Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20120902.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
2 Timothy: God's Directives For Church Leaders Amid Hardships
Part III: Following Paul's Template Of Faithfulness Amid Ministry Hardship
(2 Timothy 1:13-18)
  1. Introduction
    1. The temptation to cease serving God upon facing hardship in His ministry can sometimes be intense!
    2. However, the Lord calls those He assigns to a certain task to be faithful in it even amid great hardship, and the Apostle Paul provided a personal template for such ministry faithfulness amid hardship (as follows):
  2. Following Paul's Template Of Faithfulness Amid Ministry Hardship, 2 Timothy 1:13-18.
    1. When Paul wrote 2 Timothy 1:13-18, he was facing great human hardship in his apostolic ministry:
      1. Paul was in prison, facing martyrdom for his ministry, 2 Timothy 1:8, 16; 4:6-8, 16. Scholars believe this occurred in Nero's infamous persecution of the Church, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1716.
      2. Paul had been abandoned by all the professing Christians of Asia, of whom Phygellus and Hermogenes had proven to be particular disappointments for the Apostle, Ibid., ftn. to 2 Timothy 1:15.
      3. At his trial's opening hearing, no one had supported Paul, but all had forsaken him, 2 Timothy 4:16a.
      4. The time of year was late fall, seen in Paul's 2 Timothy 4:21 request that Timothy "hurry" (spoudazo, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. Of the N. T., 1967, p. 771) to come to him before winter, and he was cold in the prison seen in his asking Timothy to bring the cloak he had left at Troas, 2 Tim. 4:13a.
      5. Thus, Paul humanly faced intense mental and emotional pressure (imminent martyrdom, abandonment by believers at his trial) besides the physical trauma of being incessantly cold in prison in the late fall.
    2. Still, the Apostle exampled faithfulness to God's calling amid such great hardship, 2 Timothy 1:13-18:
      1. Paul told Timothy to "keep, hold" (exho, U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966, p. 732; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 332-334) as a "prototype, model" (hupotuposis , Ibid., p. 856) the "healthy, sound" (hugiaino, Ibid., p. 839-840) words that Timothy had heard from him, 2 Timothy 1:13a.
      2. This retention of the model of Paul's words was to be done in the faith and love that is in Christ, 2 Timothy 1:13b. In other words, Timothy was to hold to the model of Paul's words as he applied them to his heart and life in Christ, Wm. Hendriksen, Exp. of the Past. Epistles (NTC), 1974, p. 237.
      3. Timothy was also to "guard from loss or damage" (phulasso, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 876) due to apostasy [2 Timothy 2:15-18] the good entity entrusted (paratheke , Ibid., p. 621) to him, which entity was Paul's "sound words" of the gospel and sound doctrine, Ibid., Hendriksen, 2 Timothy 1:14.
      4. Finally, Paul exampled for the wisdom of drawing encouragement from God's provision of help from other upright believers amid our hardships, 2 Timothy 1:15-18:
        1. Every believer who had initially supported Paul from the province of Asia had then abandoned him in his prison situation, including Paul's disappointments in Phygellus and Hermogenes, 2 Tim. 1:15.
        2. However, instead of becoming discouraged by dwelling on this fact by "viewing the glass as half empty," Paul focused on the "glass half full," on the encouraging support of Onesiphorus, 2 Tim. 1:16-18: (1) This believer had repeatedly refreshed Paul in his prison cell, not ashamed of his chain at great risk to himself in view of the current persecution by Nero, 2 Timothy 1:16. (2) Indeed, this believer had "diligently, earnestly, zealously" ( spoudaios, Ibid., p. 771) sought out and found Paul in the Maritime prison in Rome (2 Timothy 1:17), an endeavor revealing his deep devotion to the Apostle. (3) Paul also recalled the many things Onesiphorus had performed to help him when he was in Ephesus, things Timothy knew well (beltion, literally meaning "better," is here likely used in the "elative" sense of "very well," Ibid., p. 138; Ibid., Hendriksen, p. 240, ftn. 124), 2 Timothy 1:18b. (4) Thus, Paul hoped that the Lord would grant him mercy in the day of the judgment of the believer's works [at the Judgment Seat of Christ], (1 Timothy 1:16a, 18a with 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Lesson: Paul exampled how faithfulness to God's calling amid great hardships that he himself faced is available if we (1) hold to the sound words of the Apostle [for us, the Scriptures], (2) if we apply them to our hearts and lives in Christ (3) and if we preserve sound doctrine by relying on the Holy Spirit (4) while we take encouragement in focusing on the good deeds of godly believers God uses to help us.

Application: May we use this example of Paul to stay faithful to God's calling amid ministry hardships.