4. We are called to a perseverance that faces a future promise. ( 2 Timothy 2:11-13).
This future promise was what motivated Paul. This is one of the last letters he ever writes before his martyrdom. He's trying to convey this passion to his young son in the Faith, Timothy, who he knows will one day hear about his martyrdom. He is trying to instil in him, and us, the seriousness of the Christian life. He makes it clear that if we die with Christ, we will also live with Him. If we endure the difficulties here on earth, we ultimately will reign with Him. Paul is even aware of our weakness and the frailty of the flesh, for he says if we are faithless, God remains faithful because He has given His Promises to us. This might sound contradictory. What he is saying is that he knows soldiers get physically & emotionally weary in battle, that athletes get tired, that even the best of farmers sometimes get discouraged because of their circumstances. Paul is acknowledging that "God knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust." When our determination is to persevere and to keep on keeping on, yet if we falter in our efforts, He is there to carry us onto the finish line. If our faith is not always at its best, He still remains faithful because He cannot deny His promises to us.
This is what it is all about. It is not about us. It is about God and how God works through us, helping us in our determination to persevere: in transmitting our faith, persevering in difficult times, persevering in remembering what Jesus Christ has done for us and persevering in the face of God's future promise.
I hope you will find something useful here to share with others, to build them up in their faith & direction in life. Every blessing.
Most of us are hardly aware of what it takes to be a farmer. Their only routine is to be out early & get home late, planting & harvesting, failed crops or poor irrigation, bad markets, pestilence & many more can easily dampen his enthusiasm. But the farmer who succeeds is the one who, in spite of the odds against him, perseveres in his work, without holiday, poor returns or arduous work, just so that he can overcome those odds, provide for his family & his country. A lazy farmer will soon starve or need to find another job. As the soldier before him has the thought of victory & getting home safely with his platoon; as the athlete is upheld by the vision of the winner's trophy; the farmer looks forward to the hope for a good harvest.
3. We are called to perseverance in memory of what Jesus Christ has done. ( 2 Timothy 2:8-10).
Our lives as followers of Jesus did not emerge out of a vacuum. They are based on what happened in history. We are urged to remember Jesus Christ, God in human form. He is the heart of the Gospel. He is the very essence of the Good News we have to share.
So when Paul sits in prison in Rome, thinking about his own personal sufferings, examining the chains which bind him and his martyrdom that is just around the corner, he declares that he can "endure everything." And he can endure everything, & does so, so that others may obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ. Paul too was qualified for a peaceful retirement. But he voluntarily "pressed on" (persevered & persisted) in Christ's service, determined to lead more people to that salvation which comes only from Jesus.
Examples can be given: back in the late 1940s when China fell to the communists (Marxists), there were many Christians in China. Communism sought to destroy Christianity, killing many. Then from the end of the 70s, reports came that the Church in China had actually grown through the blood of the martyrs & perseverance of those who failed not to testify of Christ. Today, there are over 80 million Christians both in overground & underground Churches.
And then the life & ministry of Billy Graham should inspire us, as we see one who was faithful to the Lord, never shirking his calling, & persevering in his desire to see lost souls be won for Christ.
2. We are called to perseverance in difficult times. ( 2 Timothy 2:3-7).
Paul illustrates the nature of Christian discipleship during difficult times with three practical images.
Image 1 is the soldier.
A soldier is called to focused service. He lives a life set apart from normal civilian pursuits. He wears a uniform, lives in a barracks or a tent, deployed to whatever part of the world the govt. sends him. And it is a life that requires obedience. He must take orders regardless of whether those orders prove to be wise or unwise. If he loses his focus or fails to persevere, he puts his own life & those of his platoon at great risk. The Christian is also called to focused service and obedience to Jesus Christ. All of this involves the potential of sacrifice & certainly involves loyalty.
Image 2 is that of the athlete.
There is an athletic nature to the Christian life. This involves discipline in training, as with the soldier.
This also involves self-denial. We are called to stay in spiritual shape, shedding attitudes and actions that would get in the way of successfully completing life's difficult race. An athlete who doesn't persevere to attain the ultimate prize, will fail to do so & very miserably.
This is what makes all the difference. You and I are called to perseverance, but not that lonely perseverance of one trying to "keep on keeping on" when 'keeping on' no longer makes any sense from a human perspective. This is a call to a life bathed in Christ's Grace, in which we are motivated by that which goes beyond ourselves to be all God would have us be as we persist, as we persevere as followers of Jesus, empowered by His Holy Spirit.
A life lived without perseverance is a life that tries to exist by mobilizing what natural talents one happens to have, forgetting that some of the most gifted people in the world are failures because they give up when the going gets tough. In fact, some of them have so much talent, genius and education that they never find their focus. Remember "the humble postage stamp and its ability to stick to one job until it's done!" We call that "stickability".
What our text is saying is that you and I are privileged to take all the gifts of God's grace, freely given to us, and, with faithfulness, persistence and perseverance, move forward, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, to accomplish all that He desires for us.
We are called to persevere in four specific ways.
1. We are called to persevere in the transmission of the faith. ( 2 Timothy 2:1-2).
The reality is that the Christian church is always just one generation from extinction. We are called to be links in the chain that winds its way through human history from the first century Church until the return of Jesus Christ to take away His Church. Somebody was faithful to the Gospel by sharing it with us. We have to be faithful to pass it on to others & this faithfulness has in its meaning: that we must persevere in sharing this Good News as God gives us opportunity.
I'm unsure how much by way of comments you seek, but I'll try to give you a brief outline to your subject, with an Intro. If you are the study leader, then you will have to add your own thoughts/questions to this outline. There are many Scriptures you can use as your focus to develop the study, but I've chosen 2 Timothy 2:4-5 as the main one, with other verses in the chapter contributing to the study.
2 Timothy 2:4-5: On Perseverance & Persistence.
"No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully."
Webster's Dictionary defines perseverance as: "To persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counter-influences, opposition, or discouragement."
A synonym for the word perseverance is persistence.
It also defines persistence: "To take a stand, stand firm, to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning.
Persistence is a close relative to Perseverance.
President Calvin Coolidge once said:
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
Our text calls us to persistence, to perseverance, but it adds a dimension that protects you and me from falling into great discouragement when our own best efforts fall short. Paul writes to Timothy, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." ( 2 Timothy 2:1).
Are there any comments that address this subject?
4. We are called to a perseverance that faces a future promise. ( 2 Timothy 2:11-13).
This future promise was what motivated Paul. This is one of the last letters he ever writes before his martyrdom. He's trying to convey this passion to his young son in the Faith, Timothy, who he knows will one day hear about his martyrdom. He is trying to instil in him, and us, the seriousness of the Christian life. He makes it clear that if we die with Christ, we will also live with Him. If we endure the difficulties here on earth, we ultimately will reign with Him. Paul is even aware of our weakness and the frailty of the flesh, for he says if we are faithless, God remains faithful because He has given His Promises to us. This might sound contradictory. What he is saying is that he knows soldiers get physically & emotionally weary in battle, that athletes get tired, that even the best of farmers sometimes get discouraged because of their circumstances. Paul is acknowledging that "God knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust." When our determination is to persevere and to keep on keeping on, yet if we falter in our efforts, He is there to carry us onto the finish line. If our faith is not always at its best, He still remains faithful because He cannot deny His promises to us.
This is what it is all about. It is not about us. It is about God and how God works through us, helping us in our determination to persevere: in transmitting our faith, persevering in difficult times, persevering in remembering what Jesus Christ has done for us and persevering in the face of God's future promise.
I hope you will find something useful here to share with others, to build them up in their faith & direction in life. Every blessing.
Image 3 is that of the farmer.
Most of us are hardly aware of what it takes to be a farmer. Their only routine is to be out early & get home late, planting & harvesting, failed crops or poor irrigation, bad markets, pestilence & many more can easily dampen his enthusiasm. But the farmer who succeeds is the one who, in spite of the odds against him, perseveres in his work, without holiday, poor returns or arduous work, just so that he can overcome those odds, provide for his family & his country. A lazy farmer will soon starve or need to find another job. As the soldier before him has the thought of victory & getting home safely with his platoon; as the athlete is upheld by the vision of the winner's trophy; the farmer looks forward to the hope for a good harvest.
3. We are called to perseverance in memory of what Jesus Christ has done. ( 2 Timothy 2:8-10).
Our lives as followers of Jesus did not emerge out of a vacuum. They are based on what happened in history. We are urged to remember Jesus Christ, God in human form. He is the heart of the Gospel. He is the very essence of the Good News we have to share.
So when Paul sits in prison in Rome, thinking about his own personal sufferings, examining the chains which bind him and his martyrdom that is just around the corner, he declares that he can "endure everything." And he can endure everything, & does so, so that others may obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ. Paul too was qualified for a peaceful retirement. But he voluntarily "pressed on" (persevered & persisted) in Christ's service, determined to lead more people to that salvation which comes only from Jesus.
Examples can be given: back in the late 1940s when China fell to the communists (Marxists), there were many Christians in China. Communism sought to destroy Christianity, killing many. Then from the end of the 70s, reports came that the Church in China had actually grown through the blood of the martyrs & perseverance of those who failed not to testify of Christ. Today, there are over 80 million Christians both in overground & underground Churches.
And then the life & ministry of Billy Graham should inspire us, as we see one who was faithful to the Lord, never shirking his calling, & persevering in his desire to see lost souls be won for Christ.
2. We are called to perseverance in difficult times. ( 2 Timothy 2:3-7).
Paul illustrates the nature of Christian discipleship during difficult times with three practical images.
Image 1 is the soldier.
A soldier is called to focused service. He lives a life set apart from normal civilian pursuits. He wears a uniform, lives in a barracks or a tent, deployed to whatever part of the world the govt. sends him. And it is a life that requires obedience. He must take orders regardless of whether those orders prove to be wise or unwise. If he loses his focus or fails to persevere, he puts his own life & those of his platoon at great risk. The Christian is also called to focused service and obedience to Jesus Christ. All of this involves the potential of sacrifice & certainly involves loyalty.
Image 2 is that of the athlete.
There is an athletic nature to the Christian life. This involves discipline in training, as with the soldier.
This also involves self-denial. We are called to stay in spiritual shape, shedding attitudes and actions that would get in the way of successfully completing life's difficult race. An athlete who doesn't persevere to attain the ultimate prize, will fail to do so & very miserably.
This is what makes all the difference. You and I are called to perseverance, but not that lonely perseverance of one trying to "keep on keeping on" when 'keeping on' no longer makes any sense from a human perspective. This is a call to a life bathed in Christ's Grace, in which we are motivated by that which goes beyond ourselves to be all God would have us be as we persist, as we persevere as followers of Jesus, empowered by His Holy Spirit.
A life lived without perseverance is a life that tries to exist by mobilizing what natural talents one happens to have, forgetting that some of the most gifted people in the world are failures because they give up when the going gets tough. In fact, some of them have so much talent, genius and education that they never find their focus. Remember "the humble postage stamp and its ability to stick to one job until it's done!" We call that "stickability".
What our text is saying is that you and I are privileged to take all the gifts of God's grace, freely given to us, and, with faithfulness, persistence and perseverance, move forward, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, to accomplish all that He desires for us.
We are called to persevere in four specific ways.
1. We are called to persevere in the transmission of the faith. ( 2 Timothy 2:1-2).
The reality is that the Christian church is always just one generation from extinction. We are called to be links in the chain that winds its way through human history from the first century Church until the return of Jesus Christ to take away His Church. Somebody was faithful to the Gospel by sharing it with us. We have to be faithful to pass it on to others & this faithfulness has in its meaning: that we must persevere in sharing this Good News as God gives us opportunity.
I'm unsure how much by way of comments you seek, but I'll try to give you a brief outline to your subject, with an Intro. If you are the study leader, then you will have to add your own thoughts/questions to this outline. There are many Scriptures you can use as your focus to develop the study, but I've chosen 2 Timothy 2:4-5 as the main one, with other verses in the chapter contributing to the study.
2 Timothy 2:4-5: On Perseverance & Persistence.
"No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully."
Webster's Dictionary defines perseverance as: "To persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counter-influences, opposition, or discouragement."
A synonym for the word perseverance is persistence.
It also defines persistence: "To take a stand, stand firm, to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning.
Persistence is a close relative to Perseverance.
President Calvin Coolidge once said:
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
Our text calls us to persistence, to perseverance, but it adds a dimension that protects you and me from falling into great discouragement when our own best efforts fall short. Paul writes to Timothy, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." ( 2 Timothy 2:1).
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Please Sign In or Register to post comments...
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?