2 Timothy: Guard The GospelSample

‘… be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus’ (v. 1).

Grace encompasses all the riches we have in and through Jesus. There are two aspects of grace that will strengthen us as we live as followers of Jesus. Firstly, the redeeming grace of God in giving his Son to bear the punishment for our sin, so we may be declared righteous in his sight. Knowing this redeeming grace helps us grow in assurance. Secondly, the sustaining grace of God we experience everyday as the Holy Spirit works to enable us to persevere in faith and grow in godliness. We need to be strengthened by the knowledge of redeeming grace and the experience of sustaining grace.

God’s strategy for gospel growth is that the gospel is passed faithfully from one teacher to another – throughout the generations until Jesus returns. Paul passed the gospel to Timothy. Timothy must pass it to other teachers who, in turn, will pass it on to others. Centuries later we see the success of this strategy. And we too have a part to play in sharing the gospel with others until Jesus comes again. How can you be involved in this?

Gospel ministers have a responsibility to invest in training future ministers who will continue to teach the gospel. We need to value, pray for and support those who do this faithfully. But we can all be involved in passing the gospel from one generation to another. We can do this in our families or small groups, or in one-to-one discipling of younger believers.

We often face pressure to compromise the gospel message to make it more acceptable to those around us. We need grace to strengthen us. We can hope and rejoice in redeeming grace – especially when we fail and are tempted to despair. We can trust in sustaining grace to enable us to persevere despite our weaknesses and fears.

Reflection

Thank God for his redeeming grace that saves us and his sustaining grace that keeps us following him. Pray you will be strengthened by sustaining grace as you persevere in living for him. Thank God that the gospel has been preserved through the generations from Paul’s day until now. What part can you play in its future growth?