This was originally posted on The Habitus.
For a number of years, I worked as a bank teller. Each day was filled with initialling bits of paper, getting really fast at the number pad on my keyboard, and learning how to not lose count while everyone around me is also counting money out loud.
Part of the job was being familiar with how to check if a note was counterfeit. We had a special UV light for checking security features. We had pens that would show a weird colour if the note was fake. We had to learn what security features were actually crucial because the currency we were dealing with could be any age. Once a US dollar bill is printed, it is legal tender for as long as it lasts. Here in the UK, currency has to be traded in when new security features are made.
We rarely had to use the tools around us.
All day long, our hands were on genuine currency. We learned, from extensive handling of the real deal, what the surface of the paper was meant to feel like. We knew how it would crease and wrinkle over time. We know how it would look at various stages of its life in circulation.
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 1
The last time we looked at 2 Timothy, Paul held up two possible responses to Paul’s message. You could choose to abandon it like Phygelus and Hermogenes. Or… you could be like Onesiphorous, one who sought Paul earnestly, stayed faithful, and supported him in his hardship.
As I read over this, I see two actions that Paul wants Timothy to make. Actions that will make him like Onesiphorus.
Be strengthened
At this point, we don’t know exactly how long Timothy has been at work in Ephesus, but it’s clear from the tone and content of the letter that Timothy is tired. He is weary.
What does he need? To remember what he was given, the very gospel of Jesus Christ. To remember who is at work in him, no less than the Holy Spirit himself.
In other words, he needs to remember that he is a Christian who has been called to the work that he is doing. It is an exhausting, labour-intensive work (this becomes clear as the rest of the chapter unfolds). But it is a work that he has been equipped for.
Raise up leaders
Paul also wants Timothy to raise up people who can do the same job as him. Men who are faithful, men who will receive and hand down the very same message that Paul publicly taught. Men who are willing to follow the pattern of Paul’s message but also Paul’s method.
But we renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word… 2
A quick flip over to chapter 3 proves why Timothy needs to be instructed to do this.
As I consider the work that I am doing now, I can understand Timothy’s struggle. He has been sent to a place that has a wolf problem3. Paul is calling him to come to him, to leave this church in a vulnerable position.
For Timothy to remain faithful, to still be recognised as the genuine article as a gospel minister, he has to be able to let go of the work he is doing in that place. He has to be prepared to hand it down to those who will keep the work going.
As a church, we are growing and getting stronger. We’re still quite small but there are already Sundays where I don’t get the chance to greet everyone. If things go as we hope, this is a problem that won’t go away.
So what is there for me to do? I have to be prepared to raise up others in the church to welcome. Though we are able to handle all of the church’s teaching in house, thanks to the presence of gifted and faithful men, there will come a time for all of us to retire from that work.
One of my early mentors in ministry often talked about how his whole philosophy was trying to work his way out of whatever job he had. He wanted to train people who could take over from him. One of the reasons why I am maintaining a quiet hope regarding the so-called Quiet Revival4, is that the church needs more young men to be saved and trained so that they can continue the work.
The Christian life is a hand-me-down life. We are given the old, old story to tell so that younger generations can believe the same story. And the pattern repeats.
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, p. 2 Ti 2:1–2. ↩
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, p. 2 Co 4:2. ↩
- Acts 20:28-31 ↩
- I do have my reservations ↩