The Apostolic Example

2 Timothy 3:10-13

Immanuel – 7/19/26

          Have there been any that have followed Jesus more faithfully than the Apostles? They lived by the power of the Holy Spirit, built up the church in love, unashamedly proclaimed the gospel, endured tremendous suffering, and gave their lives for the sake of Christ. Indeed, Church tradition tells us each one of them – save for John – was martyred as they advanced the kingdom among the unreached.

And as Paul writes this letter to Timothy, he is sitting on death row. A short time later he will be beheaded under Nero’s persecutions.

          Though the apostolic example may seem radical and unattainable, it is the very life to which every Christian is called. We are called to follow the apostles because they followed Christ. With Jesus, radical is normal. It’s the comfortable path of ease, the secure and controllable life, the highway of self-centeredness that should shock us. For those paths are walked in godless darkness, filled with multitudes of the deceived, blindly marching towards their own destruction.

Main Point

          In a world of the deceived, we are called to a radical life – following the apostolic example.

          As we saw last week, counterfeit Christians proliferated in Paul and Timothy’s day. Paul listed 18 markers of counterfeits, all of them flowing from loving self rather than loving God. Then counterfeit Christians wrap their godless hearts in religious robes – with lips that are near to God but a heart that is far from him.

          Paul now holds out nine aspects of his own life for Timothy to imitate. If Timothy follows the apostolic example, he will lead a radical life and ministry. But these are not just for Timothy. Paul sets an example for every follower of Jesus. As he said,

          Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.                -1 Corinthians 11:1

          Read vs 10-11

          Nine examples from Paul’s life. Let’s explore these one at a time.

          Paul’s teaching. Since Paul has spent so much ink dealing with heresy and counterfeits, it’s no wonder he lists teaching first. As an Apostle, commissioned by Christ himself, to deviate from Paul’s teaching is to deviate into deception.

Timothy did not merely read Paul's teaching; he lived alongside the man who proclaimed it. He heard him preach in synagogues and marketplaces, watched him defend the gospel before angry crowds, and saw that Paul's doctrine was not academic—it was worth suffering for. Next week Paul will explain why such teaching is a treasure worthy of suffering.

Look down to verses 16 and 17 for a preview.

          All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.                             -2 Timothy 3:16-17

          Timothy – and every follower of Christ – must both embrace and embody apostolic teaching. For through the Scriptures God equips his people for every good work.

          The second example from Paul’s life: his conduct. Teaching is not meant only to expand knowledge, it’s meant to transform our lives. Godliness is not measured by how much truth you know, but by how much truth has changed you.

Oh, how many people say, “Doctrine divides. I don’t need theology, just give me Jesus.” Yet Paul begins with doctrine because what we believe always shapes how we live.

          Paul’s life is a template for our Christian walk. We should want our way of life to reflect his – and his was a life of love, self-sacrifice, prayer, and mission.

          And conduct does not arise by accident. It flows from what we live for, our purpose. Paul’s aim in life - the third apostolic example. Speaking of Paul, Jesus told us his purpose.

          He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.                                                            -Acts 9:15-16

          Paul’s purpose was to glorify the name of Jesus. Everything in Paul’s life revolved around that one great purpose. His travel, his suffering, his preaching, even his imprisonment all made sense because he knew why he existed. By the galvanizing grace of God, Paul embraced this purpose, to the point where he could say,

One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal.                                   -Philippians 3:13-14

Paul was fully committed to his purpose. It was his aim in life. But no one can persevere in such a purpose apart from faith.

The fourth example from Paul’s life is his faith. In this context, faith is synonymous with trust in God. Paul spent countless hours on his knees, laboring in prayer, because he trusted God’s good will. He took on incredible risks advancing the kingdom, because he trusted God to deliver him – as he says in verse 11. Faith did not remove danger; faith gave Paul the courage to face it. He trusted that even in his weakness, God would show himself to be strong.

Any person who follows Paul’s example – walking by faith and not by sight – will be a person of good courage. For when you trust God with your life, having faith in his promises, you know the trials of this life are a passing shadow. By faith you are able to endure great adversity. When this world brings hospital rooms, broken friendships, empty bank accounts, and gravesides; faith provides patience.

And patience is the fifth example Paul holds up from his life. He embodied the patience of Psalm 130.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.                                                      -Psalm 130:5-7

Watchmen of the night trust the sun is coming, and the darkness will be broken. They pass the dark hours patiently, held fast by faith, hearts filled with hope. It’s how Paul endured the many dark hours of his life. It’s how we must too: waiting on the Lord’s timing, waiting patiently.

Patiently doesn’t mean passively though. Patience is the first quality of love Paul famously lists in l Corinthians 13 – Love is patient… Love is not passive, and neither is patience.

Love is the sixth example from Paul’s life. Few observed Paul’s love more closely than Timothy. If we trust in God, truly, faith will be expressed in love. Listen to how Paul articulates this.

 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

-2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Paul says the love of Christ controlled him. Everything he did was driven by love. His love was so great because of Christ’s. Jesus’ love is so vast that he gave up his life as a ransom for many – as a ransom for Paul. Understanding what Jesus had done for him, how could he not lay down his life in love?

And how can we not? Is it really better to live for yourself, rather than live for love? The world says yes. Jesus says no. Paul believed Jesus. Who do you believe?

We’ve already seen how love is patient. Paul concludes that powerful definition of love like this: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:7). In other words, love is steadfast.

Steadfastness is the seventh example from Paul’s life. When so many would have been tempted to give up, or take shortcuts, Paul persevered. He was an endurance athlete of faith, he wanted Timothy to be as well. And so must we be. This life is a hard road, and there is much that would weigh us down, but God grants the crown of life to all who are steadfast.

As Jesus said to the church in Smyrna:

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.                                                             -Revelation 2:10-11

As exemplified in Paul’s life, and through the words of Jesus, steadfastness is a quality magnified in difficulty. And it is to these difficulties that Paul takes us next.

Paul links his eighth and ninth examples closely: his persecutions and sufferings.

Suffering encompasses all of life’s difficulties. Persecution is a specific type of suffering. Paul endured all kinds of sufferings, but he highlights his suffering in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. Paul visited these cities during his first missionary journey.

Acts 13 and 14 detail Paul’s sufferings in these cities. In Antioch the Jews greatly resisted he and Barnabas. In Iconium they tried to kill them. Paul and Barnabas fled to Lystra. The Jews tracked them down, incited a riot, dragged Paul outside of the city, stoned him, and left him for dead. When the dust settled, the church of Lystra came out to tend to Paul – or collect his body. Miraculously, when they arrived, Paul got up from where he was supposed to die.

Do you remember where Timothy was from? Lystra. Perhaps he was among those who went out to collect Paul after the stoning.

Imagine the scene. This young man, 17/18/19, a new Christian, sees the fury of the mob centered around a strange man named Paul. And when he and some Christian friends went out to find his body, it was laying among the stones, clothes tattered, bruised and bloodied – and then the dead man gets up. Would you be able to forget that?

Oh, Timothy knew first-hand how much Paul was persecuted! And Timothy knew the power of God in the face of suffering.

He also knew how God had delivered Paul, like Paul writes at the end of verse 11: yet from them all the Lord rescued me. It should be obvious that Paul does not mean God spared him from suffering and persecution. No! But through suffering and persecution, Paul found God to be his rescuer.

Is this not the very message at the center of the cross? As Paul writes to the Romans, God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all (Romans 8:32). And knowing what he would suffer, Jesus endured the cross for the joy of redeeming a people. And the Father rescued his Son – not from the suffering, but through the suffering.

And the same is true for all his followers. God may not spare us from suffering, but he will surely deliver us through it. He might let you get up from the pile of stones like nothing happened. He might let the cancer take you. He might let the sword fall. But God will never fail to deliver you!

Whatever Timothy personally witnessed in Paul’s sufferings, he was so moved by his self-sacrifice, his proclamation of the gospel, and the power of God in it all, that he joined Paul for the rest of that missionary journey, and the second journey, and the third. For in Paul, Timothy saw the sufferings of his Savior.

As Paul wrote to the Colossians

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

                                                                             -Colossians 1:24

The thing lacking in Christ’s afflictions is that the world has not seen it. We were not watching at the foot of the cross as Jesus bled and died. But Timothy saw Paul suffer, and in Paul’s sufferings he saw a reflection of Jesus. In his flesh Paul was filling up what was lacking in Christ afflictions. Timothy saw Paul’s conduct, and he believed. And it wasn’t a soft and comfortable belief; it was steely and resolute. He believed the gospel is so precious, so valuable, it is worth suffering for!

Paul is stirring up those emotions and convictions that marked Timothy’s younger years. “Don’t forget! Follow my example! Jesus is worth a life of self-sacrifice and suffering!”

Brothers and sisters, this is a life that is not specific only to Timothy. Paul says it is for every person that desires to be God-centered.

Read vs 12

Did you hear what Paul just said? Did you really hear it? Not apostles, not missionaries, not pastors – everyone!

To be godly is to be God-centered, rather than self-centered. Do you want to be God-centered? Then, Paul says, you will be persecuted. You might say to yourself, “I’m trying to live a godly life, but no one is persecuting me, am I doing something wrong?”

Don’t get things out of order! Paul says the godly will be persecuted, not the persecuted will be godly. That’s a big distinction. Godliness is not earned through suffering – it is not earned at all! It is a free gift of grace! To be godly is to have been transformed by the apostolic teachings, given a new aim in life, trusting your life to Jesus, and allowing your heart to flow with love. You can’t earn godliness through persecution – or any other work.

Even still, if you are living a godly life, persecution will indeed come. In places where the church has not gone, backlash to gospel living can become aggressive and even deadly. Some Christians call this persecution red martyrdom – red for blood. This is what we see with Paul, and in places like Nigeria and Iran today.

But in places where the church has been for some time, the consequences for godly living might be entirely social: slander, disrespect, rejection. I know some of you have felt these pains. This form of persecution has been called white martyrdom: a life dying to yourself while exalting Christ for all to see.

So whether you live and die as a red martyr or white, everyone who desires to live a godly life will be persecuted. And isn’t Paul echoing the words of Christ?

Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.        

-Matthew 10:38-39

The cross is a symbol of suffering, where Christ was persecuted unto death. Lay down your comfortable life. Lay down your fear of social consequences. Lay down the illusion that you know better than Jesus. And when you’ve laid them down, take up your cross and follow him!

How many souls are perishing having never heard the good news? Who will spend themselves for their sake? Is Jesus worthy of their worship? Do you believe the gospel is worth suffering for? Take up your cross and follow him!

And as you do, know that the situation is not going to get any easier.

Read vs 13

While the godly suffer persecution, evil people prosper, getting worse and worse, and nothing seems to stop their poisonous influence. Job, the Psalms, the Prophets, all speak of this same paradox: Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1) Perhaps God allows the wicked to increase while the godly are persecuted, to reveal how glorious his grace, how comprehensive his salvation, how perfect the timing of his justice. But whatever his reason, the godly trust God with their lives, having faith in his promises, knowing the trials of life are but a passing shadow.

Once more, Paul began this passage by saying, “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith...”

Since that first missionary journey, Timothy had watched Paul’s life. He saw his doctrine, his love, his patience, the stones and the bruises and the blood. He heard Paul’s prayers of faith. And through all of it, Timothy saw Jesus.

That is the apostolic example!

Paul says, “Follow me,” not because Paul was extraordinary, but because his life pointed beyond itself to Christ.

Brothers and sisters, the world does not need more comfortable Christians. It does not need more respectable and successful Christians. It needs transformed disciples, who have already laid down their lives for the sake of Christ.

That kind of life begins with apostolic teaching, is expressed through godly conduct, is driven by a Christ-centered purpose, trusts God by faith, waits patiently, loves sacrificially, perseveres steadfastly, suffers joyfully, and if necessary, it is willing to be persecuted for Jesus.

Church, I do not describe some kind of extraordinary Christianity. This is normal Christianity. In a world filled with counterfeits and deception, be the kind of disciple whose life is full of truth, with steely and authentic faith, abounding in love, overcoming adversity, that people cannot help but see Christ in you. No deceiver in the world can counterfeit the apostolic example.

With Jesus, radical is normal. So take up your cross and follow him.

He is worthy – today, yesterday, and forever! Jesus is worthy of you life!