“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.” 2 Timothy 4:1,2
When the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith, He was approaching the moment when he would soon go to be with Christ. Paul, perhaps more than any other Christian, knew what it meant to fill up the sufferings of Christ, to know something of Christ’s yearning heart for a lost and dying world. He also knew what it was to be strengthened by the Spirit to such an extent, that the very life of Christ would most consistently, and powerfully, be revealed in and through him. From the most profound levels of the humility of Christ, to the magnified power of the love of God for those whom he served, we find Christ being formed in him in fullest measure. The flame that God had put within Paul at the moment of his conversion not only grew with his knowledge of Christ but expanded abroad in his witness to the divine Life of Christ, revealed by the Spirit. In addition to the experience of the power of God, there was given to him not only spiritual gifts but wisdom and knowledge, and the capacity to communicate the great truths of Christendom, specifically Christ, which were found in the gospel. The result was the manifestation of the power of God to save, sanctify, and glorify God. The knowledge of Christ for his generation, and for that which continues today, since we are still in the age of the church, was a revealed knowledge which had been hidden from the foundation of the world. To Paul and the other Apostles was entrusted a clarity and keenness of understanding of these great truths and their communication to the believers of his day, but also to our own, that would be essential if the flame of the Holy Spirit would burn brightly then as well as today. So, Paul comes to the end of his journey with a wealth of knowledge and power, a love for Christ and for His church, his living body of believers. What will he communicate to Timothy who was to in some measure follow in his steps?
Again and again, the Apostle would refer in his writings to his personal calling from God. This would serve to bring to light the calling of all believers, and their responsibility to know their own calling, along with the gifts entrusted to them. The calling of God was put into context when he wrote to Timothy: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy.” (1 Tim. 1:12,23) Paul then goes on to charge Timothy to pray for all men, and specifically for all who are in authority. His prayer is for peace and order, so that in the context of preaching and teaching the gospel it would spread quickly, and effectively. Beyond speaking of the structure of the church, Paul would then address the essential of specifically giving attention to “reading (of the scriptures), exhortation, and doctrine (the teaching of the great truths of the Scriptures.”(1 Tim. 4:13) He concentrates on the ministry of the Word of God, to be given in the “demonstration and power of the Spirit,” by faith trusting the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to reveal the meaning of the Scriptures, but also to strengthen the believer to lay hold of God according to the truth.
Paul puts great emphasis on Timothy’s spiritual gifts of preaching and teaching, not to be neglected, but stirred up. If he is to be an effective preacher he must meditate on the word, abiding in it. He is to be a man of God separated unto God to fight a good fight of faith, unentangled, and bounding forth to proclaim the living word. True comes by the “hearing of the word of God.”
Dear Father, Grant us Your fire. In Jesus’ name, Amen.