2 Timothy 2:1-7, Be Strong In Grace

turn in your Bibles to second Timothy 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 i'm entitling the message this morning be strong and grace are you ready let me pray for you Heavenly Father I pray for every man every woman every young person listening I pray that by your Holy Spirit you will strengthen the saints in the Amazing Grace the sufficient grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the kind of grace that saves us forgives us reconciles us to the Father Lord we are grateful for your love and for the sacrifice of Jesus and Lord as we consider the words of Paul to his young Protege Timothy Lord we pray that we would find ourselves listening in as a spiritual father gives his spiritual son an admonition a charge of how to walk into the future that God has for him and so Lord we pray that you would prepare our hearts Lord it's going to take concentration to listen carefully and it's going to take resolve to do what the Spirit asks us to do and so father we commit this time to you and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen second Timothy chapter 2 beginning in verse 1 Paul writing to Timothy says you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier and also if anyone competes in athletics he's not crowned unless he competes according to the rules the hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops consider what I say and may the lord give you understanding in all things in Paul's first note to Timothy he lays out several urgent urgent charges to Timothy he says I need you to be prepared to endure abuse for the sake of the gospel he talked about that in chapter 1 verses 6 through 12 he said hold fast to the Lord Jesus in chapter 1 verses 13 through 18 and now be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 in order to be strong in Jesus Timothy is going to need to be strong in grace in verse 1 the truth in verse 2 carry the work of the gospel at the end of verse 2 in this section Paul likens the role of the faithful minister to for secular occupations he uses a metaphor for the teacher in verses 1 and to a soldier in verses 3 and 4 an athlete in verse 5 a farmer in verses 7 through 8 as a student Timothy was taught many things by Paul and now Timothy has to make complete the transition from being the student to being the teacher again he has to be willing to instruct others like a soldier Timothy has to devote his energies to the warfare and not the world like an athlete he has to run the race and stay focused on the victors crown in verse 5 like a farmer he has to work hard in order to reap the largest crop possible in verses 6 and 7 and as we've discovered the ministry is fraught with danger but it's not just the ministry that's fraught with danger it's the Christian life people have been lying to you if they said hey you know what just accept Jesus and all your troubles will go away just accept Jesus and it will be like a country song in Reverse your wife will come back your children will come back prosperity will come back to you everything wrong that is ever gone wrong will become right in your life but it's not true the ministry and the Christian walk has challenges and difficulties but I guarantee you I guarantee you my worst day as a Christian it's still better than my best day as an unbeliever your worst day as a Christian holds out the promise of hope of forgiveness of love of grace and mercy in heaven the ministry is fraught with danger but the road of disobedience and rebellion has far more dangers later in this chapter Paul is going to remind Timothy that Jesus is the resurrected Lord at the end of the chapter then verses 8 through 13 he's gonna warn Timothy about the danger of divisive words and he's going to invite his young Protege to remember to keep the foundations of God intact he's going to warn him about the danger of divisive words he's going to remind him about the foundations of the gospel he's going to warn about a coming apostasy a great falling away in Chapter 3 he's going to cite perversions in chapter 3 those who perpetrate those perversions men and women wheat will sin burden depraved who like Janus and jamberry who opposed Moses is going to oppose him in the ministry and once dr. Paul makes his diagnosis he's going to offer a prescription and the prescription is going to be you're going to need strength you're going to need fortitude you must continue in the words of God in Chapter three continue in the work and word of God and youths going to require all of the strength and fortitude that you can muster the ministry requires a kind of mental and emotional fortitude and strength I'm not talking about the strength that makes you angry combative or a bully I'm talking about the spiritual strength and toughness that makes you patient and kind and gracious it's sort of like being a mom or a grandma The ministers superpower is grace people do experiment hey if you could have any superpower in the world what would it be some people would say I'd like to be invisible or I'd like to be immortal or I would like to be powerful I've never heard a single person say I want to have supernatural grace but guess what it's that kind of supernatural power that will give you everything that you need in order to walk into the future that God's assigned for you Spurgeon told his congregation it's not true gold if it won't stand the fire and it's not true grace if it won't bare affliction and so look again in verse 1 you therefore my son be strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus I need to remind you of the context in which he's writing those words he's not writing it from a hospital bed and he's not writing it from a four-star hotel and in Rome he's writing this from a prison and not just any prison but a ma'am routine prison which is a small hole that is about as wide and long as this pulpit and would have been about 30 feet into the ground with a Grail over the top of him he is facing death he is going to be executed by the Roman government on the false charges of against the government against Nero's rule Timothy is to serve as his successor he's charged with the leadership and the oversight of the various churches that have been scattered throughout the Roman Empire he is entrusted with the legacy that Paul has built over the course of his lifetime and some of Paul's critics are unhappy with Paul and Timothy will Timothy be able to bear the weight will he accept the burden and the pressure will he be able to handle the criticism will he be able to safely negotiate the ministry minefields can anyone fill Paul's apostolic shoes whose sufficient for these things what training what spiritual discipline is going to prepare Timothy for the problems that he is going to face in this world and what spiritual preparation will you have in order to deal with conflict pain hardship suffering Paul has poured his life into the ministry into the preparation for Timothy and like his mentor Timothy has also become a target of criticism and so guess what all human beings no matter how gifted they are no matter how talented they are no matter how determined they are they're going to have limitations but according to Paul there's a pool there's a reservoir there's a stream where fresh strength flows without interruption or pollution so when he says you therefore my son remember that therefore is there for what's already proceeded in Chapter one remember he's already made the point guess what people have turned from us in the ministry they've abandoned the ministry and guess what the these are hard times and difficult times but I need you to hold out I need you to be patient I need you to do the work of the ministry and it's gonna require Grace and not just any kind of a grace but the grace that's found in Jesus it's the kind of grace that is an abundant grace and a sufficient grace and we have to literally define our terms and we will hear in a moment so Timothy's hope is our hope we pray we work hard we study we witness we preach we teach we endure hardship we endure setback we endure criticism we pray in the spirit we wage war with supernatural powers but even the most gifted and called has limitations and so where will Timothy be able to find the resources in order to accomplish exactly what he's going to need to accomplish the same place where you're gonna have to get the resources in order to accomplish the things that you need I think you know the meaning of the word justice it means getting what you deserve now in the grand scheme of things when it comes to heavenly things an eternal life and the judgment of God how many of you want justice oh wow one hand went up you want justice you want to get what you deserve if you get what you deserve you're going to get punishment for all that you've done wickedly how many of you would like mercy I'd like to see more hand mercy is getting what you don't deserve mercy is getting what you don't deserve justice is getting what you deserve mercy is getting what you don't deserve grace is getting not only what you don't deserve but more but even more we give you an example imagine you get pulled over you get a ticket you have to stand before the judge and the judge finds you guilty that's justice but then the judge orders you to pay $100 fine and then he reaches into his pocket and he pays your fine that's grace remember justice is getting what you deserve a judicial pronouncement of guilt Mercy's getting what you don't deserve grace is even more it's not only getting what you don't deserve it's so much more and so in 1st Timothy Paul calls Timothy my own son in the faith it's in the it's a personal pronoun true son it would seem that Timothy was just a child when Paul first visited Lystra on his first missionary journey probably Timothy was only 1 or 2 years old on his second missionary journey Timothy may have been as old as 18 years old it may be that Paul led Timothy to the Lord but much more likely his mother and grandfather were the instruments that God used in Timothy's conversion Timothy's biological father was a Greek man his biological mother was a believer and a Jew Timothy wasn't circumcised which probably means her may mean that he was educated in the Greek language he was he would have went to the Greek schools he of adopted Greek culture and Greek customs at the beginning of this letter in second Timothy Paul calls Timothy my dearly beloved son in chapter 1 verse 2 he now he calls him my son this is a tender expression that speaks of intimacy and relationship he invites him to be strong in Grace and some have interpreted that to mean that maybe Timothy struggled with timidity with shyness not everyone is outgoing and sometimes when you're not an outgoing person people can sometimes accuse you of being isolated or stuck-up or conceited but some people who are accused of being conceited are only private their private people we don't know but whatever is going on Paul invites Timothy to be strong in grace and that word the invitation be strong in the grace in the original language is a word that carries with it the idea of keep on keeping on being strong in the 60s we we know what that expression keep on keeping on it means start it continue to do it and keep on doing it and so the invitation is to be strong and then to keep on being strong but guess what it always carries with it the idea that this is a strength that's coming from somewhere other than yourself this is the kind of resolve and strength that doesn't come from some decision that you have deep inside of your heart this is an external source of strength and mercy and grace the famous Puritan Richard Baxter wrote quote I take the love of God and self-denial to be the sum of all saving grace and religion and by religion he meant the revelation of Jesus to humanity he took religion to mean the fullness of the grace that's manifested in the person of Jesus which then creates a mechanism whereby you get to make a choice but guess what again the strength isn't your own strength the resources aren't your own resources it's the sufficiency of Christ Timothy knew Paul's letter to the Ephesians he would have understood that were accepted in the beloved to the praise of the glory of His grace in Ephesians chapter one verse six we are forgiven according to the riches of His grace in Ephesians 1:7 we are saved by grace that is through the loving act of God quite apart from anything that we may or may not do in chapter 2 verses 5 and then in verses 8 we are made trophies of his love through the exceeding riches of His grace in chapter 2 verse 7 no one Cyprien said no one is saved in his or her own strength you are only safe in the grace and the mercy of God you will never be safe if you're counting on your goodness in order to get you into heaven and so when Paul invites Timothy to be strong it isn't in his own strength and resources I had the privilege of interviewing Johnny Erickson Todd on my radio program so times she was paralyzed from the neck down in a freak diving accident at the age of 18 the last time I had her on she shared with me the reality that she had spent 50 years in a wheelchair she was diagnosed with cancer twice she wrote quote God doesn't just give us grace he gives us jesus the lord of grace this grace isn't just some mysterious religious substance there's a real person behind the gift of real Jesus who comes into your heart and into your life and transforms you and like I said the term be strong or empowered implies strength from an outside source Paul's first appeal is to rely on that outside source by the way that's not Paul's power or even his instruction or even his example Paul is going to give Timothy everything that he possibly can give him but he's going to need more he's going to need more than Paul could possibly give him and you're going to need more more than I can give you not just by example or instruction you are going to need the very real supernatural grace that's found in Jesus and with that grace look what he says at the end of verse 2 are at in verse 2 and the things that you've heard from me among many witnesses it's grace but also all of the instructions that I've given to you and the witnesses so what what has Timothy heard from Paul the two have literally spent years together and so in the broadest term possible Timothy heard Paul preach and teach the gospel he watched Paul lived the gospel the sum and the substance of the truth that Paul received by revelation through Jesus Christ and the testimony of the other apostles the numerous challenges that Paul and Timothy faced together in the course of the ministry and there were several people who would have borne witness or confessed to these things and those people might have included Barnabas and Silas and John Mark and of course the physician Luke no ministry is immune from ministry defectors and detractors but there were those people who had stood faithfully shoulder to shoulder and side by side and Timothy would have been able to frequently ask do you remember how Paul dealt with this problem what he wrote about and dealing with this issue and in Paul's life people came and people went people come into your life for a number of different reasons and they leave your life for any number of reasons but there were plenty of people who could attest to Paul faithfulness and to Paul's witness to pause faithful teaching Paul's faithful preaching Paul's faithful discipleship Paul received the truth gladly Paul lived the truth faithfully and then he says make disciples at the end of verse to commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others as well the faithful teacher transmits the truth to faithful men I want to talk about that for just a moment that word faithful is the Greek word pista s' you know the word for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes it's the same word believes but in that particular instance and in this particular and since it means to believe in such a way that you are making a decision based on that belief and so the word means faithfully believe it can mean to trust or rely or cling it means a person who believes in Jesus commit these to faithful men that means not just gifted people not just talented people not just people who have demonstrated a specific skillset but but do this for people who actually believe in the Lord Jesus and have demonstrated a lifestyle of loyalty to the person and the teachings of Jesus this includes all the elements that we would normally mean when we use the word faithful when we use the word faithful we we usually mean loyal reliable dependable trustworthy not someone who's going to flake out and leave you William Barclay describes this person quote every Christian must look on himself as a link between generations not only has he received the faith he must pass it on ek Simpson writes on this passage the torch of heavenly light must be transmitted unquenched from generation to another and Timothy must count himself as an intermediary between Apostolic and later ages the teacher is a link in the living chain which stretches unbroken from this present moment back to Jesus this is exactly right what Paul imparts to Timothy Timothy will impart to faithful men and women who will go into a future until we come into our own time men and women believing the Bible trusting the Bible William Barclay says quote the glory of teaching is that it links the present with the earthly life of Jesus Christ Chuck Smith taught that ministry is both caught and taught teaching and discipleship cannot be limited or restricted to the pastor or restricted to the leaders of the church it has to incorporate all the faithful men and women and so each and every one of you are entrusted with being the link that connects the generation before you and the generation after you I've said this often Billy Graham would say God didn't pre call me to preach to the generation that came before me or the generation that came after me he called me to preach to this generation well guess what he being dead still lives he taught a generation but that generation grew up and then continued with the message and that's what teachers do a good teacher will give you the information a great teacher will inspire you with that information a good teacher will tell you what it says and means but a great teacher will awaken inside of you a love and a curiosity that won't be satisfied until you look into whatever it is that that person's talking about and so Paul will give models and ministry look what it says in verse three you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that that may please him who enlisted him as a soldier and also if anyone competes in athletics he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules the hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops consider what I say and may the lord give you understanding in all of these things Paul adds several more models he's talked about a teacher now he's going to talk about a soldier and an athlete and a farmer and so when he says concerning the soldier you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ not everyone's cut out for the the military it's a metaphor but it's a good metaphor my son is a captain on his way to becoming a major in the army it suits him my son who I am so proud of in his office as a sign it reads be the hardest person in the room to kill we laugh but he means it when you were when we were worshiping earlier and you worship you you're the guy who cuts off the head of my enemy you're reading the words and you're going to die actually say that you never realize just how important the soldier is until you're under threat ministry involves hardship soldiers face fatigue and and deprivation soldiers go through a process of training but guess what in that training it is a training to endure fatigue and deprivation the NRSV says quote share in suffering like a good soldier this is the same word that Paul is used earlier when he invited Timothy join with me in suffering for the gospel in chapter 1 verse 8 same expression for the person who has no theology of suffering for the person who has no way of coping with suffering for the person who wonders why in the world would I want to participate in a religion where I might get hurt where I might be left out where I might suffer why would I want to do that because guess what that's what happens in a broken world Paul returns to one of the great themes of his letter when you're faithful to the truth when you're unwilling to compromise the truth when you are unwilling to twist the truth when you're unwilling to distort the truth or deny the truth and you wind up living the truth and then preaching the truth it becomes an invitation to persecution and suffering and hardship the moment that you say that something is right everyone who believes that what they're doing is right are going to enter into the fray the Bible says that there would come a time when people wouldn't endure sound doctrine the Bible said that there would come a generation that calls good evil dark light sweet sour that they would literally twist the words well-meaning words that used to mean something in every generation and there would come a generation that simply abandons truth guess what ladies and gentlemen you're living in that generation it's arrived it's here Jesus gives ample and repeated warnings that his faithful followers will experience persecution and that's why Paul says you have to endure hardship as a good soldier not everyone's cut out to be a soldier the military isn't for everyone it is a metaphor this is Calvary Chapel not the Salvation Army but in a very real sense it is the Salvation Army as well that when you join with Jesus you're enlisting Calvary is the place where they crucified the Savior Calvary is the address of suffering and the zip code where all parcels are marked hardship in one sense we really are the Salvation Army we are God's soldiers we have to be trained and equipped for the battle we share the common experiences that are familiar to missionaries in the past and martyrs in the past and so in verse four when Paul says no one engaged in warfare and tangles himself with the affairs of this life the point that Paul is making in the metaphor is that the soldier's life takes precedence over the civilian life nobody knows that better than a person who has a one in the army or the Navy or the Marines if you have a family member who's a soldier guess what sometimes they leave their wife and their children and they're deployed overseas and they're gone for months at a time and people will say it's not fair and it's not healthy and it and it and it leads to difficulty it absolutely does and when you join the army there's the expectation that you understand something that you are embarking on a different kind of a life the soldier's life takes precedence over the affairs of the civilian life and the soldier has a keen sense of mission the pastor's singular mission is to preach and teach and if necessary suffer for it now some have taken Paul's advice to mean that there's no place for participation in this world or its affairs we constrain the metaphor even soldiers need supplies even soldiers need rest wounded soldiers need first aid even soldiers who managed to avoid bullets and capture need respite from the battle so how are we to think about this metaphor how are we to maintain a healthy balance as we read Paul's words and consider his concerns about the ever-increasing dangers of false teachers and false teaching and more and more people compromising the truth and abandoning the truth the implication is that sometimes the warfare is going to heat up and we enter into the fray but whatever else the metaphor means it can't mean what it never meant it can't mean there's never a sacrifice there's never a difficulty and so he uses again the illustration of the athlete the athlete is one who competes for a crown and I just want to draw your attention to something this isn't an ordinary athlete this isn't a person who stays fit this isn't a person who gets a gym membership this isn't the person who just goes hey you know what I exercise and eat right I try to stay fit that's not who he's talking about this is the athlete who tests his or her skills for prizes he uses the word competition twice and by the way ancient Olympic athletes were governed by rules on and off the field did you know that there were rules regarding training every Olympic athlete was required to swear and have witnesses that they trained for at least ten months and owned then and only then were they allowed to participate in the games that doesn't mean they they were gonna win it just gave them the right to compete every event was governed by specific rules for that event those who competed fair early were eligible for the victors crown so what rules do you think Paul has in mind when he's offering the metaphor is the metaphor simply the athlete is it the competition different people have come to different conclusions and offer different suggestions some have said well does this mean that we train more than we compete does it mean that the Christian is to think of the Christian life as a rules-based life clearly we live under the rule of Christ and the context is strength that's given by grace the context is meaningful disciplined direction Jesus trained his disciples in the competition what do we mean by the competition does that mean ministry in the church does that mean ministry in the world I'm gonna suggest to you that it probably means both of those things there is service in the church and there is service in the world and in order to serve in the church and serve in the world it's gonna require preparation discipline and commitment and then the farmer what can we learn from the farmer I know some of you grew up on a farm some of you have had some experience in the soil any person who tells you that farming is easy they're lying to you farming is hard work it involves detailed discipline soil doesn't tell itself seed doesn't plant itself plants don't water themselves livestock requires attention crops don't harvest themselves when Bible teacher said quote if the soldier enjoys the commander's approval and the athlete enjoys the victory then the hard-working farmer can enjoy the results of his or her labor those results may not be received immediately but most certainly the fruit will be received from Christ and eternity unquote the farmer is actually looking for a crop and a yield CK Barrett wrote quote beyond warfare is victory beyond athletic effort is a prize beyond Agriculture is a crop so how are we to think about what Paul is saying in verse seven when he says consider what I say and may the lord give you understanding and all things why do you suppose Paul said that why does Paul have to say I hope you understand that when I'm talking about the teacher and I'm talking about the soldier and I'm talking about the athlete and I'm talking about the farmer are you beginning to understand are you beginning to understand what does he mean what does he mean when he says in verse six the hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops what does that mean what does it mean to share the crops Paul again he might have wondered Timothy are you gonna understand the point that I'm trying to make will the Lord give Timothy supernatural understanding and application will you understand will you understand will you understand that when you do the work of the ministry and you participate in this thing called the Christian life when you lead and bring your children to church when they receive Christ as their Savior when you work with people who are suffering when you work with marriages that are falling apart when you work with people whose lives seem so desperate and then all of a sudden God and His grace and His mercy shows up hearts are changed lives are forever changed you participate in the reward it may mean that the hard work of the Minister will have practical benefits it may mean spiritual benefits it may mean organizational relational community benefits but it must mean benefits how can I be strong in God's grace the only way that you can be strong in God's grace is to have God's grace you will never be strong in God's grace if you don't have a right relationship with God in Christ God's grace comes with a relationship with Jesus how can you be strong in God's Word you have to read it understand it love it how can I be strong when things are hard and suffering is a part of my life at this very moment then you have to make sure that you're partaking of grace and the grace that's found in Jesus years ago when I was teaching through the book of Romans I came across William Newell's commentary on the book of Romans in Romans chapter 6 Paul pleads that believers have to be aware of three facts number one they've been crucified with Christ in Romans chapter six verses one through three they've been resurrected with Christ Romans 6 verses four and five they're both dead and alive chapter six verse six through 10 they're dead to sin and they are alive in the Savior and then Paul argues persuasively that we are to count our crucifixion and our resurrection as accomplished events that when Jesus died you died and I died and when Jesus came back to life you came back to life he argues that that means that you no longer have to yield your body is an instrument of wickedness but rather of righteousness that God's grace it's God's grace that sets us free from the law and then obligates us to our new master do you have a singular master what can I do as a Christian whatever Jesus says what can't I do as a Christian whatever Jesus forbids how will I know ask him ask him and that's what grace does Newell explains what Christians experience when they're strong and grace he says number one to hope to be better as to fail yourself to see yourself exclusively in Jesus and number two he says to be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in yourself Wow you know I'm pretty upset with what I did yeah it's because you still believe in yourself maybe it's time to not believe in yourself but to believe in Jesus in grace you'll be able to be faithful be singular be resolved like the teacher like the soldier like the athlete like the farmer you'll have everything that you need to accomplish everything that God's asked you to do we're gonna have communion here in just a moment I'm gonna pray and I know that the guys are gonna come forward and again as I'm praying you you can come forward for the elements I just ask that you all hold them till we have an opportunity to take them together Heavenly Father Lord when I think about Grace when I think about how people are so easily discouraged Lord I pray that you would remind us that you have a plan for us and and that you have a purpose for us that with grace comes blessing with grace comes wholeness with grace comes not on not judgment but the exact opposite of judgment that we get not what we did we deserve but we get exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think and so Lord we know that grace confers undeserved unconditional blessing and Lord it was by grace that you sent your son Jesus into a world that didn't deserve a savior but here in his love in that while we were still sinners not when we did what was ripe but even while we continued to do what was wrong you sent Jesus so that we could have hope forgiveness mercy and grace so Lord prepare our hearts as we prepare to have communion in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary South Denver

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Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, 2 Timothy

Id: JSRoejhX-jA

Length: 51min 32sec (3092 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 08 2019