2 Timothy 2:1-7 Devoted to the Mission

Intro

I am terrible with directions.

Any time someone starts telling me how to get somewhere my eyes start to glaze over about as soon as their road map gets out of my driveway.

I’ve lived here my whole life and I still use google maps just about every time I’m going someplace new.

I need someone to show me how to get there.

Having a picture is all the difference in knowing something in theory, and actually being able to do it in practice.

We all feel more confident to do something when someone shows us how to do it, instead of just telling us how to do it.

And God knows that too.

We’ve been talking a lot about finishing the mission. Living out the Great Commission in our everyday lives.

We’ve talked about suffering for the gospel, holding fast to the word, proclaiming the excellencies of Christ.

But what does that look like?

What does it look like to share in suffering for the gospel? To finish the Mission?

To answer that question, Paul gives us three pictures, three examples in 2 Timothy 2:1-7 to help us understand what that practically looks like.

Living out the Great Commission looks like a soldier who aims to please his master.

An athlete who runs to win a prize.

And a farmer who works hard to feed his family.

What do these pictures tell us about carrying out the Great Commission?

Let’s start in 2 Timothy 2:1-2. The first thing it looks like to finish the mission, is a total life commitment.

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I. Total Life Commitment

2 Timothy 2:1-2 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 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. Share in suffering...

Paul is again, hitting on the theme he focused on the entire first chapter.

In verse 8 he said 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.

And here again he says share in suffering.

Now when we talk about sharing in suffering for the gospel, you need to have a big tent understanding of what Paul is saying.

He is talking about persecution, so he’s telling Timothy don’t let the persecution of the world let you shrink back.

But he’s also talking about all things the pertain to suffering for the gospel. The internal turmoil, the hard work, the spiritual warfare. Everything that wars against us to keep us from fulfilling the Great Commission to proclaim the gospel and disciple the nations.

To baptize them and teach them to obey everything Christ commanded us.

That’s exactly what Paul has in mind when he commands Timothy what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Now when you think about Timothy specifically, what Paul is telling Timothy to do is raise up other elders.

Other men who are sound in doctrine and qualified in their godliness to lead churches.

In a real sense, churches go as the shepherds go. Churches need godly leadership who know, feed, and lead the flock.

And one of the tasks we have as elders is identifying men God has called to serve in the ministry, and train them to teach others also.

But not everyone is a pastor, so what is the broader principle Paul is commanding here? The one applicable to all Christians everywhere whether they are a pastor, business owner, doctor, stay-at-home mom, student, whatever...

This is it: Pass on the faith. Pass on the faith, make disciples, and teach them to pass on the faith also.

The goal of discipleship is to make disciples who make disciples.

That’s what the Great Commission is all about. The church, the whole body of Christ, his hands and feet in the world, is called to share the gospel and make disciples, who make disciples, and make disciples, and on and on it goes.

How are we passing on the faith?

One way is evangelism. There is no discipleship without being born again.

Are we share the gospel? Bringing the hope of Christ to a lost and dying world who are slaves to fear of death, and saying I know someone who overcame death, and he can save you and give you eternal life.

Are we discipling one another? Are we encouraging one another. Spurring one another on.

Are we doing all that we can to make sure every member of this church is growing into maturity in Christ so that all of us can help others grow into maturity in Christ?

Are we being intentional to disciple our kids? To raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord?

Discipleship happens around the dinner table. At bed time. When you’re disciplining them.

We have to think generationally. How are we passing on the faith to the next generation so that when we are all dead in gone the light of Reformation Baptist Church does not go out?

I’ll put it to you this way what is your family doing right now so that in two generations your grandchildren or great-great grandchildren will have a pattern, a heritage to look back to, to raise their own kids and grandkids in the fear and admonition of the Lord?

The Great Commission, the mission Paul is entrusting to Timothy, the mission that has been entrusted to us, is nothing more than passing on the faith.

That’s why Paul immediately goes from this to say share in suffering.

He hasn’t switched topics. Share in suffering is fulfill the Great Commission.

Paul is exhorting Timothy and exhorting us today to Finish the Mission.

To do whatever it takes to share the gospel and make disciples wherever we are and wherever we can.

And just like in verse 8 where Paul told us that we share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, here in chapter 2 verse 1, Paul tell us what that means.

He says be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

That verb is a present, passive, imperative. Now so I don’t lose you, here’s what that means.

An imperative is a command. Something God calls us to do.

But this command is passive. That means this is something God does to us. So this command is for Timothy to let God make him strong by grace. Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And the present imperative Paul uses gives the idea of a continuous or ongoing action. So continually, daily, constantly, let God strengthen you by his grace.

This is not a command for Timothy to buck up and be strong. To grit his teeth and do it. Its a command to rely on the power of God to finish the mission.

We are not sufficient in ourselves. We cannot do it on our own. We do not save the world. God does. We need God’s grace.

That’s why Jesus said, I am with you always to the end of the age (Matthew 18:20).

And then Paul gives us three examples of what it looks like to share in suffering for the gospel.

Three pictures, metaphors, examples, mentalities of what it looks like for Christians to finish the mission.

We are like soldiers, athletes, and farmers and each metaphor emphasizes something different about how God calls us to share in suffering for the gospel by the strength provided in the grace of Christ.

The first one is...

Good soldier

2 Timothy 2:3-4 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

The first thing we need to see if we are going to finish the mission is that we are all soldiers. And specifically, we are all soldiers of Christ Jesus.

This theme that gospel ministry is warfare is common for Paul.

Just in his letters written to Timothy, Paul told Timothy to “wage the good warfare” and to “fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim. 1:18-20, 6:12).

The Psalms constantly talk about God being a Warrior King saving his people and conquering his enemies.

What this tells us is that we are spiritual soldiers in a spiritual war.

King Jesus has sent us out to conquer the nations. To advance the borders of his Kingdom of life, blessing, and peace through preaching the gospel and making disciples.

That’s what the Great Commission is: Marching orders.

But usually when we think of spiritual warfare, we have in mind what we might call defensive warfare.

We think of demons spiritually attacking us. Condemning us. Doing all that they can to tempt and hinder us from serving Christ with our whole heart and bringing glory to his name.

And that’s definitely a part of it. When Paul tell’s us to Put on the whole armor of God, part of that Armor is the shield of faith which extinguishes all the flaming darts of the evil one (Eph 6:16).

And on the micro level, when we just look at ourselves or our lives there is a need for us to think defensively. To resist temptation and spiritual attack by faith and persevere. Press on. Keep going.

But what gets lost in all the conversation about spiritual warfare is the macro level. The big picture battle going on all around us.

Most people think of the church as on defense. As a fortress trying to outlast the seige of Satan and the World.

But we are not on defense. We are on offense. We are advancing with the gospel.

Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t lose some battles or that there’s not great strife and hardship in finishing the mission.

But it does mean Jesus wins.

Its one of my favorite passages. Its come up a few times talking about the mission of God.

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

When Jesus says on this rock he is talking about the confession of our faith.

Right before this Jesus asked his disciples Who do you say that I am? Who am I? What am I here to do?

And Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).

We are so familiar with calling Jesus the Christ, that we can lose the weight of what Peter is saying.

The Christ was the anointed one. The promised Prophet, Priest, and King who would save the world. Who would deliver the people of God from every enemy and bring them the Kingdom of God and eternal life.

And Jesus said, on that confession, The confession that Jesus is the Son of God the Savior of the world, he would build his church.

He would advance his Kingdom through the proclamation of the good news of the gospel that Jesus died and rose again to save sinners, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

In other words, we are not the ones under seige. Hell is. The kingdom of darkness is under attack from the Kingdom of God, and the gates of that kingdom will not prevail.

Just like the walls of Jericho, their walls will fall and Christ will conquer the nations.

But he doesn’t conquer with carnal weapons, political means, or violence and bloodshed.

Revelation 19 says he conquers and strikes down the nations with a sharp sword that comes from his mouth.

What is that? Its the gospel. The good news that God forgives his enemies through faith in Christ because Jesus shed his own blood on the cross to was away all their sins.

And we are the soldiers who go forth with that sword, proclaiming the forgiveness of sins in Christ and in Him alone, discipling the nations.

Hear another place where Paul used this warfare imagery.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

In other words, we don’t rely on carnal weapons.

Our hope is not in politics, morality, better laws, or the princes of men.

And we don’t wage war by worldly means. Anger, hatred, violence. Christ doesn’t conquer the world with earthly weapons. But spiritual ones.

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

The weapons we have through Christ have divine power to destroy strongholds.

The power of prayer, the Holy Spirit, and the proclamation of the Word, are more powerful than all the nuclear weapons of the world combined because they themselves have God’s power in them.

And these strongholds are the gates of hell. The kingdom of darkness. Myths and false gospels and false saviors that blind people from the light of the gospel.

But those strongholds over every dead and stony human heart come crumbling down because the gospel...it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16).

So what does it look like to wage the good warfare? To suffer as a good soldier of Christ Jesus?

Paul tells us.

No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

Civilian pursuits is literally translated as the pursuits of life. The NASB Translates it as the affairs of everyday life.

When a soldier goes off to war, he leaves everything behind. His business, friends, family. Hobbies, home, his very life.

He leaves all those things behind to please the one who enlisted him.

This is the same idea as Jesus had when he said No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).

In other words, there needs to be a single -minded devotion, a total life, all or nothing commitment to follow Jesus and finish the mission.

That’s what the soldier does. He denies himself, gives up his life, to please the one who enlisted him.

And as soldiers of Christ Jesus, God calls us to deny ourselves, lay down our lives, and live all of our life to please Christ.

Like Jesus said, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? (Luke 9:23-25).

The call to follow Christ is a call to come and die. Die to ourselves to live for him. All for him.

Now this metaphor doesn’t mean, the only way you can be a good soldier of Christ is if you sell everything and go be a missionary.

That’s not bad. That’s the only way some people will ever hear the gospel.

What it means is we see all of our life as for the Kingdom. Remember, the spiritual war we are engaged in is fought on the battlefield of discipleship.

How are you advancing the Kingdom of God everywhere you are and in everything you do?

Prayer, discipleship, evangelism, preaching the Word, raising our kids, coming to church, worshiping God, that’s waging the good warfare.

What are we living for? Ourselves and our own little kingdoms? Or have we laid all those things down to live for Christ and his Kingdom?

To say, my life is yours. I’m your soldier. What are my orders?

And then we armor up. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:10-13).

And we live to serve so that one day we will hear to pleasure of our God and savior when he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

So What does it look like to share in suffering for the gospel?

First and foremost a total life commitment to serve Christ and his Kingdom.

And second...

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II. Faithful Perseverance

2 Timothy 2:5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Paul here is using a metaphor from athletic games that were popular in the Roman Empire.

In these games athletes would compete and if they won their prize was a wreath shaped as a crown.

And this crown symbolized glory and honor. All the praise they deserved for being the best of the best and winning the contest.

And when Paul wrote to Timothy, he emphasized how athletes need to compete according to the rules.

If a runner got out of his lane or a wrestler hit below the belt, they would be disqualified and forfeit the prize.

When it comes to ministry, suffering for the gospel what Paul is saying is, God has a certain way he wants us to finish the mission.

And we should compete according to the rules so that we might win the prize.

Now you’re probably asking just like I was, “What does that mean? What does it mean to compete according to the rules when it comes to the Great Commission.

I think there’s three things.

First, it means we need to be faithful to the Word.

Faithful to the Word

Remember, these metaphors are coming after everything Paul said in chapter 1.

In fact, right before this, Paul said what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men.

What did Timothy hear from Paul? Earlier in 2 Timothy 1:13 Paul said, Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me.

And then immediately he follows that up with guard the good deposit entrusted to you (2 Tim. 1:14).

So part of competing according to the rules has to mean guarding sound doctrine. Staying faithful to the Word of God.

We talked so much about it last week that I won’t be labor the point, but we have been entrusted with the apostolic message.

The same gospel Jesus preached to the apostles, who taught it to faithful men, pastors, elders, who taught it to their flocks, and the gospel was passed on from one generation to the next.

It has been handed down once for all to the saints (Jude 3).

And because its God’s message of salvation his good news that he sent his Son into the world to live a sinless life, suffer and die on the cross in our place for our sins, and rise again three days later to give all who believe in him eternal life, we are not free to tamper with it.

Our call is to guard it and faithfully proclaim it, even when the World hates us for it. Do not be ashamed. Share in suffering for the gospel.

Romans 10:14-15 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

But if we change the message and water down the gospel to make it more palatable to the world what good news do we still have.

There is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved. So we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:23-24).

The unfiltered gospel message as offensive as it is, is true salvation. Eternal life for everyone who repents of their sin and believes in Christ.

Holiness

Number 2, competing according to the rules also means holiness.

For Paul, athletes in general and marathon runners in particular were a go to illustration for the Christian life.

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 he said this.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

So again you have this idea of running to win the prize, running to win the crown. And Paul says, “Run to win! Do all that you can. Whatever it takes.

And specifically it takes self-control in all things.

Olympic runners have to have self discipline in every single area of their life. If they want to compete with the best of the best, everything from what they eat and how they sleep, to how they rehab their body and train, has to be disciplined.

Paul says, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air.

Its this idea of a fully focused and fully committed life. Just like the soldier. But here Paul has something even more specific in mind.

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

God calls us to be holy. And if we are his ambassadors to the world, ambassadors sent to finish the mission, then we must be holy as he is holy.

So part of running according to the rules means repenting of sin. Putting it to death by the power of the Holy Spirit everywhere it is found in our life.

We cannot call the world to repentance when we condemn and disqualify ourselves by unrepentant sin. Whatever it takes run to win the prize because an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Endurance

Finally, running according to the rules means finish the race set before us.

An athlete runs to win the crown, but they cannot win unless they finish the race.

We need perseverance to finish the mission. It will get tough, there will be hard days, but when we get discouraged and want to give up, we need to look to Christ and endure by faith.

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

The word race is the Greek word ἀγών which is where we get our word agony. It can also be translated as a struggle or a fight.

So our race is not a luxury stroll. Its a grueling and sometimes agonizing marathon.

That’s why we need to run it with endurance. A steady determination to keep going. To keep running even when everything in us wants to slow down or give up.

But even our perseverance needs to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

That’s why Hebrews says as we run, we need to look to Jesus. He is the founder and perfecter of our faith.

The word founder can also be translated as pioneer or trailblazer.

Jesus is the trailblazer who endured the shame of the cross to save us. He knows how to run, and he can help us endure our own race.

He can help us not grow weary or fainthearted, but persevere.

Hebrews is the same book that teaches us Jesus is our great High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and promises to help us with mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.

So when you get tired of running, run to Jesus and he will strengthen you by his grace.

When you put all three of these together: Faithfulness to the Word, Holiness, and Endurance, you get faithful perseverance.

That is how God wants us to run the race. To endure until the end, and finish the mission.

So run that you may receive the prize.

What does it look like to share in suffering for the gospel?

A total life commitment.

Faithful endurance.

And number 3...

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III. Patient Hard Work

2 Timothy 2:6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

So Paul’s compared suffering for the gospel to the single-minded soldier who leaves behind everything to wage the good warfare.

To the faithful perseverance of the marathon runner.

And here, he wants us to finish the mission like a hardworking farmer.

The word hardworking carries the idea of striving, struggling, toiling. You could also say it is the farmer who works to the point of exhaustion.

And Paul says it is that farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

So how does this metaphor give us a picture of what it looks like to carry out the Great Commission?

Hard Work

First the mission is hard work. Just like a farmer who has to plow the ground, prepare the field, sow the seed, water the crops, and reap the harvest, the mission of God will take intentional effort on our part.

The Proverbs teach us this. The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing (Proverbs 20:4).

If we want to be faithful to Christ, and faithful stewards of the gospel entrusted to us, we need to put in the work. We need to be hardworking farmers who sow the Word, water the crop, and reap the harvest.

That is what the hard work of the Great Commission is.

Look at where else Paul compared gospel ministry to farming.

1 Corinthians 1:6-9 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Paul is saying the same thing here as he said in 2 Timothy.

The Great Commission is like farming. Some of us sow, some of us water, but all of us labor for the Kingdom.

Well what does that labor look like? Let me ask it like this. What furthers the mission? How do we make disciples?

Prayer and the proclamation of the Word.

What did Jesus teach us to pray? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10).

This is not just a perfunctory introduction when you pray. This is asking God to save sinners and for his Kingdom and the knowledge of his glory to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

And then we go out and share the good news of the gospel, trusting the Holy Spirit to use the gospel to convict dead stony hearts and make people born again.

This is why Paul says again and again, God is the one who gives the growth. We are just God’s fellow workers. The field is God’s. The harvest is the Lord’s. We are his laborers.

And so as we Labor in the Great Commission, labor in making disciples we need patience and faith.

Patience

Patience, because just like with the farmer, crops don’t grow up over night.

We sow and water. Sow and water. Sow and water.

Pray and Proclaim. Pray and Proclaim. Pray and Proclaim.

Jesus himself said The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches (Matthew 13:31-32).

The growth happens over time, and one day you notice, there’s a tree here! The Kingdom of God is growing just like God said it would.

So we trust God to give the growth.

Some of you have been praying for people for years. Your children walked away from the Lord and you have prayed every day, and all of a sudden, you’re starting to give up hope.

Be patient. Be a hardworking farmer. Trust God to give the growth. After all, its the hardworking farmer who receives the first share of the crops.

That doesn’t mean its guaranteed. Sometimes you have a drought, locusts, or the crop just doesn’t yield what you hoped it would.

But we don’t control that. Like the hardworking farmer, we just labor faithfully, and leave the harvest in the Lord’s hands.

That’s why to finish the mission we don’t only need hard work and patience, we also need faith.

Faith

And not faith like wishful thinking. Or faith in our own ability to finish the mission.

Faith in Jesus. The Lord of the harvest.

Jesus constantly used the metaphor of a harvest to talk about saving sinners and making disciples.

In Matthew 9:36-38 it says When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

And in John 4:35-48 He said Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

When did Christ send us? When he gave the Great Commission.

And if he is the Lord of the harvest, we can have great faith that he will work in and through us to grow his Kingdom. To save sinners. Give them Eternal Life. And free them from sin, death and condemnation.

Here’s the big idea. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

Our labor, all our hard work, won’t be in vain.

We can share in suffering for the gospel because we know it will all be worth it.

Our work, and the work of all the churches that have gone before us and all the churches that will come after us, will by God’s grace, lead to a rich harvest.

In the parable of the weeds, a farmer plants wheat in his field, and one night an enemy comes and sows some weeds among the wheat.

After the plants grew, the servants came to the master and said, there’s weeds in the field. What do you want us to do?

And the master said, let them both grow, and when the harvest comes we will gather the weeds first and burn them. But all the wheat we will gather and put into my barn.

This is clearly pointing to the final judgment. When Christ returns to judge the living and the dead, and those in Christ, those that have put their faith in him, will be welcomed into eternal life, while those who rejected Christ will be taken away to suffer everlasting punishment in hell.

But here’s what I want you to see. What does the Lord of the harvest come back to? A weed field or a wheat field?

A wheat field! He comes back to a wheat field.

That means we can labor, suffer, in faith because Jesus will not lose a single one that is his.

Like the hardworking farmer, we need patient hard work to finish the mission, strengthened by God’s grace in Christ, all the while trusting in Jesus, the Lord of the harvest to give the growth and save everyone that believes in him.

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Conclusion

Paul closes out this passage saying...

2 Timothy 2:7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

These are three quick, small metaphors. But as we’ve seen they are rich in meaning.

They give us a good picture of what our lives should look like if we are living for the Kingdom and the mission of God in every area of our life.

But what Paul is commanding us here when he says Think over what I say, is for us to not just understand what he said, and go, “tThat’s a good thought, that’s nice.” And then move on with our lives.

What he wants us to do is grasp it. Focus on it. Put it to heart.

Let it change the way we think and live.

When we thinking about finishing the mission we should remember the single minded soldier. A total life commitment where we deny ourselves and follow Christ.

We should remember the athlete who runs the race with faithful endurance and receives the prize.

And we should remember the hardworking farmer who through patience, hard work, and faith, receives the first share of the crop.

And if you’re thinking, but how do I do that in my life? How do I play my part in this church and carry out the great commission? How do I live this out? How do I share in suffering for the gospel as a soldier, athlete, and farmer?

Remember the promise. The Lord will give you understanding in everything. God will show you. He will strengthen you by grace. And he will work in you to bring glory to his name.

When you put all three of these together, all three metaphors have one thing in common. They all have an undivided devotion, and all of life commitment to the work in front of them.

So What does it look like to share in suffering for the gospel?

It looks like a A whole-hearted devotion to finish the mission.

That’s the call of the Christian life. And by God’s grace, he will strengthen us to do it so that when we come to the end of our life, we can say with Paul...

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

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Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Revelation 7:9-12 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”