in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 2. I had hoped to be in the gospel of John this morning. There's a lot going on in that prologue in the first several verses. So I think I need another week before we start that epistle.
We've been dealing with many and varied churchly themes with reference to the people of God gathered on the Lord's day. I thought we would indeed look at the pastoral ministry, 2 Timothy 2, verses one to seven. I'll read the whole chapter and then we'll focus in, as I said, on verses one to seven. So 2 Timothy chapter 2, beginning in verse 1.
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains.
But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying. For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself.
Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed, concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already passed, and they overthrow the faith of some.
Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work.
Flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. but avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Father, we thank you for the written word of the living God. We thank you for these pastoral epistles, these letters written to pastors and churches for the good of the church. And I pray that you'd give us ears to hear and hearts to receive and understand your truth. Again, forgive us for all sin and everything that darkens our understanding.
Fill us and guide us and illumine us by the power and the presence of your Holy Spirit. that God may be glorified in this place, and that our church may seek by grace to function in a way that you have called us to. Again, bless Mike, bless Ryan, bless other men that are laboring in the Word and in doctrine, and just look with favor upon them. And we ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Introduction
Well, typically on Sunday morning, I usually go up to the kitchen and grab a drink of water and do any last-minute preparations. And this morning, up on the screen there, it said, the good soldier of Jesus Christ, and then it had a picture of me. It looked very cheesy in my estimation. That's no offense to the guys who are in the media department.
But this is not coming from a guru. This is not coming from a man who has it all figured out. I am under the Word, just like everybody else is under the Word, and I need my heart to be chastened, to be rebuked, to be corrected, and to be instructed as well. But in the larger scheme, in terms of church life, Men of God lead the Church of God, and as a result, men of God must function in the manner that God calls them to.
In other words, we're not supposed to disregard passages like 2 Timothy 2, 1-7, in the midst of a pandemic. We still need to be faithful, we still need to be obedient, and we still need to soldier on, as Paul uses the metaphor here, a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Three Commands to Timothy
So the apostle in verses one to seven is doing three things. First, there is the command to be strong in verse one. Secondly, the duty to train pastors in verse two. And then thirdly, the exhortation to suffer hardship in verses three to seven.
So we'll look first at the command to be strong.
The Command to Be Strong
He says in verse 1 of chapter 2, you therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The word therefore connects us to the context. The word therefore is there for a specific reason. Notice back in chapter 1 at verse 8, Paul tells Timothy, "...therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God." He then goes on to indicate or underscore his own faithfulness relative to that ministry.
Notice what he says in verse 10, "...but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason, I also suffered these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. So Timothy, join with me in suffering for the testimony of the Lord.
That means his gospel, his life, his death, his resurrection, that message of the cross. Suffer for it if necessary, Timothy, and do not be ashamed of me. In other words, Paul is in prison at this particular time, and no doubt persons had said, well, he deserves to be in prison. He's got what's coming to him.
Let him rot there. Paul says to Timothy, another faithful man, no, you're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to throw me under the bus. You're to maintain fidelity, not only to the Lord, but to his apostle.
He then gives him a direct exhortation in verses 13 and 14. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. So, Timothy, this is how you're supposed to comply.
This is how you're supposed to maintain an unashamed allegiance to the Lord Christ and to his chief apostle. And then he ends the chapter by furnishing a few examples, men that were not faithful, to the testimony of the Lord or to the condition of the Apostle Paul. Notice in verse 15. While there was the shining example in Onesiphorus, all in Asia, and by that he means Asia Minor, they had abandoned him.
Phygelus and Hermogenes no longer wanted to associate with the very thought of knowing the Apostle Paul. And so it's on the heels of that, or in this context, that he brings these exhortations to Timothy. You therefore, my son, that term of affection, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. There is need for strength in the Christian ministry.
Turn back to 1 Timothy 1, specifically at verse 18. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. Look at the martial language that the Apostle Paul employs. This isn't all fun and games.
This isn't just wandering our way to heaven attended by bluebirds and rose petals. It is a difficult situation that we find ourselves in. The world hates Jesus Christ. They despise the God of heaven and earth.
Things have not significantly changed from Psalm 2, where the nations of the earth and the kings and the rulers take their stand together against Yahweh and against his Christ. That hasn't changed, brethren. Look around you and understand the reality that we're involved in a warfare. As well, 2 Timothy 4, verse 1, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.
Again, why so epic? Why so dramatic? You can preach just about anything today and nobody will ever hinder you. You can espouse just about anything today and nobody will ever be offended. but preach the gospel, tell sinners of their sin, tell them of their need for blood atonement, tell them of their need for heaven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and they shut down.
It happens within the church. Paul says, one of the reasons why you're to preach the word is because the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Rather, they'll keep up to themselves false teachers that'll simply tickle their ears. So there is a warfare at hand, or a war at hand, and Paul tells Timothy to be strong.
John Gill says to be strong in it, to preach it boldly, to defend it bravely, and courageously oppose every error and heresy and every abetter thereof. So specifically, the man of God, the pastor in the church, needs to be strong. But generically or generally, that is a duty enjoined upon every believer. Turn to 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. not just pastors who need to be strong in the grace of our Lord, but it's all people who confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13, watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong, let all that you do be done with love.
That statement, be brave, it's from the word that simply means conduct oneself in a manly or courageous way. In fact, I think the NASB and the ESV are better here. Act like men. It reflects the King James tradition.
Quit you like men. Women need to act like men. Not in the sense that they drag their knuckles and pick their noses, but in the sense that they have courage. that they stand fast, that they hold firmly to the word of truth. Every woman should be diligently taught theology and scripture so that she can stand on her own.
Yes, she submits to her husband, and yes, she rules over her kids, but she needs in her own right to be mentally alert to the truth of God's holy word, and she needs to act like a man. Oh, but Pastor Butler, you don't think women ought to preach and teach in the church. I don't think that because the Bible says they're not supposed to. But that doesn't mean they're supposed to be ignorant.
It doesn't mean that they're supposed to be mouth breathers. It doesn't mean that they're supposed to be fools. They need to know the Scriptures and they need to act like men when it comes to defending the gospel of free and sovereign grace. So back to 2 Timothy 2, verse 1.
You therefore, based on everything that he has said, my son, be strong. And then he says, in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It's not a strength that's native to you, Timothy. It's not something you just reach down in your inner depths and pull out.
It's not just, you know, knuckle under and pull up your bootstraps. It's in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. One commentator says, Timothy is to show manly resolution But the real strength of his efforts will come from the grace Christ freely gives, which is a wonderful statement. So that a man doesn't have to be natively strong.
He doesn't have to come out of the womb ready for combat. He doesn't have to be the guy with 18 inch biceps and a 30 inch waist and a chest that's just out. He doesn't have to do that. He has access to the Lord Jesus.
He has access to sovereign grace. He has access to every resource that is necessary, furnished by God Most High, such that the man of God can stand strong. There is not some sort of a class of minister out there that got more natively gifted for this particular work. No, the Lord Christ Most High offers grace to all who need it.
He doesn't go about it in a stingy way. He's not a miser. He's not an Ebenezer Scrooge. He doesn't just dole it out a little bit.
We come to the Lord Christ for strength to stand. We'll find that the Lord Christ gives strength to stand. It's a really an amazing thing. The Lord Jesus does what He promises that He'll do.
The Duty to Train Pastors
Now notice, secondly, this duty to train pastors. Throughout this particular context, there is a series of commands given to Timothy so that Timothy can maintain fidelity both to the testimony of the Lord and with reference to the Apostle Paul. But Timothy, as Paul well knows, is going to die. Timothy's not going to live forever.
There is one, the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that is the Lord Christ. So in order to propagate the Christian gospel throughout the ages, it is most necessary that the church take seriously verse 2. And with reference to verse 2, notice that it's addressed to the church. Now, seminaries have their place.
Seminaries can be beneficial. Seminaries can be helpful. But a seminary that is not closely connected to church is going to be problematic. With reference to the necessity of training ministers, the Apostle Paul assumes that the Church of Jesus Christ can do it.
Remember in 1 Timothy chapter 3, 14 and 15, Paul identifies the church as the house of God, the church of the living God, which is what? The pillar and ground, not of religious experience, not of existential moment, not of religious ecstasy, but it is the pillar and the ground of the truth. So as the pillar and the ground of the truth, it ought to follow that the church can identify persons, men, that should be preachers. And then the church can take seriously that activity to train them and fit them for usefulness in gospel ministry.
When I put that in the update yesterday, let me know who you think should be a deacon or an elder. That wasn't willy-nilly, it wasn't out of right field. At the AGM, I had mentioned that. At the annual general meeting, I had mentioned that.
Because this month, this year thus far has been as topsy-turvy and as weird as last year was, it's been difficult to follow up with certain things. So if you see a man or men that fit the qualifications or on the on their way to meeting those qualifications in 1 Timothy 3. For elders and then deacons, let me know. But here's the text, or here's one of the passages as to the duty involved with reference to the Christian church.
Notice back in 1 Timothy 6 at verse 20. Paul says, O Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust. Paul took pains to commit things to Timothy's trust. Notice that he goes on to say, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.
By professing it, some have strayed concerning the truth of faith. Grace be with you. Amen. And then notice in 2 Timothy 1.14, we've already seen that.
That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. So when we get to 2 Timothy 2.2, he says, and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Again, Paul doesn't want the church to end in the first century. 2 Timothy is the last letter. He knows that he's going to die.
The time of his departure is at hand, he says in 2 Timothy chapter 4. He has fought the fight. He has run the race. He has kept the faith.
There's a crown laid up for him. He knows he's going to die. But as I said, he knows that Timothy's going to die. And so a duty or responsibility of the church is to identify men, to train those men, to see those men fit and qualified, and then to ordain those men and to use those men.
And if things keep going the way they're going in our generation, If there is this continual hindrance on the part of the government relative to the Church of Christ, this passage is going to become crucial. Because they're going to have to be the kinds of men that stand strong. They're going to have to be the kinds of men that are good soldiers in Christ Jesus. They're going to have to be the sorts of men that are like the athlete, and like the farmer, and the devoted disciple.
They're going to have to be the kinds of men that stand up in the midst of opposition and nevertheless preach the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. So with reference to the church of our Lord Jesus, notice the instruction in verse 2. Commit these to faithful men. Now every man should be faithful.
Every man should be diligent. Every man should imitate what is written in the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1. That ought not to surprise any of us. If an elder, a man desires the office of a bishop, it's a good work that he desires and he must be these things.
The only significant distinctive with reference to the eldership is that he must be apt to teach. But in terms of the virtue, in terms of the quality, in terms of the characteristics, all those things ought to be what every man is pursuing every day as a believer in Jesus Christ. But we identify faithful men who have demonstrated a degree of achievement in those areas. We identify faithful men as men, if not fully qualified, on their way to qualification.
And so this assumes that the church of Jesus Christ is going to look at and look for faithful men. It's not the case that I just show up one day and say, hey, we got a ringer from without and he's your new pastor. No, that's not how we do things. We identify men, we then commit these things to them.
Notice what he says, the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses. In other words, the Bible. In other words, good theology. In other words, everything that Paul had spent time teaching Timothy was absolutely crucial for the church today.
This idea, well, you know, he can't really preach or teach, and he doesn't really know a whole lot, but he's sure a nice fellow. Well, he could be a nice fellow anywhere else, but not in the Christian pulpit. This idea that, oh no, you've set the bar too high. Brethren, God sets the bar high.
He must be apt to teach. He must be faithful in terms of his own appreciation of that truth, and he must be faithful in terms of his articulation of that truth. That's not me. It's not Spurgeon.
It's not Thornwell. It's not the proven masters in the past that wrote upon these things. It's God. So this idea, yeah, he's not, I don't know that he can recite the books of the Bible, but he has coffee with us every week.
He doesn't know what the hypostatic union is, but boy, he's sure friendly. Brethren, that's okay. Be friendly, be happy, be joyful, be wonderful. But don't enter into a pulpit if you don't know what the hypostatic union is.
If you can't define justification by faith alone. If you don't have a semblance of an appreciation for the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. A guy may be the nicest and most godly fellow in the world, but if he is not apt to teach, he is not apt to be a pastor. It is that simple.
And that's not sin. You're not a sinner because you're not a pastor. Some guys get this bee in their bonnet, and it's always just amazed me. Oh, no, this is my life calling because Aunt Betty, when I was two, laid her hands and prayed over me and said, you're going to be a missionary.
Yeah, but you can't preach. Aunt Betty was wrong. Oh no, Aunt Betty wasn't wrong, you're wrong. It's a terrible way to approach life.
It is not a sin to not be a pastor. On that day of judgment, you're not going to hear, and you never became a pastor, so away with it. That's not a sin. Don't treat it that way.
But with reference to our church, with reference to us as the people of God, we identify faithful men and then we commit truth into their capable hands so that, notice the purpose, Faithful men who will be able to teach others also. One of the things that's so beautiful about the Bible is that it's others-oriented. If you are a narcissist, the Bible isn't going to be your favorite book. The Bible is about everything other than you.
It's about God first and foremost, and then it's about others, and then finally it's about you. In other words, we want to identify men, we want to commit truth to these men, so that they can now go out and teach others that truth as well. See, as a church that takes seriously the Word of God and good Christian theology, I feel peculiar necessity at this particular task. I live in this world.
I see what's going on in other churches. I see the theological shallowness and the lack of biblical conviction that is out there. So with reference to that, it seems to me imperative that we as a church take these mandates seriously. Again, in a wartime setting, there might be field promotions from time to time.
We talk about the situation in Vernon, how long? I'm not going to attach a particular time frame on there. I'm going to say that brother needs to be ready and the people need to be ready, but it's say, oh, four, five, eight, 10, 15 years. We need churches open, brethren.
I don't know if anybody's observed that recently. My brother-in-law asked my beloved the other day, did all these other churches who have said they're going to open up, open up? Well, I don't know. I'm not privy to that.
I mean, I still have the alliance with the two men that we have been with since the very beginning. I think a couple others along the way have opened up, but it's not like driving to church on Sunday morning. You're passing by all these open churches. So, the idea is that this is most essential, this is most necessary, this is something that is crucial.
There's a lot of things that, in the midst of a pandemic, we may suspend, but when it comes to identifying men, and committing these things to men, so that those men can in turn teach others? This is a most blessed privilege given by Christ to His church, and one that we must rise to, and one that we must take seriously. The fact is, brethren, is that there is a dearth in the land of the kind of guys that Paul is telling Timothy he needs to be in this particular passage.
The Exhortation to Suffer Hardship
Now notice thirdly, the exhortation to suffer hardship in verses 3 to 7. He first states a command in verse three. You therefore must endure hardship. You therefore must endure hardship.
Turn back to 1 Timothy 4, verse 10. For to this end, we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the savior of all men, especially of those who believe. Again, have you ever pondered that reality? All we're doing is preaching the true and living God.
All we're doing is telling people how to get saved. All we're doing is telling people that bought atonement is necessary in order for a guilty sinner to enter into the presence of a holy God. You think the world would welcome such information. You think they would love to hear such information.
But it's just the opposite. As I said earlier, you can espouse anything today. You can hold to anything today. And you are encouraged to do so by the powers that be.
You can deny all scientific evidence relative to gender. You can deny all scientific evidence relative to babies in the womb. relative to elderly people, relative to mentally ill people. You can deny all that. You can embrace the voodoo and the superstition and the garbagey witchcraft that is espoused by government today.
But the moment a man of God stands in a pulpit and preaches the truth of God, that's when you suffer reproach? That's when you're castigated? That's when you're cut off? Yeah, exactly.
Greg Bonson once made the illustration concerning the works of Socrates and Jesus. It was in an article on textual criticism. Textual criticism isn't being critical of the text. I don't like you.
Textual criticism is simply examining the extant manuscripts and seeing the patterns and seeing the families and seeing the tradition and then categorizing those texts into family types. Now, God breathed out His Word. It was given by inspiration. It's profitable for everything Paul says it is.
But once people started copying it down and sending it to other churches, there were what were called variant readings that were introduced in the text. Sometimes scribes made errors. Sometimes persons, when they looked at a line, they wrote a different line. That has happened.
But in terms of the extant manuscripts of the New Testament, we have over 5,000. 5,000, more than 5,000. That doesn't mean fully Matthew to Revelation, but it's bits and pieces and parts, and then there's a whole lot of those that do contain a big swath of Holy Scripture. Well, Bonson mentioned, and I think it was Socrates, it was Plato. Plato, the works of Plato that you buy at your college bookstore, the oldest extant manuscript was from the 9th century AD.
The 9th century AD, and there was one of them. You get students at the campuses saying, well, I don't think Plato actually said this. I don't think Plato actually said or wrote this. They do it all the time with the scriptures.
Why is that? Because man is sinner, and man hates creator, and man is going to oppose the word of God every step of the way if he is able. So it ought not to alarm us that there's reproach, It ought not to alarm us that there's suffering. It ought not to alarm us that there's hardship.
Rather, it should underscore the doctrine of total depravity. Sinners don't like to hear that they're sinners. Sinners don't like to hear that they're going to hell apart from blood atonement. Sinners don't like to hear all that negativity.
Sinners need positive outlooks. Sinners need happiness. Sinners need all of this sort of thing. And then us old-fashioned preachers come along and tell them that they're wretches.
Yeah, they don't like it. They get upset. So Paul the Apostle tells Timothy to endure. To endure, you must endure hardship.
Again, back in, let's see, a couple other passages. Notice 2 Timothy 1.8. 2 Timothy 1.8, already read it. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. We worked our way through the book of Acts.
What was Paul's crime? He preached Jesus as the Messiah. That's it. That was his crime.
That's what brought him before Felix, Festus, Agrippa, and then ultimately Nero. It was the crime of preaching Christ as the Messiah. Unbelieving Jews resisted that. Unbelieving Jews rejected that.
Unbelieving Jews despised that, as Paul will tell us in 1 Corinthians 1. The idea or concept of a crucified Messiah was a scandal to the Jewish mind. So that was his crime. He was treated poorly. 2 Timothy 4, you can turn there.
Look at verse 6. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing.
He knows he's going to die. History tells us that he did die. It was under Nero. He lost his head.
He had his head chopped off. Again, what was your crime, Paul? I preach Jesus as the Messiah. So Paul understands the risks involved with being a minister of the Christian gospel.
And understanding the risks involved with being a minister of the Christian gospel, he wants to prepare Timothy. He wants Timothy to be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. But as well, he wants Timothy to endure hardship. Suffer if necessary.
Go through the afflictions and the pain. You must endure hardship and then notice the metaphor as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. This isn't the only place that the apostle uses that military imagery for the man of God. He uses it in several places in the New Testament.
Again, it's not facilitator, it's not drama instructor, it's not some sort of a community organizer. It's a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The language itself suggests the difficulty involved. If you contact Pastor Kirkpatrick, not today, he's busy, but if you contact him during the week and ask him about his internship that he had here the first summer off from seminary, the second summer he went to Singapore, the first summer he was an intern here.
Ask him what much of the instruction was taken up with. He'll probably tell you, Pastor Butler tried to talk me out of going into the Christian ministry. Pastor Butler tried to talk me into going into electrician work. That's what he had originally anticipated at one point in his life.
Pastor Butler tried to dissuade me. Not, I don't think, in a vicious, horrific way. I mean, I didn't hit him, or clobber him, or yell at him, or spit on him, or buffet him, or anything like that. But the idea is simple.
James 3, 1 is a reality. Let not many of you become teachers, for we shall incur a stricter judgment. If a blind man leads the blind, they both fall into the pit. But I'm sure the man that's leading is more culpable and responsible than those lemmings who happily followed him into the pit.
And so there is great responsibility involved. And so he tells Timothy, you must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. That's the metaphor that he uses to liken the Christian ministry to. It's like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, the weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal.
We're not strapped to the hip with the Glock and the shotgun and the AR and all that sort of thing. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are there. We are in a war and those weapons are to be employed, preaching, prayer, those things that God specifies are offensive in terms of the enemy. So with reference to this reality, the metaphor that the apostle uses is that you must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
The obvious presupposition is that there will be hardship. This has really surprised me about the response of the church to this particular lockdown mandate. Again, I should qualify a billion more times. I'm not suggesting there's no virus.
I am saying that it's not what they told us it was going to be. And now almost two years into the lockdowns, two years into this, we know who's vulnerable, we know who's at risk, we know what to do, and in my mind, what we have in terms of our government is a disobedience to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is them that are in defiance and not us. Now having said all that, when the order comes to shut the churches, I remember getting that order.
It was on a Thursday afternoon, November 19th. I remember going, Man, that wasn't supposed to happen. Man, that's a tough one to deal with. Man, I feel disenfranchised by my own government.
And of course, I knew what we needed to do. We need to stay open. We need to persevere. Because remember, back in November, we knew who was at risk.
We knew the vulnerable. We knew that you should take vitamin D, which is not fake news, by the way. Vitamin D has been noted from the beginning as something helpful in the mitigation of COVID-19, that our health minister relegates it to fake news. It's hard to take that seriously, brethren, to say fake news of the great Barrington Declaration to these men that have spent their lives in epidemiology, their lives in virology and all that.
Oh, that's just fake news. Why? Because it disagrees with the dogma promoted from on high. That's misinformation.
See, science is about debate. Science is about discussion. Science is about testing hypotheses. Science is about two or three witnesses.
Science is about rejecting things that don't work. Science is about utilizing things that do work. And science is about realizing that it's fluid. It changes.
Life is weird. Nature is difficult to pin down. Viruses are going to virus. It's a tough world that we live in.
But going back to November 19, yeah, it was a shock. But there have been some that have responded like, I cannot believe this. Why not? It never occurred to you that our government might take a turn against the church?
It's kind of like somebody who joins up for military service and then finds himself in Afghanistan saying, I never signed up for this. Oh, yes, you did. That's why you need to think twice before you put your name on the paper. That's why you need to think twice before you raise your hand and say, yes, I want to be a pastor.
You want to think twice because you need to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The metaphor that is employed here highlights the nature of the task. For the most part, it's not that way. For the most part, ministers study, they pray, they preach, they visit people, they do those things.
For the most part, you don't hear the bullets whizzing overhead. You don't hear that or smell the smell of napalm in the morning. You don't get all that. But there are those seasons and those instances where soldier ship is absolutely requisite.
And what we have witnessed is the relinquishment of that calling. That ought not to be, brethren. Notice what he goes on to say in terms of the reason, the rationale. We're still in verse 4.
He says in verse 3, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And now he gives a reason for that in verse 4. He says, no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. Now, he is engaged in warfare.
Again, we've already looked at that, we've seen that, but the bottom line is that he's not to entangle himself with the affairs of this life. That doesn't mean monkery. That doesn't mean sitting on a pole out in the wilderness. That's what monks used to do.
I don't know, do they still do that? I haven't heard of the order of pole-sitting monks anymore, but that's kind of the stuff they used to do. Remember asceticism? The end of Colossians chapter 2, don't touch, don't taste, don't feel.
That means holiness. So the monks would go out and live out in the wilderness. Jerome was a monk, and he said when he was out there in the wilderness, all he had visions of were dancing girls. See, the idea is, is that try as you may to get away from everything sinful, the biggest enemy happens to be your own heart.
So monkery doesn't work. But when Paul says he doesn't entangle himself in the affairs of this world, the Roman soldier didn't sell real estate. The Roman soldier didn't bake. The Roman soldier didn't farm.
The Roman soldier killed people and broke things. That's what the Roman soldier did. And so that's the emphasis of the apostle in verse 4. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life.
George Knight says, thus this passage does not teach that Timothy or any other minister should withdraw from everyday life, but that he should not let it and its affairs distract him from service to his commander. So the idea here is the devotion of the soldier. The devotion of the soldier. Listen to what I'm saying, because there's going to be a couple other Ds.
We're going to alliterate today so that everybody can take this home and pray about it with reference to the guys we know and love and with reference to other pastors that they would manifest these Ds and these particular persons that the Ds describe. So he is a devoted soldier. But notice before we move from verse 4. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life.
Now note that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." Notice that the gospel minister is to please him who enlisted him. That's Christ. I love you, brethren. I do what I do because I love you, brethren.
I wish I did it better because I love you, brethren. But ultimately, it's Christ to whom I answer. See, when it comes to these shutdowns, I've heard a few occasions, you know, the pastors want to keep their churches open, but it's the people. Well, it seems to me that we're in the same problem that we are with the government closing it down.
If a group of people can shut down the church of Jesus Christ, what difference does it make if that group is the government or the church herself? See, Christ never gives us that liberty to shut his church. That's just not an option. That's a non-negotiable.
Again, if bombs are dropping or the snow is piling, we take necessary means to ensure safety and protection for life. But in a world where there's lots of illness, in a world where there's lots of risk, in a world where there's lots of dangers involved, Why has COVID-19 been magnified as the one alone in whom we ought to fear? Brethren, I'm not having it. Obviously you're not having it because you're here today.
The bottom line is, is that pastors are not in the first place to please their people. Pastors are in the first place to please their Christ. Notice analogously in 2 Timothy 2.50, be diligent to present yourself approved to the people, approved to the world, approved to your civil government, approved to God. In other words, when a man of God goes to the study of God's Word, he has, with a single-minded emphasis, the pleasure of God.
It is a most blessed and wonderful thing. And then the blood-bought, who are possessed by and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, will be happy. Because if the minister is shooting to impress the Lord Jesus, not impress, but not to anger the Lord Jesus, if the minister is seeking things in its proper priority structure, the people of God will benefit. They will be blessed.
They will be happy. Same thing obtains in 2 Timothy 4.1. Notice, I charge you therefore, before what? Before the church you serve?
Before those Christians in Ephesus? Before those government officials in Ephesus? No, I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing in His kingdom. Preach the word!
It ought not to be. Will that offend somebody? I don't think pastors are wise as serpents when they needlessly offend. I don't think pastors are wise as serpents when they needlessly anger people or irritate people.
I don't think that's part of the calling. Our Lord Jesus at times turned over the money changers' tables and drove out the beast, but for the most part, that's not the way he conducted his ministry. He didn't stand out there with signs. He didn't do all those sorts of things that are built to basically irritate and frustrate people.
But having said that, it ought not to be that they're man-pleasers, that they just shoot for the common denominator amongst them. Will this offend? Will this hurt? Will this make them sad?
Again, if it's scriptural, if it's biblical, if it's essential, then it doesn't matter, ultimately, if you're offended. Sorry, but the bottom line is, brethren, there is something far more important than your feelings. I know that's tough. I know we're delicate snowflakes.
I know we're precious little individuals. But the bottom line is, is that God's Word matters most. So this man of God does not entangle himself with the world because He wants to please him who enlisted him as a soldier. Philip Towner says, the soldier's goal is to please or satisfy the wishes of the commander who expects nothing less than complete attention to duty so that the military objectives will be accomplished.
That's right. For anybody in here that has served in the military, that's the way it goes. Well, you know, sir, I don't want to go stand out on that fence line. You know, sir, I don't want to eat those MREs.
You know, sir, I don't want to do what you're telling me. You just don't do that. That's just not an option. And yet the Christian ministry, well, sir, I don't want to.
I'm not going to. I've got to listen to everybody. No, you do what Christ says, and there'll never be problems in that way. Now, there will be problems.
I'm not suggesting there won't be, but there'll be different problems. I'd rather have that problem than not doing what my master tells me. And then notice thirdly, with reference to this head, the examples that he provides. We've seen the devotion of the soldier in verses 3 and 4.
You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life. Again, the idea is not separation to the point of inactivity, but it is separation to the point of focus and devotion upon the task at hand.
Devotion, Discipline, Diligence
So the devotion of the soldier. Notice, secondly, the discipline of the athlete in verse 5. And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Paul the Apostle highlights this in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 24 to 27.
We're supposed to run the race and fight the enemy in a particular way. It's not just for a participation trophy. In fact, turn to 1 Corinthians 9. They're messing everything up, brethren, sorry.
The left is killing life as we know it. 1 Corinthians 9, there's something more to life than participation trophies. You're supposed to teach people to win. Dude, I'm gonna probably go to jail after this sermon. Wow, you've really said that?
Come on. 1 Corinthians 9, 24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. See, when I was a kid and we lost, they didn't hand us a trophy.
They said, work harder. And we didn't cry. We didn't stop. We worked harder.
It was an interesting thing. It was incentivization. See, when you de-incentivize people, you end up in the socialistic and communistic nightmare we are heading toward. Incentivization is a good thing.
Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable. In other words, he's using the athletics of his day.
Paul was a tent maker. I would guess that he applied his trade at athletic competitions, because you'd need tents to house the competitors, to house the viewers, and that sort of thing. So he was very well aware of the metaphor that he's employing here. And he says, you know, when I'm out there selling my tents and I happen to be at these athletic games, I see these guys.
I see them go to bed early. I see them get up early. I see them, you know, run 20 miles a day. I see them pick heavy stuff up and put it down.
I see them regulate their diet. I see them fastidious. I see them rejecting and refusing partying, rejecting and refusing, you know, hanging out with the girls all hours. They are devoted to what? an imperishable crown.
He says, but we are a perishable ground, but we have an imperishable crown. How much more ought we to be in earnest to win it? He says in verse 26, therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself should be disqualified. So back to 2 Timothy chapter 2, he uses the discipline of the athlete.
Verse 5, and also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules, the pattern. He disciplines himself, he trains himself, and he does all that in order to obtain the crown. Timothy, as a minister of the gospel, be devoted like the soldier, be disciplined like the athlete. And when he says in verse 5, unless he competes according to the rules, this is to be understood as the rules established by the Lord for that particular work.
So when it comes to athletics, there are certain rules about getting big and strong. You eat properly, and you lift heavy things. You run if you want to be cardiovascularly ready to run a marathon. You've got to do certain things.
You've got to abide by the rules. You don't just fall out of bed after a life of inactivity, stand up at the starting line, and run a marathon. It just doesn't happen. The same with the minister, compete according to the rules.
Not that there's some rules out there established by John Calvin, but as the Lord God Most High has called you. So the devotion of the soldier, the discipline of the athlete.
The Diligence of the Farmer
Notice thirdly, the diligence of the farmer in verse 6. He says, the hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Look at Colossians for just a moment, Colossians 1. And again, that cheesy picture of me next to the words, good soldier of Jesus Christ.
This isn't a guru speaking, and I'm certainly not here to say, oh, please sympathize with me. All I'm simply saying is that gospel ministry, if it's carried out effectively, is going to be hard work. Colossians 1.28. Colossians 1.28, him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus to this end.
I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. What real pastor of Jesus Christ in the church doesn't think about the people that is in his church pretty much 24 seven. I grant you great forgiveness, brethren, if on Thursday morning you don't think about me. But typically on a Thursday morning, I'm thinking about you in one way or another.
And that's not to say I'm super holy and way godly and guru and all that. But a pastor that labors in the word and doctrine in a particular local church, especially for an extended period of time, grows quite fond of the people, loves the people, wants the people to do well. wants them to be faithful, wants them to be successful, not just in the worldly sense, but in spiritual things. And so a good soldier of Jesus Christ has that devotion. He has the discipline of the athlete, and then he has the diligence of the farmer.
Notice that in verse 6 of 2 Timothy 2, the hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. There's a bumper sticker. I see it sometimes in town. I doubt it's the only one of its sort.
But it says vegetarian is an Indian word for poor hunter. Lazy farmer is a phrase for hungry man. If he's not hardworking, if he's not diligent, he's going to starve. It ought to appeal to our sense of sensibility that Paul reaches into the world to get concrete examples to bring them to the pulpit.
If the man of God is not devoted, if the man of God is not disciplined, if the man of God is not diligent, throw him out. He is not doing the job. He is not doing the work. It is that simple.
I mean, grant him time to repent, grant him time to do it, grant him all that to be sure, but some men in the ministry ought not to be in the ministry. And that is the grim reality. George Knight says that Paul has called on Timothy to suffer hardship and has placed before him three models for him to consider in that service. The soldier who pleases his commander and is not distracted from his service to him, the law-abiding athlete who gains the crown, and the hardworking farmer who receives his share of the crops.
Together they speak of a vigorous and undivided service that is rewarded.
The Dedication of the Disciple
Now, how do we fit verse 7 into this alliteration? I call it the dedication of the disciple. The dedication of the disciple. Notice in verse 7, consider what I say.
Timothy, don't just let this go in one ear and out the other. See, I think at times we don't always consider what Paul says. I don't think at times we consider everything that the Lord Jesus says. But in this instance, in terms of Timothy's responsibility as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, Timothy's responsibility as a man who is tasked with finding other men and committing these things to them so that they may teach others also, Paul says or underscores with verse 7, How important this is.
Consider what I say. If you don't take this seriously, Timothy, and you are a lazy man, you don't have that devotion, you don't have that discipline, you don't have that diligent. If you don't have the dedication of a disciple, then you're not fit for this work. Again, it's not sin to not be a pastor, it's sin to remain as a pastor when you're doing the exact opposite of what God has called you to.
And so he tells him, consider what I say. And the idea is that Paul wants Timothy to reflect, understand, and apply the things that have been spoken to him. And then notice how he ends verse seven, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Note the interplay between human wisdom and divine empowerment.
You're to consider it, Timothy, and the spirit brings it home. You're to consider it and the Spirit drives it in. It's not an either or, well, I just don't have to think about it, the Spirit will lead me. No, you need to consider what Paul says.
But on the same token, it's not the case that I only consider what Paul says, I need the grace of the Holy Spirit to drive it into my bones such that I will function in the capacity that Christ has called me and that which pleases Him, because that is the ultimate goal.
Application
I want to conclude with a few thoughts. We're almost done.
Persecution in Ministry
First, the reality of persecution in the Christian life and in ministry. We'll focus on ministry because this is where this particular passage highlights. Jesus recurringly tells his disciples that the world is going to hate them. That's a no-brainer.
That's a settled sort of principle. It ought not to shock us to the point of, wow, I just can't believe it. Again, I have a, wow, I just can't believe it, that we're five months in to church closures in Canada. I thought this was Canada.
I didn't know we'd crossed over into China or North Korea. So there is that surprise. There is that consternation. But at another level, I get it.
I understand. I get it all too well. The nations plot vain things against Yahweh and against his Christ. And then the repeated emphasis in the book of Acts and in the history of the church.
How do we, you know, modern-day pastors celebrate the history of the church and pray to God, oh, help us to be faithful in times of persecution? And the moment that, by their own admission, isn't even persecution, they shut down. That's terrifying, brethren. What happens when the persecution really starts?
If this ain't it, what happens when it does come? We need to be aware and we need to be on guard and we need to be ready to face the challenges.
The Need for Courage
Secondly, and I'll go back to when I first came to Canada, I had made a statement in the pulpit one time and a dear brother, a great brother, he's not here anymore, but he took me aside and he said, you know, we just don't talk like that in Canada. I think I had, well, I don't want to use the idiom because you may think that and I don't want to offend you, but I'm now a Canadian, so I'm going to just read the head as I have it. The need for guts in the Christian ministry. The need for guts in the Christian ministry.
In the first place, the Christian ministry ought to realize the reality of internal threats. In fact, if you look at 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, it's pretty much the internal threat to the church that Paul has in mind. In other words, wage the good warfare, the Phygelluses, the Hermogenes, the Phyletus, the people that deny certain cardinal truths of the faith. Well, they were among us.
They were in the church, the professing church. So the faithful minister of Christ understands there are internal threats. We need to preach the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That is the best antidote to combat the internal threat of heresy or departure from scriptural truth or those sorts of things.
But secondly, the faithful Christian minister needs to realize the presence of external threat. Anybody who's read the Old Testament will realize that Israel was corrupted, not only by Israel, but by forces outside Israel. The Philistines and the Hivites and the Hittites and the various persons that hated Israel coming in to occupy the land. Brethren, there were those real threats.
You've got those within the covenant community that function as external threats when they're kings over the people and they're affecting the people. Get to the New Testament, you have the Sanhedrin, both with Jesus and with the Apostle Paul. You have the pilots of the world. You have the beasts of Revelation.
There's two beasts in Revelation chapter 13. There's a political beast and there is a religious beast that helps to facilitate the empowerment of the political beast. Faithful gospel ministers have to perceive that it's not always the case that threats and dangers will only arise from within. There may be a rogue civil government that says, oh, I don't know, let's shut the churches down.
And if we capitulate to that kind of a threat, We'll always capitulate to that kind of a threat. We'll always be into that pattern wherein we put to rest our public worship of the living God.
Strength in Christ for Every Threat
Third, the necessity to man up and deal with internal and external threats in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. My brother gave me a beanie many years ago. That's what we call it in America. You call it a toque.
And on that toque, it says, you'll never walk alone. You know what I can testify before you this day? Never had to walk alone as a minister of the gospel. It's been hard.
It's been difficult. I think I've shared with you at the first part of this church lockdown, Saturday afternoon consisted of me putting my head in my wife's lap, shaking at the thought of Sunday coming. But always to find out, I'm not walking alone. See, pastors that are shut, not that I think any of them will ever hear this sermon, but my encouragement to them, not my discouragement, not my, oh, you terrible people, it's open your churches and test the power of Jesus.
You'll never walk alone. He sustains you. It is the new normal. Going to the police station, picking up tickets, getting that number really high.
It's the new normal. Going to court, appealing to decisions. It's the new normal. Lawyers.
You get used to it, brethren. The human psyche is pretty malleable that way. You can embrace the new normal. And I think our new normal is probably a whole lot more of this kind of stuff in the future, as we see going on.
As well, the necessity to function always as soldier, athlete, farmer, and disciple. And the necessity to train men to do the same thing. And I want to end on this note. Actually, I won't end here.
I'll end with the gospel. But I want to end on a very negative and a very sour note. So that if anybody ever does, pastor, tune into this, that's probably going to offend them. And they're going to say, well, I'm not going to listen to anything else this guy ever said that may have made sense.
But think about this. The soldier who doesn't engage in battle is a traitor. There was a motto in one of the squadrons when I went through BMT, basic military training, and that motto was fantastic. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
Very simple, lead, follow, or get out of the way. You see it all the time, brethren. If you're in a combat situation and you refuse to engage the enemy, most countries, well, I'm most familiar with the US, that is treason. That is a capital offense on the battlefield.
When you don't take up arms against the enemy, you are a traitor, according to most law of the land. Secondly, the athlete who doesn't train, what do we call him? A loser, right? You fall out of bed after 35 years of butter and inactivity, and you stand up at the starting line to run a marathon?
Guess what, loser? There's no help for you. You're not gonna win. It just doesn't happen.
God's not gonna bless that. Well, I'm just gonna win because I trust in the Lord. You know those texts that are often misused, Philippians 4. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Not running a marathon without any training. Do not take that text and teach that people can fall out of bed after a diet of butter and inactivity and run marathons. That's not what Paul means in Philippians chapter 4. We call athletes who don't train losers.
Thirdly, the farmer who doesn't work, we call him, again, a hungry man. Or we say, he will starve, right? It's just that simple. I mean, it's you in that field.
If you don't dig it, if you don't hoe it, you don't seed it, you don't water it, you don't get light to shine upon it, you're going to starve. It's just that simple. And then the disciple who doesn't follow First, I would say, I'm going to try to soften the blow a little bit. First, I would say, demonstrates a need for repentance.
A disciple who doesn't follow demonstrates a need for repentance on the part of the disciple. But a disciple who consistently doesn't follow illustrates what John says in 1 John 2.19. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have continued with us.
But they went out to make manifest that they were never of us to begin with. They didn't lose their salvation. They were never saved to begin with. These are hard words, I understand that, I appreciate that reality, but that is the demands exegetically of the text relative to Christian ministry.
The devotion of the soldier, the discipline of the athlete, the diligence of the farmer, and the devotion of the disciple is absolutely paramount with reference to the Christian ministry. A man who does not have that ought not to be in the Christian ministry. And the beauty of all of this, why does Paul say this? Why is the bar set this high?
Why is the necessity so acute with the mind and the heart of the apostle? Because of the subject matter, because of the dignity of the calling. Martin Lloyd-Jones was a successful and famous and renowned doctor, and he relinquished that to become a pastor. people thought that was a step down and people would suggest as much to him and he would say things like there is no higher dignity on the face of the earth than to get the privilege to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to sinners it is is most glorious, and the faithful minister who goes after it in this matter seeks the glory of God, the edification of God's people, and ultimately the salvation of sinners by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for its clarity at the point of gospel ministry. And Lord God, we pray for Your blessing upon gospel ministers all throughout Canada, that You would bless and embolden and empower each and every one that they may take that blessed privilege each and every Sunday to stand in the presence of God Almighty, to stand before the Lord Christ and the holy angels, to stand before congregations, and to preach the everlasting gospel. Lord, bless your men, cause them to persevere, cause them to be faithful, and cause them to bring glory and honor and praise unto you.
And we ask in Jesus' name, amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.