Second Timothy to the first two
verses there thou therefore my son be strong in the grace That
is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou has heard of me among
many witnesses The same commit thou to faithful men who should
be able to teach others also so in the context of the preaching
of the gospel the ministry Teach what I taught you to others who
will also be able to teach the gospel is passed on by that God
Calls to preach and teach Paul said he laid his hands on he
Acknowledged that Timothy was blessed to teach the gospel And
Paul in these next several verses he gives us analogies of what
it is to serve the Lord in the ministry in this world So you
see the context of it the three Analogies he gives is or that
of a soldier an athlete and a farmer Now, there are two aspects of
being a soldier that are given, and we could take each one of
these. We all know what a soldier is and what a soldier does, and
you could run a long way with that, but I believe I'll just
stick to just the aspects of that that are in this verse for
the most part. And then there's one aspect of
each of the others that is given. So four things all together.
that we're to consider and be committed in regarding the ministry
of Christ because all three of these have to do with commitment.
None of them are to be taken lightly. So look at verse three,
thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The word hardness means to suffer
and to endure hardships and troubles. Everybody knows that a soldier
must be ready and able and willing to do that. The word endure indicates
that it's not just a hard patch that you got to go through every
once in a while. It's a constant thing. The whole business is
tough. The whole business of being a
soldier is tough. It always is. Remember that word endure. And
I want to emphasize again something that I always want to emphasize
when we're looking at scripture regarding the ministry and commitment
and service to God. When Paul wrote this, outward afflictions were a big
part of what he was talking about. There was physical persecution
of the church in that time. Now we don't suffer a whole lot
of that. Certainly there are people that don't like us because
we don't preach what most churches preach. We don't believe we have
a different God than most religious people have. They have a God
that tries to do things, but he can't unless you let him.
What kind of God is that? Well, they have a God that wants
to save sinners. If only they What sinners do
is the problem, not the solution. And you doing one more thing
ain't gonna get you out of what you've already done. You need
God to save you. Grace is not what religion says
it is. Grace is God freely and fully
saving you just because he wants to. And God's word to sinners is
come, ask, bow, believe, not do something for me and I'll
do something for you. That's not it. Now, as I said, you know, there
may be people that don't like us a whole lot these days, but
they can't really do much about it right now. But our enemies now, the hardships
we face now, that we do face, we don't suffer a lot of physical
persecution, but what we do fight against are the enemies that
are the most insidious of them all. Don't ever forget this. We fight against ourselves. We
fight against our own evil nature. We fight against our own lukewarm
disinterest, our own pride, our own selfishness, our own pettiness,
our own tendency to be busybodies in other people's business. And
listen to me this morning. Listen carefully to this statement
if you don't hear anything else. If we were attacked by an outside
enemy, and I'll give you an example that everybody knows about. If
the idiot, like the idiot that came and camped out in the parking
lot in Danville, most of you know about that, camped out in
the parking lot and preached against, in the parking lot,
what the pastor of the church preached, maligned the pastor
and tried to teach things that were contrary to the gospel right
in the parking lot. If we were attacked like that
somehow, that's about as bad as it gets in our day. They're
not coming yet with guns and saying, you can't say that in
this county. But if we get attacked by an
outward enemy like that, that would make this church stronger.
You know it would, wouldn't it? We would rally together and we
would, We'd end that pretty quick, don't you reckon? I feel like
we could put a stop to that pretty easy, pretty quick. And we would
rally to do that. That would make us stronger.
But just not minding your own business can destroy this church. Now you think about that. Physical persecution would likely
make us stronger. But just not minding your own
dang business Just being a busybody, just being petty, I've seen it destroy churches.
Think about that. It's insidious, isn't it, what
we fight against? We fight against our own evil
nature, our own pettiness, our own pride, our own hurt feelings
and foolishness that has nothing to do with the gospel. Gospel's bigger than me. It's
bigger than you. Worshiping God is precious. It's not to be trifled with.
It's not to be taken for granted. Denying yourself is hard. Endure
hardness. It's tempting to just say amen
and go home right now on that. Denying yourself is hard. Endure hardness. It takes grace. Be strong in the grace. That's
how this chapter started. Be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus and endure hardness. Boy, I hope I'm preaching to
myself more than you even. Weather the storms of pride and
offense that sweep through your heart. Endure the fires of the
firmness of anger and temptation that would consume us in a minute
if it wasn't for the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Hunker down
when disappointment and confusion come. When an unforgiving, vengeful
spirit rages within you, shut it down with all of the understanding
that's within you. With all of the love for Christ
that's within you by his grace, shut it down. Fight, endure. Look what Paul says in verse
six. May the Lord give you understanding in these things. Understanding that we might recognize
our destructive flesh when it rises up. It happens so fast
and so naturally, often we don't even know it's happening until
the damage is done. God help us. May he give us grace to resist
it. You know that word from scripture,
resist. Resist the devil, resist. It's not the devil attacking
me with a pitchfork that I'm worried about so much, it's the
devil right here. There are many other things we
could talk about that would pertain to the hardness of the ministry
as compared to a soldier Just not being such a huge idiot
ourselves that we destroy peace and fellowship and ultimately
Worship I Think that's probably enough
Then the second thing about this being a soldier of Christ There's
two aspects remember of being a soldier that are mentioned
specifically endure hardness. What's hard about worshiping
God? you Me. Endure. Fight. Resist. But look at the second thing
in verse four. No man that woreth and tangleth himself with the
affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen
him to be a soldier. So first of all, fight against
the difficulties. of the ministry. Not so much
outward attacks anymore, but inward troubles, inward destructive realities of our nature. And
then second, don't be distracted. Don't be drawn away by the affairs
of this life. Notice that it doesn't say the
evil of this life. That's interesting. Think about
that with me for a second. Doesn't say don't be entangled
in the evil of this life It doesn't say don't be entangled in the
disasters of this life It says don't be entangled in just the
everyday affairs of this life It doesn't take much to draw
us away does it just the promise of a little more prosperity for
our flesh and Just the promise of a little bit more comfort
in this present life. Just the satisfaction of the flesh,
just even a little bit. It doesn't say the evil, it just
means, that word affairs, it just means the business of this
life. Not only in the sense of commerce, like business business,
although it is often someone's profession, Professional occupation
that consumes their time and effort that is often the case
Listen when our Lord told the parable of the sower in Luke
chapter 8 listen to a portion of that verse 14 and that which
fell among thorns are they Which when they have heard go forth
they talk about the seed that the sower The seed is the Word
of God he said The sower is the Son of Man and The seed and then
some of the seeds fell among thorns which when they have heard
these are people that when they've heard the gospel they go forth
and They're choked with cares and Riches and pleasures of this
life Choked that gives us a little bit of an expanded understanding
of what he means in our text by the affairs of this life that
just daily do. Just the pleasures of this life.
And I enjoy the pleasures of this life, don't you? Don't get
distracted by it though. Don't get distracted. Don't live
for that. Don't make an idol of it. Don't be choked by it. Our main business in this world
from which everything else flows is the ministry, worshiping God,
honoring God, preaching the gospel, doing what
he gave us to do. Riches and the pursuit of riches,
pleasures, always needing to be entertained, Or at leisure or pursuing recreation
or even illicit pursuits Whatever it is in this world that draws
you away from the worship of God That matters more to you Than the worship of God and the
ministry of Christ Cares the word cares there the
affairs and the cares that word cares where we just read means
to divide with the idea of distraction. A soldier has a mission. And everything he does has something
to do with that mission. He eats in order to have the
energy to carry out his mission. He enjoys the food. He enjoys
it. He'd rather eat something that wasn't dehydrated
probably than something that is dehydrated. Every once in
a while, you might get a good meal in the army. But you see
my point, there's nothing wrong with taking pleasure in that,
but the point of it is the mission. Even the common affairs of life,
the point of them is the mission. God's gonna be glorified in this
world with you or without you. By his grace, I won't in on it. How about you? He sleeps so that he'll be strong
in pursuit of the mission. A believer does all that he does
for the glory of God. Even when he's plowing his field,
I always go back to that because the scripture says the plowing
of the wicked is sin. And that's such an instructive
verse because you think, how can plowing a field be evil?
Because the wicked man who doesn't have any regard for God, he does
it all for himself. He doesn't thank God for what
he has. He doesn't thank God for his
field and the seed and the rain and the sunshine. He doesn't
thank God for the energy that he has. He does it all in pride. Look what I've done. Guess I'll
have to tear down these little barns and build bigger ones,
because look how much I've done. Look at what I've accomplished.
The fool. The point of it is the mission. The glory of God, the worship
of God, the service of God. And let me say one thing extra
about the service of God. God don't need you. You realize
that, right? He doesn't need anybody. God
says in this book, if I needed anything, would I ask you? That's
a rhetorical question, He's God. He uses us because He loves us. When we do something for God,
it's really Him doing something for us. But a believer plowing his field
even, he's thanking God for all of his blessings. And he will
use the produce of his effort and sweat and blood for the glory
of his God. By God's grace. Now look at verse
five, the second, I guess analogy here is what it is. If a man
also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive
lawfully. Now this is an athlete. Whatever
you're trying to master, whether you're boxing, you're fighting
against somebody, Paul uses that analogy in scripture also. Or whether
you're running a race, that analogy is also used in scripture. And
we may look at some of that, I believe we will. But whatever
it is, you're not crowned, you're not awarded. unless you strive
lawfully, in other words, according to the rules. It's not complicated. No matter what it is, there are
rules. You can't just do what you wanna do. Just one aspect of being an athlete
here is given. There are others in the word
of God though, so let's look at those. If the scripture says
it plainly and clearly, I wanna see it with regard to this same
thing, the idea. So turn to Hebrews 12 with me
if you would verse 1 Hebrews 12 1 Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, every encumbrance, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us. There's a lot of speculation
on what the sin that so easily besets us is, and I don't think
we have to be specific about that. Examine yourself. Whatever it is is what it is,
right? Some say it's unbelief and I wouldn't argue for a second
with that, but it seems like what he follows up with Lay aside the sin which does
so easily beset us and run with patience run with endurance the
sin I think that said that's so easily beset us is giving
up quitting Being Lackadaisical, lukewarm. Didn't God say he hates that? Seems like that's what it's saying,
considering the context run with patience, with endurance, with
steadfastness. The race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus. Don't look within yourself to
see, am I going to make it? Have I got what it takes? You
don't. You don't. Remember the parable of our Lord?
He said, what man sets out to build a house without sitting
down first and figuring out whether he's got enough money to build
it? You don't. You don't. looking unto Jesus, the one that gave you faith,
and if you die with faith, the one that'll see to that, the
author and the finisher of our faith. You see that? Who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross. You're not
gonna endure. You're not gonna hold up. You're
not strong enough, but he was. You see that? Oh, my. Endured the cross, despising
the shame, counting the shame as a small thing because of his
love for his sheep, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. Consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself. Lest you be wearied
and faint in your minds. Lest you despair when you look
within and see you ain't gonna cut it. Don't despair, because
he did it for you. He did it for you. He started
the race for you, and he's gonna cross the finish, he crossed
the finish line for you. He's finished. Listen, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
9. Thinking about this analogy of
striving for masteries. And I know that 45 minutes is
a long time. I think about that sometimes.
Should I just start preaching 20 minutes? Because I'm just
like you are. I have the attention span of
a cocker spaniel, just like you do. But bear with me for a little
while. This is so important. 1 Corinthians 9, 24. Know ye not
that they which run in a race run all? but there's just one
winner. He said, run like that, run like
that. Knowing that there's just one.
Only one receiveth the prize. And it's a prize that we got
to have. We got to have. Paul said, I
pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God. Where's that Paul? In Christ Jesus. so run that you may obtain. And
every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. I don't have any doubt where
I'm running to. Paul said, I press toward the mark I'm running to
Christ just as fast as I can go. I'm not unsure. I'm not looking for any other goal
or destination. And so fight I, not as one that
beat at the air. This ain't just hitting a practice
ball or whatever you call those things, or punching bag. This ain't just,
this is a real fight. I'm not just shadowboxing here.
But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest
that by any means, what I have preached to others, I myself,
should be a castaway. But our text gives one simple
directive, doesn't it? Follow the rules, strive lawfully, And that word lawfully means
strive according to what is established. Strive according to what is established. There's no shortcuts in this
race. There's no cheating in this fight.
In gospel terms, the rules of our engagement are very simple.
Listen to it in Mark 16, 15. And he said unto them, go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Paul said, I marvel that you're
so soon removed from the gospel that we preached unto you unto
another gospel, which is not another. He said, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. There's just one gospel and everything
else is antichrist. So that's the direct, that's
according to the rules, that which is established, Christ
is the foundation, which the other foundation can no man lay,
and that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Listen to Matthew 28, 18, listen
to this carefully. And Jesus came and spake unto
them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth,
go ye therefore. And that word is authority and
ability. It's not given to you, it's given
to him. That's why we go. We preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus. We preach not in our own strength,
but in His strength. We preach not according to our
own authority. We preach under His authority.
What I say, I say by His authority. And listen, go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son of the Holy Ghost, teaching them, teach them what?
Teach what? In that other verse, the gospel. Listen, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. What are we teaching? What he taught us. And lo, I'm with you always.
You know, that's my favorite part. God, if you're not going
with us, don't let us go. Even under the end of the world,
amen. Say what I said. It's that simple. That's the
directive. Say what I said. Our goal is
Christ, our course is Christ, and our reward is Christ. So
run that you may obtain. Oh. Verse six, the third analogy. The husbandman, that's a farmer,
that's a, a man that's over a farm or a vineyard or a household
with the idea of, well, what it says here. The
husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits.
So it has to do with produce. And a key word in this is laboreth.
In this analogy, labor, everybody knows that's labor. If you're going to take a seed
that God gives, a little tiny seed that you can't even hardly
hold in your hand if the wind's blowing, and someday put some
big old ripe fresh tomatoes on the table, there's a lot in between
that. There's a whole lot in between
that. And God, it's not just gonna happen. God's gonna use
means in me to get it to that place. He does in spiritual things
too. He uses means. It's him doing
it, but he uses means. Labor, if there's gonna be any
fruits, then there must be labor. And again, it's hard labor. It's
not easy labor. Tilling, plowing, sowing, Weeding,
harvesting, all of it burdensome. And when a farmer's not doing
all of that, he's fixing his tools or building some type of
infrastructure. Winter is not time off if you're
an actual serious farmer. If that's the way you make your
living, you're as busy in the winter as you are in the summer. Why would anybody endure all
that, much less enjoy it? because of the fruits, because
of the results. Enjoying the fresh, delicious,
life-giving produce is worth every drop of sweat and blood,
tears. God's vineyard, his farm, is
a very simple operation. Not an easy one, but a simple
one. Turn with me, please, to 1 Corinthians
3.5, And let's look at a couple of
scriptures here. First Corinthians 3.5, here's
God's vineyard. And boy, there's a lot of scripture.
If you wanted to study some on your own, this would be a good
thing to look into the Lord's parables about the husbandman
and the wheat and the chaff and thorns. But look at this, 1 Corinthians
3, 5, who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? There were
those that were bragging because of who they heard the gospel
from. He said, who do you think we are? We're just ministers
by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. The Lord made us ministers, he
sent us to you. What is there to boast of? How
are you gonna believe in him of whom you've not heard? And
how shall you hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
God sends them? It's all his doing, isn't it?
All of it. I have planted, God uses means,
the seed is the word of God. I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. What is he trying to say? What
does he mean by that? Here's what he means by that.
So then neither, verse seven, is he that planteth anything.
He's nothing. Planting the seed is not us doing
something for God. That's God just using us because
he loves us. Neither is he that watereth anything,
but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that
watereth are one. There's one purpose, there's
one ability to even do that. And there's one purpose for doing
that, the glory of God in the preaching of the gospel, the
glory of Christ. They're one, and every man shall
receive his own reward according to his own labor, for we are
labors together with God. And that's reward, that's not
rewards in heaven, you know, I'm gonna have a bigger yo-yo
than you are. That's such foolishness. Just
the word grace ought to dispel any foolishness like that from
anybody's mind and heart. That's results, that's results
that God uses these means to obtain. For we are laborers together
with God. What an amazing privilege that
is. You are God's husbandry, God's
husbandry. You are God's building. This
is God's work. This is his ministry. You'll
never, unless I'm off my rocker, you'll never hear me say the
words, my ministry. I don't have a ministry. Christ
does. And I'm just happy to be in on
it. What an honor it is to be in on how, how does he use us
and still get glory? I don't know. Well, that's how he gets glory,
right? He said, I chose the weak and the foolish that the excellency
may be of God and not of us. That's what I am, weak, foolish,
base, a thing that is not. That's what Paul said, we're
nothing. According to the grace of God,
which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation. You know who the foundation is.
Paul tells us, other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is our Lord Jesus Christ. And another man buildeth thereon,
but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon now. For
other foundation can no man lay. It's all Christ, the foundation,
the building, the increase, the result, all of it. Other foundation
can no man lay, then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
One thought about this now. It could be a thousand, but just
one thought about this. None of these things, A soldier,
athlete, or a farmer, none of it happens overnight. Hence the
word endure. None of these things happen overnight.
A soldier has to train and train more. And wars drag out for years. Service, as long as you're serving,
the service never ends. You're a representative of your
country, even when you're not fighting. Endure. Soldiers endure. Athletes have
to train for years. You're not just going to jump
out there and decide one day you want to go to the Olympics.
I think I'll go to the Olympics. OK, that's great. But between
that decision and the reality of it. Years, years of grueling
dedication. Sacrifice. Farmers also become successful
only with a lot of knowledge that doesn't just happen overnight.
You don't just decide you're gonna be a farmer either, do
you? There's a lot of research involved in that, a lot of trial
and error, a lot of experience has got to be earned. Learning from mistakes and overcoming
real hardships. What do you do when swarms of
insects threaten your livelihood? What do you do when it just don't
rain for a long time? What do you do? And even within
each crop cycle, great patience is necessary. You see the little
seedling pop up, just a couple of tiny little leaves, maybe.
Or you just look at the barren field. before spring comes and it's
hard to believe that there will ever be life in it again. And then after weeks and weeks
of getting up before sunrise, collapsing into your bed at night,
you might see some tiny little sprouts eventually. The gospel ministry is defined
in scripture by words like strive, endure, endeavor, resist, fight,
run, and how many more could we name? Those are the words
that describe the ministry of the gospel. Warroth, but what
a cause. what it calls, it's not so much
a drudgery when you can tell sinners that a Christ who never
tried to do anything saves sinners like you. Boy, I love telling
people that. He never once tried to do anything,
but he wants to save you. He'll save you. Come to that
one. Come to that one and be saved. when you can preach the blood
of Christ that actually redeemed everyone for whom he died on
Calvary. It's not such a drudgery. It helps sometimes to sing while
you're working. What if while you labor away,
you can sing, be still my soul, the Lord is on your side. Maybe when the day seems long,
you could hum the tune on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All of
the ground is sinking sand. And Paul said in verse seven,
consider what I say, and the Lord give you understanding.
You're not gonna figure it out, are you? May God give us this
understanding that he uses means. You're gonna have to think, you're
gonna have to concentrate, you're gonna have to strive, you're
gonna have to labor, you're gonna have to do these things, and
God's gonna have to give you the victory on a silver platter
or you're not gonna win. Is that clear? It's so easy to
say that's contradictory. Well, is it up to us or is it
up to him? It's up to him. You're not ever
gonna find anywhere in this book where anything is up to you.
It's not, it's up to him. Consider, think, strive, study
to show thyself approved and may God give you understanding,
because that's the only way you're gonna get it. Is that clear? Apply thine heart, Solomon said. My son, apply thine heart to
wisdom. Study to show thyself approved.
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed. And then of course,
if you're gonna get it, God will have to give it to you.
Ask. If any man lack wisdom, anybody? Any spiritual fools in here? Anybody that can't make one and
one make two spiritually, let him ask of God who gives liberally. He gives freely and upbraideth
not. Look that up. What a tender, kind, and gracious
savior we have. Ask him.