2Ti 4:1-4 “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Timothy, and all whom God calls as he did Paul and Timothy, had a serious responsibility laid before him. This charge that Paul gave to Timothy was presented before (in the face of) God and the Lord Jesus Christ. For this to happen, we must be recipients of the promise that Jesus made when He told His disciples that both He and the Father would come and abide with those who kept His words. We, as the servants of God, are in His presence every day (not just on Sunday) because He lives in us.
The coming of Christ and His kingdom is often looked at as some end of the world event. However, Paul is speaking to Timothy concerning things that are imminent. We certainly look for His coming at some time yet to be determined, but we should also realize that through the Holy Spirit both Christ and His kingdom are here with us now. We know this because the Holy Spirit has revealed (caused to appear) this to us.
We stand daily in His judgment as to whether we are lively (doing His will) in His kingdom here, or whether we are separated (dead) from the joys of His kingdom through disobedience. This is something that Christ judges in each of us and not something we judge in each other. Understanding that His kingdom and His judgment are now, we have a charge. Preach the word.
We, like Paul, should be determined not to know anything of ourselves, but rather to preach Jesus and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2). Preaching Jesus requires that we acknowledge His divine nature, His work in creation, His presence in (and fulfillment of) the law and the prophets, and that He is alive and alive forevermore. It is necessary for us to preach His life as a man, His death as the only sacrifice the Father would accept for sin, and His power to take up His life again after that sacrifice was made. When we are blessed to preach Jesus, we have an inexhaustible subject.
Preaching the gospel is not just about the time we take on Sunday morning. This is the time when we are in season (the time set apart for the convenience of speaking about Him). To be instant (urgent, ready) in season, we must be diligent in our preparation out of season. We are to be daily in the study and meditation of His word, in prayer for understanding and guidance, seeking the God-breathed word that we might truly be thoroughly furnished.
In keeping the charge that is given us, we will be able to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with patience in the truth of Jesus Christ. We will be ready to stand when others will not put up with uncorrupt instruction. It will not come as any surprise when men seek only those who tell them what they want to hear. We will be steadfast in the face of those who declare fiction as though it was the truth of God.
May God hold us up in the face of adversity to preach the word in power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit!
