Perseverance and endurance are two admirable traits for one to have. Nobody admires a quitter. This was a quality that the Apostle Paul wanted to see in his spiritual son Timothy. In our Scripture passage today from Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we will read his encouragement, both for Timothy and for ourselves, to keep pressing on for the Lord. Let’s take a look at God’s Word, and see what we can learn.
Paul begins our passage with the examples of three groups of people who must persevere and endure in their careers - soldiers, athletes, and farmers (vs. 3-6). Both soldiers and athletes must go through rigorous training if they want to be good at what they do. Just as a good soldier does not get caught up in civilian life while on duty, Paul instructs us that we must not allow the things of this world to distract us from service to the Lord (vs. 4). An athlete spends multiple hours training. They put in a lot of hard work and discipline, but they also must follow the rules. We should give our all for Jesus, but also obey His Word (vs. 5). The farmer also works hard. They worked even harder in the past, before modern equipment was invented. They must be patient as they hope all their efforts will be rewarded with a good harvest (vs. 6). Just like all three of these people, we must keep going on, enduring, persevering to victory, despite suffering. Jesus is our model as we live our Christian life, suffering like good soldiers, pursuing the prize as an athlete, and planting seeds of truth (vs. 8).
Believers who persevere show the evidence of the genuineness of their faith (vs. 12). The “denial” spoken of here is apostasy, not a temporary failure of a true believer such as with Peter. These ones who deny never truly belonged to Jesus, and will be denied by Him. “Faithless” here in vs. 13 are those who lack saving faith, not those who have a weak, struggling faith. Jesus will be faithful to save those who believe in Him. He will also be faithful to judge those who do not. Jesus is faithful to His promise to be with us believers forever (Matthew 28:20). He will never turn His back on us. God is the One hanging on to us. He is the Faithful One. We can trust Him, for He is faithful. Even when we have a hard time believing, perhaps because of troubles we are going through, God will remain faithful to all He has promised.
Paul continues on with his message to Timothy, instructing him and us to not spend time in arguing with those who are false teachers, who try to subvert God’s Word (vs. 14). Arguing with false teachers is foolish (Proverbs 14:7), futile (Matthew 7:6), and can be dangerous (II Timothy 2:16-17). False teachings replace the truth with lies, and will bring catastrophe to those who listen to it.
Paul also warned against causing strife or division by arguing and nitpicking over unimportant details, quarreling over words. Some believe that when they argue over minor details they are “defending the faith”. In reality they are harming new or immature believers and avoiding God’s order to preach the Gospel. Great harm has been done to the Church because of useless arguments.
In closing this passage, Paul instructed Timothy, and all who preach or teach God’s Word, to give maximum effort to teach accurately and clearly, especially to counter false teachings (vs. 15). To handle the Word of Truth correctly, we must study what the Word of God says so we can understand what it means. How can we know the truth? By reading the Word of God. In this verse, “rightly dividing” gives the allusion of a carpenter making sure he measures and cuts precisely. When teaching God’s Word, we must be just as accurate, as we have the Word of Truth.
One day we will all stand before Jesus to answer for what we have done or not done. Have we obeyed Him, or sought our own glory? Have we persevered in the faith with endurance? Hopefully we will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21).
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