Now if you would take your Bibles in hand, we return to our regular studies in the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 2; page 996 if you’re using a church Bible. With the prospect of his own martyrdom hanging over him, aware his ministry was drawing to its conclusion, the apostle Paul is writing to help his young protege, Timothy, persevere and stay the course and finish the race as he conducts his ministry in the city of Ephesus. And as we’ve seen, one of the major obstacles confronting Timothy as he seeks to persevere is the issue of false teachers and false teaching. In our passage this morning in 2 Timothy chapter 2:20-26, Paul continues to instruct Timothy on how to deal with false teaching and false teachers. And at the heart of his argument is the insistence that character matters and not just results. Character matters, not just results. Who we are as Christians and the manner in which we conduct ourselves must always take precedence over the outcomes. The ends do not justify the means. If false teaching is both sourced in and productive of more and more ungodliness, which is what Paul said happens as we saw when we looked at this last time, then a faithful minister like Timothy must understand that a spiritually productive, fruitful ministry and a godly life always go together.
Now we live in a time, don’t we, when character is no longer valued as it once was. Spend any time online and you’ll hear plenty of voices, claiming to be Christians even, who seem to be utterly unconcerned about their foul speech and their dishonest tactics and how those things undermine the profession that they make. Turn on your favorite news outlet and it doesn’t take long to find political leaders and business tycoons who care nothing about character and they only care about results. But in the church of Jesus Christ, basic Christian godliness cannot be negotiated depending on the exigencies of the situation. Paul wants Timothy to see, he wants us to see that who we are matters if we hope to be useful in our Lord’s service.
Now we are going to examine Paul’s teaching in verses 20 through 26 under three simple headings. First, we are going to survey verses 20 through 25 as a whole and highlight what we’ll call the contrasts of a godly life. The contrasts of a godly life. Paul structures his discussion up to about verse 25 around a series of contrasts between behavior he wants us to reject and behavior he wants us to embrace. The contrasts of a godly life. Then we’ll go back in the second place to verse 21 and focus on the usefulness of a godly life. The contrasts, then the usefulness of a godly life. When everyone around us says that the good guys can’t win, that the way to get ahead in a dog-eat-dog world is to forget about character and to go for the jugular, Paul calls us to see the connection in God’s economy between Christlikeness and usefulness in His service. The contrasts, the usefulness of a godly life, and then thirdly, looking at verses 25 and 26, the purpose of a godly life. Paul highlights what Timothy’s goal ought to be as he endeavors to fulfill his ministry with a godly character. The contrasts, the usefulness and the purpose of a godly life.
Before we look at each of those, let’s bow our heads together and pray and then we’ll read the text. Let us pray.
O Lord our God, grant that by Your Spirit now we may behold wondrous things out of Your Law, for the honor and glory of the name of Christ. Amen.
Second Timothy chapter 2 at the twentieth verse. This is the Word of God:
“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
Amen, and we praise God for His holy, inerrant Word.
Let’s think first of all about the contrasts of a godly life. The contrasts of a godly life. In verse 20, Paul begins by picturing a great house full of various vessels for a variety of uses. Some are gold and silver; others are wood or clay. Some are for honorable use; other vessels are for dishonorable use, like the disposal of waste. When I was a boy, we had a living room in our house – I think you’d call it a den here – it was where we spent our time together as a family. But then we had another room, a sitting room, that was kept special. I wasn’t allowed to play in there. It was for company. What ever happened to company? Nobody has company anymore, do they? But we had a room for company, and we had fancy china that only ever came out for company. And my mother would bake a cake, and we weren’t allowed to touch it; it’s for company! And it would be served on the company china! We had vessels for honorable use, you see. They were reserved and kept special and set apart.
And Paul says that’s a picture of the church of Jesus Christ. There are vessels committed to an honorable use and others to a dishonorable use. And we ought to aspire to be vessels for honorable use. Verse 21, “If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use.” That sums up Paul’s whole agenda in these verses. That’s the big idea. This is what he wants from us. He wants us to cleanse ourselves from dishonorable uses and become vessels for honorable use in our master’s household – the church of Jesus Christ.
And in the rest of the passage, Paul teases out the practicalities of those two contrasting possibilities – the honorable and the dishonorable use. Initially, he applies the contrast to the Christian life in general. Look at verse 22. “Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with all those who call on the name of the Lord with a pure heart.” Now do you see there the contrast? We are to flee one set of dishonorable behaviors and pursue another set of honorable behaviors. Remember, Timothy is a relatively young man at this point, and so Paul calls him to “flee youthful passions.” The focus is not on illicit sexual desire, but simply on immature desire, untempered by the wisdom of Christian experience. And Timothy is to flee from that, run from it; don’t indulge it. Don’t shrug off your sin by appealing to your youth as if immaturity excused ungodliness. No, you need to grow up. Flee youthful passions. Run from them as fast and as hard as you can.
But don’t run aimlessly. Run from youthful passions, but yes, run towards something better. You don’t want to be like one of those hapless victims in a thriller, you know, who are running away from the monster chasing them, always looking over their shoulder, not noticing the quicksand into which they are about to fall. Yes, run from youthful passions, but make sure you run towards what is honorable. Run, pursue, he says, “righteousness, faith, love, and peace.” Here are the honorable uses for the vessel of our lives that Paul is commending to Timothy and to all of us. Look at them with me for a moment. Righteousness here means moral conformity to the revealed will of God in holy Scripture. It is Christlikeness shining from our lives. Faith is the ongoing posture of dependent trust. It is the continuing rest of your hope, your soul on Jesus’ blood and righteousness. It is walking every day looking to God to be your supply and your strength and your solid rock. Love, on the other hand, refers to our attitude toward one another, to those around us, especially in the church. Righteousness, true righteousness and living faith are revealed in the way that we love one another. And peace describes the harmony that godly character produces between Christians in the fellowship of the local church.
And look at the text again and notice Paul says you are to pursue all these things – righteousness, faith, love and peace – “along with all who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart.” So sanctification – that’s what we’re talking about – growing in personal holiness, pursuing the honorable use, happens in community. Do you see that? It happens along with all who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart. It is a group project. Righteousness and faith, love and peace require the fellowship of the church in order to ripen to full maturity. You will find it hard to flee youthful passions on your own for the simple reason that you have removed yourself from the company of mature believers who can show you a better way. You will struggle to pursue righteousness and faith, love and peace if you keep your distance from your brothers and sisters who are pursuing the same things right along with you.
Without the fellowship of the people of God, trying to live a godly life is like trying to climb up a down escalator. You’re not going to get very far. Outside the church, everyone around you – our culture, our society – is going in the other direction. It is celebrating youthful passions, isn’t it? It’s running from righteousness and faith, love and peace. If you are a solo Christian, which, by the way is a category the New Testament knows nothing about, a solo Christian, no wonder you’re struggling to make progress in basic godliness. We grow along with all those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
And then look at verses 23 through 25 because Paul focuses the lens a little more. He moves now from a general instruction about godliness applicable to the Christian life as a whole to more specific instructions for Timothy in the prosecution of his ministry in Ephesus. And again, don’t miss the contrast between the negative and the positive exhortations – the dishonorable and the honorable uses. Negatively, he says, verses 23 and 24, “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome.” A disputatious spirit is incompatible with faithfulness in Christian service. The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome.
Calling a pastor there “the Lord’s servant” is quite helpful. Think about it. A quarrelsome person insists on his own opinions. There’s always a “Yes, but…” coming with them, isn’t there? They don’t really value your opinion, your contribution; they just want to be right. But if you are involved in ministry, really of any sort, you are to be the Lord’s servant. The word “servant” actually is the word “slave.” “You are not to serve your own agenda, promote your own opinion, Timothy. It could not matter less that you are seem to be right or that you get your own way. The one perspective that is to matter to the Lord’s servant is the perspective of the Lord you serve. Subordinate your agenda to His; your opinion to His revealed will. Your priorities to His call; your success to His praise.”
And then comes the contrast with the positive virtues, the honorable uses for the vessel of our lives. Look at verses 24 and 25. “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.” Now did you catch the connection here between Word ministry, the Word ministry in which Timothy is to engage? He is to be able to teach; he is to correct his opponents – Word ministry. And the character Timothy is to display – He is to be kind to everyone, patiently enduring evil, correcting others with gentleness. Here’s a crucial reminder for anyone called upon to teach others in Jesus’ name. We’ve got to understand that effective Word ministry cannot be reduced to intellectual capacity and good communication skills. Being insightful and clear and engaging and gifted, that matters, certainly, but Paul groups real effectiveness in the souls of God’s people, real effectiveness in teaching with genuine godliness in living. Who you are, by God’s grace, has a profound impact on your ability to teach and correct effectively.
A young lady once wrote to Robert Murray McCheyne, one of my heroes. You’ll hear from him, if you’re here for any length of time, you’ll hear from him more than once. Robert Murray McCheyne, she listened to him preach one Sunday and she wrote him a letter. “I heard you preach last Sabbath evening and it pleased God to bless the sermon to my soul,” she told him. “It was not so much what you said as your manner of speaking that struck me. I saw in you a beauty of holiness that I never saw before.” That’s Paul’s point here, isn’t it? Those of you who go into the jail to speak in Jesus’ name – we have a wonderful jail ministry here – or those of you who teach ladies Bible studies, or who preach at Gateway Rescue Mission, or who deliver a Sunday school lesson, or lead a D-group or a small group Bible study, what can those to whom you minister see in your life of the manifest beauty of holiness? Your whole usefulness depends on this. So first, the contrasts of a godly life.
Now, let’s go back to verse 21 and notice what Paul says about the usefulness of a godly life. Verse 21, “If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use” – listen – “set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” Paul highlights for us three reasons why we should want to cleanse ourselves from the dishonorable uses to become honorable vessels. Why do it? Why live this way? Why pursue a life like this? Three reasons.
First, number one, verse 21, you will be “set apart as holy.” Now the verb there is passive. That is crucially important. This whole passage is full of imperative, isn’t it – commands. Flee. Pursue. Have nothing to do with. Be kind. Able to teach. Patient. Gentle. Full of commands. It’s full of duty. Do, do, do. And we need to hear those commands in all their force and resolve, God helping us, to obey those commands. But Paul says here all our success in the pursuit of holiness will in the end be ascribed not to our best efforts in obeying the commands but to the work of God alone by whom we are set apart as holy. It is a passive verb. You will be “set apart as holy.” It is something done to you. Our working is merely the product and the outward manifestation of God’s work in us to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Holiness, let’s not forget, holiness is the gift of God by the Spirit of Christ. A life consecrated to the Lord as holy is not the end product of a bit more elbow grease on our part, the mere application of the correct technique, of knuckling down and doing our duty. It is the ministry in us of the spirit of Jesus Christ who moves and empowers and enables us to obey and yes, to do, do do and do. And so hear these commands and step up to the plate and resolve to work hard at holiness, yes, but do it looking away from your own strength and resources and wisdom and power and ability to the Holy Spirit who alone can consecrate you to God. We must get our holiness from the spirit of holiness. We must fetch our Christlikeness from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Secondly, Paul says a godly life results in being “useful to the master of the house.” Brothers and sisters, don’t you want to be useful to the Lord Jesus Christ? Useful to Him for whatever use He might put you. Well, if you want to be useful, you must be godly. Here’s another quote, this one from McCheyne himself, writing to a young man on the brink of ordination to the Gospel ministry. He captures, I think, Paul’s sentiments here beautifully. This is a famous quotation from McCheyne. He said, “In great measure, according to the purity and perfection of the instrument will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.” That’s the message, isn’t it? Cleanse yourself from dishonorable uses. You will be a vessel for honorable use, useful to the master of the house.
One of the marks of spiritual health in our hearts is a growing desire, a longing to be useful to the Lord Jesus. “Put me to whatever service You might have for me. Make me useful in Your cause, Lord Jesus.” But if you want to be useful to Him, strive to be as like to Him as you can be. In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument will be the success. “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.”
Thirdly, look again at verse 21. Paul says a godly life makes us “ready for ever good work.” Ministry training is really important. We think of ourselves here at First Presbyterian Church as a training church, central to our sense of mission is the recruitment and equipping of the people of God for all kinds of ministry in this place in our community, around the world. Our intern program is a vital part of that. We are all about training people for all kinds of ministry – ordained ministry and unordained ministry. But listen, a head full of knowledge and a well-honed skill set are no substitutes for real practical godliness in preparing us to do whatever the Lord might have for us to do.
Sometimes in conversations with seminarians I’ll ask them where they hope to serve after they graduate. And sometimes they will tell me, “Well, I only really want to go and serve somewhere within about an hour of this particular city or that particular place. You see, we have family there, friends there.” And I understand that sentiment very much, that instinct, but I have to tell you, it rather distresses me when I hear it because I worry that at least in some cases what that sentiment reveals is a basic and deep-seated unwillingness to go to hard places and make costly sacrifices for Jesus’ sake. That might not always be the case when those sentiments are expressed, but I do think it’s fair to say that a reluctance to bear the cost of ministry typically arises in our hearts whenever our attainments in gifts and knowledge exceeds our attainments in Christian character. Verse 21 says that holiness makes us both useful and ready. The word means prepared, willing, for whatever task the Lord may give us, wherever He may send us. It’s the “Here am I, send me!” spirit. It’s Calvin’s motto – “My heart, promptly and sincerely offered up to God. Do with it what You will. Ready for every good work.” The contrast of a godly life. The usefulness of a godly life.
Now finally, verses 25 and 26, the purpose of such a godly life. Do you see Paul’s agenda for Timothy’s life and ministry as he calls him to be a vessel for honorable use like this? What’s the goal in view? It is, verse 25, that “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” Paul still has the false teachers and those in Ephesus who were being led astray by them in his mind here. He’s warned Timothy already not to get sucked into unprofitable debates with them. He’s told Timothy to correct them and warn them not to teach any other doctrine. But above all, here he tells them he must seek to win them. He wants them to be converted. He wants them to come to repentance and escape the tyranny of the evil one. Here’s the goal for Timothy’s godly life, our godly lives, our faithful ministries as the Lord helps us. This is what we should want – to see people come to repentance, to be converted and come to a knowledge of the truth. Of course Timothy is only the instrument. We will all only ever be instruments.
Repentance, which is the goal, is in the end the gift of God. And you can see that here in the text. Look how Paul puts it in verse 25. “Correct your opponents with gentleness, Timothy. God may perhaps grant them repentance.” Repentance is the gift and grant of God. “I don’t want you to think, Timothy, that if you can only attain to a sufficient standard of personal holiness and perform the tasks and duties of ministry well enough you can, by your own efforts, secure the repentance of other people. Not at all! Salvation belongs to the Lord.” We do have a responsibility to fulfill. We must pray for and seek the repentance of other people. We must teach and preach and witness and work and labor for their salvation, certainly. We must live in such a way that when we call others to repentance, when they look at us, they see repentance in action in our lives. That’s our responsibility.
But there is also a burden here we must refuse. In the end, repentance is not in our power to produce in other people’s lives. And I have to tell you as a preacher, I find that truth to be an enormous relief – to know there are no words that I can say, no techniques I can apply, no angle that I can adopt that will mechanically generate in your heart the repentance that I want for you. That’s a huge relief, because if that was not the case, I simply could not continue in ministry. I would be crushed under the burden of getting the magic formula just right every single time I stand up to preach in order to secure the desired outcome. Your repentance then would be my responsibility, and that’s a weight I could never bear. But no, praise the Lord, our task is to proclaim good news and call people to repentance, but repentance itself is the gift of God. It’s the gift of God. And so Paul reminds Timothy that the purpose of a godly life is the changed lives even of his opponents.
And as we close, notice how Paul characterizes a changed life. Look again at 25 and 26. When God changes us and saves us, He establishes three new relationships. Do you see them? We have a new relationship to God. Paul says we come to repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. We have a new relationship to ourselves. We come to our senses, he says. And we have a new relationship to the devil, who once ensnared us and captured us to do his will, but now we have been set free by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we close, I want to ask you to measure yourself by these three marks of a changed heart. A new relationship to God – that means we’ve turned in repentance from sin and self to Jesus Christ. We’ve come to embrace the truth of the Gospel from the heart. Repentance involves the final, unconditional surrender of your heart in its war against the rule of God. He must win. You must admit your defeat and the wickedness of your rebellion against Him. He has to conquer you, and you must come to see Jesus Christ as the victorious King and you must cry to Him for pardon and peace. The Lord sent Timothy to Ephesus, Paul is saying, and God has brought you here this morning to listen to this message so that God may perhaps grant you repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. He’s calling you to lay down your arms and stop your rebellion and submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Confess your sin. Grieve over its offense against a holy God. Plead for mercy on the basis of Jesus’ blood alone. Do you have, do you have a new relationship to God?
A new relationship to ourselves – that means, Paul says, that we’ve come to our senses. We’ve woken up like the prodigal in the far country in Jesus’ famous parable. You remember, he squandered his inheritance in wild living, and then bankrupt and broken, eating pig slops in destitution and desperation, Jesus says he came to himself. He came to his senses and he came home. Friend, let me ask you, have you come to your senses? Rebellion against Jesus Christ is a kind of madness. It’s a rebellion you can never win. And He stands not just as judge to destroy all His enemies but as Savior to welcome every one of them when they come to their senses, and like the prodigal, come home. You can come home today. He’s going to welcome you like the father in Jesus’ story who came running when the prodigal returned and kissed him and wept and rejoiced. Come to your senses.
And then, thirdly, there is a new relationship to the devil. We have been set free. Have you been set free from his controlling mastery, Jesus Christ, having come to reign in your heart at last? Maybe you thought you were free, throwing off the shackles of your Christian upbringing, indulging the desires of your flesh, living for nobody but yourself. But the truth is, you’ve been ensnared, captured by a cruel tyrant who’s been lying to you this whole time. All your sweet sins turned to sand in your mouth. All your celebrated freedoms leave you empty and broken like the prisoner you really are. But those who repent and trust in Christ, they can sing with Wesley, “He breaks the power of reigning sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me.” Can you sing those words this morning? If the Son, if Jesus Christ sets you free, you will be free indeed. Real freedom is found under His Lordship, not rebelling against it. And maybe you’ve come to feel at last the utter bankruptcy and destitution of living without Him. Well here He is now today, pleading with you, pleading with you to come back to Him. There is freedom for you, but only in Christ.
That’s why Timothy was sent to Ephesus. This is the message, and this is the reason he ought to be and we as Christian people ought to be as godly and as like to Jesus Christ as we can be – because we want to be useful instruments in our Savior’s hand to get this great work done in the lives of other people, see people come to Christ. And listen, if you do not yet know Christ, if you are the prodigal still in the far country, the prisoner still in chains, today is the day to come to your senses. Today is the day to come on home. May God help you to do it. Let us pray.
O Lord our God, as we bow before You, we come as Your people confessing our sin. How content we have been with spiritual, moral mediocrity. How content to play with sin, not seeing how deadly our sin really is. Forgive us for trying to profess to follow You while pursuing the values of the world, dishonorable uses. As we bow before You, we would repent and cleanse ourselves from the dishonorable use that we might be honorable, vessels for honorable use, useful in our Master’s hand. Lord Jesus, we so want to be useful to You. And the great, great use to which we ask that You would put us is to make us instruments in the conversion of others. O God, bring prodigals home. Bring the wandering sheep back to the flock. Save, save rebels ensnared by the deceptions of the devil, and set them free. And use us, please, to do it for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.