Calling Young Men to the Work

Our friend Kevin Schaal gave us a motivating piece on Monday, “We Need More Pastors, Where Are They?” As we age, those of us in the ministry become more and more concerned with succession. (Not that we usurp our congregations! But we are looking out over the horizon to see if there are any ships out there.)

In reading the Pastoral Epistles, I find that succession was much on Paul’s mind as well, especially in 2 Timothy. In this post, I’m going to look at 2 Tim 2.1-7, a very familiar passage to most of us. In this brief discussion, I’d like to provoke new thinking about what Paul says. Since the passage is so familiar, and we’ve heard so many messages from it, we can get into a kind of mind-numbed stupor, and think we understand all that Paul is saying. As Paul closes the passage, he urges Timothy to “Consider what I say,” as he intended for Timothy to glean more from the passage than might come to mind on a surface reading.

First, I’d like to point out some things the passage is not saying. The passage isn’t meant to get “young Timothy” to “man up” and give him a pep talk for the ministry. By the time Paul writes this epistle (mid 60s), Timothy is now well into his thirties. Paul already gave him several responsible duties that he sent Timothy off to accomplish without supervision. Often, in commentaries you find writers demeaning Timothy’s abilities as if he was Paul’s “problem child” or “project.” Is this really what the New Testament reflects about Timothy? I find, instead, that Paul holds Timothy in high esteem and values his service. He writes to exhort him, but he likewise exhorts Titus (whom no one disparages), also, he writes with an eye to future generations. He knows his words will speak across the years until Jesus comes.

Another problem is we misunderstand the flow of the passage. Verse 2, about committing the gospel to faithful men, often stands alone as a text in sermons. In our minds, there is a hard break between verse 2 and verse 3, with apparently little connection between the two. We isolate verse 2, then likewise isolate the three illustrations in verses 3-6, and miss the larger picture of what Paul is saying.

The message of the whole paragraph (verses 1 through 7) seems to be like a recruitment poster for young preachers. We need young preachers; we’ve always needed them. We need them in every generation. The task is far too big for one generation to accomplish, and every generation is mortal. Paul, I find, is appealing to Timothy as to a young preacher, with an eye to encouraging young preachers in every generation to an arduous, painstaking, difficult, but rewarding task.

Consider the preceding paragraph to start with, 2 Tim 1.15-18. Paul bemoans the many who turned away from him, naming a couple in particular. On the other hand, he lauds the services of Onesiphorus, who ministered to him in prison. Co-workers are on Paul’s mind, both good and bad.

Turning to Timothy, he exhorts, “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim 2.1) By being strong, he means remaining steadfast in Paul’s teaching, and passing that teaching on to others (verse 2). Paul illustrates that steadfastness in three ways, pointing to the solder, the athlete, and the farmer.

Now, let’s be careful here. Paul uses these illustrations elsewhere, to make different points. One tendency I’ve noticed of interpreters is to read into this passage certain points of contact that Paul meant for points he was making in other passages. When we do this, we miss the meaning of the present context. Paul is not talking here, for example, about the right of a preacher to be paid for his labors, as he is in 1 Corinthians 9. He is making an entirely different point here.

We also tend to think about many aspects of these illustrations as if Paul means for us to apply every one of them to our understanding of this paragraph. There are aspects of the soldier’s life or the athlete’s life that don’t illustrate or make the point of this passage. Paul doesn’t mention those aspects here, and we shouldn’t read them into the text.

What does he say about the soldier, or athlete, or farmer here?

First, Timothy, “endure hardness.” This is in keeping with the opening exhortation, v. 1, “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” There are sacrifices in the ministry. Endure hardness. How? “As a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Now that imagery should resonate. Even in our modern, high-tech army, the basic work of a soldier in the field is one of enduring hardness. There will be nights without sleep. There might be a long time between meals. There will be hard fighting. Endure hardness.

For this reason, the wise minister won’t entangle himself in the affairs of this life, just as a soldier in active service spends his time in training, practice, and deployment. And then he comes back home for recuperation and more training. This, of course, is not meant to say anything about the possibility of a “tent-making pastor.” Paul was one. He wasn’t preaching against himself. Rather, what the passage means to do is to call the young man to a mindset that is always occupied with the work of the ministry, whatever other responsibilities he might have.

The image of the tough, single-minded soldier is one that ought to appeal to a young man.

The ministry, however, isn’t a no-holds barred battle. Like the athlete, to “be strong” (v. 1) means to “strive lawfully,” lest we be disqualified. In the next illustration, Paul isn’t speaking of the rigors of athletic training (as he does elsewhere, to make a different point). He speaks here about the rules of conduct for the ministry, comparing them to the rules of conduct for an athlete in the games. The young man attracted by the image of the soldier must know that the soldierly image does not allow a macho “anything goes” approach to ministry. Like an athlete, who might be disqualified for stepping out of his lane, so too the minister might fail in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and suffer loss in the ministry. God forbid that any young man in his zeal for God should hinder the propagation of the message.

The image of integrity, seen in the athlete playing within the rules, cautions the young man while it appeals as well.

And then comes the farmer. The point of contact is the laboring farmer, who does receive a reward. Paul’s point isn’t his right of reward, rather his point is the fact of reward. Calling on Timothy, and all the Timothies to follow, Paul is emphasizing sacrificial, rule-keeping, laborious service… but it is rewarded. There is a reward. You don’t serve for nothing. (Of course, the reward isn’t specified here, simply the fact that it exists.)

The image of rest and reward encourages the young man who might be daunted by all this talk of hard work. There is a reward!

Well, what should we do with this passage, in the end? Think it over, verse 7. We need to think about what Paul is saying here. Here are some things I’m thinking today:

• Are our young men thinking of the ministry with the right perspective? Are other fields more glamorous, seemingly more rewarding? Is that how Paul paints the picture?
• Are we presenting the ministry in the right way? Are we over-emphasizing intellectual pursuit? (Must we all be MDiv’s?) Are we “professionalizing” the ministry in ways the Lord never intended? The soldier and the farmer, especially, are ordinary men entering their labors without fanfare.
• Are we allowing too many distractions, both in our own lives and those of our young men? This world is passing away. Do we believe that? Such a premium is on the pleasures of our day. What effect do our distractions have on our ministries and on our call to young men?
• Are we making the ministry to complicated? Paul’s imagery here is single-minded, tightly focused. Are we trying to do too much in our ministries? Does that discourage recruits? Does it distract us from the actual task of “the grace that is in Christ Jesus”?

No doubt we could (and should) ask ourselves more questions. I hope that this exercise of thinking through 2 Tim 2.1-7 might encourage you in your ministry, and perhaps give you an idea to challenge a young man about the ministry as well.

Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.