2 Timothy 3-4 CSB
I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (4:1-5)
This book of 2 Timothy is the last recorded words of the Apostle Paul, and this last chapter is the end of the end. Paul makes it pretty clear towards the end of the chapter that his time is at hand and he is soon to be martyred for his faith and ministry. History records that Paul penned these last words and soon afterward he was beheaded. As Paul writes his very last words to one of his most beloved children in the faith, Timothy, you would think that he would not mince words but would tell him the most important things that he could say. If you knew you had a few paragraphs to write your last testament, what would you say?
In classic Pauline fashion, Paul tells him to “Preach the word, exercise self-control, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and complete your ministry.” Basically, he says, “With all your heart, keep doing the very things that have landed me in prison and are about to mean my physical death.” There is no soft-sell with Paul or an admonishment to be careful and avoid all the trouble that he has gone through. Instead, it is “continue my legacy”… “put it all on the line for Jesus”… “pay whatever price has to be paid so that the gospel message continues to ring forth.” He tells Timothy that the most powerful, most subversive, and most significant thing he can do is to “preach the word.” This is still true today.
He tells him why it is so important as well. “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.” Boy, nothing has changed, has it? We live in a day when more than every people do not tolerate or propagate sound doctrine. More than ever, we live in a time when people are turning aside from the Truth to godless myths and only listening to those who tell them what they want to hear. There is still a desperate need for men of God to preach the word of God accurately, powerfully, and with no compromise. No matter how much things have changed, the gospel is still the answer.
