2Tim 2:1-3
The Faithful Minister
The theme of this book is FAITHFUL. Paul writes concerning his own
faithfulness and challenges Timothy to do likewise.
We remember that changes have occurred in the world, church, and
Paul’s life since Paul wrote 1Timothy. Paul now writes to encourage
Timothy and to pass the baton of service and duty to him.
As mentioned before, because this letter covers so much obvious
ministry-related material, some think Paul was not the author. They
suppose that Paul would have no need to write such evident truths to
his own apprentice. Others seem to go the opposite direction and
think that since Paul wrote such a letter, Timothy must have been
immature or weak in the faith. I think both to be false assumptions.
Anyone who has been in the ministry knows how even the mature, the
knowledgeable, and the faithful can fall. Paul, knowing this was
probably his last letter to Timothy, wanted to burn the obvious into
his heart by repetition.
Chapter two would seem to be the heart of this letter concerning that
challenge. Here, Paul reminds Timothy of the things he surely knew
but would no longer be able to hear from Paul’s lips. We must all
remember that if one does not stay in the race, all the theology he
has come to grasp means nothing.
In the first 13 verses, Paul reminds Timothy to be THE FAITHFUL
MINISTER. There are six things that Paul challenges Timothy to
do in these verses.
I. \\#1\\ Be strong like a son!
2Tim 2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in
the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
A. Notice two things as introduction:
1. "THEREFORE"-This is not a disconnected thought but a
conclusion based on what Paul has all ready stated.
a. \\#1:6\\ You have a duty to STIR UP YOUR GIFT.
b. \\#1:8\\ You have a duty to NOT BE ASHAMED.
c. \\#1:13\\ You have a duty to HOLD TO SOUND
DOCTRINE.
d. There is a connection from those charges to these
commands.
(1) One must crawl before he can stand, stand before
he walk, and walk before he can jump.
(2) So to BE STRONG IN GRACE requires that we:
(a) Not neglect our gifts.
(b) Not be ashamed of our Lord.
(c) Not turn from sound doctrine.
2. "THOU"-This is a direct charge from Paul to Timothy.
a. You and I are ease dropping and it is good since we
need it too.
b. This is Paul telling Timothy one more time the
importance of having the right kind of character.
c. We must all remember that if one does not stay in the
race of godly character, all the theology we have
come to grasp means nothing.
B. Be strong like a son. Paul told Timothy to be strong in the
grace that is in Jesus. What is grace?
1. Grace is God’s power.
a. My definition is God working in and through us to
accomplish His will.
b. But in short, grace is God’s power.
c. So the admonition here is to be strong in God’s
power.
2. Consider that there is a danger in having ability.
a. If you can do it without God, you will be tempted to
do it without God.
b. That is why the Bible tells us that God deliberately
picks those without abilities:
1Cor 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and
things which are not, to bring to nought things
that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
3. To have ability does not mean that God cannot use you. It
just makes it more difficult for God to use you.
a. Having talents and abilities is not a plus in God’s
service. it is a minus.
b. But while talent is a game changer it is not a game
killer.
c. You must counterweight you talent.
(1) Picking up something heavy is not hard if you
use levers and counterweights.
(2) The counterweight works best if it is the same
weight as the heavy object.
(3) What is the counterweight? Humility.
(4) Humility is abilities’ counterweight and to be
used of God you must have as much humility as
ability.
4. We need to also understand that inability by itself is not
useable either.
a. If all we had to be to be successful is incapable, some
of our government officials would be a great success.
b. There must also be:
(1) Faith in God.
(2) Obedience to God.
(3) Dependence upon God.
5. And finally, having met all of these conditions still does
not mean you will not fail or feel like a failure. It
just means that God will get the most out of you and your
life.
II. \\#2\\ Speak like a witness.
A. Everyone knows what a witness is supposed to do.
1. He’s supposed to tell what he personally saw or heard.
2. Timothy is supposed to tell what he had heard and seen.
3. We live in a sad reality.
a. In Paul’s day, there were many false fact circulating
about sin, salvation, and Jesus.
b. A major reason is that there were no Bibles available
in that day.
c. Today, we have so many false versions of the Bible,
that we are right back to that same place!
d. What the devil WAS doing with NO Bibles available,
he is now doing with TOO MANY "bibles."
e. Just as Paul was demanding that Timothy preach what he
had experienced from the hand of God, so believers
today must preach what they have experienced.
B. Paul goes one step farther than just telling Timothy to be a
witness. Paul told Timothy to COMMIT what he had experienced
to other witnesses.
1. Commit means to CHARGE THEM. Make certain that they
understand what is being given to them is a treasure and
must be preserved and given to others.
2. Find some "faithful" witnesses who can and will do the
same thing.
a. Church, you need to understand that you are my
faithful witnesses.
b. I sat at the feet of some of God’s great men of God
during the last century. Lee Robertson, Jack Hudson,
John R. Rice, Bill Rice, Lester Roloff, Adrian Rogers,
R.G. Lee, Jim Vineyard, Bob Gray, and others.
c. Not a one of them were perfect men, but they preached
the truths that I am preaching to you. They are the
ones who taught me so many of these truths.
d. One day, preaching like what we do, churches like we
have, and even the Bible that we hold dear, will all
be banned.
e. You are hearing these truths must grasp them, live
them, and be able to pass them along to others.
3. "who are able to teach others also."
a. If you are faithful, you can be made able.
b. Ability comes when the faithful go try.
(1) Yes, you will fail but if you are faithful that
won’t stop you.
(2) You say, "Preacher, I really can’t do anything
like that."
(3) Good, you are really who God is looking for.
(4) You say, "Preacher, I really, really can’t do
anything like that."
(5) Go back to point one! You are really, really who
God wants!
III. \\#3\\ Endure hardness (difficulty) like a soldier.
A. Soldiers must be trained in difficulty because fighting,
killing, and war are difficult.
1. Now be clear. God is not telling us to fight and kill
like a soldier.
2. Jesus made it clear that is to never happen.
Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of
this world: if my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight, that I should not
be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom
not from hence.
3. However, we have to be tough so that we can endure like a
soldier.
B. We must be tough spiritually, physically, and mentally.
1. We are enemy combatants behind enemy lines.
2. At some point, if we are living right, the world will
recognize us and turn against us.
2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Ps 37:12 The wicked plotteth against the just,
and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
Mt 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for
my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end
shall be saved.
C. We must be tough enough to be POW.
(2010, WW2 prisoner of war)
Alistair Urquhart, a 91-year-old veteran of the British Army’s
Gordon Highlanders, spent three and a half years as a prisoner
of the Japanese—one of 80,000 Brits who surrendered after the
fall of Singapore. “Just when you thought it couldn’t get any
worse,” he recalls, “it did.”
Describe the conditions.
We had a half cup of boiled rice and a cup of water every day—for
three and a half years. Can you imagine working in that tropical sun,
hewing solid rock with pickaxes and shovels, on those rations? We
wore Jap-happies—their kind of underwear—and nothing else. No hats.
Bare feet. So we all soon were suffering from a host of diseases:
malaria, dysentery, beriberi—that was a real killer. And depression.
How did your transport sink?
Our convoy was attacked by an American wolf pack; the USS Pampanito
sunk my hell ship. Of course, it was unmarked—no Red Cross or
anything. I popped miraculously out of the jammed hold, through the
open cargo hatch. I swam through water covered with oil, and
swallowed some of it. Finally I spotted a life raft and managed to
get on it. That was the worst time of all.
Why?
Can you imagine it? Floating in the South China Sea with not a thing
in sight? While you’re covered in oil, and the sun’s blazing down on
you by day, and it’s freezing cold at night? And you’re completely on
your own, with no water, nothing? And if you fall asleep you’re done
for?
What was the key to your survival?
I learned early on to have the tenacity and mental attitude to do
whatever I do to my best. All through my school days I was doing
sports and swimming. I was a Boy Scout, then a King’s Scout. I loved
dancing; I still do. Thanks to all that and my mother’s cooking, I
was extremely fit—the fittest lad they’d seen when they called me up
three weeks after war started.
http://www.historynet.com/a-survivors-horrific-story-of-life-as-a
-pow-in-the-pacific.htm
D. Could we…
1. Live off a half cup of rice and cup of water in tropical
heat while digging rock all day with a pickaxe?
2. Be cast for a week in a black hole?
3. Be ship wrecked, alone without rations, for five days?
E. Understand for Paul, these were no hypothetical situations.
F. We are better off to be hard enough to be a persecuted
Christian and never be one than to be one and not be hard
enough to be faithful.
1. And so, we must toughen ourselves up.
a. We must discipline our bodies and our minds.
b. We must distance ourselves from this world.
c. We must center our soul on the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. This is the kind of hardness that all soldiers must be
prepared to endure.
G. How do I do this?
1. We go back to point one.
2. We stand strong in God’s power and learn to tell this body
what to do.
3. We must quit depending upon ourselves, our comforts, our
entertainments, and learn how to get close to God!
<OutlineIndex> <Close Window>
