In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
My Understanding: Based upon the living presence and the reality of God and of Christ Jesus (God the Son), and the fact that Jesus Christ (God) will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his coming again to earth to judge and to rule on the earth and to receive unto himself his bride, his church, his Body, his saints, this is how we should live:
The Charge
There are those who would say that this charge is for pastors only, yet the Bible teaches that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for doctrine, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. So, if that is the case, then God has something for each one of us to learn and to apply from this charge to Timothy. He was charged to preach the word. The word for “preach” in the Greek is “kerusso,” which translated means “preach; publish; proclaim publicly; to be a herald (a messenger; God’s representative), and to do this with the authority of God and of Scripture. We, as the Lord’s disciples, are all called to proclaim the word of God – to be his witnesses throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all the things the Lord Jesus has commanded us to obey.
The institutional church, I believe, has lost sight of how the Body of Christ is supposed to operate when we gather together. One man is not supposed to do all the preaching and/or to share all the messages. God is teaching each one of us something, and we all have something to share, so the Body, and not just one man, should be given opportunity to share what the Lord Jesus is teaching us each day from our time spent with him at his feet in prayer and in the study of His Word. Everything should be tested, most certainly, to make sure that what is shared is Biblically sound in doctrine, but we should all be “preachers”. Some of my most favorite church services were on “testimony night” when the Body was given opportunity to share what the Lord Jesus was teaching them individually. We need to be doing this all the time with each other, and not just wait for “testimony night,” because we need the encouragement of one another, especially in the times in which we now live.
The next thing he charged him with was he was to be prepared all the time to preach, to correct, rebuke, encourage and to instruct others. In other words, he was to be constantly on duty and ready at any time the Lord opened the opportunity to say whatever God would have him to say to whomever God would have him to say it. This is true for all of us. We are to be slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ, with him as our Master, and with us in his service. He is not going to ask us to do something wrong or to disobey our leaders or our bosses, unless, of course, our leaders and/or bosses are requiring us to do something contrary to the teachings of scripture, and he is fully aware of our daily commitments to our full-time jobs, family needs, household obligations, etc. He wants us to care for our families and to love other people. He wants us to work at our jobs as though we are working for him. So, being on call with God all the time is not a burdensome task or one that we cannot handle, for he will give us whatever we need to accomplish whatever task he places before us.
Then, he told Timothy to keep his head in all situations. I believe this has to do with being self-controlled, wise and discerning, with sensitivity to following God’s leading, and to not be impulsive or to follow after our emotions and/or our own rationale. This requires patience and endurance, even the endurance of hardships we might encounter as a result of us sharing the truths of God’s word, perhaps with people like Jesus encountered who have stubborn, rebellious and/or hard hearts that will not believe in Jesus Christ and/or will not believe the teachings of scripture, but will choose, instead, to just continue as they had been, rather than to allow God’s work of grace in their lives to transform them and to make them new creatures in Christ Jesus, free from the control of and bondage to sin.
The Itch
So, in keeping our heads in all situations, we need to be Kingdom minded, i.e. we need to see life, people and circumstances from God’s perspective and from the perspective of eternity. We need to be aware of the fact that the time has come that Paul spoke about to Timothy where men are not putting up with sound doctrine (the teachings of scripture), but to suit their own sinful and selfish desires and wants, they have gathered around themselves a great number of teachers who are saying what the people want to hear. I see this played out most prominently in the watering down of the gospel message. People want to hear that Jesus does it all and nothing is required of us. They want to hear the human rationale that says that to preach or to teach repentance and obedience as required for salvation is a works-based salvation message, because that frees them of any obligation to live and to walk in obedience to Almighty God and, as well, it is a slap in the face to Jesus Christ who took upon himself all our sin and died a horrible death so that we could go free. The New Testament is loaded with messages that teach us that repentance and obedience to God are required for salvation, but they, as well, are a work of God’s grace in our lives as we yield control of our lives to Almighty God, who “works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (See Phil. 2:12-13).
The Departure
Paul shared with us how he viewed his life from the perspective of realizing his life on this earth was coming to a close. This should be our mental attitude about our lives, as well. We should all offer our lives to God on the altar of sacrifice (See Rom. 12:1-2), as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, and as our worship to God. God does not need our music that draws in large crowds of people because it sounds good to men, nor does he need our empty religious rituals and forms of religion that we go through, thinking he is pleased with us, nor does he need our marketing schemes and our man-made methods for building his church. True worship, to God, is for us to give our lives to him wholeheartedly as slaves to him with him as our Master and with us as slaves of righteousness, instead of us being slaves to sin. This is why he died! Why don’t we get that??? He didn’t die just so we could all escape hell and go to heaven one day. He died to set us free from the control of sin over our lives on a daily basis and he died so that we could be free to be slaves of righteousness and to walk daily in holiness and in obedience to him.
Paul fought the good fight. He didn’t just sit back and take it easy because he was saved and had his ticket into heaven. He knew this was a spiritual battle and the battle was for the salvation of human lives, and he took that seriously. Do we? Do we take our Christian lives seriously as a race that Jesus has called us to run where we throw off everything that entangles (snares, entraps) us and the sin that so easily besets (torments, overcomes, and plagues) us (See Hebrews 12:1)? Are we competing in this race according to the rules (See 2 Timothy 2)? The first and most important rule 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. Yet, we do not do this in our own flesh. This is also a work of God’s grace within us as we cooperate with him in allowing him to do his work within us and through us for his purposes and glory.
When we do this, i.e. when we fight the good fight and we run the race and we finish the course set out for us and we keep the faith, then there is a crown of righteousness (our reward) waiting for us that we will receive when Jesus returns for his own; for his bride. This crown is our salvation complete, for we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. Our salvation is a life-long process of obedience and surrender to Jesus Christ, our Lord, and our one and only true God. We are not saved just so that we can go to heaven one day. We are saved to live for Jesus day-to-day while we are still on this earth, and to be his heralds of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those in need of salvation. We are saved so that we can make disciples of Christ of other people by teaching them what the Lord Jesus is teaching us each day. We are saved to be “on call” with the Lord Jesus 24/7 as his obedient slaves. And, we are saved to endure hardships and persecution in the course of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ (the whole gospel, including teaching that repentance and obedience are necessary for salvation).
Most of all, we are saved to be free from the control of sin over our lives on a day-to-day basis and to live and to walk humbly before God in obedience to Him – to Jesus Christ, because of what he did for us when he died on the cross to take away our sin. This is why He came to earth. And, that is why he died. And, one day he is coming again!
In The First Light / Bob Kauflin / Artist group: Glad
In the first light, of a new day, no one knew He had arrived
Things continued as they had been… the word of God to man
Would tell them of His kingdom, but their hearts would not believe
They would hate Him and in anger, they would nail Him to a tree…
But how much greater will our song be when He comes again to rule the earth.
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