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CALLED TO SERVE GOD (2 TIMOTHY 2:14-26)

REFLECTION

Called to serve God is the theme for our reflection. Called to serve God means a person has been consecrated, commissioned, ordained or anointed to perform a role or function in God’s mission in the world. We shall reflect on the fact that we must constantly remain focused on our calling.

Beloved in the Lord, Paul encouraged Timothy to focus on his calling as a leader and teacher of the Word of God, especially at a time when the church was bedevilled with false teachers and their misleading doctrines. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). At every given time in the history of the church, there is one challenge or the other. The challenge of the Church of Ephesus during Timothy’s leadership was false teachers. Timothy had to rise up to the occasion as a servant called to serve God through the preaching or teaching of the authentic word of truth. The danger was the false teacher taught that “… the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.” (2 Timothy 2:18) In other words, if the resurrection has already taken place then it means that there is no longer salvation for those where left behind. People began to live in sin because there was no longer the need to live a righteous life in anticipation of the coming of Christ. May consequently perished in their sins. Timothy’s calling is to save as many people as he could through the preaching of the Gospel.

Dear friend, what are the challenges facing the world today and what are we called to do as servants of God in saving the lost? The Church of Christ is still battling with false teachers and their teachings. False preachers do not preach the Gospel of salvation but teach only teach on material possession and prosperity as the only sign of God’s grace. In Africa, we are battling with false prophets who are deceiving gullible Christians and dividing families with their false prophecies. For instance, people are made to hate and abandon their aged mothers because a false prophet has told them that their mother is a witch. False teachers fail to challenge the immorality of our time but have accepted all manner of abominable practices in the church of Christ. Same-sex marriages are being blessed and promoted in the house of God. This has led to friction between some Churches in Africa and their ecumenical partners. Jesus has called us to serve God by preaching the true message of Salvation. The summary of the message is captured in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” We must preach repentance and regeneration even as we challenge ourselves through constant study of the word of Truth to live according to the perfect image and example of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Unlike, Timothy, many of us have not been called to serve as Christian leaders, but we have all been called to serve God by preaching the Gospel like Timothy. There are two ways we can preach the Gospel in winning many perishing souls for the Kingdom of God. We can preach the Gospel through active evangelism and passive evangelism. We have called to serve God through active evangelism when Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16). This is also known as stewardship of the Gospel. As servants of God, we have been entrusted with the message of Salvation. We must preach it at the least opportunity because there lost and perishing souls out there. Some of these lost and perishing souls including gullible or weak Christians have fallen victim to these false teachers and charlatans who are agents of Satan. In furtherance of the Kingdom of God, Jesus admonished us, “4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. The night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4). Certainly, a time is coming when we can no longer perform the duties of our calling, what will you render to the Lord. There are numerous ways of sharing the Gospel in our time. We can preach through conversation, we can text the Word of God and can share the links to reflections such as NBNB reflection to enable other have access to the Word of God. We can also buy the Bible as a gift to a sister or brother you wish to bring to the saving knowledge of Christ and encourage him or her to read with you daily.

The second type of evangelism is the passive evangelism. Passive evangelism is impacting the live of people by following the perfect example of Christ in your daily interactions with people. Passive evangelism can be seen in our generosity, love, honesty and life of integrity. We see a manifestation of passive evangelism when Jesus said “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) In others, our actions must demonstrate that we are disciples of Christ.

Dear friend, our active evangelism must complement our passive evangelism. They are two sides of the same coin. We cannot preach one thing and practice the other. We are not different from false teachers if our message does not reflect our actions. We have been called to preach Christ and to live Christ so that we will become the light of the world, bring light to wherever there is darkness. Shalom.

In summary, we have learnt that we must constantly remain focused on our calling to serve God. Like Timothy, we may not all become leaders of the Church but when it comes to rescuing the lost and perishing, we have the divine mandate or calling to actively and passively engage in evangelism. We must preach day and night to render the impact of false teachers or teachings ineffective in the Church and in the world. Shalom.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, empower us to fulfill our calling to serve God even as we await the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.