DO THE WORK

2 Timothy 4:5-8 (KJV)

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Paul has almost completed his second letter to Timothy.

The time of his departure is near.

Imagine him writing a few lines of these two letters at a time. Maybe it took weeks or even months to get them finished.

Imagine:

·   He began writing these letters with the suspicion that he would be sentenced to execution

·   As the lines continue to be written, a few moments here and another there, he has first one appearance before the courts and then another, friends and counselors come and go

·   Perhaps about the time he began Second Timothy, his sentence has been handed down

By time he has picked up his pen to write these words, his execution is only weeks away, maybe a few months.

He’s going to ask Timothy to visit him before winter.

But before he does that he has two more words of instruction for him.

·The first one is directed toward Timothy

·The second is directed toward believers in general

I want to look at the first of those this morning from verse five notice

*I. BE VIGILANT

But watch thou in all things …

The word watch literally means, “don’t get drunk.”

It is used in the Bible to speak about a guard, someone whose job it is to

·   Stay awake

·   Stay alert and

·   Stay aware

of what’s going on around him.

Now the guard, he doesn’t look just one way does he?

He has to look all around him.

He has to be alert to trouble:

·   In front

·   To the sides and even

·   Behind

Him.

Christians ought to be spiritually alert in all areas of our lives – not just the ones we are comfortable with and the ones we believe in the most.

*II. BE BRAVE

…endure afflictions…

This has been a recurring theme hasn’t it?

I am afraid we aren’t very good at it any more.

Christians seem to buckle and cave about just about everything:

·   Abortion

·   Sodomy

·   Standards

·   The truthfulness of the Bible

·   The history of the church

·   Creation

·   Baptism

·   Worldliness

You name it and there is some group of Christians who have compromised it in order to avoid afflictions.

During the Dark Ages there was a group of Christians known as the Waldensians.

·   They were sound Anabaptist believers – credited with winning hundreds and thousands to the Lord.

·   They were also champions of Bible preservation. The translators of the King James Version, as I understand it, had manuscripts that had been preserved by them

But unfortunately, the pressure of persecution eventually wore them away.

The Waldensians still exist in name, but they are a small Protestant denomination, with little influence and very little doctrinal conviction.

They gave up the fight – eventually they quit enduring affliction.

·   Something similar happened to the Baptists in England between 1640-1680.

·   It happened to the Baptists in America between 1776-1740

And I think it happens to Christians of all kinds right now.

Affliction, rather than strengthening us, us making many of us compromise.

*III. BE VOCAL

…do the work of an evangelist…

The work of the evangelist is spreading the gospel.

The evangelist isn’t a revival preacher; he is a purposeful soul winner.

*IV. BE DILIGENT

… make full proof of thy ministry.

This is, to me, the most interesting phrase in the verse.

It means to carry out fully.

A. It has to do with time

Carry out his ministry for the rest of his life

B. It has to do with duty

Carry out his ministry with godly character

C. It has to do with endeavor

Carry out his ministry with all the diligence and energy he has.

It’s his ministry.

It’s not Paul’s ministry or Peter’s ministry.

Every one of us is gifted differently, motivated toward different areas of the ministry and enabled with different strengths.

I am not responsible to do my ministry like anyone else would do it.

Neither are you.

But what every one of us can do is to:

·   Do our ministry with all our ability

·Do it with character and a good testimony and

·   Do it until the Lord calls us to heaven