“I have finished the course” (2 Timothy 4:7).

“But flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness….” (2 Timothy 2:22)

If you think of life on earth as a race, the Christian life is the strangest one ever.

Okay, let’s think of life as a race.

And we don’t mean ‘rat race.’

Recently, I conducted the funeral of a 53-year-old man whose death was sudden and completely unexpected.  Two weeks later, the coroner has still not figured out why he died.

This gentleman was a runner and a longtime member of a local track club which oversees dozens of races of all kinds every year.  Several members of the club eulogized him during our service.

While they were speaking, something occurred to me.

Imagine a race where you have no idea how long it is or when it will end.  You don’t know whether it’s a sprint or a marathon.  It could be short, it could be long.  You would not be so foolish as to save your energy for that final burst at the end, that sprint to the finish line, the way so many runners do. 

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” Now, in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and earthenware, some of them to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel of honor–sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (Second Timothy 2:20-21).

We do love the practicality and earthiness of the Bible’s metaphors.

Paul was in a jail cell, and had access to several kinds of vessels. Roman guards served his food on some kind of plate. Drink came in a glass or cup of some type. And then, there was the chamber pot.

Chamber pots are not mentioned as such in Scripture to my knowledge, but you can bet they were in the homes of most people, Jew or Gentile, believer or pagan.

There is an old story about a preacher going far into the country to preach at a rural church, and then taking Sunday dinner with a farm family.  The setting was far more primitive than anything he had ever experienced, with the farm animals coming right into the house and eating what fell (or was tossed) from the table.

As a dog kept brushing up against the preacher’s leg, the man of God, hoping to get the host to do something, said, “That sure is a friendly dog.”  The farmer said, “Nah, it’s just that you’re eating out of his plate and he wants it back.”

We hope it’s apocryphal, but having known a few families along the way who let the animals roam everywhere, I would not bet against it.

So long as the dish is thoroughly washed and sterilized, it’s safe to use, no matter how it was employed earlier.

Some people feel forever stained by their sordid past.

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(A few weeks ago, I began a series of articles on Second Timothy for this website. However, after some reflection, I’ve decided not to do a laborious study on each verse, but to back off and take larger sections at a time, looking for key insights.  Since the primary audience for our blog is pastors and other church leaders, if we light up someone’s mind with only one idea in what follows, we’re pleased.)

Verses 1-2  Greeting

How did Paul get to be an apostle? “By the will of God.” And who is Timothy? “My beloved son” (in the ministry).  I have a few sons and daughters in the ministry, and I am the son of several godly men and women who poured themselves into me. (How did you get in the Lord’s work? Same way: God’s will.)

“Grace, mercy, and peace.” That’s a standard greeting, but I’ll take that any day of the week. I need all three–His grace for its gifts of generosity, His mercy for its restraint of judgment, and His peace for its guarding of my heart.

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(continuing the series on Second Timothy)

“For God has not given us the spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7).

The spirit of cowardice lives and thrives in churches these days. It has a corner in the office of many a pastor, and makes whimpering sounds familiar to many of us….

“You don’t want to do that. It might rock the boat.”

“Deacon Crenshaw will be upset if you preach that. I wouldn’t.”

“Back off on that vision God gave you. You’re going to lose some members if you push that.”

“Pastor, you must not oppose the power group in your church. They ran off the last three preachers.”

“The biggest giver in the church is threatening to withhold his tithes if you persist in letting those people come to our church.”

We surely don’t want to offend anyone, do we?

We don’t?  Show me that one in the Bible.  Jesus didn’t mind offending those who were dead-set on flouting the laws of God and blocking the ministries of the faithful.

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(Continuing our series on Second Timothy.)

“…who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity….” (Second Timothy 1:9)

All disciples of Jesus are called. Some disciples of Jesus have received a special call.

Paul said “I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher” in Second Timothy 1:11.  Even those who insist that “every Christian is called” do not dare say we are all called as preachers, apostles, and teachers. Again, there is a uniqueness about these “special’ calls.

In Second Timothy, we must remember that what we have here is a veteran preacher writing to a young preacher, while the rest of Christendom is eavesdropping.  Keeping that in mind will help us guard against the tendency to make everything Paul says apply to us. The fact that that “veteran” lies in Caesar’s jail with another court date looming before him and the Holy Spirit telling him that the end of his earthly ministry fast approaches adds a dramatic poignancy to the epistle.

“(He has) called us with a holy calling.”

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“I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (II Timothy 1:6).

Did Paul’s hands give Timothy a spiritual gift? I admit it reads that way, but it’s hard to imagine that happening.

You don’t have to be anticharismatic to conclude the scripture does not teach spiritual gifts being imparted from one person to another by the “laying on of hands.”

What we would prefer to think is that Paul laid hands on Timothy in the same way we ordain people to the ministry and that the significance is similar: conveying our love, confidence, and prayers in an official ceremony after which the individual is recognized as fully authorized to do whatever it is he has been called by God to do. (That convoluted sentence will never appear in anyone’s textbook! Smiley-face goes here.)

My concern and focus with Second Timothy 1:6 is with the “stir up” or “kindle afresh” part.  That we can understand.

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“I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears….” (II Timothy 1:3-4)

You either cry or you don’t. You either value tears or you scoff at them.  You either wish you could cry more or didn’t cry as much.

Few are  neutral on the subject of tears.

I have a friend who could read the phone directory and the tears would flow.  They are always a half-inch below the surface waiting for the simplest opportunity to spill.

I’m the opposite. Only rarely do I shed a tear, and when I do it’s more likely to be in private while praying or going over a sermon the Spirit and I are working on.

I recall the first time I wept in the pulpit.

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“I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did….” (II Timothy 1:3).

A clear conscience is like a clean windshield: You notice it only when something has marred its surface and spoiled your vision. Until your conscience smites you and accuses you of sin, you are hardly aware of its existence.

A clear conscience is a wonderful thing to have. And fairly rare, too, I surmise, if by that term we refer to a blameless life that finds nothing in your past with which to accuse you of–no hypocrisy, insincerity, or double-mindedness. And, may I say, who among us has no failures on our record, no stains of iniquity, no guilt of sin?

“There is none righteous, no, not one.” “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  “If the Lord should mark iniquity, who would stand?” (Romans 3:10,23 and Psalm 130:3)  Who indeed? Not me, that’s for sure.

Question: Why does Scripture make such a big deal over a clear conscience?

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