What is Abide? | Listen to this Episode | Watch this Episode

This week’s Abide comes from the passage in the Our Daily Bread devotional from Monday 10 June, and the passage is 2 Timothy 4:1-8. 

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store 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 longed for his appearing.

If you’re preparing for an interview or test, you know what you need to do; you need to think through all the questions you might be asked, prepare your responses, and try to think of every possible direction the conversation could go. That’s what this week’s passage is about: Paul is setting Timothy up to study, prepare, and practise. But for what?

Let’s take a step back for a moment, and think through where this is taking place. Paul is in jail as he writes this letter to Timothy, and this particular passage is right towards the end of the letter — it’s the meaty part of it. Paul is giving a charge to Timothy, a final mission of what he needs to do. Paul senses he’s close to death, and in this very personal letter, you could understand him wanting to reassure his friend. But instead, there’s a huge gravity to this mission that Paul puts to Timothy. And what is that mission? To preach the Word — and be prepared to do it.

Think back to that interview or test. Imagine if you hadn’t done the preparation or spent time learning the material, and then you’re asked a question and you go…blank. You’ve got nothing; no words come to mind, and you have no idea what to say. It’s not a great look, and you’re clearly not going to get hired, or pass the exam. I’m sure, like me, you get a bit uncomfortable at the thought of being caught out like that.

Paul calls on Timothy to treat his mission of preaching the Word like this. To be prepared at any time, at any moment, to share the Good News of Jesus. Now, you might wonder why Paul has to tell Timothy this; they’ve been friends and travellers and in ministry together for a good period of time. But Paul is warning Timothy that a time will come when people will turn away from sound doctrine, and instead find those who will tell them what they want to hear. They’ll turn to myths, and gather around them people who only affirm their own desires and beliefs. That’s the space in which Paul wants Timothy to be ready, at any moment, to preach the truth.

And it’s not just a matter of preaching. During this time, as people are turning to their own desires and false teachings, and as the world might seem to be falling apart around him, Paul tells Timothy that he needs to “keep his head” in all situations, and, on top of that, he is to be ready to endure hardship. Not because it might come, but because it will. In the midst of whatever trials he faces, Paul tells Timothy to “discharge all the duties of your ministry”; not just to carry out the easy parts, but everything he’s been called to do. 

As a parent, there comes a time where you start getting your kids involved in household chores to broaden their responsibilities. One of my kids’ jobs is to clean the bathroom, and although it gets done—the toilet and sink are cleaned and the “big jobs” are ticked off—smaller details of the cleaning process are often overlooked or considered unimportant, such as wiping down the basin, or changing the towels. But Paul says we need to discharge all of the duties of what we’re being called to, not just the easy, convenient, or public parts.

Let’s be honest; it’s a bit of a bleak way to end a letter to a dear friend. Why would Timothy want to prepare himself for such difficult work? Why would we?

At the end of his letter, Paul is pretty clear about the fact that he’s nearing the end of his life. He describes himself as being “poured out like a drink offering”<. A drink offering was poured onto the ground in front of the temple, and once it had been poured out, its job was done; there was no way to get the drink offering back into its container. Using this example, Paul is saying that he’s done everything he can for the work of the gospel.

But what is waiting for Paul is worth far more than any of the trials Paul has faced. Ahead of him is a crown of righteousness, that will be awarded to him by God Himself. And the incredible thing is, it’s not just Paul—a titan of the faith—that will receive one of these crowns, but anyone who has longed for God to come.

That is why we learn. That is why we train; because what is in store for us is the greatest prize anyone could ever win.

This week, why don’t we set aside some time to prepare, as Paul urges Timothy to? Let’s spend some time reflecting on why we believe what we do—whether alone or with someone else—so that we can be ready to give that response to anyone who may ask.