PT3 "The Teacher" (2 Tim. 2:2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/6/2025 10:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  PT-3 “The Teacher”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 2:2

 

            Message of the verse:  “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

 

            I continue to look at this verse in today’s SD.  The job of every believer to pass the good news of the Gospel on to others, and so we see that the apostles, some for only a brief time before they were martyred, did proclaim the gospel they had received from Christ to other faithful men—prophets, elders, deacons, and many others—among whom was Timothy.  So that means that it was Timothy’s turn to entrust the gospel, and all other divinely revealed truths that he had learned to others. 

 

            John MacArthur tells a story in his commentary that he also mentioned in his sermon on this subject of teachers.  “In a state invitational track meet during my college years, I represented my team as the second man in the mile relay.  The first man ran a fast first leg, and I did well on the second.  But soon after I passed the baton to the third man, one of our best runners, he stopped, walked onto the infield and sat down.  Our first horrified thought was that he had pulled a hamstring or twisted an ankle.  I ran across the field and asked, ‘What happened?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied, ‘I just didn’t feel like running anymore.’  Understandably, his teammates, the coach and everyone else from our college were sickened and disgusted.  ‘How could you do that?’ we asked.  ‘Don’t you know you’re not just representing yourself, but your team and your school?  Have you forgotten all the time the coach has invested in you and that your teammates have invested to get where we are?  How could you, in one brief, selfish second, destroy all of that?”

 

            Now you know that there is a deeper point that MacArthur brings out of this story and it is infinitely on a more important level.  There have been countless leaders in the church who have simply dropped out of the Lord’s service, some with no better reason that what this college runner did by just not feeling like he wanted to run the race.  The race of the Christian life is the most important race anyone can run in and if one looks back at the cross a place where all of our sins were paid for, where for three hours our Lord Jesus Christ was separated from His Father who took all of the punishment due us at that time for us so that we can one day enter into heaven.  A long time ago when I was teaching a group Bible study to new believers we were talking about what happens at the judgment seat of Christ, the Bema seat where all of the saved saints of the church will attend to receive rewards.  The passage speaks of those whose robs will smell of smoke as they were still saved but did little or nothing for the cause of Christ.  We came up with the saying that we did not want to have “smokey robs” at the judgment seat of Christ. 

 

            I have written about Ephesians 2:10 in many of my Spiritual Diaries stating that my belief is that before time began that God had set us apart for good works, by giving us certain spiritual gifts which will be used by us to serve Christ while in our earthly bodies.  It is very important to find out what our gifts are, and the Lord will show us, and that we then use those gifts that He has given us for the cause of Christ.  Jesus said to His disciples that it was important that He go away, and the reason was that the Holy Spirit would come to empower believers and thus there will be many believers doing what they were called to do for the cause of Christ.  Timothy was certainly one of them and Paul is writing this letter to him to encourage him to get back into the race and keep running for the cause of Christ.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  To remember that God has not given me a spirit of fear but of love and a sound mind.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

 

1/6/2025 11:02 AM