Daily Bread 2010 - 2 Timothy 2
1You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. 3Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. 5Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
Again, we see the interplay of God’s grace and our response to it. Paul says, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” He uses the examples of a soldier, farmer and athlete to illustrate that unless they put in the training they will not have success. For the soldier success is the commendation from his commanding office. For the athlete it is the victor’s crown, and for the farmer it is fruit of the harvest.
Later in the chapter, Paul extrapolates that as, Timothy, and those to whom he will entrust the teaching of the church, are single mindedly focused on the affairs of the Lord, they will be like gold and silver that the master has set aside for noble work. Of course, there are also objects of wood and clay that are useful in the master in a different way but not as important of a purpose.
Paul is warning Timothy of the many distractions that can get in the way of effective ministry of the Gospel. In this context, there are those who are quarrelsome and get into many arguments over controversies matters not related to the “main thing”. Just as athletes and soldiers in training can be distracted, so can we, as we seek to maximize how we respond to the gospel of grace.
For instance, recently in the denomination our church recently voted to leave, there was tons of money put into studies on sexuality and homosexuality. Millions of dollars and thousands of hours were put into trying to analyze if the church should bless homosexual unions and ordain pastors, who were in committed, same sex relationships. My point is not to reopen the argument, but to point out what an enormous distraction it was. I was glad when it was over, so we could get on with our ministry and mission.
In the end the conclusion my previous denomination came to was: there is disagreement on both sides of the issue, so we will let each church decide on this matter as their conscience leads them. I don’t want to sound too judgmental because this is an important social issue of our day and some faithful people are affected by it, and the church just can’t stick its head in the sand, but at certain point we need to cease debate and move on. This is just one example and there are others. Where are you at in your training as a soldier of Christ? What distracts you from your usefulness to the Lord? How can you be strong in the grace that is in the Lord?
Heavenly Father thank you for setting us apart for the noble work of ministry. Help us to seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness and we know that you will provide for us in ways we could not ask or imagine. Remind us to be ready for the day you return so we may show ourselves to be workers who have correctly handled the Word of truth. In Your Son’s name, Amen.
Again, we see the interplay of God’s grace and our response to it. Paul says, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” He uses the examples of a soldier, farmer and athlete to illustrate that unless they put in the training they will not have success. For the soldier success is the commendation from his commanding office. For the athlete it is the victor’s crown, and for the farmer it is fruit of the harvest.
Later in the chapter, Paul extrapolates that as, Timothy, and those to whom he will entrust the teaching of the church, are single mindedly focused on the affairs of the Lord, they will be like gold and silver that the master has set aside for noble work. Of course, there are also objects of wood and clay that are useful in the master in a different way but not as important of a purpose.
Paul is warning Timothy of the many distractions that can get in the way of effective ministry of the Gospel. In this context, there are those who are quarrelsome and get into many arguments over controversies matters not related to the “main thing”. Just as athletes and soldiers in training can be distracted, so can we, as we seek to maximize how we respond to the gospel of grace.
For instance, recently in the denomination our church recently voted to leave, there was tons of money put into studies on sexuality and homosexuality. Millions of dollars and thousands of hours were put into trying to analyze if the church should bless homosexual unions and ordain pastors, who were in committed, same sex relationships. My point is not to reopen the argument, but to point out what an enormous distraction it was. I was glad when it was over, so we could get on with our ministry and mission.
In the end the conclusion my previous denomination came to was: there is disagreement on both sides of the issue, so we will let each church decide on this matter as their conscience leads them. I don’t want to sound too judgmental because this is an important social issue of our day and some faithful people are affected by it, and the church just can’t stick its head in the sand, but at certain point we need to cease debate and move on. This is just one example and there are others. Where are you at in your training as a soldier of Christ? What distracts you from your usefulness to the Lord? How can you be strong in the grace that is in the Lord?
Heavenly Father thank you for setting us apart for the noble work of ministry. Help us to seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness and we know that you will provide for us in ways we could not ask or imagine. Remind us to be ready for the day you return so we may show ourselves to be workers who have correctly handled the Word of truth. In Your Son’s name, Amen.
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