1 Keep Calm and Carry On Finishing Well 2 Timothy 4:1-8 Reality SB Ryan Hillner 2.28.16 We are in the Final Chapter of the book of 2 Timothy. This is our 2 nd to last week This chapter contains some of the very last words spoken or written by the apostle Paul. o They are certainly the last which have survived and that we have Been an incredible journey into this intimate letter Studying and discovering together a series of charges from Paul to Timothy I know they have ministered to me deeply and prayerfully the Lord has ministered to you as well over the last month and a half Our Text: 2 Timothy 4:1-8 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, 2 and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, 3 rebuke, exhort, with [a]great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves 4 teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside 5 to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill 6 your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has 7 8 come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up 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 loved His appearing. For Timothy. Paul would continue to charge him This time reminding on who s authority he was speaking Verse 1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom Paul is not issuing his charge in his own name or on his own authority But in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and therefore conscious of the divine direction and approval.
Perhaps the strongest of all incentives to faithfulness is the sense of a commission from God. If Timothy can only be assured that he is the servant of the most high God and an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and that Paul s challenge to him is God s challenge, then nothing will deflect him from his task. 1 2 By his appearing and his kingdom The main emphasis of this first verse, however, is not so much on the presence of God as on the coming of Christ o It is evident that Paul still believes in Christ s personal return. Paul still believed in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He had been in ministry for more than 30 years and his earliest letters (such as 1 and 2 Thessalonians) mentioned the return of Jesus. Now, so many years and experiences later, he still believed it with all his heart. Although he now knows that he will die before it takes place, yet still at the end of his ministry he looks forward to it, lives in the light of it and describes Christians as those who love Christ s appearing (8). He is sure that Christ will make a visible appearing and that when he appears he will both judge the living and the dead and consummate his kingdom or reign. Stott All the weight of verse 1 bears on this entreaty. Paul could have not emphasized the matter more strongly. In light of these truths and under God s authority He follows with a series of charges, commands or imperatives The Bible many times starts with an indicative, and follows with an imperative We see 10 Charges or imperatives here. 1. Preach the Word 2. Be Ready in Season & Out 3. Reprove 4. Rebuke 5. Exhort 6. Be Sober in all things 7. Endure hardship 8. Do the work of an evangelist 9. Fulfill your Ministry 10. Finish Well 1 Stott, John (2014-05-02). The Message of 2 Timothy (The Bible Speaks Today Series) (Kindle Locations 1602-1604). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
All of these are for us, but some you ll see may have more of an emphasis for those in vocational ministry or are in some sense of ministry in a formal way. 1. Preach the Word Remember what word Paul is talking about Rewind to last week 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is [a]inspired by God (or God-breathed) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for [b]training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. This is God s word! The Authoritative Word o The same word that by the hearing of it creates faith (Romans 10:17) o The same word that does not come back void (Isaiah 55:11) o The same word that is like a fire and hammer (Jeremiah 23:29) o The living and active word of God (Hebrews 4:12) The same word etc. Preach it! Define the word o Herald it o Tell it o Proclaim Don t let your mouth shut Don t water it down Don t beat around the bush Don t sugar coat it And Timothy, preach God s word not your word. People don t want to hear about you They need God! Lead them to the scriptures timothy Oh how I wish these truths many pastors/preachers would listen too. Sadly and tragically Many evangelicals have moved to away from this, away from the word 3
The abruptness of these commands conveys urgency terminal urgency. Timothy must waste no time. He must get to it. 2 4 2. Be Ready In and out of season Don t be caught off guard. Know the word Know what it says Know why you do what you do For Timothy any Bible teacher/preacher & Pastor We should be ready always. We should preach it when it is easy and preach it when it is hard. We should preach it when the fruit is evident and preach it when the fruit seems invisible. We should just preach it. For all of us: Immerse and saturate yourself with the word!!! If my words abide in you (John piper sermon) Be prepared and to do these things. 3. Reprove 4. Rebuke 5. Exhort All of this do with great patience and instruction Remember last week? The word of God s purpose is for these things That s why its so important we, read our bibles in context We need to get educated as to what we re reading You ll be so lost and confused if you aren t. In order to preach the word, he first needed to know the word 2 Hughes, R. Kent; Bryan Chapell (2012-07-31). 1-2 Timothy and Titus (ESV Edition): To Guard the Deposit (Preaching the Word) (Kindle Location 4294). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
And have let the word truly transform him 5 Because let s be honest. Unless your heart is changed, even with al the head knowledge in the world You wont be ready in the moment as you need to be unless...it s truly apart of who you are One of the main reasons why: Talked in depth about this a few weeks ago Verse 3 The immediate danger, the immediate threat upon the church, and yourself 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, 4 they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths Oh how this sounds like today!? People choose what they want to hear If it upsets their way of life or they don t like what they hear o They re out Timothy needed to keep focused on the Word of God because man, by his natural instinct, does not want God's revelation. He would rather hear what he wants to hear - something to scratch his itching ears. This is all around us The Prosperity Gospel Seeker sensitive Emergent o At one spectrum; you ll get rich if you know Jesus o At the other its minimizing sin, minimizing pain Here s why these are so bad They may have such a negative, evil, deceptive effect that you actually fall away from eth truth This is Pauls concern This is his charge to Timothy Protect the sheep by preaching the word!!!
6 More Charges in Verse 5 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. But you: This is a word of contrast against the people mentioned in the previous sentence 6. Be Sober Doesn t mean not drink o Though that s also true and Godly behavior o Sober (Explain word) o Clear headed, aware, alert 7. Endure Hardship This isn t going to be easy Endure, persevere, long-suffering, etc. 8. Do the work of an evangelist Tell those that don t know Jesus about Jesus You may or not be gifted Do the work of one! o Don t forget that secondary to loving and honoring Christ o Love your neighbor (Telling them of Christ!) 9. Fulfill your ministry Be faithful to what God has called you to. Verse 6-8 7 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have 8 fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up 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 loved His appearing. Drink Offering The idea of a drink offering is first presented in Genesis 35:14, where Jacob poured out a drink offering before the Lord as a sacrifice. In the Mosaic Law, drink offerings could be a part of sacrifice to the Lord (Exodus 29:40-41 and Leviticus 23:13). 3 3 David Guzik, Enduring Word Commentary (http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/5504.htm)
o A drink offering brought wine before the Lord and poured it out at His altar. It was a way to give wine to God as a sacrifice, just as an animal might be given as a sacrifice. Poured out Has the idea of a complete giving, with no reservation. The liquid is completely emptied from the cup, and totally given to God. Time of my departure has come It is Paul knows he s not getting out of prison this time. It s his time to go be with Jesus 10. Finish Well Finishing Well Example Finishing well is one of the hardest things. Starting, no problem, For many of us, this is us Projects around the house. Bored, Discouraged Come up against a problem Paul had come to the end of his life and finished well! And it was in areas where it counted His personal faith and his calling from eth Lord He didn t fall away, he didn t turn from Christ In the face of incredible hardship, persecution and rejection form everyone He clung to Christ If there s anyone that had reason to be give up it was Paul If there ever was someone who would have thrown in the towel Too hard, too much Sadly, this is not the case for lots of people I m sure you can think of friends or family that no longer go to church, they no longer have an active faith or a faith at all Also, so sad is the amount of pastoris that fall, they burnt out, they don t finish well. Really hard and close to home 7
The question is? Will this be us? Will we finish well? Will we with confidence be able to say this about our lives and our walks with Jesus 8 For me It s the thing I fear most Above all else I fear not following Christ and obeying Him o Missing out, being outside his will How to Finish Well: Our Application In order to finish well in anything Once the exciting start is has worn off, A lot of time will be filled with the tedious, mundane, montunoes, All these words that most of is dread And most of these things cause us to not finish well The same is true of our walks with the Lord Our walks and our lives with Christ require maintenance Constant filling up, constant checkups, constant tweaking Endurance, constant, day in and day out, routine, disciple, There are mountain top experiences, there are incredible moments But I would say, the battle for longevity and to win the war Is all won in the little things over the course of a long time Our walks with the Lord need constant attention They need constant maintenance The secret that Paul found and hold on to. Was devotion to Christ He kept, maintained and nurtured consistent devotion to His Lord Constant connection, reminders, time spent, prayer, kept the word continuously For Paul his lifeline, his fuel, his source of endurance, his source for strength and the key to him being able to say this very statement. Comes down to his devotion to Christ Here what I mean by devotion Intimacy, nearness,
Relational connectivity Communion with Him 9 That same truth is for us. In order to say this for ourselves and for this to be true of our won lives We too must cultivate an intimate close continued devotion to Jesus There are obviously other important parts of our Christian walks that will aid, help and cultivate our relationship with the Lord Accountability, going to church, having Godly community, etc. But you could lose all those and still have devotion to Christ and be ok But if you lose your intimate, personal devoted relationship to Jesus o None of those things even matter or do anything anymore o Those are just works with no meaning unless you first have communion with Christ You and Jesus are the most important things You need to protect, nurture and grow that above all else Everything wants to get in the way of that Everything wants to compete for that place in your heart Your time is fought over every day There s always important things How are our walks setup? Are they setup for longevity and finishing well Are we not taking it seriously? Are we nurturing and maintaining our devotional life with the Lord? There is a reward at the end of the race. That Jesus In all his fullness, in all his splendor, in all his glory We get to be with him for all of eternity o Jesus is the prize o He is our Treasure