Faithful Ministry – 2 Timothy 1:13-18
Chapter 1: Guard the Gospel
“By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” (2 Timothy 1:14)
Chapter 2: Suffer for the Gospel
“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ…Remember Jesus Christ…This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. (2 Timothy 2:3, 8-9)
Chapter 3: Continue in the Gospel
“Evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But, as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of.” (2 Timothy 3:13-14)
Chapter 4: Preach the Gospel
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus…I give you this charge: preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
“The church of our day urgently needs to take to heart the message of the second letter of Paul to Timothy. For all around us we see Christians and churches relaxing their grasp of the gospel, fumbling it, in danger of letting it drop from their hands altogether. A new generation of young Timothy’s is needed, who will guard the sacred deposit of the gospel, who are determined to proclaim it and are prepared to suffer for it, and who will pass it on pure and uncorrupted to the generation which in due course will rise up to follow them.” (John Stott)
1. Faithful ministry is…
“Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me…” (2 Timothy 1:13 NASB)
“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.” (1 Timothy 1:3)
“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.” (1 Timothy 6:3-4)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
2. Faithful ministry is…
“O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.” (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.” (Luke 11:21)
“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude v.3)
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (Acts 20:28-30)
3. Faithful ministry often…
“This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:10)
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:19-23)
“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. 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, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)