Embers of Ministry: When You're Passion is Flickering

Over the many years that Paul and Timothy travelled the Mediterranean basin together, Paul most likely clearly recognized Timothy's spiritual gift of evangelism. We see that in 2Timothy 4:5, Paul encourages Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist.” It seems quite obvious that Paul wouldn’t have any need to encourage Timothy to do that work in this way unless Timothy indeed had the gift of evangelism and Paul wanted him to use it.

But what might be the work of an evangelist, you may ask? Paul answers that question for us: "preaching and teaching" (1Timothy 4:13). A biblical definition of an evangelist is "one who devotes him/herself to the public reading of scripture and the preaching and teaching of the gospel message using his/her gift of evangelism."

Since Paul may have been well aware of Timothy’s gift of evangelism and his ability to preach and teach, we can deduce that before leaving Ephesus for the final time to make his way to Macedonia, the apostle Paul appointed the young, energetic Timothy to remain behind to pastor the church in that polytheistic town (1Timothy 1:3). Timothy’s ministry was to use his spiritual gift of evangelism to preach and teach the truth of the gospel message to the Ephesian people as their gifted pastor.

After about two years into Timothy’s ministry in Ephesus, the apostle Paul wrote Timothy a letter filled with many encouraging words, among which, the phrase, "keep fighting the good fight" (1Timothy 6:12) stands out as a thematic concept, not only in the first letter, but for both letters Paul wrote to Timothy.

At that two-year mark, Paul was pleased with Timothy's ministry, and he wrote him to encourage him to continue strong in his preaching and teaching to the Ephesian people. Paul was fulfilling his duty, as a good mentor would do, by checking in on Timothy and encouraging him in his work. But did Paul know something more about Timothy's situation than he was letting on? No. Not at all. Paul was in full-disclosure mode. And he disclosed Timothy's situation.

Paul specifically knew that Timothy was facing a group of people who “looked down on him because of his youthfulness” (1Timothy 4:12). And he knew that the Ephesian people, to whom he sent Timothy, had "abandoned the faith and followed deceiving spirits and things taught by demons" (1Timothy 4:1). Knowing how tough ministry among the Ephesian people was going to be for Timothy, Paul's encouragement was very much warranted and, as we will see, very much needed by Timothy.

So, we see, at this two-year mark, Paul knew very well that things would be tough for

Timothy and he was encouraged seing Timothy's initial determination to fight the battle well and so, in turn, his encouragement to Timothy was "to keep fighting the battle well" (1Timothy 1:18). Paul encouraged Timothy to not give up in his very difficult ministry. Paul was also encouraged by Timothy’s initial diligence to use his gift of evangelism in his ministry, so he, again in turn, encouraged Timothy "to continue to use his spiritual gift of evangelism" (1Timothy 4:14) in his preaching and teaching to the Ephesian church.

Paul knew that Timothy needed the encouragement to "continue to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching" (1Timothy 1:14) in the face of a group of people whom Paul described as "hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron" (1Timothy 4:2). The people of Ephesus were a tough bunch to evangelize, and Paul knew Timothy would need a strong dose of encouragement to “continue to battle them well.”

So, in Paul's first letter to Timothy, Paul encourages Timothy to continue to boldly teach and preach on specific issues of the gospel message that have eternal ramifications for the Ephesians. Paul tells Timothy, these things you are to continue to teach and insist on" (1Timothy 6:2).

However, Paul also knew that the people to whom Timothy had been sent were of a mindset to not listen to anything Timothy had to say. In fact, by the time Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, the Ephesians were actively "opposing the truth" that Timothy was preaching and teaching (2 Timothy 3:8).

To get a clear picture of the opposition that Timothy faced, let’s look at how Paul graphically described the Ephesian people...

· "They are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind. They have been robbed of the truth, and they think that godliness is a means to financial gain" (1Timothy 6:3-5).

· "They've wandered from faith and pierced themselves with many griefs"(1Timothy 6:10).

· "They are arrogant and they put their hope in wealth" (1Timothy 6:17).

· "They quarrel about words" (2Timothy 2:14).

· "They indulge in godless chatter and become more and more ungodly" (2Timothy 2:16).

· "Their teaching spreads like gangrene" (2Timothy 2:17).

· "They destroy the faith of some" (2Timothy 2:18).

· "They are involved in foolish and stupid arguments" (2Timothy 2:23).

· "They are quarrelsome. (2Timothy 2:24).

· "They have been trapped by the devil" (2 Timothy 2:26).

· "They have been taken captive by the devil to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:26).

· "They are lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unappeasable, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:2-5).

This litany of inhospitable character traits is tough to ignore in our attempt to understand Timothy's circumstances. It is these same unfriendly, brutal, treacherous, unforgiving and ungrateful people, who Paul here describes, who are the very people to whom Timothy is charged with evangelizing. They are the very people to whom he is to serve with his gift of evangelism. So we must seriously consider Paul's account of their character if we hope to understand Timothy's state of mind and Paul's encouragement to him in 2Timothy 4:1-8.

Timothy has now spent two years in heated opposition with these Ephesians, preaching and teaching with little to no positive response from them. And Paul is now encouraging him to not become discouraged at his efforts. Paul is encouraging Timothy "to keep fighting the good fight" (1Timothy 6:12) by "continuing to not neglect (the use) his gift of evangelism" (1Timothy 4:14) and "to continue preaching and teaching, even insisting on" (1Timothy 6:2) obedience to the truth in the face of such a tough group of people.

Each of the verbs in those references above are grammatically in the present tense, indicating that Timothy was at that time, currently “fighting,” currently “not neglecting,” and currently “preaching and teaching and insisting.” The use of the English verb “keep”, and “continue” capture the on-going present tense usage of the meaning of those references - “keep on doing…”

If the first two years of Timothy's ministry can be compared to a flame, then Timothy would be considered, "on fire", and his ministry would be a blazing inferno, roaring with flames and heat. And in order to keep the flames burning strong Timothy would need to continually throw logs on that fire to sustain its intense burning. Those logs would be his daily encounters with the Ephesian people as he diligently accepted the daily opportunities to preach and teach the gospel message to those "proud, abusive, and disobedient" people.

The implication of Paul's encouragement to "keep fighting the good fight" is that Timothy, at the time of Pail’s writing, was indeed still fighting the good fight. He was still preaching and teaching the gospel message. It indicates that Timothy had not yet quit, and not yet given up fighting even in his extremely difficult circumstances. His passion for speaking to others about Jesus, even though beginning to wane at this point in time (1Timoty 4:14), was still burning because he was still seeking encounters to share the gospel message with the Ephesians in order to presach and teach.

So, the fact that Paul uses the present tense imperative here provides us with the translation of "keep on," and indicates that after two years of ministry, Timothy was still using his gift of evangelism at the time of his writing and still preaching and teaching to these people in the face of adverse opposition, but needing encouragement to "keep on" with his ministry.

However..., by the time Paul wrote Timothy the second time, at that sixth year mark of Timothy’s ministry, after four more years of heated obstruction to his ministry, something is different. It appears that the continual barrage of opposition and maltreatment seems to have severely smothered Timothy’s enthusiasm to preach and teach, and the firey passion of his ministry was bit by bit smothered to the point that it was struggling to stay ablaze. His passion to to talk to others about Jesus at this point appears to be barely flickering.

If Timothy's passion for ministry during his first two years can be compared to an intensely burning flame, by the time Paul wrote 2Timothy, four years later, it seems apparent that those additional four years of intense fiery encounters, engaging the Ephesian people in the ministry of preaching and teaching, Timothy’s passion for ministry has been reduced to a smoldering ember.

In Paul’s second letter of encouragement to Timothy, one of the first exhortations Paul gives Timothy is …

“I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God...” (2Timothy 1:6).

No one needs to "fan into flame" a blazing fire, only smoldering embers. The implication of Paul's encouragement here is that Timothy's passion for telling others about Jesus is no longer an intensely burning flame. It is now nothing more than a dying ember grasping for fuel to stay alive. It appears that Timothy is no longer using his gift of evangelism and is thus no longer stoking his blazing fire of ministry with preaching and teaching encounters, and as a result, his passion for ministry is dying out like a smoldering ember that needs to be reignited by fanning it into flame.

God has, on other occasions, used the imagery of a dying ember in scripture to make a point.  In Isaiah 7:2-6, God describes Aram and Ephraim in their meager attempt to form an alliance to overtake Judah as "two smoldering stubs of firewood." God's imagery of a smoldering piece of wood is menat to indicate something or someone as "pitiful and powerless." 

Perhaps because of the “brutal, malicious and treacherous” nature of the Ephesian people, as described by the apostle Paul, Timothy possibly became fearful of potential hostile encounters with the Ephesian people, resulting in him becoming too timid to continue preaching and teaching the gospel message to them. And seeing the lack of character-change in the Ephesian people as his ministry-success-litmus-test over time indicated, perhaps Timothy also lost his sense of evangelistic power for preaching the gospel, and he also may have became so embarrassed by what appeared to him to be powerless-results of his preaching and teaching ministry, that he abandoned the use of his spiritual gift altogether on their behalf. So, being embarrassed, and with no sense of evangelistic power, Timothy eventually ceased preaching and teaching to the Ephesian people all together.

And so Timothy became, not in Paul's view, but possibly in Timothy’s own view of himself "a smoldering ember" and a “pitiful and powerless” believer in Christ. And Paul may be taking the opportunity to reminid Timothy of his own self-doubting, self-talk language here.

So, Paul’s encouragement to Timothy is similar to Isaiah's encouragement to Ahaz. Paul wanted to encourage Timothy to no longer consider himself to be a smoldering stub of firewood, pitiful and powerless because of the lack of evidence of Ephesian transformation. Paul's encouragement to Timothy was to reignite the flames of his ministry by beginning again to use his spiritual gift; to fan into flames his ministry and refuel the fire of his ministry by once again stoking it with Ephesian encounters by renewing his preaching and teaching ministry among them which had its roots in his gift of evangelism that God gave to him.

After six years of ministry in Ephesus, Timothy appears to have become totally discouraged, fearful, and perhaps even ashamed of what seemed to be a powerless and ineffective preaching ministry. Worn down by continual stubborn resistance and brutal opposition, he may have gradually shrunk back from the preaching and teaching Paul had entrusted to him.

Timothy's intense fiery passion for ministry that once blazed through the daily use of his spiritual gift had now diminished to a smoldering ember, starved by the lack of bold preaching and teaching encounters with the Ephesian people.

It is against this backdrop that Paul urges Timothy to "fan into flame the gift of God" (2 Tim. 1:6), reminding him that "God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and self-discipline" (2 Tim. 1:7). Paul's words suggest that Timothy is on the verge of giving up completly, and so must exhort him to "fan into flame the gift of [evangelism given to him by] God." Paul is encouraging Timothy to resume his calling with renewed courage, and confidence in God's power (2 Tim. 1:6-8).

Pau’s practical reminder to Timothy is an encouragement for each of us today who may be living in Timothy’s shadow feeling just as fearful and powerless and ashamed of the results our our evangelism to those around us. Perhaps we feel just as ineffective and impotent as Timothy. Notice that Paul does not address those feelings of ineffectiveness. He addresses the result of our own feelings of being ineffective - wanting to give up.

Paul is not concerned about us feeling innefective. Feeling innefective is a sign of humble faith in fighting the battle well. He is concerned about us giving up. That is a sign of discouraging unbelief in relinquishing the battle. But remember, the battle belogns to the LORD. It is not our battle to relinquish. Our role in God's battle is to continue to fight.

So let us take to heart Paul’s reminder to Timothy. Let’s “depend on the power of God to love others and fan into flame our passion to share Jesus with them.”