2 Timothy 2:1-14

2 Timothy 2:1. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Is an exhortation to every one of us, not only to have grace, but to be strong in it. There are many professors who, so long as they are just saved, are content. We are not content with being barely alive spiritually; we do not wish to have our life shivering with cold, but we seek after comfort as well as existence, and we seek to be in health, as well as to be in life. So should it be with the Christian. He should pray, «Lord, make me strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.» Oh! that these words might be, not merely an exhortation, but a divine fiat, that as God said, «Let there be light,» so he may say to his children, «Be ye strong,» and then oh! how soon shall the weakest of us leap into immortal strength!

2 Timothy 2:2. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

So, then, there is to be a succession of teachers in the church, and these do ill who are always speaking against the ministry of God. Timothy receives his ministry of Paul; he is to commit it to faithful men, and these are to hold it in custody to teach to others also. But there are some who say that all Christians should be teachers. To which we answer, if the whole body were a mouth, where were the ear. The mouth is, after all, but a vacuum; if the whole body be mouth, there will be no body at all. If all are to be shepherds, where are to be the sheep? If all are to sow, where are we to find the ground? Nay, brethren, we must be careful to pray God to continue the ministry in our midst, for without it we miss many blessings. «The same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.»

2 Timothy 2:3. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

If thou desirest delicacy, join not the army. A soldier's calling is not to be linked with softnesses, and if thou desirest ease and comfort, join not the army of Christ, for a Christian's profession and these go not together.

2 Timothy 2:4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

So Timothy, as a Christian minister, is to act as the Roman soldier did. It was a law in Rome that no soldier was to plead in court for another as a lawyer, or to act in business for another as a bailiff, or to have anything to do, while a soldier, with either husbandry or merchandise. And so should it be with the men of God who strove to break the Word, and every Christian indeed, though he meddleth with common things, is to take care that he be not entangled by them, not to be caught, as it were, as game is entangled in a net. There is a way, you know, of making the actions of common life subservient to the purposes of divine grace. This is the Christian's business; let him take care that ‘he be not entangled with the cares of this life.

2 Timothy 2:5. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

There were rules in the Grecian games. When they struck each other, the blow was not to be given except upon a certain part of the body, and if a man fought unlawfully, he could not get the prize. So there are laws, too, for the Christian ministry, and also holy regulations for the great wrestling of Christians.

2 Timothy 2:6. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

This is a law. No man has any right to be a partaker at all till he has first tasted of the fruits of the field. Until we have first tasted that the «Lord is gracious,» we cannot effectively or properly minister the things of God.

2 Timothy 2:7. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doers; even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

See how the apostle comforts himself. Here he is in prison, but the truth is free. He sits with the chains about his wrists, but the Word of God travels from nation to nation, from continent to continent, like the free spirit that dwelleth in it.

2 Timothy 2:10. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Not that the sufferings of Paul had anything meritoriously to do with the salvation of the elect, but that by his earnest strivings and sufferings the word of the gospel was brought to their hearing; faith then came by hearing, and so they were saved.

2 Timothy 2:11. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Glory be to God, the unbelief of man cannot make God break his promises. Christian, all thine unbelief has not made God unfaithful to thee: and sinner, though thou cast out the promise of God as being good for nothing, yet he will not therefore raise the recompense of reward, for Jesus will save others if he save not thee. «He abideth faithful.»

2 Timothy 2:14. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

There are some Christians who need this exhortation given to them in these days, for they are always striving about words to no profit. Beware of these men, if you would not have your faith staggered.