The church is called to be faithful to the gospel by spreading it, suffering for it, and safeguarding it.
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Faithfulness To The Gospel
2 Timothy 1:11-18
The apostle Paul wrote this letter of 2 Timothy under the shadow of his imminent execution. According to tradition, he was beheaded under Caesar Nero’s reign in 67 A.D. Being the last inspired letter Paul ever wrote, it is his Dying Charge to Timothy. Since Paul is about to die, he now passes the torch to young Timothy who is being thrust into a position of responsible Christian leadership far beyond his natural capacities. Timothy has been traveling with Paul as his assistant for the last 15 years, and currently is providing leadership to the church in Ephesus. However, when Paul has died, his responsibilities will increase greatly.
Humanly speaking, Timothy is utterly unfit for the greatness of these responsibilities for at least three reasons:
1. He is still comparatively young. In 1 Tim.4:12 Paul says to him, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness” and in 2 Tim.2:22 he says, “flee from youthful lusts.”
2. He is prone to sickness. In 1 Tim.5:23 Paul makes reference to his “frequent ailments” and recommends that he use a little wine for the sake of his stomach.
3. He is timid by temperament. He seems to have been naturally shy. If he were alive today, we would probably have called him an introvert. He shrank from difficult tasks. In 1 Cor.6:10-11 Paul says, “When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him.” Several times in 2 Timothy, Paul exhorts him not be ashamed but to suffer hardship with him, because God has not given him a spirit of cowardice.
So, this was Timothy: young in years, frail in body, and timid in temperament, who in spite of all that, was called to great responsibility in the service of Christ and His church. Perhaps you feel you are a lot like Timothy. Are you young, weak, and timid? Take heart! If God could empower a man like Timothy to take over for Paul when he was gone, He can also empower you and use you in great ways for His glory.
Well, what is Paul’s primary, overarching message to Timothy? It is this – Timothy must be a faithful man. In 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul tells Timothy, “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” There was a certain kind of man that Paul wanted Timothy to entrust the apostolic gospel with – faithful men. And, of course, Timothy must himself model for others what it was to be a faithful man.
Well, to what in particular must Timothy be faithful to? We find the answer in verse 8 and 10. It is the gospel. As Paul takes up quill and parchment to write this last letter of his life, he does so in a cold, damp, dark dungeon, with only a hole in the ceiling for light and air. For 30 years he had preached the gospel and planted churches. As he writes this last letter the question that must have been racing through his mind was, “What will happen to this gospel after I’m dead and gone?” Will it become corrupted by false teachers? Will it be discarded and neglected because of the suffering which results when it is boldly preached? And so, Paul writes this letter to Timothy, his spiritual son in the faith, and urges him to be faithful to the gospel by spreading it, suffering for it, and safeguarding it.
1. We Must Spread The Gospel (1:11)
In verse 10-11 Paul wrote, “Christ brought light and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.” In other words, Paul was appointed to propagate the gospel. God didn’t appoint him merely to understand the gospel or admire the gospel. He was appointed to proclaim it!
You might be thinking, “OK, I’ll grant you that it was Paul’s job to proclaim the gospel, but I’m not Paul. I’m not an apostle. I’m not a preacher or a teacher. So, what relevance does this passage have for me?” OK, let’s see exactly what the Scriptures declare is the duty of every Christian.
Mt. 28:18-20, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
In this Great Commission, Jesus commands us to make disciples. But is this command given only to the 11 apostles who were there to hear it at that time, or for all Christians of all time? Well, let’s think it through. Jesus commanded the 11 to make disciples of all the nations. But how were they to make disciples? They were to teach them to observe all that Jesus had commanded. Well, what did Jesus command? He commanded that we make disciples! Thus, every Christian must be taught to make other disciples.
Further, look at the conclusion of this command – “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” If Jesus’ command were only for the 11 apostles, there would be no reason for Him to tell them that He would be with them to the end of the age. They all died within 70 years of this statement!
Col. 4:5-6, “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.”
Who was this instruction written to? Was it just to the ordained leaders of the church in Colossae? No, it was written to everyone in the church at Colossae. All were commanded to make the most of every opportunity with outsiders, so that they would respond graciously to every person in every situation.
1 Peter 3:15, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence”
Again, Peter is not writing to the pastors, but to every member of the church, and instructing them to always be ready to give a reason for their Christian hope.
Acts 8:1,4, “And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles …Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”
Here we have the actual example of the early Christians. The apostles all remained behind in Jerusalem when persecution broke out, but everyone else were scattered. Well, what did these ordinary, every-day Christians do? They went about preaching the word!
Therefore, the Scriptures confirm to us through direct command and example, that every Christian has the duty to spread this gospel. I realize that we have different gifts, abilities, and temperaments. We will spread the gospel in different ways. Some will be street preachers, others will hand out tracts, others will knock on doors, others will invite neighbors or friends to church, some will gift Bibles or Christian books to friends as gifts. But every Christian needs to find a way to spread the gospel. Friends, this means you! Are you actively dong anything right now to spread the gospel? Remember, that this is a matter of obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord. He has commanded you to make disciples. Are you doing it?
It’s weird, but in the Church we don’t really believe we need to do what Jesus told us to do? We feel, all we have to do is know it, study it and memorize it. Imagine a situation where I told my son to do the dishes after dinner, but two hours later, they still weren’t done. So I ask him, “why aren’t the dishes done?” He replies, “I can tell you what you said – you said, “do the dishes.” Would that satisfy me? No way! My son might say, “Dad, I’m going to have some of my friends over and we’re going to do a study on what it means to do the dishes.” I’d say, “No, you’re not! You’re going to get your behind into the kitchen, right now and do what I told you to do 2 hours ago!” So, what makes us think that knowing all about the Great Commission, being able to quote Mt. 28:18-20, or doing a Bible study on it means we have ever done it?! On Judgment Day, God isn’t going to care if we knew about His commands, or memorized them, or studied them. He’s only going to be satisfied, if we actually obeyed them!
Right now, how often do you speak to others about Christ? Be honest. If your honest answer is “Never” or “almost never” then you need to get before the Lord and ask Him how He would have you be involved in evangelism. Notice I said, “how”, not “if”. One brother told me recently that he has a very hard time with evangelism. I asked him what that was so, and he responded that it probably had to do with his fear of man. So, I told him to memorize a passage of Scripture that deals with the fear of man that he can recall during those times when he knows he should speak out, but is afraid of the rejection of man. Folks, we’ve simply got to get over our fear, and obey Jesus. He said, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord’, ‘Lord’, and do not do what I say.” Do you call Him, ‘Lord’? Then do what He says. Get involved in making disciples. If you don’t know how, ask. Let’s get some good discussions going here at The Bridge. But never be content to know about evangelism, but never do it! Are you going to be OK with knowing the will of God, but never doing it! Oh, I hope not. Surely, if we got on our faces before the Lord, and asked Him, He would direct all of us to obedience in this great work.
2. We Must Suffer For The Gospel (1:12)
For this reason – The reason Paul was suffering hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal was because the Lord had appointed him a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the gospel. Since he was a very prominent leader of the Christian church, he was one of the first to be picked off by the Roman government and imprisoned. If Paul had laid low, and took a few years off from preaching, he could have escaped all this suffering. But Paul would never do such a thing. It was unthinkable. Paul was faithful to continue to preach and spread this gospel to the ends of the earth even though it landed him in a dungeon, and would soon cause him to lose his life. Now, if we trim our gospel message down to just those parts that are popular, we won’t face suffering for it. If we tell people, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” and don’t tell them they are evil and must repent, and that if they don’t they will find themselves in hell, there won’t be any suffering at all. If we leave out the part that salvation is entirely of God’s grace, and that our works have nothing to do at all with it, we will escape suffering. The natural human heart hates the gospel, because it robs man of any glory, and gives it all to God. However, if we are faithful to preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ, get ready. You will face hardship for Jesus Christ!
But I am not ashamed – Why was Paul not ashamed? How could he continually risk his life by preaching and teaching this gospel? What enabled him to suffer for the gospel? Why didn’t he shrink back in fear?
For I know whom I have believed – Notice, that Paul didn’t say “I know what I have believed.” In the final analysis, it’s not what you now, but who you now. A knowledge of a set of propositional truths can’t save you. Only Jesus Himself can save you. Paul knew much more than just some abstract theological truths. Paul knew Christ. He had been walking with Him for over 30 years. One of the things he had become convinced of is that Christ is faithful. He will be faithful to guard what has been entrusted to Him.
Now at this point I need to alert you to the fact that there is more than one possible translation of the end of verse 12.
NASB: “He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
ESV: “He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”
I checked out a whole slew of different translations this last week, and they are pretty evenly split on this issue. The reason is because the Greek literally says, “He is able to guard my deposit until that day.” The word “deposit” refers to that which is put in the safekeeping of another who is responsible to give it back exactly as it was given. So, Paul can either be talking about the deposit that he has entrusted to God, or the deposit that God has entrusted to him. There are good arguments that can be made on both sides of this issue. On the side, that Paul is talking about something that he had entrusted to God is the fact that Paul says in this text that God is able to guard this deposit. It would seem very strange, if after saying that, he turns around and says that this deposit was entrusted to me. Logically, since God is guarding this deposit, it would be one that Paul had entrusted to God. However, in favor of the view that says that this is a deposit that God entrusted to Paul, just two verses later, Paul speaks about guarding the treasure, and in that verse he speaks of Timothy guarding the deposit that had been entrusted to him. Therefore, I’m not going to choose sides. Rather, I’m going to show you both views, and what the implications are.
View #1: According to this view Paul is saying something like, “Yes, I have gone through great suffering, but I’m not ashamed, and have no regrets or fears about the future, because I know that the Lord is faithful to guard my soul which I have entrusted to Him until that final day of judgment.” This would be similar to Jesus’ cry from the cross, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). Interestingly, Paul will say himself in 2 Tim. 4:18, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.” Why was Paul not ashamed of the gospel, and not afraid of what Nero would do to him? Because his confidence was in the faithfulness of the Lord. Even if Nero beheaded him (which he did), his life and soul was in the Lord’s hands, and the Lord would be faithful to bring him safely into His heavenly kingdom. Wow, when someone has that kind of rock solid confidence, what can you do to him? He cannot be moved by anything. To live is Christ, and to die is more Christ. The worst man can do is kill the body, but no one can kill the soul. Christ keeps it safe!
View #2: According to this view Paul is saying, “I’m not ashamed of my sufferings, which I received for preaching this gospel, because I know that even if they take my life, God will guard and protect that gospel which He entrusted to me. It is a glorious gospel which God Himself is concerned to protect, and thus I will never be ashamed of suffering for it.” According to this translation Paul is saying that God is the One who is ultimately responsible to preserve this gospel. Yes, He has entrusted it to His people, who are frail and weak creatures. And it is true that we must play our part in guarding and defending it. However, in committing this deposit into our hands, He has not taken His own hands off if it. Even though this gospel is ridiculed and abandoned, God will never let the light of the gospel to be finally extinguished.
Now, whichever view is correct, the main point is clear – Paul is convinced of the faithfulness of God. He is not ashamed of the way he has lived his life. Rather he now faces death with utter confidence in God. He is confident that the Lord will keep his soul safe, and he is convinced that the Lord will keep His gospel safe.
So, what is the point we should take away from all of this? Simply this – because God will never forsake you, you can face suffering bravely like Paul is doing. What about you? Is there a situation you are facing right now that requires courage? Has the Lord called you to do something difficult, which may cause you to lose a friend? Will it cause you to face emotional suffering and pain? Take heart! God is faithful. God is able. God is for you. You can take refuge in Him. Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.” Jesus taught “if anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23). Yes, faithfully serving Christ may mean hardship and suffering in this life, but Paul says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom.8:18). Oh friends, let’s not only spread the gospel, let’s also suffer for it well.
3. We Must Safeguard The Gospel (1:13-18)
In verses 13 and 14, Paul is using parallelism. He says something in verse 13, and then he says basically the same thing in verse 14, only using different words.
| “the standard of sound words” | “the treasure which has been entrusted to you” |
| “Retain” | “Guard” |
Retain the standard of sound words – A “standard” points to a body of apostolic doctrine. It has the meaning of an “outline, or rough sketch.” When an artist embarks on a painting they will usually do a rough outline or sketch on the canvas first. This serves as the standard for the finished work. Paul is exhorting Timothy to retain that standard. In other words, hold on to it. Don’t let it go. Our standard today is the New Testament. We must speak and teach in harmony with revealed truth. Timothy had heard Paul give this standard of sound words many, many times. Now it was his turn to make sure those sound words were not corrupted, or diluted, or compromised.
Guard the treasure which has been entrusted to you – The word for “treasure” literally means “the good deposit.” Notice the progression:
1 Tim. 1:11 “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”
2 Tim. 1:14 “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”
2 Tim. 2:2 “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
God entrusted the glorious gospel of the blessed God to Paul. Paul had entrusted that same gospel to Timothy. Timothy is to entrust it to faithful men. This gospel is a treasure because it speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ and His grace.
The word “guard” was a military term used to describe guarding a palace, to prevent it from being broken into, or guarding possessions from being stolen, or guarding a prisoner to prevent his escape. The gospel is a precious treasure, and we must guard it to prevent it from being lost or damaged. We are commanded to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). We need to be careful that we don’t allow anything to come in and pervert the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus Christ guards our souls, so we must guard the gospel.
Through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us – How is Timothy to guard the gospel from corruption? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Really, Paul is just pointing Timothy back to what he has already told him in 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” You will need to courage to retain the standard of sound wards and guard the treasure. You can find that courage, power, love and discipline in the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.
Why must Timothy safeguard the gospel? Because “all who are in Asia have turned away from Paul and his gospel” (2 Tim.1:15). All of Asia were defecting, turning away, because of fear of what it would mean to boldly embrace Paul and his gospel.
Were there any exceptions to the rule? Yes, there is one bright spot that Paul can name. It is Onesiphorus, who came to Rome, eagerly searched Paul out, and then refreshed him (2 Tim.1:16-18). I can imagine him bringing some food, some cheese, fresh fruit, and dried meat. Perhaps he brought him a blanket to keep him warm at night. Then, no doubt, he would have provided him some real Christian fellowship to cheer his lonely hours in prison. It appears that Onesiphorus may have died since ministering to Paul, because he offers a wish that the Lord would grant mercy to his household. Why didn’t Paul wish mercy for Onesiphorus? Onesiphorus wasn’t with Paul as he wrote. He doesn’t send greetings from him. Thus, either he had died, or he was in route back to Ephesus. Some have speculated that he had been arrested himself because of his sympathizing with Paul.
So, why did Paul bring up the fact that all in Asia had turned away from him, except for Onesiphorus. It was, no doubt, to urge Timothy to be like Onesiphorus, and not like the rest in Asia. Paul was using example, good and bad, to motivate Timothy to faithfulness to the gospel and to Paul.
The church is exhorted here to safeguard the gospel. How should we apply this truth to ourselves today? Well, I think the primary application of this passage is to those that Christ has gifted and called to lead His church – pastors, evangelists, preachers and teachers. Folks, we must be concerned about the Truth! Jesus said, “sanctify them in the truth; Thy Word is truth.”
I know it is popular for people to say, “you have your truth, and I have my truth”, as though there is no such thing as absolute truth. We only think that way because we are products of our culture. 200 years ago, no one thought like that. In our postmodern age we have imbibed this idea that “what’s good for you is your truth, and what’s good for me is my truth, but there’s no absolute truth for everybody at all time.” If that is true, why is Paul telling Timothy to retain the standard of sound words and guard the treasure of the gospel? Of course there is absolute truth, and we have that absolute truth recorded in the pages of Scripture.
Those who are teachers of God’s Word must be zealous to study His Word, to be diligent to accurately handle the word of truth. Furthermore, we must speak out against false teaching. Yes, we must speak out in love, but we must speak. We must make sure that we pass on Christ’s gospel to the next generation pure. We must not allow others to add to it, or take away from it. Sometimes people try to add to the gospel by telling us that we are saved by Christ, plus baptism, or good works, or church attendance, etc. We must preserve the gracious character of the gospel by denying that a sinner is saved by anything other than the grace of God. We must also not allow others to take away from the gospel. People sometimes do this by telling us that the gospel brings forgiveness, but does not necessarily holiness. The gospel doesn’t leave a man in sin just as it finds him. It cleanses him, and then begins to purify him from all evil. Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.”
So, what will faithfulness to the gospel look like? It will mean spreading the gospel, suffering for the gospel, and safeguarding the gospel. Are you doing your part to spread it, suffer well for it, and safeguard it? God help us to do so, for Jesus’ sake!
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