Open your Bibles tonight to second Timothy 2:1
Tonight I want to spend little time talking about how to become a strong church.
I believe everybody here wants to become a strong church. A church that is doing what God would have it to do. Not necessarily a big church. If God wants that, that’s OK, but I’m more interested in becoming a church that is doing what God wants us to be and do.
I believe Paul’s instructions for Timothy gives us a clue of how to go about doing that—becoming a strong church.
So look with me at 2 Timothy 2:1
1Timothy, my dear son, be strong with the special favor God gives you in Christ Jesus. 2You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others.
3Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4And as Christ’s soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in his army. 5Follow the Lord’s rules for doing his work, just as an athlete either follows the rules or is disqualified and wins no prize. 6Hardworking farmers are the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. 7Think about what I am saying. The Lord will give you understanding in all these things. ( 2Tim 2:1-7, NLT)
Let Us Pray.
Paul first begins his instruction by talking about being Strong in Grace.
V1
1Timothy, my dear son, be strong with the special favor God gives you in Christ Jesus. ( 2Tim 2:1, NLT)
Be strong in the special favor. God saved each of us by that favor. We are all sinners. We all fail. We all have our individual hang-ups and mistakes. But we were all saved by that special favor. That is what grace is—it is a special favor. If we are so grateful, as we say we are, for our salvation. And grateful for his grace, the least we could do is to show this grace to others.
I am not talking about compromise. I’m talking about love. God doesn’t compromise. He has rules in place that we are to follow. If we do not there are consequences. But God loves us just the same. And we need to love others just the same.
How does this work? Well I believe churches need to allow for failures and mistakes. This of course involves repentance. But in this case I am more concerned about acceptance. All of us need to be accepted and loved. Each of us have been lonely. We all know how it feels. If we are to be a strong church, we are to be strong in grace. Celebrating our special favor with God in how we approach others. A lot can be said for church that truly loves those around it. We need to be that kind of church.
Paul’s second instruction involves developing leaders.
Look at verse 2
2You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others.( 2Tim 2:2, NLT)
A strong church is built on strong leaders. Leaders that know the Bible. Leaders that think Biblically, which is applying every situation to what the Bible says. I don’t mean a super spiritual, mystical pattern. But I mean a focused, spirit led, Bible based worldview.
Paul says, to teach great truths to trust for the people who were able to pass them on. In our Sunday school classes, we need to be developing people that will be able to pass the great truths to others.
That involves discipleship. But it also involves leadership. The leaders taking some aside to teach them about the great truths of the Bible.
As we do that we will slowly become a very strong church. A strong church that can sustain through the thick and the thin. Leadership is important in developing a strong future. We must develop leaders or we will lose any of the ground that we have gained.
And probably the biggest test of leadership is found in verse three. We as a church are to endure suffering.
3Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.( 2Tim 2:3, NLT)
As I read that verse I remember what it means to endure in suffering. Suffering is not always taking beatings in the name of Christ, or even being imprisoned. I believe suffering in this context means to go to the hardships that bring about discipline. Sometimes it is not the greatest blessing of being a Christian. Sometimes it is difficult to put on a happy face when you serve the Lord. Sometimes that is a struggle for you to endure. As you get up 30 minutes earlier to spend time with Christ. As you remove things out of your life that can draw you into sin. As you rearrange your schedule to spend time with your wife. Those things create a degree of suffering. But we as a church are to endure those. We are to endure those and discipline ourselves to follow Christ completely.
We are to have a mindset of complete devotion to the cause of Christ. That mind set creates suffering. But there is nothing more important than serving Christ completely. And we are to do that.
If we wish to be a strong church, that is what we must do.
In the midst of the suffering. As we develop leaders. As we become strong in grace.
We must always always always focus.
Look at v4
4And as Christ’s soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in his army.( 2Tim 2:4, NLT)
As I have been here, in my first pastorate, about seven months, one of the first things that I have learned is how easy it is to be sidetracked.
We have a lot of things they go on here. To be such a small church, this is a busy place.
And we can get so busy, being busy that we forget our main purpose. Our purpose is not to socialize. Our purpose is not to get big numbers. Our purpose is not to raise a lot money for missions. Our purpose is to glorify God. And we are to do that through the many things that we do, but we are not to be sidetracked from that. There are many churches that focus a lot of energy on evangelism. And that is important. Evangelism is a priority mission. But if we are evangelizing so that we can get credit, we have totally missed the point. We are to give glory to God and everything we do should point to him.
That is all a part of the next statement about growing a strong church. Paul says that we are to Follow the Rules.
5Follow the Lord’s rules for doing his work, just as an athlete either follows the rules or is disqualified and wins no prize( 2Tim 2:5, NLT)
Our society does not like rules. But God takes his worship seriously, and so should we. One of those rules as I’ve stated before is to make everything glorify God. Keep that as our main mission and purpose. We are also to do things decently and in order. The Bible says the we are to live quiet lives. I believe that following the rules means that we are to guide our every action by the Bible. The Bible is the rule book. The Bible is what we are to build our church upon. We need to focus our scriptures. When our leaders teach, they need to teach the Bible. When we endure suffering, we should do it according to the Scripture.
We should follow the rules that God has given us and we need to work hard.
Verse 6
6Hardworking farmers are the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.( 2Tim 2:6, NLT)
It takes hard work for a farmer to grow his food. Like wise, it is going to take hard work for us to become a strong church. It will take all of us with a focus and endurance to become all that God wants us to be.
It takes time to cultivate the lives of those that are outside these doors. We see victories and we see defeats. But we must keep pressing on and working hard. It takes hard work to be a Sunday school teacher. It takes hard work to be a deacon. It takes hard work to be in the choir. It takes hard work share the gospel with our neighbors. But we must. If we are to be a strong church. If we are to do what God wants to do. If we are to see our neighbors come to Christ, we must.
Tonight if you’re here in you never accepted Christ as your Lord and savior, you can do that tonight. God loves you. We are separated from him because of our sin. But Jesus paid the penalty for that sin. And by accepting that payment we can have eternal life with him. So tonight I ask you to come forward, as we sing.
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This sermon was preached at Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church,Union, SC on 28 October 2001. All Scripture Marked (NLT) are from Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.