Soldiers for Christ: 2 Timothy 4:1-8

It was 1992. The mob was out of control. It was a Muslim mob of radical fanatics. The year was 1982 and they began to kill the Christians. They went to the villages, and they particularly targeted the pastors, the Christian pastors in the villages in this area of Nigeria.

One of those pastors was a pastor, Dunayo. They gouged out both of his eyes, and then, because they were so incensed at the message that he preached, they literally cut his mouth off, cut the lower part of his chin off as a way of saying how much they hated the message. that he had preached. They went to another pastor, a Pastor Selchun, and there before his wife and daughter, these Muslim radicals took this pastor and they chopped off his right hand. But at that moment, as his right hand fell to the ground, Pastor Selchun did something that will make you want to sing.

it in just a few minutes. The setting is the Mamertinum prison. Paul's death is before him as he writes his final charge to his young friend and follower in the faith Timothy. And the foundation for this message today, the basis for which Paul writes is because he knows his death is coming. And he talks about it in 2 Timothy 4, verses 6 through 8.

So if you have your Bibles, turn there with me and let's read those verses and then we'll actually go back and start at verse 1. But 2 Timothy 4,

verses 6 to 8,

where Paul writes, For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store 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 to all who have longed for his appearing. Paul knows he is about to go home and it is for that reason that he has written so emphatically to his young charge Timothy because in a sense Paul is passing the baton to Timothy. Paul knows that he will be leaving and that Timothy must carry on after him.

Paul describes his death

as being a drink offering. He is being poured out as a drink offering. Do you know what the drink offering was? In the Old Testament, when sacrifices were offered by the people before God to ask for the forgiveness of sins, they would bring often a young lamb or goat, and they would offer that young lamb or goat on the altar. The lamb would, its neck would be cut, the blood would be spilled, and the high priest would ask for the forgiveness of the people.

And it prefigured Christ. It was a picture of what Christ was going to do, the offering of the lamb. But as part of that ceremony, there would be a drink offering. They would bring their best wine, and their best wine would be poured out over the altar,

offering of the best to the Lord and Paul says I'm being poured out as a drink offering Paul in essence is saying my death is already started I'm in the process of being prepared to die and my life has been a sacrifice before the Lord and it is now being poured out just like the drink offering and the time for my departure has come that word departure is a word that has the sense loosing something. It would be the kind of word you would use if you untie a boat that is tied at the dock and you let it loose to take off on its trip. And Paul says, it's the time for me to unloose the rope that ties me to this life. My departure is near. I'm getting ready to set sail to go see the king.

He gives us a summary I have fought the good fight. I have kept the faith. Excuse me, I fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

It's an athletic imagery in this statement about his life. He fought the good fight. He struggled the good struggle, literally. Why is most of us think of fighting as not being a good thing? Why is it that this fight Paul fought was the good fight?

it was the good fight because he was in the right fight he was in the proper fight we fight about many things we should never fight about we struggle with many things we should never struggle for but paul knew that for the gospel and for the sake of christ it was worth the struggle and so he engaged in the good struggle the right struggle the proper struggle the struggle that was for the gospel of jesus christ he had finished the race he pictures the christian life as a race a course that we are to run. And like any race, the Christian life has a particular route that we are to run, and we run toward a particular destination. And the picture is that you're never supposed to stop in the race. The runner, once he begins, is supposed to go until he crosses the finish line. And Paul says, I am there.

I have finished the race. he is at the finish line. He's getting ready to cross into glory. And he says, I have kept the faith. What does he mean by that?

He means that he has kept the trust that God entrusted to him. God entrusted to him a particular task, the task of carrying the gospel to the Gentiles, and he has kept the faith. That is, he has done what the Lord called him to do faithfully

worth and now and now there's something that awaits him as he crosses the finish line he's going to get something that every victor gets the victor gets the crown the crown was the stephanos i think i mentioned that before the word from which we get the name stephen the Stephanos is the crown not the crown awarded to a king that was the diadem this is the crown awarded to the victor to the one who has won the race and who is entitled to get the prize so when Paul crosses the finish line the judge, the righteous judge Jesus Christ is going to give him the prize to which he is entitled of righteousness. Some have debated what Paul means exactly here. Is this the righteousness that is bestowed to every Christian? When we go to heaven, we are made without sin at that point, completely righteous, so we get the crown of having the gift of righteousness? Or is this an additional reward that Paul will get because he has lived a righteous

Well, it may be both. I think the stronger argument is Paul is going to get a special reward. While there is a sense in which we all get the crown of life, eternal life, because we have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, there will be a special crown for those who have fought the good fight, who have finished the race faithfully, who have run and endured faithfully, and that will be the reward of righteousness, an additional gift or crown or reward that the king will award. And you know what? Paul says, I'm not the only one that's going to get this.

Others are going to get this too, particularly those who have longed for the appearing of Jesus Christ, literally loved the appearing of Jesus Christ. You know, you think about Christ returning, some people may not find that a very joyous day if they're not in Christ. But those who love that day and look forward to that day can look forward to getting some special rewards from the one who will come to give those rewards. And Paul is going to get the crown of righteousness. So here's the setting.

Paul's impending death as he writes to Timothy. And I think you can see him in this last charge to Timothy or this last admonition to Timothy in this, his last book. really pouring it on he wants timothy to take up the mantle to take up the baton and carry on the cause in which paul has been struggling and fighting and so let's read his charge to timothy starting at verse one of chapter four in the presence of god and of christ jesus who will judge the living and the dead and in view of his appearing and his kingdom i give you this charge Preach the word.

You keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. The question I want us to answer today is in these last days, what kind of preachers do we need? Paul knew there was a certain kind of preacher that was needed, and that's why he is pressing this young preacher, Timothy, to be the kind of preacher he needs to be in these last days. The first kind of preacher we need is the preacher who preaches in light of four realities. And Paul lays these out for us.

God exists. I charge you in the presence of God. There is a God. He exists and he reigns. Jesus Christ is coming again in view of his appearing.

Paul says he's giving this charge. That appearing is the return of Christ. Jesus will judge the living and the dead, Paul reminds Timothy. And in the text it says, in view of his appearing and his kingdom, Paul is reminding Timothy that God's eternal kingdom will one day be fully consummated. His reign over everything will be fully consummated.

Right now on earth, God, for his own purposes, let Satan and evil have a little bit of sway. One day, one day, one day, his kingdom will be fully established. And he's saying to young Timothy, and he says to any who would stand to preach his word, you need to preach in light of these realities. I care not what the world may say to you. God lives and reigns.

Jesus Christ is coming back. He will judge the living and the dead. you'll be prepared for that and his kingdom is going to be established there are many others who want to set up their own kingdoms satan wants his kingdom human beings rebel against god and want to set up their own little kingdoms he's telling timothy then but one kingdom that's going to be established ultimately it's god's kingdom so give your heart your soul and your life in the cause of christ because of these realities we need to live our lives in light of these realities if we fully believe these truths it's going to change how we live our lives.

If we don't buy into these realities we're going to live a different way. The truth of the matter is some don't really believe all of these realities. But I hope that we do because we're going to face the judge one day. We're going to have to face him. May we live now in light of the fact he's coming back to be the judge.

The second kind of preacher we need is we need preachers who preach the word in order to correct, rebuke, and encourage people. This is the central admonition that Paul gives to Timothy. And you can just see him, if he had been with Timothy and could preach this, he was writing it to Timothy, but he could preach it. I believe Paul would have been giving it all he's got in the pulpit. Preach the word.

the central admonition of this passage. To preach the word, it's a word picture here in the Greek text. The word implies someone who is a herald of the king. The one who came to preach a particular word was a herald of the king. He was sent with a message that was to be publicly proclaimed and announced to the people.

this preacher, this herald that comes with this message was not sent with negotiating authority in other words, he was not in a position did not have authority from the king to compromise the message that was sent to negotiate with the people oh well, if you'll follow this part of the message I'll ease off on another part of the message this is the herald who comes to say this is what the king says king's message and I must call you to follow this message. I have no room to negotiate or to compromise. But he was to publicly proclaim this message, this preacher, this herald, everywhere and to everyone. As John Wesley, the famous Methodist pastor said, the world is my parish. And he viewed it as his responsibility to preach the message that this king had given him everywhere and to everyone. That's the picture of the herald, the preacher.

Public proclamation, public announcement of the clear message sent by the king. The herald didn't preach his own word, he preached the word sent from the king. Preach the word, Paul tells Timothy. The word for word in Greek is logos. It's a word that we see used to designate Jesus Christ in other And I think when Paul here is saying preach the word, he is telling Timothy to preach the central truths about Jesus Christ and the gospel and all that goes with it.

That's recorded for us in this word today. So the faithful preachers today are preaching this word, which is about the word, Jesus Christ, and the gospel.

There are two kinds of speakers, one person wrote. kinds of preachers, those who have something to say and those who just have to say something.

Another writer wrote, a preacher preaches as a dying man to dying men. And that's why he preaches the word, because he knows he's physically dying and he knows all who hear his message

problem he has. They're going to face death and face the judge. Martin Luther, who was a great preacher in the 1500s, who was the father of the Reformation, has a little book called, it's a collection of his sayings in Table Talk. And when Martin Luther would be eating supper, he would have students at the meal with him and guests, and he would sit around and talk. And he said a lot of famous things in his discussions across the table and his hearers would copy down what he said and they finally compiled some of his sayings into this book that is called Table Talk. It's the Table Talk of Martin Luther. And he had a lot to say about preachers and how they ought to preach. So I thought I'd just share a little bit of you. This is important when you're preaching the word which is the central admonition that Paul gives to Timothy.

I would not have preachers, Luther writes, torment their hearers and detain them with long and tedious preaching, for the delight of hearing vanishes therewith, and the preachers hurt themselves. In another point he wrote, a good preacher should have these properties and virtues. First, to teach systematically. Secondly, he should have a ready wit. Thirdly, he should be eloquent.

Fourthly, he should have a good voice. good memory. Sixthly, he should know when to make an end. Seventhly, he should be sure of his doctrine. Eighthly, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honor in the word. Ninthly, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone.

Lastly, a preacher ought to remain by the text and deliver that which he has before him. To the end, people may well understand it. But a preacher that will speak everything that comes in his mind is like a maid that goes to market, and meeting another maid makes a stand, and they hold together a goose market. It was his way of saying the preacher is not to preach his opinion, he is not to just talk good stories, though illustrations are fine, so long as the central teaching is the text of Scripture. And any time the preacher is preaching anything that takes us away from the Scripture, the preacher is not preaching the Word.

The Word must be central. Good preaching is not just a series of nice stories. It points us to the Word and keeps us in the Word and helps us to understand the Word. The preacher is to use his preaching, as Paul says, to rebuke, to correct, rebuke, and to encourage. In other words, a preacher is to be an inspector and a cheerleader when he preaches the word.

You know what a good inspector can do, don't you? A good inspector knows the standards that are supposed to be produced in the factory. And so he takes those standards and compares the product that is being produced in the factory to see if the product meets the standards. There's a real sense in which the pastor takes the standards and he holds the standard up and he looks out at his people and he asks the question, Are my people meeting the standard?

and it is his goal when the standard is not being met to rebuke and that word rebuke means he is to strongly admonish them to do what they're supposed to be doing he is to strongly admonish them to change to do the right thing he is to rebuke them in the sense of warning them that their course of conduct is the wrong course of conduct rebuke can even have the sense of threaten. And what does he threaten them with? He threatens them that they're going to meet the judge one day. And he has the task that is often a difficult task, to stand up and tell the people where they fall short of the standard. But he's not just to show that they fall short or tell them they fall short.

He is not just to rebuke. He is to correct. In other words, based on the light of Scripture, he is to show the people how they can make their lives the way they should be. He is to show them the methods, the ways by which their lives can be more pleasing to God. He must point out their sin, but he must at the same time say there's a remedy for the sin.

The basic remedy is Jesus Christ, and then he must show them how they are to live their lives each day so that they will please the king. And not only is he to be an inspector, the idea of rebuking, correcting, but he's to be a cheerleader. Everybody knows what a cheerleader does, right? A cheerleader is the one that encourages the ones who are playing the game. Even when things are difficult, the cheerleader says, you can make it, you can do it, you can make it across the goal line.

And the preacher is to encourage his people. to encourage them by God's word to do the right thing and then to help them to see that by God's power they can be all God wants them to be. Their lives can be different. He needs to say, come on, we can do it. You can do it.

You can do it. He needs to help them in that task. Warren Wiersbe says, talking about this correcting, rebuking, and encouraging, pastors are to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted. That's a pretty good definition for preaching. Preaching's purpose, John Newton said, the author of Amazing Grace, preaching's purpose is to break a hard heart and to heal a broken heart.

Are there some hard hearts here today?

Unwilling to yield to the message of Christ? Probably.

Are there some broken hearts? I know there's some broken hearts. And broken hearts get mended in the hand of the shepherd.

The best way to revive a church, Dwight Moody said, is to build a fire in the pulpit. and by that he meant the pastor is to put all of his life self being into pointing his people to Jesus Christ rebuking when he must correcting as he needs to but encouraging them as well the test of a good preacher said St. Francis de Silas is that his congregation goes away not saying oh what a lovely sermon The test of a good preacher is that the people go away saying, I will do something to be different.

We need preachers not only who preach the word in order to correct, rebuke, and encourage.

We also need preachers who preach the truth faithfully in all seasons. You see what the text says?

be prepared. Verse 2, preach the word. Be prepared in season and out of season. And there's a reason to be prepared in season and out of season because as verse 3 says, the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Turn aside to myths. Be prepared in season and out of season. The pastor is to be faithful in teaching and preaching even when he doesn't necessarily feel like it. Even when life may be difficult for the pastor. Even when he may They want to just sit back and rest and stop and quit.

He's not to quit. He's to be constant in season and out of season. That notion of being constant in season and out of season also has the idea you're supposed to keep preaching the truth even when people don't want to hear it. And the reality is in these last days we have a lot of people who have itching ears. an itch, what do you want to do to an itch?

You want to scratch it so it feels good. So it has that good feeling. Well, there are a lot of people that got itching ears. They want to hear things that make them feel good. That make them feel good about themselves.

They don't point out their sins. They don't point out their shortcomings. They don't demand that they live by certain standards. They don't tell them that there is one way of salvation and it's Jesus Christ. They don't tell them that to commit adultery is sin and anybody who tells you otherwise is wrong.

People don't like to hear these bright lines sometimes. Is it not true in our day that we've got a lot of itching ears out there? And what do people do when they have itching ears? They go find preachers who preach just what they want to hear.

and so in our day we see the gospel diminished we see right and wrong blurred truth and error is not clear from the pulpits of so many churches today we need preachers who preach with straight lines who know what is black and who know what is white and who can see clearly the difference between the two. We don't need preachers who call evil good. But we have some today who are doing just that. It will be difficult for preachers to stand in these last days because people do want to hear a soft message, a message that distorts the truth. I think Luther said it well when he said these words. He's talking to the preachers.

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that point attacking, I am not confessing Christ however boldly I am professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested. To be steady in all the rest of the battlefield is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. Do you hear what he's saying? If you are a soldier for Christ and you stand to preach, and you preach on everything except where the battle is raging, you're not really being the preacher you should be.

the test of a good preacher is often not what he says

let me say that a different way a preacher his worth is not always measured just by what he says we must also examine what he fails to say and you can go to some churches and hear preachers preach things that are consistent with God's Word, but their problem is they fail to teach certain parts of God's Word. They only preach those things that are comfortable to people. They only preach those things where there's no dispute, where there's no battle. So sometimes I want to ask not what did the preacher say, but what did he not say? Did he preach about sin or did he not?

Did he preach about the necessity of repentance? Did he not? about the cross did he not and there are many pulpits today where good things are said but unfortunately many things that should be said are never said you hear the point i'm making oran gifford made the point that when paul preached the preaching usually ended either in a riot or in a revival

and the point was that paul didn't flinch from the truth he didn't tickle people's ears he gave them the truth the way it came from the word and sometimes there was great revival as god's spirit moved in the hearts of those people and those people soften their hearts and turn to christ but then sometimes there was a riot because people were so incensed at what paul said that they would even stone him and try to kill him. So we need preachers who preach the truth faithfully in all seasons, even when people don't want to hear it. We also need preachers who instruct patiently and carefully. Paul makes that clear at the end of verse 2. They must teach with great patience and careful instruction.

Patience with people. We're slow sometimes, aren't we? We hear the preacher preach. and acknowledge in our minds that what he says is true and we should do something about it, but then we just keep on living the same old way. And Paul is telling Timothy, if you're going to be a preacher, you're going to have to have some patience with people.

And the preacher needs to preach with careful instruction. He needs to handle God's word accurately so that people hear the truth as God intended it to be heard. And then we need preachers who will soberly endure hardship for the sake of the gospel. As Paul tells Timothy in verse 5, you keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Let me give us some lessons for life. Lesson number one, think about judgment day more often.

not necessarily a pleasant thing to think about but how many of us have paused to think about what that day will be like

what will it be like when you stand before Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead I would suggest we pause and think about it I would then say live one day at a time and live it for Christ each day Sometimes it's hard to look all the way to the end of the journey and think about enduring for another how many ever years it will be. I say think about the end, but then take one day at a time and commit today to live for Jesus Christ. Third, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. You're going to meet him one day. You're going to cross the finish line.

And I would submit that if we keep him pictured in our minds as we make decisions each day, lives, we will make different decisions. Keep him at the center. Don't let Satan get your eyes off of Jesus, looking at all sorts of other things. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Fourthly, be willing to bend the knee and to change.

You know what the problem with adults is?

We're not willing to change. We're not willing to change. We're not willing to bend the knee and say, Lord, whatever.

I'll follow. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Whatever your word teaches, I will do. Most of us adults want to hear the truth, but then we want to decide will we follow it? Will we submit to it?

Let me get back with you, Jesus, on this point. One reason I think God sends pain into our lives is that's when we're willing to finally think about change. Until then, we adults are hard-hearted. We're sought in our ways. And it's hard to change.

I submit to you, have soft hearts. Hearts that have already decided, if I understand what Jesus wants me to do, I care not what it is, what it costs me, what it takes. I'm going to do it. That's the kind of heart Jesus is looking for. Be willing to change.

Be willing to change. I have had to change so much in my life because I was so hard-headed and stupid.

but part of the process of starting to live more wisely is just being willing to change in the way Jesus wants us to change don't be stuck in the mud don't just get your feet set in concrete adults be willing to change fifthly ask God to give you a hunger for his word and then begin to feast upon it sixthly before you make any decision of any significance and ask, does God's word have anything to say about this decision? It is amazing to me the kinds of decisions supposed Christians make about major issues in life that are completely contrary to what God's word clearly says. I don't know if they just didn't stop to think before they acted or whether they were just unwilling to bend the knee and change.

But I would like us to get to the point that we stop and ask the big picture questions. When I'm about to make a decision, what does the Bible say? I'm about to get married. Does the Bible have anything to say about it? You bet.

If you're a confessing Christian, the first question is, is your spouse a biblical Christian or not? If the answer is no, it's the end of the discussion. That person is not your spouse or should not be. a lot of people have gotten into a lot of trouble because they didn't ask that very fundamental question you see the point I'm making you got to ask these questions and see what scripture has to say about it before you act gee do whatever the bible teaches you to do even if your feelings are urging you not to do it but I love her she's not a Christian don't marry her

I know that can be hard. I don't mean to minimize the difficulty of that. Trust me, God's way is better. God's way is better.

We could take a lot of examples. Maybe it's racial prejudice. Maybe it's greed. God hates greed. change whatever way he wants you to change.

Last, I close with the story. Pastor Selchin, 1992, Nigeria, a pastor who had been preaching the Christian message faithfully. The Muslim mob, before his wife and child, take Pastor Selchin, stretch out his right hand, and they chop it off.

as his right hand falls to the ground, my guess is Pastor Selchin had heard Paul's words, preach the word, be constant in season and out of season. And it was pretty much out of season when they were cutting his hand off. As his right hand fell to the ground, he lifted his left hand into the air. and he said he is Lord he is Lord he is risen from the grave and he is Lord every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

that's the kind of preacher's thing oh Lord may we be constant in season and out of season dedicated to your word and living to how you would want us to live. Forgive us for being such hard-hearted, unyielding, unchanging people. I pray for this class. I pray for myself. Give us soft hearts before you.

May we hear your word clearly as it is preached and taught. But help us to be willing to bend the knee before you and do whatever it takes to follow you. We look forward to the day when we cross the finish line. But I pray, Lord, that we will not shrink back in shame because we have not lived righteous lives here. But instead, may we live here in such a way that when we stand before you there, we can look forward with eager anticipation to receiving the prize, the crown of righteousness.

For it is in Christ's name we pray. Amen.