Introduction. Read 1Tim1v18to20.

This short passage is surprisingly instructive. It deals with the challenge of a difficult pastorate. Timothy had:

(1) Outstanding potential. Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you.

It appears that those with the gift of prophecy in Lystra, Timothy's home church, prophesied great things of him. When Paul visited Lystra and Iconium the brothers spoke well of Timothy. See Acts16v2. It seems likely that Timothy's special gift was for preaching and teaching. Paul instructs him in 1Tim4v13and14: Until I come devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders put their hands on you.

It is important to:

(a) Recognise a person's potential. In the world of professional sport scouts and coaches make their living trying to assess the potential of the thousands of players they watch. The same is true in the world of the performing arts

It is important to recognise a person's potential to put them on the right path for success. God could see the potential of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Elisha, Isaiah and many others. He put them on the right path to serve him successfully. Some, like Moses, Gideon and Isaiah, scarcely recognised their own potential and resisted God's choice!

We must be careful not to allow our judgment to be impaired. David's brothers did not recognise his promise. His oldest brother, Eliab, told young David to get back to minding the sheep - but God had other plans for him.

Sometimes a person's potential goes unrecognised because judgment is impaired by prejudice against youth, self-love, insecurity or envy.

Many years ago G.Campbell Morgan, who was to become the well known and influential preacher at Westminster Chapel, London, applied to enter the Methodist ministry. He was invited to preach a "trial" sermon in Lichfield Road Church, Birmingham. Campbell Morgan was somewhat put off in the vestry before the service when the Rev. J. Gregory Mantle, one of the ministers deputized to report on the sermon, finished sharpening a long lead pencil and said, "Now I am ready for you!" Campbell Morgan was not at his best and failed the test. He failed the test because the Rev. Gregory Mantle was more concerned for the sharpness of his pencil than putting a young man at his ease. The Methodist churches' loss was the Congregational denomination's gain for two years later he was accepted into the Congregational ministry.

I can remember when I and others began taking services in our home church an old lay preacher saying, "It's all the young people now - we old uns aint wanted." My mother said, "Old Dick - he's as jealous as a child." Never a word of encouragement did he give any of us.

(b) Help a person fulfil their potential. We can do this by:

• Sticking with them. Last season the Manchester United footballer Marouane Fellaini was out of form and had a wretched time. The Man U fans did not stick with him. They barracked him. This season the manager - Louis van Gal - has stuck with Fellaini and he has begun to realise his potential.

  When I was a young man in my twenties I preached in lots of different churches. Only a very few have stuck with me!! Congregations need to be forebearing and faithful to get the best out of a developing preacher.

• Reminding them of the high hopes people had of them. Paul obviously thought this would motivate Timothy.

  I can imagine a young teacher who has secured a post on the strength of a glowing recommendation from his former headmaster being reminded of it if his performance began to drop.

  Sometimes we need to remind a jaded Christian worker of their early promise - a promise recognised and commented upon by fellow church members.

• Encouraging them. Paul did this in 1Tim4v15and16: Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

  Encouragement is a vital ministry. Poor John Clare, the Northamptonshire peasant poet, was cursed with a sense of his own inferiority. Prior to the publication of his first book of poems he needed to canvass for subscribers. A definite number of advance sales had to be secured to satisfy his prospective publisher. Clare visited the Dolphin Inn at Stamford one dinnertime to hand out samples of his work. No one expressed much interest and the poet grew progressively more depressed and embarrassed. Another customer came in and Clare handed him a sonnet. The customer read it, treated Clare to a drink and praised the quality of the sonnet. He readily agreed to be a subscriber and said that he didn't doubt but that Clare's work would be a great success. Suddenly the colour of the world changed for John Clare. The unexpected encouragement gave him heart and did him more good than all he, 'ever met with before and after.' John Clare never forgot the name of the Rev. Thomas Moursey, master of Stamford Free Grammar School - his first subscriber.

  As a school teacher I discovered how crucial encouragement is to ensure pupils fulfil their potential. If I had a student with very low self-esteem I would write very positive, upbeat comments on their work.

  The pastor who gets the best from his congregation will undoubtedly be the man who gives lots of support and encouragement.

• Advising them. Alan Shearer was a great English centreforward. I can remember him saying how Bobby Robson had helped him when he played for Newcastle and Robson was manager. Bobby showed Shearer how to collect the ball with his back to goal and then peel away and run for goal.

  Good advice can make the difference between success and failure - even in small things. My mashed potato is always light and fluffy since I heeded the advice to add milk and bring it to the boil before mashing.

  Apollos was a very promising preacher but he needed some advice to become really effective. Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and explained to him the way of God more adequately. Acts18v26.

  In my experience there are a number of young preachers who could do with advice on how to deliver their message. It is no good preparing a wonderful sermon if half the congregation can't hear it.

  Jim Kim, President of the World Bank, said that the best advice he ever received was from Marshall Goldsmith, one of the preeminent authorities in the field of leadership. He told me this: "If you want to be an effective leader, listen to and accept with humility the feedback that comes from your team.” I think this is very good advice for all church pastors. It will help them realise their potential.

• Giving them responsibility. Nobody could accuse Paul of not giving Timothy responsibility. He was being put in charge of a difficult church awash with error.

  I often saw pupils at their best when they were given responsibility. For example on open evenings students were given the task of showing the parents of prospective pupils round the school. They showed great maturity and were wonderful ambassadors for the school.

  Christians will never fulfil their potential in the church if they are never given responsibility. I know a man who left his church and actually joined the fellowship I attend. Dom left because he was never given anything to do. He was never asked to preach or lead a prayer meeting. There was plenty for him do in our church and he blossomed.

  I know a pastor who had an assistant. The pastor was very controlling of his assistant who wasn't allowed to do anything without supervision. In the end the pastor's wife had to tell her husband, "You know dear, Jimmy does best when he is left alone to get on with it."

(c) Live up to your potential.

There are people in all walks of life who promise much but fail to deliver. This is true of children at school - some turn out better than expected and others much worse. Natural talent is not enough - nor even are spiritual gifts. If we are to make the most of our potential we need character. In particular we need desire, dedication and discipline.

Saul had potential as the first king of Israel. He had a fine physique and great courage - but he lacked discipline. Solomon was blessed with great wisdom in his youth but spoiled his reign by pursuing the status symbols of wealth and wives.

Joseph and Daniel are two fine examples of young men who had desire, dedication and discipline and achieved great things.

(2) A difficult assignment.

Paul charged Timothy to sort out the church at Ephesus. He was to command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer. v3. The apostle acknowledged that this would not be easy. He urged Timothy to fight the good fight. v18.

Timothy was being asked to act as a troubleshooter. We are all familiar with this role. Troubleshooters are sent in to sort out a failing police force, hospital, school or business. They are not universally welcomed! They are expected to put an end to bad practice, to get rid of bad apples and to raise standards.

It is especially difficult to act as a troubleshooter in a church. Christians do not equate showing love with exercising discipline. However, they should! A loving parent disciplines a wayward son or daughter.

Timothy must have been a special young man to be entrusted with this task. If we were in Paul's place we might have opted for someone with more experience. A troubleshooter surely needs good judgment, confidence, resolve and maybe even ruthlessness.

Yet as I think about the church situation much can be achieved by a young leader who combines a gift for teaching with a winsome personality. If you are both able and very, very likeable people will want to please you. I think Joseph, Daniel and Timothy shared these qualities.

(3) Indispensible assets. Holding on to faith and a good conscience. v19.

Paul rather dismisses charm and winsomeness by naming faith and a good conscience as essential requirements for the task facing him.

So let us first look at faith. Some would say that the one thing a new head appointed to sort out a failing school needs is self-belief. This is said to be the quality that stands out in all great leaders.

The Christian troubleshooter does not need self-belief but faith in Christ. He needs to believe that he is the servant of Jesus; that he belongs to Jesus and acts on his behalf. The Christian leader must keep asking himself, "What would Jesus say or do in these circumstances?"

Timothy needed to keep checking that he was acting in Christ's interests. Was he advancing Christ's cause and acting in a way compatible with Jesus' teaching.

Secondly and, perhaps, surprisingly Paul urges Timothy to act in good conscience. Yet this is, in fact, linked to acting in faith. When we say, "Well, I acted in good conscience," we mean much the same as, "I acted in good faith."

When I claim to have spoken or acted in good conscience there are various implications:

• I have done my best.

• I have done what is right.

• I have acted from the best motives.

• I am not ashamed of what I've done.

When I review my leadership of the small church I attend I have, on the whole, a good conscience. I have done everything asked of me to the best of my ability with no thought of reward. If church leaders follow Paul's advise to Timothy and act in good faith they will have nothing to regret.

(4) A sad experience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander.

Unfortunately there were in Ephesus those we did mistake self-belief and self-advancement for belief in Jesus, who did not act in good faith but rather pursued their own agenda. The church has always been prey to men who promote some weird and fanciful idea in order to draw attention to themselves. Hymenaeus taught that the resurrection had already taken place. See 2Tim2v18. He in all likelihood promoted the opinion that the resurrection took place when a person believed in Jesus and was given new life in him. This conflicts with the teachng of Jesus who said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Jn11v25and26.

There are still those who promote error. David Jenkins, former Bishop of Durham, is not the only Anglican Bishop to deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus. If they cannot in all honesty recite the creed they should resign en block. It is a disgrace for a Christian leader to question a foundational truth of the Christian faith.

There are many sorts of error! I do not like the teaching found in some charismatic churches that if you only have enough faith you can lay hands on the terminally ill, pray for them and God will heal them. So it all depends upon working up sufficient faith! If the prayer for healing does not work then it is your fault - you hadn't enough faith. This is a pernicious teaching and causes much misery.

(5) To exercise discipline. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, who I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. v20.

It seems Hymenaeus and Alexander had departed so far from the truth and showed so few signs of repenting that Paul expected Timothy to concur with his decision to exclude them from the fellowship. These two men were blaspheming. Perhaps that means they were attributing their own views to Jesus.

Putting the heretics out of the church meant casting them adrift in the world - the domain of Satan - in the hope that they would abandon their ungodly views. Doubtless if Hymenaeus and Alexander repented they would be accepted back into the fellowship.

Sometimes the church has to take drastic action when dealing with serious error or scandalous misconduct. However, there should always be a willingness to accept back into fellowship those that genuinely repent. I am afraid that today excluding someone from the local church does not have as much impact as in the time of Paul and Timothy. They just go and join another one!!