If Paul had adopted the mindset of do as I say, not as I do, perhaps his message to Timothy would not have resonated the way it does. The instruction Paul lays out is not theoretical. The man practiced what he preached and brought the receipts to prove it. It’s the difference between an academic in a tweed blazer describing the storming of the beach at Normandy and a soldier who was actually there and lived it. Paul lived it, and he was not shy about reminding Timothy about his lived experiences and all the things he had to endure for the sake of the gospel.
I’m not saying you necessarily have to endure persecution or
go through suffering in order to understand God more deeply, but it sure does
help. Between someone who understands the theory of faith on paper and someone
whose faith carried them through the bleakest, darkest times imaginable, I’ll
take the person with the lived experience of having seen the hand of God at
work in their lives.
They may not be as pretty to look at, and there will be
battle scars and barely healed wounds, but having lived it, they will not
romanticize battle nor minimize the effort it takes to push ever onward toward
victory. It’s called spiritual warfare for a reason, but far too many clueless
harpies with a platform have convinced many in the church that it’s as easy as yelling
‘basta!’ and never at any time are they in any danger of being wounded or
worse. This has created an entire niche subculture, wherein everyone and their
aunt Rosie is a part-time demon hunter chomping at the bit to go ham on the
devil. That they’re still at it only proves they haven’t run across a real one
yet, but when they do, they quickly realize there is quite a bit more danger
involved in this than in knitting or amateur pottery.
Just as I don’t believe the pink-haired lady or her gaggle of
clucking hens never encountered a true demonic power they had to contend with, I’ve
also come to think that the reason many pastors and preachers are so flippant
and lackadaisical about God is because they never truly encountered Him. They
know of Him, have read of His works, and perused His word on occasion. They’ve
taken classes on homiletics, eschatology, or theology, perhaps even got around
to writing a doctoral thesis on the genealogy of Rahab, but as far as having an
encounter with the God they’ve been studying or knowing the feeling of
freefalling with no safety net only to be caught up in His arms, the best they
manage is reading the testimonies of others in third world countries.
I’m not throwing shade or discounting the benefits of
education. I’m not even questioning the sincerity of those who attend these
institutions of higher learning. The sheltered, coddled upbringing of most in
the West made knowing suffering or persecution impossible and the notion of
trusting God an option rather than the only option.
This freedom we’ve abused and taken for granted is itself a
two-edged sword because it never compelled us to count the cost of serving
Jesus, just the cost of tuition, and there were always student loans for that.
If Jesus insists that following Him has a cost, we must
consider that cost and acknowledge its reality. What am I willing to forfeit
for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ? Is it time, friends, relatives,
prominence, wealth, my home, or my life? What’s the cutoff, and is there one?
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells us he suffered
the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish that he might gain Christ.
For many today, even the thought of setting aside an hour each morning to spend
time with God and in His word is a heavy lift, never mind suffering the loss of
all things.
Paul isn’t trying to soften the blow or make ministry seem
like something it’s not. He presented an authentic portrait based on personal
experience, warning Timothy that he should expect no less in terms of hardship,
persecution, and travail. That seems like quite the departure from what’s being
peddled today, wherein sunshine and lollipops await beyond uttering a prayer.
This is the way. The way is rife with persecution and
afflictions, with hardship and travail, and if not for the last words Paul
penned to Timothy, it would seem downright unassailable. Yes, he went through
all these things and more, yet his testimony remained that the Lord delivered
him out of all of them.
Walk with God long enough, and you will not be deterred by
afflictions or persecution because you know that your deliverance is only a
matter of time. God’s promise isn’t that you will be spared hardship if you
remain steadfast and unmoved in the truth but that He will be an ever-present
help in such circumstances. He is your deliverer. He is the one that walks with
you through the fire and the flood, that His name might be glorified, and that
those who will later hear your testimony will understand it was not by your strength,
ingenuity, or prowess that you were delivered, but by His mighty had.
Collectivism is not biblical. The Word clearly tells us that
the soul that sins will die. Everyone else around you might be doing something,
validating it, co-signing it, but if the Bible says we ought not to practice
such things, then the Word will judge us as lone individuals when we stand
before the Almighty. Your neighbor’s righteousness will not be imputed upon
you, nor will their sins. Hence the reason Paul makes the distinction between
others within the household of faith that have given in to all manner of
debilitating, destructive practices and the young man to whom he is penning the
letter, namely Timothy.
He wants Timothy to be aware of the dangers of compromise
from within, then begins his next thought with ‘but you.’ All these others
might be lovers of self, despisers of good, and having a form of godliness, but
you, you should be different, set apart, firmly established in the way you must
go because you’ve seen the difference between a life of compromise and a life
of obedience. You know the distinction between those paying God lip service and
those living for God.
The overarching theme of Paul’s second letter to Timothy was
to learn how to spot the real from the fake, turn away from the one, and have
continued fellowship with the other. Using the eat the meat and spit out the
bones analogy, some among us stay under a teaching or in a church far longer
than we ought to, even though they see the writing on the wall, and the
inconsistencies become so evident that they are glaring.
I know change is hard. I know trying to find a new fellowship
or new brothers and sisters with which to come together is time-consuming and
in itself taxing, but that never figured into Paul’s equation when he said to
turn away from such people. Your spiritual health must take precedence, and if
you’re not growing, maturing, drawing ever closer to Jesus, and learning to
walk by faith and not by sight, it is incumbent upon you to find a fellowship
where you are.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
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