2 Timothy 2:22 ESV
“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
In the book of 2 Timothy, which is a letter that Paul wrote
to Timothy, Paul gave Timothy all sorts of instructions in godly living and in
how to conduct himself in certain matters. He reminded him to fan into flame
the gift of God within him and to not be timid or fearful. And he encouraged
him not to be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, the gospel, but to share
in suffering for the sake of the gospel.
And he told him to do his best to present himself to God as
one approved by God, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, but who rightly
handles the word of truth. And he encouraged him to avoid irreverent babble,
for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. And then he said, “The Lord
knows those who are his,” and “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord
depart from iniquity.”
And then he instructed him to flee youthful passions (lusts)
and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call
on the Lord from a pure heart. And this really is the essence of the gospel
message. For Jesus died on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, and not
just to give us the hope of heaven when we die, but so we would die with him to
sin and live to him and to his righteousness.
Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to deliver
us out of our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we would now be slaves of his
righteousness, no longer under the control (dominion) of sin and Satan. So sin
is to have no mastery over our lives. We are to no longer walk in sin but in
righteousness and holiness. Sin is to be put away from our lives and now we are
to pursue all that is of God and that is holy, pure, and just.
So, we are not to be those who lust after the sinful
pleasures of this world, and who engage ourselves in habitual and deliberate
and addictive sin. Our desire should now be for the Lord to do his will. Our
desire should no longer be for living to please our sinful flesh. We should be
those who are seeking after the things of God and not after the cravings of the
flesh. Daily, by the Spirit, we should be putting to death the deeds of the
flesh.
And now we should be living for our Lord to please him in
everything. Now Jesus Christ is to be Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. Now we
are to obey him in everything and no longer live as obedient slaves to sin. Our
lives now belong to him and he is boss, and so he is now the one to determine our
steps and to lead us in the way that we should go. And we are to follow our
Lord wherever he leads us in obedience to his commands (New Covenant).
2 Timothy 2:23-25 ESV
“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.”
Some people enjoy picking fights and so they will
purposefully attempt to instigate quarrels. They will try to bait others into getting
into quarrels, either because they just love quarreling or because their goal
is to try to trip up the Lord’s servants with their words, as the Pharisees
tried with Jesus on numerous occasions. So, we are wise if we discern what is
important to discuss and what serves no valuable purpose.
If someone is challenging our faith we can certainly answer
back to them with the truth of what the word of God teaches. And it is better,
in some cases, if all we do is answer with Scripture and not with our own
words, for some people try to trip us up with our own words. And it is good if
we do not answer people in anger but if we let the Holy Spirit guide our words
so that we let the Holy Spirit speak through us.
2 Timothy 2:25-26 ESV
“God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
Now, let me say here that our faith in Jesus Christ is not
of our own doing. We can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the
Father first draws us to Christ, i.e. unless God first persuades us as to his
holiness and righteousness and of our sinfulness and of our need to repent of
our sin and to turn away from sin to follow the Lord Jesus in obedience. But we
still have to cooperate with God’s work of grace in our lives.
In other words, even though our faith comes from God, if our
faith is genuine God-given faith, and Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our
faith, and God gifts faith and repentance to us, it is not automatic. Not
everyone has faith. We must partner with God in his work of grace in our lives,
and we must put that faith into practice, by the grace of God, and we must act
on that faith by doing what our Lord says to do and by ceasing to do what he
instructs us to no longer do. For our faith is obedience. It is action.
So, it is not as though God just gives us repentance and thus
we have repented. We have to actually turn away from our sin, and we have to
turn to God to follow him in obedience. And every day we must choose to obey
our Lord or to disobey him. So, it isn’t as though we can pray for God to grant
us repentance and then, if we choose sin, instead, to blame God for not granting
us repentance. We only have ourselves to blame.
And none of us should be living in a “sin, confess, sin,
confess” cycle, for that is not true repentance. For repentance has to do with
changing our minds, our hearts, our choices, and our will away from living in
sin and for self to living for our Lord in his righteousness and holiness. For
if we continue living in deliberate and habitual sin, and if we are not walking
in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord, then we won’t inherit eternal
life with God no matter what we profess with our lips.
[Lu
9:23-26;
Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas
1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27;
Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]
Servant
of the Lord
An
Original Work / July 26, 2012
Based
off Romans 1:1-17
Servant of the Lord;
For the gospel you’re set apart.
Promised through the prophets of old:
Jesus, Son of God.
Through Him, and for His name alone,
We receive His grace
To call people, Him to obey;
Coming from their faith.
Servant of the Lord,
For the gospel you’re set apart.
Promised through the prophets of old:
Jesus, Son of God.
You belong to Christ;
Loved by God, and called to be saints;
Serving God with whole heart and mind;
Preaching Jesus Christ;
Always praying for others’ needs;
Helping hand to lend;
Giving courage to others’ faith,
For the praise of God.
You belong to Christ;
Loved by God, and called to be saints;
Serving God with whole heart and mind;
Preaching Jesus Christ.
Servant of the Lord;
Of the gospel, I’m not ashamed;
For salvation, power of God
To those who have faith.
In the gospel find righteousness:
Being right with God.
Turn from sin, and trust Jesus Christ.
By faith, live in Him.
Servant of the Lord;
Of the gospel, I’m not ashamed;
For salvation, power of God
To those who have faith.
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