2 Timothy 4:3-5 - Do the work of an evangelist

4:3

Jesus said that as long as it is day we must do the works of God, for a time is coming when no one can work (John 9:4). Timothy, and us, must teach and preach the truth as long as we can, whenever we have opportunity. For a time will come when we cannot. A time when people are not interested in sound doctrine, not interested in the truth. One might think that we are very close to that situation now. Instead, the world has a great number of teachers who reinforce the lies it likes to hear. So we should preach the gospel whenever, and wherever, we can.

4:4,5

People will turn to myths, preferring to listen to nonsense rather than God’s truth. This happens both within and without the church. What was Timothy to do? What are we to do? First, we are to keep our heads. In the Olivet discourse Jesus told His disciples not to be alarmed (Matt 24:6). We are to keep calm and carry on! We are to endure hardship, for it won’t always be easy, and we are to make it our goal to do the work of God. We should note that Paul wrote this almost 2000 years ago. We have this great urge to know when the very end will come. It is futile to try and work that out. The things that Paul has been speaking of have occurred at various times in history. He is giving practical advice and instruction that is valid in almost every age.

Isaiah 60:13,14 - The glory of Lebanon shall come to you

60:13,14

We often get these concrete examples of the wealth of the nations coming to Israel, in this case it is the timber products of Lebanon. These will be used in God’s sanctuary to “glorify the place of my feet”. In the New Testament a lot of this spiritualised. So what is going on? The material expressions of these things which are often given in the Old Testament demonstrate the reality, concreteness, of the prophecies. Secondly, we implicitly assume that the material is more real than the spiritual. This is not true. The spiritual is absolutely real (after all, God is spirit! John 4:24), and the material and spiritual are intrinsically linked.

There will be a radical change in the people as well. People who once despised Israel will respect and revere Israel. We do well to remember this when the secular world mocks the church, or accuses us of being bigots. We should remember this not in order to look down on people, but with hope that a day will come when even the most ardent opponents will come to see the glory of the Lord.

2 Timothy 4:1,2 - I give you this charge

4:1

Paul expresses his charge to Timothy in very serious terms. We do well to remember this. For all of us, especially if we are in positions of leadership, there are times when we come under great pressure. We can feel unable to carry on, we may have no desire to carry on, we may long for an easy life. One of the things we need to do is to remember that we have to answer to God (and note how Christ is equated with God, here, He will judge the living and the dead), we will have to give an account. One day He will return to earth with His kingdom, all other kingdoms will fall. We can so easily give in to temporary desires of  the flesh when we want to give up. Reminding ourselves of who is Lord can help us to resist the urge to give up.

4:2

So what are we to continue doing? We are to preach the word, and to do so in season and out of season. It is never a mistake to preach the word of God. We are also to “correct, rebuke and encourage”. And we are to do this with all patience and careful instruction. Notice how often the enemy seeks to discourage us from doing these things. We need to resist this discouragement.

Isaiah 60:8-12 - In my favour I have had mercy on you

60:8,9

God uses picturesque language to describe what will happen. There are various ways of communicating, and God uses all of them. He uses logic, narrative, clear commands, He addresses our minds and our emotions. So in the church we should have a variety of modes of communication. Israel had been scattered to the nations, here God paints a picture of the nations coming to Israel. The nations are looking to God, and God is their home. This is all to the honour of the Lord. But why is it happening? Because the Lord has endowed His people with splendour. We really need to get a hold of this. God works out His plans by endowing His people with splendour (but do not take it in a prosperity gospel sense!), the splendour of Christ likeness.

60:10-12

There is an emphasis on foreigners bringing wealth to Israel, and in helping to rebuild the walls. This does not mean an enslavement of foreign peoples, but foreign peoples becoming part of the kingdom of God, becoming God’s people. 

There is a reversal of things, God had indeed struck Israel with anger,  but now He will show them compassion. Their gates will always be open, so that people can always come in. As the world turns more hostile to the church, we need to keep a hold of the fact that we are meant to be an open door to the kingdom.

Verse 12 recognises that some nations will not obey God, and there will be judgement upon these nations. We need to keep both the mercy and the judgement aspects in mind.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 - All Scripture is God-breathed

3:15

Then we come to the Scriptures. Timothy was instructed in the Scriptures from infancy. There is great value in teaching our children Biblical truths from childhood. Some call this indoctrination, but they are going to be indoctrinated with something, it is far better that it be the truth of God’s word, rather than the lies of the world. The Scriptures make us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”. The word of God is powerful and useful.

3:16

This is one of the most famous verses on the authority of Scripture, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”. We must remember that at the time they had the Old Testament, and some of the letters, maybe one or two gospels. This is referring primarily to the Old Testament at the time, so people who somehow consider the Old Testament to be inferior to the New are on very dodgy ground. Notice that it says Scripture is “God-breathed”. It is not dictated. The human element is important, as is obvious of we just look at Scripture. We see historical narrative, we see prophecy, we see heart-felt Psalms, we see the outpouring of Job’s anguish. The human element is essential, but it is God-breathed. At the same time it comes from the heart of God, expressing what God wanted it to express. God fulfilling His purposes through men and women does not mean that men and women were controlled like robots, but nor does it mean that God was not in control.

3:17

It is the word of God that makes us fully equipped for every good work. And if we see the latter part of 3:16, that includes bing rebuked and corrected. We are taught by Scripture. Unless we are taught by Scripture then we are very lacking in our learning. The word of God is God’s primary means of speaking to us, of revealing His will to us, of revealing His heart to us.

Isaiah 60:5-7 - A multitude of camels shall cover you

60:5

Israel was a downtrodden nation, with a defeated and disgraced people, but this would all be changed. Their hearts would “throb and swell with joy”, this is the joy we experience when something wonderful happens. But this was not to be just an emotional change, the wealth of the seas and the riches of the nations would come to them. We have an enormous problem with prosperity. This is very understandable, for on the one hand we have the “prosperity gospellers”, and then we also have times when the established churches have grossly misused wealth and power. But to people with a heart for God wealth is not a problem. Now this does not mean we will become wealthy in this life, but we should not dismiss the possibility that God may choose to gives us wealth, power or influence.

60:6,7

God then expresses this in very concrete terms, speaking gold and camels. Now few of us have a great desire for someone to present us with herds of camels, but what it is saying is that the wealth will be very real. So, we should not decry material wealth. However, the end of verse 7 is also a useful reminder. The flocks are to be an acceptable offering on the altar of the Lord. We are to live our lives for God.

2 Timothy 3:12-14 - All who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted

3:12,13

“Everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted”. For a long time this has not been very true in the West with Christianity has been the “state religion”. However, in those days there have been times of persecution. Latimer and Ridley were burnt at the stake in Oxford. The Huguenots were persecuted in France. However, we now live in an age when Biblical Christian teaching, particularly on sexual morality, is considered to be utterly against society’s “morals”. Moreover, there are numerous countries in the world where Christians do suffer real persecution. This is normal. At the same time “evildoers” and “imposters” will go from bad to worse. Paul has a rather dim, but realistic picture of the world.

3:14

Again, Timothy’s response is to be the complete opposite of that of the evildoers. He is to continue is what he has learnt, and note the twofold motivation, or basis, for doing this. One is Scripture, which comes in the next verse, but the first reason is that Timothy knows those from whom he has learnt the gospel truths. He has seen the reality of it in their lives. The gospel is not a philosophy, nor an ideology. It is incarnational. The greatest revelation that God has given to us is His Son Jesus Christ. The gospel is communicated by words and explanation, but it is also communicated through our lives. Both go together. Timothy was convinced of the truth both by the message itself, and what he saw in the lives of people like Paul.