Endurance / Discipline / Patience

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. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:1–10)

Gifted by grace, called to a mission—and still required to endure, to be disciplined, and to wait faithfully like the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer.

There Is No Simple Way Around the Effort

There is no simple way around it: winning the war, obtaining the prize, or partaking of the harvest requires effort. There is a level of hard work and determination that is required. As we look at those who succeed in life, certainly some people seem to have a unique inherited endowment—a strength, a tenacity, an ability or talent—that helps them face difficult things.

But even those with such gifts will see them result in no reward without the proper exertion of effort. Natural endowments can be squandered. We've all seen people who never lived up to their potential. No one alive would object if their talents simply took over and immediately produced success—but that is not how it works.

That is why we often call those abilities "raw gifting" or "unrefined talents." They need refinement; they need to be worked out so they actually produce a good outcome. Our giftings, though we possess them, do not possess us. They do not take over or overcome us.

Stir Up the Gift That Is in You

This is why Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:6, "Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you." Paul acknowledges that Timothy had a special gifting given by the Spirit from God. And it is perfectly fine for me to say that everyone here who is a believer in Jesus also has giftings by God's grace, by His Spirit.

Timothy had gifts—perhaps many—some very specific to the mission God had called him to. Yet those gifts were not going to take over by default. He had to stir up the gift that was in him. Then in chapter 2, verse 1, Paul says, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." The ESV reads, "Be strong by the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Every Christian is a recipient of grace, and yet we still have to make a determined, volitional choice to use it.

This brings us to our first point: we must choose to use the strength and gifts that God has graciously given to us. This is exactly how it was for Timothy two thousand years ago.

The Parable of the Talents

There is evidence in Scripture—specifically in Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25—that we can opt not to use the gifts God has given us.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability... He who had received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five... But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money... His lord answered and said to him, "You wicked and lazy servant..." (Matthew 25:14–30)

This is one of those challenging and striking passages of Jesus, taught in the Olivet Discourse just before His crucifixion. Many people stumble at it, because it presents a stark contrast to the sweet, meek, and mild Jesus we often picture. Here Christ is the master of a kingdom who one day brings an accounting with His servants over all He had given them and how they used it. Those who used their gifts wisely receive a reward; the one who squandered what the Lord gave him faces judgment.

It is challenging, but it is important. As a disciple of Jesus, you have been given abilities, talents, spiritual gifts, supernatural strength, and grace so that you can fulfill the mission He has given—go into all the world and make disciples, preach the gospel to every creature. He has separated us, commissioned us, gifted us, equipped us, and empowered us. And yet, with all that we have from our sovereign God, we still have a choice to make.

Paul Hands Timothy the Baton

With this in mind, Paul instructs Timothy, who has been gifted, called, and commissioned, to press on. Paul has already run the race and fought the good fight. He is finishing his portion of ministry, and soon after writing this letter he would be martyred for his faith. Timothy would carry on the work.

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. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. (2 Timothy 2:3–6)

Just as Jesus often spoke in parables to large crowds, Paul employs pictures and stories. Here he uses three: the good soldier, the competent athlete, and the faithful, fruitful farmer.

The Good Soldier

People can get squirrelly when the Bible uses militaristic terms for the kingdom. It's important to understand that God has not called us to advance His kingdom militaristically. Jesus said, "If My kingdom were of this world... My servants would fight"—implying His kingdom is not of this world. So this is metaphor. But the illustration is still helpful.

Notice three things in verse 3. First, the word therefore. Whenever we come to a "therefore" we must backtrack to see why it is there. The immediate connection is verse 2, but the "you therefore" of verse 3 ties back to the "you therefore" of verse 1, which pushes us back to chapter 1—where Paul says, "Stir up the gift of God which is in you... For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind... Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord... Hold fast the pattern of sound words... keep by the Holy Spirit." Paul is encouraging a Timothy who seems to lack courage and be a little timid, urging him to press on in the mission God has gifted and set him to.

Second, the concept of being a good soldier. Every time I read this verse I hear "I'm in the Lord's Army" in my head—if you don't know that song, sign up for children's ministry. Nobody wants to be a bad soldier. You don't want to stand before Jesus and have Him just shake His head. We want to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

How? Verse 4: "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." We have been enlisted into this battle, and we please the One who enlisted us by not being entangled with the affairs of this life but staying engaged in the warfare.

Dispatched to Dunkirk

I recently saw two World War II films, Dunkirk and Darkest Hour. They take place in the very same period—May 1940—but from different perspectives. Dunkirk shows the British trying to evacuate their soldiers from France under threat of annihilation by German forces. Darkest Hour shows the other side, with the newly placed Prime Minister Winston Churchill facing his entire war cabinet.

In opposition to his cabinet, Churchill dispatches a brigade to position itself between the advancing German armies and the British at Dunkirk—knowing it would likely mean total annihilation. He did it to save those at Dunkirk. As a result, three hundred of that brigade were killed, thirty-five hundred taken prisoner, and only two hundred came home, wounded.

Those men—at least the commanders and many of the troops—went into that position knowing the probable outcome. Why? Because they were enlisted in the British Army to serve at the pleasure of the king. They knew that's what they had enlisted to do. I stand in awe of the sacrifice. As Veterans Day approaches, I'm grateful to all who have voluntarily taken that step. They went fighting, not hindered by the entrapments of this world, because they had been enlisted.

Enduring the Spiritual Battle

In the same manner, we have been enlisted into the work of God. This battle is first and primarily a spiritual one. "We do not war against flesh and blood," Paul says in Ephesians 6, "but against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places." "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the tearing down of strongholds."

At times this battle manifests physically. For Paul and Timothy, it was actual physical opposition. We may never experience that, but we may experience a spiritual battle, an emotional battle, a social battle. To be good soldiers, we cannot be ensnared by the trappings of this world. We are committed to another kingdom and to the King of that kingdom.

This is the third thing in verse 3—you must endure hardship. Paul uses this same Greek word two more times. In 2 Timothy 2:9, regarding the gospel, "I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained." And in 2 Timothy 4:5, "Endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

This brings us to point two: the successful servant of Christ experiences success by steadfast endurance. We have received grace and an apostleship—a commission—and the gifting of God, and yet we must commit to walk forward like good soldiers.

The Competent Athlete

Paul moves to a second illustration in verse 5: "If anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." He liked this athletic picture; he uses it again in 1 Corinthians 9:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it... Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable... I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24–27)

Those words make us cringe, because something in our flesh doesn't like the word discipline. "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection"—another translation reads, "I beat my body and make it my slave." If you've walked with Jesus for any length of time, you know this is reality. We experience an internal battle between the flesh and the Spirit. The good we want to do, we don't do; the bad we don't want to do, we practice. "O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?" The flesh and the Spirit are contrary, so that you do not do the things you wish.

So Paul says, in order to fulfill my mission I need to discipline my body and make it my slave, so I am ruled by the Spirit of God and not by fleshly appetites.

I Ran My Butt Off

This verse is personal to me. Many of you didn't know me twenty years ago, but at age twenty I weighed three hundred pounds. Between twenty and twenty-three I lost a hundred and twenty-five pounds, getting down to one seventy-five. During that time people would come up every week and ask, "How did you do it?" I could tell in the asking they were hoping I'd say, "I took this pill." But I would tell them—and it might offend some—"I literally ran my butt off." They didn't like that, because it involves discipline, and our flesh does not like discipline.

This brings us to point three: the victorious disciple wins by determined discipline. We cannot negate point one—we have been given strengths and gifts by God's grace. But those gifts can lie dormant or be squandered if we do not choose to function in them by His strength and exercise determined discipline.

I return so often to this because Scripture is clear: there is the all-important aspect of God's sovereignty, and it goes hand in hand with our responsibility to be determined and disciplined. Paul had amazing gifting—many think him one of the most intelligent men who ever lived—yet without a determination to use those gifts, there would not be thirteen letters in the New Testament written by him. God wants to work in our lives. He has gifted you with a multitude of gifts, and as good stewards of the manifold grace of God we need to use them, and that requires effort, endurance, and determined discipline.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me... forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14)

I love that he says, "I want to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me." God saved you for a purpose. It doesn't appear from Scripture that God saves us, lifts us up, and instantly places us at the finish line. There is a place we are pursuing and laying hold of.

The Faithful Farmer

Thirdly, the fruitful and faithful farmer—and you cannot be a fruitful farmer without being a faithful one. Verse 6: "The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops." At first reading this seems not to fit the logic of the soldier who endures and the athlete who competes by the rules. Something seems missing. Another plausible rendering fits the context better: "The farmer must work hard before partaking of the fruits."

This gives us point four: the farmer becomes fruitful by persistent patience and faithfulness. My family and I were at my parents' house yesterday and walked to a farm stand down the street to harvest pumpkins. It was nostalgic, because at thirteen or fourteen I worked at that very stand for four dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. I'm not a farmer—I don't have a green thumb—but by God's grace and the help of the owner I produced something.

I discovered that season that there is no harvest without faithfulness and patience. At the very least you must be faithful every single day to make sure the field is watered, weeded, and cared for. It doesn't happen overnight; it takes time. So there must be these three—endurance, discipline, and patience—if we are to fulfill the mission God has called us to. Yes, we have His gifting and empowering, without which we could not accomplish the mission, but as an added component we must endure, be disciplined, and be patient.

Consider What I Say—Remember Jesus Christ

Paul caps it in verse 7: "Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things." Meditate on this. This week, ask yourself: Am I one who endures? Am I disciplined? Am I patient? May the Lord enable you to grasp this so you can press on.

Then verse 8: "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things." When we remember Jesus Christ, did He endure? Yes. Was He disciplined? Yes. Was He patient and faithful? Yes.

Here is what intrigues me. In verse 10 you would expect Paul to say, "Therefore I endure all things for the sake of Christ." Instead he says, "for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Why does Paul press on, enduring and suffering trouble? For the sake of those who need to hear the gospel. Why did Jesus die on the cross? For the sake of us who needed the gospel. He endured, He was disciplined, He was patient and faithful, for the sake of us who needed to hear it.

So Timothy, endure as a good soldier, be a competent athlete, be a faithful farmer—patiently walking out this work, even if it means suffering trouble for the sake of those who need to hear the gospel. Remember Jesus Christ.

That is a perfect setup, because we will now remember the Lord Jesus in a tangible way, just as He instructed us two thousand years ago—partaking of the bread that represents His body and the cup that represents His blood shed for us. In the cross Jesus disciplined His flesh, praying in the garden, "If there is any other way, let this cup pass from Me," and faithfully, patiently endured the cross.

Closing Prayer

Father, I pray that You would remind us in this time, as we worship and hold the bread that reminds us of Your body and the cup that reminds us of Your blood shed for us, of Your endurance, Your discipline, Your faithfulness and patience on our behalf. You did this for the sake of us sinners when we were dead in trespasses and sins, when we were at enmity with You—You endured for us.

And God, there are things You are calling us to endure in this life that will be challenging—often, in the context we live in, just social opposition—but those things press in upon us, and sometimes, like Timothy, we feel we lack courage and are timid. Would You enable us by Your grace and strength to take that step, to endure, to be disciplined, to make our bodies our slaves by Your grace, that we would patiently and faithfully do the work You've called us to. Speak to us now as we prepare for communion about what You did for us, and stir us with that reality to press in. In Jesus' name, amen.