No Half Measures for Pros Only?

Yesterday I shared some observations on 1 Timothy 4.  There Paul exhorts his spiritual son to hard work in following Christ.

Specifically he instructs Timothy to:

Verse	Instruction
6	Be a servant of Christ
	Be nourished on the words of faith
	Follow sound doctrine
7	Ignore worldly fables
	Discipline yourself for godliness
10	Fix your hope on God
	Be an Example
11	Prescribe and teach these things
13	Pay attention to reading, exhortation, and teaching
14	Do not neglect your spiritual gift
15	Do not neglect these things
	Be absorbed in them
16	Pay close attention to yourself
	Pay close attention to your teaching
	Persevere in these things

Now Paul and Timothy were the pros, right?  So this focus applies to them, those who are leaders in the Body.  For those of us who are simply members of a church this just does not apply…  Well, look at Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in verse 11, “prescribe and teach these things”.

Timothy is supposed to tell those in the Ephesus church to do these things, and teach them how.  Seems like Matthew 28:20, Ephesians 4:11 – 16, and 2 Timothy 2:2.  We are not off that hook.  We are to be all in.

No Half Measures

Timothy was Paul’s right hand man.  He was the one Paul sent to deal with issues in churches.  The church Paul invested the most in was in Ephesus.  Paul sent Timothy there to lead that church.  At the end of his life, Paul wrote two letters to his spiritual son, we have them in our New Testaments, 1 and 2 Timothy.

Reading through 1 Timothy 4 this morning I was struck by a number of things.  First, language of hard labor that Paul uses. In verse 10 Paul uses the terms, labor and strive.  The picture there is clear.  This is not the language of a part time believer.  It is the picture of one who has committed to labor, labor hard.  One who thinks only of finishing the task, the race, well.

Then in verse 15 Paul exhorts his protégé to, “take pains with these things…”  That is not the language of half measures, weekend warriors.  No, this is the language of a pro.  Someone who’s entire focus is to do exceedingly well with “these things”.

Then in the last half of the verse he tells Timothy to be “in” them.  Your Bible probably ads a word like “absorbed” before “in”.  The construction in the original is more subtle and strong.  It is the imperative, the command of the Greek, “to be”.  The command is to be “in” these things, the sense is “all in,” complete and total focus.

Paul does not envision a Christian who is part time.  One who is not all in.  One who does not give his or her all to following hard after the Savior.

But there is more here.  Much more.  I will share some of that tomorrow.

We Do Not Lose Heart – Analysis

Yesterday I suggested that you take a look at 2 Corinthians 4, specifically verses 1 – 2.  There is much encouragement there for those of us who are struggling with raising our kids to be godly people and also those who are engaged in building into the lives of others.

Here is the way I marked the text up in my journal.

Here are my observations:
The first word is therefore, followed closely by since.  Those words are structural markers that, in the case of therefore, indicate the effect of a cause, and in the case of since are giving the support for, or the substantiation of that result.  So we have to look back at chapter 3 to understand what is causing this effect.

Paul is contrasting in chapter 3 the ministry of the Spirit with the ministry of the letter of the Law.  His point is that the ministry of the Spirit gives life.  As a result, therefore we, since we have this ministry, do not lose heart.  The reason we do not lose hear is that our ministry to our kids is not about following something like the law, doing all of the right things.  No, rather it is instead one of the Spirit working in our lives and the lives of our children.

Note the phrase, “as we have received mercy,” the word “as” can be comparative but in this case it is also the reason for or substantiation for why we do not lose hope.  We received Christ, we received the ministry to our kids or those whom God has given us to help as a gift of mercy.  It is not something we earn, it is not something have to do on our own, it is a merciful ministry of and through the Spirit.

Then things get really interesting.  In the context of the book there are people who are following Paul around and claiming to be better apostles with a better message than his.  They elevate themselves and criticize Paul in the process.  It is a pseudo- apostolic competition.  Paul is having none of it.

But we are pulled this way.  This is a really interesting construction.  Note the series of nested contrasts, the things hidden vs. in the sight of God, walking in craftiness vs. commending ourselves to everyman’s conscience, and adulterating (interesting word by the way) the Word vs. the manifestation of truth.

When things like the things that Paul is doing with his ministry, things like praying, sharing the Word of God, modeling discipleship, do not seem to be working, or working fast enough with our kids or those whom we are helping, the pressure we feel is to change something.  Do something more creative perhaps.

Paul seems to be rejecting that reaction.  He is sticking with plainly speaking the truth and living with integrity before all of those with whom he is sharing.  No tricks, no gimmicks, no craftiness, no changing the message to fit the circumstances, just sharing the truth.

There is a lot more here.  You probably saw more than I did.  But that is enough of my observations.  What did you see?

The summary for me, is that my responsibility in all of the assignments that God has mercifully given me is to engage with them through the strength of the Spirit, sharing the Word of God faithfully without trying to change the message, and to do so while living a life of integrity in the midst of my children and those whom God has given me to serve.

It is a really high calling but the overwhelming thing is that the Lord supplies the message and the strength to accomplish it.