Called & Strengthened

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier... (2 Timothy 2:1–7)

Called to make God's greatness known, we are strengthened not by our own competence but by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Why We Begin With "Therefore"

As I prepared for this passage, I went back and read through the whole of chapter one, because it gives us the context for chapter two. Remember, Paul didn't write in chapter and verse divisions—those were added almost 1500 years later so we could find our place more easily. So when chapter two opens with the words "you therefore," we need to backtrack. Every time we come to the word therefore in the Bible, we need to look back and see what it's there for.

Just before this exhortation, Paul tells Timothy, "you know very well that all those in Asia have turned away from me." Timothy was in Ephesus, the capital city of Asia Minor—modern-day western Turkey. Paul, writing around AD 66, was facing trial and ultimate execution in Rome. His time was short. That's why we're calling this series Last Words.

Named Deserters and a Faithful Charge

In that moment, many who had once associated with Paul pulled back. This is much like the night Jesus was betrayed; all His disciples insisted they would die with Him, but within hours they scattered—a fulfillment of the word, "strike the Shepherd and the sheep will scatter."

Paul doesn't just make a general statement. He names two men—Phygelus and Hermogenes—who deserted him. Imagine having your name immortalized in Scripture by the Apostle Paul as one who abandoned him in his hour of need. And remember, this letter wasn't read privately. It was likely read aloud to the whole church. This was the middle of the first state-sponsored persecution against Christians—not the last in history, and a reality still faced by believers in parts of the world today. We are graced to live in a nation where that is not our reality, but it was Timothy's.

Timothy's Timidity

Into this escalating persecution Paul writes, "You therefore, my son, be strong." If there's anything we can be certain of from the ten chapters of First and Second Timothy, it's that Timothy lacked confidence. He seems to have been thrust into a leadership position he didn't feel adequate to fulfill. How do we know? At least 25 times across these ten chapters, Paul encourages him to be strong—and you only encourage someone to be strong if there's a good chance they're not.

I could be wrong; maybe in heaven Timothy will pull me aside and say I had him all wrong. If so, I'll happily apologize. But the text points to a fearful man. Look at 2 Timothy 1:6–7:

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Why was Timothy fearful? He was facing possible persecution and suffering. Few people relish suffering—I'm one of those with a deep aversion to anything painful. Paul says, "share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us... according to His own purpose and grace." And in verse 12, "For this reason I also suffer these things. Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed."

God Calls Us to What We Cannot Do

I've belabored these verses because grasping the context matters as we bring this 2,000-year-old document into the 21st century. We'd love to see ourselves in Paul—strong, bold, tenacious. But honestly, most of us are more likely to identify with the timidity and fearfulness that overcame Timothy.

That brings us to the first point: God has called us unto things for which we feel completely inadequate. Most of us identify with this if we think about it—in school, in work, in situations where something is placed on us and we feel, "I'm just not up to this." That's not necessarily bad, for at least two reasons. First, in that place you're more likely to rely on God for strength. Second, when God then enables you to fulfill it, He gets the glory. If you start saying, "Look at me, I've got this," God will likely let you have it, and you'll fall flat—and the outcome is humility, but humility by humiliation, which is no fun. Far better to say, "God, I'm fully reliant upon You."

This reminds me of one of the first passages I ever memorized, 2 Corinthians 3:5–6:

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.

The New International Version says, "Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God." We are incompetent—we could practically wear it on a t-shirt—but God has made us competent ministers of the New Covenant.

You Are the Called of God

Some of you are thinking, "Pastor, you're called; I'm not, so this doesn't apply to me." I want to destroy that notion. Look at Romans 1:1:

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God...

Yes, Paul was called. But read further: "Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ... called to be saints." Twice he says it—you are the called.

If you won't take the title "the called of God," you'd have a hard time claiming Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good"—because the verse continues, "to those who are the called according to His purpose." You can't claim that promise unless you're willing to wear the title.

What are we called to? First Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood... God's own special people"—the King James says God's peculiar people, which fits Cross Connection Church perfectly—"that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." If you're a Christian today, God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Called to Make His Greatness Known

That is the second point: God has called us to make His greatness known. He has called every one of you, specifically, in whatever context you live from Sunday to Sunday. My calling has much to do with this church and this area. But He's called you to a school campus, an office building, a construction site, law enforcement, a hospital—to declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

In those places we can feel timid like Timothy. Why did Timothy struggle? He had spent some fifteen years traveling with Paul, a dynamo who, everywhere he went, either started a revival or a riot—usually both—and was often dragged out of cities and beaten. I imagine Timothy standing there wide-eyed, wondering what he'd gotten himself into. Within weeks of joining Paul, at Philippi (Acts 16), Paul cast a demon out of a fortune-telling slave girl, and her masters had Paul and Silas arrested and beaten with rods and thrown in jail. That was Timothy's introduction to ministry. "Come along, Timothy, it'll be fun."

Suffering and Social Fallout

Paul wrote, "to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for this reason I also suffer." Timothy faced what Paul had faced his whole life. As Paul will say in 2 Timothy 3:12, "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution."

It's highly unlikely that we, in 21st-century Southern California, will experience physical persecution for making Christ known. Praise God we live in a nation where that's not our reality—though it may not always be so. But it is probable you'll experience some social fallout. People may think you foolish—"You actually believe that stuff?"—or weak. I once told someone I was a pastor, and they replied that there were "a lot of people who need that kind of ministry," with the clear implication that they didn't. The community of those who truly follow Jesus is increasingly sidelined in our culture, and there's a temptation to back away, to keep your faith private. I'd suggest that pressure comes from the devil.

God Chooses the Weak

Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:26: "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen... that no flesh should glory in His presence."

When God chooses the weak, the foolish, the despised, He does so to make it more likely we'll rely on His strength, and to ensure He gets the glory. After someone's first visit to this church, the number one question I get is, "Where did you go to school?" The answer is: I didn't. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in fourth grade. I didn't read a book through high school—it's a miracle I graduated. Yet God, who has a sense of humor, has made my whole life about reading books. He chooses the weak things to confound the wise, for His glory, so that we fully rely on Him. Almost weekly I come to a passage and say, "God, I don't have a clue how to approach this." We have to rely on Him.

Our Calling Requires Great Strength

So, back to 2 Timothy 2:1: "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." God has called all of us to make His greatness known—something for which we probably feel completely unqualified. And if you say, "I can't do that," praise the Lord, because that's exactly where God wants you. Every time you think you're up to the task, you fall flat. So stay there: "God, I need Your help."

Some in Timothy's day gave up. Paul names another in chapter four: "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." Some quit because it was difficult; some because the world looked more fun. To this tempted young man Paul says, "Be strong, my son."

That is the third point: our calling requires greatness of strength. Scripture says the whole world moves according to the current of the prince of this world, the devil. The Christian is called to move in the counter direction. That's not easy. Where does the strength come from? The Greek word Paul uses appears across his letters. In Ephesians 6:10: "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." In Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"—and its counter, John 15, "apart from Me you can do nothing." In 1 Timothy 1:12 Paul thanks Christ "who has enabled me"—same word—"because He counted me faithful."

The Lord Stood With Me

In 2 Timothy 4:17 Paul writes, "At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me... But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me." You may have felt this—at a family gathering, an office, a construction site, where someone mocks Christians and the other believers quietly back away, leaving you alone to defend the gospel. The temptation is to laugh along and pretend you're not one of them. But the Lord will stand with you and strengthen you.

The root of this word for strength is used by Jesus at His ascension in Acts 1:8: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth"—your neighborhood, your home, your family, your coworkers, and beyond.

God's Grace Enables Our Strength

So Paul says, "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." The English Standard Version reads, "be strong by the grace that is in Christ Jesus." That is the fourth point: God's grace enables our strength to fulfill His calling. Grace is unmerited, undeserved favor. You don't work for it. God gives you His enabling power—the same power that raised Christ from the dead is actively at work in us by the Holy Spirit.

In this simple statement we see two things often presented as in conflict joined together as one: God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. For 500 years the church has debated this—Calvinists leaning toward God's sovereignty, Arminians toward human responsibility, named for John Calvin and Jacob Arminius. Churches have divided over it. But in Scripture these truths are united. "Be strong"—that's your responsibility. "By the grace that is in Christ Jesus"—that's God's sovereignty. My favorite verse, Philippians 2, says it too: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"—responsibility—"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure"—sovereignty—united as one.

Trusting the One Who Calls

We could argue endlessly whether the deserters were truly Christians, but that's beside the point. Some close to Paul stepped back when persecution came. Is God still gracious? I believe He is, because every one of us has felt that pressure to shrink away when all eyes turn on us. Yet when you take that step of faith, you'll find God's grace enabling your strength.

God has placed you where He hasn't placed me—in law enforcement, in medicine, in engineering, on a campus. You can't say, "Pastor, come answer this for me." I won't be there. But the Lord will be there, and He will strengthen even your mouth. Remember the man who said, "Lord, I can't talk," and God answered, "Who made man's mouth? I will give you the words." He tried to get out of his calling and failed. Another tried and ended up in the belly of a fish. People scoff at that story, but Jesus believed it and spoke of it. And consider the alternative the culture offers: that from nothing came everything, assembling itself perfectly by random chance over billions of years, or that there's an infinite number of universes—like bubbles in a bubble bath—and we just happen to live in the one that worked. That's the answer of Richard Dawkins, yet I'm the fool. "Professing to be wise, they became fools," Romans 1 says.

Be a Light

In and of ourselves we are completely inadequate, totally unqualified to fulfill this calling. That's how it should be, so that we rely on God and He gets the greatest glory. We can do all things through Him who gives us strength.

Paul prays for the Colossians (1:11), that God would "strengthen you with all might, according to His glorious power... that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." That is my prayer for us as well, because God has placed you in a dark place to be a light.

So what does that look like? When you're talking with someone skeptical of Christianity and they discover you're a believer, you can simply say: "I get that you have a hard time with this. But let me tell you about my life. I once was in darkness, but now I'm in light. I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, and now I'm found. Let me tell you about the One who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light." You may not have all the answers, and that's okay—but you can tell them about Him. And you might invite them: "You call yourself a seeker of wisdom? Come and see." The vast majority of those who actually investigate the claims of Christ become His followers, because the wisdom of God, which appears foolish at first glance, is in reality the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for this calling of grace that You've placed upon us. None of us standing here today deserves Your grace, Your mercy, Your love, Your peace, Your joy. None of us deserves this calling You've placed upon our lives. But God, You have called us, and You promised to strengthen us. So I pray that You would strengthen Your church with all might according to Your glorious power, so that we would walk worthy of You, fully pleasing to You, faithful in every good word and work You have prepared for us this week—for Monday and Tuesday, for every encounter and opportunity to be a light shining in darkness. Jesus, You said You are the light of the world, that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, and that they do not light a lamp and put it under a basket, but set it up high to give light to all. Lord, help us to be a light to this world. Enable us by Your Spirit and by Your power to proclaim the praises of You who called us out of darkness into Your marvelous light. We praise You for that, in Jesus' name. Amen.