Useful and Unashamed
By Jeff Cranston
In his commentary on Second Timothy, pastor John MacArthur writes:
“… one time there were some 600 miles of catacombs under the city of Rome, nearly all of them dug and used by 10 generations of Christians over a period of 300 years. In the early centuries of the church, the catacombs served as meeting and burial places for perhaps as many as four million Christians.
“A common inscription found on walls there is, ‘The Word of God is not bound.’ That reminds me that in his famous hymn ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God,’ Martin Luther declared, ‘the body they make kill; God’s truth abideth still.’”[1]
Those two themes—Christ is risen, and God’s Word is not bound—are the themes of 2 Timothy 2:8-21. In this passage, apostle Paul gives Timothy several reminders. Let’s take a look.
Reminder: It’s all for Jesus Christ.
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. 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 2:8-10, NASB
When Paul says, “Remember … Jesus Christ.” What does he mean by that? How do we remember Jesus?” One of the most obvious ways, I think, is to simply follow His own words when He told us, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus said those words as He served His disciples what we now call “communion” or the “Lord’s Supper.” (Luke 22:19). Every time you come to the communion table, remember the work Jesus did for you on to cross, that He is risen from the dead, and that He lives in you right now.
In this passage, Paul also acknowledges his imprisonment but says that even though he is imprisoned, the Word of God never is. And he says that he willingly accepts God’s sovereign will for his life so others might “obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”
You can exile and imprison a preacher, but you cannot exile or imprison the Word he preaches. Paul was quite certain that the Roman government might imprison him or even kill him—which they did—but they could never find prison bars and chains enough which could contain and restrain the Word of God.
Reminder: God is exceedingly faithful.
“It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him … ” – 2 Timothy 2:11,
Paul cites an early Christian hymn in verses 11-13, which was probably familiar to Timothy. This hymn, solidly based on clear Biblical teaching, is designed to reinforce for Timothy the importance of enduring suffering for Jesus' sake.
If we’re dying for Jesus, we will also live with Him—not only in heaven but presently—because the extent to which we die to ourselves is the extent to which we will experience life abundantly. When you choose to die to your reputation, your rights, your ideas, and your pleasures—when you choose to take up the cross and die daily as Jesus told us to, you live.
Then in verse 12, Paul writes, “If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us … ” When I think of someone denying Jesus, I think of Peter. Yet, after Jesus’ resurrection, He found Peter personally and ministered to him tenderly. This word “deny” here doesn’t refer to those who stumble as Peter did—and boy, did he stumble—but to those who decide repeatedly that they want nothing to do with Jesus.
In verse 13, Paul writes, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. This verse is not talking about belief or faith for salvation, but of the times when our faith is faltering. But when that happens to us, it’s good to know that God is faithful. God cannot deny Himself. He’s not faithful one day and frustrated the next. He’s not generous one day and stingy the next. He is continually and completely faithful.
Reminder: Don’t argue over unprofitable words.
“Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.” – 2 Timothy 2:14
In this verse, Paul is speaking about those Timothy led in Ephesus. “These things” is a reference to the lessons Paul has taught Timothy. It is also meant to teach others to avoid bickering. Paul specifically had in mind the false teachers he mentioned in his first letter to Timothy. These men would attempt to re-interpret the Jewish Law, seeking to make Christians obey Jewish laws.
Second, Paul said arguing about words "only ruins the hearers." Those who listened to the false teachers in Ephesus were "ruined" by such talk. False teachers arguing over interpretative issues caused many problems among the Christians Timothy led in Ephesus. Are you able to recognize useless arguments and meaningless speculations in the church today?
Reminder: Handle God’s Word accurately.
“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 2:15
Timothy is urged to prove himself as a workman whose work will stand the test of divine judgment and be approved even when inspected by his Lord. This same standard should be true for each of us. Anytime we share the Word of God we are to do so with loyalty and devotion.
“Accurately handling” means cutting something straight and can be applied to many different tasks: plowing a furrow, cutting a straight board, sewing a straight seam. An approved worker diligently studies the Word and seeks to apply it to his or her own life. An approved worker does not waste time arguing about words of no profit because he/she knows that such arguing only undermines God’s work.
Reminder: Continual godless chatter leads to further ungodliness.
“But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.” – 2 Timothy 2:16-18
In this passage, Paul says false doctrine is dangerous, and he compares it to gangrene. And like gangrene in the body, which spreads, infects, and kills other tissue, false doctrine spreads and infects the body of believers—the church. Any infection like this must be exposed and removed. Only the sound and healthy doctrine of the Word of God can keep the church healthy and growing.
Paul also named two men who were false teachers, and he identified their error. There are false teachers in the world and in the church today. They serve the prince of this world, and they’re dangerous.
As a Christ-follower, now more than ever, you have to do what the apostle John taught in 1 John 4:1: “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.” As Christians, we cannot listen to them, buy their books, watch them on television, send them our money, and especially buy into their ungodly beliefs and ways.
Reminder: God’s foundation is strong. Building upon it leads to honored and sanctified usefulness in the kingdom.
“Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.’ Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:19-21, NASB
Never think for one moment that the Lord does not know those who are His! The word “know” means to be intimately acquainted with. Paul quotes Moses here and reminds us of the horizontal aspect of the Christian life. False teachers may fool the people, but they don't fool God. He knows those who are His.
But there is also a horizontal aspect of the Christian life. Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. This refers back to Numbers 16:26, where the Lord warned the people to get away from the tents of a wicked man named, Korah, and his rebels.
In other words, those who are the true followers of Christ prove it by living godly and fruitful lives. We are chosen in Christ, Paul said in Ephesians 1:4, “that we should be holy and without blame.”
The false teachers not only spread false doctrine but also lived sinful lifestyles. So Paul exhorts Timothy that true Christians must "distance themselves" from those who are wicked or unrighteous so that they are not destroyed when judgment falls upon the false teachers.
Let’s leave ourselves a few reminders from this passage today. First of all, it’s good for us to recall that …
The Word of God is never bound.
“There have been a great many attempts to bind the word of God, but yet it has not been bound,” said the great preacher Charles Spurgeon. I want this confidence in God’s Word. Preachers come and go. Preachers are jailed and killed. And yet Isaiah 40:8 reminds us, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
Some will follow after false teaching, and it will overthrow their faith.
I believe that the stream of false teaching is deeper and wider than it’s ever been in human history—and it’s snowballing. You have to go no further than TV or pick up a book or go to YouTube and you will quickly find men and women purporting to be people of the gospel, denying the Trinity, denying the deity of Jesus Christ, denying the inerrancy and authority of scripture, denying the salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone which God has provided, counterfeit gospels, false ideas of true spirituality.
Don’t be one who gets caught and follows after false teaching. Examine EVERY DOCTRINE you are taught against the Word of God. Know your Bible, immerse yourself in the Word of God. If you don’t know the Word of God, you are incredibly susceptible to being led and shipwrecking your faith.
If we remove the focus from the message of the cross and replace it with human opinions, it will result in the ruin of many.
Let’s keep the main thing the main thing: the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Reference
[1] John McArthur. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 2 Timothy. Chicago: Moody Press, 1995. pp. 59-60.