Neglecting the Gift - Tuesday with Timothy #58

1 Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

God gave Timothy a gift and it was his duty not to neglect it. This is a spiritual verse and something unique went on here. The gift isn't unique, but prophetic entrance into the work is.  When the presbytery laid hands on Timothy, there was a prophecy concerning his ministry. The assurance of God's calling and hand on his preaching was a gift not to be set aside or forgotten. 

We could say that the gift was the message that was preached to Timothy when he was ordained, but that would be reading our traditions back into the text, i.e. a charge to the preacher, charge to the church, and there isn't anything in Scripture that says there was a preached charge at an ordination service. I remember the message preached to me very well and some of the things said still spur me on in the ministry today, but reading our traditions back into the text is backwards. The gift was, in part, boldness, courage, confidence, power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:6). The Holy Spirit provides the power and the ability to minister the word and do the work of a pastor. The Holy Spirit gives a man the ability and the desire to preach. The ability to read the text and mine it for the treasures of Christ and then tell others about it. To clearly communicate the mystery of Christ Jesus and expound the message to where others can understand. Paul knew this was a gift and asked the church at Colossee to pray that he would be able to use this gift (Colossians 4:3-5) 

Writing to the Church in Colossee, Paul has a final word to a man named Archippus.  He instructed him to "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it."  The ministry that Achippus had was given to Him by the Lord, the head of the church. This is a gift and it is a privilege.  Any man in the ministry must view preaching as both a gift and a privilege. and the gift isn't to be neglected by not using the gift or not improving the gift. I don't believe it is spiritual not to try to improve your spiritual gifts. To be wise and diligent in getting better. If you preach, you should always try to be a better preacher. Improve in knowledge, improve in practice, improve in delivery. Seek to use the gifts that God has given you. It is a sad state when a man who is gifted doesn't use those gifts or doesn't make full use of the gifts.

Next time, I want to get a little deeper in to the elders and the laying on of hands.