Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. 2Timothy 1:8-14
The Bible tells us “whatsoever we do in word or deed, we should do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Christian liberty, as well as the most common behavior, is to be conducted to the honor of God. Paul in his service was a servant of Jesus Christ. And as a servant of Jesus Christ, his life was totally committed to the cause of Jesus Christ. So whatever happened to him, he did not take it or look upon it personally but as unto the Lord and all for the Lord’s sake. We are right in the middle of his exhortation to Timothy, a younger man who needed the support from Paul to continue on in the faith, and shepherd the flock of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look at what else the Lord would want us to take with us from this text. A holy calling—Holiness essentially defines the Christian’s new nature and should also mark his conduct. But you may say, “Well, that’s impossible for me to do.” I’d say to you, “You’re absolutely right!” It is impossible for us to conduct ourselves in all holiness and righteousness in our natural selves. But that’s the whole point of what Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, you’ve been called by God, not of your own goodness, or good works, but of His grace and purpose and as you join up with Him, your whole life is now to be turned over to God. All of your efforts and all of your works are to be generated from His Holy Spirit who dwells in you. And because God is holy, It is He who wants us to conduct ourselves now in holiness and righteousness which are from Him. This is such a stark contrast from what we were like before we were saved. The reason for practicing a holy manner of living is that Christians are joined with, and are now associating with a holy God and must treat Him and His Word with respect and reverence.
And so Paul was saying to Timothy, encouraging him, by reminding him of the grace God has called us, with this holy calling. But God did not call you because of your works, (our works) or because you were so deserving or worthy of it, but just to accomplish His purposes of love and of grace which was given to us in Christ before the world began. You see God has always loved us, but it is now made manifest (v.10) by the appearing of Jesus Christ—The Bible says: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the earth shows His handiwork. Day unto day they utter their speech (Psalm 19:1-2). We’ve been told that by the time Christian missionaries had reached certain tribes of people in the jungles of South America, primitive people who had literally no contact with the outside world, that by the time they were told of the love of God, through Jesus Christ, they responded that they already knew of God’s existence through their experiences with the natural resources and jungle life that was all around them. God spoke to them through nature. “Day unto day they utter their speech. Night unto night their voice goes forth. There isn’t a speech or language where their voice isn’t heard.” (Psalm 19-2-3) The message of a created world extends everywhere.
Who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel—“Abolished” means “rendered inoperative.” Physical death obviously still exists, but it not longer carries with it a threat, nor can it be used by our enemy Satan against the child of God. It was until the message of the gospel in the New Testament could heard that God could chose to fully make known the truth of immortality and eternal life, Jesus said, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also (John 14:19). A reality only partially understood by Old Testament believers (Job 19:26). So when you hear that a professed Christian, make that a true believer in Christ dies, he does not die. Not like in the way of a non believer, we are told in the Scriptures written by Paul himself, “we know that when the earthly tent of our body is dissolved,” meaning when my body goes back to dust, decomposes and goes back to dust, “I have a building of God, not made with hands, that’s eternal in the heavens. . .For we know that, as long as we are living in these bodies, we are absent from the Lord; but we would choose rather to be absent from these bodies and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-8). Because heaven by far is a better place than earth, Paul would rather have been there, with God. This sentiment is shared by members of the body of Christ.
I am not ashamed—Paul had no fear of persecution and of death from preaching the gospel in a hostile environment, many of us will never be called by God to do this either. Yet, we have so much fear of rejection by merely witnessing to our neighbors or family members etc. But because he was confident God had sealed his future glory and blessing. And thus he could say, For I know whom I have believed—“Know,” describes the certainty of Paul’s intimate saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, whom he had received from Him, His own special recognition and calling from the Lord Himself while on his way to Damascus to further persecute the believers and followers of the Way (Acts 9:1-6). To summarize, Paul’s life and time had been surrendered, and be given over to the Lord. He lived with this unwavering commitment and confidence and boldness because of his willingness to believe in the power of Jesus Christ and of His faithfulness. And he patterned his life after what he had learned Christ do in his life. That is, be completely yielded to the Father’s will. We can’t get there without this same intimate relationship with the Lord ourselves.
Beloved friend, Let us remain steadfast in our staying close to the Lord. Let us pray and seek after the will of God for ourselves by studying His Word, and then applying it to our everyday lives. We will develop a pattern of sound words for ourselves that will be helpful and useful for those who are in your life. You will be a rich blessing of God’s love and faithfulness to those whom you love, and indeed be a blessing from God to them.
May the Lord bless your walk with Him today!
