You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
A Workman Approved by God
14 Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
My Understanding: This chapter begins with the exhortation to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” “Be strong” literally means to “be strengthened; to increase in strength” (Strong’s Concordance). “Strength” has to do with power, vigor, intensity, depth, stamina, determination, endurance, fortitude, and perseverance. “Grace” has to do with the gift of grace given to us by God, i.e. the gift of salvation from sin through Jesus’ blood shed for us on the cross, through his death, and through his resurrection, in which he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin – the penalty of sin and the control of sin over our daily lives.
Our faith in Jesus Christ, and in what he did for us on the cross in saving us from our sins, also brings us into a personal, vital and intimate relationship with him, in which the Holy Spirit now lives within us, guiding, directing, convicting, teaching and counseling us. So, this is saying that we should increase (fan into flame) in depth, intensity, endurance and perseverance in our relationship with Jesus Christ and in the purpose for which he saved us, which was/is to set us free from the control of sin and to give us new lives, created to be like God in all purity and righteousness.
So, how do we increase in determination and power in our relationship with Christ? I believe this chapter gives us much insight into how our relationship with Jesus Christ can increase in power, vigor and intensity. We must entrust, endure and engage:
Entrust
When we come into relationship with Jesus Christ, one of the first things we should do is to give public testimony to his saving grace within us. We increase in power and fortitude in our relationship with Jesus Christ, and in the purpose for which he gave us this gift of grace, when we tell other people about what Jesus Christ did for us. We may begin with a very simple testimony, like the man who had been healed of his blindness. He didn’t know much about who Jesus was, to be able to answer the scholars’ questions, yet one thing he knew: Once he was blind, and now he could see. Then, as we grow and we learn more about Jesus, we continue to share with others what he is teaching us. We should especially share what knowledge and understanding we have received from the Lord with those who are reliable in their faith and commitment to Jesus Christ, so that they, in turn, will teach others about Jesus Christ, about our salvation, and about what it truly means to be in Christ.
Endure
Next, we must learn to endure hardship like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. My youngest son is a soldier in the U.S. army. He has served a tour of duty in Iraq and two tours of duty in Afghanistan, leaving his family behind him, and often having to endure much physical, mental and emotional hardship, which goes with the territory of being a soldier in the service of another. Likewise, when we enter into relationship with Jesus Christ, we are entering into the service of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and our lives are no longer our own. We are bought with a price. Therefore, we are to honor God with our lives.
We should not get involved in “civilian affairs,” i.e. we should no longer involve ourselves with the things of our fleshly nature and with the principles and pattern of a sinful world. We are now slaves to our new master, Jesus Christ, and it is our duty to obey his every command and to do whatever he tells us to do. And, this may bring with it physical, mental or emotional hardship, as he may ask us to get up in the middle of the night to spend time with him, or to go to a foreign country as a missionary, or to give of our time and energies to meet the physical, emotional and/or spiritual needs of others, or to be willing to do and to say what he gives us to do and to say each day, even though it may mean personal rejection for us, or even death, though in the U.S. we don’t know much about that, yet. It is coming, though.
Engage
Then, we are to engage (involve; occupy; absorb) ourselves in this new life in Christ, as though we are athletes competing in a race for a crown. The only way an athlete can win the victor’s crown, though, is if he competes according to the rules. So, what are the rules? The first rule I see, that is foundational to our faith in Jesus Christ, is that, if we are to live with Christ, we must first of all die with him, i.e. when we believe in Jesus Christ, we must turn from our sin (repent), putting off our old self with its sinful desires, we must be renewed in our minds, and we must put on the new self, created to be like God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. This is not something we do in the flesh. It is the working of the Holy Spirit within us as we yield the control and rule of our lives over to our new master.
If we want to reign with him for eternity, we must endure, i.e. the Christian life is not a one-time experience that takes place at an altar. There are many, many scriptures that teach us that true faith is faith that lasts; that endures to the end. If we disown him, he will also disown us, yet, if we are faithless, he will remain faithful. So, what does this mean? I believe it means that if we say we believe in Jesus Christ, but by our very lifestyles we disown him in everything we do and say, then chances are we were not truly in Christ to begin with, which is why he will disown us. Yet, there will be times in our Christian walk when we will be faithless and we will fall into sin and rebellion, yet he will remain faithful to us because he cannot disown himself, i.e. if he is truly living within us and we are new creatures in Christ Jesus, to disown us would be to disown himself, and he cannot do that.
We need to not quarrel about words. We are not to have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments. I see so much of this to where Christians get so caught up in arguing over things that do not have eternal value that they totally miss the underlying truths of what it is they are so vehemently arguing about, plus they waste a whole lot of time and effort on argumentation that could be spent on ministering to people’s needs and to live out the Christian life as God intended for it to be lived. We need to make sure we are correctly handling the truth, i.e. that we engage ourselves in healthy Biblical studies and discussions about the word of God that produce godly results that are valuable in producing repentance and faith. Yet, when it becomes apparent that the discussion is fruitless and it is nothing more than flexing muscles and it is only harming those who listen, then we need to stop and reevaluate our actions so that we make sure we are being fruit-bearing disciples.
And, we must turn away from wickedness. Paul used a metaphor to describe this concept. He said that, in a house, there are articles of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble (honorable) purposes and some for ignoble (dishonorable) purposes. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. So, it appears that “gold and silver” are to be compared with spiritual jewels that are of high value in God’s sight, i.e. they are symbolic of the righteousness and holiness of God, whereas “clay and wood” are symbolic of the flesh and our human nature.
So, if we want to be instruments in God’s hands, made holy, and useful to the Master, we need to be cleansed of our flesh and human natures, i.e. we need to come to the Lord humbly, confessing our sin, turning from it, and turn to walking in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ. We cannot do this in our own strength and abilities, but rather this is the work of God’s grace within us in transforming our lives and in making us more like Jesus, as we cooperate with God and we submit to his Lordship in our lives in full faith and obedience.
Create In Me / John Lee and John Rosasco
Deep within is a longing
To know the joy that I once knew,
But sin inside this heart of mine
Has separated me from You.
So…
Create in me a clean heart,
Purify me in ev’ry part,
Thoroughly wash me from sin
And renew a right spirit within.
…I stand in God complete,
Forgiven!
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