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2 Timothy – Gospel Passion and Urgency Resounding Out of a Roman Dungeon! (8 of 9)
I Give You This Charge: Preach the Word!
2 Timothy 4:1-8
2 Timothy 4:6 (ESV) –
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”
We’re turning to the heart of Paul’s appeal to Timothy. Paul expected to die soon and was aware that he needed to pass the baton to the next generation.
2 Timothy 4:1-8 (ESV) –
“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. But 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.”
What Paul calls Timothy too can be boiled down to three words in verse 2 – ...preach the word...
It’s essential to remain diligently committed to the faithful proclamation of the Word of God. There have been and will continue to be pressures to seek out teaching that says what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. We must avoid the perilous pull away from sound teaching and into ‘ear tickling’. Remembering the promise of Jesus’ glorious return and that faithfulness will be rewarded is a powerful motivation.
1. Faithful ministries are marked by an unwavering commitment to preaching and teaching God’s Word.
Titus 2:13 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“... waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ...”
Matthew 25:31-33 (ESV) –
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.”
John 5:22 (ESV) –
“For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son...”
Acts 10:42 (ESV) –
“And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.”
Paul calls God as his witness and remembers that Jesus is coming back to judge the world. There is accountability.
We’re called to remember that Jesus is coming soon and at His return He will judge and with this in mind, Paul urgently calls Timothy to: Preach the Word!
2 Timothy 4:2 (ESV) –
“...preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
The call is to preach God’s Word in season and out of season, when people want to hear the truth and when proclaiming God’s truth means facing significant cultural headwinds.
2 Timothy 4:2 (ESV) –
“...reprove, rebuke, and exhort...”
2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV) –
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness...”
We need to be ready to proclaim God’s Word in every situation. That’s when the social climate wants to hear God’s truth and when speaking truth is sure to be met with significant cultural resistance, scorn or worse.
Faithfully preaching and teaching God’s Word is absolutely essential.
Psalm 119:9-11 (ESV) –
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
We are called to know and live out God’s Word. Do you hear and see the vital place of God’s Word in the life of believers?
Psalm 119:105 (ESV) –
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Without the light of God’s Word, we’re feeling our way around in the darkness and that leads to utter disaster.
2. It’s perilously easy to find ourselves seeking teaching that proclaims what we’d like to hear rather than what we need to hear.
As sinful and selfish people we often don’t want to hear the truth. It’s common to gather around teachers who have turned from the truth and wandered into myths.
1 Timothy 1:4 (ESV) –
“...nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.”
2 Timothy 4:3 (ESV) –
“...people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions...”
Saying that people will find teachers for their ‘itching ears’ is a stinging rebuke. The picture is of seeking teaching that will confirm and encourage what is already assumed and practiced without correcting what is sinful and calling for repentance.
This is – Make me feel good about what I already think and do. Don’t tell me that God’s Word calls my attitudes, thinking and behaviors into question. And – I don’t want to be shown my sin.
The temptation to seek teachers who proclaim what our ‘itching ears’ want to hear is a huge problem.
Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV) –
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) –
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Romans 3:23 (ESV) –
“...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...”
Genesis 2:24 (ESV) –
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
When it comes to many issues, people shop teachers and churches based on what they’d like to hear rather than what the Bible says.
2 Timothy 4:5 (ESV) –
“...always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
Paul tells Timothy and all of us – You must be different. Teach God’s Word not current opinions and philosophies. Be faithful in proclaiming the Word. It’s vitally important that we keep our finger on the text rather than to the wind (so to speak).
2 Timothy 4:5 (NIV) –
“...keep your head in all situations...”
2 Timothy 4:5 (ESV) –
“... do the work of an evangelist...”
We’re called to proclaim the Good News calling the unbeliever to faith and believers to continue to believe in and live out the implications of the Gospel.
We need to be discerning because faithfulness to the truth is not normal. The reality is – Just because there is a crowd doesn’t mean that the message is good.
James 3:1 (ESV) –
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
We must be careful to avoid seeking out false-teaching. Ask – Where am I tempted to seek what my ‘itching ears’ what to hear?
Ezekiel 13:10 (ESV) –
“Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash...”
3. Paul’s example at the end of his life reminds us that faithfulness is eternally worth it. Perseverance will be rewarded at Christ’s return!
Paul obviously knew that his death was quickly approaching and history tells us that he was beheaded by the diabolically evil Emperor Nero.
2 Timothy 4:6 (ESV) –
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”
2 Timothy 4:7-8 (ESV) –
“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.”
Looking back, Paul could honestly say he had been faithful, he had held tightly to the truth even when facing suffering. He persevered; he remained faithful to the end.
2 Timothy 4:7 (ESV) –
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Acts 20:24 (ESV) –
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Paul made it to the finish line and as he handed the baton to Timothy in this letter, he looked forward to the reward he would receive from Jesus. He was looking to the crown of righteousness that all who belong to Jesus will receive upon His appearing.
1 Peter 5:4 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
James 1:12 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
How could Paul live this way? He fixed his eyes on what is unseen and eternal not on what is seen and temporary.
2 Corinthains 4:18 (ESV) –
“...we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
It’s essential to remain diligently committed to the faithful proclamation of the Word of God. There have been and will continue to be pressures to seek out teaching that says what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. We must avoid the perilous pull away from sound teaching and into ‘ear tickling’. Remembering the promise of Jesus’ glorious return and that faithfulness will be rewarded is a powerful motivation.