At this point in the letter, in light of all that has been said before, Paul is now telling Timothy, his son in the faith, to grow stronger in his faith, to be strengthened in his faith. He says in vs 1, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” What Paul is calling for is simply for Timothy to grow stronger in his salvation. The grace that is in Christ Jesus is just another way of referring to salvation, which he said in ch.1 vs 5 he is sure that Timothy had, just as his mother and grandmother had, and which of course Paul himself has.
So by extension, we that are saved are encouraged to grow stronger in our salvation. I think that is a reference to the need for spiritual maturity. To be strong in the faith does not speak of somehow gaining the faith to do greater and greater works, but it means to exercise your faith so that your faith grows stronger, more mature. When we are saved we are said to be born again. But that new life we have is not a static position that we stay in for the rest of our lives. We are not born again to remain infants, or even children in the faith, but our new life should grow, become stronger, and become mature, complete.
As James said in James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” So also Timothy in enduring trials, even persecution, suffering with Paul as he said in chapter one, vs8 saying, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with [me] in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God…” In that suffering, Timothy’s faith would be matured, he would be strengthened with the power of God.
I’m sure all of us know that in physical exercise we gain strength in our bodies. We go to the gym and put our bodies through a trial, through suffering, in order to gain strength. Strength is not gained by sitting on the couch watching television, eating junk food. If we are to be strengthened, we have to cause our bodies to suffer exertion, fatigue, and soreness in order for our muscles to grow.
There is a fitness guy whose videos I sometimes watch on YouTube. Sometimes I confess I watch videos about working out, rather than actually working out myself. And I get tired just watching this guy’s videos. But this guy’s name is David Goggins. You may have heard of him. He is an ex Navy Seal who used to weigh over 300 pounds, and was in a dead end job, but somehow became motivated to try to become a Navy Seal. In that process he put himself through rigorous training and physical discipline and ended up losing around 100 pounds in three months and eventually made it through Seal training, though it took him three tries to get through what they call BUDS, which is the training school they are required to pass. Since his retirement from the Navy, he has written some books about his perspective on life and his dedication to training. His mantra is “stay hard” or “stay strong.” And it speaks of his dedication to put his body to the test physically every day, and push himself beyond the limits of what he feels like doing, what he thinks he can do, and the result is that he is able to do much more than anyone would think was possible. He has competed in many ultra marathons that were each around a 100 mile or more races.
Now David Goggins is an illustration of physical strength, and the ongoing need for endurance and to keep building on that strength everyday. But Paul is talking about spiritual strength and endurance, and the maturity that we need to be striving for everyday. But the similarity between the physical and the spiritual is this, that maturity or strength or endurance does not happen outside of a struggle, outside of exercise, outside of trials. But persevering in faith through trials produces maturity, or the perfection our faith.
So Paul urges Timothy to “stay strong.” Apply endurance, don’t shrink back from trials, don’t quit, don’t try to sit it out. Christianity is not a life spent on the couch, but it is a life spent in conflict. And in light of that need to be strong, Paul is going to give Timothy four exercises if you will to help him reach that goal of spiritual maturity, of perfection. So we as well can apply these four exercises in order to be strengthened in our faith.
The first exercise is to teach others. If you’ve ever taken an exercise class, it’s very likely that the fittest person in the room is the one who is teaching the class. Paul says in vs 2, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” One sure way to grow in your faith is to teach others. I suppose it’s true of other disciplines as well. Because when you teach you must first learn the principles for yourself, and then process them in a way that breaks it down so that others can understand it, and then rehearse those principles for them.
There is nothing that hardens and strengthens your doctrine like teaching. Teaching then is an exercise that has a dual benefit, in that it works to strengthen your faith, and it works to strengthen other’s faith as well. And so in a greater sense of the church at large, teaching is the means by which we strengthen THE faith. We build the kingdom of God through teaching.
Notice what Timothy was to teach though. He was to teach the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. He is referring to the preaching of word of God that he had heard from Paul. The gospel. What in verse 13 of the previous chapter he called “sound words which you have heard from me.” In vs 8 of that chapter he called it the “gospel according to the power of God.”
Listen, teaching that has any life giving or strength giving properties is going to be teaching that is the gospel, sound doctrine, the word of God, which has the power to save souls. It is not teaching that is based on worldly philosophies, or on the wisdom of this world. But it is teaching spiritual words from God, which are powerful, living, and sharper than a two edged sword, able to divide between soul and spirit, joint and marrow. You don’t grow spiritual strength or maturity by teaching worldly fables, or sentimental stories, or psychological self help sermonettes. You strengthen the soul with the word of God.
I ran across a quote the other day by DL Moody which speaks of the relationship between faith and the word of God that I think applies to this. He said, “I prayed for faith, and thought that same day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.”
So teaching the word of God is the first exercise to strengthen our faith. The second exercise Paul gives is enduring hardship, which he illustrates by the life of a soldier. He says in vs3 “Suffer hardship with [me,] as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Notice, he doesn’t say enjoy peace and prosperity with me. He doesn’t say enjoy blessing and perfect health with me. No, iron must be forged in a furnace, and silver must be refined in a fire. Endurance in trials, in testing, is the means of building strength.
Peter spoke of fiery trials that we must go through in 1Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”
Paul says embrace suffering along with me. Paul certainly suffered in so many ways for the faith. Paul said in chapter one, for Timothy not to be ashamed of his suffering. And Paul himself was not ashamed of his suffering, because he knew it was not in vain, but for the glory of the gospel.
Soldiers suffer all sorts of hardships for the glory of their country. They suffer tremendously just in training, such as David Goggins went through in BUDS training. Unbelievable physical suffering that they have to endure for the privilege of being able to call themselves a soldier. And then once they have deployed, they must go through the suffering of being separated from their loved ones, being in constant danger, being under attack from the enemy, unable to enjoy the pleasures of life that their friends seem to be enjoying back home.
Paul speaking of his service and his suffering compared it to his detractors in 2Cor. 11:23-28 saying, “Are they servants of Christ?--I speak as if insane--I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine [lashes.] Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. [I have been] on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from [my] countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; [I have been] in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from [such] external things, there is the daily pressure on me [of] concern for all the churches.”
Now most of us will never have to endure the hardships that Paul suffered. But the question is not how much suffering we endure, but whether or not we enlist to serve as a soldier in the kingdom of God. The average Christian today is like the draft dodgers of the 60’s. “Yeah, I’m an American, but I’m not going to fight for my country. I’m going to let someone else suffer as a soldier. I”m not going to Vietnam, I’m going to drop out and sing songs about peace and love instead. Yeah, that’ll work.”
The reason that we don’t want to be soldiers is because we don’t recognize we are at war. We don’t recognize that the enemy is destroying our families and friends. But Paul repeatedly tells us in the scriptures that we are at war. Consider 2Cor. 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
And Eph 6:11-12 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of wickedness in the heavenly [places.]”
So if we understand that we are at war, then it makes sense that we are soldiers, and we should expect some trials due to that conflict. And to that point then, we should have the perspective that Paul gives in vs 4, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” Entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life. What does that mean? I think it might be explained in another analogy of a runner that is used in Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares [us], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The affairs of this life that entangle us might be sin, but they might also be hindrances or weights, that cause us to slow down, to get tired, to become distracted from the race that we have been given to run.
So we suffer as a soldier so that we might please the One who enlisted us as a soldier. If you love the Lord you will try to please the Lord, you will serve the Lord. I think of the soldiers under David, when he was in a long protracted battle, and he said in 2Samuel 23:15-17 "Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!" So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took [it] and brought [it] to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD; and he said, "Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this. [Shall I drink] the blood of the men who went in [jeopardy] of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.” How could our love for the Lord demand any less sacrifice, how could we suffer less for our King who has given us life and immortality and an inheritance in His kingdom?
The next exercise for strengthening our faith is illustrated by another metaphor, and this one is of an athlete. He says in vs 5, “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” The idea that is presented here is first of all striving to win, that is expressed in the concept of competes. You play a sport to win, don’t you? That’s the goal. And to win, you must strive. In that sense it’s similar to the battle of the soldier. He is fighting an enemy for the prize which is victory. In the realm of athletics, we strive for victory over our opponent as well.
Our opponent has already been disclosed in previous verses we looked at. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of wickedness in the heavenly [places.]” This is our opponent, a competition for the souls of men. To win men and women to the kingdom of God is the goal of this endeavor.
Paul says if you are to win the prize, you must compete according to the rules. What is he talking about here? Is he presenting a template of legalism that we must keep if we are to enter the kingdom of God? No, not at all. What he is saying is that our faith must be according to the gospel of God. The word of God is the law of God, the rules which God has ordained must be kept. For example, Timothy must preach and teach the truth of God, the sound words which he received from Paul, and preach out of a sacrificial love for others, or he will not win the prize, which is the salvation of souls for the kingdom of God. Only the gospel has the power to save souls. There is no salvation in a social gospel, or another gospel which is not founded on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for sinners. So you must fight, or must compete, you must strive by being faithful to the word of God.
The last exercise for the strengthening of faith is found in another metaphor, this time of a farmer. He says in vs 6, “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.” I have heard this verse used in a variety of ways, almost always without considering the context in which we find it. I am guilty of that as well. But in thinking and considering the full context of this passage, I have changed my understanding of this verse.
But rather than telling you all the ways it is misinterpreted, I want to just focus on what Paul is saying. I think the point he is making here is that if you are to be strengthened in the faith, or matured in your faith, it will be due to hard work. Now that is going to go against the grain of the “by faith alone, by grace alone” crowd. I agree wholeheartedly with Ephesians 2:8 which says, We are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”
But most people take that verse out of context as well. Because the very next verse says this; “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” So we are not saved by good works, but we are saved FOR good works. Did you get that? We are not saved by our good works, but we are saved for good works. That means we that are saved have a job to do, a service to perform, a duty that calls.
And as Paul indicates in this metaphor here, that work we are given to do we should work hard at. It requires some effort. Isn’t that what he has been saying all along? Suffer, endurance, trials, discipline, etc all speak of some effort that must be expended on our part in our path of sanctification. Sanctification is not done in an easy chair watching the TBN station, or driving your Mercedes while listening to K Love on the radio.
Paul relates it to a hard working farmer. Now that should prompt us to ask what is the other famous analogy of farming that is found in scripture? Is it not the parable of the sower that Jesus gave? And what was the farmer in that parable sowing? Jesus said the seed was the word of God. Boy, we just can’t get away from the essentiality of the word of God, can we? The sower went out to sow and he sowed the word of God on all the ground in his farm. And some fell on good ground and some fell on bad ground. But the seed which fell on good ground took root and grew up and bore fruit.
Now then, in light of that parable, we can see that Paul is saying that if we work hard at sowing the word of God, then we should be able to see the fruit of that sowing. One thing is for sure, the lazy farmer doesn’t see much of a crop. It takes diligence and hard work to teach and preach the gospel to every living creature. To go into all the world and proclaim the gospel is not something we can do from our living room easy chair.
But just as teaching is a means of growth in the Christian, so is working in the vineyard a means of growing as a Christian. Psalm 126:5-6 says, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying [his] bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves [with him.]”. Prayer is work. Witnessing is work. And Paul indicates that we may increase our productivity by working hard at it. Increase our production, increase our labor, and the dual benefit is we grow in our faith, and we minister to also grow in faith.
The last statement in vs 7 says, “Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” Paul gave the previous metaphors without really breaking it down for us as to how to apply it to our faith. But he says that if you consider it the Lord will give you understanding. That means if you meditate on the word, the Holy Spirit will illumine your mind so that you can understand the word. I spoke of this the other night at Bible study. We so often give a cursory reading to a Psalm or a passage of scripture and not really get what it’s talking about. But I said one helpful hint in studying a passage is to read it again and again. The more your read it and meditate on it, the more insight the Holy Spirit will give you. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job by the way. His job isn’t to give you goosebumps, or make the hair on your arms stand up, his job is to give you understanding.
Jesus said concerning the Spirit’s function; John 16:13-14 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.”
I hope if you are a Christian that you will recognize today that is not a static position, but it’s a life that is patterned after the footsteps of Jesus Christ. We don’t just believe in Him, but we follow Him, doing as He did, serving Him, working for the kingdom of God as His ministers. I trust that you will not take lightly these admonitions to you today, and exercise the grace that has been given to you, teaching others the truth of the gospel, working diligently for the kingdom, striving in your proclamation of the gospel so that you may please the One who enlisted you, so you may win the prize, and share in the crop of the harvest of souls.
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