#44b- Gods Grace For Christian Leaders?
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(English Standard Version)
2Tim 1 - Greeting - Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You
2Tim 2 - A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus - A Worker Approved by God
2Tim 3 - Godlessness in the Last Days - All Scripture is Breathed Out by God
2Tim 4 - Preach The Word - Personal Instructions - Final Greetings
COMMENTS and QUESTIONS
by J Neil Evans:
Read 2 Timothy yourself then …
Watch the Bible Project video 2 Timothy
Sitting in a Roman prison Paul writes a second letter about Christian leadership and life to his spiritual son Timothy. His love and confidence in Timothy is obvious. Paul has long recognized the ministry gifts God has given to young Timothy and he urges him to fearlessly “fan them into flame” by God’s power love and self-control. (1:6,7) Timothy was beginning to experience the ridicule and persecution the world gives to faithful ministers of Jesus’ Gospel. Paul reminded Timothy that his confidence was not in the messengers but in the God behind the message they taught. It was Jesus Himself who was “able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” (1:12) While God used Paul and all the human writers and transmitters of the Bible, which is the Gospel message, it was God Himself Who has always guarded it. For this reason Paul could describe the Bible as “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (3:16,17) We have a most valuable Bible today because a powerful God has sovereignly used many people to faithfully and accurately transmit it throughout the centuries.
Like Paul, Timothy would likely be abandoned by some who should have supported him. So Paul encourages him to remember the great privilege of ministering the faith and love of Jesus Christ and that he can fully trust the Holy Spirit of God who powerfully and faithfully dwells in him. (1:13,14) This undoubtedly reminded Timothy of Jesus’ final promise that: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:20)
As Paul taught the Gospel message he received from Jesus it was heard by “many witnesses”, (2:2) including Timothy who Paul now challenges to “entrust to other faithful men who will be able to teach others”. (2:3) This was made possible by the “grace that is in Christ Jesus”. (2:1) With what was evidently a common saying among the first Christians, perhaps even a song they sang, Paul reminded Timothy that the fulfillment of the “salvation that is in Christ Jesus”, ultimately depends not on the fickle faithfulness of men but on the undeniable faithfulness of God. (2:6-13)
I assume that religious arguments were as common in Timothy’s day as in ours. Thus, just as Paul himself focused on simply presenting the Good News of Jesus’ Life, Crucifixion and Resurrection, he admonished Timothy to do the same. Every Christian teachers primary responsibility is to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2:15)
Paul admonished Timothy that in the process of faithfully teaching the Bible “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,” (2:24,25) A Christian’s responsibility is not to win arguments but to win hearts.
Paul begins chapter three with a description of the “last days.” While it reads like today’s news it is an accurate description of all times and places where people turn their backs to God and His Word. The only thing that truly changes any “last days” environment is being “acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (3:15) Timothy had been privileged to see those sacred writings in the lives of his mother, his grandmother and in Paul. The world has always been full of advice, often claiming the authority of “scripture”. Interestingly it began with a subtle question from a crafty serpent who asked “did God actually say…” and answered with “God lied, you will not die”. (Gen 3:1-5) Ever since we have been questioning, denying and changing what God has said. So, Paul reminded Timothy, and us, that: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (3:16,17)
Just before closing his letter with several personal appeals Paul writes what were perhaps the last words of Scripture he ever penned. “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 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.” (4:1-8)
Facing the end of his ministries, Paul thinks of the people who have been dear to him and of his scripture parchments. But most of all he ponders the Lord Who “stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (4:17-18)
And true to everything Paul said, did and was, he left Timothy the awesome Gospel reality: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” (4:22)
(English Standard Version)
2Tim 1 - Greeting - Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You
2Tim 2 - A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus - A Worker Approved by God
2Tim 3 - Godlessness in the Last Days - All Scripture is Breathed Out by God
2Tim 4 - Preach The Word - Personal Instructions - Final Greetings
COMMENTS and QUESTIONS
by J Neil Evans:
Read 2 Timothy yourself then …
Watch the Bible Project video 2 Timothy
Sitting in a Roman prison Paul writes a second letter about Christian leadership and life to his spiritual son Timothy. His love and confidence in Timothy is obvious. Paul has long recognized the ministry gifts God has given to young Timothy and he urges him to fearlessly “fan them into flame” by God’s power love and self-control. (1:6,7) Timothy was beginning to experience the ridicule and persecution the world gives to faithful ministers of Jesus’ Gospel. Paul reminded Timothy that his confidence was not in the messengers but in the God behind the message they taught. It was Jesus Himself who was “able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” (1:12) While God used Paul and all the human writers and transmitters of the Bible, which is the Gospel message, it was God Himself Who has always guarded it. For this reason Paul could describe the Bible as “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (3:16,17) We have a most valuable Bible today because a powerful God has sovereignly used many people to faithfully and accurately transmit it throughout the centuries.
Like Paul, Timothy would likely be abandoned by some who should have supported him. So Paul encourages him to remember the great privilege of ministering the faith and love of Jesus Christ and that he can fully trust the Holy Spirit of God who powerfully and faithfully dwells in him. (1:13,14) This undoubtedly reminded Timothy of Jesus’ final promise that: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:20)
As Paul taught the Gospel message he received from Jesus it was heard by “many witnesses”, (2:2) including Timothy who Paul now challenges to “entrust to other faithful men who will be able to teach others”. (2:3) This was made possible by the “grace that is in Christ Jesus”. (2:1) With what was evidently a common saying among the first Christians, perhaps even a song they sang, Paul reminded Timothy that the fulfillment of the “salvation that is in Christ Jesus”, ultimately depends not on the fickle faithfulness of men but on the undeniable faithfulness of God. (2:6-13)
I assume that religious arguments were as common in Timothy’s day as in ours. Thus, just as Paul himself focused on simply presenting the Good News of Jesus’ Life, Crucifixion and Resurrection, he admonished Timothy to do the same. Every Christian teachers primary responsibility is to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2:15)
Paul admonished Timothy that in the process of faithfully teaching the Bible “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,” (2:24,25) A Christian’s responsibility is not to win arguments but to win hearts.
Paul begins chapter three with a description of the “last days.” While it reads like today’s news it is an accurate description of all times and places where people turn their backs to God and His Word. The only thing that truly changes any “last days” environment is being “acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (3:15) Timothy had been privileged to see those sacred writings in the lives of his mother, his grandmother and in Paul. The world has always been full of advice, often claiming the authority of “scripture”. Interestingly it began with a subtle question from a crafty serpent who asked “did God actually say…” and answered with “God lied, you will not die”. (Gen 3:1-5) Ever since we have been questioning, denying and changing what God has said. So, Paul reminded Timothy, and us, that: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (3:16,17)
Just before closing his letter with several personal appeals Paul writes what were perhaps the last words of Scripture he ever penned. “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 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.” (4:1-8)
Facing the end of his ministries, Paul thinks of the people who have been dear to him and of his scripture parchments. But most of all he ponders the Lord Who “stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (4:17-18)
And true to everything Paul said, did and was, he left Timothy the awesome Gospel reality: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” (4:22)
Check out these LINKS:
Watch Bible Project summary of 2Timothy
Read "Bible Words to Ponder" related to this week study
Read "The Gospel"