By: Dale Weckbacher
2 Timothy 2:1-3
You then, my
child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what
you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to
faithful men who will be able to teach others also.3 Share
in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
(ESV)
In his writings, the Apostle Paul often referred to the
ministry as a spiritual battle. For
example, we have his references to the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-20. Paul also makes reference to our walk with
the Lord being a race (1 Corinthians 9:24, Hebrews 12:1). The bottom line is that our walk with the
Lord involves committing to a spiritual battle against a formidable enemy whose
tactics are to attack us, taking us off or our game, robing us of a close
fellowship with God our Father (1 John 1:5-7).
2 Timothy 2:4 cautions Timothy not to become entangled in
civilian pursuits. This blog is a political blog, engaging in a
discussion of political affairs affecting our lives. However, I begin each posting with a biblical
reference in an effort to view the political discourse from a scriptural
perspective. Paul is not teaching us
that we as Christians are to totally ignore civilian pursuits but instead not
to become entangled in them and instead examine them from a loftier biblical
perspective.
2 Timothy 2:5 goes on to caution Timothy, and us, to follow
the rules just as an athlete competes by following the rules. While we as Christians are to disobey any
rule forbidding us from sharing and practicing our faith (Acts 4:18-20) we must
never resort to violence or civil disobedience against flesh and blood but
instead let our fight be against spiritual forces of evil residing in heavenly
places (Ephesians 6:12). It is this
focus on a spiritual and not flesh and blood battle that distinguishes
Christianity from many religions that we see resorting to violence in the name
of their God today.
A good soldier for Christ is to,
1)
Focus on Jesus the risen Messiah (2 Timothy 2:8)
– Jesus, the Messiah is not dead but he is risen. This fact is something we may unfortunately
take for granted in our walk for Christ but it should be the main focus of our
faith. Other religions follow someone
who is buried in a tomb somewhere. However, Christianity has an empty tomb to
point to. This empty tomb is evidence
that Jesus Christ conquered death, the ultimate enemy. Let us not become distracted by what we see
going on in our world today and instead maintain our focus on the one who
conquered death by taking time daily to worship, pray, and study the
Bible.
2)
Be willing to suffer physically for the Gospel
as the Apostle Paul did (2 Timothy 2:9-13) – Paul is writing this letter to
young Timothy while bound in chains for his faith. This incarceration will eventually result in
his being martyred for his faith.
However, instead of wallowing in his misery, he declares his willingness
to endure everything so that others may obtain the salvation that is in Christ
Jesus (2 Timothy 2:10). Instead of
wallowing in misery, Paul declares “If we have died with him, we will also live
with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also
will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful.” (2 Timothy2:11b-13). My prayer is that as we
witness the secular world turning more violent against Christianity, the church
will share in the commitment Paul demonstrated and not deny Christ or become
faithless.
3)
Not become distracted by false teaching (2 Timothy2:14-19) – One of the blessings of living in the information age is the easy
access to information. However, this
ease of access also carries with it the ease with which false information can
be spread. We must therefore exercise
diligence and discern information we see online with the truth of the Bible,
the Word of God.
4)
Not become distracted by gossip (2 Timothy2:20-26) – The church is full of people at many levels in spiritual
growth. When we are saved, we still
carry with us the baggage of sin in our lives.
This is symbolized by Paul as the wood and clay vessels. We are therefore to strive to have this wood
and clay cleansed through the fire of cleansing, leaving the valuable gold and
silver put into our lives when we received Christ as our savior (1 Corinthians3:10-15). Our flesh has a tendency to
gossip and with the technology of social media, this gossip can become a
conflagration of destruction and distraction that hinders the spread of the
Gospel. Instead, we must allow the
conflagration of the fire of the Spirit of God to engulf us and help us
maintain our focus on Jesus Christ and His Word.
We are involved in a spiritual battle. This battle is unlike any battle in history
for it is not a visible battle, but an invisible spiritual battle for the
eternal souls of people lost in sin that either do not know about, or have not
experienced the saving grace of God through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus
Christ. We must be good soldiers of
Christ by maintaining our focus on our risen Messiah. We must be soldiers dedicated to serving our
commander in chief, Jesus Christ, even if it means enduring ridicule or
suffering. We must also guard ourselves
against the distractions of false teaching and gossip and press on focused on
Jesus Christ and God’s Word.
Next Wednesday we will look at the spiritual battlefield we
are in.
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