Paul told Timothy of his responsibility to take “the things which [he] heard from [Paul]” and “entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). The apostle then mentioned three “occupations” that illustrated Timothy’s work – soldiers, athletes, and farmers.
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops” (2 Timothy 2:3-6).
Two of those (soldiers and farmers) were directly related to his work in making disciples. In a similar passage, Paul mentioned another “occupation” connected to this – shepherds.
“Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?” (1 Corinthians 9:7).
The work of making disciples is ongoing from generation to generation (2 Timothy 2:2), which means we must do it today. But how? By doing the work of the farmer, the shepherd, and the soldier. We will explore this idea in this article.Continue Reading
