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2 Timothy 2:1-14 - Homiletics

Endurance the lot of Christ's ministers.

Continual endurance of evil, whether directed specially against himself, or generally thwarting the cause which he has most at heart, is the ordinary lot of the minister of Jesus Christ exercising his ministry in an evil world. And in order to be ready to encounter this evil, actively or passively, as the case may require, a complete concentration of purpose on the fulfilment of his ministry is absolutely required. If the heart is divided between the ministry of God's Word and the enjoyment of an easy life, there will be a constant temptation to avoid those various forms of "hardship" which properly belong to the campaign of the soldiers of Christ. Troubles will be shirked rather than endured; and ministerial duties will be made to stand on one side when they interfere with the inclinations of the moment. Labour will be evaded when the soul calls for ease. The determined struggle, and the sturdy stand against evil, whether in his own heart or in the world around him, will be postponed to a more convenient season, while weak compromises and sinful compliances take their place in the immediate present. At the same time, contradiction and opposition, crooks and crosses of various kinds, untoward events, troubles, disappointments, and difficulties of all sorts, will be met, not in the spirit of Christian fortitude, not in the spirit of Christian meekness and patience, but with petulant complaints, or with roughness and ill temper, as running against the current of the love of ease in the soul. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the servant of God to be wholly given up to the ministry which he has received. He must resolutely shake off the entanglements of the affairs of this life, that he may please him who called him to be a soldier. He must feel, "My work in life, my mission, the dispensation committed to me, is to advance the kingdom of Christ in the world. I am set by my Lord and Master for the defence of the gospel—to preach it, to vindicate it, to uphold it against all gainsayers, to adorn it with my own life, to use my utmost endeavour for its maintenance, its propagation, its triumphs. I must no more shrink from obloquy, from labour, from suffering, from troubles, or, if need be, from bonds and death, in the fulfilment of this work and ministry, than the soldier shrinks from fatigue and exposure, from hunger and hardship, from wounds and from death,, in bravely discharging the duties of his warfare." For his encouragement in carrying out this resolve, he has the example of his Lord who suffered unto death and was raised again from the dead. tie has the example of the apostles who endured troubles and bonds and imprisonment, and yet saw the gospel which they preached triumphing over all opposition. He has the promises of God assuring life, and a kingdom, to those who suffer and die with Christ. And so, accepting endurance as the portion of Christ's servants, he pursues his ministry diligently, joyfully, and steadfastly, throws his whole strength into it, and looks forward with an unwavering hope to obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

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