2 Timothy 4:1-5 says:
"I 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, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry."
We read this in my evening family devos, it popped out because it basically summaries our calling. Look at the starting "I charge you in the presence of God and Of Christ" that alone says "Sit down, shut your mouth and open your ears, I'm talking to you in the name of He who created."
It then proceeds to tell you what He (as in God) calls us to do "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." Note when it says "be in ready in season and our of season" in 2 Peter 3:15 it says that we need to be ready to proclaim the gospel always, but do it gently and respectfully, which co-insides with this verse in 2 Timothy. Why because both in different ways say "be ready always no matter what." Basically walk the walk, not just talk the talk, which means when your not doing so great, when your tired, when your day is going to junk, Job who basically went through as much torment as a human can go through with out dying said "The Lord takes away, and gives, but I will still praise Him" Job is a living statement to these two verses in 2 Peter and 2 Timothy. He set an example of one who follows God no matter what.
Unfortunately this is fading in our generation, our generation has become one who is filled with a "jelly donut gospel," one that is surgery, doey and sweet, to be accepting of all people. This leads into the next part of the verse;
"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."
This "Lovey Dovey" movement in the Church of Christ is not old, this verse was written hundreds of years ago, and the author was talking about issues in the early church then... so as Humans we have struggled with the fact that, yes God is a God of wrath, and judgement, however through that He is wrathful towards those who oppress His people, and is judges those who fall from the path and ignore His teachings. So we need to ask ourselves "What are we doing wrong? why has this problem of "Lukewarmness" been a constant in our church since the beginning of time?" The answer is simple; Humanity... you see if we hold on to this worldly thing called "Humanity" then we will always fail in His eyes, however if we embrace the fact that we can never make our lives perfect, that we will always fail no matter what... with out His guidance and His light. Instead of running and looking at the cross, we need to do as Peter and John did and run to the empty tomb to see that He has risen and is Lord.
The last part of the verse addresses our main calling;
"As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry."
Christ calls us to always be "sober-minded" think about that, SOBER-MINDED, aka with a clear mind set. This is a true testament to those who agree with drinking as a Christian, it also falls into the fact that God always need to be on our mind. We are called to fill our thoughts with Holy and Righteous things, so be Sober-Minded. "Endure suffering" many who have become members of the "Church of the Lukewarm" do not like these kind of statements, I have heard many say "But if God is love then His people shouldn't suffer!" Unfortunately this argument is invalid do to the fact that as a Christian we are supposed to stand out and not be a part of this world, thus this world will try its hardest to not let us proclaim the gospel of Christ. Then the last part; "Do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry" this is basically saying as Christ did "Go to all and share my Gospel"
So in conclusion what are your thoughts? do you agree with this verse? disagree? don't understand it? have problems with it? Please comment below, I would like to hear what you have to think, and know that no judgements will be passed, that goes from other readers as well, we are all here to learn and discover, we are all on a different lap of the Race of Faith, and life.
God bless,
-Nathan
No comments:
Post a Comment