The Golden Chain of Gospel Faithfulness
What do you say knowing that a sword is hovering inches above your neck and can, at any moment, descend and separate you from your life? 2 Timothy is a noteworthy part of our Bible because it is the final letter of the apostle Paul. He writes from a jail cell and, from the content of the letter, there is very little hope of release. Will he endure even to death? Will he lose hope? Will he grow resentful of those outliving him or angry at those who abandoned him? All of this brews under the surface of the letter.
One of the core themes of the pastoral epistles, especially 2 Timothy, is the idea of the true faith being passed down from person to person. It’s gospel advancement through messenger multiplication. Timothy is entrusted with the gospel by Paul, who then tells him to entrust it to faithful men who can teach it to others and so on.
One of the apostle’s greatest interests as his ministry drew to a close was how the faith would continue after he was gone. At this point, many of the apostles may already have been martyred and persecution was only just ramping up in the Roman Empire under Nero.
Paul commands Timothy, his spiritual son, to “guard the deposit of the faith” and to “entrust it to faithful men.” This was to be how the gospel would reach new ears and break into new grounds without ceasing. It would be received and then given. Those who had been reconciled to God were to join with others in the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:11-21)
The amazing thing about this letter is that at some point I, a person born in 1996- over 1900 years after Paul and Timothy and around 1500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire- have been handed this well-worn, ancient, beautiful, life-saving gospel. I, a person living on a continent Paul never dreamed of, have been reconciled to God by the same message he heard, received, and preached.
The gospel has changed hands throughout time and history from Christ and it has ended up here with me nearly 2000 years later. This is an amazing thing. This is an unlikely thing. This is the power of the ministry of reconciliation by the power and grace of God.
How could Christianity endure so long, teaching the same gospel, passing down the faith from Paul to Timothy to Ephesians elders and on and on and on and on? On a personal level, how can we make sure that we are not the end of the line?
While the answer is of course God’s power and grace, which Paul adamantly and loudly affirms in his letters, he also declares the need for gospel ministers to step up to the plate and labor for God’s glory.
This is all relates to the message of 2 Timothy. Specifically, the second chapter:
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
2 Timothy 2:1-6
Paul gives Timothy three comparisons to explain how Christians should pursue the ministry they have been entrusted with. A soldier. An athlete. A farmer. From these three occupations, we can learn how to carry our precious message further and to use our life- like Paul, Timothy, and all those who passed the gospel on to us- for the excellencies of God and the furtherance of His glorious gospel.
Paul’s school of ministry begins with a lesson on focus. The soldier cannot be entangled in civilian pursuits or he has no chance of pleasing the one who enlisted him. A soldier is enlisted to wage war. To rake leaves in the middle of a bloody battlefield is absurd. The soldier who stays home to walk the dog receives no glory and is not worthy of his rank.
Just as a soldier has no business being entangled in the routine of civilian life, the Christian must focus their energy on the ministry. I am convinced that the greatest weapon of Satan is not egregious sin but consistent frivolity. Why bother to make men murderers when you can tempt them far more successfully to throw away hour after hour on that which has no eternal significance?
To be good ministers of the gospel, we must use our time for ministry. This seems simple but how often do we actually think this way? “Good, I’ve got some free time. Let me go pray, read my bible, and preach the gospel to others!”
Yeah, that’s not exactly how I think either. But maybe it should be. As good soldiers of Jesus Christ, may we focus our attention on the mission ahead of us so that we might please the One who enlisted us.
The second lesson Paul taught was on obedience. An athlete may hold the record for the most free throws made in a minute, but if the basketball hoop he uses is only five feet high, its all for nothing. To win the race, you must run within the lines. Paul speaks in this way in 1 Corinthians 9 where he fears that “after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
We must not sacrifice obedience for progress. There are two points I think we can easily draw from this illustration. The first is a warning against pragmatism. We must be very careful not to place results over methods.
God cares how we carry out his orders. He cares how we worship, how we evangelize, how we disciple. If our methodology produces great effect and yet is based in sin or worldly wisdom or lacks a foundation in the Word of God, it is far less than a clanging gong.
Secondly, Timothy was called in the previous section to content against those who held false doctrines. Much of the pastoral epistle speak to the need of pastoral rebuke where doctrines and deeds err. Yet, there is a danger in confronting others with the gospel (and this includes evangelism).
We must be careful not slip into self-righteousness, pride, anger, arrogance, or malice. Nor should we avoid correcting, rebuking, and defending the gospel for the sake of people’s approval. Let us do the work of ministry according to the Word of God and guard our hearts from becoming cold to that which is familiar.
Finally, Paul gives a lesson on diligence drawing from the concept of a hard-working farmer. The farmer who makes no effort to till the ground, plant the seeds, and water the crops, should expect no harvest, no food, no reward.
It may be that Paul is referring to the blessing of witnessing new life and the passing down of the gospel, but what is certain is that ministry must be done with a zeal looking towards the end goal of God’s salvation to all who have accepted the gospel. We must labor with unending energy as people longing for the Kingdom of God in its fullness to arrive!
These three characteristics are not exhaustive. They don’t explain all the ways God worked in history to advance the gospel. But I believe that Paul’s message describes and was intended to describe the kind of person who labors well for the gospel. I believe that it is because of these qualities, among many others, that you and I have the gospel today.
The question that remains is whether the Church of 200 years from now can look back and confidently say: “We have the gospel because of they earnestly labored in ministry.”
Lord, may it be so.
