A Word in Season: A Share in Suffering (2 Timothy 1:8)

Paul’s Charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:8

Preachers will need their exhortations and encouragements too. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 8, Paul exhorts Timothy not to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God.

He goes on to remind Timothy that God has saved us and called us with a holy calling. I don't think the caricature of Timothy as an unusually frail and fragile individual is necessarily fair when you look at the balance of scripture evidence, but that doesn't mean that Timothy and other preachers and teachers don't need this reminder, this exhortation, this encouragement not to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of his prisoner, but rather to share in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God.

That might seem a little strange if you imagine that all that pastors and preachers do is to stand up once or twice a week in a particular building with a load of people who are hanging on their every word, or at least at this point in time aren't throwing anything hard and sharp at them.

Why Preachers Are Tempted to Be Ashamed

But the fact actually is that there are many ways in which a preacher will be tempted to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. Not necessarily that we know many people who are in prison for the sake of the gospel, but there are things in the truth and there are things amongst God's people which might shake our confidence and our readiness to stand and be counted for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Even in what you might call an ordinary and stable church environment, there are portions of God's word that a preacher knows are going to touch on particular aspects of the believing and the behaving of God's people.

It's going to cut across the way certain people think or feel or act and there will be a temptation to draw back. There will be people who become angry and frustrated at the things that they hear. If the preacher is doing the work of an evangelist, he's going to be face to face often with people who are going to be reacting strongly, aggressively even, sometimes very dismissively or even angrily right in your face and he might be tempted to trim his sails in order to make his way a little bit more safely.

The associations that we sometimes have, the people that we know and perhaps we're tempted when somebody else is being criticised, perhaps a friend who we know who's being done down by others at this time and we distance ourselves from them, even though the criticisms may be because of their faithfulness to their calling and their determination to cut a straight course.

Sharing in the Sufferings of the Gospel

We're to share then with the sufferings of the gospel. We're to share in what comes to us and to all who speak the word of God faithfully and follow its course honestly and with integrity and that is hard for humanity to bear.

If you have a pastor who's preaching tomorrow, if one of your elders is going to be speaking the word of God publicly, if perhaps he's going to be counselling or exhorting privately, then you could be praying for him that he would not be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, that he wouldn't be ashamed of any connection that he has with others who are following the path of Christ faithfully, that he would be ready whether or not the sufferings are of a more apparently shallow kind or of a more profound nature, he'd be ready to share in those sufferings for the gospel.

And because he's a weak and a feeble human creature, then he will need the power of God and that is what is at work in him as in every child of God. Timothy is not unusually frail and feeble, he's normally frail and feeble.

The Power of God in Weak Preachers

We have this treasure in earthen vessels, says the apostle elsewhere, and every pastor and preacher, every teacher of the word is a frail human creature and depends upon the power of God at work in them to remain faithful and to be in due time fruitful.

So do pray for those who have these responsibilities, do pray that they might not be ashamed of the word of God which is given to them and which it is their privilege and their responsibility to declare.

Pray for them that they might hold fast, that they might be willing to suffer according to the power of God that is at work in them.