May your people be built up, we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Would you please be seated? Throughout the Bible, we see the importance of the transmission of truth throughout the generations of God's people. God certainly is concerned that orthodoxy is preserved. in the present in a single generation. We talked about that last Lord's Day. But God also wants orthodoxy preserved throughout the generations. He wants the torch to be passed, the torch of truth, the torch of the gospel to be passed on from generation to generation. We see this in various places throughout the Bible. One of the places that comes to mind is the book of Judges. In Judges, at the beginning of the book, we're told about the faithfulness of Joshua, the successor to Moses. And how in Joshua's generation, all the people of Israel knew and served the Lord. And then the elders that outlived Joshua in that generation, all the people knew and served the Lord, the majority of them. But then we read in Judges chapter 2 and verse 7, that after that generation was gathered to their fathers, it says, there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel. There was a stopping of the passing of the baton, if you will. and a generation came up that was essentially apostated, had fallen away from the truth of God. And as you read through the book of Judges you see the problems that created for the national life of Israel in that the torch wasn't really being passed to future generations. There would be a generation that would serve the Lord when God raised up a faithful judge, but then after the Lord delivered His people they fell back into apostasy and sin. And so God shows a concern in the book of Judges for passing on the torch We also see this concern in the book of Psalms, in Psalms 78 in verses 5-8 God says these words, He says, He established a testimony in Jacob, and He appointed a law in Israel which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children. That they should set their hope in God and not forget the work of God, but keep His commandments. That they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. Paul knows his Bible, and many other examples could be given of this sort of thing. He knows that God wants His truth to be passed down from generation to generation. He wants there to be a succession of truth, a succession of covenant faithfulness. Not just in the present, but in the next generation, and in the generation after that. And God uses His people to preserve that truth. This is why Paul has been reminding Timothy of his past heritage. Remember earlier on in the letter, he had referred to a sincere faith that dwelt first in his grandmother, and then in his mother, and now in Timothy. There was a succession of passing down the torch, if you will, in Timothy's life. Paul refers to his own life, how he serves God, as did his ancestors, with a clear conscience. And we realize that Paul is one who has received truth that has been passed down to him. But as Paul knows that his time is running out, as he knows that he's facing the sword of Nero, he wants to make sure that it is crystal clear in Timothy's mind that what he's heard from Paul, that Timothy must then entrust to faithful men. And those faithful men must then in turn pass it down to others, so that the truth is transmitted throughout the generations. Notice some of the things that Paul says here to Timothy about transmitting this truth down through generations, and we'll be thinking about not just how this applies to Timothy as a minister, but also to all of us as we're passing the baton, as we're passing the torch of truth. What are some of the things that Paul says? You can see in this passage that Paul reminds Timothy that he is to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The source of his strength is the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He says there in verse 1, you then my child, that Timothy was Paul's child in the faith, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. That in order for Timothy to pass down this faith and continue to communicate the truth, he needs supernatural strength that comes from outside of himself. He needs a supernatural strength that comes from none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In another place, the Apostle Paul would speak about, in Philippians 4.13, how we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And the idea in that passage was the strength of Christ to face any circumstance in life. And here the idea is that Timothy, in order to be a faithful minister of the Gospel, and to faithfully pass on the truth of God, he needs the grace of Jesus to strengthen him. And what that means, essentially, is that Timothy needs to ever be aware of his own sin and his own weakness. Because we know that the grace of God is for sinners. And we know that the grace of God is for those who are weak. His grace is sufficient for us in weakness, and His power is made perfect in that state of heart. And we recognize that that grace of God is His undeserved, unearned favor that He has for those who deserve only His wrath. We deserve His wrath. We deserve His judgment, even as Christians. And yet we realize that we need His grace every day, we need His love and His acceptance that is not based on how well we perform, or how well we are obeying the Lord, but rather it is a favor that depends not on us, it depends on the goodwill of God Himself and His sovereign freedom to bestow it to us continually. God's grace strengthens us because it reminds us that He favors us, even when we least deserve it, and He will support us through all the difficulties of life. Paul has told Timothy that he's going to share in suffering. He's told him that earlier on in chapter 1, he says it here in our text, that he's going to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. And Timothy needs to know in the midst of that suffering and difficulty of a love that will not let him go. of a love that is in Christ Jesus. We know that grace is not just an abstract concept, but grace is actually the person of Christ. Christ Himself is the grace, He is the gift. And it is through our union with Christ that we are strengthened and empowered to do the things that God calls us to be and calls us to do. Douglas Milne says this, an honest acceptance of our weakness is the way to experience Christ-enabling power. When we honestly accept the fact that we are weak, that we are sinful, that we cannot stand in our own power, we cannot pass the truth on to our children or to other disciples or to those we are mentoring without the grace of God in our lives. Now, what does it mean to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus? Does that mean just we sit around, stand around, and wait around till God zaps us with grace? And He just invades our life with an impression of the love of Jesus, and just wait for that to happen? Well, we know that's not the way it works. But God ordinarily gives His grace to us through means. And this is why we refer to the means of grace, the outward and ordinary things that God uses in our lives to give us His undeserved, unmerited favor. They're not means to grace, they're not activities that we do to earn grace that wouldn't even make sense. but they're channels that God has promised to bless and to strengthen us through those means to strengthen us with the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We refer to the means of grace as the Word, the sacraments, and prayer. Think about the Word, when the Word is preached and especially when we hear about Christ and we hear about all the spiritual blessings that come to us through Christ, we hear about the forgiveness of our sins and we hear about being adopted into His family, and we hear that we have been given the Holy Spirit, and we hear that He loves us with an everlasting love, and we hear the good news of who Christ is and what He has done for us. There's a strengthening of the soul that takes place under the means of grace, the ministry of the preached Word. are hopefully we read our Bibles every day. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And there's a strengthening when you eat physical food. There's a strengthening when you read the Word, and you take it in as your bread, as nourishment for your soul. And the promises of the Word especially strengthen us where God tells us what He promises to be for us in the covenant. And we are to remind ourselves of these promises. We are to collect them in our memory banks and to remind ourselves frequently of what God has said He will do in His Word, and we will be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We also know the sacraments are means of grace. We should remind ourselves daily of our baptism. We know that in baptism, it is not primarily an action of man, that we do an act of obedience. But rather, baptism is primarily a sign and seal of what God has promised to do for His elect. He has promised to wash away our sins with the blood of Christ, even as water washes dirt from the body. He's promised to give us the Holy Spirit. And reminding ourselves of the meaning of our baptism means that we remind ourselves of what God has promised to do, what it was outwardly signified and sealed and represented and ceremonialized in the baptismal events. Do you remind yourself often of your baptism? We know that this is part of our faith. The larger catechism calls it improving one's baptism, to think of it and what it means and apply it to us. Often Luther would do this and he would say, I am a baptized man. He didn't mean something superstitious about the ritual itself. He was talking about the meaning of baptism. And we see Paul doing this in various places in the Bible, where he talks about, do you not know what your baptism means? It means union with Christ in His death and burial and resurrection, to live and walk in newness of life. Part of grace is using our baptism daily. The benefit of it's not just attached to the moment in time in which it is administered, but throughout the whole course of our lives. We draw on that grace. We also do this at the Lord's table, when we come to the Lord's table and we receive bread and wine in commemoration of Christ's death, we receive the body and blood of the Lord in a spiritual manner and we are really nourished. We are not just doing the act of remembering what Christ did, we are doing that, but we are also actually being fed with Christ and being strengthened at His table and being given that means of grace so that we can serve another day and continue to be faithful to the Lord. What about prayer? We have words, sacraments, and prayer. When we pray, our faith is nourished and strengthened. It is increased. Sometimes we don't feel like praying, or we don't want to pray, or we're not in the mood. But when we act by faith to call upon the name of the Lord, He hears, and He answers, and He gives us the graces we lack. He is a good father, and He will give the Holy Spirit to all those who ask of Him. You know, Jesus said, we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children. Our children ask for bread, we don't give them a stone, or fish, and we don't give them a serpent, so our Father is good and He will give us the strength that we need. If we ask, we do not have because we do not ask. You see, being strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, yes, the grace comes from God, but God has promised to give it to us through the tributaries of these means that He's promised to bless and use in our lives. And Paul knows Timothy will need that supernatural source of strength, and we do as well. Secondly, notice Paul also tells Timothy that he's going to have to spend time investing in faithful men. He tells them to be strengthened by the grace of Jesus. Secondly, he says spend time investing in faithful men. Look what he says, what you've heard from me. So Paul is the apostle, Paul is the mentor, if you will. What you've heard from me, Timothy, in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men. And then those faithful men will teach others also. Do you see how he's talking about passing on the torch, passing on the baton? He mentions at least three different generations. What you have heard from me, first generation. Entrust to faithful men, second generation. Who will be able to teach others also, third generation. You see, he's concerned about the transmission of truth. He wants Timothy to take the truth that he's learned from Paul and pass it on. Our faith is not meant to just be selfishly hoarded, but it is to be lovingly and generously distributed so that others may believe and so others may know and walk in it. These words remind us of what Paul says in another place when he says, follow me as I follow Christ. This is meant to be passed on. It is meant to be believed and loved for future generations. But notice what all this hinges on, all this passing the torch will hinge on. It will hinge on the fact that Timothy shows wisdom and discernment in identifying faithful men. Why does Paul highlight faithful men here? Well, because we know that ministers can waste their time pursuing people who are not interested in the Word of God, spinning their wheels with people who have no desire to be taught and to be delivered the message so that they can then teach others. And so Paul is trying to give Timothy focus. He's saying, look, you can't be all things to all people. You can't be everywhere. You're only one man. You've got to choose where you invest your time and spend it with faithful men. Where did Paul get that? He got it from the Lord Jesus. Jesus didn't try to spend equal amounts of time with everybody in Israel. but rather He chose 12 disciples. And as you go through the Gospels, when you look at Jesus, He doesn't even spend all of His time just with the 12. He has an inner three, Peter, James, and John, and He's really investing in them. He's prioritizing the quality of discipleship that He will give to that inner three. And so it is the case here that Paul is saying, Timothy, you've got a lot of energy, you've got a lot of motivation as a young man, but don't burn yourself out trying to do too much. Choose faithful men and identify them as your targets for discipleship. Now how could faithful men be identified? He doesn't mention it here, but we can think through some of the obvious things. If we just ponder this for a moment, what this might mean. Faithful men, it could be translated believing men, reliable men. What is it talking about? A couple of characteristics of faithful men. Teachability would be one. Faithful men would be willing to learn. They want to learn what the Word of God says from Timothy because he's been taught from Paul. He's an apostolic delegate. They want to humble themselves. They're not know-it-alls. They're willing to be taught. They don't think they know it all already. They have a teachable and a humble spirit. Secondly, we could say that they're reliable. Faithful men can be trusted with tasks without micromanaging. If He's to entrust this message then to them who are going to teach others also, it makes no sense if He has to stand over their shoulder and make sure that they do it. But He wants to be able to hand it to them and know that they will follow through, and they will do the task of passing that truth on to others. So faithful men are teachable men. Faithful men are reliable men. They are also men in the third place who have consistency. Faithfulness is marked by regularity of doing the same thing. Think about our God, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There's a regularity to it. There's a uniformity to it. Consistent in prayer, consistent in the Word, consistent in church attendance you might say. Consistent in service. Timothy's supposed to identify these men and pour the truth into them, so that that torch of truth, that apostolic succession of truth would be passed on. Now notice that as Timothy is identifying these faithful men and passing this gospel on, that this really does help us to understand what the church means when we talk about apostolic succession. Of course our Roman Catholic friends would say that apostolic succession has to do with with listening to a priest who can trace back his ordination through the laying on of hands all the way back to the apostles and he can show the genealogy of how the one who ordained him goes all the way back to the apostles and they would say we have apostolic succession. But in the Bible it never talks about that kind of apostolic succession. In Scripture, apostolic succession is the passing on of the truth. The truth that the Apostles taught. So what Paul taught, Timothy would teach. And what Timothy taught, those who learned from him, the faithful men, would also teach. Commentator puts it like this, the true apostolic succession is a theological one. It's the continuity of saving doctrine in the teaching office of the church. Think about it like this, maybe you have two churches, and you have two men preaching from two different pulpits. One man can trace his ordination all the way back to the apostles, but he's preaching salvation by works. Another man doesn't know where, who ordained him, but he's preaching the gospel of grace. Who is more apostolic? The one who is preaching the truth that the apostles preached, not the one who has the laying on of hands that goes back to the apostles. What Paul is talking about here is the transmission of truth. What you heard from me, Timothy, teach the faithful men, they will teach others. That's what it means to convey this apostolic truth. This, what do we call it? The pattern of sound words. The truth according to godliness. The deposit of the faith. It is to be passed on by words and by loving discipleship in the context of meaningful relationship. what you've heard from me, give it to faithful men." And so he tells him to be strengthened by grace, he tells him to invest in faithful men, and thirdly here, he tells him to be single-minded in his devotion to the Lord, single-minded. Look what he says in terms of capturing this single-mindedness. Paul uses a lot of illustrations, doesn't he? And they just, they come very quickly. One of the illustrations is of soldier. He says, be single-minded like a soldier. He says, share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Timothy, a minister is a soldier. All Christians, in a sense, are soldiers in the sense that we are in a battle for the Lord. Soldiers do not expect it to be easy. They do not expect it to be effortless. They do not expect it to just kind of be like you're on vacation. Soldiers know it's going to be hard and difficult. There's going to be opposition. There's going to be blood, sweat, and tears. And so Paul says to Timothy, this isn't going to be easy. Some of the faithful men that you invest in will turn out to be faithless men. And when you're trying to teach faithful men, it'll be hard, and you'll have to have patience, and you'll have to love them and teach them the truth over time, and there'll be slow growth, and there'll be setbacks. But be a good soldier and share in the suffering that goes along with loving these men and teaching them the truth so that the gospel is continuously passed down. But notice soldiers are also single-minded in verse 4. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. The soldier has a singleness of mind. He doesn't want to get involved in civilian pursuits. He's enlisted in the army. He wants to fight the battles of the Lord. wants to please His commanding officer, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what He cares about. He doesn't care what man thinks. Riches He heeds not, nor man's empty praise. God is in its inheritance. Now in all ways as we sing He is devoted to the Lord. These civilian pursuits do not refer to sin. There's nothing sinful about civilian pursuits. Civilian pursuits are Lawful pursuits for civilians, but he is a soldier, and he is supposed to have devotion to the task of making disciples. and recognize those who are in the ministry recognize that there are distractions often that come in the way of a minister doing what he's called to do. We saw that early on in the book of Acts when the apostles are tempted to stop devoting themselves to prayer in the ministry of the word to wait on tables when the widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And so they form the beginnings of the diaconate there, so that the apostles can devote themselves to the ministry of word and prayer, so they're not distracted, if you will, by civilian pursuits, other things that are good things, but they're distractions from the role of a minister of the word. I once knew a pastor who thought it was a great idea for his church to start a Christian school. Christian school is a wonderful thing, we need Christian schools, especially in our generation. But he found that he was spending so much time trying to get this Christian school started that it was a distraction from his role as a minister of word and sacrament. Because it was so hard to get it started, it was so hard to deal with the politics of the school, and he realized eventually that for him it was a civilian pursuit, it was a distraction from what he was called to be as a minister. We recognize that there's nothing sinful about doing that, there's everything good about that to someone who's called to do it. But we must be careful about things that distract us from the primary calling of the ministry of the Word of God. We see this today, even in some places where ministers try to be experts on contemporary politics. And they try to know everything there is to know about contemporary politics, and they give their hot takes in their sermons and talk about what Christians should think about this or that political issue as if they know everything about it. Well, we've got to be very careful about that. There are civilian pursuits, things that are good for civilians to know about and to care about as Christians, and Christians should be involved in politics. But there are things that are outside the realm, outside of the realm of what we are talking about when we're talking about the ministry of the Word passing on, and Christians apply that as they figure things out on their own by the work of the Spirit. We recognize that the devil places all kinds of distractions in the way of those who are seeking to be faithful to the Word, to get them off onto other things. And Paul says to Timothy, keep your eye focused on proclaiming Christ and pleasing your commanding officer. Don't worry about these other things, these distractions that can get you distracted. out of the narrow path that Christ has called you to walk. So he talks about a single-minded soldier. He also talks here about an athlete. Aren't athletes also like soldiers in a lot of ways? He says in verse 5, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The crown there refers to the laurel wreath of victory that an athlete would win, a runner who runs the race and finishes first. There's a devotion to an athlete. We've all recently seen the Olympics, and we know the devotion that those athletes put into perfecting their particular event. There's discipline, there's diet, there's effort and energy that goes involved, and they want to follow the rules so they're not disqualified. And it requires even more discipline for that reason. And so the apostle is here saying to Timothy, he's saying, follow God's rules, exert discipline, effort to be the best minister of the word that you possibly can be and make sure that transmission of truth is being passed on. Paul uses the athletic imagery in other places in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, he talks about this in verse 24. Do you not know that in a race all run, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and I keep it under control. Lest after preaching to others, I could be myself disqualify. He refers to a runner and the single-mindedness of running to the finish line. He refers to a boxer, not who just beats the air, but disciplines the body so that he can win the fight. It's hard work and dedication and determination and effort and all of those virtues that we know. We learn when we are involved in athletics, even as a soldier would learn serving his commanding officer. Or what is another image he uses here? A farmer. In verse 6, he says, it is the hard-working farmer who ought to have his first share of the crops. Farming is hard work. farming requires considering the soil, and planting the seed, and tending the crop, and all the tireless efforts that go into that, the anxiety of worrying, are we going to have enough rain, and so on and so forth. Much responsibility and much dependence on the sovereignty of God. But the farmer has to work hard in order to have a crop. And it is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops, he says, because of his hard work. Another place the scripture says the laborer deserves his wages. And so Timothy would share in the spiritual fruit that would be produced by his own labors. There are so many things that go on into discipling others, teaching others, constantly pursuing Constantly teaching and re-teaching things that were misunderstood. Being patient with someone's ability, what they can take in, and how much they can take in. And laboring to help them to get it, and when you think they get it and you realize, no they don't get it, to continue to try to help them get it. It's like farming. Planting the seed, watering the seed, and wanting to see growth and development. And this kind of single-mindedness obviously would also call for Timothy to be somewhat of a contemplative. Verse seven says, think over what I say. For the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Faithfulness should be pondered by Timothy. Think through, what does it look like to be a hard-working farmer, a single-minded soldier, an athlete who competes according to the rules? What does it mean to be strengthened by the grace in Christ Jesus? We will minister to others out of the overflow of our own hearts. And so we need to tend our hearts and make sure that they're filled with the things of God so that when we spill over into those to whom we minister, we spill over truth and grace and Christ. And so Paul wants Timothy to ponder these things because the Lord will enlighten his mind and give him understanding so that he can faithfully pass the torch to the next generation. What does this mean for us? this strengthening that we get by the grace of God, this investing in the faithful, and this single-mindedness. Well think about yourself, maybe you're a mom, grandmother, maybe you're a father or a grandfather, maybe you're a Sunday school teacher, you're helping on Wednesday night, or maybe you're mentoring somebody. Where are you finding the strength to fulfill that calling? The strength to fulfill that calling to invest in someone else for the sake of the kingdom and pass the torch of truth to them is to constantly be a recipient of the grace of God through the means of grace, to know your weakness, that you need to hear the preaching of the word, you need to read the Bible, you need it, you need to be reminded of the promises of God signified and sealed to you in your baptism. You need to be feeding on Christ at the Lord's table. You need to be praying. We need these things. It's like oxygen to us. We need to breathe. We need to live. We need to be strengthened and nourished. We need the grace of God every day to be faithful. We cannot do it in our own strength. We will fall into despair if we do it just because it's the right thing to do. Or just because we love people. It's good to love people. are just because we were taught to do it. But we've got to know the overwhelming, astonishing grace of the Lord Jesus that is greater than all our sin that comes to us through our union with Him. That will strengthen us and motivate us, knowing that we are sinners, great sinners, but Christ is a far greater Savior. And also, where are we spending our time investing? Are we spending our time spinning our wheels, our people who are not interested, or we need to step back and just pray for them? Or do we know some, do we see some who are hungry? They're hungry for the Word, they're hungry to faithfully follow the Lord. They just need someone to come alongside them and teach them and love them and speak truth into their life. They just need someone to come and show them the truth of God. Pray for discernment. to identify those in your path who are the faithful men, the faithful women, whoever they may be that can be taught the truth of the word of God so that they might then pass it on to others. You've heard it before that Christianity is like this, you have a hand up reaching for someone to pull you up and you have a hand reaching down trying to pull someone else up. That we need to be discipled and we need to be discipling others. Are we doing that? And then, is there single-mindedness? There's so many distractions, aren't there? I mean, we recognize this. In this world, there's so many things that are constantly saying, pay attention to me. And those things are not always bad and of themselves. They're things that can be enjoyed in their proper place. Maybe sports or hobbies or recreations or things that we want to do just for ourselves. We say, I just need a little time for myself. But it can be a distraction from what really matters. Investing in people with immortal souls who will either spend an eternity with the Lord in heaven or in hell. Being part of the process of making sure the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints is kept pure in all ages and being an instrument of God to pass that down. That is far more important than some of the things that we are distracted by and we need to allow the Holy Spirit to give us a spiritual gut check and say, remember what really matters. Remember what really matters in life. That is knowing and loving and serving the Lord Jesus Christ yourself, but also proclaiming the love and grace and mercy and truth of Jesus to others. and investing in people so that they would know that love and that grace and truth and be able to give that to still others. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you that you have called upon us in different ways in relationship to our different callings and stations in life to pass the torch on to others. Lord, no one has a light and puts it under a bushel, but they put it on a stand, and so it gives light to all in the house. And so, Lord, we pray that we would shine the light of your gospel on others, and help us to have the eyes to see the faithful people in our lives that we can invest in for eternity. And help us to be single-minded and devoted to the things that you've called us to do, and not be distracted. by the things that would get us off track. We know that we can't do this. It's absolutely impossible to do this on our own. So strengthen us by the grace, the overflowing and abounding grace that is in Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself up for us. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.