Looking at the world around us it seems as if the Gospel is waning here in the west, almost as if God's attention has been turned elsewhere. That being said it can be hard to faithfully pursue the holiness and righteousness that God calls us to through his word because more often than not we don't see any tangible reward for our work. I'll use myself as an example. To be perfectly honest, if I wasn't sitting in an office at the church right now I probably wouldn't have even thought about sitting down and writing this out. Although it's really important for me to practice how to construct a lesson, & study the Bible I probably would be killing time on Craigslist right now. What's the core issue being played out? Integrity. Truth be told I don't feel like God is necessarily watching me most of the time. But he is.
Consider what Paul is saying in vv.8-11a. He brings Timothy's attention back to the gospel of Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead. Obviously Timothy hasn't forgotten who Jesus is, or the fact that he rose from the dead...so what is Paul really getting at it here? A risen savior is also a present savior! With that being said, the ministry of the Gospel is not some vague service to an abstract religious ideal. It's the service to a present and objective truth. A risen savior is also a capable savior. This is brought to light in Paul's great phrase in v.9 "But the word of God is not bound!" As a key religious leader at the time I'm sure that Caesar and many Roman officials thought the Christianity would die out with it's key teachers were dead. The problem being that the Holy Spirit is the key teacher of the Gospel, so the word of God is not limited to any one person, place, or time. This is one of the things that makes Christianity so unique.
The aspect of the Gospel that Paul is calling Timothy to is the aspect of sharing in suffering. On a worldly level, such a thing would be useless because it involves investment in failure. You could look at it like invest money in a failing company, or pumping water out of the Titanic. Paul gives Timothy 3 great illustrations to address this mindset. The first is that of the soldier (v.4).
What we see in the example of the soldier is focus. Paul calls on Timothy to share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The job of a soldier is simple. Obey orders from your superiors. Paul outlines this well when he says "the aim is to please the one who enlisted him".
Second we have the illustration of the athlete. (v.5) "the athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules..."What we see in this example is the aspect of integrity and discipline. Paul also introduces the aspect of reward here as well. Because he outlines it in a negative way he may be casting light on teachers of false doctrine. The gospel is a tough seller in the feel good vibe of our current society, but if we try to cheat our way into the kingdom by softening the word of God we will find ourselves sorely disappointed.
Second we have the illustration of the athlete. (v.5) "the athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules..."What we see in this example is the aspect of integrity and discipline. Paul also introduces the aspect of reward here as well. Because he outlines it in a negative way he may be casting light on teachers of false doctrine. The gospel is a tough seller in the feel good vibe of our current society, but if we try to cheat our way into the kingdom by softening the word of God we will find ourselves sorely disappointed.
At last we read that it is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. This is a tough exhortation for me, and I'm sure it was for Timothy as well. Timothy was in a tough spot of weighing the cost of ministry. Being called by God into service in the church he had to consider the fact that his service would cost him, it demanded Paul's very life.
But in the midst of these illustrations we see can see the great promise of the Gospel. Because Jesus Christ is risen, and the Word of God is not bound there is eternal reward in the work of ministry. But it is a "here, and not yet" kind of reward. It's not all financial gain and comfort on this side of glory. But we have to consider this. If God has saved us, and in that salvation called us to some aspect of service. It could be that said aspect of service contains sanctifying elements uniquely tailored to each one of us. So we need to be sober minded and deliberate about what we do, and why and how we do it. Verse 11b-13:
If we have died with him, we also will live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful-
for he cannot deny himself.
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