Equipped for Every Good Work

2 Timothy 3:10-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 25, 2025.

Our natural inclination is to think of a good work in a self-oriented way.  It is good if it helps me.  Yet, in this case, we are talking about good works that are defined by God.  They are works that He has for us to do.  Essentially, this is being an ambassador of His loving purpose for those who do not know Him.

In this passage, we have an older apostle, Paul, who is encouraging a younger Christian, Timothy.

Timothy had first learned to work alongside of Paul in ministry.  Later, he had learned to minister on his own without Paul present.  Yet, Paul could still connect with him later and write letters such as this one.  Paul has come to the realization that the end of his life is near.  Read 2 Timothy 4:6, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

Thus, Paul’s work will come to an end while Timothy’s continues.  Knowing this, Paul takes time in this letter to encourage Timothy for what lies ahead.

Let’s look at our passage.

Timothy carefully followed Paul (v. 10-12)

Earlier in this chapter, Paul pointed out that there would be perilous times in the last days.  He then describers the sinful things that will be happening.  So, when he gets to verse 10, there is a contrast between such people and Timothy.  Timothy was following Paul.

Just a side note, though it will be bad in the last days, not all people will be like that.  There will be a remnant of believers like Timothy who are following the example that has been set before them.

Some might think that this is a contradiction within Paul’s teaching.  He had warned many times against simply following men, yet here he commends Timothy for following him.

This is not a contradiction.  In fact, in 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul clarifies what he is actually saying here.  “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”  Timothy had not been taught by Jesus.  However, Paul had been.  He received the Gospel and the Way of the Lord from Jesus and had trained Timothy in it.

Paul commends Timothy for doing well by following closely, or carefully.  Many Christians are not being careful about how they live their lives.  We are to follow the Lord, but God has put people in our lives who are spiritually mature in order to help us grow.  People are not saved in a vacuum.  There are those who have been on this path of becoming like Jesus for a while and can help them to learn the ropes of following Jesus.

Taking care and following closely involves paying attention and seeking understanding from God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and older saints.

Paul then lists various aspects of his life that Timothy was following closely: his teaching, manner of living, and his purpose.

Paul’s teaching, or doctrine, was received directly from Jesus.  He emphasizes this several times in his letters.  The Apostles were not teaching their own ideas.  Jesus had revealed the truth to them about what God was doing, and now they were teaching it to others.

Paul’s conduct or manner of living is next.  It is the idea of the course you are on and the way you live.  It is not detailed, but his letters speak for themselves.  How do you live your life?  We need to be a people of the Word of God, a people of prayer, a people who are seeking and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Timothy had also followed Paul’s purpose closely.  Paul lived to do the will of Jesus, not his own.  In fact, Jesus showed us this by only doing the will of the Father.  This is what the Lord’s prayer is all about.  “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is not just praying that other people do it.  It is asking God to start in you.  It is God’s will that we be conformed into the image of Jesus, who is the perfect imager of the Father.  Romans 8:29 tells us that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.  How can we do this?  We do this by faith and the help of the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s list continues, but becomes more about virtues that Paul exampled, and Christ commands.  Faith in Christ and the message of the Gospel is ultimately faith in God.  The next word is translated variously as patience.  It is a term that pictures patience as a long fuse with people and God.  A follower of Jesus should learn to control their temper.  Love is next.  Christians are to even love their enemies.  Of course, that does not mean that we condone everything they do.  Rather, we speak the truth in love and pray for their repentance.  Lastly, the word perseverance speaks of remaining under a heavy load in the midst of a tough calling.  When you serve Jesus, you will face some difficult things, things that test whether you are going to keep serving the purpose of Christ.

It is important to understand that the Gospel is not just about having a get out of jail free card.  It involves becoming like Jesus in our morals and life choices.  We can only do this by the help and power of the Holy spirit.  None of us do it perfectly, but as we keep our trust in Jesus, he perfects us.

Paul’s list then goes into the area of persecutions and afflictions (verse 11).  He mentions Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra.  In Acts chapters 13 and 14, we read about Paul’s time in these towns on his first missionary journey.  It was in Lystra that Paul had been stoned to death, and yet God spared his life.  On his second missionary journey, he meets Timothy in the area of Lystra and Derbe.  Timothy’s mom and grandmother had most likely become Christians.  However, they were Jewish.  They had taught Timothy the Scriptures from childhood (2 Timothy 1:5).  Before Paul’s arrival, they would have emphasized to Timothy the need to obey the Word of God while waiting for the Messiah to come.  Yet, Paul’s mission was to declare that Messiah had come.  It was in great affliction that the Gospel came to the area where Timothy lived.  Paul commends him for following his example in facing these.

They were not seeking out affliction and trying to instigate persecution from others.  Yet, they did not let the threat of persecution intimidate them in general, or in specific situations.

Verse 12 drives this point home.  “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  It will be different from one place to another and from one time to another.  Yet, it will happen.  If you follow Jesus, those who refuse to follow him will not like it.

Thus, believers must be careful of trying to protect their lives (their goods or their body) at the expense of the work of God, which is to reach lost people.  They can’t believe and follow Jesus if they never hear about who he is, what he has done, and what he will do for those who trust him.

Of course, we are where God has put us.  We may not face physical persecution, but it is here nonetheless.  Timothy didn’t shrink back and quit when he ran into it.  When we suffer for the sake of Christ, we are stepping into an elite group of righteous people down through the ages.

His course was not with evil men (13-15)

It is easy to go with the flow of society.  Paul does not envision the world becoming more and more like Jesus.  Though Christians are victorious in reaching the lost, the sin of this world will grow worse and worse.  Technology can enhance the evil that can be done, but there is another way that things become worse.  The Gospel is good, but to reject such a clear light is to damage yourself morally.  You become worse because you have rejected something that is even better than what had been revealed before it.

Paul speaks of two categories of those who will grow worse and worse.  The first is simply evil men.  It is clear that he is speaking of those who are outside of the Church.  The word translated as evil is broader in its range of meaning than our English word.  It’s root points to the pain that sin causes in the life of the sinner and those who they affect.

The second category is imposters.  These are those who are in the Church, but they are only pretending faith.  In the end, they are living for their flesh, but work to cover it up.  Paul had warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29-30.  “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves [from outside] will come in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also from among yourselves [inside] men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”

We must not be shocked by these things, but instead, learn to face them in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Church hasn’t been perfect through the years.  Much of it is because of imposters.  Yet, you have a personal responsibility for yourself and the Christians around you.  We must learn the Word of God for ourselves.  We need to pray and seek God so that we will know Him for ourselves, so that we can do the acts of faith that God has desired for us to do.

In verse 14, Timothy is told that he must remain in what he has learned.  The word for remain is the same word used in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you…”  This is the picture of dwelling in a place.  We are to stay living in Christ.  It is a living connection that Jesus pictures with a branch connected to the vine, a life-giving connection.

This is not just about content of information.  Timothy has learned Jesus Christ from Paul, but he has also learned Christ from God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.  These all work together for our good.

Paul then reminds Timothy of the godly people who were used by God to teach him.  First, there was his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, which are mentioned in the first chapter of this book.  They had taught Timothy the Old Testament (the New Testament didn’t exist yet).  However, Paul then came along and taught them all the Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah.  He became a spiritual father to Timothy.

You may hear this and think to yourself that it isn’t fair that you didn’t have such things.  Maybe your parents and grandparents were avowed atheists.  This reminds me of the argument often made by atheists to Christians.  They will charge people with only being a Christian because they grew up in a Christian home.  Of course, this is not a logical argument.  Many people raised in Christian homes are no longer Christian, and many people raised in atheist homes are Christians now.  Your hope is not based upon a perfect scenario, and you are not thwarted in faith by having a bad situation.  It comes down to this.  What will you do with Jesus?  Yes, your parents may have taught you wrong or abused  you.  But still, what will you do with Jesus?

We can hold on to imperfections in others and in our life as an excuse, but the truth is this.  You can believe in Jesus no matter how bad your life has been.  People are saved from all kinds of mindsets and situations.  The good news is that you don’t have to have anything to have Jesus.  You only need to trust him over everything else.  In fact, the Scriptures warn us that we will have to be prepared to let go of everything in order to have Jesus.

He must be a man of the Word of God (v. 16-17)

Moving forward, Timothy would need to be anchored in the Word of God.  Paul reminds Timothy that Scripture is inspired, literally “God breathed.”  The content came from God.  Yes, men wrote it, but they wrote what God inspired them to write.  The purpose of the Scriptures is to point us to Jesus so that we can believe.  In fact, Jesus is the ultimate Word of God.  It is he who goes forth from the Father in order to do what the Father wills.  May the Word form this same attitude and purpose in us.

Part of why Timothy should be in the Word has to do with its profitability.  It will bring good into our lives.  It brings good teaching.  It also brings reproof.  This word has the idea of convincing, or proving, what the Spirit is saying.  It is also good for correction.  Who doesn’t need correction?  The Word is our rule and guide for this.

Lastly, the Word trains us in righteousness.  Of course, when it comes to salvation, only Jesus has acceptable righteousness.  But, through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will use God’s Word to teach us the right things to do.

The goal of this is to be fully equipped for every good work.  The goal is not to get a degree with many letters after our name.  It is to equip us for whatever we may need to do.  It is not so that people can remark how perfect we are.  It is so that we can reach the lost and lead them to Christ.

You may feel like you are not equipped enough to do this.  You may feel like the pastor should do that.  However, God made you to be an ambassador of His good love for them.  Like the woman at the well, we can have only minutes of faith in Jesus, and yet, tell everybody we know about Jesus.  We can be used by God to reach others.

God has things for you to do.  Will you do them?  Will you seek Him for understanding what they are?  This is what is needed in these last days.  Let us throw off sin, and put on the righteousness of Jesus!

Equipped audio

The Virtue of Submission

Today we will be looking at 1 Peter 2:13-17.  In this section Peter goes on to instruct believers in the virtue of submission; especially in light of the previous point that we need to live honorably among unbelievers.  Now any virtue has its proper boundaries and priorities among other virtues.  Thus submission as a virtue is often rejected in the modern era because of evils done in its name.  Some Muslims will kill those who do not accept Islam out of submission to Allah.  There are Christians who have followed pastors into suicidal situations out of submission to the “man of God.”  Submission has also been used as a stick against women to endure physical and emotional abuse.  Thus for many it is a code word for unquestioning obedience.  When they hear the word they immediately shut down and reject whatever follows.

The meaning of submission is literally to take your proper place under an authority.  It is the opposite of rebellion.  With any virtue, it has its place and sometimes runs into conflict with other virtues.  Thus any virtue requires us to think.  We will do best when we think with the mind of Christ and according to the Scriptures because it will save us from the self-justification that is so prevalent with our own thinking.

Submit To Human Government

Because of the false accusations against Christians mentioned in verse 12, Peter goes on to teach believers to take their proper place under human government.  Some of these false accusations were that Christians believed that Jesus was king and were a rebel group against Rome.  There were other accusations as well, which is why Peter is telling them to live in such a way that those false claims will be counteracted.  Our representation of God and Jesus Christ calls for us to have an above board approach to how we live in this life.

Next he gives the scope of “every ordinance” or every human institution and at every level (King to governor).  Governments have laws and delegate authority out to different levels.  The king was the highest authority.  In light of other passages it is clear that "every" here does not exclude exceptions.  However it does apply to every kind of government humans design.  Within godly reason we are to submit to every human government that we find ourselves living under.  So our starting place is simply doing our part to cooperate with the government and obey its laws.

Peter mentions the legitimate function of governments and that is to restrain evil through punishment and encourage good through protection.  The Bible is clear that God allows governments to rise and at his timing causes them to fall.  Believers are to live with a baseline of submission to the human governments not out of agreement with all their actions, or belief that they are good.  Rather, to keep from giving the impression that God’s people are rebels.  God has not told us to take over the kingdoms of this world.  He has told us that he would do that and then hand the kingdom over to the saints.

In verse 16 Peter mentions that they should submit, but as free people.  What does he mean?  True submission should flow from freedom.  Submission is not about slavery.  If we turn it into slavery then we have prostituted what the virtue is meant to be.  Christians have been set free.  However, we are not set free to do evil.  Freedom must never be used to either openly pursue evil things, or secretly pursue them.  Thus believers freely choose to serve the interests of God rather than their own.  Is it not true that our actions sometimes have caused people to say that God is evil?  This is what Peter seeks to avoid.  God, who is the highest authority, asks us to serve these lower authorities as righteously as we can out of respect for how we represent him.

Perhaps it is time to deal with the obvious question, “Is there ever a time not to submit?”  The simple answer is yes.  However, our flesh can abuse the idea that there are exceptions.  When we look to the Bible there are two obvious exceptions that we should mention.  When Israel was in slavery in Egypt, Pharaoh had commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill any Hebrew boys who were born.  These women pretended like they were trying to do the job, but told Pharaoh that the Hebrew women kept having the babies before they could get there to help.  Here we see how virtues can conflict.  Submission is good but killing a baby regardless of its gender is worse.  Even the lie that they tell Pharaoh would be recognized as a lower priority.  This is not situational ethics.  Rather it is recognition that virtues have boundaries.  These ladies properly drew the boundary at taking the life of another or infanticide.  Another situation is found in the book of Acts with Peter and John.  They had been taken by the authorities and commanded to quit teaching and promoting Jesus.  They respond that it is better for them to obey God than men.  Here they have been given a direct command from Jesus.  Go into all the world and make disciples of Jesus.  They would have to disobey God in order to obey their “proper” human authorities.  Thus they refused to comply.  However, notice that they always submitted to the punishment.  Instead of stirring up a revolt against the Jewish leaders or Ceasar they stood and spoke firmly on Jesus and accepted whatever punishments they were given.  Thus submission requires us to think and have a clear understanding of what God wants from us.  It is not unquestioning obedience to human authorities.

Peter goes on in verse 17 to give a series of commands.  Honor all people.  Love fellow believers.  Fear God.  Honor the king.  Notice that honor begins the list and ends it.  Also that honor is directed towards “all people” and also “the king.”  Just because people are lost and do not know God does not mean that we are free to de-value them.  Honor basically means to value them.  We honor or value those in the world with two motivations.  Our actions can adversely affect our fellow Christians.  Love cautions us to not act in a way that would foolishly bring harm and hurt to our fellow brothers.  Thus we should be motivated by love.  However, we should also fear God.  God has often used evil governments or even evil people to chastise those whom he loves.  We are not above doing wrong and when we do God is not always going to use a Christian to rebuke you.  If we fear God then we will honor any authority that we are under knowing that we too need restrained from evil.  It is recognition that I am a sinner saved by the grace of God and that there is value even in fallen people and corrupted institutions.

Further Thoughts

Rebellion must never be romanticized.  There are some who are unable to take their place under any authority.  Their over-powering need to have no authority over them brings pain, suffering, and hurt to themselves and others.

Submission alone must never be the greatest priority.  In our own country men like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized that we can properly refuse authorities for the right reasons.  They rejected violent methods often in the face of violent authorities.  By doing so they gave a clear public testimony that they were doing good.  Even in their “disobedience” they were submitted to the overall rule of law and authority.

Regardless what governance we live under we are to do our best to obey its laws without disobeying God.  We are in a better situation compared to many.  We have precious little excuse.

Lastly, we must beware self-justification.  Our justification must truly be from God himself.  We must operate with the mind of Christ and the direction of God’s Word.  Only then can we properly represent Him to this world.  Pick up your cross and follow Jesus!

Virtue of Submission Audio