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2 Timothy 2:1-13 "The Key to Endurance"
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. (2 Tim 2: 1-7)
During the time of persecution many others were falling
away, so in the first chapter Paul told Timothy to be bold, on fire
for Christ, because the Spirit that was given to us is not a spirit
of fear but a spirit of power and love and of a sound mind. In this
chapter Paul instructs Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in
Christ Jesus. How can grace make us strong? Grace is the unmerited favour
of God. It does not depend on what I do, but totally on what God does.
It is like a safety net underneath us. It is like a life jacket that
will keep us from sinking. Can you see how it is a source of strength.
I know that despite my failures, God is working through me far more
than I could do on my own. He is turning all things together for good
for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. I have
no fear of rejection. So I am free to attempt things that I never thought
I would succeed at. You see if you are afraid of failure, you will never
try anything that seems beyond your ability. You always stay safe within
your comfort zone. Do you think Paul spent much time in his comfort
zone? No, he was continually moving on to the next town to preach the
good news of Jesus Christ. Often in weakness and through stiff opposition
but knowing that he could all things through Christ who strengthened
him.
Imagine how discouraging it must have been to Paul to sit in that prison
awaiting death and know that so many of the men that he had taught and
raised up to be ministers of the gospel were falling away. I am sure
that the thought had crossed his mind, "What if they all fail,
what will happen to the gospel then?" He urges Timothy not only
to preach the gospel but also to commit it to faithful men who would
be able to teach others after him. This is not the work of a summer.
It is not the work of a couple years. It is a work that will take his
whole life. To find men who are willing to work for the gospel is not
difficult. But to find faithful men. That is hard work that takes time.
For this kind of work Paul says you must endure hardship. And he gives
three pictures of those who regularly endure hardship, the soldier,
the athlete and the farmer.
From these professionals let us learn three keys to endurance. First,
the soldier. A soldier is only effective if he is willing to risk his
life. One of the most important factors of warfare is the morale of
the troops. If the soldiers do not care about why they are fighting
or who they are fighting for, they cannot keep their mind on the battle.
When the time comes to rush in, they will be concerned with how to keep
themselves safe so that they can go back home. Or they will be seeking
the least amount of discomfort for themselves. They are tripped up by
the things of this life and are unable to apply themselves to the task
at hand. But if they believe in their commander, they will be willing
to endure unspeakable hardship. One of the most famous instances of
soldiers enduring hardship occurred at Valley Forge during the American
Revolution. General Washington was forced to spend the winter there
to block the British from moving out of Philadelphia. During the long,
cold winter 11,000 men, most without shoes or coats, all without adequate
food, looked to George Washington their commander. Most generals of
that time would take the best house of the area for their own personal
use. But Washington would not move out of his tent until all of his
men were housed in 700 log cabins which they built themselves. Though
influenza and other diseases were ravishing his army, Washington continued
to visit the men, encouraging the sick, taking no thought to his own
safety. At the worst of it, one man wrote, "For some days there
has been little less than a famine in the camp…naked and starving
as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity
of the soldiery, that they have not been excited ere this by their suffering,
to a general mutiny and dispersion. Indeed, the distress of this army
for want of provisions is perhaps beyond anything you can conceive.
And yet these men did endure the hardship of that winter because they
were looking to the example of their commander. Our commander is Jesus
Christ and it is Him that we are aiming to please. No army in the history
of mankind has shown more bravery, more selflessness, more willingness
to endure hardship than the army of Christ. Our eye is on our great
Captain who sacrificed His own life so that we might live. We follow
the lead of our Lord, who has shown us the model of endurance on the
cross. The first key to endurance is our motivation, what drives us
is to please our Lord Jesus, following His example.
The second model is the athlete. The runner knows that there are no
shortcuts. Our human nature is to look for an easier way. We want to
cut the corners. But if we do so we cannot win the prize. The danger
is that the easier way often looks good at the time but then disqualifies
us in the end. Everyone would know if a runner suddenly cut across the
middle of the field, leaving the track, but recently some athletes have
taken drugs to make themselves stronger or faster. During the race no
one knows that they have cheated, but sooner or later it comes to light.
Every athlete knows that the actual competition is only the culmination
of the training that went before it. The victory on the field is the
result of victories won in the gym and during practice. Endurance is
not something that you suddenly have. It is patiently built up over
time. Unless you are constantly training, you won’t have the stamina
to run the race to the end. The Christian life is not a few heroic moments.
It is not a weekly game in which we get together with some friends every
Sunday to play religion. There are no shortcuts, no way to cheat God,
everything that is done in secret will be brought into the light. The
second key to endurance is integrity. We must be diligent so that every
day we are ready to run the race, not just because we are pumped up
for one special occasion but because we are truly strong in Christ.
I was inspired by reading the account of the first pilgrims who came
to America. They were very devout Christians and had been persecuted
in England for being "overly righteous". Because of this persecution
they fled to Holland and worked in practical slavery to support themselves
as immigrants there. Finally they decided to make the journey to America,
but needed financial supporters who would underwrite them. They wrote
in a letter to some of these supporters the reasons why they felt they
had a chance to succeed in the harsh wilderness of New England; "We
are well weaned from the delicate milk of our mother country, and inured
to the difficulties of a strange and hard land" and "It is
not with us as with other men, whom small things can discourage, or
small discontentments cause to wish themselves at home again."
These Christians were trained by the hardships that they had already
endured for the incredible difficulties that they would later face in
the New World.
The third key to endurance is learned from the farmer. Why does the
farmer work so hard? Why does he continue to rise up early every morning
and work until nightfall? Because he has hope that he will also enjoy
the fruit of his labor. He knows that when his work is finished there
will be a harvest. Paul worked hard at the gospel to the end of his
life saying to Timothy, "Therefore I endure all things for the
sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is
in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Remember we have talked about
"true riches" before. There are only two things that you can
keep after this life is through, your own soul and those whom you have
brought with you into that everlasting home. Paul was steadily making
deposits into his heavenly bank account, storing up treasure that will
never be taken away. But it is like the farmer putting the seeds into
the ground. It looks like he is simply throwing them away. It looks
as if he has lost it all. But then when the time is right there is abundant
harvest. It looks to the world like we are missing out. They wonder
why we would give of our hard-earned money to the church and to missionaries.
They wonder why we choose to spend time learning the Bible and worshipping
God instead of making more money, or enjoying the pleasures of the world.
They do not realise that we are expecting a harvest. The third key to
endurance is hope, expecting the harvest, expecting to wear a crown
in heaven. Paul reminds us of this hope when he says,
Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (2 Tim 2:8-13)
Sitting in prison, having lost everything of this world,
Paul reminds us of his hope. According to the gospel which I preach
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Yes, I might be close to death
myself. The executioner might even be approaching my prison cell as
I write these words, but death is not the end. For if we died with Him,
we shall also live with Him. Look with me at these words of hope and
remember them well. "For if we died with Him, we shall also live
with Him." The soldier is ready and willing to die in battle for
his commander, therefore he is also willing to suffer hardship because
what is that compared with death. The athlete willingly dies to himself
in order to train his body to peak performance. The farmer allows the
seed to die in the ground, seemingly throwing away his crop, because
he expects a great harvest. If we are willing to die with Christ, we
shall also live with Him. "If we endure, we shall also reign with
Him." Let me tell you a secret. If you are not interested in laying
up treasure in heaven. If you never make deposits in "Heaven First
National". If all your treasure is here on earth and you have used
none of it to help bring others into the kingdom. If this describes
you, then you have very little need for endurance. You see if this is
you, then you will not suffer many hardships at all because Satan is
not worried about you at all. But if you endure the hardships that come
because of the gospel, then you will surely be crowned in heaven. If
we deny Him, He also will deny us. Know this, God will never put you
through something that is too difficult for Him to bring you through.
I am not saying that He won’t put you into situations that are
too much for you. I find myself in those kinds of situations all the
time. I often simply have to lift up my hands to the Lord and ask for
His mercy because I cannot go on in my own strength. I think that many
of these workers of Paul’s who fell away looked at the situation;
the Roman emperor Nero was blaming the Christians for all his problems
and feeding them to the lions. They looked at that situation and thought
what else can we do. We must run and hide and pretend that we are not
Christians or else we will end up as lion food too. They looked at the
situation but not at the Lord, and as they ran away from hardship they
were also running away from Christ. Finally, "if we are faithless,
He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." This is an incredibly
important and comforting verse. I want you to memorise it and meditate
on it. No one is always faithful. Everyone runs at some time or another.
Jacob ran from his brother Esau, Moses ran from Pharaoh, David ran from
Saul and later from Absalom, the disciples ran from Paul when he was
persecuting the church. Even Elijah, who could call down fire from heaven
ran from King Ahab into the wilderness. The Lord knows our weaknesses,
our faults, our doubts, and remains faithful nonetheless. Because we
are the Lord’s, bought with a price, adopted into His family.
He cannot deny Himself.
We are soldiers following the great Commander, Jesus who has gone before
us, leading the way to heaven. We are willing to die with Him, for we
shall also live with Him. We are athletes running for the crown, willing
to endure whatever hardship in this present life so that our treasure
in heaven will be great. We are faithful farmers planting the seed of
the kingdom, not fearing death because our eyes are firmly fixed on
the great harvest that is to come.
2 Timothy 2:14-26 "The Word of Truth"
Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His, “ and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2 Tim 2:14-19)
Last week we finished up with verse 13, “If we are
faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” Paul
says in verse 14, “Remind them of these things.” There are
some things that we must remind ourselves of often. This is one of them.
Jesus Christ, has brought us into the family of God at a terrible price,
sacrificing Himself on the cross. He will not easily let us go. Many
people live in fear that if they make a mistake God will no longer accept
them. Many people live their whole Christian lives worrying whether
or not they will make it into heaven. Remind yourself that Jesus cannot
deny Himself. If Jesus is alive in your heart today, then there is no
doubt that you will enter into His kingdom.
But Paul goes on to say, “charging them before the Lord not to
strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.”
The twin sin that goes along with fear is pride. It is natural for those
who feel insecure inside to try to overcompensate for it on the outside.
It is often the person who is doubting their own salvation who tries
to accuse others. A person who is unsure of their own faith in God,
will try to make up for it by becoming hyperconfident in a certain doctrine
or a certain church. We are people who live by the Word, the Holy Bible.
We are very concerned that we are following what the Word says and so
we talk often about the Bible. We spend time on Sunday mornings talking
about the Word, we go to Bible studies during the week to learn the
Word. Paul is not saying here that we should not be reading the Bible.
He is saying that we need to make sure that the teaching and discussions
that we do have are profitable.
I am a fan of Macintosh computers, but I have to admit that I was worried
about the company that makes them. You see, Apple computer spent about
three years in the red, losing millions of dollars and never showing
a profit. How could that be? They were selling thousands of computers
and other products. They were licensing the operating system to other
computer makers. They were entering into deals with IBM and Microsoft.
And yet even though they were doing all of this they kept losing money.
If you went to Silicon Valley and visited Apple you would have found
thousands of people working hard, computers being designed, built, packaged
and shipped, and yet they were not profitable. Recently, Apple has seen
some major changes and for the first time in years the company has made
a real profit. But for this change to take place someone had to take
a hard look at the bottom line. We also must take a look at the bottom
line from time to time. In our own studies of the Bible, our discussions
about God’s word, it is possible to have nothing but red ink.
Is this a problem with God’s word? No, in chapter 3, Paul says,
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable...”
We will look into this verse deeper next week, but suffice it to say
that the word of God has a purpose. That purpose is to equip us for
every good work. We know that God has prepared good works beforehand
for us to walk into, not only has He prepared them for us, but He is
also preparing us for them. If we read the Word we will be ready for
these good works as they appear. But if we are not equipped beforehand
we will simply shake our heads and say, “I would like to help,
but there is really nothing I can do.” Like Apple Computer, don’t
be fooled by how much activity there is, how much time you spend in
the word, or how long you spend talking about God. What is important
is the bottom line. For the Christian the bottom line is whether or
not you are prepared for the good work that the Lord sends you. If we
are profitable in this way then our good works will increase and the
gospel will spread.
Therefore Paul says that instead of striving about words to no profit,
we should be diligent to present ourselves approved to God, a worker
who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
I think that Paul uses the word “worker” here on purpose.
We would think that he would write, “student” or “Bible
scholar.” But it is not with our minds that we should be dividing
the word of truth. It is with our actions that we will present ourselves
approved to God. A painter works with a full pallete of colors to choose
from. Sometimes he might choose a beautiful blue for the water or the
sky in his picture, but he also might mix in greys and whites, purples
and green to give the waters depth and the sky character. As the painter
applies the colors to his canvas, we also must apply God’s Word
to our lives. It takes wisdom for the artist to choose just the right
colors for the right place in the painting. It also takes wisdom for
us to choose the right scripture to apply to our lives at the right
time.
What if the only color that the artist could use was blue. It was a
beautiful blue, a wonderful blue, a very true blue without a hint of
impurity in it. But no matter how wonderful that blue is, the artist
would be severely limited. Think about how many colors you have on your
pallete. What I mean by this is how many scriptures do you truly know?
What are the verses of the Bible that you use often? How much of the
Bible are you confident about and how much is a mystery? We often think
that because all the verses of the Bible are written right there for
us to read anytime we want that there is no reason to know it that well.
But this is like knowing that there is an artshop in Shinjuku that can
sell you any color you would ever need. Sure, all those colors are available,
but you won’t use them in your painting. The word of truth that
you have available to divide, to apply to the canvas of your life, are
only those scriptures that you truly know.
Paul warns Timothy of two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus who had strayed
concerning the truth. These two were teaching that the resurrection
was already past. Do you see how they had taken one color and made that
their whole pallete? They took one truth, that Jesus Christ was resurrected
from the dead already and used it to paint their whole picture. This
is a great truth! And yet if it is the only color you have, you can
paint a true picture. The truly amazing thing about the Bible is its
depth, its richness. Every color is there in just the right amount,
in just the right place. If you would rightly apply this marvelous color
to your life, you need to understand the balance of Scripture. Imagine
if you were asked at one of our potlucks to divide a pot of soup into
cups so that each person could have one. You look at the and the amount
of cups and decide to fill each cup half full. What if just as you are
finishing your assignment someone walks in with one more whole pot of
the same soup. You see, you cannot rightly divide something unless you
know the whole.
You might think that your situation is hopeless then. How could you
ever divide the word of truth rightly? How could you ever paint a true
picture when you have so few colors on your pallete? Aren’t you
in just as much danger as Hymenaeus and Philetus of becoming stuck on
one truth and missing the balance of God in your life. “Nevertheless,
the solid foundation of God stands.”, Paul writes, and it has
this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let
everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Folks
there is a big difference between knowing the truth of God, and knowing
God. The Mormons think that they have the truth about God, the Jehovah
Witnesses think that they know the truth about God. The Muslims and
the Hindus and the Buddhists think that they know the truth about God.
But we know God. Our faith does not depend on whether or not we win
an argument, or can defend our version of the truth. Our salvation is
not resting on our ability to be clever. Instead it rests on God, Himself.
We know God, but more importantly, He knows us. And He not only knows
us, but He counts us as friends, even children. He is working in our
lives and has sent the Holy Spirit to lead us into righteousness. So
do not be discouraged by how little of God’s truth that you know.
It is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that
God is on our side. But knowing that God will not deny you, that He
will not be faithless even if you are, knowing that you have a safety
net beneath your feet if you should slip, you must press on. “Let
everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” We
must press on to apply the word of truth to our lives as best as we
can through the leading of Jesus Christ. This is our foundation, that
God is for us and Jesus Christ is working in us, but we must build on
this foundation sing the tools that God has given us through His Word.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. (2 Tim 2:20-21)
We started today about how to make our study of the Word
of God profitable. Not every discussion is useful to prepare us for
the good work that God has for us. Some discussions can even tear down
our faith and keep us from growing in the Lord. The key is to rightly
divide the word of truth. To do this, first you need to know Jesus Christ
as both your Lord and your Savior. This means that you know God personally
and He is on your side, helping you to understand His word. This is
a firm foundation. Second you need to commit to live your life by the
truth of the Bible. To turn away from sin whenever you see it and walk
the same way that Jesus Christ did. This doesn’t mean that suddenly
you will be perfect, but it does mean that God will steadily prepare
you for good works. If you are willing to apply the truth of God’s
word to your life, then you will be a cleansed vessel, a vessel for
honor, sanctified and useful for the Master. Third you need to spend
time studying the Word of God. You cannot rightly divide it, unless
you at least know what it is. What I do on Sunday is to slice up a little
piece of it for you. We always take one chapter of one book and study
it together. If you are here every Sunday then over time you will have
studied a lot of the Bible, but there are more opportunities for you
to learn God’s word than just my sermons. At this time we have
Bible studies on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. At the
Tuesday night study in Hiroo, we have just finished teaching through
the Jesus Video using the gospel of Luke and next we will start working
through the story of the Old Testament. As we do this I will be printing
each week in the bulletin a reading schedule. Please follow along and
try to make it to the Bible study on Tuesday night.
Three ways to make the word of God profitable for you. Start with the
strong foundation of salvation in Jesus Christ. Add to it a commitment
to live by the Word, the Bible. And finally make learning the Bible
a habit for your life, so that you can apply it rightly to your life.
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