As Paul approached the end of his ministry and his life, he was determined to groom Timothy and pass on his God-given wisdom and provide encouragement. Effectively Paul was passing the torch to Timothy. More specifically chapter 2 provides exhortations on how to live, what to expect in ministry, the responsibility of a church leader, and words to live by.
While not all of us are called to ministry, as believers, we are all called to discipleship and accordingly we should heed the words of Paul, if we are to fulfill our own mission God prepared for us here on earth. Let’s have a look then at Timothy 2:1-10, shall we?
2 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Paul begins with declaring our responsibility, our duty to not only understand the Word of God, but our obligation to spread that Word from believer to believer and generation to generation. Do we feel the weight of this responsibility? Do we understand that the bible is God’s precious word? That His word is the only source of truth? That His Word gives us all we need to live a fruitful life, full of wisdom? Do we understand that we have been given the freedom of the word and with that should come a desire to live, breath and move in His word? We are to be disciples, not only to share the good news, but we are to assist the growth of believers to maturity. We are to be mentors and models in today’s world.
I wonder, would you agree that if we do not share, we are selfish. We have a responsibility.
Paul moves on to use three occupations to demonstrate the characteristics and tasks contributing Timothy’s successful ministry and an abundant Christian life. A soldier, an athlete and a farmer, lets go through each of these in turn and determine what it is we can glean from Paul’s words into our own life.
What do you think of when you read the word “soldier”? I think of an individual, part of an army that shares a common mission to not only work together but fight together to that end. As Christians we are soldiers of God’s army. As a soldier we don God’s armor, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit and the sandals of the good news. We put on our armor every day as we go out into the world to spread the good news of the gospel and we fight the enemy’s attacks which aim to disarm and defeat us. Further as a soldier we are strictly obedient to the instruction of our commanding officer – Jesus. We follow, in trust and faith, that while the war has been won, the battle continues, and our officer will show us how to win each battle. Remember a soldier does not stand alone, going into battle without armor or without his fellow battalion – that would be considered suicide. Do you think some of us “go it alone” every day, thinking we are in control and we don’t need God’s direction or help? One might consider this spiritual suicide?
Not only is the soldier obedient in carrying out his mission, Paul tell us, he has razor sharp focus, he is not distracted. I wonder if we could say the same of ourselves? Do we have razor sharp focus on our mission? Or are we distracted by what the world tempts us with? The latest fashion? The next most popular tv series to watch? The current sporting events? The next promotion? The biggest house? The best car? Satan can tell us any variation of lies, he knows our weaknesses and he happily customizes a temptation just for us hoping that we lose our focus.
So, our soldier is obedient, has razor sharp focus and Paul states he is also subject to suffering. We know that Jesus was the suffering servant. Further, as Jesus said “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24). Quite simply there is no clearer message that identifies being a follower of Jesus Christ entails suffering. Of course, none of us want to suffer, we do not want to sacrifice ourselves. But let us be clear, God’s way is not our way, and we have to trust that there is a greater good that we cannot see, but that God knows. Remember Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” While we may not see the forest for the trees, God sees the forest and we simply need to trust through the suffering.
Further, note Paul’s words in Romans 5:3-5 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. We become more like Jesus with each trial and tribulation that is cast upon us that we endure. With each trial, we are able to more fully endure and persevere. These experiences in time mold our character into the likeness of Jesus and make us hopeful that the good work he began in us, he will see through to completion.
What about an athlete, what do you think that has to do with being God’s disciple? The athlete trains with great discipline, runs the race hard to the finish line giving everything he has to win. So what disciplines are required for a Christian? What practices make us the best we can be? Paul would say knowing scripture, not just generalizations of bible stories, but rather really knowing scripture. What would it entail for us to know scripture? Studying. Studying in not surmising about what you think the bible means. Studying is not gathering man’s opinions on what the bible means. Studying is taking the time to enable the Holy Spirit to teach you through various tools and resources. It does not require you to be a theologian, but it does require discipline and time to study the bible. Just like the athlete training to run the race, we are training to become wise in the way of the Lord.
Consider this, would an athlete enter a race without first training his hardest to do his very best? Would he not give his body the proper food and hydration? Would he not run through numerous practices to refine and hone his skills? Would he not spend hours exercising to build his physical strength for peak performance? Would he not ensure he obtains the necessary amount of rest? Yet many of us run the race of life every day, never training or practicing before the race. Some of us use the fuel of our Sunday service to see us through the week. Shouldn’t we be eating the bread of life John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Are we living lives that are spiritually starved and dehydrated? Or are we investing time to train and learn and build our spiritual muscles?
Lastly, the farmer, the first thing that comes to my mind is hard-working. We are called to work hard, we are not to rest on our laurels. We are to use our gifts and abilities, our time and opportunities to the fullest capacity. We are not to be consumed with self, but rather are called to give of self. That can be tiring, it is true and more times than not, I can confess that my choices have revolved around myself more often than I would like to admit. Thankfully God is gracious. However, we have an obligation to strive to do our best every day. As Paul writes in Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
The farmer also will be the first to reap the harvest of his crops. In this case the rewards in heaven. I wonder how many of us sit back and wait for the world to offer an opportunity, just wistfully thinking that opportunities will present themselves. It is our responsibility to work hard to do our best and leave the rest with God. Let us work hard to reap the fruits of our labour. So, what does that look like to us? One commentary suggests “an effective teacher will get more out of the message than the audience does and his time of preparation to teach God’s word will also be a time of warm fellowship”. What a most beautiful fruit, an intimacy like none other we could experience – this stirs great joy and thanksgiving in me, I wonder if it does for you too?
Paul also warns that amidst all this, we will encounter strife and hardship, there is no doubt. What that looks like can be any manner of hardship. While it is unlikely that we will suffer in chains for simply being a Christian (on this side of the world anyway), we may suffer depression, physical challenges, isolation, rejection, sickness. Paul encourages Timothy to be courageous during these times, emphasizing his complete faith in God’s omniscience, knowing that he is in control. Also knowing on the other side of this earth, he will reap the rewards of his efforts. I mean to be clear, none of us choose to be martyrs in this life, none of us want to suffer. But we need to wrap perspective around this, this world is not our forever life. We endure suffering for the sake of the elect, so that we are together in our forever home in heaven.
Father in heaven, you have appointed us with individual missions and as Christians we are tasked with working together collectively to spread the good news of your word. I pray that you create in us a fire, like that of Paul, to “fight the good fight” and to equip our very being with all the traits of Jesus that we need to be conquerors in this world. Help us to fight every distraction thrown at us by Satan and give us razor sharp focus on the gospel you have entrusted us with. Help us to grow in wisdom and maturity that we might look more like Jesus with every passing day. Amen.