In one of my seminary classes, I have been studying the letter of 2 Timothy, and I recently decidedly to write my final paper on one of the paragraphs in the letter, 2 Timothy 2:1-7. It’s a short, but familiar passage where the apostle Paul encourages ‘timid’ Timothy to be strong in God’s grace amidst the trying times of the Christianity-persecuting Roman Empire.
I’ll keep the structure of the blog pretty simple. I’ll put the text directly below this, and then I’ll hash out some gospel implications found in the text that I find quite inspiring. Here’s 2 Timothy 2:1-7, check it out:
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
When you approach any text in the Bible, the first thing you should think of is ‘how does this passage fit into the redemptive storyline of the entire Bible?’ and then ‘how does gospel-rendering of the text enrich this specific passage?’ That’s kind of what I want to do here—look for the ways that this text relates to Jesus, and see how it’s relation to Jesus enriches the meaning of this passage altogether.
First, in verses 1-2, Paul encourages Timothy ‘be strengthened’ by the grace of Christ and ‘to entrust’ the message of the gospel to reliable, faithful men. Two commands. But in order to not treat these two commands as simply commands (and to therefore become legalistic in your approach), instead think of the indicatives that precede and motivate these commands. First, Jesus was entirely strengthened by God to complete the mission of God. True, he was God, but he was also human, and he relied entirely on the Father for enabling grace in his human condition. Likewise, as people who aren’t also God, how much more should we depend entirely on God’s enabling grace to complete the mission of God? And second, Jesus is the ultimate example who entrusted the gospel message to reliable, faithful men; he chose 12 disciples and invested in them. In fact, Christians in North Carolina and in Hong Kong and Beijing and Mexico City are Christians because Jesus invested in those 12 men. Therefore, our command to entrust the gospel message and invest in others isn’t a really command ‘to do’ for Jesus, but an encouragement to follow in what he has already done.
But verses 3-7 are where the gospel especially shines through in a brilliant way. Take some time to rehash those verses. Three illustrations: soldier, athlete, and farmer—behind each of these illustrations is the basic encouragement to endure the suffering because the reward is greater. Indeed, a ‘gospel’ rendering of the text might suggest that Jesus is the ultimate example of the soldier, athlete, and farmer whom we are to follow after all.
As a soldier, even though Jesus was the general, he forsook all his justified comfort and luxury and lovingly went on the front line to absorb the blow for all of us. Therefore, how much more should we lovingly go into the front lines for the mission of the world, sacrificing the pithy luxury we have here, which will fade and which we can’t take to heaven anyways? No, the investments we make here are the ones we will see and cherish forever.
As an athlete, even though Jesus was God, he humbled himself as a human, to experience the most intense ‘training’ of life. He experienced all temptation and every kind of discomfort of life, and overcame. He competed according to the rules of righteousness, and because he obeyed in every way and never failed to sin, he won the prize of complete righteousness before God. Yet, thankfully, he graciously offers that prize of his life—righteousness, complete right standing with God—to all who trust in him and join his team, so to speak.
As a farmer, even though Jesus could have refused to toil for our redemption, he decided to undergo constant toil to cultivate a ripe harvest of salvation for us all, which he bids us to participate and rejoice in. Truly, it was his blood that was poured out for us all that watered the crop of salvation. He didn’t have to subject himself to such toil, pain, grief, and loneliness, but he did it so that we wouldn’t have to toil for our own salvation and fail. In fact, just like a scarecrow in the garden wards off birds and animals that steal from the fruit of the garden, so also does the hanging Christ on the tree secure the garden of life and righteousness and damn Satan’s attempts of destroying the inevitable harvest of his blood.
Christians aren’t called to be ‘soldiers, athletes, and farmers’ in our own strength for the mission of God. No, we are called to follow Jesus’ example that ultimately saved us, went before us, and now empowers us.
Remember, Christians, you fellow ‘soldiers, athletes, and farmers’ who are called to suffer for God:
Jesus suffered the most and sacrificed the most in human history for you to accomplish the greatest victory for you. And now, He is calling you to suffer a little bit so that you can lay hold of his victory too. Truly, without Jesus’ suffering, we would never be able to know the extent of his love for us. And without our suffering, the world will never be able to know the extent of our love for Him. When we suffer, it is our instinct to blame God. Yet, we so often forget that God willingly suffered MOST for us in Christ, absorbing our blame against Him.
Your suffering is a megaphone to the listening world. Suffering has a way of revealing what is most important to you—suffering brings everything to the top to see. Like a teabag, your real ‘flavor’ comes out in hot water. So when we are poured out, what do people ‘taste’? What’s the main essence of our life? Your suffering reveals it. When you suffer, how do you react, where do you go? When you get cut open, what pours out of you? Bitterness or hope? Knowing Jesus first as our great sufferer who promises that our suffering is not vain IS the empowerment for enduring suffering in a way that glorifies Christ and sweetens our joy in Him.
When we suffer for Christ, we share in the suffering of Christ. Remember that He isn’t ever calling us to do something for Him that He hasn’t already done for us. Remember that you have never suffered something that He hasn’t suffered either.
“If Christ be God and died for me, then there is no sacrifice that is too great for me to make for Him.” —CT Studd
