Read with Me
2 Timothy 2:1-7 (HCSB)
You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the recruiter. Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Listen with Me
In these two paragraphs, Paul gives Timothy a series of short but interrelated precepts. These are not only for Timothy himself to follow, but they are also to be passed on to the other leaders and ministers in his orbit, along with everything else Paul has taught, so that they can follow them, too. Thus, they are leadership principles for the Church at all times.
Timothy is instructed to endure hardship like a good soldier. Everyone understood that the life of a Roman soldier was rigorous. They had to keep on mission in sweltering heat or bone-chilling cold. They could not slacken their pace on rough or steep terrain. They were not allowed to complain about how hard their life was or to rebel against the authority that was over them. This was their life and their mission, and they had to be steadfast or face serious, or even deadly, consequences.
Paul saw the life of a soldier of Jesus as having some striking similarities. Paul had been through rigors and deprivations as challenging as any of those faced by Caesar’s troops. But he had learned that those challenges were simply part of the life of a Christian, especially as a leader in the Church, and they simply had to be faced and dealt with. Jesus never promised his followers an easy, uncomplicated life. Quite the contrary in fact! (Matthew 5:10-12, 10:17-39; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:18-21, and many others). Paul understood that his job was to stay on duty and on track over easy paths or hard, through times of refreshment, times of deprivation, and even times of imprisonment and impending death.
Just like the steadfast focus of an army officer, not looking to gain personal wealth or glory from his service, but focused wholeheartedly on pleasing his commanding officer, so the focus of the Christian soldier was to be on pleasing Jesus, on bringing glory to Him, and on completing his or her assigned task. Only when they successfully fulfill their mission, only after they have steadfastly completed their race, can they receive the victor’s crown.
However, Paul also warned Timothy against a false or even a forced altruism in this. Even though he, and all other leaders in the Church, worked for God and not for people, that did not mean that they were to be uncompensated by the people in the Church. From the earliest days of the people of Israel, those who were the spiritual leaders and workers were to be provided for by the tithes and offerings of the people. And that was true even in the Church.
Pray with Me
Father, I know that some believe that the life of a Christian is supposed to be easy and blessed. But that is not the model that is shown to us in Your word. Paul understood, taught, and consistently modeled that the blessings we receive as Your people come to us in the midst of the rigors of being on the front lines of the battle to push back the darkness with Your light, and not while huddled safely in the bunkers. Lord, help me to always take this commission seriously, to stay on duty, loyal and true to Your agenda, whether the path is level or uphill, and whether the battle rages or I am on my way to the next divine appointment. Amen.