I was going through one of my sermon idea notebooks, and at top of one page there was the word: “Christian.” Beside it was a scripture II Timothy 3. The rest of the page had only six words: “Undistracted soldier;” “Rule-keeping Athlete,” and “Hardworking Farmer.” I asked the Lord if that was what He wanted me to share with you this evening, but there wasn’t a voice from heaven, telling me to more forward. Still thinking about it I turned to II Timothy 3 to look at the context, but I couldn’t find anything about soldiers, athletes or farmers.
With my curiosity aroused, I decided to read all four chapters, jotting down what I discovered. I found that Paul described HIMSELF in various ways, but, of course, not all of them apply to us. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God…” That isn’t me or you, but it was definitely Paul. He was a special ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. Later he described himself as a prisoner of the Lord. That was literally true in his case: the apostle Paul was in Rome awaiting a trial before Nero. But I thought to myself, “There is a sense in which all God’s saints are prisoners to God’s love and will.” Maybe this is something I should develop. Then in 1:11 he said, “I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” These were specific responsibilities and offices given to Paul. Some of them apply to some of us, but not all of them to all of us. But what a privilege that man had – a former murderer and persecutor of the saints became a servant of God and a servant to those saints he used to torment. Furthermore, he was in chains at the very brink of martyrdom for the Name of the One who saved him. What a privileged position.
Reading farther on in this letter, I jotted down several specific things Paul says about Timothy. He was encouraged to be a sharer and teacher – “the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Again, what a privilege there is in being a simple sharer. The other day, I bought a man his lunch. He was a stranger to me. I did it because I could do it. The Lord has abundantly blessed me and wanted to share that blessing. I know that some of you have done the same sort of thing. But beyond that, we have the food that starving souls need; we have in our canteens the Water of Life. To that man who I fed, I gave a gospel tract and encouraged him to come to our church service and free meal. With whom have you shared something from God’s word lately? To whom have you given the gospel? Paul encouraged Timothy to be a sharer. He also implied that Timothy was a servant – not a household vassal or slave, but an honored servant of the King of kings. “The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach” (there it is again), “patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” And in chapter 4 the apostle charges his student to be an uncompromising prophet. “Preach the word, be instant in season, our of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
As I said, initially looking II Timothy 3 I couldn’t find an explanation for the notes in my little book. But then I discovered my mistake. The soldier, athlete and farmer are in chapter 2 not chapter 3. Laughing at myself and thinking about those three terms, it occurred to me that they are NOT offices. Paul didn’t tell Timothy to preach to anyone agriculture, athletics or army discipline. These are not recommended occupations for the saints. He is not saying “If you don’t have the body to become a basketball player or sprinter… And if you don’t want to follow your father into farming… You could join the army and become witness to men who risk their lives for their country.”
These are not commands but rather similes or metaphors. Granted they might be more directly applied to pastors and evangelists, but all Christians are to be like soldiers, athletes and farmers in various ways. There are similarities between the work of a soldier, an athlete, a farmer and the servant of God. In other words, there should be similarities between you and these three illustrations.
Paul’s first metaphor is that of an UNDISTRACTED SOLDIER.
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ: No man that warreth entangelth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” I have read in several places that men on both side of the Mason-Dixon line joined their respective armies, thinking that the Civil war would be over in a few weeks. It wasn’t. And many of those idealistic enlistees did not return home. I also know that, today, people sometimes join the military to escape poverty or other bad relationships, but they don’t think through what they are signing up for. Sometimes, when they are training, they cry because their sergeants are mean to them. And then when they go into battle they seem to be surprised that people are actually shooting at them. The Christian needs to realize that his life in this world is not a remote controlled video game. The hatred of God’s enemies is real, and as children of the King, we are in other people’s cross hairs. This is for life, and when the going gets tough, there is no room for desertion. Jesus said to one person, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” – is FIT for the kingdom. As soldiers, the battle is very real. There may come a time when we will be asked to shed our blood for the Saviour who shed His blood for us. In days gone by, some American soldiers went into battle shouting, “Remember the Alamo,” or “Remember the Maine.” And British, Canadian and Australian soldiers often fought for “King and Country.” But we are soldiers of the Saviour, and our battle cry ought to be “that I may please Him who has chosen me.”
The best soldier of Christ does not get entangled in civilian pursuits – the concerns of this present world. Christians have not been called to a monastic life – hidden away from spiritual conflict. And it shouldn’t be necessary that we be drawn into conflicts – sucked into them – on the Lord’s behalf. It should be our joy to draw out the sword of the Spirit and wield it for the Saviour’s glory, even when there is a good chance we’ll be wounded. The soldier of Christ needs to learn his trade; He needs to be ever alert; He needs to stay strong, and to avoid distractions.
Paul is calling for wholehearted devotion to the gospel ministry.
Or to use another analogy; the Christian needs to be a GOOD ATHLETE.
“And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” At first glance, our King James Bible doesn’t appear to be talking about athletics. But there are three or four reasons to say that it is. First, the Greek word translated “strive,” and “strive for masteries,” is “athleo” clearly the root of “athletics.” But athleo–mastery over what? The sprinter, javelin thrower and caber tosser strives to overcome two obstacles. His second obstacle is whoever his opponent might be – the other racers; other competitors. But before that, he must overcome all the weaknesses in himself – his laziness, his bad habits, his mental distractions.
As you know, Paul liked to compare living the Christian life, with running the Christian race. And he talks about boxing and wrestling. He talks about running. “I have found a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness…” “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…” “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
It goes without saying that in most major sports there are rules which must be followed. If someone break the rules, there is no “stephanos” – no victor’s crown. It is not the soul-winner with the most scalps hanging from his belt or notches on the spine of his Bible that the Lord loves to crown. The servant Christ honors is the one who has crossed the finish line following the rules of the race. In soul-winning for example, it isn’t the number of people who have been encouraged to utter the “sinner’s prayer.” Rather, it is how many of those people have been taught about the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man and the thoroughness of Christ’s salvation? We don’t see Paul running all over the Mediterranean world trying to start more churches than Peter. We see him putting the Lord’s will in front of him and doing his best to preach the whole counsel of God.
Paul’s third metaphor in this paragraph was the HARDWORKING FARMER.
“The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.” Who is this husbandman? Is Paul talking about a husband – a married man? I trust you know a “husbandman” is a farmer. I noticed that the Greek expert, A.T. Robertson, called this husbandman “the toiling tiller of the soil.” Not only is that very picturesque, but it got my sleuthing juices flowing. The word “husband” – as in “the spouse” – comes the ancient Saxon language, referring to a “farmer.” Back in the day, there were very few occupations in England beyond tilling the soil. So nearly every husband and family man was a farmer. Furthermore the Greek word is “georgos” (gheh-ore-gos’), which in English looks a lot like “george.” Noah Webster says that the original meaning of the name “george” is someone who works with the soil. And with that we come back to this verse – “the georgos that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.”
What was Paul saying? Christians are to be ground-tillers. Even one or two of Jesus’ parables suggests the same. “Hearken: Behold, a there went out a sower to sow….the sower soweth the Word.” One of our jobs as children of God is to plant the seed of the Word of God. Then we are to water that seed, and weed around it. We are to pray over it, asking the Lord to make it germinate, grow and produce.
How many of the people that you see on a semi-regular basis know that you are a Christian? That teller at the bank; the waitress; your neighbor? And how often do you leave a tract at the doctor’s office or some other public place? “Sow the word, sow it in season and out of season.”
At first glance this verse seems to say that before the husbandman can to do his work he needs to fuel up on last season’s crop. “The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.” But that isn’t what Paul meant. He was saying that the farmer should be the first to partake of the fruit of his labor. We are blessed by feasting on the fruits of our spiritual labor. We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by not serving the Lord as He has ordained – by hiding our talents. If we are to bury anything in the earth it should be God’s seed – not our talents. And when that seed sprouts we will be the second person to benefit.
When I was still in Bible school, I was working at a job across town. That employment put me in touch with a young college student from Africa. The Lord encouraged me to till the soil of that man’s heart and to plant a bit of scriptural seed. In a few months that seed germinated, and that visitor to America was born again. A few months later we parted ways never to meet again in this world. But every once in a while I think about him, and wonder if he returned home like the Ethiopian Eunuch to produce a crop in the field that he owned back in Africa. The knowledge that I may have been a blessing to him, feeds me yet today.
Conclusion:
Paul says, “Timothy, Christian people are to be good soldiers, undistracted by the things of the world.” They are to be athletes, crossing the finish line according to the rules of the race, whether first, second or even later. And they are to be hardworking farmers, planting the right kind of crop in the soil the Lord has placed before us.
Oh, and Timothy, “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things” – verse. 7.