A Steward, Soldier, Athlete, and Farmer — 2 Timothy 2

0:00 Well, good morning everybody. I was telling one of the believers there that I don't need any kind of amplification of my voice because I've got a very big voice. And I think that's one of the inheritance from my dad. When he talks, he takes all the electronic gadgets and he said, I don't need any of these because he's been blessed with good voice. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity to come here to be able to share the word.

0:35 Are you capturing me? Okay. I bring the good news from Columbus Bible Chapel. And it's very interesting, as I speak here, you loaned your person to us, didn't you? Ray Gonzales is there.

0:54 And I thought he would be here, but he didn't tell me that he would do this trick. But anyway, they loaned me and there's exchange. We were talking transaction this morning, and here's an exchange. It's interesting when we come together as believers, we so nicely mingle and we get amalgamated as fellow believers. Because we have one goal, is to become more like Christ, isn't it?

1:25 And that is wonderful. I mean, if you meet a believer, you do not know who they are to begin with, but if you know they're believers, we immediately gel together. I was thinking about the example of space shuttle. I don't know how many of you are interested in space and in NASA, but when space shuttle goes into orbit and then it's about to get docked into ISS, or International Space Station, have you seen that particular event? It is amazing.

1:57 Every detail is in place. The orbits and the meeting time and the technique that happens inside the ISS and the spaceship. And these astronauts, they keep talking. They got all the instruments, and they keep on talking how to get this docked. The docking happens.

2:20 And as the space shuttle and ISS, when they come together, when they fuse, they become one. And you could hardly see the difference between the space shuttle and the ISS because they become one unit. That's the way I feel. As believers, we gel together. We become one in Christ.

2:43 And that's a good thing, no matter what background we've come from. But I think we have the Lord Jesus as our central theme and our central passion. I want you to turn your Bibles to two Timothy. Chapter two. And I'll be going to contemplate the first seven verses here.

3:14 Second Timothy chapter two, one to seven. And before we look into the word of God, I do have a prayer request. Our brother Bill Roller, I don't know how many of you know him. He's been very sick. As we speak, he is in the intensive care unit.

3:33 His lungs have failed, his kidneys have failed, and he is not doing well. And I spent much time with him, looking at his treatments and treating him last evening, and it is possible the Lord MacKay might call him home. Let's keep praying for Doreen, his wife, and the family. They are ready to say goodbye to Bill. But it's our desire that the Lord would spare him and we would be able to enjoy him much longer on this earth.

4:04 But let's pray for Doreen and the family. It is hard, it is hard as a family to see a elderly person going through a difficult time. All right, now, two Timothy chapter two, one to seven. What I'm going to do here is that I'm going to read verse seven first, and then we're going to hook on to verse one. And I'll tell you in a minute why that is.

5:13 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is a hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. And one more verse I would like to read, verse eight. Remember Jesus Christ, the risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I'm suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.

5:54 The word of God is not bound. It is interesting how Paul wraps up his last wishes to his beloved son in the Lord. You see, Paul approximately was in his maybe fifties or sixties now, and he knew that his day was coming. His earthly journey was gonna be coming to an end here. Remember, he's in prison right now.

6:29 Now this prison life was not an easy life for him, isn't it? Nero had already met with him, and he had sentenced him to die. So this last episode, Paul writes it to his dear beloved son. Now once he wrote this episode, we all know that he put this pen down, and he's done. He's done on this earth.

6:53 He wrote about nine church episodes, right? And we think that he also wrote Hebrews, so one journal epistle. And he wrote three personal epistles. And this is the last epistle he wrote as a personal epistle. There are 83 verses in this episode.

7:13 This is a fearless, faith bound, daring farewell of Paul to Timothy. He knew it's to be all over now. So you see Paul telling Timothy very important topics of truth. Because his goal was to tell about the cross of Christ. And then he wanted to tell about the church of Christ.

7:45 And finally, he wanted to wrap up by saying the coming of Christ. See, all these three truths are wrapped up in this episode. Because after all, these three things is what matters, isn't it? The cross of Christ, the believers on our edification, and finally, the coming of the Lord. And he puts it so nicely in this entire episode.

8:13 But before he does it, he does a very interesting thing here. He gives you some of the virtues of a growing and a fruit bearing believer. He tells, Timothy, I want you to consider this. I want you to ponder. I want you to know what I'm gonna say.

8:33 Verse seven. Think it over. It's very important that you're gonna come along with me and think about this. For the Lord will give you understanding. He knew that Timothy needs to have the Lord's understanding to understand what he's going to say about the virtues of a believer, of a growing believer, of a fruit bearing believer.

9:44 All these four things will make you to understand how to be able to bear fruit for the Lord, especially as young people. See, it's very easy as we are now in this world where there's so much of shifting going on in many ways. It's very easy for us to compromise with our convictions. It's very easy for us to perhaps take a different stand with our faith. There will be times of difficulties and persecution and compromises because we'll live in a very difficult world.

10:25 And Paul and Timothy lived in a difficult world. After all, Paul knew that he's gonna die, and he had a very little time here. And he tells Timothy, watch out. Watch out. Whatever you learned from me, you need to pass it on to faithful men as a dutiful steward.

10:48 See, there are four things that are common here among all these four type of people that he talks about. Number one, all four of them, being a steward, a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer, there is a consistent goal for all these four, isn't it? They know what to do. Being a good steward, you've got to have a goal. And then being a good soldier, you have a goal, a goal to win.

11:17 As an athlete, you have a goal. What is a goal? To reach that red tape, to win the race. As an Olympian, to win the race. As a farmer, you have a goal to have a good harvest.

11:31 So you have a consistent goal. And then there's always continuous work involved in that. You just don't have a goal and do nothing about it. You continuously work towards that because you have a reason to work towards that. You have a goal that is real, that is tangible.

11:50 It is just not imaginary. And then there is a constant reminders towards the goal. Think about a farmer or think about a soldier when he's initially doing his work, sowing the seed, or the soldier is getting ready for a war or for a fight, or an athlete who's getting ready for an Olympic meet. It takes a lot of reminders every day because it's a tough job. Every day he's reminded, my goal is to win the race.

12:28 My goal is to win the battle. My goal is to be a good steward, to pass on the baton. So there's a continuous reminder, a constant reminder of the goal. And finally, see the common thing among all these four is a concluding achievement. There is going to be a success.

12:49 There will be, someday, goal attainment. It is a conclusion. So Paul wanted Timothy to know that, that you've got to have a goal. You've got to work towards that goal, and it's going to be a struggle. It's going be consistent, constant, persevering, goal focused walk, goal focused endeavor.

13:52 God didn't call us to be just a believer. He want us to be rooted and grounded in the word to the point of being transformed to be a steward of the Lord and his word. It's a dutiful responsibility, And that's what Paul says to Timothy. You've got to entrust that to faithful men. Now, Timothy, you've learned these things from me.

14:13 You've been to many places. You've seen my life. I'm in both thick and thin. You've seen how we were in prison. When we went to Philippi, you saw what happened to us.

14:26 But then you need to glean on that, learn from it, and be dutiful being able to pass on to the faithful men. And that takes an active involvement and a meaningful interaction as a believer towards stewardship, isn't it? We got to get involved. Timothy had to get involved in this faithful man in their lives to be able to see what makes sense to them when he reasons together with the word. And there's a constant meaningful interactions.

15:02 That is one of the hallmarks of being a steward, meaningful interaction. And that's what Paul was doing with Timothy. He was trying to bring him to the grips of understanding that you have this treasure. And this is a meaningful, meaningful treasure you need to interact with faithful men. And a steward always is available for edification.

15:25 There's always constant edification among believers. And those who are called to be faithful towards the gospel, faithful towards walking with the Lord, should be available for edification. Paul want him to know that. And finally, see that not only that you need to be strong and stable as a steward, but your life is going to be poured out into other people's life. That's being a steward.

15:57 Paul's life was poured out. You see that later part of two Timothy in chapter four, he says that my life is gonna be poured out as a sacrifice. Why? Because he knew that there was an eel there. He knew that his life is gonna be poured out for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of other believers, because he was a dutiful steward.

16:19 Strong and stable, being actively involved with meaningful interaction with fellow believers, available for edification amongst each other. And as a good steward, you need to be ready to pour out your life for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the word. Then he talks about a disciplined soldier, isn't it? Verse three, share in the suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

16:59 So now Paul talks about a whole different aspect. He just got done talking about being a steward, a dutiful steward. Now he talks about how to be a disciplined soldier. Now when I was in college, I was enlisted. And I'll tell you what, it was not easy.

17:19 Get up in the morning at 05:00 and you got your disciplines there and it was hard. It was a hard thing to be trained. It is enduring, and that's what Paul says here. You need to endure suffering as a good soldier. Endurance with intelligence.

17:46 Soldiers know that every day is a hard training, but they know that this is happening because the day comes where there's gonna be skills as well as the intelligence put to test. So Paul tells, you need to be like a soldier, being prepared every day. It is a long haul. There's going to be suffering. There's going to be physical turmoil, but endure it.

18:11 Endure it. You see, brothers and sisters, it's very important for us to be able to have that great category of endurance if you're going to be a soldier of Christ. It is not easy to be able to endure as a soldier. I know it's very easy to give it up. There were days when I was getting trained, I did not like getting out at five in the morning.

18:39 I didn't like being vigorously being worked out for eight hours. But then Paul tells, do not give up. Endure. And don't get entangled with the world. Because think about a soldier.

18:56 See, he doesn't have anything to do with the affairs of the world, isn't it? I don't know about here, but back in India, when you are enlisted, what happens is that you send away your regular clothes. You get your uniforms. You wear that. All your personal belongings will be gone.

19:13 You're going to say goodbye to that. You don't get involved in civilian life. You don't wanna be entangled with that because you have purpose. You have a goal. You have a reason to be there.

19:25 And Paul tells Timothy, don't get entangled with this world because you're called to be a soldier for the Lord. And the moment a soldier gets entangled with the world, you know what happens? He loses focus. He loses ambition and the vigor because his eye is off the fixed point. And then he has a very established lifestyle.

19:58 A personal interest are put away, The interest of the leader and the reason becomes his goal. A soldier, when he's getting trained, he's got a specific lifestyle, isn't it? He does not have his own lifestyle. There is a specific lifestyle that's being listed, a specific diet perhaps, a specific group of discussions perhaps, but there's established way of living. So when we are called as soldiers for the Lord, I think we do have an established way of living, and it's very important.

20:36 Being rooted and grounded in the word. That's our lifestyle. Not with entanglement with the world, not with this shifting ideas that the world has to offer. I mean, there's lots going on, even amongst the believers. But are we focused?

20:56 Are we focused on what the Lord wants us to do based upon the word of God? Entanglement is dangerous. Being established in the word is important. And he says, Paul tells Timothy that you need to be the pleaser of the leader. Every day, a soldier gets up and he looks at his leader, and he's ready to do what the leader wants him to do.

21:30 He's ready. Now you don't question the officer, you just do it because you know it, that he has a purpose for you. So it's a readiness of mind that makes a soldier a soldier because he's ready to act upon it based upon what the leader wants. Pleasing the leader who has enlisted him. This morning, that should be our goal, isn't it?

21:59 To please our leader, the Lord Jesus. He has called us for a specific purpose, to be able to tell about him to the lost world. And that has to be our goal. That's the reason he brings us together week after week. That's the reason you spend time day after day in the word, so he can prepare you, equip you, have enough reasons to believe and to understand why you believe what you believe.

22:30 Because you live in a world that is compromised, contaminated, conflicted. But if you want to be a soldier, you've got to please the leader, follow him, established in the word, not entangled in the world. Continue to endure the hardship for the sake of the leader. Then what happens? Paul goes on to talk about an athlete.

23:19 Verse five, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. So he talks about the determined athlete here. See, if you're an athlete, there are certain requirements from you, isn't it? Number one, you have to have the striving nature or striving instinct to win, to win the medal. So you have a reason.

23:46 You should be striving. You should aim towards that. I keep telling my children, we have three boys, and I keep telling, you need to have that spirit of strivingness to be able to reach what you plan. No athlete sits at home and thinks about Olympic meat unless he has a striving spirit to train, to go through hardship. And he needs to have a strong ethics.

24:18 An athlete needs to have a strong ethics. Of what? Of a disciplined lifestyle and a disciplined way of thinking. It's very easy as like a soldier to get entangled as an athlete. I don't know how many of follow the Olympic athletes when they get trained.

24:43 If you've read some other people, one thing that is common among all of them, both men and women, they say that we have a goal and we work four years ahead of time. It's just not a year before you run, or before you race, or before you swim. It takes every day six to seven hours of swimming, six to seven hours of running, and a coach who's going to clock you every time when you do that. So it's a lifestyle. Strong ethics.

25:21 The Lord Jesus wants us as believers to have strong ethics in our lives. As athlete, to strive with a reason and to have strong ethics. And then sincere efforts. Not only that you need to have that strong ethics, but you need to work towards that sincerely, every day. It's an ongoing process.

25:46 Never stops. You don't do one day of eight hours of swimming and take rest for another week. But you sincerely work towards that. And that's what Paul is trying to tell Timothy. You need to be an athlete.

25:58 Like an athlete, sincerely work towards being able to spread what you know, to be able to present to the world about what you know and who you know. It's a sincere effort towards accomplishing the goal of being able to win that crown that is yours as a determined athlete. And then the athlete also, not only he has got a sincere effort, but he needs to have a single mindedness, isn't it? What's his ultimate goal? Is to get that little crown in his head.

26:34 Paul knew that. He saw a lot of Olympics going on there. He knew that only one person is going to win. One person is going to get that crown. And he said, Timothy, you gotta be like him.

26:51 Be single-minded. Oh, brothers and sisters, it is so important for us as believers to be single-minded, isn't it? Never to marry the world, never to play with the world. The moment you do that, you lost your single mindedness. Our goal is to be able to fix our eyes upon the one who is the author and the finisher of our faith and run the race with a single mindedness.

27:22 Because our goal is to become more like Christ, and he is there to equip you, to give you the virtue of single mindedness, provided if I'm going to be like an athlete. And that's important. And then verse six. It is a hardworking farmer who ought to have the first shares of the crop. And here Paul concludes with another example, another personnel here, a farmer.

28:22 Now sometimes when I go early in the morning for a meat, I see five in the morning, lone farmer in the field with this machine, so with this equipment working all along. From dawn to dusk, you see these farmers diligently working day after day. So diligent, hard working is what is necessary for a man of God, for a believer to be able to see the fruit bearing situation as a diligent farmer. And then not only he works diligently, works hard diligently, but also he's very discreet in his attitudes. He's very discreet.

29:08 He knows how to wait and watch. I have several patients who are farmers, and when I'm done doing my work as a physician, I ask them questions because I like to learn about their skills, about their lives. One thing they tell me is that we have to sow, we have to wait. We have to wait. You know, waiting as a steward, as a believer, sometimes is difficult.

29:37 It's a virtue that you need to cultivate. It's a virtue that the Holy Spirit has to teach us. Waiting is a difficult time. Now all of us wait for something in life, or we waited for something in life. But be like a farmer.

29:51 He waits for things to happen. Perhaps he goes every day and looks at the crop. Perhaps he sees what it needs, maybe the irrigation, maybe the fertilizer. So he waits, watches, and acts. That is a discrete behavior, a discerning behavior.

30:14 Likewise, I think God wants us to be like farmers, isn't it? Do we wait on the Lord? Do we look with a self introspection how the Lord is trying to work in our lives so that we could bear much fruit? Are we in the world? Which will irrigate our hearts, will fertilize our soul so that we'll be able to bear much fruit for the Lord.

30:39 He calls us to be like farmers, discrete discerning attitude. And not only that discreteness of him, but also he gently looks at the crops and makes sure they're all healthy and they're all doing well. There's always examination going on. And finally, as Paul says here, there's going to be a delightful fruit bearing time. Isn't it wonderful?

31:10 A farmer gets to see the fruit bearing. John Phillips puts this very nicely. He says that a husbandman, as he tills the ground, when the time comes to harvest, he has a triumphant time. Tilling and toiling is difficult, but when a triumph, when there's harvest, his toil will be his taste. I thought that was neat.

31:40 His toiling time, tilling time becomes a tasteful time for a farmer. All believers, the Lord has in store for us a triumphant time when we shall see the Lord Jesus. What a day that would be when our triumph will be in our sight, and we shall see him as he is. So therefore, here we have four beautiful examples as to how to have the virtues to be fruit bearing, growing believers. Being a strong, dutiful steward, a disciplined soldier, a determined athlete, a diligent farmer.

33:11 See, it's all for his glory, isn't it? The Lord wants us to do these things so we become more like him. And that's what Paul's desire for Timothy was, so that somehow he would be able to make Timothy more like Christ. Because Paul knew he was going away from this body. He was leaving the world.

33:33 Is that our decision today? Now these are going to make sense to us only if you know the Lord Jesus as your savior. These topics or these truths will not make any sense if you do not know your goal, if you do not have your fixed view upon the person called Lord Jesus, because you have no reason to work as a farmer. You have no reason to run a race as an athlete. You have no reason to prepare for a battle as a soldier, and you have reason to pass on the baton as a steward unless we have the Lord Jesus, unless you have a fixed real goal, the Lord Jesus, in our front.

34:18 So the challenge goes out this morning, do we know him? Is he real in our life? Are we bearing fruit for him? If not, I think that's a challenge for us Before we become the steward or a soldier or a farmer or even an athlete, we've got to set our records, first of all, straight to know this person, know our goal, know our passion, and then persevere with readiness, with enduring, with an expectation as a farmer to become more like Christ. Let's pray.

35:41 We need your guidance. Help us never to be unwavering in our walk with you. Help us to focus upon you, the author and the finisher of our faith. Help us even as we enter into this real world where there is so much of problems and so much of compromise. Help us not to get entangled with it.

36:02 Help us to be single-minded. Help us to be discreet and discerning, and equip us with your word. Help us to be equipped by your spirit so that we will run this race as an athlete, looking ahead to keeping our eyes upon the dear savior. We thank you for this group of believers. We thank you that you've given us a desire to be more like your son, our Savior.

36:28 So bless us even as we depart from here. Help us to go into the world and to show forth what you've done in our lives, to be a good steward, to be a good soldier, and an athlete, and a farmer. We thank you for all the blessings you poured upon us. Guide us and keep us accountable to each other, walking in your ways. What we pray in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

36:53 Amen.