WWUTT 713 Fulfill Your Ministry?

We will watch people that we love, wander away from the truth, and follow after myths.

And when we see that happen, we cannot let ourselves follow the same course that they do when we understand the text.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, last week and this week, we've been in 2 Timothy 4, verses 1 -8, and we'll finish up this section today.

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.

Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As for you, always be sober -minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

As we read yesterday, Paul warns Timothy that a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, and it's very evident in the way that he says this to Timothy, is it's not something that's coming in the distant future, but it is something that Timothy himself will face.

And as I talked about yesterday, there were people even from within that church that Timothy was sent to, the

Ephesian church, even among those elders that Paul had last addressed in Acts chapter 20, who turned from the truth and started wandering off into myths.

So Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus to try to get everybody back on track.

And this seemed to be a consistent problem in Ephesus, even though this was a church that Paul so deeply loved and had preached the gospel so fully to them, and they themselves loved sound teaching, yet they had a problem staying the course and remaining steadfast because in Acts 20,

Paul says he knows that fierce wolves are going to arise among them. Here he sends

Timothy to them. And then we read about the Ephesian church also in the book of Revelation, because they have gone astray.

So in a very short period of time, they have gone from a soundness in the gospel of Christ to wandering off after myths.

And Paul says here to Timothy that though he may have corrected some things there in the church in Ephesus, it's not like everything is going to be a hunky -dory from here on out.

A time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching. Even people from within Timothy's midst there in Ephesus, having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.

And as I said yesterday, that people go after those teachers that will say the things that they want to hear.

False teachers are a judgment from God. They're a judgment upon people whose hearts are not for the, who have hearts that are not after the sound words of the

Lord Christ, not after the Orthodox teaching like what Timothy was preaching, but rather they are, they're after novelty.

They want to know what is new and what is fresh. Who's got a new message for me? Maybe they're looking for somebody who teaches the

Bible, but who can teach me the Bible in a new way? They might even think, I know all the old way.

I already know all of that. I've heard it my whole life. I need to hear something new.

Give me, give me something relevant might be the word that we use today. But as Charles Spurgeon has said, there is nothing new in theology except that which is false.

And as I've heard somebody else say that there, there are no new doctrines.

There's just old heresies that are repackaged as something else. And so the false teachers that we see out there that so many people flock to, these false teachers are a judgment upon those who have hearts that go after something else other than the sound words of the

Lord Jesus Christ. God sends these false teachers as a judgment upon those people that they would fall into a strong delusion.

That's the way Paul put it to the Thessalonians, second Thessalonians chapter two, verses nine through 12. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Therefore God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

When a person goes after their flesh, their own fleshly desires, their own passions, rather than being passionate about God, God will judge them by sending them false teachers that they will wander after to their own destruction.

But we must patiently hold out the truth of the gospel with gentleness and respect as the way

Paul has put it with Timothy here in chapter two and also the way that that Peter encourages.

We preach the truth according to first Peter chapter three, verse 15 in your hearts, always set apart

Christ as holy, being ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you.

But do this with gentleness and respect. We set apart Christ as holy, we share the truth with others, we do so with gentleness and respect.

When we don't do so gently, when we get angry and we beat other people over the head with it, when we don't endure with patience, as Paul said here, with complete patience and teaching.

When we're impatient with people and instead we're rude and abusive with the words that we use, with the way that we convey the truth that we are supposed to preach, we actually are displaying that we have not set

Christ in our hearts as holy, that we don't truly believe that God is sovereign.

We may say it with our lips, but do we believe it with our heart when we think that we need to take matters into our own hands in order to convince this other person or I need to show you how much more right

I am than you or how much holier I am than you are by being more forceful with my words and by continuing to press an issue that you're clearly not going to bend on.

For Jesus even said in Matthew chapter seven, do not cast your pearls before swine. There will come a point where we need to realize that we're not getting anywhere with this person and instead we need to save the time and go to somebody that we know wants to hear the message of the gospel.

The spirit of God has conditioned their heart to hear it better than this person who is just continually resistant.

So the Lord has sent a judgment upon those who are resistant to the truth that they would wander off into myths.

Paul again saying they will turn away from listening to the truth and they will wander off into myths.

But as for you, that that judgment is going to be upon them for you.

Here's your responsibility. Here is what God is calling for you, Timothy, to do.

So that's the context. Paul is talking to Timothy, but there's still a message that the Holy Spirit has for us through this text as well.

As for you, always be sober minded. That's not the only place we've seen that instruction.

It's given in first Timothy chapter three under the list of qualifications for an overseer.

What does it mean to be sober minded? Well, the Greek word that's being used here is naif.

And it means to be calm, to be vigilant, to have your wits about you and be able to discern difficulties that might lie ahead.

And very straightforwardly, it means to be sober. And in the spiritual sense means that we would be free of the intoxicating influences of sin.

But as this may pertain to Timothy as a teacher, we also understand this as temperance and temperance simply means to be self -controlled and not given over into any wild ideas.

And that certainly would go with the warning that Paul had just given in verses three and four.

A time is coming when people won't endure sound teaching. They will wander off into myths.

And though you will see people go that way, you will see them leave

Orthodox teaching and wander after these, these speculations and these irrational thoughts and the temptations of their flesh.

You must not be tempted to try to win them back with fancy words.

Don't think that you need to deviate from the sound Orthodox teaching of the gospel in order to appease those who are wandering away after myths.

You need to be sober minded. You need to be straightforward and focused on the gospel that I preach.

Paul referencing the gospel that he was faithful to keep because then where he goes next is saying that he's fought the good fight.

He has finished the race. He has kept the faith. So Paul is the example that Timothy is to follow when it comes to preaching the truth to the people that Timothy has been entrusted to care for.

Be sober minded. Timothy, this is not about your ideas. It's not about your opinions.

It's not about your fancy words or eloquent speech. It is about the truth of Christ, what he has preached, the good news of the gospel, which has the power to save all who believe.

Be sober minded, be temperate, don't be led astray by any of your own wild thoughts, but be focused on the gospel, endure suffering.

And again, Paul is saying this to Timothy as though to prepare him for something that he is indeed going to go through.

He is going to suffer for the proclamation of the gospel. And we know from church history that Timothy was martyred there in Ephesus when he confronted some people who were idol worshipers and tried to preach the gospel to them and they turned on him and beat him to death.

And so even Timothy was going to suffer for the cause of the gospel, just as Timothy was in Rome.

I'm sorry, just as Paul was in Rome, he was in prison in Rome and was going to be martyred there. Timothy was not going to be immune to that kind of persecution, even though he was across the sea in Ephesus.

Paul says to do the work of an evangelist, and this goes back to be ready in season and out of season.

When it comes to preaching the word, you are going to share the gospel. You are going to preach the gospel in church.

You're supposed to preach the gospel even outside the walls of the church. Fulfill your ministry.

This is Paul narrowing Timothy's focus again, focus on the task that is at hand.

There are ways in which you yourself will have a ministry opportunity in front of you that nobody else has.

Sometimes I think we get this idea that in order to do effective ministry, I need to have a ministry like Billy Graham has, or I need to have a podcast like Pastor Gabe or something like that.

There are people that I can't reach that are in your vicinity that you can share the gospel with.

There are people that your pastor can't reach. Furthermore, if you are a spouse or a parent, you have an obligation to encourage the spiritual growth of your spouse and you have an obligation to share the gospel with your children and raise them up in an understanding of biblical truth as well.

That is your responsibility before it is anyone else's. And only you can fulfill that ministry.

So Paul is setting this before Timothy that he's got a ministry obligation in front of him that he is to fulfill.

There are people who are going to stray after other things. There will be times and places in which Timothy is just going to have to let them go.

There is a ministry in front of him that he must fulfill. So then in verse six,

Paul says, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. Now contrast that with what he just said at the end of verse five, fulfill your ministry.

I am already being poured out as a drink offering. So Paul is saying what you're doing in Ephesus, this is yours now.

I even wonder if maybe that would have choked Timothy up to read that, to read, I'm not going to have my mentor with me anymore.

When it comes to this work that is in front of me, what I have been assigned to do here in Ephesus, in preaching the gospel, this is

Timothy's ministry now. And he has to do what it is that he has been told and commissioned by God to do.

Paul saying, I'm being poured out as a drink offering. I can't be there anymore. And soon I won't even be with you anymore.

I'm being poured out as a drink offering. And this is a reference to drink offerings in the old

Testament. Not only were there animal sacrifices, but there were also drink offerings.

And this was types and shadows pointing toward the spilled blood of Jesus Christ.

That was his drink offering, his spilled blood on the cross. He spoke directly to this in Luke 22, 20, when at the

Lord's supper, he took a cup and he said to his disciples, this cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in my blood.

And so even now, when we remember the blood of Jesus Christ at the Lord's supper, when we take the cup, we are reminded of Jesus' blood that was spilled for the forgiveness of sins.

In this instance here in 2 Timothy 4, 6, where Paul says, I'm being poured out as a drink offering, he's conveying to Timothy that he has given his whole life from the moment of his conversion to the moment of his death.

He has given his life to the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He has sacrificed everything. And so now with his death, which is being done in the name of Christ, for he's being put to death for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, he's being poured out as a drink offering for the church, that the church would grow and flourish because of the ministry of the apostle

Paul. And indeed it does. We read in Ephesians chapter two, that the, uh, the foundation of the church, the cornerstone is

Jesus Christ. And then there's a foundation of the apostles and the rest of the church is built upon that built upon the testimony, the gospel that was preached by the apostles sent by Christ into all the world.

And then the apostle Paul also mentions in Colossians chapter one, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh,

I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body.

That is the church. It's not that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross wasn't sufficient enough for our salvation.

Jesus said it is finished. The work of atonement was accomplished by Christ on the cross, but what had not yet been accomplished was the suffering that would be done for sharing the gospel, the good news of what had been done at the cross of Christ.

So here, Paul, at the conclusion of his ministry is saying, I am being poured out as a drink offering.

I was called by Christ to suffer for the sake of the church. That's what God said to Ananias in Acts chapter nine.

And here at the conclusion of his life, the offering is complete. The time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

And once again, setting this as an example before Timothy to follow, Paul said to the

Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse one, imitate me as I am of Christ.

I have kept the faith. Verse eight, henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.

Remember, we started this section in chapter four with Paul saying in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom.

So as Christ is going to usher in his peaceful kingdom, those who are followers of Christ will receive the crown of righteousness as a citizen of that kingdom.

So Paul comes back to that kingdom language here again. There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the

Lord, the righteous judge will award me on that day because I was proved to be faithful in the service of Christ.

And not only to me, Paul says on that day in your Bible, you probably have day capitalized capital

D. Well, that's because he's specifically referring to the day of the Lord, the day that Christ comes back and will judge the living and the dead.

And on that day, not only will I receive that crown of righteousness, but everyone who has loved his appearing, everyone who is anticipating the coming of our

Lord Christ, everyone who is prepared for that day, for they have turned from sin and have believed in the

Lord Jesus Christ, and they have grown in the knowledge of him and in sanctification and holiness.

And in their hearts, they are set upon heaven and desire to depart this earth.

And so they have loved his appearing. And all those who have loved Christ, who are forgiven their sins and given eternal life, they will also receive the crown of righteousness on the last day.

Amen. Glory. So you as a follower of Jesus Christ, do not be concerned with the pattern of this world.

Do not imitate the things of this world. Don't even get caught up in the stuff that outrages the world.

Instead, you need to be focused on the gospel of Christ and your hope would be set there.

Endure suffering and rejoice in Christ when you face trials of various kinds.

As James says in James 1 .3, that you would be careful to guard yourself against myths and speculations and worldly ideas that want to draw you into newfangled thinking.

But instead, you would fix yourself on the apostolic ministry, the truth of that gospel that was delivered by the apostles and we have written down for us in the

New Testament. Keep your heart fixed upon this. Love the words of the

Lord Christ. Desire to grow in the knowledge of him. And as Paul said to the Philippians, I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a

New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.