2 Timothy 4:1-8
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
main point: Following Jesus isn’t always easy, but it is ALWAYS worth it!
Body
Body
As we open God’s Word this morning, we are going to be looking at Paul’s final words.
2 Timothy was the last epistle that Paul wrote and 2 Timothy 4 is the last chapter of it.
Last night we got to see Jesus’s final words and we saw the commission they gave us and today we get to see the challenge that Paul gives with his final words.
2 Timothy 4:1-2
2 Timothy 4:1-2
1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: 2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
Paul starts off by charging Timothy in the presence of God and Christ Jesus.
Paul is directly calling on Timothy to understand the MAGNITUDE of what is going on.
This is SERIOUS STUFF! Paul is saying, “This is my last instruction I’ll give you. Do this!”
Paul then says that Jesus is going to judge the living and the dead, and that He will return!
Paul reminds Timothy of the fact that JESUS WILL RETURN AND THAT JESUS HAS A KINGDOM!
If I’m honest, this can feel really far away! The Kingdom of God can feel really distant and we don’t talk about it a ton.
I think some of that is our age if I’m honest. We have SO MUCH that we want to do, things that we HOPE TO DO that the KINGDOM OF GOD RETURNING FEELS DISTANT!
But Paul is refocusing Timothy’s perspective to be one that is ETERNAL!
Paul is refocusin Timothy on what is to come rather than what is here now. Rather than letting Timothy focus on the trials that he faces, Paul is focusing Timothy on THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN!
He’s focusing him on the APPEARING OF CHRIST JESUS WHO WE WORSHIP!
And listen, that’s something that we need to remember. We don’t tell our friends the gospel for our sake. We don’t make disciples for our sake. We do it BECAUSE OF JESUS!
Paul gives 5 charges to Timothy in verse 2.
I think this is really cool- there’s two other really noteable places where we have seen 5 charges given. We see it in Genesis 1 when God gives man PURPOSE and we saw it last night in Matthew 28:19-20!
And here are Paul’s five challenges to Timothy:
Preach the Word
Be Ready In Season and Out of Season
Correct
Rebuke
Encourage with great patience and teaching
Preach the Word
Preach the Word
We are called to PREACH THE WORD! We are called to DECLARE THE WORD OF GOD TO EVERYONE! We are called to PROCLAIM JESUS TO EVERYONE!
This is not just talking about preaching on a Sunday morning, this is talking about taking advantage of those opportunities on a Tuesday afternoon, or a Thursday morning, or with your friends at the park!
We are CALLED to preach the WORD OF GOD!
And I promise- if you look for opportunities to proclaim GOD, then GOD WILL GIVE YOU MANY OPPORTUNITIES!
We need to PREACH THE WORD IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON!
Be Ready In Season and Out of Season
Be Ready In Season and Out of Season
This is super important.
We need to ALWAYS BE READY TO DECLARE THE TRUTH!
In season- when we feel like it.
Out of season- when we don’t!
I can’t begin to tell you how many conversations I’ve had that are great, but where honestly, I haven’t wanted to have them when they start!
We need to BE READY to declare the TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL AT ALL TIMES- in season- when we want to- and when it’s the last thing we want to do!
Just this Wednesday I had the chance to speak with a man who reached out to our church. And I was prepared to talk with him about the Gospel- but before we could, he wanted to talk about the Exodus.
Trust me- that wasn’t what I was expecting! But, we need to be ready in season and when? OUT OF SEASON!
Correct
Correct
Correcting is the third challenge that Paul gives to Timothy.
As Christians we are called to correct one another. When we see a Christian walking in sin, we are called to CORRECT THEM!
It isn’t the popular thing to do- I can promise you that, but it’s what we’re called to do.
When sin arises in a fellow believer’s lives, we are called to CARE ENOUGH TO CALL IT OUT!
24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
Listen- we have to correct! Now- hear me on this- correction comes from a place of love. And correction is done to spur each other on- to provoke each other to LOVE AND GOOD WORKS!
Correction CAN NEVER come from a place of anger or jealousy. But, we are to CORRECT!
And I want to specifically apply this one- leaders- be willing to correct your students.
You have a unique opportunity to disciple them and to CORRECT THEM NOW!
Don’t be afraid to correct them! Do it from love- consider 2 Corinthians 2:4
4 For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart—not to cause you pain, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.
And students- guys, don’t shy away from this correction. It comes from love. Listen to it, take it to heart, and LEARN!
Trust me- you can save yourself a lot of heartache!
Rebuke
Rebuke
Next, Paul challenges Timothy to Rebuke!
Rebuking is similar to correcting, but in the NT, it typically involves UNBELIEF!
Correcting is about physical actions- rebuke is more spiritual.
And friends, we need people to call us out in this!
I was really blessed to have some guys who pulled me aside when I was struggling in college and they corrected me and they also took the time to REBUKE MY LACK OF FAITH THAT GOD COULD PROVIDE IN A SITUATION!
And guys, that really matters!
So we need to correct our own actions and be willing to correct the actions of others and we HAVE to be willing to rebuke unbelief also!
Jude 22-23 talks about this.
22 Have mercy on those who waver; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Jude is talking about primarily spiritual doubt here!
Jude is providing insight in how Christians should handle rebukes about unfaithfulness!
Notice- we are to do it with MERCY! We are to do it with love!
So we have to correct and we HAVE TO REBUKE!
Encourage with Great Patience and Teaching
Encourage with Great Patience and Teaching
Finally, we are called to encourage!
Sure, there are hard things we have to do as Christians- I can promise you from experience, it is not fun to REBUKE or CORRECT someone, but that isn’t all that we are to do!
We are also called to ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER!
Don’t miss that! It can be easy to rebuke and correct because we are just salty. We’re just upset, so we become negative and we correct people all the time. But that isn’t all that we are to do!
Discipleship involves correcting and rebuking, but it also involves encouragement, patience and teaching!
The way that we live together, should be ENCOURAGING! WE SHOUDL BE CONSISTENTLY ENCOURAGING ONE ANOTHER!
We should be PATIENT WITH EACH TOHER!
And hear me- even the way that we correct and rebuke should be positive. It shouldn’t just be condemnation- we should always help people SEE THE GREAT NEWS OF FORGIVENESS IN JESUS!
But why does this all matter? We see the reason in verses 3-4.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Paul tells Timothy to be prepared BECAUSE THERE WILL COME A TIME WHEN PEOPLE REJECT TRUTH!
That’s really what verses 3-4 are saying.
People will reject the truth of the Bible and they live however THEY WNAT TO!
They will find people to validate them and their actions and they will ignore truth.
Let’s be real- we see this now! We see this in gender identity. We see this in a ton of ways!
People want to be validated and told that they should and can live however THEY DESIRE!
and guys, I see this up close and personal. My favorite critique I ever got of my preaching was that I offended someone because I read the Bible and it hurt their feelings.
That same person then told me that they’d found a preacher online who was more of “their type of a preacher.”
Let me be clear- do you know what that meant? It meant, “I felt validated and like I was perfect!”
People are turning away from hearing truth RIGHT NOW and they are going after their myths.
Wednesday I literally had a conversation where someone said that they rejected God and Jesus because they preferred a story of creation that involved a myth developed in the 8th century A.D.
This is all around us!
And this is why we need discipleship!
Discipleship is how we walk with people and help them see how to walk with Jesus!
Discipleship is how we walk through this temptation to turn after what makes our ears happy.
In discipleship relationships we teach, we rebuke, we correct, we train, and we proclaim truth!
We have to be disciple makers like we talked about last night!
2 Timothy 4:5
2 Timothy 4:5
5 But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Paul gives Timothy 4 final charges.
First- Exercise Self-Control
Paul is telling Timothy to RUN FROM SIN!
Living in a God-honoring way takes self-control.
(Senior year Homecoming)
We have to have self-control as Christians. We won’t be perfect, but we have to strive to live self-controlled lives.
Second- Timothy is challenged to ENDURE HARDSHIP!
Guys, I’m just going to be honest- it’s not always easy or popular to follow God.
In college, I kid you not, I had a classmate who one day saw me on campus, pointed at me and screamed out- “CHRISTIAN! CHRISTIAN! CHRISTIAN! STAY AWAY!”
It was weird, no one listened to her, but there is hardship.
I’ve experienced it, I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it first hand in a lot of way more serious ways.
But I’m just going to promise, there will be hardship.
There will be hardship in part because there is a spiritual war going on EVERY SINGLE DAY!
It’s why Paul writes to the church in Ephesus and tells them to PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD!
We are at war TODAY!
But I promise you- no matter the hardship that you face, no matter what, JESUS IS WORTHY OF IT ALL!
JESUS IS SO WORTH IT!
Like I love my job so much and part of that is that no matter what is going on, I get to remind people that JESUS IS WORTH IT!
JESUS IS WORTH IT GUYS!
Do the work of an evangelist- that’s Paul’s third encouragement.
This one is really simple- BE AN EVANGELIST!
SPREAD THE GOSPEL!
It’s like what we talked about last night- it’s like what Jesus talks about in Matthew 9:37-38
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
WE NEED TO TAKE THE GOSPEL WITH US EVERY SINGLE DAY! TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON!
Let’s be REALLY QUICK TO SHARE JESUS!
At all times we need to be prepared to do the work of an evangelist- or in other words to be ready to SPREAD THE GOSPEL!
Finally, Paul challenges Timothy to fulfill his ministry.
The Greek word here for ministry is διακονίαν, which literally means SERVICE!
Paul is telling Timothy to DO WHAT GOD HAS CALLED HIM TO DO!
And what has God called him to do?
Let me take this to the most basic answer- Matthew 28:19-20
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
At the end of the day, that is the BASIS OF WHAT GOD HAS CALLED EACH ONE OF US TO DO!
We are ALL CALLED TO DO THAT!
God might call you to be a doctor, or a nurse, or a teacher, or a businessman, or an IT support guy, but at the end of the day, we are ALL CALLED TO GO, MAKING DISCIPLES BAPTIZING THEM, TEACHING THEM, and REMEMBERING THAT JESUS IS WITH US!
AT ALL TIMES WE NEED TO REMEMBER THIS!
And listen- right now as a student this is STILL YOUR JOB!
You are a MISSIONARY in your school! You have a ministry to fulfill RIGHT NOW!
Each day we are to be proclaiming the GOSPEL because this is what we are ALL CALLED TO DO!
Let me leave you with this- don’t ever let anyone tell you that you don’t have a ministry to fulfill. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you aren’t old enough to serve God, or smart enough, or skilled enough.
WE EACH HAVE A CALLING TO SERVE GOD AND TO FOLLOW HIM MAKING DISCIPLES!
Team- LET’S FULFILL OUR MINISTRY!
2 Timothy 4:6-8
2 Timothy 4:6-8
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.
And look at how Paul wraps up this section. Remember, this is really his final charge to Timothy.
And look at what he says.
He compares himself to a drink offering that is being poured out.
We’ve all poured out a drink right?
That’s what Paul compares his life to. His life is spent being POURED OUT FOR OTHERS! HIS LIFE ISN’T ABOUT HIM, it’s about DOING WHATEVER GOD TELLS HIM TO DO!
Paul tells Timothy that his time is almost up. But, he’s endured.
He’s endured beatings and shipwrecks. Listen to how Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 11:24-29
24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. 28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
That’s suffering! But, he’s endured. And do you know how?
THROUGH GOD! Paul has endured because fo the strength that God has GIVEN HIM!
And friends, this morning team, I need to challenge you with something.
Let God pour you out! Let God fill you up! LET GOD USE YOU!
I promise, as you are poured out, God will not let you run out; God WILL FILL YOU UP!
Let me give you an example. This is a raw and hard example. It’s personal and it’s real, but guys, when I was at rock bottom, GOD DID NOT LEAVE ME!
Last fall I moved to Champaign. But before I moved, in September, things got a little crazy. I won’t share the details, but here’s what you need to know. When I went out to this conference, I felt as drained as I ever could.
I could barely even get my job at the church done. I was dragging, I was exhausted, I just wanted to give up! Literally, I remember driving in to Indianapolis for this conference and I remember praying, “God, is any of this worth it? I’m so exhausted! I don’t have another week of this in me! You gotta get me through it!”
That night, Monday night, at the conference there was a worship night with a music group called CityAlight. They are one of my favorite bands.
And I kid you not, I stood there WEEPING, not crying, I mean WEEPING for an hour as they sung and praised God.
Because in that moment, it was like every song they chose was exactly for me. Every reminder of God’s goodness was what I needed.
God met me and FILLED UP MY CUP! God brought a couple to me that night that stood there embracing me and praying for my wife and I. I’d never met them before. But God put them next to me for a SPECIFIC REASON- and that was to FILL UP MY CUP SO THAT I COULD BE POURED OUT!
There was one song in particular that I remember them singing called Day after Day, Jesus reigns. I listened to this song on my spotify for probably a straight hour two days later as I left that conference.
It was such a powerful reminder to me of what I needed at that time. I’m not going to read it all, but I want to read part of the lyrics to you- because when I think about being filled up by God, this song always comes to mind- the peace it talks about is the peace that I think Paul had in this moment.
In the morning as I pray
For the day that You have made
I have hope and I have peace
For Your presence is with me
So whatever comes my way
Lord, remind me of this grace
I can face it with this hope
Jesus won't forget His own
Jesus holds me safely in His hands
Ever close, He leads me in His plans
When I can't see the way
I have hope and I have faith
Day after day, Jesus reigns
In the evening as I rest
I recall Your faithfulness
How You never left my side
From the morning to the night
Now until the dawning sun
Be the light that leads me on
I can face it with this hope
Jesus won't forget His own
Jesus holds me safely in His hands
Ever close, He leads me in His plans
When I can't see the way
I have hope and I have faith
Day after day, Jesus reigns
But see, my story of God meeting me wasn’t done.
Remember, on Monday night there was this worship night. Right after it ended, I got a call from Cornerstone Church in Champaign offering me a job. Within an HOUR, God had moved me DEEPLY IN MY EMOTIONS TO BE REMINDED OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS AND THEN IMMEDIATELY, GOD CAME THROUGH!
By Saturday of that week, I had accepted that job. See, God met me as I prayed about not having 1 week in me. God provided for me and God CAME THROUGH!
Listen to me- God is faithful and GOD WILL FILL YOU UP! So let me challenge you- POUR YOURSELF OUT FOR CHRIST!
But Paul isn’t done. He keeps going.
Paul says that he has fought the fight, he has finished the race.
That’s the thing about being a Christian. We are running a race our entire lives.
The finish line is simple- it is HEAVEN WITH JESUS!
And we are fighting a fight against satan EVERY SINGLE DAY- remember, ENDURE HARDSHIP!
I’m not a runner, but I can promise you that when you run a marathon it is HARD!
But the prize at the end is worth it- and the same is true for our lives.
Look at what Paul says is awaiting us in verse 8.
8 There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.
Paul has persevered and he knows that God is going to GREET HIM AND WELCOME HIM INTO HEAVEN WITH A CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!
But that isn’t just going to happen for Paul- it will happen for EVERYONE WHO HAS LOVED AND FOLLOWED GOD!
Everyone who has accepted Christ as savior will be welcomed by God!
YOU NEED TO HEAR THAT TODAY!
Following GOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO IN YOUR LIFE!
It doesn’t make everything perfect, it doesn’t make everything easy, but it is worth it every single day because we don’t labor for earthly rewards, we labor for souls and for people to come to know JESUS!
We run the race with our focus being not on ourselves, but on our finish line- ETERNITY WITH OUR CREATOR AND OUR SAVIOR!
HALLELUJAH!
Application
Application
Pour yourself into Christ (GROW NOW!) (Gospel)
Pour yourself out (GO NOW!)