Share in Suffering (2 Timothy 2:1-10)

Big Idea: Share in suffering for the sake of the gospel.

As you may know, we don’t have a fancy car. Our car has two rare features: a CD player and a manual transmission. But otherwise, our car has no cool features.

I occasionally rent cars. And here’s what I’ve found: some of the new cars are pretty cool. One of the things that I notice is all the driving modes that these new cars have:

• Eco Mode
• Sport Mode
• Comfort Mode
• Individual Mode
• All-Terrain or Off-Road Mode
• Snow or Winter Mode
• Adaptive or Smart Mode
• EV Mode

This is all so confusing. My car only has two modes: on and off. When I drive one of these new cars, I feel a bit of anxiety. Which of these modes is right? I just want to drive the car!

Suffering Modes

I have a theory regarding both your life and mine. There are only two modes in which we can live our lives. You don’t have a choice. You’re going to live in one or the other.

• Suffering mode — This is the default mode of life, not just for the believer but for everyone. Suffering is an inevitable part of everyone's life. Everyone's.
• Purposeful suffering mode — This is the willingness to choose a life of suffering for a higher purpose that makes the suffering worth it. It redeems the suffering.

I’ve been here for almost a year now. I am thankful to be part of this church. I’ve learned a couple of things.

First: this church has suffered. Some of you haven’t been around for all of this, but some of you have. This is a good church, but the past three or so years haven’t been the easiest for our church. And so our church has been in suffering mode for a while.

But here’s what else I’ve learned. Some of you have been in suffering mode in your lives as well. As I’ve gotten to know you, I’ve come to realize the burdens that many of you carry, burdens that not everyone knows about, but burdens that are real and significant for you.

Suffering mode has its purposes. James 1:2-4 says that suffering tests our faith, producing endurance and maturity. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says that suffering proves the genuineness of our faith. Hebrews 12:5-11 says that suffering is like parental discipline that shapes our character. 2 Corinthians 1 says that our suffering helps us comfort others. And passages like Philippians 3:10 and 1 Peter 4:12-13 tell us that suffering helps us to get to know Jesus better.

So if you’re in suffering mode right now, it is purposeful. I’m convinced that we need to learn how to suffer better. We can’t avoid it, we won’t enjoy it, but we can learn to rejoice in our sufferings, as Romans 5:3-5 says. We need to learn how to suffer well.

So we’ve probably largely been in suffering mode, which, as I said, is the default mode not just for the believer but for everyone. But I also want to suggest that it’s probably time as a church to flip the switch and leave suffering mode. We’ve been in that mode long enough.

What does that look like? It doesn’t mean switching to comfort mode. There is no comfort mode in the Christian life, at least not yet. That day will come, but we’re not there yet. It means switching to purposeful suffering mode.

For Which I Am Suffering

What do I mean by this?

Read 2 Timothy 2:8-10 with me:

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

If you asked me, I’d probably say that I don’t really have a life verse. But if I did, it would be this passage, particularly verse 10. This passage gripped me as a teenager. I knew that I was going to suffer for something. Nobody escapes suffering in this life. But I had a choice. I could suffer for the sake of a higher purpose. This verse changed my life.

Let me try to unpack these few verses for us.

Paul has just told Timothy to suffer. We’re going to get to what he said about the kind of suffering he talks about in just a minute. Timothy faced pressures just like we did, but Paul called him to purposely pursue a particular form of suffering for a good reason. We’ll get to that in a minute.

In verses 8 to 10, Paul gives an example of what it looks like to choose purposeful suffering. He gives his own life as an example of this. Here’s what he says.

First, he begins with Jesus. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.” Paul draws Timothy’s attention to Jesus. Jesus is the offspring of David. He’s the One promised in Scripture who would come to reign. And yet he came to suffer for a purpose. He suffered and died to save a sinful people. But that’s not the end. Jesus was raised from the dead and vindicated by the Father. This phrase is short, but it encapsulates the entirety of Paul’s message.

If we’re going to suffer well, we have to begin with Jesus. We don’t just need the example of Jesus. We need to experience the gospel that Paul talks about here. If you have never met this Jesus, today is the perfect opportunity to change directions and put all of your trust in him. Remember Jesus.

We want to be a church that continues to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. We want this gospel to be preached and believed and trusted every week. We want this to be the center of our church.

Paul experienced that good news, that gospel, and he says it’s for this gospel that he suffers. Paul’s suffering was probably worse than most of what we’re going through. He says that he is suffering as a criminal. The word criminal means

Notice: Paul’s suffering is purposeful. As Paul writes this, he is in prison for the sake of the gospel, bound as a criminal. What kind of suffering did Paul experience? Criminal is a rare term. It was normally used for brigands, insurrectionists, and murderers. What horrible thing did Paul do? He preached the gospel. Even though he’s innocent and has rights as a Roman citizen, he’s chained as an enemy of Rome.

And Paul says it is so worth it. Why? They can lock him up, but they can’t lock up God’s word. Even as Paul is sitting in jail, God’s word continues to spread throughout the entire Roman Empire. It continues to spread throughout the world. The gospel can’t be stopped. It’s worth suffering for.

That’s why we don’t have to get discouraged. Church is hard? That’s okay; the gospel is unhindered. People let you down? Yes, of course. But the word continues to spread. No matter what happens, the gospel continues to spread unhindered, and it is so worth it to be part of this even when it gets hard.

Let me put it this way. There is a kind of suffering you will experience that you can’t choose. You will face trials. You will face difficulties. You’ll get sick. You’ll experience anxiety. You’ll get hurt. People will talk about you. Your kids will give you trouble. You’ll get fired or laid off. You’ll go through financial difficulties. Church will disappoint you. Pastors will disappoint you. I don’t know what will happen in your life. What I do know is that you will suffer. You won’t be able to choose this suffering. It will come for you whether you look for it or not. God will use it for your good, but it will be hard.

But there is a second kind of suffering you can avoid if you want to. It’s suffering for the gospel. It’s doing hard things for the sake of Jesus. You can avoid this suffering if you want to, but you shouldn’t. This is the kind of suffering we should endure for the sake of the gospel.

You’re going to suffer for something. Why not suffer for something like the gospel? Why not lay down your life for this? It’s worth moving from suffering mode to suffering for the sake of the gospel. That is worth jail. It’s worth mistreatment. It’s worth trials. It’s worth whatever it takes.

You may be wondering, “Wait. Is there some kind of limit to the suffering that I should endure for the sake of the gospel?” Let Paul answer in verse 10: “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” What is Paul willing to suffer? Everything. Why? Because it’s worth it for the sake of what God does through those who are willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

Three Kinds of Suffering

I’ve been abstract so far. What does this kind of suffering look like? It looks like the normal Christian life.

What Paul describes in verses 1 to 7 is incredibly ordinary. “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” he says in verse 1. Keep relying on God’s grace that is found in Christ Jesus. We never outgrow this. Keep coming back and depend on Jesus every day of your life. Rely on Jesus for everything for the rest of your life.

And then, pass on your faith to others. “…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” (2 Timothy 2:2). This was written to Timothy, but it applies to all of us. It involves elders, but as the faith is passed down to other believers, they transmit it too. “Paul expects the church’s elders and deacons to lead in this task. Still, every disciple, male or female, whether a formal or informal leader, may aspire to transmit the faith” (Daniel Doriani and Richard D. Phillips). Whatever you received, pass it on. Just as someone else helped you to Jesus, help others to Jesus too.

But let me tell you: it will involve suffering. Paul gives us three images of the kind of suffering it will involve: soldier, athlete, and farmer.

Shift your loyalties like a soldier

“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (2:3-4)

Soldiers suffer. It’s part of the job. They often sleep on the ground. They endure heat and cold, hunger and thirst. Soldiering required total commitment. Soldiers didn’t get involved in anything that distracted them from being soldiers. When Paul wrote this, you couldn’t marry during your term of service. People would serve for up to twenty years; about half survived long enough to retire.

Christian, you’re in active service right now. You’re not on reserve or back at the base. You’re on the front lines When you follow Jesus, your priorities shift from the normal things that people worry about — living a comfortable life and getting ahead, for instance — to pleasing Jesus no matter what it costs. You don’t get to choose how you live anymore! If your life doesn’t reflect different priorities from people who don’t follow Jesus, you’re doing it wrong! We don’t get to decide how we live anymore. Jesus decides.

Our loyalties and priorities have changed. Your life is no longer your own. You live to please him, not yourself. This will stretch you and cost you your comfort.

It means you’ll shift your loyalties like a solider. Paul gives us another image:

Discipline yourself like an athlete

“An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” (2:5)

Athletes live according to a couple of sets of rules.

One set of rules has to do with training: listening to your coach, showing up at practice, doing the drills, conditioning your body. Some athletes back then would have to swear that they’d trained the required number of months before they were allowed to compete. You can’t be an athlete if you don’t do the work that nobody sees.

But then there’s the work that everyone does see. You have to play by the rules of the game. Sprinters have to stay in their lanes. Hurlers must toss javelins with fixed dimensions. Pitchers must use a regulation baseball. Soccer players must not kick opposing players. If you don’t follow the rules, you can’t play the game.

What kind of suffering is he talking about? We have to follow the rules of Christ. Obedience matters. We need to train ourselves in the habits of grace like taking in Scripture, praying, and staying involved in church. Again, discipline to train and follow the rules involves a certain kind of suffering and self-denial. That’s part of what it means to follow Jesus.

And there’s one more thing.

Work hard like a farmer

“It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.” (2:6)

How does a farmer suffer? A farmer suffers from hard work. Sacrificial labor. Hustle. But the hard work pays off. The hardworking farmer gets rewards that the lazy farmer doesn’t. But it involves suffering: months of hard work, even when the farmer’s tired, even when the results are a long way off. And, as every farmer knows, the results are unpredictable. The crop isn’t always as good as one might have hoped.

What does it look like? It looks like “Really hard work. For a really long time. In a really hard place.” (What Church Can Be) That’s what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Share in suffering by shifting your loyalties like a soldier, disciplining yourself like an athlete, and working hard like a farmer.

And then Paul does something I don’t think I’ve seen him do anywhere else. He says in verse 7, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” It’s almost like he’s saying: don’t rush past this too quickly. Really let it sink in. The normal Christian life is going to be hard. You’re going to suffer.

And then, in verses 8 to 10, he gives us his testimony. He says that he’s signed up for this kind of suffering, and it’s landed him in jail. And, he says, it’s so worth it. And he invites us to join him in that kind of suffering too.

So here’s what I’m saying today. It has been a hard few years for our church. We’ve been in suffering mode. And, to be clear, we’re going to continue to suffer. The same in your personal lives: life is hard, and it will continue to be hard. You will continue to suffer.

But there’s a kind of suffering that can be so redemptive that you can sit in a jail cell and say, “This is hard, but it is worth it.” There’s only one kind of suffering like that, and it’s suffering for the gospel.

And so let’s move out of suffering mode into purposeful suffering mode. Share in suffering for the gospel. Let’s live the ordinary Christian life when it’s hard. Let’s invest in people and pass on the faith. Let’s dream about planting and revitalizing churches. Let’s shift our loyalties like soldiers, discipline ourselves like athletes, and work hard like farmers.

And then, like Paul, we’ll be able to say, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”