1 Corinthians 3:6

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

     Paul had no qualms about his place in the work of the Lord. Sometimes when we look at Paul we think of him as a super-christian. He was so active for the Lord’s work, you almost get the idea that he single handedly started the church. Yet Paul has a much more accurate appraisal of Himself.  He knows that he is not the only one involved in the work. One of those people that were a big help in his work at Corinth was Apollos.

     Paul may have started the work, but he also knows that Apollos work was instrumental the church at well. By using the idea of watering, we get the impression that Apollos work was cementing the faith of the Christians that Paul had started. Yet it is not only that work that is important. Everyone has a role that they play in the faith. Paul recognizes the need for the help of others. He does not want credit or prestige as the only or even main worker. Instead he wants them to know that their work is of equal value.

     The biggest reason why neither person’s work is more important than the other is that in reality they are only servants. They play important parts in the work of the kingdom, but it is not the vital part. That goes to God. We need to remember that whatever work we do, it is all second to what God has done. We should not take the credit or look for the prestige in any of the things we do. Instead we need to realize that other people’s role are also important. However, the most important work is done by God. We need to give Him all the praise and the glory.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

1 Samuel 17:45

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

      The story of David and Goliath has been turned into something of a myth in our day and age. One of the easiest ways to realize that is to notice how often it is used in relation to sports. Most of the time it is used as a way of talking about how difficult it will be for an underdog to achieve victory. And if those underdogs win, we attribute to a great amount of luck and timing. While there is some room for poetic license, it would be a mistake for us to equate David’s defeat of Goliath as a feat of great luck or just lucky timing.

     David’s victory was not based on such unreliable means. Instead, when he addresses Goliath before their fight, he makes known to Goliath why it is he will conquer. It is because God is on His side. Goliath made a mistake, not in discounting David for David was just a man. No, Goliath was foolish enough to taunt the everlasting God. God is the one who guided David to victory. To reduce it to mere luck is to come close to blaspheming against the Lord and His great power. God’s power is what brought Goliath down.

     This should be of great comfort to us as Christians today. Our battlefield is different than David’s. Our war is on the spiritual plane, in our mind, and in our heart. Many times we will come against an enemy on one of those battlefields that makes us cower. We may feel afraid that we will not be able to overcome the enemy. Yet by David’s example, we know that we can overcome any opponent. We do not have to rely on luck or timing. Instead we can put our faith in the Lord, and He will reward us with a victory over any who would oppose us.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

Luke 7:50

And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

     In the New Testament, we read about a man named Simon. Simon was a Pharisee who decided to have Jesus over to His house. When he did so, he was interrupted by a poor woman. This woman was a known sinner. When she came into the house, she went directly to Jesus. She started kissing his feet. This would be considered gross today, yet when she did it it would have been worse. Jesus wore sandals all day on dusty roads. On top of this she used her hair to clean his feet that were washed with her tears. Finally she poured a perfume on His feet.

     Simon is perplexed by Jesus allowing this woman to be near Him. In Simon’s eyes, this woman should be an outcast. Why would Jesus accept her touching Him? Yet what Simon failed to realize is that this woman was in a much better state than he was. Simon was glad to have Jesus over, but he certainly felt no need to fawn over Him. He offered no cleansing of the feet, a common practice of the day. He treated Jesus as if the Lord was just any other guest. And it was this casual attitdue that seperated him from the woman.

     It was in this context that Jesus offered His statement of forgiveness. This should be of great hope to us today. This woman, who was of such ill repute that Simon knew of her and that she was sinful, was granted forgiveness of sins. We too are offered forgiveness of sins, no matter how sinful we may be. But we must also share with her in attitude if we expect to share in her reward. We cannot be like Simon and just casually acknowledge Jesus in our lives. Instead we must lay our selves prostrate before Him with an attitude that will do whatever He desires. In putting ourselves at His mercy, we will indeed receive it.

And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

2 Timothy 4:6

in the future 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.

     There are two attitudes that can be had toward the appearing of the Lord. The first is one of fear. God’s coming will be terrifying to those who are opposed to him. It will be as if we are going before an executioner to receive the death penalty. In fact, that is exactly what is happening, yet this is an eternal death. The seperation from God will be made permament, which will cast His foes into an existence that they could not imagine. There will be no comfort or happiness in that place. They will rightfully dread meeting the Lord on that day.

     On the other hand, those who are on the Lord’s side will love His appearing. They will be excited. Instead of the trepidation others will feel, they will be full of joy and exultation. This is the moment they have been preparing for all of their lives. This is what all of the suffering that they had endured was for. They now get to be with Jesus for all of eternity. They get to go to God’s amazing dwelling place. The love that He has finally come and fulfilled all of their hopes.

     The question for us is this: which people will we be? Will we be someone who fears the Lord’s coming? If we follow the deeds of the flesh and continue after sin then yes will be afraid. We cannot be opposed to God and expect for His return to be a pleasant experience. If, however, we follow Him with a loving attitude, we will have nothing to fear on the day of judgment. Instead we will be relishing that we now can spend eternity at home with our Heavenly Father.

in the future 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

2 Timothy 4:2

preach the word; be ready in season {and} out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

     Paul commands Timothy here to preach the word. This is one of the most vital aspects of being a Christian. It is our responsibility to be preaching the word of God. We need to see how important this is. There is nothing that we as Christians have to offer those in the world whom we love. We have the gift of eternal life. We have the way to forgiveness of sins and a relationship with God. We have the way to joy and peace in this life here and earth. We have all of this to offer people if we would just open our mouths.

     Paul says that we need to preach this word, and to be ready to preach it in season and out of season. By this he means that he wants us to preach it even when people do not want to hear it. While the gospel has so much to offer people, it also can make them uncomfortable because it moves people to change. We do not like to change or to be made uncomfortable. The gospel, when it reaches man does not leave him unchanged. Therefore, even though people need it they may not want it. We must preach it anyway.

     This does not give us license to preach it in an ungodly or unloving fashion however. Above all we need to show patience. The word of God is not always quickly obeyed. Even those who are willing to serve God may fall short because of a lack of knowledge or discipline. We must be ready to instruct them more surely in the way of God. We can show them the path that God has laid out for us to walk. When they veer off or turn aside, we must show patience. This does not mean that we let them forsake the Lord, but that we do show love and understanding toward the difficult changes they are now facing. We must teach the word, but we must teach it with love.

preach the word; be ready in season {and} out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

2 Timothy 3:12

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

     One of the things that Jesus never hid from his disciples is that they would be persecuted. He wanted them to know and understand that they would never win a popularity contest. The world would always reject them because they were not of the world. This was to be expected because Jesus was persecuted. Consider that Jesus was continually persecuted. No one had more wisdom or more love. If Jesus could not be popular, there is no reason for His disciples to expect that they would either.

     His disciples learned this lesson well. In Acts 4, the disciples were persecuted by the Jews. They did not respond by sulking or going into hiding. Instead they actually rejoiced. Their joy came from being righteous enough to be persecuted. It was an accidental compliment by the Pharisees. They did not realize that such persecution meant that they were indeed like Jesus. This shows that they completely understood that being a Christian meant they would be persecuted.

     As Christians, we should expect that we too would be persecuted. Those who are spiritual today will not face any less resistance. However, we need to make sure that we are persecuted for the right reason. It should not be because we are hateful or treat people wrong. Instead it must be because we are right with God and they resent that spiritual nature. If we are persecuted for those reasons we too should rejoice. By joining him in suffering, we will share with Him in glory.

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

2 Timothy 2:22

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

      When Joseph was facing temptation by Potiphar’s wife, she pursued him hard. She grabbed him by his garment and tried to entice Him. Joseph ran away as quickly as he could. He fled the situation. As Christians, we need to flee the lusts that Satan may try to entice us with. We cannot dwaddle or hang around our lusts. To allow them any place in our life is to be inviting sin and death to our door. What we need to do is run away as fast as possible.

     We need not be only running away from sin. We can run toward righteousness, faith love and peace with the same ferocity as we flee. Often times we run aimlessly. Yet that does us no good. We wind up lost and in the dark. We get all turned around and go back into the sin that we had been trying to flee from. But if we run to the things that Paul lists here, we run into the arms of safety. In these things we find refuge from the lusts that try to pursue us.

     By pursuing righteousness, we find the desire to do the things that we know are right. By pursuing faith, we gain the trust to do what God commands even when we do not understand why we must. By pursuing love, we put God’s desires and needs before our own. With peace we have the ability to be content no matter what it is that we are having to do. If we would just pursue the things that Paul commands here, we will recieve them. And in receiving them we will be able to avoid those sinful lusts that have plagued us so long. 

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

2 Timothy 2:15

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

     In what Paul believes to be his last letter to Timothy, he gives him a command about what he should continue to do after Paul leaves. Paul tells him to be diligent in presenting himself approved to God. There should be nothing that is more important to us as Christians than this task. Instead of giving God whatever effort or time we have left over, we need to make it a priority to be approved before God. Unfortunately for us it can be hard and take a lot of work, but that is why we must be diligent.

     To be a workman not ashamed is something that we should delight in. It means that we can come before God and be comfortable around Him. When we have done something to hurt somebody, it makes us uncomfortable being around them. If we do we feel timid until such a relationship is restored. We feel ashamed of our actions until we have forgiveness from them. Our goal with God is that we do not do any acts that we would need to be ashamed of. If we do, we need to immediately ask forgiveness so that we do not have to feel awkward coming before Him.

     One of the most important keys to not doing anything worthy of shame is learning His word. Without knowledge of His word we are apt to disobey Him and do something that would bring shame both to ourselves and to Him. We need to be spending time in His word. In doing so we expose ourselves to the truths that lay within as well as give ourselves practice at learning how to discern His word. If we will learn how to discern His word and then act according to what His word has said, we will have no reason to be ashamed before our Lord!

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:10

For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

     Paul had an incredibly difficult life after becoming a Christian. He was chased out of more cities than I have probably visited in my life. He was stoned and he was scourged. He was hated by all of the people the had previously associated with.  On top of that he was a nomad with no place to call home. There was many times he was without food and without shelter. He did not have much in the way of physical blessings. When he writes Timothy in this letter he asks him to bring him a coat, which most of us can pick up just about any day on our own.

     Paul was able to endure this because of His faith in God. He knew that all of it was worth it. He knew that God would reward Him and that the reward would be worth the hardest and most difficult problems that this life has to offer. His trust in God made what might seem impossible to some a day’s work to him. He did not need money or social acceptance or even health. What seems so important to us was no big deal to Paul.

    What is most impressive about what Paul says is that it is not just for the reward that he has endured. He looks forward to that, but like in Philippians, his endurance is not just for his benefit. He did it for his fellow Christians. He endured such difficult circumstances so that he could help others. This should cause us to re-evaluate ourselves. What are we willing to endure for others? Many times we do not even want to be inconvenienced. Yet we should be like Paul; we must be willing to endure all.

For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

2 Timothy 2:5

Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

     One night, my family was watching the Olympics together. That particular evening we were watching the men’s gymnastics. It was a very frustrating event. It almost felt rigged. We watched the athletes complete these amazing physical feats, and yet their score was not always very high. It seemed odd that a person would lose points for flipping in the air three times and taking an extra step to balance their landing. Even worse was a slight crossing of the line. These cost them points It hurt their score, and we were frustrated because what they were doing was so impressive anyway.

     The reality is though that the sport, like all sports, has rules. The rules that are set in place must be followed. Honestly there were times where we did not understand the deductions that would occur, yet our lack of knowledge about the rules did not change the fact that they existed. If a person desires to compete in any sport, they have to understand and follow the rules. If they refuse to do so they will either be disqualified or score poorly. Only by following the rules can you hope to achieve victory.

     Paul compares the Christian life to an athlete in this way. Just as an athlete must learn and follow all the rules, so must a Christian. Ignorance does not mean that the rules do not apply, just that we are more likely to break the rule. We may think that our way is better or that the rules are stupid. It does not matter. If we wish to qualify for God’s kingdom we must follow His rules. His commandments are paramount. To disobey them is to risk disqualification.

Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.