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Finish the Race
Finish the Race 2 Timothy 4:1-8 Key Verse 4:7-8 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 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 also to all who have longed for his appearing.” This week we will take a break from our Exodus study to think about Paul’s charge to his spiritual son Timothy and his concluding statement about his life. Once Paul met the risen Christ, he was a completely changed man. Before meeting Christ he did everything in his power to stamp out the newly formed Christian church, but after meeting Christ on the road to Damascus he became the quintessential Christian soldier. To the very end of his life Paul continued to do the things he charges Timothy to do in this passage; e.g. preach the word, correct, rebuke and encourage his fellow believers. Paul ever gave up in his mission no matter what hardships he had to face. In all situations he kept his head, remained focused on what God called him to do and in the end he could confidently assert that he had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. We need to learn Paul’s absolute attitude to live a life a faith in today’s world. May God bless our study of this passage and open our hearts and minds to learn Paul’s absolute attitude so that we can also say with confidence that we have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith when God calls us home. First, Paul’s charge to Timothy (1-5). Before we begin to think about this Paul’s charge to Timothy I want to review the situation under which Paul was writing this letter to his ‘dear son’ Timothy. This was Paul’s second imprisonment in Rome. His first imprisonment was somewhat easier to endure because he was actually under the protection of the Roman government. At that time (AD 63-65) he had been brought to Rome to stand trial for inciting a riot but only because he had demanded such a trial as a Roman citizen because there were certain Jews who were trying to kill him back in Israel. As a Roman citizen under the threat of physical assault, the Romans provided him with protection and a lot of freedom in Rome. He spent that first imprisonment period in a rented house and was free to go about preaching as he saw fit. At the time of the writing of this second letter to Timothy (AD 67) Paul was no longer given such freedom. He was now confined in a dungeon awaiting certain death at the hands of the evil Caesar, Nero. Yet Paul was not focused on his own miserable condition. Paul was thinking about his ‘dear son,’ Timothy. Most human beings, if they would write a letter at all in Paul’s situation, would write a letter of bitter complaints asserting their innocence. Most people in jail are not innocent and yet they feel that they are being unjustly punished. Paul was completely innocent but he didn’t make an appeal to Timothy about his unfair treatment. Instead, he encourage Timothy to ‘fan into flames the gift of God’ that had been given to Timothy when Paul laid his hand on him and ordained him. Paul was thinking about the continuation of God’s work instead about what he was facing. As Christians we need to learn Paul’s attitude and thought process. In Paul’s heart and mind, there was nothing more important than God’s work – God’s mission. His life was of no consequence other than to complete the work that God had given him and to make sure that this work would continue even after he was gone. This was Paul’s attitude, but is it my attitude? Is my first priority God’s work or do I spend time thinking about how I can satisfy my own desires? When I face hardships, do I think about encouraging others to continue in the gospel work or do I simply think of myself and how I can get myself out of that difficult situation? Sadly, I must admit that my attitude is not the same as Paul’s. My attitude is largely self-centered instead of God-centered and mission-centered. This is a great sin and I must repent of it. We have all been put here to carry out some mission for God. This needs to be our first priority and it should occupy our hearts and minds no matter what situation we might find ourselves in. What was Paul thinking about concerning Timothy? Paul was concerned about the welfare of the churches especially under the persecutions they were facing under Nero. He was also concerned that the churches would be lead astray by all types of false teachings that were going around. With this in mind Paul gave a charge, or an order to Timothy. Look at verses 1. “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.” Paul begins by making it clear that he is not just speaking on his own authority, he is speaking in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead. These are not just idle words that Paul is writing to Timothy or some type of suggestion, they are a command given before God and therefor Timothy must obey them. Paul then goes on to tell Timothy exactly what the charge or order was. Look at verse 2. “2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” Timothy was to, first of all preach the word. What does this mean? The word is not Timothy’s word or Paul’s word, it is the word of God. As we will see later, many people were not preaching “THE” word, they were preaching whatever they though their listeners wanted to hear. Paul knew this so he charge Timothy with preaching the word of God clearly to the people. Paul also charge Timothy to always be prepared – Paul says both “in season and out of season.” This means that Timothy would have to continually study the Bible so that he would always have an answer ready for anyone who came to him with a question. The gospel work doesn’t only go on when we’re ready to participate in it. It is going on all the time and it is our job to always be prepared to participate in it. Preaching the word was not the only task that Paul charged Timothy with. He also told him to “correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.” This part of the charge would not always be easy for Timothy or any gospel worker to carry out. Timothy was still a young man and many in the church were older than him, but Paul was telling Timothy that, if it was needed, Timothy would have to correct and even rebuke those older than him. Correcting and rebuking people is not easy, because people don’t like to be told that they are doing something wrong. In fact, people hate it when other people point out their short comings. It causes those who are being corrected or rebuked to have feelings of resentment or even hatred to the one doing the correcting or rebuking. This is human nature and it is why we don’t like to be the ones to do the correcting or rebuking. Yet Paul did not spare Timothy from this task. Correcting and rebuking was not all that Timothy was to do, he was also to encourage others in their life of faith. This is much better than correcting and rebuking because people generally like to be encourage. The problem is, it is not always easy to do. This is especially true if we are facing hardships ourselves. To carry out this charge, Timothy was going to need great patience and careful instructions. Great patience can only come from God. We need to pray for this, because as sinful human beings we don’t usually have much patience with other sinful human beings. The careful instructions also needs to come through prayer, but this prayer needs to be combined with diligent Bible study. In order to correct, rebuke and encourage someone in their life of faith, one needs to know how to do this. The answers can be found in the Bible. One needs to look at God’s law, Jesus Sermon on the Mount or countless other examples that can be found in the Bible when correcting, rebuking and encouraging others Of course these words were directed to Timothy at the time, but this charge, before God is just as relevant for us today. We are also charged with carrying out God’s work in this generation. Like Timothy we need to be prepared at all times. We can’t be afraid to clearly preach the word of God, correct or rebuke others. We must also be ready and able to encourage others when they need encouragement. These things are not always easy to do – even encouraging people is not always easy. All of these things require us to look past ourselves and look to the needs of others. It requires that we put aside our own wants and desires and make God’s mission the number one priority in our lives. It means that we don’t live for ourselves, we live for God’s mission and for others. We need to understand why Paul gave such a charge to Timothy. Look at verses 3 and 4. “For the time will come when people 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Human beings are very interesting. We are not so interested in hearing and learning the truth, rather we want to hear and learn only what we want to hear and learn. There is an English expression, “The truth hurts.” This is often very true and so people don’t want to hear the truth a lot of the time. Paul knew this well, and he knew how easily false doctrines could make their way into church teaching. Paul wanted Timothy to be aware of this and never to compromise the truth simply because some people didn’t want to hear it. The truth of God will never change to fit the desires of man. The opposite must happen; man must change his desire based on the truth of God. Once again, Paul’s words are as true today as they were when he wrote them to Timothy almost 2000 years ago. People still want to hear only what their itching ears want to hear. They don’t want to be confronted by the full truth of God and that is precisely why we need to boldly preach nothing but the truth of God. Paul’s final words of his charge to Timothy can be found in verse 5. “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” Keep your head in all situations and endure hardship, these are two very difficult things to do. What does Paul mean by ‘keep you head in all situations?’ I think he means that Timothy must always remained focused on his mission. This mission must have the first place in his heart and mind at all times, especially when he is facing hardships. When we face hardships our minds quickly forget about our mission and begin to focus on ourselves and our situation. This is ‘losing our mind,’ not keeping our mind. By writing this letter in the face of the terrible situation which he was facing, Paul is giving a perfect example of how to ‘keep your head in all situations.’ Paul did not stop thinking about his mission because he was in prison and about to be executed. No, he continued to think about his mission and how he was going to pass it along to the next generation through Timothy. We also need to have this laser-like focus on God’s mission in our lives. We have to keep our head focused on this mission even in the worst of times. Second, Paul fought the good fight, he finished the race and he kept the faith (6-8). Look at verse 6. “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.” Paul knew that his time on this earth was almost over, but this didn’t distress him. He looked on it not as a terrible thing, but just as a fact of life. The important thing to see here is that Paul didn’t not look on this as the end. He didn’t say “my time is over,” he simply said it was his time to depart. This means that Paul knew he was going somewhere else to continue on doing whatever it was that God wanted him to do. Paul new that death was not the end of everything, rather it is a new birth into a living hope that will last for all eternity together with Jesus in eternity. Paul went on to say in verses 7. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” If you look at verse 7 carefully, Paul saw life as a battle or a great athletic event; a battle or an event that he had to win. If any of you have ever competed in a battle or a long athletic event, you will know that it is not easy to come out as the victor. It takes everything we have to win. There are also times when we think that there is no way we can win – it’s just too hard or too painful to keep going. It is at these unbearable points that we have to keep our head focused on the objective. We have to keep the faith and stay focused on what we are trying to accomplish. Many people cannot do this and they simply give up, but Paul never gave up. It is interesting to note God’s words to Ananias when God sent him to take care of Paul after Jesus had appeared to him on the road to Damascus. God said, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” If you look at 2 Corinthians 11:21-33 you will get an idea of what Paul suffered throughout his life of faith. What Paul suffered was truly unbearable – can you even imagine what it would be like to be flogged and stoned? I can’t. Could you endure this and keep going in your life of faith? Paul did; he fought the good fight to the end and he finished the race that God had marked out for him. How could Paul fight the good fight, complete this race and keep the faith to the end? He could do it because he ‘kept his eye on the prize.’ Look at verse 8. “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 also to all who have longed for his appearing.” In other words, Paul kept his head in all situations; he stayed focused on completing the mission in order to win the prize. He didn’t let the hardships and pain distract him from what he wanted. He wanted that crown of righteousness that his Lord and Savior, Jesus, was about to give him. We must not think that once we become Christians, life is going to become easy or like a ‘bed of roses.’ This simply isn’t the Biblical truth. The Biblical truth is that sincere Christians will face persecution. Jesus said that if they persecuted him his followers should also expect persecution from worldly people. As in the case of Jesus, Stephen, Peter, Paul and countless others this persecution might even end in our martyrdom, but this should not deter us. We need to learn Paul’s attitude and thought process. We must always keep our head in all situations and always remain focused on the mission God has given us and the prize that he has in store for us if we complete that mission. Finishing the race is most important. If we only make it half way or three quarters of the way and give up we shouldn’t expect to win the prize. The prize can only be won by a person who crosses the finish line. There is no exception to this rule, so keep that in mind the next time you face a challenge. God has a prize waiting for you if you can say as Paul did just before his death, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” |
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