2-Timothy

Watch out for the Thief

“Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward” 2 John 8

John’s letter is a sober reminder that we are in spiritual warfare and if we drop our guard we will suffer loss both now and in eternity. Salvation is the gift of God so that is not what John is writing of here. In his first letter he mentions the spirit of antichrist and in this letter he revisits this subject.

The spirit of antichrist is a deceiver of believers (v 7) and through error deceives people into believing things that are untrue concerning Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “Whatever is only almost true is quite false and among the most dangerous of errors. Because being so near Truth, it is more likely to lead astray.”

If we allow the spirit of antichrist to lead us to believe false teaching concerning Jesus Christ, it will rob us of our present intimacy and fellowship with Jesus Christ and the joy that accompanies it. It will also cause us to be eternally short of where we might have been in intimacy with Jesus.

The spirit of antichrist will also cause defections from truth and love (v 10). Once deceived by false teaching a person will have defected to Satan’s cause. The only protection we have is to continue abiding in the doctrine of Christ. As Paul writes to Timothy, “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13).

The spirit of antichrist also necessitates divisions and separations in the church (v 10). Separations are neither desired nor pleasant but because the spirit of antichrist is at work within the church it is sometimes necessary. We should not compromise the Gospel or doctrine of Christ for the sake of staying together. We must be discerning and discriminating. It is a sad thing that some churches, in an attempt to maintain numbers or grow, have sacrificed truth concerning Jesus Christ. The outcome is that people are deceived into defecting from Christ to serving antichrist and they are robbed of present joy and eternal reward. It is this reward that glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in and for eternity.

Teaching concerning Jesus Christ is so vital that it is the difference between heaven and hell; between being with Christ or antichrist. To diminish its importance will have eternal fatal consequences.

Daniel Webster wrote, “If truth is not diffused, error will be. If God and His word are not known and received, the devil and his will gain the ascendancy.” The church must hold fast to sound doctrine or its people will suffer great loss.

Love and truth always go together. To truly love others is to use truth to serve them in order that they might have full joy and receive a full reward.

An Immutable Fact

“… in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, …” Titus 1:2

If we begin reading the Bible from this standpoint, “God, who cannot lie,” we would fare much better in understanding God and accepting His word and promises. As children we found it so easy to trust. As the years went by we found that it was naive to blindly trust everyone. Can God be trusted? That is the question that Adam and Eve had to answer. Satan convinced them that God could not be trusted and so they trusted Satan instead. We must also choose but regardless of what we choose the fact that God cannot lie remains.

The writer of Hebrews writes that it is impossible for God to lie (6:18). Paul writes something similar in 2 Timothy 2:13 when he wrote “He [God] cannot deny Himself.” He cannot think, speak or act contrary to His Divine Nature. We see this characteristic in all creation. All creatures act according to their nature.

If we choose not to believe a person we are saying that they are either ignorant on the matter or that they are a liar. When we do not believe God we prove that we are children of Adam and following his trust in Satan.

Repentance for salvation is that act of choosing to cease not believing God and to believe His word. In doing this we reject our allegiance to Adam and attach our allegiance to Jesus Christ (cf. Romans 5).

Sadly, there are some who claim the name of Jesus Christ who do not accept all His words. Such a claim is a deceit and hypocrisy and infers that Jesus is either ignorant or a deceiver. Unbelief may be masked by mishandling the word of God. We can become very adept at twisting another person’s words to suit our cause. Paul writes that elders in the church should be able to express “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9; 2:1) so that the congregation may become “sound in the faith” (1:13; 2:2) through “sound speech” (2:8). The word of God is the authority that a teacher has. When he speaks the word of God faithfully he has “all authority” (2:15) but the moment he strays he has no authority.

Those who abuse the word of God may “profess to know God, but in works they deny Him” (1:16). Paul’s assessment is that they are, to God, detestable, disobedient and disqualified to serve Christ.

Let us make this an immutable fact in our minds, God does not and cannot lie. That is the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.

Respect for Authority

“Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” Proverbs 23:22

For several decades ungodly people have been telling parents to allow their children freedom to choose their own way and not stifle them with the parent’s views on moral, ethical and social ways. The result is that we now have a generation of parents who have no basis and no knowledge of how to lead their children. The sad thing is that many Christians have bought into this lie. Reversing this trend will only come from within the church because the way back lies within the pages of our Bibles. The world, apart from Christ and God’s Word, can be described as the blind leading the blind.

Some adult victims of a wayward youth are demanding that parents be accountable for their children’s acts of violence and destruction but that misses the point and is at least one generation too late in my view.

Paul wrote of this situation nearly two thousand years ago, “In the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

No doubt all these characteristics were observable in Paul’s day but they were not universal as they have become now.

If children do not learn to respect and take note of their parent’s instruction when young they certainly won’t be inclined to do so in their teen years. If children are rebellious to parents and permitted to remain that way then they will extend that rebellion to all other authorities as they grow: schoolteachers; law enforcement; employers; government; God.

Without repentance they will end up spending many of their earthly days in prison and in hell eternally. Along the way they will make their lives and the lives of their parents and others a misery.

God’s commands, instructions and statutes relating to parenting are not given to make the life of parents and children impossible; exactly the opposite. The parents’ responsibility is to “Train up a child …” (Proverbs 22:6) not let a child find its own path.

Some years ago a young child ran from our church door along the footpath to the road. The speed limit on that road was 80kph. The child gleefully disobeyed the parents’ frantic cries to stop and kept on toward the speeding traffic. Several people set off in pursuit and that just encouraged the child in her game. This could have ended very badly but it shows the importance of training, dare I say disciplining, a child from birth.

If a child does not learn to respond to its parents instructions how will it learn to respond to other authorities and to the Lord? Children are different but observation has shown me that some children can be trained to respond to a parent’s instruction, from a distance, soon after they can walk. But the parents will have to start much earlier than that for that result. Correction is an act of love and it must be done out of love (Proverbs 3:11-12).

Get to it

“Whatever He says to you, do it” John 2:5

The relationship between a mother and son is special among relationships. Mary’s relationship with Jesus had the added aspect that she and He both knew who He really is. As Jesus grew to adulthood she carefully observed His development in knowledge and behaviour.

Jesus is an adult a little over thirty years of age and apparently still living with His mother at the time of this event recorded in John 2:1-11. Joseph is not mentioned in the Gospels after the event when He was twelve years old so we could assume that he died somewhere between these events.

In the passage we see that there was a need to be met and Jesus’ response to his mother seemed to perplex her. She knew He would do something but she did not know just what He would do.

Mary was a woman like any other but God had chosen to borrow her womb for the incarnation. She knew Jesus in a way no one else has or will and her instruction to the servants, over whom she apparently had authority, is of value to us. Let us take the words independently and see if they help us in our relationship with Jesus.

  • Whatever: This is extremely broad, encompassing all without limitation. This word does not give room to discriminate in any respect; personal likes, dislikes, ambitions or desires. If we start questioning or discriminating it shows that we do not trust Him.
  • He: This is very important. Jesus frequently did and said things that provoked people to consider or ask who He is. Even the Father said on two occasions that we should “Hear Him.” We are often inclined to hear many other people in preference to Him. This was one of the reasons the disciples were often confused. They gave too much authority to men and too little to Jesus’ words.
  • Says: For the servants to obey Mary’s instruction they must first listen to what Jesus says. We have the Bible but it is of no value unless we first spend time reading, meditating and studying it. Jesus has given us gifted teachers and counsellors but they should never replace the wisdom of God’s own word.
  • To you: We are to receive His word personally. Quite often we think that His words may be for the person next to us or someone else we know. In many cases the Bible is written to someone else but it has been written for us (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
  • Do it: Get on with it now. Make the decision and get the ball rolling with no looking or turning back. Don’t wait to see if anyone else is doing what Jesus said before starting. One can only wonder how many people never got going in serving Jesus because they were waiting to see if someone else would lead the way.

Mary is not instructing the servants to do her will but the will of Jesus Christ. Her instruction to the servants is one we can take on board in our relationship with Jesus. How we do so will give us insight into our personal relationship with Him.

True to Kind

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” 2 Timothy 2:13

This must be one of the most comforting verses in the Bible for the one who knows the heart of God and knows his own heart. It is one of the reasons why Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd. We are prone to wander from the truth back into worldly ways of thinking but the Good Shepherd keeps steering us into ‘green pastures.’

We are told in the Bible that there are two things God cannot do; He cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) and He cannot “deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). These relate to His Person. In contrast there are passages that tell us that nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 1:37) but these relate to His activity in the world.

The very origin and root of sin is that Satan provoked Adam and Eve to doubt both of these aspects of God’s nature that He cannot do. He cannot lie and He cannot think, speak or act contrary to His Divine Nature. The combination of these two is where the true believer finds their assurance, comfort and peace.

When we read God’s word we are sure that He is not telling lies or trying to hide things from us. We know that he does not speak with hypocrisy and will not set a trap for us. When we have doubts about this it is easy to know who is behind those doubts. Satan has been doing this ever since he spoke with Eve in the Garden of Eden. He is well practiced by now but we have the whole Bible that will expose his lie.

In the Bible we also discover that there are many ways in which we may think that God is not faithful to His word. Again, our sinful hearts have a bias to consider God unfaithful but as we read the Bible and reflect on our own lives we will discover that He is and always has been faithful to who He is. The world does not see it that way but that is because their idea of godly traits is different to the revelation of God in the Bible.

One of the most common of complaints is used in other relationships as well. Essentially it is that if you don’t give me what I want, you don’t love me. This is a form of manipulation and no one should allow themselves to be manipulated in this way. That would not be love at all and it destroys the relationship. God will not be manipulated.

Love is sacrificially giving what the other persons needs. This is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. “For God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Wow! Aren’t we glad that God will always love us in that way?

When the World Rejoices

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way” 2 Thessalonians 2:7

There is a day approaching when the world will find cause for unrestrained joy. It will be the day that the Lord removes all believers in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul describes that day in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the lord.”

Jesus mentioned this day years earlier and His words are recorded in John 14:3,”I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

What Jesus and Paul are saying is that there will be a day when there are absolutely no believers in the world. That will be a day of rejoicing for the world but the rejoicing will be short-lived. In the verse at the head of this article Paul tells us that what is restraining evil in the world will be removed. That will be the opportunity for wickedness and evil to blossom unrestrained.

We are not left solely to our imaginations. Paul gives a brief outline of the character of the world in that day. It may appear to have already come but it is not yet the total character and full expression of what it will be. The presence of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s church still restrains wickedness and evil. The preaching of God’s word is contrary to the way the world wants to go and it currently acts as a restraint. The world is finding less opposition than in the past but there is still considerable restraint on wickedness through believers. When those who love Jesus Christ, teach His word and faithfully witness to the risen Christ are removed, those whom the Lord has given over to believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12) will have their day. What will the character of the world look like when all godly influence is removed?

Paul gives us a brief description in 2 Timothy 3:1-4. People will love themselves. This means that they will have no concern for anyone but “number one.” They will have a love for money and they will boast in their achievements full of pride. They will give no credit to the grace of God but take all credit to themselves. Children will be disobedient and rebellious toward their parents. People will be unthankful, unholy, unloving unforgiving, slanderers and totally without self discipline. They will be brutal toward each other, hate that which is good, treacherous in relationships, trampling over others and laughing at those they consider weak. Their one great love is themselves and this will be expressed in an insatiable love for pleasure with little or no thought for others or their Creator.

You may say this is a current description of our world. In many ways it is but there is still a restraint. Imagine what it will be like when there is no restraint! The good news in this account of the future world is that Jesus Christ will intervene to fulfill His covenant with Israel and redeem multitudes, both Jew and Gentile, out of this corrupt world.

God is no Liar

“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” Hebrews 4:11

Rest in this context is the ceasing from our efforts to please God by keeping moral and ritual law or through service, and resting in our new relationship with God through the completed work of Jesus Christ. This is the great divide between religion and true Christianity.

The main impediment to experiencing that ‘rest’ is refusing to believe what God has said. This was Israel’s problem when Israel first approached the Promised Land: “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). When we don’t believe what God has said we will disregard His counsel, directives and commands. This is, in effect calling Him a liar or deceiver. Israel “did not enter because of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:6). We choose not to obey because we think we know better. This was Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden and is the root of all sin. We can hardly expect to remain in fellowship with God while bringing His character into question by calling Him a deceiver or liar.

Both the Apostle Paul and the writer of Hebrews state that it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) and Paul also states that God cannot and will not act contrary to His nature (2 Timothy 2:13). Jesus said that He is truth (John 14:6) and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (John 15:26) who comes from the Father. The testimony is that God is truth and will not and cannot lie. To suggest otherwise is arrogance in its extreme and follows Adam’s example.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts Christians to be diligent in believing what God has said and demonstrate that we believe God by doing and living as He says. This is what James affirms when he wrote, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). Clearly, the “rest” means serving the Lord and His people and not putting up one’s feet and being idle. How we live our life will reveal whether our faith is genuine or not. When we hear God’s word on a matter and believe what we have heard, we will act upon it as He has directed without finding it a burden (1 John 5:3). If we adjust, dismiss, ignore or reject any of God’s word it reveals that we do not believe Him, perhaps even that we do not want to believe Him.

How can we know whether we are expressing true faith? The writer of Hebrews explains, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

The Word of God has a way of revealing whether our faith is genuine or not. As we read and study it the Holy Spirit will show us where our heart lies. A heart that welcomes the word of the Lord and is guided by it is one that knows the love of God and has no fear of His wrath.

“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentile and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

As We Are

“With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With the blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.” Psalm 18:25, 26

Psalm 18 was written by King David after he had experienced the Lord in many ways and on many occasions. One who has only heard or learned about God could not write in such a way. He didn’t just know about the Lord, he knew the Lord personally and intimately through revelation and life’s experiences. Many people learn about God but few know Him in life experience.

We tend to see others and God as we ourselves are. The Lord says, “You thought I was altogether like you” (Psalm 50:21). The devious person will see God as shrewd; the legalist will see Him as a dictator; the compassionate person will see God as compassionate and the merciful will see Him as merciful. What we think of the Divine Nature can be seen in the way we relate to others.

The Bible is given to us by God to correct us where we are not thinking correctly on many things but especially in regard to Him. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). As we learn about God from the Scriptures and accept the teaching the Holy Spirit changes us into His likeness. When we read and receive such God-breathed words as, “But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” Titus 3:4-6), we melt in our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to change us. Then we will see God as merciful, loving, gracious and righteous. “We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2). We don’t have to wait until heaven to see Jesus as He is. Through believing God’s word and experiencing Jesus Christ in daily living we are being transformed into His likeness (Romans 12:2) and have in our minds a more accurate understanding of His nature.

Our theories about Jesus Christ are tested in our life experiences. When they don’t seem to match we are forced to go back to Scripture. If they do match we rejoice in having a more intimate understanding of Him and fellowship with Him.

An unbelieving world may say that it is blind faith or brain washing but the one who not only knows about God but has also experienced Him personally through Jesus Christ will not be moved by such folly (Psalm 14:1).

We will tend to see God and other people as we are ourselves. Only through God’s word can we discover the truth about Him and ourselves and then He will ensure we go through the appropriate tests and trials to conform us to His likeness. The experiences of life will either confirm we are correct or drive us back to His word for correction. When it appears that God is not meeting our expectations it may be because we have a wrong view of Him and therefore wrong expectations.

True to Kind

“This is a faithful saying … If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself”  2 Timothy 2:11, 13

Paul encourages Timothy and all of us to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (v 1) through faith in who Jesus is. There will be reward for remaining faithful. Paul gives the examples of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer to show that God is faithful. But even if we are not faithful God remains faithful. Why is this? It is because God and all His creatures are true to kind. God cannot act contrary to who He is and that is a foundation stone of true Christian faith.

The Bible reveals two things that God cannot do: God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) and God cannot act contrary to His Divine Nature (2 Timothy 2:13).

In an attempt to reduce penalty or even avoid penalty the defence of an accused may call witnesses to demonstrate that the actions of the accused were “out of character”. This is wholly untrue. All of God’s creatures act absolutely according to what they are. We all act exactly according to what we are. The natural person is always in rebellion against God and can do nothing but sin. The problem is not what we do but what we are. What we do is the outworking of what we are. A person may be able to suppress behaviour but they cannot change what they are. “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10).

Sinful thoughts, words and deeds are the symptoms of what we are. As in the case of one before a judge we may try to escape penalty by claiming otherwise but God will not be deceived. We are sinners and there is no remedy until we admit that we are sinners by nature. We cannot change what we are. At best we may be able to change some aspects of our behaviour but that will never make us compatible with God.

God is holy; God is undefiled; God is without sin; God is love; God is righteous and just; God cannot deny who He is and if we are to come into His presence and have communion with Him then what we are must be changed. We cannot change what we are. This is why Jesus makes the emphatic statement that “you must be born again” (John 3:3). This is not a command but a statement of fact. To have communion with God we must have the same nature. This is only possible by way of a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 6:15) through which we are made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

When Jesus died on the cross He took our sin nature to death as well as the penalty for sin acts. In His resurrection He opened the door for a new life (Ephesians 2:10). The Gospel of Christ reveals God’s remedy for the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) but also the remedy for what we are. Jesus’ resurrection necessitated His death on the cross; for us to live the resurrection life we must die to self.

God cannot change who and what He is. He is holy and without sin. If anyone is to come into His presence it is they who must be changed. Only Jesus Christ is able to do that for He alone bore our sin and rose again.

Good in the End

“… that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16)

Moses told Israel that God’s purpose in Israel’s wilderness wanderings was twofold: to maintain a humble mind and to test their hearts with specific regard to obedience.

The way in which God maintained a humble heart in Israel was through making their dependence upon Him very obvious. When they hungered and cried out to Him He supplied manna (v 3) and when they thirsted He provided water. Miraculously their garments did not wear out and their footwear was always just the right size (v 4). In addition He maintained humility through chastisement (v 5). This is a model for all parents, especially fathers, to follow. We have the evidence of unrestrained and undisciplined youth all around us. Many are not so youthful age-wise any more but they carry the marks of a lack of training and discipline in their youth. They fit the description Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:1-5). With each generation humility is not only less evident but being seen as an undesirable trait. We should not be surprised that bullying has become more prevalent among children and that it remains with them into adulthood.

The tests that God presented to Israel were to reveal what was really in their heart. Did they really trust God or just give Him lip service? Obedience to His commands would reveal their heart and ours. If we believe someone who cares about us to be trustworthy we will do as they ask.

Recently a doctor prescribed a medication for me but I have not taken it. He was unable to convince me that he understood or believed what I was saying and I did not understand his words due to his accent. There was a period of a minute or two when he spoke that I did not recognise any English word. I have not obeyed his instructions because I do not believe they were necessarily in my best interest.

When we choose not to obey the word of the Lord we are saying that we do not understand His instruction, don’t trust His wisdom or we do not believe that He has our best interest at heart. He tested Israel and He will test us regularly. At Ai, under Joshua’s leadership, Israel failed this test (Joshua 7) but they learned from it (Joshua 8) and that is the purpose of chastisement.

God is at work to maintain humility in His people and to test us as to our trust in Him and obedience. He states that it is “to do you good in the end.” If we believe this then we will accept His hand that may sometimes withhold that which seems good to us, and His chastisement, with all grace and joy.

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves, He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:11, 12)