2Tim 2:4-7
Faithful Minister (2)
We continue to look at the last epistle that we have of the Apostle
Paul. He was in a Roman prison, and he was not expecting to be
released. Paul was writing to a friend and son in the faith. Even
though Paul was writing to someone he cared about and he was soon to
be executed for his faith, Paul does not encourage Timothy to quit or
even to be careful. Instead, Paul encourages Timothy to be faithful.
I find the words of this epistle to be:
1. Loving words
2. Learning words
3. Paul’s last words
I. \\#1\\ Be strong like a son.
II. \\#2\\ Speak like a witness.
III. \\#3\\ Be hard like a soldier.
IV. \\#4\\ Be single-minded like a warrior.
A. Although the same the same Greek word for soldier is used in
\\#4\\ as it is in \\#3\\, I have substituted the word
"warrior" for soldier to emphasize what I would say is the
hardest part of the soldier’s life - combat.
1. In today’s military services, not every soldier is a
warrior. We have doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers,
cooks, clerks, mechanics, entertainers, and a few hundred
other jobs.
2. However, I believe Paul was thinking of the warrior when
he wrote this comparison.
a. What is a warrior?
b. Warriors are those who fight and kill—the obvious,
necessary, even mandatory part of warfare.
3. To be in that role, there must be a mindset to stay alive.
a. One must be single-minded.
b. A distracted warrior will soon be a dead warrior.
c. EVERYTHING but fighting and staying alive MUST be
SHUT out.
d. Games, friends, allegiances, loves, hobbies, the past,
the future, hopes, desires, wants, needs.
e. To stay alive, all of that must be cast aside.
f. The warriors every thought must be on staying alert,
being observant, planning, preparation, defense,
strategy, skill, staying strong, staying alive.
4. The mindset is, "We are going to focus on defeating our
enemy first and staying alive second."
B. So it is for the faithful servant of God. He must be totally
focused on God and God’s work.
C. We all have three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the
devil.
1. The world that we live in is one mind field after the
other.
2. The flesh that we live in is weak, easily lead astray,
easily deceived. A unit of soldiers must be able to
trust and rely on each other. The various military
services have ways to seek these weak links out and to
cull them. If they fail, it is not unheard of for the
unit to deal with such misfits themselves. You have
someone in your spiritual unit that you cannot trust—
yourself.
3. The devil is not just a force of sin like the flesh or the
world. He is an intelligent, thinking, planning, being
with more intellect, skills, and experience than you or
I will ever have.
D. Stay alert! Stay focused. Your spiritual existence depends
upon it.
V. \\#5\\ Strive like the athlete.
A. It is interesting that at this point, Paul challenges his
comparison.
1. Paul turned to the athlete.
2. \\#5\\ The words "masteries" and "crowned" have more to do
with athletics.
3. That is not uncommon. After all, he is speaking of a
witness before this comparison and will speak of the
farmer afterward.
4. Why did he change from the soldier to the athlete?
B. Perhaps because many soldiers during Paul’s day were not
striving to excel but being forced to struggle to stay alive.
1. Rome drafted most of their soldiers much like America once
did.
a. Some soldiers perhaps loved that life and wanted it.
They became strivers.
b. But others were forced into that life and they were
strugglers.
2. Athletes have were not forced to compete. They chose
to compete.
a. They trained, they exercised, they practiced, and they
played because they want to do so.
b. They wanted to be the best.
c. They wanted to win.
C. Desire is the missing ingredient between duty and privilege,
in having to do something and wanting to do something, in
struggling and in striving.
1. Preachers can do a lot of things for their flocks.
2. They can have a part in winning them, they can teach them,
they can rebuke them, they can encourage them,, if they
have desire, they can help motivate them.
3. However, preachers cannot give desire. That has to come
from within.
VI. \\#6-7\\ Partake like a farmer.
A. The message here is some what veiled.
1. \\#6\\ We have the picture of the farmer and the command.
2. \\#7\\ We are given the hint that we are going to have to
work to understand what he has just said.
B. Indeed that is true of this verse for there are several
thoughts on it.
1. Some think Paul was saying before you can partake of the
fruit, you must first labor.
a. That is not what our Bibles say but it is a good \
thought.
b. Good fathers teacher their children to save for the
future.
c. I hope that the fact you are here tonight means you
are saved, but what have saved for your spiritual
future?
d. Before you can reap a spiritual harvest, you are going
to have to give some spiritual labor!
2. Based on the verse, I would say that it means before we
can do the work, we must have to have eaten of the work’s
fruit.
a. What work? Being saved and helping others to grow in
grace.
b. Before we can help others, we must we do? Be saved
and grow in grace.
c. Growing in grace is a….
(1) Choice
(2) Effort
(3) Reward
VII. \\#8-13\\ Remember like a child of God.
A. To understand what Paul wrote, we must not forget where Paul
was (i.e. In prison, facing death).
B. What was Paul doing while there? He was remembering like a
child of God.
1. There is no question in my mind that was a far more
powerful Christian than I.
2. YET, he was still a human being facing death.
3. How did he deal with that? He focused on who he was, a
child of God.
4. He was teaching Timothy to do the same.
5. Being a child of God is…
a. your RANK. Your in God’s army and you have authority
with God, over this world, and over the demons of
this world.
b. your RESPECT - You are God’s kid and that means
something. Maybe not to this world but it should
means something to you. I know it means something to
God.
c. your REWARD - You have trusted Jesus and for doing so,
you will forever be God’s kid.
C. \\#8\\ What was Paul remembering?
1. "Jesus Christ" - That Jesus is Christ.
2. "of the seed of David" - That Jesus fulfilled the
promises. Paul probably got some of his best messages
while sitting in prison!
3. That Jesus "was raised from the dead" - That would take
some of the sting out of facing death.
4. "according to my gospel" - "I" got the truth!
D. \\#9\\ What was Paul holding to?
1. He was bound and suffering, but he knew the Word of God
could NOT be bound.
2. What did Paul mean by that?
a. Some think Paul was referring to the Bible’s
proclaiming promises.
b. I think Paul was referring to the Bible’s resting
promises.
3. Paul, going through his suffering, was clinging to the
same kinds of promises as we do when we go through ours!
Isa 43:2 When thou passest through the waters,
I will be with thee; and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Ps 91:3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the
snare of the fowler, and from the noisome
pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and
under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth
shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by
night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Ps 91:7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and
ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not
come nigh thee.
E. \\#11-13\\ What had Paul concluded from the promises?
1. \\#10\\ That we are going to live with Jesus.
2. \\#11\\ We are going to reign with Jesus.
3. \\#13\\ That if we stand with Jesus, Jesus cannot deny His
own!
F. \\#10\\ Why was Paul continuing this?
1. He was in prison. IF he could get it, the easiest way
would be by denying Jesus. Why go on? He had done more
and most any other.
2. That the elect might obtain salvation.
(a) First that tells me that the elect are not pre-chosen
by God for salvation.
(1) I know that is the Cavlinists would say, but
Paul was continuing on so that they MIGHT be
saved.
(2) I can’t go back into election tonight but if the
elect are pre-chosen by God, Paul and many
others wasted their lives.
(b) That Paul wanted to see more people get saved through
his life, ministry, and death.
(1) We must always remember that it is not just how
you live that counts.
(2) It is also how you die.
(3) Faithful ministers die with that in mind.
<OutlineIndex> <Close Window>
