The man of God must command and teach the Word of God. This has a common foe with all facets of professing Christianity. To hear the Word commanded and taught will be opposed by the liberals for daring to declare the authority of the Word of God. This will find a foe in conservative circles for daring to declare the authority of the Word of God also applies to what you do, not just those on the outside. People love an authoritative command, when someone else is being commanded. Rebels, whether in conservative churches or liberal churches hate to be taught and hate to be told what to do and cannot stand to have anything, even God's Word, over them. Paul didn't budge. He commanded. He taught. And that is what Timothy had to do.
Timothy's authority doesn't come from his personal experience. It doesn't come from his worldly wisdom. It comes from God. This young man was to proclaim and teach God's Word. Had Timothy chosen to go preach his own ideas, or his own theories, he could have been rightly rejected. But age doesn't have anything to do with divine truth. The age of the vessel God uses to deliver His message doesn't change the validity of the message. Young men who pastor a church need to be aware that one way the enemies of Christ will attack the preached Word is by marginalizing the preacher because of his age. The answer to this is to be faithful. Be faithful in the Word. Be faithful in your life. Don't give the enemy a weapon to hit you with.
When the true meaning of God's Word is declared, it can and must be preached with authority. We are not making suggestions. We are not offering opinions. People want conversations. They want the back and forth of a dialogue, because we can't have anyone tell us what to do, especially this young man. Stand up, open your Bible, and tell the people of God what God has said. Explain it and apply it. Tell them what God has said and tell them what God has commanded and don't waiver. Lay out the truth and don't water it down. If the man of God stays in the Word of God, then if someone has a problem with the message, they have a problem with God.
Mark Dever, in his book Preach said:
" Do you think of [your preaching] as an authoritative heralding of God's own appeal for reconciliation? Do you realize that it is by receiving your proclamation of the Scriptures that people receive Jesus and therefore receive God? You should. Preaching is not finally a matter of giving a few thoughts here and there about God or the Bible. It is the proclamation of an authoritative message from the throne room of heaven itself: Be reconciled to God through Jesus! Understanding that theological truth about preaching can make all the difference between a milque-toast preaching ministry that just makes suggestions about a few things "we might want to think about" and a preaching ministry that heralds the good news, direct from the throne of God, that those who trust Jesus and confess Him as Lord will find mercy, forgiveness, salvation—and new life!—in His hand."
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