Daily Bread 2011 - 2 Timothy 4

1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

What Does This Mean?
Paul closes this letter to his dear son Timothy with some powerful closing challenges. First, he tells Paul to “Preach the Word”. Literally this means to proclaim the Word! This is not just occasionally, but in season and out of season, meaning all the time. Timothy’s life is to be characterized by a preaching of the Word that Jesus came from heaven to save us, and then was raised from the dead proving He was the unique Son of God, and whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life.

Paul warns of a time when rejecting sound doctrines, such as the one I just lifted up, men will surround themselves with teachers who say what they want to hear. There is always the temptation for the preacher to water down the gospel, and try and win approval ratings than be faithful to the Word of God. In Paul’s day this happened very quickly, as men taught myths that Jesus only appeared to be a man, but really was just a spirit. Or, that Jesus was just a good prophet and teacher, but not really the Son of God. Or, that the resurrection of the dead was not a literal truth but just symbolism of God’s eternal life. I.e. Jesus did not really literally get resurrected.

Paul concludes with a testimony of his own faithfulness and how he had literally poured out his life for the sake of Christ, and not caved to pleasing people but kept the true faith and passed it on. He was ready to meet the Lord.

What Does This Mean For Us?
We see in our day too, preachers that preach what people want to hear, rather than the true gospel. One example might be the “prosperity gospel”, which says if you are Christian God wants to prosper you in material ways. I.e. We are all meant to have big houses and expensive cars. Obviously God wants to bless us and as we seek first His kingdom all our needs will be taken care of, but this teaching distorts the gospel into something that is primarily about us and our happiness vs. God’s mission in the world. Another example might be the more extreme liberal end of Protestant Christianity that tended to move toward a “social gospel”. This teaching focused so much on justice issues and what we do to alleviate for instance the plight of the poor, that in some ways became “works righteousness” that set aside what Christ did for us, for what we can do for the world.

One of the reasons we say the Creed often in our church, is that it reminds us of the basis of what we believe in, our doctrine. Doctrine matters because it keeps us focused on preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ crucified. It keeps us focused on the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Hearers place their faith in Jesus Christ as the Word is preached, and are baptized and taught so they then can go out and be messengers of God’s kingdom come in all they say and do. And yes this involves helping the poor and working for justice in the world as God lead us to do.

Father, thank you for faithful messengers of the gospel that have kept the church from moving toward myths and human personalities that inherently have no power for real change in the world. Keep us focused on the one true Gospel that comes from You sending Your only Son to this earth to show us you will and purpose for every human life. Amen.