God’s Word for You

2 Timothy 4:4-5 fulfill your ministry

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, July 11, 2026

4 They will turn those ears away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, keep a clear head in all situations, bear up under hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

The idea of believing myths instead of the word of God was a real problem among Greek-speaking Christians in the early days of the church. By that time, the writings of Homer were eight hundred years old, and the more recent Greek poets and playwrights were well-established and familiar as the literature of the culture throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. When classical music began to be a profitable business at the beginning of the seventeenth century with the invention and popularization of opera, it was Greek mythology that first provided the stories. Even today, when film studios no longer seem to know how to give movies a plot, they turn to mythology and superheroes. The new danger in churches, however, is just the opposite. More and more well-meaning Christians are reducing the accounts of the Bible into mere myths. This is not a minor issue. Our Lutheran church was divided over this more than sixty years ago when a church body we had been in fellowship with for generations was revealed to be teaching their seminary students that the accounts of Genesis and Jonah and other parts of the Bible were nothing but mythology. Their refusal to turn away from this or to do anything about those professors who were teaching it was one of the reasons that we sadly had to turn away from them and separate ourselves from them; a schism that remains to this day, although we pray that one day it can be mended through repentance and right teaching.

“As for you,” Paul commands his friend, “keep a clear head.” This is a word that would also be used of being sober. Just as sobriety avoids the dulling effects of wine or beer, so also keeping a clear head about Christian doctrine avoids the dulling effects of false teaching or, equally as dangerous, apathy.

Next, Paul says, “Bear up under hardship.” In the near future, Timothy’s future, there would be much suffering; a lot to bear up under. I was talking with my associate just this morning about difficult cases that Pastors are called on to give counsel to, and one, of course, is cases of divorce. We often ask the children we teach, “Who suffers the most in a divorce?” And sometimes they will talk about the wife suffering more, or the husband suffering more, but then a quiet truth will surface: The children always suffer, no matter what they are told, no matter what counseling they might or might not receive. And then, my companion and I also observed that pastors, too, suffer with each divorce, over and over, again and again, through the accusations and arguments and exaggerations and overstatements and all of the drama, and all of the other things that go along with it.

When my wife was still with us, I would often come home after a counseling session over a divorce, and just look into her eyes, and she would know it had been a tough evening, and she would put down her pencil or her book or dry her hands over the dishwater and come and take my hands and we would tell each other how much we loved each other. No need for details about the couple I had been with. It was just always a time to remember how much the two of us were blessed.

In addition to this, Paul was showing by his example that it was good for Timothy to share his hardships with his friends, especially the elders of the church or other men in the called ministry. It isn’t wise for a minister to keep things bottled up inside, because that is how spiritual rot begins; that is an engine of ministry that is bound to seize up and stop working.

“Do the work of an evangelist.” This isn’t a modern term like a “revivalist,” but a general word for anyone who works with the gospel in the ministry of the church. There are many forms of ministry, not only pastors, but teachers, professors, doctors of theology, school superintendents, administrators and deans, staff ministers, missionaries, and more. Some of our Lutheran Confessions include names of various men who signed them, and there we find many of these terms from the time of Luther. Certain roles in the work of the church may change over time; what was necessary five hundred years ago might not be necessary today, and what was never heard of until fifty years ago might be quite useful and beneficial today.

Finally, Paul summarizes Timothy’s work: “Fulfill your ministry.” The main work of a minister in the church is to feed as many of the people as he can. There can be certain specialized assistants or associates who might work with the straying, or the very young, or those with special needs, but if the pastor only works out at the edge of the flock, the big group in the middle will begin to get hungry and thirsty, and may begin to look for nourishment elsewhere without even realizing what it is that they are doing. There are many people who can feed a bottle to a lamb—almost anyone—but not everyone can answer the hard questions that come out of the center of the group. They need the Lord’s encouragement: “Things have been hard, but I will bless you” (Haggai 2:19). “There is hard work ahead, but I will be with you” (Judges 6:16). And they need to be reminded to set an example for people who depend on them, the pillars of the church. There is no list of ways that a pastor must fulfill his ministry, as if there are boxes to be checked. There are only duties to be performed, people to be helped, studying to keep doing for a lifetime, and to be prepared in and out of season so that when God’s people need him, he is there. When God’s people are fed with the gospel, the minister is strengthened by the very same gospel.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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