The Soldier, The Athlete, & The Farmer
2 Timothy 2:1-7
August 21, 2016
This morning we are going to take a break
From our current study of the book of Revelation.
And we are doing so because I think it is important
To commission this morning a very important type of missionary.
We tend to view missionaries generally as those
Who go and serve on foreign soil or in difficult communities,
But we understand that all of us are called as witnesses of the Lord Jesus.
And tomorrow morning many of you
Will be invading the same mission field, which is the public school.
Some teach, some are students some work in other capacities,
But regardless of your secular position,
You have all been strategically placed there by God.
And we know that as you go into the school
• You will daily rub shoulders with many who do not believe the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
• You will spend hours upon hours with teachers and students and workers who
are not interested in the truth of God, but who seek to gratify their own sinful
desires.
• You will encounter all manners of morality, belief, and peer pressure.
MAKE NO MISTAKE, THE SCHOOL IS A MISSION FIELD.
• You are to be lights in the midst of darkness
• You are to be salt to a world without flavor
• You are to be truth in a world of error
• You are to be a holy example in a world of immorality
I have become so convinced at the difficulty of this mission
That last year we started commissioning those of you
Who make this a part of your daily lives.
• It is important that you are clear about your mission.
• It is important that the church remember that you are caught in a daily struggle
and need our prayers and support.
And so this morning as we commission you
We are going to look at a very fitting letter and text.
Paul’s second letter to Timothy was the last he ever wrote.
• At this point in his life he was in the famous Mamertine prison in Rome (literally no more than a dungeon) and he is awaiting he own execution.
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Coupled with that Paul has recently gone through
Quite an ordeal of rejection and humiliation.
Paul has now been disowned by all those he gave his life to reach.
2 Timothy 1:15 “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.”
2 Timothy 4:16 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.”
The Asia Paul referred to was Asia-Minor where Ephesus was located.
Ephesus was a church Paul planted and the one were Timothy currently pastored.
And even all of them turned away from him.
Paul is at the end of his race alone and rejected
Having literally suffered the loss of all things for the cause of Christ.
What is ALSO APPARENT is that Paul senses that Timothy is vacillating.
Paul senses that Timothy has become intimidated.
• Maybe Timothy fears persecution from Nero
• Maybe Timothy fears association with Paul
We don’t know his motive, but the tone of Paul’s letter
Suggests that Timothy is on the verge of retreat.
This letter is a passionate request from Paul to Timothy
For him to be bold in the midst of a hostile environment.
2 Timothy 1:6-8 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”
It is a letter which asks Timothy to be faithful to his calling
No matter the difficulty and no matter the cost.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly 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: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
And we could certainly spend more time giving context to this letter,
But hopefully you grasp it enough to move forward this morning.
The portion of the letter we are going to examine together
Are the first 7 verses of chapter 2.
And the reason is because here Paul presents Timothy with
THREE VERY HELPFUL ANALOGIES.
He reveals to him the SOLDIER, the ATHLETE, and the FARMER.
And at the end of these analogies Paul says:
(7) “Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”
That statement reveals that
Paul didn’t carry these analogies as far as he would have liked,
But trusted that if Timothy would ponder on them
That the Lord would continue to give insight and application.
SO THAT IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO THIS MORNING.
We are going to place these three analogies in your mind
(and I’m going to give you a visual reminder to take with you later)
In hopes that throughout the coming year you will “consider” them
And allow them to encourage you in your mission.
Paul begins here by saying:
(1-2) “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
We aren’t going to spend much time on these two verses
Because I want to get to the analogies,
But there are some surface points here that you really need to see.
1) Our strength is in “the grace that is in Christ Jesus” not in ourselves.
• No one is asking you to fulfill this mission in your own ability, ingenuity, strength, wisdom, or determination.
• Everything that is being asked of you inside this mission field is being asked on the basis of Christ’s strength within you.
• This implies that success depends upon your trust in Him and your commitment to lean upon on Him and run to Him for continued strength.
2) Paul told Timothy to “entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”
• The reminder to Timothy was that he was not a one-man show, and neither are you.
• You are not alone, you are part of a church, you are part of a body, and many of you will be together in this same field. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of your fellow saints who serve with you.
3) The emphasis was on everyone teaching the things that Timothy had heard from Paul, which is of course the gospel.
• Everyone one of you in that school (teacher and student alike) have the same basic mission, which is to proclaim the gospel.
• It is not primarily a mission of kindness, though kindness is important.
• It is not primarily a mission of love, though love is necessary.
• It is not primarily a mission of scholastic success, though we hope you have it.
• It is not primarily a mission of athletic victory, though we all root for it.
Primarily your mission is the proclamation of the gospel,
And you are all in this together.
There is more that could be said there, but just grab those basics.
And then Paul lays out for Timothy three analogies for him to consider
Let’s look at them:
#1 THE SOLDIER
2 Timothy 2:3-4
In Scripture the soldier analogy is used in different ways,
But it is a rather common analogy used for the Christian.
• Both in Philippians 2:25 and in Philemon 1:2 Paul referred to other believers as “fellow soldiers”
• In 1 Corinthians 9:7 Paul used the soldier as an analogy revealing that a missionary should expect compensation for their mission. Saying, “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?”
• The most commonly quoted analogy comes from Ephesians 6 when Paul speaks of the armor of a Christian likening it to the centurion’s armor for battle.
The soldier is used many times in Scripture,
But here Paul has a specific reason for using the soldier as an example.
Paul hits the center of it right off the bat.
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus”
In a very basic sense when people think of serving as a soldier,
They understand that there is a general sense of suffering
That is going to accompany that.
A soldier’s life is one of hardship.
• It may be the hardship of leaving one’s family
• It may be the hardship of basic training
• It may be the hardship of the military request
• It may be the hardship of facing the enemy
• It may be the hardship of battle
• It may even be the hardship of the aftermath of the battle
Whatever the aspect a soldier should understand that
There is going to be “hardship” involved.
But even beyond that Paul seems to focus even more in verse 4
“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”
Certainly in Paul’s mind would have been the Roman soldier here.
And we all at least have some familiarity with this Roman soldier idea.
Important to this text would be the understanding of the soldier’s oath.
• The Roman soldier took an oath referred to as the “Sacramentum” and it was
more than just an oath like one takes at a courtroom.
The soldier would quote:
“But the soldiers swear that they shall faithfully execute all that the Emperor commands, that they shall never desert the service, and that they shall not seek to avoid death for the Roman republic!” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramentum_(oath)#cite_ref-8)
It was a total commitment to the will of the emperor or general
And any activity was considered acceptable if it came at the command.
Furthermore, to break this oath brought with it
The penalty of punishment even death.
The Roman soldier was committed as a matter of chief priority
To the command of the emperor
And nothing else came as high in importance.
The point was that the soldier must be free from distraction.
They were to SERVE WITH FOCUS
Paul said, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life”
“entangles himself” is EMPLEKO
Which means “to weave in”
It carries the idea of being ensnared
Or hooked or caught in an obligation.
The verb is in the passive voice which indicates
Something that he doesn’t allow.
He does not allow himself to be entangled.
And of course the reason is because his main obligation is to “please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”
His only job is to follow the command of the emperor,
Nothing else can ever come before or above that.
Now that was a soldier’s life.
Paul said that we are soldiers “of Christ Jesus”
Instead of taking an oath to the emperor, we are those who have taken an oath to Christ.
• It is Christ who has “enlisted” us “as a soldier”.
• It is the Lord’s army we now march in.
Allow me to remind you of the undistracted commitment Christ expects.
Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
That was a call the disciples had heard before.
Mark 1:16-20 “As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.”
You can see the priority there of their lives.
Fishing nets and human relationships
Had to take back burner to the call of the Master.
Consider these men who tried to follow Jesus while remaining entangled in worldly affairs.
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Those were all people who wanted to have their hand in the middle of both endeavors and Jesus said you can’t.
You either forsake all and follow Me or you don’t.
Remember this passage:
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”
Jesus was leaving absolutely no doubt there
Regarding the priority of the lives of His followers.
Or consider the weedy soil which is a picture of a divided heart and consequently a non-believer
Matthew 13:22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
There is just no notion in Scripture that says
You can be a follower of Christ
And be entangled by the world at the same time.
You cannot be a sold out servant of Jesus on Sunday
And then a sold out servant of something else during the week.
You’re either all in or all out, but you can’t walk both.
And if you are a teacher or a student who has given their life to Christ,
I just can’t see any way you can go into that school
Without your mission to Christ being your chief priority.
• As a teacher your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.
• As a coach your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.
• As a student your chief priority is the service of Christ and the broadcasting of
the gospel.
That is your PRIMARY job from the Lord.
Don’t get distracted.
Now, am I saying that you shouldn’t worry about teaching or coaching or making good grades?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
• If you don’t teach well they’ll fire you and the mission will be over.
• If you don’t coach well they’ll fire you and the mission will be over.
• If you don’t study hard you’ll be a poor example to those around you.
I’m just reminding you that all of those things
ARE SECONDARY IN PRIORITY.
THEY ARE IMPORTANT ONLY AS:
• They bring glory to Christ
• And they allow you the opportunity to complete your true mission.
Paul said:
Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
You should do the best job you can do for the one who hired you,
But you must always remember that the priority is your service for Christ.
Romans 14:7-9 “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
It is important that you grasp this because I can guarantee you that
At some point YOU WILL BE TESTED to prove which matters most.
(I see it every year. I saw it last year with our girls’ basketball coach
And I remain grateful for where his priorities surfaced)
YOU WILL GET AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE YOUR PRIORITY.
LET ME GIVE YOU A SIMPLE ONE
I would put out an appeal to those in the school system not to compete with the church for time.
Your part of the mission is in the school system,
Our part is to teach and train and encourage
On Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.
We should all be working for the same objective,
Yet we see it all the time where the church loses their opportunity to minister to students because teachers have scheduled over the top of us.
I would ask you as Christians to remember what really matters,
And who we are really serving and work with us for the mission of the gospel.
If you are a Christian the priority has to be Christ!
And at that moment when the secular comes up against the spiritual
It is imperative that you remember who it is you are out to please.
You certainly want to do well for those who hire you.
You certainly want to do well for the parents who entrust their kids to you.
But make no mistake, when push comes to shove, Christ matters more.
Martin Luther wrote:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there is the loyalty of the soldier proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is more flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
(MacArthur, John; The Truth War [Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; 2007] pg. 26)
As a soldier you must serve with focus and avoid distraction.
#2 THE ATHLETE
2 Timothy 2:5
The athlete is also a commonly used analogy in Scripture.
• Athletes remind us of endurance – like in Hebrews 12 where we are told to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
• Athletes remind us of effort – like in 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul tells us to “run in such a way” that you may win.
But here the emphasis is on obedience.
Here we are to avoid disqualification.
“Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”
In the Greek games there were 3 conditions every athlete had to meet.
• He had to prove he was a native born Greek
• He had to take an oath before Zeus that he had trained for 10 months.
• He had to compete according to the rules of the game.
Otherwise the athlete, regardless of ability, was disqualified from competing.
We all understand that if you break the rules,
You will disqualify yourself from competition.
My degree was to be an Ag Teacher,
I still remember Johnny Johnson at Tarleton sitting us all down and saying, “Let me tell you about pretty little boys and pretty little girls.”
He gave us a speech on the dangers of teacher student relations, pointing out how quickly we could disqualify ourselves from being allowed to teach in the school if we crossed that line.
And every Christian should understand this as well.
Being the most successful teacher, coach, or student is absolutely pointless if you disqualify yourself spiritually.
• You may please the administration
• You may please the parents
• You may please the students
• You may even earn a trophy to display your success
But 100 years from now, none of that will matter.
All that will matter was the service you performed for Christ.
YOU MUST GIVE CAREFUL ATTENTION
TO NOT KILLING YOUR WITNESS
• I’m aware of what typical coach language sounds like.
• I’m aware of what typical Ag Teacher language sounds like.
• I’m aware of what typical break room gossip is like.
• I’m aware of what typical teenage morality is like.
YOU HAVE TO BE ABOVE THOSE THINGS.
BECAUSE THOSE THINGS WILL DISQUALIFY YOU.
No, you won’t lose your job or get kicked out of school,
But you’ll sure have a tough time
Preaching the gospel to someone after the fact.
And what good is it to be the most successful teacher of all time if there is no eternal reward?
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
We want “the prize”.
Later in the letter Paul will spell it out:
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
The world may not recognize your commitment to Christ as a good thing,
But we aren’t competing for their accolade.
We are competing for the heavenly prize,
DO NOT DISQUALIFY YOURSELF FROM THAT PRIZE.
Do you want a guideline?
2 Peter 1:5-9 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. or he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”
Like a soldier you must avoid distraction and serve with focus.
Like an athlete you must avoid disqualification and run with obedience
#3 THE FARMER
2 Timothy 2:6
Farmers are also a frequent analogy in Scripture,
But almost always farmers represent the same thing: HOPE
1 Corinthians 9:10 “Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.”
James 5:7 “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.”
I certainly don’t want to belittle the hard work that farmers due even in our day and time, but you must understand that it pales in comparison to the work of a farmer in Paul’s day.
• I literally cannot imagine busting the ground behind a mule.
• I cannot imagine planting that seed by hand.
• I cannot imagine carrying buckets of water to irrigate.
• I cannot imagine harvesting by hand.
Farming is hard work now, but it was really hard work then.
It is non stop and it requires patience.
A farmer would get up and work sun up to sun down every day
And receive no reward for his labor
Because all he had to look forward to was the future crop.
THE CROP WAS THE PAYMENT.
And if you’re paying attention, this is now the third reference that has been made to reward.
• The soldier’s reward is pleasing the one who enlisted him.
• The athlete’s reward is the prize
• The farmer’s reward is the harvest
And one thing we know about the HARVEST is that it is DELICATE.
You can’t just plant it and stop and hope for the best.
Most farmers have to baby the crop.
Thanks to the curse this ground naturally produces careless weeds,
But it doesn’t naturally produce cotton.
If you want cotton you have to work at it tirelessly
THE FARMER DOES THE WORK IN HOPE THAT
THE HARVEST WILL MAKE HIS LABOR WORTHWHILE.
And that is Paul’s analogy here.
“The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.”
That is to say he always looks forward to the harvest.
Most teachers and coaches already have a pretty good handle on this.
They have learned that most results are not instant and not automatic.
• Coaches know that they have to work their teams hard to produce results and even that doesn’t come quickly.
• Teachers know they have to teach for hours and hours to get a concept across and sometimes it is slow in coming.
But this is also true regarding your spiritual service.
• Preach the gospel over and over and over.
• Leave a good example over and over and over.
• Pray over and over and over
And most of the time there are no immediate results.
That’s one of the reasons we look for fulfillment in other places.
Instead of holding out for the eternal treasure and the spiritual crop
We grow impatient and settle instead for a perishable wreath.
But don’t.
Stay the course, keep working hard, wait for the harvest.
And it will come!
Some day your labors will be worth it all.
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
TIMOTHY FACED A DIFFICULT MISSION FIELD.
• Paul told him to consider the focus of the soldier
• Paul told him to consider the obedience of the athlete
• Paul told him to consider the endurance of the farmer
• And to apply all those things to the way he served Christ.
That’s what I’m asking from each of you today
Who will enter the school system tomorrow.
Remember that
• Service to Christ and His kingdom is your main priority.
• You must walk in obedience to Christ so that you are useable
• You Christ is worth it so you must endure.
That’s the charge to you who are about to go on mission.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly 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: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
TO THE CHURCH
I GIVE THE CHARGE OF SUPPORTING THEM IN PRAYER.
