You therefore must endure
hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare
entangles himself with the affairs of [this] life, that he may please
him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in
athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the
rules. The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.
Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all
things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised
from the dead according to my gospel,
2 Timothy 2:3-8 NKJV
While most of us are familiar with what
are referred to as the signs of the end, there is one which I often
find sort of flies under the radar so to speak, and that is suffering
by believers. Now you would think that with all of the examples in
the Bible about believers suffering this would not be the case, yet
many of us begin to question whenever we experience pain or hardship
of one sort or another. I know I have done it, and I'm sure most of
you have too because it is a natural reaction whenever something like
this happens.
In this passage, Paul warns Timothy
that suffering is going to be part of the territory that comes with
choosing to serve Christ. You notice Paul doesn't say you “might”
have to experience it, or it's “possible” you will experience it,
he says we “must endure hardship” if we are one of His soldiers.
I know many people who have chosen to serve our country in the
military and the one thing most all of them agree on is the fact that
even though they chose to enlist, in hindsight they had no idea of
some of the things they were going to experience.
Paul not only tells Timothy, and us,
what we are going to experience, he also gives us three attitudes we
need to possess in order to deal with what will come. He illustrates
each of these with an example of three different vocations in order
to help us remember the keys to coping with suffering.
Dedication. A good soldier
dedicates himself to the cause he serves, and no matter what he
experiences he never loses sight of the objective he is fighting for.
In any battle, there are two sides fighting against one another, and
as a result there are always casualties of war. Some are wounded,
some are fatal, but imagine if you will an army made up of soldiers
who turn and run whenever there is a chance of suffering. How
successful would that army be? We as believers have chosen to enlist
in God's army and to serve Him by reaching out to an unbelieving
world with the gospel of Christ. Paul says there will be hardship
but he reminds us that we should always remember we dedicated
ourselves to serve our Lord.
For to you it has been granted on
behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for
His sake,
Philippians 1:9 NKJV
Discipline.
The second illustration Paul uses is that of an athlete running a
race. He reminds us that in order to compete we must abide by the
rules of the competition. I was fortunate enough to participate as a
member of a relay team while competing in college and if there is one
race in track where you can get yourself disqualified quickly it's a
relay. There are judges everywhere checking to make sure you don't
step out of your assigned lanes, interfere with another runner, and
you must pass the baton within an assigned zone. I've seen some
amazing performances negated by a disqualification and the agony on
competitors faces is painful to watch. It seems that Paul is telling
us here that although there may be pain while running between the
lines, there is even more suffering if we run outside of the lines.
But I discipline my body and
bring [it] into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I
myself should become disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:27 NKJV
Diligence. Finally Paul uses
the example of a farmer working his crops to illustrate to us the
attitude of diligence. I live in a rural community where farming is
still the most important part of the local economy. I truly believe
you can't appreciate how hard a farmer works unless you live where
you can watch them work their fields. Have you ever noticed most
farm equipment comes equipped with lights? You can see farmers
working before sunrise and long after sunset every day of the growing
season in our valley and you have to wonder sometimes if they ever
sleep? They prepare the soil, they fertilize, they plant, they
water, they cultivate, they weed, they nurture, and then finally they
harvest. Paul rightly refers to the successful farmer as
“hardworking”, and it doesn't take a lot of thought on our part
to understand what he is trying to tell us. Suffering is going to be
a part of our lives as believers and if we are to be successful we
must be diligent. If we quit and take the easy road when pain and
suffering show up we will never produce a crop.
And we labor, working with our
own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;
1 Corinthians 4:12 NKJV
The question many would naturally ask is if this is all worth it?
Satan's master plan is to make the Church ineffective, and the way he
does that is by discouraging believers by pain and suffering. Paul's
final bit of advice in this passage is to remind Timothy, and us,
that the reason we chose this path in the first place is because
Christ died and rose from the dead to deliver us from sin. No other
gospel can say that, and Paul's advice is for us to never forget what
Christ has done for us. Not only did He die for our sins, He
experienced more pain and suffering than most of us ever will. If
Christ suffered unto death, is it too much to ask that we endure a
little pain and suffering for His sake?
Then Paul, as his custom was,
went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the
Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to
suffer and rise again from the dead, and [saying], "This Jesus
whom I preach to you is the Christ."
Acts 17:2-3 NKJV
Paul
tells us that if we make the choice to accept the sacrifice Jesus
made for us we will experience pain and suffering. But he also tells
us how we can cope with it successfully by adopting three attitudes
which will prevent us from the discouragement that accompanies
suffering. Remember the soldier, the runner, and the farmer and
adopt the attitudes that will help us cope with suffering. Most of
all never forget how much Christ suffered for us, and the fact that
He is waiting just as we are for the time when we will be together in
Heaven, experiencing the victory of finishing the race.
Keep
watching.
