Fulfill Your Ministry!
Finish well for ultimately will have to give account for how well we fulfilled our ministry.
I am going to ask you do something that is difficult. It also will be a bit uncomfortable, but this is an absolutely necessary exercise if we want to fulfill God’s purpose for our life. Please, close your eyes.
See yourself going to a funeral of a loved one. It is a dear family member that has passed away. See yourself walking up the pathway to the church at the appointed time for the service. You heart is a combination of heaviness over the loss, yet gratefulness for the quality of life this person has led. From the sanctuary is wafting the reflective mood of the organ music. The front of sanctuary is graced by colorful floral arrangements that express the love and care of those gathered.
As you enter the sanctuary you greet family and friends that you have known all your life who are there to share this moment with you. You wonder what they must be thinking and feeling on this occasion. You make your way to the front of the sanctuary and look inside the casket, and to your shock you come face to face with yourself.
You are the reason that all these people have gathered. You find a seat and wait for the service to begin. You glance over the printed order of service and see that there are four speakers who are going to share in the eulogies, their thanksgiving for your life. There is a member of the family, a close friend, a colleague from work, and a fellow believer from church. You wonder, what will they say?
Open your eyes now
What is it that you would want people to say about you at that time? What do you think people would say about you if the time was now? One day that time will come for us all, unless Jesus Christ returns first, and we will be remembered in a particular way. For me the tombstone will read 1947 – ? fill in the closing year. The question is, what did I do with that little dash while I was here?
This is an exercise I put myself through. I asked myself, "What would I want written for my epitaph? What would people say that my life stood for, represented? What might they say about the purpose I was called by God to fulfill?"
Timothy is it take up where Paul is leaving off. He is to be a transmitter of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, just as Paul has. Instead of shrinking in fear, which Timothy is inclined to do, he is “to fan the flame of the gift of God” (2 Tim. 1:6). Instead of being ashamed of the gospel of Christ and his servant Paul in a Roman prison, he is to stand guard over the good deposit entrusted to him.
Don't drop the baton!
Instead of dropping the baton that has been passed to him from Paul, Timothy is find reliable people who will pass the baton as well. Paul’s final motivational message is to ask Timothy to live with the end in mind. He transports Timothy into the presence of Christ as the one to whom he will have to give account. Secondly, he uses himself as an example as one who is at the finishing line with a clear conscience. Paul reminds Timothy to discharge his ministry with passion.
Read 2 Timothy 4:1-8. See yourself giving account of your life before Jesus Christ himself.
Live With the End in Mind
Live with the end in mind and plan every day toward that end. Paul takes Timothy before the throne of the King Jesus.
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:” (2 Timothy 4:1).
There will come a time when we stand exposed before God and Jesus Christ, before whom we must give account for what we have done with the call or purpose which we have been given to us. The Scripture speaks of two judgments. First, there is the Great Judgment of all humanity which determines your ultimate eternal destiny. For those who are in Christ we need not fear this judgment, because we have the Judge on our side. But secondly, there is a judgment for Christians as to what we have done with the gift of salvation that has been given to us.
In Corinthians 3, Jesus Christ is pictured as the foundation upon which we are to build our lives. Paul raises the question as to the quality of materials out of which we construct our life on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
“If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
Paul is saying that our lives in service to Christ can be made out of material that will be preserved through the tests of his life or made of materials like wood, hay, or straw that will not survive fire. Though Paul does seem to indicate that even if all of our building materials are burned up, if Christ is our foundation, we will be saved, yet without much reward. Paul uses another image besides judgment to impress upon Timothy and us.
He says “in view of his appearing and his kingdom.” The word “appearing” is epiphaneia from which we get the word epiphany. The word epiphany was used for the Roman Emperor’s succession to the throne. Yet everywhere the Roman emperor traveled was considered an epiphany as well. The advance troops would announce the coming of the emperor which was a signal to the populace to put their towns in order. Streets would be swept clean, and building projects would be completed. Everything had to have the proper appearance for the emperor.
Timothy is to shape up for the king is coming. I love the true story of the battleship which was on maneuvers in heavy weather. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge. Shortly after dark, the lookout reported,
“Light, bearing on the starboard bow.” The captain ordered the signalman, 'Signal that ship: We are on collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees.' Back came the signal, 'Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.' The captain said, 'Send, I am a captain, change course 20 degrees.' The reply came back, 'I am a seaman second class, you had better change course 20 degrees.' Now the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send, 'I’m a battleship. Change course 20 degrees.' Back came the flashing light, 'I’m a lighthouse.' The battleship changed course.
There is a sense in which we are on collision course, and may need to change direction. There is a fixed point that is immovable; a lighthouse by which need to set our destination. Against this backdrop of one day standing in the presence of Jesus Christ and assurance of his appearing, Paul issues his final admonition to Timothy in the strongest terms, “I give you this charge….” It is a solemn and emphatic utterance with the full force of testifying under oath in a court of law. “I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Timothy, I have warned you as strongly as is humanly possible.
Greg Ogden
Greg Ogden
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