of 3 1 The Good Fight, Week of October 1, 2017 PARTICIPANT GUIDE H E HIGHLIGHT: 2 Timothy 2:1-7 You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer. 5 Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. EXPLAIN We’ve heard it before: the Gospel came to you because it was headed to someone else. In this section, Paul illustrates this concept for Timothy before giving him two images of what a Kingdom worker looks like. v.1 This is another of Paul’s 25 exhortations to Timothy to “be strong.” But Timothy’s strength was not to come from himself; rather, from Jesus’ grace. Grace makes us strong because it causes us to say, “I did not merit the gift of salvation God gave me through Jesus, but I got it anyway. It’s a favor I do not deserve.” When your confidence is in Christ, who is eternal, the attacks of the temporary world should not daunt you. v.2 This is a crystal-clear example of what gospel transmission and a discipleship culture look like: Paul, the more seasoned believer, shared truth about God and His Word to Timothy in the presence of others—the first generation. Timothy is to turn around and do the same to faithful men—the second. But Timothy should teach them with the expectation that they do the same with others—the third generation and on.
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� � of 3 1The Good Fight, Week of October 1, 2017
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
H
E
HIGHLIGHT: 2 Timothy 2:1-7 You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2What you have heard
from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to
teach others also.
3Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No one serving as a soldier gets
entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer. 5Also,
if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the
rules. 6The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. 7Consider
what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
EXPLAIN
We’ve heard it before: the Gospel came to you because it was headed to someone else. In this section, Paul illustrates this concept for Timothy before giving him two images of what a Kingdom worker looks like.
v.1 This is another of Paul’s 25 exhortations to Timothy to “be strong.” But Timothy’s strength was not to come from himself; rather, from Jesus’ grace. Grace makes us strong because it causes us to say, “I did not merit the gift of salvation God gave me through Jesus, but I got it anyway. It’s a favor I do not deserve.” When your confidence is in Christ, who is eternal, the attacks of the temporary world should not daunt you.
v.2 This is a crystal-clear example of what gospel transmission and a discipleship culture look like: Paul, the more seasoned believer, shared truth about God and His Word to Timothy in the presence of others—the first generation. Timothy is to turn around and do the same to faithful men—the second. But Timothy should teach them with the expectation that they do the same with others—the third generation and on.
� � of 3 2The Good Fight, Week of October 1, 2017
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
A
The only qualification that Timothy is looking for in these men was faithfulness. He was not looking for smart, influential, funny, or perfect people—only people who lived lives of faithfulness. They weren’t selected at random, and they weren’t given supernatural apostolic powers by the laying on of hands; they were instructed by other faithful men of God. Discipleship is a process.
vv.3-4 A soldier expects to endure hardship. Followers of Jesus expect the same. If either the soldier or the disciple of Christ give up the moment something difficult hits them, they have misunderstood their purpose and their mission. Spurgeon wrote on this section, “Paul does not exhort Timothy to be a common, or ordinary soldier, but to be a ‘good soldier of Jesus Christ;’ for all soldiers, and all true soldiers, may not be good soldiers. There are men who are but just soldiers and nothing more; they only need sufficient temptation and they readily become cowardly, idle, useless and worthless; but he is the good soldier who is bravest of the brave, courageous at all times, who is zealous, does his duty with heart and earnestness.”
v.5 Christians must also deal with hardship the way an athlete does. An athlete prepares for the oncoming hardships by training, and he must surmount the coming hardships within the rules of his sport. Believers don’t get to pick and choose the rules for a Christian life; they must be armed with the Word of God, which tells them specifically how they are supposed to live.
v.6 Finally, Christians are to be like hard-working farmers: planting when it is time to plant, harvesting when it is time to harvest, and doing it all without expecting the glory that sometimes comes to the soldier and the athlete. But Paul points out one specific part of this metaphor: the farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. David Guzik wrote on this verse, “When Timothy had spiritual food to give to the congregation, he must eat of it first. If he isn’t being fed from the Word of God, he can’t really feed others.” So it is with us: if we are going to feed others the Word, we must be feeding ourselves the Word first.
APPLY
1. What stuck out to you or challenged you in what you heard in the sermon or read in the text?
2. Which of these three images of Christian living—a soldier, an athlete, a farmer—best describes your life lately? Why? Can you think of another one that might illustrate it better?
3. What might it look like for a Christian to get “entangled in the concerns of civilian life”? Does that mean we are not supposed to care about the world around us? Why or why not?
4. Who is someone who has invested spiritually in you? Who is someone you’ve invested spiritually into? Why is it important to “entrust what we’ve learned to faithful people who will be able to teach others”?
5. Who is someone in your life you could begin investing spiritually in? What will that look like, practically?
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PARTICIPANT GUIDE
R RESPOND Challenge your group to respond either privately or corporately to this question:
• If you are not in a discipleship relationship, why aren’t you? What do you need to get started?
• If you are, what are ways you can improve those relationships this week?
Encourage one another through email, text messages, or coffee dates throughout the week to build up and encourage each other.
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