Posts Tagged ‘2 Timothy’

Why did the Lord stand by Paul?

Posted: August 17, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August, Devotionals/Commentaries
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But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. —2 Timothy 4:17-18

John Piper, in a message, “The Lord Stood By Me”

missionsThe Lord did not stand by Paul merely for the sake of his own peace, or merely for the church in Rome. The Lord stood by him and strengthened him “that all the nations [panta ta ethne] might hear.” Perhaps the tribunal was full of people from all over the Roman empire when Paul gave his defense. Or perhaps Paul preached that last time in a way that would challenge some younger men and women to take the gospel to all the unreached peoples.

Whatever the case, Paul knew that the reason the Lord was standing by him was to give him strength and zeal and vision for world evangelization—“The Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the message fully, that all the Gentiles [panta ta ethne] might hear it.”

…His friendship is given to forgive our sins, and heal our wounds, and make us whole people, that’s true—but the reason he stands by us to give us forgiveness and healing and wholeness is that we might multiply our joy in reaching “all the peoples of the earth.”

August 17 2 Timothy 4:9-22

Posted: August 17, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August Bible Readings, Bible Passages
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August 17 

2 Timothy 4:9-22 (ESV)

Personal Instructions

9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, [1] Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. 21 Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. [2]

22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. [3]

Piper: Faith in Christ Jesus most fully explained as faith in his word.

Posted: August 16, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August, Devotionals/Commentaries
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I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7 ESV

John Piper, in a sermon from 2 Timothy 4, “I Have Kept the Faith”

The faith that Paul has kept is not faith in himself, or in any mere man. It is faith in Christ Jesus. In chapter 3, verse 15, he said to Timothy that the Scriptures “are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” And when you have faith in somebody, it means you take them at their word, you count on them to live up to what they say, you trust their counsel, you have confidence in their promises. When Paul said, “I have kept the faith,” he meant, therefore, “I have kept on taking Christ at his word, I have kept on counting on what he said, I have kept on trusting his counsel, I have kept on having confidence in his promises.”

Faith in Christ Jesus, therefore, is most fully explained as faith in his word. Of course, this will include confidence that through his death he purchased the forgiveness for our sins, because he said, “The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). And, of course, faith in his word will include confidence that his resurrection gives us eternal hope, because he said, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). And, of course, faith in his word includes confidence in his present power to work for us, because he said, “My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness.” If we were to focus on any of these—Christ’s death, his resurrection, his power—and say, “This is what you must have confidence in, in order to be saved,” we would be saying something true, but incomplete. Saving faith is a joining of ourselves to Christ as one who is wholly trustworthy, one who has infinite integrity and infinite power and who therefore will do all that he said. If we say that we have confidence in his death for the forgiveness of our sins but we continually act as though much of what he promised is untrue (e.g., the promise that if you seek the kingdom first, all other necessities will be added to you), then we are not trusting Christ.

August 16 2 Timothy 4:1-8

Posted: August 16, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August Bible Readings, Bible Passages
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August 16

2 Timothy 4:1-8 (ESV)

Preach the Word

4:1 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:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound [1] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

How does the Bible equip us?

Posted: August 15, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August, Devotionals/Commentaries
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All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. —2 Timothy 3:16

John Piper, in a sermon, “All Scripture Is Breathed Out by God and Profitable”

That is a remarkable phrase: “every good work”! Everything good that God expects us to do, the Scriptures equip us to do. That is an amazing claim. How does it work? How does the Bible equip us for “every good work”?

It’s not by supplying specific lists that cover all possible situations. Thinking that way would be a mistake in two ways. It would be a mistake because there are hundreds of specific situations we are in that the Bible does not specifically address. There were no TVs, computers, cars, phones, birth control pills, Prozac, genetic engineering, respirators, bullets, bombs in Jesus’ day. The Bible does not equip us for every good deed by telling us the specific choice to make for every new situation.

The other reason it would be a mistake to think that way is that it leads straight to legalism—doing things because of outward conformity to a demand in the hope that performance will win approval. That is not Christian morality. Good works are done from a heart that treasures God and his help and from a heart that loves to display the glory of Christ, else the “good works” arenot good, no matter how they conform to external expectations.

Here are two key verses to show this. Romans 14:23, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” And Romans 7:4, “My brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” Bearing fruit in “every good work” (see Colossians 1:10 ) means that it comes out on the branches of your life naturally from something that has changed inside. And what has changed is that you are dead to the law as a set of lists to constrain from the outside, and are now united to Jesus Christ in a relationship of joyful trust so that when he speaks—even speaks some of that same law—it comes from within as the desire of your heart.

So here’s my answer to how the Scripture equips us for “every good work.” The Scripture, day after day, reveals to us the greatness and the beauty and the power and the wisdom and the mercy of all that God is for us in Christ so that by the power of the Spirit we find our joy in him, and the ways of sin become distasteful—indeed ugly and repugnant. Yes the Bible gives us many specifics as pointers how to live. But most deeply the way the Bible equips us for every good work is by changing what we find satisfaction in so that our obedience comes from within freely, not by coercion from without. It does this when we read it and meditate on it and memorize it and meditate over it every day.

August 15 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Posted: August 15, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August Bible Readings, Bible Passages
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August 15

2 Timothy 3:10-17 (ESV)

All Scripture Is Breathed Out by God

10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom [1] you learned it15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God [2] may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Delight in solutions

Posted: August 14, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August, Devotionals/Commentaries
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John Piper with a warning:

Beware of being like the people in 2 Timothy 3:7 who are “always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Delight in solutions; don’t forever resist them as though it is noble to ever be the struggling skeptic.

August 14 2 Timothy 3:1-9

Posted: August 14, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August Bible Readings, Bible Passages
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August 14

2 Timothy 3:1-9 (ESV)

Godlessness in the Last Days

3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

August 13 2 Timothy 2:1-13

Posted: August 13, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August Bible Readings, Bible Passages
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August 13

2 Timothy 2:1-13 (ESV)

A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus

2:1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

August 12 2 Timothy 2:1-13

Posted: August 12, 2012 by Pam Larson in 2 Timothy, August Bible Readings, Bible Passages
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August 12

2 Timothy 2:1-13 (ESV)

A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus

2:1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

 for he cannot deny himself.

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