2 Timothy 4:5-8 Finishing Well
In the yr.2003 Ohio State Buckeyes were playing the Miami Hurricanes for the national Championship in
College Football.
Just before his team left the locker - The Buskeyes’ coach Jim Tressel, gathered his team for one final talk.
After going over the game plan, he asked his team one simple
question, “How do you want to be remembered?”
It must have worked because when the game was over, the Buckeyes
had pulled off one of the great upsets in college football.
That
is a good question for us to ponder today: “How do you want to be remembered?”
A) It's easy to live a long life, at least in
Out of every
100,000 persons, over 88,000 reach 50 years of age, more than 70,000 people
make it to 70, and almost 17,000 get to 85 or more.
B) So Staying around
a long time, however, should not be our primary goal.
1) Making a
lasting impact should be a top priority
C) What do you
hope people will say about you after you are gone?
Howard
Hendricks of
A) He concluded
that there are approximately 100 detailed biographies in the Bible.
B) He notes that
approximately two-thirds of
those men and women ended poorly.
1) Either they turned to immorality or they drifted away from the
faith or they ended their life in a backslidden condition.
C) The Apostle Paul was not
among them. He finished well.
2 Timothy is
Paul’s final letter – writing from a Roman Prison cell – underground – waiting
his impending death.
A) Most personal
and intimate letter as he writes to his young son in the faith / Son in
ministry Timothy
B) Writes to
Pass the torch of ministry …. To encourage Timothy – to stay the course
1) Hang in there
-
C)) We left off with v.5 Where Paul gives Timothy one final
exhortation: 4 exhortations summoning up what He has been saying for 4 1/2 Chapters
5 But you be watchful in
all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your
ministry.
A) Be Watchful – be on the alert for false teachers
– don’t be taken off guard.
B) Endure
Affliction: Stand strong against the growing persecution –
remembering that all who desire to live Godly lives will suffer persecution.
C) Do the work of an
evangelist: Never stop sharing Christ – – Some people are gifted as evangelist
– Greg Laurie –
D)
But all Pastors are to do the work of an Evangelist – be about Sharing the
gospel.
E) Fulfill your
ministry: do not quit until the end, keep on until you have done all
that the Lord has sent you to do.
It
is at that point that Paul gives us some insight into how he finished well
.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and
the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me
the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to
me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His
appearing.
Finishing well
doesn’t happen by accident:
Deliberate focus
and attitude
In
this one paragraph Paul shares 3 important things
1. His present outlook concerning his impending death
2. His past approach to life.
3. His future hope that kept him going all those years.
1. His present outlook concerning his impending death
V.6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and
the time of my departure is at hand.
A) When Paul says he is
being poured out like a drink offering, he is referring to an OT ritual that
accompanied certain sacrifices.
B) The Law mandated that when a worshiper brought an offering,
part of it was consumed upon the altar and part was given to the priest for his
own use.
C) When the
offering was consumed by fire, the worshiper would sometimes pour a “drink
offering” of wine upon the burning sacrifice.
1) All the wine was to be poured out. None was to be given to the
priest.
D) As the wine
hit the burning coals, it evaporated and a sweet smell rose from the altar.
1)Keep in mind that wine was a symbol of joy in the OT
The
drink offering was a symbolic way of saying, “I gladly give all that I have to
the Lord.
A) My life is
given as a symbol of my wholehearted commitment to God. { Nothing
is held back
Paul
was on death Row – He knew the time of his death was approaching.
A) Now, the
Roman method for execution of their enemies was Crucifixion –
B) Which was a
slow painful way to die
C) But for a
Roman citizen they were a little Kinder Death
was by beheading –
1) Quick and relatively painless
D) Paul being a Roman citizen
was to be beheaded
Now
by speaking of his death as a “drink offering,” he was saying to Timothy,
A)“When you hear
of my death, don’t think that Nero has executed me against my will.
B) I gladly lay down my life for my Lord.
1) My own blood will be like the wine of the drink offering,
gladly given to the One who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
The
word “departure” in verse 6 has three word pictures behind it.
A)It refers to a ship hoisting the anchor, raising the
sails, leaving the harbor, and setting sail for a distant port.
B) Paul was saying "The time of my loosing
has come."
C)
2nd To “depart” means to break
camp. It refers to an army that has
made camp near a battlefield-
1) Now they are leaving the
battlefield, and heading for home.
D) 3rd
It also pictures a man who is being
relieved from carrying a staggering burden.
So
Paul viewed his departure with great hope – Poured out and set free!
A) Released – Life. pain
& burdens
B)– New bodies –
Trade this tent for a Mansion
C) That is the
Hope of everyone of us who is a believer in Jesus Christ.
D) That was his
Present outlook …. Impending…
2.
His past approach to life. Verse 7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have
kept the faith.
Alfred
Nobel opened his newspaper one morning in 1888 & was shocked to read his
own obituary.
A)
The fact was that Nobel’s brother had died, and a careless reporter had put the
wrong man in the story.
B) The incident left Nobel
deeply disturbed
C)
Through the erroneous obituary he saw himself as the world saw him--a wealthy
Swedish industrialist whose most enduring legacy was the invention of dynamite.
NOT HOW HE
WANTED TO BE REMEMBERED
That is when He came up with
the idea for the Nobel prize – rewards for people whose work has benefited
humanity.
The
Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901, and today they are still considered
the most esteemed prizes in the world.
The
soul-searching that Alfred Nobel underwent as he reviewed his life is the same kind of self-examination
Christians need to make regularly.
Paul
urged the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5).
A)
Paul looking back - uses three phrases which sum up his life's accomplishments.
First, He lived
a disciplined life. “I fought the good fight.”
This
speaks to the continual struggle that he faced.
A) Think of the words Paul used to describe his own life: trouble, distress,
tribulation, trials, hardships
B) He despaired
even of life itself.
1) Paul didn’t live an easy life.
C) Paul saw life as One continual battle: He never stopped fighting for Jesus until the
day he died.
Notice he says, "I have fought the good
fight."
A)
It is very important to see he did not say, "I have fought a good
fight,"
B)
If he had said that It would be boasting his view of how well he had done.:
"I've fought a good fight.
1)
I've pitched in there and done the right thing."
C)
But that is not what he says. He says, "I have fought the good
fight," i.e., the significant fight, the great battle which life had
presented to him.
Listen,
there are lots of battles that we can get into – lots of things to fight over.
Paul
contended with his flesh: - We all do –
haven’t won every round – I’ve fallen –
Righteous man
falls 7 times – gets up – God is faithful to forgive.
Paul contended for the faith
– Stood for the truth
At the height of WWII, Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned for
taking a stand against Hitler. Yet he continued to urge fellow believers
to resist Nazi tyranny.
A group of Christians, believing that Hitler was the Antichrist,
asked Bonhoeffer, “Why do you expose yourself to all this danger? Jesus will
return any day, and all your work and suffering will be for nothing.” Bonhoeffer
replied, “If Jesus returns tomorrow, then tomorrow I’ll rest from my
labor. But today I have work to do. I must continue the struggle until it’s
finished.”
Paul contended for souls { Passionate about people
A) Read Acts – Same Scenario
– Synagogue rejected
Gentiles – accepted –
revival – Beaten, jailed
B) Love for the Lost that
kept him going – He contended for souls of those who are lost.
Second,
He lived a directional life. “I have finished the race.”
A) Paul often viewed the Christian life as a Race!
B) Phil 3 he is the runner who is not looking back over his
shoulder at the past – what is behind him
1) Looking forward to what lies ahead – pressing on to get closer
to Christ
C) 1 Corinthians 9- He talks about running with an aim, a purpose
– Running not just to run, but to win.
D) Hebrews 12 –
( I believe Paul wrote) Running, laying aside the weights and the sin.
1) Running with his eyes on Jesus
I
have often said that the Christian life is a
A) Always continual – Always running – never stop Many ways that is true.
B)
I have sensed though that the Christian life could also be compared to a series
of races – some short – some long – run –
Race of parenthood / Race of Marriage / Singleness
Race of friendships
Race of Profession
Race of Ministry
C) We run hard – pause and get refreshed
– prepare to run again.
1) Never stop running – Race with many different legs
D) All different seasons – Different conditions
This
week I read about a professor at a Christian college, who along with his son,
went on a 1,000-mile backpacking trip from
Together father and son hiked through the mountains of
They faced every sort of discouragement—lack of food
and water, danger from wild animals, danger from robbers, days of rain and mud,
incredible physical
exhaustion, the very real possibility of physical injury, loneliness, blisters, mosquitoes, and the
extremes of heat and cold.
Before
leaving on the trip, the professor discovered that over 90% of those who set
out to hike more than 500 miles never make it.
Fifty percent never get started and 40% quit after they start.
Only 10% ever
finish a long-distance hike. After studying the 10% who succeeded, he came to
certain conclusions.
Some of it involved strenuous training and meticulous logistical
preparation. But there was something else involved.
He
discovered that those who succeeded versus those who failed understood that the
biggest block was mental.
They knew that their real enemy lay within, not without. Those who
succeeded made two important decisions:
First, they
decided they would finish the trip no matter what happened, and second, they
expected bad things to happen and decided they would not be surprised or
dismayed.
Great approach
to the Christian life { Expect trials hardships – difficulty
Determine: “By
the grace of God – I will finish”
This
was Paul’s approach to the Christian life.
A) No matter
what happened to him, he just kept moving forward by the grace of God.
B)
One foot in front of the other, one step at a time, one day at a time.
He wasn’t deterred by opposition because he knew it was coming
eventually.
C) Our problem is that
we’re surprised by trouble.
1) We think the Christian life ought to be easy.
D) It’s not
easy, and it’s not supposed to be easy.
1) Today is the day of struggle, combat, warfare. Everyday we
march to battle in the name of the Lord.
E) But He is with us every
step along the way – Advantage over the Hiker { His own strength
1)HS empowers us
/ When fall Jesus picks us up
Paul
was able to say: I have finished the race!
Third,
He lived a doctrinal life. “I have kept
the faith.” This simply means he refused to compromise the truth.
A) When other people fell away, Paul preached the Word.
B) When the world was against him, Paul paid no attention.
C) When it would have been easy to trim his message to save his
own life, Paul proclaimed the whole
counsel of God.
1) He did not back down, he did not compromise, and he would not
preach what people wanted to hear.
D) Some up these
three things we could say of Paul
He
never stopped fighting!
He never stopped running!
He never stopped believing!
Verse 8 Paul gives us the Reason:
3. His future hope that kept him going all those years.
“Finally, there is laid up
for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His
appearing.”
Here we see Paul’s faith shining so brightly
that the darkness of the Roman prison cell seems to disappear.
By
faith he sees beyond his own beheading.
A) The pain of
that moment is now past and the suffering of this life is left far behind.
B) By faith he
sees a day when he will receive his reward from the Lord.
C) What will
that reward be like?
It will be a guaranteed reward. It is “laid
up” or “stored” in heaven for Paul.
It
will be a glorious reward. It is the crown of righteousness.
This
is often misunderstood. Some people have taken this to mean that Paul is not
going to be made righteous until he appears before the Lord in Heaven.
A)
Romans – Declared – righteous – Position in God’s eyes
B)
Heaven: All that we are Positionally we become Practically - Crown of righteousness
1)
No more flesh
C) No more struggle !
It will be a personal reward. Paul will
receive his reward from the Lord himself.
Note how specific he is about this. It is the Lord, the righteous
Judge, who will reward him.
That
last phrase is an intended contrast with Paul's expectation of his forthcoming
appearance before Nero, the unrighteous judge.
A) Nero would examine
righteous Paul and find him guilty
B)
But that judgment before the Emperor will shortly be reversed by the Lord
himself,
1) The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Universe will
weigh in on Paul’s case—and his judgment will be final.
C)
Others look at you to condemn – Jesus will REWARD !
It will be a
guaranteed reward
It
will be a glorious reward.
It will be a personal
reward
It will be a shared reward.
It is not just for Paul but also for everyone who loves the
Lord and longs for His appearing.
A) Every rape/ murder/ Case of Child abuse. Come quickly
B) Every Political leader / religious leader – Moral failure {
Come quickly
C) Every believer: Lord I just want to be closer to you come
quickly –
See the best of all is yet to come.
Bury me with my fork – the best is yet to come.
The
Indians have a wonderful saying: "When you
were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner
that when you die, the world cries, and you rejoice."
So the word of
Lord is this: Keep on fighting. Keep on
running. Keep on believing.
By the grace of God, let’s finish strong for Jesus. Amen!
Closing: We all
have a hereafter –
All going to stand before Jesus – Reward
Unbeliever: To be judged
God loves you – You can be free