2 Timothy 4:5

A FOUR-FOLD CHARGE

‘Be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry.’

2 Timothy 4:5 (R.V.)

Here are four distinct thoughts. They are thoughts of St. Paul the friend of St. Luke. Each thought comes straight and warm from one of the largest hearts ever given to man. Further, each is not only a thought but a charge—a charge countersigned, we cannot doubt it, by the sign-manual of the Divine Master Himself.

I. Sobriety in all things.—‘Be thou sober.’ Be temperate, calm, collected. Keep your heart warm, but your head cool.

II. Suffer hardship.—Clearly the world had a special force for St. Paul and for those whom St. Paul sent forth to battle. In our day it has a special force for some of the clergy, not least those whose work lies in foreign lands, and whose dangers are not only dangers of the soul, but also of the body. But, apart from this, there is surely a meaning for us all, clergy alike and laity, in this emphatic word, which might well be the motto of a great life—‘Suffer hardship.’ In every human life, and at many stages of each life, there is always, seen or unseen, some eventful ‘parting of the ways.’ There is the level, smooth path of ease, and there is the steep, rough path of difficulty; the path of ‘least resistance’ and the path of trenchant daring; the path of tactful—if you will, kindly—compromise and the path, always of outspoken resolve, sometimes of outspoken leadership. But there are a hundred voices always ready to advise the softness of compromise. There is not always ready a voice to recall the old soldierly word of command, ‘Suffer hardship.’ There are times when the sterner voice is truly the present voice of God, ‘Suffer hardship.’ Speak out.

III. The work of an evangelist.—This part of our ministry is the one which in practice we clergy find the hardest. Are we outwardly spoken of, are we inwardly thought of, as bringers of ‘good news’? We can hardly put the question without a seeming touch of self-accusing irony. May God help us, each of us His ministers, whatever our own powers or faults, to ‘do’ more and more some ‘work of an evangelist’ to be welcomed by all classes, especially the poorest and the weakest, as ‘helpers of their joy.’

IV. Fulfil thy ministry.—It is the preacher’s part to shrink not from declaring unto you ‘the whole counsel of God.’ It is your part to pray for your clergy and for those to whom they minister. This is fulfilling our ministry. And surely you will do it.

—Rev. Dr. H. M. Butler.

Illustrations

(1) ‘We cannot hear the name of China, we can scarcely hear the name of India, or Uganda, or Nyassa, without being reminded that to “suffer hardship,” even in the most literal sense, may at any time become the lot—shall we not say the glorious privilege?—“before they taste of death,” or even in the hour of death itself, of some of those devoted brothers who are representing us in the mission field.’

(2) ‘If we know anything of the history of the Christian Church; if we have followed the life of any of her first-rate evangelists; if we have observed how men and women hung on the lips of any of the greater thinkers and preachers and writers—whether Fathers, or Bishops, or monks, or friars, or Reformers, or translators of the Bible, or scholars and teachers in Universities, or missionaries at home like Whitfield and the Wesleys, or missionaries abroad like Boniface, or Xavier, or Duff, or Swartz, or Marsden, or the two Selwyns, or Patteson, or Whipple, or Mackay, or Hannington—if, I say, we have noted the spell which these men cast over those to whom they offered their message, it was, we must all admit, because they were felt to be bringing good news.” ’