Guard the Trust

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
2 Timothy 4:2

Guard the Trust
lyrics by Steve Camp

O my dear Timothy, hold on to the faith
Keep your conscience pure and holy
Fight the good fight every day
Don't give in to myths and fables
train yourself for godliness

You've got to... be an example in your youth
You've got to... be faithful to the truth
You've got to... watch your life and doctrine closely
It'll save you and those who hear it too

Guard the trust
You've got to guard the trust
Hold on to the faithful word
this you must
You got to guard the trust
Guard the trust
Through the Spirit Who dwells in you
Guard the trust

O my son Timothy, I charge you in the sight of God
Preach the word when its convenient
Preach the word when it is not
There will come a time when trust is compromised
They'll be teaching for itching ears

But you... be sober in all things
But you... endure hardship for the King
But you... do the work of an evangelist
That is my dying wish

Guard the trust
You've got to guard the trust
Hold on to the faithful word
this you must
You got to guard the trust
Guard the trust
Through the Spirit Who dwells in you
Guard the trust

biblical background & relational discipleship

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:14-15

There was a certain spiritual strength that had created in Timothy a vital foundation. Paul appealed to a firm knowledge of the scriptures, something that had been instilled in him as a young boy. The grace of God came early to this boy as he grew up learning the holy scriptures from his mother and grandmother. He was privileged to have a biblical background. It made a huge difference in the way he now lived his adult life in service to his Lord.

Paul's admonishment was to continue on in the very truths he had become familiar with as a child. The implication is that a biblical worldview will last a lifetime. We just keep growing in our knowledge and practice of the truth as it is explained for us in the scriptures. We continue in them. Paul could appeal to a relational strength. Timothy knew who had taught him the Word of God. They were close to his heart (mother and grandmother) and key disciplers and ministry builders (the apostle Paul). So relational discipleship in the objective source of scripture gave Paul the firm facts to point Timothy toward as the young man discipled and developed Christians and church leaders himself.

I firmly believe in the vitality of studying the scriptures as well as the ministry necessity of relational discipleship. The two are the basis of all ministry. The process is how the gospel spreads and the church remains crucial in impacting culture for the glory of God. We must know, love, and live God's Truth. We must learn to love it in the company of other believers whom we love and who love us as Christ loves us. We must see all of that task as our way of loving God and making His glory and grace the message of our lives.

Handling the Word

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15

Lord, I see Your approval
not for my own merit
not for men's applause
Would You assist me with the removal
of the pride I did inherit
and selfish focus because
I need to preach Your Word?

I will step back, out of the way
so You may show Yourself as Lord
and the greatness of Your grace
might pull together all of each day
keep me loving the truth of Your Word
and in its pages seeking Your face
We need to know Your Word.

Empty talk abounds... false teaching
tickling ears of many today
Lord, keep me centered in the pages
so that I can always be reaching
with the gospel to hearts in a way
consistent with truth for all ages
I will live in the Word.

Lord, I give myself to You
so use me as You can
its not at all a waste
Your Word shows me what to do
to reach the heart of man
with confidence and earnest haste
no shame will come in serving You
handling Your awesome Word!

follow the pattern

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
2 Timothy 1:13-14

For some reason the word "pattern" in this exhortation from Paul to Timothy stands out to me. Paul had a long enough and a deep enough relationship with Timothy to be able to utilize that word in describing to Timothy what he needed to do in ministry. Paul had left a clear pattern, an outline of instruction that Timothy knew he could follow. Perhaps that pattern is given as a reminder in the themes of 2 Timothy. But the reality is that both doctrinally and in ministry practice, there was a pattern that Timothy had been given by Paul that should not be forgotten, but applied in his current situation.

In many ways reaching our world for Christ and committing to seeing it change by building up disciples is the same task that it was when Paul was making it happen in the first century. That is why we must be great Bible students and understand Jesus' life and the doctrine that flows from it in the New Testament principles of discipleship. We should know both the Old and New Testaments so that we can see all that scripture reveals about our world. We ought to pay clear attention to Paul's ecclesiology and the practical instruction he gives in the pastoral epistles in particular so that we too might be able to follow the pattern of sound words when it comes to planting churches and strengthening Christians worldwide.

Following the pattern also has an element of personal commitment and respect for what God has revealed. And Paul's stern invitation to Timothy was to "guard the good deposit entrusted" to him. This is a warm thought. It is also a warning thought. We must see the gospel, the doctrine that flows from it, and the pattern of Christian growth and maturity that grows the Church as a valuable asset worth investing further and protecting carefully at all costs. These days many in ministry will put everything up for reconsideration. The mistake is that in so doing they may sell off the good deposit and then the church is left morally and spiritually powerless and bankrupt. We cannot abandon the gospel because of its harsher implications (like judgment or eternal punishment) just for the sake of acceptance or numerical success. We must guard what we have been given to follow.

seasoned with salt

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Colossians 4:5-6

Paul assumes that Christians will be engaged with unbelievers. The church naturally interacts with those outside her community. This expectation is what brings the gospel into the world. It is what makes the truth live for all to observe. And the natural fact of this truth is accentuated when Christians conscientiously live it out to those who are outside the church.

The first sense of this is shown in lifestyle. That is why the metaphor of "walk" is used. We will live our lives in relationship with unbelievers. The church does not isolate. We infiltrate. And the call is to walk through our communities with wisdom. Of course the source of that wisdom is Christ and the Word of God. To walk wisely then is to live gracious Christian lives in a winsome way toward (not away from) those outside the faith. We want to engage relationships toward those who need Jesus, intentionally displaying the wisdom of the gospel for them to see.

And when we engage the world in this way, we had better be prepared to talk about Jesus! Our speech is to be gracious. What is more full of grace than than the gospel? At some point and I believe at all points, we should naturally talk about Christ's redeeming love and His transforming work in our lives. It is that wisdom that unbelievers desperately need, even though they may not fully know that they want it. And eventually they need to hear it in order to believe it and be saved.

This is the gospel lifestyle of the Christian. It walks the walk and talks the talk. Not in a trite way, but with the seasoning of the salt of the gospel. That piques the thirst of those who need the water of life. We are promised that if we will live this way in the world, we will have the answers (the gospel as seen and heard naturally in Christians who infiltrate the culture) that every person really needs.

4 reasons to look to Jesus

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4

This passage transitions to the practical sanctification in Colossians. If Christ is indeed my Lord and the head of the church, it follows that His people will live under His direction. And Colossians three describes the way we put to death earthly deeds (Col. 3:5-11) and put on a holy lifestyle instead (Col. 3:12-17). There are four reasons stated to do this.

First, we seek heavenly things BECAUSE OF OUR RESURRECTION. Right now in an identifying spiritual sense we have been raised to new life in Christ. Our baptism pictures this identification with a new life. And it is because of that resurrected life in Christ that we know that Jesus will provide the direction that we need. Resurrection is about new life. We won't find that new life in our old life. We will find it in the author of our new life -- Jesus Christ.

Secondly, we must seek this life IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. The contrast is between the things on earth, which represent all the sinful and wrong choices we have always made outside of Christ, and things that are "above". The word "above" points us to the resurrected and ascended Christ Who is at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

Thirdly, we REMEMBER OUR EXPIRATION. We have already died in a sense. We must consider ourselves dead to sin but alive in Christ. In order to live in resurrection, we must first die. And that is what we know in this passage. We died... past tense. We died to sinful choices because our life is now hidden in Christ. He reveals that new life in us.

The final thing is to ANTICIPATE OUR PERFECTION. The ultimate realization of our new life in Christ will be known fully when we live with Him in glory. The reason that I will heed His direction is that I know that my life is always headed toward my state of forever being found in Jesus. Nobody gets a pass on death. At some point we will all be with Jesus. And death to sin helps us defeat the worst that physical death may threaten us with. Hope holds that a generation will appear with Him in glory minus physical death. That is the imminent hope of every Christian generation. But that timing is God's to determine. But even death for any Christian in Christ becomes immediate new life with Him and His saints forever.

growing in Christ

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7

This is a wonderful passage to understand Christian growth and maturity. We received Christ as the Lord, we walk in him, are rooted and built up in Christ, and in that commitment we become established in our faith through the teaching of God's truth and the good news of the gospel message. This is the way each Christian is supposed to mature.

The New Testament is very clear that Christianity is a lifestyle. Christ changes us as we are in relationship with Him. Our acceptance of Him as Lord is more than just acknowledgement of historical fact. For instance, I can believe that John F. Kennedy existed as a historical person although I never met him. I can know he achieved many things. But it does not then follow that I order my life around that fact and find my life transformed by living "in Kennedy". It is completely different with Jesus. Our faith in Him becomes a living faith because He is God and alive in us. We gladly build our lives around that relationship of faith.

The way that Paul helps us understand that relationship in the book of Colossians is found in the theme of the book summed up in two simple yet enormously impacting words: "in Christ". The text of Colossians helps us understand what being in Christ means. This chart from the ESV Study Bible gives us a lot to look at:
1:14 IN WHOM we have redemption
1:16 IN HIM all things were created
1:19 IN HIM all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell
1:22 Reconciled IN HIS BODY of flesh
2:3 IN WHOM are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
2:6 walk IN HIM
2:7 rooted and built up IN HIM
2:9 IN HIM all the fulness of deity dwells bodily
2:10 you have been filled IN HIM
2:11 you were circumcised IN HIM
2:12 IN HIM you were raised up
2:15 triumphing over them IN HIM
3:20 pleasing IN THE LORD
4:7 fellow servant IN THE LORD
4:17 the ministry that you received IN THE LORD

Analyzing the implications of being "in Christ" is one way of knowing what Christian growth looks like. And when we begin to walk that way, we will live more and more like Jesus in this world!