Let’s remember as we read verses 1 to 19 they can be looked at as a section where we learn that you and I can do two things if our spiritual condition before God is good; firstly, we’ll be able to know what God wants us to do, and secondly, we’ll have the strength to carry it out day by day. Wonderful? Wonderful! Let’s do it.
V.1 Once more, he is told to be strong; this time in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. For though people may fail and the truth be given up, yet Christ Jesus remains ever the same.
V.2 Timothy was to pass on the truth to faithful men that they also might pass it on to others. It does not say educated or smart but “faithful men” — men who would stand for the truth that they had learned. Truth does not change or go out of style.
V.3-4 Timothy is compared to a soldier who must learn to endure hardness, to be separate from that which would entangle him, and to please the One who chose him. We are so easily entangled with things that hinder the time we spend for the Lord Jesus. Too often, we blame our duties, but, let’s be honest, do we give Christ our time when our duties are finished? Remember 1 Samuel 2:30. A good verse to memorize and to do.
V.5 In athletic contests, there are rules that must be kept. To cheat, or to disregard those rules, will not win the gold metal. And so in the service of the Lord, God’s Word instructs us in that which the Lord requires, and we dare not ignore this.
V.6 The farmer must work in his fields before he receives any fruit for his work, Timothy’s laboring time was now, and the fruits would come later — so will yours!
V.8 An example of what Paul has been speaking about for the fruit of the Lord was in resurrection. The Lord’s life and preaching seemed so fruitless until that moment. Let us also labor and wait!