Disciples want to hear the welcome, “Well done, faithful servant” when we reach Heaven. This daily devotion looks at how Paul advised Timothy to live out God’s Word.
Nuggets
- We are to be reminded of God’s Word.
- Our focus should be on coming before God in humility, truth, and service.
Devotions in Living Out God’s Word series
It is important that we as disciples faithfully study God’s Word. This was not only Paul’s advice to Timothy, but it was also his advice to us.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Remembering but not Quarreling
“Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers” (II Tim. 2: 14 ESV)
We are to be reminded of God’s Word.
There are times we don’t want to be reminded of things, but there are times we need to be.
We learn when we are kids that we need to grow up to fully appreciate. If we don’t think about this things — and aren’t reminded about them — we forget.
But our memories aren’t the only thing that is affected when we remember. Barlow says that our faith is confirmed.
Barlow expanded on that. He wrote “We are slow to [practice] what we conceive, believe, and remember: therefore the reduplication of Divine things is profitable.”
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We need to be reminded what God says in His Word because we sometimes need help.
Think about it. When we determine what we believe in God’s gospel, we have to go over the information at least a couple of times. We have to decide whether we believe that God is telling us the truth.
If we don’t understand, we will need it explained to us. For some people, these may be new concepts that they have to take a minute to consider.
It is easy for us to forget something we don’t understand. We don’t want to forget God’s promises.
Sometimes, it takes a while for us to figure out what God is really calling us to do. We have to stay committed to what God is saying.
But what exactly these things is Timothy supposed to be reminding people? These verses did start in a middle of a thought.
Paul was admonishing Timothy to remind the people to remain strong in the faith. He reminded Timothy that our relationship with God depends on us. “If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (II Tim. 2: 11-13 ESV).
What Paul was also saying was that we don’t want to get pushed off track by false teachers. We want to remember what God’s way is — and follow Him. We need to remember all the reasons why we should follow God.
We also don’t want to get in big theological debates with other disciples. We don’t want to be controversial.
Let me rephrase that. There is no debate on what God has written down in His law. We can’t rewrite it for our sensibilities.
We are to decide if we are going to obey God or not. There is no debate on that – only one of two choices.
The debate comes in when we determine the nuances of what we believe and what we believe about what God doesn’t say.
We want to stand up for what God says is right, but we don’t want to be controversial.
We must search our hearts and determine the principles by which we will live. Those are our choices to make.
We can’t force those choices — or choosing our way — on others. But neither can we abdicate our choice to their principles just because they believe something else.
Plummer made a great comment. What we would term as debate today “… is something like proof that love of self has taken the place of love of truth.”
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The problem is debates with non-believers is intended to confuse disciples. The debate takes the focus off of God and put it onto ourselves.
So, instead of growing in faith and knowledge, debates take us further from God.
But isn’t that Satan’s tactics — divide and conquer? He gets us in different camps, each mightily defending our viewpoint.
God can’t work with us that way.
Presenting Ourselves to God
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (II Tim. 2: 15 ESV)
Our focus should be on coming before God in humility, truth, and service.
In today’s society, it is easy to think that we have to compromise with the worldview in order to get along. Worldview people think following the second greatest commandment of loving our neighbor should be enough.
It isn’t.
We are trying to gain God’s approval. God does not compromise His standards — that is, His laws and commandments.
According to Plummer, Paul was the only writer in the New Testament to use the word approved. He said that it is talking about that Energizer Bunny quality my Ladies and I said Paul had.
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Like the commercial — Paul had his batteries in and kept rolling along, beating his drum, ears a-waving. He was tireless and ceaseless. He knew his mission — and he accomplished it.
No, Paul didn’t do all that so he could get to Heaven and say, “Oh, God! You really needed me!”
Nope. Paul wanted to win God’s approval. He wanted to hear “… ‘Well done, good and faithful servant …’” (Mt. 25: 23 ESV).
The joyful zeal is definitely required! We aren’t doing all of this out of a begrudging desire to win something in the end.
We are trying to please and worship Sovereign God. We are trying to be diligent, earnest, and faithful to Him.
We know, when we are doing God’s Will, we need not be ashamed. We know God has a different definition of success than the worldview.
We are a success in God’s eyes when we are obedient to Him. Only when we submit our lives to Him can we be considered successful.
Paul at the end of the verse talked about “… rightly handling the word of truth” (II Tim. 2: 15 ESV). What he was talking about here was rightly interpreting God’s Word.
If we are going to live out God’s Word, we have to correctly know what it says and means. Everything that to fit in its place.
Reynolds took it a step further. He wrote, when discussing Paul’s advice to Timothy, that we should “… set out clear lines for the intellect, a plain path for the feet, a just appeal to the emotions, a true stimulant of the conscience.”
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The narrow path God asks us to follow is a clear path. We need not imply it is the haunted lane out to a dark dungeon.
We are to others the path of grace.
Making the Connections #1
When we are accepted, we are seen as the real deal. We aren’t afraid Jesus will speak Matthew 7: 21.
We know beyond a shadow of a doubt He won’t!
Making the Connections #2
But let’s look at this another way. Paul was writing to Timothy as another minister, not just as a church member or even as an adopted son.
Moore brought out a very good point. He wrote, “It appears to me that something more is required to convince men that a minister has the smile of God than his own belief.”
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No one is going to believe God is Sovereign God just because I say I believe Him. My words aren’t going to really mean much.
Moore said there are four ways to show someone else that we are ministers of God. (And remember we all are ministers of God.) They are
- The way we follow God’s commands.
- How diligent we are in following them.
- What trials we encounter during the way.
- Our attitude as we are navigating the trials.
When we look at the ministry as an office, we see ministers as teachers. We share the truth to others.
God shows us His favor when He approves of us. No, He may not be taking the trial away, but He is guiding us through it. Through it all, God works to show us our sin and eliminate it.
We see in a changed life when God is at work.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t waste time debating.
- Focus on God’s laws and commandments.
- Eliminate all strive that we can.
- Cultivate a sound mind and judgment.
- Eliminate pride.
- Reserve judgment when can.
- Don’t be too curious.
- Find agreements where possible.
- Choose friends wisely.
- Don’t be ashamed of God’s culture even though it is counterculture to the world.
- Don’t be ashamed what you know compared to what others know.
- Use the Word of God as our sword.
- Never use God’s Word to defend or compromise with sin.
Resource
Father God. We want to study Your Word. We want to remember it and live it out. We are looking for Your approval. Amen.
What do you think?
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