Run With It: A Worker, Not Ashamed

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

A Worker, Not Ashamed

“Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’” (2 Timothy 2:14-19 ESV)

Now, when this says that we are not to quarrel about words, this does not mean that we shy away from exposing the lies of the enemy, and false gospels, and false teachers and their teachings, and the fruitless deeds of darkness. For we are commanded of God to refute the lies of the enemy and to expose them for what they are, and to call out what is false, and what is against our Lord and his teachings. And this is so that the people will hear the truth and realize what are lies, and so that they will obey the truth.

What this is talking about, I believe, has to do with meaningless arguments with people who just want to stir up dissension and who want to pick a fight, probably with the objective to try to destroy us and our testimony for the Lord Jesus and for his gospel message. And so they will say things to “bait us,” to try to get us into one of those meaningless and often repetitive arguments which go nowhere other than perhaps to “ruffle some feathers.” So, we need to see these coming and refuse to get engaged in them.

And if we do our best to present ourselves (in truth, not in pretense) to God as one approved by him, a worker (by God’s design, will, and purpose) who has no need to be ashamed, rightly (to the best of our understanding) handling the word of truth, what should that look like? First it means we have died with him to sin and we are now walking in obedience to his commands. We are following the Lord wherever he leads us, and we are trusting the Lord to give us guidance and understanding of his word.

We are not knowingly nor willfully nor stubbornly refusing to hear the truth of the gospel of our salvation in favor of a diluted and altered gospel message which makes no requirements of us to die with Christ to sin and to now walk (in conduct) according to his (New Covenant) commands. But we are those who study the Scriptures in their context, under the direction of the Lord, as led by the Holy Spirit, who are willing to hear from the Lord, even if it means rejecting lies which we previously believed and taught.

And we are to avoid irreverent babble. Have you paid much attention to “Christian” greeting cards or to “Christian” humor, sometimes which is in pastors’ sermons or in “Christians” social media posts? Or which is included in a lot of dramatizations of the life of Christ found in movies, TV shows, cartoons, “Christian music,” and the like? I am very sensitized to this, and it upsets me greatly, but this is epidemic right now in Christian circles to mock or to make light of or to joke about what is of God and from his word.

Much of this “irreverent babble” is going on here in America in the name of Christianity, and in the name of the church, and in the name of trying to draw in large crowds of people into their gatherings. And so many of them have, thus, adopted many of the ways of the world in order to win the world over to their gatherings. For they are also those who have altered the gospel message to make it less offensive to the people of the world and in order to appease human flesh so that people won’t feel guilty for their sinning.

But the Lord knows who are his and who are not, and he is the one who sets the requirements. And Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands, by his grace, then we have salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God (Luke 9:23-26).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Work, for the Night is Coming

By Anna L. Goghill and Lowell Mason, 1854,1864

Scripture: Mark 13:34; John 9:4