A Word in Season: The End of the Race (2 Timothy 4:6–8)

Media Gratiae

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

You may have seen some of these phenomenally gifted, extremely talented, and particularly well -trained athletes who, at the end of a marathon, seem to be just as fresh as they were at the beginning, and they appear to bounce over the line with barely a bead of sweat on their foreheads.

00:19

For most of us, when we come to the end of any such exertion, we look and sound as if the end is at hand.

00:28

That's the kind of language that the Apostle Paul seems to be using in 2 Timothy and chapter 4, when he says,

00:36

I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

00:42

Paul used the language of the drink offering in Philippians as a possibility.

00:49

It was the last rite of sacrifice, it was the last element, and Paul says here that he has reached the last moments of a life of sacrifice.

00:59

His departure is at hand, he's about to be executed, and yet he uses the language of a ship slipping anchor to sail into the harbor, or a soldier striking his tent in order to make the last march.

01:14

Paul says, I have fought the good fight, the good fight, this wrestling match in which he's been engaged from the moment that Christ called him.

01:24

He has fought it to the very end. He has finished the race. He has been running it up to this very point, and now the end is in sight.

01:34

And he has been keeping the faith, this trust that has been put in his heart, this gospel that he himself has relied upon, and for which he has been responsible to tell others.

01:47

He has not for one moment deviated from that course, but he has held fast to his calling in Christ Jesus.

01:56

And finally, there is laid up for the apostle a crown of righteousness.

02:01

Now this is the crown that is awarded in the discipline of righteousness.

02:07

In the ancient games, there would have been a crown for wrestling, there would have been a crown for running races, a crown for various other athletic pursuits.

02:18

Here is the crown that those who have pursued righteousness will receive.

02:23

And it's not Paul only who will receive it. The Lord, the righteous judge, the one who has been looking upon his beloved servant ever since he was brought into this world, looked at him in all his misery and sin when he was still in rebellion, saved him, confronted him in grace on the road to Damascus, called him into his service, and has cared for him and guided him and protected him every step of the way.

02:51

The Lord Christ is going to give to the apostle Paul on the great day when all the running and the fighting and the keeping is revealed, the crown of righteousness in company with all those who have loved his appearing, who have looked with an eye fixed upon the glory which is to come.

03:12

What a testimony about a life well lived, not just a long life, not a happy life in the world's terms, not just one that was full of plenty and joy, but a life that was marked by devoted faithfulness to his

03:28

God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We may not have run as long, we may not have run precisely the same course, but we have run the same race if we are

03:40

God's people, and we need to run it to the end, to fight this good fight until there is no more fighting to be done, to cross the finishing line with our heads held up so that our eyes can remain fixed upon Christ, to keep the faith which has been committed to us with regard to both our own experience of it and our duty with regard to it.

04:05

Are you running well? Are you fighting hard? Are you holding fast?

04:13

Are you looking for and loving the glorious appearing of our great

04:18

God and Savior, Jesus Christ? It is that which will enable you to endure, to make this whole life a sacrifice of service and praise to the

04:31

God of your salvation, and it is such a life that will receive at last the crown of righteousness from the hand of the righteous judge, the

04:41

Lord who has saved us and the Lord whom we serve. Let us then live in such a way and with such a goal and for the praise and glory of Him who has loved us first.