WWUTT 273 Soldiers, Athletes, and Farmers for Christ?

In 2 Timothy chapter 2, Paul gives three illustrations as to what the servant of God is supposed to look like.

We're supposed to be like good soldiers, we're supposed to be like athletes, we're supposed to be like the hard -working farmer when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of 2 Timothy. We're in chapter 2 today, and we'll start off reading verses 1 through 7.

The Apostle Paul writes, 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.

Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Well, here the

Apostle Paul hands us a three -point sermon, doesn't he? We have three examples given as to what a good worker in the

Lord should look like. We have the picture of the good soldier in verse 3. We have the picture of an athlete in verse 5, and we have the hard -working farmer in verse 6.

But let's come back to verse 1 here, where Paul says, you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And Paul, of course, talking to Timothy, whom he loves with such affection.

This young man who was the most trusted missionary that Paul had in his arsenal, when he talked about Timothy to the

Philippians, in Philippians 2 .19, he said, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send

Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.

For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.

For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.

I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the

Lord that shortly I myself will be able to come also. Paul did not trust anybody the way that he trusted

Timothy. He knew, and as he presented him to the Philippians, that he genuinely cared for their welfare.

He had just told the Philippians that they needed to consider others' needs ahead of their own.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

And then when he talks about Timothy in verses 19 and 20, he's presenting him as somebody who considers their needs ahead of his own.

He is a genuine worker in the faith. And so those who are ministers of the

Lord Christ, those who have been appointed as elders or pastors or teachers in a church, they need to do this ministry considering others' needs ahead of their own.

We're not in this to glorify ourselves, but to give glory to God. And the way that we minister, we consider the need of the person, that they need the gospel, that they need to hear about godliness, that they need to turn from sinfulness and pursue the righteousness of Christ.

In all these things that we do, we consider their needs ahead of our own.

This is not to make ourselves great. The work of a pastor, the work of an elder or teacher, it is to exalt

God as great. Remember, we just recently read in our Old Testament study about a nameless prophet who came to King Amaziah and told him to stop this godless worship of false idols and instead fear the

Lord God. And this man, though he was not named, he was referred to as a man of God.

And he spoke to Amaziah out of the interest of the king and the interest of the people.

It wasn't to make himself great. His name isn't even mentioned there in the Old Testament record. It was because he knew

Amaziah was sinning. And if he did not turn from this sin, not only would he be judged for it, but the people who were following his influence would also be judged for their sins.

Paul has called Timothy a man of God, equating him with those

Old Testament prophets who were referred to by that very title. And so he was supposed to be faithful to the word of the

Lord. And he was to preach the sound gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God that we just read about to save men and call them to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of God's own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, in which now has been manifested through the appearing of our

Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

How do we bring life and immortality and light to people who are wandering in darkness?

We give them the gospel of Jesus Christ. Making their living condition more bearable and tolerable is not how we save a person or draw them out of darkness.

It is only by giving them the gospel that they will be brought from darkness into light by the power of God.

They will turn from their sin. They will obey the command of the gospel. And by believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, they will be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light and life forever.

It is only the power of the gospel that does this. And so Paul encouraging

Timothy in this, in 2 Timothy 2 .1, 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 entrust to men who consider others needs ahead of their own, just as you have considered others needs ahead of your own.

Remember that part of this letter, part of what Paul is going to ask of Timothy when we get to the end of 2

Timothy is that he come see him in Rome, where he is in prison awaiting his sentence to be martyred under Nero.

He asked Timothy to bring certain things with him to come and visit Paul. So when he is going to leave

Ephesus to come to Paul's aid before Paul meets his end, he is saying, make sure that you are entrusting faithful men over the church there in Ephesus, plurality eldership, remember, entrust faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

They're not in this for themselves, but they are considering the needs of the church ahead of their own need.

So now we have those three illustrations that Paul gives of what a good minister of the

Lord is supposed to look like, what a good saint should look like. This, of course, applies to the pastor.

But any person who is a follower of Jesus should understand their place in each one of these metaphors.

Verse three, 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.

So likewise, as Christians, we're not out to try to please the world, though we consider others needs ahead of our own.

That doesn't mean that you are trying to meet everybody's expectations of you.

That's not the same thing. Considering another's need might mean that that you are giving them the thing that they don't actually want, but they absolutely need.

They need to be told that they are walking in sin. And if they don't repent of this sin that they are guilty of, then they will face the judgment of God.

And so that's the very thing that they need, not the thing that they want. It won't make you popular having to confront a person in their sin.

But it is absolutely the thing that we must do if we are to consider others needs ahead of our own.

If you are just giving people what they want or trying to meet their expectations of you, you're actually selfish.

You're not trying to consider their needs. You're considering your own. You're trying to keep the peace with everybody. You're trying to stay popular.

And as long as I give people the thing that they want to hear, then they won't get mad at me and things won't get weird or uncomfortable for me.

That's that's a very selfish interest if you're only trying to avoid conflict for yourself.

I remember a quote from Winston Churchill who said, each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last.

Well, if you're just trying to give people what they want, so maybe they won't get mad at you and make things difficult and you'll have to go through the emotions of all of that.

I mean, you're only interested in self -preservation and that is selfish. We must be concerned, first and foremost, with what

God has instructed us to do. And that's what's being said here in Second Timothy to for no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

By the way, we did not volunteer for the army of God. We were enlisted.

And this goes back again to what we read in Second Timothy one, nine, God saved us and called us to a holy calling by his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus.

And we're also told in the scriptures that the weapons that we use as soldiers of God are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.

And as Paul talked about the armor of God with the Ephesians and remember, Timothy is pastoring there in Ephesus, as he talked about the armor of God in Ephesians, chapter six, the one weapon that we have is even not our own.

It is the spirit of God, the word of God in the sword of the spirit. And so we must learn how to handle the word of God in a proper way, for this is the weapon that we have been given that destroys strongholds, the snares of Satan who captures people to do his will.

So once again, the first metaphor that we have as to who we are to be as children of God, we are good soldiers of Christ Jesus and no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim, first and foremost, is to please the one who enlisted him.

So obey the commands that God has given to you. Number five or I'm sorry, verse five, this is the second illustration in the in the fifth verse, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

And so as children of God, we are also athletes running a race. And Paul has used this metaphor a few times in first Corinthians, chapter nine, verse twenty four.

He says, do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?

So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self -control in all things.

They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we will receive an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly.

I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control lest after preaching to others,

I myself should be disqualified. So Paul is talking about the self -control that we are to exercise.

If we are children of God, then we should not be giving in to the temptations of this world.

We are self -controlled. We are disciplined for righteousness, instruments for righteousness and not for unrighteousness.

As we read in James one twenty six, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

So it even comes down to the words that we say. We are so disciplined that we have disciplined our own tongues because our minds and hearts are disciplined for Christ and it is reflected in our body the way that we conduct ourselves.

We don't give ourselves over to unrighteousness, but we desire to be instruments of righteousness for God.

So this illustration of an athlete is something that Paul has used before, that we would be disciplined and self -controlled in the ways that we conduct ourselves as Christians.

And the metaphor of a runner running a race comes up again in Second Timothy. Also, toward the end of the letter, he says in Second Timothy four seven,

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

And as we talked about last week out of Hebrews twelve one, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

So an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

And so we likewise must run the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus as the goal, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

Romans or I'm sorry, Hebrews twelve two. So we have the the illustration of the soldier, the illustration of the athlete and finally a child of God.

Verse six is to be like the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

And the thing that's being said here very simply is that the dedicated worker will receive a reward for the work that he has done, not necessarily monetarily.

That's not what Paul is talking about here. But you will see the effects of the gospel that you preached.

And the minister, first and foremost, will be able to see the effects of that gospel. Remember that we're not just talking about preaching the gospel here, but we're also talking about preaching godliness, telling people to turn from sin and pursue the righteousness of Christ.

Here's what Paul said to the Galatians in Galatians chapter six. I'm going to read verses six through ten.

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever one sows, that will he also reap for the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life and let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season.

We will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially those who are of the household of faith.

If we if we sow righteousness, we will reap righteousness. But if we sow corruption, that's what we're going to going to end up reaping is corruption.

And so the person who sows righteousness by preaching the righteousness of Christ will receive a reward for that.

They will see the effects of that work. And if that is the farmer's heart, right, if that is the minister's heart to preach the gospel and preach righteousness and see people grow in godliness, then he will rejoice to see people walking in godliness.

John, in one of his epistles, said that I have no greater desire than to see my children walking in the truth when

I was serving as an interim pastor. So I was between my position as an associate pastor and about to take the position of senior pastor.

But when I was working as an interim, I was kind of going at it on my own. We didn't have a plurality of elders yet.

And so the work was hard. It was pretty tough. Our staff had been whittled down. I didn't have a lot of people that were working with me anymore because of cuts and some other things.

And so there were a lot of people in the church that were asking me, is there anything that we can do to help you? How can we help to relieve the load and the burden that is on you working as a pastor?

And I thought about that for a while. I wasn't really good at delegating at that particular time.

And so I was thinking about how can I tell a person, here's what you can do to help me. And as I was continuing to deal with some issues that were going on in the church that mostly had to do with sin and people needing to be confronted in their sin and told to repent,

I finally came up with what I could tell the church that they could do to help me. And at the end of a sermon, this was all in context with the sermon and everything,

I said, here's what you can do to help me stop sinning, stop turning from righteousness and pursuing unrighteous things.

But rather, when you hear the word of God preached from here and the command is given to you to do righteousness, that's what you need to do.

And that's what will help me so that I may continue in the labor of preaching righteousness instead of having to confront a person in their sin, which becomes incredibly distracting and takes me away from other people who who might need me in other ways.

And so so this is something that a minister receives if he is hard working in preaching the gospel and telling people to walk in righteousness, he will have the first share of the crops.

He will be able to rejoice in seeing people walk in godliness. And furthermore, he will be rewarded by his father in heaven for this work.

Maybe he will not see a reward on this side of heaven, but certainly in the life that is to come.

So now, verse seven, well, to sum up, we've gone through these three illustrations here.

We have the soldier, we have the athlete and we have the farmer share in suffering as a good soldier for Jesus Christ.

No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

So likewise, sometimes confronting a person in their sin and have them get angry at us because we confronted them means that we're going to have to suffer a little bit.

We're going to have to suffer the pain in the hurt of of a person turning on us in that way. But we are our aim is to please the one who enlisted us.

Verse four. And then in verse five, we have the illustration of the athlete. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

And so we need to put off sin and pursue Christ with everything that we are.

And now, verse six, the third illustration, it is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

If we share the gospel and we preach righteousness, we will see people walking in godliness and that will be our reward.

As Jesus said in the Beatitudes, blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Verse seven. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Let us pray for that as we conclude. Our Lord God, I pray that we think about these things that we have read and that you would give us understanding for the man who is naturally minded, as we read about in first Corinthians two, cannot understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned.

So we desire that your Holy Spirit would be within us and continue to minister to us the things that we have read.

Even when we go from this lesson today and we may not be consciously thinking about the things that we have studied over, the

Spirit brings these things back to mind for us and continues to lead us and guide us in this pursuit of righteousness and godliness to the praise of your great name.

So continue to give us understanding that we may unlock all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray.

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.