There are 5 Greek imperatives (all in the aorist tense) that Paul uses in 2 Tim. 4:2.
On the one hand, Timothy is to preach the word. Do this "in season and out of season," Paul adds. A preacher is a "herald," someone who receives a message from the king and then enters the public square to make it known officially. As such, Timothy is to announce and proclaim the gospel. Or, as Paul puts it in verse 5, he is to "do the work of an evangelist." Then Paul instructs Timothy to reprove, rebuke, and exhort "with all patience and teaching." As a teacher, Timothy's task is to carefully and patiently impart instruction in things pertaining to the faith.
I love that balance!
Evangelism is bringing people to Christ. Teaching is nurturing people in Christ. Conversion is the name we give to the start of the Christian life. Discipleship is the name we give to its continuation.
Christian initiation is a "new birth." Without this act of regeneration, imparted by God, we simply cannot begin our daily walk with God. This is the problem we frequently meet in churches. There are people involved in our churches who have never bowed their knee to Jesus Christ and asked him to give them the new birth. However, this new birth is absolutely essential if there is to be any subsequent life. I have no hesitation in regarding the new birth as the main ingredient in my own spiritual growth. Afterwards came the nurturing as I was taught by godly men and women how to engage in personal evangelism, how to do inductive Bible study, how to give a talk about the Bible with a clear structure, appropriate illustrations, and effective applications, and so forth.
Reflect for a moment on those who did the same for you. When, as a preacher of the gospel, I have shared Christ with the lost, I have done so with tremendous gratitude for the pastor who led me to Christ in 1960. Many years later, when I began my teaching career at Biola, the teachers I had the privilege of sitting under provided excellent nurture for this fledgling Greek professor. Most of them have had far greater gifts than me when it comes both to evangelistic preaching and to exegetical teaching. Without their influence and example, there would have been no possibility for me to have been nurtured into Christian maturity.
Today my heart is profoundly grateful for all those who have gone before me and have modeled for me ways to engage in preaching to the lost and edifying believers. As we make ourselves available to Christ, he pours himself into our lives and then through us reaches others with the gospel.
With God's help, I plan to continue to throw myself into this work with love, prayer, and vision.
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| Preaching the Good News in an Ethiopian village. |
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| Exegeting Matthew's Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). |
Below: The joy of the classroom.
(Video courtesy of Thomas Hudgins.)