An Introduction to 2 Timothy

2 Timothy chapter 1 which you'll find on page 995 and the church Bibles and as you turn there we'll read through the first chapter together 2 Timothy chapter 1 Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus 2 Timothy my beloved child grace mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day as I remember your tears I long to see you that I may be filled with joy I am reminded of your sincere faith of faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am assured Wells and you as well for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord nor of me his prisoner but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a holy calling not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher which is why I suffer as I do but I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I'm convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me follow the pattern of the sound words that you've heard for me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit entrusted to you you are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me among whom are Phi's Ellis and homogeneous may the Lord grant mercy to the household of honest if Aris for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus amen our gracious God we realized that while heaven and earth may pass away your word will never pass away it is fixed in the heavens and we ask as we study the Bible now for your help the help of the Holy Spirit so that we might bring the affections of our lives the feelings of our hearts under the jurisdiction of the truth of your word we're tempted together the other way around and it always disappoints us so free please help us to this end we pray for Jesus sake we ask it amen well let me initially draw your attention to a few verses at the end of chapter 3 beginning in verse 14 of 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul is describing the peculiar circumstances that are presented there in the environment in which Timothy is working any system but as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings what an amazing privilege it is to have from childhood being acquainted with the Bible and many who are in the building this morning are going to be able to tell that story they are enjoying that same privilege as a result of your exercising your parental duties and privileges and and they're able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work now I begin there this morning and what is essentially an introduction to 2nd Timothy because I want you to notice that Paul in this letter which is essentially his swan song his final letter he is saying to Timothy I have finished the race and I want to make sure that you also finish the race I now have kept the faith I have fought the fight I have finished the race the time for my departure is now at hand and I am deeply concerned says Paul that the gospel ministry that I have exercised will in turn be exercised by you and through you in generations still to come and the language that he uses there at the end of chapter 3 is very clear he is concerned that that which Timothy has become convinced of and it is a wonderful thing to be convinced of things the truth of God's Word you have absolutely laid hold of it you're convinced of these things I want to make sure that you continue that you hold fast to the things you become convinced of and that you see it right through to the end of your life in other words it is the concern of a pastor for those under his care and Paul the Apostle is a pastor as well as an evangelist and as he exercises this ministry now towards the end of his life he wants to make sure that Timothy holds the line now you may be saying to yourself you probably are is this then where we're going to go for the foreseeable future in terms of our next series of studies and the answer to that is yes it wasn't the case in the early part of this week or even all through last week I was moving in a different direction in my own thinking but on Thursday morning I had taken a break from my studies for Sunday to prepare for a pastors conference that I have to speak at this coming week and as I began to work through the material for that conference in 2nd Timothy it struck me that 2nd Timothy is particularly apropos the context in which we find ourselves as a church now of course it goes without saying that the Bible is always relevant that it is always applicable but there are key Asians when certain portions of the scripture appeared to tie in very directly and very appropriately with the context of a congregation and I think that that is true of Timothy and that's why I've decided to change my course Paul is seeking to pass the baton of gospel ministry into the hands of this young man whom he refers to as his child or as his son and it is in this respect that I see the first tie in with where we are as a church and what Paul is doing here in this second letter I have three areas that I suggest to you tie in with the decision to proceed with second Timothy as our area of study and and this is the first for the past couple of years our church leadership has been encouraging us to think in terms of building into the next generation that phrase has been used widely has been taught in a small group context has been reinforced in literature and indeed in literature that is available to us even this morning the reason for this is because the leadership of the church recognizes that as we move into another phase of life together that construction of new buildings such as the building that is being that is going up now for children their children's building it will be able to cope with 1,200 children on a Sunday morning rather than 600 children as we presently are able to do the reason for the construction of that building the reason for the construction of the truth for life building which will begin hopefully before the year is out on the grounds of the old VFW and the construction of a chapel that will join on with our Commons area all of these areas of construction are directly related to this notion of building in to the next generation and the same is true in terms of the planned renovation the doubling of the size of the existing fellowship hall the complete refurbishment of the building in which you sit now the transformation of all of the corridors around as a tremendous amount of renovation that is planned and someone might justifiably say well isn't that an amazing amount of expense and endeavour after all we've got all that we need at the present time at the present time of course if you want to see your time our time is the only time then we can stop anytime we want but if we actually do believe that we're building into the next generation that we anticipate that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ask or even imagine it surely would be illegitimate illegitimate of us to feel that somewhere another we had reached the apex in our journey that we were at the destination and as I was mulling this over I said to myself you know it is absolutely crucial that we understand this message of second Timothy at this point for us as a church Paul is able to say to Timothy I'm reminded of your sincere faith which was in your grandmother and which is in your mother and which I am convinced he says is now in you and his concern then is that Timothy will continue in what he's become convinced of and that he will become competent in doing what he's charged to do in pastoral ministry in order to teach a whole new crop of coming leaders in order to teach a whole new development of young lives that are fastened on laid hold of by God the Holy Spirit and stimulated and stirred into giving their time and their energy and their lives for the gospel because it is this gospel that is at a very heart of Paul's life of course and at the heart of any particular life but you will notice if I can point this out to you that in Chapter 1 Paul issues Timothy with a charge to guard the gospel that's in verse 14 by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit entrusted to you so I want to make sure Timothy that you that you guard the gospel in chapter 2 he says I want to make sure that you share in suffering for the gospel share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus in chapter 3 as we've noted and we began here make sure Timothy that you continue in the gospel convinced and continuing and then in chapter 4 to which we will eventually come make sure Timothy that you are engaged in preaching this gospel that's verse 2 of chapter 4 preach the word be ready in season and I would have season now what he recognizes is simply this that justice is easy for an untended fire to go out so it is crucial that the flames of gospel ministry are being continually nurtured that's the sixth verse of chapter 1 for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands in other words Timothy you're not just going to be sitting on an armchair somewhere not say anything either in a deck chair but if you're going to be engaged in this gospel ministry to which God has called you to which you have been set apart by the laying on of hands then you're going to have to be prepared to make sure that you stir up within yourself the very flames of gospel energy now God is at work within you to will and to do of his good pleasure but you have a part to play as well now this is a very personal letter you would understand that is written by the seasoned campaigner to his young lieutenant if you like but a personal letter such as this also had a public dimension to it a personal letter like this would not just have been by Timothy in his bedroom but it would have been read in a hearing of the entire congregation or entire congregations so that the congregation would be aware of what it was that the Apostle was calling their pastor to do now if you think about that it makes sense otherwise why would he introduced himself as he does in his greeting Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus you mean Timothy didn't know he was an apostle of Christ Jesus maybe like me writing a letter to my son saying this is from Alistair beg the senior pastor of Parkside Church and my son was Oh III knew that why did you need to write that in the letter well the reason that it is written in that way is because he is providing his credentials so that when somebody in the congregation might have said well why should we pay attention to this the answer is because of its source because it is apostolic in its authority because God has moved the Apostle Paul to write as he is written this is the very word of God and the way in which he establishes that is by identifying in a public arena his apostolic credentials thereby making the congregation aware of the challenges and responsibilities to be faced by their pastor so for example in verse 15 he tells Timothy they have turned away from me referring to folks in Asia they uses hyperbole I think you're aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me it's just been a wholesale defection from him and then in chapter 4 he says and they will turn away from you as well chapter 1 they've all turned away from me chapter 4 they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear and they'll turn away from you as well Timothy I see how important it is that the congregation understands what their pastor is up against also that they might understand the ministry that Timothy is to act sighs as the man of God it is a ministry of the word of God that's the significance again of verses 16 and 17 Paul is not describing it Paul is not writing that so that Timothy might say oh really I didn't know that the scripture was inspired by God this is not a verse to explain the inspiration of Scripture what he's saying is because Scripture is breathed out by God it provides Timothy you with the opportunity to teach it in such a way that it exposes rebellion that it corrects mistakes that it trains people how to live God's Way and in the awareness of the fact that it is through God's Word that the people of God are put together and they're shaped up and established for the tasks that they have hence our emphasis at the moment on the front of the bullet and they read your Bible every day because as we read our Bibles every day it reinforces what is being done Sunday by Sunday so let me recap I believe that a study now in 2nd Timothy is particularly appropriate first of all because it ties in with the present focus of our church's leadership number one number two because it ties in and this is a personal allusion which I hope you will allow me because it ties in with what has been and remains the framework of my life it ties in and remains the framework of my life I thought you might like to see this photograph that I took yesterday morning in the Flyleaf of an old Bible you will see that this goes back to what is that 47 years ago this particular week I didn't realize it was this particular week until I looked inside and there was the 15th of January last Sunday was the 12th so that would be what Wednesday or something like that so 47 years ago on the 15th of January I was given this Bible I was moving with my family from school to England the people with whom I had been spending time as a small boy in Sunday school decided that it would be good for me to have a Bible and they decided to give me a Bible reference I think you know that I haven't had very many Bible references given to me in my life I don't mean that I haven't had many readings of the Bible but in terms of stand out verses I don't have very many of them when people ask me to have a life's verse I never know what to say I mentioned the fact that my mother had given me something at the end of a letter that stands out to me and this one to verse 15 of 2nd Timothy in the King James Version which is the Bible that I was given study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth that's quite interesting isn't it I was 14 years old it was just a verse to me at the time I'm not sure that I made very much of it at all 47 years later it appears almost prophetic for an actual fact my entire life has been about trying to do what Paul says to Timothy to do in that verse I really don't have any other string to my bow I have nothing else that I can testify to as being significant I'm really can a monomaniac Allah just doing this do your best to present yourself to one approved and this second Timothy actually is at the very heart of all that we do every day if I might expand the framework of my life and include my colleagues in it I think that is valid and and only appropriate but we turn to this again and again we turn particularly to the fifth verse of chapter 4 again and again where when we attempted to discouragement or when we were fearful of the future or where we don't know what we really should be doing next somebody will say well what about the fifth verse of 2 Timothy 4 keep your head in all circumstances endure hardship do the work of an evangelist and discharge all the duties of your ministry there's hardly a week passes but someone in the pastoral team will say well keep your head and your hardship tell people about Jesus do what you're supposed to do what will we do next week keep your head and your hardship tell people about Jesus do what you're supposed to do that's what Paul is saying to Timothy that's why I say to you it is particularly appropriate if we're going to say we're all about building into the next generation in other words our focus is is telescopic over the horizon we are beginning to dream dreams and see visions of things that we ourselves will never enjoy some of us aren't up for that if we really wanted to turn the city of Cleveland or the city of Detroit around choosing just to Midwestern possibilities we would have to launch into something that we would never see the fulfillment of in our lifetime because it's so demanding it's so rich in potential and the same is true in pastoral ministry Luther had a love affair with Galatians I have a love affair with 2nd Timothy he said of Galatians the Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle I have betrothed myself to it as to my wife I might not be so bald but I do have a strong affection and I hope I have a growing understanding I thought that I had probably done second Timothy a few times here in 30 years but I had to check and I discovered I have only ever once preached through the book of 2nd Timothy through the letters again Timothy I did it in force on DS I did a chapter a Sunday morning and I did it in 1991 in March of 1991 when we were still in Seoul in high school in the auditorium I'm not gonna ask anybody remembers the series why would you I'd forgotten it but how many of you are actually in the high school auditorium in 1991 he's put up your hands maybe 3% so if I was working on the basis that said while I did 2nd - maybe they should remember that well then maybe some who were there remember that but 97% of the people weren't even there so it does seem timely doesn't it and also I think I understand it better than I did then of course only those who remember the sermon will know but I can be honest with you I can tell you I let me quote to you from 1991 to Timothy 1 March 1991 I said of Timothy this young man ought to be an encouragement to us all insofar as he was not a natural so he was not a natural and as I opened up our study in chapter 1 I was pointing out the fact that Timothy was comparatively young remember let no one despise your youth that he was physically frail take a little wine for your stomach's sake I came across the commentary where the person was so paranoid about that very notion being in the Bible that he said that this was clearly for external use only but on there's a funny thought intimidate rubbing rubbing wine on his tummy but anyway that's a that says maybe and and also that he was naturally timid you know when Timothy comes to you Paul writes to the Corinthians put him at ease and so I said you know the thing about Timothy is that he's not like anybody else he's and so that's why Paul writes to him as he does he's a sort of nervous fellow he's a shrinking violet he he's not eased he's really doesn't know what he's doing and so Paul writes to this young man who is unique in this respect in order that he might bolster him up and encourage him so that he can get on and do the job but 23 years later I actually think Timothy was normal I don't think he was unique last week I came home with a little something necessary for my stomach sake from Peru Timothy worked in climate where his tummy could easily be disengaged I'm often fearful I'm no longer relatively young but do you see how relevant it is if we position this as a letter to a certain kind of individual who was a bit of a coward and so on then those of us who don't identify with that in any way in terms of psychology or personality we immediately assume it has very little relevance to us at all because after all we're not like that we're not Timothy but an actual fight anybody who's been in any - in pastoral ministry for any time knows what it is to be fearful knows what it is to be sensitive in crisis knows how normal it is to be in need of the promises of God and in the purposes of God just to keep us in the battle just to fight that you're still in it the fighter you're still standing you very see these great Civil War battles you see how many have we got left you see the camera pans over the battlefield and there are a few still standing that's the picture Paul uses when he says to them in writing to the church at Ephesus you know you better take yourselves the whole armour of God and when you've got everything in place make sure that at the end of the day you are still standing that's what he's saying - Timothy I am about to leave make sure that you finish make sure that you're still there and it be good for the congregation to hear this wouldn't it so they might pray for their pastor so they might realise what he's up against a man by the name of McCloud was the last Gallic speaking pastor of a church in new Milne's Church of Scotland Church there he obviously had a pretty rough go of it because as he left he wrote a hymn and as him begins with a line courage brothers do not stumble as he wrote it for all his fellow ministers and it contains this verse some will love thee some will hate thee some will praise thee some will slight cease from man and look above thee trust in God and do what's right it's a good word isn't it it's a necessary word that's what he's saying to Timothy Timothy make sure that as you engage in this pastoral ministry you are holding for him make sure that you are not ashamed do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord I was timidly peculiar in this respect that he was you know just the kind of person who was ashamed it's hard to imagine him being ashamed he gets sent on these amazing assignments now again I think this is true I again when I taught it in back in 91 I said you know he obviously had a problem with being ashamed I don't think he did have you never felt ashamed of the gospel did you make it through this past week without being ashamed of the gospel there's no shame in saying to people I'm a religious person they say oh very interesting I'm interested in spiritual things very interesting I have God in my life whoa well there we go there's no shame in any of that our culture is able to sidestep that absorb it do it and then they choose with it let me tell you whether shame comes oh Jesus Christ is the only Savior there is no other way there is only one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus it is appointed unto man wants to die and after this comes judgment your friends and colleagues in the office say are you kidding me do you expect me to believe that the death of a Galilean carpenter claiming to be a messiah 2,000 years ago is not only the pivotal event of human history but upon that event hangs the eternal destiny of everyone who was ever created yeah you ever been tempted to fudge that to fudge the doctrine of creation because you're afraid that your friends in the physics department of the university will think you're an idiot do you care more about what they think than affirming the truth of God's Word that the issues of redemption they're the matters of human sexuality that the concerns of a family that the family is not a big social experiment that is being worked out in time but it was ordained by God who created the universe and one man and one woman living together in the company of one another would produce children together according to his plan have you ever felt ashamed of that these days it was really bad work on my part to suggest that Timothy had a peculiar problem he had the challenge that we all have and when we fail at that level then there's all kinds of compromise and corruption the results that brings me to my third point which I will just make without really any further expansion why study second Timothy at the moment well first of all because congregationally it accords with a focus of leadership secondly personally it aligns with the framework of my life and I'm allowed to say things like that this now that I'm in my sixties it would sound really presumptuous if I was 24 or something like that you know the framework of my life so really you got a framework you're like no I'm not I don't mean it in any sense of self aggrandizement I'm telling you that just as you folks have reached crossroads in your life the 30th anniversary of being here is a crossroad in the life of myself and my wife it must inevitably be so the man that I admire more than any other man Derek prime who mentored me quit after 20 years I say to myself what were you doing an extra ten for if he was smart enough to stop you should have stopped a decade ago what are you doing what are you doing well whatever you're doing you better make sure that the next crop of timothy's is emerging right now that the generations that are listening to the children's talks in the evening that those wriggling little boys who wriggle just as you wriggled and do as you just did that they might grow up in generations yet to come to hold the line of the gospel and that's the third thing because our study at a cultural level addresses a failure in these things you don't have to be a particular student of church history to realize that the history of a church not least of all the history of the 20th century church in America is a history of people who have continued to desert Paul to desert Paul every so often you run into something says well you know I like the Gospels but I don't like Paul I like I like I like the Sermon on the Mount but I don't like the Apostle Paul I don't like what he said in Romans chapter 1 and so on and again that desire to be accepted has caused some who should have known better to deviate from course when it comes to evangelical doctrine and as a result the churches are nowhere they're nowhere loved ones this is not rhetoric when I say to you that when you come back with me to Western Europe and wander the hallways of vacated church buildings bearing a peculiar intervention by the Spirit of God in our day you are looking at the future of the United States of America because it is the same foundational declension which gives rise to the emptiness that is a loss of conviction about the sufficiency and authority of the Bible which works itself out in the most practical of ways a loss of clarity concerning the exclusivity of the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ which works itself out and when you say to yourself I wonder why that church that once was so vibrant and so strong has very little going on at all let me tell you it's not because they ran out of ideas and their programs theirs now because they ran out of cash it's because they ran out on the gospel there are no guarantees that this place will be here 20 years from now that people won't be coming to see a new building that's for sure they're not gonna come and gather because these superficial things sort of draw now the only thing that will maintain it is that the truth that Paul was prepared to live and eventually die for in Rome has been passed safely into the hands of Timothy so that it might be passed safely into the hands of faithful men so that it might be passed from the hands of faithful men to those who will in turn teach others loved ones that's the challenge it's a challenge that comes to you as a mom visitor your children there's a challenge that comes as a grandmother what are you actually feeding in to those wee ones that are under your care it's a challenge that comes whether I am single or married whatever it might be at whatever stage in my life are you prepared to commit yourself to be this link in the chain for the gospel let me finish with a quote the courts from John's start he says the church of our day urgently needs to heed the message of this letter for all around us we see Christians and churches relaxing their grasp of the gospel fumbling it in danger of letting it drop from their hands altogether why does that make me think of Bernie Kosar that's not fair that's not fair fumbling it in danger of letting it drop from their hands altogether a new generation of young Timothy's is needed who will guard the sacred deposit of the gospel who are determined to proclaim it and are prepared to suffer for it and who will pass it on pure and uncorrupted to the generation which in due course will rise up to follow them the Church of our day urgently needs to heed the message of this letter wrote John start in 1973 I think we are off to a fair start gracious God we thank you that your word charts our course challenges our lives invites us to reframe our entire existence around the issues of the gospel we want to encourage one another in this regard some of us are particularly fearful and we need the encouragement of one another so let us then be exhorting one another and all the more as we see the day of Christ's return drawing near so that generations yet unborn will arise and bless our memory because as a church family we held true to these things we pray in Christ's name

Channel: Alistair Begg

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Keywords: Alistair Begg, 2 Timothy, Gospel, Leadership, Ministry, Church Leadership

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Length: 38min 46sec (2326 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 20 2014