In thinking about Timothy as himself a
symbol of the need, and of God's method of meeting it, we
noted, on the one side, the neediness of Timothy - how he
is presented in these letters as one in need in every way
- and, on the other side, the urge that the Apostle
brought to bear upon him, the tremendous responsibility
which the Apostle indicated as resting upon him. We noted
all the words of exhortation and command, which seemed to
make such great demands upon this young man. "O
Timothy...", says the Apostle, "I charge thee
in the sight of God... and he appeals to him more than
once to "Be strong", "Endure hardship as a
good soldier", "Give diligence to show thyself
approved unto God", and so on. And all this, as we
saw, was in the light of the situation which was
developing at that time - the terrible, terrible
persecution of Christians that was coming about, to which
Paul, so soon after writing this last letter, fell a
victim - and Timothy knew all about it. It was indeed
putting much upon a weak vessel. It was making tremendous
demands upon one who, in himself, speaking quite
naturally, was not of great account. Even physically he
was apparently at a discount, for the Apostle refers to
"thine oft infirmities." Evidently Timothy went
down under some malady, repeatedly and often.
Well,
what did it all amount to? This is the point; we only
need to re-emphasize it. Paul was not calling upon
Timothy to be more of a man than he was; he was not
calling upon him to be a kind of super-man. If we talked
to one another like that when we were a bit down under,
it would not get us very far. If in our human language we
used such expressions as: 'Well now, buck up!' or: 'Now
then, none of that, no giving way!' or: 'Remember you are
a man, remember you are a responsible person! You ought
to behave better than that!' - I do not know how far that
would get us. It might make us feel all the worse,
thoroughly ashamed of ourselves; such utterly worthless
creatures that we wanted to get out of it altogether. And
so might Timothy have felt, if this had been what Paul
was doing. He might have said, 'Well, Paul evidently does
not think much of me; he has got a very poor opinion of
me. I am good for nothing - I had better just give it all
up.'
But that
was not what Paul was doing. It is important to notice
this great feature about his letters; we shall probably
enlarge upon it in other connections later. Paul was not
telling Timothy to be a super-man - for it wanted a
super-man to stand up to this situation, to carry this
load, to meet these emergencies - or to be more of a man
than he was, IN HIMSELF. Paul was indicating to
Timothy all the way through that Timothy's very life and
work, his ministry and his position of responsibility,
rested upon a Divine and supernatural basis. "The
gift of God which is in thee..." Paul refers to that
more than once in his letters (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6).
"God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness" (2
Tim. 1:7). Read them through again and note this. The
strength that Timothy was to have, the ability that was
to be his for doing and for enduring, was a strength and
an ability which would not come from any spring in
himself. He could be, and Paul was calling upon him to
be, a super-man - but not in himself. "Be
strengthened in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:1). He was really being
called upon to be and to do far more than any human
person could measure up to; far more than was possible
even for the best of men, the strongest and the wisest of
men - let alone a Timothy! But the Lord never lays upon
us an impossibility. If He charges, if He calls or
demands, He provides: His is the strength, His is the
wisdom.
Christians are Super-men in Christ
Now,
without taking that any further, I bring it to this focal
point. Difficult as it may be for you and for me to
believe it, especially at times, it is true that in a
sense, and a very real sense, every Christian is a
super-man or a super-woman. Every Christian is supposed
to be something that no other person in this world, even
at their best, can be. Every Christian is supposed to
have knowledge and understanding of that which no other
person at their wisest can know. Every Christian is
supposed to do what no one outside of Christ can possibly
do; and every Christian is supposed to go through what no
one else can go through, in the way in which a Christian
is supposed to go through it. There are imposed upon
Christians demands which are super-human. There are given
to Christians resources which are super-natural. The
Christian life is super-natural, from start to finish.
It is
very important for young Christians to recognise this,
and for all of us to call it to mind. When the whole
story is told, when we know as we are known, when we see
all things clearly and no longer through the glass
darkly, the one thought that will, I am sure, overwhelm
us will be this: 'It took the infinite power of Almighty
God to do that, and I didn't know it!' Our salvation
demanded that. Salvation is not the simple little thing
that I am afraid many people think it is, or make it out
to be. However simple may be the turning-point, there are
vast immensities of Divine power lying behind the rebirth
of any one soul. And to get that soul right through and
bring it at last into His presence, glorified, calls for
the "exceeding greatness of his power to
us-ward". Thank God, that power is available!
Now is
that not true, dear Christian? You have been on the way
long enough. You know quite well that you could not have
got through; you may have said, 'It is no good, I give it
all up', and contemplated another course, looked for a
way out - the situation was so difficult, so trying.
Indeed, it may even have been worse: perhaps you actually
broke down, and went all to pieces. Yet, in spite of
everything, in spite of yourself, in spite of the Devil
and all his forces, you are here! How do you account for
it? Well, there is something to account for it that is
not in us, and in that sense we have surmounted a
tremendous force of opposition and antagonism to our
getting through to a glorious end. I have often said
that, when we are there, we shall look at one another and
say: 'Well, brother, we are here! You did not expect to
be, did you? - but you are here!' Yes, even Timothy will
be there. With all that he had to face, and all that was
put upon him, he could yet "be strengthened in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus." That lifts us above
the level of any human possibility.
Let us
remember that we are, as Christians, supposed to be
something other than, and more wonderful than, any other
people in this world, in every way. That wonder may be
secret and hidden, not manifest to the world, but it is
there. May the Lord help us to lay hold upon that which
He has presented to us - for it is miraculous. "Lay
hold" says Paul, "on eternal life".