2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV)
1 I 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: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
This passage is part of the larger passage that covers 3:10 – 4:8. Throughout that passage Paul encourages Timothy to press on and know Christ more and more. Remember, Timothy is a young guy and Paul knows he needs encouragement to step up, to press on, and to do what he is called to do in the face of growing opposition or apathy to the Gospel and the call to live for Christ.
In these verses, Paul is encouraging Timothy to do the ministry that he is called to do. Paul has some great words here: preach, be prepared, correct, rebuke, encourage, and instruct. All of these words are exhortations from Paul to share the Gospel in all situations and make sure that people are growing in their relationship and knowledge of the Lord.
Paul warns of false teachers who will come and attempt to steal others away by creating pressure to move in the wrong direction, which is something that continues in many ways today.
If we have entrusted our lives to Jesus, then we too are called, like Timothy, to share the Gospel, and know the message of God’s amazing love and grace through Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection. However, we must remember that this is a process in which we engage others, not an event, not a class. We share the Gospel through our relationships with others, which is why Paul insists on having complete patience in our work.
As we fulfill our calling, we’re not to roll over and give up because our culture is apathetic or going in the wrong direction, and at the same time, we’re not to go about carrying a bully stick and beating people over the head with the Gospel (the same goes for the church as well). Complete patience and teaching require us to come alongside people, to know them, to love them, and, as Paul has said before in 1 Timothy 6:11 and in this letter in 2:25, to be gentle even with those who are opposed to our faith in Christ. All of that takes time and relationship.
Do you get the picture here? There is no quick fix or step-by-step program. This work requires us to build and be in relationship with others, to come alongside them for the long term as we seek not only to share the Gospel, but to build others up and to train them for good works and leadership as they grow in their knowledge, love, and service for Christ Jesus. It’s what Paul said to do in 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, and it’s something that Paul lived out with Timothy, Titus, Prisca and Aquila, Philemon, Archippus, Onesimus, and so many more (see Romans 16 to see some of the lives that Paul touched).
So where does that leave us? There are a few things that come to mind. Share the Gospel and press on in your faith in every circumstance. Daily pursue knowing Jesus personally more and more. Come alongside others with complete patience, teaching, and gentleness (not something for the faint of heart). Build others up in faith and train them for the future.
So then, move forward in your faith and share the Gospel in all that you do and say, through your choices, attitudes, behaviors, and even how you respond to your own failures and shortcomings. You are called as much as I am to this work, and in many ways, more so. You are on the front lines of faith in your home, at work, at school, and everywhere you have relationships with other people.
Who needs to experience and hear the Gospel through you?
God bless you and know that you are prayed for this morning!
Scott