2 Timothy 2:1-7

2 Timothy 2:1-7  You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.  Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs — he wants to please his commanding officer.  Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.  The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.  Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

Paul is asking Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  Timothy did not earn his leadership position in the body of Christ: God gave it to him.  He urges Timothy to be strong in this grace and to teach the pure gospel so that the orthodox message of Christ might be carried from his generation to the next generation.  Paul desires Timothy to endure the hardships of ministering the gospel like a soldier who is carrying out a mission.  A soldier's mission is his only purpose in life.  Paul tells Timothy that if his life is single-minded like a soldier, he will be like an athlete who competes according to the rules.  Paul knows that ministering the gospel of Christ effectively requires a single-minded purpose: nothing else will do, nothing else will please God.  Consequently, Timothy's self-will must die, for he who plants the gospel must first die himself.  He who dies to fears, wants, and recriminations will receive the victor's crown.  He will receive a harvest after planting, in this case after first planting his life.  

Paul knew grace was the essential aspect of furthering the gospel.  Paul and Timothy were called to fulfill their positions in the body of Christ by and through the grace of God.  All ministries and positions in the church are called by the grace of God.  Many Christians forget that principle.  Sometimes we tend to believe we are where we are because of our great skills or special abilities.  We become pretentious in our attitudes; we become supposed experts rather than humble servants of the Lord.  If you are to be a prince/princess in the household of the Lord it is because of him and not you.  If you are to perform the holy work of the Lord here on Earth, it is because of Christ and his grace and not you.  If you are humble, if you do realize your total responsibility to Christ and his giftings, you will desire him to be lifted up. Your service will be for his credit, not yours.  If you desire him to be lifted up, YOU WILL LEARN OF CHRIST.  You will become humble and obedient to the cross, which is a stake into your own self-willed life.  

I am not very encouraged by the know-it-all in religion.  I am not comforted by the expert with all the answers.  I am not sure when ministers enumerate exactly how God thinks, acts, and creates that they know much about God.  When a minister tells me there are seven ways God looks at sin or there are six ways He comforts the soul, and so on, I just wonder if this person knows the almighty God of creation that well.  How can the finite know the author of the BEGINNING AND THE ENDING so well that he or she can enumerate how GOD THINKS AND ACTS?   My God, the creator of the universe, is a WHOLE LOT bigger than that.  He far surpasses my imagination, and except for Jesus Christ, I would not know him at all.  

Paul is telling Timothy, run the race hard, repeat the gospel correctly, do not tire or grow weary, for the Lord has laid up a crown of righteousness for you.  Timothy, don't step back, don't shirk your duties, remember the race is for the diligent and the bold.  God has given you enough grace to teach the message of salvation.  He has given you enough grace to make it to the end and to reap the harvest you have planted.  Timothy, run the race!  Timothy, don't look back, don't step to the right or to the left!  This is a message to each of us, for we also are servants of the Lord, selected by his mercy and grace.  So, let us also run diligently and boldly.  Let us also endure to the end, and when we do, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

2 Timothy 1:13-18

2 Timothy 1:13-18  What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.  Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.  You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.  May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.  On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.  May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day!  You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. 

When you are down, when you need help, is there an Onesiphorus from Asia in your world?   Onesiphorus means help-bringer.  How beautiful are the feet of those who bring help.  Paul was an elderly man by this time.  His personal ministry in Asia had seemingly gone up in flames, for even his faithful followers, those he depended upon: Phygelus and Hermogenes, had abandoned him.  Paul, Christ's sacrificial servant to the people of Asia, who was called to endure everything and anything to preach the "good news" to the Gentiles, was now wondering about the effectiveness of his ministry.

Well, Timothy is still in Asia, in Ephesus, and we see Paul in this letter still teaching the Ephesians the "good news" through Timothy his spiritual son.  Paul's arrest probably brought his ministry's efficacy into question by many: if Paul was such a powerful man of God, God never would have allowed Paul to be imprisoned.  Isn't this pretty much the way we question or gauge ministries today?  When we see congregations of thousands on television, we assess that the men leading them must be men of God because surely God would not bless them with so many followers if they were not.  Money flows to these kinds of ministries.  If we see a minister with only a few in his church, we say, he must be doing something wrong, for a man of God would have more followers than just a handful of people.  Paul was being judged that way by the people he had committed his life to.  If Paul was such a great man of God, he would not be in prison.  Paul had put his life on the line for these people.  Yet, after his imprisonment, they deserted him, for they were ashamed of his chains.  Only Onesiphorus wanted to find Paul.  Only he wanted to give comfort to this faithful servant.  Only he recognized that Paul gave his life for the people of Asia. 

Jesus found himself in the exact same position on the day of his crucifixion.  Only a short time before, he heard the cries of Hosanna.  He heard the excitement in the people's voices as he entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, but on the day of his crucifixion, he heard only the derisive calls from the Jews and the rude comments of the Roman soldiers.  Jesus found himself alone.  As Paul, he could claim, all in Asia have deserted me, even my faithful followers.  None of them were at the foot of his cross.  They may have gazed upon him from afar, but none of them were there to comfort him in his desperate need.  Paul says, they have left me here alone to face my oppressors.  Only Onesiphorus refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.  How soon we abandon one ministry and go to another one that seems more exciting, more fulfilling.  What do you have to offer me, Paul?  What do you have to offer me little church?  What do you have to offer my flesh?  How beautiful are the feet of Onesiphorus, help-bringer.  How many little churches, how many ministers need an Onesiphorus in their lives today?  How many ministers need a traveler to Rome who will endure to the end with them?  Are you one of them?  Are you a missionary to the church or are you a consumer?  A missionary rolls up his sleeves and helps the work; a consumer tests the product and then decides whether to buy or not.  Be a missionary, an Onesiphorus, a fellow worker, not a consumer.  Who in your life needs you to come alongside with help and support today? 

2 Timothy 1:11-12

2 Timothy 1:11-12  And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.  That is why I am suffering as I am.  Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

Jeremiah 20: 9  But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.  

2 Corinthians 6:4-10  Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. 

Many people desire to be leaders, ministers, teachers in the household of God, but this scripture in Timothy reveals these servants suffer much to fulfill their positions in the body of Christ.  Almost no one who is in position of authority or influence in the household of God escapes the pressures of leadership and the attacks of the devil if God's work is done.  Ministry is not just a desire to lead, to expound, to teach the Word, to save souls; it is something that captivates one's total being.  Consequently, as Paul relates, hardships, anxieties, and persecutions will not deter a minister from fulfilling his or her role.  We are as Jeremiah with a fire in his bones: he cannot keep quiet, he cannot hold his tongue. His every thought, experience, and activity is evaluated to see how it might be used by the Holy Spirit to elucidate God's Word, to win souls.  A servant who is chosen to implement the Word, to lead, and to seek the lost will not fulfill his or her mission in some cloistered hideaway.  No, such a servant will be put in the frontlines.  Many times his or her position will be overrun by the enemy, many times he or she will fall back wounded, many times this faithful servant will wonder which side is winning.  A minister is always on the frontline, always in battle, and will have the scars to prove it.   

Paul said that he has entrusted much to the Lord.  He has allowed himself to be thrown into the thick of the battle.  He has seen all of his supporting cast abandon him in Asia.  Paul knows what it is to be alone and fighting the good fight. He knows what it is to be overrun by the enemy, but he says that he is convinced that God is able keep his ministry viable, alive.  He is convinced that he (God) is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.  Paul's ministry will remain, bear fruit.  After 2,000 years we know that Paul's ministry has endured.  Now, even in our time, we gain strength and encouragement because of his divinely inspired ministry.  However, whether Paul's ministry would have lasted or not, he would have been faithful to his calling.  He had to fulfill the mission God gave him, for the Lord told him, "I have made you an apostle, a teacher of many, a spiritual father to the Gentiles."  Every servant of the Most High is called in the same way to fulfill a specific and unique mission in life.  Everyone must be faithful to that eternal and holy calling.

For almost fifty years I have been teaching the Word, and every time I get discouraged and want to quit, the Lord tells me, "I made you a teacher.  I have placed my words into your mouth."  Sometimes I feel how audacious of me.  My words are no more inspired than anyone else's.  I feel as if I am just blowing in the wind, and no one is listening.  I think, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name.”  I will not write another email.  However, at those times I realize his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.  Indeed, I cannot hold it in.  Servants have no other choice but to fulfill the mission God has given to them.  Not all are leaders, ministers, teachers, prophets, healers, but everyone has a special calling, a mission.  If you have a fire burning in your bones, if you hear God's voice calling you to speak, to lead, you should do it.  If you have a fire in your bones, a special anointing to help, to provide, to care, to give hospitality, to interact, to love children, to visit the sick, you should do it.  Nothing else will appease your spirit.  Nothing else will please God.  But do nothing out of vanity or a desire to magnify self.  If you do anything for fleshly purposes, you barter the special gift of God for your own self-willed desires, which will eventually lead to death.  Christ alone should be lifted up in our lives.  When I retired from teaching, a co-worker gave me a plaque with this scripture: My teaching is not my own.  It comes from him who sent me.  This friend knew my heart and my desire.  I think of these oft quoted words: Only one life, will soon be past.  Only what's done for Christ will last.

2 Timothy 1:8-10

2 Timothy 1:8-10 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

We have been given grace for GOD'S PURPOSE and not our own. Sometimes we get God's love mixed up with our own purposes. We want OUR LIVES TO BE SMOOTH; we want God to come across in every difficult situation we face. If God somehow postpones an answer to our prayers or doesn't clear up a difficulty or trial we are facing, we wonder if He loves us. We wonder where God is in our lives. Is He even concerned about us? But our lives should not to be focused primarily on our needs. The real focus of a Christian's life should be to reveal God's purpose to the world. The above scriptures indicate from the beginning of time God's purpose was and is to give grace to his creative beings. And this grace, purchased by Jesus Christ's blood, brings humans into a right relationship with God. We who are imperfect become perfect because of faith in Jesus Christ, THE PERFECT ONE. His SACRIFICE perfects the imperfect; faith in him and his SACRIFICE makes us acceptable to a holy, righteous God. IN CHRIST JESUS we receive grace, which as the scriptures reveal was embedded in him before the beginning of time.

Paul tells Timothy, because of such a marvelous, unbelievable plan, do not be ashamed to testify of it, and do not be ashamed of following me a prisoner of the Romans for God's purpose. Paul is reminding Timothy that there is no cost too great to be paid when following God. There is no persecution or trouble too intense not to serve God with all your heart, mind, soul, and spirit, for in Jesus Christ, God has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to the LOST. This gospel of God's purpose has been carried by many, even to their martyred deaths. The true church of God has never backed away from this mission of spreading the gospel of Christ and sharing the "Good News." The first church was scattered by persecution. The Christians ran from city to city to survive. They survived another day to tell of Jesus Christ and his mercy to a lost and dying world. In the New Testament we see Stephen and James giving their lives for this gospel, and through the ages many others have given their lives for this message of grace.

We sometimes need to step back and to consider what a Christian's life is all about, for we tend to get our purposes mixed up with God's supreme purpose. Rather than focus on his purpose and his plan, we focus on our desires and our goals. We want our lives smooth, we chafe under any difficulty, we despair in hardship, we die under criticism. Many of us are very weak. (I am afraid I am in the front of that line.) When the world becomes too important, too central in our day-to-day lives, we focus more on us and less on Christ and his desires. Then, except for a few church activities, our lives become quite similar to the world's lifestyle. This of course is when we need to stir up the Holy Spirit's inspiration within us. We need to hear his voice and not ours. We need to value his concerns and not focus so much upon ours. If we focus more on God's plan, our plans will be less important. A seed must die to produce. Our lives and our plans must die, must shrivel, to produce heavenly fruit. We need new eyes, God's eyes, to see clearly the vision He has for us and his church. If we die daily, even if we wholeheartedly attempt to die, living waters will flow from our lives and his love will emanate from our hearts.

2 Timothy 1:3-7

2 Timothy 1:3-7 I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

It is interesting to note that Paul says to Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. The gift of God in this passage probably refers to the Holy Spirit. Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39) Why does he say fan the flame if the Holy Spirit is present in Timothy in his fulness. Otherwise, why do anything to make the Holy Spirit more real in one's life? Well, it sounds as if Timothy needed to do this to avoid being timid in his Christian walk and to be more empowered with the spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. What does Paul mean when he says to fan this gift? Well, I suspect it is like having a house guest. If you never interact with the person, he or she fades into the background and is not significant in your daily life. However, the more involved you are with your guest, the more prominent the guest's ideas, personality, and knowledge become in your awareness.

I think this is true with the Holy Spirit. If we consider him extraneous to our living, a guest who really is not important enough to interact with, the Holy Spirit will have little impact on our lives. But, if He becomes an important, significant guest in our houses, He will be given deference in everything we do. We will seek his will, his inspiration, and his guidance before we do anything. His ideas, wisdom, and knowledge will influence every decision we make and every activity we are involved with. This intimate walk with the Holy Spirit is the "real" Christian walk. When we give the Holy Spirit that kind of leverage in our lives through reading the Bible, prayer, and meditation, He will influence directly all of our decisions, all of our activities. Paul encouraged Timothy to stir up the Holy Spirit within him so that he might become an effective, dynamic witness for Christ. Timothy and Paul lived in a very dangerous world; their lives were always on the line. Any day they could be killed for their beliefs, and for sure the devil was out to stop the message of Christ. Therefore, Timothy required courage to minister. He needed to know in his spirit that God was real and that He was worthy to serve, to die for. The Holy Spirit within Timothy was the source of this courage, so he needed to stir up the flame that was in him.

We also need to know that God is real and worthy to serve with sincere faith. We also need the Holy Spirit stirred up inside of us, for this present world is a dark and chaotic place. Human beings generally live very self-centered lives. At the end of their lives, they just hope they have lived them well for themselves. They hope they have gleaned the best out of life. Some of them believe that whoever has the "mostest" at the end of life has had the "bestest" out of life. But that kind of living is fruitless in God's domain. Paul is telling Timothy to live his life boldly for Christ regardless of the consequences, to make his life count for God. We also should stir up the gift within us so that we might live sacrificially for God. This is our duty, our responsibility, and our joy: to serve God regardless of the cost. Let each of us fan into flame the gift of God which is in us.

2 Timothy 1:1-2

2 Timothy 1:1-2  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear son: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:27-31  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles?  Are all prophets?  Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?  Do all have gifts of healing?  Do all speak in tongues?  Do all interpret?  But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Are all apostles?  The obvious answer is no, but all Christians have a place in the body, even young believers.  "What is the will of God FOR OUR LIVES?" is a question we should ask ourselves.  We have a place in the body of Christ whether we know what it is or not.  Our vision of the body of Christ and our place within it must always be sharp or we will tend to live our lives for ourselves and not for Christ.  If we lose our real purpose for living, we grow weary of living for Christ or become distracted by other demands upon our lives.  Then our faith will wither, our prayers will cease, and the Bible will become like old folk tales.  We will sink back into a fleshly life, one not lived in the spirit of Christ. Therefore, we must always remember WHO WE ARE in Christ and who He is in us.  We are not of the world; we are not seeking the things of the world.  We are not making this world our home.  Our inheritance is God himself.  If we seek this world, John says the love of the Lord is not in us.  If we seek our will only, the love of the Lord is absent from our lives, for those who love the Lord desire to do his will.  Christians should desire to be with the Lord, in his presence.  Just as we desire to be with those who love us, we should also desire to be with Christ, the lover of our souls.   

Each of us has a will.  This is not necessarily good as far as living a holy life, for we can do good, and we can do evil. When Adam and Eve fell, they were cast out of the Garden because they could do evil, and they chose evil by not choosing to obey the will of God.  Consequently, they were isolated from God's intimate presence.  But when Jesus Christ came, He brought this opportunity of intimacy with God back to man; however, this time a more wonderful, permanent experience could be realized.  With the knowledge of GOOD AND EVIL, people can choose to serve God WILLINGLY by placing their trust in Jesus Christ because it is HE who makes it possible to draw close to God.  He makes it possible for God to have what He desires and that is true intimacy and fellowship with his creation, so much so, that people IN CHRIST will be known forever as sons and daughters of the Most High.   

So what is your place in the body of Christ?  We Christians are alive in him whether we realize it or not.  Therefore, we should serve God in the flesh with full knowledge of our inheritance of an eternal and intimate relationship with him. We should serve God where He has placed us with the passion and zeal that comes with understanding who we are in his timeless domain.  We are God's dearly loved adopted sons and daughters.  We are the apple of his eye.  He paid a magnificent price for this relationship: the death of his son.  We owe Jesus Christ so much, but He did all that He did for the joy set before him: our complete redemption and victory over death, including eternal life with our heavenly Father.  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Hebrews 12:1-2)

1 Timothy 6:20-21

1 Timothy 6:20-21  Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.  Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.  Grace be with you.

Proverbs 1: 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  

2 Corinthians 4:6  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

The beginning of knowledge is to fear God.  Otherwise, to place the AWESOME CREATOR in our conscientiousness is the beginning of knowledge.  All other thinking is ignorance and darkness.  If we truly respect and acknowledge the Almighty God, who is the beginning and end of everything, we will serve him with all of our might.  By serving him, we begin to appreciate our existence and to understand the purpose of life on this "blue planet."  Without the knowledge of God, we are inalterably lost in our own finite understanding, our terrestrial thinking.  We will always try to make two plus two equal four, understanding what is true in our domain.  But God is far beyond even our rational thinking, for He is a spirit.  We humans are bound to this earth's surface; we cannot travel even one light year away from our homes. How then can we claim to know anything about a spirit existence, a transcendental life?  Outside of Christ, outside of Biblical truth, we are like the blind leading the blind.  

On television we have self-proclaimed gurus and spiritual leaders, claiming to know something about God and the meaning of life.  They usually have an audience of gullible people, sitting before them spellbound by their great insights and wisdom.  Even some Christians grab tidbits of their supposedly great insights and incorporate them into their religious beliefs.  But I want to tell you if their great insights and their great wisdom does not come down to the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord and He deserves to be served, then their self-important words originate from the pit of hell.  For God has chosen to reveal himself fully through Jesus Christ.  In Jesus Christ and in HIM ONLY do we see the purpose of God, the wisdom of God, and the love of God.  The great gurus and philosophers of our age will reject this reality. They might cautiously admit that Jesus Christ was a great spiritual leader or that He was a good man, but they will not admit to his divinity.  They will not submit to his authority of being the Son of God, and they will not accept him as their savior.  They will continue to hold tightly to the doctrine that God can be found inside each of us, that we are all gods, and that we have to delve deeply into our own spirits to understand the god inside of us.  

In other words, these false teachers of our day hold tightly to the aggrandizement of SELF.  They represent clearly the antiChrist spirit.  This spirit leads men to godless chatter and opposing ideas to Christ that will eventually lead men to destruction and damnation.  Flee from such ideas, such men.  Paul tells Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.  Don't add or take away from that which you know to be true.  Some are doing that and they are wandering from the faith.  They are losing their anchor.  They are losing their foundation, which is Jesus Christ and him crucified.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  (1 Corinthians 3:11)  We know God through Jesus Christ and the revelation of the Holy Spirit.  Christ has paved the way to God's domain.  He and He alone is the transition to heaven.  We know God because we know Jesus. We know this for God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  And He sent the Holy Spirit to reveal all truth to his children and to keep us from error.  If you are hooked into someone's ideas, his insights, his wisdom, and he doesn't know Christ the redeemer, flee from that influence, for the beginning of knowledge is to fear God and to know him through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Timothy 6:17-19

1 Timothy 6:17-19  Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 

In today's passage, Paul does not castigate those who are rich; he merely says for them not to put their hope in wealth, for real security and enjoyment comes from the Lord and doing his will.  Individuals of means should share with the less fortunate.  Of course, all people should try to provide for themselves, but not all people are capable of making a sustainable living.  Many folks have to live from day-to-day and month-to-month.  This is the reality of economics and existence.  These people need to be cared for when they are in dire circumstances.  Our government tries to step in the gap, but governmental aid and laws are not always that flexible or just.  Therefore, the church and caring people need to fill in the gap when things become desperate for the destitute in society.  

For over two thousand years, the church of Jesus Christ has done just that.  The modern church as with the first church tends to look out for those who are oppressed by circumstances that are beyond their control.  As Christians we must always remember to fulfill that role in society and to show we are Christians by our love.  Otherwise, how can the love of God be in us.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  (1 John 3:17)  In America, we have many institutions and organizations that try to help the poor, but still the needy often slip through the cracks.  Therefore, Christians always have to be ready to give cheerfully of their means to those who are less fortunate.  The Bible promises us that if we do, we lay up treasures in heaven: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (Matthew 6:19-21)  

The significant question remains: Where is your heart?  Is it focused primarily on getting ahead in this world, or is it focused on God and his divine purposes?  If we are focused on God, we will display his love, and we will sacrifice ourselves for others.  We will do HIS WILL, not ours.  Jesus and his church fulfill Isaiah's prophesy: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.  (Isaiah 61:1)  That is our mission, our privilege, our joy.  We are to do as the Holy Spirit directs, for we are the living body of Christ on Earth.

1 Timothy 6:11-16

1 Timothy 6:11-16  But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time — God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.   To him be honor and might forever.  Amen. 

Paul was encouraging Timothy to persevere in his walk of faith.  There is an indication in the Bible that Timothy experienced persecution.  (Hebrews 13:23)  We see Paul in the above passage exhorting Timothy to fight the good fight of the faith all the way to the end.  Paul reminds him to take hold of the eternal life, to remember he is living a life that extends beyond this life because of his confession that Christ is Lord, God's Son.  He wants Timothy not to retreat in any way from his confession just because he is under stress from the world.  I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Otherwise, Paul urges Timothy to endure to the end, whether his life is taken by violence or not and regardless of life's circumstances.  Paul wants Timothy to remember that he is serving the immutable, eternal God who lives in unapproachable light and who is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Sometimes our testimonies become a little weak when we face trials, sicknesses, or persecution.  We wonder where God is.  We wonder why we have to cope with such adverse happenings in our lives.  We wonder, why did sickness visit my door?  Why did the death of my loved one happen too soon?  Why do people at work shun me?  The list can go on and on.  We become whiners rather than stalwart soldiers of the cross.  We sit in the background merely watching life rather than participating wholeheartedly as God's representatives.  Our Christian testimony is infiltrated with doubt. Rather than spreading the "Good News," we sit pondering: Is God a good God?  Is God there at all?  Paul reminds Timothy that he is serving the one and only true God, the God who is so grand, so inconceivable that no man has ever seen him or can even fully imagine his greatness.  

Sometimes we need a fresh reminder of the God we serve.  We need to be reminded that He is timeless, that 2,000 years from Christ's death is not even registered in God's timeless domain.  We need to be reminded our existence itself and the material world we see that includes ALL OF THE galaxies are but a whisper in his thoughts.  Compared with him, nothing is great in his domain: space that is so immense that it is measured by time is meager in his sight.  As finite beings we cannot begin to conceive of the immutable, the eternal, but that is where God rests.  But praise God, we can know his nature, for Christ is the full embodiment of God himself.  We can know God loves us with an eternal, abiding love.  We know He will give anything for us, even his Son, and we can know our salvation is assured IN HIS SON, CHRIST JESUS.  This is Paul's reminder to Timothy: Finish the fight Timothy!  And for each of us, Paul is saying, Finish the fight!  For there is laid up for each believer who by faith endures to the end, a crown of righteousness that does not fade away, a crown engraved with the words GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT TO THE MOST HIGH.  All of heaven will know that we trusted in our Lord and fought the fight of faith to the end, the key to eternity with Jesus Christ our Lord. 

1 Timothy 6:6-11

1 Timothy 6:6-11  But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.  But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Desiring wealth, property and the good things of life has always been a temptation to the flesh.  For we think, why not--we only go around once?  Why not accumulate as much as possible and then pass it on to our posterity?  Don't we know, the winner of this game of life is the one who has the most at the end of his or her life?  However, this is the focus of a carnal man.  Now, wealth, property and good things are not bad.  Many people inherit such largesse, and some just gradually accumulate wealth as they journey through life without too much effort, but the hot pursuit of wealth is not good for the spirit.  For the pursuit of wealth is an indicator that this life, this world, is your home.  For a Christian, this orientation is wrong.    John warns us, do not love the world or anything in the world. (1 John 2:15)  Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.  (Matthew 6:24)  If we spend our whole life and energy acquiring wealth, we pretty much love and serve it.  It would be incongruous to expect anything else.  

Now this temptation to live for money and wealth is a great one, endemic to all mankind, particularly in our modern world where we often measure success by a person's net worth.  To be content because we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it is quite hard for most of us to focus upon.  I know of people who say that they are content with what they have, but then I see them hassling their children to do exceptionally well in school so that they might gain the job that brings the most prestige or wealth.  Of course there is nothing wrong with having a well paying job, but many times the parent wants the child to have life a little easier than what they personally experienced.  Otherwise, they want their children to have more wealth than they did, more leisure time.  Sometimes, this brings confusion to their child, for the parents are subliminally telling their child that they were "losers in life," and now they want success for their child, which can be translated into adding wealth, property and good things to his or her life.  

Such choices can lead to real disaster for a child because many times people who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction, even wandering from the faith and piercing themselves with many griefs.  A child can become a success in the world, but a failure in the spiritual world if the child is oriented toward this life rather than eternal life.  Many parents have lost their children or grandchildren because of inadvertently promoting the love of wealth and status in this world.  Paul says, you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  How can we tell our children to flee from all this when we condition them to gain as much of the world as they can?  These two lives are diametrically opposed: a life of gain, a life of sacrifice. The disciples were amazed at his words.  But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Mark 10:24-25)  All things are possible with God, but still we put our children in stress when we imply that they should gain as much of the world as possible when we want them to seek first the kingdom of heaven.  We lead them to a very dangerous place.  Paul urged his spiritual son to understand that godliness with contentment is great gain.  We and our children should also follow his advice.

1 Timothy 6:3-5  If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing.  He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 

1 Timothy 6:3-5 (Message)  These are the things I want you to teach and preach.  If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors.  Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory.  They think religion is a way to make a fast buck. 

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:29-30)  Definitely savage wolves have come to destroy the church and are skewing the Word of God. Insidiously, they pick off the innocent lambs within the church, those who have recently begun the journey of faith or who are very weak in their faith.  The cults come to their doors and pretend to speak the same speech that the innocent Christians speak.  They use the Bible as their source of belief; they even say they believe in Jesus Christ.  But, they always add to the Bible, a new revelation to consider, a new way of thinking.  They usually tell of a person they revere as much as Christ. This person is so important to them that his revelation, his doctrine, is considered as important as Christ's words. Sadly, these cults lead many to their destruction, for they lead people from Christ and his sacrifice to a different doctrine. They add something to the gospel and therefore make the gospel of none effect.  These wolves come to devour the church for their own means.  Consequently, these wolves take people outside of the church of the living God. 

Within today's church we have many who are preaching gain as godliness.  Most of these people have reaped very extravagant lifestyles from this kind of preaching.  They are making a fast buck off the gospel.  Sadly, this is the message carnal Christians want to hear.  They want a quick payoff for believing in God.  Christ many times is used as a slot machine.  You plug in a prayer, and then a wonderful answer to your problem is supposed to come out.  Isn't He a good God, a good father?  Well, as everyone knows, a good God will make my life better.  He'll make sure I'm happy, I'm contented.  He'll make sure all of my needs, desires, and longings will be met, for as a good God, He will not give me a serpent for a fish.  This kind of Christianity has one focus: SELF.  For that kind of Christian, this life is the most important.  IT IS THE EVE SYNDROME: Did God say that I should just serve him OR MYSELF?  The focus is on the self-life, the going around once life--get as much as you can out of life for tomorrow you may die.  

This kind of ministry is very popular.  It fills up churches.  There are no executions in this church: Stephen makes it, James makes it, all of the martyrs make it.  There are no hungry Christians, no Christians who are persecuted, and no Christians who are sick.  This is a land of nirvana; all is well in this land.  The sun is always shining; the grass is always green.  The SELF-LAND is a good land to believe in when you are a carnal Christian.  However, the SELF-LAND is not the land of the Bible.  New Testament Christians fled from one city to the next because of persecution. Beloved disciples were killed.  Poverty was found in Jerusalem.  Sickness was evident.  The reason SELF-LAND is not found in the Bible is that this world is NOT OUR HOME.  This is not our abiding place.  This isn't the NEW JERUSALEM.  

Yes, we have prosperity.  Our souls are always prosperous, no matter what the conditions are on this earth.  We always have the blessed HOLY SPIRIT within us to comfort and to guide us.  He keeps us in right relationship with God.  He is the protector of our souls.  He makes the sun to shine and the grass to be green in our spirits.  Yes, we are prosperous, but not as the prosperity teachers declare.  We are prosperous because God is prosperous.  We are prosperous because we are now adopted into the land of prosperity provided by our heavenly Father for those who love him.  We partake of his land, his being, his place of abiding--his Promised Land.

1 Timothy 6:1-2

1 Timothy 6:1-2  All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.  Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers, and dear to them.  These are the things you are to teach and urge on them. 

1 Peter 2:18  Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 

Ephesians 6:5-6  Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.  Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.  

Romans 6:22  But now that you have been set free from sin and HAVE BECOME SLAVES TO GOD, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.    

Romans 6:16  Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 

Many people have criticized the Bible for seemingly accepting the condition of slavery.  Why would the Word of God not speak clearly about the awfulness of slavery?  Why would it seem to validate such an institution? Well, the above scriptures do indicate that a person under the yoke of slavery should be faithful and diligent.  Paul tells slaves to obey their earthly masters in everything.  Peter advises slaves to submit to their masters even if they are harsh.  The patriarchs owned slaves, the king had slaves, even many average households had slaves.  The ancient economic world ran on the backs of slaves.  In fact, in Jesus' time half of the people in the Mediterranean world were slaves.  Slavery was an accepted fact, just as real as people in America working for wages.  Isn't slavery an awful institution?  Yes, of course, no man or woman should be owned by another. Everyone should live his or her life as free as possible.  But physical and economic slavery as well as unjust governments are peripheral concerns of the Bible.  

The primary focus of the Bible is spiritual slavery.  The Bible indicates we are all slaves whether we know it or not.  We are either serving sin or God. We are either slaves to the world or slaves to THE MOST HOLY GOD.  Physical slavery is important to us but not necessarily to God, but spiritual bondage is important to God.  Are we slaves to our own lust and desires or are we slaves to God's righteousness and his purity?  The former leads to death, the latter leads to LIFE.  This world is not our home.  It is not our permanent abiding place.  We are but traveling through; therefore, our status here on Earth is not very important.  Whether we are people of prominence and ownership or whether we are people of poverty and need, we should not be overly concerned with that, for we are traveling through to a more permanent residence.  We have an INHERITANCE, which is God himself, for we are his beloved children.  

The Bible does not address directly the economic and physical slavery of our existence.  Of course, God does not desire injustice, but His Word focuses us primarily on another reality, one that exists forever.  Yes, we hope that in our temporary abiding place we are free people.  However, for most of us the economic realities of our lives bind us to work from sunup to sun down for the necessities of life.  Our real hope isn't in this world, in a better lifestyle, in a better situation; our hope is in another reality, a spiritual reality.  Because of that hope, we allow ourselves to become slaves to righteousness.  

Consequently, we serve people with the same passion and desire that we serve ourselves.  We become LOVE SLAVES to the world.  We love people; we help them find Christ through our love.  We serve the harsh masters of this world with kindness.  We go the second mile, even though only one mile is required of us.   We are slaves to the MOST HIGH for his glory.  He became a servant for us, we become a servant for him.  YES, SLAVERY IS BAD, UNLESS WE ARE LOVE SLAVES OF GOD HIMSELF; then we find an eternal, worthwhile purpose for our lives.