Guardians Of The GospelSample

Have you ever been disappointed by others or felt like you’ve disappointed God? The truth is that each of us will experience the disappointment and hurt that can come from relational differences. We live in a fallen, sinful, and messed up world— no one is immune to this. There will be times when we also let people down and may even feel like we have failed God. One constant among all the variables in life is that we can depend on the unrelenting faithfulness of God. 

Paul speaks about his experience of Christians abandoning him in his time of need. In contrast, Paul experienced friendship and love with Onesiphorus, who Paul says, “often refreshed me” and “was not ashamed of my chains.” The point of all this is that we can only depend on God’s goodness and faithfulness to see us through. We do not have all the answers and are limited in our capacity, yet God is infinite and all-powerful.

Paul starts off by sharing the quintessential reality that the starting point of our ministry to others is rooted in God’s ministry to us. His faithfulness will sustain and empower our lives. Let’s not miss the significance of Paul’s encouragement to young Timothy to ‘be strengthened.’ 

This is an amazing term in the Greek which has the idea of continuous empowering within our lives from an external source. In this case, the source is an all-powerful God. Paul strongly instructs Timothy to receive God’s grace and constantly benefit from the endless power, grace, and strength that are all available from God to each one of us. There’s no doubt that we will give much of our lives to God in faithful service, but we need to be reminded that our faithful service is always matched by God’s faithful provision in every way. Paul uses three metaphors in this text to express what flows from our lives as empowered individuals:

A Good Soldier. A soldier served out of duty and is called to exercise obedience, diligence, focus, and determination. If the world is to be won to God, we need to see ourselves in this light.

An Athlete. You may or may not see yourself as a great athlete, but we can likely grasp the concept of athletes competing in order to win the prize of victory and to push the limits of their respective fields. Although there’s no competition or jostling for position in God’s Kingdom, we are called to see our lives as an important race to be run with a magnificent reward at the finish line.

A Farmer. An unknown art and science for most urban dwellers. Farmers excel in producing the necessities of life. The diligent farmer sows a seed, tends the field, and trusts God to bring in the harvest in the end. A lazy farmer will not have food to eat. Do we see our role of sowers of gospel seed as more of a hobby or as an absolute essential necessity? The farmer would perish without his harvest; the world will perish without the gospel.

The Soldier is governed by his commanding officer, the athlete subscribes to a code of ethics, and the farmer is dependent upon the rain and his diligence for his every success. All three metaphors require two parties to exercise their role. We are called to be empowered and to do what we can, and God is faithful in taking what is done and multiplying the results. Not only are we to be empowered by God for sharing and showing the Gospel, but we have the safety-net of His enduring promises. Like bookends to this amazing section of Scripture, Paul concludes this chapter with an important reminder about God’s nature. When we are unfaithful to the cause of Christ, He is faithful and envelops us with His promises.

Do your best and rely on God’s faithful promises for the rest.

Advancing the Gospel - join the movement

Being faithful to God in every aspect of our lives requires the input of others and deep spiritual roots. Advance groups promote fellowship through regular communication to keep cheering each other on and stirring passion and support for our evangelism efforts.