2 Timothy 4:1–2 (NKJV)
1 I charge you therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His
appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
For the last several weeks, we have been
meditating on Paul’s charge to Timothy to “Preach the word! Be ready in
season and out of season.” A few weeks ago, we began looking at the series
of imperatives that Paul gives to explain his charge. Paul writes, “Convince,
rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” Today we consider
Paul’s admonition to continue in this effort “with all longsuffering.”
The Greek word translated “longsuffering”
can mean patience, fortitude, or forbearance. Paul wants Timothy
to continue preaching without growing weary or being dissuaded. He is to stick
to the task, be faithful to his calling, whether folks desire to listen to him
or not. Paul warns Timothy in the next couple verses (4:3-4):
For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned
aside to fables.
Timothy must persevere, he must be
patient, for he will face opposition. People will – in this great phrase – heap
up for themselves teachers who tell them what they want to hear, who soothe
their consciences and who turn away from the truth to fables. But, ultimately, Paul
wants Timothy to remember, the truth will prevail and so Timothy must persist
in His calling.
It was this firm confidence that buoyed
John Wyclif during the 14th century in England. Facing much opposition
and criticism for his critique of the pope, his emphasis on the authority of
Scripture, and his proclamation of the grace of God, Wyclif persevered, he
taught with much longsuffering. What gave him confidence? “Magna est veritas,”
he wrote, “et praevalebit.” Great is the truth and it shall prevail.
The reason Wyclif had such confidence in
the power of the truth to overcome all obstacles is because God had promised
that His Servant, our Lord Jesus, would not fail, in the prophet Isaiah’s
words, to “bring forth justice to the Gentiles” (42:1d). This Servant, continues
Isaiah, “will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice
in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law” (42:4). Jesus will
so labor that the truth become fully manifest. So the Apostle Paul assures us
that Jesus “must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last
enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:25-26). Great is the truth
and it shall prevail – or, perhaps better, He shall prevail.
This same patience demanded of preachers
of the Gospel is to be practiced by the hearers of the Gospel as well. Paul
reminds us that “faith comes from hearing” (Rom 10:17) and asks, “How
shall they hear without a preacher?” But sometimes the preacher is unclear;
sometimes we have had a rough evening the night before; sometimes the ambient
noise is annoying; sometimes the preacher’s mannerisms are distracting;
sometimes his voice is too quiet; sometimes his appearance is off-putting. What
is your calling then? It is to listen to the Word preached with all
longsuffering – to listen for the voice of Your Master, Jesus, in the voice
of the preacher and to apply the truth, as best as you are able, to your own
life.
And so reminded that we are to pursue patience
and persistence in the preaching and hearing of the truth, must we not
acknowledge that we often give up too soon, we often boil over in frustration,
we often permit ourselves to grow distracted, we often lack patience? Let us,
therefore, confess our impatience to the Lord; and, as we are able, let us
kneel as we do so. We
will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession
found in your bulletin.
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