2 Timothy 2

It is easy to imagine how Timothy might have felt overwhelmed at the task before him. It is a tremendous duty to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where does our help come from in the performance of this great work, a responsibility that is so far beyond us? Paul tells his younger associate in the ministry, his child in the faith, that he needs to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Why would the message of grace, the word of God's favor toward those who deserve His wrath, the doctrine that seems so weak to so many, be a source of great power to those who are called to communicate it to others? As we remember the grace of God for us, we are captivated again with the news that any good standing that we have with God has never, at root, been about our worthiness or ability, but about the excellence of Jesus. This is a secure foundation, for our lives and our ministries. Iit is in this message that we both hear and preach, that we might find the courage for life and for all kinds of sacrificial service.

This ministry, this message, and the strength that comes from the grace that is in Christ Jesus, must not only be believed by Timothy. He must pass all of this on to others, to faithful men, who will in turn be able to teach others. This is not an easy task, but Christ is powerful to carry us through all kinds of trials. He is our General, and we are privileged to be foot-soldiers who serve at His command.

Timothy is part of a chain of word-servants of Jesus who have passed on this message of the cross down to the present hour. They are soldiers who have to be careful not to get entangled in civilian pursuits. They are athletes who must be fully devoted to their sport if they wish to have any opportunity to win the prize, aware of the rules of the contest and diligent to attend to them. They are farmers who understand what it is to prepare the soil, plant, the seed, and to do what it takes to see that a harvest will come from their efforts. This requires a dedication to the task, and a great diligence to avoid entangling distractions that may even seem to be good for the cause, but which only take us away from the purpose of our charge.

Our message of good news continually moves us away from strange and distracting teachings, calling us back again to the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Son of David who died and rose again. If we suffer or face imprisonment because of this word that we teach, we should not think that all is lost. The account of the death of Christ, and that teaching which speaks clearly about the purpose and power of that singular death, may seem to be very weak, but God has made it invincible. Therefore we believe, and therefore we preach. The end result of this kind of teaching is not a head swelled with pride, but a full heavenly salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This salvation is secured for us not by our own goodness, or it would not be by grace. We are called to die for him, to endure to the end, never denying the one who gave His all for us, but if we are faithless (and who has not sunk into a life that God could rightly judge to be inconsistent with what we have professed when we called upon the name of the Lord), God still remains faithful He will not deny himself. His death accomplished something. This is our hope.

It is for this reason that we must never move away from the message of the death of Jesus for the unworthy, and this compels us to seek to live and teach as those who desire to walk worthy of such a great love. But when the church becomes entangled in useless myths and fruitless speculations, she should not expect that those kinds of teachings will yield anything good. Irreverent babble does not lead to godliness, but spreads throughout the church, distracting people from the truth that will be of most use to them and to others.

Some had taken the bait of wrong-headed distractions, and Paul mentions two men by name who were confused about the resurrection. They thought it had already come, and their false ideas were spreading around and were upsetting the faith of some. Not that they were overturning God's decree of election. No one could ever do that. “The Lord knows those who are His.” And if we are His, we should depart from iniquity. Not everything in the church is necessarily worthy of imitation, but today is a very good day to give yourself over to the Master, and to those things that can be rightly called “good works.”

There is a day coming when all the nonsense of false “gospel” labors and all the supposed brilliance of “deep” and “sophisticated” spiritual mysteries will be swept aside like cobwebs in an old house that finally must face demolition. On that day it will be plain for all to see that our true labor in the Lord was not in vain, and that our work together for righteousness, faith, love, and peace has endured in Christ, who gave us strength to continue in His service. Until that day, we are called to patiently instruct the coming generation, and gently correct others who have waded into deep and stagnant pools of error. It is our sincere hope that God might even at this hour grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.