue on the first point of Paul’s exhortation, namely: “Give attendance to reading, exhortation, to doctrine.” Here are the verses from I Timothy 4:13-16: “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that they profiting may appear to all. Take heed to thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in so doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
I happen to believe that the delivery of God’s message to God’s people and to all others who will hear it is the most important thing we can ever do in a church assembly! Perhaps this sounds like “outdated material” to some people, but I happen to believe that the Bible never becomes “outdated”! Yes, there are various ways we may deliver God’s message without being outside the limits of what God will allow us to do, but there cannot be a departure from the actual meaning of God’s message to His people. The Bible, for example, is not a Book of funny things, even though it does have some things in it that may be funny. If we follow the messages of Jesus, we will find a serious tone to what He preached and taught, even if we do see a few words that might have some humor in them.
I covered the words “reading and exhortation” in my last article, so I will come to the matter of giving attention to doctrine in this article. Some people try to ‘stir clear’ of “doctrine”, but that is against the very wording of the Scriptures above, in which Paul exhorted Timothy to give “attendance”, or “attention” to reading, exhortation and doctrine. The word “doctrine” simply means: “teaching, learning, instruction”. Every parent who is worth his or her salt will be concerned that his, or her, children are taught certain things. Even before children are old enough to attend kindergarten, most parents are teaching them certain elementary things at home, and that is good. Should not the Bible have a place in the education of children? Why would it not be as important as the “Dick and Jane stories” that many of us heard years ago? We have a “fundamental flaw” in our education system, at least in some aspects of it, if we do not allow the Bible to be taught in school. After all, it was acceptable when I was in school, beginning in the first grade in 1949! Why do fairy tales get “right-of-way” in classrooms, while the Bible gets ruled out? Oh, I realize there are some “out of classroom” Bible lessons, but that indicates that the Bible is not “fair game” for the classroom!
When Paul told Timothy to give attendance, or attention, to doctrine, he had in mind that Timothy should learn the “doctrine”, or “teachings” of the Bible, so that he could pass those teaching on to his audience. I do not want to burst anyone’s bubble, but the idea that the pastor’s message should be an entertaining delivery does not necessarily fit the bill for what Paul and others have taught about the message of God and its delivery to an audience called “the church”. Yes, there are times that pastor’s may say things that are humorous, and that is not necessarily against the Word of God, for I do that sometimes also, but the idea that God’s message is inherently a humorous delivery is to miss the point, for God desires that we deliver what He has delivered to us in His book that we call the Bible. Those who read it very much come to recognize that it is basically a book of serious instruction and also helpful encouragement, not a book of humor and human philosophy! By J. Briggs King