2 Timothy by Ryan Lowery (2009)

Paul and Timothy have an intimate friendship with one another that challenges our culture's standard for male friendships today. Their relationship is characterized by a few key components: their bond through their relationships with Christ, the bond of a common goal, and mutual support. Through the example of their friendship, we can learn the importance of encouraging one another, as well as challenging one another to re-kindle our zeal for God. We have a role in the lives of our friends to spur them on to persevere in the fight.

Paul reminds Timothy that God has not given him a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and discipline. We live in a fear based culture, and are encouraged towards fear everyday. Fear is not from God and is a major barrier to doing good things for Him. While fear motivates us to focus on ourselves, love motivates us to meet the needs of others. This teaching includes a testimony from Nate Norris about a series of personal hardships that lead him to trust God in the midst of fear.

Suffering is an unavoidable part of the human experience, and we are guaranteed to suffer, whether or not we choose to follow God. However, when we choose to follow God, we are given the opportunity to suffer in a meaningful way; to suffer for a purpose. At the time that Paul was writing to Timothy, he was experiencing severe suffering, and yet we see that he was able to have an attitude of faith. The steps he gives for enduring suffering successfully include: 1) remember Christ, 2) remember the cause you suffer for, and 3) remember God's faithfulness.

How do you live sacrificially in a world full of selfishness? Paul speaks to Timothy about the last days, the final stage in human history before the second coming of Christ. The last days, he says, are characterized by great selfishness; a characteristic we can clearly see in our world today. The problem is that our way of thinking is completely contradictory to God's. While our culture claims that loving self is the key to happiness, God puts forth that we were created for the purpose of loving others. As representatives of a counter-cultural God, we should be characterized by our kindness and love of others.

The Bible claims to be the owner's manual to the human soul, and a claim like that deserves to be scrutinized. Paul uses two different lines of reasoning to affirm this claim: 1) the Bible comes from God, and 2) it's effective when we follow it. We can be confident that the Bible comes from God because of the person of Jesus Christ. Second, we see that when we follow scripture, we realize that it makes sense; our experiences validate our confidence in the Bible as well.