“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,” – 2Ti 4:2-3 ESV
Paul here is giving Timothy 3 distinct commands that we, as men, can and should apply to our lives because just as Timothy was a pastor and leader in the church, we too are pastors of our homes and leaders in our churches.
1. Preach the Word – We are to proclaim the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. True, it’s tough for people to listen to us about Jesus when our lives don’t line up with Scripture, but just living it in front of people and hoping they will get saved rarely is the case. God has chosen to use the medium of preaching to stir people’s hearts. Preaching here doesn’t mean you have to stand on a table and yell or get up behind a pulpit. “Preach” means to proclaim… speak it out! Even if that person doesn’t get saved right then and there, God uses His truth through our words to plant seeds in their lives that others may get to harvest.
2. Be ready – You never know when the opportunity to preach, share, or correct will come. I think this effects two aspects of our walk. First it requires us to be prayerful and in the word on a regular basis so that we are ready to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ. Secondly it requires us to be looking for those chances God will bring our way. Both of which are hard if we’re not ready!
3. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching – The third command is probably the more difficult of the three. It requires several disciplines: love, patience, and knowledge to discern and correct error. There are two main ditches people on this road often fall into. The first shows a cowardly lack of love. We tend sometimes to overlook certain behaviors or belief systems of others because they may be close to us and we don’t want to push them away or offend them. I understand this to some degree because this is the ditch I find myself headed toward more times than not. But the truth of the matter is that this attitude shows that we really do not love that person as we say we do. If we love someone and want the best for them, then we would want them to get right with God so they can have the most peace and life in Him, and not just standing by watching them drown in their sin! The other ditch is equally as unloving, but shows itself in pride and arrogance. These are people who think they have it all together and if someone is doing something different than them, whether it’s sin or not, they’re wrong. They are God’s spokesperson on Earth and He should be glad they are on his side. They see what’s wrong, but lack the love and patience. They correct out of a haughty spirit just so they can be right, not because they care about that person’s spiritual life. On a side note, if we truly believe that our salvation and sanctification is an act of grace, then taking pride in or ownership of that is the biggest contradiction I’ve ever seen. We would do well to keep an eye on ourselves to make sure we are avoiding both of these ditches.
The purpose of rebuke and correction is restoration. We can’t just tell someone they are wrong, we need to teach them why they are wrong from the scriptures, how to repent, and then help them along the way! The fact is that false teaching is everywhere, whether it is picked up from teachers with impure motives, teachers who mean well but are just wrong, or whether it is an ill-conceived idea or belief someone comes up with on their own. We are to be prepared (Bible reading, study, prayer, repentance, etc.), to proclaim the truth, and lovingly correct wrong when we see it.
