Second Timothy, part3

"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." (2 Timothy 2:1-2, NKJV)

The Apostle Paul, a prisoner in Rome awaiting his eventual execution, writes a second inspired letter to his "son in the faith" Timothy. This second letter was written to give Timothy encouragement and spiritual edification. As noted in 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Timothy's spiritual "fire" was waning, and Paul commanded him to "stir" it up; to fan it into flames. Paul continues this exhortation in today's passage.

"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Paul commands Timothy to be strong, or a better translations is "to be strengthened." What does Paul tell Timothy to be strong in? The grace that is in Christ Jesus. Paul doesn't tell Timothy to be strong in himself. In himself, Timothy has no strength to do effective ministry. If Timothy were to look to himself for the strength to do God's work, he would be working "in the flesh;" i.e., Timothy would not be using the spiritual resources that God provides his people to do His work. The grace that is in Christ Jesus is the grace that saves ("For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" Ephesians 2:8), but it is also the grace that empowers our spiritual life ("Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them" Romans 12:6). The Holy Spirit gives each believer a "measure" of grace. This measure of grace is given to us by virtue of the saving grace that has been applied to us by God through Jesus Christ. The word "grace" in the Greek is charis, and it simply means "gift;" something given that is undeserved. So the grace that is in Christ Jesus is the source of strength that Timothy needs to tap into.

"And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Now, after commanding Timothy to be strong, Paul instructs Timothy on the principle of spiritual reproduction. Timothy was to take all the teachings and experiences he learned while being a disciple of Paul and pass them on to "faithful men." Timothy had been a follower of Paul since Paul's first missionary journey. During the time he had been traveling with Paul, Timothy would have seen Paul perform many miracles, preach divine revelation, and build many new church communities. He would have also learned all essential Christian doctrine from the man who wrote most of it himself. Timothy wasn't to keep all this information to himself, but was to entrust it to others who would pass it on to even others, and so on. As a pastor, Timothy wasn't responsible for evangelizing the city of Ephesus. In fact, the pastor's main job is not evangelization, but edification (the building up of believers to do the work of evangelization). Paul says as much in his letter to the Ephesians: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:11-12). The work of a pastor is to see that the believers entrusted to his care are properly "equipped" for the work of the ministry. So who does the work of the ministry? We do. How are we prepared to do that work? The pastor equips us by opening our hearts and minds to the truths of God's word so that we become spiritually mature.

Now this doesn't mean that the pastor (Timothy in this case) doesn't do any evangelization, but his main task is to disciple fellow believers. Paul tells Timothy to train up faithful men; to help them attain spiritual maturity. These men, in turn, will do the same with others, and so on. This is how spiritual reproduction works; one believer--one disciple--at a time. Each one being equipped to do the work of the ministry. The lack of this could very well be the reason why Timothy was suffering spiritual fatigue. Perhaps he was overwhelmed with the task of leading so large a congregation. This advice Paul gives Timothy was the same advice that Jethro (Moses' father-in-law) gave Moses. Moses was responsible for the spiritual well-being of over two million Israelites during the exodus. Jethro told Moses to delegate some of his responsibility to other faithful God-fearing men, so that he could concentrate on the more weighty issues (Exodus 18:13-26).

No one person can do it all, and God doesn't expect one person to do it all. Even Jesus delegated authority to His disciples when He sent out the Twelve in Luke 9 and the seventy in Luke 10. We each have a particular sphere of influence that God wants us to work in. We can't all be preachers, but we are all called to do the work of evangelization (Matthew 28:19-20). Let us do the work that Lord has laid before us "in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."

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