Paul now gives Timothy a solemn charge. There are several things to note here. The first is that the work we do in the kingdom is not volunteer work, we are working for the king, we are soldiers in the army. The work we do is an act of obedience. To fail to do the work is an act of disobedience. We need to remember that when we go through times when we feel like giving up, or just cannot be bothered (and most of us do go through these times).
Secondly, this point is emphasised by Paul mentioning who he gives this charge in the presence of. It is in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. Jesus will judge the living and the dead (so that includes you and me). He will return, and His kingdom will come. Every other kingdom will fail.
So what is the charge? It is to preach the word, both in season and out of season. I.e. we are to preach it at all times. Preaching involves, correcting, rebuking and encouraging. We are to do this with great patience and careful instruction. It is not simply a matter of preaching a message once and that is it. Teaching involves much persistence.
Paul then gives another warning of the troubled times that will come. People will no longer want sound doctrine, but ideas to tickle their ears. And they will gather many teachers to give them what they want. They will turn away from the truth to myths. We see this today in many guises. On the liberal side there are those who deny the resurrection, deny Biblical teaching on sexual morality, deny the authority of the Bible. But there are also those who might claim to believe the Bible but teach a load of rubbish, the Charismatic side of the church is rather prone to this.
We need to be careful that we teach, preach and live the truth, and feed ourselves on the truth, not on rubbish.
So how are we to react? We are to keep calm in all situations and persist in doing the work of an evangelist. The gospel still needs spreading.
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