Post by Admin on Aug 1, 2019 6:17:28 GMT
Tonight’s chapter built on last week’s understanding of Paul, in prison himself, continuing his apostolic mission through Timothy’s teaching and preaching. Paul provides guidance and instruction for perpetuating the Gospel’s message – the truthful, accurate version. We opened with sharing some memories of mentors who gave us responsibility, guidance, and encouragement, so that we (as the older adult group now) could be leaders ourselves one day.
We took this second chapter in two sections, starting by reading verses 1-13. Here Paul was plainly exhorting Timothy to “hang in there” despite the challenges. He instructs Timothy to be strong in grace – that is, to rely on God and not Timothy’s own skills or gifts, and he provides in verse 2 the core recipe for continuing Paul’s work: listen to the Gospel, teach the Gospel, pass along the Gospel for others to share – all trust-worthy because at each stage multiple people hear the truth and can authenticate it. The images of soldier, athlete, and farmer which Paul uses were fun to break down, although ultimately we concluded that the three merge into a single picture of the character Paul wants for Timothy. The soldier obeys orders and fights; the athlete has discipline to train and competes fairly; the farmer has patience and works hard. The upshot: no shortcuts, no instant success, rules and authority must be respected, hard work and sacrifice will be required. The reward is victory, the crown, and the best of the feast. A few verses later, Paul speaks of his own endurance, and counsels endurance on all our parts (verse 12). That concept suddenly gave new meaning to the visualization of the soldier, athlete, and farmer. All of those work hard for a reward – and then have to do it all over again and again. Each year the farmer plants to eat next season; the athlete needs to continue training to stay strong and retain the crown; the soldier goes on from one battle to fight the next. Our salvation is a continuing exercise, not a single celebratory achievement. Like Paul’s stint in prison, our work for the Lord is an on-going fight against false teachings, distractions, ego, and evil.
The second half of the chapter revisits Paul’s admonitions about how Timothy should conduct himself, particularly avoiding chatter and squabbles and sticking with the truth. One comfort is that for all the false, misleading, divisive doctrine Paul worries about, such as what he specifically mentions in verse 18, we can look over the intervening 2000 years and see that the falsehoods die and truth prevails. Verses 20-21 seemed somewhat out of place between two sections of Paul’s guidance on leadership. We talked about the meaning of the fine dishes versus common ones, and looked at the verses in the context of Paul instructing Timothy to pass along the Gospel to others so they can share the truth. It might be that Paul wanted to urge that anyone can do the work of God after spiritual cleaning, so long as they are cleaned. It might be advice for us to be willing to mentor someone who is not shiny and perfect…yet, someone who can “clean up” and accomplish God’s work. Finally, we ended up back with endurance. Paul tells Timothy that as leader, he needs to be kind and gentle; he can’t dominate and yell to force the Gospel on people, and he can’t give up. He needs to persist…and endure.
We took this second chapter in two sections, starting by reading verses 1-13. Here Paul was plainly exhorting Timothy to “hang in there” despite the challenges. He instructs Timothy to be strong in grace – that is, to rely on God and not Timothy’s own skills or gifts, and he provides in verse 2 the core recipe for continuing Paul’s work: listen to the Gospel, teach the Gospel, pass along the Gospel for others to share – all trust-worthy because at each stage multiple people hear the truth and can authenticate it. The images of soldier, athlete, and farmer which Paul uses were fun to break down, although ultimately we concluded that the three merge into a single picture of the character Paul wants for Timothy. The soldier obeys orders and fights; the athlete has discipline to train and competes fairly; the farmer has patience and works hard. The upshot: no shortcuts, no instant success, rules and authority must be respected, hard work and sacrifice will be required. The reward is victory, the crown, and the best of the feast. A few verses later, Paul speaks of his own endurance, and counsels endurance on all our parts (verse 12). That concept suddenly gave new meaning to the visualization of the soldier, athlete, and farmer. All of those work hard for a reward – and then have to do it all over again and again. Each year the farmer plants to eat next season; the athlete needs to continue training to stay strong and retain the crown; the soldier goes on from one battle to fight the next. Our salvation is a continuing exercise, not a single celebratory achievement. Like Paul’s stint in prison, our work for the Lord is an on-going fight against false teachings, distractions, ego, and evil.
The second half of the chapter revisits Paul’s admonitions about how Timothy should conduct himself, particularly avoiding chatter and squabbles and sticking with the truth. One comfort is that for all the false, misleading, divisive doctrine Paul worries about, such as what he specifically mentions in verse 18, we can look over the intervening 2000 years and see that the falsehoods die and truth prevails. Verses 20-21 seemed somewhat out of place between two sections of Paul’s guidance on leadership. We talked about the meaning of the fine dishes versus common ones, and looked at the verses in the context of Paul instructing Timothy to pass along the Gospel to others so they can share the truth. It might be that Paul wanted to urge that anyone can do the work of God after spiritual cleaning, so long as they are cleaned. It might be advice for us to be willing to mentor someone who is not shiny and perfect…yet, someone who can “clean up” and accomplish God’s work. Finally, we ended up back with endurance. Paul tells Timothy that as leader, he needs to be kind and gentle; he can’t dominate and yell to force the Gospel on people, and he can’t give up. He needs to persist…and endure.