Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Tidbits. Today, we are in 2nd Timothy, Chapter 2 and Verse 6.
And Paul has been encouraging his once upon a time protege, Timothy, now a pastor in his own right in the church at Ephesus.
Paul's riding from prison, and he's encouraging Timothy to stand firm for the Lord, to continue to do what God has called him to do. And he gave three specific illustrations of the way in which Timothy needed to conduct himself.
The first one, of course, was to share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, not being concerned about civilian life is what Paul tells him, but seeking to please the commanding officer.
He says, don't get sidetracked with the mundane or with what doesn't really matter to you as a follower of Jesus. He says, instead, seek to please your commanding officer.
Then we saw last time, he says, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. And he says, I want you to be like a soldier listening to your commanding officer.
He says, I want you to be like an athlete competing according to the rules, paying attention to the guidelines that God has for your life. And then today, he says, the hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops.
The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. This word for hardworking, this would be to exert oneself physically, mentally, or spiritually. It would be to struggle.
This would be a word that would often mean to become weary or tired. The person that exhausts themselves in the work of God ought to be a person that, it says, gets a share of the crops. He tells Timothy this.
There is going to be a reward for what you do for God.
And certainly, this is true of those that work in ministry as they are consistently giving the word of God, as they're giving the gospel, as they're doing the work of God, and encouraging God's people to live in ways that glorify God and exalt him
and bless others. There is benefit for those that are involved in full-time ministry work. But that is not simply true for those that are in ministry.
It is true for you today that whatever you do for the Lord, if you are spending time with him, you're spending time listening to his word right now, even as I'm talking, there is benefit for you as you lead your family or your spouse or your
grandkids or your friends to a relationship with God as you're encouraging them to look to the Lord for the answers to the questions that they have. As you're encouraging them to join with God's people, as you encourage them to live like Jesus, to
have a love and forgiveness and a holiness, all of those things, God has a reward for you. Because those that work hard, that is that we're not just Christians when it's easy, but we put in the effort. We don't just love the people that are lovable.
We love the unlovely. We care for those that others would forget about. We care about those that others would reject because maybe their personalities don't match up or they aren't a kind person.
It's not pleasant to be around them.
But as we work hard to love and to care for others, as we work hard to share the gospel, even with those that maybe it might not be the most comfortable to share Jesus with, but we do it anyways, there is a reward that is coming.
He says the hard working farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. That as we do the Lord's work, we personally get blessed in what we are doing.
That we are encouraged because we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us to others. That we're just a conduit of God's information. That it's not us saying, oh, well, I think you need to do this or this or that.
Instead, we are just sharing what God has given to us.
That as we have placed God's word in our heart, if you will, as we have planted the seeds of God's good word into our lives first, that as that seed grows and matures and begins planting seeds in other people, that we are just conduits for what God
has. So let us share, let us plant, let us give to others what God has given to us. And as we do that, we can know, even as Paul would say in Galatians 6, that in due season we will reap if we do not faint.
And there's also, of course, an application here, as Paul mentions in 1st Corinthians that for Timothy, he says, you are employed as a pastor, as an elder at that church, and they will care for you.
And if you work hard, you will see the work that God has wanted to do through your life. You get a share of the crops because you are a hard working farmer. So let us dedicate our lives to the work of God.
Thanks for tuning in. See you next episode.
