And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2
As the parson of a particular church in Edinburgh was visiting his parishoners one day, he stopped at the shop of a cobbler who was a regular attendee at his church. During his conversation with the cobbler, the parson deliberately used some lofty theological language, to test the knowledge of the man. To his amazement, the cobbler responded with a depth of knowledge of the Scriptures that well exceeded that of the parson. As they continued to discuss deep spiritual truths, the parson declared, ‘Man, you should not be cobbling shoes!’ But the cobbler pointed to a shelf with several pairs of well-made boots. ‘Those,’ he said, ‘are for several young men who cannot afford them. Without those boots, those men will be unable to work and support their families this winter. The Lord asked me if I would cobble boots for those men, so they will not be sick. You are serving God in your way, and I am serving God in mine.’ The cobbler was a faithful man, the type of man that Paul was speaking of in our text today.
One of the characteristics of faithful men is that they have faithful sons and daughters. In our text, Paul reminds Timothy that he is to teach the Word of God to faithful men so that they can teach others also. Although that was specially important in Timothy’s day because the canon of the Word of God was not yet complete, it is very important today. God never intended that what we learn of Him is to be kept to ourselves. If we are to be counted faithful, we must put into practice what we have learned. And then we must share what we have learned with others who will be able to put that into practice for themselves. Faithfulness means passing it on.
Faithfulness also means developing and using spiritual strength. Too many among us rely on others to spoon-feed us with ministry and doctrine. But the faithful Christian will take what others teach and build upon it from his or her own study of the Word of God. The faithful Christian will also develop, like the faithful cobbler did, his own exercise as to how he should be serving the Lord. Certainly he will take directions from older and more experienced Christians. But he will seek the Lord’s guidance for his own efforts, and he will follow that guidance as his faith grows and develops.
Faithful Christians also develop their spiritual wisdom. The faithful men in our text would learn who they should be working with to spread the Word and to encourage to service. They would be careful as to the amount of effort they would put into each of the ‘others’ in their care. They would discern the sincerity of those others, and would understand the need to feed and develop those with a true interest in the things of God. Remember those who were a help to us in our early Christian experience, and thank God for their faithfulness in identifying our need, and then working to meet those needs.
We need faithful men today. As you ask God today to raise them up, don’t forget to look in the mirror. -Jim MacIntosh