Preach the Word – 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Christian ministers must be, in Paul’s words in 2 Timothy, must be examples of faith, purity, and patience, gentle, disciplers, and sober-minded.  But at the core of all that they must handle accurately the Word of truth and they must preach that Word with sound doctrine, both reproving and encouraging.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  (2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)

Paul gives Timothy yet another charge, this one backed by the Father and the Son and the certainty that Jesus is coming again to judge everyone.  The charge is to preach the word when it is easy and when it isn’t.  The Scripture, which Paul just described as God-breathed and useful for equipping us, is the content of this preaching.  The methods of applying Scripture include reproving and rebuking, because Scripture goes counter to our natural tendencies, and exhorting or encouraging with patience and instruction.  We need both the positive and the negative reinforcement of God’s word.

The reason this is so important for Timothy to do is the time is coming when it will be hard to find those who will submit to such soul-cultivation. People will simply want to hear those who scratch their itch, give them what they want to hear to affirm the wrong direction they are already going.  They will want false teachers.  But Timothy must not yield to this.  He must fulfill his calling as an evangelist, one who proclaims the true gospel, ready to suffer as needed for the sake of the truth.

Every believer must have this mindset, even if we don’t consider ourselves “preachers.”  We are called, each one of us, to proclaim what we have seen and heard, to give testimony to what Christ has done in our lives, and to offer the kingdom to all who will listen, and all this consistent with the Scriptures.