2 Timothy 4:1-8

The Work Before Us

Welcome back to one eighty everyone, it is so nice to be back. I love the summer time and the events that we do, but none of it can come close to the day in day out ministry that we do right here each week for me. This is my favorite thing that I do and always one of the highlights of my week to join you guys each Wednesday and share the word of God with you. Go ahead and turn with me then to 2 Timothy 4 if you would. Remember to grab a copy of God’s word from the shelf if you did not bring one then that is what they are there for.

Now I mentioned that I loved the summer events that we do and that is true, but there is aspect of the summer that is dreadfully frustrating for me and that is the so called Jesus high that everyone in ministry has seen after summer. We go to camp or go to Arlington and feel so very connected with God and become determined that this year will be different, that I will be better for Christ. This is great. That is exactly why we go to these events is so you grow closer to Christ. The problem is that this determination is based on a feeling rather than a mindset and whenever life goes back to the same old routines well the feelings change. They slip right back into the same old mundane style they were in previously. So how do we change that? How can we keep that passion for Christ and living for Him through the school year? As I just alluded to it is a mindset rather than a feeling. We need to as believers change our outlook on life so that we can live for Christ daily. Feelings come and go by the day but if you establish a mindset then it would take something earth shattering to make you falter.

How then can we establish a mindset for Christ? I think that we can find the best overview of the Christian mindset in this hostile world in second Timothy chapter four. To fully understand this passage and it’s significance we need to know who are characters are and the circumstances around this letter. Paul was once Saul the persecutor of the church but turned into the greatest missionary for the Gospel apart from Christ Himself. Well Paul took on an apprentice by the name of Timothy and taught him everything he knew. Timothy and Paul got so close they were like father and son to each other. This letter that Pauls has written to Timothy is his last words to his young apprentice before he is executed and Paul knows this. Paul is giving Timothy one last heartfelt lesson before he goes home to be with Christ.

Let’s jump in and begin reading in verse one.

2 Timothy 4:1–5 “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Ok, I want to break this passage down piece by piece for us. Starting in verse one we see Paul giving Timothy, and by extension us, a charge. Notice though that Paul is not using his own authority to show the importance of this charge. Even with all the significance his word would carry Paul knows that there is someone with greater authority than him and that is God. Paul is making sure that we know from the beginning that this charge is not on the authority of man but on the authority of God so we ought to listen and take it to heart. Why? Because He is the judge. He is the one that we will have to answer to in the end so the first step in developing a Christian mindset is making sure you know who you will be answering to when your time on earth is up. Man’s opinions mean nothing in the end but God’s mean everything.

So then what is the charge? Verse two answers that for us very simply, preach the word. You might say well Brendan that is your job as a preacher but not mine. Let me tell you that their is no special class of Christian that is to do all the work while everyone else sits on the side lines. We are all called to get in the game and preach the word. By preach what is more accurately meant is proclaim or to tell about the word. You are called to tell others about God’s word. When do we do that? In season and out of season which basically means all the time. Always be ready to share God’s word with people because you never know who needs it when. How can we do it then? Convince, rebuke, and exhort. We convince people by sharing Christ and allowing the word of God to convince them of the gospel. We rebuke people by allowing the word to convict people of their sins, and we exhort people by encouraging them with the hope that Christ brings to us and the joy that we have in Him.

Now why does it fall to us as believers to do this? Why is this our charge? Verses three and four tell us the answer to this. The generation that we live in perfectly fits the discription given here. The world we live in today hates sound doctrine. By this I mean the traditional teachings of the church. The objective truth of God’s word is the sound doctrine that we are taling about. Today it is all about individual truths and not forcing your beliefs onto another person. Well there is a true right and wrong, there is a true sinfulness that a person can be in and we ought to call out that sinfullness and fight against it. The world does not want to hear this though so they have instead created their false teachers and foolish idols because they know that they are missing something but the truth that they are sinners in need of a savior is too hard for them to accept. So instead they look to politics on both sides of the isle making them the new religion or maybe it is celebrities or some new age crystals and meditation type of idealogy but the point is that everyone has something they look to for guidance and assurance that everything will be ok but it is only Christ that is the true assurance of victory in the end. That is why we have been charged to use His word to share this message with the people around us. They are in a hopeless situation without the word put into their lives and even if they think that God has nothing to offer them the truth is that there is nothing to be offered apart from God. All other avenues will fail and it is only God that will remain. We are called to be messengers of this hope to a broken and hurting world. That is what Paul is charging us with this school year, to be that messenger.

Two final warnings are left in the charge that Paul gives us, the first is to be watchful. The world around us is filled with temptations and most of them are in disguise. We have a hard time seeing where Satan is leading us astray because we are blinded by the aparant joy and love that is covering the outside of the sin. We think that caving to this temptation to drink, do drugs, have sex, talk filthy, disrespect others, or whatever your temptation may be, will lead to us becoming popular or finding fulfillment or maybe even finding love, but all of those things only lead to being used and abused in this world rather than loved and cared for. We need to be watchful and stay ready to fight temptation. When going into this school year you will be tempted every single day you are in that school. You are in a spiritual war from day one so never let your guard down and always be prepared to combat those temptations through prayer and through a good Christian group of friends.

The second warning is to endure the suffering. There will be hardships nearly every day of your life. You will loose friends, you will feel left out, you will be talked about, but all of these things are temporary problems. I know that right now it can feel like it is all that matters to be liked by the people around you or get attention from that one person, but I promise this is a temporary portion of our life. We have an eternity to consider. Which is exactly what Paul goes on to discuss in verse six.

2 Timothy 4:6–8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Three things as we come to a close, number one Paul clearly knows that His time is coming to an end but what does he say here? Does he say they will kill me soon or something grim like that? No, he says he will depart soon. He is moving on from this mortal life here on earth with earthly problems on to the eternal world of God to be with his heavenly Father. Paul is more than ready to come to this point in his life. We need to think of this eternity as well when we are making decisions in our life. It is much more than just this moment but an eternity that we must consider. Verse seven now, I would like for this verse to be our motto or our goal for the year. I pray that at the end of the school year this year we will all be able to say these words and know that they are true about our life. That we have fought the good fight, we have stood for Christ no matter the cost and we have accomplished what God set before us keeping the faith, denying ourselves of the temptations of the flesh and focusing on the glorification of our Father in heaven.

Lastly, in verse eight we get a piece of what we are working towards. That one incredible day when we will see Christ in heaven and we will be made whole. The most incredible reward of heaven in my opinion is this right here. We will no longer sin we will no longer be tempted to sin. You see right now we are still in a state of sinfulness. As believers we barrow from the righteousness of Christ so that we can work righteously in this world but that is not our nature. There will come a day when I no longer have to borrow his righteousness, but He will give me righteousness of my own so that I no longer struggle against my sinful desires and no longer fail my Father but live in His perfection free from the suffering that sin causes. This is what Paul is saying is waiting for him and it is what waits for all of us who have committed our lives to Christ and have faith in Him. It is time that we begin to act like we appreciate this gift that He has given us. So, this year I encourage all of you to change your mindset to one for Christ. Make your life, every single aspect of it, devoted to Him. Let Him have all of you in every hour and every minute of your day.