Isaiah 60:3,4 - Nations shall come to your light

60:3

When the glory of the Lord rises upon us “nations will come to your light”, “kings to the brightness of your dawn”. There is something fundamental that we need to understand. The world, the man or woman without Christ, is indeed blinded. They cannot see the goodness of God and His ways. So what do we do? There are two wrong approaches. One is to try and go along with the blindness, to join them in their blindness. This is the path chosen by the “sin affirming churches”. The other wrong approach is to decide that the world is irrevocably blinded and effectively to write them off. This is equally wrong, for there is one way in which this blindness can be overcome, and that is by the work of the Holy Spirit. Now God involves us in His plans and His work. If we go down a sin-affirming route we can be certain that the Holy Spirit will have nothing to do with us. How does He want us to be involved in His work? We proclaim and live the truth. We do this knowing the reality of man’s blindness, but also the reality of God’s ability to end that blindness.

60:4

Isaiah then calls on the nation to wake up and look. When we are faithful to God’s ways we will see surprising results. People will come from afar, all sorts of people from all sorts of places will come, because God will have enabled them to see the glory of His light shining in us.

2 Timothy 3:8-11 - They will not get very far

3:8,9

Who were Jannes and Jambres? They aren’t mentioned in the Bible (except here). According to Jewish tradition they were two of Pharaoh’s magicians who opposed Moses (Ex 7:11). This myth must have been known about and Paul is likening to false teachers to these two men. Yet again we see Paul speaking most bluntly about the false teachers, they are men of depraved minds, who are rejected according to the faith. What they taught had no relationship with the truth. There are times when we should take an equally robust approach towards false teachings today. However, Paul does not think they will get very far, just as Jannes and Jambres did not.

3:10,11

Paul then draws a contrast between Timothy and the position of these various false teachers, and Paul draws attention to himself. None of us are perfect, but we should be living examples of the effective grace of God. When we come to Christ, when we are born again, the whole direction of our life changes. Instead of living in rebellion against God we are living as sons and servants of God. So Paul reminded Timothy that he knew all about Paul’s teaching and his way of life. This included his purpose, his faith, his patience, love, endurance, persecutions and sufferings. Paul’s “success” was not merely founded upon having the right doctrine or theology (important though that is) but on patience and endurance. For there will be persecutions and sufferings. Paul pointed to himself and said this how to win the battle. And Paul singles out a couple of specific instances. Yet he finishes by saying that the Lord rescued him from them all.

Isaiah 60:1,2 - Arise, shine, for your light has come

60:1

“Arise, shine, for your light has come”. I have said this several times before and will say it again, for it so crucial to appreciating the full measure of Isaiah. Remember the situation in to which Isaiah was prophesying, a people in captivity, in exile. A downtrodden people. Israel’s light has come. Jesus brought light into the world, indeed He is the light of the world. And He does not come to condemn the world, but to save the world. His glory rises upon us.

60:2

This is all in stark contrast to the world, which is covered in thick darkness. So we see this contrast, thick darkness covers the peoples, but the light of the Lord shines upon us. We will see in the next verse the purpose of this. When we look at our world we see it fumbling about in the dark, not knowing what to do. The worst thing the church can do is to seek to become like the world, what a foolish thing to do, yet so much of the church seems to think it is good idea!

2 Timothy 3:5-7 - Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power

3:5

“Having a form of godliness but denying its power”. This applies very well to those who claim to be Christians but are affirming of LGBTQ lifestyles. They claim to be acting out of love, even acting in a Christlike manner, but denying the power of the gospel, the power of Jesus to change a man or woman. They deny the power of God to save a man or woman from sin. They claim to be affirming people, but in reality they are affirming sin. This is not a wise thing to do, and we should follow Paul’s words and “have nothing to do with such people”.

3:6,7

False teachers will take particular advantage of women. They worm their way into the homes of gullible women and gain control over them. Now this is not Paul saying all women are like this, nor is he saying women are worse than men. Here it is the men who are the prime culprits, and elsewhere, including in this letter, he says many positive things about women. But there are some women who are like the ones he talks about here. We probably all know women who have been taken advantage of by evil men. These women were “always learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth”. You can know a lot without knowing the truth. God’s truth leads to repentance. So what are we to do? I guess we all know people, men and women, who are “weighed down with sins”. Left alone such people are particularly vulnerable. So it is all the more important that we preach the truth and seek to reach the lost.

Isaiah 59:20,21 - The Redeemer will come to Zion

59:20

“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins.” There has always been great debate in the church over the current place of Israel in God’s plans. There are those who say that the nation of Israel no longer has any special place in God’s plans (sometimes called replacement theology, with the church completely taking over the role of Israel), and at the other extreme those who see Israel as being separate from the church and operating under different rules, sometimes this goes under the name of “dual-covenant theology”. I’ll be quite blunt and say that I think both extremes are unbiblical nonsense, especially the latter. This verse sums things up nicely. The Lord will restore Zion, but it applies to those who repent. Israel does still have a place in God’s plans, but it is only by repenting and believing that Israel will find her true place in God’s plans. She is saved by the same gospel we are all saved by (see Eph 2).

59:21

We now get a statement of the covenant that God makes with them. Note that it is God who sets the terms of the covenant, not man. God’s Spirit will be on His people, and will remain on them. Remember that this is limited to those who repent. And His words that He puts on their lips will remain forever. This all starts with Jesus. Remember that Jesus insisted on being baptised, even though John the Baptist knew full well that there was no sin in Jesus.  And the gospel preached by Jesus remains the same.

2 Timothy 3:3,4 - Lover of pleasure

3:3

The rebels are without love and unforgiving. On the latter point it is so obviously true. In the “woke” community if anyone is found to have said or tweeted anything remotely “unwoke” several years ago then they are utterly castigated. Forgiveness is a foreign word to them. They are slanderous and without self-control. Anyone who questions LGBTQ doctrine, however mildly, is immediately accused of being phobic in one sense or another (depending on which aspect is being questioned).  “without self-control”. The concept of controlling ourselves, particularly in the sexual sphere, is considered to be ridiculous. The Bible teaches a much higher view of humanity than the world does. The world teaches that we are unable to resist any urges or desires that we might have. The Bible teaches self-control, and self-control is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. “Brutal, not lovers of good”. Again we see this in many areas of life.

3:4

“lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” is a pretty accurate summary of the present zeitgeist. The woke apologists are certainly rash and conceited, considering themselves to be so much wiser and better than everyone else. And their thinking is rash, not considering the long term consequences of their ideology. 

Isaiah 59:18,19 - According to what they have done

59:18

If we look at Isaiah as a whole we see both forgiveness for those who call upon the Lord, and judgement upon those who remain stubborn. This applies both to Israel and to the nations. So in this verse we read about God’s wrath on His enemies. We so like to just take the “nice bits” of Isaiah (or any other part of the Bible). This is a big mistake, we must take the whole picture. God will bring retribution, but this is not arbitrary, for it is “according to what they have done.''

59:19

The name of the Lord will be glorified throughout the world. This can be either through receiving mercy, or through receiving judgement. One way or another, all will recognise the glory of the Lord. “He will come like a pent up flood.” For a long time it can seem as if the Lord is doing nothing, as if He is unaware of what is going on, or does not care about it. This is a dangerous thought, and one that will prove false. For suddenly the Lord will act.

2 Timothy 3:1,2 - People will be lovers of self

3:1

Paul has already spoken about the need for Timothy to join him in suffering for the gospel (2 Tim 1:8). This letter of Paul is no encouraging Timothy to join him in a superficially wonderful life. Paul is upfront about the realities of being a servant of the gospel. Here he tells Timothy that there will be “terrible times in the last days”. This, of course, was written almost two thousand years ago. The last days have been going on ever since, and will continue to do so until Christ’s return. I also firmly believe that pre-tribulation rapture theology is nonsense. There are numerous warnings from all the New Testament writers, and Jesus Himself, about the need for us to be prepared to suffer for the gospel.

3:2

Paul then gives a lovely catalogue of the features that will characterise these times, and we see so many of these characteristics manifested in our own day. The people will be “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud and abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy”. Now we can all think of several instances and individuals where this is exemplified. At the same time, it is not true of everyone. We need to be careful when we read these sorts of passages. Paul is not saying that everyone is like this all of the time, but it is increasingly true of a number of people and is becoming more prevalent in society.

Isaiah 59:16,17 - He put on righteousness as His breastplate

59:16

“God saw that there was no one”. Now consider this. The previous verse has said that God looked and was displeased. So what was His response? Was it that therefore He needed to send judgement upon the people? No, it was that He needed someone to save the people. This is what Jesus meant when He said in John 3:17 God did not send Him into the world to condemn the world. The common misunderstanding is that this means Jesus did not come to tell us we were sinners, or that any of our actions or ways are wrong. This is nonsense. God does tell us that we are wrong, Jesus did, it is part of the work of the Holy Spirit. But He does this not so that he can have a full charge sheet against us, but so that we will repent, turn to Him and receive forgiveness. But God was appalled, for there was no one on the earth who could intervene on our behalf to rescue us. So what did God do? Did He give up and then send the judgement that we deserve? No! Instead “His own arm achieved salvation for Him”. God sent His Son to save us. We are saved through the righteousness of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

59:17

There are some echoes of the armour of God, spoken of in Eph 6:10-17. Righteousness is His breastplate, and salvation His helmet. We tend not to fully appreciate the righteousness involved in God’s salvation. This is one of the reasons why those who deny penal substitutionary atonement do so. There are many aspects to the cross, but one of the key ones is that God has acted justly, our sin and our sinfulness has been fully dealt with. There is no charge that can be brought against us (Rom 8:33). It is not just that God loves us, it is also that from a legal or righteousness standpoint, our sin has been completely dealt with (and doing this was an act of love!). Those who deny the penal substitutionary atonement aspect of the cross do not fully appreciate the extent and depth of God’s love.

God also “put on the garment of vengeance”. In the immediate context this involved the defeat of the Assyrians and later the Babylonians. More generally, God will and does act against sin and evil.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 - Be kind to everyone

2.24

We have a habit of being totally non-confrontational, leading to us not addressing seriously enough issues that do require firm action, or to being utterly confrontational, never compromising. The latter will quickly lead to utter disharmony. Neither of these extremes is Biblical or helpful. In the Bible we find a much more balanced approach. One cannot read Paul’s writings without noticing that he was certainly prepared to confront people and issues when necessary, and instructed Timothy and Titus to do likewise. However, he also instructed them to be gentle, as here. They must not be quarrelsome. We must not be the sort of people who look for a fight and if we cannot find one will start one ourselves. Instead we must be “kind to everyone”. We must also be able to teach, not resentful. Controlling our emotions, not reacting to opposition, is important in enabling us to be effective teachers.

2:25,26

So the first approach to opponents is to gently instruct them, with the hope being that God will lead them to repentance and knowledge of the truth. If we flare up at the first hint of opposition we are addressing the issue with the flesh, and that will not lead to life. If instead we follow Paul’s guidance then we give room for the Holy Spirit to get involved. And note that it is not our job to lead people to repentance, but God’s. By gently instructing people we allow God to do that. Of course, there is no guarantee that that will happen. The person may continue to be stubborn and rebellious, but that is between them and God. A further point is that we sometimes make mistakes, and if we have not flared up in anger it is much easier to recover from any mistakes that we make. Note that false teachings and opposition to godly leadership are traps laid by the devil, and it is the opponent or false teacher who is falling into the trap.

Isaiah 59:12-15 - For our offences are many in your sight

59:12,13

Isaiah is acknowledging the truth of what God has said. The offences of the nation against God were indeed great. Part of the reason a word is given to a prophet is to  help the prophet realise the truth of the situation. Isaiah seems to be acknowledging their sin on behalf of the nation.

Rebellion against the Lord was the fundamental sin. They rejected God, turned their back on Him, and so “revolt and oppression” came into the nation. And all this was based on lies.

59:14,15

The result was that justice was increasingly driven back. The same is happening in the West as the Christian foundations of the West are increasingly rejected. Righteousness, honesty and truth are no longer welcome. Those who shun evil become prey. Today if we make a statement supporting Biblical teaching on sexual morality we are likely to “become prey”. But there is one thing we should never forget, “The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice”. God sees what is going on, and He will not remain silent forever.

2 Timothy 2:20-23 - Flee youthful passions

2:20,21

Paul again focuses on the part Timothy has to play, using an analogy. In a house there are objects for special purposes, and others for common purposes. If we want to be used for special purposes we need to cleanse ourselves of wickedness, to devote ourselves to faithfully serving Christ. Then we will be used for good works.

2:22

We see here the practicality of Paul and the complete lack of living in unreality. When we are young our hormones are at a higher level, we are more headstrong, and less balanced. Society may even teach us that when we are young we should rebel. The Bible does not teach us to do that, and Paul tells Timothy to “flee the evil desires of youth”, and he was presumably to pass this teaching on to the young people in the church. Instead we are to “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace”. “Along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart”. Not all who are older are wise! But there are some who are, and we should seek to learn from them.

2:23

Timothy is warned to steer clear of foolish and stupid arguments” These things produce nothing good, leading only to quarrels, and therefore to disunity in the body. Now deciding what is “foolish and stupid” is not always easy.

Isaiah 59:10,11 - We all growl like bears

59:10

This and the next verse give a graphic description of the state of a godless people. They are like blind people, not able to see, touching a wall so that they have some sort of bearing. Even at midday they cannot see, they have no light and they have no strength. This is what happens when a people abandon God’s ways, and we see it in today’s western society. They no longer have nay bearings and don’t know how to deal with situations.

59:11

Blind as they are, the people cry out in distress. Growling like bears or moaning like doves. The aggressive types do the growling, the more timid types do the moaning. We see the growling in the reaction of transactivists and the like, who cannot cope with anyone offering the least bit of questioning or criticism of trans ideology. They look for justice. Everyone wants justice, but because they have abandoned God’s ways they cannot and will not find it. They look for deliverance, for relief, for freedom, but again find none.

2 Timothy 2:17-19 - The Lord knows those who are His

2:17,18

Now we get to more specific and serious cases, and an example of how godless chatter and controversies led to dangerous teaching. Wrong talk or wrong teaching can spread like gangrene, it is utterly destructive. Paul names two specific individuals. We are wary these days of naming people, and, of course, we should not bandy about accusations of heresy etc. But there is a time to take these things seriously, and to name names. Hymenaeus and Philetus were teaching that the resurrection had already taken place (referring to the final resurrection, ie the one involving us). This was destroying the faith of some. Why so? Well people would know that they were getting old, and if there is no resurrection to come then quite frankly we are done for! False teaching is not just an alternative view, it is poison with the effects that poison always has.

2:19

False teachers give many clever sounding ideas, but inspection of these ideas will always reveal that they are a very shaky foundation on which to build anything. In fact, they are usually complete nonsense. In contrast, Paul gives Timothy two reliable foundations. Notice that one is God centred, and the other man centred! The God centred one declares that the Lord knows those who are His. The man centred one says that if we truly belong to Christ then we must turn away from wickedness. False teachings will often involve us turning away from Christ and His teachings, rather than turning away from wickedness. Pay attention also to the twofold aspect of this, the God part and our part. Some of the Calvinism-Arminian debates do get rather silly at times. The Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by God’s sovereign choice, and that He saves us, but it also clearly teaches that what we do with our lives matters.

Isaiah 59:7-9 - So justice is far from us

59:7,8

The people were quick to rush in to sin, and this would often involve the shedding of innocent blood and violence. One of the things about the abortion debate that amazes/shocks me is the total lack of concern that some pro-abortion folk seem to have for the life in the womb. Terrorists have no concern for the people they kill or injure. Governments can even be the same.

Such people do not know the way of peace nor of justice. We can be amazed at times as the attitude that certain people or groups of people take, thinking why can’t they see sense, or why cannot they be more reasonable. Sin blinds the eyes of men. The ways of God are straightforward, life is an awful lot simpler if we follow God’s ways, but when we depart from them everything suddenly gets more complicated, and there is no peace.

59:9

So when we depart from God’s ways justice and righteousness are far from us, and life gets miserable. Everyone hopes for light. Our society in all its misguided plans on abortion, divorce, LGBT, marriage etc is looking for light, it is seeking to make people happier. But none of this works, we just get more darkness. So we live in the shadows instead of in the light.

2 Timothy 2:15,16 - Avoid irreverent babble

2:15

We are to seek to present ourselves as to God “as one approved”. So God’s opinion of us is to be our first concern. Have we acted in a way that would be pleasing to God? We can worry about what people think of us later. And the aspect that Paul emphasises here is our handling of the word of God. So, with whatever we teach, are we happy to stand before God confident that what we have taught is in line with the word of God, is faithful to His word?

2:16

“Avoid godless chatter ..” Note that initially Paul has not been speaking about out and out heresies or false teaching, but about things that might lead to false teachings or are just unhelpful or destructive. So first we had warnings about pointless controversies, and now godless chatter. Ie talk that had nothing to do with the gospel. Such talk might seem harmless at the beginning, but in time it leads to people becoming more and more ungodly.

Isaiah 59:3-6 - They hatch the eggs of vipers

59:3

The sins were not mere religious violations, but there was violence, bloodshed, lying and slandering. Too often people think of sin as breaking an arbitrary religious rule, usually related to sex, but there is a reason for the “rules”. God’s ways protect people and make for a just society. 

59:4

Following on from this, no one called for justice, and no one acted justly. People pleaded their case with lies, not integrity. Empty arguments are used, relying on falsehood, and this gives birth to trouble and evil. We can see this in political argument, but it also takes place in courts, where winning the argument is more important than truth. 

59:5,6

God does not have a high opinion of this society! They produce the eggs of vipers and spin a spiders web. Our society is going pretty much in the same direction. We end life in the womb, we pretend that sex and gender are not related, with harmful effects on women and children. This is done in the name of supposedly protecting people, but in the end it does nothing to help people, producing only harm.

2 Timothy 2:11-14 - He cannot deny Himself

2:11-13

The “here is a trustworthy saying” is used several times in the pastoral epistles (eg 1 Tim 1:15). “If we died with Him ...” We died with Christ on the cross (Rom 6:1-5), the corollary of this is that we will also live with Him, we share in the resurrection. “If we endure ..” The Christian life involves enduring, this is such an important thing to learn, to know and to live by. We need to endure. If we do so we will reign with Christ. There is both a now and a future aspect to this. The greatest aspect is the future reigning with Christ, but the now aspect is also important. A key element to achieving things in this life is endurance. The flip side of this is that if we disown Christ, He will disown us (Matt 10:33). There is a great reward for enduring, and a great price to pay for giving up. Men may be faithless, may give up or deny the faith (and we hear of examples of this every week), but Christ remains faithful. Some man or woman may have changed his or her mind, but God hasn’t!

2:14

Having encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight, learning from what Paul has done, we now come to a specific area: dealing with false teachers. This is an area we always have to deal with. The first thing Timothy is told to do is to keep reminding people of the truth. A big mistake we can make is to assume that people know the truth, that because we have told them once we do not need to tell them again. This is wrong, and is unscriptural. The Bible emphasises the need to constantly remind people of the truth. And they are to be warned against “quarreling about words”. Examples today might include numerology, or some obscure teaching. As Paul says, these things are of no value and only ruin lives.

Isaiah 59:1,2 - The arm of the Lord is not too short to save

59:1

The root of Israel’s problem was that they did not think that God could save them, so they looked to other gods and to making alliances with godless nations. This is a problem that we can all have. But “the arm of the Lord is not too short to save”, “nor His ear too dull to hear”. God knows exactly what is going on in our lives, and He is well able to rescue us. These are fundamental facts that we need to base our lives and worldview on.

59:2

So why wasn’t God rescuing Israel? It was because their sin had separated them from God. The same applies today. God gets blamed for an awful lot, but the truth is that it is our sin that has separated us from God. Our biggest problem is our sin, and God’s prime concern is to deal with that problem in our lives.

2 Timothy 2:8-10 - The word of God is not bound!

2:8,9

Paul then summarise the gospel, or rather points out two key elements of it. It is about Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, and is descended from David. The resurrection is central, without it there is no gospel. But this did not happen in a vacuum, it is the culmination, the fulfillment of all the promises and plans that are revealed in the Old Testament. There are some apologists who are saying the resurrection is the only thing that matters, and everything else flows from this. On the importance of the resurrection we can wholeheartedly agree, but it does not stand in isolation. It is part of the whole narrative that runs from Genesis to Revelation, and can only be understood in that context. Otherwise it is just a “conjuring trick with bones” as one liberal bishop of Durham once infamously said.

2:10

Paul endures everything for the “sake of the elect. As is often the case in the Bible, we see love for God and love for man being intrinsically linked. The greatest example of this is when Jesus gives the two greatest commandments (Matt 22:36-40). The first is to love God, the second to love our neighbour, and Jesus says the second is like the first. John says that if don’t love our brother then any claim to love God is a sham (1 John 4:20). With Paul we are used to him being happy to suffer for the sake of Christ, but here he also says he is doing it for the sake of the elect. Our society encourages us to be utterly self-centred, and sometimes this ethos creeps into the church. The Bible teaches us to be God-centred and other people-centred. When we do this we truly become alive. We become people whose lives help others to obtain salvation in Christ and to share in eternal glory.

Isaiah 58:13,14 - You shall take delight in the Lord

58:13

The Sabbath is often mentioned, especially in Isaiah, and is associated with true commitment to the Lord. If we see this purely in terms of not doing any work then we miss the point. The resting is a sign that we are dependent upon God for all our provision. This does not mean we have no part to play, for God gives us work to do. But because we have work to do we must not then think that it is we who provide, or that our provision is dependent upon us. So the Sabbath in the Old Testament demonstrated this in terms of physical food, and someone who kept the Sabbath was expressing faith in God. Notice here that the emphasis is on no going our own way, but by honouring God. In New Testament terms it is purely spiritual, in that we trust God for our salvation, He is the One who provides. We still have things to do, we need to have faith, and we need to live lives of obedience, but these things do not earn or provide our salvation.

58:14

There is great reward in keeping the Sabbath. In Old Testament terms there is rest, and true rest is something we still very much need. In New Testament terms there is salvation, which is dependent only on the completely trustworthy Lord, and not on our fickle selves. Both are applicable today. This does not mean we should keep Saturday as a Sabbath, nor even an overly religious commitment to Sunday, but having rest and a day when we put our concerns aside and think only about the Lord is a source of great refreshment. So if we put our trust in the Lord there is great joy and triumph.

Let's Talk About Tithing - A sermon on Malachi 3:8-12

Let's Talk About Tithing - A sermon on Malachi 3:8-12

2 Timothy 2:5-7 - The Lord will give you understanding

2:5-7

Paul uses two more analogies here, and then urges Timothy to ponder on these things. The first analogy is that an athlete has to compete by the rules, otherwise they will not receive the victor’s crown. The other is that a hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. So what lessons is Timothy expected to learn? With regard to playing by the rules, one of the rules of the Christian life is that there is no gain without pain. Suffering is part of the deal in following Christ. There are those, such as prosperity gospellers, who seek to promote a suffering free gospel. More subtly, there are those who advocate us going along with society, essentially saying if we are nice enough then people with love us and come to know Jesus. Both of these views are delusions. Then we have that hard work is important. So we need to be prepared to suffer and to work hard. Note also the underlying assumption that there is a reward. In fact this idea of the reward runs throughout the Bible, including the teachings of Jesus.

Isaiah 58:10-12 - Pour yourself out for the hungry

58:10

The previous verse dealt with negative aspects, ie things we should not do. This verse focuses on the positive. We are to devote ourselves to helping the hungry and the oppressed. If we do this then our light will rise in the darkness, and our night will turn to day. Light is going to be an important motif in the latter part of Isaiah (esp Is 60:1). Note the phrase “your light”. We might think it should be “God’s light”. The answer is that it is both God’s light and our light. In John 8:12 Jesus declared Himself to be the light of the world, but in the Sermon on the Mount He said we are the light of the world (Matt 5:14). When we rebel against God darkness fills us and we become darkness. When we trust in the Lord light fills us.

58:11,12

So what are the fruits of our becoming light, or our light shining? First, the Lord will guide us always. He is not going to guide us for a little while and then abandon us, He will guide us always. He will satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land. We will go through difficult times, and in those times we feel weak and vulnerable, but we can be assured that the Lord will “satisfy our needs”. And He will strengthen our weak frame. We feel unable to handle the situation, but God will strengthen us. So instead of being like a washed out rag, or a dry desert, utterly worn out and useless, we will be like a well watered garden. We will be full of life and fruitfulness.

2 Timothy 2:3,4 - Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ

2:3

How different this is from much of the “motivational” calls either to faith or to “deepening” our commitment. “Join with me in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus”. Join with me in suffering! Following Christ, a deeper commitment to Christ, will involve times of suffering. If we are to be effective leaders we need to be able to endure suffering. In many parts of the world this means enduring prison, beatings, or financial loss for the sake of Christ. But even in the West where there is currently very limited (but not zero) persecution, leadership is hard work. Paul believed it was worthwhile, both for the prize that lay ahead, and for what can be achieved now. We should view “ministry” in the sense of being good soldiers, rather than a career move.

2:4

Paul would be under military guard, and he continues the military analogy. We are not to get entangled in civilian affairs. Instead our primary aim is to please our commanding officer, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. So what does this mean? Does it mean we should not have any “outside interests” (eg involvement in sports clubs etc)? Does it mean that we should not get involved in politics? I think the general answer is no,it does not mean that, but we do need to be careful. Involvement in sports or hobbies can start making demands upon us that hinder us from following Christ, they can become all consuming. With politics we need to be careful. There are some issues (eg Brexit, independence for Scotland) where good Christians can hold opposing views. We do not want people to not listen to our preaching or teaching of the gospel because we have an alternative political view to them. So sometimes we should keep quiet about our views if this is going to help further the gospel. But there are times when we as individuals or as churches should be involved in political issues, William Wilberfore and slavery is a prime example. The guiding principle should be whether what we do furthers the gospel or not.

Isaiah 58:8,9 - Then your light shall break forth

58:8

Ecclesiastes says that God has set eternity in the heart of man (Ecc 3:11). There is a desire to be whole, and a desire for glory, for significance. In our rebellious state the search for healing or wholeness is futile, and the quest for glory and significance leads us down all sorts of wrong and evil paths. But when we end our rebellion and turn to God things change. Then our light will dawn and our healing will come. Our righteousness will go before us and the glory of the Lord will protect our rearguard. Everything changes.

58:9

Prior to this the people called but God did not answer. God seemed to be far off. But after repentance all this changes. We will call and He will answer, when we cry for help God will be near at hand. But we must get rid of the yoke of oppression, ie we must not oppress others, me must not be accusing others. Accusation is the devil’s job! We do not want to be associated with that. We must get rid of malicious talk.

2 Timothy 2:1,2 - Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ

2:1

“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”. I have said several times before, and will say many times in the future, that we have far too passive a view of grace, thinking of it mostly in terms of God’s forgiveness. In the New Testament we find a much stronger view, grace is seen as being far more active than passive. Grace enables us to do things we should not be able to do. In Paul’s case the grace of God enabled him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Here Timothy is encouraged to be “strong in the grace”. We face many battles and obstacles, but the grace of God enables us to succeed despite the opposition.

2:2

Paul had taught Timothy, and particularly in this letter, he is passing on the fruits of his many years of experience. He also urges Timothy to pass on the the truth that has been entrusted to him. Timothy had heard Paul say and teach many things, and these things were taught in the presence of many witnesses. They were not taught in secret. Timothy, in turn, was to find reliable people, faithful men, who would be able to teach others. A key part of ministry is finding people who continue to carry the baton, to faithfully proclaim the gospel.

Isaiah 58:5-7 - Is this not the fast I choose

58:5

Is a fast only for a day? Is it only about outward show? God has much higher standards, and much higher expectations of us. He is concerned about our whole life, about the heart that is within. God wants change on the inside. Now outward disciplines can play an important part in achieving this, but we need to get the order right.

58:6,7

God then describes the kind of “fast” He actually wants. It is to get rid of injustice and replace it with justice. It is usually the poor who suffer most of the injustices. It is to set people free from oppression in general, to break every yoke. It is to share our food with the hungry and to help the poor. It is to care for our own families. It amazes me that so often this chapter is used as a motivation for fasting in the sense of food fasting. Now there is nothing wrong with food fasting, and it can be a very good discipline, but the focus of this chapter is that there is justice and kindness in our lives.

2 Timothy 1:15-18 - You are aware that all turned against me

1:15

All of us experience times when we feel either deserted, betrayed or let down by other Christians. This can be especially true in leadership. Sadly there is nothing unusual about this, it is just part of the way things are. And here Paul describes what happened to him in Asia. Phygelus and Hermogenes are given special mention. Perhaps they had been closely involved in working with Paul, and so the pain of being let down was all the more acute.

1:16-18

At the same time as there will be those who let us down, there will also be those who refresh us by their love and commitment. Paul mentions Onesiphorus. He stuck by Paul even when Paul was in prison. The province of Asia included Ephesus, a place particularly dear to Paul (see Acts 20:13-38), but whom he issued a severe warning to (Acts 20:29-31), and the first of the seven letters in Revelation rebukes the church at Ephesus. In those days people from the outside would have to come and bring food for the prisoners. Verse 17 here indicates that Paul was being held in prison in Rome. Onesiphorus had been a constant and reliable source of support for Paul.